Goblins & Grove Level Sunless Citadel DM Tips

[@AAron-gr3jk]

Wow. Having the players control the NPCs in fights is an amazing trick. They're responsible for survival, but can get as much help as they want without burdening the DM. I regularlybhave 10 plus enemies on the board in curse of strahd which makes it so much work on the GM

[@RdotDoyle]

Thanks! Yeah it's my favorite kind of trick: less work for me and more fun for the players. Everybody wins!

[@jonwooldridge3766]

Yep, our Meepo came to the exact end as you described it. I was disappointed, but the party was happy for the cannon fodder. I loved the open end of the twig blights. I had the townfolk enlist the PCs to track down and destroy all the twig blights, which let them to Thundertree.

[@RdotDoyle]

I feel your pain, I was going to make that little guy a king! One PC actually carried around some chunks of him for a while but we're talking about a high level spell, maybe true resurrection, to pull that off in the state he's in. Smart to tie in to Thundertree like that, forming connections is one of my favorite parts of being a DM.

[@adele4172]

This series was a great refresh to The Sunless Citadel. I've played in it before when Tales came out, but I'm prepping to run it for my first shot at DMing. You made some great points that make sense for storytelling and keeping momentum in the game! It's definitely inspired me and I will be borrowing some of your suggestions for the game :) Thank you!

[@RdotDoyle]

Oh awesome, happy to help. Hope you all have a blast with it

[@Daniel50555]

Thank you for making these videos! This was a fun way to get psyched up for the next session and to get another perspective outside of the written material. You are nailing the delivery with your enthusiasm, keep it up!

[@RdotDoyle]

Thank you, happy to hear it! Hope you have a great time running it

[@Burningrose915]

Thanks for making this series! First time ever DMing and never even had played before, your guide was super helpful while I read along in the book to set up! Hope my party will like it

[@RdotDoyle]

Oh awesome, this is a great one to start with! Happy to be of help

[@PossumMedic]

Ya, I think I'll change Balsag's name... 😂 Great tips! Thanks!

[@RdotDoyle]

They had to know what they were doing… Thanks again Doc!

[@lilianempls]

Prepping to run this for the 3rd time and I found some really useful stuff. Love the idea of the tree releasing a vampire since Curse of Strahd is on my list to run sometime in the future. I'll also use the twig blights dropping in from the tree to incentivise the party to destroy it. Lots of good stuff.

[@RdotDoyle]

Great! Hope you have a lot of fun with it

[@fromage67]

Outstanding videos. I’m about to run Sunless Citadel for a large group and these were a godsend.

[@RdotDoyle]

Glad you enjoyed these, hope you have a ton of fun

[@HappiestGnome]

Thanks Ryan. I'm about to run the grove level and this was helpful.

[@RdotDoyle]

Awesome! Have fun

[@HappiestGnome]

@@RdotDoyle I'll be moving the book and scrolls from the Dragon library to Belak's study for sure. Unfortunately, this level has a real boredom problem and that just makes that particular room all the more boring. Strangely, I haven't found any meaty advice for making the Grove level interesting. I've added exotic exploding mushrooms from Out of the Abyss to the first room, but that's about it.

[@CAKESLAPPA]

I loved all of these so much!

[@RdotDoyle]

Glad to hear it! Forge of Fury is coming soon

[@Mongoosejack]

Dude! These vids are so great. Super helpful, and they get me stoked for running games. Keep it up! I'll look forward to these 🤘🤘🤘

[@RdotDoyle]

Rock on! That makes me really happy because I've set out to get people ready and excited to run this game and spread the love, so thanks for this one

[@archersfriend5900]

Really helpful stuff. I appreciate it.

[@RdotDoyle]

Awesome, happy to see you here

[@ebcornell23]

Really appreciate this series! I use milestone leveling so I'm wondering when you bumped the PCs up to level 2 and then level 3. Thanks!

[@RdotDoyle]

It depends is the answer I want to give, but the much more useful answer is after they "complete" the Kobolds by fighting or talking to Yusdrayl I'd take bump them to level two, then three when they finish the first floor.

[@ebcornell23]

@@RdotDoyle thanks! I’m running this for some of my middle schoolers and I still have them at level one. They easily agreed to retrieve the dragon for the kobolds so I was planning on waiting for level two until they do that. But we shall see!