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Why Having Small Groups In DnD Leads To More RP & Sometimes An Epic Buddy Comedy
Hi everyone. All Things DnD is back with another story.
Small group DND is in my opinion better than large groups. More RP, more action, and more room
to develop ridiculous buddy comedy partnerships. and I absolutely love buddy comedies. The banter,
the fun, the violence. Well, there is violence in this buddy comedy at least.
These two characters play off of each other so well that honestly, this should be a full blown
buddy comedy movie. After listening to this, tell us about your epic small DND group tales.
I’m playing 4e in a party with the DM from Of Bards and Bagpipes. We are finally getting a
DM that isn't one of the two of us. We show up to discover that everybody flaked but the two of us
and the DM. But that’s not gonna stop us from having a good time.
Brilliance strikes me.
There is always a fantasy cliche about a paladin and his squire riding around the
world saving the peasants and enforcing the law and faith and small groups make
RP easier but I’m going to crank it up to 11.
Leonhard Grunewald human Cavalier dedicated
to helping people of all kinds regardless of status or race.
He is extremely protective of others and hates fighting, suffers from a rather harsh case of PTSD
born to a noble house, trained for war his entire life, raised on honor and glory and conquest.
In his first battle he kills three men and nearly dies,
he is puking his guts out and there is a little bit too much blood in his vomit for comfort.
He blacks out and while unconscious he gets rescued by a mercenary group.
The company can always use another blade and so he
is adopted by the company and trained from the ground up like any commoner.
He learned humility and found peace in writing,
travelled the world and joined the Order of the Shining Light. Which is a paladin order founded
by another of my characters who had been a mercenary Fighter, story for another time.
After a few years became a fully fledged knight and needed an apprentice.
Leonhard found his squire in a city. The young man...propositioned Leonhard who of course
politely declined the young man’s offer. But, Leonhard saw something in the skinny, feminein
young man. He tricked him into joining the order through careful usage of words and shiny items.
Svienn, Bard Squire who just wanted to get an easier job than being a male prostitute.
When Leon told him he was going to "work him hard" he didn't think he meant carrying all his crap.
Svienn is extremely feminine and tries to get in Leon's pants whenever possible.
He demands constant attention and pampering, receives neither.
Leonhard rode a MARVELOUS BARDED STEED.
Svienn rode...a mule with big ears
Everything was as it should be.
Suitably equipped, our dynamic duo set off down a random road
into the middle of nowhere in search of HIGH ADVENTURE
After two weeks of wandering they had found nothing.
Only dirt roads and trees with the occasional owlbear or group of insane goblins.
Svienn is sexually harassing Leon on a daily basis and getting turned down at the same rate.
No matter how many times Leon reminded him of the benefits of proper stance and health,
he'd always bend at the hips and not the legs to pick things up.
Svienn’s advances appeared to always go over Leon's head, which bothered Svienne to no end.
Leon responds by giving him more work to do while lecturing him.
And Svienne complains the entire time and refuses to pay attention
to the sermons about humility and love. Petulant little shit.
The pair finally stumble across some backwater lumber village in the woods having a problem
with a group of bandits that keep raiding the area and taking people from the village.
They can't have that.
They go to discuss with the elders to see if they can help.
Leon has to keep smacking Svienn upside
the head for trying to seduce the locals for free housing and food.
Finally they meet up with the old leaders, get a general idea of where the bandits may be.
They head out that way after pulling Svienn off of some farmer in the street.
The bandits live somewhere in the swamp, because of course they do. The pair trudge through the
muck and mire of the dank swamp and they are not surprised in the slightest when they get ambushed.
The ground is too muddy to ride well rendering a charge too risky.
Leon gets off the horse and hands Svienn the lance then draws his warhammer.
With a roar he challenges the bandits to come fight him like men.
Arrows bounce off his armor and shield in response.
He decides to make them come to him whether they like it or not.
Svienn starts sliding the biggest and meanest one closer with Staggering Note
while Leon just trudges forward.
Arrows can't even scratch him. With each failed hit the bandits are starting to panic.
He finally gets into range with one, drops the hammer and grapples the bandit.
He reels his head back and snaps his forehead into the bandit’s face.
steel helmets hurt
He tosses the unconscious bandit over his shoulder,
picks the hammer back up and puts it in the holster then walks back toward his horse.
The bandits don't want to shoot their buddy and they know it won't hurt the steel clad terror.
Leon tosses the bandit onto his horse and mounts up. He grabs Svienn by the collar
and pulls him off of the bandit he had used staggering note on.
They ride back to the village with their prize.
Leon tosses the bandit in a house and ties him to a wall. He instructs the locals to
start building a palisade around the village. Leon is going to teach them how to fight and
defend themselves. The villagers begin training on how to perform as a militia
with pitchforks and modified branch cutters. They begin patrol areas around the town. A
few bandits come scouting and end up having a pretty bad time when they run into the militia.
The build wooden log walls and create some basic ramparts.
Leon is going to show these filthy peasants the magic of crossbows and long pointy sticks.
After a few days they are starting to get the hang of it,
they even win a battle with the group whose leader got abducted.
The peasants are grateful but it still scares them when their large armored savior wakes
up in the middle of the night yelling and swinging after he's killed a dream bandit.
Svienn actually keeps it in his pants long enough to help settle Leon down when the dreams hit him.
Leon tells the locals that even in his dreams he fights the forces of evil.
He keeps his visor down all day after fights
so the locals can't see him crying. He needs to be strong for them.
After a couple weeks the rest of the bandits arrive. There are a lot more than expected.
Nearly one hundred bandits in all. They couldn't risk letting
the village get strong enough to get rid of them.
Leon gets the crossbows up on the ramparts,
organizes the rest into an infantry square with flanking groups of lumberjacks.
Svienn goes up onto the wall and gives them a piece of his mind.
That did it
The bandits charge and start climbing the walls.
They are getting peppered with crossbow bolts and crushed by rocks being dropped on their heads.
When they reach the top of the wall they are met with steel.
The bandits decide that's a bad idea and pull back for the day.
The peasants are pumped they held them off.
But it's not over yet.
During the night the bandits light the walls on fire.
But Leon had planned for that and treated the wood.
Except you can’t plan for everything and
Leon didn’t expect the bandits to have access to alchemist’s fire.
Damn.
The alchemist’s fire burns a hole in the wall right next to the gate.
The peasants doing their best to group up and hold them off until help arrives.
The fighting spills into the town. The peasants are doing a decent job of defending their homes.
Svienn is running medical and sliding bandits into fires.
Leon is going street by street.
bandits have to take will checks whenever he arrives
After clearing out a few groups the bandit chief comes out.
Big ol' bastard with a two handed sword, obviously a military veteran.
He roars his challenge to the knight. Leon dismounts and puts the shield and lance away.
He unties his poleaxe from the side of the horse and turns and faces his foe.
He plants it in the ground to pray.
The chief laughs at him.
"Prayin' to your god for help?"
"No."
"Beggin for mercy?"
"No."
"What then?"
"Apologizing."
"Fer what?"
"For the filth I'm sending him."
The chief gets angry and charges
Leon snaps the poleaxe forward allowing the Chief’s momentum to impale himself.
He lifts the impaled bandit into the air, looks him in the eye as he holds him off the ground.
"I'm sorry."
The bandits that could run did, rest were either captured or wounded.
Leon and Svienn spend the next few days taking care of the wounded from both sides.
The bandits are not sure what to think of that.
The leave them in the hands of the villagers after the wall is repaired.
Most of them are too crippled to be threats again.
They agree to live their lives repaying the village.
A few of them were from the village in the first
place and the family's aren't sure what to think of them.
Leon and Svienn’s work is done.
Their last night in the village before they head out.
Svienn stays in bed with Leon to help deal with the flashbacks.
He actually manages to sleep half way decently for a change.
They ride out the next morning. Leon refuses any payment despite Svienn's protests.
Although they do accept enough food to get them to the next village.
Together they ride down the trails again in search of the next person who could use some help.
"Ya know, technically we slept together." Svienn said wryly.
"In the sense that we occupied the same space, yes."
"You liiiiiiked it."
"It wasn't unpleasant."
"Want some more?"
"Perhaps next time you can polish my shaft."
"Really?!"
"Of course. You can start now."
By the end of the day Svienn could barely lift his right arm
Leon couldn't be happier.
The poleaxe hadn't looked that nice since he got it
Great banter, great action, great innuendo. I seriously want more of these two running
around the world saving the day. Do you think they ever get together? Retire to
a small cottage in the woods after being heroes? Sounds kind of nice actually.
Please let us know what you think and comment below!
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