Beginning

Three of us sit down together at the table with the intention of starting a DnD adventure. Roland has roleplayed before (but not DnD), and it is Jürgen's first ever roleplaying experience. This is my first shot at GM'ing, so we are all officially a bunch of newbs. My core rulebooks arrived the same day in the mail, I have my dice, some printed campaign material, and plenty of scrap paper. A steep learning curve is anticipated for all involved.

First thing to do was creating characters. The campaign is designed for three to four characters, and with only two players I've allowed each player to have two characters.

There are some campaign setting restrictions, such as no half elves or half orcs, and two extra classes: high elves and high men. Because we're playing in a monotheism there is only one diety: God Himself. Thus I decided a cleric may choose any two domains s/he wishes. Finally, the characters must be good-aligned (or, at least neutral with good tendencies).

Character creation took longer than I'd hoped, and was extended further by the need for a second character each, but at the end of a toilsome process we ended up with the following party:

'Milo' - Halfling Rogue (Jürgen)
'Tungdill Ironfist' - Dwarven Figihter (Roland)
'Uther' - High Man Cleric (Jürgen)
'Wanda the Blue Lady' - Elven Wizard (Roland)

The adventure starts in Heaven, standing on the city walls of the Holy See. For the last 1000 years the holy host of angels have waged war with the fallen, and the armies of God have been winning. In a final desperate move the forces of the fallen launch a direct assault on the Holy See and the throne of God Himself. One way or another, the war ends today.

The party is serving as a unit of volunteers in Gods army. Standing on the parapets they ready for the first assault. Skeletons scully forth, modified to climb the walls, and clamber en-mass towards the defenders above. Four skeletons clamber to the top and attack the party, three of them engaging Tungdill the dwarven fighter who valiantly holds them off, though has a hard time damaging them. The party learn that their arrows, daggers and axes have a limited effect on the skeletons, and when eventually Uther the cleric is finally forced to step into combat, he finds his mace is the right tool for the job.

After defeating the skeletons, the party meet a cleric named Etheron, who breifly heals Tungdill's wounds and move on.

A scream is heard from the air above. Suddenly one half of the remaining host turns on the other half, and in a cloud of blood and feathers the holy host is effectively brought to its knees. Only the mortals are left to defend the Holy See.

A second wave scale the walls; Human soldiers who have defected to the forces of the fallen. There are also four of them, but they are better armed, better armoured, and more intelligent, and the party has used many of their spells, so this promises to be a difficult fight. Fortunately Wanda prepared color spray and readies an action that hits three of the four as they charge in. They all fail their will saves and fall unconsious. It is too late for the remaining fighter, and he is defeated despite his defensive tactics. The remaining three are coupe de graced before they recover.

GM's Notes:

• XP: The party defeated 4 Human Warrior Skeletons + 4 Heretic Soldiers => 700XP
  Total XP for all characters: 1700XP (35% to Level 3).
  
  
• Monster Hit Dice: I finally figured out what the hit dice notation means. The cleric's turn undead should have destroyed most of the skeletons in the first fight. :)
  I played the color spray spell correctly though.
  
  
• Halfling + Medium Weapon: Milo used a scimitar he looted from a skeleton. For future reference, Milo gets a -2 penalty with medium weapons, though in this case he would have hit regardless.
  
  
• Shooting into combat, and cover from friendlies: I need to clarify this a little so I know exactly when and how to apply the modifiers.
  
  
• Miniatures: We used peices of paper to mark where each character was on the grid. This was fine, until anyone sighed, sneezed or moved too suddenly, and a hurricane-force gust of wind blew all the characters across the battle map. I had a look in Analph last week. They have 10-pack randomised miniature sets, but they're expensive for something you don't know what you're getting until you open them, and realise you didn't get a wizard and have to get another one.
  
  
• No More Mr. Nice Guy: There were a few times where I bent some rules to make it easier on the party. (On the other hand I made some mistakes which made it a lot harder for them, so I guess we're even.) Presently the adventure is very linear, options are limited, and we are all learning the game. I will reduce this sort of flexibility as I familiarise myself with the rules, and as more options begin to present themselves. I still managed to put the fear of death into the party, and that's the main thing.
  
  
• <-- what is with these flowers? I'm going to have to change this.