D&D Story: Changes I made to Waterdeep Dragon Heist

[@rafaelcastor2089]

"The villain of this premade adventure wants to do X. You figure out what that means" really is the quintessential 5e DM guidance. Bare bones instructions, you do the heavy lifting

[@johnnaylor7031]

To be fair, a lot of modules from earlier editions are even more bare-bones, with nameless NPCs and "caves" on the map which were literally "create your own dungeon here."

[@rafaelcastor2089]

​​​@@johnnaylor7031 I would give them that benefit, yes... If Pathfinder (at least the 1e) didn't had the Adventure Paths being MUCH better than anything that came out of 5e by a good margin (at most, i'd say i'm still pissed about Iomedae appearance in WotR, but that's a rather small issue to how much of a beating that horse keeps getting way beyond death) Edit: And to be clear, my point here is that we have had alternative approaches to premade adventures for a long while now and i just don't see how WotC's approach with 5e is good or justifiable when we're talking premade adventures

[@chrisc359]

I can work with both directions, barebones or detailed, but I struggle with the inbetween. When the module gives just enough info's to be confusion it often becomes difficult to differentiate the important parts from the flavor.

[@KHfanz]

Honestly, I normally heavily modify every module I run anyway, so I don’t mind it being “bare”. Strixhaven got completely upheavaled, changed the end villain, added stuff etc

[@whiterabbit75]

Convenient how the DM has to do a lot of the work, and the company gets to rake in the money. Equivalent exchange at its best.

[@andru2drsq10]

My fiance and I immediately clicked on this video!!! We miss your stories! She especially likes the cute abolith!

[@williek08472]

Whimsy! Such a precious cinnamon roll, he must be protected

[@tsifirakiehl4250]

Whimsy is perfect

[@velkonemriam1935]

Cute Abolith is a Puffin fan favorite Lol

[@tanyalc22]

I missed his stories so much too.

[@j.k.s.8540]

I am hoping that he does another series like Curse of Strad(?)

[@phoenixdzk]

I like your idea of splitting up the stone of Golorr, because that amnesia mechanic in the game was crap, & kind of punishes the players for doing something smart & getting their hands on it early in-game

[@KasperLorentzen]

I burrowed (from the Alexandrian Remix) the idea of the eyes being removed from the stone, so you have the stone and 3 eyes, without eye it's inert, with one eye it give you some ideas about whats going on so it can help push the PC in the right direction, with the second eye it know where to find the 3rd eye.

[@phoenixdzk]

@@KasperLorentzen nice!

[@gunnervi]

@@KasperLorentzen My GM did that, and gave each of the eyes to one of the different villains

[@Quirkyhndl]

I was told by a wise old GM to never make your players look like idiots (unless they have it coming). Sound advice.

[@leam1978]

@@KasperLorentzen really good idea

[@Zogger568]

My players got super invested in the inn and tavern they received and spent a long time on it. Eventually we just ignored the storyline and it became a business simulator for them. I have never seen someone so excited to go over inventory and order supplies.

[@lordofconflict8282]

Me and my Pathfinder 1E group have had similar scenarios where we would get distracted by trying to run a business.

[@ebonslayer3321]

One of the unwritten rules of being a DM is don't introduce your players to economy unless you're prepared for that to be the entire game. The one thing they love more than destroying your plans is stonks.

[@whiterabbit75]

As someone whose group has started several kingdoms, I can attest to this. Strangely enough, Kingmaker still is not our favorite campaign.

[@trequor]

Brother I'm there right now. One my players is a banker and this is her first campaign. As soon as they got back to town she wanted to buy STOCK! I had to invent stocks on the fly (thank god I run Eberron which already has megacorporations in the lore). Then next adventure she wanted to buy LIFE INSURANCE for her character (I ruled that adventurers are uninsurable lol). And now I had to invent a bunch of real estate options so that they could diversify their portfolio haha

[@rudeboyjohn3483]

Yep. Building the business was a massive hit lol

[@raeofsunshine8670]

Petition to make Waterderp: Drogon Hoist the new name of this module. 😂

[@SymbioteMullet]

Ermagerd!

[@denverarnold6210]

It wasn't even drogon. I heard drgon.

[@tach5884]

9:31 in case anyone missed it

[@whiterabbit75]

@@SymbioteMullet Ehrmergerd! It's a dhergun!

[@contestleader2721]

Britain 100

[@Greshgore]

I hope this means we'll eventually get the long-form version of dragon Heist like we did for curse of strahd. I know there's slim hope of that considering it's been so long since curse of strahd but long-form content from you is a lot of fun.

[@stevebreedlove9760]

Boost.

[@Parugraph]

I hope so too the curse of strahd was such a fun series to look forward to every week

[@Greshgore]

@@stevebreedlove9760 To the moon! We can do this!

[@theviking1359]

I’m still waiting for the story on what happened to the group samurai over two years ago when they broke into a school ….

[@Greshgore]

@@theviking1359 I know, on the video he posted before this one, I mentioned that him saying that all his stories required him to tell other stories for context means that he needs to make MORE videos. It's hard to recommend this Channel that I love so much to other people if he's just going to disappear for months at a time after each one. I'm pretty sure he only posted four or five times last year. I understand real life is a thing but he's such a good storyteller that it sucks having to wait so long for more content.

[@masonwheeler6536]

4:50: "My players ended up losing almost all of the fights in that one. I think of the six fights we did early on, they either lost, TPK'd, or ran away in four of them." I waaaaaarned youuuu!

[@alexandertapia6184]

This part reminded me of when i ran ToA. I think everyone died at least once through the campaign, the record was 5 deaths for one player from start to finish. I really shouldve tweaked it more than i did lol

[@LordDragox412]

Puffin and overtuned fights, name a more iconic duo.

[@stevejakab274]

What I don't get is that 5e explicitly has a mechanism to balance fights, and at least in my experience it works out pretty well, with fights being tough but winnable. Did he just ignore that and throw anything he felt like at the players? Because that's bad DMing.

[@LordDragox412]

​@@stevejakab274 Nooo, would Puffin ever do that? That's *ABSERD!*

[@blshouse]

@@stevejakab274 haha... wait, are you serious?

[@Eantrin]

I remember running Waterdeep for a treasured friend and an older newbie. They came to adore the Tavern they were given and cared more for that than the treasure hunt. When it came to the chase for the Stone, I just let them catch the guy as he fled the Skeleton basement, let them keep the gold since they weren't going on to do Dungeon of the Mad Mage, and after looking at the Xanathar finale...I just didn't run it...

[@THESCUMMBAR]

I made a really simple change that made the stone chase work for my group: If they managed to get the stone before then end, then... it actually works and they can keep it. My players caught up in step 5 of 7 IIRC, and were quite pleased with themselves.

[@ironrose6]

9:31 "Waterderp: Drogon Hoist" 😂😂😂 never change, Ben.

[@williamderkatzen8987]

Until he said this I didt grok that he was avoiding copyright when he called him Lord Neveremember

[@williamderkatzen8987]

I also found out today that my autocorrect actually knows “grok”!

[@starcloak]

It feels like it's been forever since the last video. I'm so happy now.

[@jimmaybee6323]

happy happy joy joy! :)

[@romainsavioz5466]

Least then between the ladt and the one before

[@artloveranimation]

In the Alexandrian Remix it's set up fir the party to successfully get the Stone from the Gralhund Villa part, but the three eyes are each possessed in different villains' lairs.

[@ct4005]

We're about to finish running Waterderp: Dargon Horst and I made the insane decision to include all four antagonists pitted against each other and the party. My party was also level 10 at this point, so it truly felt like they could play against the other villains as an influential force of their own in the city. Titanic to coordinate behind the screen, but my players had a blast.🎉

[@Shalakor]

That's the toll that must be paid for good mid to high level play, I suppose.

[@savetheworldtribe]

I'm doing this now, but my players are between 12-15. We're 5 modules deep.

[@jaimeparker2161]

if you're into heavy lifting on the DM part, i suggest Out of the Abyss. Possibly the best module for capable DMs, just very (VERY) difficult to manage the large number of NPCs, factions, locations, villains, complex travel mechanics, out-of order sequencing... a lot of work to do, but very high quality campaign in and of itself.

[@HypaSnypa12]

Love that you’re uploading again, puffin! My players are currently going through this module and I decided to share some funny moments in our story: Mild spoilers for WD:DH In the beginning of the game after the troll fight and they tossed the thing back down the undermountain (bad troll saves) the bard walked up to Threestrings and convinced him to give him his lute for a second. He then proceeded to cut the rest of his strings except one. Understandably Threestrings was very angry, but the bard just kept saying to me, “play it.” I rolled performance and Nat 20’ed so that day Threestrings was no more and the hit rock artist “G-String” was born. Later on when after fighting the kenkus and the cops showed up, two of the players were upstairs looting everything that wasn’t nailed down. One of them was downstairs talking to a cop they saw earlier that day. The cop was like “there’s no one else here? I thought I remember seeing you in a group.” “No sir, just me.” (Stealth check) (crash) “what was that?” (A bunch of rats from a minor illusion spell go down the stairs). “Damn rats. I hate the dock ward.” Some conversation later and another stealth check after forgetting that they busted the door upstairs before they entered and another cop posted by that door comes down and alerts the cop talking to the player downstairs that someone’s inside. (Minor illusion a singular monstrous sized rat and succeeds) and the cop just goes “I’m getting too old for this. I’m going to ask to be reassigned.” Another one of my players is an adopted pirate from a former infamous pirate family so he and his mouse sister are being shadowed/monitored by Bregan D’aerthe. Haven’t explored that yet but I had to basically make another faction dedicated to his backstory where I gave everyone else an NPC to be and said to just bully his character or be friendly to his character. We’ve had some funny interactions so far with that. The players are currently about to enter the sewers and find Floon. That session will be next week probably. That’ll be fun.

[@christophersanders3252]

A Puffin vid after only 2 months! He's back! And he is magnificent!

[@SeyhawksNow]

When the world needed him most, he returned!

[@AbramSF]

I don’t play D&D games, but it’s fun living that life through your videos.

[@2MeterLP]

If you want to play and dont know anyone interested, ask in your local game shop. They usually help bring groups together.

[@johnjohnsin3762]

I'm just going to tell myself that re-watching PF's playlist for the umpteenth time as I played video games is what motivated him to upload another video. Please continue on the worst stories series.

[@sirennightshade4977]

Breaking up the stone into pieces was BRILLIANT. Excellent idea! This is especially timely because I'm going to be starting a Waterdeep game TODAY. Like, in a few hours. Thanks for the tips. ;)

[@illithidlore]

Will we ever get another campaign series? I love the Curse of Strahd one so much!

[@TheGaboom]

My table also kept the house haunted. We chose to set up a bar there and used the ghost as an attraction - The House of Boos.

[@InsanoRider777]

I think mine did that too except he was the bartender, so we had a ghost serving drinks lmao.

[@TheGaboom]

@@InsanoRider777 Nice! Unfortunately (For the DM i guess, idk) our group was more invested with the Bar than anything with the plot, so the cannon ending for that party was starting a business I hope your group was either invested with the actual plot, or also content with retiring early like ours was 😊

[@indestructiblemadness8531]

I just realized how good you are in compressing a story. If I had to retell something from my campagns I couldnt refrain from all the little details and technicalities.

[@lavernehostetler9004]

I'm so glad the dm of our game missed that text box about the stone of Golorr giving the player amnesia if they get it early. We were lucky to grab it at the windmill after my character Obi-Wan Kenobied out the window onto the spined devil that held it.

[@Surgical922]

Commenting early after a few minutes, because you are very right! I'm running Princes of the Apocalypse module for my friends, and it's really frustrating how events are just not tied together and I'm supposed to make up for it. Things like "When characters are in this village, and when listening to rumors, they get this and that information", or "If they talk to this person, they say this or that". Sometimes it's easy, but other times I'm wondering how them going to another village leads them to this important enemy hideout that no one knows. Rant over, continuing the video now. Missed you!

[@valwenventureco9285]

my favorite princes of the apocalypse thing was how several of the out the in open cults just don't have a great reason for the players to care. ohh these rich noble are sorta jerks and love flying mounts....ok... you sure you don't want to break into there tower at the strike of midnight, go to the roof and discover the sacrifice people to recharge there magic parashoots? or hey look a small monastery seemingly worshiping a earth diety, the acolyte at the door told us the monks have sworn oaths of poverty and silence and live apart from the world, we are welcome to stay in the court yard for the night and they even offered to bring us some of the simple stew they have for dinner but outsiders are forbidden from entering the monastery. well I guess we better murder the monks incase they are evil.

[@Surgical922]

​@@valwenventureco9285 Exactly! I've never felt more like a QA tester than I have with this module.

[@Dr_Robin_Zoro]

Yeah its why i switched to Pathfinder 2e Adventure paths. Its a bit of work if my players want to play 5e but the story is so well organized and put together that its less work on the fly I just put in some d&d stat blocks.

[@trequor]

@@valwenventureco9285 Princes works best as modular content for a B plot in another story imo. The cults, dungeons, and custom cultists are all super cool in my opinion and can fit independently into most worlds with very little effort. The flying dudes inspired my imagination and I had them be pirates as an airship encounter. If they follow the sky bandits back to their lair they get to do the cool dungeon in reverse.

[@cyberwolfy37]

my party turned the poltergeist into our bartender. we called our bar "the dancing spirit".

[@kazarofchult8086]

I usually give the characters a visit from Lord Cassalanter offering a discounted loan to help them set up the tavern while the Zhentarim and other loan sharks charge to much or menace the players. And i added other stores around Trollskull alley like a pet shop, a dress shop run by a hidden lord of Waterdeep, an instrument shop, and a boarding house with a kindly granny dwarf who wants the characters tavern or business to succeed and bakes them cookies (also feeds them in the early parts of the story because the don’t usually have a lot of money)

[@amberspark9434]

I might steal the Casssalanter idea

[@americanpidgeot6486]

I feel the first minute and a half on a spiritual level. I feel this with *every official module*

[@izzyliberty8720]

Dragon Heist was the first ttrpg campaign I ever played in. It was an online group and I knew noone there, but we hit it off really well immediately so it was quite fun playing - however we wiped twice on the same encounter. We ended up playing heavily homebrew characters, if only to get ourselves actually having fun with the rest of it, and had some great moments in the end, but honestly I couldn't even tell you what the point of the module was - I just remember my lizardfolk healer got drunk and had a one night stand at some point.

[@TheLorax787]

As someone who is currently running Waterdeep dragon heist, there was very little I would consider a spoiler in this video lol. I also scrapped the four seasons things and am running the four villains, though Manshoon is definitely taking a more minor role. And I’ve actually some how managed to make it so of my party of 5 players, 4 of them have some backstory or goal that makes them directly opposed to or on a collision course with a different one of the villains.

[@Shalakor]

So, is the 5th player a total wildcard, or invested in some other aspect of the setting or story that doesn't bring them into any direct conflict other than running alongside the rest of the party that are?

[@thetruegoldenknight]

I prefer doing things more "homebrew" for some of the reasons listed. I like the idea of coming up with all the stuff and not feeling as stuck on-rails.

[@bluecrane9967]

Lol this is so wild I'm actually DMing this campaign and are first session is on Monday. Thank you so much for the advice and tips!

[@ultralight9625]

Look up a blog called the alexandrian for their detailed remix of the module. I highly recommend it.

[@bluecrane9967]

@@ultralight9625 thanks for the advice 😃

[@DreamDragoness25]

As a new DM who is hosting her first DND session using Waterdeep, I thank you for making this video.

[@GrimbolTheDruid]

I will stop whatever I’m doing to watch your videos when they come out. Thanks for your incredible content! Hope you are well! 🙏

[@ArchArrow1]

I'm so happy that you're making new content. Love it!

[@christmas6666]

babe, wake up. puffin forest posted a new video

[@fowlfables]

I had great fun running the "Alexandrian Remix" version of Waterdeep Dragon Heist. Ran at a higher level, starting at 5th, and they got to fight all 4 big bad stories over about 30 sessions. Good times.

[@WanderingVtuber]

Splitting the Stone of Galorr into pieces is tbh a stroke of genius that i wish the game offered, because I ran into the issue that they picked it up early, I didnt wanna do the dumb mind whipe thing, and then we skipped the whole chase chapter that i wanted to use to set up Manshoon a bit more xD

[@darkmatter9643]

Nice to see some stories on this channel again.

[@thomasstratton7976]

Yay! New puffin video. Always a highlight.

[@Rubymagicalgirl88]

I have played this campaign and am currently running it. It's been interesting so far.

[@TheXMan]

Here’s how I would fix chapter 4: It’s an actual chase scene. The players find out who has the stone on them and find them. The NPC tries to run, but the players are able to beat them up and take the stone. Then someone swings down from a rope, grabs the stone and runs away with it. The players now have to chase down this guy. As they do, more and more enemies come out and are trying to either defend or beat the guy with the stone. In this chapter, they basically have to outrun everyone and hide. They may even use some NPCs from earlier for help. They could even have to go into the villain’s lair to get it back if the guy who has it gets away. The win condition would likely be just finding a safe place to stay before using the stone to find the treasure.

[@TimothyCollins]

A day is always a good day when Puffin Forest publishes a video!

[@Swimavidly]

I dunno why, but "Waterdrip drogan hoist" made me laugh out loud.

[@derekc.6155]

It's always a good day when Puffin makes a new video

[@DreamWizardMedia]

HE'S BACK! HE'S FREAKING BACK!

[@jacobmark1744]

Good to see him back

[@sceptical8694]

I always watch one of his videos when he hasn’t uploaded in a while and the next day a new upload happens.

[@sceptical8694]

Yesterday I watched his 4e video and today *boom* new upload

[@danielwatson2701]

I made changes to Waterdeep Dragon Heist as well. My biggest story changes were these. I used ALL the villains and I had the stone of Golorr be blinded and they would have to get the main body and it’s three eyes to get the entire story and with eye they found a key of the vault. Chapter 1 I ran as written pretty much RAW because it’s honestly flawless. They rescue Renaer Neverember and Floon and Volo gives them the mansion. But Xanathar took an eye from a secret compartment in a locker Renaer owned that he had no knowledge existing, that’s the only thing I changed. Chapter 2 I introduced all the factions and had them run through the first missions they would offer but I used a player wanting to fight in the field of triumph, to have Xanathar put an intellect in a gladiator the fighter was going to compete against and that caused the players to realise they were being watched. Plus I left clues to the drow at the Sea Maiden’s Faire. Plus Renaer as thanks gave them the gold they needed to renovate the manor and get it up and running, with the only issue is they have a flaky chef called JB Nevercott who doesn’t show up for loads of shifts. Chapter 3 I had Dalakhar meet Renaer nearby the players but they were jumped by the Zhentarim and the fireball went off and Urstul Floxin survived and Renaer survived but was badly burned. Floxin then stabbed him in the throat and he died. They found the gralhunds and went through that but learned Manshoon was in control of the Zhentarim. I also had the Cassalanters have one of the eyes and promise to give it to the players if they have them the gold and had them lie about the damnation of their children being at Victoro’s father’s hands and that he damned his grandchildren. Amazingly my players didn’t insight check him. The chase I made sure that the stone was infront of the players at all times and they just needed to play their cards right to get it. Chapter 4 the players have the stone with an eye in it and the eye they own but they find that one of the keys is Manshoon’s mask and that Xanathar owns the last eye. They need to heist both of them.when they heist Xanathar and attune the eye to the stone they find that his fish is the last key. This all leads to a giant four way battle between the players, Xanathar, Manshoon and Jarlaxle (who has been spying from the shadows as JB Nevercott). They then gave the gold to the Cassalanters and got a 10% finders fee. At the founders day celebrations however. They were lumped in with the 99 souls for the ritual to trade their children’s souls for theirs. They broke out and were able to expose the Cassalanters for their acts but they bought their way out of trouble. When their children’s souls were taken, a shrill piercing cry of anguish from a woman was heard and felt everywhere.

[@isaacschmitt4803]

I really love Dragon Heist for the potential it has. It's definitely my favorite module. When I approach a module, I do so as half and half pre-made setting, NPCs, quests, and the like and the other half being inspiration to play it by ear. I try to get the best possible understanding of characters and motivations so when the module does something stupid and nonsensical, I can decide whether it fits or not and improvise from there. I also hand draw out maps and such on grid paper so I have an idea of what I'm doing when I put it up on the big map, what's important, what isn't, where NPCs are and where the important loot is. Then I use the back of the page to write out all the important events and whatnot by room. Doing that also engages my memory, so it's part cheat sheet and part familiarization. Also, knowing Waterdeep like the back of my hand has led to some cool moments of exploration, even in other people's games. I've got friends that have run games set in Faerun and we've ended up in Waterdeep from time to time. They know that I know the town well, and they have often handed control over to me for party stuff like "is there a good armorer in town?" "Where can I get riggity riggity wrecked?" "I'm looking for a dark corner to make some 'friends.'" It's a lot of fun, and gives the DM time to plan their next move while I get to run the show for a minute or two.

[@jprepo1]

The last time I ran this I made the decision ahead of time to run this with *every* villain faction active, and even the good guys a bit tempted by the amount of gold and power in play, and it was honestly one of the greatest campaigns I've ever run.

[@jefferson7097]

Huzzah!! Puffin posts to YT and the world seems bright again after a very long and cold 🥶 winter.

[@Kainsshadow]

Puffin is one of my FAVORITE creators! SUPER happy he is making videos again. thanks so much!

[@sceptical8694]

9:32 Water derp drogen hoist?

[@casey4697]

We love you Puffin!!! Post more videos when you find the time and topics. Always love hearing your stories.

[@MaxBurnHeart]

No way! You're still alive? Good! We need more stories! I'm still waiting for that job interview video that went worse. :)

[@dustinsearle4672]

Puffin your videos are like the drug I can never get enough of but when they're around I'll take that shit right away

[@twinzzlers]

YES PUFFIN IS BACK

[@loreermejo]

I love dragon heist so much, but I agree, the story as is written benefits a lot from handmade fixes. I remember this campaign offered us the opportunity to play a very artifact based game, switching the original fireball detonator with a grey hand who was tracking Neverember's stolen treasure with an arsenal of stuff that made it really difficult to understand who he was and what he could do. We had such a blast!

[@Rolatii]

Waterderp Dragon Hoist sounds like an epic adventure about saving a dragon from some kind of lake dungeon it got trapped in while on a drunken bender or something.

[@8fer27]

My day is always made when Puffin Forest uploads =)

[@ZeckKoa]

Miss your stories. I hope you are doing ok. No pressure and only do it if its fun for you. I know these take alot of work

[@sindeon]

OMG Puffin is back. Thanks for the new story. Clicked immediately.

[@Kreau]

Woohoo!!! More puffin!!!!

[@dephil1713]

He is back! Whenever I think, KZbin is getting boring or stupid, Puffin returns and saves me. Really, thank you!

[@kinciscorner]

Miss your vids so much! Hope you're doing well man. More DnD!!

[@joejohnston9591]

Boy i am running one tonight its such a good game.

[@ryanadams0922]

THE MAN! THE MYTH! THE LEGEND! HE IS BACK LADIES AND GENTLEMAN! BACK ON THE MENU YOU GO PUFFIN FOREST!

[@ethansexton2590]

Ah, a new Puffin video always brightens my weekend!

[@muzzynat]

I get ridiculously happy when I see new stuff from you. I hope all is well, and thank you for the content :)

[@johngrasso2124]

Both WaterDeep books are my favorite since they were my first modules I bought and DMed.

[@michaelramos7026]

So happy to hear your voice again puffin. I'd kill for another series like curse of strahd

[@jarvisebon3273]

Still one of my favourite dnd youtubers! Your channel remains so awesome 😆

[@Lost_Geek1989]

Bro, you could have added the ghost of the children that were murdered in the house by the Hag. (Can't remember what monster it was.) And you have to track down the Hag and slay her to help the souls find piece.

[@Shalakor]

My party got trapped in a nightmare of the house as it was in the past where all doors randomly teleported us throughout the Trollskull floorplan to deal with the evil orphanage runner. Also found a book that linked to a pocket dimension, that was not always there from the beginning. The tavern ghost, though, is employed as our bartender.

[@db5627]

I played through waterdeep. I honestly dont know what happened but by the end we owned a tavern that we convinced a ghost and a family of halflings to run for us. Also so happy for a new video. You are my introduction into the dnd world. Have been playing and running many games for over 2 years now. Appreciate you!

[@computaterjones]

A surprise, but a welcome one for sure.

[@4fives992]

Those magical beers sound really fun to incorporate into a campaign. Most of my characters are alcoholic to begin with so it would be fun to build a character around being sloshed.

[@soulpeltdux5010]

When I ran this module the players adopted the poltergeist and made him the barman/cook/cleaner.

[@jimmaybee6323]

Hurray! Thank you so much for all of your videos.

[@Jerricola2]

I'm really glad to see your stuff again, best of luck to you Puffin!

[@helarki4309]

Making the changes necessary are really good. Adapting modules to the needs of you and the party.

[@MindOfGenius]

I ran Waterdeep for my group, and I loved the open nature of it. I ALWAYS read the entire module first (like a story) to try and see where the major OOOOHs and AAAAAHs are. That way, I could work with my players on their characters & backstories while knowing that *this* player's backstory is relevant to Chapter 3 while *this* player's backstory is relevant to Chapter 4, giving each player a chance to sit in the spotlight with their character. Chapter 4 was the opposite for my players; every time the players got close to see The Stone being handed off to (or stolen by) a new person they HOWLED with laughter at the Scooby Doo levels of chase scenes that ensued. I kept the energy up the entire time. I ignored the whole "possibility of them getting it early" and just let them snag it whenever it sounded like they were starting to get tired (think it was the 5th or 6th encounter). Also, while running across the rooftops the thief got a NAT 1on the check so I had them crash through the roof of the next area encounter. Starting at level 1 really hammers home the "you decided to take up adventuring, here's how its different from your regular life" aspect. Starting at level 5...not so much. I took advantage of JessJackDaw's Sentinel for Xanathar, turning him into a frazzled producer of DeathSport(tm) gladiatorial fights for citizens of The Underdark. I had Xanathar constantly muttering things like "gotta keep the fans happy" and "no no no, can't do that, already did that last month..." I used all 4 villains; I used the 1 from the season as the "main" with the other 3 having their own "supporting roles". P.S. I love how one of the main NPCs is basically "stupid sexy Captain Hook". Made *the twist* hit my players a lot harder for that!

[@aidan2048]

Honey wake up, there's another Puffin Forest upload

[@MojoBeast]

I will be calling him "Lord NeverRemember" from now on

[@nickmartin]

wow what luck I just caught this at the right moment. Love the content glad to see it keeping up.

[@lunarSoul0]

Tavern and Cankers reminds me of a homebrew Bard I found and want to play. College of the innkeeper, it gave you the ability to give bardic inspiration and cast enchantment spells though drinks. It's a concept I really like. Just being a magic bartender

[@sirguy6678]

Fun video! Always enjoy your party’s adventures!

[@ladyer0n199]

Yay! New video!

[@pieterooms9368]

Me being shocked to finally have a story of you😮

[@codeseeker8727]

missed your videos so much glad to see you are back

[@matthewneuendorf5763]

We did WDDH as a private detective agency. Our party consisted of a Cleric (custom Liturgist domain that we were testing), a pair of Rogues (my Halfling Thief with some Charisma skills and a Phantom sniper), and a Warlock (themed around Inevitables). Our DM tossed the seasonal thing and had all four enemies be active simultaneously, which made for some very interesting interactions from time to time when more than one crew was present for an event. The final hoard recovery saw a succession of all four enemies, culminating with Jarlaxle (who was smart enough to wait until the other three crews had burned our resources). I had to save the day with a not-really-a-sacrifice sacrifice play by abusing fast hands to pick pocket one of his extra-planar storage items and then shoving it into another one, sending both of us to the Astral Sea (we made it back after a montage buddy comedy team-up). We carried the detective agency through to the Candlekeep Mysteries series (with many encounters upscaled to match our higher level coming out of WDDH), which some of the mysteries were more interesting than others. If this campaign did one thing it was impress upon me just how impressive a high-level Thief Rogue can become. We were using the Xanathar's downtime rules and expertise in Persuasion with Reliable Talent and a high Charisma makes for some hilarious outcomes, especially for buying and selling magic items. I was also the one who wound up with the Stone of Golorr, which would up being a very interesting part of his tool kit even after the WDDH arc finished. We used the Piety mechanic from Mythic Odysseys, and for Golorr I had to keep it happy with new information or else it would try to ditch me.

[@Churchaboyy]

Hey! Where have you been puffin missed u and your stories

[@FaeQueenCory]

Waterdeep: Dragonheist was the first module I ever played in. (Before, I had only ever played wholely unique campaigns.)

[@nathanjohnson6910]

So this is odd but your videos make me pass out immediately when I need to go to sleep lol. Love your stuff Ben and always happy to see your videos pop up into my feed.

[@VanillaRae]

Been waiting for a new post 🙏thank you!

[@Shockwave00010]

(Minor spoilers if you have not watched the video yet) "Waterderp Droogone Heist", yes, that is exactly what I remember it being called... haha... I have ran this book for my players too, but starting at level 1 as per the book. The way I ran it was that there was one main villian, but ALL the villians were active, so the interesting interactions you can have with them all happen and the party don't know who to trust. Whos their villian? Who actually wants to help them? Who knows. I also mixed up the house too, made it more interesting, also added the murder into my campaign and made it so a rival owner kept trying to put them out of business and each night they worked in the inn, they rolled a D20 each and depending on all their rolls together they would earn a certain amount each night from running the inn. Also added a few extra side quests, make the players learn about the city more and ask around a bit, sometimes the side quests would give them little bits of info related to the main story. The way I played it made it so you made use of most of the story in the book, rather than just one big bad's story and ignore the other 3. That does mean you can't replay it with the same group, but I have DMed for like 4 different groups at one point, with only 2 players being in another group, so it mostly worked out fine. The campaign is 100% a social focused campaign, while Dungeon of the mad mage is a 100% combat focused campaign... yes, they both have combat and social elements, but it is clear one focuses on one, one on the other... which means the modules are TERRIBLE together as they are written. Mainly because you find your players like combat or social encounters a lot, normally not both. So if they love combat, the mad mage is gonna be great for them, but all the social stuff in the heist is gonna put them to sleep. Or the other way around, if they love their social encounters, all the combat in mad mage is gonna make them wish for peace and quiet. I fixed this by added combat in the form of side quests to the heist and adding a LOT of plot into the mad mage, think thr old waterdeep games that make you go into the undermountain as creatures as sneaking out and you have to fix the dungeon and find out why the mad mage has let it go wild.

[@carsonsugden9807]

Good to see you making videos again. Man I struggled running this module

[@vadegreenwell]

“I cast darkness” I loved that video nice reference.

[@dethmetalfan91]

So happy you're putting up videos again

[@jamessweebe373]

It's really good to see new content from you. I always looked forward to seeing new videos, and really missed seeing anything new.

[@andrewblunt4016]

My body is ready