I'm reflecting on my Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition campaign, that is now 25 sessions in and been running for most of this year. It has been a lot of absorbing fun, and perhaps one of my most successful long form games, providng me an opportunity to really stretch the legs of 4e, a game that I picked up late last year in a bizarre flurry of excited eBay purchases. I've spoken about my love of this version of the franchise, even creating a #4eRennaisance movement, for some provocative joy.
This update is spoiler free for my players and for others who I may introduce to this game in the future.
The 4e spending splurge needed an exonerating expression in a game, so I boldly stepped out into familiar and stranger corners of the Interwebs to advertise a game that anyone was welcome to play. It meant that I would likely have a mixed roster of known and new players and that is how it has worked out. It's good to step out of your comfort zone, and this has worked out really well, meeting some lovely new (to me) gamers, who are now firmly in my 'gaming buddy' group, along with old friends who have been with me on my gaming journey for some time. Online gaming knows no geographic boundaries, so it has been fantastic to have Paul join us from over in Seattle, a great player with a deep knowledge of the game. In some ways it is especially nice to have Pete play, as he has been my lodestone on all things D&D and introduced 4e to me back in the day, at a time when I just couldn't see its worth. How my gaming thoughts have changed!
4e plays really well. Unencumbered by any edition warring, I have found a great heroic fantasy game that feels like D&D, but with some neat twists. Set in Nentir Vale, the default 'points of light' setting for 4e, I have the advantage of a strong library of material from 12+ years ago, all ready to play. I'm mixing, matching and blending, leaning on the lore that's available and creating some metaplot themes that we can explore if the game continues into next year. I hope so, as I'd like to explore the higher tiers of play in a continuous grand processional style of game, but if not, no worries, it has already delivered maximum gaming fun.
I've started, via the 'Ghost Tower of Inverness', an adventure about setting up a new point of light in the wilderness, by running through the 'Reavers of Harkenwold' mini campaign. The fragility of the 'points of light' in this northern land, without the delusion of order from the lost empire of Nerath, are exposed by the incursions of the Iron Circle, a viscious mercenary order of raiders that have their roots far to the south, and now look to extend to the ends of the world. They themselves seem driven by pacts and power from Asmodeus, so there are layers that can be explored as the story unfolds. Cross the Iron Cricle and you stand in the way of the devil lord himself...
This has proved to be a fine introduction to the setting and allowed me to interlace some other themes that might get picked up by 'Sturm und Drang', the increasingly notorious name of our heroic company. In some ways I'm playing this slightly as a sandbox. The backdrop will reveal itself in different ways depending on the path the group decide to take. The world is in motion and their choices have already had consequences for others. They can't be everywhere, and this further accentuates the heroes' importance, their unique position as influencers of destiny, changers of worlds.
Most recently, Sturm und Drang have decided to brave the perils of The Witchlight Fens, seduced by stories of ancient treasures and enchanted powers.
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| The Witchlight Fens Map |
Heading west from Harkenwold they stop in the town of Duponde, which remains tantelisingly unplaced in the Vale setting, but seemed right set on the border of the Fens. A stop over point of light, but also a place down on its heels and in danger, quite literally, of being swallowed by the malign powers that drive the Fens into other darker places. Casual mention of an abandoned manor to the south, and old heirlooms awaiting, immediately set them in that direction. A good opportunity for me to think on my feet and draw together a few threads. This detour has become a profitable visit to a crypt, meeting a recurring villain, and restoring a deceased noble family from necromantic destitution. The Fens await. Or indeed anywhere else they decide to go.
They've just arrived at 5th level, a nice boost with an extra feat, a new Daily power and some more Hit Points to keep them going in the fight. I'm also using a simple reputation mechanic that is slaved to level to see how their exploits precede them as they travel to new places.
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| The final battle in the crypt - Role VTT |
I'd like to start deepening the game, potentially drawing in some PC backstory and keep with the beat of the competing powers that jostle up in this fractured old province.
We seem to be settled on Role VTT. It has great AV and just enough tools to manage a game, without the integration and automation that is so difficult to do with 4e anyway, due to the licensing limitations of the time. Although the platform is continuously developing, the feature set has remained fairly consistent. The only things I'd really want to add is Fog of War and a way of linking a token to a note box to record HP loss and other effects.
The only other major tools I use are Token Tool for creating tokens, and Masterplan for designing combat encounters. Masterplan is a full campaign building tool, so I am using a small percentage of what it can do. Creating combat encounter monsters, that the software outputs to perfectly formatted HTML, gives me a quick resource to creat encounter HTML files that I then print out and have ready to go. I scribble effects and HP loss direct on the paper, taking that away from the automation that some VTTs provide.
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| Masterplan Encounter Building |
Even with my limited use, Masterplan has saved me countless hours of preparation and delivered amazing looking stat blocks at the push of a few buttons.
The offline Character Builder is there to help with the preparation of our PCs, if the the players want to. I use it extensively for my oneshots, and I'd use it as my source for any PC that I might ever get to play. The Builder combines a comprehensive series of compendium for PC build options with an ability to track PC progress and output to PDF. My own process is somewhat convoluted, where I output the PDF character sheet to ONeNote, which converts the pages to images, and then I add to a shareable Google Doc. All round it gives a great output and a series of character power cards which, if I was playing, I'd be tempted to print out on card and have as my deck of amazing things!
Some online resources and brilliant fan collation of lore, round out my most used resources outside of the PDFs and books that I have. I'm still collecting, but at a modest pace and only if I can find the books at a good price or they come through as POD and I want to jump on them. I have more than I need already.
I don't know if any of the above has conveyed my delight at finding such a terrific game, and getting to play it with such terrific people? My gaming mind is turning to next year, my retirement year, and the gaming that I hope to play. In amongst the other plans I hope that Sturm und Drang might feature as we explore ever more epic stories.
(And, quietly, I have this hope that I too might be able to play in a 4e series as a player - but for that, we'll just have to see...)
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