Sinister shapes lurk near the cave entrance as the adventurers approach.
These pages present a short example of play, similar to the ones in the Player’s Handbook, to illustrate how everything outlined in the “How to Run a Session” section works in practice. In this example, the Dungeon Master is running an adventure (“The Fouled Stream”) from chapter 4. The four players are Amy (playing Auro, a Halfling Rogue), Maeve (playing Mirabella, an Elf Wizard), Phillip (playing Gareth, a Human Cleric), and Russell (playing Shreeve, a Goliath Fighter).
The DM starts by asking the players to recap the action of the previous session, most of which consisted of creating characters.
Jared (as DM): Last session, we met our four heroes in the little farming village of High Ery. Who remembers what happened?
Amy: We were at a village council meeting about the weird stuff in the river making the fish inedible. We volunteered to investigate.
Russell: So we set out and followed the river upstream. At the first fork, we met a treant named Borogrove who pointed us to a cave that was the source of the polluted stream.
Amy: Before he wandered off, he gave us a magic acorn, and that’s where we ended last week.
Jared: So now you’re in this gloomy forest. Dry leaves rustle under your feet. You’re still beside the stream, which looks murky and unwholesome beneath the shadowy trees. What do you want to do now?
Russell (as Shreeve): We continue upstream? (The others nod.)
Jared: OK, you make your way upstream for about another hour. The farther you go, the murkier and stinkier the water becomes. Rounding a bend, you can see a cave in the hillside ahead of you. The stream tumbles from the cave mouth. There are withered shrubs clumped around the cave, apparently poisoned by this nasty water.
Phillip (as Gareth): Into the cave!
Jared: Who’s leading the way?
The DM knows something the players don’t: the withered shrubs are actually monsters. It’s important to establish which characters are closest to the hidden monsters.
Russell: I’ll go first.
Jared: The cave entrance is ten feet wide, with the stream running right down the middle. Do you want to go single file or two abreast?
Phillip: I don’t love the idea of stepping across the stream. Let’s go single file, staying on this side of the water. (Everyone else agrees.)
By asking the players to choose their characters’ marching order, the DM cleverly pivots away from the withered shrubs. The players don’t realize their characters are in danger, and the DM is waiting for the right time to reveal the hidden monsters.
Jared: OK, who’s second?
Phillip: Gareth will go second.
Maeve (as Mirabella): I’ll be third in line.
Amy (as Auro): I’ll make sure nothing’s following us.
Jared: OK, Shreeve, as you reach the cave mouth, you hear the shrubs rustling.
Russell: Oh, I should’ve checked to make sure nothing was hiding in the shrubs!
Jared: In fact, the shrubs themselves are moving. They’re not rooted at all—each one has two little legs and sharp claws! Everyone, roll Initiative.
Russell: How many shrubs are attacking?
Jared: Six. Auro, what’s your Initiative?
Amy: I got a 14.
Russell: Shreeve goes on 5.
Maeve: A natural 20 gives me a 21!
Phillip: 19 for Gareth.
The DM rolls Initiative just once for all six monsters and writes down that they’ll go on Initiative count 17. The DM then goes around the table to get each player’s Initiative roll. See the “Running Combat” section in chapter 2 for advice about rolling and tracking Initiative.
Jared: Mirabella, you’re first. What do you do?
Maeve: How many of these walking bundles of kindling can I get in a 15-foot Cone?
Jared: There are three on your side of the stream and three on the other side. You can get either group in your Cone.
The DM doesn’t have the exact positions of the monsters mapped out on a grid, but it’s fair to assume that they’re clumped close together as they move to attack the characters.
Maeve: Mirabella puts her thumbs together and wiggles her fingertips. (Maeve mimics this action.) Fire shoots out from her fingers, catching the ones on our side of the stream. Burning Hands!
Jared: OK, what do I need to do?
It’s always fair for the DM to expect players to explain what their spells and abilities do. The DM has enough to keep track of!
Maeve: The shrub things need to make Dexterity saving throws. The DC is 14.
Jared: And how much damage do they take?
Maeve: (Maeve rolls 3d6 for the spell’s damage.) 13 Fire damage if they fail the save, 6 if they succeed.
Jared: Magical fire tears through them and leaves smears of ash behind! Anything else, Mirabella?
Asking for the spell’s damage allows the DM to roll a saving throw for each monster and mark off the right amount of damage for that one. In this case, though, the monsters have Vulnerability to Fire damage (because they’re just dry shrubs) and so few Hit Points that they’ll die no matter what they roll.
Maeve: My work here is done. (She mimes blowing smoke away from her fingertips.)
Jared: Gareth, you’re up next.
Phillip: Gareth holds his Holy Symbol and utters an imprecation while pointing at the closest shrub and casting Toll the Dead. The sound of a bell tolls, and the shrub makes a Wisdom save, DC 14.
Jared: Well, I rolled a 1.
Phillip: It takes 7 Necrotic damage!
Jared: Whatever moisture was in this “bundle of kindling” seems to dry up, and the thing keels over dead. Anything else, Gareth?
Phillip: He glares menacingly at the other shrubs.
Jared: OK, their turn. One skitters toward Mirabella!
Russell: Can I interject myself between it and Mirabella?
Jared: Sure, I’ll allow it. You step into the monster’s path and … (The DM makes an attack roll for the monster but rolls a 7, which isn’t going to hit.) It tears at your cloak but fails to wound you. The other one has lost any interest in fighting, and it starts running away. Now it’s Auro’s turn.
It’s not Shreeve’s turn, but the DM decides to allow the Goliath Fighter to step in the way of the monster’s attack because it gives Shreeve a fun heroic moment. The DM changes the monster’s target to Shreeve and makes an attack roll.
Amy: Auro looks at the one that just attacked Shreeve and pulls out his dagger. I get a 23 to hit!
Jared: That hits! What’s your damage?
Amy: Since Shreeve is next to it, I can use my Sneak Attack! The shrub takes 12 Piercing damage.
Jared: It’s felled! Mirabella, the last one is running away. Will you let it escape?
Maeve: I think Borogrove would be disappointed in us if we let it escape into the woods. I’ll cast Fire Bolt, getting a 14 to hit.
Jared: You nailed it.
Maeve: It takes 10 Fire damage!
Jared: Yeah, the last shrub is incinerated. Well done!
The Rule of Fun
D&D is a game, and everyone should have fun playing it. Everyone shares equal responsibility in moving the game along, and everyone contributes to the fun when they treat each other with respect and consideration: talking through disagreements among players or their characters, and remembering that arguments or meanspirited squabbles can get in the way of the fun.
People have many different ideas about what makes D&D fun. The “right way” to play D&D is the way you and your players agree to and enjoy. If everyone comes to the table prepared to contribute to the game, the entire table is likely to have a wonderful and memorable time.