Trelleborg's Dungeon:1st Game of the New Year Tonight

Now that the holidays have passed and my players are (mostly) available again, we've scheduled the first session of the year for tonight. I will continue running b/x - despite my liking some of what I saw in the 5e starter set, I have no reason to change systems.

The campaign began as an open table and ran that way until September or October. It took one session with a random player who, perhaps unintentionally, nearly sabotaged the party's plans to form an alliance with the rat people of the third level, to turn it into a closed group by December. The group is solidly 5 players, plus invited guests. Currently the party with hirelings and charmed creatures is some 8 or 10 strong, depending on whether you count the charmed white ape, waiting for the party to return, and the tanner who acts as the party's fence and handles sign ups for the adventurers guild they are forming. 

The campaign has had its ups and downs in terms of my feelings about the sessions. Much of it, I think has been that I have been on my heels often trying to keep up with their plans and machinations - but as I am finally getting ahead of the party again on that front (in terms of the dungeon at least), I'm hopeful that i'll be able to find a grove that works for me. On the plus side, I am happy with how much freedom the players have, and that they take advantage of it- in addition to the adventurers guild, they now have some merchants working with them, and they have sent forth for engineers to submit their bids to rehab the tower above the dungeon, with an eye towards making it their home base. Even tonight they will probably spend their time trying to stop some cultists from opening up a portal to the Abyss and bringing forth Abaddon's diabolical army, rather than exploring further into the dungeon. 

The cultists, and their raiding bandits, were to be a minor encounter to alert the party to the presence of an entire section of the dungeon that they were unaware of. However, the first few times, they showed no interest and that was that but of course, the raids continued, prisoners continued to be taken. A chance wandering encounter roll brought the cultists to the fore again, and this time, with evidence of prisoners recently captured and brought below, they did a little investigating and became incensed by what they found (some of my more gory/twisted descriptions, more at home in a Lamentations of the Flame Princess game).

The party has their work cut out for them: it wouldn't be so bad if the high priest of the cult hadn't turned into a salamander (in b/x a fire elemental lizard thing) that retained his previous form's powers, although he's gone a bit mad as a result of the transformation. 

When we left off in December, the party was in a bit of a panic about how to deal with this unexpected threat. I'll give them some time tonight to make sure they dot their i's and cross their t's to their satisfaction. I don't know how they will try to defeat the cult, but I am sure it's some way I haven't thought of, and I look forward to seeing what they come up with.

Skalafell : Danger at the Evil Wizard's Tower (part 1)

This took place two sessions ago,  played prior to DragonCon. I think we played for maybe an hour - hence the brevity.

Per her orders from her new teacher, the Evil Wizard Inhabiting Sister Rebecca's body, Fjörgyn made preparations for her expedition to clear out any possible inhabitants from his long abandoned tower.

After a short journey into the woods, she spied the tower in a clearing, its door open a bit, a shiny brackish splatter around head height. Fjörgyn just shrugged it off as probably just blood: "Whatevs." (that's a paraphrase but it shows far she's come since wanting to run away at the first sign of danger back in March!)

She carefully peered in using her infravision before igniting a torch and heading inside. The main room was largely empty but for two stairwells and something giving off some heat in a terrarium above the fireplace. She opted for the steps up, which led to a sitting room of sorts, with two doors.

Trying one of them, she was electrocuted, mildly and so decided instead to kick open the other door.

There, on a bed, in perfect stillness, undisturbed by her dramatic entrance, was a man, above whom floated a green swirling mist. Wasting no time, Fjörgyn pulled a stake from her bag and plunged in into the Sleeper's chest. 

Green Mist by DarkGX

The mist swirled and bloomed into a spectral visage of the Sleeper's face twisted into silent angry howl before rushing into the nostrils of the body, which then sat bolt upright, in no particularly good mood.

The stake had missed the mark and a fight ensued with the man who eventually loosed 3 unerring bolts of magic light at our poor hero, who fled the tower somewhat worse for wear.

Skalafell : The Sorcerer's Apprentice

When we last left our "hero", Fjörgyn had followed the map, given to her by the evil wizard possessing Sister Rebecca, to a secret cave where she retrieved his spell book, a leather bound tome, firmly sealed by a clasp (thankfully, since she knocked it off the pedestal and it could have become quite damaged). After escaping the skeleton guardians and making her way across a deep chasm, and finally slaying one goblin and charming several others, she exited the cave complex, spell book in hand

She returned to the village to find a line of villagers outside the shrine of the Forgetful Bear. As she approached to try and hear what, if anything, the people were talking about, she was recognized by someone in the line. Someone in line called out "Ghoulslayer!" and the rest of the crowd broke into applause.

[Here, I will use a direct transcript of what transpired, since I think it reveals one of the difficulties of chat-based gaming: a pause to type can be interpreted as a full stop, allowing interjection.]

Ariale: I ask "what is going on here?"

Me:  A heavily built man with narrow features and a flaming red beard informs you that their grand-father, a man of some years, has passed and they have come to see the good sister about arranging the funeral rites.

Another, a solid woman with golden braids and a barrel chest, tells you that she's here for a blessing for her family's sheep flock.

Ariale: I inform them that I heard sister Rebecca had an emergency of her own and will be away for some time. 

Me: A willowy man, with a hook nose, and wearing farmer attire stands at the closed door to the shrine, his hat in his hand, turns to you and says "Odd. because she's in with my cousin right now"

Ariale:  "Oh, good to hear! I'm glad that all is back to normal!" [this is a pretty good save on her part]

Me:  "Normal?" asks someone in the line

Ariale: How long may I ask has your cousin been in there?
( I ignore that person )

Me:  "Not long. He went in after Orlygrson's wife came out." 

[I opted not to follow up with the questioning since it was clear to me that had I indicated that Sister Rebecca was seeing her flock, then Fjörgyn wouldn't have made that statement. And, if we had been face to face, i would have stopped her interjection before I finished the description of what was going on with the line ]

As Fjörgyn went to take her place in line, the door opened,  and a villager came out, behind him, Fjörgyn could see Sister Rebecca beckoning her to come in. Sister Rebecca addressed the petitioners, "I'm sorry all, I must speak with ghoulslayer for a moment." 

She paused, then added "Important church business."

Inside, the cleric's demeanor and face transformed from the one Fjörgyn recognized as Sister Rebecca to the one she recognize as the wizard. 

"UGH. these people are driving me mad! Did you get the book?"

"I sure did. Not without some trouble of course, " said Fjörgyn.

"Excellent...oh yes, the security system. I had forgotten about that. It's been...a very long time. May i have my book please?"

Fjörgyn handed over the spell book.

"Excellent," said the evil wizard as he caressed the aged tome.

Having completed her mission, when the wizard suggested yet another to prove her merit for the spot as his apprentice, she reminded him that the deal was that getting the spell book was supposed to guarantee her position. [i.e. I forgot and she reminded me, in character]

Thus corrected, the evil wizard ordered her to go to the site of his long abandoned tower to see what of it remains and to clear out any who may have taken up residence during his extended absence. Without solitude, he informed her, he could not study his magic, nor silence the constant yammering of Sister Rebecca, who still occupied some part of the otherwise possessed body.

Since the last errand was somewhat dangerous, F. inquired after the possibility of some kind protective magic, but,  until he could study his spell book in peace, he could provide no such thing. He did note that she could loot the shrine as she saw fit.

Which she did.

Taking leave of the Forgetful Bear and noting the sun was drooping in the sky, Fjörgyn set out to sell some of her acquired loot from previous outings. 

After successfully unloading some items at the general store, she went to Zelligant's shop to sell him the remainder of some black fabric she had found. Business was obviously booming and he offered her top dollar for the yard and a half.

When she returned to her room for the evening, she found a folded piece of parchment had been slipped under the door:

"You have been invited to attend a late night gathering of like minded patrons of Dark and Ancient Forces in the clearing by the old shrine in three nights. Please tell no one of this invite. We will know if you do and we cannot have that."

[this is where we ended the session.]

Skalafell : Into the Evil Wizard's Safe

This session of Fjörgyn's adventure was held outdoors at Griffis Sculpture Park in Western New York. It was also the first time I have ever played D&D outdoors.

photo by Ariale M.

Fjörgyn followed the map Sister Rebecca / Evil Wizard gave her to the mouth of a cave in the hills south and west of Skalafell.  The tunnel within forked, and she chose to pursue the one to the north.

[I gave her some info to help her decision making, but I'll be damned if i can remember what it was.]

As she approached a cavern, her torched flickered [which ultimately was a terrible clue that something was amiss]. Remembering her infravision, she opted to extinguish the torch and peer into the cavern in hopes of not drawing attention to herself. 

Before her stood a large cold glob in the center of the room. Lighting her torch she saw a grotesque tentacled monstrosity of a statue. Expecting the worst, she tried to sneak past, but it was not to be - the living crystal statue animated and smashed at her with its massive tentacles.

Fjörgyn blocked and parried blow after blow before finally shattering the statue into hundreds of shards (some of which were stashed in her pack for later use). She had taken some damage, but not much [we're using Solo Heroes, so damage at most is 2 points per hit, and quite often just 1 pt]. 

She decided to return to the other fork and explore that direction, but found her path mysteriously blocked by a wall. A search for secret doors revealed nothing, despite her elven prowess in such matters, so onward she went.

After trying to climb her way around the walls of a room and falling onto a great glowing sigil painted on its floor (which cost her a point of INT), she made her way into a chamber wherein a large leather bound book, sealed with a clasp,  rested on a small plain stone dais. 

Taking no chances with her safety, but risking the book, she knocked it from its resting place. As the book skidded into the rough ground, this transgression triggered the rapid appearance of 3 skeleton warriors bent on making her life pretty miserable in a battle that did not go her way (she came close enough to death that Ariale was getting worried).

Finally, in an act of desperation, bloodied and bruised, Fjörgyn grabbed the spellbook and, like a young Walter Payton, blasted through their line and out the door into the hall opposite the way she came in. Fortune was on  Fjörgyn's side and the skeletons did not pursue - although fortune has a sick sense of humor and put her at the precipice of a great chasm some 20' wide. 

Despair may have settled in for a moment before the light bulb went off and Fjörgyn noticed hand holds and a small ledge allowing her to cross the chasm ever so carefully. 

Ahead, she heard the distinct sound of loud voices and with torch extinguished she spied several humanoid shapes sitting about another cavern. 

With surprise on her side, she prepared her Charm Person spell. It was not until she uttered the necessary phrases that the goblins became aware of her presence and by then it was too late - all but one of them failed their save. The sole exception charged into melee (Fjörgyn won the initiative) but was cut down quickly and easily. As for the others, they could not understand why their brutish companion would attack their dear friend, the elf.

So happy were they to see their long lost bestie, they readily gave up information about the tunnel system. Realizing her health had been seriously compromised by the statue and the skeletons, Fjörgyn asked for directions to the entrance. As it turned out, the goblins had their own secret way in and out of the cave and happily showed Fjörgyn the way to the surface. 

Sadly, obligations to their Boss prevented them from going with her back to town to continue their joyous gathering.

Mail Call! And more!

I just got back from my trip to Western New York and a pile of envelopes awaited me when I got in the door:

While I was on my trip, I swung by a store called Two Kings Gaming. The reviews I read suggested that customer service was rather low on their priority list, but I figured I had nothing to lose.

The store mostly caters to Magic : The Gathering, and Warhammer 40K, but they do have a decent selection of out of print RPGs (primarily D&D, but some other systems). 2e is probably the one they have the most of, although 1e and 4e weren't too far behind. Oddly 3e seemed to have very little. As nothing beyond 1e really interests me (except 5e), and I have all of the 1e stuff I care to have, I wasn't holding out much hope of finding anything. 

To my surprise, I found a copy of Holmes D&D for sale, tucked into the rack with the White Dwarf back issues.

My copy of Holmes is rather pristine, so I have been considering buying a "reading copy." I couldn't find any price, so I took it up to the counter expecting to be ignored (based on the reviews I had read). Instead, I was waited on immediately, and even better, although the price was $24(way overpriced), they sold it to me for $10 (much more reasonable).

Next time I'm up in WNY and I've got some time, I'll head back to Two Kings Gaming to see what they might have gotten in.

Skalafell : The Devil Never Had an Easier Time

[We had a short gaming session the other day, mostly to resolve the cliffhanger]

Fjörgyn heard the clomping feet enter the hut and stayed out of sight a bit as the visitors trashed the outer room. Having had enough, she went to the doorway, sword drawn. A brief confrontation with the three men, dark robes over armor, their faces beat up and bruised, found her informing them that she had disposed of the old man herself. 

[Initial reaction was mixed, but the subsequent check to that bit of news came up 11 - in b/x that's pretty damn friendly!]

Impressed, they asked Fjörgyn about the girl and she happily informed them that she had no idea where or who the girl was but that she had chased her into the hut. The three men quickly found her and Fjörgyn was happy to let them leave with the girl, although not before arranging with the men for one of them to assist her in preparing the old man's body to be dragged back to town inconspicuously.

As with all small talk, conversation turned to his cult, and she made inquires as to membership.

That's right, Fjörgyn wanted in. 

He informed her that a representative would seek her out at the Queen's Cauldron and then the cultists and Fjörgyn parted ways.

The old man's body in tow, Fjörgyn sloughed back to Skalafell to the fully defiled shrine. There a dark cloud hung in an otherwise clear sky, the cries and moans within had silenced, but a torrent of blood poured down the steps into the ground in a seemingly infinite wave. 

Obviously, the thing to do would be to throw the corpse into the bloodfall. 

A wave of crimson rose up and engulfed the offering, dissolving it into its current.

A moment later, a twisted figure, once Sister Rebecca, but now scuttling along with a strange gait appeared in the doorway, its face no longer the plain cleric, but more man-like, pointed and, well, evil. The face, Fjörgyn recognized, was similar to that of the ghoul she had killed.

"You! You did this!" 

Despite Sister Rebecca's face appearing briefly screaming for help, the visage returned to the grotesque caricature and one rather odd exchange later, Fjörgyn had arranged with the evil wizard now posessing Sister Rebecca, to retrieve his spell books, in exchange for his tutelage. 

He gave her a map, and she set out to prepare for her journey.

[Ariale claims she's not sure she's doing this role-playing thing right. Please. ]

On Thieves : Some Thoughts on Tenkar's Post

Over at Tenkar's Tavern, Eric brought up the perennial debate about whether or not a thief is necessary in an adventuring party.

He makes the point that at low levels, they suck at thieving. In fact, if I recall, someone out there showed how in Moldvay, thieves have a worse chance than any other character at making one of the checks. Never mind that the Thief is not one of the original classes.

Tenkar brought up the the Thief because in one of his parties, they have no thief, and it didn't cause any issue. 

Similarly, in my Trelleborg campaign, the thief has had some success, but not enough to make him a key to the party's survival. 

One of his abilities is completely hamstrung as I don't allow thieves to pick pockets of party members - the game is open table and I seem to always have at least one new person joining. I am of the opinion that those kind of shenanigans lead to bad blood, especially between strangers. Since they don't really adventure in town - the dungeon is the reason for the campaign in the first place - the thief hasn't tried to pick the pockets of NPCs (i guess the black metal goblin ashigaru demand killing first, stealing items second).

Although he takes scouting missions, it's primarily because he is wearing leather, and the halfling, who could scout as well with their ability to stay still and go unnoticed, plus infravision, is wearing noisy plate mail (she is the party's muscle, despite having a human fighter in the group every other session) and not because he necessarily will go unnoticed. 

Although he has had some success on his Thief Skills rolls, a number of those have come when making use of the D30 Rule which greatly limits his risk of failure. 

As a general rule, the party smashes doors open, and ditto for wooden chests/boxes/crates. With a magic-user with the right spell list, they could use some more finesse but even then, they could just bring the locked item back to town, try to find the thieve's guild and pay them to open it.

Clearly, the Thief isn't necessary from a game play point of view.

But they do have some advantages. 

Chief among them is that some players just want to play that kind of character that they believe would have the Thief skills, or maybe they really like the idea of establishing a thieve's guild as their end-game. It might also be an optimal choice for a player who wants their character to survive.

What? How so?

Reasons the Thief Might Outlast Your Fighter

Everyone knows the thief sucks at low levels, so they are often relegated to the middle or rear of the party at worst. 

Most everyone expects them to fail their check for traps (is there any among us who does not recall the fate of Black Dougal?), never mind disabling one they do find, and so parties often don't bother to even have the thief check.

Because, at least in my experience, parties tend to smash containers open when possible, traps in locks are less of an issue as a result.

Where the thief does excel is their improved hear noise, as it's on par with the Elf ability at 1st level, and improves quickly. In Trelleborg, after the thief has performed that check, the fighters/halfling/dwarves force open the door while he is in relative safety behind them.

In combat, because thieves typically have good Dex and thus missile bonuses, they don't have to close ground anytime soon with opponents. If they WANT to close ground they'll probably try to hide in shadows, move silently and then back-stab, doing their best to avoid head to head confrontation.

Finally, the Thief class offers rapid advancement. 

The thief in the Trelleborg game is already 4th level, while the next closest PC has just crossed into 3rd. His skills are starting to surpass what just anyone would be able to do, and he can take more than a single hit now which makes him a touch more durable should he fall from a sheer surface (one of the skills at which Thieves excel from the get-go).

Trelleborg: Session 6 : The DM Side of the Screen

Last Wednesday, I ran the 6th delve into the dungeon beneath Trelleborg. I hadn't really expected more than a couple of players for a mid-week game, but found myself with six of them at my table - four returning and two new.

Because it was a weeknight game, I decided that I would basically hand-wave the trip to the trap door in the tower, with some bits here and there for atmosphere. That came back to bite me in the butt.

It seems I forgot the rule that says anything the DM says, no matter how trivial it might seem to them, will be seized upon by at least one player, thereby turning an insignificant description into the main focus.

The atmosphere I added was that it felt like someone had been there (the ruined tower). It seemed innocuous to me, but of course, I have nothing to lose either way.

The players, on the other hand, felt something terrible might be up.

Rather than going into the tower, they decided they needed to go and check out the camp site from Session 5. After that turned up no merchants (although it did turn up some unusual finds- like large damp spot caused by a large amount of blood, a trail with wagon wheel ruts (which they didn't follow) - it was clear to them that an ambush had been laid inside the tower (despite no evidence for that). Even when they found footprints going in, they found some coming out, so an ambush wasn't a forgone conclusion. Yet, when they saw the trap door down was wide open, that was it - one player suggested they sweep the entire 1st level. 

Ordinarily, I'd be happy to let them do this - it's a good approach for a dungeon crawl, but we had limited time and i had two new people who wanted to roll some dice and kill something. Never mind that the first level is entirely clear of monsters and only a wandering monster roll would have any chance of bringing anything. 

Fortunately, during my session prep i made notes that the doors of the rooms in the hall approaching the stairs down had been burned down. Since doors in the opposite direction weren't, and once they were satisfied the black metal goblins hadn't come up the elevator (the trap the party's thieves had set was still there), they put their tank back in the closet and proceeded down to the 2nd level.

Still, it wasn't until they started debating a course of action in a crypt that a wandering monster roll brought them into contact with some ghouls and the new people started to maybe get a sense of investment in the game. Especially when a TPK was nearly the result (a handful of the party were paralyzed). 

I think this was my biggest failure this session - assuming I could get them into the action without any delay with just a little hand waving and descriptive atmosphere. As a result, I'm sure at least one of the two new people was bored for a good bit. I'm not sure how to resolve this - I want them to understand that the 1st level may at some point repopulate, but it hasn't yet and at the same time, I like the caution they're showing - death has been established as a real possibility, and most of the world has been shown to be evil. They care about their characters surviving (or at least seem to) and they pretty much trust no one they encounter beyond the town.

On the up side, once again, I was happy with how I had included clues to the presence and/or effect of traps - the players were quite creative in defeating them, and i think that was some of the most fun this session from my point of view. Most of them could have resulted in a number of fatalities, and they lost no one (to traps) because they made good use of the clues and the environment to defeat the traps.

The treasure haul was nice (they defeated a mummy who had a nice haul, but here was treasure in some of the burial spaces too), and everyone went up a level at the end, which brings up my second issue: The treasure, which was so scarce in sessions 1 and 2, is starting to feel Monty Haul-ish to me. 

I need to go back and make sure I did my calculations correctly - I am using random generation from the Basic book, but I give 1 XP per silver, so I divide the gold by 10 to get the same XP but 1/10 the gold. Except I think I left the silver as rolled, when it too should be divided by 10 to get the correct XP amount.

I'm running another session in mid-July and one at the beginning of August. Plenty of time to study up on more GM techniques and try to improve things.

Return to The Ever Expanding Dungeon : The Tools

This is just a bit of administrative information for those who are curious as to what I will be using going into the revived solitaire campaign:

Despite the fact that I am running two B/X social games, or maybe because of it, the rules will continue to be Labyrinth Lord, at least in name. 

The differences from B/X are so minor as to be mostly irrelevant. If I was going to truly switch systems, I would switch to Swords & Wizardry Whitebox,  Dungeon Crawl Classics, AD&D, or perhaps a Microlite version. 

Maybe if there's a TPK I'll consider it.

I may bring out classes and spells from the Advanced Edition Companion, but I am undecided about that, for the moment.

The D30 DM Companion will continue to be consulted for general info about the dungeon, room details, doors and traps, treasure generation, encounters with monsters (wandering and otherwise) and supplying stats as well, when I don't feel like rifling through LL or the AEC.

My dungeon generator from issue 2 of 6 Iron Spikes & a Small Hammer will get a chance to do more than generate small sample dungeons, as it will become the primary generator going into this 2nd season of The Ever Expanding Dungeon. That said, I reserve the right to cycle through all of my many iterations of random dungeon generators.

I will also be using the room name generator and the simple trap generator, from the same issue, as opportunity presents itself.

Mythic GME is the soloist's best friend, and I have found Mythic Variations to be helpful as well, so both will be regularly featured. 

Other randomizers will get their due, including Rory's various cubes, writer's dice, various card based products, etc. 

Finally, the tables that I used previously: my Is the Monster Here? table, my locked/trapped table, my decision making method for groups, and of course, the approach to enemy hit points found in the comments to this post.

Returning to an Old Friend : The Ever Expanding Dungeon

I denied it for some time, but I had become burnt out playing solo sessions of The Ever Expanding Dungeon. Although I had the best of intentions to return to the game, I could not muster the will.

Part of it was Perceval's death - it caught me off-guard. Part of it was the fact that I had run 26 sessions in little over a year, essentially playing every other week (although the actual calendar dates would not look like that). It is the longest continuous campaign I have ever run, with by far the most sessions.

It has been nearly 6 months now, and I have been bitten by the bug again, after re-reading the latest exploits of Sister Linkat and her rag-tag band. [Those of you who have seen issue #2 of my zine will note that Sister Linkat and Manchiever make an appearance. That article is non-canonical.]

I did not have time to get into the game tonight, but here is something to whet your whistle: the never before seen maps of the legendary dungeon:

Entire 1st Level

Level A (above Level 1) Eastern-most map

Level A Western-most Map

That last picture shows where the party was when I so rudely left them back in January.

I plan to play session 27 on Wednesday.

Things Go Awry in the Dungeon Near Skalafell

The other night, we played the next installment of Fjörgyn and friends in the dungeon near Skalafell. Here is the tale of that session.

***

After resting for a bit, the party re-lit their torches, and Fjörgyn chose to lead them back up the steps into the store room to root about the items there: seems she had gotten the idea the chests might have coin or other treasure. With Charlie Bucky and Badir watching the exits, Fjörgyn and her faithful side-kick, Zelligant fussed about with the chests.

Out in the darkness of the hallway to the north, Badir caught sight of glowing orbs moving towards them and coming in fast. 

The chests abandoned, Charlie Bucky and Fjörgyn rushed to the door to see four giant fire beetles closing in on them.

Fjörgyn unleashed an arrow but it did little good and soon the battle was joined.

The gods (the dice gods, that is) were kind to Zelligant and Badir, but both Fjörgyn and Charlie Bucky took significant damage before the surviving beetles were driven off.

Licking their wounds, literally perhaps in Charlie Bucky's case, they returned to the potential treasures. Their luck went from bad to worse.

Unable to open a locked box, Fjörgyn had Badir use his club to smash it.

Although successful, he triggered the sleep gas trap inside, which quickly filled the room with its haze. With some relief, here, finally, was a moment of luck for the party: only Badir slumped to the ground unconscious. 

Fjörgyn decided to let him sleep while they scooped out the silver and gold inside the box.

Reflections on the 4th Session into the Dungeon Beneath Trelleborg

Last Friday, I ran my B/X open table mini-mega dungeon at my FLGS. This post is more about the mechanics/DM thoughts. You can read the summary of the session on the campaign blog.

By Thursday, I had 8 players signed up, then some dropped out, only to be replaced by others. By game time Friday, a storm had rolled in, and that cut the numbers down again to 6 players. Still, a decent turn out.

I had sworn to myself that I would start promptly at 7 PM, and encouraged new players to arrive 30 minutes early so we'd have time to roll up characters and also to talk about the rules and how they differ from 3.5 (which they also play), at least broadly speaking, because I know very little of 3.5 first hand.

Unfortunately, that aforementioned storm played havoc with everyone's travel, including mine. I think, by the time we had a critical mass of players, it was maybe after 7:30 PM.

Although I found the rush to make it to the shop by 6:30 PM (normally I start at 7:30 PM, so I don't have to get there until 7 PM) kind of trying, by 11 PM,  people were hitting a wall in terms of the energy level. Most, if not all, of us worked that day or had to work that Saturday, so it's understandable. There's only so much energy drinks or Mt. Dew can do for you. Gaming on a Saturday, unfortunately, isn't really an option - the FLGS closes at 9-ish on Saturdays, but is open until whenever on Fridays, thanks to their Magic: The Gathering Fridays.

I'm not sure how to really deal with players with flagging energy, except end the session sooner - but that short-changes those who can play longer.

One accomplishment was doing a better job tracking turns with respect to torches / wandering monsters (of which there was one). My girlfriend, who plays Fjörgyn, of Skalafell fame (or is that infamy?), called me out on my sloppy time keeping after she read the rulebook  (the first player of mine i know of, in 32 years of off and on gaming, to go out and buy the book on their own, after playing the game ONE TIME.) With a simple modification of my turn tracker to include a reminder about torches, I solved the problem.

My note keeping for the session wasn't great - I need to get better at that. Especially who talks to whom and what was said. One character made a deal with Sister Ingrid for two Potions of Healing, for instance, and I'll be damned if I remember what they had to pay.

I felt really good about enabling player agency during the session - a choice between two identical doors really isn't a meaningful choice, so i added smells, sounds etc. for players to factor into their decision process. One door, with a hand scrawled note of warning (it even included a reference to the effect of the trap), proved too tempting to resist - and one of the party is now an anthropomorphic bunny. They can't say they weren't warned.

They also had free reign to try whatever they wanted - so when they proposed making their tank (yes, a tank), it seemed so ingenious, I could not say no. I think that went a ways toward building trust for me as a DM - to know that I won't squash an idea, just because it isn't something I thought they would try.

My abstract "battle mat" also worked pretty well. I brought my dungeon tiles to prior sessions simply to show marching order - i just set out a corridor tile and they place their minis on it. But, of course, it quickly becomes a game of tactical mini maneuvering. I prefer theater of the mind combat, so in order to stave off the inclination to see minis on a grid as part of the game, and inspired by the abstract mat in Ancient Odysseys: Treasure Awaits! , I created my own abstract mat and it seemed to work rather well in getting us out of the "I move to this square" mentality.

To everyone's relief, two (possibly more) characters leveled up - a cleric and a thief - and several are much closer now and will probably level up in a session or two. Which is good - because the dungeon only gets more difficult the deeper they go.

The session was quite successful by and large - I got some very positive feedback about my DMing and people seemed entertained. The next session is in mid-June and I'm doing my best to prep areas nearest level connectors because there is no telling where they might go.

The Adventure in Skalafell Continues

When we last left our heroine, Fjörgyn, she and Charlie Bucky met up with Zelligant and Badir outside of The Queen's Cauldron. 

Having thought it over, she decided  that rather than leaving town, she wanted to get some more information about the missing girl, Thorifinna, from the girl's father. However, he was nowhere to be found and did not answer when the party knocked on the door of his cottage.

[To my surprise, she left the cottage standing. Most players, in my experience, would have set it aflame for no reason.]

A brief discussion with one of the older farmers in the village gave some insight into the interesting connection of the villager slain by the ghoul and the missing girl's father - the slain villager was having an affair with the girl's mother.

Returning to the Shrine of the Forgetful Bear to ask Sister Rebecca some questions, Fjörgyn found the good Sister uncooperative [this was determined by dice rolls]. When offered some gold to help grease the wheel a bit, Sister Rebecca responded with visible scorn [a terrible reaction roll brought this about] and told the party to go find the girl, after which she closed the door on them.

Irritated by the rebuff, and possessing a general dislike of Sister Rebecca anyway, Fjörgyn  produced the still beating human heart she had recovered from the ghoul's tomb and placed it on the steps of the shrine as a warning to Sister Rebecca that she means business.

To everyone's surprise, the sky quickly filled with clouds, rain poured down, lightning cracked and the thunder sounded much like the roar of a bear. 

The carving of a bear's head above the shrine's entrance exploded into dust as a thick blackness oozed out of the heart, up the stairs and under the door.

The party wisely trudged off in the downpour to the dungeon.

[The party made it into the dungeon and spent about 6 turns in there when we had to end the session for the night. I'll save the recounting of those early moments for the next time.]

Beneath Trelleborg :Session 3

Friday night, I ran the 3rd session of my mini-mega dungeon for 5 players (and a 6th joined us later, after observing us playing for 10 minutes or so.)

You can read the summary over on the campaign blog.

TL; DR summary: 3 PC deaths and a sky high body count of monsters.

Return to Skalafell

Forever ago it seems, I ran the follow up session of Fjörgyn's adventure in Skalafell.

****

When we last left our heroine, she stood towering over the dead monster. 

She wasted no time exploring but instead decided to get Thora back to Skalafell - perhaps to make up for leaving the poor Grungo behind in the last underground escapade. With Zelligant's help, she carried Thora's lifeless body to the Shrine of the Forgetful Bear, where Sister Rebecca could tend to the rites of the dead. When offered healing, Fjörgyn declined and instead went off to the Queen's Cauldron for a little socializing with the locals, intent on finding another hireling.

She moved around the bar from stool to stool ("but there wasn't gum under any of them") and spread the word that she was looking for another to join her gang of merrymakers (not her words). Of course, the scent of death hung thick in the air about her, with two of the locals formerly in her employ quite dead, and so enthusiasm was not as high as it might have been. Still, the weirdest guy in the place, with his face covered mostly by a mask approached, and within a few minutes, had accepted the job.

In addition, Charlie Bucky, a halfling sized cat [a nekomata? We're just using halfling stats but she gets 2 claws and a bite per round. Giving my gf two PCs to increase her chances of survival and to reduce reliance on too many hirelings] in plate mail with sharpened steel sheaths for her claws and a short bow caught up with Fjörgyn and was more than happy to go along with whatever adventure she had planned.

Charlie Bucky

In the morning, Fjörgyn and Charlie Bucky met her staff outside the Cauldron and discussed the plan for the day - to their surprise, she announced she wanted to leave for Gorgoroth (that was way more surprising than the warrior cat creature). Fjörgyn felt quite certain that, having slain the strange beast, the missing girl would be able to escape the perils of the underground lair and return home and if not, she was probably already dead.

Fjörgyn is nothing if not a realist.

[here the session ended as I was not prepared for a hex crawl. i explained the need to equip for the travel and the dangers that might pose, so that she could make informed decisions about what to bring. Since then, after further discussions about the nature of the game, my gf has decided that she wants to explore the dungeon a little more before moving on to the next town of Hael.]

Something Strange is Afoot in Skalafell

On Friday night, I ran another session of D&D b/x for my girlfriend. This time, I ran it via chat - as we live about 800 miles apart and her internet connection isn't capable of dealing with Skype or Hangouts.

Her goal is to make it to Gorgoroth and adventure in the dungeon beneath Trelleborg, like the meetup group at my FLGS. I told her earlier in the day that there was a potential adventure in Skalafell but that she was by no means required to go on it, and that we could RP the trip up to Gorgoroth (by my calculation it's about 5 days from Skalafell, meaning lot's of opportunity for random encounters). 

******

After a night of celebrating with the villagers, who had given her the nick-name of "Ghoul-slayer", Fjörgyn enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the Queen's Cauldron. An errand boy interrupted her meal with a request from Sister Rebecca to visit with her at the shrine of the Forgetful Bear to discuss a matter of some importance. 

She accepted the offer and Sister Rebecca* revealed her suspicions about a plot involving cultists spotted by Old Man Alfarinson, the released ghoul Fjörgyn had slain, and a girl who went missing just yesterday. Fjörgyn, adventurer that she is, decided to look into it (her exact statement was "Of course I will. Robed men chanting around a fire will always intrigue me!")

Before continuing further, she re-hired Zelligant, who required armor and a weapon before agreeing, but that was with the additional stipulation that he would join in combat. He also suggested his cousin Thora, the one eyed jester, as a suitable hire, allegedly handy with a weapon.

The party made their way to the dilapidated incense smoke filled shack of the odd-ball Old Man Alfarinson (something of a witch doctor mountain man hermit type) to get directions to the abandoned shrine where he had seen the cultists. 

Having gotten what they came for, and forgoing further questioning, perhaps due to the incense haze, Fjörgyn and her merry band got straight to it. 

Located among ancient burial mounds, the shrine was largely overgrown, although the vines did not cover the floor and, in fact, bore evidence of having been cut back. The secret door down was thus easily found, and after some discussion over who would go in first, Fjörgyn led the way down into the darkness.

The steps led down into a room, populated by one ugly mother of a beast - a beaked bat face furry ant-like thorax, human fore-limbs, giant bat-wings [see Realms of the Crawling Chaos]. Thora, who had moved up to fight alongside Fjörgyn was rewarded for her efforts by having a major artery severed by the crushing beak of the night beast. [She had all of 2 HP. A sneeze would have killed her.]

Zelligant seemed to grow a pair [after last session, I was ready to deem him a coward but the dice surprised me, rather than running away, he rolled a 12 and passed with flying colors], and joined the fray, but Fjörgyn, although she took damage for nearly half her hit points, managed to kill the foul beast before he had to demonstrate any possible ineptness.

We ended the session there, as she had work in the morning.

*I try to make use of just about every name I've seen in the various rulebooks. Sister Rebecca, Black Dougal, Silverleaf, etc.

Dungeon of Tropes

On Saturday night, I had a chance to run a session of Moldvay Basic for my girlfriend. It was her first experience playing d&d, and since she was playing a single character, I was careful to stock the dungeon in such a way that survival was possible, although not guaranteed.

I opted not to use Solo Heroes because I think it changes the nature of the game in a way, that while pretty cool, is not the same experience as playing the game as written.

****

Fjörgyn (E:1) ventured out of Hedeby on her way to Gorgoroth* and the dungeon beneath Trelleborg. In the town of Skalafell, she caught wind of a story of a mysterious death, the victim found dragged to a set of steps leading down into the earth in a hillside nearby. Thinking there might be some treasure within, she opted to explore.

Before tacklin that task, she hired two locals, Grungo, the lovable lumberjack, and Zallifax  Zelligant the dutiful tailor.

Grungo bought the farm about 2/3s of the way down the stairs into the dungeon, when a shrieker started, well, shrieking which drew a giant crab spider to the scene. After failing to sink its mandibles into Fjörgyn's plate mail, it turned on the unarmored hirelings and Grungo's leg was severed, cutting an artery. His death was swift. 

The spider died moments later; Fjörgyn had her first kill - an adventurer was born. 

A magic mouth on a statue told her to leave but she paid it no mind and the dark warning etched on the wall behind it was treated as so much spooky bravado.

Still, as she explored, she carefully spiked doors open to make a fast escape possible.  And when she came across a magic pool, she wisely avoided drinking from its tantalizing Caribbean-blue water. Lady Luck was in her favor as she crossed a trapped threshold and neither she nor Zalligant Zelligant triggered the spiked/crushing ceiling trap .

A rickety bridge across a vast chasm caused some hesitation, but onward she pressed, and she found the bridge was, in fact, quite capable of sustaining her and her porter/torch bearer. At the end of the bridge were the ornately carved stone doors of a burial vault.

Heavy though they were, Fjörgyn was able to open them, and the pair slipped into the chamber of red painted walls. A mural of a bearded man summoning the elements adorned the wall behind a large marble sarcophagus, which was surrounded by glyphs and runes on the floor and covered with painted sigils. 

It seemed the inhabitant of said sarcophagus was in no mood to be disturbed, and while Fjörgyn explored the room, the ghoul set upon her.

As an elf, the ghoul's paralyais inducing attacks were of no concern for her, but Zalligant Zelligant pretty much peed his pants and tried to run. Unfortunately for him, the heavy door, which had closed behind them, slowed his egress.

By the time he got the door open, Fjörgyn had slaughtered the ghoul handily, suffering only a minor wound in the process. She severed the head with a mighty stroke of her sword, sending black dust spurting from it, a plume of powdered ancient blood.

The head was stuffed into her pack as proof of her accomplishment and several chests around the room were her reward.

In one of the chests, she found a still beating human heart. Unsure of its value or meaning, she tossed it into her backpack, along with the head, just in case it had any value. The others contained gems and jewlery - enough to live comfortably for a time, or perhaps, purchase a horse to ride to Gorgoroth if she chose.

On their way out of the tomb, they encountered a gnome, one Rupert Winklebottom heading down the steps, but Fjörgyn warned him it was dangerous. He thanked her and out he went and on his way. 

****

the map

It was a short adventure of tropes for a new player to explore.

Seeing her concern over things experienced players would breeze past, was refreshing. It was rewarding to see the genre classics have their intended effect rather than the jaded "seen it, killed it" they often have on people who have been playing the game for a long time. She had a good time and we plan to continue playing, so I would call that a success.

*Gorgoroth is the base town in the open-table campaign I'm running at my FLGS.