IRL Gaming: OSE (Advanced) Stonehell - Preamble + Session 1; "You failed the tutorial level."

 As mentioned previously, I'm currently in a Discord-based OSE game. I've been attempting to join or run an OSR game in real life for a few months, and thanks to a DCC session that highlighted an MTG friend's player skill (despite being a 3e baby he showed the kind of cleverness and caution you'd expect from OSR play), I got him interested in OSR play. And of course, this enabled me to reach out to another friend (also an MTG player and 3e baby) and get him to agree tentatively to "try out" this weird old D&D.

Prep was somewhat of a trainwreck, as the transition from digital to physical so often is. I let Friend 2 (hereafter J) use the OSE Advanced Fantasy to roll up a character: An elf assassin. All well and good but then I realized I had Advanced Labyrinth Lord, which is a system I greatly prefer and didn't need to print anything for (I greatly enjoy physical prints of my legally-acquired PDFs). The elf assassin was legal in OSE but illegal in ALL due to her low stats (an important note to keep in mind for those debating over which system to choose), so I was forced to stick with OSE as the source for my rules booklet. There was much heming and hawing over which module to use: Stonehell was chosen but then I realized that several (!) years ago I had printed out the entirety of B1. As I reviewed B1 Sunday in slow periods during my work, I realized that I had forgotten B1 was unstocked; and so we pivoted to Stonehell once again.

Session 1

From the town or hamlet of Fouquett, three souls strode forth to brave Stonehell: Alpha (Neutral female elf assassin, 2 hp, played by J); Mil the Ominous (Neutral male human fighter, 1 hp, played by C, the aforementioned DCC enjoyer), and Zortkygar the Hooded (Chaotic male dwarf thief, 2 hp, used as a retainer). The Holmesian Random Name Generator from Zenopus provided the names and Ye Olde Fast Pack from B4 sped up equipment selection. The town has no banks, only credit unions (the excuse is it's a libertarian town) and apparently a surplus of brothels, which may require use of AD&D disease and prostitute tables in the near future.

Alpha and Zort explored the gatehouse from the exterior-facing side, while Mil calmly yelled out the location of the rubble-passage to the south. After fumbling around the canyon and admiring the ruins, the party bumbled into a small area carved into the canyon wall. The elf's sharp ears picked up the sound of something getting eaten (a fire beetle having goat for lunch), and the party wisely decided to explore another part of this 4-room area; worth noting that J said his elf would not tell the others about it, but I informed him that player knowledge and character knowledge are generally not separate in Old D&D. Past a door was a room full of mildewed and rotten crates, barrels, and sundries. Mil decided to investigate and a green slime enveloped his arm! Fortunately player knowledge saved him as they battered it with torches 1 round before it would be fatal. Unbeknownst to the party, the fire beetle had decided to scurry away while combat happened. Further exploration of the area turned up magic chalk, a secret message indicating treasure on level 2 of Stonehell, and a goat corpse.

Mil advanced further into the canyon, seeking water to cleanse his arm (I had described it as notably pale and unhealthy after the green slime encounter), and found the mystical pool and waterfall/stream. The party debating looting the metal sphere 30' down at the bottom of the pool but didn't see the logistics working: Instead they climbed to investigate the source of the water up in the canyon wall. Enticed by the silver hemisphere in the 5'deep pool/spring, the dwarf tied a rope around his waist and jumped in, taking 2 damage on a 1d2 from the magically superheated water and dying! (Room 5 of Level 0B). There was debate about whether to loot and leave the body or take it, until I pointed out it would significantly encumber them.

The now-reduced party stumbled on, entering another canyon wall dugout. The description of leaves on the floor induced some mild paranoia about traps (which goes to show that sometimes dungeon dressing is more than just dressing!) but then Alpha grabbed some rusted arrows lying around and Mil tossed a shield full of ashes around (which managed not to attract nearby monsters). They advanced farther and encountered their first real combat: A rabid racoon! They won initiative and the 1 hp critter was dispatched with the flick of a shortsword. 9' of old rope was scrounged up in the former racoon lair. Exploring to the east they discovered several empty rooms, one with a trap! A bag of sand swung down and almost struck Mil, which would have been lethal if it had struck him. Alpha grabbed the bag of sand for later use.

The party then proceeded to the unexplored western portions: They discovered a large room with an uneven ceiling, rubble-strewn floor, and rather unsafe tone. Alpha tied her 9' of rope around the bag of sand and threw it into the room, disturbing a spitting cobra that dwelt among the rubble! What proceeded was a strange waltz of failures as for 3 rounds everyone rolled misses; Alpha switched from bow to dagger once I informed J that he needed an 18 to hit due to the nature of THAC0 and Descending AC. The cobra won initiative and struck a deadly blow to Mil even without venom: J chose not to retreat but to continue fighting. Simultaneous initiative! The elf struck out at the cobra, but it was too swift and rolled a 3 on a 1d3, slaying her as well! (Room 15 of Level 0B).

Despite many missteps it proved to be enjoyable and another session is planned for next week.

What I did for Gygax Day: B1 Stocking Notes

July 27th is recognized as Gygax Day in some circles so I figured I'd run a session of D&D using B1 to celebrate. It just took me a while to get around to writing a post about it.

The deadliest encounter of the session

Stocking the Dungeon: Instead of the normal B1 lists I used the 1e DMG and Fiend Folio, checking for room contents while altering and ignoring results that seemed whack. The stocking process took me about 4 non-continuous hours. The results are found below:

1. 1 Bullywug with a sword

Notes: The deadliest encounter of the whole night, the high AC + surprise chance + hopping is a lot stronger than you would think

 

3. 8 Giant rats

 

4. 1 Cerebral Parasite

Notes: Since there were no psionic chracters in the party, the parasite would have drained 1 point of Charisma per turn if it had been encountered.

 

7. 1 Anhkeg

Silver ring with 6 opals worth 6000 gp

825 gp

Notes: The DMG has a fairly robust jewelry generator, the only problem is that its separated into three or four section fair from each other.

 

9. 1000 cp

 

10. 100 pp

 

12. 3 Bullywugs

2 aquamarines worth 550 gp each

1100cp

13. 5 kobolds

1100 cp

825 sp

14. 4 fire beetles

20. 250 gp

26. 750 cp

28. 1 Tween

Notes: Fiend Folio is based.

30. 250 gp

31. 1000 sp

32. 1000 sp

36. 3 Troglodytes

275 gp

825 ep

Notes: A randomly generated encounter supported by the pre-written rumor table? More likely than you think.

38. 500 gp

39. 3 Gnolls

42. 2000 sp

46. 4 giant centipedes

47. 2000 cp

48. 1 Forlarren

49. 2 giant frogs

53. 4 volts

Notes: I could not see this encounter ending any way other than a TPK.

 

55. 200 pp

Here ends my key for B1 - In Search of The Unknown

 

The party ended up TPKing after 3 real life hours/55 in-game minutes.

 

Fun with Funnels

Today I ran two funnel adventures for Goodman Games' Dungeon Crawl Classics system. It was pretty fun. The players were my 9-year old brother and my 4X-year old father (referred to as "Bro" and "Dad" in the rest of the post). I'm a cheapskate so our gaming materials were the DCC Free RPG Day 2016 modules (I'll link them individually in a bit) and the DCC beta rules.

Regarding rules, I enforced marching orders, initiative, the fumble tables, and crit tables. However, the "0-level characters only roll 1d4" caveat on the crit table was dumb so I tossed that out.

Funnel 1: The Museum at The End of Time

The first adventure for the upcoming Mutant Crawl Classics game, The Museum at The End of Time is 0-level funnel adventure intended for 15-20 (yes, it's that lethal) characters. Dad and Bro only received 4 characters each. The intro was that many aeons ago there was a terrible magic (nuclear) war that ravaged the world. The PCs were the inhabitants of a medieval-level village who were hated by their peers for unspecified reasons, and so were ordered to march into the deadly Glow Desert: If these brave souls could find some mighty relics and return them to the village then they would be allowed to become a part of the community again. 

A scant few minutes into their voyage, the Silane Serpent reared its ugly head. Marilene, Dad's Halfling Moneylender, noticed the strange ripples and led her group to a rocky outcropping; Bro decided to have his characters climb the highest sand dune. In a massive corkscrew motion, the worm devoured three (3 on a 1d3) of Bro's peasants before the last scrambled into the rocks were Dad's group had taken shelter. They waited until the beast finally left at sunset.

Around that time, they noticed a curious sound; as time wore on, it became clear that it sounded like screaming. The group decided to stand and fight. Soon, six gray-skinned humanoids with pulsating mushrooms instead of heads approached the party. I have to note two things here: First, I altered the description of the Screamer-zombies to make it less gory for 9-year old Bro; second, I didn't notice the HP listing in the Screamer stat block so I rolled HP for each one. Two were much weaker (2 HP), while four were slightly stronger (5 & 6 HP). The party hesitated, unsure if these creatures were hostile. Cire the Jester fired a warning shot in front of one of the advancing Screamers. It did not comply. Bros last surviving PC, Elwyn the Gambler, tried to flee but then returned to the fray.

At first it went well. One of the the 2 HP Screamers fumbled and accidentally killed itself. Trystan the Cobbler survived a Screamer's claw and sent the wretched beast tumbling into the sand, surely dead. Marilene the Halfling cut down another Screamer. But the tide quickly turned and the remaining three Screamers made short work of the party. That's the first time I've experienced a TPK as a GM.

Funnel 2: The Madhouse Meet

When all was said and done, The Massacre at The End of Time had only taken about 30 minutes. Both Bro and Dad still wanted to play. Since I didn't have any other adventure handy, I decided to run the other adventure included in the Free RPG Day book, The Madhouse Meet for Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be (legally) available for free anywhere, you have to buy it from a site like RPGnow (I really wish I had monetized this blog but I don't want to sell out).

As a level 1 adventure, I was leery about how well things would pan out. Just to make things faster we re-used the Zeroes from the previous funnel with one exception; Bro got an extra character, Iago the Smuggler. The module starts with a tried-and-true premise; you wake up in a dungeon, shackled to the wall. and all your stuff minus your clothes is missing. Three characters make the DC 8 Intelligence check to remember rumors of kidnappings in The Great City. They were interrupted by a 7-foot tall gray-skinned man with a club in one had, a big sack in the other, and a burlap bag over his head. He dispensed stale bread and a little water then exited.

The PCs leapt into action. First Gladys the Woodcutter managed to find some makeshift tools to pick the lock then promptly broke them. Mave the Elven Navigator didn't have such terrible luck and managed to free herself and everyone else from their shackles. But almost immediately they heard the approach of footsteps! Quickly, everyone slipped into their unlocked manacles and pretended to be still trapped. Their gray-skinned jailor returned, gave a quick look around, and noticed that Elwyn the Gambler's bonds were open. He took a step toward the prisoner, ready to beat some cooperation into him. Initiative was rolled. The first action was by Iago the Smuggler, who fled into the hallway. Everyone else piled and punched the jailor. Miraculously, the jailor managed to miss every attack while the PCs manage to pummel him with their fists. Eventually, he dropped his club and cowered against a wall, whimpering.

Our heroes exited their cell and investigated their environs. Marilene the Halfling Moneylender almost got the door open. Iago the Smuggler tried to bust the iron-reinforced door by ramming it with his shoulder, causing him 1 point of damage. Marilene finally got the door open. The heroes split into groups. Dad's group discovered a room full of (inanimate) skeletons covered in some kind of green slime. Both groups pressed on to the jailor's room, where they found their starting gear and some extra treasure. Exiting through another door, they spotted a staircase and began to ascend.

Once above, Dad's and Bro's PCs split and intermixed. One headed toward what would turn out to be the wizard's bedroom, while the other found the mess hall. Iago and Mave entered the bedroom. Iago stepped on the luxurious carpet and a strange mist rose to entrap him! Luckily he made his saving throw and escaped. Mave searched the wardrobe, finding nothing but pastel silk robes. Iago tried a few on but none fit. Mave discovered a secret compartment with some scrolls and a small brass case. She effortlessly exited the room and began talking to her friends about her find. Poor Iago got caught in the malevolent magical mists of the wicked rug once again. At this point Dad decided his PCs didn't care about Bro's bumbling Iago. Bro had one character in position to help: Daffydd the Gambler. After much waffling, Daffydd charged in to help. He somehow avoided the nefarious carpet. Grabbing Iago's arms he tried to pull him out of those sinister swirls of fog, but to no avail. The fog snaked into Iago's nostrils and its weird touch dealt 1 point of damage. Now one turn away from death, Iago tried to wrest free from the foul fog. He and Daffydd escaped the room to the relative safety of the cruciform hallway outside.

While this was happening, the other group discovered the mess hall. Dad's PCs, suspicious of the connection between the food, magic, and their hulking jailor, decided to immediately exit. Bro's three PCs cracked open a barrel and started tearing into some salted meat. Then they ate some cheese from a barrel. Unfortunately, this cheese was magically tainted (a 30% chance I added to the module). Gladys the Woodcutter's ear shriveled. Elwyn the Gambler vomited a ray of green magic that struck Cian the Cooper. Cian grew four inches.

Mave tried to read the three scrolls but they were written in a strange language. Two were complete gibberish but from the third she managed to glean that it was a thesis on the use of magic-infused slime combined with humanoids to create super-soldiers. At this point, a patrol of two guards swung open the only unexplored door. They immediately spotted six escaped inmates. However, they didn't spot Bro's three magically altered gluttons. The glutton gang had the opportunity to launch surprise attacks against the guards. Bro decided that they would wait. In the ensuing fight, one guard was killed, Trystan the Cobbler (Dad's PC) did, and a guard fled. Dad's characters now viewed the mess hall three with suspicion.

The fleeing guard reported the events to the wizard, who rounded up four additional guards. His cunning plan was for him and two guards to march through the same door from earlier while a squad of three would sneak in through the mess hall, flanking the insolent escapees.

And, so the wizard, in his pastel glory, moved to attack, shielded by his loyal minions. Unfortunately, the flanking squad swung the door open and found themselves face-to-face with three opponents! The gluttons waded into combat. One guard tried to charge but fumbled, landing on his back like a turtle.
Mave the Elf perished in hand-to-hand combat. Elwyn stabbed a guard in the hand and sent his sword flying. Gladys died. Unable to effectively fight in the mess hall's second doorway, one guard quickly turned and arrived to guard his master. The pastel wizard tried to cast a Magic Missile only to flub. A guard died. Mave died. Elwyn died.

To understand what happened next, you have to think about what the wizard was thinking. The jailor was most likely dead (the prisoners wouldn't have escaped otherwise), two guards were dead, the cook (who actually just sat the battle out fixing stew) should have been dead, a contingent were apparently stalemating his mess hall flankers, and while the escapees would inevitably die it looked like they would take even more of the guards with him. He'd not only lose a whole batch of test subjects but also personnel. He failed his morale check. "Just surrender and you guys can walk out of here."

Marilene, burning with fury, stabbed a guard in the brain in response to the proposition. Iago threw a stone from his sling straight into the mage's head, sending it flying across the room (gotta love crit charts). Seeing their employer dead, the guards quickly surrendered. They led the surviving PCs to the exit, where the emerged into the sun-lit streets of The Great City.

Afterthoughts

It was pretty amazing to me that actual funnel didn't work very well but the level Lankhmar adventure went amazingly and really helped to crystallize the level-0 redshirts into distinctive characters. I did tone down the Lankhmar adventure some: Guard patrols were reduced to two  members instead of three, the jailor and wizard both lost 1 HD (which lead to Iago's miraculous one-shot on him). But otherwise it just seem to provide a much more fun experience for everyone involved than the Mutant Crawl Classics funnel. For the curious, the players didn't pick their PCs' alignments, I assigned them based on the characters' actions in-game. The survivors of the second funnel are as follows:

- Marilene, Lawful Halfling

- Daffydd, Lawful Warrior

- Cire, Neutral Thief

- Iago, Neutral Thief

- Cian, Chaotic Wizard

We should be holding another session soon, I'll post again if anything interesting happens then.