Gaming Notes: DnD 5.0 Playtest #1

DnD "Next" - no wonder they need so many playtesters...

I'm so pumped! Finally, Wizards of the Coast got everything sorted out with the downloads to the playtesting materials for 5.0 and, since then, has released several updates. My gaming group decided to participate in the playtest and boy have I been impressed so far!

The character creation process is simple and straightforward. I created a warlock. In the party we also had two clerics, a sorcerer, a dwarven fighter, and a elven rogue. The DM decided to run the Caves of Chaos adventure as it was released for 5.0 playtesting. This group had played this adventure in 2nd edition so we were very familiar with it.

We started out at a town, hearing rumors of monsters attacking nearby caravans. People and valuables have gone missing and the town wanted us to check it out, promising 100 gp reward if we could stop the attacks.

So, we set off toward the source of the disturbance. My warlock, having the skill of geographical knowledge, lead the party successfully to the Caves of Chaos in a few days time.

We were starring at a sparsely vegetated canyon or valley with several cave entrances along its slopped surface. Being lazy, we decided to take the nearest one.

Well, we had just stepped in the door when we ran into a band of goblins. We joined the battle but a couple of them scurried away, only to return with reinforcements! Yikes! Our thief went down in the combat but we were victorious, sending the few remaining goblins scurrying away in fear.

We did a little healing and resting and then were rudely interrupted by a ogre coming down the hallway! Uh-oh! This large creature looked like he was gunning for us! It took all of our combined efforts but we eventually laid the monster low.

Overall, I was very impressed with how smooth the combats went. We had somewhere around 20 total combatants engaged in combat at the same time but rounds went very quickly.

So far, I'm REALLY impressed with 5th edition! I can't wait to play more!