Praise and Glory

[Leitz]

The party managed to stop a cross-planar incursion that would have changed the face of the world as they know it. They also did pretty good in cleaning out a kobold lair and a clan of orcs. The snake, if left alone, will be fed for a while. The party returns home to fame and fortune. Xavril, at 0 HP, recovers.

Hopefully the game was as enjoyable for you as it was for me.

That said, I'm always open to ideas on how to improve my DM skills. Feel free to let me know how I could have done better.

[Marullus]

Huzzah!

You did a superlative job as a DM. Thanks for running! It was fun to Crack open my old 1e books.

[DexterWard]

Thanks for putting this together Leitz...I had a great time. Loved playing Xavril, and getting the chance to play with the other players in this one-shot. If you decide to do something like this again I'd be happy to play. Thank you sir.

p.s. The Summoner was wise to skewer Xavril with the jevelin. Xavril was ready to kill him at all cost

[Leitz]

In closing, the summoner was an evil 6th level cleric. He used Lawful Evil minions for the outer defenses because they follow orders. The zombies were his inner defense. His randomly rolled magic items included a ring of invisibility. Once he saw how the battle was going to go he scrambled down behind the zombies and used the ear ringing from the "lightning bolt in the cave" to escape.

I'll ask the admins to put this in the completed games section. Thank you all for a great time!

[dmw71]

That said, I'm always open to ideas on how to improve my DM skills. Feel free to let me know how I could have done better.

Thanks for running this, it was a fun and well-paced game. Interrupting a summoning was a really cool idea, and I thought this was quite excellent:

The man at the alter sniffs, and turns. His eyes glint in pleasure, and he speaks. "Would any of you happen to be a virgin?"

It's a minor quibble, and it might be just me as I rely on encounter maps heavily, but I sometimes was unsure of perspective. I frequently found myself wondering:

How big was the area we were in?
Where are any exits?
Where were the threats in relation to the party?

I just went back and found this:

Soon your scouts report finding what appears to be the main lair. Dozens of the creatures lounge about; sleeping, or doing whatever crosses their dark minds.

Picture an uppercase R, and you're coming in on the right most leg. The open area in the upper center is the pit.

The caves narrows for several dozen paces, and then opens up into a chamber that is at least a hundred paces at its widest point. In the center of the open area is a pit with trash, bones, and mud. The orcs seem to give the pit a wide berth. Half a dozen small fires are spread around the edges of the chamber, and it is not known what is down the other path. the left leg of the R

For the moment, the orcs are not aware of you.

Your descriptions were great. It's probably just my advancing age, but I had a difficult time remembering those details from weeks earlier.

Maybe, if there isn't going to be a visual representation of the area -- and there does not need to be; theater of the mind can be a lot of fun! -- including a very brief summary of positions and options with each update would be helpful.

But, seriously, this is merely a suggestion and far from a complaint.

[DexterWard]

I concur...Great job Leitz.

I started replying about the map option, but then decided not to. Early in my OD&D years, and then into my AD&D years, we often just went off verbal descriptions only; only using tokens on hand drawn grids for specific encounters. There are advantages/disadvantages to both, especially when you take into account different player skills and personalities (as humans ). I like both ways for different reasons in different settings. And also took note when you (Leitz) gave us those colorful and detailed descriptions (Picture an uppercase R; Would any of you happen to be a virgin?), the latter of which made me giggle a little .

Additionally, it seemed like folks were still eager to keep playing, even after you (Leitz) made the initial Praise and Glory post...so that seems like a good sign to me. I would totally keep playing, but know how demanding being a DM/GM can be at times. I almost offered to keep the game going as GM, but with a once a week post, but then my GM brain intervened and gave my Player brain a reality check lecture

Great Job Leitz!!!! and thank you for the experience

[cybersavant]

had fun too; looking forward, hopefully, to the next one so i can revive Kurzuk