I’ll be perfectly honest – even after running D&D for almost five years non-stop (yeesh, that’s a long time), I don’t often feel like any individual session goes particularly well.  After I closed off my first campaign, I felt happy with the arc I had presented as a whole, but felt that the campaign showed major problems stemming from it being my first attempted to convey a story.  Now, I’m running pre-built modules, and while that lowers my prep time, it actually puts more pressure on me to make things fun when the module falls short.  That is something I still don’t feel I do very well, but last night the setup of the module, combined with the player’s actions made for a great night, with virtually no extra input from me.

The session started with the party in the middle of a strange gnomish clocktower that has gone horribly mad.  Random energy is arcing through rooms unexplainably.  The group had just met one of the custodians of the clocktower, Cogsworth, and discovered that while most gnomes are a little weird, this one is literally crazy.  Their conversation was interrupted by more energy bursts, which summoned two Thaumavores, which proceeded to drain energy from some of the players prized magical items.  This forced some rethinking later on, as the players didn’t have their standard weapons available to them.  After dispatching the Thaumavores, the players proceeded upstairs past an observatory which was potentially dangerous during the day, to what Cogsworth said was the “Sun Room.”

This room contained a tiny pin prick of light which somehow was generating an enormous amount of light and heat, and thanks to a random roll of the die, a Greater Fire Elemental.  Much to Peter’s dismay, the group somewhat panicked, and darted through the room, dealing with being swatted by the Elemental just to get to the other side and close the door on it.  Rakir attempted to take on the Elemental with the Rod of Wonder, but simply ended up turning himself into a tree instead.  Minor hilarity ensued as some players were forced to do literal “Stop, Drop, and Roll” routines after being manhandled by the Elemental.

Upstairs the group found the “Moon Room,” containing a completely malfunctioning simulation of the three moons of Krynn.  Instead of floating around in calm orbits, however, the enormous metal orbs were darting haphazardly around the room.  Rakir managed to web the largest moon, getting it stuck in the corner, at which time Ermine made things look simple by darting across the room safely to the stairwell on the other side.  Simon, Peter, and Kiran were not so lucky, and each of them failed to evade the random motions of Lunitari and Nuitari, receiving significant bruises as a result.  Rakir used his spellcasting to great effect, choosing to quickly fly across the room, while using telekinesis to use a discarded golden orb (representing Krynn’s moon during the early Age of Mortals) as a shield.

At the top of the tower, the party found the massive Engine running the errant tower, and proceeded to defend themselves once the seemingly sentient construct began to attack them.  Quickly the Engine managed to get a hold of Ermine, and proceeded to fling him around the room.  Ermine, lacking away to extricate himself, picked away at the machinery holding him, getting angrier as time went on.  Crowning moment number one came when Rakir whipped out the Rod of Wonder again, and managed to permantly shrink himself to a height of 6 inches.  Crowning moment number two came when Ermine, formerly the smallest member of the group, managed to strike the machine’s killing blow while still in the Engine’s grasp.

I owe a big thanks to my players for making last night a success; for taking the danger gracefully and with a sense of humor when needed.  Sessions like that are what make table top playing worthwhile.