Session 37: The Ever Expanding Dungeon

This session was played in JANUARY. I tried something new: recording notes in a spiral notebook, and then promptly misplaced the notebook. I found it and so present this brief escapade to you:

After examining the pit, Leegand held a rope while the rest of the party used it to climb down into the pit. Leegand, who was last, hung off the edge of the pit and the fighters, Runolf and Eomond caught him as he dropped down. With Zilliniy's grappling hook, they easily scaled out the other side, and resumed marching order. 

[ Mythic, Does this succeed? Likely. 66. Yes]

They crept down the steps checking and rechecking behind them as they went. At the bottom, the steps joined directly with a long corridor, well carved and laid with flagstone. A straight shot took them to a T-intersection, with a door to the South and to the North. 

Eomond listened at the North door and could hear voices on the other side [Is he able to make them out? 50/50, 76, No.] but was unable to make them out. Testing the door, Leegand found the door was unlocked but was stuck [This was determined from my own Solo Traps process] . Force would be necessary. They quickly rearranged into room entering order, with Maglom and Runolf in the front. Behind Runolf, Zilliniy knocked an arrow to fire over the dwarf's head if need be.

[Contents: Monster, No Treasure. Rolled 1d6 to see if monster surprised . 2 = yes]

Runolf forced the door open to the surprise of three elder gentlemen in wizarding finery, including pointy conical hats covered in moons and stars. Maglom was quick to apologize for the intrusion,but [I'm using the b/x reaction roll this time: reaction roll 2d6, 4 hostile] they were very clearly displeased by the interruption. [Are they swayed by Maglom's apology. Reaction: 6. They are uncertain.] They seemed divided as to whether or not the party meant them harm - the knocked bow of the elf and the fact that they kicked the door in without knocking really didn't help.

Lykidas stepped to the fore to explain the party's presence, in hopes that one of their own might fare better. He suggested perhaps a small donation from the party as a sign of their sincerity. [I gave them +1 for the gesture. Rolled 2d6: 3+1, 4. Nope, not going well!] With a sharp rap on the table, the eldest of the three rose and pointed a knurled finger at the door.

"Go!" his voice was hoarse and whisper like, yet the command hit the party as a hurricane. 

Maglom and Runolf closed the door and the party debated the possibility of returning later when they might be on better footing to deal with such powerful magic.

To the South, the 10' pole failed to trigger a trap and instead poor Maglom accidentally found the odd colored piece of flagstone that dropped the floor from beneath the feet of the front two ranks. Maglom, Runolf, Ygg and Zilliniy [Minimal damaged suffered: Maglom lost 3, Runolf lost 2, Zilliniy lost 2 and Ygg lost 1] Leegand, Lykidas and Eomond lowered themselves down and the party repeated their earlier pit crossing exercise.

Neither Eomond nor Leegand heard anything beyond the next door. The door was not locked and did not appear stuck, so the party assumed door order and moved in.

[Contents: Monster, No Treasure]
For a moment all was silent, and then the air filled with the screeching of large mosquito like birds with long piercing beaks - thirteen stirges looking to feed.

The Ever Expanding Dungeon: Session 37

Scene 1: Down Time
The party returned to town to rest up and buy a 10’ pole. After 3 days and resupplying, the party returns to the dungeon.

[Chaos 5, 1 = Alter Scene
Are they able to acquire the 10’ pole? 08, yes
3 days? yes 18
I decide the most logical thing is:]

Meanwhile, the innkeeper at the Zealous Dagger collects on their outstanding debts (5 gp each for food and board).

Scene 2: Traveling to the Dungeon

[Wandering monster check on way to dungeon: 1
Crap.
Roll on wilderness encounter table for forest:1 = dragon. Good lord.
roll d10, 7= Wyvern, well it could be worse.

Wyvern(AC 16, Mv 6/24, bite or sting. Sting 60%, poisonous)
Reaction or Does it Attack?: 
 1 yes, and it surprises the party
2-3 Yes, but roll for surprise
4- 5 No but check again, if not, then it flies away
6 = no and it flies away ]

A dark reptilian shaped shadow fell across the party. 

[6! WOO!!!!]

High above a large flying lizard like thing let out a scream, circled, and then flew away, northward.

The party let out a collective sigh of relief and proceeded to the recently discovered entrance.

Scene 3: Obstacle

Maglom and Runolf led the party past the intersection to their right, to the door to the Gnoll Shrine (see map room 31) at which point the party assumed door opening order. Eomond took the torch from Lykidas so Leegand could get to work.

[Detect traps: 8 (no) - but given that they exited this way before, we’ll assume it isn’t.
Hear noise: 4 (yes)
Is the door locked? 80, no, and easy to open

What does he hear? 57, moaning (DMG 1e)]

The party assumed door opening order, with Runolf and Maglom in front, the torch passed back to Lykidas. Everyone prepared for the worst.

The fighters forced the door open and...

Scene 4:  Room 31
The room appeared exactly as they left it. Tapping with the 10’ pole, Maglom hoped to trip any trap that might be set. Finding it safe, the party moved in.

They spread out a bit - with  four ways into the room they had a lot to cover - while Ygg spiked the the North and South door. Both doors on the East wall, which includes the one they came in, were left alone, in case they needed to beat a hasty retreat.

[Wandering monster check: 4, no]

The party formed a semi circle around Leegand and Eomond, who again, holds the torch.  Maglom dropped the 10’ pole in favor of her weapon.

[Does he find any traps? 1, yes (if there is one he finds it), is there any? He does find a trap - the door is the trigger.
Can he remove it? 16, no, he is unable to disable it. Does it trigger?

1 yes and it efffects this side of the door
2 yes but whatever it does is on the otherside
4 no but roll for wandering monsters again
6 no and all is clear

6 WOOO!!!]

The party resumed door opening mode and

Scene 5: The Discovery

The door opens into a 10’x30’ room with one exit in the middle of the south wall.

[I rolled 3 story cubes and got the following contents: Empty, but Shovel, Sad, Empty Fuel Gauge]

On the ground, three more dead orcs, obviously wounded and somewhat emaciated.

Runolf, Ygg, Zilliny and Maglom covered the doors, while Lykidas Eomond and Leegand searched the bodies.

[Do they find anything?
yes but it’s not much - just their weapons and that one of the bodies has a crossbow bolt stuck in it.

Dead awhile? 28, yes

Leegand checks the door:
Traps: 2, is it trapped? (60, door is stuck, 78, lock is not the trap, 37 door is not a trap trigger either)
Listen:17
Eomond gives it a try? 1, yes, 66 Rustlng

Wandering enconter: 2, nothing]

Door opening order and...

Scene 6: Another Discovery

The hallway ends in a door.

[Wandering Monster 4, nope. Change torches

Check door:
Leegand: 8, does not detect a trap,
Listens: 16
Is the door locked? 62, stuck not locked
Door is a trigger

Eomond listens:6, nothing

The door opens and...
1 yes and it triggers on this side of the door
2-3 yes but whatever it does is on the otherside, check to see who sets it off
4-5 no but check to see who sets it off on the other side
6 no and all is clear

5. Damn.

10’ POLE: 1!! ]

Scene 7: Obstacle
The 10’ pole triggered a hidden pit trap on the other side of the door.

Beyond the trap, a set of stairs led down. They opted not to try to get around it for now.

[Wandering monster: 2, no]

Scene 8: RP to decide what to do

The party debated:
Ygg and Zil. wanted to try any one of the stairways down, arguing it’s time for the party to be first for once, with all deference to the memory of the great parties that have gone before.

Eomond and Leegand argued that there are two doors remaining on this level on the existing map and it would forever nag at them if they didn't check them out.

Ygg suggested that they haven’t ever explored that part of the dungeon and so, in effect, it is unknown to them despite the few notes scribbled on the map about a mad king and evil priest.

[Does this sway the rest?25 yes.] 

With Lykidas, Runolf and Maglom agreeing that it might be more rewarding to explore an area untouched by the previous delves, the party chose to carefully work their way past the pit trip to take this new flight of stairs down to wherever it may lead.

Lykidas lit a new torch and they proceeded to the pit.

Scene 9: Crossing the Pit (obstacle)

To be continued....

The Ever Expanding Dungeon : Session 36

Having disposed of their prisoner, and come up empty handed after looting the pile of orc corpses, the party turned their attention to the door in the west wall. It had gone quiet on the other side sometime during their skirmish.

With caution to the wind the party barreled into the room. (ie. i forgot about my door procedure!)

[This room had been mapped before, so i don't need to check to see its size or shape For contents, I rolled 1d6 per Moldvay, and got a 2, Monster. I then checked on my Is the Monster Here? Table and got No ,and Roll on the Signs table: half-eaten meal/prey/victim.

I turned to Rory's Story Cubes and got a guy doing pull ups.]

Dangling from chains bolted to the ceiling, the remains of a dwarf dripped and oozed into a puddle of red-black gore that grew beneath it.

The party covered the doors, and Maglom and Ygg freed the corpse from the shackles. Ygg performed a simple prayer for the soul of the dwarf to enter into a weekend bender with the Hedonistic Lumberjack.

The door in the North wall of this room had been their objective, and after forcing open the door, they found steps going down.

Eomond, hunter and slayer of rats, looked for foot prints leading from the room down the stairs. 

[Does he find any?1d6, 1. Yes and they appear to be orc.

The question about whether or not the party would go down the steps was made based on the results of the survey of the characters' creators I conducted awhile back. Of those that responded, the split was 50/50, so my own preference to explore the level further was the swing vote.]

"Orc prints" said Eomond, pointing out a faint set of prints heading out of the room and down the stairs.

None the less, much of the party was intent on finishing their exploration of the 1st level.

Despite being in the mood for a fight to avenge the killing of the dungeon's dwarves, Maglom, the lone holdout, conceded to explore the remainder of the 1st level and attempt to complete the map - a decision made possible because Ygg, himself in no mood for fighting again, sided with Eomond and Leegand to finish exploring up here.

As a precaution, Ygg spiked the door to the steps, hoping to at least annoy the orcs a bit.

The natural next stop was the door in the north east corner of the East wall.

[I really should provide a map so you can see what I'm talking about. Oh wait, here's one.

They are in room 45. Room's 46 and 47 haven't been found at this point.

• At the door, Eomond listened :3, and heard nothing nothing. Leegand checked the door for traps: 6 nope.
• Using my Solo Traps table - I roll 67, 16, 68, which tells me that the door is unlocked,the lock is not trapped, and the door itself is not a trigger for a trap.
• The door swung open and (using version 3.0 of my low budget dungeon generator, I rolled a d12, and got 9- an empty room). 
• Version 3,0 used d10 for all dimensions which resulted in some seriously massive rooms and long corridors. I decided to take after version 4.1, but instead of card suits, I used 1d4 1= d4, 2=d6, 3=d8, 4=d10. The result would be used for the dimensions.
• I rolled a 3 and used d8 for dimensions and applied the same rules I use in version 4.1. 6 and 3 = 3x3
• 1d4-1, 2 = 1 additional exit - since the room abuts the door in the north wall of 32, well that's the door
• Treasure- I used Moldvay's dungoen stocking table to check this - 5, nope
• Few rooms are truly empty, so I turned to Rory's Story Cubes: apple, yelling stick figure, cauldron/pot]

The room was largely empty save for an old rusty cauldron and dozens of rotted apples. A curious thing to find in the dungeon for sure.

Checking their map, they could see that the door in the south wall should take them back to where they started, so Eomond pressed his ear to the door again and then Leegand checked for traps.

[At the door that led to 32, Eomond listened: 4, nope

Leegand checked for traps: 8, nope

Solo traps: 64, 93, 02 Door appears stuck not locked, the lock is not trapped, the door triggers a trap.]

Believing the door to be trap-free the party forced it open

[1-2 = front rank, 3-4 = middle, 5-6 = rear. I rolled a 2 and it sprang on front rank.
I rolled a story cube and got a flame.

flame jet trap (thanks story cubes)- 1d8 to front rank, save for half]

An unnoticed trip wire unleashed a jet of flame from the ceiling, briefly engulfing Maglom and Runolf.

[Maglom makes her save with a 14, I rolled 3 for damage, so she takes 1 point of damage. Runolf saved with a 16, I rolled 6 for damage, and he takes 3.
Wandering monster check: 3, nope]

With a general admonition for more caution, the party prepared to take the door in the north east corner.

[Eomond listened: 3, no

Leegand checked if locked and if trapped: 16 doesn't notice anything

54, door is stuck, 16 lock not trapped, 56, no trap on door]

Leegand suggested the party to open door and then probe ahead, but alas, no one had a 10' pole or even a spear.

Necessity is the mother of invention; the party forced open the door a and hurled an orc body through. It landed with a thud.

Satisfied the area wasn't trapped, the party peered through to spy a short hall ending in a dead end.

[Determined by a roll of 12 on the dungeon generator.]

[Zilliniy checked for secret doors (she can find one on a 1-3. I rolled a three, so she will find one if there.
I rolled a d6 and on a 1 there is one present. I rolled a 1. Version 3.0 of the random dungeon generator includes a 2nd roll to determine the whether or not the secret door allows passage in both directions or just one. I rolled a 3 and and it's bi-directional.]

The party assumed door formation and began their usual routine.

[Eomond listened: 3, no.

Leegand checked if the panel was trapped: 7, doesn't find any]

They find the mechanism ad try to open the door.

[It occurred to me that a secret door doesn't have a key hole that can be picked, so that's not an issue. I roll to see if opening the door triggers a trap. 02. Sure enough.

I rolled on some table or other and generated a pit trap. Again it was triggered by the 1st rank. Maglom and Runolf each fell 10’. Maglom took 1 damage, and Runolf took 3]

After fishing out Maglom and Runolf from the 10' deep pit, they noticed 3 dead orcs in the smallish room.

Wandering monster check: 2, nope

A quick examination of the bodies showed they bore several wounds each.

[Mythic, 50/50, were they wounded in battle?13. yes.]

It appeared to the group that the orcs sought sanctuary here, but died of their wounds. Looting of the dead commenced, but yielded nothing

[I used Moldvay's Treasure roll - 1-3 = treasure when a room holds a monster, but I rolled a 5.
I rolled for additional exits, 1d4 - 1 and got a 2, so 1 additional]

Ready to press onward, the party took their usual door opening positions. '

[Eomond: 5, Hears nothing]

And as usual, Eomond heard nothing. Leegand dutifully checked the door.

[Door procedure: Leegand checked for traps: 18, nope

Is door locked? 10, yes

Tries to pick lock: 3, SUCCESS!! WOOOO!!!!

Is the lock trapped? 100, nope]

Elated over Leegand's successful lock picking, the party remained cautious as they moved through the doorway.

Is the door a trigger for a trap?: 56, no door trap
I rolled on the dungeon generator and the result was 70’ and a t-intersection ]

As the party moved down they hall and approached a T-intersection, it was clear that to their right was the door to the former gnoll shrine room (31).  To their left, they found a previously unmapped entrance to the dungeon [thank you random generator]

This seemed a good time to get back to town with Runolf down to 9 HP and Maglom and Zilliniy minorly injured with 2 HP.

*****
In the end, a rather quiet session and given the danger faced in some of the recent sessions, a welcome change. No one swung a weapon and no treasure, but, everyone survived and will get some XP to boot (using my home brew XP rules).

I discovered (or remembered as the case may be) I rather like the Is the Monster Here table, and i don't know why I had stopped using it, except out of forgetfulness. 

The total playing time was about an hour, and that included gathering my materials.

A Picture, 1000 Words, Yadda Yadda

Although my postings here are a bit slow of late, I've been posting more elsewhere: G+ and especially on Instagram. 

I really like the latter, as I don't feel compelled to say more than a few words about what's pictured. 

Sometimes, i don't want to slow the game down to take a dozen pictures, and then type and edit a summary, especially when I'm learning to play (like Song of Blades and Heroes presently - and which I'm really enjoying. There's something about fantasy skirmish that brings out the kid in me. More than usual, that is.) but I still want something for posterity. 

I find it's also a great way to share painting progress. A picture or two is all it takes, and since I'm using my phone anyway, a few finger taps later and it's posted. 

Paint Table Friday

I started in on Song of Blades and Heroes (part of my 10 games, 10 times challenge) and it's done two things: got me psyched about paper figures again but also, maybe I should try to paint some of the Reaper Bones figures I've got taking up space.

Shields need some touching up and the swords aren't finished yet.

And here's a blurry picture of a portion of my paper goblin warband (led by the red chaos knight):

The Ever Expanding Dungeon: Session 35 and My 500th Post!

This post is the 500th here on Tabletop Diversions, and so it made sense to feature a session summary for the Ever Expanding Dungeon.

'tween story (using Mythic Variations)

Setup: 
The party returns the Dagger for 4 weeks of rest and relaxation, armor repair, and healing, as well as some sparring and tactics practice. The Sheriff is a little concerned about the activity, particularly as a magic-using type seems to be involved, but otherwise allows it to continue. After two weeks of rest, they are ready to return the dungeon in the hills.

Is that what happens? 50/50, Chaos 5, 63. No

For 'tween stories, if you get an ordinary no, then just choose the next most logical thing:

After 2 weeks of rest, the party opts to head into the dungeon again, seeking fame and fortune. 

It isn't fancy or terribly interesting but it gets the job done.

Return to the dungeon

Utilizing the survey that some of the players filled out, plus my own preference as Ygg, it was a sure thing the party would return to the scene of the last battle, but in terms of where to go from there, there was a difference of opinion.

Having agreed to return to the scene of their most recent encounter, Zilliniy and Ygg wanted to venture East towards the unknown, while Leegand and Eomond wanted to head north to see if it connected to area 17 on the map. Runolf, Maglom and Lykidas saw little difference in the choices.

Utilizing my Intra-party Decision Making system:

Does the party go East?

Ygg -11 + 1
Zilliniy - 7 +1
Eomond - 12 +1
Leegand - 8 +1

Ygg and Zilliniy = 20 yes
Eomond and Leegand = 22 no

The difference is 2 in favor of no.

Treat as a 50/50 roll in Mythic, Chaos 5: 53 + 2 = 55, No

After brief debate, the party decided that, once in that room, they would check out the north door.

They moved quickly through the dungeon to the Gnoll Shrine room (they don't know it's called that) 

Anything here? I chose to use the b/x stocking die roll of 1d6. 5, Empty, Treasure? 4, no treasure

Wandering monster ? 1, nope

Checking the secret door from the hallway into the room of their final stand against the orcs, Eomond and Leegand listened for anything on the other side.

I based this on the survey responses.

Does Eomond hear anything? I can't find in S&W:Whitebox a roll for hearing noises, so I posed it to Mythic - 80, no

For Leegand, I am using the thief class from Whitebox Heroes (since S&W: Whitebox has no thief class). I roll a 4 (on a d20), which means he does hear something.

Although Eomond could hear nothing, Leegand, possessing that ability to hear even the faintest hint of potential trouble or income common to all those who engage in questionable activity outside the limits of the law, overheard the murmuring of voices in a heated exchange.

I turned to Mythic, What does he hear? Negligence of the Public. Which i figured would be some kind of argument about something - I don't know why.

Rather than enter through the secret door, which might reveal its existence to creatures who might not know of it, Ygg suggested they check the door to the room where they and the Dwarves started their battle against the orcs last time.

Ziliniy and Runolf coverd the steps, while Eomond and Leegand again listened.

I used the same method as before:
Eomond - 02, he hears something
Leegand - 14, nothing

Eomond hears "Punish good" according to Mythic.

The sound of a whip cracking and muffled screams was all to clear to Eomond.

Thinking it could be someone in need of help, or someone who might be happy to be helped and return the favor, the party prepared to enter.

Leegand checked door for traps, found one, and was able to remove it.

I decided I would treat traps this way: If the PC detects a trap, they can then try to disarm it if it turns out one exists, but if they don't, and one exists, then they automatically trip the trap.

Using the Whitebox Heroes thief class again, I roll a d20 and get a 3, which is a yes

I check with Mythic, is the door trapped? 42, yes
Can he disarm it? I roll a d20 and get a 3, he succeeds in disarming it

Next, I checked to see if the door is locked.

Again, I as Mythic, Is the door locked? 46, yes
Can he pick the lock?  I roll a d20 and get 9. I turn to the table in Whitebox Heroes, and find he fails to pick it.

The door, however, was locked, and his attempt to pick it, failed.

Wandering monster check? 5, nope

The party arranged into Door Smashing Order.

         Door
Maglom     Runolf

Zilliniy       Ygg
Leegand    Lykidas

        Eomond
The door flew open and ....

Scene setup: 

The door flew open to reveal some orcs beating a dwarf who is shackled to several others of his kind, who are deceased.

Does it hold? Chaos 5, 8, yes
How many orcs? I turned to the d30 DM Companion and found 5 orcs present. Just five? AHAHHA. Piece of cake

Using the S&W:WB method of testing surprise with 1d6:

Are they surprised? 4, no
Is the party 3, no

Initiative: Party: 5, Orcs 1

Maglom moved into the room and yelled for them to unhand the dwarf.

Zilliniy's bow aimed steadily at one of the orcs, while Runolf glared threatingly, the flicker of flame from the party's torch dancing off the honed blade of his trusty axe.

Mythic: Do the orcs stop? This seems unlikely, given they hate dwarves and one just told them to stop.  42, No

Somewhere, I read that in S&W, each PC can take only 1 action per round of combat, which seems absurd, but on the other hand, I rather like as it feels very wargame-y and reminds me of GASLIGHT.

• Zilliniy let her arrow fly: 17+1 = 18, hits for 4 points of damage and drops an orc where he stood
• Runolf charged the nearest orc with Ygg following close behind
• Leegand attempted to sneak into the room to flank and attack the one with the whip.
• Lykidas held his ground, prepared to cast Sleep at the first sign of its necessity.
• Eomond covered the party's rear - the last time they failed to do so, they were surprised by orcs coming up behind them.

With one dead immediatey, I had the orcs check morale. There's no mechanism for this in S&W: WB, the intent is that the GM will decide. I decided to keep the wargaming theme going and rolled a d6, if i rolled more than their number, they would fail - rolled d6, 3, they passedDoes anyone see Leegand? First I rolled to see if Leegand was successful in sneaking, he was not. Then I asked Mythic if anyone noticed 10, yes.

• The orc nearest Runolf attacked him, but failed to cause any damage (it rolled 14)
• The whip orc charged towards Leegand
• The other two charged Maglom (determined by die roll: 1-2 Maglom, 3-4 Zilliniy and 5-6 Ygg) yelling "Kill the dwarf!"

Fighting continued for 3 more rounds, with orcs dropping and some party members minorly injured (save for Zilliniy who took 6 damage)

With 2 orcs left... 

Does the part give them a chance to surrender? Based on responses to the survey, I deem this Unlikely but then roll 33, yes

Maglom ordered the orcs to drop their weapons
Do the orcs comply? 81, nope

Runolf gets 3 attacks each round and hacks up one of the remaining orcs. The other find's this line of argument persuasive.

The orc dropped his sword and surrendered.

Does anyone from the adjacent room enter? 50/50 68, no
Anyone from the hallway?(Wandering monster check 2, nope)

Maglom interrogated the orc for the party.

I used Mythic to learn something about the orc's personality: Open for Food

The orc told Maglom that he and his people are starving, that the dwarves have cut them off from their food supplies and that they are desperate.

Ygg tried to persuade Eomond to give up some of his rations to get the orc to talk more.

Does Eomond agree? Very Unlikely 69, nope.

Will Maglom? Very unlikely- these dudes have been slaying dwarves, even if not her own 07 but Ygg pulled a guilt trip, mentioning tales of Gutzom's kindness.(truth or not it worked)

Maglom offered the orc some food and he became downright chatty.

Can he show them where the orc lair is on the map? 50/50, no.

Is it on this level? 81, no

Further down? likely. 40, yes

He notes that it isn't on the map, but further down into the dungeon.

How many of his people are there?

She asks how many of his kind there are,and he answers [Mythic replied Abuse of Weapons] that with the in fighting, and the battles with the dwarves, and the lack of food, their numbers dwindle daily.

Ygg felt a bit sympathetic - afterall, the Hedonistic Lumber Jack wants everyone to party.

Ygg had Maglom ask the orc if his people could pay for food to be delivered to them? 

Mythic: 50/50 33, yes

He nodded yes, although he seemed a bit confused by the question.


Ygg proposed to the party that they return to town, gather food and such, and then sell it to the orcs for a profit.


I turned to Mythic, and asked Does anyone disagree? 

Based on the survey replies to how much gold should be spent on negotiating with NPCs, I decided that the odds are high someone will disagree. Likely, 12, yes. 

Who? After looking at it, I saw that Ygg might be alone in this plan.

• Zilliniy has a deep seated racial hatred for orcs. 
• RUnolf wants adventure, which playing delivery boy isn't
• Maglom still isnt happy these dudes were beating the dwarf

Speaking of, Leegand checked the dwarf. is he alive? 50/50  91, no

Does anyone agree with Ygg? 50/50, no

Lykidas could go either way, as could Leegand, Eomond wants adventure but a supply of easy gold isn’t terrible either.


Party conflict:
Ygg - 11 + 4 = 15

Zilliniy - 7+5 = 12
Runolf 11+1 = 12
Maglom 15 + 2 = 17

That's 39 opposed to Ygg's 15.

It wouldn't have mattered, as I rolled a 93 anyway, for an exceptional no.

Not only did they disagree with Ygg, much of the party was for killing the orc - seeing him as a liability and not to be trusted, plus there's that whole "I hate orcs" from Zilliniy and Maglom pointing out the pile of dead dwarves shackled together.

Ygg conceded that the party was right and noted that it is an opportunity lost but that this is just how things are.

In typical fashion, the party looted the bodies. [Anything? 1d6, 5, no] but found nothing.

They readied themselves to try and enter the adjacent the room, despite the heated exchange Leegand had heard before, and which had now gone silent.

Adventure Maximus : Solo Example

For my solo attempt at Adventure Maximus, what seems like forever ago, I generated my character according to the rules, and ended up with a Minotaur Officer. 

To me, the minotaur is one of the iconic races of Adventure Maximus. Possibly because he's on the box and really catches my eye. And I've always liked the Minotaur of Greek myth.

The Officer class gets plate armor and that was my main motivation for choosing that above the other two I drew (I can't recall what they were).

My equipment card came up: My Axe (here meaning the slang for guitar, although shaped like the hacking weapon. picture something Gene Simmons would use on stage with KISS). Unfortunately, the axe's bonus could only be activated as long as the player played air guitar at the table. This is kind of useless in a solo session, or rather, I didn't feel like figuring out how to handle it so I decided I'd ignore that feature.

For my ability card, I drew Braids and Beards which, depending on how much I spent could increase my armor class or heal wounds.

I randomly generated a few names on line and chose "Gundar."

The mission: Snow White needs my help because the Master Assassin escaped with the fabulous Cake is a Pie to the Road in the Crystal Caverns.

Master Assassin is a boss creature, Cake is a Pie is an equipment card and the McGuffin and the Crystal Caverns is a map card. The other details are from the MadLib adventure generator.

Scene 1, Chaos 5

[Rather than drawing the creature, equipment and map cards for the first encounter, i only drew the map card to start, so I could set the scene: The SOurce of the Snake Bite River]

Gundar, having received the plea from Snow White to recover the fabulous Cake is a Pie, set out to track the delectable healing treat. As a former officer in White's Fighting Fantasy Brigade, he felt duty required his acceptance of the mission.

[I couldn't decide if he was going to start from the Source of the Snake Bite River or if he was journeying there. Enter Mythic GME: Is he starting from the Source of the Snake Bite River? 50/50. 60, no]

Gundar left his home in the pre-dawn hours towards the Source of the Snake Bite River, a river which had long ago carved much of the land, including the Crystal Caverns. By following the river, he hoped to find the long rumored secret entrance to the road within.

[I needed some sort of focus for the scene so I rolled on the Mythic Action and Verb tables: Oppress Emotions. This made me think of monks, so:]

A monastery at the mouth of the river would be his first stopping point. 

It would do no good to rush head strong into battle - a lesson Gundar had learned long ago. The propensity of the minotaurs for rage is well known, less so is their ability to turn that power into a calm abiding from which they can, like the greatest zen master, act spontaneously without fear or hesitation.

As Gundar approached the monastery, he caught site of two lizard men scuttling of the water, They looked sneaky and suspicious as they eyed the lone traveler approaching.

“My beef is not with you. Move aside, and let me pass," said Gundar, his voice booming.

[Do the lizard men heed his warning? 50/50. 47.]

Despite outnumbering their quarry, the thought of fighting so heavily equipped an opponent had them rethinking their plan and without further ado, slipped back into the cool rushing waters of the river.

Once inside the monastery, Gundar sat with monks there and chanted the sacred syllable "Moo!" for some time.

Scene 2  Chaos 5

[I drew the map card for the 2nd encounter, Location: The Court of Darkness]

Gundar, having achieved inner calm, bade the monks farewell and began his way down river. There, looming in the distance he saw the spires of the Court of Darkness. Going around the city would add too much to his journey and so he decided to enter into the foul place.

[I turned to Mythic to get a sense of what was happening in the city: Praise Danger]

Word must have gotten out about his journey, and denizens of the dark city gasped and mouthed silent cheers for our hero. Silent because they were under the watchful eyes of the Court’s guard. Any cheering of any kind would be subject to harsh penalty.

[Gundar has the Notice ability, so I decide to put it to use. Do i notice anyone skulking about the shadows wishing me ill? 6 successes!]

Gundar glanced up at the spires from time to time. Something about the Gargoyles wasn't right. In fact, it appeared that two of them had changed position since he last looked.

He readied his crossbow carefully and then turned to fire.

[Initiative (roll and count successes): Gundar 3, Gargoyles 2]

Gundar shot his crossbow  [It takes 1 action point to use the crossbow, and he scored 5 successes. Damage is done if the attack has more successes than the target has armor. They have Armor 6 and thus no damage was done] and the bolt sailed past them.

[Since he can take one action per Action Point, he shot again, 5 successes. And again, nothing, and the third time wasn't a charm either.]

The gargoyles attacked Gundar [they have 2 AP each] but cannot penetrate the plate mail.

[After all sides have acted, the initiative moves to the next player, in this case the GM or the gargoyles and then all sides act again. This continues until combat is resolved.

8 Rounds of combat and neither side did anything of note.

Gundar spent an AP to bring on Razorback, an ability on his Ability Card, which improved his armor by 1.]

Tired of wasting time, Gundar took off running through the streets, trying to shake the gargoyles.

[It costs 2 AP to move out of close range combat, so he held 1

For the gargoyles' part of this initiative I asked Mythic, do they pursue? I set it at 50/50 since I have no idea why they chose to attack. 29, yes]

With the advantage of flight, the were able to easily track their prey and attack. 

[It cost them to 1 AP fly into range, leaving 1 AP to attack and they did 2 damage.

On his next turn, Gundar, with 4 AP now, his max allowed, since he saved one when he ran, spent 3 on invoking Red Dwarf to regain 3 health, and then attacked, ineffectively.

Five more rounds and i was tired of the combat so again, I had Gundar try to find a way out.

I asked Mythic, can he find a place to duck into? very likely? 74, yes]

Finally, Gundar ducked into a small dive of a diner, panting. The owner came out, and seeing the armored minotaur, and assuming the worst of anyone so attired, said “Bathrooms are for customers only. Buy something or get out.” 

Gundar handed him a copper for some water and peeked around looking for another way out.

[Again, I used his Notice skill: 4 successes. ]

Gundar spied a door at the back of the kitchen behind the counter. Since the shop keeper was a bit of a grouch, he went to check out the bathroom first, in case there was a window he could fit his large minotaur frame through.

[Mythic: is there a window ? 35, yes.

is it big enought to crawl out? unlikley82, nope ]

Back to the front, Gundar attempted to convince the owner to let him use the back door. He rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, going for the intimidation effect.

[I rolled 4 success for Gundar to 2 for the shop keeper]

Begrudgingly, the shop keeper let him through.

Out in the alley, Gundar glanced up at the skies. 

[Are the gargoyles there? 60, no.]

He made his way out of the Court of Darkness and continued following the river towards the Crystal Caverns.

Adventure Maximus! : Reviewed and a Basic Idea for Solo Play

Adventure Maximus! got its first outing last week (it's part of my 10 games, 10x challenge). If you're not familiar with the game, it's a card based RPG, designed for kids. I backed the Kickstarter awhile back and only recently gave the rules the once over before deciding to bring it with me on vacation.

The whole thing comes in a nice approximately digest-sized box with character sheets, rulebook, Adventure Sheet, cards (lots of cards), 5 blank dice and the stickers to apply to them (rather than using pips, there are three symbols per die: 1 sword, 2 swords and what looks kind of like the "at" symbol).

Character creation is fairly simple: players draw 3 race cards (which detail any special abilities the PC has) and choose 1, then draw three class cards (additional special abilities, armor and weapons) and choose 1. Based on the class card, the player may draw one or more Equipment and Action cards, and, if applicable, Spell cards.

Adventures are Madlib generated (and can cross into the utterly nonsensical as a result - basically, it provides about as much motivation as required for the average dungeon crawl) and individual encounters feature a map card, an equipment card (the treasure) and a creature card. Three encounters make up the adventure, so the third creature is a boss creature encounter. The boss has its own equipment, spells and actions, just like the PCs, which makes them very dangerous.

This mirrors a typical video game pattern and, given the target audience, makes a lot of sense.

From a tabletop perspective though, it is, without a doubt, a complete railroad, no matter how much you improvise - if the players must go to a particular location, and must encounter a particular thing, it's a railroad. I think, for a kids' game, as a way to introduce role-playing, this probably isn't horrible as it makes life easy for the Maximus Master, who might also have no experience with gaming. 

I found thinking of the defined quests as markers to be hit, alleviated some of my aversion to the rails. Also, there is no reason that the Maximus Master can't insert additional locations/encounters along the way and in fact, the rulebook encourages this. Nor are there any scripted resolutions, so player's have at least limited agency.

Ariale, for example, made it past a giant bug simply by avoiding it. She didn't get the loot, but it was a trade off. When she encountered a were-weasel, rather than fight, she parleyed, gave him the wish from her genie lamp which cured him of his lycanthropy and got the treasure that way (plus a bonus XP). She recovered the object of her quest from the big boss in a similar creative fashion, without actually defeating the boss, which left the boss as a potential recurring enemy going forward (if we play again - it doesn't lend itself to chat gaming).

Each PC gets Action Points based on their race card that regenerate per combat round, and can presumably be spent out of combat as well, without restriction. The average for PCs seems to be 3 points. Special abilities, Action Cards, Equipment Cards and Spell Cards all require action points to use. Again, each round of combat, the PC earns their Action Points back, but they may not exceed the maximum allowable for their race.

All dice rolls count successes: a sword = 1 success, two swords = two successes and the "at" symbol thing means 2 successes + roll that die again and add those successes (so, an exploding dice mechanic I guess?). The 5 dice provided, in my limited experience, are more than enough to cover most situations.

Experience Points are given after each encounter, rather than at the end of the adventure. Everyone gets 1 for participating (kind of like those "participant" awards they give to kids just for being on a team) and the Maximus Master can pass out up to 1 additional point per player for roleplaying, creative ideas, etc. Spending the points improve the character in various ways, depending on how many you spend. 

I like this mechanism, as it encourages the player to weigh the risk/reward of saving their points for a bigger upgrade.

I also gave the game a try solo, which I am pretty sure the designers never intended. In fact, given that at least one card bases its duration on the amount of time the player air guitars, I'd have to say it didn't cross their minds.

However, this is why I went in on the Kickstarter: I love cards generally, and the art on these in particular, and I figured I could use the card draws to create scenes and then use various solo techniques to play them out.  Never the less, for the 10 game challenge, I decided that I would try to stick as close to the way the game is meant to be played (that is, rather than re-purposing the decks into my own game).

The big difference was that, while I had to reveal the Map, Equipment and Boss Creature card to generate the adventure,  I only revealed the Map and Creature cards for the first encounter and nothing of the 2nd, until necessary. This way, I could preserve the sense of discovery that I would have in a social game. I used Mythic to run the encounter - it's like second nature anymore to use it, and would allow me to get on with the gaming.

The setup worked well (I'll post a write up of the session as a follow up to this)- my Minotaur Officer clomped around in his full plate to good effect and despite the rails (which I couldn't entirely see thanks to the delayed card draws), with Mythic, it went typically off course each encounter - although i gave up on the third encounter because I ran out of time thanks to some issues with the combat system during the second encounter.

Similar to T&T combats without spite damage, I ended up in a combat that seemed to be interminable - neither side able to rack up damage in any meaningful way due to high armor on both sides. Only by running away from the combat and ducking into a tavern(an act that took 3 tries before I could escape the gargoyles thanks to Mythic and poor die rolls) was I able to end the encounter in an "in game" way. 

Obviously, if I was adjudicating this combat in a social game, the gargoyles would have given up when they realized they couldn't do any damage, but maybe to return later with more of their kind. Solo, it seemed a cheat just to rule that without dice to back it up.

Both sessions were enjoyable, although I think I stumbled with the rules more than I would normally find acceptable. i found more than one card that did not seem to fit the system as described in the rule book, but that's probably just a "me thing" and will be corrected with further experience with the game.