Thursday, August 21, 2014

The Continuing Story of Our Brave Adventurers in the Ever Expanding Dungeon

What continues here was written over two short sessions earlier in the month and covers Rooms 2 - 5 in the current 5-Room Dungeon Cycle. I am using Mythic GME a bit more traditionally in these scenes and have included the setup as well as any alteration or interrupt demanded by Mythic.

Room 2 - RolePlay/Puzzle, Chaos: 5

Setup: The party returned to down with the chest and the captured bandits. Upon meeting up with the sheriff, they were informed a reward was outstanding for the return of the chest.

Does the scene setup hold? 3. Altered. I rolled 3 story cubes and got: cave, kicking a ball, shooting star. This sounded to me like someone had died, was buried and that was that.

Unfortunately, and to their dismay, he added that the merchant who had put up the reward was an old man and had died just the other day. In fact, his body was interred only that morning. The sheriff would return the chest to the merchant's daughter, but alas, no reward would be pending. Defeated, the party returned to the inn for much needed rest.

Room 3 - Red Herring / Resource Drain, Chaos: 5

Setup: After ten days rest, the party, fully healed, again found themselves standing before an entrance to the dungeon. This time, Ygg suggested they try an entrance near the SE of the map, in order to test the map's veracity and possibly avoid the difficulties they faced on their last excursion. They descended and made their way to a door (Room 31 on my map) but from behind them came the sound of voices.

Does the scene setup hold? 8. Yes.

For the encounter, I used three story cubes, but my handwriting is atrocious and i have no idea what cubes I rolled or icons resulted.

Four adventuring types approached the party and hailed them. Apparently, they had become lost and simply needed an exit.

I expected combat and was pressed for time, so I decided to use Mythic to gather the party's reaction, Does the party believe them? 50/50. 02, Exceptional yes. 

Despite some suspicion held by all of the party, Ygg decided to explain how to get out of the dungeon by means of the nearby steps. When they departed, one and all agreed that something was not quite right about that group, and the party went on alert.

This is where my current "season" differs a bit from the previous season. ALthough I'm playing the entire party, Ygg is "my" character, and the rest are both NPC and PC combined. Generally, unless someone is in danger or it obviously goes against what they might believe, Ygg will lead the way. I am thinking about doing a bit of press ganging per SoloNexus and Featherstone, but I need to think on that more, as a way for the "players" to have more input to their characters, although it will still be a solo game.

In any case, I upped the Chaos to 6. I don't know for sure, but I suspect those four might be trouble later.

Room 4: Boss Monster, Chaos: 6

Setup: Returning to matters at hand, the party assumed their door opening formation. At the front, Runolf kicked in the door while Eomond prepared to cover him.

Does the scene setup hold? 8. Yes.
For the contents, i rolled 3 story cubes: anger/pointing, magnifying glass, octopus. What else could it be but cultists searching for their runaway sacrifice.

Five somewhat fish-like humans in long rust colored robes (deep one cultists)  were startled by the site of the armed men in the doorway. (they rolled a 1 on their surprise check)

Runolf and Eomond pushed into the room to flank the door while Ygg stepped up, war hammer in hand, and attempted to explain that the party was just passing though and that there wouldn't be any problems.

I caved and used the b/x reaction check. 8. An uncertain reaction, although, arguably leaning towards favorable.

With a gurgling voice, the one who the party could only assume was the leader replied, "It would be more convincing if you put away your weapons."

Again, pressed for time, this time, I went Featherstone and decided 70% chance the party would reject that offer, with a 30% chance that they'd accept but only cautiously.  I rolled 10. 

Ygg tried to explain that the dungeon is too dangerous to put weapons down for long, but they would have none of it.

I checked the reaction again, with a -1 penalty since the party had rejected the counteroffer and got a 4.

The strange humans drew their weapons in reply to the party's insolence, and it was on.

In the ensuing battle,Ygg killed one of the fishmen in the first contact, while Runolf nearly killed a 2nd. Ygg offered them a opportunity to surrender but they refused (I used a simple d6 to check, as per some wargames: if I rolled more than were left alive, the deep one cultists would surrender).

Eomond and Runolf continued to deliver blow after blow to the strange and obstinate cult members. Again, Ygg offered surrender as an option, but again they refused, and Leegand, who had made his way into the fray, cut down another cultist  Finally, after Leegand cut down yet another, the two remaining, and badly beaten, cultists surrendered.

The party looted the bodies, and basically robbed the survivors, for a total of 26gp. After which, they bound the survivors for whatever fate the dungeon might hold for them.

Room 5 : Treasure or Twist, Chaos: 6

Setup: Searching the room,  they could not help but notice the strange shrine of bones and skins in the corner that looked long abandoned. They made their way north to the bottom of a flight of steps up the next level.

Does the scene hold?8. yes.

The big takeaway for me with these last few sessions is that, while I really like the quick setup with the index cards and the lack of a need for a computer, my handwriting is terrible and does not foster record keeping. I have returned to the laptop for my notes for the next session, which I played the other night and will post shortly.

3 comments:

  1. Well, at least Runolf still survives.


    -- Jeff

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    Replies
    1. Survival certainly makes up for lack of reward.

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    2. Survival is actually worth XP the way I deal out XP (20* Dungeon Level for each PC), so it does have more reward than just getting to continue on. Dealing damage is worth 10XP per point dealt, and receiving damage is worth 20XP per point received.

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