Red Box DM: Preparing Session 2

By some unfortunate circumstances, not all of the regular players can make tonight’s Dungeons & Dragons game.

Those who can come have asked me to run some more of the Red Box adventure we started last session – this is a kind of bitter-sweet moment because although bad stuff means no D&D5e game, it also means I get to develop my Red Box skills further.

With both this session and the knowledge that, from Tuesday, I am also running the Red Box material for the school hobby club, I have prepared above and beyond that required by the Basic Set. That means I have been delving into the 1983 Expert Rulebook too, mostly to begin the process of creating a context for the adventure.

Step One: Monster Cards

The first thing I wanted to improve from the first session was the way I handled the monsters. In short, it was necessary to flip between three or four locations in the Dungeon Master’s Rulebook during play; this was annoying and slowed me down.

To help out, I’ve created a collection of Monster Cards. These are summary cards which contain the standard stat block from the game, but also add the Saving Throw numbers and the To Hit numbers for quick reference. Here’s an example:

With these Monster Cards to hand, it should be a lot quicker and easier to run the monsters because I’ll not need to page-flip around. Using Avery Correspondence Cards printed off at home, I’ve been able to efficiently produce cards for all the monsters in the adventure so far.

Step Two: Hex-a-Sketch

Last session, on returning from Castle Mistamere, the players started to ask questions about what was available in town. Before I worked up a plan for the village, I decided to do the Expert thing and create a hex map of the area… albeit a tiny zone around the settlement.

For this, I used the advice from the Welsh Piper’s blog on hex mapping and combined it with the tools found in Richard LeBlanc’s excellent “d30 Sandbox Companion“. In short, I sketched out a single 6-mile hex map and placed Castle Mistamere in relation to the village of Woodfell.

Here’s the sketch:

Step Three: Village Design

In the fells between the Mistamere Woods and the Mistamere Mountains lies the village of Woodfell. Grown up from a group of woodcutters and farmers, the village is a secluded outpost on the edge of human lands. The road south leads to the market town of Wolfsbane Hollow. Westwards lies the Elf-land of Mistamere Woods, a vast evergreen forest wherein live many horrors and beauties; the road west is kept safe by the Elven traders from Eallesund who travel east along the road towards the Dwarven hold of Kholm. Just three miles north of the village is the ruined Castle Mistamere, the hold of the wizard Gygar who once ruled the lands hereabouts. Since the fall of the Old Empire, however, the village and her ancient castle have been largely forgotten by most of the men southwards.

Being fundamentally lazy, I brought together a few resources to create the village of Woodfell. This included finding a map, stocking the map, and naming local characters.

First, I grabbed an excellent map from the Raging Swan product line. If you’ve not come across these guys, they produce stuff for Pathfinder… and also a fair few system neutral versions too. Woodfell simply needed a map, so I grabbed this one:

From here, I stocked the village by using the resources in the aforementioned “d30 Sandbox Companion“, which has a table to determine what type of shops and services are in any given settlement. I also used the resource to help me determine some details on pricing and availability of local items.

Each village location ended up with a brief summary, like this example:

Sven’s Smithy

Sven’s shop is a dusty affair, covered in the accumulated debris from the forge where the smith spends most of his time. He carries an average stock of weapons, although the range of armour is much more limited. He’ll direct customers with Brimir’s smithy for general metalwork and arrows.

All items are sold at 100% of standard price. Weapons: d30 C20 U6 R1; Armour: d30 C5 U1 R(10).

Sven will sell to PCs if he has something in stock, and will point them elsewhere if not (usually towards Wolfsbane Hollow). Will only barter for in-stock items. He’s hospitable (+1 Reaction Mod) and will barter down to 95% of standard price.

For characters, I simply Googled for some Nordic (for humans) or Russian (for Dwarfs) names and let the muse take me for the details.

For a couple of hours of effort, I’ve got a pretty nicely fleshed-out “home town” and a couple of miles in every direction sketched out.

Game on!