Edit: I'm planning to make this into a series. My improvised plan of controlling characters whose players are absent is working well so far; we can probably maintain a more consistent schedule this way.
This blog post is, by extension, part of his gift so happy birthday, Aby! Thanks for sticking with me even despite how busy our lives are!
Since I admittedly haven't been writing a lot of blog posts, especially those about my friends, let me introduce you to each of them who participated in my game plus myself:
- I am LunaticTactician or LT, their Dungeon Master. Since video games form such a core part of my identity, many of my actions are heavily influenced by gaming, including but not limited to combat design and storytelling.
Since my players agreed to it in our previous games, I'm also playing a Dungeon Master Player Character (DMPC) of the same name. He's a human rogue who specializes in scouting, strategy, tactics, theft, and melee combat. He often tries to think calmly and rationally and has a respectful attitude but has a hidden bloodthirsty and hot-headed side. - Alevius (her fictional self's name) is a recent friend I made; an American girl who shares a lot of the same levels of interest as me: we mainly discuss the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and Genshin Impact. We're both INTPs. We worked on a recent project: a Genshin MBTI spreadsheet which I turned into a blog post. She's a D&D veteran who regularly plays and DMs for her family.
I invited her for the first time to D&D with my old Minecraft friends since I often talked about them with her. Also, I admit when I invite people, I kinda sound like a stereotypical social extrovert.
She's playing a forest gnome artificer. To distinguish her from the real person, I will call this character Gnome Alevius. Her goal is to make a living off of selling magic items and potions but she's struggling with selling her wares and believes adventuring will help promote her business. Although normally blunt, she intensely respects curiosity and knowledge in both herself and others. - Glacie, also known in some previous blog posts as NachoPizza, is my Singaporean friend. Although we got started knowing each other in Minecraft, we later noticed that we had some common interests including Pokémon—these two were our main conversation topics when my family took a trip to Singapore. Much later, we also became fellow Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail players—he regularly shows me his big PP DMG showcases, mommy pulls, and fan fiction.
He plays a female wood elf ranger named Glacia de Koud. (Notice the one-letter difference to avoid confusion as you read; I will simply refer to her as "Glacia".) To be honest, I don't know a lot about her personality since Glacie didn't communicate a lot during our games but I'll discuss things further with him. - Aby, known in previous posts as BoltOLightnin, is our honorary birthday celebrant. He was inspired by me to run his own blog...and boy, does it get philosophical with topics like the abortion debate. He even published his own book.
Ever since I taught him how to play D&D, he's grown to like the hobby, watching D&D games in his spare time. He is no stranger to roleplay.
He plays Telnior, a human Divine Soul sorcerer, to strike a balance between his preference for spell mastery and a little bit of variety with healing spells. He likely wanted to recreate the sheer versatility and power of some video game mages. As befitting of his celestial powers, he is generally polite and respectful to most people he talks to and is more than willing to help but he has an occasionally sharp tongue, especially to YoSquid below. - YoSquid started off as my younger brother's elementary school friend but he became my first official friend when I turned 14 years old. He lives in my barangay (village) about half a mile from my house. As the only friend that Mom and Dad allow me to physically visit, I take full advantage as we play split-screen games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate...and boy, despite also being an INTP, he destroys me with his speed.
He plays an eladrin fighter of the same name who specializes in Dexterity and bows; true enough, in Minecraft, the real YoSquid is also a master of the bow. As the party's jokester, the eladrin YoSquid is honestly the most memorable character to me—his jokes generally involve stealing from pretty much anyone and modern stuff like anime and high tech. (Funny enough, he's much more of a kleptomaniac than LT the rogue.)
Scheduling Conflicts
I chose to start the session on Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 12:00 PM GMT+8 because:
- Even if I woke up a little later than my normally scheduled 11:00 AM, I would still have time to prepare. I would be in my family store at that point and we barely get any customers so I would hit two birds with one stone: help my mom and play with my friends.
- In case Alevius comes home late (e.g. at midnight) from her part-time work, she'll also have time to prepare.
- Saturdays are generally the most convenient time to have fun. No school and no work for some students. With some exceptions, Christians spend Sundays, not Saturdays, at church.
But, as disappointing as it is, I am unsurprised at this point that at least one member wouldn't be able to make it; Aby had a face-to-face exam on that day and announced his return at 2:24 PM; about an hour after the end of our session.
So my solution to that was to temporarily take control of Telnior but limit him to a supporting role and make him speak as little as possible so I avoid saying things that Aby wouldn't consider "canon". I have a naturally academic, aggressive, or silly way of speaking which may conflict with Telnior's more calm and respectful personality.
Summary of the Previous Adventure
We're continuing from the very beginning of the official Starter Set adventure Lost Mine of Phandelver. The party had just arrived in Phandalin with a wagon full of supplies to be delivered after surviving a goblin ambush.
I hadn't met Alevius at the time and recently introduced Glacie to D&D so the party was made up of Glacia, LT, Telnior, and YoSquid.
Along the Triboar Trail, three goblins (I deliberately reduced them from four to make it easier for Glacie to get used to the combat) suddenly emerged from bushes to attack the party.
Telnior started by asking for a compromise...with a human sacrifice (he meant a goblin sacrifice).
YoSquid joined along by...playing Exodia the Forbidden One, the card from Yu-Gi-Oh! that requires separate cards for each of its four body parts for the player to auto-win the game. As such, I made one of the goblins a TCG addict to play along.
YoSquid joined along by...playing Exodia the Forbidden One, the card from Yu-Gi-Oh! that requires separate cards for each of its four body parts for the player to auto-win the game. As such, I made one of the goblins a TCG addict to play along.
Long anime-related banter from YoSquid later, the goblins attack. Glacia and Telnior instantly kill one goblin each almost effortlessly with lucky attack rolls. Alone and afraid, the TCG-addicted goblin surrendered, got captured by the party, and informed them about its boss.
LT suggested to the party that they finish delivering their cargo first as it would slow down the party and likely invite more ambushes. As such, they went to their destination: the town of Phandalin.
Current Adventure: Staying at the Stonehill Inn and Meeting Gnome Alevius
"Let's Take a Rest!"
Not gonna lie, I completely forgot that there was an NPC accompanying the party, Sildar Hallwinter. He did absolutely nothing in the previous session—it was as if he didn't exist at all. (At least I put the focus on the other players.) This time, I gave him a tiny bit of relevance by encouraging the party to stay at the local inn.
Strangely, no one talked for 15 minutes. I had to step in and move the story forward, especially in case the other players got bored or I suddenly got forced to stop the game by circumstances outside my control, so I had LT ask a woman for directions to the inn. I then immediately moved the party to the Stonehill Inn.
Strangely, no one talked for 15 minutes. I had to step in and move the story forward, especially in case the other players got bored or I suddenly got forced to stop the game by circumstances outside my control, so I had LT ask a woman for directions to the inn. I then immediately moved the party to the Stonehill Inn.
I don't know what YoSquid was up to—either he was waiting for someone to talk or he was enjoying his lunch in real life—but Glacie later told me that he missed D&D because of an event. He only talked shortly before we talked to a certain very special inn patron...
Inside the Inn's Common Room
In addition to copy-pasting the official text describing the Stonehill Inn's common room, I specifically pointed out Gnome Alevius's presence as follows:
To the left, you can see a small girl in a wizard-like hat seemingly tinkering with machines silently. Her eyes are fixated and focused but her back is a bit arched.
Since this was Alevius's first session with us but not at the very start of the campaign, I didn't want to introduce her gnome character like how new player characters are introduced: just appearing out of nowhere. I was heavily inspired by Baldur's Gate 3 when I made this social encounter; in that game, the player starts out alone having just escaped from a mind flayer "prison" and rescues other adventurers within the first few minutes of the game, eventually forming a shared goal to get rid of the mind flayer tadpoles inside their heads.
This is also why Alevius did not talk while the other four party members were on their way to the inn.
I described Gnome Alevius with more detail than the other patrons as well as the innkeeper on purpose to pull the rest of the party into approaching their potential new companion. Sure enough, they went for the girl with the machinery.
YoSquid initially joked that he wanted to steal from Gnome Alevius but thankfully, he did not say that in-character. Though the jokester elf was rather direct with his greeting of "Hello, young woman! What are you doing?", I'm impressed that he showed a little bit of curiosity, especially with his next statement: "I don't mind. I am curious, it seems interesting."
Alevius wrote in reply:
The small tinkerer begins to explain her inventions to YoSquid in jargon that's a bit too complex to make sense of. It seems...she's just making a small moving machine, maybe? Bits and pieces of junk are scattered all over the table with one book shoved off in the corner.
The small tinkerer begins to explain her inventions to YoSquid in jargon that's a bit too complex to make sense of. It seems...she's just making a small moving machine, maybe? Bits and pieces of junk are scattered all over the table with one book shoved off in the corner.
Yeah, Gnome Alevius is a mega nerd. Well done, YoSquid, for exploiting a trait that our new party member likes!
I...started having LT hog the conversation at this point by asking a bunch of questions to Gnome Alevius about things related to her work like why she's in the inn, what she sells, and why she's making her machine.
At the same time, since no one was asking their own questions, I had Telnior buy a large room using LT's money and led the rest of the group upstairs (I imagine Stonehill Inn to have a second floor) using both LT's advice and the TCG-addicted goblin complaining about boredom. I thought that maybe the party was uninterested in this conversation. In other words, it's like splitting the party but for social situations in a small, harmless area.
Since I imagined Gnome Alevius had been in Phandalin for several days at least, I privately messaged Alevius, saying that she knew a rumor that there were orcs on the Triboar Trail. I did it by rolling a d6 and replacing one of the official NPCs with Gnome Alevius and the corresponding rumor; in this case, a miner named Lanar was replaced.
I love how Gnome Alevius explained this rumor. "I'm actually trying to create an invention to scare off orcs. There's some at the east end of the Triboar Trail which is a problem both for the townsfolk and for my own traveling." This way, we not only got a new beginner-level quest for the party to practice with but Alevius also tied this rumor to her own character, leading to some potentially interesting development. Keeping orcs away long-term can be better than constantly hunting or defending against them with traditional weapons and offensive spells.
I completely forgot to formally introduce LT and the party to Gnome Alevius but thankfully, she introduced herself first so I remembered. Although the real Alevius knows my friends and their characters to some extent thanks to my prior explanations, I had LT summarize my friends' characters to Gnome Alevius for roleplay purposes.
Once Gnome Alevius learned from LT that they're adventurers, one of whom is a lockpicker (LT) which piqued her interest, she officially joined the party.
"Hotel Room" Card Chaos
Since Gnome Alevius preferred to sleep inside her backpack and did not rent a room, LT felt like being nice and tried to sneak Gnome Alevius into the room Telnior just rented. Upon getting a 14 on a Stealth check, LT carried the backpack with Gnome Alevius inside it and walked naturally while using the inn patrons as cover in Assassin's Creed style.As the two nerds walked into their newly rented room, it was rowdy. The goblin was beating YoSquid in Genius Invokation TCG. The conversation went as follows:
You hear a goblin's excited screech.
"HAHAHAHAHA! My plan's in motion! With my Plunging Strike card, I swap to my Kazuha and Swirl Electro! What are you going to do now, squid face?"
"Uhhhhh, I use the unstoppable Exodia!" YoSquid said.
"You literally have only one part of Exodia, you moron! Don't you have a Pot of Greed or something?" the goblin remarked.
"Why would you build a deck around Exodia?" LT said.
"I have all the pieces! Right here!" *YoSquid pulls up several Exodia cards up his sleeves*
"NO! YOU'RE CHEATING! IT CAN'T BE! HOW CAN YOU HAVE ALL THE PIECES IN YOUR HAND ALL ALONG!?" the goblin huffed and puffed as if it was about to die.
The wild GOBLIN was sent to the SHADOW REALM!
Nah, the goblin just fainted. It'll wake back up.
Alevius reacted, "Did I just witness a squid cheat and a goblin faint over cards? I question myself as I sit in the backpack."
"Don't worry. That's typical YoSquid behavior. You'll get used to his over-the-top attitude. He can be useful at times," LT said calmly.
Miscommunication Mishap
It was at this point when YoSquid beat the goblin with Exodia that I suddenly got told by my mom that we were immediately leaving to go to my new house to inspect a ceiling leak and to keep an eye on the technician who was fixing our Wi-Fi which was unavailable for weeks. As such, I abruptly ended the game. It lasted 1 hour.
I misinterpreted something that Mom said in advance: "Have you eaten? We will go to your new house after we purchase new stock for the store." Since I was used to her and Dad going without me and Dad was accompanying her, I thought, with the "we" pronoun, she meant she would go with just Dad as usual while I stayed home. She was mad at how woefully unprepared I was so I prepared my things in a panic. As usual, I sulked because I have a strong impression of my mom being closed-minded, especially when angry, and she always somehow has a way to refute my points so I saw no point in even trying to debate her.
I wish she said something along the lines of "prepare yourself" or "you and I will go" to make it clearer. As an intuitive type, I am admittedly too quick to jump to conclusions.
