How to Run: Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen

[@alexc9746]

My players were so completely shocked by the invasion of Vogler. They said it was the best D&D adventure ever. Thanks for the tips!

[@justthecraft]

Ran this for my players and man oh man it was a blast. Made some changes and thought id share. Players sat down and developed the town together. Instead of going for a funeral. This is their home town and their family friend/mentor/trainer died and the funeral happens as normal. The prologue adventures i did individually with my players as needed. So our cleric I did the divine one, our warlock and wizard did the magic one and the fighter and monk did the normal one. The new feats were not allowed. Instead locked behind quests scattered around. If you wanted to become a knight you had to do a big thing. Want to become a mage of high sorcery? Do the trials. You would get the feats (without actually using an asi, this was just additional rewards) The leader of the red dragon army was responsible for burning their home town down, shows up in the background of the later arcs to foreshadow the fight at the end. When the players get the "dragon lance" its cursed/broken and they need to cleanse it. When they do however, instead of becoming a single dragon lance. (It was a massive lance that required a mount and none of my players were mounted) it instead formed several dragon-touched items from fizbans. Giving my wizard a staff, my warlocks a wand, my cleric and ornament, the monk got the monk item and the fighter got a greatsword version of the dragonlance. (GS being his preferred weapon) The robes earned were magic items, the knighthood of the rose/crown/sword had their own rewards. Crown granted you a +2 Charisma. Oath of the rose granted you a +1 Char and the Oath of the Sword granted you a +1 Char. Maximums increased by the same amount. The knight feats were ordered meaning you are granted them in a specific order. With these power boosts I scaled the exp back to change this into a level 1 -7 game. As in this you fight only the red dragon armies, there are still 4 more armies left. The white dragon army is my continuation level 8-10, then you fight the green dragon army from level 11-13, the blue armies from level 14-17 fighting lord soth at the end of this one. Where 18-20 is the showdown with the dragon queen herself. So far ive only run the present material. Where the rest is up too me.

[@fmkkshi]

Good job buddy, that's what DMing is all about.

[@ThePenguinMejia]

Amazing writeup

[@wyattbennett-e6n]

I think you are pretty good at what you're doing.

[@KCBCollier]

22:22 I also saw this problem. My solution was the message was pinned to a flag on a javelin thrown from the cliff, so that it planted in the street (thereby the dragon army plants their flag claiming the town.). There were watchers on the cliffs, ensuring the town was complying. If there was any resistance being organized, they’d light beacons that told the army to come in destroying, vs coming in to occupy. However, my players were coming back from scouting the army and I stupidly allowed them to see one of the beacon wood piles being guarded by a soldier. I saw my mistake instantly. But their stupidity saved me. My sorcerer tried distracting the soldier by casting bonfire nearby so they could steal his torch while his back was turned, so he couldn’t light the pile. As soon as they finished murdering him, they noticed the next beacon in the chain blazing to life on the horizon because they saw a fire in the area they were watching for. THEN the party went into town to find the flag with the note, and were like “Well, now we have to get everyone out before the army gets here. And it’s all our fault the town is being destroyed. So we’re back on track.

[@KHSlayer1660]

I'm sooo ready for part two of this. This will be my first time as a DM

[@Rycluse]

That advice on the bonus feat at level 4 is exactly what I was looking for. I'd add that it also makes sense for Wyhan's recommendation be strongly influenced by the "interview" though she can use the table as a starting point. Like if a character opened the scroll, she tries to determine if they have the guts and ambition to be a black mage.

[@calbarog]

That was really good. I liked all your insights.

[@TheGeekPantheon]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@daltongoolsby6594]

Love your descriptions and recommendations! Have been back to watch the specific sections we are currently playing every time before session, just to make sure I am as prepped as I can be. Thank you for doing these!

[@JDizzleton1]

Good stuff! Hopefully will be running this soon and will use many of your suggestions!

[@ManrayO_O]

I’m am running this adventure once I finish Call of the Netherdeep!!!

[@Jake-mu2zm]

What is this sound at 8:48 lmao

[@roomsey9044]

That's what I was thinking. I paused it and started looking around my room.

[@aradabaugh11]

Love this breakdown! Preparing to run this with my group in a few weeks and this advice is really going to help step up the gameplay!

[@anwil]

Excellent stuff. Clearly some thought went into this, thanks!

[@PohatuEudyptulaMinor]

Really enjoying the breakdown and tips! I'm not sure if I will ever run this but these are great suggestions for running any campaign, and I'll be noting these down :)

Hi! I'll start to run this adventure next monday (Jan-09), thanks for the advice!

[@securit7590]

Great video, thank you so much for all of this.

[@amandahakes2226]

This is so helpful! Thank you for taking the time to make this?

[@WeAllLikeSenny]

When will we be blessed with part 2?

[@Dicyroller]

I am very much enjoying your take. You have a similar humor to my own. I wonder if you have a party like mine as well? I have found that in casual games, al la AL or online connections people do not tend to follow the DM instructions. One or two may, but the rest push it. In my home game on the other hand they do follow my instructions, they just trample them at the third or fourth session.

[@AS-qy1zl]

You really get what makes DL good and why this is a good campaign!

[@austinwakeman89]

I'm about to start running this campaign for some friends in two weeks and this video was a great source of inspiration! One thing that I'm doing is turning Jeyev the scout master into a minor boss by having him be the person that's possessed by Caradoc. I decided that he would actually assassinate Belkin, and then whenever the characters decide to give Darrett the armor, they get there just in time to save him from being killed as well. Just reinforces their connection with Darrett since he's a pretty important NPC, and I just thought it would be cooler to have the possessed person be someone they already knew. I explained it away as the mercenary group led by cudgel had just traveled through the Northern wastes before the festival and that's when Jeyev was possessed.

[@OliveGarden420]

I’m kind of a new dm and this is my first like campaign . We just ran session one and it was so much fun I think your advice really helped it ❤️

[@starethesky]

Hi, just want to say your videos are very helpful! Keep up the good work!

[@benmorris7276]

so for my session 0 i planned out an encounter for the pcs set a few months before the events of the campgian where they are introduced to ispen. where the pcs and ispen are impriosed in a goblin camp and the have to escape there bonds, gather their gear fight the goblins and fee the rest of the prisioners.so it sets up how the pcs became ispens friends as the have fought together and as a bonus helps me sets up the stories beklan tells at the funeral. im not sure whether add in some hits to a build up to a building threat like a letter from the dragon queen recuriting the goblins or somthing or they are flying the banners . but so far i think the main idea i decent setup for the campain then i will fast forward to the pcs in a tavern receving the letter from beklan about ispens funeral and on theyre way the encounter the scales of war prelude and then ending the session there.

[@iskandarthegreat0487]

I would love to watch all the way through but I can't in case I end up as a player in this campaign before I run it myself. Comment for the algorithm. Love your content

[@DerekJohnson64055]

Any chance you have a (or can get) a list of the Minis needed for this campaign?

[@jamesfoster9613]

Also, Bakaris the Elder is at the fishing tournament I believe?

[@sabirbeats1462]

Thank you so much for this! Can’t wait for part 2 👍

[@RFC-DiscoStu]

Great stuff. You could use chapter markers I feel to enhance the viewer experience.

[@matthewrahn2382]

Really keen for part 2

[@willcrouch2359]

Awesome! Part 2 any time soon?

[@inebriatedgamemaster8703]

Hey man. I NEED PART 2. Going to run this for my players and REALLY need some advice. PLEASE?

[@algaefour2327]

Ive been running this with my party and have just arrived in Kalaman and met the council. I had discovered your comentry until afterwards and have semi-miss interpreted that Bakaris Snr was supposed to stay in the room, I had him very relaxed take the recess and return exactly on time. Then had him and Governer Miat walk away in deep discussion after outlying the deal. Does it make sense to possibly do bit more with the council prior to their eventual death? To make it hurt more, otherwise I’m not sure they’ll get that. Secondly our player creation probably focused a bit too much on the lore of the dragonlance setting specifically one player picked up on cataclysmic splitting the knights of solamnia and her family became disassociated from the order of the rose. I realise in the writing if this post that i should know if she’s looking to rejoin or be prooved their no good. I suspect as I dont know she’d like to explore the choice in game do you have any suggestions for what I should lean into or away from as possible story. Any help would be appreciated.

[@inebriatedgamemaster8703]

Hey man. I NEED PART 2. Going to run this for my players and REALLY need some advice. PLEASE?

[@btnewberg]

I loved this. I especially appreciated the attention to making the story make sense and come alive for the players, like fleshing out the city council members so that the impact is felt when the dastardly deed is discovered. The one place I'd disagree is that the catacombs scene in Chapter 4 requires no such revisions. It's my favorite scene in the book by far. I love the idea of entering the catacombs just moments after the villain (I'm leaving it vague here to avoid spoilers), and seeing scenes of their life reflected in the flames. However, the PCs have not even heard of this villain prior to this. Doesn't it seem like it needs some major build-up to said villain to make it impactful, and without which the natural assumption would be for the players to assume the scenes in the flames depict the life of the knight entombed in these catacombs? There are other changes I would make to this scene to enhance play experience as well, but that one seems the most crucial to me.

[@jamesfoster9613]

I plan to put Becklin is in Carrionclay, but Sunward is also a great option. I plan to have the last view of her fighting Kansaldi, because I don't like they don't SHOW the villain until the point where they are going to fight her. She should show up in this fight, but not riding Ignia. I also replaced the black dragon with IGnia to make sure to introduce her.

[@chuckhammond4495]

So I'm worried that my players might try to physically harm Lord Bakaris if I introduce him early like you suggested. Any tips on how to prevent this besides, "guards rush in to stop you."

[@redacktd3037]

emphasis the importance he has in the community. Though he is an annoyance, he holds power with many of the citizens of Vogler as their employer. Additionally his council is taken seriously with Kalaman so the players acting as agents of the Kalaman Military shouldn't be attacking honorary council members.

[@Quixoticjester]

@@redacktd3037 pretty much this. I had the barbarian in my first group put in the stocks overnight (1 level of exhaustion and a head cold) for succeeding an intimidation check against him to drive home the idea that there are consequences to picking fights with the nobility.

[@jonathanhaynes9914]

Your other video I watched, about dealing with Sephek Kaltro, I didn't really like but this one is very good.

[@Zr0din]

So, if I'm going to blow $100 on a WotC item, would you vote, DragonQueen with the board game or Deck of Many things? Glad to see you encourage the board game. I have been looking for a video teaching the boardgame or seeing peopel ENJOYING the boardgame and I have not found one and it's been like what, a year since this module came out?

[@jumpman83]

Fantastic content, sir! 💯⭐'s

[@tenshisouran8560]

So I like the story but can I run this with D&D 5e. Mainly cause I kinda want to add teamat.

[@whiteraven562]

It's a 5e module. And Takhisis basically is a re-named Tiamat

[@matthewheade9788]

Takhisis is actually straight up Tiamat. Just as Paladine is Bahamut

[@rollersoffatednd5280]

Awesome insights , thanks indeed 🫶