Post — Aaron Ngo

Number of Players: 3

Vin Kelsier (Water Genasi Druid) ME!
Great Legendary Menos (Dragon-born Paladin)
Sir Kenji, Master of Masters (Human Fighter)

Dungeon Master: Kai-tick (he wanted to give it a try)

The adventure continued for our great heroes. I decided to resume the role as a player, and allowed Kai-tick to guide our journey into the Stranger Things adventure set. This is also a new starter set that came out, and it was an interesting one to play. First, I noticed the Stranger Things set allows the Dungeon Master more creative freedom when it comes to the storytelling, which makes it already superior to the starter adventure we played in my last blog review. Second, having creative freedom is what makes the game incredibly fun, and I’m starting to detest the pre-detailed story options. Although they are good starting points for beginners such as myself, ultimately they hinder the overall fun depending on the type of DnD group whose playing it.

That’s the main critique regarding the set. Now, let’s get into the actual sessions. We played two sessions total, but by the end of it, I was happy to exit as a player. I found out rather quickly how much I love being the storyteller / Dungeon Master, and planning the adventures / encounters. But, I wouldn’t mind playing Vin Kelsier again someday… just not anytime soon.

The first session centered around my player meeting the established party (they have not chosen a team name yet), and immediately going into combat. Vin has trust issues due to being sold into slavery, where he was left off last I played him, and attacked believing Menos and Kenji were his new slave-owners. This caused the entire party to split for most of the game. Vin and Menos had an intense rivalry / conflict while Kenji played both sides. However, by the end of the first session, we united as a team to face the powerful Demogorgon.

The second session concluded the short adventure. I encouraged the Dungeon Master to expand on the creative freedom to continue the potential story and not rush the ending, which he agreed to do, but then unexpected DnD moments paved a way to an interesting conclusion. Vin separated from the team shortly after beating the Demogorgon to try the “Time Heist”. He failed, only managing to jump five seconds into the future.

Then, Kenji decided to exit the game using the dimensional flower to depart the current dimension, leaving only Vin and Menos to combat the great Hydra, the ultimate boss in the adventure set. We should’ve lost against this creature given the stakes, but luckily… Great Legendary Menos had rolled TWO Perfect 20’s in a row, slaughtering the Hydra and saving the village we never visited.

As Kenji had left the game essentially, the adventure had to end there. I wanted more time to play as Vin Kelsier, but the story was wrapped up. There was nothing I could do, but ending the adventure on such a high note was amazing.

Congrats Kai-tick on DMing for the first time. You can rest now.

Anyway, now the party is beginning to shift. A new player is being introduced in the next session, which will be a “spinning the wheels” type session to reassemble the team. Then, Kai-tick requested a centric one-shot adventure to make-up for lost playtime as he was Dungeon Master, and I accepted… so I’m hosting two back-to-back sessions next week, which will get everyone together for the next Adventure campaign: Hoard of the Dragon Queen.

Thanks for reading, everyone. Keep rolling.

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