Dice Friends - Murder On The Semolo Plateau Ep1

We start an all-new Dice Friends campaign in the same universe. While others were out adventuring, there's been a murder on the Semolo Plateau, can the trusty militia solve the case before the culprit strikes again?
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[@ardinhelme687]

"By mildly modified I mean whenever I make a mistake that's a house rule" Golden.

[@gnyrinn]

Ardin Helma I may well write this quote on the inside cover of a DM guide I'm planning on giving to a relative in the near future.

[@empath69]

Heck, Wizards should use that as a reference in their 'how to DM' materials (I remember reading similar sections in older versions of the DMG that essentially reminded prospective DMs that 'all these rules are provided as *aids* to you in organizing a fun experience for you and your friends - if any of them get in the way of a good time, overrule them')

[@rachelrainbowphoenix]

Officially my new DM mantra

[@HayabusaTaichou]

I like that Kathleen's now the one being exasperated by someone else's careless character.

[@HSDclover]

It's clearly that chair. It shall be forever known as the chair of frustration.

[@theodorkipen4069]

That opening was amazing! Hats off to Cam!

[@HSDclover]

The last time a DM had us start in medias res, I failed the initial roll of a acrobatics to survive jumping out of a window to avoid an explosion and died.

[@Eramiserasmus]

HSDclover Last time it happened to me, the party in the D&D equivalent of the Water Temple from Legend of Zelda. While grapple-fighting a giant squid.

[@michellee1190]

So I know this was posted around/over a year ago but I just want to say that “omnipresent anime cicada noise” is a very real thing. I can be in my most central room of my apartment, the one that shares no walls with the exterior, and I CAN STILL HEAR THEM. It is... maddening.

[@tylerplatt2350]

That ending and beginning cam.... jeez i'm going to lose so much sleep rewatching this series

[@Ratty992]

Cam is a fantastic storyteller, I'm loving this already. Great work Cam!

[@leeshajoi]

So is the pteranadon named Tony or Ptony?

[@Zara-Bari]

Depends on who you ask, I expect. Names seem to be rather fluid around here.

[@EffinChat]

"Yes"

[@drawkward234]

Ptoknee

[@kevinlemley5962]

Kathleen's continued joy at the thought of having stolen the leg is great

[@Type_One___]

Mayor: *Puts hand on Rigen's shoulder* Rigen: *Lets down top knot* Hahaha! That made me spit take at my desk.

[@empath69]

"I've seen enough Hentai to know where this is going."

[@thisislesbomaya]

woooooooooooooo, cam is an amazing DM

[@Grimwear]

I'm super excited for this side campaign! Though it also saddens me since I guess this means there won't be a wind down episode after each campaign about paths not taken. What was with the tree pod and glowing gold sap from the previous campaign? What would have happened with roads not taken?! My curiosity demands answers!

[@benjamincoyle5316]

Grimwear I'd like to think Dale wouldn't put in paths that lead to certain death, but if I'd been DM-ing either of those options would have been certain, near instant death.

[@josephsawczyn1145]

I don't think the other campaign is over yet; I think this is a side campaign that needs to be run now - because of how the main campaign storyline and this side story line are/will affecting each other.

[@spyone4828]

It seems like a little of that and a little that Dale had originally agreed to ten episodes. I don't mean to suggest that I have behind-the-scenes knowledge, but I imagine that each of the participants is paid something. (I would guess this is far below minimum wage, but once the production costs are deducted from the ad revenue there might be something left over to pay folks with.) So now that they have a good idea what the viewership is, and what the revenue should be, there will be re-negotiation of who gets paid what. Also, Dale may have other things he'd like to do with his Monday nights. They were very clear that Dale WOULD be back, and the other campaign WILL continue, but also that Dice Friends won't even always be D&D.

[@Kidzelda0]

SpyOne They have Patreon and Twitch subscribers. I'm pretty sure those involved are paid better than minimum wage.

[@user-pp5oh9ee1k]

I’m assuming that they make the episodes mostly episode by episode so he most likely didn’t have much info about those other paths.

[@Sam-oi5lr]

I was overcome with excitement seeing Cameron DM'ing this adventure, immediately followed by dread thinking of its eventual end. I already miss this campaign.

[@chifii]

Wow, Cam looks absolutely tiny in Dale's chair.

[@Deathven1482]

chifii just tells you how big dale is

[@rachelybanez6650]

Cameron's intros are a joy. 🥰

[@pyredynasty]

Way to go Cam, breaking Bengineering the second sentence in.

[@TheTexasDice]

I can't wait for Ben to betray everyone.

[@empath69]

Okay. Thoughts after finally getting through the first ep (dear lrr; y u keep doing so many good streams/vids/etc? I can never catch up if I miss 1! :D ) Cam - I love your storytelling and your...perspective on things - very poetic and evocative. The story and how you're...presenting the components of it onto the players' workbenches for assembly? So great. And even *why* you let the bard take that one Sense Thoughts; brilliant and hilarious (and as it turned out, a VERY useful thing for finding vital info after all - though I feel this might be due to your improvisational abilities) PCs - you're all great - sometimes you might run counter to The Plan or even what's in your own best interest, but I find I still care about what happens in even these 'sidetracks'. You're creating and portraying characters that I'm becoming invested in and rooting for their success (and survival, which might not be necessarily the same thing) Now, time for a fan theory: POSSIBLE SPOILERS - EVEN IF I TURN OUT TO BE COMPLETELY OFF TRACK, THIS MAY INFLUENCE HOW YOU WATCH THE STREAMS/VIDEOS - CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED! ALSO *DEFINITE* SPOILER FOR EVENTS IN "ESCAPE FROM SEMOLO PLATEAU" - DON'T READ ON IF YOU HAVEN'T YET WATCHED THAT SERIES! So, Master Poisonmaker becomes Mayor of Semolo Plateau, and, given that the town's monopoly on the poison seems to be weakening, our new Mayor is trying to secure trade agreements with others to solidify the economic state of the town - a concrete "we will by poison only directly from Semolo Plateau at " agreement signed and stamped assures a steady income. But....one of the groups the Mayor reached out to was (apparently) Thay, and probably directly to a Red Wizard. This is problematic, because the Red Wizards are *technically* also a mercantile guild, the way they like to do business isn't exactly *normal* (and rarely for the long-term benefit of those they do business WITH) A Red Wizard LOVES to 'get one over on you" - if you approach them with a truly unique business opportunity, something that only you can provide to them, they WILL be interested, and likely jump right on board...but things don't end there... They will 'investigate' you and your company/shop/concern - obviously a smart trader doesn't deal with someone they know nothing about - but they will typically get as much as they can (and maybe a tiny bit more) out of you about what you do and how you do it. ...and of course, that's just their OVERT efforts; Thayvians will bribe your employees, question your neighbours and competitors, break into your property, steal your blueprints/recipes/accounting ledgers/etc. Ultimately, this goes back to this organization of wizards holding KNOWLEDGE as a desired commodity - and what this individual Red Wizard can gain is how to make/do what YOU do...preferably without *needing* you any longer. So, it's entirely possible that the Red Wizard/"Thayvian Merchant with nice red robes" our Mayor met with, was interested in this only regionally-produced poison on an intellectual level, and desired to get enough data to permit 'reverse engineering' the process back at Thay - maybe with hybridized plants or similar. And if the Thayvian discovered that the current Mayor he was dealing with also happened to be the former master poisonmaker, it seems entirely possible that the wizard would consider it acceptable to magically interrogate the Mayor for whatever 'trade secrets' he could get out of him. So now we have a foreigner - and an ARCANE SPELLCASTER at that - who has taken Semolo Plateau's secrets, and 'trade samples' of the ferns and the poison, and violated our Mayor psychically to do so. ...I feel our Mayor would be compelled to act to protect the town's viability as a business concern - without the poison to trade, all the families that live on the plateau would be far worse off, and the town would likely be unable to support itself (and it's non-food-gathering 'specialists' that still provide vital services like defense and commodity production and leadership). Add to which, our Mayor would be strongly motivated by revenge for the unspeakable wrongs that were inflicted upon him. "Never again" So, FINALLY, here's my theory of 'Whodunit': The Mayor engaged a senior and very capable guard to follow the Thayvian entourage and have them killed - hopefully letting Chult do it for 'us' (maybe with a little nudging), but if not, by direct action. The guard sicced a flock of deinonychus on the foreigners, and as the guards and wizard scattered, the guardsman set to taking down his prey one by one with a close in personal melee strike that would guarantee their death (an arrow strike might LOOK like it's delivered the poison to a target, while it might not pierce a woollen gambeson worn under metal armor, while holding the target and inserting a dagger into their back would make the kill much certain and 'confirm-able'. Because the wizard's corpse wasn't covered by that inedible metal armor, the pteranodon was drawn to him and snagged the Thayvian's body...only to come under attack from the young wyvern, and the pair ended up flying towards the plateau, where we come to the 'end of the release party'. Some things to note about this - the motives of our Mayor: it could be argued here that technically no crime has been committed, at least from the perspective of the Guards of Semolo Plateau - some foreigners died in the jungles away from the plateau, and the corpse of one happened to be dropped on the town. Further, the actions of the (hypothetical) Veteran Guardsman were in fact legal in that they were orders from the ruler of the town, the Mayor. Also these acts could be considered just punishment for what they did to a citizen of the town. Which MIGHT mean once Our Intrepid Investigators dig all this up, they're going to find no real criminal to 'bring to justice' as what happened was (from one perspective...which would include the PoV of the ACTUAL LAWMAKER of the town) *WAS* actual justice. :P But of course, this is all just conjecture; I might have jumped to the wrong conclusions. YMMV ...mostly I'm just glad I've set these thoughts out... P.S. Okay, if you've read this far, WOW you've got patience and determination! ;) Also props to the person who apparently READ this whole meandering train-of-thought transcripts :D I really just wanted to put said thoughts down somewhere concrete, I never thought anyone would look at this wall of text and go "challenge accepted" XD

[@empath69]

Welp; not that far-fetched as it seems, but as one should expect with Our Noble CAMmander, this is just one layer to the onion - there's MUCH more depth just below :D

[@TheExplodedGamer]

"they're all dead Dave"

[@WyllCKP]

I like how Kathleen is playing a rogue again

[@astaiannymph]

A+ job to whoever is behind the camera with the fun commentary.

[@GibranEssa]

Cameron is an amazing DM, I love this show.

[@GreenMonkeySam]

OHHHH SHIEEEEEEET THAT REMIX INTRO! ♥

[@zacharyrichard3830]

Man, that opening monologue was awesome

[@OscatJ]

Idea I have always wanted to do: Start a cyberpunk style campaign doing a mission in a TV station or nightclub called Media's Res, so you can start in medias Res in Media's Res

[@FrankiePeanuts]

Very handsome dwarf? Well that clearly wasn't Bontan, he only had eight charisma. Also, red fabric and spell slinging. Was this wizard by any chance Thayan?

[@LarkSachrosis]

Cam as Ceni's mom, damn. Had me tearing up.

[@ghostbirdofprey]

Is Ian trying to say the Semolo Plateau is storing nuclear waste?

[@enabors249]

You guys should give us scans of the character sheets after the campaigns are over.

[@josephsawczyn1145]

Fun times - just got home from an AL Lost Mines of Phandelver, now more Dice Friends!

[@Wanderingsage7]

'Chult does not hate' ...I respectfully disbelieve you.

[@jcunningham8041]

Cameron's Chult is very Can-Lit.

[@noahlewis6776]

well played Cameron, with the "mildly modified" rule set

[@brianb0e]

Cam with 2 Predator quotes in one session.

[@stitchthealchemist1520]

Ben’s character introduction has me worried already

[@gacrazy65]

UTAHRAPTOR! D&D NEEDS TO GIMME ONE!

[@alanstern6930]

Sorry Cameron, but I can't help but think how good of a dm Dale is after watching this afternoon rust watching escape

[@Finkeldinken]

I have missed DM Cam! Loved the Etin stuff. Does anyone know if he has shared the details of his Etin setting? Good job everyone!

[@burk6244]

Umm...whose that guy from the youtubes? - Cam 2018

[@markharland2459]

The general rule is actually to round down.

[@Jawn404]

Ben wanting to cast 'Detect THOTS' on the Mayor @2:36:49

[@penderrin1637]

Aten should have resistance from cold damage because the moonshine prevents his blood from freezing

[@empath69]

...which would be great if this was Icewind Dale or similar... But this is Chult, a tropical rainforest; unless our heroes come up against someone/thing using cold as a weapon (which again, would be unusual given the geography), this sadly won't be much of an issue. (also, inB4 someone tears apart your supposition, because alcohol doesn't actually give any REAL benefit when cold, and in fact can HARM a user and exacerbate hypothermia, frostbite and the like because the alcohol dilates the body's surface blood vessels, causing more blood to flow to the outer part of the body and thus more body heat is lost to the cold environment faster; also the psychological and cognitive effects of the alcohol on the person make things more dangerous as their sensation is numbed and their judgement is impaired, typically resulting in longer damaging exposure to extreme cold because the person either simply doesn't FEEL the pain of the frostbite or discounts the danger. tl;dr - pitch that flask of brandy out of your 'cold weather survival kit' unless you really just want to fall asleep and die of exposure when blissfully unconscious)

[@dmitriwillguard]

Which makes it ideal to introduce as a throw-away gag on the character's sheet. It's probably not going to come up, so we can all laugh about it. And then we get to laugh even harder if it DOES come up, because the NPC in question probably packed a cold spell or weapon specifically /because/ Chult creatures wouldn't be resistant to it, and has to react to the fact that they weren't as prepared as they thought.

[@heronator]

It's a reference to Commodore Hustle, where CH-Ian said that after getting drunk.

[@noblevegas]

"Pegleg is a B!" "Pegleg sucks!" *kills PegLeg* "Nooooooo!"

[@Kuroukaze]

I imagine Kathleen meant wings as in different halls and not wings as in can fly but I imagine he'd go for both, tbh.

[@TheHillDragon]

"Frog Marched" hahahaha

[@Eramiserasmus]

Cam how much to get you to DM more of these?

Continuity!

[@pauljohnson3317]

LOVE IT!

[@NoskcajLlahsram]

Yo, anyone got a transcript of that opening monologue?

[@Pastshelfdate]

Plot hole? I think all the mayor would need do is show the crumpled hang gliders, probably not worth recovering, still in the valley where the nomad prisoners crashed, by their own hands. Right?

[@joshtownsend8807]

A+ intro monologe

[@Pastshelfdate]

And if some of them had been siding with Peg-Leg, then she's on their side, and they shouldn't want to kill her. The nomads would demand someone else.

[@Groovebot3k]

Dear KZbin: I will watch Dice Friends on my own time, please stop automatically pushing me to the latest episode.

[@Rolatii]

I had to stop halfway and do some google-fu when Cam said that lion's aren't actually predators. Still kinda confused, really, because while I know that male lions do jack, I was pretty sure that lionesses did hunt.

[@pyredynasty]

Calling it now Cori is the murderer.

[@SimplyStuart94]

why?

[@pyredynasty]

I haven’t figured out motive quite yet.

[@highhentaiexplosionfnorfen8857]

Not even Lenta. It was actually someone on the plateau whose name is Cori.

[@lawnmeower8433]

Dodgy the rogue...

[@lavendercatsstout7023]

⛲️👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻⛲️

[@AmaranthOriginal]

I want Cam to be my DM.

[@hynekozana3299]

Maaan that intro :O, boooy i hate Chalt

[@chrisnuxoll7184]

What was anything but "madcap" or "wild"

[@jeffreydenenberg7101]

I'm slightly disappointed Kathleen is just playing another rogue instead of trying something new

[@featherweight]

She wanted to run something she was already mechanically familiar with for such a short campaign as to not eat up the limited time switching mental gears in to a new class.

[@empath69]

in addition to what featherweight noted; she's also playing a LAWFUL GOOD rogue that's a career guardsman - maybe mechanically similar, but very much a different sort of character!

[@EffinChat]

In addition to the addition to what featherweight has said, this is only her 2nd ever rogue so she's probably "trying something new" in terms of her D&D career, but not what we've seen from the Dice Friends stream

[@chrisnuxoll7184]

Looks like Cam is one of those train conductor GMs. Where the player don't have to figure out what to do because everything is on rails

[@EricChoiniere]

Chris Nuxoll Fair enough, but they're also here to solve a murder mystery. It's not such an open ended campaign with "paths not taken" like the previous one. There's a mostly clear goal that the PCs are supposed to reach in a few sessions. If you want to chalk it up as Cam's "style" of DM, I suggest you watch Etin, his homebrew (I haven't, so I don't know if it is or isn't).