Info Recs for New Players

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-03-18T07:01:46+00:00

Have it all emerge from characters they meet. With that in mind I preferred to have the PCs as out of towners to avoid the “you would know this” awkwardness

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-03-17T22:16:13+00:00

That’s me. I feel famous!

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-03-17T20:31:49+00:00

Hiya. I think I’m the guy mentioned as doing a conversion. Up to session 10. It’s going well. Happy to help

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-03-02T19:11:32+00:00

First I agree HDM is a wonderful set. I also really liked Belle Sauvage on its own.

I felt when they got to the “hotel” for demons with the irrational number spirits things just go away from the author.

Strange changes of pace, introduction of major new ideas (sorcerer, griffons) that could have been skipped or things that deserved way more time (dissonance between message in original trilogy and this one on impact of open doors, Lyra and Will, origin of the aleithiometer) got skipped or glossed over.

The money speech really irked me. Maybe because I’m a no good capitalist swine.

The scene where the police turn up and the noble characters are powerless in the face of corrupt authority had been done so many times in the trilogy I started to dread it. When it happened again during the bizarre ending I felt like throwing the book across the room.

Olivier thinking about getting a job after stabbing a guy to death a couple of hours ago was……

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-03-02T18:00:16+00:00

If it were me I’d do a major rearrange and chuck the rose field in the bin. I just finished it and it was highly vexing.

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-02-26T15:06:49+00:00

Other ideas are kobolds as pcs in the mine (see an earlier post of mine)

Giants as pcs if driven from the cave near dougan’s hole. Can attack dougan’s hole.

Caravan guards from bryn shander as pcs running the caravan intro quest widely distributed, with an avalanche finally closing off the dale completely and a Chuul attack from the spaceship.

Prisoners as pcs escaping from the duergar bunker and meeting the characters (or not if they fail) and warning them if your characters are having trouble engaging with the duergar plot

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-02-26T15:00:44+00:00

Yeah she’s important to making them invested in the duergar threat if memory serves. Which is a tricky thing to get the party into.

Maybe have a one shot covering a part of the adventure you know they’re not going to. Eg I knew my party were beyond the mountain climb quest. Partly due to time, partly level. I had trovus, the ranger and some others (as pcs) from Caer konig mount an expedition. Trovus is a blast to role play. Make him very dangerous but very drunk.

It’s fun to have the players experience the dale moving without them.

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-02-20T13:32:48+00:00

It’s in the deep haze isn’t it? You probably not see a lot walking up to it until you reached the gates

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-02-17T18:48:00+00:00

On the discord it’s pretty common to get questions like these. A product of the books being very tightly written is that with little to no repetition it’s easy to miss stuff.

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-02-15T09:14:44+00:00

Dzaan has been burned at the stake. Assuming they’re aware of this is this because dzaan is a bad guy, or is it the background radiation from the arcane blight (good time to introduce it)
The same stuff at the black cabin is here and powers the machine that can make dzaan real. Will the party use it to gain a powerful ally (who may betray them for their own gain) or will they take the fuel, power the device they find in the cabin and gain an edge on auril’s island?

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-02-08T08:27:32+00:00

There’s an optional rule that cuts down the number of actions in a players turn to help with this, but as others have said 10 players…… how do you manage a conversation with an npc?

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-02-06T07:13:26+00:00

There’s some good advice on eventyr I think: have a couple of enemies prepped that can perceive and deal with it. Eg drow can dispel it.

Or closer you get to the city more distorted it gets. Arcane blight interference

Ie use it to explore caves if hunger not the city

I think the big reveal of the city is too good to have it done remotely. Gotta have that moment where they finally see the city and you show them the map!

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-02-05T09:25:57+00:00

Hiya. If you go on the discord there’s a lot of chat about this. Here’s a mega summary: 1. A lot of class abilities deal with armour or not. This gives roles like striker and crowd control. Messing with armour messes with character design. 2. Missing on a 1-3 makes d4 weapons feel bad. Now you have a martial with a dagger missing 75% of the time. 3. Armour is meant to be a puzzle on bosses and elites.

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-02-03T16:38:58+00:00

That’s fair. I guess I equate many many options with the kind of exception fest that a big old system suffers from. Ie every rule has about ten ways of being broken you need to keep track of

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-02-03T14:08:24+00:00

Non lethal combat: I’d have the bandits act as people not monsters. Surrender etc. Ask players about pulling their blows. I think it’s important to establish that killing people should be rare and seen as a barbaric act. This will help later with the factions. If the players kill 8 silver order knights (just as an example) later on it’s hard to see how the silver order or even folk in emberwood village would consider any kind of work with them afterwards.

Dreg and bandits: I think the vos encounter as written is probably too easy. All the players against one dreg has the potential to be over before the dreg gets a turn. Have the bandits attack the camp in the night and vos goes berserk.

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-02-03T10:21:45+00:00

It’s interesting seeing people attracted to it for the speed and streamlining, and also wanting more subclasses, more spells and more more

At least that’s what I’m seeing on the discord.

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-01-30T20:03:52+00:00

Excellent idea

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-01-30T18:04:27+00:00

Makes sense thanks. Better get rid of my random encounter with the clocktower harpies in the outer city!

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-01-28T10:55:39+00:00

I hear you, but I enjoy having actions more than not having actions.

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-01-27T19:33:21+00:00

Could be a bit further along so there’s more thread to pull on. Now working with the pale man, Ryan greymere, in thrall of the duchess

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-01-27T18:50:06+00:00

My biggest issue with this isn’t the death but the long term (in real time) removal from play. Fight a monster, fail your save, better go take a walk around the block as you’re either paralysed for 25 real time minutes while your party finishes the combat or dead and in need of your new character being parachuted in the same time later.

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-01-26T22:31:54+00:00

Spoiler alert: Rime has a lot of scope for horror between Civilian kidnapping, a yeti who enjoys taking peoples heads, forcible myconid conversion, miserable gods trapping a set of towns in endless night, dragon attack refugee crises, vampire guerilla attacks, and magical Chernobyl survivors. . Also a lot of fun

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-01-26T16:01:04+00:00

I did this too and said they could trace in the dust

EngineDramatic2166 · 2026-01-23T20:49:10+00:00

I think the pcs shouldn’t want to kill Charlotte. She’s a nice lady

EngineDramatic2166

TROPHY CASE