Hey, Hey, It’s Game Day (Mar 2025)

A new month means a new Friday night office DnD campaign game day is upon us! DM Ben shares his plan for tonight’s sesh!

This Dungeons and Dragons DM prep is a little tricky because our players are literally at a mission crossroads. They can either continue to explore the mysterious caverns below their newfound Bastion. Or they can head back to Waterdeep to return their rescued kiddos and claim some handy rewards.

These two starkly different game environments will keep DM Ben on his toes. Still, some essential planning and prep is better than constant wing it chaos.

Let’s start with the all the cavern areas, as that’s what been sitting on our conference room table for the past month

• Mirror Room | Cellar
• Trophy Room
• Jail Cell & the Whiteglove Twins
• Go-Away Golem | Unexplored
• Indentured Servant | Unexplored
• Animal Companion Rescue (roper) | Unexplored
• Tunneling Clues | Unexplored
• Corederite Glass/Alchemy Room
• Eerie Eggs
• Which-way Water 
• Bat Problems | Unencountered
• Rust Monster Munchies | Unexplored
• Tk421
• Sacred-to-Go Scarecrow

So, that’s five unexplored cavern areas, which would make things so much easier for DM Ben if they were to go that route. On top of that, the group hasn’t fully explored other areas like the Trophy shelf and the Mirror Room. However, what’s the first rule of being a Dungeon Master? Expect the players to do the opposite of what you planned.

Their new robot butler, TK421, also was in the process of making them a door (didn’t go too well) and will offer one Identify spell a day (but his database is limited at the moment so higher level items won’t be possible for now).

Next, we must ensure we also have a return trek to Waterdeep from The High Forest mapped out. Let’s see what those encounters might look like. There’s plenty to unpack here.

Regarding completed missions, the players rescued all their captives from the Night Hag. They can now visit Ewan McHook (boy Shamus), Krufer Promentory (boy Adrik), and lastly Lord Galobax DuGalle (orphaned girl Delilah) for some juicy rewards.

Krufer is a blacksmith who gifts a special anvil and a unique forged coin as thanks because his wife would never forgive him if something happened to their son. Ewan will offer his master carpentry services to their newly acquired Cabin. Eventually (they have to find him first), Lord Galobax DuGalle will offer gold and potions to help them with any future troubles.

Traveling back to Waterdeep is a couple of days’ journey, so that means a few wandering monster rolls on Wilderness Trek Wandering Monster table. One encounter could be a stampeding pack of Axe Beaks; another could be more passive, like meeting a new traveling NPC.

The players will also have to recross the Troll Bridge and provide payment to Terry.

The party even has yet another new NPC to check out: Chip Carver, owner of The Busted Boulder. They also need to find Delilah’s uncle, Lord Galobax DuGalle, but he won’t be at his city house in Waterdeep, so they’re stuck with her for a bit (which will create some encounter hijinx).

The players can also do their usual galavanting and blow off steam at The Charlotte’s Web Tavern with a few rounds of gambling and entertaining games like Griffon’s Wall or Sixer Elixir.

At the same time, they can check in with their informant Renaldo Brownpants, check the job board (for the lost cat side mission), and do their usual restocks. Also, since they’ve let the Kinda Sorta Portal slip through their fingers, they might want to pop in and ask Tink Urbelle how to get it back (maybe some sort of pricey reset button that Lord DuGalle could pay).

Lastly, we’re super close to the ribbon cutting ceremony for The Forgotten Rails, so DM Ben needs to intersperse new Hovertrain clues (Probe Droids, strewn Construct prototypes, etc) wherever it makes sense.

Is it the perfect plan? Nah, but it gets the job done and lets DM Ben enjoy the sesh a little bit more instead of being back on his heels. So, it’s game on like Donkey Kong!