Playtest Round 1

First off let me say I am not used to playtesting anything other than my own stuff.  Well not running a playtest.  Last night we had our first round of the playtest for Greg Christopher's "The Last Candle".  The cast of characters was:

Bard played Olivier (The Clash of Sword on Shield) - 3rd lvl Ftr
Rob Conley played The Wanderer (Bat in the Attic) - 3rd lvl Rng
Ken Harrison played Zondar (Rusty Battle Axe) - 3rd lvl Ftr
Dan as Haulin (no blog) - 2nd lvl Ftr/Thf dwarf

I had them approaching the Priory to start the game.  A line of people waited to get in as each person was read the rules of the priory individually.  At the end, if they agreed they were to hand over weapons, armor and magic items.  I provided an opportunity to allow them to smuggle a few small items in with a bread merchant.  He would hide the item with his loaves.  So the item needed to be smaller than a dagger.  Zondar took advantage of this and smuggled in a potion of levitation.  Although he did worry about it for most of the session.

The priory is made of different sections.  An inn, an open market, the library, the priory itself and other buildings, but these were the main focus this time around.  Our band of adventuring mercenaries went to the inn seeking employment and fortune.  They listened to various rumors and stories and came upon on that shined brightly.  Brother Calvus was seeking a missing scroll from the library.  He didn't dare report it.  He asked the players to find it.

What I did next to sink that adventure hook deep was have the players fall upon a murder mystery that tied in with the quest.  None of what followed is written within the campaign starter.  What Greg did is give me a cast of characters to play with.  No scripts in the priory.  So I made it up.  It worked quite well.  I won't go into a lot of details as to not give away too much cause I know my players are reading this.

Some fun moments.

• I had the players roll for two magic items before the game.  Rob's first item was a cursed short sword that would appear in his right hand anytime he tried to grab something else.  So each time he did something it would appear.  I made him roll in INT or below to remember not to use his hand. 
• Ken worrying about the bread maker stealing his potion throughout the came.  I never heard someone so pleased to see a potion again.
• The rough dwarven mage looking into their eyes trying to find the smartest one and settled on one that was only 15% stupid.  
• A flying dwarf.  He didn't quite stick the landing. 

It was a good time.  Next Wednesday we begin again.