Last weekend was a local game convention, Dragonflight #42. I signed up to run a pair of B/X-OSE games under the same general conceit that I run my Meetup games: I'll figure out what I'm running when I get there...
(Adventure spoilers, of course).
I had a pretty good idea that I was going to run 'Vats of Rats' on Saturday. The signed-up group included three of the usual suspects from our FLGS group, one of the player's daughters, and two new-to-me folks. The party was comprised of two dwarfs, two elves, a fighter, and a cleric. A sufficient group for sussing out the source of the mysterious man-rat who had appeared in town.
The party met the aforementioned man-rat in the reeve's gaol, and through some offerings of food and a blanket, were able to get sufficient information from the fellow, in addition to some random rumors around town.
They cautiously approached the 'abandoned' mage's compound, and were able to make contact with a pair of famished imprisoned man-rats in one of the exterior cells. Killing a monstrous rat that shared their cell, the party earned their trust and got some generalized information on the compound, and to look for the side door for entrance.
Safely accessing the compound, the party inspected the trap mechanism, which I decided to be comprised of a large Leyden jar, the size of a carboy. Of course they had to detach and steal it. So the party continued to stealthily explore the compound with a Leyden jar on a hand-truck with a really squeaky wheel.
The party soon found Natália Potkanová's quarters, telling her housekeeper rat he was free to go. They tossed the room, finding some good loot, before being set upon by a pair of man-rat guards. A brief fight, and the party was victorious.
Entering the dissection room, they got somewhat squidged out by the pieces-parts strewn about. They could smell the true lab, and prepared for assault. One of the dwarves pulled open the door, and the fighter hucked in the Leyden jar, hoping for some effect. Sure enough (die roll), it blew up. Natália dodged, but her assistant Vlastimil was one-shotted by the exploding apparatus. The party then burst in, firing bows and preventing Natália from casting spells. Seeing the party strength, I quantum-ogered in a few more man-rats to defend her, and the fight began in earnest.
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The cleric made the astute choice to toss flaming oil into a random bubbling vat, because why not? Now the room was full of smoke, and several of the PCs were fighting at penalty due to failed saves. At least Natália could take cover and initiate her escape plan (1hp left). In the meantime, several summoned armored and climbing rats attacked the party from behind.
Natália spider-climbed her way past the party, dodging their grasping hands, and made her way out of the fray. The party finished off the various rodent foes, and chose not to pursue, instead inspecting the laboratory.
The scene closed with party members drinking various containers of mutagens, just to see what would happen. Because of course they would....
...So a good session, with a bit of a mix of activities, some RP, a bit of trap-finding, exploration and detective work, with a sufficient amount of battle chaos (I really should have blown up more stuff. Next time.). And drinking random stuff. Always a fine PC past-time. I think everyone got a good shot in or bit of interaction, so that was good, as well.
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On Sunday, I ended up with a party of four. One of whom I'd played with in con games before, and three other folks. They pulled an elf, dwarf, halfling, and mage from the pile.
I chose to run The Banshee's Tower again, since it had worked well a couple weeks ago, and I wanted to see how a second group would approach it, particularly with some minor edits I'd made based on my prior game notes.
Like last time, the party got sniped by the bandit guard. This time, they attempted to pursue, but the bandit was able to slip into the tower prior to the party catching up. They made a quick check of the gate-house, then bee-lined to the tower. The dwarf kicked open the double doors. Finding the entrance hall empty, they chose to climb up, because tower.
Reaching the second floor, they found the dragon-skull decoration, which the mage immediately pilfered, for research purposes. He cast detect magic, and was disappointed to find it only a fine art piece. But that was ok, because he did find the magic dagger in the next room.
Continuing to the roof level, the halfling was surprised coming face-to-face with the resident giant eagle. A 2d6 roll showed the eagle doing a bluff display, but not attacking further at the moment. The party paused, debating their actions, when they spotted the chicks.
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Exploring the ground floor, the party ran into the fleeing bandits, who told of their plight. The party robbed them and let them go. Because players.
Descending into the cellars, the party inspected the storeroom, finding the wine, and decided to poke the water. Again, because players. The ooze bubbled up, whacking the elf for some good damage. The halfling rolled a 1 with her sling, spending a round untangling it. The party fought back until the dwarf critted (I use the variable crit table from ASSH). The dwarf rolled well, spattering the ooze across the walls.
The halfling opened the strongroom door, and the crossbow trap misfired (DM rolled a 1).
The dwarf committed more door-kicking. Exploring deeper, the party came upon the doomed bandit, and noted the wall fungus, proceeded with some caution. Like the prior party, they smelled the accumulated explosive gas and pulled their flame sources away before inspecting the room.
They then backtracked to a side door, descending into the cavern. I rolled a wandering viper that surprised them, biting the halfling (she made her save) before they pulped it. Finding the paralyzed bandit captain, they cut him from his fungal webbing and propped him against a wall to recover. I told them he was blinking furiously, but they didn't take the clue to do 20 Questions...
Continuing into the hall, the dwarf proceeded to run ahead, kicking open (almost) every door. He failed on the one with the boss-fungus. But he was surprised by the immature fungus, and nearly took a beat-down. A tossed oil flask crisped the fungus.
Just in time for Daddy Fungus to open its cell door and wade into the center of the party. Melee closed, and the mage was able to temporarily stun it with his light spell. The elf at this point was in bad shape and negated some damage with a healing potion. Once again, the halfling rolled a 1 with her sling, spending a round unwrapping it from around her head. Filaments flew, but missed the characters. Even the mage got stabby with his fancy new dagger. The dwarf prudently hung back, only wading in to make the killing blow.
Catching their breath (especially those who had kicked up some choking spores), they discovered the body of Captain Per Yeren. The halfling claimed the tower deed, the dwarf the armor to sell, and the elf the magic sword. They remembered the bandit captain on their way out. He was recovering from the paralysis and had not been infected (saving throw). While he got to his feet, wobbly, the elf charmed him, because who doesn't need another friend?
...This one went pretty well, too, and the party exploring most of the interior space, most notably the tower. The eagle interaction could have gone either way, and would have constituted a second boss-fight if rolls and party choices had gone differently. Fighting one or more eagles could significantly impair a party (2nd level PCs) versus later foes. The player running the dwarf was a bit chaotic, tending to rush ahead, so did eclipse other players a bit. Conversely, the elf's player was a bit on the reserved side, and combined with some crap rolls, didn't get to shine as much as possible. I did give him props for the charm spell on the way out of the dungeon. It was good to run a scenario for a second time, especially with the smaller party who were fairly decisive on their actions.
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I was also able to step into a last-minute playtesting game with Tim Beach, who wrote for TSR during the 2e days. He was running a homebuilt d20-test system for kids of all ages. And it was essentially themed 'cowboys and dinosaurs' so how was I to refuse that? We had a fun session with a gun-slinging mage, minotaur warrior, and halfling ninja (of course) tracking down some snake-men who were mind-controlling the local dinosaurs. Close calls were had, but our heroes were victorious in the end.
Other than that I wandered about, talked games with folks, bought a few trinkets, and generally had a good time. Not the worst time out.
Sounds like a lot of fun and a great time running! Win win!
ReplyDeleteYes indeed. I still consider myself a novice gamerunner, so still figuring out what works both for play and writing. It's been good so far.
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