This hardly feels like a single session because I spent so much time doing prep work and just reading this chapter through when I had the time, and I spent multiple, physical sit-down sessions just planning my character's journey through this chapter's story.
Chapter 3 of Storm King's Thunder is where the real meat of the setting is. This chapter has descriptions of the peoples and places of the North, so my characters finally have their backstory. I was looking forward to the overland travel experience of managing my food and living expenses and dealing with random encounters, but since I just played a session with my sisters where we did exactly that, the novelty factor has worn off. I hope the random encounter tables given in this chapter make for some interesting side encounters, I've since learned that there is a gulf of difference between reading an encounter and playing it.
The weakest element of this chapter, I expect, will be Harshnag. According to the book he's supposed to just be dropped into the campaign whenever the players are beginning to get bored, but online resources recommend introducing him in the middle of a tough battle, or during some other encounter. Obviously, his entrance has great roleplay potential, and I'm sure that a DM with a live group could have a lot of fun with it, but that's the worst part of solo play in that I already know the reason behind his appearance and the result of the story, so I wouldn't make the same kind of unpredictable decisions that live players would.
On the other hand, there was so much in this chapter that I was excited to finish it and start the next chapter, but I'm holding firm and forcing myself to actually play through it before reading ahead and possibly spoiling the story for myself. After all, as a half-player half-metagaming DM, the major plot of this adventure is still a mystery to me and I'm liable to make more interesting choices due to that.
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