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How To Schedule Your D&D and RPG Sessions

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As a DM, spending hours preparing a fantastic adventure only to deal with perpetual scheduling conflicts can be incredibly disheartening. Indeed, the number of scheduling D&D memes out there is a testament to how common this problem can be!

I’ve certainly experienced many scheduling woes myself in the past. After a few false starts with several dropouts and cancellations, however, I’ve managed to start two in-person groups which have been meeting regularly for over a year. Rarely do we have unexpected cancellations, and scheduling is no longer an issue.

It turns out that the solution to D&D scheduling problems is actually pretty straightforward: find the right players, set a regular time and cadence, and have recurring calendar invites and confirmations. If you follow these guidelines, your scheduling woes will soon be a thing of the past.

Find The Right Players

One of the main reasons DMs have scheduling problems is not really scheduling related but player related. The reality is that some players may not be as interested in playing DnD as you, and will choose to prioritize other commitments over your game. Also, it’s possible that the kind of game you want to run isn’t a good match for the kind of game your players want to play. Finally, there might be a problem player who ruins the fun for the rest of your group. Any of these factors will increase the likelihood that players will choose to do something else than to play your game.

The solution to the player problem is to meet many potential players and to be picky about who comes to your table. If you only have people at your table who enjoy your DM style, are fun to be around, and are respectful to other players, you’ll have a D&D game that people will continue to come back to. This, of course, is easier said than done and is probably the most difficult aspect of organizing an RPG group. If you feel like you don’t have the right group of players, it may be useful to check out this article on player recruitment.

Set a Regular Time and Cadence

The first D&D group I put together started out as game among friends. I had just finished playing the excellent level 1-5 adventure Lost Mines of Phandelver on Roll20 and was excited to share the experience with my friends. I managed to schedule about 1 or 2 sessions a month, but the amount of effort it took sending out doodle polls and emails to organize the game was exhausting.

One Poll to Rule them All

Eventually, I realized that if I wanted to focus on the game and not on scheduling, I had to find a recurring time to which all players could commit. With a little help from technology, this turned out to be pretty easy. I created a survey on SurveyMonkey and listed the times that were the most convenient for me as a GM. The survey participants then anonymously ranked the times from most convenient to least convenient.

Ranked Survey For DnD Times

After collecting the results, there was a clear split between Thursday and Saturday, although Saturday turned out to be the best day for the most people. Saturday at 2 was the best time, and Saturday overall was the best day.

Unfortunately, Saturdays weren’t great for one of my friends who ranked Saturdays low on their list. I realized that by doing this survey, most of my friends had similar preferences for recurring times, and it was just one friend who would have been difficult to accommodate. Luckily, I did later start a Thursday group with mostly internet strangers from meetup on Thursday night and was happy to have my friend join.

After running this poll, we’ve never played on day other than Saturday. We set up a recurring cadence of every 3 weeks which later became every 2 weeks. We did occasionally have some scheduling mishaps which lead to canceled games but these problems have mostly been solved through recurring calendar invites and confirmations.

Recurring Calendar Invites and Confirmations

Our group now has recurring Google Calendar invite for the D&D session which I have sent to every player. Nevertheless, I also check with my players right at the end of the session whether the next date still works for everyone. At this point, everyone takes out their phones and confirms the next date. Sometimes a player has a wedding or a business trip that they need to attend and has to sit out the session. If enough people aren’t available for the session, we usually bump it to the following week.

Sometimes people forget too, so I send a text the day before the session as a reminder and we’re good to go.

And that’s it! If you really want to play a regular game of D&D, seek out folks who want to play it as much as you do, use polling to find out the best time slot, and re-confirm your dates. If you do all of these things, you’ll have no problem gathering your party to venture forth ⚔️

How to Recruit Players for Your D&D Game

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My Saturday Afternoon Group in the Kobold Caves

When I think about the biggest problems I had when I just started out DMing, it mostly came down to two things: trouble scheduling and trouble finding players.

While scheduling can be difficult (I’ve spent weeks in doodle poll hell myself), you can solve most of your scheduling problems by finding players who are interested enough in your game to make time for it in their schedule. Thus, while scheduling is important, the most important thing for a DM to focus on (other than running the game, of course) is player recruitment.

The Two Stages of Recruiting Players: Sourcing and Vetting

So how do you recruit for your table? First, you need a large pool of potential players to recruit from. Creating this pool is part of the “sourcing” stage of player recruitment. Then, when picking potential players from your recruitment pool, you need to ask yourself whether a player would be a good fit for the rest of your group and for the kind of game you want to play. This is the “vetting” stage of player recruitment.

Both Sourcing and Vetting are of equal importance. If you don’t source, you’ll find it difficult to keep up with player turnover. If you don’t vet, you’ll run the risk of having a disruptive player who could ruin the fun for everyone, perhaps even to the level of an RPG horror story.

Sourcing Players

Sourcing players is straightforward: you have 4 to 6 player slots to fill at your table and the larger pool of players you can choose from to fill those slots, the better. Your pool of players will often start with your extended friend circle, and then expand out to other folks in the local gaming community. You can meet these players at events, gaming conventions, Adventurer’s League Games, and online through various Looking for Game (LFG) forums.

Sourcing D&D Players From Your Extended Friend Circle

If you’re like me, you’ll probably start sourcing players from your extended group of friends. I myself started my first Lost Mines of Phandelver group by sending out an email to my friends who I thought might be interested. I was able to get five people in my first session, many of whom had limited experience with D&D.

There was a lot of turnover. By the time we had finished the Lost Mines Adventure about 8 months later, we had only two people left from the original group. Unless you’re very lucky, it’s likely that the recruits from your initial pool of friends will dwindle as well.

This has nothing to do with your talent as a DM; some people just aren’t interested in D&D as you might be. Some of the folks in your initial pool might be curious about DnD but may not be as much of a dedicated or die-hard player as you might be. They’ll probably have other hobbies and commitments that will take precedence over your game, or perhaps they’re looking for a different play style than you’re willing to offer as a GM. Or, you may just have a player who is moving out of town. There are plenty of reasons for players to drop out that have nothing to do with you.

So unless you’re very lucky and all your friends are hardcore tabletop gamers who love your GM style and who happen to have the same free evenings that you do, you’re going to have players who drop out. To replace those players, you’ll likely have to meet some strangers outside of your friend circle. I myself did this chiefly through my local D&D group on Meetup, and now I have a solid group of 6 players who rarely miss a session.

Create a D&D Event on Meetup.com

Although your mileage may vary depending on where you live, for me, Meetup has provided the best experience for sourcing players. The Seattle Dungeons and Dragons and RPG meetup group was great because they have more than 2,700 members and I was able to become an event organizer after sending a quick message to one of the admins.

As an event organizer, I posted an event looking for 6 players for a Lost Mines of Phandelver campaign (This was a different campaign than my initial campaign). Because the group had a large number of members, I was able to fill the slots rather quickly. This gaming group, which was basically composed of 5 internet strangers and 1 friend, is still going strong to this day. If I were to do it over again, however, I’d probably just post a one shot event to properly vet my players as I most certainly could have gotten a random stranger who could have ruined the game.

If you can, find a meetup group in your area with a large number of members and see if you can become an event organizer so that you can post your event. It’s possible that they may not let you become an event organizer right off the bat, so ask the event organizers if you can join an existing event as a volunteer GM. Then, when you have built a relationship with the main event organizers, there’s a good chance they’ll let you promote a game of your own through that group.

Join or Run D&D Adventurer’s League Games

My experience with D&D Adventurer’s League (AL) Games is limited, so I can only speak from my perspective. Adventurer’s League games seem to be a good way to meet new players, as most AL sessions can be run in a single sitting as a one shot–each session usually being with different group of players. After you play a session and advance levels, you can take the character you’ve built and accrued experience for and play in other adventures at that level. The GMs even have special identification numbers so they can verify you were actually in such-and-such an adventure (although I’m guessing they’re seldom used).

Adventurer’s League Games at Conventions

In the Seattle area, I had my first taste of Adventurer’s League games at the Dragonflight convention. This particular convention had several tables with periods of time blocked out for this or that game and there were many AL games listed.

These convention games were not my favorite. They were a random group of strangers who had little sense of any group cohesion, and since this was a one-shot scenario, the reason for us being together was a pretty generic “you are strangers hired for a job” hook. This kind of setup doesn’t really foster good group chemistry. Again, this is just my experience with AL convention games–your experience may differ.

Adventurer’s League Games at Gaming Stores

Your “Friendly Local Gaming Store” (FLGS), will often host Adventurers League events in your area. You can search for participating stores and events through the store and event locator offered by Wizards of the Coast and find an Adventurer’s League game at a store a reasonable distance from you.

The gaming store route seems a better way to meet fellow players than through conventions. If you become a regular at one of the events, you’ll likely make friends with fellow gamers whom you may invite to your own group once you have planned your grand campaign. Consider volunteering as an Adventurer’s League GM so that players can get a feel for how you run a game. This way, when you reach out to potential players, you’ll know that they are interested in the kind of game that you offer as a GM and will be less likely to drop out in the middle of it.

Finding Online Games

I’m writing this article in the middle of the Covid-19 epidemic with the expectation that someday you’ll be able to play an in-person game with your friends. Right now, that’s not an option. Online is the only safe way to play. Thus, all of my in-person games have moved to the virtual tabletop (VTT) software Roll20.

Looking for Game (LFG) postings on VTT forums

For those unfamiliar, Roll20 and other VTTs like it are apps where players can share a battlemap and automate all the fiddly math that comes with dice rolls. Players have a token representing their character which they can move along the map much as they would a mini on an actual tabletop. Other VTTs include Fantasy Grounds, Astral Tabletop, Tabletop Simulator and the open source VTT MapTool. Roll20 is the most popular VTT out there at the moment and the only one I have used, but I did want to call out the alternatives so you can see what’s right for you.

Roll20’s LFG Search

The Looking For Game (LFG) postings on Roll20 are an incredible tool for finding an online game that fits your schedule. As a GM, all I have to do is write a blurb describing the game I want to run and post it to the LFG forum. As a player, I can search for games based on the time slots I’m available and the type of adventure I want to play. If, for example, I wanted to play Descent into Avernus every Monday night, I can do a keyword search for “Avernus” and filter my searches by time slot.

While Roll20 seems to have the best LFG search out there, it’s worth considering other options. Roll20, though filled to the brim with interesting features, has a rather counter-intuitive UI and as of this writing has serious lag issues when servers are overloaded (and because of Roll20’s popularity, this is often). So although it may be more difficult to find players on other platforms, it may be worth taking the time to look elsewhere to avoid some of Roll20’s frustrations.

LFG for Other VTTs

Although Roll20 has a great LFG search feature, there are plenty of other resources for other VTTs as you can see here:

Using Locally Oriented Social Media for Online LFG Posts

The hope is that once we’re all out of quarantine, we’ll be able to resume playing tabletop RPGs in person. When organizing a new group for online play, you may want to consider recruiting only local players so that someday you’ll be able to play a game at your friendly local gaming store or a gamer friendly cafe/bar.

Since the VTT community isn’t constrained by location, you’ll often find yourself in games with players from all around the world. I’m based in Seattle, but I’ve been in online D&D games with gamers from Denmark, Poland, the UK, and Australia. While that’s pretty neat, I find that meeting fellow gamers in person can foster friendships and camaraderie that purely online games do not. Also, the randomness of many online game recruitment processes often makes for a rather mixed bag of players with different play styles that aren’t really in alignment with each other. Invariably, there’s at least one annoying or disruptive player who can ruin the fun.

So although you may use Roll20 or FantasyGrounds or Astral Tabletop for gaming during quarantine, consider posting online gaming events on meetup, facebook, through the Adventurer’s League or perhaps even Eventbrite to promote your online game. This way, you’ll be able to connect in person when (hopefully someday) this pandemic is in the rear view window.

Finally, I should note that you don’t necessarily need a VTT to play D&D online. Some GMs I know are using Zoom video chat and theater of the mind to play their games and that seems to be working out fine for them.

Vetting Players

“Bad D&D is worse than no D&D”

–Probably someone on Reddit

When recruiting for my first games as a GM, my focus was almost exclusively on sourcing new players rather than vetting them. After having read a few RPG horror stories where just a little vetting would have averted the tragedy, vetting has become the priority for me as a GM.

You need to vet your players for the express purpose of ensuring that you only have people you want in your game in your game, and vice versa. You should vet everyone who comes to your table, even your friends.

Vet all Players, Including Your Friends

It’s obvious why you’d want to vet strangers. After all, who wants an insufferable racist edge lord who doesn’t shower and makes other players feel unsafe? If you do an open campaign invite on meetup.com, you probably won’t get someone that horrible, but chances are you might get at a player who has at least one of those traits.

Strangers are one thing, but why would you want to vet your friends? For the most part, you probably will get along with your friend at the table, but gaming will bring out hidden facets of your friends that you might not know were there. It’s very possible, for example, that your friend might:

  • Be disengaged, unenthusiastic and/or distracted.
  • Expect some preferential treatment from you as the GM
  • Constantly challenge your rulings
  • Enjoy derailing the campaign
  • Not show up to sessions or cancel at the last moment.

These are just a few potential issues that could come up in a campaign with friends and has the potential to strain or ruin friendships. Make sure you determine the kind of player your friend is by playing a few low-commitment one-shots with them. This will save you a lot of future grief.

How to Vet Your Players

There are two ways to vet your players: you can do a one-shot with them or interview them. Also, although not really part of the vetting process per se, you should do a “session zero” at the start of every campaign to reach a consensus with your players about the kind of game you want to play. A session zero, in addition to vetting, will go a long way to ensure your game is a safe and enjoyable one.

Vet your Players through One Shots

The one shot is a great way to determine whether or not a player will be a fit for your table. Not only that, but it’s a way for players to find out whether they like your style as a GM. If you do enough one shots, you’ll have a pool of players to choose from when it’s finally time to embark on your grand, multi-year campaign.

While most one-shots end in a single session, sometimes it can be good to reconvene for a second half–perhaps even planning it in advance. If a module description says it will take 4-6 hours to complete, try planning for two sessions of 2-3 hours. If some folks cancel before the second session, you’ll then know that they have other priorities than showing up for your game.

And there’s nothing wrong with that! People have different interests and there’s no use trying to get people to come to a game if they’d rather do something else with their time. There are plenty of people out there who love playing D&D and would love having a seat at your table. There’s no use chasing after the flakes.

Start building a roster of players you get along with from your one-shots. It won’t be long before you have a list of your favorite players you can reach out to for your campaign. The more players you meet through one-shots, the easier it’ll be to find 4-6 people willing to commit to a regular campaign.

The Interview

Although less ideal than the one shot, interviewing your new potential players can be much faster. If I’m trying to fill a slot for a player who has left one of my games, I’ll often do a shout out on various social medial platforms and meet a potential player for a beer. During this informal “interview” I’ll ask the potential player what they’re looking for in a game and describe in general terms the kind of game I’m running.

In an interview, it’s hard to get a good feeling for how a potential player may behave at the table, but at least you can find out if they’re a weirdo who obviously wouldn’t be a good fit. If this is the case, you are unfortunately put in the awkward position of having to turn them down, which you would not have to do when recruiting folks whom you have played one-shots with.

The Session Zero

In a session zero, players get together to agree on the kind of game they want to play and, most importantly, agree on what kind of behavior is off limits. While this is not technically the part of the vetting process, it does go a long way to set some ground rules for the game and prevent a lot of drama. For an excellent primer on how to run a session zero check out this reddit post.

Mastering the Least Fun Parts of D&D

The least fun parts of D&D, scheduling and recruiting, can be enough to turn some would-be GMs away from the hobby. I’m guessing that many dispirited GMs give up when they recruit players from their friend circle and, one-by-one, they start to drop out.

While your friends can make great players, oftentimes we’ll have to search outside of our friend circles for new players by going to Adventurer’s League events, organizing one shot adventures through meetup.com, and so on.

But we don’t just want any players. We want players whom we can truly engage with as GMs and who won’t make other players feel unsafe, uncomfortable, or even just thoroughly annoyed. Any player whom you invite could ruin your game, which is why vetting your players and setting expectations for them in a session zero is essential.

If you master these guidelines, you’ll be able to get the least fun parts of the game out of the way, and be rolling in no time 🎲🎲🎲

A DM’s Guide to Venomfang

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The young green dragon Venomfang poses several challenges to DMs. The first challenge is developing Venomfang’s motivations–what does a green dragon like Venomfang want? The second challenge is playing Venomfang intelligently: As a creature with a 16 intelligence who is practised in weaving layers of deception, how can we lie convincingly to our PCs so that they believe what he’s saying? The third and final challenge is dealing with the possibility of a TPK (either finding ways to prevent one or dealing with the consequences of one), as this is one of the most likely places in the whole module where the party could bite the big one.

Green Dragon Temperament

In order to answer these questions it’s important to get an idea of just what motivates green dragons and what separates them from other dragons.

Corruptors of the Virtuous and Masters of Deceit

While all chromatic dragons are vain, evil, and covetous creatures, each type of chromatic dragon has a different temperament, and green dragons are no exception.

For green dragons, wealth is measured by influence. A green dragon would love nothing more than to gain leverage with high officials of government and force them to cater to their will. The preferred form of this leverage is through deceit or blackmail but a green dragon may also make use of cruder methods like threats and coercion. While green dragons are happy to turn anyone into their personal slave, they particularly enjoy forcing or deceiving the pure of heart to do evil deeds. For green dragons, the world is essentially their chessboard and one of their main joys in life is to collect more and more pawns to do their bidding.

Patient Schemers

Because green dragons often rely on others to do their dirty work, they can be viewed as “lazy.” Green dragons, however, would likely prefer to think of themselves as patient. For example: if an enemy has wronged a green dragon, and should the outcome of a confrontation with that enemy be less than certain, the dragon would prefer to wait years or even decades for more favorable circumstances. During this time, they are calmly stacking the deck against their enemies.

Should a green dragon be at the losing end of an encounter, they will attempt to parley. As Keith Ammann says in his article about chromatic dragon tactics:

As soon as [a green dragon] is moderately wounded, it will stop fighting and parley, making full use of its proficiency in Deception, Insight and Persuasion (skills no other type of chromatic dragon is proficient in) to keep itself alive. It will even surrender, albeit on terms favorable to itself, and always with an eye toward any opportunity to turn against its new “masters.”1

Venomfang’s Motivations

The Lost Mines Module mentions that Venomfang has moved into the the wizard’s tower since the last time Reidoth the Druid was there.2. Also, considering that Venomfang has just started laying waste to the resident giant spider population, we can assume that he has arrived within the last month or so.

Venomfang’s Enemies

We could deduce a couple of reasons for Venomfang’s recent arrival. Either he was kicked out of the nest unceremoniously by his parents (there’s conflicting sources as to whether green dragons are good parents, I believe canonically they are not), or he was driven out by an enemy. Some possible enemy candidates are:

  • Cryovain, the White Dragon of Icespire Hold: This idea has been suggested by several commenters in the Lost Mines of Phandelver Facebook Group. Cryovain and Icespire Hold are creations of the D&D Essentials Kit, a module which provides a whole bunch of side quest type adventures around Phandalin. Even if you don’t have the essentials kit, it wouldn’t take much to homebrew a young white dragon in a keep in the Sword Mountains vs. a Green Dragon near the southern end of Neverwinter Wood. This makes for an interesting contrast between dragons, since whites are more primal and less intelligent, while Green dragons are the craftiest of all chromatic dragons.
  • A relative of Venomfang: There is an excellent, excellent reddit post (like seriously really good) about how to run the Venomfang encounter that suggests Venomfang should lie about a half-sister determined to capture his lair after having been wounded by adventurers. There’s no reason, however, that this can’t be a real sibling rivalry. I like the idea that the relationship between green dragon siblings is a deadly one, and that green dragon parents raise their young in a “survival of the fittest” fashion.
  • Hill Giants: While doing research for this article, one of the best videos I found on Green Dragon lore mentioned that Hill Giants and Green Dragons are natural enemies. Apparently, green dragon babies are considered a delicacy among Hill Giants. I imagine that this could extend to older dragons as well. Perhaps a party of Hill Giants tried to hunt Venomfang down for food. This may make for a good segue into Storm King’s Thunder or another Giant related adventure.
  • A Fey Being: Thundertree already feels feywild-esque and thus it feels appropriate that perhaps a fey being of moderate to great power has interests there. One possible idea includes a stronger/smarter than normal boggle-like creature (boggles are fey creatures born out of feelings of loneliness and loss–feelings that certainly pervade Thundertree). This arch-boggle wants to increase the feelings of loneliness around Thundertree and all the recent activity generated by Venomfang, Reidoth, and the Cultists jeopardize this fey creature’s prospects of creating the perfect garden of loss. Venomfang may understand that there is a fey presence in Thundertree, and is keeping his eye out for it. I’ll likely put out another article to flesh out the fey angle further.

Venomfang and Thundertree

While it has been suggested that Thundertree is more of a temporary lair because it’s not located in a deep forest, to me it seems like an ideal spot for the young green dragon. The ash that had settled into the town after the eruption of Mt. Hotenow has the unsettling properties of corrupting anything it touches–animating corpses and causing the very plant life to lash out against those who may trespass here. Apparently, the eruption and the ash was the byproduct of a godlike fire primordial‘s anger at being awakened from a long slumber. The corruption in Thundertree is essentially a manifestation of this anger. More ancient and powerful green dragons than Venomfang have the power of causing a very similar sort of corruption by their very presence, so Venomfang must feel right at home here. Furthermore, the wizard’s tower overlooking the rest of the town allows the dragon to keep an eye on any interlopers who may venture nearby.

Venomfang’s Stalemate with Reidoth

Venomfang is loathe to give up a promising new lair. Unfortunately for him, however, a meddling old druid by the name of Reidoth has settled in a cottage at the Eastern end of Thundertree. This frustrates Venomfang’s plans to quietly recover from whatever drove him from his previous lair and plan revenge. At the moment, they seem to be at a stalemate, with one warily watching the other and waiting until one of them lets their guard down. Venomfang knows that it’s unwise to attack a spellcaster whose power has yet to be determined, and so he has kept an eye on Reidoth to see what he does. Reidoth, likewise, knows that Green dragons can be the most treacherous and dangerous of all dragons and hasn’t yet made a move on the wizard’s tower because of this.

Venomfang’s Ambivalence toward the Cultists

To oversimplify things, you can break down cultist motivation into three camps:

  1. Worship and adulation of chromatic dragons and Tiamat, their goddess
  2. Desire for power by forging alliances with dragons
  3. Both 1 and 2.

Since Favric, the leader of the cultist group, is “an evil and ambitious man”3 it’s fun to think of him as a member of the second camp. The other cultists who don’t share Favric’s ambition are likely to be in the first camp. Of course, Favric would likely pretend to be in the first camp as well. While it may not change how the cultists interact with Venomfang, it’s worth noting.

While the cultists (Favric excluded) are worshipful of all chromatic dragons and wish to become servants of Venomfang, there’s nothing to suggest that Venomfang would ally himself with them. It’s true that in the Tyranny of Dragons module the cultists manage to recruit many chromatic dragons to do their bidding, but they do it by using legendary magical items called Dragon Masks. Favric, a low ranking member of the cult, possesses no such mask (and is likely not aware of their existence). He’s a bit full of himself, and thinks he can gain the allegiance of Venomfang through persuasion alone.

I imagine that Venomfang would be friendly to the cultists. After all, here’s some free minions that have plopped up on his doorstep. However, Venomfang may secretly be repulsed by these sycophants fawning over him. Should the party ask Venomfang about the cultists, Venomfang would likely share his true feelings about them.

Venomfang’s Plans

As a green dragon, Venomfang knows that the party will regard it with a decent level of distrust. He knows that should any brash adventuring party stumble into Thundertree they will likely side with Reidoth against him. Thus his first goal is the sow falsehoods about Reidoth using a third party. To me, the best candidates for starting this smear campaign are members of the Zhentarim.

Venomfang and the Zhentarim

The Zhentarim are basically what you’d get if the mafia had been established by worshippers of a dark god of ambition and tyranny. Members of the Zhentarim tend to adhere to a “survival of the fittest” and “anything goes” attitude when it comes to advancing the personal ambition of its members. The only loyalty they have are to their own members, and even this loyalty is somewhat a facade. The only reason why members don’t often betray each other is because there are severe penalties (likely the worst kind of torture and death) for doing so.

The Zhentarim and the Cult of the Dragon are enemies (the former wants to control the world, the latter wants to destroy it). Given their mutual animosity, it wouldn’t be unusual that the Zhentarim would have a spy in the ranks of the Cult. Thus, whatever tipped the Cult off that Venomfang was in Thundertree could also have been picked up by a Zhentarim agent. To me, I feel like the Zhentarim are more organized would have sent an agent to meet with Venomfang before Favric and his friends could get their shit together.

Venomfang’s Smear Campaign Against Reidoth

The Zhentarim represent perfect allies to Venomfang. As a young green dragon that doesn’t have the ability to polymorph himself, Venomfang can’t infiltrate the ranks of Neverwintan society as he would like to. In exchange for Venomfang guaranteeing a safe smuggling route around Thundertree (Venomfang is free to eat non-Zhentarim who may pass through), Zhentarim agents agree to be Venomfang’s information channel to and from the civilized world.

Venomfang’s request to the Zhentarim is to spread misinformation that an evil druid named Reidoth has been spawning plant monsters throughout Thundertree. Apparently this is part of Reidoth’s effort to kill any would be hunters and lumberjacks attempting to exploit the natural wealth of Neverwinter Wood.

While the Zhentarim smear campaign against Reidoth would likely be focused in Neverwinter, Halia Thornton, the owner of the miner’s exchange in Phandalin and secret Zhentarim member, may be asked by her Zhentarim contacts to spread the rumors in Phandalin as well. I imagine a scene where the party manages to overhear an argument between Qelline Alderleaf (who has known Reidoth all her life) and one of Halia’s goons:

“All I’m saying is I heard that the old fool druid Reidoth has gone plum bonkers and has been raising plant monsters all around Neverwinter wood. My mate was out there with a couple woodcutters and barely escaped with their lives!”

“Ye got it all wrong! Reidoth might be a little strange a’ times, but there’s no way he’d harm a soul!”

Should the party venture north to Thundertree, they may encounter a Zhentarim spy in the guise of a hunter who warns them against venturing forward because of the evil druid Reidoth. This is the perfect place to drop clues that they are being deceived. For example, anyone proficient in Nature may notice that the fox pelts that the hunter is carrying is of a breed not native to Neverwinter Wood.

If the party insists that they want to go to Thundertree, the “hunter” suggests that they can meet a possible ally, a green dragon by the name of Venomfang (It may be good to change Venomfang’s name so that it’s less evil sounding and more draconic–something like Asverathmasil.) The hunter assures the party that although Asverathmasil is a green dragon, not all of them are evil.

When Venomfang meets the party, he can try to convince them that there is a corruption in Thundertree and Reidoth has become its servant. The only way to clear the corruption is to kill the druid. If the party doesn’t buy the story and Venomfang notices this, he may unleash the poison gas on the party right away.

Which leads us to our next question…how might we avoid a TPK with venomfang?

Avoiding a TPK with Venomfang (Or Not)

This became a rather long section, so I made a separate article for it: Avoiding a TPK with Venomfang (Or Not)

Other Venomfang/Green Dragon Content

Venomfang has inspired a lot of online content, perhaps more than any other NPC in the module, thus it would a disservice not to mention and summarize some of the best remixes I’ve found out there.

  • Writeup by u/Brosequis on Reddit: The first comment on this reddit thread is one of the best writeups on Venomfang I’ve seen. Indeed I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from this for my own game. In addition to a useful synopsis of the natures of green dragons, this provides a lot of a sample dialogue (lies) that Venomfang may tell the party. It also provides a pretty convincing story about why Reidoth is not looking out for the good of the party.
  • Tweaking Thundertree, or How I Built a Better Thundertree (LMoP) : In addition to providing some additional advice on how to run Thundertree as a whole, this reddit article provides a really interesting take on how to play Venomfang. In this example, Venomfang has already trapped Reidoth in a chest and has polymorphed herself so that the party thinks that she is Reidoth. Also, this article provides a stat block for Reidoth, which is super handy should the party manage to persuade Reidoth to join forces with them against the dragon.
  • [VIDEO] What they Don’t Tell You About Green Dragons: One of the best resources online that I have found about green dragon lore. 100% worth the watch.
  • [PDF] The Monster Harvester’s Handbook: Should the party manage to defeat Venomfang, this PDF provides a list of ingredients that the players can harvest from a young green dragon, as well as DC for extracting the various parts. Since some green dragon parts have a shelf life, it may help to jot down some notes for an apothecary in Neverwinter so that they can sell their harvest before it spoils.

How have you run the Venomfang encounter? Please feel free to share in the comments!

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Avoiding a TPK with Venomfang (Or Not)

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One the perennial questions that I’ve seen come up online when it comes to running Lost Mines of Phandelver is “How can I avoid a TPK when the party faces the green dragon Venomfang?”

There are certainly some ways you can do this, but the first question you need to ask is, “Should I try to avoid a TPK at all?”

As a newbie DM, I was afraid that a TPK would completely demoralize my players. I felt that forcing my players to start all over again would perhaps scare them away from coming back to the table. However, after giving this issue some thought and reading how other DMs have dealt with Venomfang (and the prospect of a TPK), I realized that my fears surrounding a Venomfang TPK were misplaced.

Essentially, there are two ways you can deal with it. The first is to address the prospect of character death and TPKs in a session zero and the second is to be prepared with narrative escape hatches should the party be facing near certain death.

Address character death and TPKs in a session zero

Because I was so eager to get started with Lost Mines of Phandelver, I only spent about 10 minutes with my group establishing ground rules and expectations for the game. Although I have a wonderful gaming group and all of us seem to be on the same page as to what we want to get from a game, I still wish I had spent more time to ask my players more questions during a session zero.

One thing I failed to ask about was how my players felt about character death. As a player who had initially spent hours writing out the backstory for my first few D&D characters, I became very attached to them. I dreaded character death and assumed my players would too.

I was absolutely wrong. I remember a point in one of my games where the players were facing the prospect of death and a conversation started up about how they were excited to try out new characters should their current ones die. I hate to admit that I may have pulled some punches before this conversation and now I absolutely don’t.

TPKs, however, are a different issue than character death. While it’s easy to slot in a new character should one die, a TPK is disruptive to the narrative. It forces the entire party to roll new characters and it forces the DM to come up with a slightly contrived reason to connect the severed narrative thread with a brand new party.

I believe TPKs are avoidable in most cases. However, if the party decides to do something incredibly unwise, it may happen. It’s best then to be upfront to your players about it. During your session zero explain to them that a TPK is rare but should the party make a very bad decision that results in a TPK, they can start again as a new party and pick up where the old one left off. Either that or the players can start a new adventure at level 1. Ask them which would they prefer.

I missed this discussion during session zero, but as we approached Thundertree I did discuss the TPK issue with my players, and to my surprise everyone was on board with it. All of them felt that decisions should have consequences, and if their decisions resulted in a TPK, so be it. This is what sets D&D apart from other games, after all. After this discussion, I prepared the Venomfang encounter to make it as challenging as it deserves to be.

Preventing a Venomfang TPK

While the first step regarding TPKs is to discuss them in a session zero, there are a couple ways that we can prevent a TPK with Venomfang that fit with the story and aren’t a Deus Ex Machina.

A Hostage and a Favor

Remember that Green Dragons more than anything relish the thought of corrupting the heroic and pure hearted. While they would prefer to do this through deception, they wouldn’t be against using a hostage to force others to do their bidding.

Should the party engage Venomfang in combat and should a TPK become inevitable, Venomfang can grapple a fallen party member in its claws and threaten to kill them if they don’t parley.

“You have come into my home, sought to kill me and steal my treasure, and now I hold one of your lives in my claws. I am well within my rights to tear the flesh from your bones and no one would fault me. However…if you listen to what I have to say, perhaps I will let this one live”

Should the party agree with Venomfang, you can move out of initiative. Venomfang then proposes the following deal: he will hold a party member hostage and kill them should they not do a favor in return.

The hostage will most likely be a fallen party member, but there could be other ways to resolve the issue (drawing straws, etc). The fallen party member will then have to roll up a new character to replace the one being held hostage.

What might Venomfang ask the party to do? Here are some possibilities:

  • Drive Reidoth out from Thundertree (Or Kill Him) – If you really want to put the party in a tight spot, you could have Venomfang pit them against Reidoth. If the party is smart enough they could possibly convince Reidoth to leave temporarily.
  • Kill Cryovain, the White Dragon – Cryovain kicked Venomfang out of his territory and Venomfang wants revenge. This option would require buying the D&D Essentials Kit, but you could easily substitute Cryovain for another dragon or monster of your own devising.
  • Steal a Magic Artifact – Perhaps Venomfang heard of some valuable object that could grant him the ability to polymorph into a human (green dragons love subterfuge, so being able to assume human form would be a dream). Of course, Venomfang would lie about the nature of the artifact, but it’s possible a canny party member would see through the deception.

What happens after the party delivers what Venomfang wishes of them? If I were Venomfang, I wouldn’t want a group of heroes wandering loose who I couldn’t control and who could potentially become a liability. If possible, Venomfang would devise some sort of trap for the adventurers and kill them after they have completed the task. Of course, Venomfang may feel that the outcome of a fight is uncertain and so decide to honor the agreement, In this case he would turn on the charm and graciously release the hostage. The characters should feel as though Venomfang is letting them off easy. Green Dragons, however, never forget a slight against them, and will spend years or even decades to even a score. The party who insulted him shouldn’t fare any differently.

TPK Insurance

Another way of avoiding a TPK involves a little setup. For this, I took some inspiration from a post in the Lost Mines of Phandelver Facebook Group. If I remember it correctly, the post essentially described a magic elixir which the party drank (Likely as a reward for rescuing someone). This elixir essentially has the effect of bringing the party back 10 minutes before making a decision that lead to a TPK. The party would fall to Venomfang and later wake up with an incredible hangover, the elixir bottle which had been half empty now completely empty.

Of course, you don’t have to use the idea of an elixir. The basic premise of TPK insurance is to have set something up so that when the party finds themselves in a dire situation, the DM has a way to get the party out of it that they aren’t aware of.

TPK Insurance: A Foray into the Feywild

I really liked the elixir idea myself and decided to extend it a little further. On the way to Thundertree, the party encounters some Ghouls assaulting a Gnome family. Should the party rescue the family, they are brought in to see the village elders who live in hollows of a massive tree about three times the diameter of the largest tree on earth. The elders give them the sap of the tree to drink as thanks for saving them.

The sap of this sacred tree has the unusual property of transporting a recently deceased soul to a lifesize wooden statue in the feywild. Once imbued with a soul, these wooden statues have the ability to move as though they were flesh and blood. The party wakes up in a workshop full of these statues and are greeted by a fey servant of Baervan Wildwanderer, the god of the forest Gnomes. In order to return to the material plane, the party must find a way to turn their wooden bodies back into flesh. When they return, whoever killed the party will think that they are dead.

I plan to write a more detailed article about the Forest Gnome adventure soon, but I thought I’d share the summarized version as an example.

Don’t let the party off too easily

A TPK is a big deal, and you don’t want the party to get off lightly for it. In the case of the forest gnome adventure, I felt that a few sessions lost in the Feywild felt like a reasonable consequence for whatever unwise decision they choose to make.

In both sessions I’ve run Phandelver, both parties defeated Venomfang. I still have the TPK insurance ready to go, though. It will likely activate at a time that they have completely forgotten about it 😉

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DM Guide: The Orcs of Wyvern Tor

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Brughor Axe-Biter and Shurtak are Here to Shake up the Scene at Wyvern Tor

As DMs, how can we add flavor and depth to make the Orcs of Wyvern Tor more interesting and memorable? Both times I ran Phandelver, I decided not to develop the Wyvern Tor hook and had presented the quest to my players pretty much as written: there’s a notice on the Townmaster hall’s bulletin board with a 100gp reward for vanquishing some random orcs that they’ve never met and don’t care about. In both runs my party felt that the other quests were far more interesting and they never visited Wyvern Tor. Frankly, I can’t blame them.

In writing this guide, I decided to give the orcs a second look. During the course of my research, I realized that the orc leader Brughor Axe-Biter, far from being a slightly beefier orc with 30hp, could become a campaign defining character. By connecting this orc leader with the horde of orcs who had devastated Phandalin and Wave Echo Cave nearly 500 years ago, Brughor has a very strong reason to want to find the Lost Mine: He has a destiny to fulfill.

Brughor Axe-Biter’s Destiny

The one interesting detail the Lost Mines Module gives us is that Brughor hails from the Kingdom of Many Arrows (the module says “tribe” but it really is a kingdom). The Many Arrows is a (relatively for orcs) pacifist kingdom roughly 350 miles northwest from Phandalin. Unlike many orc tribes, they no longer roam from place to places as a horde sacking villages, but have an established capital and have made peace with their neighbors in the Silver Marches. They still, however, regularly fight the Uthgardt (werewolf barbarians who had sacked Conyberry) and occasionally participate in raids farther south for fun and profit.

Brughor Axe-Biter, Scion of Gruumsh, Descendant of Uruth

If we want to keep it simple, we could infer that Brughor is leading raids far from home so that his band can conduct violence without breaking the peace treaty with their neighbors. However, I believe that there is more we can do with Brughor’s story.

Reclaiming his Ancestor’s Legacy

What if, for example, Brughor believes he is the descendant of the legendary war chief Uruth who had laid waste to Phandalin and Wave Echo Cave nearly 500 years ago? A shaman of Gruumsh, let’s call him Shurtak, has had a vision and tells Brughor that he has Uruth’s blood running through his veins and that he is destined to overthrow the weak, peace-loving king of the Many Arrows and lead them to a glorious new age of war and bloodshed–just as the great god of the orcs Gruumsh had intended.

The Hand of Uruth: A Symbol of Gruumsh’s Favor

Shurtak tells Brughor that even though he has the potential to be king, he needs to bring back proof to the orcs of the Many Arrows that he is indeed a Scion of Gruumsh. This proof happens to reside in Wave Echo Cave where Uruth lost his hand in battle.

Finding the Hand of Uruth

Canonically, Uruth didn’t lose his hand in Wave Echo Cave, so everything that follows is homebrew. Essentially Uruth needs to have left something behind that he wouldn’t go back for, so his hand makes perfect sense.

The Prophecy of the Hand

Although the hand meant nothing to Uruth or his tribe once he lost it in battle, it grew in significance during the founding of the Many Arrows Kingdom. The shaman Achtel Gnarlfingers, who opposed the rule of King Obould, the founder of the Many Arrows Kingdom, prophesied that Obould’s descendants would rule the Many Arrows kingdom until a Scion would come to restore the “true way of Gruumsh.” This scion would find the Hand of Uruth, which Gruumsh had infused with “great power” and claim the throne for himself. Generations of the Many Arrows kings have tried searching for the hand to prevent a possible overthrow, but to no avail. Hartusk, the latest challenger to the Obould dynasty throne, had been defeated and killed, and many believed it was because he chose not to seek the hand of Uruth.

Where is the Hand?

There are three logical places for the Hand of Uruth to exist, depending on where the players go in Wave Echo Cave. The first is Area #9 where the majority of the ghouls are currently located. Every time they bite into the hand, the wounds in the hand reknit and cause necrotic damage. Thus the ghouls have learned to give the hand a wide berth.

The other possibilities are in area #19 among the possessions of Nezznar and in area #14 among the possessions of Mormensk the wraith. Both Nezznar and Mormensk would understand that the Hand is a powerful magical artifact and would want to keep it for study and possible use.

A Horrific Scrying Ritual

How would Brughor find the Hand of Uruth? To me, a scrying ritual where the orcs have to commit unspeakably horrific deeds in order to gather the ingredients makes sense. Brughor isn’t raiding along the Triboar Trail just to loot. Shurtak, Brughor’s shaman advisor tells him that he needs the right hands of 33 common folk combined with drop of blood from a descendant of Uruth. The hands would be placed in a circle, their wrists buried in the ground around a cauldron. Upon the surface of the water of the cauldron Bhrugor would contribute his own blood to complete the ritual, and be granted the location of the hand.

Since most of the content in Lost Mines is PG-13, it may be worth mentioning to your group that you’ll be introducing some R-rated horror elements if you choose to use this ritual. In case this is too graphic for some folk, you can scale it back so that the Orcs have potential sacrifices held captive until the ritual was ready–implements nearby prisoner cages would suggest that the prisoners are being kept for a live sacrifice.

This ritual can certainly lead into some more compelling plot hooks (discussed below). Should the party be on the Triboar Trail in pursuit of Hamun Kost or Agatha the Banshee they may run across some of the victims of the Orcs, their right hands removed.

Properties of the Hand of Uruth

Uruth was essentially a paladin of Gruumsh, and as such his flesh already had some minor magical properties. Because the weave was strong in Wave Echo Cave, Gruumsh could connect with the hand more easily, and over the centuries he imbued it with more and more of his divine power.

The Hand of Uruth is a unique wondrous item which has the following properties:

  • Requires Attunement
  • Like many magical items, it’s resistant to damage. The hand of Uruth can burn and bleed but will always heal very quickly. Very powerful magic could destroy it.
  • The possessor of the Hand of Uruth can cast the Thaumaturgy cantrip at will.
  • Orcs or half-orcs who possess the hand have advantage on persuasion and intimidation checks against orcs.
  • “Warrior of Gruumsh” – Once a day, an orc or half-orc can use the hand to call forth the great orc horde leaders of the past (led by Uruth) who will fight on their behalf. This essentially has the same effect as the spirit guardians spell. If you want to make this even more powerful, you could have this power summon 2-3 revenants in the forms of great long dead orc warriors.
  • When “Warrior of Gruumsh” is activated, in addition to the hand granting advantage on persuasion and intimidation ability checks against orcs, orcs will suffer a -5 to any ability check they make contesting the holder of the hand of Uruth’s persuasion or intimidation checks.

While the Hand of Uruth isn’t very useful for most PCs, should an orc like Brughor get his hands on it, he’d quickly take leadership of the Many Arrows Kingdom, unite the disparate orc tribes and we’d have an orc uprising that the Sword Coast hasn’t seen for 500 years. Bad times to not be an orc.

Quest Hooks for Wyvern Tor

The quest hooks we are given for Wyvern Tor are from a bulletin board notice in front of the Phandalin Townmaster’s Hall with a reward for 100gp1 and from Hamun Kost who offers to answer some of the party’s questions should they get rid of the orcs pestering him at Old Owl Well2.

It’s tempting to change these quest hooks to make them more urgent. I saw a YouTube video which suggests that the orcs kidnapped the daughter of Harbin Wester, Ophelia Wester. This would explain why Wester is more interested in the Orcs than the more immediate problem of the redbrands. However, I already have a plot hook where sister Gaerele goes missing investigating Hamun Kost, so for me another missing person quest seems a bit redundant.

Modifying the Bulletin Board Hook

The bulletin board idea actually may be more compelling if we change the details of the request. For example, what if no one knows that the raids on the Triboar trail are orcs? Instead, travelers have found trading wagons ransacked and merchants dead with their right hands cut off for the dark scrying ritual mentioned above? Then the quest becomes more than a kill quest, it becomes a mystery that the party needs to solve. So far, no one has learned who is behind the raids, but party members can investigate the scene(s) of the crime and perhaps find clues as to who is behind the raids. Even if the party decides not to take Harbin Wester up on the Orc quest, they will run across the devastation the Orcs have left behind on the Triboar Trail.

Additional Phandalin Hooks

When the Party visits Barthen’s provisions they will notice that the shelves are sparse. Should the party asks about it, Barthen will mention the goblin raids to the north cutting off supplies from Neverwinter and the mysterious raids (with the missing hands) cutting off supplies from the Triboar trail.

“Raids I understand!” says Barthen, “But hands? Who cuts off hands?? I told old Harbin about it and he put up quite the reward, but no one has taken up the offer. I guess they value their lives more. Don’t blame ’em”

The lack of shipments have affected the Stonehill inn as well. Ale is overpriced as they’re running low. Cider is cheapest since it comes straight from Edermath’s orchard.

Players who visit the Lionshield Coster will notice a similar lack of goods on the shelves. When asking Linene Graywind about the lack of goods. She’s already missing the one shipment from the Goblins and she is hesitant to call for a shipment from Triboar because of the raids.

The Hamun Kost Hook

The Hamun Kost Hook can work as is. However, there should be details around Old Owl Well that would signify this had been an orc outpost for quite some time. Also, Kost may have had his familiar spy on the orcs while they were snooping around and picked up some details about them. He may suggest Wyvern Tor as their hideout as well since he has studied the region rather thoroughly.

Wave Echo Cave Encounter

If the party decides to leave the orcs alone, they will have reached Wave Echo Cave before the party. I think the it makes sense for them to be engaged in combat with the Ghouls in Area #9, because this is where the hand happens to be. The party can stealth and leave the orcs alone as the Brughor picks up of the Hand of Uruth. Should they do that, there will likely be dire consequences in a future campaign.

Approaching Wyvern Tor

When the party approaches Wyvern Tor, it should be clear that these are no ordinary marauding orcs. This is what the party sees:

Placed in a circle around a cauldron are hands partially buried in the ground, sticking straight up. An orc dressed in red robes with a single eye painted on the back chants in front of the circle as the sky starts turning a deep blood red.

To give the sense of a larger band, you could some of Brughor’s henchmen go out on a raid. If the party decides not to move, the ritual commences:

A very large orc in bone armor steps up to the cauldron and makes an incision across his palm with a ritual dagger. In that moment all the hands around the cauldon rot, decay, and turn to dust. The dust turns black, and swirls in the air before surging towards the surface of the water in the cauldron. It boils black and red. The orc in robes nods while the large orc reaches inside the boiling water, grimacing against the pain and pulls out a skeletal arm, red and black. With a howl of triumph the large orc throws it on the ground, and it slowly turns toward the west…

The orc in robes is Shurtak, priest of Gruumsh. The large orc in the bone armor is Brughor. The skeletal arm is pointing toward Wave Echo Cave.

Building the Wyvern Tor Combat Encounter

There isn’t a particularly good Orc Shaman stat block out there for lower levels. The Eye of Gruumsh is fun, though a little overpowered. The Death Priest from the NPC Statblock Compendium developed by /u/gaylordqueen69 on reddit I think is a good choice. Just do a text search for “Death Priest” on the pdf and it should pop up. It’s recommended that you use Kobold Fight Club to adjust the encounter. The encounter is originally structured to be deadly, with the possibility of a TPK if the party approaches the situation unwisely. However, since the orcs are preoccupied with the ritual they may overlook party members sneaking up on them. A surprise round with some early spells released is likely the way to go.

In terms of Orc Tactics in battle, I really must bow down to Keith Amman’s brilliant writeup on Orcs from his excellent site on D&D Monster tactics, The Monsters Know What they’re Doing. Read that twice and you should be good to go. There is also a second orc article from Keith, based on insights from Volo’s Guide to Monsters, although these focus mostly on orcs with abilities that might be too much for a lower level party. Do consider including them, however, if the party meets the orcs in Wave Echo Cave.

Roleplaying the Orcs

Since the party may succeed in eavesdropping on the orcs or perhaps even be captured by them, it’s worth fleshing them out a bit. Consider giving each of the orcs a name and a one sentence personality. Below are some ideas about Brughor and Shurtak.

Brughor Axe-Biter

Brughor Axe-Biter is extremely cunning and intelligent for an orc. He can read and write and speaks common with an above average vocabulary. He has an above average intelligence (12) and wisdom (12), which means he’s practically a genius for an orc. Role play him as such. Although he may speak gruffly, as do most orcs, inject a little eloquence to take the PCs off guard. He doesn’t seem to listen to many of the other orcs except for Shurtak.

Shurtak

Shurtak absolutely loathes the peace loving ways of the Many Arrows Kingdom. For years he has prayed to Gruumsh to find a way to overthrow the current king. Eventually he was granted a vision of Brughor as a leader of great hordes and as a descendant of Uruth. Shurtak sought Brughor out, convinced him of his birthright, and helped him quietly build a small band of followers. He was the one who suggested that Brughor seek the hand of Uruth, since Hartusk, the last war chief who rebelled against the king failed without it. Shurtak is very protective of Brughor and treats him like a son.

Further Reading/Watching

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DM Guide: Hamun Kost and Old Owl Well

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The first we hear of the Thayan red wizard Hamun Kost’s activity is through Daran Edermath, a member of the Order of the Gauntlet who has retired from his adventuring life in favor of making cider in Phandalin. Apparently there has been some “undead chasing away prospectors” near Old Owl Well and he wants the party to investigate it. According to the module, “Daran knows that the that the ruins are an old watchtower of an ancient magic empire known as Netheril, and he worries that dangerous magic might be dormant there.”1

Plot Hook: Sister Garaele is Missing!

When I ran through Lost Mines as a player, our DM never mentioned the Old Owl Well quest to us, even though we met Daran Edermath, and after I had read the module, I can see why. First off, Phandalin is beset by the more urgent problem of the Redbrand Menace. Second, all the Daran offers the party in terms of a quest hook is “rumors of undead” and “ancient magical ruins”. While the mention of magical ruins might be enough for adventurers hungry for magical items, for most parties it doesn’t seem more compelling than the main storyline.

If Sister Garaele, the devout cleric and friend of Edermath (I assume so since they’re neighbors) went missing while looking into the activity at Old Owl Well, however, then we have a whole new level of urgency. In both runs I did of Phandelver the party took a vote to decide whether to go after Garaele or the Redbrands first.

Here’s a link to the article about the Sister Garaele plot hook: http://cros.land/2019/09/old-owl-well-agatha-plot-hook-sister-garaele-is-missing/. Since this hook is intertwined with the Agatha the Banshee quest given by Sister Garaele, I created a separate article for it.

TL;DR for the above article:

  • Sister Garaele’s Harper superiors are worried about Hamun Kost’s activity in the region
  • Sister Garaele goes to investigate and Hamun Kost gets the drop on her
  • The party can pursue several clues to determine that she had went to Old Owl Well (clues provided in above article)

How Would Hamun Kost Deal With Sister Garaele?

To me, Hamun Kost’s main motivation is the completion of his research and Sister Garaele is an impediment to it. He’s trying to keep a low profile and he knows that he can’t just let her go. However, he’s not saturday morning cartoon villain evil either, so he’s keeping her tied up until he can decide what to do with. Most likely he will let her go after his research is done. He may even return to Thay after he gets what he wants from the Well.

Hamun Kost’s Quests

When the party visits Kost, they’ll likely confront him about Garaele (both my parties did). Should the party kill off the orcs of Wyvern Tor or successfully parley with Agatha on Kost’s behalf, he’ll let Garaele go free. He may want some assurances from the party that they won’t interrupt with his research after he lets Garaele go, so a few persuasion checks may be involved.

Vanquishing the Orcs of Wyvern Tor

This seems like a pretty straightforward quest for the party. Since orcs have occupied Old Owl Well many times over the ages, it makes sense that the Orcs of Wyvern Tor have used Old Owl Well as a temporary outpost with plans of reclaiming the glory of the 600 strong orc tribe that made the Well their home over 100 years ago. It’s clear that they would consider Old Owl Well their territory, and perhaps have already made some incursions. See this article on the Wyvern Tor Orcs for more background.

Questions for Agatha the Banshee

Although I had originally thought Hamun Kost’s question about who built the tower at Old Owl Well was a useless trivia question, I realized the answer could prove a of great value to a scholar like Hamun Kost. Hamun Kost knows that Old Owl Well was a Netherese outpost, but knowing just who built it could lead to more clues about the place. If Hamun Kost knew the builder of the well, he could focus his studies to just one or two books in the 15 volume history of Netheril he carries around with him.

However, this might not be as interesting as other possible questions. Hamun Kost may, for example, have uncovered one of the entrances to the complex already, but needs to know the answer to a riddle to open it. So the question might be something like: “What is the motto of the Netherese family [insert family name here]?” This may give the party a small hint that there is something more to Old Owl Well than they think. Not only that, but should they revisit the Well later, they would know the password which opens the doors to whatever lies beneath the Well.

It’s also possible that Hamun Kost may want to know the location of an important magical item. Depending on how you play him, he could be arrogant and unwise enough to give this question to the party. This might be even more likely if they earn his trust.

Hamun Kost’s Backstory and Motivation

Since Old Owl Well happens to be an outpost from the massively powerful ancient magical empire of Netheril and because the Red Wizards of Thay are a Nation ruled by power hungry evil wizards who happen to use the undead as slaves, it’s not hard to deduce that Hamun Kost is after magical power himself, either in the form of long-buried magical items or long-forgotten magical knowledge. It’s not clear, however, if Hamun Kost is after something specific or after magic power in general. This is where the DM’s creativity can come into play.

Hamun Kost, the Rebel

In Tyranny of Dragons, there’s a splinter group that seeks to ally itself with the Cult of the Dragon, summon the god Tiamat, and with Tiamat’s aid overthrow Szass Tam, the current lich ruler of Thay. It makes sense that Hamun Kost would be allied with this group in search of powerful artifacts that may aid the Cult in its goals.

However, this splinter group doesn’t necessarily have to be allied with the Cult of the Dragon. Indeed you can easily replace the Cult of the Dragon with any other nefarious group that happens to be the focus of whatever campaign you choose to run after Lost Mines. To me, this opportunity feels too delicious to pass up. In some future session, characters could potentially travel to Thay to meet with the lich Szass Tam’s inner circle and forge an uneasy alliance against this mutual threat some time down the road.

Hamun Kost, the Arrogant Buffoon

I find it amusing that Hamun Kost chose to travel alone to Old Owl Well and decided to keep his rather ostentatious red wizard garb, especially in a land that would treat red wizards with suspicion. Not only that, but he sets up a bright vermillion tent in the middle of nowhere and raises a whole bunch of zombies to do excavation work. For someone who wants to keep a low profile, he’s not doing a great job.

To me, this can be easily explained both by the arrogance of the red wizards (they believe they can go where they please without hiding) as well as the fact that Hamun Kost is oblivious to anything not pertaining to his beloved research–very much like an absent minded professor. Hamun Kost will likely be preoccupied and want to get the adventurers out of his hair as soon as possible.

What is Hamun Kost Looking For?

According to Forgotten Realms lore, it turns out that beneath Old Owl Well there was a vault full of chardalyn, priceless gems that could hold spells indefinitely. These gems could be used for epic spells that the Netherese had been known to cast:

The Netherese could:

These epic 10th level spells can no longer be cast because reasons. However, learning the secrets behind these spells could lead to creation of new 9th level spells with similar though lesser effects. Furthermore, there may be a magical item or chardalyn left behind with a single charge of one of these spells left in them. If a Hamun Kost and his allies got their hands on this item, Faerûn is going to have a bad time.

Since chardalyn seem to be an essential component for these epic spells it follows that a powerful arcanist may have wanted to set up a secret stronghold where there happen to be large amounts of these gems. This is a prime opportunity for to insert a dungeon. In fact I plan on creating a dungeon for my players, so stay tuned!

What Does Hamun Kost Know?

Old Owl Well has a long history of being occupied by various powers, so if Hamun Kost is after magical power, he has to be in possession of some knowledge about this place that others who came searching for it did not have. Perhaps when players enter Kost’s tent they see a large stack of books written in Thayan on the history of Netheril. Somewhere in this mountain of books Hamun Kost found mention of an underground complex in the form of an ancient vault (or laboratory or temple or library etc) and thus he has sent his zombies digging in search of it.

Since this underground complex was built by a mega-powerful magic empire, it may make sense for the party to revisit the area beneath Old Owl Well when they reach a higher level. If left alone, I imagine that Hamun Kost would spend several more weeks digging until he found the entrance to the the complex beneath the Well. Eventually, he would be chased away by the magical construct guardians the Netherese left behind. Perhaps later, Hamun Kost would manage to recruit some adventurers, fellow Red Wizards or evil allies like the Cultists in Tyranny of Dragons (or your minions of choice) to aid him with further excavation of the vault. The party would catch wind of this through various clues, and revisit the well.

Old Owl Well History (Cliffs Notes Version)

The ideas above have taken some liberties with Forgotten Realms lore and history, so I thought it might be good to provide a cliffs notes version of the actual history of Old Owl Well so that DMs can get a little more background.

Who Built The Well?

Old Owl Well is an old outpost built by the Netherese, an ancient civilization so advanced in their command of magic that they could, as mentioned above, literally uproot a mountain and make it float in mid air. The Netherese drilled a hole five miles deep as well as a complicating piping system so that the well in the courtyard supplies fresh water to this day.

Why Was Old Owl Well Built?

The Netherese built the well under the direction of a mysterious Sarrukh (powerful ancient lizard race) named Arthindol. Arthindol was a shapeshifter, lich, and powerful mage who took the form of a human and as far as I can tell, the Netherese didn’t know about Arthindol’s true form. Arthindol had been dubbed the “Terraseer” for his ability to see events happening everywhere in the world. Ostensibly, Arthindol set up the well and watchtower to spy on some nearby elves and to supply trade in the area.

A Vault of Magic Gems

This appears to be a cover story, however. What the Terraseer was really after was an ancient vault left over by a Sarrukh empire that was ancient even when Netheril existed. This vault was filled with valuable chardalyn gems which had the ability to store magic spells. Arthindol wasn’t the only one after these gems, as the area had been protected by over 3000 owlbears that evil deepspawn had created. Eventually, the Netherese slaughtered the owlbears and the deepspawn. The gems (probably not all of them) were secured and from then on the outpost became known as Old Owl Well in honor of the dead owlbears.

Personally, I don’t find the Sarrukh or deepspawn very compelling, so instead of a Sarrukh vault, I like the idea that there’s a natural deposit of chardalyn under the well. That way the story is more focused on the Netherese and their arcanists and is not muddied by details about the Sarrukh.

What Happened to the Well After the Fall of Netheril?

Because the well was an endless source of fresh water, and because there wasn’t another reliable water source in miles, various powers have vied for possession of the well over the ages after Netheril fell. The last power to occupy the well were soldiers of Neverwinter. My guess is that after Neverwinter was destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Hotenow, nobody was around to pay the soldiers and they disbanded, leaving the ruins unoccupied except for the occasional roving band of orcs that made camp there.

If we’re going to be true to the lore of the Well, the description of a crumbling watchtower with a courtyard could use a little more work. There should be evidence of the many civilizations who had made this place their outpost. The Well, could, for example be surrounded by crumbling stone wall of various architectural styles. The latest defenses by the Neverwinter soldiers, perhaps some hastily set up stockades, still remain in fragments, and since orcs (perhaps the orcs of Wyvern Tor?) have made camp here in the past, perhaps there are crude shrines left behind to the God Gruumsh as well as graffiti of the Wyvern Tor orcs on the stone walls.

Further Reading/Watching

Looking for more? Check out other articles from the Lost Mines of Phandelver Guide!