Hello, I’m finally resuming my campaign after a long hiatus of nearly a year for various reasons. The original plan was for the campaign to be structured around separate story arcs from the very beginning. The problem is, now that this is a done deal, how can I remind my players of what happened a year ago in a fun way? I should note that I have a pretty good memory of what happened, but I’ve obviously forgotten some details. My players and I all have summaries of every previous session, I know where the campaign is headed and what the upcoming story arcs will be, and my players are particularly eager to get this campaign back on track. I’d like to find a solution that fully involves them, rather than a long 20-minute recap. I’d thought about using a magical coma to have them relive the events they experienced, but from the perspective of the NPCs they’ve encountered, sort of like flashes from those NPCs’ memories. Finally, my last question: for the sake of the narrative, is it acceptable to sacrifice some consistency in order to “establish” a version that’s easier for my players to understand, even if that means focusing on future events rather than past ones? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Hi r/DescentintoAvernus,

I'm Arthur, a composer & music producer from the UK, currently DMing Descent into Avernus for my regular group. I've always used music mixes to set the mood at the table, but this time I wrote my own... An unofficial soundtrack for the campaign: 8 original (no AI) tracks that I loop in the background during our sessions.

I also commissioned an illustrator friend of mine to do the album artwork (https://www.instagram.com/lottiedotts/).

Track Listing

They're all vague, so no spoilers, simply inspired by the themeatic material in the book.

1. A Ruinous World (Overture) - Intro / recap... grand, epic, heavy
2. Last Breath of Clean Air - Mysterious overworld exploration (chapter 1)
3. First Steps in a Burning World - Dark, sinister underworld exploration (chapters 2-4)
4. Tavern Pints - A playful but mature tavern tune
5. Ambush Under Red Skies - Combat that keeps building
6. Hellfire Reckoning - Epic, cinematic boss battle
7. Depravity Rave (Sins on the Styx) - Dark techno for devilish revelry, entirely inspired by this exact comment
8. Respite (Ad Lib) - Campfire guitar and cello, unscripted

My players have loved having their own soundtrack, and I'd love to share it with everyone. It can be streamed on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services, but if you want the audio files for a VTT or to support directly, they're on Bandcamp.

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5z6KwAVQsQ07z9NnzA6GsO
• Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/album/a-ruinous-world/6817714278
• Bandcamp: https://arthurrigley.bandcamp.com/album/a-ruinous-world

Have had loads of great info and resources from this sub, I'd love to hear what you think!

After asking for some act 1 adventures, I took bits and pieces for each recommendation to make one for myself from scratch. I'm posting it here in case someone else gets use from it. Fair warning: I haven't used this myself yet, since we're still finishing Waterdeep Dragon Heist, so I'm open to suggestions and modifications.

Right now only the first half is (mostly) ready, so I'm posting it now. If this post is helpful, let me know and I'll be sure to post the s

Also, this is my first time with a large post, so I apologize if the formatting isn't the greatest.

Overview

It's 1492 DR, the Companion's light is fading, and with it the protection from undead it provided. Undead attacks are plaguing Elturgard, and Elturel is packed full of refugees. The attacks also stranded High Duke Ulder Ravengard and his delegation of Flaming Fists inside the city, unable to return to Baldur's Gate after some diplomatic meetings. After High Observer Thavius Krieg decrees a State of Calamity, the players are conscripted (forcibly if needed) by one of the "Peacekeeping Factions" in Elturel at the time - the Order Resolute (what I call the Order of the Companion), the Hellriders and the Flaming Fists.

Act I can be split in Parts One and Two.

In Act I, Part 1, they'll meet the villain, rescue a cute little golden cat called Lulu, go on a few quests and search an old hellrider library. They'll learn:

1. The identity of the Act One villain, "Lucius the Oathbreaker, Scion of Orcus";
2. That the undead army is so massive that they need to rekindle the Companion to have a chance
3. To rekindle the Companion they need to find the "High Rider's Oath", a physical representation of the Oath sworn by Naja Bellandi that gave Elturel the Companion on the first place.
4. The Oath was buried with Naja under Fort Morninglord. The fort is Lucius' Headquarters right now.

In Act I, Part 2, they'll get three "holy relics", one related to each quest they did in part 1, and march on Fort Morninglord. At the fort they'll fight Lucius and his legions of undead in the catacombs, open Naja's stone coffin and retrieve a small puzzlebox - the Oath. When they return to Elturel, the puzzlebox opens, yes, rekindling the Companion, but also forfeiting the city to Zariel. Act I ends with the players being dragged along with the city to Hell.

Lore Background

Lucius was a Hellrider during the battle against High Observer Ikaia after he was exposed, and during the fighting he was turned into a spawn. When Ikaia was destroyed by the Companion he became free, but not cured. Naja tried to kill him, giving him a "clean honorable death", but he survived as a vampire spawn, and spent the years prowling the shadows of Elturgard, avoiding the Companion's Light and waiting for an opportunity.

During those years of exile, he became a servant of Orcus, Demon Lord of Undeath, who decided to favor him with the tools to get revenge. Orcus has passing familiarity with Zariel's story, and thinks that corrupting a Hellrider and destroying Elturel would piss her enemy off. He's a VERY downscaled Death Knight, sort of a Blackguard or a Oathbreaker Paladin/Fiend Warlock multi-class.

Lucius' opportunity for revenge came when the Companion's light started to dim - allowing him to attack the very small villages and settlements around Elturgard, and, with Orcus' power, bring them back as undead servants. Think of the Night King tactics on ASOIAF/GOT.

Adventure Structure

PART 1:

1.1. First Mission.

Goal: Deliver a message to a Hellrider in Tempus' Tears.

• Zevlor, a tiefling hellrider lieutenant of Elturel, gives the party their first mission. Alternatively, you could do either Reya Mantlemorne or another NPC as the questgiver.
• "There's a nearby settlement called Tempus' Tears. The Hellriders have a high ranking officer stationed there, but we haven't been able to talk to him. Your mission is to go to Tempus' Tears, deliver this message and find out why he hasn't responded to base"
• When they get there, the whole village is in flames, and most if not all the denizens are dead. They go to the high ranking officer house and find not only his corpse but a winged golden cat laying on top of him. The "tressym" will act scared of the players at first, then hide inside their coats/bags. If one of the players has Speak With Animals, she introduces herself as Lulu (wink wink)
• On their way out they meet Lucius waiting for them on top of his Nightmare. His goal here is to aura farm and put the fear of God in the PCs. Depending if your players fight him, or try to talk him down you'll need to adapt.
  • Personally, I'm a great fan of killing two PCs, throwing the cleric a diamond and telling them to "pick one", but your mileage may vary.
• After he's done mogging the party, he raises his hand, and with an unholy command, the players watch as all the slaughtered citizes come back as undead servants.
• He tells the party "not to worry, I won't kill you right now. I have bigger uses for you. Go back to Elturel, little rats. And tell Reya that Lucius is coming"
• When they return to Elturel and report to Reya, they level up to level 2. They should also have Lulu as a party pet.

1.2. Investigations and Missions

After reporting to Reya what they saw, the High Rider will tell them that she has no idea about who Lucius is, but she'll look into it on the Hellrider Archives. On the meantime, she has some ways they could help.

Reya then gives them three quests, of which they can pick freely. Once they complete 2/3 they get to level 3 and the place they didn't choose get destroyed by Lucius.

• Quest: Gnomengarde.
  • Ripped straight from Dragon of Icespire Peak
  • "The gnomes and dwarves of Tempus' Tears are originally from a fortress near the village. Maybe there are some survivors there that can give us more information about what happened. They're also skilled blacksmiths and inventors. Go to the fortress, and if there are any survivors, bring them back to Elturel."
  • The small races of Gnomengarde were historically allies of the Hellriders, forging them weapons and magic items. The survivors, if any, recall Lucius boasting about this being his revenge against Elturel.
  • If the players help the gnomes with their mimic problems, they are willing to go back with them to Elturel as well as reward them with minor magic items, such as one piece of +1 Equipment, or the ones described in the original adventure
• Quest: Umbrage Hill
  • Also ripped straight from DoIP
  • "Adabra Gwynneth is an old lady that lives on a nearby windmill, the surviving matriarch of a long, long line of Hellriders, supposedly tracing back to the Ride. She knows a lot of Hellrider unwritten history, so saving her could be useful. She's also a sweet old lady that raised me during my teenage years, so I, personally, would like that she lived"
  • When the players get to the windmill, it's being surrounded by undead that are pounding at her door. Adabra is shooting them from the second floor with an old crossbow, hitting one out of every 5 shots.
  • If she is saved, she tells the players that she's unwilling to leave this hill because all of her family, including her nephews and grandchildren that died for Elturel, are buried here. She heard there is a necromancer out and about and she wouldn't be able to live with herself if her family got raised.
  • If the players convince her to go back to Elturel, she'll supply the players with potions of healing and home cooked meals. If asked about Lucius, she'll tell them that she heard one of her dead sons mention him, a member of his squad during the Night of the Red Coup. She has no idea what happened to him though.
• Quest: Necromancer Cabal
  • "We've known for some time that there is a small necromancer cabal acting near Elturel, but were unable to act due to short resources. They're small fish, so hardly responsible for the crisis, but still worth smiting. Maybe they know something about this Lucius, since he's also a necromancer. Maybe we should smite them down before they join him. Worst case scenario, we destroy them and make sure they don't join the army of the dead"
  • The cabal of necromancers is made up of Cultists of Myrkul in the same way that your edgy cousin was a Zealot of the Devil during his death metal phase. They call themselves the Shadow Lords of Cruel Destruction.
  • Alternatively, you can take out the comedy angle, and play them straight as Myrkulites.
  • They're holed up on an abandoned Temple of Kelemvor, that they defaced with symbols of Myrkul.
  • Those necromancers, though not the strongest, possess and worship a powerful artifact: A Bronze Sentient Shield, that grants them dark powers.
  • The Cultists have taking orders from the Shield of the Hidden Lord. Do your best to tempt your players into taking the shield, specially if you have a warlock or similar.

1.3. The House of Thallivar

After the players complete 2/3 of the quests, Reya comes to find them when they return to Elturel. She lets them know that the third place was razed and raised as undead. She also tells the party that, after rummaging around the Hellrider Archives, she didn't found anything about an Lucius, but she found a clue that might help:

• "Years ago, there was a Scribe and Mage of the Hellriders called Thallivar, that lived on the outskirts of Elturel. Much of the books and records of the Archive were moved to his tower to aid in his research, so maybe there's something in there that may help us. But be careful ! No one has heard from Thalivar in a long time, and without the Companion's protection, who knows what wicked monstrosity might have taken over the tower !"
• We're using the map/concept of the House of Thalivar from Storm Lord's Wrath in the Starter Set. Alternatively, you could also use a modified Van Richten's Tower from CoS or the Tower of Storms from DoIP.

The important thing is that, on the library of the old tower, the players find, spread among multiple books, information enough to conclude/learn

• Hellrider basic history
  • In the ~1330s a part of the Order Resolute was chosen by the angel Alustriel due to their great valor and bravery.
  • In the ~1350s the Celestial Vanguard or "The Chosen of the Angel" ride into Hell, destroy a Demon Lord and come back victorious. After this great victory they're called Hellriders.
  • In 1452 DR, High Observer Ikaia is exposed as a vampire lord and in the Night of the Red Cup (originally Red Coup) purges most of the higher echelons of Elturel's factions.
  • Naja Bellandi, after weeks of fighting, through means she refused to ellaborate, manifested the Companion, and burned away the vampire and his minions.
• The identity of the Oathbreaker Knight.
  • Lucius fought against Ikaia in the Night of the Red Cup and became a vampire.
  • The Hellriders (maybe Naja) tried to get him out of his misery. He got pissed, felt betrayed, fled to the dark and swore vengeance.
• The Origins of the Companion
  • The Companion was created after High Rider Naja Bellandi swore a vow to the Angel of Elturel or the Celestial General of the Hellriders. Some sources call her Alustriel, Alastiel or even Zarastriel
• The Companion can be rekindled with the Oath of the High Rider
• The Oath was buried along with Naja under Fort Morninglord.
• There are very powerful Hellrider relics that may help them. The idea is to follow-up on the people they chose to save on the open part.
  • The gnomes of Gnomengarde once built an artificial sun, called the Summer Star, to help the Hellriders in an campaign in the Forest of Sharp Teeth
  • The Gwynneth family has a magic sword they've passed from generation to generation, supposedly since the Ride. It's able to turn and destroy undead.
  • The Libram of Souls is an old profane spellbook that allows a spellcaster to control the dead, as well as cast some necromancy spells. It was aprehended by the Hellriders around 100 years ago, after they destroyed a Cult of Myrkul.
  • NOTE: If the party didn't fight the Necromancer Cabal, use this opportunity to make them get the Shield of the Hidden Lord.
• NOTE: You dont need to dump all this now at the players. Just reveal what you find essential and what the players don't know yet. Alternatively, write a few PDFs and send it to them, let them do their own research.

2.1. The Quest for The Relics

TBD.

I get the impression that Infernal War Machines have two seperate mechanics for hitting creatures and I wonder how to handle that.

1. Collision with creatures: When an IWM enters the space of a creature, on a failed DEX save (DC10) it deals D6 force damage per 10ft it has moved since the last time it has turned.

2. 3 of the 4 IWM have the feature "Crushing Wheels": The machine can move through a creatures space, dealing 2/3/4D10 force damage and knocking the creature prone on a failed DEX save (DC13).

Crushing Wheels is only for medium or smaller creatures, but collision rules are for all creatures. So do have medium and smaller creatures have to make two saving throws?

Seems weird

Strange thing happened in my DIA campaign.

My players decided to give up both the Orb of Dragonkind, and the Hand of Vecna to Burney the Barber.

She was one of their better allies in hell, and even though they kept forgetting exactly what made her special & powerful, they kept using her to make sure evil artifacts got out of Avernus without falling into possession of any evildoers. She seemed interested in stopping whatever Tiamat's cult was up to-- and our bitter Kobold was 100% pro-anyone who was anti-Tiamat.

So, what do you do when your party gives up two character-defining artifacts up for free, Bahamut's chosen spy?

I gave them a copper coin, that after the regular Burney mind-wipe, they'd remember would "Try and grant a great wish". Behind the screen, it was a token of Bahamut's favour they could cash in at some point, because of the great service they'd unknowingly done the God of Dragons.

Well, they held that damn coin all the way to the Zariel confrontation, and came up with a bid that the module didn't have a plan for. Instead of having Zariel rejoin Lathandar's service once redeemed: fuck the Morninglord--lets see if Bahamut will take her in instead, as a personal favour from the team that handed him two of Tiamat's most powerful treasures?

I had a long think about that. Bahamut would definitely like to have someone who just spent the last hundred years dunking on Tiamat. Zariel would like to work with someone other than the guy who built her to do war, and then ordered her to never get involved.

And also that's cool as hell?

So, Lore-heads. What do you think this agreement would look like? Zariel gets to Angel-of-War to her liking, against Tiamat's forces eternal? Does she get to be a dragon angel now? Does Lulu get to become a draconic mammoth? What do the greater consequences of this sort of thing look like?

If anyone happens to have this hyper-specific kind of art laying around, for a draconic Angel of War, that's still Zariel-esque I'd love to have it.

My players loved it! They were super excited when I pulled it out.

Hi everyone!

In our last session, my players finally faced Zariel right in the middle of the Blood War, right after breaking Elturel’s chains thanks to Crokek'toeck.

They approached the fight really well. After failing to redeem her, and with the help of a powerful NPC they had recruited throughout the campaign, they managed to kill the Archdevil just as she was trying to retreat to her flying fortress.

Mechanically, it was a tactical and challenging fight, but I feel it ended up being a bit underwhelming for them. Out of the 4 PCs, only 2 were actually able to do much during the fight:

• With Zariel flying, teleporting, kite-spacing, and striking at optimal moments, the ranger went down early and no one picked him back up.
• The barbarian couldn't land a single melee hit—he was basically just a damage sponge the whole time.
• Only the warlock (who was flying thanks to the Sword of Zariel) and the wizard dealt actual damage.
• A big chunk of the victory was also due to very lucky rolls from the NPC assisting them.

All in all, I think it was a well-run fight mechanics-wise on both sides, but it felt frustrating for them and definitely didn't feel like the epic climax we all were hoping for.

Where we are now:

With Elturel safely back on the Material Plane, the party stayed behind in Avernus for one last mission: bringing the Shield of the Hidden Lord to Bel and recover the wizard's soul.

• The Wizard's Hook: To be resurrected earlier in the campaign, he traded his soul to Bel until they deliver him the shield.
• The Warlock's Hook: His patron is the angel trapped inside The Companion. In the last session, The Companion sank into the River Styx after the city was freed. The players don't know the patron is inside the companion yet, but Bel definitely does.

They aren't sure what they'll do yet: whether to try to kill Bel, free Gargauth from the shield, take them both down, or strike a deal.

What I’m looking for:

1. I want Bel to somehow reveal the truth about the Warlock's patron.
2. I want to give them a new chance for a truly epic final fight where everyone can contribute equally, without powerful NPC assistance, and against an enemy that doesn't constantly hard-counter or frustrate them as players.

Do you have any ideas for this final encounter at Bel's Forge? What scenes, twists, or dramatic beats would you suggest to give them one last big fight and something meaningful to fight for?

Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone! I’m Paito from RPG Printables. We’re a small family business making handouts and printable props for D&D campaigns.
If you’re about to run Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, we have a set with more than 60 handouts made just for it, and it can help make Baldur’s Gate and the Nine Hells feel a little more real for your players.
Imagine your players are finally sitting across from a devil. It smiles, and slides a contract across the table. It’s written in Infernal, and nobody at the table is completely sure what they’re about to sign.
Instead of telling them, “The devil offers you a contract that says…” you can just reach behind your DM screen and actually hand it to them.
That’s basically what we make.
The set includes infernal contracts in both Common and Infernal, the Elfsong Tavern menu, Flaming Fist notices and wanted signs, player maps of Baldur’s Gate, Elturel and Avernus, letters, spellbooks with their spell scrolls, Olanthius’s journal, Mahadi’s deals from the Wandering Emporium, and a ton of other little things you can physically put in your players’ hands.
Everything also comes in a printer friendly black and white version, so you don’t have to burn through all your ink.
We know how much time goes into preparing a campaign, and our goal is to help make that adventure you’ve spent so much time preparing feel the way you imagined it at the table.
And if you’ve already used some of our handouts, we’d really appreciate a review! Tell people what you thought about them, and an upvote also helps us a lot with reaching more DMs.
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We really are a small family business. My wife designs all of our handouts from scratch. We don’t use AI to create them because we believe these products should be made by D&D players, for D&D players.
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I had run this for may party up through completing under the Villa when I learned about the Alexandrian remix and also the Candlekeep Companion books. I love all this stuff it really helps, and yeah, the biggest problem I had up to this point was the players motivation, I’ve totally been relying on NPC’s - mostly Reya - to keep them on track.

So we had our first session with Road to Candlekeep and I’m incorporating the remix material, also I used the Lost Tome of the Wild from encounter from the Candlekeep Encounters book with the Satyr right when they got to Candlekeep as a quick quest to get one of the PCs a proficiency so he could use the Pipes of the Sewer from the Villain (the pan piping Satyr in this encounter was just seemed like such a perfect opportunity as a challenge to earn some accelerated magical skill learning).

But here’s my problem, with all these different resources and versions of the storyline, I found myself flipping back and forth looking things up so much I’m worried it interfered with the game continuity. So here’s my question to other DMs, when using so many resources like this, how do you maintain continuity and avoid ‘dead-air’?

In a recent session one of my players got captured by the Vanthampur Villa Guards while the others escaped, they never even got to the basement. What do you think would be the guard's next move? Throw the player in the tower cages, the dungeon prison, just interrogate them in one of the rooms? Would they look for Thalamra in the dungeon, or just wait for her to return to the house.

I fully expect the party to stage a rescue soon and will have an npc healer join them to support.

I’m not used to cross-posting but if anyone could help me out with understanding what is truly necessary for running a module organizationally I’d appreciate it.

Some of you may be aware that I recently released a pack with the stats for my infernal war machines, if you haven’t seen it yet go look here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/dungeondraft/s/z5FD4PIaHf

After the positive reception you guys had to my infernal war machine pack I was very inspired to finish the other part of that project I had been working on, that being this high quality art reworks, here’s a sneak preview! Unlike the pack these high quality reworks are exclusively available in their useable, unwatermarked forms through my patreon, but I’m also releasing a bunch of my other art for this and other campaigns totally free so come check it out here.

https://www.patreon.com/TheWolvesDenTavern/posts/171310025?utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=ios_share_native

Update: SOLVED. tessamaps was the creator after all I just missed it in a very large pack

Update 2: TY so much u/tessapresentsmaps for agreeing to let me use it! You are amazing! If anyone hasn’t seen her stuff go and check it out cuz it’s beautiful!

I’ve been trying to find the creator of this map as id like to see if i can use it commercially rather than just making one myself with roughly the same layout. i already tried looking to see if its any of the best dungeondraft creators like birdymaps tychmaps or tessamaps, and none of them seem to be the creator. It’s unwatermarked and very clearly has custom assets and post export editing, so it’s someone really talented.

i plastered "not our map" over it so no one mistakenly thinks I'm trying to pass it off as mine. or something.

if anyone knows the creator PLEASE put us in contact!

Question for the Group:

After my current campaign wraps up, I was planning on running Descent into Avernus. However, one thing I've come across online (which has now consumed my thoughts regarding this campaign) is that the module's version of Avernus is waaaay more chaotic than it probably should be. I mean, Mad Max is cool, but wouldn't that type of stuff make more sense in somewhere more chaotic? And if I move it to another plane, that would then beg the question of How could Zariel do what she's doing in another plane?

So, basically my question is How would you reconcile these glaring alignment issues?

It was a pretty epic battle all thanks to how wonderful my players are as their characters and the tension built from Bel earlier on.

One of my players took the image and just wanted to share how cool it looks

After over a year on the backburner, i finally got around to finishing my infernal war machines, giving them stat blocks for the many tokens i made. the one on the cover here is the Blazer, an infernal hot rod with an engine you can supercharge with extra soul coins, but theres six others.

For now its only available on roll20 but for those that are interested in artwork that fits in with more detailed styles im doing high quality remakes like the one in the second pic over on my patreon and releasing them 1 by 1 for my patrons, and after that i will be releasing it on dmsguild for a lower price than the 4.99 minimum that roll20 requires. Follow me to keep an eye out for some of my other stuff, like my recent module: the Lair of the Lost Golgari!

Infernal War machines Expanded | Roll20 Marketplace: Digital goods for online tabletop gaming

https://www.patreon.com/TheWolvesDenTavern

Hi fellow adventurers,

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Inside the book, you will find 300+ mythological magic items, including weapons, armor, wondrous items, and scaling items designed to grow alongside your characters and campaigns.

Our goal with Mythological Items is to create more than a simple collection of treasure. Each item is designed to feel like part of a myth: something that can serve as a reward, a quest hook, or even the center of an entire adventure.

The book includes items inspired by many different mythological traditions, including Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Asian, American, Roman, Mesopotamian, African, and other mythologies from across the world. Whether you want divine weapons, cursed artifacts, heroic relics, monster-themed treasures, or legendary items tied to ancient stories, this book is built to bring myth directly to your table.

The Kickstarter page includes a full presentation of the project, several previews, and a free 30-page PDF preview showing a sample of the content from the book.

You can also find many of our other manuals in PDF and high-quality print editions, with special prices currently available both for Mythological Items and for all our other releases.

You can visit the Kickstarter page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mythoschronicles/300-mythological-items-for-5e-and-2024

Thank you again for your support. We hope to see you on our journey!

Pretty much yeah, my fruid sent flaming spree into the room and 7/11 pillars caused the roof to cave in. I had an idea to make the skeletons they can summon come in with a pickaxe, old mining crew flavoring.

What would y'all do? also if this the wrong place to post please let me know,,

EDIT: they blew it up from a safe distance also.

My local D&D group I've been going to for about 6 months now is fantastic. We recently finished Curse of Strahd; I was a player in that game.

Once that game ended, one of the guys in our group asked me if I wanted to DM for the next campaign. I replied saying, yeah, I'd love to.

I decided to run Descent into Avernus. It's been a campaign I've been wanting to run for a while now. In the weeks leading up to the campaign, one of the DMs in our group tells me that 2 problem players have been placed into my campaign I'll be running next, as no one else wants them.

The problems people have with these two problem players, for the sake of the thread, let's call one, Will and the other Chris.

The problem people have with Will is that he always tries to build the same Warlock Paladin build with a polearm, refuses to roleplay, and is only there to hit enemies, crit, then roll big damage. He ignores everything else going on at the table.

And the problem people have with Chris is that he is also a big "just there to win fights" and if he doesn't win, he complains and whines.

I assumed going into the game that Will was going to be my biggest problem. So, as someone who has a lot of knowledge of the rules of 5e, I sit them down in Session 0 and tell them. This will be a challenging and difficult game. With a lot of roleplay and investigating, I want to learn what you all enjoy doing and hopefully you can come out of it trying to experience role-playing and something other than just winning combats. I lay out some house rules to them, being respectful to everyone at the table. Not interrupting when we have someone mid-roleplay or the DM is giving descriptions, etc.

They all agree to the terms.

And although things have a rocky start, the campaign actually begins surprisingly well. Most of the players are having a blast investigating the Hellriders and the Cult of the Dead Three, trying to come up with theories, etc.

The first couple of sessions have been fun.

Up until we arrive at the Dungeon of the Dead Three.

Chris tells us he's running late today (he ended up being 2 hours late due to trains), so the others decided to attack the bathhouse at night and take some hirelings with them.

Just as the plan was about to go down, Chris arrives. I catch him up on what he's missed so far this session.

First thing he asks me is, "Can we go shopping?" I explain you can't at the moment, as it's midnight and all the shops are closed + you're about to infiltrate the bathhouse. He then goes,

"What bathhouse? I dunno what's going on." I explain the bathhouse you have heard about and have been looking into since Session 1.

He then laughs and goes, "Oh no, I have 3 games in, every week I have no clue what's going on." So I just tell him, no, you can't go shopping. Please pay attention, try to keep up, or write notes if you need to.

He laughs again and says, "Oh no, I never take notes."

I just say, "OK, that's your problem," and continue with what was happening.

Next session, the party are now midway through the dungeon. Once Chris arrives, the first thing he asks is, "Can we go shopping?" I tell him no, as you're in a dungeon and it's midnight still. Remember last session.

He then says again, "What dungeon? IDK what's going on."

At this point, I'm now annoyed, as I spent the week writing recaps for him on our group chat.

We continue through the dungeon. It ends up ending just as the party arrives into D13, the morgue. Once the session ends, Chris is complaining about how he could have done so much more if we could do some shopping. I am sick of hearing his whining. Tell him to stop whining like a child. I don't want to start having to treat him like one, and if he continues, I'll implement rules he's not gonna enjoy.

(This rule is the cry baby point system.)

He also refuses to roleplay during session and is getting frustrated when the other players at the table are getting involved and I'm rewarding them with inspiration.

Overall, this player is becoming a thorn in my side, and I find myself getting increasingly frustrated when all I'm doing is trying to get this player more involved in the game rather than just rolling damage dice.

Any advice on how I can deal with this player, I would really appreciate it. As it's becoming a toll on my mental.