I finished the second week of D&D Encounters tonight. Despite having started my day rather ill, plenty of fluids and sunshine actually helped tremendously in getting me to game. I am glad, too, I have a great time.
I am running two sessions, and it is amazing how much they diverge from each other, with the players developing very different strategies in dealing with the encounters. I didn’t write up session one, but it was the same, and I feel like I learning a lot about tactics in general, since I get to see the alternate reality characters play out.
Encounter 1-2, Banishing the Hive, starts out with a flame spirit beckoning the party forward. This was interesting for me, because in group one I told them to place their characters in the starting area, whereas group two had the choice to approach the spirit. Group two ended up surrounding the spirit to read what it was saying (it burns the letters into the sand, which then blew away in the wind [very cool]). The two groups asked entirely different questions, with one of them asking all the script points about the spirit, and the other asking mostly about their own situation. Impromptu speaking is something I enjoy greatly, so that worked out, but it was a surprise none the less. I have no idea what I would have asked it.
After a bit of conversation, the spirit disappears and these large beetle type creatures called kanks attack. This played out very differently between the groups, but I suspect this has to do with the fact that group one had three players playing two characters each. They got their hides handed to them multiple times, and I felt like they barely kept it together. Group two, on the other hand, immediately delegated tanks, and while there were some close calls, generally held their own. In fact, I awarded moments of greatness to three players, they were doing truly epic plays.
On thinking about this, I would guess the difference in play comes down to experience. While group one has some people with RP experience outside of D&D, everyone started playing in D&D Encounters season one. Group two contains at least two DMs, and a couple of others that are in regular D&D 4th addition games. Fortunately, I think both groups are having a lot of fun. There is a decent amount of laughter and wit going around the table in both games, and I feel it is a great experience for me to get to know such a diverse and interesting group of people. 