HALLS OF HEROES ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ AN ORGANIZED PLAY CAMPAIGN FOR D&D 5E ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ DUNGEON MASTER GUIDE v1.2 Effective Date: 2020-November-17 Website: hallsofheroes.com ​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HallsofHeroes/ ​ Twitter: @Halls_of_Heroes. ​ ​ Reddit at /r/HallsOfHeroes ​ Discord: https://discord.gg/Kf8sEen ​ 1 HE ASICS T ​ B PREPARING THE ADVENTURE ​ ​ Before you sit down at the table, you want to have Halls of Heroes is an organized play system for read through the adventure to get an idea of what’s th Dungeons & Dragons, 5 ​ Edition, continuing the going on behind the scenes. Not all adventures ​ spirit of the first seven seasons of Adventurers explain everything up front, and so it’s a good idea League. As with all organized play, the players and to have read the entire adventure to get the big DM follow a shared set of principles so that picture. You can also use this time to run what-if characters may move from adventure to adventure scenarios for how to make an adventure more or and from DM to DM freely. less challenging on the fly. Settings SITTING DOWN AT THE TABLE Halls of Heroes currently has two settings: Whether the tabletop is real or virtual, eventually Forgotten Realms (FR) and Eberron (EB). See the the players gather around. Halls of Heroes Players Guide for the relevant Ask players for relevant information about each of setting for character creation and advancement their characters that will help you balance and run rules for each setting. the adventure. What’s relevant may vary from Available Adventures adventure to adventure, but often includes things See Appendix C; Content Catalog for the full list of like character name, classes, levels, armor class, adventures for each setting. and passive perception scores. BEING A DUNGEON MASTER You might review the character sheets to make ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ sure nothing is out of order. All players will do their best to abide by the rules, but sometimes mistakes Every Halls of Heroes game needs a DM. Every are made. It’s better to correct them before the player can become one. session starts. MATERIAL COMPONENTS Make sure characters have logs and that new Here’s what you have to have to DM: players know how to keep them. ● The D&D Basic Rules Remind players that if they need to spend ● A Halls of Heroes Legal Adventure downtime before the adventure or make purchases ● Dice (Rollers gotta roll!) from the PHB list, then that’s the time. ● Note-taking equipment MAKING ADJUSTMENTS Here’s what else you can use: Every party of characters is different. In order to ● The Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG) make an adventure challenging but not (ignoring any Optional or Variant rules) overpowering, you may need to make adjustments ● Supplemental Creature Books (for editing to encounters and challenges as you run the encounters in thematically-appropriate ways adventure. However, it’s not your duty to always to challenge and surprise players): allow the party to win when they make foolish ○ Monster Manual (MM) mistakes or unlucky dice rolls. ○ Volo’s Guide to Monsters (VOLO) Many one-shot adventures will offer suggestions for ​ ​ ○ Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (MTF) how to adjust encounter difficulty based on party ● Battlemap and miniatures or markers for strength. You can use the following table as a face-to-face grid-based combat guide. APL=Average Party Level ● A Virtual Tabletop (like Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds) to play with friends online ● Dungeon Master Screen (to hide your notes from players’ prying eyes) 2 Party Compare APL Party Prayer of Healing (Level 2) 40 GP Size to Target APL Strength Dispel Magic 90 GP Remove Curse 90 GP Less Very Weak Speak with Dead 90 GP 3-4 Equal Weak Divination 210 GP Greater Average Greater Restoration 450 GP Less Weak Raise Dead 1,250 GP Resurrection* 3,000 GP + 150 DT 5 Equal Average True Resurrection* 50,000 GP + 350 DT Greater Strong Table: Spellcasting Services Less Average *The downtime cost for these spells can be reduced by 50 for each faction rank above ‘1’ that the character possesses. 6-7 Equal Strong This downtime is spent in community service for the church Greater Very Strong that provided the spell in question. The Acolyte Background feature does not reduce the gp or downtime cost for either Table: Approximate Party Strength of these spells. HAVING FUN The most important aspect of the game is that all Characters with the Acolyte background may use their ​ ​ the players (including the DM) are having fun with background feature according to their deity at the creating a story together. Your job as a DM is to locations in the following table. guide that process along. Consider the following guidance: Context/Region Temples DM Empowerment: You have the ability to adjust ​ Campaign 1/TBD TBD the adventure to make it challenging and interesting Season 1/Phlan Kelemvor for the group. Improvisation is encouraged. House Season 2/Mulmaster Bane, Loviatar, rules and breaking the spirit of Halls of Heroes Tymora, Velsharoon guidances are not. Season 3/Hillsfar Chauntea, Lliira, Player Empowerment: Not all players enjoy the ​ Tempus same sorts of experience. Try to gauge what they like in a game of D&D (roleplay, combat, high or Season 4/Barovia None low challenge, etc.). Then you can accommodate Season 5-T1/Parnast Mielikki those tastes within the parameters of the Season 5-T2/Stagwick Chauntea adventure. Season 5-T3/Beregost Lathander, Waukeen Story Pacing: Having a fun story is more important Season 6-T1/Mirabar Dumathoin, Sharindlar, ​ than rolling the dice. If you can detect that a certain Tymora section is moving too fast or too slow, improvise Season Oghma, Selûne, Tyr events to control the pace. 6-T2/Neverwinter Season 6-T3/Dagger Lathander, Tyr SPELLCASTING SERVICES Falls During an adventure, any settlement the size of a Season 7-Port Nyanzaru Gond, Savras, Waukeen town or larger can provide spellcasting services. If Season 8-T1/Waterdeep All spellcasting services are needed after the adventure has concluded, it is presumed they’re Season 8-T2+/Skullport Eilistraee available, and that bodies have been recovered if Season 9-Baldur’s Gate Gond, Tymora, necessary (unless the adventure or encounter Umberlee specifically states otherwise). Season 10-Icewind Dale Eberron All Spell Cost Table: Acolyte Temples Cure Wounds (Level 1) 10 GP Identify 20 GP Lesser Restoration 40 GP 3 WRAPPING UP Ammunition of the +1, +2, and +3 varieties are found in bundles of 1d6. Other ammunition is found When the adventure session is concluded, the one at a time. players distribute treasure and receive their rewards. The DM keeps their DM logs. Permanent magic items (which includes magic items with a limit number of charges) use the EXPERIENCE POINTS following rules: Combat XP: XP is awarded to the party based on ​ ● Unanimous agreement: if the entire table the XP denoted in each defeated creature's stat agrees on who gets an item, that person gets block. it. ● If more than one player wants an item, then Non-Combat XP: XP is awarded to characters ​ the player with the lowest number of based on time spent achieving objectives without permanent magic items gets it. combat. Time spent unproductively is not rewarded ● If there is a tie in permanent magic item with XP. DMs are encouraged to exercise restraint count, then the DM determines the winner when rewarding XP. randomly. Permanent magic item count is reduced under For each hour the party spends avoids combat to certain circumstances: achieve party objectives, award each character the ● If an item becomes non-magical or used up following amount of XP based on the individual under normal use (e.g Keoghtom’s Ointment, character’s tier: Rod of Absorption), but not due to a roll of the dice (e.g. Horn of Blasting, Helm of Brilliance, Tier Non-Combat XP Staff of Striking) nor neglect (drowcraft 1 50 XP/hour/character equipment, Staff of the Python). If it applies a 2 250 XP/hour/character permanent effect (like Bag of Beans or 3 1000 XP/hour/character Tome/Manual ability score increases, then the item counts for each character with the effect. 4 2500 XP/hour/character ● If an item is sacrificed as non-improvised part Table: Non-Combat XP for Objectives of the adventure (e.g. the legendary weapons in Princes of the Apocalypse, certain hags MUNDANE TREASURE who demand bribes) Mundane treasure is only available to characters if it’s listed under a Treasure subheading in the RANDOM ROLLS FOR TREASURE adventure. Any exceptions are listed in Appendix D. If an adventure instructs you to roll randomly for treasure and is not superseded by Non-magical equipment can be sold at the same adventure-specific guidance (Appendix D), then rate as described in the “Selling Treasure” section you can do so. Note any subtypes, the page in the PHB, i.e. used adventuring gear at 50%, number, the table, and dice roll on your DM Log (for trade goods, art objects, gems, and jewelry at DM Quest Reward purposes). The receiving 100%. character (and any future item trade partners) must also note it on their log sheet. Total value of all coins and other mundane equipment is split evenly among the party. DM PICKS If an adventure instructs you or a player to select an item, then you may do so (unless superseded by MAGICAL TREASURE Appendix D). If no rarity is specified, it must be Any consumable treasures (potions, scrolls, and tier-appropriate. ammunition) is split according to the agreement of the party. A common method is that everyone rolls The Creator-or-Intended-User, History, and Quirk a die and the highest roll picks first.