D66 Beers on the Wall ....

Well, been offline for a bit. Out visiting the relatives on the Plains, you know...

I always have the intention to get some writing done while I'm back at the homestead, but the time gets filled with sorting things to dispose of, and family history to keep (like records of those no-nonsense fellows, above).  

As well as hanging at the local watering holes. Like your PCs may do between bouts of killing monsters and taking their stuff. And, in our campaign, the halfling Fulvus was on a quest to find interesting ale formulations, and made a habit of talking with local taverns and alewives, with the hope of taking back a "secret recipe" to his own alehouse.

So, what might he have found in his travels? And - perhaps one or more of those "Secret recipes" may have included a bit of a side effect, whether intentional or not. So what's on tap at the tavern, and did your PC get a bit more than they bargained for? ...

Have a Drink

Speaking of which, setting up a game at a new brewery location tonight as part of their Sunday game night.  (Cancelled due to the appearance of plague at Leicester HQ)

Campaign Journal: Final Entry

Who made it through all this nonsense:

• Jax-barbarian
• Slick-thief
• Frederick-thief
• Rondel-elf

This will be a long one. Buckle up.

We set the scene:

The smoke cleared from the battle. Forces bandaged up and counted their dead. Militia dispersed, back to protect their own town walls. The Acroria forces considered their situation – their city destroyed, their people refugees, their leadership dead or scattered. Out of this, the Librarian offered to help them solidify this new network, and journey to the Ha-Tak Pyramid to connect it to the Barrier.

Half the Khanate cavalry was returning north, and would escort the Librarian against harm.

That left the party, half the cavalry, and a handful of knights. There was still the root of the Chaos to be eliminated. Dukan Dildran and his contingent of cavalry would join, as well as Benedikt. And Serafina, who has been spending some time with Slick, will join on this final crusade. Oh yeah, and Kavderac, because dragon. After all, dragons may sense another dragon's horde location and size. It is how they assess the strength and age of their potential competitors, and whether it is wise to confront or give them a wide berth.

West toward the mountains and the blighted lands. First, the lair of Eorvalth, the doomed dragon. Consistent with the elven rangers' report, the lair was found to have been the site of a battle, with the dragon missing, as well as their loot. Kavderac sniffed around, disappointed. The dragon equivalent of couch cushion change was found, as well as a couple of overlooked scrolls. The company rested and considered next steps.

While they paused, Kavderac scouted the foothills and mountains for Eorvalth's missing hoard. Successful, he returned.

The dragon guided the party and their cohort into the mountains, with assurances that Eorvalth's hoard was found, and the mutant stronghold assumed to be close by.

They Met at a Tavern 17: Visiting the Zombraire's Estate

Happy Halloween!

It's been about three years since I ran The Zombraire's Estate, so time to dust it off again, this time for a Shadowdark crew....

• Brandon: Halfling Bard
• Matt: Dwarf Priest
• McKenna: Human Fighter
• Mike: Human Witch
• Jema: Elf Knight of St. Ydris (late arrival, see below)

We Rolled For Hats and got moving. I kept to the stock game plan from the module, and had the players hired to root out and purge the old manor of its curse... 

The initial four PCs approached the manor. Spotting the skeletons arrayed by the front gate, the dwarven priest approached to give a blessing to the dead. The dead woke up and were having none of that. Stabbing and smashing and failed Turn Undead rolls commenced (even with a luck point - Madeera was not answering calls today).

source

The party then circled around the compound, finding the Wrenwald family crypts. As they waffled about checking them out, Luacia the Dryad's raven found them and asked for assistance. The raven recognized the witch with their mouse familiar as a kindred soul. The mouse was sent with the raven to assess the dryad, returning to confirm their veracity. Luacia explained the blight from manor's curse and begged the PCs to help. They agreed. She healed the priest in thanks. Her bless attempt failed though, a sign of her fading powers.

Entering the compound, the fighter checked out one of the animal pens, finding the zombie chickens... After poking a stick at them, she decided that checking for eggs in the coop wouldn't be a good idea. 

The witch found the poisoned well, and recovered a magic short sword from the doomed adventurer. The bard took the sword for later use. 

More poking around and avoiding the other animal pens and zombie gardeners. This party was way too cautious...

D66 Double Feature: Magic Weapons and Shields

Hiedy ho, neighbor!

Time to post up something not play report-affiliated. Not that everyone doesn't find my reports of hapless gamerunning as totally gripping reads.

Posted up 10-ish magic weapons a bit ago, so of course we need to expand that list to d66. And while we're at it, why not d66 magic shields to go along with them. 

Each has a standard bonus, plus one additional quality. Some may be one-time use, some daily, some permanent. All in the name of not just another boring +1 sword in the loot pile. Hopefully they can liven up a treasure find and the resulting play. I know that Slick's level-draining scimitar has made several monsters very sad. 

source

So have a pair of lists to mix and match into your adventures:

Magic Weapons Here

Magic Shields Here

Anyway, on to finalize, perhaps, some details for this weekend's final !?! session of our little campaign that began around three years ago... 

Expect shenanigans, and hopefully a few surprises...

source

They Met at a Tavern 16: Into the Caluromys Chambers

Who showed up and had to try to hear me over baseball playoffs?

• Jema: Half-orc Desert Rider
• Brandon: Halfling Wizard
• Gurleen:  Elf Fighter
• Seana: Elf Thief

Using something I've had knocking around for five years or so... Looking at the printout I have in my adventures folder, I can tell I've at least prepped it for play (notes on hp, treasures, etc.) but I couldn't find a writeup or other play notes so... I guess this is a first playthrough?

Started the four miscreants at the entrance. Made a call that the wizard had some knowledge of the place and its prior worshipers. 

They immediately came upon the first serpent-folk guard and his watch-lizard. The pair were put down with a brief fight. Finding the first Possimium statue, the fighter prudently added a few coins to its alms bowl, preventing its trap function. 

The quartet worked their way through the corridors, backtracking if they though it was wise to check another passageway or route deeper into the complex. Finding a sarcophagus with its attendant bust of the interred hero, they respectfully left it alone. Finding the second Possimium statue, a few more coins were left, for good measure.

Yet Another Mass Combat Hack - Using "Field Combat Rules for Shadowdark" in OSE

OK, for those who have been tuning in to the channel, we had a knock down drag out battle a couple of weeks ago in the campaign world.

There was strategizing. And cookies.

But prior to that, I needed to come up with a mass combat system for the session, something light enough that it didn't bog down our usual chaos. Plus I'd never run mass combat before. A couple of our crew have wargame and other miniatures battle experience, so I didn't want to look like a total noob. 

So what to do?

Well, of course obsessively look for the "perfect" system through all the mass combat rules I've acquired. And then homebrew off the favorite. As you do.

So, this exercise wasn't completely cut from whole cloth. After looking at how I had already inventoried my spreadsheets of potential forces of allies and foes, I needed to find something that worked off a similar structure as to what I already had in mind and had modeled a bit in my prep.

So of the sheaf of options, I chose "Field Combat Rules for Shadowdark" by Connor Ludovissy for my starting point. The system starts with the extrapolation of an individual NPC combatant to a "unit" of similar capability. While Connor's assumption is five combatants per unit, my combatant number ("company") was more nebulous, in that it could represent a larger group of militia archers or a small group of elite knights.

For example, here is a unit of what may be considered militia from the original rules:

"2. Fighter Unit

• Men and women with basic training and sharp weapons.
• HP 24, AC 12, ATK 1, 1d8 damage, close
• When half of unit is lost, DC 12 WIS or flees."

Very simple stats, and easily ported over to our B/X-OSE environment. In fact, I just kept the SD morale roles to simplify the number of dice on the table.

But the simple combat rules really stood out, especially since they give the option to give bonuses to units when PCs incorporate themselves into the unit, both for damage and morale. Field Combat Rules 4 and 5 line out most of this:

"4. Player characters may fight as individuals using their unmodified statblocks. However, characters with allies of a similar type may also form units, and their stats can be abstracted (adding additional damage and HP as indicated).

5. Any unit that is forced to flee leaves the battlefield and does not enter combat again. A friendly unit accompanied closely by a player character has advantage on WIS checks against fleeing from battle."

I modded it slightly: "Party members can either attack an individual target or add their damage to a unit & +2 morale." I figured that the miscreants would want to go stab the various big-bads directly, or step back and fire spells. Which they did.   

Here's a couple of final example stat blocks, with a couple of  different "Companies":

Opposing forces (mutant foot, cavalry, and chimera) had similar stats.  Certain groups, like the undead soldiers and zealots, were exempt from morale effects.

As noted, I kept a similar number of hit points per company as Connor had in his units. Damage was based on an assumed HD average for the group: 1HD: d6, 2HD: d8, 3+HD: d10. Damage was also modified to reflect "averaging" effects of various attack abilities and bonuses, so we weren't getting bogged down if a mutant had an extra claw attack, or some chimera had poison or not. I can see adding a single extra "ability" for a group of combatants without too much complexity, such as a secondary damage or effect on a foe. I wouldn't go further than that in the spirit of keeping the combat light and fast. Connor recommends changing damage as the unit takes losses, so I would probably add a rule about dropping the damage die by one once the unit take half damage to represent their decreased effectiveness.

For our battle, groups of allied combatants were split out and printed onto individual sheets, so each player had their own batch of mercs and mooks to manage, between two and five groups. Likewise, they were in charge of moving the company's meeple, calling actions, and noting if the PC was in the group or separate. Late-arriving or reserve combatant units (such as the Khanate cavalry or the mutant chimera) were added to the field based on timer rolls.

I ran the opposing forces, both individual high-level NPCs/monsters, as well as the various combat units. For this battle, this involved rolling/selecting actions for about a dozen combat units and four NPCs/monsters. Although two NPCs got taken out in the first couple of rounds, simplifying my tasks...

Initiative was by side, the usual Dueling D6 of Doom per B/X-OSE (Connor also reverts to side-based initiative in his rules). 

Overall, as an experimental method, I think it works well. I would need to refine it in the future, particularly with respect to PC values added to combatant units. I wasn't sure how to manage some bonuses, so we mostly just stuck with normal PC combat bonuses, although I may choose to stick to unmodified PC damage in the future (e.g. 1d8 vs 1d8+2 STR +1 magic). Something to refine. Otherwise, we didn't bog down or have too much ambiguity on what was happening, and the battle was regarded as fun. Which is what counts.

Connor's rules are seven pages in length (including cover). There is space left on a few pages for notetaking or homebrewing rules. The rules include unit examples, an example combat, and rules for training forces. I would highly recommend it for mass combat scenarios, as it can be readily modified for a rules-light combat, whether the opposing forces are a handful of skirmishers, or of multiple unit types and capabilities. Since the individual combat units are essentially NPCs, I wouldn't have any hesitation in dropping this into a one-shot or for people not familiar with mass combat. I would still use a battle map of some sort, as physically moving units and being able to visualize positions is helpful for immersion.

Other rules considered/read during the process:

• Mass Combat (ver 0.6) by Ratmanof (I can't find the original source, so uploaded it here - if someone knows the source, I'll update)
• https://lairofthelich.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/simple-mass-combat-rules-3.pdf
• https://castlegrief.itch.io/killchain
• https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/140878/by-this-axe
• https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/141199/by-this-poleaxe
• https://lixu-gaming.itch.io/appendix-l5-rising-generals
• The mass combat rules from Aftermath! (The rest of the game is overly-complex, but the mass combat system is relatively straightforward)

They Met at a Tavern 15: A Visit to Zorus Island

Who subjected themselves to my GM skills:

• Michael (repeat offender): Goblin mage
• Seana : Elf thief
• Matthew: Elf Priest

Usual Meetup Malady. Full table that dissolves to a couple of folks. Fine (shuffles away planned scenario). That's why I carry a sheaf of adventures. 

With a small party, I decided to try out a Zorus Island scenario. I mean, it's only been seven years since I wrote them. No need to rush into playtesting.

The three got word from the local harbor master that a resupply boat fled after encountering "zombies" at the dock, followed by a hastily-scribbled note by carrier pigeon from the island's small watchtower.

And since the party was capable and/or expendable, they were given a boat and tasked with finding the truth of the goings-on. They circumnavigated the island, before deciding to start at the dock. Scattered supplies were left on the dock, with no one around. Poking around the buildings, they found a corpse infested with a black, dusty growth.

They quickly returned to the spilled supplies, finding linens and making up ad hoc facemasks.

D66 Goods That Caravan is Hauling (x2!)

So, as things go in a campaign, the players occasionally encounter a caravan.

Not that Caravan...

...that caravan.

And, of course, we have the running gag of "something that fell off the wagon" recovered by either the PCs or the local Halfling Mafia. So what did they find?

So here are two D66 lists of potential cargo to pick and choose from, with items both mundane and exotic. 

List the First

List the Second

OK, maybe that Caravan...

Campaign Journal: Forces Clash

Who hears the drums of war?

• Jax: Barbarian
• Fred: Thief 1
• Slick: Thief 2
• Rondel: Elf

It has been a week since Acroria burned. The anchor lens is active, helping communication up and down the Western lands, as well as creating a deterrent to the Chaos forces pressing into the settled areas. Chirath's embattled forces are mopping up both Acroria's strike south and outbursts of Chaos that penetrated past the barrier.

Scattered forces gather at Gaerborin: local militias, Victor Matui with his knights and mercenaries, other adventuring parties and their forces, and the naga Adra with her hobgoblins and outlaws. Umm, let's keep her out of sight, ok? Maybe as a reserve... Oh yeah, and a bunch of dead dudes.

Knowing that the twisted dragon heralded from the west, Slick and Rondel flew invisible scouting missions west, looking for troops. Sure enough, two columns of mutant soldiery were spotted. Time to dig in. 

The party arrayed their forces west of the tower. Rondel found a massmorph scroll in his collection, and hid the undead troops as a copse of trees. Two hurriedly-constructed trebuchets were wheeled out. The mutants and their leaders formed up, charging across the plain. Slick was able to kill one leader, causing some to hesitate and pull back. Rondel took out the second, as the dead clattered into the mutant flank.

Archers fired, knights charged. All very cinematic. From the south, Chaos knights plunged across a river, intending to catch the allies' flank. A company of mercenary foot, supported by Adra and her forces, halted their charge.

get 'em, boys!

D66 Reasons Why The Party Had to Leave Town Quickly

A common question I ask at the beginning of one-shots to get people into role-playing their characters is, "How did you get into trouble in the last town?" Because adventurers are always on their best behavior within city limits...

Or sometimes not

Anyhow, sometimes there is a need to rapidly vacate the premises, due to shenanigans, a misunderstanding, or elements easily pinned onto itinerant adventurers. Here are a few:

DOWNLOAD me here

And per my prior entry on creating - yes, I am on task, as it were, transcribing notes from scribbled-upon maps to editable and expandable form. The pile was thicker than I thought, but progress is being made, and little adventures will begin to trickle out soon...

They Met at A Tavern 14: Return to The Serpent Cult

First of all, it's been about 2 1/2 years since I ran this adventure. I'd dovetailed it into my growing (inadvertent) campaign world, and recalled that we'd had a good time taking down the cult. So why not Shadowdark it up?

The Meetup crew:

• Adam - Rugrord, half-orc priest
• Tyler - Marthal, elf wizard
• Jimmy - Ren Halder, human bard
• Seana - Khori, dwarf fighter

I used the module setting this time, with the party arriving at the settlement of Haven by boat. As per the last time, though, it was a port of surreptitious cargo comings and goings, with the "Solinsky brothers" exchanging coin for no questions. Khori ("drifter" background) had passed through before so knew where the tavern was. 

Approaching the tavern, they see Pip, an entrepreneurial elf, selling very large eggs from a handcart, which he claimed to have found along the shore. 250 coins? Too rich for our taste. Rugrord (hi WIS, low INT cleric) is certain of giant chickens. Entering the tavern, the party got rumors from the barkeep, and pointed toward the town's Elder for a potential job. Marthal left immediately, leaving the others to finish their drinks...

Elder Oddmar told of the town's issues - missing boats, cultists, and oh yeah, the eggs. The herbalist Helga may help as a guide, if needed. She was agreeable, as long as they kept an eye out for spiders.

Off they went.

The party headed south out of town, following the coastline. No eggs. But they did find a wrecked fishing boat, possibly one of the errant ships.

source

They were inspecting it, finding claw and corrosion damage, when they were confronted by five cultists. 

Campaign Journal: The Smoke Nears

 Who's staring slack-jawed at the news that Acroria is on fire?

• Jax: Barbarian
• Fred: Thief 1
• Slick: Thief 2
• Rondel: Elf

Things were in motion. Slick and some loyal soldiers secured the captured priest in the fortification's oubliette, with Slick giving plenty of both vocal and implied threats of what would occur if he were to attempt any more shenanigans. 

Now what's this with the fire? The soldiers could report little more than seeing columns of smoke and meeting a swarm of terrified refugees. Some of the dispatched soldiers had ventured on, with intent to learn more.

But first, shenanigans. The party and Manchin were attacked by soldiers and priests loyal to the head priest. Their attacks focused on Manchin as the fortification's leader, and he took several wounds before the party was able to counter them. More sounds of combat rang through the halls of the fort. The priest, freed by loyal troops, emerged. Rondel attempted to web a door to halt their charge, but the priest was able to dispel his barrier. More struggle, and Slick made good on his promises, shanking the priest, before Henry Cee was able to unlimber his flail and punch his clock for good.

The surviving rebels surrendered and were secured. 

More troops returned, confirming that most of the city's troops had marched south to attack the "incursion" of Chirath forces gathered at Mithlonde in preparation to mobilize west for the region's defense. Gerhard returned, confirming the attack, followed by a confused retreat as news of the city's demise spread. Regardless, both forces were out of play as they fought running, pitched battles.

And what could have caused the fire? Word arrived of mutant chimera bursting from the city's prisons and sewers. Chaos had gained much more than a foothold. It had been staging for some time...

And the response was in kind. 

Hi again!

D10 Magic Weapons Found On That Corpse

Months ago during the campaign, the party came upon the remains of a squad of soldiers who had perished in combat with a Chaos raiding party. The combat was fresh, and it appeared that the foes had all perished in a hard-fought, desperate struggle. And I knew that the deceased commander of the troops should have a magic weapon, but something more than just another +1 sword. 

So I whipped up a quick list with a little help from Chaotic Shiny:

1. +2 short sword (1d6+2), casts a glamour 1/day (2d6 rounds)
2. +2 short sword (1d6+2), wind blast 1/day (raises dust to blind opponents, extinguish torches, etc.)
3. +1 trident (1d6+1), lighting bolt 1/day (2d6 dmg, 150', save for half)
4. +1 battle axe (1d8+1), flame 3/day (+1d6 fire damage)
5. +2 hand axe (1d6+2), bearer may recover as full night's rest on four hours of sleep.
6. +1 longsword (1d8+1), petrify 1/day (save to avoid)
7. +1 trident (1d6+1), shoot 60' jet of water 3/day (knock opponent prone, extinguish light, etc.)
8. +1 spear (1d6+1), +1d6 acid damage, degrades armor by 1 point (save to avoid damage)
9. +1 rapier (1d6+1), fly 1/day (1d6 turns)
10. +1 scimitar (1d8+1), drains level on 1st attack

Slick rolled the d10 to see what he found, and got his nasty black scimitar.

Plus a bonus item they didn't find: 

    +1 javelin (1d4+1), raises 10'x100' earthen wall where it lands (1 use)

Only 25 more for the inevitable D66 list....

D66 Overly-Specific Very Minor Demons, and an Incantation Bowl!

Some time ago, I was searching Wikimedia Commons for demon imagery for filler art for a blog post or adventure writeup, and I came across this charming fellow:

source

Alleborith, a minor demon, whose sole power is to cause people to choke on fish bones. Never say that you have no talents.

So behold! From the abyssal plains and muttered curses of adventurers arise D66 aggravating demons to torment in the most specific of ways!

DOWNLOAD US HERE!!!

AND! Behold more! My own personal incantation bowl, useful for protection of the home from demons and other malevolent forces... 

Lilith is having a bad hair day...

Create

Came across this presentation while on my dog walk the other day:

Strong thesis statement. But valid. Creative expression is a critical part of the human experience. Dancing around the fire, painting cathedral ceilings, writing symphonies or novels. Or gathering to roll dice and be in our imaginations.

Regarding one beat within the talk - my real-life job does have its saving-the-world elements. And I do believe that I can continue writing up my little scenarios or lists or whatevers that catch my fancy while still enacting some change and improvement. Besides, having worlds that we have a little control over diminishes the ennui of not being able to "save the world" enough. 

I've always believed that my own creative life was important in one form or another, whether trying my hand at fiction writing, an occasional return to the piano, or making up stuff for silly elf-games. It's part of my general plan to keep my mind and body flexible and functional as long as possible. 

On top of that, I finally confirmed that yes, after 50+ years dithering around, that I do have ADHD. I either very successfully passed or gloriously failed the QbCheck ADHD test, depending on one's perspective. 

So I'd better figure some stuff out here. 

I don't consider myself a particularly strong or creative writer, but at least I can keep a consistent format and catch most of my typos. And as the presenter says, don't let self confidence or the need to be "good" at something hamper us from creating. Anyone who's read my stuff certainly knows it doesn't stop me...

So - Onward. In a frail attempt to organize my home office, I've captured most of my scribbled works-in-progress:

with ADHD-proofing soundtrack

Some of these scenarios are products of the campaign, some are maps that caught my attention, a few are from prompts or particular writing exercises.

There's a good handful. Let's shoot for getting one drafted per week. Think I can do that? 

Anyway, get out there and make your own scribbles. You don't have to save the world. But you can bring a bit of fun and light into your own corner of it.

They Met at a Tavern 13: "Harlow's an Odd Duck..."

Time to return to playing with random strangers. Or a least one random stranger, since my Meetup attendance has been quite spotty lately. Fine, we run for who shows:

• Dane: Cogarn, Human Thief
• Seana: Halibarn, Human Fighter

In the flavor of Shadowdark.

Fallback onto an old reliable, "Requiem for Atticus Stumps."

It's good for a small party, with its small encounter areas and typically singular foes. The pair started off as the usual two broke adventurers. "Random Headgear" gifted them both with long flowing locks (odds of 1:25,600? I'm not sure - didn't take enough stats). Maybe they are siblings.

Anyway, they were solicited by Kellen and Lois, and accepted the job. Kellen told them to seek out Harlow the halfling, but be aware that he was an "odd duck." Fair enough. But let's buy a honey cake from the local baker to sweeten the pot.

Away they went, finding the halfling sweating away in his rocky garden. He snatched up the cake as quick as a viper, and returned with his spear and weird lantern.

Off they went, Harlow keeping up a running commentary. "Oo, those berries are almost ripe. That's where I found the dead deer with the weird growths. Oops, look out for that bear trap, almost forgot about it..." 

But he prevents random encounters, so there's that.

Campaign Journal: Smoke on the Horizon

Who's looking over the wreckage of Madrual?

• Jax: Barbarian
• Fred: Thief
• Slick: More Thief
• Rondel: Elf

The party sorted through the loot of recovered from the Chaos troops as well as found in the basilisk's lair. No, that Broom of Flying is not going to be used for excessive mischief.

As always, capturing a place is not the same as holding it. As The Librarian Grancet and his crew got to work, Benedikt sent Gerhard back out to summon more city troops. Restoring the Lens would take time, as the original mount had been destroyed by the Chaos crew or other squatters. Fortunately, a second statue worthy of the job had been found buried in the bottom level of the complex, and the team got to work excavating it and dragging it up the stairs.

With no flying blanket, Bendikt decided that magic transportation was beneath him, anyhow. A whistle, and some time later, a horse manifested itself, in full tack.

That's more like it

The meager surviving troops got to work re-erecting fortifications, and the party used their signal devices to send word down the fortification line. Attacks and skirmishes were reported, particularly from flying beasts. But things were holding. Word came that some local militias were mustering northward, as well as a force from Lake Cobalt. 

In the meantime, three battered elves arrived at the fort, the remains of a party sent to investigate the rumor of a dragon in the Deneng Mountains to the northwest. Well, they found no dragon. Its lair was vacant, and loot mostly stripped. They had found Chaos, and one elf showed the results of said meeting in a tentacle mutation ("Still getting the hang of it."). The missing dragon and its loot was curious and a serious concern, especially with the proximity to mountain passes where the Chaos forces allegedly manifested. Anyway, the elves were welcomed to heal and rest, and reinforce the current detachment if willing.

They Met at a Tavern 12: Back into the Sewers

A late Meetup posting for a Monday game at the end of the three day weekend. Players:

• Peter: Quorl (Pronounced Carl), Elf Fighter
• Mike: Otzi (I didn't write down his name), Goblin Ras Godai
• Seana: Halibarn, Human Fighter

With three players, the Sheaf O' Adventures(tm) revealed Macceum Sewers as a good option. The setup: The PCs were new in town and short on coin. Unfortunately, the only guild hiring bravos of no reputation was the local Sewer Militia. They were given tarnished brass badges, a couple of healing potions, and a rough map of the area where they were supposed to perform "maintenance." 

Welcome to work

The party had an uneventful morning, poking at clogs, getting their boots mucky, and finding a couple of corpses. However, some recently cleared brickwork revealed a unknown passage, and explorers need to explore.

The three entered the passage. Unfortunately, Otzi stepped on a pressure plate. Fortunately, Otzi is short and the crossbow trap missed.

Next room, and Halibarn splinters the door. A massive bat swoops at the three. Quorl and Halibarn see it as an illusion. Otzi, already paranoid, is shaken. Among the debris, they collect a coin purse and puzzle over the gouges in the floor and broken stone foot.

Through the next door and down passageways. Taking a left, they were set upon by a trapdoor spider as they assessed the next door. Stabbing happened, and Halibarn shook off a venomous bite. 

Further exploration, and they discovered a chamber with flowing metal passing through pipes and a basin. Unfortunately, the mercury vapors gave a couple of the PCs the shakes.

Back to the main passage, and Otzi, stumbling along under the influence of the vapors, brushed against a secret door. They pried it open, then failed to breach the next doorway. No worries, the blind wererat and his rat minions opened the door and attacked. More stabbing and biting occurred. The party whomped on a couple of the rats, causing the others to flee, and leaving the wererat at disadvantage. They slew it and picked through the trash. Halibarn upgraded their armor and doffed a healing potion.

Halibarn pokes at a forgotten alter and swipes the pewter offering bowl. Quorl, not to be outdone, taps along the wall, finding a second secret door. More prying, and into another side passage. 

Another failed door kick causes the medusa within to reveal herself, commanding the explorers to leave or die. 

PCs, always.

Fortunately, the PCs were able to beat the medusa's initiative and scored a couple of hits. She drew a sword and struck back, then began to pull back her hood. Second round, and the Ras Godai pulled one of his tricks out of his sleeve, striking at her with a paralyzing blow. Halibarn pulled out a "Clash of the Titans" move and beheaded the incapacitated medusa. Fine, kill my monsters.

The party blocked the door, recovering over the night. They cleared out the medusa's loot pile and found her stash of petrified victims. The head was bundled up among the takings.

They emerged from the sewers and were no longer counted among the dead Sewer Militia. Loot was distributed. Quorl banked his away in hopes of returning to a noble lifestyle. Halibarn placed bets on herself in the local arena, gaining some more coin. Otzi carried the severed head to his Ras Godai contacts, selling it to someone in need of a powerful item to solve a problem...

DM Notes:

Fun, quick session, about two hours for this one. Good use of the Ras Godai in this session. It is one of the supplement classes that has grown on me. The "Sewers" has some fun exploration, and I'm considering some minor edits after several sessions of running it. Currently scribbling up another Tim Shorts map for future explorations, as well.

The Flesh-Harvester Skeleton

On the prowl for skin and bone to tear
I'm a skeleton looking for meat to wear

                                               KMFDM - "Hyena"

Those animated bones, they remember once being clothed in flesh and muscle, with blood in hearts and vessels, breath in their lungs. And some hunger to feel that again, even if only for only frail moments.  

Draped with flesh and offal from their flayed victims, groups of flesh-harvester skeletons swarm their prey to strip them of their mortal cover to momentarily enhance their own being.

get that meat back!

AC: 6/13
HD: 2*
Atk (BAB+1): 2 x claw (2x1d4)
Movement: 60’ (20’)
Saving Throws: D12 W13 P14 B15 S16
Morale: 12
No. appearing: 1d6+3

Upon first contact, the skeletons will be seen to be "wearing" rotting flesh. Each will have 1d6 extra hp garnered from prior victims. On a to-hit of 18+, the skeleton strips flesh from its target, gaining temporary hit points equal to the damage (up to 2x max hp). They will tend to target unarmored individuals en masse. All that armor gets in the way of collecting that sweet, sweet meat...

The "swarm" and flesh compulsion inhibits turning attempts, granting -1 against undead turning per four skeletons present (round up). Otherwise, they exhibit normal undead qualities and immunities (Make no noise until they attack. Immune to effects that affect living creatures (e.g. poison). Immune to mind-affecting or mind-reading spells.)

DragonFlight 2025: Games and More Games

Ok, this will be a long one, so either grab some coffee or come back when I'm less vociferous. I ran five sessions through the three day weekend, three of Shadowdark and two of OSE-B/X. Had full tables for all, and a lot of good play. Met a few folks, saw a few old friends, and generally enjoyed the scene. 

With five sessions, I'll just be hitting the highlights, and some impressions.

Friday Afternoon: Shadowdark; Adventure: The Howler.

After my recent test-run of the adventure using Shadowdark, I posted it up as my first session. This is the only session for which I pre-selected the adventure. I had a full table, plus a few folks on standby. My intent is to get as many people to the table as I can since picking and choosing games at a con can be a fraught affair. So I ran a table of nine for this game. Which meant that foes were bulked up and hazards slightly inflated to keep up with the crew.  

Cast summary:

• 1 Ras-Godai
• 2 Fighters
• 2 Priests
• 2 Wizards
• 2 Thieves

The party found Gundrin's corpse, and was set upon by the vultures. After emptying pockets, they advanced to the tomb, where the goblins ganged up on them. Shooing them away, they entered the tomb to investigate. One thief scouted into the dark. The purification room had LOTS of spiders, and there was much whiffing. The thief aced his find traps roll and everyone made it down the trapped corridor with no harm. Rains was stabilized and ranted before pointing out the Howler. Light died during the battle, and the Howler absorbed a spell and magic sword to heal (And the players had thought the GM was being generous with those magic items...). The Howler was distracted with other thrown magic items, and set on fire. It fled, leaving the PCs to explore. They dodged a gas explosion from a brazier, and identified mystery mushrooms by taste test. They then found the mummy sarcophagi, and in contrast to the last party, did NOT read the inscription out loud. After discussion, they chose not to risk potential powerful undead. The PCs gathered up scattered loot and carried the two doomed explorers back to town to reveal their fates.

DM Notes: 

It wasn't too bad running a large table. Everyone was a "grownup" and worked and played well together. Of course, there were a couple of players who took a bit more initiative at the table, but not to the session's detriment. I did a rough initiative houserule, with the highest scoring player going 1st, then rotating turns either clockwise or counterclockwise around the table. The enemies went at a selected turn within the combat round, usually at "that water bottle."  I stuck with this system for Shadowdark throughout the weekend. The adventure ran better with familiarity, and I was able to use the Howler to better effect, particularly during the light loss. Accordingly, the players took advantage of its compulsion to lure it towards the strongest fighter before immolating it.

Campaign Journal: Keepin' up at the Keep of Madrual

Who's stormin' the castle?

• Slick-thief
• Fulvus-halfling
• Jax-barbarian
• Rondel-elf
• Plus Various Hangers-On

Some quick retcon to describe the interactions and reactivation of lens at Vansho Reliquary. A significant observation was that two undead knights in residence who were bound to their funerary chamber now had free movement around the place.

Back to the present: The party assessed Toronin as Librarian Grancet repaired and etched the lens with the help of his bound demon. Benedikt noted that they would need reinforcements to hold the hardpoint if the Barrier was to remain intact. Gerhard was dispatched to see if he could rustle up some troops.

In the meantime, Cleric Henry Cee was reminded that he had a Potentially Useful Relic in Sister Sowena's Gauntlet. Donning it and casting about, he located a small mass grave of slain soldiers from the original fall of the Barrier. A handy platoon of skeletal warriors was summoned, arising from the turf, reattaching limbs, digging up rusted weapons. And soon enough, Gerhard returned with a similar platoon of (living) soldiers and Roderick, Fulvus' archer hench. Reunion made, and Roderick was put in charge of the station's defense. The party and others departed as the soldiers and undead set to digging trenches and sharpening stakes.

The group moved north along the West Trade Road. Several towns they passed through were completely depopulated, either by apparent Chaos raids or fleeing refugees. Coming to the small town of Lany, they found that the Beguines led by Sister Isabel were still entrenched with the locals. They were aware of the predations and turmoil along the road, but were staying put for now, as their oath was to aid and heal. The party encouraged them to decamp for one of the recently liberated fortresses, where there were troops and fresh fortifications. 

source

Bella Hoekstra, former second in command at St. Vivinna's Home for the Wayward, caught up with the party (while also conveniently disguised as a beguine). Acroria was in turmoil, with the merchants and clergy overriding the military on the city council. Conflicting commands were going out, and large numbers of incarcerations were occurring for a variety of trumped-up charges. Most of the “wayward children" had either been arrested or fled. It seemed that little aid would come from Acroria, if at all.

With this in mind, the party considered heading straight to Gaerborin Keep, known to be held by Acroria troops, in an effort to sway them to their cause. But securing Madrual, the next node to the north was a priority. The party had never visited the location, and its occupants were unknown. Off we go.

D66 Times Three... A Collection of Hexcrawl Curiosities

Got on a writing bender on Sunday. Bit of a heat wave here, plus trying to get some house stuff taken care of, so made some focused writing time between other tasks. Started with one table, but knew that I'd eventually drag a couple more out of the brain. So why not now? It's something I need to do. Just sit, focus, and drag some creativity out of myself. 

So have three... count 'em, THREE D66 lists of random, perhaps interesting things, to find during one's hexcrawling of the edge of the map.

Meteorite, or frozen fireball? Your call.

Download me here

Download me here 2

Download me here 3

That's 108 random things to stumble upon, for those keeping track at home.

They Met at a Tavern 11: Shadowdarking 'The Howler'

Ok, had people show for this session, so things were good.

• Betsy - "Charm" - Dwarf priest (pageboy haircut)
• Candace - "Driznag" - Goblin Priest (Banded helm)
• Seana - "Ad Bather" - Halfling Fighter (Hood w/ ancient symbols)

First, we must note that none of the PCs were over four feet tall. This will be important later. I also provided each PC with a random magic item to bait the Howler.

As I mentioned before, I ported over the monster stats for JV West's "The Howler" to Shadowdark, and wanted to give it a run-thru, since it will likely be a con game, as well.

I've run the adventure before, so I'll go light on the details.

We started off among the barrows and graves with the party finding the body of Gundrin O’Noggin. Some questioning, and I shared that they heard the fellow's name in the tavern and that he was going to poke around the tombs. Probably because that's where kids would go to smoke.

They went through the corpse's pockets, respectably, of course. And threw rocks at the vultures harassing them.

The party listened to their common senses and didn't desecrate any random tombs. The blood and drag-trail led them to the tomb entrance, and the fun could begin.

Driznag caught a sneezing fit, which started the "Howler timer." They found some minor items in the entrance chapel, and poked at the slimy water in the ritual pool. More investigation alarmed a giant spider, which they killed without too much effort.

Into the dart-trapped hallway. Remember, they're short. And crept down the hall, unbothered by the darts firing over their heads. Finding a ranting, nearly-dead Rains Calibrin, they attempted to heal him, and only got more ranting.

And the warning that the Howler was creeping along the ceiling behind them. Battle was closed, and a knock-down drag-out occurred. The Howler alternated between attacking magic items and PCs. The creature's ability to heal from magic energies was quite frustrating. 

The priests attempted turning, but found that the Howler was not undead. Spells failed. Driznag went down but was revived with a healing potion. And finally the halfling made two crits to put the thing down. A vision upon the killing blow revealed the Howler's true nature.

The battered PCs recovered a handful of abandoned items from the temple chamber, and chased off lurking spiders with fire. 

Finding the crypt, they investigated. Driznag knew enough Primordial to piece together the epitaph on the sarcophagus plinth. But made the mistake of reading it aloud as she sounded out the words. Oops.

The mummies arose, attacking and chasing the party from the chamber. The dwarf got zeroed out (plus some CHA damage). The goblin and halfling each went invisible and fled (I'd randomly rolled a Cloak of Elvenkind for Driznag). Satisfied, the mummies returned to their sarcophagi, and the surviving PCs dragged the dwarf free. 

A quick check of the remaining chamber, and mushrooms were found. These did not revive the dwarf, although a third Nat 20 by Ad Bather allowed for a stabilization. 

Fleeing with their recovered goods, the party stopped to recover Gundrin O’Noggin's body to return him to town. And if the mummies somehow arose and started to wreak havoc, well, the party wasn't admitting to anything. It was probably those kids sneaking into tombs to smoke.

DM Notes:

I've reviewed the adventure before, and my opinion is similar after this run. Because of its organization and wall of text style, it can be less straightforward to run than something of a more bullet-style or concise format. And this DM got the pages out of order during the session so had to do a lot of flipping. For the next run, I'll probably pull more salient details into my text document with the monster stats, as well as highlight important bits. It's unfortunate, because it detracts from a good concept and creative monster. For instance, I missed some overly-complex if-then details on the Howler's abilities.

If anyone is interested in running the Howler using Shadowdark, I've put a document with stat conversions here. Note: I realize I've been using the original version of the adventure (no longer available), which is written for a generic D20 system. The adventure has since been revised for Labyrinth Lord/OSRIC, so will easily port over to any OSR-style game, like Old School Essentials. It looks like the newer version has been somewhat reformatted and content updated, as well. I've snagged a current version copy, and have revised my conversion stats and update notes.

And, with the presence of a goblin priest, we established the alignment of "Goblin Lawful."

In other notes, we met up with Jonathan (B/X Blackrazor) Wednesday night to playtest an AD&D tournament-style adventure he wrote for an upcoming convention. Let's just say that we wouldn't have scored well. But we had a fun time pulling the levers and opening doors we shouldn't have.

Campaign Journal: A Question of Tactics, or, Questionable Tactics?

We're on the march with:

• Frederick - Revived thief
• Jax and Goober - Barbarian and reliable sidekick
• And a player to be named at a later time.

Rondel and Slick were off due to work commitments, and Fulvus was doing halfling things.

The party, along with their contingent from Chirath and Lenscrafters(tm) started at Ashryn Tower, with some more lens maintenance. That night, as they prepared to head north, Jax (likely via Faith Perpetual) received another vision, that of an old knight, who let the party know that challenges lay ahead (like we didn't know that), and that those who went before were waiting for them when the time came. Nothing foreboding about that.

Anyway - off they went northbound. While scouting ahead, Fred and Jax came on a small Chaos mutant raiding party, which they dispatched with minor difficulty. Fred finally upgraded to +1 leather. 

They paused at the Vansho Reliquary to reactivate that stronghold's lens and check in with its NPC party (and the undead knights in the crypts). (*Author's note - we skipped this location because the DM borked up his notes. Retconned during the following session.)

Slowed by the entourage, the party snaked north. Another encounter, this time zombies.

howdy

The Plague Doctor for Shadowdark

Yes, I'm sure there are a healthy handful of Shadowdark Plague Docs out there, all masked up and curing diseases, or whatever they do.

Oh no, this is a bad sign...

But since I've previously written up the class for OSR games and The Black Hack, might as well complete the triumvirate and gin one up for Shadowdark, as well. 

This one is built on the same chassis as my prior two, with similar focus and skills: non-magical healing, and they really hate rats. 

Download Me Here

Enjoy, comment, disparage, etc.

Now updated to Version 2.0 based on comment by u/noisician and recalling some other, similar game mechanics. Increased healing attempts based on allies, and consequences for a critical failure...

Download Me 2!