Ravenloft session #2: The Swamp

Last Wednesday, we picked up in Chatain's village square mere hours after the band of Talons was defeated. The PCs questioned the captured soldier but received little more than accusations of treason to their King. Fearful of repercussions against the village, Alaric, Aginot, Leilana, and Captain Rapacion bade Karsten to arrange for any and all blame to be cast squarely upon them, if and when more soldiers returned. Imparting to Elias's family that they would find the missing boy even if he might never return to Chatain, the companions made haste into the night, delving into the forest and following nimble Leilana into Souragne.

The marshland quickly gave way to knee-deep swamp waters, and the PCs' calls for Elias yielded nothing. As the night darkened, the mists grew thick and the cloud cover eclipsed the moon. When direction seemed all but lost to the PCs, they came upon a raft, wedged between two jagged trees. They waded in to dislodge it, and found it to be in good repair - and large enough to carry all four.

Alaric conversed with Captain Rapacion during the pair's watch as they floated along. When questioned, Rapacion explained that in the villages of the Balinok Mountains, the mark of the Talon was far less common, as Drakov's soldiers ventured there less frequently, and with greater hardship. Alaric came away satisfied with the captain's motives and history, even if his allegiance to the companions might prove short-lived.

The next morning, the sky barely brightened, blanketed by a thick gray curtain of storm clouds that threatened to break at any instant. The raft drifted past black logs and fallen trees; in their midst, a crocodile, twice again the size of a man, emerged from the waters and assaulted the party. The PCs paddled to escape, and Leilana's entanglement spell held the creature fast, wrapping it in swamp vines until the raft was a safe distance away.

Throughout the afternoon they drifted along, unsure of their direction and seemingly devoid of any hope of finding the lost boy. At night, the four travelers bore witness to a sea of ominous, flickering lights, like distant candles, in nearly every direction. They watched them for hours, unsure of their source or meaning, as the raft floated in eerie silence. As the sun rose, the lights faded into the murky daylight.

Still the storm had not broke, but yet the nearly black clouds cast grim shadows over the swamp. The companions felt far from home, and further still from finding the missing boy. Without a raft of his own, he surely could not have made it this far.

On this third evening, the companions sighted the burning light of a campfire in the distance. As they drew near it, they saw a family of gypsies amid a colorful wagon, tethered to two old mares. The wagon was perched on a small island of dry land; how it came to be in the middle of the impassable swamp was a mystery.

The eldest gypsy, a thin and frail-looking old man, introduced himself as Scarengi, and bade the lost travelers to seat themselves beside the fire. The family explained that the companions were close to a town, only a handful of miles away, called Marais d'Tarascon, though they cryptically noted that it was not a place to visit "on a night such as this." As the PCs began to ask questions, a beautiful, shapely young woman emerged from the wagon, captivating the men with her stunning red lips and dark eyes. Scarengi proudly proclaimed her to be his daughter, Valana, and that she was gifted in the ways of fortune-telling. "The trouble began when I cast the runes for that quiet and lost young man," she explained sadly. "Perhaps it will end with another casting."

The PCs learned little else throughout their meal with the gypsies, their questions deflected by answers in the vein of "To speak of evil is to invite it to dinner." Finally, Valana took up a set of small stone tiles and cast them into a pan. As her captivating eyes bore into each companion in turn, she gasped. "The lost one has called you! The dead will walk with the coming storm, and you must find a way to put them to rest. If you cannot, the rain will turn to blood! It will drown you-you and all of Marais d'Tarascon."

Clearly unsettled, the gypsies retired hastily inside the wagon; only the strongest-looking man remained outside to tend the horses. Accepting that no further information was forthcoming, the PCs settled themselves to sleep; as they did, Valana's silhouette appeared in the doorway, whispering, "Beware the madman; beware his blood."

Tried as they might to stay awake in shifts, eventually the four companions all fell asleep. When they awoke the next morning, the wagon was gone.

Around midday, storm clouds dark as ever, they came upon a house on stilts. Many lanterns burned brightly from within, and as they attempted to peer inside from down below, a rope ladder fell to the base of the raft. Inside the house sat a young man, thin and gaunt, eyes milky white and vacant. In his hands he clutched a book of poetry with an inscription on the inside cover that read "To Luc, my beloved brother."  It was signed "Marcel."

Luc seemed to not acknowledge his visitors, intermittently reciting mangled verses to the open air:

The on descend shall evil of night the land, at
near are signs of hexad this when hand.

The mother stern of child lifeless found, heralds
evil of night a time unbound.

The "house" itself was but a single room, and in addition to a circle of burning lanterns was stocked with a barrel of fresh water, crates of provisions, and fresh clothing. As the companions made to depart, Luc suddenly attempted to climb down the rope ladder, plummeting into the water. Together the PCs dragged him to safety aboard the raft. Thereafter, numbered five, they left the empty house behind them, rowing until they saw a plume of smoke on the horizon, emanating from a distant village.

On they rode until they washed ashore at the swamp's edge, along the outskirts of what they could only assume must be Marais d'Tarascon.

XP

No XP to award for this session - I'll wait until we hit a more appropriate stopping point to add up rewards and level any characters as needed.

Ravenloft session #1: Chatain

A new campaign is finally underway - we played our first session Wednesday night, using AD&D 2nd Edition as the rule set, with Ravenloft (probably my favorite all-time setting) as the backdrop. The game is rooted in the military-oppressed kingdom of Falkovnia, ruled by the reviled, mercenary king, Vlad Drakov (more commonly known as "Vlad the Impaler"). Falkovnia's rolling fields and valleys are blanketed by deep forests and spotted with towns and villages whose downtrodden citizenry live in fear of their rulers and the dangers that lurk outside their homes.

The adventurers number three: Alaric, an overly moral sod and would-be holy warrior; Aginot, an unconventional man of the cloth; and Leilana, a half-elven woman whose racial heritage is well-concealed for fear of the harsh prejudices within the kingdom. The PCs each bear the mark of the Talon on their foreheads, a brand brutally imparted by Drakov by way of his soldiers (called "Talons"), claiming the Falkovnian inhabitants as his property.

Our session began in the isolated farming village of Chatain, a northeastern hamlet surrounded by thick woodlands of vigila dimorta, towering black trees whose name in the old language means "sentries of death." For its part, Chatain is self-sustaining and not oft happened upon, its most frequent visitors wayward travelers and caravans, or (less commonly) small military units, scouring Falkovnia's towns and villages to viciously brand, capture, and occasionally even slaughter those who "rightfully" belong to their King.

On a crisp, cool evening in mid-autumn, Alaric, Aginot and Leilana were gathered inside the Winter Wolf tavern, a small taproom on the southeast corner of Chatain's modest village square, when in trod a rugged, dark-haired man brandishing sword and shield, weathered and weary from the road. He introduced himself as Alec Rapacion, a county militia captain from a cluster of small settlements in the foothills of the Balinok Mountains to the east, traveling the countryside on a peaceable mission of recruitment. Rapacion explained that he had warned the tavern's proprietor, a strong-armed middle-aged man named Karsten, that a band of Drakov's Talons was roaming the forested trails nearby.

As if on cue at that moment, screams sounded from the village square. Patrons flooded to the tavern's windows and entryway, and onlookers could see four mounted Talons outside, several yards away. In the center of the square, their apparent leader had impaled a villager on his glaive, letting the man slide grotesquely from his weapon and fall lifelessly to the ground.

The horsemen turned at Alaric's call, and when they did, a lithe form could be spotted to the northwest, escaping from the village square into the foreboding night. Alaric and Captain Rapacion blocked the doorway to the tavern when one of the Talons was directed their way by the leader. Alaric refused to engage the soldier, but Rapacion slashed the man's cheek before Alaric could restrain his new ally. Fearful for the patrons, Leilana began ushering taverngoers out the taproom's rear exit while Aginot played drunk in an attempt to create a distraction.

A melee ensued inside the tavern, with Rapacion, Leilana, and Karsten working together to slay the Talon.  An utterance of cause fear by Aginot sent a second mounted soldier fleeing into the darkness after he'd circled around back to block the villagers' escape. The companions outmatched and subsequently bound and captured the rider upon his return to the village square after Leilana deftly impersonated the boy that had been seen running from the shadows. Conversing briefly with a handful of townspeople who'd gathered 'round the impaled man after the Talons had dispersed, the PCs learned that the slain man had been protecting his teenage son from the soldiers when he was felled. Presumably, the son either was yet unbranded with Drakov's mark or had otherwise provoked the riders.

The PCs gathered what villagers they could safely in the tavern, and when the two remaining soldiers made their return, the frontrunner was laid low and the leader, having lost his contingent, rode swiftly off to the south, fleeing the village with all haste.

Thereafter, Chatain was in uproar over the night's events, the villagers prideful of the manner in which the Talons were defeated, yet gravely fearful for the possible repercussions from the Kingdom. Of foremost concern to the slain villager's family, however, was locating the dead man's son Elias who, by multiple accounts, had fled Chatain to the northwest, and toward the treacherous swamp that in the old language was known simply as Souragne.

XP

Player character XP totals are posted on the sidebar of this page. The experience awards for the first session are as follows:

• Defeating four Talon soldiers (two slain, one captured, one driven off into the night) @ 50 XP each: 200 XP
• Story award for successfully protecting further villagers from harm: 500 XP
• 700 XP total
• 233 XP per character (before any applicable XP bonuses)

The session ran well and got us off to an exciting start. Everyone's looking forward to learning what happens next...

Jendrick's Challenge, part 2

Tonight I got to play Skype session #2 - a week later than originally planned, but a good time nonetheless. The first ten minutes were spent sorting out technical issues: audio static due to a bad mic and the inability to get both our videos working at the same time. After Tracy switched back to the mic he used previously, the audio was great - better than last time, actually, as we didn't incur any spottiness throughout the duration of the two-hour game. Since we only managed to achieve one-way video, we elected to go without. The video is nice, but not having it wasn't really a detriment - not for our two-player game, at least.

We picked up outside the Sign of the Three Crowns, where Jendrick and Rosamund parted for the evening. They reconvened at sunrise in one of Sturnheim's gardens, though when Rosamund arrived, she was accompanied by Tregar, the dwarf hunter that Jendrick had spoken to the previous day. Rosamund had surmised that Poot's slaying was somehow related to Sturnheim's lost treasure, and wanted Jendrick and Tregar to help her uncover the truth.

As the story goes, some forty years prior a caravan carrying a large segment of Sturnheim's wealth was plundered by unknown robbers, crippling the town and severing its trade with other nearby settlements. Shortly thereafter, a party of eight adventurers struck out to find the lost caravan. Four met an untimely death along the road; of the four that returned, two left Sturnheim and two remained in the village. Of those that remained, one supposedly went mad and eventually fled; the other was Poot.

Rosamund was hesitant to place much trust in Sturnheim's militia, for its captain, Valdar, was the son of a warrior named Kesor, one of the surviving adventurers that departed and a notably evil man. As such, Jendrick led his friends to the constabulary where they inquired about the confiscated stone sword. The guards allowed them to examine it, though not remove it from the premises. When Jendrick asked if Poot's house might be searched, the men agreed, with one soldier accompanying the trio there personally.

The door to Poot's house was adorned with a broken and decrepit lock; inside, the man's personal effects were strewn about haphazardly. A half hour of searching revealed an iron ring that was strangely warm to the touch (which the guard promptly collected), and a telling note scrawled upon a sheet of parchment:

P -

Meet me in the old alley tonight and bring the key. I have ascertained its origin and purpose, and the location of the lock.

-V

Rosamund passed the note to Jendrick, who promptly handed it over to the guard, much to the girl's displeasure. The trio then returned to the constabulary to question the jailed bandit, who revealed nothing. Back outside, Rosamund and Tregar surmised that the note may have been scribed by Valdar, which would implicate that Valdar himself had orchestrated Poot's slaying. With no further leads, and without possession of the "key" (the stone sword), the trio left town and began traveling along the Forsaken Road (the road that Poot had referenced in his dying words).

After an hour, the friends encountered a mounted knight in rusted field plate armor; he carried a lance bearing a tattered blue pennant and sat upon a weathered nag. The knight, obviously a venerable man by his voice, proclaimed himself guardian of the road, refusing to let anyone pass until they bested him in a duel. Seeing that Jendrick rode no horse, the knight dismounted and drew forth his longsword. The two crossed steel, and after Jendrick twice scored hits between his opponent's armor, the old knight yielded and allowed the trio to pass.

Jendrick offered the man his [magical] aid, treating him with the utmost respect and inquiring as to his origin. In the ensuing dialogue, Jendrick learned that the man was none other than Sir Nycklos of Roeh, the surviving adventurer who supposedly had fled, and indeed was quite mad (or at least very senile). The party pressed on, and as the afternoon waned came upon an unusual rock formation standing near the road. Jendrick noted that the boulders looked vaguely like a dragon, and Rosemund linked this to another of Poot's deathly phrases, "south at dragon."

Before they could go further, a grunting noise behind the rocks revealed a hulking man devouring an uncooked squirrel, with the carcasses of several more at his feet. This man declared himself "Ahrne," and though his speech was rather primitive, he wore two most curious items: a stone shield, strapped to his back (his "armor") and a valuable gold necklace bearing a medallion branded "Sturnheim Caravan Company" and dated 46 years ago. Jendrick asked to be taken to the place where Ahrne found his strange treasures, and Ahrne readily agreed... for another squirrel.

That's where we left it; though there wasn't much combat (the duel with Sir Nycklos hardly counts), the plot has definitely started to unfold. In addition, having a paladin as the lone PC creates an interesting dynamic in almost every NPC encounter. For example, a character of any other class would likely not have turned the note found in Poot's house over to the guard; Jendrick, however, chose to do just that, drawing scorn from Rosamund and arguably turning a valuable piece of information over to a questionable source. On the other hand, Jendrick's chivalrous demeanor served him well in the encounter with Sir Nycklos, and has helped him establish a valorous repor with numerous individuals in Sturnheim.

Looking forward to seeing how the rest of the adventure plays out, and particularly what companions Jendrick brings with him when finally he arrives in Hommlet.

Legacy XP totals (copied from main sidebar on August 9, 2012):

• Jendrick - 4,334
• Gulwar - 3,182/3,120
• Rylin (captured) - 4,194
• Amiculum - 5,064
• Dravin - 6,170
• Greenleaf (retired) - 4,334
• Ellimorell (slain) - 4,334

B/X Scenario: Halflings vs. Ogres

I stumbled across this post while poking around on Dragonsfoot the other day, and really enjoyed it. The author created a one-off scenario where a band of ogres had been terrorizing a halfling shire, and the lone player controlled a party of ten 1st-level halflings to track down and eliminate the threat. This was a B/X (D&D Basic) adventure, so the halflings were just halflings.

In any case, the author goes on to provide specific stats for each of the ten hin (along with starting money and equipment) along with the individuals' roles within the village. Then he recaps the encounter itself, recounting every die roll and tactical decision made by both sides. I found the whole piece to be highly entertaining and fascinating in its elegance and simplicity.

For a while I've felt like Basic (or something in the realm of "not-quite-Basic," like the Basic Fantasy RPG) is something I could really get into someday, under the right set of circumstances. Every time I read something like this it just reinforces that notion.

AD&D + VoIP: The adventure begins...

VoIP may forever change the way I play D&D.

A good friend and I got together this evening to play a quick OSRIC session using Skype. He already uses video and voice for gaming regularly, but for me, this was a first-time experience. It practically couldn't have gone more smoothly.

The main purpose of the adventure was to acclimate Tracy's new character, a paladin named Jendrick Tannerson (son of a tanner - fitting) to the campaign in place of Greenleaf the druid (now officially retired). Though we only ended up playing for about an hour and a half, much was accomplished. We're planning to reconvene Sunday evening, and I could see it taking three to four of these brief, online sessions to wrap up Jendrick's inaugural adventure, which should have him ready to join the rest of the tabletop cast in Hommlet, the next time we play.

The module we're using for our online foray is Fighter's Challenge, modified to fit within the ongoing campaign. Jendrick, traveling the countryside in search of personal enlightenment and general do-gooding, made his way to Sturnheim and befriended a lovely young lady named Rosamund, who instantly became enamored with the budding knight. Jendrick, naive in the ways of romance, graced her with awkward conversation in the Sign of the Three Crowns (the local inn), and also parleyed with Tregar, a young dwarven hunter newly returned from guard duty for a local caravan.

Jendrick offered his services freely to Tregar on his next hunt (for which Tregar intends to depart in two days' time) and was quickly obliged. Later in the evening, Jendrick and Rosamund happened within earshot of a scuffle in a dark alley while walking the streets of the village, with Jendrick rushing to the aid of an old man who seemingly was being attacked by three others. The assailants fled and Jendrick pursued, weighted down by his mail and only able to keep pace with the slowest of the bandits, that one lugging along a heavy greatsword that appeared to be made of stone. Jendrick managed to catch and pin the man, and Rosamund summoned a trio of the town's militia.

By the time help arrived, the victim of the attack, a frail old man that the militia referred to as "Poot," had succumbed to his wounds and died in the alley. Two of the militia escorted the captured bandit away to their captain whilst Jendrick assisted the third soldier in carrying Poot's body, along with the stone sword, to the church of St. Cuthbert. Jendrick and Rosamund headed back to the inn (the latter's romantic mood quite shattered), though en route the girl revealed that Poot had uttered some strange phrases before he died:

"My house... parchment... sword is the key. Forsaken Road through hills... south at dragon."

That's where we left it. The session was a blast, brief though it was. AD&D/OSRIC continues to impress me in all its nostalgic elegance. When chasing down the bandit, Jendrick's initiative bested the pursuant by four segments, allowing Jendrick to close the thirty-foot distance between them and make an attack roll to trip the bandit with his shield. A minor Strength test to pin the man; a Strength check to maintain the hold until the guards arrived.

Even better was being able to play via Skype, using both video and voice. Tracy has amazingly good attendance for our tabletop sessions despite living more than an hour and a half away; that said, making the drive up for an hour or two of solo gaming isn't a reasonable expectation for anyone. Aside from a few audio glitches that forced us to reconnect (took all of 30 seconds), it was just like having him in the room. We used the honor system for die-rolling, but even if I'd wanted validation we could easily have used an online roller.

Also nice was having my laptop - and all my notes and resources - right at my fingertips. I intentionally don't use a computer when gaming in person, but as it's nearly unavoidable for remote play, I was happy to have it. Dropbox and Skype file transfer make sharing character sheets instantaneous and trivial. As we were wrapping up, we also took a few minutes to check out Dabbleboard, a potential all-in-one solution for online D&D: it provides a fast and easy-to-use whiteboard for diagrams and maps, along with free audio, video, and chat for up to 20 people via tokbox.

My only regret is that I didn't try this sooner. VoIP will enable me to play D&D with my closest friends across the country, people that I grew up on this game with but that I haven't actually been able to play with in years. For now, the next session is just two moons away...

T1, part 4: In the Arms of the Enemy (literally)

Last night's game was both a complete disaster and the perfect setup for part 5. Here's what happened:

Midday. With the core of the party still ailing from its previous foray with the ghouls, Gulwar was left recruiting new help in the Inn of the Welcome Wench while Rylin the halfling resumed his job as a line cook. A druid named Greenleaf befriended the pair, and not a moment too soon: before they could even begin to discuss their plans, the mercenary Zert came storming into the taproom, trailed closely by Turuko and his hulking-yet-dimwitted arm-for-hire Kobart. Behind that pair meandered a handful of villagers. Spugnoir quietly pulled his spellbook up over his face as Zert tossed the contents of a bloodstained, burlap sack at Gulwar, proclaiming:

"Death seems to follow you, adventurers. Perhaps you'd have done better to let restful bodies lie, for now WE will be forced to finish the work that you've started to ensure the lasting safety of this village."

From the bag rolled the severed head of Ellimorell, and the patrons gasped in horror. Zert went on to explain (menacingly) that the bodies of the fallen, hauled back to Hommlet by the PCs, had risen as ghouls and terrorized several farms before being slain by none other than Zert himself, along with his new allies. The trio accused Gulwar's party of endangering the village, challenging the townspeople to unite against such recklessness, and though some of the villagers nodded their agreement, just as many stood to the PCs' defense. Finally, Gulwar declared that he and his companions would leave the very next day, if that was the desire of the village. Zert seemed satisfied at this and left, accompanied again by Turuko, Kobart, and a particular farmer...

Gulwar stepped outside and followed the foursome toward the traders establishment, though once there he found only the warriors. Unable to hear their conversation without compromising his identity, he waded out to the northernmost farmhouses until he located the farmer. To the farmer and his family he solemnly apologized for any distress he and his companions may have caused, and offered them a few gold coins. Obviously torn, the farmer admitted that Zert and Turuko had paid him off (only a few silvers) to go along with their story and serve as their witness.

Armed with this new information, Gulwar gathered Rylin and Greenleaf (who in the meantime had taken it upon himself to bury the disembodied head of his player's former character) and visited Canon Terjon at the church of St. Cuthbert. The canon was distraught to learn that the bodies may have been stolen from the church's mausoleum, and bade the PCs to uncover the truth behind Zert's accusations. The village elder, too, supported the PCs in the name of upholding the church and extinguishing any potential for widespread panic or uprising in Hommlet.

...

So, at this point, the PCs are really itching to locate Zert and his new allies, who curiously haven't been seen since Gulwar observed them at the traders establishment. Back at the inn, Rylin uses inside resources to locate Zert and Turuko's rooms, and the party sneaks upstairs to infiltrate both. The rooms are completely cleaned out, with no personal effects remaining. Ostler (the innkeeper) didn't know that either of them were leaving, though as their dues have been paid for several weeks in advance, to him it hardly matters.

Why would Zert and Turuko bother themselves to poison the village against the PCs just to turn around and leave? The only semi-plausible explanation seemed that the trio was looking to reclaim the PCs' local renown for themselves by plundering the moat house on their own. And so, the next morning, after the village elder (backed by Rufus and Burne) publicly exonerated Gulwar and his friends of any wrongdoing, the characters re-hired Spugnoir and set back out for the ruins...

...

Seeing no sign of their accusers above ground, the party quickly descended to the dungeon level, then down the chute to the [now empty] ghouls' chamber. They forged ahead into unknown corridors, and all was going smoothly until they stumbled upon a room brooding with dog-faced gnolls.

A melee ensued, and though the PCs (outnumbered more than two to one) managed to gain a quick upper hand, Greenleaf made the untimely mistake of dispelling his magic entanglement upon the enemies, and the gnolls captured Rylin and the druid, while Gulwar remained hidden under his cloak of elvenkind and Spugnoir fled. The gnolls marched the captives down another corridor, past a series of human guards wearing black armor that bore the yellow-eye insignia, and up to a dark-haired man adorned with a staff and mace who was obviously their leader (all the enemies referred to him as "Master").

The master offered Rylin and Greenleaf their lives in exchange for their indefinite service, and the pair reluctantly agreed (for the other option was death). Gulwar, still concealed, located Spugnoir and attempted to exit back up the chute, only to find it closed and barricaded. With some effort, the pair managed to circumvent a single human guard and discover an alternate way out: a tunnel under the moat that exhaled into a rocky outcropping above ground, a quarter-mile disposed from the moat house proper.

That's where we left it, though before the session broke we confirmed that Gulwar and Spugnoir returned to Hommlet safely and relayed their tale to the village elder. And that there still was no sign of Zert, Kobart, or Turuko...

XP

Not much: one gnoll defeated, and three vials of holy water, an unknown potion, and an unknown clerical scroll returned to the village safely (not to mention just one out of three characters). I'm not planning to disposition experience for this session; I'll just lump the above in next time around. I'm still waiting for the group to have a break-out adventure both in terms of in-game success and experience earned (which tend to go hand-in-hand), and don't plan to reevaluate the AD&D experience system until at least after we're done playing the module - it's too hard to make a fair assessment with so much still left unresolved.

DM's Commentary

Had the gnolls not preferred capture over the outright slaying of the PCs, the characters would probably all be dead.

The party needs more firepower. It's interesting to note the change in dynamic since the campaign started with regards to NPCs available for hire. At the onset, Hommlet was enjoying an influx of adventurers and mercenaries in response to hearsay of local bandits, so much that the PCs were actually being approached by individuals looking for work. Weeks later, the bandits are gone, and many have died or been grievously injured since the adventuring population became saturated. Now, the remaining characters have few places to look for help.

My gut feeling is that our next session will write the end to the party's chapter in Hommlet. The urgency of the PCs' situation is suddenly very much increased, with two characters held captive and the realization that a substantial evil force has taken up residence below the ruins. The party will need careful planning, men-at-arms, and the resources of the village to rescue their friends and close the door on the moat house for good.

Will they succeed?

Things to remember in combat

These are as much for my own benefit as anyone else's...

Surprise (d6): 1 = surprised for one segment; 2 = surprised for two segments; 3-6 = not surprised. Dexterity can negate surprise segments for individual characters.

Attacking into Melee: If an attacker has multiple adjacent opponents, the target is determined randomly. The same applies when attacking at range against "engaged" opponents.

Charge: A charging character gains +2 to hit, but if the defender's weapon is longer than the attacker's, the defender can attack first. A character can only "charge" once/10 rounds.

Fleeing: Fleeing characters immediately draw an additional attack from adjacent opponents at +4 to hit.

Parrying: A character who parries cannot attack, but may subtract his or her "to hit" bonus from his or her opponent's attack roll.

Invisible Opponent: An invisible opponent can only be attacked if the general location is known, and the attack is at –4 to hit.

Prone Opponent: Attacks against a prone opponent negate the benefit of a shield, negate dexterity bonuses, and are made at +4 to hit.

Concealment: Concealment is anything that obscures an opponent’s vision, such as tree limbs or smoke, but does not physically block incoming attacks. The GM must decide whether the defender is about a quarter (-1 to AC), half (-2 to AC), three-quarters (-3 to AC), or nine-tenths (-4 to AC) concealed.

Cover: Cover is protection behind something that can actually block incoming attacks, such as a wall or arrow slit. Cover bonuses are as follows:

• 25% cover: -2 AC
• 50% cover: -4 AC
• 75% cover: -7 AC
• 90% cover -10 AC

OSRIC returns

Setting up to run a game on Saturday, Feb. 5. Amiculum, Gulwar, Rylin, and Ellimorell's grisly corpse have unfinished business in the Village of Hommlet... and of course, the ruins of the moathouse:

Will goodness and valor prevail, or will Gulwar and Dravin's idiocy foil the party to its doom?

DM screen modifications

My 4th Edition DM's screen is great at being a physical barrier between my players and my notes when running a session; unfortunately, its contents aren't very useful for 1e/OSRIC. This evening I worked out a solution to that problem...

AD&D record sheet updated

I made some minor edits to the character sheet we've been using to better support the rules cleanup I've instituted for our game. A permanent link is also available on the right.

Prior to our next session, all players will be required to copy their character to the updated sheet for consistency going forward. This should only take a few minutes, and the effort will be worth 200 XP each.

--Matt

Backstab and Turn Undead

After a bit of research today, here are rules clarifications on two abilities we debated a bit during last night's game:

• Backstab - To backstab, the intended target must be unaware of the thief (this typically requires at least a Move Silently check). The target need not be "living," but it must have a discernible backside (for example, slimes and beholders cannot be backstabbed). A successful backstab renders the victim instantly aware of the thief, automatically foiling subsequent attempts. Also remember that thieves gain +4 to hit when backstabbing.

• Turn undead - This ability can only be attempted once per encounter, per cleric.

T1, part 3: A Feasting of Ghouls

We played our third session of The Village of Hommlet last night, with a cast of Gulwar, Amiculum, Ellimorell, and Rylin, halfling thief and newcomer to the party. The characters have found their local renown surging of late, and as such have been approached by a steady stream of prospective mercenaries and hire-ons. Rylin, hitherto working as a line cook in the Inn of the Welcome Wench, was one of these. With Dravin still ailing from the party's previous expedition (fell ill after being bitten by rats in the moat house), the PCs also employed the hulking fighter Kobart (arranging a wage of 5 gp/day through his associate, Turuko) and the self-proclaimed scribe, Spugnoir.

At the onset of the session, an ore trader arrived in Hommlet bearing the bodies of a local huntsman and his two adolescent sons, who had departed east along the road the previous morn in anticipation of Ulaa's Hunt, a scantly-recognized holiday in the region. The hunters' wounds indicated a grisly attack, and after [finally] meeting and consulting with Rufus at the estate of the village elder, the PCs chose to investigate. At dusk, they noted the local custom of food-sharing by candlelight in the wake of a significant death.

The next morning, the PCs visited the traders' establishment to replenish supplies before heading out, and on their way they encountered Rogar; curiously, the man had a long and newly-drawn scar across one side of his face. The warrior admitted to fighting, but would say no more on the matter. After he and Gulwar mutually apologized for their previous dispute, Rogar agreed to accompany the party east. Their venture lasted two days and uncovered no leads in relation to the murders, though the characters did encounter a clothier and his family (a wife and two cousins) traveling west, and escorted them to Hommlet.

Upon their return, the PCs and their three hirelings delved back into the moat house, opening a pair of locked doors on the dungeon level and discovering an assortment of armor, weapons, provisions, and a large pile of black capes and tabards bearing an unknown insignia: a yellow eye wreathed in flames. Intrigued, the PCs set shields face-down on the steps and piled them in front of the doors to serve as makeshift alarms, then proceeded to the secret chute uncovered in the torture chamber during their last visit.

Rylin scouted the bottom, some 30 feet down, noting what the group believed to be more zombies amid an earthy room lined with six-foot alcoves (crypts). After experimenting with various means of setting fires down below using two kegs of brandy found in the store rooms (these were marked as being from Dyvers), the party descended the chute, ready for battle.

That's when things got interesting. The zombies, four in all, converged on the friends immediately, paralyzing Rogar and Amiculum, to the group's horror. The melee then degenerated into a gruesome bloodbath and feasting for the ghouls (for that's what the creatures truly were): Rogar was half-eaten alive, Ellimorell was slain, and Amiculum fell, bleeding and burned. Kobart failed a morale check and fled up the chute, but Spugnoir cast sleep and the warrior plummeted back down to the stone floor, landing in a broken heap.

In the end, Rylin and Gulwar defeated the ghouls, the latter saving Amiculum from within hairs of death with his magic. Kobart and Spugnoir lived (Spugnoir actually never descended the ladder), and the survivors (five in all) hauled the mangled corpses of Rogar and Ellimorell back to Hommlet. That's where we ended.

This was an eventful session to say the least, and it ran great, even if the outcome was less than ideal for the PCs. I inverted armor classes on the fly, eliminating hit tables in favor of hit bonuses, and the change was well worth the minor up-front effort. There's not a ton more I need to streamline at this point, though I do need to make some alterations to our character sheet to avoid any confusion going forward.

Right now, I'm unsure if I'll make the move to C&C or just stay with OSRIC. There are cases for both at this point, though I'm probably leaning a bit toward the latter. I just need to think about it more in the coming days.

Not much XP was gained from this session. I'd already decided to grant Amiculum and Ellimorell a 1,000 XP boost, as in retrospect it was somewhat unfair to allow Dravin and Gulwar to begin the campaign so much higher. The party is also granted 1,000 XP for the cloak of elvenkind found in the previous session, though this award will only be split by the characters that played in that game. For this session, the ghouls are valued at 352 XP, and this award will be split equally between Rylin and Gulwar.

Updated XP totals should be reflected on the site shortly.

Matt

Rules Update

I've been spending time today researching the potential impacts of transitioning my game to the C&C rules. Since I found one or two things that might be detrimental to the existing characters, I've decided I need to discuss Castles & Crusades with my players in more detail before making a switch. In the interim, I'm considering the following changes to 1e/OSRIC:

• Upward AC. PC base to-hits would equal 20 - THAC0. Monster to-hits could then equal their hit dice. Calculating AC is trivial: just add to (instead of subtract from) the base of 10. Doing this math up front should make attack rolls much simpler, with no ill effects, and eliminate "to-hit" tables.
• "SIEGE" checks for task resolution. This would replace AD&D ability checks (or the lack thereof) and saving throws with a standard "d20 + modifiers vs. target DC" mechanic. This is the meat-and-potatoes of Castles & Crusades, and seemingly makes task resolution a breeze. No more wondering what to roll, or if you want a high or low result. Of course, a great complement to the SIEGE system is...
• Standard ability score bonuses. 13-15 = +1; 16-17 = +2; 18-19 = +3. This makes mid-range scores more relevant, and bonus thresholds easier to remember.

For next session, I'll likely implement only #1 (which is purely a syntactical change), and continue to use d20 vs. ability score for ability-based checks.

I also want to develop and print a "cheat sheet" of rolls for my players. For example:

• Attack roll (high) = d20 + modifiers vs. AC
• Ability check (low) = d20, less than or equal to ability score
• Saving throw (high) = d20, greater than or equal to saving throw value
  
• Initiative (high) = d6, result determines combat segment on which opponents act
• d% (low) = d10 for tens digit, d10 for ones digit; succeed by rolling less than or equal to a target percentage; "00" = 100

That's all for now.

Just what I've been looking for (finally)? Castles & Crusades

I started playing D&D when I was about twelve. The current printing of the game was AD&D 2nd Edition, and for ten years, that's all I knew. When 3e came out, I ran/played it with multiple gaming groups, and DMed a campaign that lasted a handful of years, ending around levels 10-11.

At some point in that span, the d20 system got to be a bear. I found myself spending hours upon hours prepping high-level encounters, and running a campaign just started seeming like more work than fun. That's when I began turning back to "old school" D&D editions, where the rules were simple and imagination and creativity always took center stage. I've been writing about my latest AD&D endeavor (this time using OSRIC) on this site. It's going fine, but there are still a few things that bother me about the old school mechanics: hit roll tables are a nuisance, players not knowing what dice to roll, or whether they want to roll low or high bogs things down, and ability scores are often meaningless without being at least 15 or higher. These are generally minor quips, but the fact that I've played the later D&D editions that resolve these issues make them a little harder to suffer.

I'd heard of Castles & Crusades before, paged through it briefly, but when a good friend told me of his recent C&C experiences with his gaming group, I started reading in more detail. Castles and Crusades is old school in feel, but makes the rules tweaks needed for the game to run more smoothly, adds a simple (yet effective) level-based core mechanic, and empowers players with a handful of additional (yet classic) character options. I went ahead and ordered the books, and plan to give the rules a trial run in my next AD&D/OSRIC session.

For the current PCs, there's nothing really to convert, so this should be a pretty risk-free exercise: armor class goes positive, base to-hit bonuses replace THAC0, casters (just one) gain 0-level spells, and the "SIEGE" mechanic (d20 + level + ability mod) replaces most arbitrary and ability-based checks. I actually wrote up a tentative cheat sheet of various "need to know" rules (things that normally get looked up mid-session, like how to turn undead) using C&C mechanics and based on the classes present in the current party - it's one page, 16-point font, double-spaced.

My expectation is for the game to feel no different but run more smoothly, and with the players feeling a bit more empowered with their characters, having a better sense for their odds of accomplishing their various heroics. Long term, there are a lot more options for creating new characters, and the game should prove even easier for me to adjudicate, both in and out of combat (the monster stat blocks in the Monsters & Treasure volume are classic, simple, and clean: a combination I hadn't previously thought possible).

By the way, the artwork's sweet too.

Anyway, I'm trying not to get into too many C&C specifics in my post - the game isn't new and it's not my intention to write a full review (I haven't even run a session with it yet). But before I go, I just want to paraphrase a conversation that my friend had with one of his players toward the end of one of their games, retold to me over the phone:

[DM] Do you want to level up your character real quick before we move on?
[Player] I don't know, it's getting late. Maybe we should stop for the night...
[DM] Actually, it's really easy... [checks book] Roll your d6 for hit points. OK, good. Base to-hit doesn't change, [checks a couple more things...] OK, I think that's all we need to do.
[Player] OK, so I guess I didn't really gain anything new?
[DM] Yeah... but remember that you add your level to all your checks. You basically just got +1 better at everything you do.
[Player] Oh? ...Ohhhh!

Matt

Spoils from T1, part 2

• Foes defeated: 535 XP
• A pile of silver and copper coins (awarded to Rogar as payment): 5 XP
• A silver baton: 0 XP (not yet sold)
• An ivory box: 0 XP (not yet sold)
• An elven-made cloak (magical): 0 XP (not yet dispositioned)

I'm only dividing the XP from this session between the three player characters, so 180 each, plus 300 each for rescuing the three prisoners, for a grand total of 480 XP each to Amiculum, Dravin, and Gulwar. Your totals have been updated. Let me know if you think I missed anything.

Points v. Counterpoints

Since Tracy informed me that may use or link my previous post for his next Troll in the Corner write-up, I want to issue a few quick counterpoints to the old-school shortcomings that I mentioned in my session recap. The great thing about old school is that it's so easy to change something that's not working for you:

1. Combat is dry. Counterpoint: the two combats I referenced saw the PCs pitted against a horde of giant rats and a horde of zombies, respectively. These are not the kinds of combats I normally include when writing my own adventures; they only transpired because we were playing a module. I have a strong suspicion that these fights would have been equally as dry using any "e." Don't make the characters play tedious encounters = problem solved.
   
   
2. The XP-for-treasure system is questionable. Assuming the campaign remains old-school, my guess is that the XP system is nixed within a few more sessions. An easy three-pronged alternative? No more XP for treasure; monsters yield x5 or x10 their normal amount; continue issuing "story awards" when warranted. Problem solved.
   
   
3. Looking up rules is an annoyance. Print off individual spell lists, class descriptions, and key pages of the rules beforehand. As a more drastic measure, I may want to make 2e the de facto rules source for the game, for the sake of my own sanity. Anything not provided inherently by 2e (half-orcs, assassins, etc.) would just be custom additions from their respective sources.

In old school D&D, making the game your own is often the surest path to victory.

Matt

T1, part 2: A Mixed Bag

Tonight ran the second session for the party exploring the ruins of the moat house in The Village of Hommlet. It was also my third session running 1e/OSRIC. My opinions of the games so far have been mixed, and are leading me in a direction that I actually find very surprising.

First, a recap: Dravin, Gulwar, and Amiculum hired Rogar, man-at-arms-for-hire, for a suit of old chain mail plus wages of 2 gp per day and delved back into the moat house, fighting off a horde of rats before slaying the wolf spider lurking in the tower left of the draw bridge (props to Gulwar for his clever use of a mirror in this encounter). They located the steps to the dungeon level, but elected to camp for the night in the bandit room with the door barricaded before descending.

At night, the ogre from the dungeon level wandered up from below, detected the PCs, and broke through the door. Though it managed to bash Gulwar with its club, the party just as quickly peppered it with arrows, and down it went. The party waited out the rest of the night, but then decided to return to town, wounded and out of spells. In Hommlet, word of the ogre was enough to recruit Burne on the characters' next foray - in exchange for a third of all gold and treasures found. And so, five strong, they returned once again, battling zombies, uncovering a hidden chute inside a pillar (amazing rolls here), and freeing three prisoners locked in a closet next to the dead ogre's sleeping chamber.

The session ended with an interesting exchange between the PCs and Rogar, which occurred after the gnome prisoner offered the latter an iron ring of friendship to return him to safety (prior to this, the PCs had decided they would escort the prisoners back to Hommlet only after their resources were further depleted). The characters were adamant that the ring was rightfully theirs since it was obtained while adventuring; Rogar felt otherwise. In the end, they all returned to Hommlet, and Rogar, offended by the pettiness of the dispute, tossed the ring back to the PCs, accepting a small bag of silver for it, albeit reluctantly. It should be interesting to see whether this bridge has been permanently ruptured.

So, that was what happened. Reading the above, it had all the makings of a good session. The PC-NPC interactions really stood out, and the personalities of Rogar, Burne, and even Zert (who the party nearly hired before Gulwar detected him as evil) became much more defined - these are the kinds of things that should really drive the game forward as it progresses.

Despite all the good, this session was tiresome to run; three main reasons stand out to me:

1. Combat is dry. Too many misses, too many rounds of nothing but melee attacks, over and over. Did the players get creative at times? Sure. But especially from my side of the screen, when I'm running the part of giant rats, sitting there rolling piles of d20s and just looking for 15s and higher practically puts me to sleep. The zombie fight was equally fruitless, Burne's wall of fire being the main highlight.
2. The XP-for-treasure system is questionable. This session, it lead to lots of metagaming decisions. Treasure is good, and characters motivated by treasure are fine, but characters motivated by treasure because they need it in order to gain levels is weak sauce. Additionally, we just don't play often enough to use this XP system "by the book." As written, these PCs may not see 5th level until 2011 or later (they're currently levels 3-4, mind). Having grown up on the 2e experience tables, I certainly can respect and appreciate this kind of slow advancement, but I'm seriously doubting its long-term merit for this campaign.
3. Looking up rules is an annoyance. Especially when there's the 2e rule that I grew up knowing, the 3e rule that I played with for several years, the 1e rule that I've read once or twice, and the OSRIC rule that I'm now using as my de facto source. How does detect evil work again? Let me double-check how this system defines it. Too much ambiguity and flipping through books, even if it's not all that frequent.

So why am I surprised by the direction this is leading? Because that direction is 4e. The above items are three core pieces of D&D that it addresses: cinematic combats (allegedly), regular advancement, and minimal rulebook references. The things that went well in this session were all system independent: what might we gain from giving 4e another shot to see how things go? With the PHB2 races and classes, all the current PCs would be easily translatable, and I could cut things I don't like (dragonborn and tieflings) to keep the "classic" D&D feel without worrying about character options being too limited.

Does that mean I want to convert my game to 4e? No. I still have many doubts about the system, two of the foremost being long, dragged-out combats and hard-coded options stifling player creativity. That said, given that I have access to the 4e version of The Village of Hommlet, the idea of letting the players re-engineer their characters for a session or two to finish the adventure in 4e is intriguing: it might be as close to an apples-to-apples comparison as I'm ever able to come up with. If not, maybe I'll try a one-off run of Keep on the Shadowfell - I just hate pulling players away from plot lines they're starting to become involved in.

Anyway, we'll see what happens. Depending on when the first domino of our kitchen remodel falls, it may be a few weeks before I have a chance to play again. Anyone reading this post, feel free to comment, especially if you're one of the players.

Experience from tonight should be forthcoming sometime this weekend. I also like where the campaign is headed, plot-wise. I feel like I have a lot of good leads and NPCs to work with.

Matt

L3: Deep Dwarven Delve (part 1)

Last night I ran an impromptu session of Deep Dwarven Delve for four players. The party, rolled up just an hour beforehand, consisted of two halfling thieves, a gnome assassin, a dwarven fighter, and an elven cleric. All of the characters were evil, and one of the thieves ended up being treated as a semi-NPC (his player had to leave before the session began).

The PCs arrived in Restenford and Lake Farmin after catching wind of the recent string of humanoid raids against the towns. After a brief internal debate over whether to help the distressed towns or simply continue the raiding themselves, they decided to offer their aid, but not before negotiating the per-head bounty on dead humanoids up to 110 gp each, and the reward for the towns' missing gold chalice up to 300 gp.

They soon were off to the humanoids' hidden lair, having been provided directions by one of the towns' rangers, who had tracked the invaders there following the last raid, three days prior. In the end, the PCs barely scratched the surface of the place, killing only a half-dozen orc guards before an alarm gong was sounded and a veritable horde swarmed from the delve's entrance. The dwarf fighter (Pug) was surrounded and slaughtered, and the others turned tail and fled, failing to procure even a single orc's head for their efforts.

The session ran great, and on only about 40 minutes of prep time for me. Like last time, there were a couple of tense moments where a single initiative roll tilted the outcome of the entire evening. For example, as the PCs began to make short work of the few orcs guarding the cave entrance, one guard bolted back inside to sound the alarm gong. The next round, the orcs won initiative, and the gong was sounded seconds before Ping (one of the thieves) rolled a natural 20 and crushed the orc's skull with a sling bullet from outside the cave, some 100 feet away. Had the gong not been rung, the party would almost certainly have been able to sneak inside the delve; as it was, they didn't even manage to set foot inside the cave entrance.

We also had a tragic cinematic scene play out in the ensuing rounds, after a score more orcs flooded from the cave and surrounded Pug, the only PC that wasn't in hiding. He fought the beasts off as best he could (with the help of the thieves and assassin firing from range), but was dropped from 34 hit points to zero in a matter of minutes. In a valiant attempt to try to save his friend, the elven cleric waded through the orc ranks (having first cast sanctuary on himself), then cast cure light wounds on Pug. Every last remaining orc failed its save to be able to attack Godric (the cleric), but even as Pug was restored to a comatose state with positive hit points, the orcs in their battle frenzy continued to impale the dwarf's body with their halberds, killing him outright. That's when the rest of the PCs fled down the hillside and took cover in the trees below until they could escape back to the safety of the towns.

Thus, the party returned empty-handed, having found no treasure and garnering only 200 XP for orcs slain, netting the surviving PCs 50 XP each. AD&D is interesting in that, despite these scarce winnings, the group could easily return, find themselves much more successful on a second run, and net many times more experience along with a mountain of gold in reward money. There's definitely a fine line between success and failure in AD&D, and crossing that line often means all the difference in the world.

As a closing thought, L3 is looking like a great module so far. We might easily play three or more additional game sessions in the delve before the adventure is finally completed, and if the characters currently in Hommlet manage to finish up their dealings soon, maybe they'll arrive in Restenford and Lake Farmin in time to win their share of the spoils here as well.

Troll in the Corner

Nice write-up, Mr. Assassin.

The Village of Hommlet: 4e

Today I acquired a PDF copy of the 4th Edition reprint of The Village of Hommlet, the AD&D module I'm currently running. I've only glanced at it so far, mostly just to get a feel for differences and similarities to the original. I don't really have an opinion on it yet, but given that I own the 4e core books, and despite the less-than-positive feelings I've had trying to run 4e in the past, I wonder if it would be worth running this as a one-off for those currently playing the AD&D version, just as a way of doing a side-by-side comparison. In any case, I'm expecting to have another one to two more sessions (at least) in "old school" T1, so I definitely have time to think about it.