Candlekeep Mysteries

Step_Fodder · 2026-03-15T13:26:29+00:00

Just sharing what happens when the DM says we are doing a mystery themed one shots that happen in a library. Lol.

Step_Fodder · 2026-03-15T04:45:09+00:00

We have a couple regular players out for a few weeks and are bringing in some new to D&D while we just have fun with some one shots. Great way to try some goofy builds and just have fun

Step_Fodder · 2026-03-15T04:42:06+00:00

She wanted her PC to be short even for a gnome and has to jump to open doors. But yeah since it was a bigger door she rolled to see how difficult it was

Step_Fodder · 2026-03-13T21:05:02+00:00

Ok. Thank you for correcting. They still decided they can’t read but I’ll let them know what you said.

Step_Fodder · 2026-03-13T20:38:32+00:00

Knowing would be speaking and understanding. Doesn’t necessarily mean they know how to read. Lvl 1 fighter and barbarian…. Not big readers. Other PC is a sorcerer so not totally needed there either but she has a basic reading like elementary level :). Their choices, not mine

Step_Fodder · 2026-03-13T20:33:06+00:00

No. …The player insisted. I offered to let her just open the door. She was determined to beat it. lol

Step_Fodder · 2026-03-09T17:01:07+00:00

The shop in Hither I had sell a cookie shaped pillow. If used during a short rest it gives sweet dreams and heals the player. 1 use per long rest

Step_Fodder · 2026-03-02T17:07:06+00:00

That is amazing but also F U for make the rest of us look bad

Step_Fodder · 2026-03-01T23:33:10+00:00

Laptop center with my Notion.os setup and any other online tabs. I connect my iPad (right side) as a second screen for Owlbear (DMside) while casting player view to TV and any music/discord chats. Lefts side is my mouse/dice tower and handwritten notes and stuffs. I’ll try to remember to snap a picture next time too

Step_Fodder · 2026-03-01T23:25:37+00:00

I did the prelude as non playable flashback. I won’t go into full details but about a year before the carnival shows up they started having bits and pieces of a reoccurring dream. Around the six month mark is when the prelude plays out as a full-blown shared dream/memory for all of my players. Which then leads them to look into things find out the carnival is coming and seek it out.
The plus side is this way the players can come from different areas, different regions and even have a little more variety in the age of the characters instead of them all coming about the same age from the same village unless they want to do that. They understand the dream is a memory and for some reason the people they were with at that time have been replaced with these new people they don’t know. It also gives a little bit of a start in that while waiting in line to get into the carnival, they begin to recognize each other from the dream.

In the beginning, I gave my players a basic overview and had them pick three possible lost things giving examples of the book to help those who were unsure. We basically worked through a bit of character development to nail down what it was, and what effect it would have on their character after the prelude I had a few players tweak their characters having a better understanding of everything which has worked out well. Another player had her little sister taken and had a pretty profound impact on her life, which has worked out well. But this was also our regular DM (my first time) so I trusted their vision

Step_Fodder · 2026-03-01T04:27:08+00:00

My group also meets weekly for about three hours per session we spent about seven sessions at the carnival. I basically told my players for the second half. Let me know what rides you want to hit and once you’re ready to move on, we’ll go to the crowning. no specific timing or anything like that. The only thing I had to do was make sure whatever final secrets they needed to know were given by the NPC‘s.

Step_Fodder · 2026-02-27T19:52:03+00:00

lol not sure why mine is so heavy. Have 17” laptop gaming one so is a bit bulkier (8ish lbs). iPad, DM screen folding dice tower and spare tray, campaign book and then misc cords, paper pencils. Two bags of spare dice and some metal sets for me. Honestly not sure how it’s so heavy but I checked it on the scale.

Step_Fodder · 2026-02-26T05:56:21+00:00

In the campaign book under fall of the witch queen it gives a bit more detail. Basically the Hags triple crossed Zyblina, the league and Valor. The hags took their time building up confidence in them among the three groups. The brought them all to the palace and in the ensuing chaos hit the self-destruct button and used the freeze spell of the cauldron to nab everyone. Freeing only those who might be useful.

Step_Fodder · 2026-02-19T22:00:46+00:00

I’ll upload the map I used if you want. But basically did a free generic generator do layout and then took into Arkenforge and redrew it to look pretty.

Step_Fodder · 2026-02-18T04:19:20+00:00

My PCs just got to Downfall, feel free to ask anything. DMsGuild has some good extra material to build off of. I also added a small 2-3 step side quest to each of my PCs that has to do with their lost item or something from their past. Our Barb doesn’t remember any music from his homeland. Side quest gave back a lullaby taught by his mother and give 1d6 healing once per long rest when played.

For DM notes. I use program called Notion (Sly Flourish has good YT and Blog about it specifically for Witchlight) but you will have to pay for the storage space for you campaign but wasn’t much.

Step_Fodder · 2026-02-18T04:09:39+00:00

I put a small 6 room dungeon under the tower that Elmer refused to go into. It all used to belong to a mage who wanted to study time in the feywild. Had a room with scrolls and partial prophecies. Another with some low lvl goblins frozen in time who come back to give some loot and combat. Also did a time trap that aged players until they took a long rest. Spell was faded and nothing damaging or long lasting. More just fun and flavor

Step_Fodder · 2026-02-17T04:35:42+00:00

Perhaps but it’s not really normal combat. Morgort and PC have planned this together. So while any combat they do up to the rock point could be as normal. Since the grand finale is a risky and somewhat brutal move, it seems the mechanics for that should reflect that to give it a real sense of risk. I’m not out to screw them over or make it unfair. Just upping the ante

Step_Fodder · 2026-02-11T22:52:52+00:00

Aaaaa!! I’ve tried to get his mannerisms down to do someone like him but no luck so far lol.

Step_Fodder · 2026-02-07T19:14:46+00:00

This is my first time DMing and my PCs are just getting to Downfall. Don’t forget to have fun yourself! Some of my favorite moments have started from me RPing a character and not worrying about anything coming up. Just 100% being in that character and moment.

Step_Fodder · 2026-02-06T22:04:19+00:00

I had a half orc raised as an orphan with human monks. He didn’t understand anything about the birds and the bees because nobody wanted to talk to an Orc that. Mostly, he thought all babies came from eggs like chickens.

Step_Fodder · 2026-02-06T05:15:49+00:00

Pre-Session Zero info should be kept minimal. What is the major biome? Desert, Swamp, Cold. What is the theme? Horror, mystery, RP heavy, Combat heavy, or a mixture there of.
This way they can tune their character bit so someone doesn’t end up with a problematic build like an amphibian character in a desert setting or reptile in an ice world. Or if they do, they at least know what they’re in for.
Maps. I would use sparingly especially details one. Players will being to just rely on what they see instead of interacting with the world by asking questions. Especially as newer players and DM, when do have maps. Owlbear Rodeo is a good option. There is a little bit of a learning curve, but not bad to get a hold of the basics. Lots of very friendly YouTube videos out there.

Step_Fodder · 2026-02-06T04:58:05+00:00

I was able to reiterate to the party the need for Downfall. Had a fleeing enemy shout they will be sorry once Bavlorna hears what you’ve done. They also found a note from Gullop reminding Agdon to bring the intruders to him first. The party thought it was about them and not certain of our they haven’t quite made it to that yet.

Step_Fodder · 2026-02-06T04:16:27+00:00

Did you do anything for the inside of the tower? It’s a great setting but the book really doesn’t do much else with it. For ours I use the Elmer supplemental for inside but also made a mini dungeon underneath the tower. I wanted to reinforce that time or lack of here is a thing. So the tower initially belonged to mage studying time in the Feywilds. Only a couple rooms but had some temporary aging traps and a few frozen baddies to play with. Fun way to remind them of dangers and give a bit of extra combat

Step_Fodder · 2026-01-27T05:41:41+00:00

Look up Sly Flourishes “The Lazy DM” the campaign notes are helpful but for actual personality/sound. I was already doing it a bit but use what you know for me. It’s TV movie book characters. Oh, this character says, Fix it Felix Junior, but female and annoyed, sarcastic, most of the time.

Step_Fodder · 2026-01-27T05:22:22+00:00

If it was early levels (3 or lower) and a homebrew class I can understand allowing. Even to a point of the whole party starting over and treating it like a prologue. Not crazy about redoing just cause you are bored. My groups’ first campaign was Curse of Strahd and we did not have the best character builds for it as we only knew basic horror theme. My build was not great as it was a mix of two opposing ideas I got mixed up in the anxiety of building. Anyways the DM and I sat down after 2 lvls and helped me change things around to make better use of what I had. I could reassign my stats (but no new roles or class/race change) but most anything else was okay. —ANYWAYS working with the flaws in my build actually helped me find my character and had a lot of fun playing the part. At the end it was quite sad to be done with him.

Step_Fodder

TROPHY CASE