D&D Story: “Whoops! Guess EVERYONE has to die now.”

This animated Dungeons and Dragons story comes from when I ran a mission for the first time in Adventurer's League. I accidentally misread the adventure and turned out I made some crucial mistakes when running it.
End song: "Bluebird" from the KZbin Audio Library

[@marauder7209]

Wizzards of the Coast: This is a stealth mission! Puffin Forest: *Stealth is optional for this mission!*

[@danielhughes6556]

Technically they used the, "No one can hear you if they are all dead", method of stealth.

[@AsianSpidey]

Technically speaking, it's still considered as stealth if none lives to tell.

[@austinstruhar8160]

Marauder Snitches end up in ditches

[@yakirchernin6015]

Wizlords of the coast*

[@raw6668]

@@danielhughes6556 They took lessons from the Stiner Scout Squad.

[@xxpizzaxx697]

It’s interesting getting a notification that says “Whoops, Everyone has to die”

[@loulabell117]

My phone notification goes "A body has been discovered" SOOO that makes it funnier

[@issacvoregames]

Breaking news everyone is dead

[@doodlebebjoe6447]

I say it’s T H R A N O S fault everyone died

[@LuizAlexPhoenix]

Probably Skynet trying to tell you it's timem

[@isaiahbraddock]

Whoops that wasn't the right email

[@StrikaAmaru]

Y'know, when a GM says everybody has to die, they're usually talking about the players, not... well.. the entire flippin' dungeon!

[@dddmemaybe]

Rocks Fall; The BBEG was spelunking on the wrong fucking day.

[@oz_jones]

_Peace was never an option_

[@FGCLovesYou]

I also interpreted it that way! ...Yeah. That went better than expected!

[@BaronSengir1008]

Please don't kill your players! That is called "murder" and is generally frowned upon in modern society! The PCs are fair game though...

[@thesilentgamer2267]

“Is there a plan B?” “Yes. They die.” Like honestly same

[@thewanderingmistnull2451]

The book was right. It just didn't realize the temple was going to die, not the players.

[@KlausWulfenbach]

I just love that innocent, naive talking book character that thinks it's full of good ideas and optimistically thinks the players are going to go along with it's ideas. I know that character. I have read it many times.

[@krzyrzak456]

I almost had my first TPK last time because of an "easy" waterdeep encounter. Wont say what happens there to avoid spoilers I'll just say that it involves kenku

[@RikThunder33]

those are terrible ideas though. xD

[@ionizor7786]

Dungeon was adapted to the player level if you where going in the right direction. Ofc myself and others bashed trough the baricaded door, beacuse it was there and whent trough it. To our disgust there where lines and lines of enemies that where beyon our powerlvl. The dm was baffled only to find out that the players where never intended to bash the barricaded door. The DC on the barricaed door was a 19 strenght check that our 1st lvl fighter with high strenght easly overpowered with a nat 20 roll, and we where being punished for that.... Sometimes creator logic is not on spot.

[@lschantz64]

@@krzyrzak456 My group just met them and it almost ended very badly for us also.

[@CalebWolf]

You must be madly thinking about all-possible scenarios right now.

[@jonesso11]

I honestly just wanna know if the new player had fun

[@wixman666]

Until she got slaughtered, sure!

[@TomasPabon]

They never mention any deaths so I imagine that if your first D&D game is a GLORIOUS MEAT GRINDER OF DESTRUCTION without dying you had some goddamn fun

[@ZphyraRyuu]

@@TomasPabon They didn't? What about the spear through the chest.

[@oxfy9694]

@@ZphyraRyuu The wizard managed to survive. Somehow.

[@jacksonzeunik5979]

Spear through heart dosen't matter

[@mscout1]

Module: "Your charactors will all submit themselves as slaves and be fine with that" me: My players would not sit still for that for one single minute. They would abandon the table before they did that. The new mission for the module would become "free the slaves at all costs".

[@michelveilleux1275]

Good too know I'm not the only one thinking that. 😅

[@DutchBlackMantha]

Well, it works a bit different in a bottled module. Eventually the DM will let you know it's the only path in the module you can take, and because of that you know there's a realistic way to do it. Basically, if the module doesn't give you a enough options, metagaming is the only path.

[@mscout1]

@@DutchBlackMantha I understand that. What I am saying that for the people I am playing with, the answer to "The module only lets you submit to slavery" is "Then get a different module". And if I were to double down on stubborn it would become "D&D isn't fun any more, let's do something else"

[@_EvilKam]

@@DutchBlackMantha Not really. The job of the DM is to accommodate results for the players' choices and actions. Just because you're running a module doesn't "erase" the existence of the civilization needed to support a supply of human slaves. Players are free to choose to go to a nearby city, to find hirelings, or an alchemist, or get flammable materials or harvest plants with toxic smoke. The entire point of RPGs is that there is ALWAYS the freedom to think outside the box, and find another way in. A scroll case packed full of sulfur, powdered charcoal, and saltpeter for example can make a fantastic lockpicking tool.

[@oz_jones]

Yeah, my escaped slave half-orc monk would not ne ok with tgat

[@Kitkat-986]

If brute force isn't working, you're not using enough force

[@isitnotwrittenthat1680]

More dakka, if target is proving resistant, apply more dakka, if you apply enough dakka you will win

[@codyhess7749]

When in doubt, apply more greataxe. Also ale.

[@JWonn]

Unless the task is Brain surgery? "ESPECIALLY if the task is brain surgery!" Said the Barbarian.

[@zekemsr]

If that doesn't work, split the party!

[@morphadomus2385]

If that doesn't work, keep throwing fireballs at the problem.

[@silvermarksman6834]

All I heard from that passage reading was "Stealth is Optional"

[@dydlus]

"Stealth is optional for this mission." Or, to give it it's proper PAYDAY 2 name: "Unless you need exp, you can run in and blow up the place."

[@tecnicstudios]

I bet they preferred what you did over what the original story, cause screw becoming slaves, I'd prefer almost dying, way more fun.

[@INSANEMODE616]

Hell yeah. That fight sounded awesome and chaotic as hell. Screw willingly being slaves.

[@Leivve]

I always feel those books expect the players to have read it first. I doubt many groups would even consider giving up all their gear and equipment, let alone actually go through with it.

[@jamestown8398]

Five different fights, with all the heroes inches away from death, ending with the temple floors awash with the blood of the cultists. Now THAT is an adventure!

[@Dreznin]

@@Leivve I have to agree - I have a DM that is running a homebrew and he was caught off guard when the party got outflanked and opted NOT to surrender and be taken prisoner. Fortunately for us, our spellcaster wasn't fully out of good spells yet, the rogue was already invisible, and our crit-build bolt ace was rolling like the D20 gods were smiling upon him. The DM had planned for us to be captured and to have our next session being our one absent player showing up with NPCs (played by us) to rescue the party - he had thrown a CR 17 fight a THREE level 10 characters and we had managed to escape it and even cut down a few of the enemies on our way out. NEVER assume players will willingly submit to being prisoners or slaves, that's DMing 101.

[@MitchellTF]

if a module EVER. EVER only works with just one way through? The players WILL take another way.

[@gerbenvanessen]

.... having never ever done this module I heard slaves and thought : Infiltration oppertunity, and 6 minutes in... I was right.

[@WeAreTheBentusi]

If I'm rolling a Monk I might risk that...but infiltration via slavery is NOT my first choice.

[@gerbenvanessen]

@@WeAreTheBentusi well that's cause you'se a monk see. what you need is rogueish guile and charm, use some ropes or have a magician magic up some trick, pretend to be slave trader with slaves. show interest in their cult and future business oppertunities. then start throwing daggers at everything. but before that last part release party members.

[@SirMisterMr]

Yeah; I remember reading in the module that the recommended approach is not infiltration, ut rather diplomacy. You still end up meeting the potential ally and have to do the spy game within the dungeon, but at less risk. Or depending on what information you have amassed beforehand you can skip her and try to meet the big boss directly and get what you need from him diplomatically, as it is in fact to his own interest that you do do. And IIRC all the details on the slave infiltration given in the book are not just for submitting willingly - they are for when you attempt to fight and fail horribly, getting captured.

[@isenokami7810]

As a rogue, infiltration would definitely be my first choice, but certainly not by slavery. I’d rather try not to get spotted at all, thanks.

[@thesecutor4625]

I feel like I would just bribe everyone, I don’t why I just would

[@TheGamebuzzHD]

the way you ran it seems more fun than the way it was supposed to be run

[@crazybunnyproductions7287]

The best example of derailing a story has to be the most memorable game I've been in, purely because of how stupidly powerful I got for just... following the plot like a reasonable person. My party were all serpent people in a conan universe. We consisted of serpents in human disguise, serpents that were scaly humans, and me, the giant, 12 foot long snake with arms who might as well have been a rope with a blender stuck to him. Claws, muscle, I realized halfway through the story that I could just abandon his sword to me more effective. Now, the party was effectively lost in the start, so we needed to find someone to ally with until we could find our king... so our party leader, a burly male warrior named princess (Named not for ironic reasons, but because the player was "haha, girls") wound up getting us allied with a lich.... but then we didn't stop, and got allied with a geomancer THE INSTANT WE ENCOUNTERED RESISTANCE. Now my character, at the time at least, was a rather irritable creature. He was by the books, temperamental, and overall was only with the party because Princess was literally the serpent prince. He was in it out of respect only. It was only recently that I looked back on it and realized I hadn't made the angry character I wanted, I'd made a character reacting in a perfectly natural way to the nonsense going on around him. Escape prison and get tranqed like 6 times, only to get imprisoned again while your party fucks around for 30 turns? Go into a cold rage and start shredding and devouring the guard kobalds, freeing everyone yourself! Stuff like that. The party was a nuisance to my character. Almost every enemy we met was greeted with the same thing. princess would lay down his weapons and declare "We're on your side!" and succeed his damn rolls. By the time we actually met up with our king, we'd dropped more storylines that I could count, and had basically every major baddy wanting us dead. For awhile onward we seemed to be on track, doing missions for the king, helping bring the serpent people closer to summoning Set to the mortal realm. throughout the campaign I'd been apprehensive to all the side switching, but this was the only side that mattered! My character wound up so devoted that he was made Set's champion. And then we reached the final chapter... What we were supposed to do was conquer the last kingdom that was putting up resistance to the summoning. It was like our final boss. Seige the castle and bring it down. Princess instead suggested we infiltrate it stealthily and take it down from within... which is what we did, minus the taking it down part. We walked right up to the people in charge, while I remained hidden, cursing so many serpentine swears under my breath that I'd probably make Set himself blush, watching as my party defected to join the resistance. What did I do? Did I betray my race, my god, my king, purely out of respect for my friends? No, my character thought they were idiots and traitors, and never built up any kind of respect outside of a basic sense of alliance with the same rulers and god. Now that that was gone, my character booked it back to the king to inform him of his son's treason, and I wound up being blessed by Set as the king succumbed to rage and grief. To punish the traitors, my beefy snake dude was turned into a minor god. The party attacked with a small party of the rebel kingdom's elite solders, tried to befriend me, and got slaughtered. Set was eventually summoned, and we consumed the world together. The ultimate champion. But seriously, there were so many interesting plotlines killed because of the constant ally shifting.

[@celestirr]

You play a character so properly that you became your own big bad. There is no better perfection.

[@stormcrowlegendary3512]

I remember you telling this story in a different vid. Your character was the strongest and the only brave warrior. You also had acid spit if I recall.

[@crazybunnyproductions7287]

@@stormcrowlegendary3512 Yeah, I probably have told it before, it's my favorite, so i kinda tell it a lot I suppose. And yeah, he could spit acid, and I made him a brawler, while everyone else just... did really bad diplomacy. I'm not paraphrasing either, they'd go up to an enemy and say, "I'm on your side" and boom, diplomat. I did it once, picked up a target our king had sent us to kill, said, "Don't worry, I'm on your side, there's nothing to fear" then dropped him out a window. Everyone complained about me lying after that... I loved the campaign, but dear god my party was awful..

[@Kris-wo4pj]

@@crazybunnyproductions7287 haha oh God I think I would have loved your character. Esp with that last scene of turning the party's stupidity around on them both with the diplomatic bs and the killing them for being idiots that can't just pick a side. He sounded very reasonable instead of angry and that party sounds terrible.

[@crazybunnyproductions7287]

@@Kris-wo4pj Thanks. He was a very fun character to use, and being the final boss of a campaign was an interesting first for me. I originally thought not using conventional weapons would have been bothersome, but the DM was very reasonable with the claws, acid spit and poison sprays. I hope to bring him back in a future campaign perhaps.

[@KalibreSteelblast]

"Even though everyone's level five, she's level one!" ... Really? You're going to foist a new player with a low-level on a fresh volunteer? Genius...

[@KalibreSteelblast]

@@lortep458 Not the point- they should have grouped her with a more experienced DM.

[@Jack-wy4cg]

@@KalibreSteelblast sometimes it just works that way you got a bunch of full tables who dont want new players and head gm just needs to take over the riff raff ben really should have declined because the head gm did ask if he had experience with this.

[@Comicsluvr]

While commenting on some of your previous vids, I have been critical of your playstyle or DM style. This time, I have to give you props. You were tossed into a tough spot, rose to the occasion, and it sounds like the players all had fun. It sounds like the adventure was way too railroad-y but that's not your fault. You had no time to prepare...also not your fault. You rolled with what you had and the show went on. Well played.

[@Someguyonline7732]

Comicsluvr good thing your opinion doesn’t matter.

[@Comicsluvr]

@@Someguyonline7732 Wow...you try to actually pay someone a compliment...

[@mathunit1]

@@Comicsluvr I think he's saying that because he's tired of people complaining about Ben sucking as a player or GM.

[@gaamaru95]

I don't think you need to be critical about how someone else plays the game... As long as everyone has fun, what's it matter?

[@Madhattersinjeans]

@@mathunit1 Even so, a brief 10 seconds more of reading would reveal they were complimenting Ben.

[@drakevegas7073]

I'm sure this is all answered to some extent in the module, but why are the players somehow expected to submit themselves as slaves, giving up all their stuff, to enter the temple? Shouldn't the module START with them already having been captured, maybe reclaiming their stuff, then fighting in the temple? Again, I don't know the module, and my DM experience is pretty light, but I can't imagine a group saying "Good idea! We should get captured on purpose!"

[@faerylnhiikira1053]

Your proposed scenario makes perfect sense! Which is precisely why it would never be written that way.

[@Pingoprod]

This is not the start of the module. Is from chapter 4 of 5, for characters of level 6-9 (i dont know how lvl 5 characters could win the battle alone)

[@s.m.2523]

Basically, IF the module is the one I think (and I think so, too many details like the bed guy and the pool of blood coincide), this module is part of a greatr campaign. To be exact the module is "fane of the nigh Sperpent" from Tomb of Anihilation. 1) Why is this pertinent ? Because at this point it's very possibe and even likely that the players already had some encounters with the Yuan Tis and where capture then, meanong they'd already *start*the module as slaves. 2) Even if no Pc isn't inside, the mosule expect and think that some of the players (aka those for which it's beleivable and have a decent charisma) will disguisethemselves as Pure Blooded Yuan Ti and the other who can't disguise will give THEM their items and PRETEND to be THEIR slaves. 3) The main bad guy, Ra's is actually fairly easy to convince to let you go and even support if you can proove or at least make him think he's being played for a stooge by the bigger bad guy of the campaign (which he is.) and in fact it is in his interest to let you vainquish them. 4)The second in command can be convinced to help you set an assassination of the leader and she will free you if you help her (and surprinsgly she will). There's also a doplleganger double agent in the temple for anothr faction of you work with them. and you can alway cause a slave revolt. There's also some secret passages to infiltrate the compound and so on, thereare a few options, the disguise yourself as yuan ti pure blood/slave is onely what the module consider the most likely and less dnagerous option. Should be noted this is meant to be a pretty tough module (and campaign) where characters can die a lot anyway. It's not called tomb of anihilation as in 'spiritual sequel to tomb of horrors' for nothing.

[@sykeassai]

I've seen this vid several times and I'm left thinking the party really managed to push the boundaries and wiped out the temple despite not being supposed to. It definitely sounds like it turned out to be a great session for "the battle" and I hope the new player stuck around. It does make me wonder though how possible it would be for Puffin Forest to break other written campaigns like that.

[@llanfairpwlgwyngyll7331]

8:47 "AFTER HIM! BRING ME HIS SAND!"

[@RpTheHotrod]

I hate sand. It gets everywhere.

[@ChitenBugMan]

@@RpTheHotrod it's coarse and irritating. Not at all like your skin.

[@ahmadmomenai1154]

"i got a jar of sand! I got a jar of sand! And guess whats inside it!"

[@triforceofcourage100]

Ahmad Momenai is it dirt?

[@lucasberendsen6334]

No dude it's after him bring me his head

[@sananaryon4061]

"I can be stealthy" "You cast fireball at the guards" "And they never noticed us"

[@kysier6015]

Honestly...... that sounds beyond epic. I'm totally running a hardcore campaign like that next.

[@arandomcheese]

Currently running the fane of the night serpent. My players did the slave thing but it still turned into a bloody mess. Granted they released all the slaves and redirected half the dungeon to them but it's still pretty bloody.

[@kysier6015]

@@arandomcheese Gotta admit I'm jealous lol. The few people I game with in this tiny GA town apparently have no interest in a tough campaign. Tried talking them into it yesterday, and nope.

[@LetsbeFrank38]

We play online with players over in Europe.

[@kysier6015]

@@LetsbeFrank38 Do you use Roll20?

[@LetsbeFrank38]

@@kysier6015 we do.

[@osierclan]

me and my friends are playing through this campaign now and we ran into the exact same issue at this part. We essentially bashed our heads against the problem until we won, i think we had like 3 tactical retreats by the time we finally beat the rawnase.

[@bastionunitb7388]

But what happened to the poor lv 1 child? There's no way she survived that whole encounter

[@irpsicologiayeducaciongrup8251]

Three posibilities: 1. She died 2. RNGesus gave her his favor, and she survived through pure lucky rolls and inteligent decisions 3. Plot armor.

[@bastionunitb7388]

@@irpsicologiayeducaciongrup8251 I'm guessing 3

[@irpsicologiayeducaciongrup8251]

@@bastionunitb7388 Yeah, i see 3 as the most probable one.

[@mariophreak]

@@irpsicologiayeducaciongrup8251 Ben Probably fudged some rolls to save her.

[@Rebellions]

To be honest, with that level disparity and the way the adventurers league kinda fucked both Ben and that player I think the plot armor solution was literally the ONLY option and infinitely forgivable in this one instance.

[@jackmoseley4959]

The Fighter duelling the boss at the end there must have felt AMAZING

[@inquisitordragon6827]

Almost all DnD groups I gm do this. Had one group who were basically hardcore characters and always pushed for weak characters vs. Stronger enemies.

[@inquisitordragon6827]

Levels were given out by triumph over great threats or by heavy training. Death wasn't punishment, it was a release and the entire campaign was just them forging their through hellish encounters together with nothing but blood, guts and determination

[@merrickmiller1224]

I tend to favour more flavorful characters then the standard cookie cutter builds you get sick of seeing all the time from CharOp guides. NonStandards make a much better and more memorable story. Im thinking of making a Goblin Ancient Paladin for my next game.

[@is-be6725]

“... inch by bloody inch.”

[@kovidcadera7522]

As an audience member, this was thrilling to watch. As a DM, this was horrifying xD Glad you guys had a great time even if many sweaty dice rolls and page turns were made

[@youtubeuniversity3638]

Stupidly designed adventure, by how it sounds. Players are supposed to submit themselves as slaves and give up all of their items!? Might as well say they lose all their levels at that.

[@Darkprosper]

Also having just ONE option and not even the start of a hint of a plan B. This might be the most railroaded module I've heard of.

[@justafanofz]

KZbin University it makes more sense in the hardcover book then it does here. He also hammed it up a bit for entertainment purposes

[@youtubeuniversity3638]

@@justafanofz Made perfect sense, it's just that a logical progression does not always equal a progression worth going through.

[@Starguardianbard]

@@youtubeuniversity3638 have you played/ran the module? If not then you are only being given 5% of the circumstances and drawing an opinion on it. There are defintely other options. There are NPCs that can help, spells that can help, roleplay that can work, etc. Also funnily enough that someone else said this was the most railroaded adventure considering just how much content in the module is completely missable/skippable and how many options it gives you to complete the task. ToA is a hexcrawling exploration module with probably the least amount of railroad tracks out of any module released for 5e.

[@firelegendmushroom]

KZbin University ehh it’s not quite like that as others have said. It’s more that there’s an encounter where they’ll likely be captured and have to use clever tactics to escape, more so than that they should usually actually submit themselves intentionally. I still think this part of the book assumes a lot about the kinds of things a group might be capable of, but I don’t think it’s quite as bad as he makes it sound.

[@kingscrubby6560]

Also whatever happened to that lvl 1 person? Did they die?

[@larrychilders6599]

From the art it appears that she dealt the final blow

[@Khether0001]

*_In Excel, if you go into cell A1 and type =B1+C1 you create an automated table. Using the function =Int(Rand()*20)+1 you create a d20 (change the 20 for an 8 to get a d8, etc), so each time you press DELETE on an empty cell the "dies are rolled". That's ALL you need._* I know rolling dice is fun, but for larger battles like that you can have ALL NPC attack results instantly, and you can just focus on the roleplay, the story and your players.

[@7firefly763]

Reminds me of one of the first encounters my small group of mostly beginners ever had. We snuck into a mountain, and charged a group of orcs, detonating shatter on ourselves as we got close. Our DM described the action as “ringing the dinner bell”. We proceeded to spend the entire 6 hour session in one room, fighting every single enemy that lived within the mountain. We made it without any deaths, but barely.

[@thehomie6059]

>when refreshing all day finally pays off. Thank god for a new puffin forest.

[@neanderthal1989]

Do they even play test these? Lol Love how they expect people to become slaves to survive, like there's no other way, get some creatively guys, D&D isn't a video game, its so much more open ended then that, but it sounds like the designers seem to forget that. Lol

[@petersenior5432]

Even if it were a video game I would be pissed off if there wasn't an option besides "you're slaves or you're dead".

[@youtubeuniversity3638]

AL needs to think through what modules it allows in better.

[@NopeJustPatrick]

@@petersenior5432 Yeah, no one likes the level where the game takes all your stuff and makes you stealth around like a moron... It's almost as bad a the reverse-escort stealth missions.

[@imaginepigeons792]

Fane of the Night Serpent is an important part in Tomb of Annihilation that you can't skip over. It sounds different the way he explained it compared to the book though. AL seems weird

[@petersenior5432]

@@NopeJustPatrick Ugh, the ones where the guy you're supposed to escort just randomly walks into enemy line of sight? I mean, it's classic but it's not the same as the gung-ho attitude most players I know have. They have a weapon, there's an enemy that's evil, they kill it. No boring things like forcing yourselves into submission lol

[@sojourner_303]

I like how this was supposed to be a stealth mission but the players just murdered everything instead.

[@TheUltimatum12]

Never clicked on a video faster(?

[@justarandomwendigo2017]

Yep

[@chaunceyshearinjr5997]

TheUltimatum12 lol fucking same

[@lukepotter4579]

Nope

[@LoLCTHSKateer]

They can also pretend to be yuanti themselves (the pureblood yuanti looks almost exactly like a human), so they don't necessarily needed to be "a slave" themselves. Also, the high priest lady offer them a deal to help them get to Ras nsi without fighting all the guards (granted, she would try to kill them afterward). However, the players (who ALL suppose to have the death curse) can use that to renegotiate with Ras Nsi to gather the last cubes for free, gain entrance to the tomb, and walking out of the fane alive (which later on in the game pit them against Ras Sni once they walk out of the tomb alive).

[@LoLCTHSKateer]

+Spencer Minton huh, didn’t know that was a thing. Thanks

[@SinerAthin]

It really depends on how many Yuan'ti were in the temple :P If it was only a few dozen, they'd probably recognize any new Yuan'ti. Although if it was a big temple with hundreds of Yuan'ti, blending in would be a lot easier.

[@LoLCTHSKateer]

+SinerAthin the yuanties have a ritual that actually turn people into yuanti, so new recruits are not uncommon. Also among the temple’s denizen, there are also slaves litered everywhere. They can blend in as both, as per stated by the campaign book. The only one to recognize that they are in fact not one of yhem is inside the temple, in a position that can be easily dispatched by the party.

[@velkonemriam1935]

So was this before or after the obelisk incident? Lol

[@Garangus]

Or at the same time!?

[@thorsteinwolfgangson2178]

Must have been before the obelisk, since that was also adventurer league (if I'm correct), and this video tells his first time as GM for AL.

[@shippoi]

I would say after the Abserd-ly Difficult Mission. But close to Whimsy (I know I spelled his name wrong, I just can't remember how to spell it right now).

[@janNowa]

@@shippoi no, it was the FIRST EVER TIME he ran Adventurer's League.

[@Kakadeen]

We gotta piece together a puffin forest time line for his ARG

[@GioTheVax]

This story is perfect and I rewatch this so frequently.

[@fenrir8842]

I bet that was one of the most satisfying victories those players had ever had to that point and possibly still!

[@GoblinKoboldGaming]

Clearly something's up with your AL crew... because I'm fairly certain Tier 1s can't even play with Tier 2s. I know at my LGS I wasn't allowed to play, and still can't find a game to play in because they're all level 5+ and they don't exactly have a way to make a higher level character in AL, so I'm basically locked out of playing any games because everything is Tier 2 and short of forging a logsheet there's no way to play.

[@awesomeking6]

Sounds awful. Starting a character at level 5 is no big deal. I have my players do it all the time. I even allowed a player to start a character at level 9 cause his level 10 character got his brain eaten by a Cthulhu monster

[@ZacOffTheWall]

@@awesomeking6 that's the thing with adventures league though, the characters always start at level 1, and you have to work your way up. It's not like homebrew tables where that is indeed not a very big deal. The rules of Adventures League are very plain and set so that any character you build through it can be taken anywhere that runs adventures league.

[@alicesteel]

@@awesomeking6 That's fine for home games but that's super against the rules in AL. If this is actually just a chapter in a Hardcover that spans from Level 1 to Tier 2 then a Level 1 being there actually does align with the rules. I still would have sent them to a T1 table but it's technically allowed. You can play in AL games online BTW Noah. Then you can level something without forging a logsheet even if the local shop doesn't have any T1s available.

[@merrickmiller1224]

Hard Cover adventures ignore tier rules for play, its specificly mentions in the DMG for adventures league.

[@zadinal]

In the video the guy said he had nowhere to put the new person, I imagine completely new and nothing says welcoming group like making someone sit out and watch others having fun.

[@Cosmic_idea]

"You know, oftentimes if you bash your head against a brick wall enough, eventually it will come tumbling down". That's how I play Divinity Original Sin 2. :)

[@1umbreon4life]

Anyone else love how DMs are drawn as lakitu's in Puffin's videos?

[@TheAero1221]

A-mazing. I simply cannot believe they survived. I am so happy that I stumbled upon this channel.

[@darienschnucker7354]

I actually would have LOVED to be in that secion, i mean the entire story sounded so cool! And the defeaded an Enemy who literaly wasn't souposed to be defeatet.

[@bensmith8806]

This is why Pathfinder Society has a selection of pregen characters that you can use if you don't have a high-level character yet. Then you just give the loot/rewards of the scenario to you actual character as soon as they reach a high enough level to play the module.

[@Nester665]

The problem with League and Society games is that these little one shot throw together adventures often lack wiggle room. It's something along the lines of a train conductor smacking every person who tries to get off at the wrong stop without telling them where the trains going, or why each stop is bad, or assumes players care enough to stay onboard. I realize a lot of this is in part random DMs who may have little to no experience and a story line that assumes the players literally have every gap filled in for them as far as story and plot go leaving only gameplay action to bicker about. Which sadly in the games ive been in ends up as the DM telling people they just magically appear in front of the next room of enemies who are all mandatory to kill. I've tried to deviate from stories as to capturing or interrogating only to be met with stiff resistance from both players and DMs about why you can't capture and enemy and force him to talk. On the other hands I've had DMs hand over every piece of info and assume we'd happily walk through the front door of danger to confront bosses. What I'm getting at is most of the time, these games are natural clusterfucks anyways.

[@TitoRigatoni]

Fane of the Night Serpent isn't a one shot throw together adventure, it is one chapter in the hardcover adventure Tomb of Annihilation. Also there are other options and other ways to handle this adventure, it isn't as locked down as it sounds. Ben is using artistic license to tell a story here, try not to take it too seriously.

[@davidgantenbein9362]

Tito Rigatoni As far as I understood it, they actually did cut down on the original adventure for adventure league, therefore it does offer way less options then the actual module. So it is probably quite a bit of more railroading than with a normal group playing the real module. But yeah, I would still assume that he takes a lot of artistic freedom, specifically when he describes his lack of DM skills.

[@TitoRigatoni]

@@davidgantenbein9362 I ran it in Adventurers League, same as Ben. We ran it straight from the hardcover. I split it into two sessions though, I was amazed when I heard he ran it all in one night.

[@davidgantenbein9362]

Tito Rigatoni Judging the video, I would guess they were just too much on the edge of their seats to leave. He never mentioned anybody really getting splattered, so I think he somehow managed to keep them going. Always on their last spell or hit dice, but nonetheless to far into the dungeon to quite. Could have been a lot of fun ... and sweat, definitely a lot of sweat.

[@destroidhak2556]

It sounds like something the quiet kid says when he gets a low grade. "Whoops! Guess EVERYONE has to die now."

[@farissiddiqui6302]

Top 10 on trending! Oh my god!! That’s awesome dude!!! Nice job!!!

[@samuelkeeling7860]

Honestly that's way better tha the actual storyline. Like seriously amazing. My level 5 fighter would probably have trouble with all of that and he's broken af. This sounds fun and I want Puffin as my GM some time

[@MarvelX42]

Puffin, you didn't nerf anything? You didn't fudge any rolls? They genuinely did this all on their own with no help?

[@desertdude8274]

Putting it that way sounds pretty bad ass.

[@MarvelX42]

@@desertdude8274 Well, that was a question, cause if they actually made it out alive on their own, with no help, then yeah, it is bad ass.

[@darkdesigns]

To be fair, I'm pretty sure there were a lot of things about the adventure that Puffin wound up getting wrong, since he was running it while reading it for the first time. It could very well be that the scenario he presented them was easier than it should be, by accident. Regardless, it is still impressive that they survived.

[@MarvelX42]

@@darkdesigns it sounds like the way Puffin ran this thing is the way that I always run all of my games. I have a general idea and then I just make them up as I go along. lol

[@moonmun]

I think this was a much more fun D&D Campaign than the original IMO so great job DMing it! :D

[@xhuger1]

Your videos hands down have made me want to get in to D&D! Lol. Friend is coming up with a cool campaign and I'll be making my first character soon!

[@wuzhere7518]

“If you bash your head against a brick wall hard enough eventually it will come down” has to be the most blurssed inspirational quote I have ever heard

[@profmembrane8501]

8:13 "And also a black Dragon who also happens to be directly related to Tiamat..."

[@mastermuffles7097]

As a fellow artist, I noticed you improved your art style a bit. Good job.

[@leezpunkbrooke]

what an incredible story. I am so proud of you.

[@edwardcox1038]

Love ur channel a lot

[@larmoth401]

I've only ever ran like three adventure modules and all three times I had to improvise the hell out of them, because the players never ever, ever do what the module says they're going to do. In one the culmination of the adventure was stopping a cultist leader from performing an ancient ritual from a cursed tome, the module expects the players to learn that a professor has the tome and then leave when he asks them to and then expects them to go away and research it to find out what it is and then when they return to get it, it's stolen by cultist forces, now what my players did when they were introduced to the tome is overpower the Professor and steal the tome, "Not the end of the world" I think, this just means the players are targets as the cult tries to get the book, but no the players at this point not knowing what the tome does, start reading through it and when they find the ritual, decide it might make them more powerful and decide to perform it, so the players ended up performing the world ending ritual that the Module wants them to stop. Thing was they still didn't realise this because the rituals outcome aren't immediately obvious, it awakened an ancient mummy within it's tomb and unleashed it's evil power into the world, but in their eyes nothing happened. So they investigated further and ended up burning a Lords house down and they then convinced themselves that this innocent Lord was the leader of the Cult and convinced the guards that it was true, so the innnocent lord who was independently trying to stop the cult ended up being imprisoned and executed for being it's leader. Meanwhile the real cult went into hiding and started serving their now awakened master.

[@Viper3220]

This is why i have a distaste for modules and a love for great improvisational gms. Your adventure sounds much cooler than submitting to being slaves

[@Rose-yx6jq]

4:30 🎵 Don't you know you never split the party 🎶

[@zoliking]

Yeah, this happened to me all the time, I come up with a situation where combat isn't supposed to be a good option, the players charge in like a king and somehow still win. (Granted, one time I had to pull the "this guy who can just wipe the party easily at this point notices his superior strength and tries to capture the characters alive instead of just finishing them right that turn" bullshit to get them out.)

[@Maroonz80yt]

Literally DYING!!! ive played this mod and.. omg... Im going to watch the rest of your things now im in tears laughing so hard. so many feels.

[@-TheFacelessGamer-]

In my school, we have a new teacher who started a game club. We had our first meeting and played a card game which I forgot the name of just to start out. Then we decided to start Dungeons and Dragons the next time we meet. I've never played but I've been wanting too. Last Thursday (12/20/18), we started by creating our characters. The club meets on every Thursday and we have a total of 6 of us. 5 students who have a character, and the teacher playing as the "Game Master" if I recall it being called. The club lasts for like between an hour to 2 hours. We've spent like 2 hours and 40 minutes creating out characters and then needed to go home. Some people told their adventures and that made me want to look up video because of how funny there's where. One of the students talked about how they were in the sewers, if I recall, and where getting attacked by spiders. One of the players decided it was a good Idea to throw a bomb. They blew up the sewers and they needed to end the campaign because the sewers was the main part of the campaign. The first campaign the teacher said we are going to do is called "lost mine of phandelver". It's funny too that most of the players in my group are "Chaotic Evil" and like only one of them is mainly good. Me and someone else kept joking around telling him to watch his back. He said he wants like a few games before we start killing each other. lol. I look forward to playing more and figure out how too. lol. Is it like a suggestion to get captured as slaves or is the book outright telling the players to become slaves? Like, could you just think of another solution, basically what you guys did by accident because you didn't know what you were doing. I don't see players being ok with that. lol.

[@TheJerbol]

Always great game design when the only feasible option is convoluted and never something the players would want to do

[@siveret23]

In the adventurer's league you gain XP by killing things right? (instead of leveling up or gaining XP as the GM seems fit for the story) Thats a lot of corpses and a lot of XP for bashing your head against a brick wall xD

[@garrettw7488]

My first campaign that I played the completion I ran a chaotic good drow tenth level monk 5th level Ranger. It took place over the course of three massive sections when was The Taking of a keep, second was the exploration of a temple in forest, and last was the liberation of an island nation based heavily on Japan. All of these were mostly sneaking missions until the island. On the island we had a relatively new character come with us. Kaboom The Gnome wizard Kaboom was our Paladin second character because the Paladin took over the keep and was ruling it is a noble Lord. Kaboom had a bit of a patient's problem so we are on an island filled with hundreds of enemies including more than a hundred fire Giants an adult Red Dragon and a horde home-brewed Barbarian cat Riders. We sneaked well enough to the first town that the Invaders didn't notice us. We then started formulating a plan to take the first town and liberate it, that's when Kaboom got bored and turned what should have been a stealth mission into an 8 against an army all out War. Which involved us taking a keep killing 20 fire Giants in a single battle decapitating adult Red Dragon thank vorpal swords, and a net one want to spell roll that when we're old the effects caused us all to jump up four levels including a fifth level for killing the dragon and the 20 fire Giants.

[@stevenpeven258]

Just goes to show that a major campaign derailing fuck up can lead to shenanigans and awesomeness

[@iforgetiremember5243]

first chuckle for me on this one is about 1:05. "i'm playing a wiz-lord :D"

[@alansmithee419]

This module just seems really one dimensional to me. "This is how you're going to get through this one right, no questions GOOD!"

[@Tofudagreat]

Nice job getting on the trending page

[@TheRhetoricGamer]

This is why Pathfinder scenarios will *usually* have a contingency for scenarios that require infiltration, diplomacy, or willingly getting captured, just in case things go south or the party decides to murderhobo everything. The most common approach is having an allied operative that already infiltrated the enemy stronghold who will take the fall for the party if things go south.

[@LamborghiniDiabloSVPursuit]

So what was suppose to be a simple stealth quest turned into a bloodbath with massive amounts of casualties on both sides. This is like a fantasy version of Spec Ops: The Line.

[@BreathWeapon]

Hope the new player had the time of their character's ever diminishing life

[@muboizin]

I can picture the table screaming and rolling dice desperately. And then the coordinator looks and says: "oh, the new guy is good".

[@eacey]

Luciano Alencar lol yeah little did they know...

[@michaelm8852]

Luciano Alencar Little did they know that the initial plan was skipped right into the ‘kill everything’ route.

[@omutsukimi]

Always the most fun route 😂

[@Vert1cus]

lets be honest the kill everything route is the only route worth taking

[@mestre12]

@@michaelm8852 you mean, the fun route

[@Nyerguds]

You have to admit... brute-forcing your way through a stealth-designed campaign, and winning... that's ballsy.

[@games-rc9td]

As a smart man once said nobody can notice if there is nobody to notice

[@Nyerguds]

@@games-rc9td The alternate approach to stealth games! xD

[@games-rc9td]

@@Nyerguds thats how i play stealth mision because that is both funny and challanging

[@funnyblog100]

Still not as bad when I fucked up a stealth mission in Shadowrun. So shadowrun is like dnd but in a futuristic dystopian setting where corporations run everything without any rules or regulations holding them back. Anyway I was supposed to break three party members out of prison. First I need to tell you how they got captured. They came across a trap and instead of running or trying to disarm the thing they kept poking at it to see what it did. Anyway my characters boss wants him to break them out of the prison that he designed without anyone noticing. So me and another party member agreed on knocking out the security tower. We didn't know it would open every cell door in the prison and instead of one area it controlled all the security in the entire prison. So moments later the prisons on fire there are riots and it is on the news all while my character is getting an angry phone call from his boss. I only got off the hook because when the warden tried to arrest me he got blamed for everything because he was in charge of the prison.

[@Jedededededede]

That's pretty much Warframe in a nutshell xD

[@chalos6072]

Every stealth mission: No one will notice, if there is no one to notice

[@girlbuu9403]

That is why you give them a reason to be stealthy. Like they are level 3ish and they are hiding from frost giants.

[@IndigoTail]

@@girlbuu9403 Hiding from? You mean killing them so there's no witnesses. That's how my group plays DnD, even though we have 3 players who have their stealth on 20

[@girlbuu9403]

@@IndigoTail >Level 3 PCs >Frost Giants >Killing them You or whoever is DMing your campaign is being WAY too forgiving and budging WAY too many rolls.

[@goreobsessed2308]

Expecting every group to be able to do a stealth mission is silly.

[@girlbuu9403]

@@goreobsessed2308 Also true. If you have a party decked out in full plate you might need to have a contingency plan, or make those stealth rolls real easy to pass, otherwise you are just being an asshole. This is also why the DM telling the players what kind of game they want to run is important, so they can make characters that better fit the playstyle and themes.

[@snorlacroix2237]

“hey can I try DMing?” “yeah sure heres 7 people and im sure you’ve got a campaign planned”

[@filipferencak2717]

And here's another, level 1, player. Please proceed to balance her out with the others, who are all far higher lvl.

[@kaimcdragonfist4803]

If the new player who is woefully underlevelled for this quest happens to perish, it is your fault, and may Tiamat have mercy on you

[@8BitMisdreavus]

That's AL for ya!

[@329link]

to be fair, ben DID say he had the campaign ready.

[@eddiemate]

329link To be fair, they expected him to have prepared a specific module before he even asked them.

[@MoonBoi101]

Respect for Ben for absolutely derailing the campaign and managing to recover it anyways, that's some real DM work right there

[@aracaniusinfinius2880]

Apparently his first too lol

[@cooldog8580]

@@aracaniusinfinius2880 imagine what he could do if he MASTERED being a GM, he could mortally fuck up a session but still find a way to make it epic as hell.

[@dddmemaybe]

@@cooldog8580 Such is life.

[@Dan-qy6zv]

Good on the players for somehow surviving

[@ThePigeon5734]

@@cooldog8580 isn't that what he does?

[@Kelnor277]

10 years later the level 1 wizlord PC is asked. “So, how did you get started in dnd?” Her eyes just glaze over with PTSD. “Sit down, I’ll tell you a story.”

[@lagg1e]

So, there was this temple fortress of snakemen that took human slaves. The module said it's a stealth and sneak affair, but the DM was having none of that. He had brought his own set of a hundred polished dice. 15 grey ones for zombies and paralysis checks. 19 blue ones for humans, air elementals, spells and the head priest. 30 green ones for snake beasts and poison checks. 35 green grey marbled ones for snakemen, yuanti and other snake humanoids. and 1 blazing red die for Ras Nsi and his flaming sword. We bribed our way in, and witnessed a monstrous commotion of slavery and sacrifice in the temple. Our cover got blown and we alerted the entire temple within minutes, and we had to flee after a few PCs fell. After patching us up for a bit, we discovered teleporters and in a wild goose chase we teleported all over the temple we split up the enemy forces and bit by bit battered them down. I was with the party rogue up on a balcony, facing a courtyard full of undead that were climbing up to us. We were shooting down at first, but then had to take most of our turns to throw them back down, until they overwhelmed us and we had to climb even higher and had to fight while clinging to the wall. Meanwhile in the throne room, our fighter challenged the leader and killed the snake king with his own sword. That day, was when I truly became a wizlord.

[@MarkEdwardRom]

@@jacksonbarrett5561 I read it

[@elmeromogollon]

Whats a wizlord? Its a wizard and warlock multi-class?

[@Dawood238]

@@elmeromogollon She is lv1 so future wizlord.

[@the_last_ballad]

@@elmeromogollon just a weird way that said person said wizard I think.

[@pprandomnpz]

This was supposed to be Skyrim and you turned it into Dark Souls!

[@infinitum8314]

Pretty much

[@aeternusdoleo4531]

Nope, that was supposed to be Dishonored but turned into Doom 2016.

[@kraosdadafusfus8034]

It's like Cidhna Mine. You end up in there and have to do a convoluted plan to escape. I just blew everyone up with magic, and the rest of Mararth was ravaged after that. I turned a lot of people into sweetrolls. And ate their hearts as i was a Werewolf.

[@dclem005]

Nah, if it was Dark Souls his entire party would have been dead after the first encounter.

[@toslowlypoke]

It was supposed to be Splinter Cell but he turned it into Dynasty Warriors.

[@bobmalone3726]

That sounds like much more fun than the original plan.

[@StarshadowMelody]

Yeah, actually? Yeah. Lots more fun. And leagues less uncomfortable.

[@kento369]

It also sounds like it would be a slog if everyone wasn't on Death's doorstep every single second past the bribing.

[@StarshadowMelody]

@@kento369 Mhm. speaks to how shit the original plan is, doesn't it?

[@utes5532]

DnD in a nutshell

[@millerrepin4452]

It definitely soundslike a nightmare for dm though

[@red_comet_3326]

Through this entire video I’m wondering what happened to that poor level one wizard during that fight

[@MajkaSrajka]

i bet that plot armor happened xd

[@sircastic959]

She probably stopped being level 1 somewhere during that fight.

[@account-tn4ol]

I think they died he said 2 players died then they took off

[@tylerwilliams417]

You weren't the only one. I was expecting him to mention her towards the end.

[@Not_Ciel]

Same. I’m also left wondering 😂

[@gambent6853]

So the module assumes the players will be okay being captured and turned into slaves? Did the creator of the adventure meet D&D players?

[@samaustin339]

With our group we came across a yuan-ti patrol who we fought, and charmed into helping us. Because they actually hated Rassnasi, and wanted him dead. We only disguised ourselves as slaves, and met the high priestess , who wanted Rasnassi dead. She kept our fighter Olin in the room with the weapons, and when the sacrifice occurred we snuck into Rassansi’s room as slaves,ambushed him, nearly died; but with cleaver thinking, and a heat metal spell from my Bard, and Rassnasi, and his guards were no more. We were on good terms with the high priestess, and the other conspirators.

[@Nemo12417]

Keep in mind that Tomb of Annihilation is a full campaign adaptation/remake of Tomb of Horrors, which was specifically created to be a player killer unless you carefully planned your actions. Also, the book has a "captured" scenario, so you can railroad your party into it.

[@nickwilliams8302]

@@Nemo12417 The "captured" scenario occurs if the PCs lose a fight to the Yuan-Ti in Chapter 3, or botch an assault or infiltration on the temple. The Yuan-Ti want slaves and sacrificial victims rather than corpses and fight to capture not kill. How is that a "railroad"?

[@nickwilliams8302]

@Gambent The module assumes no such thing.

[@MrX-ok3jq]

@@samaustin339 Ah, good old 'cleaver tihnking' ... thats where you all kill everything right? with cleavers?

[@TheDragonCat99]

As frustrating as that all sounds, I have no doubt that once the final enemy was defeated, they all felt extremely accomplished. (Especially if/when they found out that that wasn’t even supposed to be possible)

[@skullzies785]

Those are the best runs though

[@Thecommander248]

Who said they ever found out? XD

[@Jebu911]

I bet the GM had to be fudging some rolls in their favor at that point.

[@jasonhenry8067]

@@Jebu911 to be fair, he kinda screwed them over accidentally, so it’s not unwarranted that the dice get a helpful nudge every now and then.

[@thedootlord]

Frick impossible we got cheese and nat 20s

[@melledevries4685]

The original plan, literally: Step 1 - give all gear to enemies Step 2 - profess servitude to enemies Step 3 - come up with a plan

[@frankwest5388]

Chadwick . Just Chadwick. I am still new to dnd, but why won’t we do the classic MAA strategy? M stands for murder, A stands for all and A stands for around. I’ve never seen that tactic fail. Because I never had the chance to play this game before.

[@nickwilliams8302]

@Chadwick . Just Chadwick. This "plan" appears literally nowhere in the written adventure.

[@kiraramirez2776]

@@frankwest5388 fighting is kinda like a Pokemon battle everyone gets a turn to attack ,level basically determines power and somethings will either be super effective or do absolutely nothing. You can take a chance to heal but you have a limited number of spells based on your level. Now everything is based on the role of a die or a combo of dice which means MAA is a risky tactic especially because you keep the damage you had in the last battle and have to do a long rest to get back most spells which can really suck after fighting waves of enemies.

[@cruzwindu777deffsff4]

@@frankwest5388 ''Just Chadwick. I am still new to dnd, but why won’t we do the classic MAA strategy?'' Because in D&D superior numbers are more dangerous than what you may think. Your warrior may be level 10, but enough level 2-5 can overwhelm him and kill him easily.

[@bloody4558]

@@cruzwindu777deffsff4 That depends on which D&D we are talking about, my 3.5 team never had any problem dealing with almost infinite numbers of lower leveled enemies. They were simply too good at finding op setups in even weaker classes. I had a transmuter sorcerer that was pretty much invulnerable to anything below 10, hell I could tank berserkers and kill them with melee attacks(as long as they didn't get anything above 18 in their dice rolls.). In the new 5.0 however, yeah numbers are op.

[@Kindrick]

game: "This is a stealth mission. Here's an invisibility potion." me: *[incoherent screaming as I enrage and maul my way through hordes of elite guards]*

[@Kindrick]

Didn't even need the potion.

[@CappyEmo]

@@Kindrick barbarian?

[@CappyEmo]

@@Bruh-lq7ev bard would have done something else.

[@lukedeakin7124]

@@CappyEmo You're not a bard until you seduce your way through at least one major encounter that was supposed to end with combat

[@TheBayzent]

@@Bruh-lq7ev Bard would have sex with Rassnasi. And a bunch of STD's. Rash-nassi.

[@korvincarry3268]

Honestly, what you ran was probably 10X more fun than what the module wanted you to. Much more epic, and im sure those players loved it. It was one of those where they werent supposed to make it out, but they did.

[@Raptorman0205]

Yeah, having to spend a whole DnD session kissing snake ass doesn't sound like my idea of fun in all honesty.

[@jamesmerkel1932]

I would have tripled the xp gain and added a ton of loot for pulling something like this off. Seriously, accomplishing what was supposed to be the least likely outcome is a critical success.

[@codysonic1]

I wouldn't be surprised if they have gain epic boons from that whole ordeal

[@TheBayzent]

@@Raptorman0205 You can access the temple in more than one way though...

[@dddmemaybe]

@@TheBayzent but you can't reach the throne room more than one way with any decent chance of success right?

[@fox_2312]

I love seeing you slowly improve your art style, I especially noticed the texture in the hair and different eyes

[@catsarecool7247]

I know he's really getting good with his art

[@madmanoliver]

I don’t know how you can make something look simultaneously shit and really good at the same time but damn Puffin manages it.

[@tortuah]

His animations are a bit more animated this vid, too.

[@millerrepin4452]

Lol it's not like his animations were a very high bar to begin with. Though i do enjoy his stories

[@herbiehusker1889]

I liked the talking book. The art has improved greatly.

[@DerpDevilDD]

i just picture that level one, new player sitting in a dark corner of a tavern, scowling into their glass, and occasionally some little newb comes along and asks if it's all true.

[@Corrodias]

My only disappointment with the video is that it doesn't follow up on that poor, level 1 character and how they managed to survive this.

[@allmightyski7707]

“Ras Nsi? Haven’t heard that name around here in years...”

[@arsenelupin5424]

By the end of that session I’m pretty sure the level one is level fifteen

[@gamingpandaboy]

"It's true...the yuan-ti...the pool of insanity...Raz nsi...all of it."

[@BaronSengir1008]

"I'm not in the room, right?" "What room?" "The room he's casting all those spells in!"

[@grandiflora8479]

Honestly due to being derailed this seemed to become a MUCH better and more memorable dungeon IMO

[@dasmoose5456]

I like your picture.

[@likeorasgod]

Every time I ran a module it always would get so detailed and side walked I end up just making stuff up on the fly to try to get them back on track lol

[@madhatten00]

true, it helped that they won

[@grandiflora8479]

Thank you moose~! It is a friend of mines character drawn as a chibi~ Ive been thinking of switching to a non chibi version of one of her characters though. And I did not expect this many thumbs up! Ive never gotten this many ever before O_O And for the convo at hand.... ive never run a published adventure myself actually, I feel like I got a limited budget as is as I dont have a stable source of income and dont really wanna spend it on something that doesnt offer anything new mechanics terms as I feel like a module would mostly be fun to use once and then lose its value kinda.... I do like reading about old modules to get story ideas though, planning to run basicly the apocalypse stone in 5e sometime.

[@RachitModi]

Wait a minute. What happened to the Level 1 First-Timer? Did she survive the bloobath or was she baptised in D&D serpent blood?

[@runeboyz7]

She was the last one alive lol

[@lukepotter4579]

I cant believe he survived the bloobath

[@sarabullen1301]

Rachit Modi yeah I thought the person in the throne room would be the first timer but no.

[@spunkyspaz]

"I'm playing a wizlord!"

[@gamingpandaboy]

Most likely died in the first fight

[@edfreak9001]

"Oh sweet jesus the campaign's become derailed in a massively stealth-focused campaign, what do we do?!" "We put the train into ***MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE***"

[@akisa7865]

Too bad they didn't get the turbo

[@lagg1e]

"We can't brake, we cannot slow down" "Slow down? This is when we go EVEN FASTER."

[@lolroflroflcakes]

@@lagg1e If you go fast enough maybe you can get up to a sufficient velocity to complete an orbit and just get back to the start.

[@eragonawesome]

Just gotta get enough speed to start generating lift obviously

[@conoroneill8067]

As someone who's a DM, that's a terrible design - most of the groups I've run (though admittedly I have a sample size of two) would probably not jump at the opportunity of being slaves, and would likely try some other strategy. There is no other strategy, you say? They'll find one. They always do. Their plans haunt my dreams...

[@raspberrypie1706]

Just DM in adventurers league, then when a player comes up with a creative plan you can just say "the book doesn't list that as one of the options, so you can't do that".

[@pipgang8566]

Raspberry Pie I'll take "reasons why AL is stupid" for 500 alex!

[@isenokami7810]

Conor O'Neill Actually, this story, and all the comments saying the intended route was terrible, makes me really love how players can screw with the narrative. This and another route taken by a different commenter show how these deviations can ultimately lead to a more fun and exciting adventure. Kinda reminds me of Mann vs Machine in TF2. There’s a pretty solid meta to that game mode, but it’s always fun when someone on the team decides to screw that meta and do something stupid. Especially since most of the time that something stupid ends up working.

[@nickwilliams8302]

@@raspberrypie1706 *"the book doesn't list that as one of the options, so you can't do that"* Why not? Seriously, people keep _claiming_ that AL restricts play in this manner, but I've never been shown a rule that says this. If an adventure doesn't provide an actual reason why the PCs can't try something, they can try it. It might not _work,_ but they can try.

[@WexMajor82]

@@raspberrypie1706 If a DM utters that sentence to me, it is the last time he does that for me. I'm leaving.

[@Ryanowning]

With so many enemies.... How many times did they level up? More specifically the level 1?

[@daxterquiny]

I'm also really interested to know how the bloody first time player lvl1 char managed past all that!

[@TKDragon75]

The level 1 I'd have to assume to at least level 3. But from 5 to 6 you need like 7,500xp.

[@The73MPL4R]

She probably went straight to tier 2 after that

[@MisterJasro]

Surprise. It uses old school rules and the cult only uses barter. No gold pieces no experience. Better luck next time.

[@larsthorsen4660]

She leveled twice before hitting the ground...

[@emperorshaq]

Neutral Evil: “Whoops! Guess everyone has to die now”

[@Biddyjr]

Even the hat clerk?!?

[@luketfer]

especially the Hat clerk!

[@Prrrditious]

@@luketfer Especially the WIZARD!!!

[@Pigen_]

*"You never split The party"*

[@chocobitties2595]

*YELLING IN ABSERD VOICE* "WE MUST PROCEED QUIETLY, THERE IS GREAT DANGERRRRRRR!"

[@miscellaneousminions]

I didnt even read the Abserd voice part of that comment and still read speech in Abserd's voice. I think i watch too much Puffin.

[@ericb3157]

reminds me of a gag in the online comic "order of the stick": "everyone roll a stealth check." "I GOT A FOUR!"

[@stlchucko]

“I waaaaarnnnned yoooouuuu.”

[@kereminde]

@@ericb3157 "NO WAIT, IT WAS A NINE! THE BOOTS ADDED FIVE!"

[@irontemplar6222]

When I played this module the GM suggested we submit ourselves as slaves. I said that was the worst idea anyone could have. GM: "What do you mean?" ME: "Your suggesting we submit ourselves as slaves to a race that has been keeping slaves for centuries at least, our only hope would be if someone inside of the temple actually wants to help us for their own gain." GM: "well their most likely would be someone who could gain from you guys taking out the head honcho" ME: "of course there would be, but we would be little more than pawns to be disposed of afterword's. And we would likely be weakened from the fight so we would be easy pickings" GM: *sweats feverously* "well than what do you intended to do" We than with my Half elf ranger and the Dwarf Fighter planed out how we were going to fight a war aginst them. we would attack slave caravans and recruit the slaves to our cause equipping them with our enemies gear the best we could. my character developed anti toxin for our small army and we began our attack. the bulk of our forces would attack the main gates with Bows and arrows and other ranged weapons as well as eventally getting into melee. while the party and the rest of our forces took down the two walls we had tunneled to inside the fortress we than killed the remaining guards equipped whatever slaves were inside attacked the Yu-tie army from behind while they were fighting our much better trained (compared to the ones we just freed) army of freed slaves and crushed the bulk of the Yu-tie forces we than went in and room by room cleared the entire fortress the final battle with Nasee ended a bit unceremoniously as the rogue stole his weapon and the wizard couter spelled Nasee's magic while myself and my *Newly deputized rangers* filled him full of arrows. by the end of it the GM didn't even know what to say with just a little bit of planning and forethought we had trivialized a module that was considered hard. In the end though he agreed the whole group had fun and it was a good session. Than me and the Dwarf recruited the slaves as our personal army... The GM said he was going to need a week to plan out our next session. :)

[@FactoryofRedstone]

what happend?

[@smiley4995]

Honestly I would try to create a new empire and that would be the goal of later sessions, however later adventures would still be an option

[@isenokami7810]

Iron Templar Your version of events sounds equally as awesome as what Puffin dealt with. We can all agree, though, that the intended route is terrible. Considering the specific kind of rouge I want to be, I wonder if a stealth option was ever possible. Slave option doesn’t count, I’m thinking more Metal Gear.

[@StarboyXL9]

Having a personal army sounds awesome. It's a lot of responsibility, but awesome lol.

[@Carandini]

If I were DMing I'd have hosed you on the tunnels. Yuan-ti are partly snakes, so it makes sense that the more mutated of them would have the senses of snakes. That means poor/non-existent hearing but an intense sensitivity to ground vibrations. They'd have rumbled onto the presence of the tunnels and been prepared for that part of the plan. It would also have been fitting for the Yuan-ti, again playing up to their serpentine natures, to have hypontized their slaves at least to the point where they would be unable to fight their masters - albeit I doubt they'd invest that much effort until after it was clear you were freeing and re-arming slaves to fight against them. You also would have the issue of time. This is a big investment of time to free, arm, and train all of these slaves. What are the cultists doing in all that time? Just twiddling their fangs? Or do they get help of their own? Player ingenuity shouldn't ever be punished, but neither should it be allowed to completely run roughshod over the narrative and turn something into a cakewalk.

[@operationkilled]

So basically, this story/session is like (In quotes)... *"...Stealth is OPTIONAL for this mission."* *"...Nobody will notice if there's nobody to notice."* *"...It still counts as stealth if no one lives to tell about it."*

[@the_solaris]

Too true... to true

[@Billryethejewishguy]

Ghetto Stealth, nobody will see anything ever again...

[@gregoryalbert3461]

Reminds me of a secondhand story I heard about this one character someone created. They were a lizardman barbarian. Ended up with great strength and intimidation but next to no intelligence. Guy decided his character really wanted to be a rogue but could just never do it. So the character would run up screaming into encounters with low numbers of enemies, bash their heads in with his club, and then whisper to the corpses "You no see me." and walk away.

[@kylestanley7843]

@@gregoryalbert3461 I fucking love that concept, i want to try that now lmao

[@TheClone37]

Thats how I ran my ninja in pathfinder

[@dedf15]

Your version sounds way better than the version "as written". You def. Went above and beyond for those players!

[@crinsombone5380]

The original gave no autonomy. I would love his version even if I died

[@azurebalmung4520]

The players' way in sounds more creative and believable than the 'official' way into the place. Though I would have liked to see the head GM's reaction to seeing the aftermath of that and learning how derailed things had gotten xD

[@codysonic1]

If it was me I would be like Me: So let me get this straight you want to continue ripping and tearing through this area Players: Yep Me: Okay let me just grab something to eat and drink because I want to enjoy this!

[@suspiciouscheese4518]

He cuts out a lot of stuff here, there’s more than one way to play it. In my party we snuck in disguised as snakes and planned to assassinate Ras with the help of the “friendly” snake lady. Unfortunately one of our NPCs was a double agent and Ras found us out. We could’ve killed him there in the blood pool room but instead we restrained our paladin and submitted. The slave part is actually really well done and it ended in a slave uprising and an awesome boss fight against a powered up blood ritual Ras. My lawful good human cleric got turned into a neutral/chaotic good yuan-it cleric and the whole thing was some of the most fun I’ve had in a D&D session.

[@powerist209]

Well, he did say that he had to prepare 5 MINUTES.

[@s.m.2523]

@@powerist209 Sure. But the point is not s much thow he DMed his game here (he did the best of a very hurried situation), it's more how he presents the module in his video, making it look like it's ridiculous and badly written when ut's actually a much better module than he gives it credit for.

[@gilberthjimenez431]

Number 4 in trending Well done Puffin :D You are awesome!

[@willshields4480]

We all know that.

[@Gavanater7]

Gilberth Jiménez I cant believe he did it I always watched his vids I think he will hit 1mil subs soon if he keeps up the good work

[@vincentmartin9667]

I just surprise something good is on trending for once.

[@houseofrandomgaming1525]

I can't believe he's on trending, but its amazing either way. Congrats to Puffin Forest

[@ellerytorrence3381]

Number 6 now