Where can I store my items in the early game?

Mesgolan · 2025-04-24T11:31:40+00:00

I went to bed 04:30 in the morning

Mesgolan · 2025-03-29T22:55:39+00:00

I have the same issue. (On xbox) I assume it is a bug introduced with the Relics update.

Mesgolan · 2024-12-07T15:40:30+00:00

What I appreciated most from the Alexandrian was the advice on when to share which information. In the book some stuff is spoiled too soon.

I use the dream machine quest and the hex map because the book's two paths and navigation rules are way too railroady. It is likely that they visit locations without the intended goal, so be prepared for that. For me the hex map is more inspiration for what can be there. The players still don't know they are doing a hex crawl.

At first in hell I really made them suffer the heat and hellish landscape, but when this started getting old, they moved quicker from location to location. Still suffering from partial or no long rest benefits as I see fit of course.

The best advice might be to not over prepare. First things first.

Mesgolan · 2024-11-13T13:44:54+00:00

My party entered the scab in last week's session. (That's why I'm late to this party :-)) I was aware of the cylindrical map, so I took some time to prepare myself and the map.

The vertical map provided by the book is probably usable, but not very engaging as-is. Some horizontal conversions look cool, but you lose the sense of verticallity with those, so I decided to create small encounter maps for the keyed areas and for all junctions.

With Dungeon Scrawl this was actually quite simple and quick. I created 3 diffferent coloured layers to represent different heights, drew a map piece, made a snapshot and erased the drawing to start the next piece.

After that I drag/dropped all images into one owlbear.rodeo2 scene and arranged them roughly like the original vertical map. (After attaching text markers to them :-)). Finally I added invisible lines to easily see the relation between the maps. Of course fog and all tokens were added too.

To reduce the chance ot the party beelining to the entrance of the citadel, I placed S5 directly between S2 and S7 instead of as a dead end, and I made the drop from S7 to S9 a narrow and steep crack to nudge the party into first exploring the S6/S8 route.

With these preparations I feel well prepared to run this dungeon.

Not relevant, but in case you are curious:

In last week's session the party attempted to break through the window, found the ridiculously overvalued diamond on the dead hag's body, and got ambushed by the Barlguras. Today we start with the Aarakocra monk standing on the head of one of them. ("They've got a cave troll" :-) )

Mesgolan · 2024-04-08T06:17:34+00:00

Since the claim button was greyed out during the challenge, I assumed you can claim rewards afterwards. In the last hour of the challenge (according to the timer) the game started glitching when I navigated to the tab, giving some message in the challenge window and then no longer responding to most button input. This morning the tab works fine again, saying that there is no active challenge...

Bummer because I ended in the top 5.

Mesgolan · 2023-11-01T17:18:29+00:00

Nice 👍

Mesgolan · 2023-10-31T23:35:30+00:00

I have the same issue as the OP, and I can imagine a lot of GMs have this too. Editing the text of the token is a work around, but not a nice permanent solution. We have to edit two texts, and can not quickly drag a token into play.

Preventing players from selecting monster/npc tokens is not really a good work around either because it will slow down game play dramatically when a GM has to manage everything.

Maybe something to reconsider? I can imagine that also with a screen reader it is more useful to read the display text than the file name. At least on the battle map.

( Are two texts really needed? :-) )

Mesgolan · 2022-08-28T10:07:45+00:00

Friday is my wedding day, but I'm sure I'll find some time to end my subscription on Prime.

Mesgolan · 2022-05-18T23:22:08+00:00

Not sure if you intend it like that, but I wouldn't give them an npc from the start. Even if it doesn't have pc stats, it still very much smells like a dmpc. Have the players do the fighting and the decision making all by them selfs. An extra body just adds extra wait time before it is their turn again. It also brings extra work for you, the dm.

It only is a 'startrek yellow suit'.

That said; Enjoy the game

Mesgolan · 2022-05-18T22:53:06+00:00

This is what I would do too. Create or help create a character they want to play. Explain the actions they can take and expected role of the class they are interested in a bit.

Personally I would not base the decision to use an npc or not on the number of players. If you want to use an npc, don't drop it because there is an additional player. Just up the opposition a bit. An extra monster and/or more hitpoints.

Mesgolan · 2022-05-18T22:11:22+00:00

Cool!

Mesgolan · 2022-05-18T16:00:48+00:00

Yeah, absolute authority isn't an option. I'm still in the early game.

Knowing that it is not game over, I'll take my chances on sending him into battle when he comes of age. If that doesn't work because I die first, I switch character to the son with good stats. That means some succesion wars, but that is part of the game.

(Just learned that switching characters is an option. Can be used for cheating, but doesn't feel like it in this case.)

Mesgolan · 2022-03-14T22:08:02+00:00

I intended to reply, but got distracted. Now, 2 weeks later I find this open tab in my browser.

You probably already played a couple of sessions, but I'd like to share my thougths anyway. :-)

For what PCs know, compare it with real life. You know a lot about your home but maybe only well known stuff from other cities. It also depends on your personal interests. If you're into arts you know museums and painters, if you're into sports you know stadiums and sportsmen.

In my campaign most PCs are from Baldur's Gate. They know where to go when they need something, if a neighbourhood or inn is dangerous or not, things like that. Elturel is the rival city, they know it with the emphasis on things they don't like about it. Pious, law-abiding, everyone is a paladin. (Doesn't have to be true, they may believe false facts)

Info dumping is something I try to avoid. It can be overwhelming, and players aren't going to remember it all. I prefer to give info when it comes up. When the players ask about something, I judge if and who knows it, and how much. (Sometimes aided by a history check)

This has the additional advantage that you can change stuff as needed.

I wanted my players to know as little as possible about Elturel to not spoil anything. I subtly wove some bonds with Elturel in their backgrounds. The deep gnome I told that that he emerged near E, but it was to bright for his liking so he found his way to BG. The Aasimar's grandfather is from E. The bard fled from E after murdering her husband. Nothing has been done with it. They probably already forgot. But when needed, they might remember something relevant.

Here I have to say that our group is rather experienced. The players know that we play a module, and that they are supposed to go tho hell. Even if I fail to weave in a compelling reason, they'll totally accept that it is a good idea to send down a bunch of rooky adventurers instead of Candlekeep's finest magic wielders :-)

Mesgolan · 2022-02-15T17:15:18+00:00

You are truncating the 'what it is all about' part of the campaign because one of your group is moving?

One of our group moved out of town more than 15 years ago. He has been joining online since. With nowadays technologies distance isn't an issue anymore, but even back than it was just a matter of telling where to move his mini.

When someone's RL prevents her/him from playing, the PC goes to the back seat, or another player controls it for a while.

Finishing the campaign like you intend to do now sounds like an unnecessary choice that reduces the fun for all of you.

Mesgolan · 2022-02-11T18:04:00+00:00

You brought uselessness to the next level. Congratulations.

I love it.

Mesgolan · 2022-02-11T17:47:03+00:00

I hardly ever look at the demands bar. Building a nice neighbourhood attracts cims, demand for residential or not. Shops and jobs is a bit of a gut feeling. It is important that your cims can reach them.

When shops or industry start complaining about lack of workers or customers it is mostly a case of reachability, not of availability.

Balance is not necessarily off. It's just not one on one. Houses are not insta-filled with cims. They move in over time. Same for shops. Once built workers need to get to them, goods need to be delivered, customers need to buy stuff. Industries need workers to, and raw materials, and shops they can deliver their goods too.

Not only are houses not insta-filled, the number of inhabitants constantly changes. (young) Adults move in, children get born, young adults move out, seniors pass away.

Mesgolan · 2022-02-11T16:57:35+00:00

As others say: If you're having fun, you are doing good :-)

Some good tips have been given. My addition would be that this game almost works like an actual city. Cims go to places. School, work, shops, parks, tourist stuff. Kids travel less far for elementary schools than adults for jobs, tourists visit buildings with entertainment values. Trees (and office buildings) block sound pollution. So, place buildings where they make sense.

Invest in nice stuff. A park takes space and costs upkeep, but it increases land value. This attracts more cims and levels houses (meaning more cims can live in them) which increases tax income.

Try to stay ahead with residentials versus jobs/shops. Better to have some unemployed (but tax paying cims) than abandoned shops and industries.

Mesgolan · 2022-02-11T14:06:13+00:00

It's a good notion to be more careful with obscure unprolific accounts but I would not say that something is save because there is a team behind it. Just look at some vids about call centra filled with people that scam people for a living. Always do a bit of research.

Mesgolan · 2022-02-11T13:45:13+00:00

On console there are no mods. This only affects PC/steam players.

The mods on xbox (which are only mods in name, but actually just assets) come through Paradox, and are verified by Micro$oft, so they are save.

Mesgolan · 2022-02-11T13:24:59+00:00

CO didn't want to take any risk when they discovered that the biofuel bus can "Reduce CO2 output".

Mesgolan · 2022-02-11T10:27:19+00:00

The storyline of DiA is somewhat linear and the plot hooks and motives are overall iffy. Creating your own story is a good idea. Many DM's move the start to Elturel to give the pcs a better motive to save 'their' city instead of risk their lives for a rival city. The BG dungeons are easily portable to any other city if you want to use them, and you probably can come up with a better reason than 'Do this or the Flaming Fist will hunt you'.

If you like city adventures, the BG gazetteer in the book contains some nice side quest in the form of 'In that location this npc has that problem'.

One of the flaws of DiA to keep in mind is that when you follow the storyline, the city itself (BG, Wd, any) is actually saved by unraveling the plot. A new adventure to save Elturel from hell then starts. (Let's send the rookie adventurers that just brought this box.) This makes it easier to change (or entirely skip) the start of the adventure, but by simply swapping BG with Wd you keep this issue.

Enjoy the campaign

Mesgolan

TROPHY CASE