**WARNING: D&D NERD TALK TO FOLLOW**
Last night’s D&D session with my group was really something special. Lucky for me, cause it could have gone either way. And to be honest, I was certain all night that most of my players were bored out of their minds. But after our session, and I apologized for the failed experiment I was met with a surprised merriment. They had a great time and one of my players said it was his favorite night of gaming so far with this group.
To catch you up, my group, while exploring a mine for Binwin Bronzebottom accidentally fell through a wall that exposed a tunnel down to the upper most levels of the Underdark (being a horrible place of terrible things). A small crack to a narrow tunnel. But a passage none-the-less. Since then, nasty things from the Underdark have been creeping up and spreading out under the city of Harken, the players base of operations.
During their last adventure, the group faced off against horrible spider-like men who were capturing townsfolk and bringing them underground to feed to their spider-like queen. And heroically they saved everyone they could and wiped out the infestation.
But some of the townspeople of Harken aren’t so happy with them and blame them for causing the problem in the first place. So when our gaming session started last night, the town militia were at the doorsteps of our adventuring party, with a warrant for their arrests.
The charges:
-Disturbing the Harmony
-Reckless endangerment of the citizens of Harken
-Slander of the Captain of the Harken Militia
-Attempted murder by way of indirect cause
-Murder by way of indirect cause
Because Harken is such a small township and because the danger of a breach into the Underdark threatens Fallcrest and other surrounding towns, and since the the threat is beyond the comprehension of most, the local officials punted the ball…
…to the Tribunal of Erathis. A cult-like order of clerics dedicated to the pursuit of law and justice. These are nutcase, lawful-lawful-good dudes here. And they were called in to judicate.
So for the mechanics of gameplay, this is how things went down.
The players were able to leave the gaming table and prepare a defense. Kris’s character Aylwyn had been away from the game while Kris was out of town. So when he came back he found his friends in this mess. Being a bard and a former courtier of a prominent lord, he had the credentials to defend the party.
Robert Howard, my assistant DM played the prosecutor, appointed by the cities of the Harkenwold. He built a case against the players and had a list of witnesses to call and question.
I as the DM played the Judicators and the witnesses. Both Kris and Robert were able to question NPCs, which I played to ask questions and make their cases. And then I, as the DM would judge impartially based on the evidence presented and skill checks made along the way.
It was a night of pure role-play. The dice rolled only for skill checks of History, Insight, Diplomacy and Bluffing. And we had a great time.
In the end, the players got all of the charges against them dismissed save for those of reckless endangerment and disrupting the harmony. They have been sentenced to hand over all of their gold and possessions to put towards sealing the rift to the Underdark, rebuilding harken and restoring the common good and wellbeing of the region. If any of their money is left over after that they’ll get it back and be sent on their way.
I encourage all DMs to take at least one night out where the dice are never rolled for combat. And get your players role-playing. It was an incredible time.
