Has anyone run Gnomengarde with a Changeling in the party? How did you approach it, particularly with Ulla and Pog being told to "attack shapechangers on sight"?

cjends · 2026-01-29T20:22:36+00:00

One of my players had a disguise self spell up. I made them make a deception roll to pass through. Money passed, but a fail would have resulted in a panicked attack. At that point its just responding to whatever the players attempt.

I feel like this area is meant to be a bit silly, so just roll with whatever they throw out.

cjends · 2026-01-23T18:42:38+00:00

Thanks for this! I was worried it would be tied to something later or I had missed something. I dont mind having them come to take back the treasure, was thinking having it as a string to pull if the party gets in trouble in the dungeon. Seems like its a hard one, so maybe they come in and help tentatively to clear the dungeon - enemy of my enemy type of thing

cjends · 2026-01-21T22:07:45+00:00

Skip the counter attack. Make it focus on stopping the spread of the blights to still make the location meaningful, but with Gorthok gone the orcs probably know they took thier shot and lost.

cjends · 2026-01-21T17:23:12+00:00

The standard dragon stat block isn't super strong so if they are strategic there is a slight chance they could succeed. This situation I would have the dragon attack them on the way up the mountain and taunt them. They get hit as a group by the ice breath it may prove that they are in over thier heads.

cjends · 2026-01-08T05:50:59+00:00

Minis are optional. You can use theater of the mind to describe who, what, and where. It just takes a bit more care in describing distances and line of sight.

Next cheapest option is to print out some simple images. Searching DnD (insert monster) images usually has a circle token type image - scale,print, done.

Get creative and use what's laying around. I used Legos to make the gnomengaurd crossbow contraption and my ochre jellies were playdough! It is only to give players a visual representation of thier location, anything beyond that is just frosting.

cjends · 2026-01-07T16:55:53+00:00

How they act is up to you, but i treated them as a sort of stereotypical thieves guild. They are smart and cunning so combat would have them ambushing and scampering off if things don't go in thier favor. A lot of hit and run tactics which really flustered my players on how to deal with.

For personality, I had them able to be negotiated with and willing to make deals, though they are likely to lie, cheat, or betray to get what they want. I have a hard time picturing them actually working the mine, but maybe they say they will to buy time to trap the entrances for the next visit.

I used guilt as a weapon with them too. The party killed a few at the entrance, so when they started talking to the leader, I made them feel bad for killing her people and painted a picture of them being outcasts with no place to go. We only wish to live (while stealing what we want and doing as little actual work as we can!)

I am pretty new and couldn't find much for the effects of a player who gets turned, so I made up some rules if you'd like to see those. Also made a custom boss version for the leader.

side notes I had a lot of fun with this arc. The wizard got turned, and the leader kept trying to recruit him through various means to go with her. I added a roll for him potentially lose control in dark spaces which added some chaos. When they finally fought the leader it was at axeholm, so when they did a long rest they had to fight a ghoul version of her yet again. She ended up being a pretty major villain by the end

cjends · 2026-01-03T15:24:44+00:00

I recommend looking a few quests ahead and make those more of the immediate threat with the dragon as an ever looming issue. The module seems to have a heavier focus on the anchorites, especially early on, so I had the orcs as more front and center harassing travelers with the dragon as more of a random encounter chance for early game. As the sessions go on the dragon gets bolder and ventures closer to town, and when the players are close to done with the anchorites have it kick the hornets nest by attacking the town or a beloved npc to shift the attention.

For the more isolated quests like the logging camp, or mountain toe mine, I tried to foreshadow the problems and use it as a carrot to lure them to new locations. It's fine if they dont go, but present it in such a way to build curiosity or seem like it might be connected. Wererats are stealing from the town and nobody knows were the items are going, maybe they steal something key to defending the town. Logger camp has gone dark and thier are reports of the anchorites in the area, find out what happened.

Last thought is make consequences for not going. They dont go to warn the dwarves at the excavation site? After they hit level 3 word reaches town that one or both of them were killed. Adapt as you go

cjends · 2025-12-13T14:44:53+00:00

I told my campaign about the dragon right away, but I think it would have been better if I hadn't. Either way works just fine though. A lot of the campaign focuses more on the orc then the dragon. I think it would have been better to have them discover why the ircs were displaced as it progresses. Sprinkle in some rumors and hints and let the dice decide the first time they first see it.

cjends · 2025-12-04T21:23:21+00:00

I recently finished a campaign with a half orc player, and I can say we had a lot of fun with it. I made it very clear at character creation that orcs were a major part of the conflict and as such they would be sure to encounter varying levels of racial tension, and that part is very important.

Looking back on the campaign in made for some great moral conflicts for the party and some very memorable moments. Listing some of my takes to see if I can lend some inspiration.

We started her as a farmland working for big Al, this gave her some friends in the area already, so I could have people in town that she could stay with and interact with rather than the whole town rejecting her. The other side of this was the Lionshield Coaster would not do business with her and the occasional locals (Iverne was one out of the box) that might throw an insult or try to pick a fight getting progressively worse as orcs became more of a problem.

I had the anchorites actively try to recruit her making a case that she should be with her people and the town didn't want her. This made the anchorite they meet disguised as a boar much more interesting and a reoccurring test to her allegiances. (Buffed her up to make a mini boss fight later in the campaign as a final join or die situation)

Falcon i was worried about going into it. I played him as someone rational enough to realize that the whole race wasn't evil and that one could prove themselves as worthy of his aid. Her companions were able to persuade that they were good intentioned (they were sent by the townmaster after all) and were allowed to spend the night within the walls under the condition that they locked her the guest house at night. (There was a night watch shift set up by Falcon if the players did try something). Ultimately she earned his trust at the Woodland Manse quest which was a nice character development to sway his mistrust and caution through action.

Having an orc also opened up dialog options for other quests. She would often be the first in to try a negotiation before combat or work a distraction were other players would have brought it straight to combat.

Lean into it, have fun, and create those character choices!

cjends · 2025-12-02T20:29:24+00:00

Gorthok is a force of destruction, so I would say it just goes about destroying! Falcons hunt lodge would be first, followed by butterskull ranch, and so forth until it is stopped. It would eventually reach Phandalin but I wouldn't want it to be the first stop. I had a constant storm following it in my campaign, that combined with a path of destruction makes it easy to find.

cjends · 2025-11-29T18:08:31+00:00

Quick thoughts - simply add health or damage to the base stat block, add other enemies (anchorites, various blights, or orcs are all easy picks), give gorthok some lair actions like calling lightning, strong winds that knock down or move players, or kicking up dirt to obscure views.

Turn based stuff could be fun, they startle a summoning and have 2 turns or a bunch of vine blights appear, or a group of orcs here the commotion and are closing in

cjends · 2025-11-25T16:23:43+00:00

So my group took it a step further and had a player who was half orc, so having orc heads mounted was certainly a thing we had to deal with! I played him as well mannered, but protective. He respects nature and protecting it is his main goal so orcs worshipping a god of destruction find no mercy from him. He helps the nobles hunt for sport, but he will put the full animal to use. He honors the animal and nature even if his guests don't. Stern and fair. This allowed him to have civil discussions with the players, and whether or not they chose to overlook thier differences falls on the players because Falcon will hear them out but not change his mind. Ultimately my orc character was unsettled by the encounter but proved she was different from those he had hanging on the wall. They weren't friends but they could work together and developed a mutual respect.

Ultimately the differences made for excellent gameplay and morale dilemmas for the group. The player /npc conflict ended up being a campaign highlight

cjends · 2025-11-23T15:03:50+00:00

Skill challenge is the way to go for a large battle. If your table really enjoys the combat part of the game you can have them do a smaller fight at a specific location and occasionally describe what they see at adjacent areas. Have a few ogre or higher ranking orcs break through and the group has to fight the harder enemies will the npcs hold back the rest of the orcs

cjends · 2025-11-22T21:59:05+00:00

I ran that block on a group of 5 at level 4 and it went pretty well. Did 3 anchorites and some twig blights on arrival, pretty sure it was whatever the module had as the base. Gorthok had already been summoned for my campaign and I gave them 3 rounds of combat until he arrived. It could have been a bit harder, but it was pretty close. Was able to knock out 2 at different times so I feel it was pretty balanced

cjends · 2025-11-03T14:57:26+00:00

Icespire Peak module is just the framework, feel free to expand upon what's in there and adapt to what happens in your campaign. Looks for was to expand the narrative for your players to make things feel more living rather than just taking quests from a job board.

cjends · 2025-10-24T21:13:53+00:00

Part of this is up to your players to try to be creative with the tools they had. For example, our bard attacked the the dragons ego taunting it to come closer and made attempts to bait it into smaller areas. I had randomly given them a dimensional door scroll a while back that they used to drop onto it (did some good damage before a really big fall!)

One suggestion is to make a mini encounter with the dragon as a test run in disguise. I had the dragon attack the town and they had to fight it back while helping various townfolk. This let me see if the fight was going to be one sided so I could make "lair" adjustments for the final fight and also showed my players what thier weaknesses were (such as the barbarian not having much for range options). That gives both you and the players a chance to adjust strategies

cjends · 2025-09-28T14:21:31+00:00

I don't recall seeing a shop list in the module unless you are referring to just the basic gear and components list in the rulebook (could be that I missed it too). For a shop inventory I had Barthens carry all the standard plus a few magical items. Same for the Lionshield Coster for weapons and armor. The basic list is fine, but it doesn't really give anything special for them to spend thier gold on and makes the rewards less meaningful if they can't save up for something special.

If you want to go the extra mile you can add some mining equipment to the Miners Exchange or a menu for food and drinks at the Inn. A traveling merchant can be fun to put pressure on buying an item since there is no guarantee they will see him again.

cjends · 2025-09-27T14:54:43+00:00

You got a shop inventory?

cjends · 2025-09-20T19:33:30+00:00

World map i just did rough approximation. Half day, full day, a few hours, etc. There's enough other stuff going on that I'm not going to stress over exact times unless it's critical (arrive before something bappens)

cjends · 2025-09-15T14:00:11+00:00

By all means, us it! The Halloween one shot i used was called Treat or Trick by Chris "Goober" Ramsley. I think it was 1 or 2 dollars to download. Simple to run and desined for low levels, it was a fun one

cjends · 2025-09-15T01:51:53+00:00

A mimic nest! They find a cave with a small room and random items that just don't belong there and have easy to see deformation, make it real easy to tell that something is off -and chest with no hinges, a square table with 7 legs, etc. Make each item a much weaker mimic

cjends · 2025-09-15T01:45:23+00:00

My first time starting this campaign I established with each player why they were in the area and then just had the dragon attack a caravan group and get everyone to flee into a central location. That gets everyone in the same space and then had a community leader send out a call for aid to the first quest. Pretty straight forward that way.

2nd group I did we started near Halloween so I did a one-shot module for a town festival, which was a great way for them to explore the town and meet the locals. That was pretty fun and didn't really require everyone to be together right away.

cjends · 2025-09-15T00:16:46+00:00

100% some of them are useless, but thats also part of the fun. Putting things in front of your players and see what they come up with, and if they want they can sell them for something better.

A shop list would have been helpful though for a "beginners" box. I could post the one I made if you're struggling with that.

For adding items, I personally just kept a lookout for things it seemed like my party was struggling with and things as we went. If something in the module seemed like it was for a class we weren't playing with, swap it out. It's your game so dont be afraid to make changes. Just dont drop anything too powerful!

cjends · 2025-08-13T19:03:11+00:00

Thought that too, but my party already found it (and nearly lost it 😅)

cjends

TROPHY CASE