After working on some scenery and printing/assembling some paper flats, I started in on a dungeon crawl as part of a solo D&D campaign using the Moldvy era rules. I'm still working on the mechanisms for the crawl and I envision using different approaches from session to session or at the very least, dungeon level to dungeon level.
As suggested in an article on Solo Nexus, i created a purpose for entering the dungeon. I used some random tables I found on the web and came up with: A shadowy figure hires the pc to enter the dungeon and retrieve....a lost flag/standard. I fleshed it out a bit more, added an abandoned keep above the dungeon, made some notes in my journal and then started in.
This is the report of that first session:
Map: pre-gen using online tool
Room Encounters: pre-gen using online tool - I hide the descriptions and only look at the one appropriate to the room i'm entering.
The party consists of Orecchiette Rapini(my character, 1st level fighter), Bewie (a hireling, 0 level human) and Zoulford (hireling, 0 level human, torch bearer)
They entered the Keep in the early morning (I don't know why this is important but it seemed like it might be,so there you go). The first room was empty, but the breaking in of the door must have alerted a goblin patrol to their presence, and the first wandering monster encounter ensued.
The party successfully defeated the patrol, though that wasn’t a foregone conclusion. Orecchiette , for a fighter, trained in the art of combat, and with 18 strength no less, sure did swing and miss a lot . I was about to throw my dice out the window when things turned around, although not before both he and Bewie suffered injuries ( 3 points of damage each). One of the hirelings picked up a short sword from the encounter to replace his club (I forget which as I write this but it was dutifully noted on the npc's record sheet).
We explored two more rooms – the first was vast and empty, but the second was the first pre-gen encounter: 3 gnomes. A combination of the b/x reaction table and the Age of Fable Tables for Fables had them fighting to the death, no quarter given.
I was surprised to say the least - I mean come on, aggressive and overtly hostile gnomes? Did someone steal them and take them around the world taking embarrassing pictures of them in front of well-known landmarks?
I had actually thought to try to do a little role playing but none of the party speaks anything other than the common language and the gnomes only spoke gnomish. Apparently our hand gestures and the presence of backpacks and sacks must have caused the gnomes to assume we were after gold. Despite having none of it themselves, they were prepared to defend their non-existent stores to the death and they launched into their attack. Fortunately, this encounter went better for the party- all 3 gnomes dispatched with no damage received. After 20 turns of play and a very late hour (4am), I opted to stop for the night (not “in game” stop, just real life).
This is the report of that first session:
Map: pre-gen using online tool
Room Encounters: pre-gen using online tool - I hide the descriptions and only look at the one appropriate to the room i'm entering.
The party consists of Orecchiette Rapini(my character, 1st level fighter), Bewie (a hireling, 0 level human) and Zoulford (hireling, 0 level human, torch bearer)
They entered the Keep in the early morning (I don't know why this is important but it seemed like it might be,so there you go). The first room was empty, but the breaking in of the door must have alerted a goblin patrol to their presence, and the first wandering monster encounter ensued.
The party successfully defeated the patrol, though that wasn’t a foregone conclusion. Orecchiette , for a fighter, trained in the art of combat, and with 18 strength no less, sure did swing and miss a lot . I was about to throw my dice out the window when things turned around, although not before both he and Bewie suffered injuries ( 3 points of damage each). One of the hirelings picked up a short sword from the encounter to replace his club (I forget which as I write this but it was dutifully noted on the npc's record sheet).
We explored two more rooms – the first was vast and empty, but the second was the first pre-gen encounter: 3 gnomes. A combination of the b/x reaction table and the Age of Fable Tables for Fables had them fighting to the death, no quarter given.
I was surprised to say the least - I mean come on, aggressive and overtly hostile gnomes? Did someone steal them and take them around the world taking embarrassing pictures of them in front of well-known landmarks?
I had actually thought to try to do a little role playing but none of the party speaks anything other than the common language and the gnomes only spoke gnomish. Apparently our hand gestures and the presence of backpacks and sacks must have caused the gnomes to assume we were after gold. Despite having none of it themselves, they were prepared to defend their non-existent stores to the death and they launched into their attack. Fortunately, this encounter went better for the party- all 3 gnomes dispatched with no damage received. After 20 turns of play and a very late hour (4am), I opted to stop for the night (not “in game” stop, just real life).
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| The party stands over the vanquished gnomes (or at least the counters that proxied for them - there are pictures which look suspiciously goblin like on the other side. In retrospect, i should have replaced them with some kind of casualty marker) |
Hey, Where did you get those chara cards? K
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