Showing posts with label searchers of the unknown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label searchers of the unknown. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Caverns of the Iron Raven Convent : A MythicGME and Five Room Dungeon Example

For the second attempt combining MythicGME with the Five Room Dungeon, I used the Searchers of the Unknown Rules.

Characters
Dario, Veteran of the Pits of Night P(AC 5, Mv 6, HD 1, Hp 4, #att 1,D 1d8 sword)
Lucio, the Vengeful Blacksmith (Ac 3, Mv 3, hd 1, hp 8 5, #att 1,D 1d10 battle axe)
Antonio, the Executioner of the Windswept Caves (Ac 6, Mv 9, hd 1, hp 5, #att 1, d 1d8 sword, 1d6 bow)
Paolo, the Tailor (Ac 9, Mv 12, hd 1/2, hp 3, #att 1, d 1d6 torch)

This example played out more like I imagined when I first fell upon the idea.

****
Scene 1 - the guardian, chaos 5

Set up: Following legends of a great treasure somewhere in the caves underneath the ruins of the Iron Raven Convent, the party wends their way up into the mountains, up the steep solitary road to reach the former holy site. After kicking around the rubble the party found a trap door into the cave system. Lighting a torch, they descended the narrow stairs into cool, damp caves. After 50' the party reached a landing and found themselves in a 30’ diameter circular cavern [roll event meaning and subject for contents Vengeance Misfortune] standing before a 10’ tall crystal statue of the Raven God himself (living statue).

Roll to see if scene stays as is: 3, altered scene

Altered scene: The statue is not a living statue, but there are no clear exists from the cavern.

To the party’s dismay, no passages extended from the cavern.

“There must be a secret door here somewhere, check the walls of the cavern!” ordered Lucio, the group’s de facto leader.

[Rolled level + 4 for each party member. Dario scores a success to find one, IF one is there. Is there a secret door in the wall of the cavern? 50/50 23, yes. ]

“Over here!” called Dario. He had found the seam around what was clearly a secret door.

[Is the mechanism for the door in the wall? 50/50, 03, exceptional yes. ]

Checking carefully, Dario noticed an odd shaped stone protruding just a bit more than it should have from the cavern wall. He pressed and pulled on it and, sure enough, the door slid back.

Scene 2 - Role playing or puzzle, Chaos 5

Set up: After advancing carefully down a twisting tunnel, the party emerged into a grand cavern. Rays of sunlight slipped through a grate high above their heads and danced on the surface of shallow pools - most likely rainwater that entered by the same means. [Gratify Mundane]. Another statue of the raven god, this time in obsidian with large dark red gems inset for its eyes, stood tall along the south wall. As the party moved into the cavern, it crowed“What gifts do you travelers seek?”

Does this setup keep?  9, yes.

Lucio piped up, “We seek the treasures of the Iron Raven Convent!”

[Use subject + meaning for dialog: excitement anger]

“Caw! Seek and you have found! But first you must make the proper offering!”

“And what is the proper offering?”

[Using MythicGME subject action: Attach goal]

“Caw! Write your goal upon parchment or ribbon and burn it in the brazier at my feet, offering a prayer to the Lord Raven!”

As only Paolo could write, the party had him scribe their goal of the treasure onto a scrap of parchment, and burned it per the statue’s instructions.

[Does the statue fulfill their wish? Very Unlikely 53. No]

The statue began to vibrate, which turned into full blown shake, rocking on its dais. Steam poured out from a vent upon which the dais sat, temporarily blinding the party. When it finished, a small wooden egg lay on the floor.

Lucio picked it up cautiously and opened it, inside on a strip of paper were the words

TRIUMPH ENVIRONMENT PROPOSE AMBUSH (generated with two rules on subject + action tables)

“Lousy circus trick” muttered Lucio.

Dario, however, thought there might be more to it.

Scene 3 - Red Herring Chaos = 5

[How to play this? Obviously, If I know it is a red herring, then it's not really a red herring. I decide to play out whatever scene results and THEN check to see if it's a red herring or not]

Setup : Ahead the passage forked, from the left a cool damp breeze blew, flickering their torches, to the right nothing but silence and darkness.

Play as is? 8 yes.

“My guess” said Antonio, is that the left will take us out of the caves. The wind is blowing in from outside.”

“Then we go right?” asked Lucio.

The party agreed.

Scene 4 - Red Herring or Big Battle, Chaos = 5

Setup: They couldn't be sure, but it felt more than once that the tunnel had sloped downwards several times. Indeed, the silence had grown more profound as they proceeded. 

After nearly an hour, and several discussions about turning back, the party found themselves before the mouth of a large cavern. Inside they crept, carefully, their eyes scanning everything within torchlight, hoping there was nothing beyond. The ground was soft red sand that gave slightly with each step. Littered about their feet they saw bits of bone here and there.

Finally, they came to a mountain of skulls piled some 20’ high. Within each skull opals, rubies, garnets, pearls and more filled the otherwise empty eye sockets. Suddenly, the pile rumbled, skulls sliding and tumbling to the sand below and climbing from within, a giant skeleton-like abomination with 6 arms with 2 swords and a spear, and the head of large bull. From no visible means, the beast let out an unholy cry, an obvious challenge to the party.

does this setup hold? 3, altered. is the skull pile an illusion?Exceptional yes.

Altered Setup: They couldn't be sure but it felt more than once that the tunnel had sloped downwards several times. Indeed, the silence had grown more profound as they proceeded.

After nearly an hour, and several discussions about turning back, the party found themselves before the mouth of a large cavern. Inside they crept, carefully, their eyes scanning everything within torchlight, hoping there was nothing beyond. The ground was soft red sand that gave slightly with each step. Littered about their feet they saw bits of bone here and there.

Finally, they came to a mountain of skulls piled some 20’ high. Within each skull opals, rubies, garnets, pearls and more filled the otherwise empty eye sockets. Suddenly, a blood curdling and unholy cry echoed throughout the cavern. To the party’s surprise, charging straight towards them, as if it materialized in front of the skull pile,came a giant skeleton-like abomination with 6 arms with 2 swords and a spear, and the head of large bull.

Check initiative
bone golem attack 1 : 9
bone golem attack 2: 10
bone golem attack 3: 7
Dario: 7
Antonio: 10
Lucio: 5  
Paolo: 13

Paolo took off running - bringing the torch with him Antonio chased after him.
The Golem attacked (1-2 Dario, 3-4 Antonio, 5-6 Lucio) Antonio as he turns to run - 19 Antonio ac is 6 + 8 for golem level, miss
The golem atttacked again - 1-3 dario 4-6 Lucio , Dario. 5+8 =13, roll 15, miss
Dario turned to run, but the golem got in its attack - 1-3 dario 4-6 lucio , lucio. 3+8 = 11, roll 17, miss
Lucio also takes off running too (he only moves 10since he's in plate)

Antonio and Paolo made it to the cavern’s exit, Dario is 10’ behind them and Lucio, 10’ behind him, is closest to golem.

Initiative:
Golem1 : 7
Golem2 : 10
Golem 3 : 7
Dario : 10
Antonio: 12
Lucio: 10
Paolo : 15

Paolo made it out of the cavern into the tunnel. The light of his torch now only barely lit the last 20’ of the cavern.  Antonio follows close behind

Lucio/Dario/Golem - 1-3 = Lucio 4-6 = Dario, 4. 5 + 8 = 13, roll = 15, miss. 

Dario just made it out of the cavern, but Lucio still had 10’ to go. and he has to run
passed the golem, which had passed him to attack Dario.

Golem attacks: 3+8 = 11, 15, miss. 1 hit!  spear 1d6, 3 HP damage

Initiative:
Golem 1 3
Golem 2 7
Golem 3 3
Dario 11
Lucio 9
Antonio 16
Paolo 12

Antonio ran to stop Paolo from running further. Dario almost caught them and Lucio made it into the tunnel.

Is the tunnel tall enough for the golem? Unlikely.  33. Yes. Random event, 83, ambiguous event, Adjourn A representative

The golem crashed after the party, but at the tunnel, clearly tall enough to allow it to enter, it stopped, pointed its spear at the party and unleashed a boot-quaking roar, before turning back into the cavern.

[due to the illusion, i decide that this was indeed the red herring, the other tunnel is the one we should have taken]

Scene 5: Big Battle Chaos = 6

Setup: Having returned to the fork in the tunnel, the party ventured towards the source of the breeze. The tunnel plunged them downward and then up and up until finally the found themselves approaching another cavern. 

In the opposite wall, a cave mouth revealed a bright sunlit sky. 12 sarcophagi adorned with the sign of the Iron Crow lay arranged in clock positions around a magic circle inscribed on the ground. The party quickly noted that two of the sarcophagi were open; two ghouls crept from the shadows.

setup stick? 4. No. Interupt. NPC action. Punish the Intellectual

Interrupted scene: Having returned to the fork in the tunnel, the party ventured towards the source of the breeze. The tunnel plunged them downward and then up - In their haste, they failed to detect a pressure plate which triggered a trap door beneath (1-dario 2 - lucio 3 antiono 4 - paolo, 5-6 reroll, 1) Dario; he fell to the bottom of a 10’deep pit. Fortunately, he suffered only minor injury (1HP)

Scene 6 - BIg Battle, Chaos = 7
[I decided to try the same setup again. is it in the spirit of the rules? i’m not sure. I decided I would take out the ghouls and I would try again. The possiblity still exists that the scene will be altered or interrupted, and in fact, it’s a greater chance, since the Chaos Factor increased.]

Setup: Having returned to the fork in the tunnel, the party ventures towards the source of the breeze. The tunnel plunges them downward and then up and up until finally the find themselves approaching another cavern. In the opposite wall, a cave mouth reveals sunlight and sky outside. 12 sarcophagi adorned with the sign of the Iron Raven arranged in clock positions around a magic circle inscribed on the ground. The party found that two of the sarcophagi were open.

Does it stick? 8. Yes!

The party moved carefully to the first open sarcophagus.

[Is anything inside? 50/50 02 exceptional yes.  is it a monster? 50/50 61 yes. I used the a d3 to determine how many hd the monster will have and get 3. I then rolled on the appropriate level table in the Labyrinth Lord rule book ]

As the party peered inside, they were met with the site of a skeleton, buried in what what appears to be wet stone.

[does the grey ooze strike? 1-3 yes, 4-6 no 1]

Without warning, a snake like mass of the stuff strikes out at the party.

Who is closest? 1-2 Dario 3-4 Lucio 5-6 Antonio 7-8 Paolo. 1 Dario.

The grey ooze smashed into Dario (for 15 points of damage.) The force crushed his rib cage and pierced his heart, he died instantly.

Initiative! grey ooze = 10
Lucio = 4
antonio = 11
paolo = 18


Paolo opted to fall back away from the strange creature while Antonio smashes at it with his sword. (1+1= 2 which is well less than the ac of 8). He hits (for 8 points) of damage but the abomination still lives.

it attacks = 1-3 Lucio 4-6 antonio 5, Antonio. Antonio has an ac of 6, the ooze needs 6 + 3 (its level), and gets a 10! miss!
Lucio brought down the power of his battle axe (2+1 is under the 8 needed but does 1 little point of damage); it barely noticed. 

Initiative: ooze = 11
antonio = 16
Lucio = 10

Antonio attacks again. (1+1! hits! again for 8!) The thing ceased movement and begins to immediately dry out and crackle into dust.

The party checked on Dario and realized he was done in. They built a funeral pyre for him, but first they couldn't help checking the other open box.

Is there anything inside? 50/50 20. yes.
is it a monster? 50/50. 90 no.


Inside the other chest, [is it treasure? 01 exceptional yes. is the treasure’s guardian nearby? 50/50 no] and the party finds a bounty inside: 700 sp, 30 gp, 1 gem, 3 pieces of jewlery . They estimate the gem is worth 10 gp, 1 jewlery is 600 gp, 1 jewlery at 800 gp, 1 is 400 gp. A nice haul albeit at the loss of their friend.

Greed set in and they couldn't let the others go unchecked.

Do they find anything else?50/50 78, no.

While Lucio and Antonio explored the mouth of the cave, Paolo began gathering materials for a funeral pyre, although not before helping himself to Dario’s sword.

Scene 7 Twist/Conclusion Chaos = 7

set up: As the flames burn their friend’s body, Lucio and Antonio peer out into the sunlight to find themselves high above a lush green valley surrounded on all sides mountains, with no obvious passage through. The glint of sunlight off a large gold dome atop a brilliant white structure captures their attention. They turn and tell Paolo to hurry with the ropes and spikes.

stay as is? 8. yes!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

The Manor #3 and a Solo Gamer's Thoughts

It's been some time since The Manor #2 arrived in my mailbox and I had grown quite antsy waiting for issue # 3.
The Manor #3, cover by The Happy Whisk

Zines, of course, aren't generally produced with any regularity or schedule - it's the rare one that ever sees a 2nd issue - I'm speaking here of the broader "zine scene" and not specifically the recent abundance (OK, that's maybe a stretch of the term) RPG related zines, which seem to at least hit issue 2 before they evaporate.

So, when Tim Shorts announced issue 3 was, in fact, ready, I immediately placed my order for a physical copy.

For those of you who prefer them, a PDF is also available on DriveThruRPG . The print option includes a coupon code for a free download.



But, please, spend the extra $1.00 and get the hard copy.

It's only my opinion, but as I see it, the physical nature of a zine is as important aesthetically as the content. I do not feel that way about most books or serials.

In any case, I think I placed the order Friday and I got the download code a short time after.  I didn't have any time to pick up the PDF before Tuesday, which is when the print copy arrived. On top of that, although I was able to give it a quick skim, I spent the bulk of my Tuesday evening helping Lady Shadowmoss make invitations for the bridal shower she is throwing for her friend.

As an aside, may I never have to see pink card stock again.

Last night, I had significantly more time to spend with The Manor #3. After a good read-through, I set about playing the included adventure. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

For your money, you get: an adventure for low-level characters, a fun NPC, two silly jokes that actually made me laugh out loud, a poem about black dragons and a new class for Blood & Treasure (although you can easily mod it for your preferred system).

For the most part, I'm going to talk about the adventure, but I do want to address something about the poem.

According to Tim's introduction, including poetry in his zine is controversial, but he made the decision to print it anyway (if you missed the umber hulk poem in issue 1, go get it). Zines are labors of love and since it's his zine, I think this was absolutely the right decision.

Besides, without it, there wouldn't be a reason to include the bad-ass dragon illustration.

I'll step off my soap-box now. (Admittedly it wasn't much of a rant, but I needed a segue.)

The majority of the issue is dedicated to an adventure entitled, "Mine of Rot & Disease."  It's stat-ed out for Swords & Wizardry, but I have been itching to give Searchers of the Unknown a try and opted to go that route.

And, of course, I ran it solo.

From a solo perspective, I would have liked to have had either the player facing info or the GM info highlighted in grey, as Tim did with issue #1's short adventure, "The Salt Pit" (see my review). However, the entries are consistently organized with player information first, immediately  followed by GM info. While it's not ideal, it's easy enough to work with.

Given the layout, I first thought I'd run the game as a GM and use Mythic for the players, but part-way through, I opted to use the general method of the SoloNexus 9Qs of "Be the Players" , "Be the GM" and alternate. To prevent the experience from becoming a writing exercise, and to keep it game-y, I used Mythic for decisions on both sides, with PC characteristics to aid in decision making for the PCs.

I'm not sure how it happened, but by the end, I was playing the PCs and Mythic was controlling the GM side of things. Apparently, that's my natural inclination.

The party may have been better off with Mythic!

They didn't get past the 2nd cavern in the mine before they had to abandon the mission and get a severely injured comrade back to the village. That was after facing 4 skeletons and 5 zombies. The former they overcame easily, but they fled from the latter, using burning oil to aid in their escape. On the way back they encountered and dispatched a lone zombie - a random encounter.

Tim notes the adventure is for total of 6-8 levels. I had 4 characters, three were 2nd level and one was 1st, for 7 levels total, and basically, they got nowhere. I suppose they could have left their fallen comrade and pressed onward, but their personalities, Mythic, and I all thought otherwise.

So, at first blush, at least, this adventure is a tough challenge for a small party, even if they meet the suggested level rating - better suited might be a larger party of primarily 1st level characters. As my PCs in my own solo game tend to die with clockwork regularity, this is quite acceptable and part of the fun - but I couldn't run this for Lady Shadowmoss, with her new school sensibilities.

Tim does suggest a cleric would be helpful, and with plenty of undead, it's probably a good idea for the party to have or hire one. SotU does not have clerics as a class in the original version - they tend to temples, they don't go off exploring - so, my party did not.

Looking ahead (since I am the GM too, after all, even if Mythic ultimately controls the NPCs), I see that there are two fairly significant foes to face. Here, the higher level characters will be at an advantage, provided they have the HP. I'll be surprised if my small party of mostly 2nd level PCs survives to the end, considering only 1 has double-digit HP.

They'll make a trip back in regardless, as Tim promises states there's a related adventure to follow.

My only complaint about the "Mine of Rot & Disease", is that on page 5, the first sentence of the section labeled "The People of Aberton" reads, "The following villagers are most capable," but, there are none listed!

The NPCs are, in fact, present in the PDF file.

Although I recalled reading that the PDF had extra pages for NPCs, I hadn't realized they were for the adventure. A simple note to see the PDF would help avoid any confusion.

You can't go wrong spending $3.50 on The Manor #3. Even if are a joyless curmudgeon that can't see the fun in dropping Pog Nog the goblin into your game or you think a haiku ode to the black dragon is nonsense, there's an adventure w/ map, new magic items, and ideas and inspiration galore throughout.