temple of howling hatred

D&D 5E “Princes of the Apocalypse” Session 36 Recap

Back into the sprawling elemental dungeons we go, this time going deeper beneath the Air temple.

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Previously on “Princes of the Apocalypse”

There’s a lot I really enjoy about “Princes of the Apocalypse.” But if it has one glaring weakness, it’s that it quickly becomes a nightmare to run as a DM due to the interconnected mega-dungeons.

A clear theme in the adventure are the elemental cults and how they work with and against each other. This is reflected in their physical proximity to each other, with dungeons often leading into another cult’s territory, or deeper and deeper into a sprawling mega-complex.

My players have expressed concerns that it makes layouts confusing going from one dungeon to the next. For my part as DM it often becomes a stressful chore trying to figure out where my players will go and what all I need to prepare.

In this week’s session, the party decided to head back beneath the Sumber Hills to explore the one spot they left untouched in the Air Temple – the giant underground pyramid. They hoped to find Miri’s mother. It wasn’t going to be that easy. Continue reading “D&D 5E “Princes of the Apocalypse” Session 36 Recap”

D&D 5E “Princes of the Apocalypse” Session 31 Recap

We sneak past trolls and ogres with stealth and deception before battling reavers and bugbears. Curious water weird tanks are found while we escape the elemental temples.

Recorded every Sunday night, uploaded on Mondays. Subscribe for our weekly adventures!

Previously on “Princes of the Apocalypse”

When exploring a large dungeon, I prefer not to leave it as a series of static rooms filled with monsters and traps. Depending on how much prep time I have, I try to include unique scenarios, dialogue, and role-playing situations whenever I can to break up the blood bath. Particularly after the super long combat encounter that lasted all last session.

This week our heroes squeezed in a Short Rest before having to think on their feet and employ some stealth and deception to make it through a series of trolls, ogres, and an opportunity-seizing sea hag named Thuluna. They discovered magical experiments involving mobile Water Weird battle tanks, and a whole host of baddies to take down as they made their way out of Crushing Wave territory. Continue reading “D&D 5E “Princes of the Apocalypse” Session 31 Recap”

D&D 5E “Princes of the Apocalypse” Session 26 Recap

We journey down a giant worm carcass into a whole new dungeon filled with even greater dangers.

Recorded every Sunday night, uploaded on Mondays. Subscribe for our weekly adventures!

Previously on “Princes of the Apocalypse”

I have zero experience with high level Dungeons & Dragons. I mean, I’ve played games like Baldur’s Gate 2 and Neverwinter Nights. But in terms of the tabletop, we’ve never had a campaign reach the upper echelons, or even mid-tier for that matter.

Playing with stronger monsters with multiple abilities is a nice challenge as a DM. But what’s really interesting is when rooms or battlefields offer additional challenges. In this week’s session, the party travels down to an entirely new dungeon that offers some challenging new hazards. Continue reading “D&D 5E “Princes of the Apocalypse” Session 26 Recap”

D&D 5E “Princes of the Apocalypse” Session 25 Recap

Cloaks come to life, more air cultists are slain, Kenku ambush the wizard, and the party argues about the morality of using Animate Dead.

Recorded every Sunday night, uploaded on Mondays. Subscribe for our weekly adventures!

Previously on “Princes of the Apocalypse”

Role-playing with my players through various NPCs can be a lot of fun. As a DM what really excites me is seeing my players role-play amongst themselves, completely on their own. The times I can just sit back with a big smile on my face and watch events unfold is fantastic.

A standard dungeon crawl might not lend itself to these moments too often, even when I try to present some interesting scenarios. Leave it my players to concoct their own scenes involving a PC using Animate Dead, and a Paladin’s moral dilemma. Continue reading “D&D 5E “Princes of the Apocalypse” Session 25 Recap”

D&D 5E “Princes of the Apocalypse” Session 24 Recap

The party goes toe-to-claw with an Umber Hulk, fights off a swarm of ghouls, and defends against air cult reinforcements.

Recorded every Sunday night, uploaded on Mondays. Subscribe for our weekly adventures!

Previously on “Princes of the Apocalypse”

At its heart Dungeons & Dragons is all about the dungeon crawl. Many groups might get more enjoyment out of role-playing with townsfolk or uncovering a mystery. But at some point, everyone’s gotta throw down inside a labyrinthine maze of danger and traps.

One of my favorite things about “Princes of the Apocalypse” is how cool and varied the dungeons are. Surprisingly my players skipped over the giant underground pyramid to explore the Northern end of the Temple of Howling Hatred. I can’t blame them. If I get a giant “GO HERE” main quest update, I try and go everywhere else first! Continue reading “D&D 5E “Princes of the Apocalypse” Session 24 Recap”

D&D 5E “Princes of the Apocalypse” Session 23 Recap

We overcome some terrible technical difficulties to take down a giant stone golem and a plaza full of air cultists.

Recorded every Sunday night, uploaded on Mondays. Subscribe for our weekly adventures!

Previously on “Princes of the Apocalypse”

Normally in a tabletop setting of D&D you don’t have to worry about technical difficulties. In an online environment with webcams and recording, it’s a different story. Things had been smooth sailing for awhile so I suppose I was due for a catastrophe of a session last night.

I won’t get into the details but essentially I had recently acquired a USB wireless adapter. Apparently that overloaded my USB ports and they began shutting off last night – turning off my internet, webcam, mouse, keyboard, etc.

This managed to destroy my recording of the first 15 minutes of our session while I dealt with these issues. Rather fortuitously we spent most of the beginning going over some new rules changes in our house rules, so we barely lost any actual adventuring time.

Unfortunately, and I’m incredibly embarrassed to admit this, I had turned off my mic in OBS (my recording software) while trying to diagnose the problem. And of course I forgot to notice it was still off when we came back on. We proceeded to go through an hour’s worth of D&D, and only when we took our break did I notice it was off. DAMN IT. Continue reading “D&D 5E “Princes of the Apocalypse” Session 23 Recap”

D&D 5E “Princes of the Apocalypse” Session 22 Recap

The PCs dive further into the Temple of Howling Hatred, freeing prisoners, talking to djinnis, and the return of the wyvern.

Recorded every Sunday night, uploaded on Mondays. Subscribe for our weekly adventures!

Previously on “Princes of the Apocalypse”

Non-hostile creatures have become a favorite of mine. They allow for fun, often memorable scenes of role-playing. I also enjoy a bit of amateur voice acting. Sometimes these scenes turn hostile, other times my players meet an ally.

This week our heroes dived further into the Temple of Howling Hatred. We ended up plumbing through the most boring sections of the dungeon in the SouthEast, but things finally picked up when they met the friendly djinni Ahtayir and had their second encounter with the wyvern. Continue reading “D&D 5E “Princes of the Apocalypse” Session 22 Recap”