The Ever Expanding Dungeon: Session 17

[We rejoin our party in the dungeon, where we left off last session. ]

Kroyden, having regained his sight, scouted ahead to an intersection to his right ,a door, to his left, a 10' passage to a four way intersection, which he scouted as well. There, he found steps up to the north, and doors to the East and South.

The party started with the first door, and although Perceval heard a drumming sound emanating from within, the room turned out to be empty. There were no visible exits, but Dleggit thought the North wall might connect to a previously explored hallway. Hi search proved fruitless and he was unable to find any such door. 

At the "East" door from the four-way intersection, Perceval again heard something within: this time, footsteps. Kroyden searched for traps and found none, nor was he able to pick the lock. [I really wonder why I bother doing this except that it's his job in the party, and he gets XP for trying.] 

Perceval again forced the door open. The party was greated with the the smell of rotting and five giant centipedes swarming about eating whatever it was. [Since I rolled giant centipedes, when i checked the Is the Monster in Here? table, I rolled at -2. I rolled a 2.]. 

Again the room appeared to be a dead-end, and so, Perceval, remembering the disease brought to the late Feldspar by the bite of a centipede, told the party to turn back. 

They approached the "South" door and this time heard nothing behind the door. 

While Kroyden searched for traps, Sister Linkat - who was covering the party's rear during listening/lock picking - spotted a war band of 8 kobold's coming around the corner.

They were not overly hostile, but they were confident as they approached [I rolled that they were on patrol], and they seemed to be without fear. The apparent leader of the group hollered something in Kobold.

Dleggit, gifted with knowledge of the language, translated for the party "They want to know if we've seen a giant snake, covered with thick armor plates moving through here. It was headed this way and they lost it when it went around a corner."

He replied they had not and an exchange began between the party and kobolds, with Dleggit acting as translator:

[The kobold speech content was generated by Rory's Story Cubes]

"You seem to be far from home. This place is full of traps and disease. It would be best if you leave, " said the leader.

Sister Linkat put down her mace, and stepped toward the kobolds with an open hand and had Dleggit tell them the party meant them no harm and that if they needed healing, if her god ordained, she could provide. 

[Rolled reaction - they were indifferent]

"This place is our home, and you seek only to invade it and take what is ours."

It's hard to argue with the truth, so Perceval offered them 10 gp as a sign of good faith,and promised that the party would avoid the kobold's lair, provided that the leader would tell them its location.

The leader hesitated and then accepted the offer. He indicated on the party's map the region they kobold's use for their lair [in game terms, this means my party won't be mapping that section at least while Perceval is alive]

Kroyden meanwhile had found no traps, and began to pick the lock. He succeeded, but his success was accompanied by a small explosion which sent shrapnel of the lock through his eye and into his brain. 

He was dead on the spot. [It figures that I finally roll well for the pick locks check, and he becomes the 18th victim of the dungeon]

After Kroyden's body was loaded on the mule, Perceval argued that the party should return to town, while Dleggit and [to my surprise] Sister Linkat argued that Kroyden was dead and that forcing their way in could be an act of revenge in his honor. Perceval was convinced.

[I used my group decision mechanics to play out the discussion.]

Perceval forced the door open - [I rolled the room contents: Monster. I then rolled up Dwarves, followed by a check on my Is the Monster in Here table with a 1. ] in an instant he saw two dwarves tending to an injured third [I rolled a 12  for their reaction - hostile,to say the least] and then those first two were charging him, weapons drawn.

The two dwarves attacked Perceval [they won initiative and I then checked to determine if they could see Dleggit, in hopes that would stave off the attack. But Mythic was adamant that they could not ,I rolled exceptional No. In fact they were in a blind rage and it wouldn't matter anyway].

The attacks were useless, and Perceval moved aside for Dleggit to join him at the front and shout that they meant the dwarves no harm.

It fell on deaf ears.

[the party won initiative  6 to 5]

Without an alternative, Perceval struck the dwarf nearest him, cleanly killing the dwarf in one blow. Dleggit landed a solid hit on his target, and though he did not kill him, the fight was over [dwarves failed morale].

"I am too tired for this" uttered the dwarf.

The party forced their way in and then Sister Linkat, as she had done for the kobolds, had Dleggit translate her offer for healing. The dwarves refused but she was not satisfied with that and finally they conceded. She healed both to full HP.

And a long discussion began thereafter where the party [and I] learned the following:

• The dwarves tunneled into this complex and don't live in the mountain/ridge but rather live down deeper.
• The mural the party (well, Perceval) saw early on was a celebration of the unveiliing of a new observatory on top of the mountain.
• The Dwarves are at war with the Goblins who lair in the dungeon.
• The Goblins are powerful - they have a Bugbear contingent, wolf riders and are actively negotiating with other humanoids in the dungeon, the Orcs in particular.
• The Goblins recently turned their attention to recruiting the Gnolls on the 1st level but so far it has not panned out.
• The Kobolds keep to themselves mostly and the Goblins do not consider them a threat.
• Some Gnomes have been exploring lately and that is sure to bring conflict with the Kobolds.
• The Dwarves don't consider the Kobolds a threat but if the Gnomes sue for an alliance it's quite likely they'd have to go to war against the Kobolds.

Before they leave, the dwarves teach the party a hand-signal that identifies them as a friend of the clan, in order to prevent future "accidents".

With no healing spells left and Kroyden dead, the party opted to abandon the dungeon for the day. They returned to town where they built a funeral pyre for Kroyden and wished him well in the After.

*****
Kroyden's death was disappointing. I thought for sure he'd make it to 2nd level. Oh well, such is life in the dungeon.

Perceval crossed over to 3rd level and Dleggit is within 27 XP of 2nd level.

The increased HP is a nice buffer - but I'm still looking to avoid combat encounters as much as possible. 

I was particularly happy to learn a bit about the factions in the dungeon. All of that was facilitated by asking Mythic questions and interpreting replies. This might help me build 9Q adventure sessions which follow a more story-oriented progress.

Recent Arrivals!

After a long day of staring at the screen all day, I start to get really excited when I hear the mail truck coming and I know I have packages on the way.

The book on the left arrived today, the one on the right arrived a few days ago:

The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough will accompany on an upcoming trip. I'm hoping to learn more about the period to inform my future GNW games.

The Player's Handbook is 1e, but the 2nd cover. I used to have the 1st cover and got rid of it a few years ago. I decided if I was going to reacquire those books, they had to have different covers.

Consequently, I also acquired the special edition re-issue Monster Manual, and I've got a 1st cover (efreeti) DMG on the way.

My First Hangout/roll20 Game

art by Carl Nash

I had a chance to play in my first virtual game tonight - a session of Labyrinth Lord in the legendary Stonehell.

The game is being run "by the book", but players are allowed to roll 3d6 per stat and rearrange. I decided to simply roll 3d6 in order.

The result was Zorkon, a 1st level Magic User. I also rolled my HP and got a 2. I'm OK with that. As a fan of DCC's funnel, I really enjoy the challenges the low HP brings to the game.

So, how was the game?

From the standpoint of being able to play an old-school game and dungeon while on baby monitor duty and with my cat in my lap, it was pretty awesome.

We had a lot of players - 7  - which is great for survival, but not so much for having opportunities to contribute, especially when Sleep is your spell and undead  are the primary creature in the section we opted to explore. Of course, I'm probably more than a little spoiled thanks to my solo games.

Still, I got to interact with an "oracle" and i hurled a dart over a dwarf's head to take down a damaged skeleton. And Zorkon made it out of the dungeon, got some gold, and earned 325 xp, so, I think I did OK with my resources.

I had fun and I'll definitely be back - it's a laid back group, and if I have to duck out because my son starts crying, the GM is cool with it. Since it's a drop in/drop out kind of game, I also don't have to worry about leaving anyone in a lurch if my schedule doesn't allow it in a given week.

The whole experience made me realize how much I want to run a dungeon crawl, and also how I'd like to try and play in a game on other nights too.

Oh, and one thing I noticed, playing solo has given me near perfect recall about most of the common rules and some of the uncommon ones. Just another way in which solo gaming can inform social gaming.

More Gunstorm!

Spacejacker clarified my rule question in the comments to my last post, so I wanted to play Gunstorm again. Plus, I wanted to start using the Stunts rules.

I grabbed a copy of In the Emperor's Name (ItEN) Campaign System and rolled up a mission: "No Stone Unturned"

My objective: 

The player must move at least one team member into contact with each marked doorway of each of the six objective buildings and remain in stationary contact for a whole turn in order to search the structure.

At the end of each search, roll 1d6. On a roll of 5-6, a piece of evidence is found that grants a victory point. Each building can only be searched once. On a roll of 1-3, deploy that number of enemy models just out of sight behind the nearest terrain piece or building to the building just searched. They will commence attacking in their next turn. Repeat until all buildings are searched.

There is a 10-turn limit on this scenario.

My force consisted of 5 figures, one had the Leader stunt and one had Medic (I'm slowly dipping my toe into the Stunt waters!). The enemy had 6 figures, no stunts.

Setup

My Intrepid Warriors

The Team moves out

Since there were no enemy deployed at the setup per the scenario, I drew phases as usual but ignored enemy results. The possibility existed each turn that I would draw Fortune before I drew Player Moves. If I drew Fortune, I still rolled to see who won the phase. If I lost, then my squad wouldn't move at all. In a turn-limit game that makes a big difference!

On turn 3 my force finishes searching the first building:

Which results in the first enemy on the table in Turn 4 (Enemy Shoots, Place on Table):

and they advance -Enemy Move (the scenario said "They will commence attacking in their next turn", which I took to mean they could still move):

and they win the Fortune phase and move again:

Turn 5, Player Move, I finish searching a 2nd building and a new enemy soldier appears on the board. Recognizing that I was half-way through my allotted turns, I opt to tap my Leader stunt.

I draw Fortune next and automatically win thanks to the Stunt. I choose Player Move to move into contact with another building on the left

Turn 6, while the 3rd and 4th buildings are being searched, the enemy moves up on the right and a brutal melee strikes up and lasts into Turn 7:

A shoot out on Turn 8 (Exchange Fire):

My leader is hit and fails his Guts Save. I pull a Wound marker! Phew!

He shoots one of the enemy and they aren't so lucky on their draw:

Meanwhile, on the left, my squad member is gunned down. There goes my Medic:

I draw Player Shoots to start turn 9 and my remaining squad member on the left fires at the enemy MG, and misses. Then I draw Exchange Fire:

Her number was up. 

Next, I pull Player Move. 

My squad leader, who had been freed up thanks to the death of a enemy bleeder, searches another building. I draw Fortune and finally win which allows me to un-tap my Leader stunt.

Turn 10, Player Moves: I tap my stunt but continue searching the building. 

Fortune is drawn next and I automatically win. My search of the building is complete. I roll and get a victory point. Finally! 

Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. I was out of turns, my entire squad was gone save the Leader and the enemy had figures on the board.

Still, in an ItEN campaign, that one point would be useful for recruiting my next squad. 

And, of course, now I have an itch to play an ItEN campaign with Gunstorm!

Playing Gunstorm Sci-Fi Skirmish and a Review

If you haven't heard/already seen it, Spacejacker has put up a set of solo small scale skirmish rules called Gunstorm, over on Tiny Solitary Soldiers. I believe they are technically still in Beta, but they are certainly playable.

It's been awhile since I broke out my 15mm sci-fi minis. This was the excuse I was waiting for.

For the first game, I sent a four-figure squad of Control Battalion against a 5 figure squad from the Resistance in a Extraction Scenario: both sides had the objective to get Master Shake off their side of the table.

The Control Battalion had fewer members because they had better armor. Both sides were led by a figure with a rating of Veteran, the rest were Regular. I did not use Stunts.

 The Setup

Between the number of times I drew Fortune, which were won by Control, and Move Enemy, Control moved unimpeded to within a move of Master Shake's HQ:

While my squad stood around scratching their butts:

"Hey, any of you catch the game last night?"

Then the momentum took a turn for the better:

We got there first!

Victory is mine!

Or not:

And it went down hill from there.

The pink stones are bleeders.

The last pic I took.

In the end, Control had Master Shake, and my squad was wiped out - mostly due to bleed outs.

I enjoyed the game enough that I decided to play a quick game today on a break (hence the less than evocative setup).

1 giant rampaging robot vs one squad

The squad started the game disembarked from their Labtec AFV. The robot is visible in the distance.

The phases went in my favor this time and we got up close fast before it had a chance to use its cannon:

I took a gamble upon winning a Fortune phase and moved out to get a combined shot at the robot (it had an 8+ armor rating and there was no way I would hit it without combining.) and crossed my fingers I wouldn't pull the Enemy Shoots phase next.

As luck would have it, I drew the Player Shoots phase and hit!

The robot rolled his Guts Save. He needed a 2 or higher:

Yeah! Take that Warmachine! I then drew the wound chip and drew a clear, which functions as the black wound markers since I don't have enough black stones, i.e. Out!

All in all a fun little system. I think the hardest part for me was figuring out what to use for phase chips and wound markers.

As I said, I think technically this is a Beta. There are some editing issues as of yet - primarily I couldn't find the base movement rate in v1.1 but I had downloaded v1.0 which showed it as 4", so that's what I used.

Also, there's no SMG on the ranged weapons table - not that it mattered in my games, and it's easy to extrapolate. Similarly, there are no vehicle rules, but again,extrapolating them shouldn't be difficult.

One rule I wasn't clear on was whether a model had to test for bleeding out if their side won the Fortune phase. The rules say: "Additionally, at the start of any of it's [sic] side's Phases, a model with Bleeder counters must make an unmodified Guts save for each counter."

 As I see it, neither the Fortune phase nor the Exchange Fire phase belong to either side, but that may not be the intent.

Much like FUBAR or USE ME, you can probably port these to just about any setting/genre.

The solo enemy control seems to work given the types of scenarios this is designed for: small numbers of figures with specific objectives engaged in gun fights.

In any case, they're free, so you can't beat the price. Download them and have a look if you haven't already!

The Ever Expanding Dungeon: Session 16, Part 2

The party made their way into Room 1. Lo those many days ago, a giant gecko had lived here, the last time  they passed through the room, it wasn't there.

[Is the gecko here – 50/50 Extreme no. No, but something else is:

1-2 giant spider
3-4 zombies
5 –6 giant centipedes


5,  giant centipedes. Roll on my Is the Monster in Here table: 5 No but, roll warning – incidental

Next giant centipede encounter roll on the Is Monster in Here at -2]

The party notices dark brown chitinous shells, the molting of giant bugs of some sort. It also appears the door to the stairs leading up has been repaired.

[That was a Mythic decision. Has the door been repaired 50/50 Mythic, 37, yes]

Kroyden checked the door for traps and failed to find any. Lucky for him, there wasn't one and in fact, the door opened easily. [ I used the method I detailed in this post]

Perceval forced the door open and the party moved up steps into a long room with no other visible doors.

[Roll for room contents using Basic Fantasy RPG stocking table: 55 – monster

Rolled gnomes, then checked Is the Monster in Here: 6, then 5. Next time gnomes encountered  -1 on roll on Is the Monster in Here table]

Scattered about the room are several casks, and the remains of a fire pit. Someone or something used this space.  While Kroyden searched the casks, Perceval examined the fire pit and Dleggit searched the south wall for a secret door. Sister Linkat guarded the steps.

[is there anything in the casks? 50/50, yes. Is there writing on the casks? 50/50 Mythic, no.]

The casks had a reddish purple residue on them and smelled of wine -there was no writing on the casks to give away where they came from. 

[Has the fire pit been used recently. Mythic, 50/50, exceptional no.]

Perceval notices  the ashes are cold and probably have been for days, if not weeks, judging by the rat tracks through the ashes.

Unfortunately Dleggit also came up empty handed on the search for a secret door, The party opted to try to find one as it seemed odd there was a stairway up to one small room, but it was for naught. Disappointed, they descended back to Room 1.

[Here there was some debate on where to go. An adjacent room has stairs up and stairs down.

I used the group decision making method again, and rolled that the the party agreed to continue the attempt to search the level above this one.

I then checked to see if the door to the room leading to the other stairs had been repaired:

Is door to 3 repaired? 1-3 yes 4-6 no, 5, no

This room also housed a room trap previously.

Has the trap been reset ? Since door not repaired, unlikely. Mythic: No

Is there anything new in here? 50/50 Yes. Roll on Basic Fantasy RPG stocking table: Monster

I rolled Bandits . 

Is the Monster in Here? 5, No, I then rolled Tracks,]

Although the room was empty it was clear someone had made their way through here since the party last visited. Muddy boot prints suggested that someone made a thorough search of this room

Perceval suggested they probably came in from the entrance near the old ogre cave. [Which only Sister Linkat was there for.]

Perceval examined the tracks while the others stood guard. 

[Can he determine the direction they exited? Roll a test vs Int (his int is 9, he rolls a 6) 

Can he tell the age? Test Int again, this time I roll a 4. Yes. Are they recent? Mythic. 50/50 Yes,] 

He discerns that they went up the steps and they were made within the last few days or so.

[Has the door to stairs repaired? 1-3 yes, 4-6 no. No.

Do they still want to go up knowing they might encounter someone else? Group decision time.

Sister Linkat – Down

Perceval – 50/50, yes

Dleggit – up

Kroyden 50/50 exceptional yes, up

The modified result of the check was a 49. Just barely a yes, but  they will go up.]

Sister Linkat conceded and the party prepared to go up – Perceval listened at the door and he hears something [I rule that the party can't be surprised if is something is there]. They prepared themselves for combat, Waldu lit a new torch.

They force the door open and advance up the steps to see a 4 way intersection ahead.

[Are the tracks visible up here?No.]

Perceval noticed that the tracks seemed to have disappeared.

The party opted to hang back, while Kroyden scouted the four directions and then let the party know what their options were.

Kroyden lit another torch and moved cautiously towards the intersection.

He found a set of steps going down [I decided that I needed to allow for more than 1 level traversing. So:

1-3 1 level

4 - 5 2 levels

6 - 3+ levels

On a 6 roll 1d6

1-3 3 levels

4-5 4 levels

6 - 5+ levels

On a 6, roll 1d6, etc.

I rolled a 4.]

and they seem to go way down, not just down to the next level.

He also finds a door down one branch of the intersection, while the other proceeds to yet another intersection.

The party chose the door – Kroyden  listened first, but didn't hear anything and then he checked for traps.

[ Check for traps  04, he found one if it's there!

Per my trap post door is locked  - 14, lock is trapped  - 03, type Physical - 32.

Disarm it – 100 (nope) He in fact, sets off the lock trap.

Use Rory Store Action Cube to determine specific trap – I roll a person with blindfold feeling a face and decide that means the trap is explosive flash powder – Save vs Death Ray or go blind for 1d4 turns. He  rolls a 4 for his save and  then a 3 on the 1d4. Blind for three turns!]

Suddenly, there was a popping sound and a bright flash. Kroyden fell backwards, swearing up  a storm. He was blinded. 

Sister Linkat does her best to calm him down He was furious with himself and told them to go in, after all, there might be something good in there given the trap.

Perceval smashed the door open [Roll on dungeon stocking table in Basic Fantasy RPG: Monster with treasure.

Is the Monster in Here? 6, No, 1 – waste. Rolled monster: carrion climber (sounds a lot like the carrion crawler if you ask me). I decide the floor is littered with bones, dung, and slime.

I roll 1000 gold in treasure. Is it all in coins? Mythic: unlikely No.

Rolled a Rory story cube got magic wand, since no magic item was indicated I decide it's an ornate scepter of gold and silver, and roll a 1d10, 8. It's worth 800gp.

200 more gp to go.

I then roll a Voyages cube and get Music notes. I decided it's a gold decorated harp worth 100gp.

With still 100 gp left, I roll another Voyages cube: laser pistol.  I interpreted that to mean it's a presentation longbow (no string) of a kind sometimes given away in tournaments, worth 100gp]

After rummaging around in the debris and rubbish, the party decided the harp was too unwieldy and left it behind. But the scepter and bow were loaded up onto the mule.

[I also decided that the other door in this room is unlocked and easy to open since the carrion crawler needs to be able to come and go from here. It may still be trapped, but Kroyden is still blind (2^nd turn of blindness) and can't check for them.]

Waiting here didn't seem like a good idea and the party moved back into the hallway.

[Unfortunately, it had grown very late and so, I did something I usually try to avoid: I left the characters in the middle of the dungeon. They aren't resting They are frozen in time until I can play again]

****
Hopefully the changes in tense in this post aren't too painful. I just copied and pasted my notes and edited them - the action I put in the past tense and the game mechanics in present, for the most part.

I'm very happy with how the Is Monster in Here? tables worked. I think they added interesting narrative possibilities and gave a feel not unlike playing with a GM. It made the environment more alive than it has been in most of my solo sessions. Continued use will determine whether or not they stand as is or if the need modification.

Oh, who am I kidding, continued use means I'll modify them!

The traps method seems to work but it also felt a little cumbersome. I may have to rethink it. 

I did like rolling to see what kind of trap, poison, physical or magic/other it was - it easily allowed me to move away from all poison all the time without feeling like I was munchkin-ing it. 

Using the Rory's Story Cubes: Actions made the specific trap generation extremely easy. It was just a matter of tying the image pictured to the damage type rolled.

The Ever Expanding Dungeon: Session 16, Part I

[Roll 1d6 on my Random Recruitment "for each game week" table - 4. No applicants arrive this week but I can roll again next game week.]. 

The party needed rest, so, waiting the first week out to see if any possible retainers showed up was a no-brainer. 

Near the end of the week, Sister Linkat (C:3) resumed her duties to the converts to the faith of the Hedonistic Lumberjack. The rest of the party lazed about, enjoying sleep, food and drink and getting to know the locals - they drank a lot with Perceval's (F:2) family and friends.

[New game week. Roll 1d6 on my Random Recruitment "for each game week" table - 6. Word reaches you that your advertising campaign isn't very enticing. Spend some more gold to try again]

The messengers the party had hired to post bills and spread the word returned to the village and reported that the recruitment campaign was getting a lukewarm response at best. The party decided to revise the message to one that promoted gold, treasure and adventure in a cozy work environment.

Another run to the local scribe and  hiring the same 3 messengers was an obvious choice but the party was getting anxious. Dleggit (D:1) loves the underground of course, and Kroyden (T:1), although he's been vague about it, has an obligation to fulfill that requires going to the dungeon. Still, they opted to wait for the new round of advertising to kick in.

[At this point, I decided to play GM a bit. Using the Enquiry Table v11, I asked the follow questions and generate the answer noted:

Has anything new moved into the dungeon? Yes, but it hasn't had any impact on the village

Have the goblins made nuisances of themselves? No and they aren't likely to

Have the gnolls reinforced their section of the dungeon? Yes, but this has raised tensions among the other humanoids – all humanoid reactions to dungeon invaders are +2, thus a greater chance of hostility 

New game week. Roll 1d6 on my Random Recruitment "for each game week" table -  5. No applicants but may check again next week

I was getting antsy now, never mind the PCs, so I polled the party using my method for group decision making in solo games (the Mythic level and result of a Mythic check appears next to their question:

Does Dleggit Want to go back in? Very likely. Yes.

Does Kroyden? Likely. Yes

Does Sister Linkat? Unlikely (she has things to attend to) but , yes, she supports the idea of making an attempt to explore one of the stairways

Does Perceval? 50/50 Yes, 44 (doubles means Random Event), close a thread: overindulge, the innocent. ]

Having partied with his friends and family and fellow adventurers for nearly 3 weeks,  Perceval thought it time to get back into the dungeon - the longer the wait, the more likely any gains made would be lost, if they hadn't been lost already. 

The party decided to go in and hoped that, in the meantime, word spread about the job openings.

  

After hiring Waldu (0-level human) again, the party spent the evening pouring over the map to determine which stairwell was closest to an entrance - to avoid having to traverse through potentially deadly areas of the dungeon.

In the morning, they made their way to the entrance where the first exploration began some 60 [game] days ago.

Some Thoughts on Encounters, Dungeon or Otherwise

"I rarely go into the office, but when I do, I spend my commute thinking about gaming."

Today it struck me that not every encounter I roll for ambulatory monsters has to be with the thing in its "normal"  form. It could be dead. It might just be some sign it's been there: tracks, waste, fur, blood, remains of a meal. It could be a warning that "Here Be Green Goblins"

Here's a quick set of tables I came up with while driving, and as such it remains untested:

Is the Monster in Here? Table 

Roll 1d6 on this table after a monster encounter is indicated in a room (could also work for wandering monsters)

<=1 - Yes and Roll Reaction, What It's Doing, etc. Per Your Rules

2-3 Yes, but Roll on Status Table

4-5 No, but Roll on Warnings Table

6 - No and roll on Signs Table

Roll on the following only when specified above:

Status Table

1 - 4 Alive, Roll Reaction, What It's Doing, etc. Per Your Rules

5 - 6 Dead/Destroyed (Roll 1d6, 1-4 Corpse is present and identifiable, 5 - 6 Gruesome Death!)

Warnings Table

The next time a monster of this type is encountered, roll on the Is Monster Here table with a -2 modifier

1  - Waste / Excrement / Bodily Fluids

2 - Literal sign: eg. "Beware of Doppelganger", a human skull on a spear with a sign in crude handwriting "No Trespassing" and signed "The Orcs", graffiti, note scrawled on the wall by former victim/prisoner, etc.

3 - Tracks - foot prints, signs of slithering in the dust, claw marks, slime trail, etc.

4 - Howl, growl, a shout, etc.

5 - half-eaten meal / prey

6 - Incidental- shed fur / skin / claws, fabric scrap, dropped item

Signs Table

I got lazy and decided Signs are like Warnings, but with less of a chance of encountering the creature the next time they occur as a result on the encounter table.

So, roll on the same table as Warnings, but modify the next roll for this creature on the Is Monster Here table with a -1.

Like I said, untested, but I don't foresee too many issues with it, and it should help generate some mystery and elicit some concern from the PCs about what's out there. It can be used for dungeon stocking ahead of time, or in real time, as I'll be using it, when playing solo.

Nuts! 2.0 Lunch Time Perimeter Defense

I've been playing Mission 1 from Nuts! 2.0 a lot. Like 10 or 20x in the past week. I find it surprisingly fun and challenging, which probably says more about my poor use of tactics than anything else.

Anyway, I wanted to do a somewhat bigger game and decided to try a mission, starting with just one squad on the table. I rolled up my American infantry squad and rolled perimeter defense. My objective: prevent the Germans from exiting off my board edge. Enemy Activity Level (EAL) of 4, Support level of 3.

For those unfamiliar with the THW method, the table is broken down into 9 sections, numbered Left to Right, Top to Bottom:

                                 1 2 3
                                 4 5 6
                                 7 8 9

The main terrain type was Woods, and all but section 3, 4, 8 and 9 were just that. 3 contained a building, as did 9. 4 contained a hill, while 8 was a wooded hill.

I started the game with my BAR team  in section 7 and my rifle team in section 9.

3 PEFs (possible enemy force) markers started out on the table in 2, 3 and 5. One resolved to nothing early on, and then the Germans got reinforcements: an entire section - 9 men that entered in section 3.

The 2nd PEF also resolved to nothing.

Feeling smug, I moved my BAR team from 7 to join  the rest of the squad in 9.

During this time we made contact with the German reinforcement section, which went in my favor. It was in the bag.

And then I resolved the final PEF:

Panzer IV!

That mess in the background is a portion of my hobby supplies.

 "Are you KIDDING ME?"

Lacking any anti-tank weapons other than satchel charges, and rolling some bad In Sight checks, led to the tank's co-ax MG taking out the corporal and forcing the 2 privates on the roof to take Man Down tests, which they failed miserably - they Hunkered Down with virtually no hope of being rallied.

Fast forward a smidge and the Sargent (Rep 5) and a Rifleman (Rep 4) who were hiding behind the stone wall, decided to go for Who Wants to Be a Hero? and passed their Wanting to Charge.

Over the Wall ...

For the curious: The thick book in the background is Dungeon Crawl Classics, on top of that is Basic Fantasy, and on top of that is the Nuts! 2.0 Rulebook.

In hindsight, that was a terrible idea. 

I should have had them sneak through the house and out the back - maybe taking the time to rally the guys on the roof and then get out of there. 

Instead, the tank crew passed the In Sight and opened fire again with the co-ax.

RAT A TAT A TAT A TAT A TAT!

With the expected results:

I called the game here as a German victory.

The Ever Expanding Dungeon: Session 15.5 : Administrative Duties

We've been having terrible connection to the Internet lately in the evenings. Which is probably why I find the following so funny: (possibly NSFW)

On Monday nights, Lady Shadowmoss plays the Dungeons and Dragons MMO, and it is also the night I most typically play my solo RPGs. However, the download speed was to the point that I finally gave up trying to access my Google Drive where I store my documents for The Ever Expanding Dungeon and opted to do some offline stuff instead.

I sketched out a map of the area around the dungeon, to help give me a sense of where the other villages are and from whom I can hope to recruit some retainers for my plan to assault the as-yet-to-be-explored section of the dungeon. This might be a bad idea, and I might instead choose to start exploring some of the stairs up and down, but should this method work, it would give my party a chance at penetrating the goblin lair on level A (level above what i call level 1) without the PCs having to advance another level or two before trying (it's been particularly difficult to get beyond Room 17).

Before anyone asks to see it, the sketch is an ugly little thing in a spiral bound notebook - I do a lot of brainstorming with pencil and paper still, despite access to 3 laptops and a desktop PC. I will eventually transfer it to Hexographer and then will post it up here.

I also scribbled a quick method to determine how many villagers might be available from each location, for hiring:

Random Recruitment: A method to generate the possibility of retainers

For each game week, roll 1d6:
1 - Roll to see if applicants arrive and check again next game week
2-3 - Roll to see if applicants arrive but no further checks can be made without posting another notice
4-5 - No applicants arrive but check again next game week
6 - Word reaches you that the your advertising campaign isn't very enticing. Spend some more gold and try again.

To see how many applicants arrive:

1. Roll 2d6 to determine how many possible retainers are in each village in which an ad* was placed (call this the Target Number).  Do this only 1x for each village. Do not repeat this step in successive weeks.
2. Roll 1d6. If the result is an odd number, in Step 3, roll the Target Number or less, an even result means roll the Target Number or more.
3. For each village with possible retainers available, do the following:
• Roll 2d6 - 1  If you meet the criteria from step 2 subtract the smaller number from the larger. The difference is the number of recruits who show up this week.
•  If your roll the Target Number exactly, then only 1 villager responds to your ad.
4. Reduce the Target Number for any village from which a possible retainer comes by the number generated in 3.

* "ad" here means posting notices, town criers, shills to talk up the opportunity, etc.

The hiring process is  run according to the rule book. In my case, that's Labyrinth Lord's section on hiring retainers - just because someone shows an interest doesn't mean they'll accept the PCs offer. Although with Kroyden's 18 CHR, there's a better than average chance.

It's nothing special, but it will work for me - it can easily applied to the base town as well. There probably should be some chance of a classed character replying, as well as the possibility that the number of possible retainers in a given village might increase/decrease over time on their own, but I'll hold off on that for now.

As for replacement PCs, well, they just show up, no matter how unlikely. Just like in many social games.

Finally, I completed formal character sheets for each of the PCs. I've been using notebook paper, with multiple characters per sheet (usually doing a new one each session), but after the error of copying the wrong weapon for Dleggit, I decided I needed a better method.

Fantasy Games Unlimited is Still in Business? Who knew?

Recently, for reasons I can't explain, I have been wanting to acquire a copy of Bushido (the version published by Fantasy Games Unlimited).

On eBay it fetches some wildly varying prices - particularly if you find a boxed set.

Imagine my surprise when I found that Fantasy Games Unlimited, publishers of Villains & Vigilantes (which I played a ton of as a kid), is still around, and they still publish the games that people on eBay claim are rare.

No, I didn't buy it yet - I've pretty much spent my hobby budget for April on The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough, some Army Painter brushes and some paint, plus I have a rule about buying things on impulse that I try to adhere to most of the time.

But it's definitely on my list. Given the praise I've seen heaped on it, despite what is proclaimed as a complicated system (mostly due to a poor layout), at just $18 it seems like quite a deal.