Mephits & Magmin is the introductory scenario from So You Want To Be a Game Master. It’s designed specifically for first-time GMs, but can provide an evening of eerie, magical fun for any group!
Now it’s easier than ever to run the adventure on a virtual tabletop! Tessa Morecroft of Tessa’s Maps has created an all-new version of the adventure map specifically customized for online play.
In addition to multiple variations of Tessa’s beautiful, full-color rendition of the volcanic caverns, the zip file below also contains a DD2VTT file you can use to import the map with dynamic lighting and line-of-sight to a variety of virtual tabletops, including Roll20 and Foundry.
DOWNLOAD VTT MAPS
(zip file)
It seems that the content of Tessa’s Maps is only available to people who have an account on the site on which it is hosted. 🙁
Im planning to run this for my group soon and am struggling with the CR for the fights involved. I know the mephits dont have their death effect, but kobold fight club puts even the very first fight with 4 mud mephits at a deadly encounter.
Then they have a series of other equally hard fights followed by a boss encounter.
I imagine this going even worse if you have brand new players that arent paranoid and inspect everything.
Dont get me wrong, i love the scenario design, but am i thinking about this wrong or are 4 level 1s going to get stomped if the monsters know what they are doing(tm)?
@Dom: The encounters were built using the DMG encounter-building rules.
My playtesting indicated, as you suggest, that the encounters were actually too tough: The groups I was running didn’t actually have a problem clearing the dungeon, but they were experienced players. I was concerned that new players could potentially end up in bad shape from bad tactical decisions.
So the number of mephits was reduced in some encounters and the death effects were removed. The key thing is that removing the death effects significantly alters the damage output of the mephits (and also prevents one mephit death chain reactions, which can absolutely hammer the PCs). So the Kobold Fight Club rating is going to be higher than reality here.
Further playtesting indicated that the problem had been solved, although players could dig a hole for themselves if they forgot to recover hit points between encounters. (So there’s a sidebar recommending that GMs remind new players that they should short rest.)
You also want to keep in mind that “Deadly” in D&D 5E encounter nomenclature means “there’s a risk that one PC will need to make a death saving throw.”
tl;dr Per playtesting, 1st level characters can clear the adventure even if you forget to remove the death effects. If the death effects are removed, you shouldn’t have any problems with balance for 4- or 5-player groups.
@Dom: I ran this scenario for 4 players (experienced but not tactically inclined) using standard pregens from the starter set. I felt it was properly challenging. Players got scared, some death saves were made at the end, but everyone survived.