Feel free to join our growing open OSR @ LGG Facebook group here.
News of Conventions and Gamedays as well as pictures
from those I have attended and games I have played.
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Showing posts with label RPGs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RPGs. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Events & Play Wednesday - Second Sunday - The OSR @ LGG
We started a new Old School Gaming group at Lake Geneva Games. This new effort is kicking off Sunday, November 10th from Noon to 10 PM. If you're local, or not local but planning a trip to the area, perhaps try to make it on Second Sunday!
Feel free to join our growing open OSR @ LGG Facebook group here.
Feel free to join our growing open OSR @ LGG Facebook group here.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Throwback Thursday - Zero-Dumb Game
There's been a rash of discussion lately (it happens periodically) on the D&D legacy and I thought I would give my own perspective. I grew up in Northern IL and started wargaming in the early 1970s, adding D&D to the gaming mix when it was first published in 1974. The wargamers I knew and who taught me in those early days were often the guys from the local military bases who also made trips to Lake Geneva for the early Gen Cons and other wargaming. I didn't make it to a Gen Con until 1975. The folks I played with back in those days were always aware of Dave Arneson's contributions to D&D, as well as the the whole MN contingent, especially Dave Megarry whose Dungeon! boardgame gave so many of us many hours of fun gameplay. His game was a sort of shorthand for how to start designing dungeons for a homebrew and also helpful when trying to explain to non-gamers how D&D worked!
As near as I can tell, for me as an outsider (non-TSR, non-Industry-person) who gamed in the early days, it wasn't until the advent of the Internet when some reprobates started the pissing contests. That Dave Arneson had moved on from TSR was known by me and my friends but none of the details really from either "side." The recent articles on that site beginning with K are manufacturing more of the same false animosity that some early Internet trolls were fashioning out of ignorance and a need for attention.
The author of the Gygax legacy "hatchet piece" and the more recent TSR "rift" piece came to Lake Geneva and tried to interview a number of people prior to the first article and most wouldn't speak with her. It's my understanding Gary's widow was unaware this author seemingly had an agenda. When that writer contacted me (she contacted lots of locals who were formerly in TSR or who are in the current gaming scene), I told her to feel free to come by the game store (figuring she would anyway and I'd rather be aware she was there) but told her I wasn't interested in being recorded or interviewed, though I was happy to talk to her, since she said she was a gamer. It was very clear from the start she was asking leading questions and looking to find quotes and sound bites to further a predetermined narrative. She hung out around twenty minutes or so and our conversation led me to believe her gaming background was with console and video games rather than tabletop games, though she had a smattering of TTRPG knowledge. I was not looking forward to the article given my experience talking to the author. The second "rift" article just confirmed what we already knew from the first piece.
As far as I am concerned, the appreciation of the early games and their progenitors is not a zero sum game. There's plenty of credit to go around and there are plenty of reasons to celebrate everyone. Dave Megarry is a big part of Gary Con as I am sure Dave Arneson could or would be if he was still with us. Heck, I love the idea of a Arnecon in MN in late September or early October (his b-day being Oct 1st). Of course, in the meantime, running stuff by Dave Arneson and paying tribute to him during Gary Con isn't going to ruin anyone's day either. It's all good.
What I like to think of as The Fertile Crescent of RPGs
As near as I can tell, for me as an outsider (non-TSR, non-Industry-person) who gamed in the early days, it wasn't until the advent of the Internet when some reprobates started the pissing contests. That Dave Arneson had moved on from TSR was known by me and my friends but none of the details really from either "side." The recent articles on that site beginning with K are manufacturing more of the same false animosity that some early Internet trolls were fashioning out of ignorance and a need for attention.
The author of the Gygax legacy "hatchet piece" and the more recent TSR "rift" piece came to Lake Geneva and tried to interview a number of people prior to the first article and most wouldn't speak with her. It's my understanding Gary's widow was unaware this author seemingly had an agenda. When that writer contacted me (she contacted lots of locals who were formerly in TSR or who are in the current gaming scene), I told her to feel free to come by the game store (figuring she would anyway and I'd rather be aware she was there) but told her I wasn't interested in being recorded or interviewed, though I was happy to talk to her, since she said she was a gamer. It was very clear from the start she was asking leading questions and looking to find quotes and sound bites to further a predetermined narrative. She hung out around twenty minutes or so and our conversation led me to believe her gaming background was with console and video games rather than tabletop games, though she had a smattering of TTRPG knowledge. I was not looking forward to the article given my experience talking to the author. The second "rift" article just confirmed what we already knew from the first piece.
As far as I am concerned, the appreciation of the early games and their progenitors is not a zero sum game. There's plenty of credit to go around and there are plenty of reasons to celebrate everyone. Dave Megarry is a big part of Gary Con as I am sure Dave Arneson could or would be if he was still with us. Heck, I love the idea of a Arnecon in MN in late September or early October (his b-day being Oct 1st). Of course, in the meantime, running stuff by Dave Arneson and paying tribute to him during Gary Con isn't going to ruin anyone's day either. It's all good.
A look back at early tabletop hobby gaming
or gaming-adjacent topics of the past.
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Sunday, July 14, 2019
Grymwaldian Grinding
It has been a while since last updating curious onlookers with details of what has been transpiring in the 1E AD&D Grymwald campaign in Lake Geneva, WI. At first, it was to avoid spoilers for the players involved but we also skipped a couple of weeks after they finished off the bones of a couple of locations they had not quite stripped clean. As of last session, the group has moved on to a new area of the map, having leveled up (a couple of levels in some cases), but this just brings new dangers for them. There are still a handful of vile and unscrupulous personalities out in the world of which they are aware, and who are aware of them. I'm a big fan of making sure strong NPCs have their own agenda but also keeping in mind that those NPCs will be proactive about defending what that see as their own territory from PC threats. A group of adventurers can cut a deep swath of destruction and not everyone will be happy about that outcome.
In any event, the group now is attempting to tackle the first of a series of locations they had heard existed when they originally formed as a party. There is an arced line of tors on the Trackless Moors where, in ancient times, dwarfish builders had created safe havens approximately one day's travel from one another so that the moors could be more safely crossed from south the north, and vice versa. While some have speculated there might not be great wealth within them, others disagree. There might not have been good reason to horde wealth at these travel stops but they did need to be defended. The moors are a dangerous place even today despite civilization flourishing on all sides. In ancient times, it is suspected that the moors were the least dangerous path from the Hills of Dissent to the Great Mouth Bay and thus the route chosen for the building of the Dragon's Teeth.
When last we left off, the group was heading back to the third level of some crypts they were systematically clearing. Once there, they encountered a great many ghouls but developed a protocol, dealing with each new wave, doing their best to keep the undead at bay and dispatch each in turn. Sadly, when you do the same thing over and over, successfully but relying in part on chance, sooner or later the fates will intervene and after dealing with a great many undead via via their fighting formula the odds caught up with the group. Thusly, they were not in full health when they discovered a secret door which they hoped would lead them to great treasure. An unlucky attempt to remove a trap on the door's locking mechanism dropped the thief to a failed poison saving throw and forced the group to retreat once more to recover their strength and raise the thief. A couple of other adventurers also needed to be carried or assisted back to town for healing and recuperation, so this group took a fair beating before stepping back to reassess the situation.
Their next assault was thwarted now by two goblin leaders who had joined forces against the party: the oil-tossing goblin veteran met on level two and the goblin shaman who had been driven from the complex further north. Apparently, the shaman had come south and linked up with the veteran to form a deadly combination. Along the route the group was taking to get back down to the third level of the crypts, the devious goblins had laid an oil trap, which was sprung to cause serious damage to the group, then the goblins made their escape blocking off pursuit with a wall of ice strategically placed to cover the stairway down. No matter. Pursuit of the goblins would have been quite risky with a fair portion of the party so injured so once again they limped back to town, frustrated but determined.
After regrouping in Jalston to heal and resupply, they ventured back toward the crypt complex. They skirted the eastern edge, sticking to the road outside the moors and traveling down to a place they had used to ferry across the River Serpentine at the town of Fall Bridges. When they arrived, they discovered that some goblins had boldly crossed the river to destroy the boat they had used in the past to traverse the water. This did not please the group but rather than be dissuaded, they commandeered an alternate vessel, made the crossing, and picked up the trail of the goblin raiders. They tracked them over the moors and managed to catch up to the goblin warband before they could go to ground. The fight that ensued was decidedly one-sided. The enemy which had proved to be quite formidable in the confines of the tunnels of the crypts was caught out in the open and dispatched with great aplomb. The fire-wielding goblin was cut down with arrows as was his new-found shaman ally. The remaining goblins the two leaders had enlisted were even less of a threat and though a couple attempted to flee, they were wiped out to the last.
It's an interesting testament to the flexibility of the game system and the style of play first edition D&D engenders when used in combination with a sandbox setting. The group had an enemy leader escape earlier in the campaign only to have that enemy bolster the strength of a second enemy who might well have been easily dispatched under luckier circumstances. The combination of the two villains now working in tandem created several game sessions of more challenging encounters and, in fact, the villains were able to bring the fight to the adventurers. These weren't monsters that were going to be chased away and never seen again nor content to sit idly by in their pre-written lairs and await some adventurers to come and slay them. They adapted even as the players needed to adapt their own strategies to meet the evolving challenges faced when dealing with such villains. What could have been some underwhelming vanilla goblin fights became, in retrospect, a dynamic story arc in the lives of the player characters that could only unfold through game play. This is what I love about Old School D&D.
One more time the group ventured to the crypts with the intention of returning to the secret door and discovering what lay beyond. They were sure, based on all they had seen and divined, that this would be the big pay off. With little difficulty, they descended the three levels and dealt with a few ghouls before setting up outside the hidden portal, now revealed. They had come a long way to reach this moment, had experienced many setbacks, and had overcome great diversity. The lock was picked and the tomb beyond was as daunting as they had suspected. It was a round chamber with an alcove to the left and a single sarcophagus in the center of the domed space. There were symbols upon the lid that were similar to ones they had encountered on the first level, in a lesser tomb. The symbols had proved necessary in open a previous sarcophagus interring the remains of a follower of the goddess Nekrem. A particular phase of the moon was the only time it could be breached. Despite knowing that particular phase of the moon was several days away, they decided to proceed immediately, attempting to get in and get out before any other problems could arise. This would prove to be their undoing.
Entering the tomb had set off a number of wards and alarms, releasing a slab that then trapped several members of the party within the tomb, others caught outside desperately trying to move the slab and release their comrades. Inside, things quickly went from bad to worse with an unrelenting blood-colored ochre or ooze threatening to engulf the chamber from the dome downward at an increasingly rapid rate of speed. With two of the trapped adventurers atop the sarcophagus trying to decipher the symbols or discover a way to reverse the 'countdown,' Nydijan, the cleric of Darien, entered the alcove and found a panel which, once opened, revealed a hand-shaped depression on a half globe relief. With little hesitation, Nydijan placed his hand on the globe and proceeded to manipulate it clockwise and counter-clockwise as it pressed inward from time to time when various maneuvers seemed to make progress in this multi-part lock. The cleric worked swiftly and eventually managed to avert total disaster but not before the blood ochre had reached far enough down to infect him, the two atop the sarcophagus unharmed. When the ochre retreated, and the stone slab barrier lifted, the full party was reunited, but the lid was still unopened. Deciding now to await the proper moon phase, the adventurers moved up a level in the complex to a suitable resting place to camp for the night but by morning had an unsettling discovery. Apparently, over the course of the night, the infection to Nydijan had spread further up his arm and was in danger of completely overwhelming him in within days. So, too, his very soul seemed infected as well and he seemed to be possessed by a desire to switch from his own deity Darien to that of the evil Nekrem. Unable to convince him to return to the temple of Darien to seek help, they managed to subdue him and carry him forcibly back with all haste, arriving just in time to have the infection excised. There would be several weeks more of recovery but they had missed this phase and would need to wait for the next cycle to make another attempt on the sarcophagus anyway so they resigned themselves to remaining in Jalston and taking care of various other duties before returning to the crypts.
With the goblin threat now finally eliminated and knowledge of the crypt's primary tomb in hand (so to speak), the group returned to the crypts the following month only to discover a new and different obstacle. Their repeated retreats to town for healing and supplies from the temple of Darien had also attracted the attention of the priests in charge at the temple of Toeffer, the main religious organization in the kingdom of Jals. In the local hierarchy, the temple of Toeffer sometimes enlists the help of the smaller but more militaristic temple of Darien. The temple of Darien knows its place in this hierarchy and stays on the good side of their Toeffrun allies. However, the temple of Darien has its own irons in the fire and had been helping fund the PC adventuring party in order to gain more knowledge of the moors in hopes of one day exploiting whatever resources might be found there. While they weren't keeping any secrets from their allies, they weren't sharing everything they were discovering nor had they invited the temple of Toeffer to join in this venture. Well, it seems the temple of Toeffer decided to invite themselves to the party and when the adventurers returned this time to the hillock of the ruined tower above the crypts they found dozens of pilgrims and a handful of clerics performing a ritual on that site. When questioned, the Toefferites welcomed the party to join in the ritual but also blocked the way for the party from venturing within the crypts, for their own safety, of course. This presented a different type of dilemma for the group.
In the past, the politics of the kingdom had been something of which they were aware but never affected their plans or decisions. Now, ignoring the Toefferites or forcing their way past might jeopardize the party's standing with the temple of Darien or even cause the two religions to be at odds with one another. The temple of Darien had been increasingly supportive, providing supplies, healing, resurrections (at a price, admittedly, but discounted as well). When pulling Nydijan back from the brink of evil, he had recommitted to the temple and both Tertius and Sonoma had followed up this recent act by pledging their arms to Darien as well. The two fighters now were decked out in the regalia of the temple of Darien which afforded them certain privileges but also came with responsibilities. If the first time they rode out, as temple representatives, they sparked off a religious conflict, it might not be seen as putting their best foot forward. It should be mentioned that there was some debate within the party as to whether or not to ignore their fealty to the temple and simply try to explain things away later if necessary but cooler heads prevailed. In the end, the party moved off a bit and the druid and thief explored the possibility of entering via the previously blocked off rat tunnels. This they did and although the thief became grievously injured in the process, it did gain the group access to the tomb in time for the moon phase which allowed them, with their previously gained knowledge of the hand-lock, to open the sarcophagus and glean the treasures within. They then slipped away, leaving the Toefferites undisturbed, unaware of the fact that the party had essentially made off with any treasure to which they might hope to lay claim.
Although the group has played once more since the above events, it is definitely a new leg of the campaign so I will leave recounting it to a future missive. Much of the group is fourth or even fifth level in some cases. In the meantime, I will be bolstering up the details of the places they are now exploring, hoping to make it as fun and challenging as it has all been in the first half of 2019. Game on!
Photos in which the DM appears taken by "Scott Michael"
When last we left off, the group was heading back to the third level of some crypts they were systematically clearing. Once there, they encountered a great many ghouls but developed a protocol, dealing with each new wave, doing their best to keep the undead at bay and dispatch each in turn. Sadly, when you do the same thing over and over, successfully but relying in part on chance, sooner or later the fates will intervene and after dealing with a great many undead via via their fighting formula the odds caught up with the group. Thusly, they were not in full health when they discovered a secret door which they hoped would lead them to great treasure. An unlucky attempt to remove a trap on the door's locking mechanism dropped the thief to a failed poison saving throw and forced the group to retreat once more to recover their strength and raise the thief. A couple of other adventurers also needed to be carried or assisted back to town for healing and recuperation, so this group took a fair beating before stepping back to reassess the situation.
More of these have been added and / or painted since this photo
Their next assault was thwarted now by two goblin leaders who had joined forces against the party: the oil-tossing goblin veteran met on level two and the goblin shaman who had been driven from the complex further north. Apparently, the shaman had come south and linked up with the veteran to form a deadly combination. Along the route the group was taking to get back down to the third level of the crypts, the devious goblins had laid an oil trap, which was sprung to cause serious damage to the group, then the goblins made their escape blocking off pursuit with a wall of ice strategically placed to cover the stairway down. No matter. Pursuit of the goblins would have been quite risky with a fair portion of the party so injured so once again they limped back to town, frustrated but determined.
Alex keeps a journal of events for the party
After regrouping in Jalston to heal and resupply, they ventured back toward the crypt complex. They skirted the eastern edge, sticking to the road outside the moors and traveling down to a place they had used to ferry across the River Serpentine at the town of Fall Bridges. When they arrived, they discovered that some goblins had boldly crossed the river to destroy the boat they had used in the past to traverse the water. This did not please the group but rather than be dissuaded, they commandeered an alternate vessel, made the crossing, and picked up the trail of the goblin raiders. They tracked them over the moors and managed to catch up to the goblin warband before they could go to ground. The fight that ensued was decidedly one-sided. The enemy which had proved to be quite formidable in the confines of the tunnels of the crypts was caught out in the open and dispatched with great aplomb. The fire-wielding goblin was cut down with arrows as was his new-found shaman ally. The remaining goblins the two leaders had enlisted were even less of a threat and though a couple attempted to flee, they were wiped out to the last.
It's an interesting testament to the flexibility of the game system and the style of play first edition D&D engenders when used in combination with a sandbox setting. The group had an enemy leader escape earlier in the campaign only to have that enemy bolster the strength of a second enemy who might well have been easily dispatched under luckier circumstances. The combination of the two villains now working in tandem created several game sessions of more challenging encounters and, in fact, the villains were able to bring the fight to the adventurers. These weren't monsters that were going to be chased away and never seen again nor content to sit idly by in their pre-written lairs and await some adventurers to come and slay them. They adapted even as the players needed to adapt their own strategies to meet the evolving challenges faced when dealing with such villains. What could have been some underwhelming vanilla goblin fights became, in retrospect, a dynamic story arc in the lives of the player characters that could only unfold through game play. This is what I love about Old School D&D.
One more time the group ventured to the crypts with the intention of returning to the secret door and discovering what lay beyond. They were sure, based on all they had seen and divined, that this would be the big pay off. With little difficulty, they descended the three levels and dealt with a few ghouls before setting up outside the hidden portal, now revealed. They had come a long way to reach this moment, had experienced many setbacks, and had overcome great diversity. The lock was picked and the tomb beyond was as daunting as they had suspected. It was a round chamber with an alcove to the left and a single sarcophagus in the center of the domed space. There were symbols upon the lid that were similar to ones they had encountered on the first level, in a lesser tomb. The symbols had proved necessary in open a previous sarcophagus interring the remains of a follower of the goddess Nekrem. A particular phase of the moon was the only time it could be breached. Despite knowing that particular phase of the moon was several days away, they decided to proceed immediately, attempting to get in and get out before any other problems could arise. This would prove to be their undoing.
Entering the tomb had set off a number of wards and alarms, releasing a slab that then trapped several members of the party within the tomb, others caught outside desperately trying to move the slab and release their comrades. Inside, things quickly went from bad to worse with an unrelenting blood-colored ochre or ooze threatening to engulf the chamber from the dome downward at an increasingly rapid rate of speed. With two of the trapped adventurers atop the sarcophagus trying to decipher the symbols or discover a way to reverse the 'countdown,' Nydijan, the cleric of Darien, entered the alcove and found a panel which, once opened, revealed a hand-shaped depression on a half globe relief. With little hesitation, Nydijan placed his hand on the globe and proceeded to manipulate it clockwise and counter-clockwise as it pressed inward from time to time when various maneuvers seemed to make progress in this multi-part lock. The cleric worked swiftly and eventually managed to avert total disaster but not before the blood ochre had reached far enough down to infect him, the two atop the sarcophagus unharmed. When the ochre retreated, and the stone slab barrier lifted, the full party was reunited, but the lid was still unopened. Deciding now to await the proper moon phase, the adventurers moved up a level in the complex to a suitable resting place to camp for the night but by morning had an unsettling discovery. Apparently, over the course of the night, the infection to Nydijan had spread further up his arm and was in danger of completely overwhelming him in within days. So, too, his very soul seemed infected as well and he seemed to be possessed by a desire to switch from his own deity Darien to that of the evil Nekrem. Unable to convince him to return to the temple of Darien to seek help, they managed to subdue him and carry him forcibly back with all haste, arriving just in time to have the infection excised. There would be several weeks more of recovery but they had missed this phase and would need to wait for the next cycle to make another attempt on the sarcophagus anyway so they resigned themselves to remaining in Jalston and taking care of various other duties before returning to the crypts.
With the goblin threat now finally eliminated and knowledge of the crypt's primary tomb in hand (so to speak), the group returned to the crypts the following month only to discover a new and different obstacle. Their repeated retreats to town for healing and supplies from the temple of Darien had also attracted the attention of the priests in charge at the temple of Toeffer, the main religious organization in the kingdom of Jals. In the local hierarchy, the temple of Toeffer sometimes enlists the help of the smaller but more militaristic temple of Darien. The temple of Darien knows its place in this hierarchy and stays on the good side of their Toeffrun allies. However, the temple of Darien has its own irons in the fire and had been helping fund the PC adventuring party in order to gain more knowledge of the moors in hopes of one day exploiting whatever resources might be found there. While they weren't keeping any secrets from their allies, they weren't sharing everything they were discovering nor had they invited the temple of Toeffer to join in this venture. Well, it seems the temple of Toeffer decided to invite themselves to the party and when the adventurers returned this time to the hillock of the ruined tower above the crypts they found dozens of pilgrims and a handful of clerics performing a ritual on that site. When questioned, the Toefferites welcomed the party to join in the ritual but also blocked the way for the party from venturing within the crypts, for their own safety, of course. This presented a different type of dilemma for the group.
In the past, the politics of the kingdom had been something of which they were aware but never affected their plans or decisions. Now, ignoring the Toefferites or forcing their way past might jeopardize the party's standing with the temple of Darien or even cause the two religions to be at odds with one another. The temple of Darien had been increasingly supportive, providing supplies, healing, resurrections (at a price, admittedly, but discounted as well). When pulling Nydijan back from the brink of evil, he had recommitted to the temple and both Tertius and Sonoma had followed up this recent act by pledging their arms to Darien as well. The two fighters now were decked out in the regalia of the temple of Darien which afforded them certain privileges but also came with responsibilities. If the first time they rode out, as temple representatives, they sparked off a religious conflict, it might not be seen as putting their best foot forward. It should be mentioned that there was some debate within the party as to whether or not to ignore their fealty to the temple and simply try to explain things away later if necessary but cooler heads prevailed. In the end, the party moved off a bit and the druid and thief explored the possibility of entering via the previously blocked off rat tunnels. This they did and although the thief became grievously injured in the process, it did gain the group access to the tomb in time for the moon phase which allowed them, with their previously gained knowledge of the hand-lock, to open the sarcophagus and glean the treasures within. They then slipped away, leaving the Toefferites undisturbed, unaware of the fact that the party had essentially made off with any treasure to which they might hope to lay claim.
Although the group has played once more since the above events, it is definitely a new leg of the campaign so I will leave recounting it to a future missive. Much of the group is fourth or even fifth level in some cases. In the meantime, I will be bolstering up the details of the places they are now exploring, hoping to make it as fun and challenging as it has all been in the first half of 2019. Game on!
Thursday, July 11, 2019
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Events & Play Wednesday - Con of the Lakes 2019
The second annual Con of the Lakes, a small fundraising gaming convention based in Twin Lakes, WI, and hosted at the American Legion Post #544 with room for 125 gamers, took place last Saturday, June 22nd, 2019. This year it included wargaming, boardgaming, and RPGs. The 2019 convention successfully raised funds for Women's and Childrens Horizons in Kenosha, WI. It's a wonderful, one-day event run by family and friends and featuring some of the finest game designers and game masters like Nancy Hutchins and Tom Wham.
News of Conventions and Gamedays as well as pictures
from those I have attended and games I have played.
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Sunday, May 26, 2019
Deep in the Grind in Grymvald
There was some concern from the players that they had been under-leveled to delve into Marak Tor and some even felt that the Deaddrop Goblin complex presented a low chance for survival. I can't argue with that and every group, and player, can have their own opinion about the difficulty level of any adventure or campaign. There have been a fair number of deaths. And I'm not a kid gloves kind of game master anymore than I am an iron fist in velvet glove type. I allow players to make choices and tell them the consequences. I don't allow trial balloons (i.e. "IF I do [this], what will happen?") but I make sure to answer exploratory questions regarding details that can help inform choices. There's no such thing as a true sandbox, as I've stated in the past, since there is no infinite sandbox, but I like to think that on the sliding scale between railroad and sandbox my own campaigns are pretty far over to the latter. So, what's the point?
Well, after listening to my players concerns about what they seemingly believed to be a high rate of new character generation, shall we say, I decided to give them a location where they could simply throw themselves in for a few weeks or month and grind up some monsters into a fine EXP powder, along with the requisite coinage and magic items for treasure. But please recall in my last campaign report I wrote, "This newly discovered ruin, while not directly tied to the Dragon's Teeth, seemed like something the group should be better equipped to tackle without too great a risk to life and limb, something the group had begun to learn was worth consideration. Early losses in the numbers of the group had been slowing down their overall progress and they felt a more incremental approach to adventuring might be prudent. There were only a handful of founding group members (and a number of players had worked through several characters). They understood that what they would find at this new ruin would be an underground goblins' lair and rats' nest, and so it has proved thus far."
So a couple of weeks of exploring this new ruin found them dealing mostly with goblins on the first level but also with a few other creatures, animalistic in nature. There were a couple of hobgoblins but these were a cake walk. They also had to deal with a small crypt section which, while it presented some serious difficulties, was eventually overcome through clever game play and force of arms. Then they started feeling their oats and delved deeper, working their way around the second level, clearing out more goblins, hobgoblins, some fire beetles, and a bit more, only to eventually run up against one of the surliest, veteran goblins ever. This fella was in no mood to charge in with a nasty goblin knife, opting instead to throw a flask of oil during a surprise round . . . then won initiative and tossed a couple more. Needless to say, the group which had been doing so well grinding out encounters and had, indeed, found some success in leveling along the way, were burnt in half with six party members severely crispified, three to zero or below, one even so far under you'd have thought Thanos snapped him out of the game. It was devastating. But the party regrouped, cut off a continued assault by the goblin vet, gathered up their fallen, and retreated from the complex, then proceeded with great speed to the one place they thought they could get enough healing to make a difference.
In the kingdom's capitol, they hooked up with a temple they'd previously utilized and traded off a major magic item to secure a Raise Dead spell, to bring back the one party member who was beyond the pale. They even had enough value from the item to bank two additional Raise Dead spells for future instances, should they be required. The rest of the party needed some time in civilization to recover from dropping below zero but the healing of them was within the means of the party. It was a tough set back but there were no permanent party member deaths, so it should be chalked up as a semi-success. The group has reached a point where death is an obstacle but not insurmountable. The grind has afforded them the option of pressing their luck without the risks being impossible to take.
Their set backs seemed to fuel the group's resolve and they remounted an assault. This time they approached by a less deadly route, opting to travel some distance through civilized lands and come at the complex from across a river, saving themselves from many wandering monster checks. Always a plus. They dove in, having previously mapped a good deal of the first and second levels, and utilized their wand of enemy detection to triangulate the whereabouts of potential threats then eradicate them with surgical precision. While they were unable to locate the surly, fire-wielding goblin vet, nor the goblin shaman from the Deaddrop caves who had eluded them (and who they were sure had traveled to this location), they cleared out many goblins and hobgoblins, as well as other creatures quite successfully. They also garnered a good sum of coins and gems, as well as some useful items.
Sadly for the group, you can only fight so many goblins before you experience what Portwert the Moneychanger calls a diminished rate of return. At some point, the going is going to get tougher, and the rough-and-tumblers are either going to have to get going or get gone back to civilization to lay down their arms. Adventuring is not a pretty business. New challenges await the group as they are poised to explore the third level of the complex. They are aware it is a more extensive crypt and that the undead are going to abound in great numbers. They've seen what can happen to large parties of adventurers who get spread out and don't watch their six, nor their three, nor their nine. They know they can't get the dead raised if no one is left to transport the bodies to the raisers. While they might be less worried about a single death, or even two, they now have to be concerned about the risk of a Total Party Kill. Not that I am rooting against them, of course, but sometimes the dice aren't in anyone's control. And a sandbox is no sandbox if it doesn't let the dice fall where they may . . .
Well, after listening to my players concerns about what they seemingly believed to be a high rate of new character generation, shall we say, I decided to give them a location where they could simply throw themselves in for a few weeks or month and grind up some monsters into a fine EXP powder, along with the requisite coinage and magic items for treasure. But please recall in my last campaign report I wrote, "This newly discovered ruin, while not directly tied to the Dragon's Teeth, seemed like something the group should be better equipped to tackle without too great a risk to life and limb, something the group had begun to learn was worth consideration. Early losses in the numbers of the group had been slowing down their overall progress and they felt a more incremental approach to adventuring might be prudent. There were only a handful of founding group members (and a number of players had worked through several characters). They understood that what they would find at this new ruin would be an underground goblins' lair and rats' nest, and so it has proved thus far."
A bit shorthanded but not daunted!
So a couple of weeks of exploring this new ruin found them dealing mostly with goblins on the first level but also with a few other creatures, animalistic in nature. There were a couple of hobgoblins but these were a cake walk. They also had to deal with a small crypt section which, while it presented some serious difficulties, was eventually overcome through clever game play and force of arms. Then they started feeling their oats and delved deeper, working their way around the second level, clearing out more goblins, hobgoblins, some fire beetles, and a bit more, only to eventually run up against one of the surliest, veteran goblins ever. This fella was in no mood to charge in with a nasty goblin knife, opting instead to throw a flask of oil during a surprise round . . . then won initiative and tossed a couple more. Needless to say, the group which had been doing so well grinding out encounters and had, indeed, found some success in leveling along the way, were burnt in half with six party members severely crispified, three to zero or below, one even so far under you'd have thought Thanos snapped him out of the game. It was devastating. But the party regrouped, cut off a continued assault by the goblin vet, gathered up their fallen, and retreated from the complex, then proceeded with great speed to the one place they thought they could get enough healing to make a difference.
In the kingdom's capitol, they hooked up with a temple they'd previously utilized and traded off a major magic item to secure a Raise Dead spell, to bring back the one party member who was beyond the pale. They even had enough value from the item to bank two additional Raise Dead spells for future instances, should they be required. The rest of the party needed some time in civilization to recover from dropping below zero but the healing of them was within the means of the party. It was a tough set back but there were no permanent party member deaths, so it should be chalked up as a semi-success. The group has reached a point where death is an obstacle but not insurmountable. The grind has afforded them the option of pressing their luck without the risks being impossible to take.
Photo by "Scott Michael"
Their set backs seemed to fuel the group's resolve and they remounted an assault. This time they approached by a less deadly route, opting to travel some distance through civilized lands and come at the complex from across a river, saving themselves from many wandering monster checks. Always a plus. They dove in, having previously mapped a good deal of the first and second levels, and utilized their wand of enemy detection to triangulate the whereabouts of potential threats then eradicate them with surgical precision. While they were unable to locate the surly, fire-wielding goblin vet, nor the goblin shaman from the Deaddrop caves who had eluded them (and who they were sure had traveled to this location), they cleared out many goblins and hobgoblins, as well as other creatures quite successfully. They also garnered a good sum of coins and gems, as well as some useful items.
Sadly for the group, you can only fight so many goblins before you experience what Portwert the Moneychanger calls a diminished rate of return. At some point, the going is going to get tougher, and the rough-and-tumblers are either going to have to get going or get gone back to civilization to lay down their arms. Adventuring is not a pretty business. New challenges await the group as they are poised to explore the third level of the complex. They are aware it is a more extensive crypt and that the undead are going to abound in great numbers. They've seen what can happen to large parties of adventurers who get spread out and don't watch their six, nor their three, nor their nine. They know they can't get the dead raised if no one is left to transport the bodies to the raisers. While they might be less worried about a single death, or even two, they now have to be concerned about the risk of a Total Party Kill. Not that I am rooting against them, of course, but sometimes the dice aren't in anyone's control. And a sandbox is no sandbox if it doesn't let the dice fall where they may . . .
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Damsels, Dice, and Everything Nice
They've dropped episode two of Damsels, Dice, and Everything Nice! In case you haven't watched it yet, here's episodes one and two . . .
Damsels, Dice, and Everything Nice: A Royal Roleplaying Adventure (Episode 1)
Damsels, Dice, and Everything Nice: Episode 2- The Party Gathers
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Mopping Up,Getting their Due, & Tracking Down in 1E AD&D Grymvald
The Lake Geneva 1E AD&D crew gathered a few weeks ago with but one missing member to unfreeze time after the big cultist temple battle from two weeks prior. They still had the Witch of Dour Haven to locate and bring to justice. Plus, there surely must be some treasure to be had. And, of course, there must be experience to tally and some sweet, sweet leveling to be done.
The light of two huge braziers on the riser at the far end of the temple highlighted the carnage. The bodies of almost a dozen heavily armed and armored cultists lay mangled on the floor along with two comatose party members. There were two archways leading out of the temple, one to the north and one to the south. They suspected the witch had cast a spell during the proceeding combat and that she had done so from the southern archway because now, a few feet down the hallway beyond the archway, a membrane of green slime blocked further progress.
This was a more cautious foray into the complex at Marak Tor than many of the previous trips, but also one that was meant to be thorough. They wanted to be able to say they had cleared the place and have it as a potential HQ for future expeditions deeper onto the Trackless Moors. Once they had removed the slime-obstacle, they were able to ensure both the southern room and northern room were free from opponents. This left the question of where the Witch of Dour Haven had fled. The room was outfitted as a sleeping quarters for the witch, alone. Some treasure was found as well as signs that others treasures had been here but were now gone. A quick reconnoiter by the Half-Elves revealed a secret door to a supply room where food stocks and other provisions were stored for the witch and her closer bodyguards. After some additional searching, yet another secret door was found to a lower chamber where a standing stone was kept, as well as a great deal of coinage). It obviously had been brought here from elsewhere, as evidenced by the damage to it and the manner in which it had been propped up on an unlike pedestal. The runes upon it were some form of ancient Dwarven language so they figured a way to transport it out of the structure (and eventually back to town in a double-locked box). A later search of the same areas, mostly to retrieve coinage they were not able to carry on the first trip, revealed an additional hideyhole containing a wand of enemy detection.
After regaining civilization, the group spent some time converting their treasures into more directly useful items for the various party members, some healing potions were distributed, as well as cure scrolls and a few other spell scrolls. Armor and weapons were acquired through trade or purchase to try and optimize everyone who might be in the line of fire. A fair bit of time was spent seeking sage advice on the standing stone / obelisk, what it might be meant to represent or possibly do. The group had sussed out that it might be used as a portal but were not clear on how. A first attempt to discover its secrets from a wizardly mentor was only minorly helpful, though he did direct the group toward a more knowledgeable information source in the form of the Temple of Darien, the Guardian, a military-religious order in the kingdom's capital, Jalston, with which the party had previously had dealings. In fact, Nydijan the (Human) cleric, one of the original party members (and still kicking) is of that order of Darien, though the temple in Jalston has a mostly Dwarven membership. This, of course, worked out well for the adventurers because they were able to discover that the portal-stone was not usable without some sort of accompanying headwear, that it was connected to the Dragon's Teeth (a series of tors-cum-towers spanning the Trackless Moors), and the stone was probably what the witch used to escape. All this being likely, arrangements were made to cover the stone in molten gold, encasing it in such a way that no one could come to it from elsewhere, or so it is surmised by the temple sages. They also left it in the temple vaults for safe keeping.
Mind you, the above took place over a couple of game sessions and yet a third has transpired since. Although the witch had escaped, she was no longer considered an imminent threat and chasing her straight away in the unknown seemed like suicide. The group opted, rather, with the help of a map and some information from a mining camp scout, to check out a ruins south of the Deadrop Goblin caves where that threat may have originally emanated. This was also confirmed by their ally, the mist dragon that had been freed by the group from the Deaddrop Goblin caves. The mist dragon, Vaporex, came up to them in a fog bank, making the party a bit nervous as to what might be approaching, but thanks to the newly found wand of enemy detection they group managed not to jeopardize their friendship by plugging the dragon full of arrows. This newly discovered ruin, while not directly tied to the Dragon's Teeth, seemed like something the group should be better equipped to tackle without too great a risk to life and limb, something the group had begun to learn was worth consideration. Early losses in the numbers of the group had been slowing down their overall progress and they felt a more incremental approach to adventuring might be prudent. There were only a handful of founding group members (and a number of players had worked through several characters). They understood that what they would find at this new ruin would be an underground goblins' lair and rats' nest, and so it has proved thus far.
The group scouted the hillock upon which mere remnants of a crumbled ruin sat, discovered a spiral staircase from it to below, but also found a cave entrance down the side of the hill. Some goblins were dealt with outside of the complex, including several caught unawares while gambling by the top of the stairwell. The cave entrance was determined to be primarily used by disease-ridden rats, so they torched and blocked it as best they could then made use of the spiral stair to descend within. Inside they had several tense battles with goblins, mostly, but also a few hobgoblins, and a trained ferret in the keeping of the goblins. Though they did not discover the location of the goblin spellcaster from the Deaddrop caves, they did find some treasure as well as a stairway leading even deeper underground and that's about where the group has left off. With more to explore, they plan to hone their skills as a well-oiled machine to become a more competent strike force for these dangerous journeys in hopes of someday going on more legendary adventures!
The light of two huge braziers on the riser at the far end of the temple highlighted the carnage. The bodies of almost a dozen heavily armed and armored cultists lay mangled on the floor along with two comatose party members. There were two archways leading out of the temple, one to the north and one to the south. They suspected the witch had cast a spell during the proceeding combat and that she had done so from the southern archway because now, a few feet down the hallway beyond the archway, a membrane of green slime blocked further progress.
Photo by "Scott Michael"
Why is the DM hiding, one might ask . . .
This was a more cautious foray into the complex at Marak Tor than many of the previous trips, but also one that was meant to be thorough. They wanted to be able to say they had cleared the place and have it as a potential HQ for future expeditions deeper onto the Trackless Moors. Once they had removed the slime-obstacle, they were able to ensure both the southern room and northern room were free from opponents. This left the question of where the Witch of Dour Haven had fled. The room was outfitted as a sleeping quarters for the witch, alone. Some treasure was found as well as signs that others treasures had been here but were now gone. A quick reconnoiter by the Half-Elves revealed a secret door to a supply room where food stocks and other provisions were stored for the witch and her closer bodyguards. After some additional searching, yet another secret door was found to a lower chamber where a standing stone was kept, as well as a great deal of coinage). It obviously had been brought here from elsewhere, as evidenced by the damage to it and the manner in which it had been propped up on an unlike pedestal. The runes upon it were some form of ancient Dwarven language so they figured a way to transport it out of the structure (and eventually back to town in a double-locked box). A later search of the same areas, mostly to retrieve coinage they were not able to carry on the first trip, revealed an additional hideyhole containing a wand of enemy detection.
After regaining civilization, the group spent some time converting their treasures into more directly useful items for the various party members, some healing potions were distributed, as well as cure scrolls and a few other spell scrolls. Armor and weapons were acquired through trade or purchase to try and optimize everyone who might be in the line of fire. A fair bit of time was spent seeking sage advice on the standing stone / obelisk, what it might be meant to represent or possibly do. The group had sussed out that it might be used as a portal but were not clear on how. A first attempt to discover its secrets from a wizardly mentor was only minorly helpful, though he did direct the group toward a more knowledgeable information source in the form of the Temple of Darien, the Guardian, a military-religious order in the kingdom's capital, Jalston, with which the party had previously had dealings. In fact, Nydijan the (Human) cleric, one of the original party members (and still kicking) is of that order of Darien, though the temple in Jalston has a mostly Dwarven membership. This, of course, worked out well for the adventurers because they were able to discover that the portal-stone was not usable without some sort of accompanying headwear, that it was connected to the Dragon's Teeth (a series of tors-cum-towers spanning the Trackless Moors), and the stone was probably what the witch used to escape. All this being likely, arrangements were made to cover the stone in molten gold, encasing it in such a way that no one could come to it from elsewhere, or so it is surmised by the temple sages. They also left it in the temple vaults for safe keeping.
Mind you, the above took place over a couple of game sessions and yet a third has transpired since. Although the witch had escaped, she was no longer considered an imminent threat and chasing her straight away in the unknown seemed like suicide. The group opted, rather, with the help of a map and some information from a mining camp scout, to check out a ruins south of the Deadrop Goblin caves where that threat may have originally emanated. This was also confirmed by their ally, the mist dragon that had been freed by the group from the Deaddrop Goblin caves. The mist dragon, Vaporex, came up to them in a fog bank, making the party a bit nervous as to what might be approaching, but thanks to the newly found wand of enemy detection they group managed not to jeopardize their friendship by plugging the dragon full of arrows. This newly discovered ruin, while not directly tied to the Dragon's Teeth, seemed like something the group should be better equipped to tackle without too great a risk to life and limb, something the group had begun to learn was worth consideration. Early losses in the numbers of the group had been slowing down their overall progress and they felt a more incremental approach to adventuring might be prudent. There were only a handful of founding group members (and a number of players had worked through several characters). They understood that what they would find at this new ruin would be an underground goblins' lair and rats' nest, and so it has proved thus far.
The group scouted the hillock upon which mere remnants of a crumbled ruin sat, discovered a spiral staircase from it to below, but also found a cave entrance down the side of the hill. Some goblins were dealt with outside of the complex, including several caught unawares while gambling by the top of the stairwell. The cave entrance was determined to be primarily used by disease-ridden rats, so they torched and blocked it as best they could then made use of the spiral stair to descend within. Inside they had several tense battles with goblins, mostly, but also a few hobgoblins, and a trained ferret in the keeping of the goblins. Though they did not discover the location of the goblin spellcaster from the Deaddrop caves, they did find some treasure as well as a stairway leading even deeper underground and that's about where the group has left off. With more to explore, they plan to hone their skills as a well-oiled machine to become a more competent strike force for these dangerous journeys in hopes of someday going on more legendary adventures!
Saturday, April 13, 2019
No Denying It in the Grymvald 1E AD&D Campaign
Well, the group was left frozen in time the previous session as they needed to decide if making a strategic retreat and leveling up outweighed whatever advantage they might have from surprising the cultists of Marak Tor. They had carefully approached, caught a few unaware and dispatched them, but at least one had gotten away after noting some arrow fire and a cleverly laid trap. If they charged in immediately, though with some party members not in attendance, they might gain some advantage early on but they also knew the numbers were heavily against them. In the end, as their first act after restarting the clock this time around, they headed back to civilization to resupply, gather more of the group (ten players this week!), level up, and report what new information they gained.
But they would not be denied and returned to Marak Tor stronger than ever. This proved to be a wise move because although the cultists knew they were returning, and set up an ambush and a further choke point, the adventurers withstood what was thrown at them and cleared their way down to the main temple, defeating nine more cultists along with ten of the personal bodyguards of the Witch of Dour Haven. Though she had a hand in the battle, heating up the armor of one of the top fighters and adding green slime obstacles in the group's path, the temple defenses were not strong enough to keep the party from a victory. Now with the temple secured, what lies behind the scenes needs to be discovered, the witch needs to be located, and whatever else might be awaiting the brave adventurers must be faced. I wish them well . . .
But they would not be denied and returned to Marak Tor stronger than ever. This proved to be a wise move because although the cultists knew they were returning, and set up an ambush and a further choke point, the adventurers withstood what was thrown at them and cleared their way down to the main temple, defeating nine more cultists along with ten of the personal bodyguards of the Witch of Dour Haven. Though she had a hand in the battle, heating up the armor of one of the top fighters and adding green slime obstacles in the group's path, the temple defenses were not strong enough to keep the party from a victory. Now with the temple secured, what lies behind the scenes needs to be discovered, the witch needs to be located, and whatever else might be awaiting the brave adventurers must be faced. I wish them well . . .
Thursday, April 4, 2019
Systematic Assault on Marak Tor
The largest group we've had in a while for the 1E AD&D game in the Grymvald setting with eight players in attendance, one still on vacation but a new face in the mix. Welcome to Jesse!
Last session, the party finished their side trek to the Caves of the Deaddrop Clan. The goblins had recently secured a long-abandoned hidden Dwarven outpost to use as weapons manufacturing facility and general HQ for other tribes wishing to raid the settlements along the northern causeway. The adventurers nipped the goblin plans in the bud and gained some undiscovered Dwarven treasure for their efforts, though not without some losses and injuries. Details of the battles, and tough consequences, came in my previous campaign blog posts but I should mention magic armor and weapons were garnered and some leveling took place.
This latest session, however, saw a considerably more systematic approach to the site of their original adventuring, Marak Tor. The cultists seemed fairly entrenched but many of the obstacles to dealing with them had been cleared away or figured out. They had a fairly good idea of what they would be facing and did their best to avoid incidental injury along the way toward their goal. They had some fun removing a nasty slop bucket trap, then resetting it elsewhere with the addition of some flasks of oil, which was tripped to good effect, taking out a couple of cultists (a third dying to bad luck). They also managed to lead an owlbear and her two chicks-cubs (the players dubbed them "chubs") to the tor and upon a couple of other cultists, one of which was a goner. Unfortunately, they had underestimated the population below. After finally venturing back within, they chanced to discover a previously unknown secret door which revealed a larger temple complex than formerly reckoned and considerably more cultists than expected; dozens more!
The group reconsidered but with the evening winding down we chose to freeze time before they moved off and gave the cultists a chance to regroup or reinforce. It's a tough call. They are seemingly outgunned but know the complex much better than they did when they first came upon it seven or eight games ago. The rewards could be great but the danger is undeniably tougher than they can hope to overcome without some serious losses. I do not envy them their decision . . .
Last session, the party finished their side trek to the Caves of the Deaddrop Clan. The goblins had recently secured a long-abandoned hidden Dwarven outpost to use as weapons manufacturing facility and general HQ for other tribes wishing to raid the settlements along the northern causeway. The adventurers nipped the goblin plans in the bud and gained some undiscovered Dwarven treasure for their efforts, though not without some losses and injuries. Details of the battles, and tough consequences, came in my previous campaign blog posts but I should mention magic armor and weapons were garnered and some leveling took place.
This latest session, however, saw a considerably more systematic approach to the site of their original adventuring, Marak Tor. The cultists seemed fairly entrenched but many of the obstacles to dealing with them had been cleared away or figured out. They had a fairly good idea of what they would be facing and did their best to avoid incidental injury along the way toward their goal. They had some fun removing a nasty slop bucket trap, then resetting it elsewhere with the addition of some flasks of oil, which was tripped to good effect, taking out a couple of cultists (a third dying to bad luck). They also managed to lead an owlbear and her two chicks-cubs (the players dubbed them "chubs") to the tor and upon a couple of other cultists, one of which was a goner. Unfortunately, they had underestimated the population below. After finally venturing back within, they chanced to discover a previously unknown secret door which revealed a larger temple complex than formerly reckoned and considerably more cultists than expected; dozens more!
Photo by Scott Michael!
The group reconsidered but with the evening winding down we chose to freeze time before they moved off and gave the cultists a chance to regroup or reinforce. It's a tough call. They are seemingly outgunned but know the complex much better than they did when they first came upon it seven or eight games ago. The rewards could be great but the danger is undeniably tougher than they can hope to overcome without some serious losses. I do not envy them their decision . . .
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Just Rewards
Ever have a group stop just short of a goal? My 1E AD&D in Grymvald game was like that and I did something I rarely do, for the sake of the game. It really wasn't too much of a DMing faux pas, and I've got plenty enough reason to have made it happen for the good of us all, and that includes anyone following along with this narrative from outside the game. Let me make my case.
I spent the end of last year planning to run a 1E campaign in 2019, talked it up, and advertised the fact locally and around the social media channels. I Shared it on Facebook in multiple 1E and Old School groups and finally had the interest of nearly a dozen potential players, totally intending to run a large group, and figuring if a few don't make it any given week due to scheduling conflicts, we're still good to go and will be playing most weeks. Perhaps due to some conflict of my own, we'd miss a week once every month or two. I like it when a campaign keeps a certain pace. I like running games that get into those juicy mid-levels (5 to 9, I feel) fairly quickly. For me, this is the sweet spot for 1E AD&D gameplay.
Imagine my frustration, then as a DM and fan of the gamers at my table, when we start the campaign early in January, generating two characters each (one as a backup), only to follow that up with four weeks of having to cancel due to weather! Can't be helped but already 2019 seems to have it in for us. Of the dozen interested players, two didn't follow up and two more had scheduling issues crop up before we even got started, so we began the campaign with eight players who had characters but didn't get to play them in earnest until a month later. When we did get going, I was surprised when the group ignored lesser ways to garner early experience in favor of diving into the most dangerous mission they could find. Really, I hadn't expected such an ambitious crew but, "More power to em," I thought. If they really gel as a group right away, I'm all for it.
Turns out, if you put a half dozen or more people in a room who all have vast individual experience but scant relationship with one another, there's going to be some time required for the group to become cohesive. Convention and gameday one-shot sessions aside, campaign game groups do generally fire on all cylinders from the start. What followed was five or six weeks of players working out the kinks in their collective playing style while their characters were punching above their weight in a meat grinder relative to the level of the party. The warning signs were there for them, and on multiple occasions they commented they might be in over their heads, but it didn't stop them from trying, and losing quite a few party members along the way. There were victories, to be sure, but the low survival rate meant the players were gaining setting knowledge and institutional memory without the individual characters advancing substantially.
Eventually, the group took a step back and determined they needed to tackle some more manageable missions before remounting an expedition into the initial site of their early adventures. They discovered a lesser location and, with the group down a couple of players due to scheduled vacations, scouted and assaulted this alternate location quite successfully, to a point. It was great for me, again, as a fan and audience member, to see them work together more effectively. Unfortunately, even as they were overcoming diversity and obstacles, they were also missing out on the rewards nearby. They pushed themselves in such a way that they had done most of the hard work and would likely need to retreat right before crossing the finish line in the latest race they had chosen to run. This is where some intervention on my part sort of broke one of my own rules regarding letting the chips fall where they may. If they cleared most of the adversaries from a complex but left the treasures undiscovered nearby, in a 1E AD&D game that means garnering only a fraction of the experience points they had worked so hard to earn. I dropped some encouragement into the mix at this point to be sure they'd reap the benefits and then also discouraged pushing things so far that they'd squander those gains.
Now, some might think this a betrayal of the very DMing style I profess, the one I've cultivated for four and a half decades, while others might feel it is more important to put the success of the gaming group ahead of the purity of a sandbox game. I, as usual, fall somewhere in the middle. It's like the age old DMing question, "Is a secret door truly secret if a DM is going to ensure it is discovered?" There's probably no right answer or, at least, no universally correct truth to any answer one might give. In most campaigns I have run over the years, if the clues are there and the players miss them, so be it. Many treasures have been left in the hidden compartments of chests and under the floorboards and flagstones because the dice were not kind on a given day. Ultimately, though, all I did was help define the options and let the players decide what they should do, perhaps with a bit of emphasis on the downsides of not choosing one over another. I might have nudged this game, if not the campaign, a little further away from a true sandbox but I think it was the right call. Only time will tell and I look forward to finding out.
I spent the end of last year planning to run a 1E campaign in 2019, talked it up, and advertised the fact locally and around the social media channels. I Shared it on Facebook in multiple 1E and Old School groups and finally had the interest of nearly a dozen potential players, totally intending to run a large group, and figuring if a few don't make it any given week due to scheduling conflicts, we're still good to go and will be playing most weeks. Perhaps due to some conflict of my own, we'd miss a week once every month or two. I like it when a campaign keeps a certain pace. I like running games that get into those juicy mid-levels (5 to 9, I feel) fairly quickly. For me, this is the sweet spot for 1E AD&D gameplay.
Modified Dyson Logo map
Cartography by Dyson Logos is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Mind you, I'm primarily a sandbox kind of DM. There's a spectrum between railroad and sandbox, IMO, a sort of sliding scale, on which all games fall with no game being at either extreme and every game having at least some of both aspects. The dice ensure some randomness and the fact that we know we're playing a game guarantees it's at least somewhat of a contrivance. My point being, at my table there's going to be more randomness than predetermined narrative. What the players decide to do dictates what happens. The DM has no story, in my games, and the narrative is a retrospectively derived from gameplay. There are story elements all over the setting but the players' actions guide how they come into play. As a DM, I'm part of an audience of one who doesn't know everything that will happen but has a fairly good grasp of the potential story about to unfold due to dramatic irony.Cartography by Dyson Logos is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Imagine my frustration, then as a DM and fan of the gamers at my table, when we start the campaign early in January, generating two characters each (one as a backup), only to follow that up with four weeks of having to cancel due to weather! Can't be helped but already 2019 seems to have it in for us. Of the dozen interested players, two didn't follow up and two more had scheduling issues crop up before we even got started, so we began the campaign with eight players who had characters but didn't get to play them in earnest until a month later. When we did get going, I was surprised when the group ignored lesser ways to garner early experience in favor of diving into the most dangerous mission they could find. Really, I hadn't expected such an ambitious crew but, "More power to em," I thought. If they really gel as a group right away, I'm all for it.
Turns out, if you put a half dozen or more people in a room who all have vast individual experience but scant relationship with one another, there's going to be some time required for the group to become cohesive. Convention and gameday one-shot sessions aside, campaign game groups do generally fire on all cylinders from the start. What followed was five or six weeks of players working out the kinks in their collective playing style while their characters were punching above their weight in a meat grinder relative to the level of the party. The warning signs were there for them, and on multiple occasions they commented they might be in over their heads, but it didn't stop them from trying, and losing quite a few party members along the way. There were victories, to be sure, but the low survival rate meant the players were gaining setting knowledge and institutional memory without the individual characters advancing substantially.
Modified Dyson Logo map
Cartography by Dyson Logos is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Cartography by Dyson Logos is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Eventually, the group took a step back and determined they needed to tackle some more manageable missions before remounting an expedition into the initial site of their early adventures. They discovered a lesser location and, with the group down a couple of players due to scheduled vacations, scouted and assaulted this alternate location quite successfully, to a point. It was great for me, again, as a fan and audience member, to see them work together more effectively. Unfortunately, even as they were overcoming diversity and obstacles, they were also missing out on the rewards nearby. They pushed themselves in such a way that they had done most of the hard work and would likely need to retreat right before crossing the finish line in the latest race they had chosen to run. This is where some intervention on my part sort of broke one of my own rules regarding letting the chips fall where they may. If they cleared most of the adversaries from a complex but left the treasures undiscovered nearby, in a 1E AD&D game that means garnering only a fraction of the experience points they had worked so hard to earn. I dropped some encouragement into the mix at this point to be sure they'd reap the benefits and then also discouraged pushing things so far that they'd squander those gains.
Now, some might think this a betrayal of the very DMing style I profess, the one I've cultivated for four and a half decades, while others might feel it is more important to put the success of the gaming group ahead of the purity of a sandbox game. I, as usual, fall somewhere in the middle. It's like the age old DMing question, "Is a secret door truly secret if a DM is going to ensure it is discovered?" There's probably no right answer or, at least, no universally correct truth to any answer one might give. In most campaigns I have run over the years, if the clues are there and the players miss them, so be it. Many treasures have been left in the hidden compartments of chests and under the floorboards and flagstones because the dice were not kind on a given day. Ultimately, though, all I did was help define the options and let the players decide what they should do, perhaps with a bit of emphasis on the downsides of not choosing one over another. I might have nudged this game, if not the campaign, a little further away from a true sandbox but I think it was the right call. Only time will tell and I look forward to finding out.
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Gotta Get Some Goblins
My 1E AD&D Grymvald group was down to five last session due to a couple of vacations and a last minute work situation. Even at full strength, they had been having some difficulty at Marak Tor (lost three PCs last time). So, the group opted to look for a somewhat less deadly endeavor. Fortunately, a map secreted in the hidden compartment of a previously discovered scroll case showed the location of a cave complex which they determined was further to the east of Marak Tor by about another day's travel. This information was gleaned from Slanch who even knew there to be goblins in that area. After some discussion, the group decided to guide Count Ulrich, Penelophe, and Slanch back to the mining camp, to resupply while there, then strike out again for adventure, this time to the newly discovered complex.
The adventurers made sure to travel by day, utilizing the bunker at Marak Tor as a secure way station halfway to the cave complex. After an uneventful night in the bunker, they continued across the moors toward where they suspected the location to be. It took some wandering but once in the area they were able to locate this new tor by following a stream which grew wider as they got within sight of it. Staying a mile off, they set a cold camp and watches, hunkering down for the night. They did some minimal scouting but waited until the next day to make a careful approach, sticking to the scrub and copses of trees to get close enough to spy the cave entrance. Sure enough, there were goblins seemingly guarding the entryway. The ranger and half-elf made some effort in searching along the western face of the tor, keeping out of sight of the cave mouth, for any hidden entrances but found nothing. They regrouped further back and decided to circumnavigate the tor to look for additional points of entry. Suspicious of possible patrols, they kept well away, perhaps a quarter mile, and surprised a lone goblin to the south of the complex, taking him unaware and quickly securing him to make sure no alarm was raised.
The goblin seemed to have little information but, when threatened, revealed there were a couple dozen or more goblins in the complex and that it definitely did not have an entrance on the far side, near the waterfall. Definitely not. Although they suspected a trap, the southern entrance afforded no way to get close unseen, so they backed further away, traveled back west, crossed the river at a ford they had previously discovered, then made there way around to the east side of the tor. Creeping closer along the river toward the waterfall, they sighted about half a dozen goblins outside another cave mouth near the falls. Being late in the day, and with the tor at their backs casting shade, the goblins were outside the cave. A couple of plans were discussed but waiting until morning meant the waterfall cave entrance would be bathed in morning sunlight and the adventurers would be unlikely to find the goblins out of doors, so they rushed the entrance and slew them in short order, preventing one of their number from retreating to let his clan know an attack was in progress. Although they kept their captive on a lead, he had also tried to warn his clanmates of the attack so they dispatched him, rather than risk further treachery. His cries outside were drowned out by the crashing water but if they had taken him inside with them, it might have proved their undoing.
They entered the complex to find a long cavern stretching inward with a fire pit and bramble nests on which the off-duty guards must sleep during the day. They had caught them during the dusk change-of-shift, so no others were slumbering here. The cavern had a dogleg turn at the far end which ended in a door, the size and construction of which suggested the complex was originally of Dwarven design. Fortunately, and a key found on one of the goblins allowed them to open the door but another small skirmish quickly ensued. They took out three more goblins just beyond the door, and another working in a crude armory nearby, before running into some more serious resistance. Rounding a turn in a wide hallway, they proceeded along and discovered what might have been stone coffins in a pair of alcoves. Suddenly, two large ballista bolts shot out of the darkness at the far end but missed the party members, shattering a weapons rack behind them. The group charged forward as their lantern light revealed two ballista with goblin crews and a hobgoblin barking orders to them. As they got closer, the half elf had been carrying a bucket partially filled with water to use in sussing out traps but now flung it over the group to try and disrupt the ballista fire. This proved serendipitous since, although it fell short, it uncovered a pit between the party and their assailants. Feeling they'd be sitting ducks on the near side of the pit if they stayed out in the open, most of the group immediately made use of the cover provided by the nearest alcove. However, the fleet-footed half-elf decided instead to leap across the pit and try and take out the enemy rather then become pinned down in an alcove and risk reinforcements surrounding them. The half-elf, with Sophie the guard dog following closely, sprang across the pit only to come up short and drop twenty feet below, falling unconscious and slowly bleeding out.
Sophie, the guard dog, however, made the jump successfully and began tearing into the ranks of the goblins, taking out one of the crew members, while another fell to an arrow from the adventurers. A series of good and bad fortune followed in which Sophie managed to live through the decidedly quick battle, taking out quite a few of the enemy, the rest succumbing to missile fire. Sadly, between damage from ballista bolts and additional failed attempts to leap across the pit, during rescue efforts on the half-elf, more party members went down. They managed to bring the fallen around but used up all of their healing spells and potions in the process. They then had to retreat from the complex, though not before dropping the ballista into the pit, rendering them harmless should the party return this way again. It could have been a lot worse but needing to retreat might mean the goblins are better prepared if or when the adventurers return.
Modified Dyson Logo map
Cartography by Dyson Logos is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Cartography by Dyson Logos is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The adventurers made sure to travel by day, utilizing the bunker at Marak Tor as a secure way station halfway to the cave complex. After an uneventful night in the bunker, they continued across the moors toward where they suspected the location to be. It took some wandering but once in the area they were able to locate this new tor by following a stream which grew wider as they got within sight of it. Staying a mile off, they set a cold camp and watches, hunkering down for the night. They did some minimal scouting but waited until the next day to make a careful approach, sticking to the scrub and copses of trees to get close enough to spy the cave entrance. Sure enough, there were goblins seemingly guarding the entryway. The ranger and half-elf made some effort in searching along the western face of the tor, keeping out of sight of the cave mouth, for any hidden entrances but found nothing. They regrouped further back and decided to circumnavigate the tor to look for additional points of entry. Suspicious of possible patrols, they kept well away, perhaps a quarter mile, and surprised a lone goblin to the south of the complex, taking him unaware and quickly securing him to make sure no alarm was raised.
Artwork by Eric Quigley
The goblin seemed to have little information but, when threatened, revealed there were a couple dozen or more goblins in the complex and that it definitely did not have an entrance on the far side, near the waterfall. Definitely not. Although they suspected a trap, the southern entrance afforded no way to get close unseen, so they backed further away, traveled back west, crossed the river at a ford they had previously discovered, then made there way around to the east side of the tor. Creeping closer along the river toward the waterfall, they sighted about half a dozen goblins outside another cave mouth near the falls. Being late in the day, and with the tor at their backs casting shade, the goblins were outside the cave. A couple of plans were discussed but waiting until morning meant the waterfall cave entrance would be bathed in morning sunlight and the adventurers would be unlikely to find the goblins out of doors, so they rushed the entrance and slew them in short order, preventing one of their number from retreating to let his clan know an attack was in progress. Although they kept their captive on a lead, he had also tried to warn his clanmates of the attack so they dispatched him, rather than risk further treachery. His cries outside were drowned out by the crashing water but if they had taken him inside with them, it might have proved their undoing.
They entered the complex to find a long cavern stretching inward with a fire pit and bramble nests on which the off-duty guards must sleep during the day. They had caught them during the dusk change-of-shift, so no others were slumbering here. The cavern had a dogleg turn at the far end which ended in a door, the size and construction of which suggested the complex was originally of Dwarven design. Fortunately, and a key found on one of the goblins allowed them to open the door but another small skirmish quickly ensued. They took out three more goblins just beyond the door, and another working in a crude armory nearby, before running into some more serious resistance. Rounding a turn in a wide hallway, they proceeded along and discovered what might have been stone coffins in a pair of alcoves. Suddenly, two large ballista bolts shot out of the darkness at the far end but missed the party members, shattering a weapons rack behind them. The group charged forward as their lantern light revealed two ballista with goblin crews and a hobgoblin barking orders to them. As they got closer, the half elf had been carrying a bucket partially filled with water to use in sussing out traps but now flung it over the group to try and disrupt the ballista fire. This proved serendipitous since, although it fell short, it uncovered a pit between the party and their assailants. Feeling they'd be sitting ducks on the near side of the pit if they stayed out in the open, most of the group immediately made use of the cover provided by the nearest alcove. However, the fleet-footed half-elf decided instead to leap across the pit and try and take out the enemy rather then become pinned down in an alcove and risk reinforcements surrounding them. The half-elf, with Sophie the guard dog following closely, sprang across the pit only to come up short and drop twenty feet below, falling unconscious and slowly bleeding out.
Artwork by Storn Cook
Sophie, the guard dog, however, made the jump successfully and began tearing into the ranks of the goblins, taking out one of the crew members, while another fell to an arrow from the adventurers. A series of good and bad fortune followed in which Sophie managed to live through the decidedly quick battle, taking out quite a few of the enemy, the rest succumbing to missile fire. Sadly, between damage from ballista bolts and additional failed attempts to leap across the pit, during rescue efforts on the half-elf, more party members went down. They managed to bring the fallen around but used up all of their healing spells and potions in the process. They then had to retreat from the complex, though not before dropping the ballista into the pit, rendering them harmless should the party return this way again. It could have been a lot worse but needing to retreat might mean the goblins are better prepared if or when the adventurers return.
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Green Slime in Grymvald
We took a session off last week due to Gary Con XI occupying so much of everyone's schedule but we got back to our 1E AD&D game in the "secret" room at Lake Geneva Games almost at full strength. One of our numbers could not attend but another player who is temporarily in town joined in the fun. Our temp player is Alex's nephew, Mike, who is here after Gary Con for just a short bit. It was easy enough to have him use Alex's backup character. As folks might recall, the players all created two characters right away with one being a backup, to be brought in right away (as soon as reasonable) in the event they suffer a dramatic loss of hit points with their current bundle of stats. Mike became Kuma the Cleric for the evening, an acolyte who wouldn't stand for being a background player for long! After spending a bit of time rehashing the events of two weeks prior, when two players were absent, and doling out the Experience Points, treasure was divided and some spent at the mining camp, which has a general supply store. There was also some healing to be done due to wounds from their previous foray into the underground complex below the ruins of Marak Tor on the northern edge of the Trackless Moors.
When their transactions were complete, a meeting with the supervisor of the mining camp confirmed that our fearless adventurers were on the cutting edge of civilized ruins exploration. He had no new information for them and when the group explained they suspected cultists were taking root in Marak Tor, it came as a surprise to the supervisor. The party wondered if he was being fully forthcoming, so they left the mining camp with pretensions of heading back to the town of Holdmarch but left the path surreptitiously and traveled back to Marak Tor, refreshed and resupplied.
The group knew there were three people held up in the bunker above the complex, the lone building standing intact on the tor, so they attempted to make contact and swiftly did. They had only seen the trio while the group was battling goblins three days prior, and hadn't made direct contact, so discovering Count Ulrich, a down-on-his-luck noble, his man-servant, Slanch, and Penelophe, a mysterious, tight-lipped cohort, cleared up a minor mystery. Sir Virgil, the party Paladin of Darrien the Defender, picked up no evil from the three bunker dwellers so the trio were invited to join in the next expedition below. Although he laid no current claim to the ruins or complex, Count Ulrich explained that his ancestor, two hundred years ago, had built this place as a means to explore further south onto the Trackless Moors where a series of towers known as the Dragon's Teeth were know to exist. After Ulrich tithed the two clerics and the paladin, they formed up with the count and Penelophe in the center of the group, leaving Slanch behind to keep watch on the bunker. Now ten strong, the group prepared to descend.
During a break, Alex was kind enough to pass on a pair of ten-sided dice to me that his father had left to him. He told me that, given his father had many, many dice, they weren't unique or particularly special but I begged to differ and thanked him. These dice would claim the life of a character before the night was over. Perhaps it was bravery or maybe hubris that guided the plans of the group when they opened the secret door they had only suspected existed which gave them a second entryway to the underground complex. They had previously come toward it from beneath but rethought their route when a ponderously slow-moving and malformed humanoid statue ground its way across the foyer when last they explored. Now, knowing the secret door's mechanism, they opened it and planned to delve right in directly toward their next objective, a third-level deep room completely enveloped in green slime . . . but not before surrounding the eight-foot tall stone monster with massive fists that moves so slow it would have been fairly easy to avoid.
About half of the ten party members went more-or-less straight below but several members of the group engaged the juggernaut with weapons while one awaited a chance to join the action and Sonoma, the dwarf fighter, attempted to tie the one ton animated statue's legs together with some silk rope. Sadly, this is where my newly acquired dice finished off Segovax the Fighter with two hard hits in succession from the guardian statue. Perhaps it was the lack of effectiveness of their weapons, or maybe the fighter's blood and brains strewn over their boots and greaves, but it was around this time they disengaged from the entry guardian and got on with their mission. It was a tough loss but Cerverious (sp?) the Fighter was nearby and joined the group as a replacement.
Once on the second level of the complex below, they established that some others had indeed been there in the interim since a tapestry had been re-hung. The group checked around in known locations but found no other signs of cultists (or otherwise), though a previously missed feature, pillars that didn't extend to a ceiling, warranted attention and turned up a key. Back on mission, they took the long way around to re-open the secret door, and necessary step in venting the smoke and heat if the group was going to burn out the slime infestation in the first room of the third level below and gain access to more of the complex. They used enough oil to burn a little more than a third of the green slime and reveal a doorway as well as clear a path to it. The key, as it happens, looked like it would fit the lock on the door but without a party thief, a debate ensued regarding the best approach.
It was Kuma the Cleric who, perhaps out of frustration with his over-cautious (?) companions, took the key and moved forward to unlock the door. He managed the task but not without tripping a poison needle trap which his body was unable to withstand. First his fingers went numb, then his hand and arm, his shoulder next, followed by his whole side, causing him to collapse on the newly-cleared floor. As the remainder of the cleric seized up, someone checked for life and found he had only been paralyzed. Rather than remove him from the complex, the group (who was strung out across a narrow passage through the slime and up a narrow spiral staircase) decided it would be best to check the now unlocked door. It revealed a short hallway beyond that opened into a larger chamber. Despite the lingering odor of burnt slime, some in the group could smell burning incense and those toward the front could see flickering candle light. Finley, the ranger in the front, and Nydijan, the cleric in the rear, donned a pair of cultist robes they had picked up on a previous exploration and a rope was shared out over the length of the single-file party to simulate that the party were captives. The ranger stepped through the door and triggered a covered-pit trap.
It was fortunate the rope had been shared as it prevented the ranger from falling the full twenty feet to the spikes in the bottom of the pit. As it was, he managed to slam into the wall of the pit about halfway down, dangling from the rope secured above by Sir Virgil the paladin. At this time, a pair of cultists stepped into view across the far side of the pit trap, shielding an unkempt woman who was casting a spell. The paladin's armor began to feel quite warm. Although a couple of party members attempted to fire missiles, the cultists were hit for but little damage. Despite his armor and metal accouterments burning his flesh, the paladin held fast on the rope and tried to help the ranger climb out of the pit. Sadly, their first attempt almost resulted in the ranger losing his grip and falling further. With the armor continuing to burn the paladin, the green slime then began to recover the entirety of the room. It was then that Count Ulrich and Penelophe decided enough was enough and worked their way through the party to the rear, doing their best to escape. After an attempt to prevent their exit, some quick shifting around allowed them egress.
The paladin now managed to pull the ranger from the pit and the last few party members rushed for the narrow, spiral staircase. But Thonon, the magic-user, remembered Kuma the Cleric was not truly dead and could not leave him to be overtaken by the progressing green slime. Thonon dodged around Cerverious (sp?) the fighter and sidestepped Finley the Ranger but ran full-on into Sir Virgil, the paladin, who was off-balance as he both tried to leave the green slime encroachment even as he was attempting to remove the last of his burning armor. The two fell to the floor, the paladin finished off as his flesh was deeply seared and green slime dropped upon both him and Thonon. It was all the magic user could do to escape the slime. He and Borbeoy, the druid, watched helplessly, the green slime enveloped Sir Virgil and the paralyzed Kuma, swiftly eating away their flesh. With no alternatives, the party retreated upward, having lost three party members but gaining some solid intelligence on the nature of the Witch of Dour Haven.
One down but one up . . .
When their transactions were complete, a meeting with the supervisor of the mining camp confirmed that our fearless adventurers were on the cutting edge of civilized ruins exploration. He had no new information for them and when the group explained they suspected cultists were taking root in Marak Tor, it came as a surprise to the supervisor. The party wondered if he was being fully forthcoming, so they left the mining camp with pretensions of heading back to the town of Holdmarch but left the path surreptitiously and traveled back to Marak Tor, refreshed and resupplied.
The group knew there were three people held up in the bunker above the complex, the lone building standing intact on the tor, so they attempted to make contact and swiftly did. They had only seen the trio while the group was battling goblins three days prior, and hadn't made direct contact, so discovering Count Ulrich, a down-on-his-luck noble, his man-servant, Slanch, and Penelophe, a mysterious, tight-lipped cohort, cleared up a minor mystery. Sir Virgil, the party Paladin of Darrien the Defender, picked up no evil from the three bunker dwellers so the trio were invited to join in the next expedition below. Although he laid no current claim to the ruins or complex, Count Ulrich explained that his ancestor, two hundred years ago, had built this place as a means to explore further south onto the Trackless Moors where a series of towers known as the Dragon's Teeth were know to exist. After Ulrich tithed the two clerics and the paladin, they formed up with the count and Penelophe in the center of the group, leaving Slanch behind to keep watch on the bunker. Now ten strong, the group prepared to descend.
If these dice could talk . . .
During a break, Alex was kind enough to pass on a pair of ten-sided dice to me that his father had left to him. He told me that, given his father had many, many dice, they weren't unique or particularly special but I begged to differ and thanked him. These dice would claim the life of a character before the night was over. Perhaps it was bravery or maybe hubris that guided the plans of the group when they opened the secret door they had only suspected existed which gave them a second entryway to the underground complex. They had previously come toward it from beneath but rethought their route when a ponderously slow-moving and malformed humanoid statue ground its way across the foyer when last they explored. Now, knowing the secret door's mechanism, they opened it and planned to delve right in directly toward their next objective, a third-level deep room completely enveloped in green slime . . . but not before surrounding the eight-foot tall stone monster with massive fists that moves so slow it would have been fairly easy to avoid.
About half of the ten party members went more-or-less straight below but several members of the group engaged the juggernaut with weapons while one awaited a chance to join the action and Sonoma, the dwarf fighter, attempted to tie the one ton animated statue's legs together with some silk rope. Sadly, this is where my newly acquired dice finished off Segovax the Fighter with two hard hits in succession from the guardian statue. Perhaps it was the lack of effectiveness of their weapons, or maybe the fighter's blood and brains strewn over their boots and greaves, but it was around this time they disengaged from the entry guardian and got on with their mission. It was a tough loss but Cerverious (sp?) the Fighter was nearby and joined the group as a replacement.
Once on the second level of the complex below, they established that some others had indeed been there in the interim since a tapestry had been re-hung. The group checked around in known locations but found no other signs of cultists (or otherwise), though a previously missed feature, pillars that didn't extend to a ceiling, warranted attention and turned up a key. Back on mission, they took the long way around to re-open the secret door, and necessary step in venting the smoke and heat if the group was going to burn out the slime infestation in the first room of the third level below and gain access to more of the complex. They used enough oil to burn a little more than a third of the green slime and reveal a doorway as well as clear a path to it. The key, as it happens, looked like it would fit the lock on the door but without a party thief, a debate ensued regarding the best approach.
The Witch of Dour Haven
It was Kuma the Cleric who, perhaps out of frustration with his over-cautious (?) companions, took the key and moved forward to unlock the door. He managed the task but not without tripping a poison needle trap which his body was unable to withstand. First his fingers went numb, then his hand and arm, his shoulder next, followed by his whole side, causing him to collapse on the newly-cleared floor. As the remainder of the cleric seized up, someone checked for life and found he had only been paralyzed. Rather than remove him from the complex, the group (who was strung out across a narrow passage through the slime and up a narrow spiral staircase) decided it would be best to check the now unlocked door. It revealed a short hallway beyond that opened into a larger chamber. Despite the lingering odor of burnt slime, some in the group could smell burning incense and those toward the front could see flickering candle light. Finley, the ranger in the front, and Nydijan, the cleric in the rear, donned a pair of cultist robes they had picked up on a previous exploration and a rope was shared out over the length of the single-file party to simulate that the party were captives. The ranger stepped through the door and triggered a covered-pit trap.
It was fortunate the rope had been shared as it prevented the ranger from falling the full twenty feet to the spikes in the bottom of the pit. As it was, he managed to slam into the wall of the pit about halfway down, dangling from the rope secured above by Sir Virgil the paladin. At this time, a pair of cultists stepped into view across the far side of the pit trap, shielding an unkempt woman who was casting a spell. The paladin's armor began to feel quite warm. Although a couple of party members attempted to fire missiles, the cultists were hit for but little damage. Despite his armor and metal accouterments burning his flesh, the paladin held fast on the rope and tried to help the ranger climb out of the pit. Sadly, their first attempt almost resulted in the ranger losing his grip and falling further. With the armor continuing to burn the paladin, the green slime then began to recover the entirety of the room. It was then that Count Ulrich and Penelophe decided enough was enough and worked their way through the party to the rear, doing their best to escape. After an attempt to prevent their exit, some quick shifting around allowed them egress.
The paladin now managed to pull the ranger from the pit and the last few party members rushed for the narrow, spiral staircase. But Thonon, the magic-user, remembered Kuma the Cleric was not truly dead and could not leave him to be overtaken by the progressing green slime. Thonon dodged around Cerverious (sp?) the fighter and sidestepped Finley the Ranger but ran full-on into Sir Virgil, the paladin, who was off-balance as he both tried to leave the green slime encroachment even as he was attempting to remove the last of his burning armor. The two fell to the floor, the paladin finished off as his flesh was deeply seared and green slime dropped upon both him and Thonon. It was all the magic user could do to escape the slime. He and Borbeoy, the druid, watched helplessly, the green slime enveloped Sir Virgil and the paralyzed Kuma, swiftly eating away their flesh. With no alternatives, the party retreated upward, having lost three party members but gaining some solid intelligence on the nature of the Witch of Dour Haven.
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Pre-Convention 1E AD&D Game
Carl Black apparently found this surly miniature somewhere and immediately thought of Tom Tullis, so Carl bought it and brought it to Gary Con XI as a gift for the founder of Fat Dragon Games. I was pressed into running this 1E AD&D game on fairly short notice and snagged some Dyson Logos maps to utilize, including one he was kind enough to name my honor some time ago. When this miniature was gifted to Tom at the game table, I couldn't help but work it into the adventure.
Essentially, the group, most of whom have a connection to a local brewery and restaurant on the shores of Gentle Lake, are asked to convey a barge of ale across to the Isle of Clover for an impending festival. They manage to fight off a rather nasty water elemental which attacked the barge, possibly due to someone defiling the lake with some of the, admittedly, inferior ale. As they finish the crossing, they are also informed that as part of the festival, there will be a lottery to choose who will have the honor of being the first to explore a newly discovered underground complex beneath the island. The players jumped though a lot of hoops to enter their name as a group and attempt to influence the outcome of the lottery in their favor. Just their luck, they win (since no one else had entered any names) and, after consuming copious amounts of free ale at the festival, are lodged in a luxurious pavilion.
They do set watches and during the night some distant drums draw the attention of the fighter on first watch just before he is meant to rouse watchman number two. He pokes his head out of the pavilion and is saved by his helmet as a sock full of slugs is used to try and kidnap him by a handful of cultists. Several cultists are killed though two manage to flee. Most of the group dons gear and pursues and find that despite the weakness of the individual cultists, their fortifications are dangerously formidable. The defenses claimed several of the adventurers.
Once they finally gain access to the cultists' lair, and the remaining adventurers are all reunited, they dispatched a number of other cultists before finally locating the secret, inner sanctum. Unfortunately, while attempting to thwart the sacrifice, some spilled blood triggers the very ritual they wished to prevent and a tentacled horror rises from the depths of a pit, flailing about. During the ensuing battle, the horror laid low all but one of the adventurers before it was vanquished! With their leaders and false god destroyed, the surviving islanders were quick to offer whatever they could in recompense to the hero(s) who saved the Isle of Clover.
Essentially, the group, most of whom have a connection to a local brewery and restaurant on the shores of Gentle Lake, are asked to convey a barge of ale across to the Isle of Clover for an impending festival. They manage to fight off a rather nasty water elemental which attacked the barge, possibly due to someone defiling the lake with some of the, admittedly, inferior ale. As they finish the crossing, they are also informed that as part of the festival, there will be a lottery to choose who will have the honor of being the first to explore a newly discovered underground complex beneath the island. The players jumped though a lot of hoops to enter their name as a group and attempt to influence the outcome of the lottery in their favor. Just their luck, they win (since no one else had entered any names) and, after consuming copious amounts of free ale at the festival, are lodged in a luxurious pavilion.
Thanks to Dyson Logos, I had a ready-made and personalized adventure location!
Cartography by Dyson Logos is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Cartography by Dyson Logos is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
They do set watches and during the night some distant drums draw the attention of the fighter on first watch just before he is meant to rouse watchman number two. He pokes his head out of the pavilion and is saved by his helmet as a sock full of slugs is used to try and kidnap him by a handful of cultists. Several cultists are killed though two manage to flee. Most of the group dons gear and pursues and find that despite the weakness of the individual cultists, their fortifications are dangerously formidable. The defenses claimed several of the adventurers.
Once they finally gain access to the cultists' lair, and the remaining adventurers are all reunited, they dispatched a number of other cultists before finally locating the secret, inner sanctum. Unfortunately, while attempting to thwart the sacrifice, some spilled blood triggers the very ritual they wished to prevent and a tentacled horror rises from the depths of a pit, flailing about. During the ensuing battle, the horror laid low all but one of the adventurers before it was vanquished! With their leaders and false god destroyed, the surviving islanders were quick to offer whatever they could in recompense to the hero(s) who saved the Isle of Clover.
Friday, March 1, 2019
Something from Nothing: 1E AD&D in my Grymvald Setting
Folks will recall I planned to start up a 1E AD&D campaign in 2019 and I did just that. It's been slow going putting together the group then getting up and running mostly because the weather has been uncooperative but we're on track now. I set a target number for players at ten or more but wound up with eight after two of the ten dropped early on due to changing commitments. I've been running games for a long time but usually kept the number to around five or six. I've never been one who enjoys running a game if only one or two players are involved, and even three players can feel a little light, though doable. Five to six feels comfortable for me even if one or two people cannot make it on a given week. It's also been true that for most of my life the game spaces available to me would have made larger groups problematic. I have run the occasional one-shot game for gamedays or conventions with a higher number than six, even as many as a dozen or more, but a large-group campaign had never been a goal not a result. With our first campaign meeting set for the 2019 1E AD&D campaign in my Grymvald setting, we had a solid eight players, and a comfortable place to play in the secret game room of Lake Geneva Games.
In January, the remaining nine of us gathered and created characters. I asked everyone to make two characters initially. This is a First Edition campaign and that can get deadly rather swiftly, depending on the choices of the players, but I don't want anyone sitting around just watching everyone else play if their character dies. Even if it feels like I am using a giant shoehorn to do it, I want a player to have a back up character ready and for me to be able to bring them into play as quickly as I can come up with a contrivance to do so. Our first meeting was mostly about character creation but included some casual RPGing to set the stage. While this first session saw the players doing little more than establishing their places in the town of Holdmarch, they also gained knowledge of the mining operation on the Trackless Moors south of the village. A couple of the players had a connection to to the mining camp. We had utilized the secondary skill table from the DMG during character creation and one player had a mining background with another being a teamster, so that lent itself nicely to that bond. In fact, two were leatherworkers and two were fishers, so I decided to have pairs of players start the campaign by knowing one another. The gardener and the carpenter was a bit of a stretch but since they were the remaining two, I made it work.
With that groundwork laid, the campaign was set to begin on the following week but a subsequent four weeks of freakish storms, which seemed to mostly target our game night, made gathering to play an impossibility. From week to week our group watched the impending forecasts hoping they'd be in error but finding when the day came each week for us to play, cancelling was the only prudent choice. While I live nearby, as do one or two others, the majority of the players have a fair distance to drive for our game and even in the best conditions it's tricky, work schedules being what they are. The first week that we cancelled, I didn't think much of it. I like establishing a game as weekly knowing that from time to time we'd need to cancel due to weather or some other scheduling conflict. If a weekly campaign meets three or even two times in a month, I consider it normal. It became quite strange, though, to find that four weeks in a row we were forced to consider cancelling, and each of those four weeks I felt it best that we do. However, two weeks ago we returned to the table for our second campaign meeting and managed to have a third get together earlier this week. We are taking this coming week off for Gary Con but we're all going to the convention so none of us will miss out on gaming during the campaign break. We plan to gather again the following week.
The second week of play saw our first character death. The group had followed up on some information from the mining camp about some ruins discovered on the Trackless Moors. I won't go into too much detail because I plan to have this available for me to run at Gary Con but let's just say there was no returning for the fallen thief. These are veteran players but as with all new groups it can take a while to find their groove. This lack of cohesion can manifest in chaos and disorder. This can in turn lead to splitting the party which is tricky enough when it results in two smaller groups but we had player characters in three separate locations with some impediments between each. A warning sign was ignored, a dangerous foe attracted, and an overwhelming force resulted in a quick death and the subsequent destruction of the player character's body as well as much of their equipment. I mention the latter because it may have played a role in the concerns of the surviving characters. While they moved quickly to discover what had happened, and did overcome the foe with quick action, some of the table talk set a tone prioritizing life and wealth, among other things, in a fairly mercenary hierarchy. We'll see how that plays out but it might be good for the players to insulate themselves from character death if it means they will take more chances and have more fun.
Two of the players couldn't make it out for our third campaign meeting but we pressed on and I fudged one thing to avoid a potential Total Party Kill. It wasn't retroactive, so I wasn't turning back the clock, and it probably changed how things played out though not so much the result. This was definitely a DMing decision made on the fly but under the circumstance it was the right call. Really, it came down to design versus play. I had designed this adventure location with certain norms in mind that weren't in evidence when we got together to play. I think we make assumptions all the time while prepping for games but in this case I had left only a crude back up plan, an encounter with one primary solution and nothing but brute force as an alternative. It's true that there are times when brute force should be the final option for adventurers but I hadn't envisioned it in this case and I was surprised by it when I shouldn't have been. Even an old dog, I suppose . . .
Despite the vagueness of this summary, I think that brings folks up to speed on the campaign. Post-Gary Con, I'll be able to give more details with the updates, so I look forward to being less guarded. While I'll be able to post more about the ongoing campaign, I'll also only be able to post so much about that game I run at Gary Con since it will then be spoilers for the ongoing campaign. What a tangled web we weave. More coming soon, I hope!
Thanks to "Scott Michael" for the picture!
In January, the remaining nine of us gathered and created characters. I asked everyone to make two characters initially. This is a First Edition campaign and that can get deadly rather swiftly, depending on the choices of the players, but I don't want anyone sitting around just watching everyone else play if their character dies. Even if it feels like I am using a giant shoehorn to do it, I want a player to have a back up character ready and for me to be able to bring them into play as quickly as I can come up with a contrivance to do so. Our first meeting was mostly about character creation but included some casual RPGing to set the stage. While this first session saw the players doing little more than establishing their places in the town of Holdmarch, they also gained knowledge of the mining operation on the Trackless Moors south of the village. A couple of the players had a connection to to the mining camp. We had utilized the secondary skill table from the DMG during character creation and one player had a mining background with another being a teamster, so that lent itself nicely to that bond. In fact, two were leatherworkers and two were fishers, so I decided to have pairs of players start the campaign by knowing one another. The gardener and the carpenter was a bit of a stretch but since they were the remaining two, I made it work.
With that groundwork laid, the campaign was set to begin on the following week but a subsequent four weeks of freakish storms, which seemed to mostly target our game night, made gathering to play an impossibility. From week to week our group watched the impending forecasts hoping they'd be in error but finding when the day came each week for us to play, cancelling was the only prudent choice. While I live nearby, as do one or two others, the majority of the players have a fair distance to drive for our game and even in the best conditions it's tricky, work schedules being what they are. The first week that we cancelled, I didn't think much of it. I like establishing a game as weekly knowing that from time to time we'd need to cancel due to weather or some other scheduling conflict. If a weekly campaign meets three or even two times in a month, I consider it normal. It became quite strange, though, to find that four weeks in a row we were forced to consider cancelling, and each of those four weeks I felt it best that we do. However, two weeks ago we returned to the table for our second campaign meeting and managed to have a third get together earlier this week. We are taking this coming week off for Gary Con but we're all going to the convention so none of us will miss out on gaming during the campaign break. We plan to gather again the following week.
The second week of play saw our first character death. The group had followed up on some information from the mining camp about some ruins discovered on the Trackless Moors. I won't go into too much detail because I plan to have this available for me to run at Gary Con but let's just say there was no returning for the fallen thief. These are veteran players but as with all new groups it can take a while to find their groove. This lack of cohesion can manifest in chaos and disorder. This can in turn lead to splitting the party which is tricky enough when it results in two smaller groups but we had player characters in three separate locations with some impediments between each. A warning sign was ignored, a dangerous foe attracted, and an overwhelming force resulted in a quick death and the subsequent destruction of the player character's body as well as much of their equipment. I mention the latter because it may have played a role in the concerns of the surviving characters. While they moved quickly to discover what had happened, and did overcome the foe with quick action, some of the table talk set a tone prioritizing life and wealth, among other things, in a fairly mercenary hierarchy. We'll see how that plays out but it might be good for the players to insulate themselves from character death if it means they will take more chances and have more fun.
They seem happy and this was taken at the end of the evening!
Two of the players couldn't make it out for our third campaign meeting but we pressed on and I fudged one thing to avoid a potential Total Party Kill. It wasn't retroactive, so I wasn't turning back the clock, and it probably changed how things played out though not so much the result. This was definitely a DMing decision made on the fly but under the circumstance it was the right call. Really, it came down to design versus play. I had designed this adventure location with certain norms in mind that weren't in evidence when we got together to play. I think we make assumptions all the time while prepping for games but in this case I had left only a crude back up plan, an encounter with one primary solution and nothing but brute force as an alternative. It's true that there are times when brute force should be the final option for adventurers but I hadn't envisioned it in this case and I was surprised by it when I shouldn't have been. Even an old dog, I suppose . . .
Despite the vagueness of this summary, I think that brings folks up to speed on the campaign. Post-Gary Con, I'll be able to give more details with the updates, so I look forward to being less guarded. While I'll be able to post more about the ongoing campaign, I'll also only be able to post so much about that game I run at Gary Con since it will then be spoilers for the ongoing campaign. What a tangled web we weave. More coming soon, I hope!
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