So, as things go in a campaign, the players occasionally encounter a caravan.
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| Not that Caravan... |
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| ...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.
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| List the First |
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| List the Second |
_Cessna_208_Caravan_at_Sunshine_Coast_Airport.jpg) |
| OK, maybe that Caravan... |
Who hears the drums of war?
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.
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| get 'em, boys! |
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...
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| 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:
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| 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...
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:
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.
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| source |
They were inspecting it, finding claw and corrosion damage, when they were confronted by five cultists.
Who's staring slack-jawed at the news that Acroria is on fire?
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.
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| Hi again! |
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:
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)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:
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| source |
So behold! From the abyssal plains and muttered curses of adventurers arise D66 aggravating demons to torment in the most specific of ways!
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| DOWNLOAD US HERE!!! |
AND! Behold more! My own personal incantation bowl, useful for protection of the home from demons and other malevolent forces...
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| Lilith is having a bad hair day... |
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:
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| 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.
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:
In the flavor of Shadowdark.
Fallback onto an old reliable, "Requiem for Atticus Stumps."
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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.
Who's looking over the wreckage of Madrual?
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.
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| 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.
A late Meetup posting for a Monday game at the end of the three day weekend. Players:
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."
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| 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.
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| 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...
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.
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.)
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:
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.
Who's stormin' the castle?
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.
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| 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.
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.
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| Meteorite, or frozen fireball? Your call. |
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| Download me here |
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| Download me here 2 |
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| Download me here 3 |
That's 108 random things to stumble upon, for those keeping track at home.
Ok, had people show for this session, so things were good.
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.
We're on the march with:
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.
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| howdy |
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.
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| 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.
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| 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...
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| Download Me 2! |
Who woke up in Queen Adra's domain?
The smoke is clearing. The dead are being sorted and buried, or burned (more smoke, again). The Chirath forces were allowed to stay, for the time being, as long as they helped. Benedikt agreed, as a campaigner, himself. The troops went to work helping with rebuilding.
Oh, since you're here, and in light of our battle, perhaps Chirath may be useful in the end. Send me an engineer to help us reinforce our defenses. Benedikt agreed, and he knew a guy. He tasked Gerhard with flying back to the city. So off he went:
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| by Nicholas Roerich |
Somewhere in this, I mis-labeled the flying carpet as a flying blanket, so apparently now it's a magic quilt.
In the meantime, the Librarian had work to do. He took a lens and locked tomes to the lakeside tower.
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| via Dyson |
Rondel (offscreen during this session), the Library Paladins, and desert elf Goladan joined in the effort. Librarian Grancet opened the book, then took out a small lead box and a fist-sized ruby (where was that when we were collecting rubies?!?). From the box he took a ring and put it on. A tiny figure appeared in the ruby. "What is your name!?" Grancet demanded. The tiny demon (for that is what it was) cringed and said, "Raz'Gonol." With that, Grancet guided the demon in the slow process of etching the runes for the anchor lens.
Since it would take a few days, and thieves tend to get into trouble, Adra "asked" the remaining three members of the party to cross the lake to collect her sister Salax, and her followers, who had arrived on the south shore. Adra provided longboats for the party to use, as well as crews.
Off they went. Each out and back crossing would take a day, and it would take three days to complete the ferrying process.
I really need to organize my files better.
So I was downloading a few free maps for later reference/inspiration when I found a folder containing a handful of maps that Logen Nein had posted up on the reddits. Most of these maps were from when he was first experimenting with mapping and posting them up for critique and use. I've cobbled together an encounter area using one of these maps before.
Hmm. What's this folder? Oh look, this map...
...and a half-finished dungeon-stocking exercise dated March 2023. Holy unfinished projects, Batman. Yes, one of many temporarily or permanently abandoned projects.
I'd come up with quite a few features and foes to occupy the space, but had never determined a theme or raison d'etre for the place.
The big-bad had been inspired by a post and illustration from Yuri Perkowski, one of the illustrators of Shadowdark and other RPG products. It occupied the space denoted as "22. Chimera-type monster, born of cataclysm, broken thing" on my map.
And then it sat for two years.
Ok, let's print this thing out, figure out names and personalities for the placeholders left in the old document. Make some justification for the highlighted and "???" inserts. And what the hell do the four classical elements have to do with anything?
Two more days of scribbling and squinting, followed by rampant theft from Wikimedia Commons.
And a (hopefully) cohesive exploration space filled with hazards and discovery. I leaned heavily on my favorite spell supplement, Theorems & Thaumaturgy, as well as a couple of other favorite resources.
Add a silly alliterative name, and let's post this thing. Statted per OSE/flexible old-school stuff, best for a mid-level party with a bit of resilience.
Welcome to Lysimachur's Elemental Error. Watch your step.
Well, If I'm going to steal his maps, I might as well use the title he gives 'em.
Here's a good little space. Some finished rooms hidden within a cavern that open to a second, deeper cavern. And a good title, "The Remains of a Most Unfortunate Party." Well, knowing Tim, they were probably "unfortunate" in a rather grim and gristly way, so I figured I should try to honor that, at least.
We explore the place for its novelty or its resources, perhaps.
And yes, as the PCs are poking around in here when they come across the remains of another party that clearly got in over their heads. From a tough foe that doesn't take any real damage from some of the normal go-to methods. This is perhaps a chance for some of the less martial or poorly-equipped members of the party to shine. We'll see.
Enjoy your visit, and don't trip over "The Remains of a Most Unfortunate Party." Enjoy the shiny foe.
Tim's Patron is here. Free membership tier available plus upgrades that include receiving print versions of adventures and NPC cards.
Well, a couple of months ago, the party nearly met their match with a belligerent phase spider. So I figured I'd take the time to clean up and present the session notes for general consumption. I plan to do this with more of my locations and encounters from the campaign, since they might have some utility for folks, or at least a peek behind the curtains...
Anyway...
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| Original session prep notes |
I had scattered treasure and magic items throughout the original, but the party only made it to the irregular room in the center of the map (essentially the 2nd room encountered) before being set upon by undead and the phase spider. In this writing, I came up with a justification and mechanic for the random magical treasure. And yes, the list of magical items includes a few items “donated” by the party.
Our party was generally sixth level OSE PCs, although they were hampered by bad initiative rolls, as well as bad saves against the undead, allowing the spider to take advantage of her magic.
So here it is, all prettied up and given a cutesy name.
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| Download Me Here! |
I can see a critter like this becoming an ongoing foil for a party, or perhaps a resource to negotiate for magical goods with, based on her propensity to collect sparkly sorcerous baubles...
Who's saddling up?
We started with a bit of retcon as the party stepped from various sinking ships onto the two dwarven galleys. Well, except Fred, who was probably unceremoniously bundled along.
At the end of the battle, Slick still had an active water breathing spell, so I had made up a D10 random treasure table of how much he grabbed before the sinking ship became too much of a deathtrap. They got a respectable pile of loot.
The two ships sailed on to Chirath, then sat just out of catapult range as Rondel flew to the citadel guarding the harbor (somehow not getting shot). Some tense conversation with the guard captain, a few dropped names, and the city's Legate was summoned to meet with Rondel. The party has interacted with him in the past, and he was aware that they were out and about seeking resources. A cutter was dispatched to escort the dwarven ships in, and they entered the harbor under watchful eyes.
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| Like this, but full of dwarves. |
There was animated discussion on whether the dwarves would be allowed off the ships...
By now, word of the ships' arrival had run through town, and the city's priest and librarian hustled to meet their counterparts who had arrived with the party.
To the business at hand. De-corpsifying Frederick. Well, that does take some time and effort and correct sacrifices and gifts and chanting and such. And we really need an addition to the temple. Ok, if we name it after Frederick and Rondel, since the party emptied Fred's pockets and Rondel put in most of the rest. And so the local temple now has the new "Frederick & Keebler" hospital wing.
Frederick was going to take some time to recover, once he was dragged back from the afterlife (where he witnessed forgotten gods panhandling for worshipers). In the meantime, the party caroused, of course. Property damage, taunts and boasts, feats of derring-do. The usual. The surviving ship's crew was discharged with substantial coin, except Geatio, who was kept on as a hireling because of his chiurgeon skills.
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| source |
Once all were healed and over their hangovers, it was time to plan. The lenses had been secured in the city's main citadel under the watchful eyes of the Library Paladins. The Legate approached the party and let them know they would have aid, because this was a concern for the whole region, and much bigger than the party.
Second scenario that I've wrested from my scribbled notes and made presentable. There are plenty more lurking, waiting to be transcribed between real work, exercise, appointments, remembering to eat, walking the dogs...
Anyhow. A good looping space with a significant amount of green.
Interesting.
What would be growing down there in the dark? I scribbled a bit before some random firing of a brain neuron reminded me that I'd written up a model for a spreading, aggressive invader. No, not kudzu.
So, an ooze that has gained some sort of decentralized, alien intelligence has taken over a shrine. And not only may the PCs want to clear it out, but one of the individuals interred there certainly wants it out of their space.
Watch where you step.
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| Download me here |
Tim recently shared out his "Temple of the Black Oracle" via his Patreon (Well, a year ago recently...) and I decided to put my own spin on the map, because that's what I do now and then.
It looked like a good space, and I stuck with the name, as it gave inspiration for who or what the oracle could be...
So after some scribbling in the margins, I cobbled it together as a one-page adventure. Good for generic Old-school play with a few low-level PCs. Bring your earplugs.
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| Download Me Here |
And watch out for the toad.
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| Source |
Just got my games approved for Dragonflight 45, a couple each of Shadowdark and OSE. So looking forward to rolling with folks both new and known.
So I ran a "They Met at a Tavern" pick-up game on Sunday through Meetup, but had a fleet of no-shows. Except the Shorter Half and my coworker Chris (better known as Frederick the currently-smoldering thief). But the ethos is to run for who shows. I was going to run The Howler, and had converted all the critters and challenges to Shadowdark (so I was a bit miffed at the spent effort - save it for later).
But with two PCs (A Sea Wolf and a Warlock), something lighter might be suitable. Besides, both had already run through that adventure.
So I grabbed The Tragic Curse of Grimhill Fort by Reverse Ettin Games out of my folder to run. I'm not going to do a recap, other than to say that they got their asses handed to them a couple of times, and I flexed challenges a bit to avoid a mini-TPK. So first off - have more than two PCs. And perhaps a silver weapon or two, in case the ones in the adventure aren't found before they are needed...
Spoilers ahead.
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