Have you ever wondered what the daily routine of a fantasy hero in Dungeons and Dragons looks like? Get up in the morning, flirt a little with the daughter of the local hostel owner, kill a dragon in the morning, hunt down a few bandits in the afternoon and in the evening pour a few mugs of mead on a successful day. In this way maybe? A story that could have come straight out of a heroic adventure novel? There are definitely some days that follow this pattern. However, the average day of a hero is usually much more boring and often involves long journeys on foot or on horseback.
In fact, your typical daily routine in D&D largely depends on which campaign you’re playing. In a city game like Waterdeep: Dragon robbery your heroes will spend a very different standard day than in gloomy Barovia in Curse of Strahd or in the seafarers campaign Spirits of Salt Marsh. If your heroes just wait idly for the time to pass for a few days, in many cases this time will not be played at all, but as a time-out (= off time) simply skipped or only roughly described.
In the D&D adventure Spirits of Saltmarsh you spend a lot of time on the high seas. The everyday life of your heroes looks very different in this campaign than in the other settings.
Source: © 1993-2022 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc.
quests!
Of course, your daily routine depends not insignificantly on the tasks that you take on as a group of heroes. You can compare the quests in Dungeons and Dragons with the tasks in well-known computer games such as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, World of Warcraft or the Horizon series. You have to defeat monsters, master rescue missions, solve puzzles or find lost objects. Some quests will take you out into the wilderness or into dangerous dungeons, others you can complete in villages or towns. Often it is not enough to swing your sword or draw your bow. It’s just as important to talk to NPCs (= non-player characters), gather information, or first of all come up with a battle plan. Spoilers: Most plans are doomed from the start, as any seasoned D&D player will tell you. The secret stealth mission without violence typically works for exactly five minutes – and from then on it’s just wild improvisation!
Dungeon Crawl – what is it?
as dungeon crawl (in English roughly: dungeon crawling) is the name given to the most prototypical D&D adventure of all: your heroes daringly enter a cave, a sewer or another disgusting place. There they are in search of treasure and ready to slaughter any horrible monster that gets in their way. You explore room after room, paying more or less attention to traps and facing numerous fights. At the end, a boss opponent is often waiting to either beat the adventurers to mud or eat them whole. Such challenges exist in every D&D campaign; in some settings, however, dungeons are much more common than in others. In Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage Among other things, you complete one level of Halaster’s Dungeon after the other without ever being able to enjoy a significant amount of rest in between.
Monsters in their natural environment
Of course, the villains don’t only lurk in dimly lit dungeons, which is why fights will not only occur in clearly defined dungeons. You may defeat a bloodthirsty prince right in his front yard. You may be fighting in a forest clearing, in the depths of the sea, or in the main square of a small village. Or you start a tavern brawl. What better way to end a relaxing evening than a few smashed beer mugs?
The possibility of combat awaits you in D&D wherever you encounter other creatures or NPCs. And even an encounter planned by your GM as a peaceful picnic can turn into an epic battle, depending on how your heroes handle the situation.
RPG encounter
Always keep this in mind: not every fight in D&D is fought at gunpoint. In addition to the classic fight scenes, as you know them from every good action film, there are also so-called role-playing encounters (= roleplay encounter). Here, the charismatic skills of your character are used to the full – and you as a player have the opportunity to fully enjoy exciting role-playing spectacles. It’s through scenes like this that you breathe life into your hero, because role-playing encounters give you more opportunities than any other to speak and interact as your character.
Among other things, you may have to convince a shady informant to negotiate with you. Or you try to avert an impending war with the art of diplomacy, attend a royal council or enjoy an exciting evening at a masked ball. But even little things that have little to do with your main quests can become memorable role-playing scenes: trying to get a good price from the armor dealer falls just as much into this category as the only moderately original pick-up lines from the bard, who doesn’t want to spend the next night alone.
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