Solo Dungeon Crawl: Excursus - Random Dungeon Generator

After half a dozen delves in the the Solo Dungeon Crawl, I thought it might be useful to put my methods together in one spot.

Random Dungeon Element

The initial method comes from this post at Tabletop Diversions.  I have modified it for my own ease.

Draw a card

• Ace = Stairs up or Exit in X squares (player's choice or roll 1d6. 1-3 Stairs, 4-6 Exit)
• 2 = Stairs down or Exit in X squares (player's choice or roll 1d6. 1-3 Stairs, 4-6 Exit)
• 3 = Straight Hallway for X squares w/ Trap (Roll 1d6. 1-3= pit trap, 4-6 other trap)
• 4 = Straight Hallway for X squares
• 5 = 4-way Intersection in X squares
• 6 = Turn Right in X squares
• 7 = Turn Left in X squares
• 8 = T-intersection in X squares
• 9 = Room(draw a door and then proceed to room generator)
• 10 = Room (draw a door and then proceed to room generator)
• Jack = Room (draw a door and then proceed to room generator)
• Queen = Dead end in X squares or Draw Again(player's choice)
• King = Reshuffle deck and draw again

Add the indicated item to your map (for rooms see the Room Generator).  I plot the map directly onto the online version I have (I use Dungeon Fog).  I only get the pens out when I have an encounter.

Where it says "X squares", roll the appropriate die:

• Hearts = d10
• Diamonds = d8
• Spades = d6
• Clubs = d4

Keep in mind that you may need to be creative or fudge it a bit if there isn't room or you run into the edge of the paper.

If playing solo, resolve any encounters.

Repeat

Room Generator

Roll the die specified:

• If room card is Hearts then d10 x d10 squares
• If room card is Diamonds then d8 x d8 squares
• If room card is Spades then d6 x d6 squares
• If room card is Clubs then d4 x d4 squares

This is a step that I find I have to fudge quite a bit.

Additional Room Exits

Roll 1d4. Subtract 1 from the result. This is how many additional exits are in the room.

Place randomly or wherever makes sense given the dungeon's layout.

Room Content

There is a useful generator for room description here at the Thieves' Guild.

Tabletop Diversions Method 

• 1-2 Monster
• 3 Trap
• 4 Weird/Unusual Stuff (talking statues, magic fountains,etc.)
• 5-6 Empty 

Old School Essentials Method

• 1-2 Empty (chance of treasure 2 in 6)
• 2-4 Monster (chance of treasure 3 in 6)
• 5 Special (no treasure)
• 6 Trap (chance of treasure 2 in 6)

'Special' indicates Weird or magical features of an area, including tricks or puzzles.

OSE has its own tables for monster generation, but these are not yet on-line.  I use the Labyrinth Lord generator at Mithril Mages as LL is a close match to OSE (it also generates the treasure suitable for the monster).  Other generators are available that specify

If no monster is present, OSE suggests the following for treasure

• Level 1: 1d6 × 100sp; 50%: 1d6 × 10gp; 5%: 1d6 gems; 2%: 1d6 pieces of jewellery; 2%: 1 magic item.
• Level 2–3: 1d12 × 100sp; 50%: 1d6 ×100gp; 10%: 1d6 gems; 5%: 1d6 pieces of jewellery; 8%: 1 magic item.
• Level 4–5: 1d6 × 1,000sp; 1d6 × 200gp; 20%: 1d6 gems; 10%: 1d6 pieces of jewellery; 10%: 1 magic item.
• Level 6–7: 1d6 × 2,000sp; 1d6 × 500gp; 30%: 1d6 gems; 15%: 1d6 pieces of jewellery; 15%: 1 magic item.
• Level 8–9: 1d6 × 5,000sp; 1d6 × 1,000gp; 40%: 1d12 gems; 20%: 1d12 pieces of jewellery; 20%: 1 magic item.

Random Encounters

OSE suggests rolling once a day in the Wilderness (I roll once for the trip out and once for the trip back) and every two Turns in the dungeon (or if the party have done something that might reasonable attract attention).

To determine what one meets, one could use the generator at Mithril Mages, but the d20 Generator at donjon had the advantage of letting one specify the terrain, so I have been using that for wilderness encounters.

OSE has it's own tables of course (8 pages of 'em), but I still find using pdfs fiddly, so I've been waiting until I get my hard-copy.  However, on reading the tables, I like the look of the Wilderness options, so I may give them a go.

Solo Dungeon Crawl #5: Oh the Magic-Users!

With Kinfalnar still recovering from his centipede bite, it was decided that it was his turn to stay behind in Heybrook.   The party was thus to consist of Eril (Thief), Aldwyne and Egi (Dwarfs), and Dewan and Beorwald (Magic-Users).

This caused some grumbling when plans were made the night before the delve.  Aldwyne pointed out that the elf was one of the stronger members of the party and that going into the Warren with two magic-users ('stand-at-the-rear liabilities!')  meant that most of the work would fall to the 'poor bloody dwarfs!'  Eril snorted.  Beorwald and Dewan exchanged glances and began murmuring.  A Magic Missile started to circle Beorwald's head, causing Aldwyne to drop his tankard and trip over his chair as he tried to get under the table.  Dewan put him to Sleep, and the party left him there as they went to their bunks.

It was an early start the next morning.  Aldwyne swore that his sore head was down to Dewan's magic rather than the ale he'd been drinking.  The trek through the Tearmoss forest was becoming familiar now.  It passed without incident.

The main entrance to the Warren was locked, as the party had left it.  They had considered whether it would make sense to use 'the anteroom' as an advanced base, to cache equipment and as a place to rest.  Eril had pointed out that there were obviously other entrances and that cached material might not be safe.  The party decided to keep this under consideration: as they moved deeper into the Warren they might need somewhere to camp overnight, but this certainly wasn't the case yet.

Exploration to date

The initial plan was to head out of the Anteroom by the west door and check the northernmost door from the room with the trap-chest (on the basis that it would fill a gap in the map).  They could then head either west or north.

When they reached the chest, Egi asked whether this wasn't what they needed for their cache.  Eril got out his thieves' tools and examined it closely.  After some consideration he decided that it was beyond his current skills to reset the traps in the chest and that there was no advantage in using it.  He could work with Exard the Heybrook blacksmith to create similar chest, but that would take some time and be expensive.

As expected, the northern door led to a right turn.  At the end of a short corridor a door opened into a room.  The carvings on the wall were magnificent, but twisted in nature.  Scenes of death, both violent and peaceful, were on every wall framed by grinning skeletons and ghoulish forms in ragged cloaks. 

Of more immediate interest however, were the two large hobgoblins, who turned and faced the adventurers as the door opened.  The slightly smaller was carrying a polearm, the other (which had a distinctly blue large nose) a curved sword.

The hobgoblin with the poleaxe was killed by a well-aimed arrow from Egi, but attacks from Eril and Aldwyne missed.  Dewan called "Your bird!" to Beorwald, who summoned a Magic Missile, which hit the hobgoblin squarely between the eyes, felling him.  "And that's how a Mage rumbles!" he smirked to Aldwyne.

Hobgoblins bite the dust

A search of the room reveled some graffiti ("The ranger has betrayed us") and an open chest, which the hobgoblins had been rummaging through.  This contained several bags of gold coins and a small bag of gems.  This amount of loot was all the party could carry, so they withdrew from the Warren.

The heavily-laden party made slow going back through the forest.  Perhaps because of this, they weren't paying too much attention to their surroundings and Dewan stumbled into a nest disturbing a swarm of spiders that attacked her, Beorwald and Egi.  As they weren't wearing armour, the magic-users were particularly badly affected, and Dewan was unable to cast the Sleep spell that would save them.  As Egi cast around him with his sword, Eril and Aldwyne unsuccessfully tried to light torches.  With horrific shrieks, Dewan and Beorwald collapsed.  Eril finally managed to light his torch, which was sufficient to ward the swarm off as Aldwyne dragged their colleagues away from the nest.  It was too late for the magic-users, who were clearly dead,  covered in large boils and lesions.   Egi was unconscious, but as Eril kept the swarm at bay, Aldwyne was able to remove the clinging arachnids from him and stabilize his condition.

It was clear that Egi needed to be taken back to Heybrook as soon as possible.  Eril and Aldwyne cached the loot and took him back with full speed.  Eril took Egi for medical attention, while Aldwyne went to see Robern the Miller.  At the cost of 2gp, he hired two pack mules and two of Robern's sons to go back to recover the bodies and the loot.  Fortunately, they were able to do this without any trouble.

Total extent of exploration

This delve

Aftermath

Despite the large haul, the party's mood after this delve was grim.  Aldwyne was particularly hit by the loses.  Beorwald and Dewan were buried alongside Kinlee.  In the weeks the party had been in the village, Beorwald had become a feature at Efril's Place and Dewan was a cheerful and cheery figure.  Several of the villagers turned out to mourn.  Their equipment and the loot they had earned on previous delves were absorbed into party funds.

In Memoriam

Egi took three days to heal from the wounds sustained from the swarm attack.

A count of the gold coins taken after the fight with the hobgoblins come to 3,000gp.  The gems were taken to the Factor, who identified them as a Citrine (100gp), a Star Rose Quartz (75gp), a Smoky Quartz (100gp), an Eye Agate (50gp), a Blue Quartz (25gp) and a smaller Eye Agate (25gp). Total Value: 375 gp.

Eril visited Exard the blacksmith and started planning how a trapped chest might be constructed.

Aldwyne bought himself a bow and has decided to upgrade his chain-mail to plate armour.  He accordingly put an order in with the Factor.  If there is dwarf armour available in Ucham it should arrive in the next incoming caravan, due in seven days.

It was determined that for future delves one of Robern's mules and sons would be hired on the understanding that the son wouldn't enter the warren and would be provided with leather armour and basic weapons.

XP and Loot

XP: 3425 between three survivors (ie, 1142 or 1199 with 5% bonus)

Hobgoblins (x2) - 30
Spider swarm - 20
3,000gp - 3000
Gems to the value of 375gp - 375

Loot: 3,375gp divided between three survivors (ie, 1,125gp)

3,000gp - 3000
Gems traded to the Factor for 375gp

Commentary

Solo gaming

Eril leveled-up!  He's now Thief Level 2.

The bit of fluff between Aldwyne and the magic-users came first: a reflection on my own concerns.  But I have a timeline running for these delves, and it seemed unlikely to me that they party would wait the full ten days for Kinfalnar to heal.  It was handy that the fight with the hobgoblins turned out in a way that tied in with the conceit.

(I wrote that paragraph before things turned pear-shaped and the magic-users were killed!  But it adds a dark shadow on Aldwyne's 'story' for those who like that sort of thing.)

Equally, the question about caching was one that I'd been considering.  I honestly hadn't thought about using the chest they'd found until the party re-entered that room.  As it was, Eril failed his thief skills roll.  The amount of treasure recovered has highlighted the need for some cache or transport.  We'll see how the pack-animal idea works.  It has it's potential dangers.

Monsters and treasure have upped in the last two delves (well they have got further into the dungeon, haven't they?).  The real reason is that I have found a random generator that uses the Labyrinth Lord tables.  This is the OSR ruleset that most closely matches the one I am using (Old School Essentials).  OSE will soon have its own resources on-line following its Kickstarter earlier this year.

Solo Dungeon Crawl: Excursus - Heybrook

As previously explained,  Lord Hamar has decided to bring Civilization to the southern reaches of his domain.  The government has appointed several Factors in the region to facilitate this and in addition, the Church of St Ygg is sending missionaries bringing word of the One True Religion.

One of the sites selected for a factory is the village of Heybrook, due to its position where the Northern Road skirts the Tearmoss Forest.  Eventually, forestry licences will be sold by the administration and the nobles who buy them will have access to labour from the population earmarked for resettlement.  Once these bonded laborers have cleared the forest and worked off the costs of their relocation, they are expected to establish farmsteads, paying their landlords for the privilege.

The Factor and staff

But that is for the future.  Currently the Factor is concentrating on establishing trade routes and clearing troubles-spots.  He has centralised the existing timber and fur trade.  Licences has been issued to three adventuring parties: one, Barry's Boys are acting as caravan guards on the trade route from Heybrook to the county seat at Ucham (where the Factor's boss, the Sheriff is based); and secondly, Marteph's Mercs are tasked with dealing with the brigands operating out of the Ingwick Gap.  The third party is our group, the Warreners, who have received the licence to clear out the dungeon that lies beneath Stone Hill, locally known as the Forsaken Warren.

Hitherto Heybrook had been a typical marches village.  The population of about 250 is mostly human, with a smattering of dwarves and halflings.  It doubles during the two week-long festivals (the Sykes Week in Spring and the Panks Festival in the Autumn) when the trappers, woodsmen and outliers come into town.

These festivals had established Heybrook as a centre for local trade and were one of the reasons the village was chosen as the site for a factory.

However, the establishment of the factory, which seeks to put trade on a more 'regular' footing, and Brother Greward's work towards rooting out 'pagan practices' put the future of the festivals in doubt.

Our group has hired a bunkhouse, which they are in the process of improving.  Eril, Aldwyne and Beorwald claim to be trying to win local hearts and minds by frequenting Efril's Place, the local alehouse.  They have become chummy with Robern the Miller.

Heybrook People

The Factor.  Male human.  40s.  Ambitious.
Herbert Brieheard - his assistant.  Male human. 25.  At the bottom of the slippery pole (but not for long).  Will stay in the Factor's service until he can do better.
Hammon - their dogsbody.  Halfling male.

Brother Greward - Missionary of St Ygg.  Male human.  35.  Believes what he preaches.

Robern, the miller

Witha - innkeeper.  Female human.  42.   Proprietor at Efril's Place (nobody remembers who Efril was).
Robern - miller.  Male human.  60.
Exard - blacksmith.  Male human.  44.
Narder - carpenter.  Male dwarf.  78.
Cece - harness maker.  Female human.  28.
Ernard Gill - butcher.  Male hafling.  67.

Exard and Narder are the local leaders of the Old Congregations.

Mother Elix - wise woman/crone (depending who you speak to).  Female human.  Nobody knows her age.

Solo Dungeon Crawl #4: Bats, Centipedes and (Finally!) Loot

It was Beorwald's turn to stay behind (polishing his wand, washing his hair or some such), so today's party consisted of Aldwyne (Dwarf), Dewin (Wizard) , Kinfalnar (Elf) , Eril (Thief) and Egi (Dwarf)

The journey through the Tearmoss Forest was uneventful (Dewin was looking out for those sprites so she could introduce them to Mr Magic Missile).  The entrance to the Forsaken Warren was still padlocked as the party had left it; however, the 'Keep Out!' sign had been defaced by fae hands...

The Warren as we left it last time

The party continued on the route it had taken last time, heading toward the west and north.  It became apparent that the northern corridor was the same as the one spotted from the anteroom, so the party headed east.

At the end of the corridor, the party came to a room that had obviously once been a study.  A desk stood against a wall, smashed bookcases and their contents littered the floor.   There was an earthy smell: paper rotted in mold-spotted heaps and shattered wood grows white fungus.

A thorough search of the room came up with a dog skull engraved with secret signs, two books still in usable condition (The Tome of Terrible Plains and A Complete Compendium of Halfling Heraldry), and a scroll in a case marked with the symbol of the full moon.

The party took the westward door from this room, and as they did so there was a large 'TWANG!'.  Aldwyne had triggered a trap, and was was struck by an arrow!

As explained by Walter Simon

As Egi moved to give Aldwyne first aid and Eril dismantled the trap, three giant bats came out of their roosts, completely surprising the party.  In the ensuing fight two were killed by Kinfalnar (one with his bow, another with his sword) and the third by Egi.  Fortunately, Eril's bat-attracting cologne had been consigned to the bin.

Rather like the previous one, this room was strewn with the smashed remains of rotting furniture. It looked as if it once held a bed, a desk, a chest, and a chair.  As search found a couple of stone urns containing 1.110sp and 1,100cp.

Following Aldwyne's experience, Eril was tasked with being especially careful checking the only other door out of this room.  He found no traps, and none were triggered when Kinfalnar entered.  However, he was attacked by a giant centipede

Kinfalnar collapsed, poisoned.  Reasoning that the party was already weakened and that with Kinfalnar down they would soon be heading back, Dewin cast her spell for the day, causing the centipede to Sleep.  Eril decapitated it.

The party then realised that this room was just the thing they'd been looking for.  Niches were set into the wall within which stood clay urns. One of the urns had been shattered, and its contents have spilled onto its shelf and the floor. Amid the ash it held, were blackened chunks of something that might be bone.

Systematic looting followed, reaping 10gp and three gems: a large ruby, a diamond and a blue stone.

The party then decided to withdraw and, taking the more direct route, exited from the Warren without any further encounter.  Similarly, the return through the forest the Heybrook was uneventful, if slow.

Extent of exploration to date

Today's route

Scene of action

Aftermath

For once the party has some goods to offer to the Factor.  He valued the gems at 500gp, 100gp and 10gp.  The two tomes he bought for 75gp and 25gp.

On examination the scroll proved to be one of protection from lycanthropes.  The party were unsure whether to keep this.  On consulting the locals (first discretely checking how hairy their knuckles were), they were assured that no lycanthrope had ever been sighted in Heybrook or the Tearmoss Forest.  The scroll was therefore sold to the Factor for 350gp.

One of the considerations in choosing to sell the scroll was that the Factor reminded the party that in his official capacity he had access to various potions and other items that could be of use to Licenced Adventurers.  For example, he could provide healing potions for 50gp (plus a handling fee of 10gp).  Feeling flush, the party ordered six.  They were told to expect a wait of three weeks.

Aldwyne and Eril healed from the wounds caused respectively by trap and bat.  After 10 day's bed rest, Kinfalnar recovered from the effects of the centipede's poisonous bite.

XP and Loot

XP: 906 between five (ie, 181/190/199)

Bats - 60
Centipede  - 5
10gp - 10
1,100sp - 110
1,100cp - 11
gems - 610
tomes - 100

Loot: 238gp 2sp each

10gp
1,100sp
1,100cp
Gems (sold for 610gp)
Tomes (sold for 100gp)
Scroll of Protection from Lycanthropes (sold for 350gp)

Solo Dungeon Crawl #3: Back to the Warren

Prologue

Following the debacle of the adventurers' first delve, they resolved that it was better for an exploration party to consist of five rather than four members.  They decided to learn some of the local lore about the Forsaken Warren, and began to term themselves The Warreners.

They also recruited a new member, Egi Snorrison, a second dwarf, as Kinlee's replacement.

Beorwald the Mage remained in Haybrook.  Kinfalnar the elf, Eril the thief, Dewan the wizard, Aldwyne the dwarf and Egi set out for the Warren.

On the way through the Tearmoss Forest the party spotted a group of sprites flitting among the trees.  Advised by Dewan that they were rarely hostile, but that encounters tend to be troublesome, a detour was made.  However, as they did so, they heard a cry of "Run away wizard girl!".  For the next two days Dewan dribbled uncontrollably.

The Delve

On reaching the Stone Hill, the party fixed a padlock on the entrance to the Warren and a Keep Out sign, endorsed with the Factor's official seal.

As we left it last time

The party took the west door from the anteroom.  They bypassed the trap that had killed Kinlee and  came to a door.  In the room beyond a skeleton dressed in moth-eaten garb lay before a large open chest. The chest appeared empty, but two needles were projecting from the now-open lock.  Dust coated something sticky on the needles' points.  The skeleton had a backpack containing rope, a hammer and stakes and rotted rations.  A pouch contained 90gp.  Eril examined the chest, but didn't find anything of note.

Taking the door to the southwest, the party entered a room only to be surprised by a giant crab spider which dropped onto Aldwyne.  Unfortunately it was able to get two bites in (though he successfully resisted the poison) before Dewan cast Sleep on it and Egi dispatched it.  The exit out of this room lead to a corridor so, in accordance with their policy of not getting too far ahead of themselves, the party returned to the room with the trapped chest.

The other west door lead to a short corridor with a side passage.  As the party went through the door, a group of kolbolds came down the corridor.  They swarmed around the corridor, but were unable to hit the party before a bow shot from Aldwyne, a Magic Missile from from Kinfalnar and a stroke of Eril's sword reduced their number from seven to four.  Nevertheless a number of attacks left Egi down and unconscious.  The remaining Kolbolds were quickly dealt with.  Looting the bodies recovered a lot of tat and 102cp.

Egi being unconscious and both Aldwyne and Kinfalnar injured, it was decided to return to base.

On the return through the forest, a group of wild boar were spotted, but in good time to avoid them.

Aftermath

The party healed up within five days.  Dewan stopped drooling.

XP: 151 (divided between five)
Loot: 90gp, 102cp

Solo Dungeon Crawl #2: Initial Game

I had written  a long and involved post about how I was going to generate random rooms and corridors, but then I found this method, and decided to try it out.   I played two games yesterday and it served me well.

If you're into thinking about the methodology of random dungeon creation, I can only suggest you read some of the posts on The Nine and Thirty Kingdoms blog.  The methods proposed there can be a little complicated, but it's an interesting discussion.

The reason I chose not to go with a dungeon generator or geomorphs is that they all tend to produce either suites of rooms or whole dungeons.  I want the feel of not know what's behind a door until I open it.  In future I may provide a 'found map', for which I'll use one of those methods.

To Re-Cap

Lord Hamar  (Artist: Nate Hallinan)

Lord Hamar has decided to bring Civilization to the southern reaches of his domain.  Unfortunately, his predecessors haven't been so enlightened and allowed the South to operate as a number of semi-autonomous communities.  He has a large number of dissents waiting to be relocated and employed in agrarian pursuits, but before the expensive resettlement programme begins, various trouble-spots need to be cleared.

The government has appointed several Factors in the region and have made it known that they will give adventuring parties licence to clear out a such trouble-spots.  Bounties may be paid, and adventurers will be allowed to keep any loot they acquire through their licenced activities.

The approach to Heybrook

A factory has been established in the village of Heybrook and our party has acquired the licence to explore the dungeon that lies beneath Stone Hill.

The Factor and his assistant

The Game

Of our six adventurers, four set out from Heybrook: Eril the thief, Kinfalnar the elf, Dewin Hud the wizard and Kinlee the cleric.  Aldwyne the dwarf and Beorwald the mage remain to sort out accommodation and various issues with the Factor.

In their initial dealings with the villagers, the party had heard many fanciful rumours about what they had learnt was locally known as The Forsaken Warren.  The Factor had insisted that 99 our of 100 of these were false, but which one was true?

The two-hour journey out through the wild forest to the Stone Hill was uneventful.  On reaching the entrance, it was as had been described to them and led into an ante chamber.

The doors to the chamber were ajar and from the amount of rubbish and debris, it had been open to the elements and used by various wild creatures as a cave would had.  Indeed, on entering the chamber, the party were attacked by three giant bats.  

This first encounter demonstrated some weaknesses among the  new adventurers.  Although Kinfalnar was able to skewer two of the bats with his arrows, the third prove particularly agile and resilient.  In addition, Eril seemed to have used some sort of aftershave that attracted the beasts, and took the full brunt of their attack.

With Eril severely weakened, the party considered returning to Heybrook.  Their inexperience won through however, and they decided that it would be foolish to give up at the first hurdle.  Dewin suggested that Eril be left to guard the entrance while the rest explored, but he was adamant that he would not be left alone.

The party decided to try all three doors in this room before delving further into the dungeon.  

The north door lead to a corridor terminating in a T-junction.  

The east door to a room lined with shelves with broken casks and bottles.  As expected, this room had been thoroughly looted.  However, an intensive search uncovered 30sp wrapped in a cloth and hidden in the bottom of a cask.  These were cached in the anteroom to be picked up on the way out.

The west door led to a corridor.  Almost immediately, Kinlee triggered a pit-trap, the fall being sufficient to kill him outright.  His colleagues recovered his body (and equipment) and returned to the anteroom to consider their position.  With Kinlee dead and Eril very weak, it was clear that nothing more could be done.  The silver pieces were recovered and it was determined to take Kinlee's body back to Heybrook where he could receive the rites appropriate to his religion (he had been an Acolyte of Silvanus).

Fortunately, the journey through the forest again proved uneventful.

Aftermath

A poor showing.  The party returned to Heybrook in a depleted state and with nothing to report to the Factor.  Many of the locals are followers of the Old Gods (the imposition of the Church of Ygg is one of Lord Hamar's civilising aims), so Kinlee was buried as he would have wished with an oak tree planted at the head of his grave.  There was much shaking of heads and many knowing looks from the villagers.  Eril took five days to recover from the bat attack.

Kinlee's kit and equipment were stored for future use (as per the Adventuring Agreement) and it was resolved to recruit a replacement.

Loot: 30sp
XP: 63 divided among three survivors.

Solo Dungeon Crawl #1: Concept and Prep

For domestic reasons I've been unable to go along to our RPG group for a couple of months now, and am unlikely to be able to in the near future.  I even had to abandon the Call of Cthulhu session I was going to run, despite having had quite some fun with the prep, which was a great disappointment to me.  But such is life.

So I'm going to try some solo gaming (in part inspired by the Roleplay Rescue Podcast, which I've been following for some time).  A lot of the most fun bits of RPGs can't be done solo of course, but some can.  I'm going to concentrate on an old-fashioned dungeon crawl.  .

I'm going to try a randomly-generated sandbox (so no theme - 'Temple of the Red Lich').  I've no idea if it will work or not.  It may just turn into "You walk into a room and see Monster X", but even that will be some practice at combat and will occupy me for a little while.  It may make me think a little about what lies beyond dungeon creation.

As regular readers will recognise, my initial thoughts are heavily influenced by my experience of Barrowmaze.

Fluff

Lord Hamar  (Artist: Nate Hallinan)

Lord Hamar has decided to bring Civilization to the southern reaches of his domain.  Unfortunately, his predecessors haven't been so enlightened and allowed the South to operate as a number of semi-autonomous communities.  He has a large number of dissents waiting to be relocated and employed in agrarian pursuits, but before the expensive resettlement programme begins, various trouble-spots need to be cleared.

The government has appointed several Factors in the region and have made it known that they will give adventuring parties licence to clear out a such trouble-spots.  Bounties may be paid, and adventurers will be allowed to keep any loot they acquire through their licenced activities.

The approach to Haybrook

A factory has been established in the village of Haybrook and our party has acquired the licence to explore the dungeon that lies beneath Stone Hill.

The Factor and his assistant

The Adventurers

Now I could create a party of mid-to-high level Heroes, well-matched and kitted out with all sorts of singing swords, but that isn't my style of play.

I like the idea of PCs not being heroes, just people who for their own reasons (possibly heroism, who knows?) are going in search of experience and treasure.  If they survive, they may eventually be what we term as heroes, but at the moment, they're just getting by.  I rather like the concept of the Dungeon Crawl Classic 'Funnel' - that is an adventure where each player starts with a stable of 0 Level characters (butchers, bakers and candlestick makers), most of which are expected to die, but one or two of whom will survive and graduate to Level 1.  I may incorporate some DCC features into my solo gaming, but not yet.

So what I've done is to roll six characters using the B/X Essential rules (I'll graduate to Old School Essentials - the upgrade - once I get my hard-copy).  I've rolled 3d6 in order with no point transfer then chose classes based on the results.  I know that's harsh on the character, but I think that the inevitable weaknesses generated fit in with the 'ordinary Joe' concept.

I intend to keep a pool of six adventures, and for each crawl to (randomly?) select four.  When a character dies, I will roll another for the pool.  For the initial pool I stuck with the basic B/X Essentials classes.  I know I ran the risk of getting six consumptive magic users, but in the end I ended up with a cleric, a dwarf, a thief, an elf and two wizards.  Not a bad mix.  When a character dies (and regular readers will know that I experience that a lot), I will roll a new member of the pool.  With these new characters I will have the option of adding Advanced Classes.

Our starting characters

CoC: Taking the Plunge

I've wanted to play Call of Cthulhu for a long while.  Last month I bought the CoC Starter Set, which does a very good job of introducing one to the rules.  But once one's done the solo scenario (being sacrificed by the villagers both times), what's a chap to do?

So, here' the plunge bit....

Working on the principle that the only guaranteed way to get people to play an RPG with you is to GM it, I invited the regulars in our group to play one of the introductory scenarios from the Pack, with me as Keeper.  Four have signed up to play 'Edge of Darkness'  on 21 August.

Being Keeper on my first CoC outing is rather daunting (especially as I haven't GM'd anything before), but as Old Friend of the Blog Jon Price said "The game's the thing. An enjoyable session beats strict adherence to the rules, so don't be afraid to busk it."  The stars are aligned as well: we'll be playing between HP Lovecraft's birthday and my own.

So over the last week I've been having fun working through the scenario, putting props together and creating NPCs that won't be needed.

And this morning a mysterious man in red bearing gifts knocked on the door...

Now we're cooking with gas!

Spacemen and Space Monsters

Back on Saturday I posted that I had just ordered some of Cold War Minis astronauts (to me, these are definitely Spacemen, and that's how they will be referred to from now on!  I don't know what the gender-neutral version of Spacemen is.)

Well they arrived this morning (it's Wednesday), and are rather nice.

Looking at them, it strikes me that they might make a good match for Statuesque Miniatures Statuesque Starport range.  Those may end up next on the shopping list...

And by a stroke a serendipity, this morning I spotted some suitable Alien Opponents in the charity shop.  Great, eh?

And yes, I do know the story of the origins of the Rust Monster et al.

Barrowmaze #12: Not There Again!

This may be obvious but these AARs contain spoilers for those wanting to go into the Barrowmaze.  The message is that if you're going to, don't take advantage of them.  They're called spoilers because they spoil the fun.  DON'T BE A DICK!

This was another day on which I left early (Real Life, eh?).  As such, I've only got the write-up for the first of the two delves that took place on that day.

Barrowmaze – 7 July 2019: First Delve 

John	Dungeon Master
Player	Character	Class	Notes
Me	Decimus Stonehythe	Gnome  Level 1	Character’s 7th delve  Pet Badger – Dachs
Mark	Wuss	Cleric of St Ygg  Level 1	Character’s 3rd delve  Hirelings: Lyrann, Level 0 fighter; Bregull Thatcher, Level 0 fighter
Vlad	Tarrow	Illusionist  Level 1	Character’s 2nd delve
Nick	Thrudd	Dwarf  Level 1	Player and characters’ 1st delve

The Plan 


To return to the Skeleton Room yet again (this must make at least half a dozen times!) and see what was behind the secret door discovered in the last session. 


Pre-Delve 

The party assembled at the Galmar’s Estate.  A new member, Thrudd the Dwarf, had been attracted by the posters around Helix and volunteered his services.  It was hardly necessary to pour over maps to discuss the well-traveled route to the Skeleton Room, and there was little argument that extra muscle was required.  Accordingly, a visit was made to Merg’s Mercenaries, where for 10gp two well-equipped fighters were hired: Lyrann for 10gp per delve; and Bregull thatcher for 24gp per delve.  


A visit was made to the Church of St Ygg to procure Brother Othar’s blessing, but there was no repeat of the offer of free Holy Water, something that Wuss as a loyal follower of the Church did not press.  Moonwhisper enchanted the party’s lanterns so that they would cast Continual Light. 

Five hours into the trip to the Barrowmaze, the party were surprised by an Axebeak.  This eight-foot tall bird leapt out of the mist to attack Decimus, who evaded injury due to his small size and Gnomish dexterity, but succeeded in killing Bregull.  The party’s reputation as a poor bet for hirelings was again proving correct.  On defeating the bird, Decimus took the time to remove its lower jaw for Ambrose’s collection.  Thrudd butchered it and put the drumsticks in his backpack. 

The Delve 

On reaching the Barrow Mounds, it was decided to repeat our previous practice of undertaking some mound exploration before descending into the Barrowmaze.  

We went to a new mound (which we designated Mound 13 on our map).  The entrance to this circular mound was open, and Decimus sent Dachs in to report on what was inside.  Dachs reported that there was nothing of interest and Decimus – despite beginning to doubt the wisdom of relying on a badger’s sense of what is important – rewarded him. (What else was he to do?  A Badger is a Gnome’s Best Friend after all). 

Going down the steps, the rest noticed two slabs on the far side of the chamber with skeletons lying on them.  Tarrow took no chances, and slung a shot at one of them, at which it promptly sat up.  Both skellies were quickly destroyed by ranged fire.

Attention then turned to the chamber.  Decimus and Thrudd checked the slabs, which were covered with geometric designs.  Using his Dwarven cunning for such things, Thrudd triggered a secret drawer, which contained a wooden figurine of a woman, a silver dagger and a scroll. 
 
We then went on to the Back Door Mound, where we instructed the new members of the party in using the secret mechanism and entered the ‘Maze.   

We moved through the Crossroads of Death to the Statue Room, where we spotted a body.  Fearing a trap, Decimus fired an arrow into it, to no effect, before going forward to examine it.  The body was that of an adventurer and had already been looted.  Wuss checked behind the remains of the statue in case anything was cached there, but to no result.

We continued without incident to the Octagonal Room.  There we found a pile of half a dozen bodies.  Whatever had killed them wasn’t around, so Decimus, never one to leave a corpse unlooted,  went through the pile.  Towards the bottom he found a backpack containing what appeared to be notes on monsters encountered in the ‘Maze, some of which he recognised.  This was taken for further study.

The Skeleton Room had been reached, but it wasn’t empty.  Three shadowy figures of adventures suddenly attacked the party.  Tarrow cast Phantasmal Force, causing a wall of flame to seemingly emerge from the pit that one of the Shadows was floating above, destroying it.  

Heartened by this, Decimus cast Spook, which caused a second Shadow to flee, he then called out “They’re not Undead!”.  Despite this advice, Wuss put his faith in Holy Water, anointing his sling-shots.  These had no effect on the remaining shadow, as did none of the party’s other weapons, with the exception of Decimus’ enchanted axe, Deepshine.  Realising this, Decimus took up position against the Shadow, while the rest of the party watched for the return of the Spooked Shadow or any other danger.  This proved hard on Decimus, who was severely wounded, but fortunately Thrudd was able to recover Deepshine and demonstrated the axe-work for which Dwarves are famous, defeating the Shadow. 

Used to having prone members in this room, the party stabilised Decimus and left him on watch, guarded by Dachs, while they examined the secret chamber that was the goal of this delve.  The room was curious.  To one end was a tentacled altar, upon which sat an unstrung bow, beyond this was a sarcophagus with a crude inscription on the wall above it “Here Lies Reutsool”.  On entering the room, a voice cried out from within the sarcophagus, claiming to be a trapped adventurer, and calling to be freed.  The party were wary of this, promised to return, and left, taking the bow with them. 

On leaving the Skeleton Room and returning into the Octagonal Room, we found that the pile of corpses had attracted the attention of five Giant Rats.  Decimus used his knowledge of their language to attempt to parley passage through the rooms, an attempt that was held up by one particularly belligerent rat.  The deadlock was broken however, when Thrudd remembered that he had the Axebeak drumsticks in his pack.  Throwing these to the rats was enough to ensure that the party was able to pass through the room unmolested. 

The withdrawal from the ‘Maze and the return to Helix proved uneventful. 


Post-Delve


Decimus required three days to heal from his wounds. 

It was determined that neither the wooden figurine nor the silver dagger were enchanted.  These were taken to Huffenpuff’s who valued the latter at 35gp.  The figurine was also taken to Hendon the Miller, to see whether his knowledge of the Old Gods would through any light on it.  He reported that it had been the practice of those buried in the Mounds to have representations of their loved ones placed with them, and that this figurine had no special significance or value. 

Mazzah valued the bow at 3,000gp, but after some discussion the party decided that the enchantment on it was so powerful that it was worth keeping for future use. 

Encounters 

Location	Nature	Casualties	Notes
Wilderness	Axebeak (x1)	Bregull killed	Defeated and butchered.  Lower jaw and drumsticks retained.
Mound 13	Skeletons (x2)		Defeated
Skeleton Room	Shadows (x3)	Decimus severely wounded	Defeated by Illusionist spells and magic weapons.
Octagonal Room	Giant Rats (x5)		Successful parley.

Loot

Location	Nature	Value	Notes
Mound 13	Wooden figurine	None
Mound 13	Silver dagger	35gp	Allocated to Tarrows
Mound 13	Scroll	Not valued	Contains, Light, Burning Hands and Shocking Grasp.  Allocated to Moonwhisper.
Octagonal Room	Bestiary	Not valued	Added to the Library in the Lodge
Secret Chamber	Bow	3,000gp	Enchanted.  Is a +2 bow.  Added to the Armoury in the Lodge.