Dungeon & Dragons Through the Versions: Part 12

Recap: The party spent some time in Hommlet healing and Gort made a level in Fighter! They badgered the villagers for financial aid, but found that they were barking up the wrong tree. They settled for some clerical assistance instead, as well as a discount on holy water. They quickly returned to the moathouse for some more mayhem but spent most of their time just getting back to where they had left off - the lower dungeons!

WARNING: This adventure was run on a hot July night, with all participants being particularly ornery. It did not end well....

Once the party got down the stairs they headed back to the gnoll chamber and the charred door (which they had burned with the oil pool). The dead gnolls had been gnawed upon (likely by the ghouls) and were dragged into the northeast corner of the chamber. The party decided to look behind the other doors on the south wall - they had trouble opening them. They discovered the southwestern door led to another 10' x 10' cubicle (empty) and did not want to set off the portcullis trap so they avoided the central door (assuming correctly that it was just like the bugbear chamber).

The party headed down the corridor to the southeast. There were some sooty footprints at the northwest end of the passage, but not much else. At the end of the passage they found a closed door. Trixalix listened at the door but heard nothing. The party opened the door to reveal a dark tunnel heading due east and another door immediately to the north. Trixalix listened at this door also, but heard nothing. The party strong guys (Elmo and Gort) attempted to open the door (both failed), but it was Elana who finally got the door open! The party was not surprised by the guards waiting on the other side (the guards were well aware of the intruders and had time to alert their companions down the hall).

So began the longest combat I think I have ever run in AD&D (taking about 4 hours real time). It was definitely the most exasperating combat I ever ran. Without surprise we moved right on to initiative. I feel the need to reveal exactly what happened in a round-by-round breakdown, to give you readers the sense of what transpired. Each round description lists the initiative rolled, with the party's die before the slash and the monsters' after the slash. The initial encounter is with the 6 guards (armed with crossbow, sword, and dagger) and 1 sergeant (armed with shield, morningstar, hammer, and dagger). A like force resided in the adjoining chamber, along with the Master's Lieutenant (a 4th level fighter). All guards began in their starting positions except the three in the north chamber which moved into the hall to see what the commotion was about at the door.

• ROUND 1: 3/3 Guard moves out and swings sword, misses Elana; Elmo hits and wounds the guard then Gort finishes him off; a crossbow shot misses Gort.
• ROUND 2: 5/1 Gort stumbled over the body while trying to charge; Elana moved into position for spellcasting; Elmo crossed to the next guard; Trix moved over to drag the fallen body out of the doorway; one crossbowman switched to his sword, the other missed firing at Gort.
• ROUND 3: 1/2 Crosbowman misses Gort yet again; Elmo slays guard in corridor; Elana casts hold person on crossbowman who fails save (7 rounds duration).
• ROUND 4: 1/1 Gort slays the held guard; everyone else moves into position.
• ROUND 5: 5/1 three crossbow shots miss the party; party moves up.
• ROUND 6: 6/2 Gort and Elmo miss; front rank guards switch to swords.
• ROUND 7: 4/5 Gort is struck for 4 hp damage; Elana casts hold person (7 rounds) and holds the rear crossbowman and sergeant.
• ROUND 8: 4/4 Both guards miss; Elmo slays one guard.
• ROUND 9: 4/6 Last standing guard fails morale and surrenders.
• ROUND 10: Guard is told to run away; he runs into Spugnoir in the outer hallway who stabs him!
• ROUND 11: Other guards are coming into north room and Elmo warns the others.
• ROUND 12: 1/1 everyone moves into position to take on the new guards.
• ROUND 13: 1/6 crossbows all miss their shots; Gort hits one guard for 5 points, wounding him.
• ROUND 14: 6/3 Spugnoir casts sleep and catches 4 guards (2 guards, 2 sgts.); Gort slays one guard, Elmo misses; crossbowmen miss Elmo; guard in front .
• ROUND 15: 6/5 Guard #7 killed by Mort; Guard #12 heads back to warn the others.
• ROUND 16: 4/6 Guard hits Gort for 1 hp; Gort kills Guard #9
• ROUND 17: 1/3 Guards withdraw to the room and summon help; Party moves in to attack and Trix and Spugnoir start killing sleeping guards.
• ROUND 18: 3/6 Guard strikes Mort for 7 points of damage; Elmo and Mort kill the guard; guard #12 summons the others; Trix and Spugnoir kill the sleeping guards.
• ROUND 19: 5/6 Guards move into the room and party takes positions for a grand melee.
• ROUND 20: 4/3 Elmo kills one guard and Gort kills one as well, Trix and Elana miss; Guard strikes down Trixalix with one blow! (5 points).
• ROUND 21: 4/5 Spugnoir casts sleep and affects 2 guards, 1 sgt, and lieutenant; Elana withdrew to get to Trix; Guard hits Gort for 1 hp; Gort slays the guard who hit Trix; Trix bleeds for one point.
• ROUND 22: 5/6 Elana heals Trix for 5 hp (back to 2 hp); Gort and Elmo miss.
• ROUND 23: 6/4 Gort hit one guard; everyone else missed; Lareth comes out to play (after casting protective spells on himself); Trix crawls to Kevin.
• ROUND 24: 6/4 Gort slays guard # 16; Elana wounds guard #13; Lareth wakes up the lieutenant with a kick.
• ROUND 25: 1/3 Gort kills sleeping guard #18; Elmo slays guard #13
• ROUND 26: 3/3 party withdraws a bit and the last sleeping guards are kicked awake; Gort quickly casts cure light wounds on himself for 8 hp.
• ROUND 27: 4/1 Party and commanders cross to engage each other.
• ROUND 28: 6/2 Everyone misses each other.
• ROUND 29: 6/5 No one hits.
• ROUND 30: 2/1 No one hits.
• ROUND 31: 5/1 Everyone misses again. Sounds of rattling can be heard in the distance (can you believe I rolled a random encounter?).
• ROUND 32: 1/3 Everyone misses again. Spugnoir dumps oil in the southern corridor.
• ROUND 33: 6/1 Party misses; bad guys miss; Spugnoir lights the oil. 
• ROUND 34: 2/2 Elana is hit by the staff of striking for 9 hp damage; party misses.
• ROUND 35: 4/4 Everyone misses each other.
• ROUND 36: 4/4 Party withdraws as Lareth calls for their surrender.
• ROUND 37: 2/2 Lareth casts command on Elana but fails to affect her; party continues to withdraw.
• ROUND 38: 5/5 Party starts to escape but they are pursued.
• ROUND 39: 1/6 Gort is hit for 6 hp; withdraw continues
• ROUND 40: 1/5 Lareth succeeds at hold person on Gort and Elana; Elmo succeeds in his save.

This is where the night (and this session, as well as the module) ends. The players were completely disheartened. The end of the combat was basically rolling to see who could get a 20 (and no one was really able to) because AC values were too low on both sides. I rolled up bugbears on the wandering monster roll, so they were coming down the tunnel from the outside and would have kept Spugnoir and Trix from escaping. I ruled that Elmo would protect his companions with his life - a noble if misguided attempt to do good. Lareth, being a heartless bastard, would have kept one of the captured PCs alive for interrogation while torturing and killing the others. Instead of role-playing that, I decided to simply end that dogma campaign.

AD&D played by-the-book is no joke! A party has to be very careful how it proceeds, use the utmost caution when getting into a battle, and keep track of lots of little details (like making sure the exit is clear in case of a hasty retreat). Trix suffered from very low hit points, and it was only a matter of time before my dice ended his life. He was the first to fall in battle, and almost died had it not been for the party cleric. I found this party to be well balanced (except for the gnome illusionist/thief). Lack of magic items in the module, and ridiculously large amounts of opponents in the lower dungeons, ended the career of this intrepid bunch. Keep in mind that this was a party of roughly level 2-4 instead of the 1st level characters recommended. As I've stated in past posts, this module is a "meatgrinder," unsuitable for novice level characters (unless the DM is trying to show that the game is merciless and wants new players to get the hang of rolling new characters every session).

Dogma AD&D is even more brutal than I anticipated. It also short-changes characters on Experience Points, thus slowing advancement and keeping them weak. Maybe this is the reason it was so fun to play! Danger lurks around every corner! Those who make it to 3rd level become beloved characters! I thoroughly enjoyed this run, even if it ended rather gloomily. I think the players also enjoyed this version - we're still talking about the characters and the situations they found themselves in.

What I've learned is that the modules are too deadly as written. Gygax was great at killing off characters apparently. If I were to do this experiment with dogma AD&D again, I would likely use pre-made characters on a tournament module like C2: Ghost Tower of Inverness or G3: Hall of the Fire Giant King (Level 1) to get a better feel for how it all plays at higher levels.

Apologies

I apologize for not blogging the past few months. I've had a health scare - luckily all tests came back negative (a good thing) but I still feel like crap and now I'm broke. Hopefully the cooler autumn weather will reinvigorate me!

We actually finished the 1st edition dogma run (and it ended poorly), then started the 2nd edition run in the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (an aborted adventure by player vote). Last weekend we rolled up D&D 3.5 characters so that's up next. We're abandoning pre-made modules in favor of DM-created material. I'm also shortening the adventure to make it more of a test run and not a campaign thing. D&D 3.5 is a drastic change from all things D&D.

The players rolled up 4 characters each and took the best stats from those rolled. We did this because our dice hate us and it was the only way to avoid really BAD characters. One player still managed to roll a 4 and ended up keeping that character because it was the best of the four he rolled! We ended up with an elven cleric, a half-elven sorcerer, and a half-orc barbarian. I'm considering a rogue or bard to accompany them.

I hope to get the last few session reports posted soon.....if I can pry myself away from the new World of Warcraft expansion long enough to do that.

Dungeons & Dragons Through the Versions: Part 11

Recap: The party had just defeated a band of gnolls in the dungeons of the moathouse and were pretty beaten up. They had looted the gnolls and did some exploring in the winding corridors. They noted a closed door at the end of a diagonal corridor and a stairway leading down to someplace damp. They opted to continue on to a burial chamber inhabited by ghouls who got the initiative on them. Before they could turn the undead, the two fighters in the front rank (Elmo and Gort) were both paralyzed and Gort was reduced to -1 hp! Elana then managed to turn all 4 ghouls. While the ghouls ran off, the party immediately worked out a retreat strategy involving dragging the paralyzed members with the mule. They retreated back to the gnoll chamber and poured a lot of oil in front of the doorway, lit it, and continued their retreat to the bugbear's outer chamber. The ghouls pursued, making bad decisions at every access point, until they picked up the blood trail leading to the burning oil. The ghouls were not surprised when they opened the door and managed not to burn themselves - but this was enough to break pursuit. The party, desperate to escape, recruited the gnoll they left tied up at the portcullis to help them. In exchange for his freedom, he helped them to lift the portcullis long enough to get everyone out - then let it slam down with it between the gnoll and the party! That gnoll will likely be trouble in the coming session....

"It was a hot a sweaty night...." Well, it was!

The party began back in Hommlet, licking their wounds and selling items. They would be holing up for a while until Gort and Spugnoir were mobile once more. Since the 450 gp silver necklace with gems was much more than they could split evenly, it had to be sold. Nira Melubb was in a pissy mood and unwilling to go higher than 70% of value, until Elana said that she would take part of the payment in gems as well. So the party was paid 3 50 gp gems and the balance in gold, for a tidy sum of 375 gp total. They also sold one of the greatbows from the gnolls to Black Jay for a tidy sum of 45 gp. They tried to sell the other bow and the clothyard arrows to the guard captain (Rufus), but when he saw the arrows he got really pissed off (I rolled really bad on reactions). The arrows, he said, were originally from forces of the Viscounty, lost in the Battle of Emridy Meadows (he could tell from the fletching and arrowheads, since he was there after all). The gnolls scavenged them and the party had the audacity to bring them here to make the village buy them back! (Yeah, I was having some fun with this role.) Needless to say, when Gort later showed up, Rufus was less than interested in training him. Apparently, Jaroo the Druid never mentioned the fact that the party was in the moathouse to the Mayor and his bodyguard, a point that stuck in Rufus' craw! Elmo had no idea Jaroo didn't tell them either. The party was annoyed with Jaroo, but I have to involve them somehow in the politics of the village, and the Old Faith vs. Cuthbertine Newcomers angle was an easy one to work up here.

The party reported to the druid after the "new moon" meeting at the end of the month of Harvester. They learned that the meeting went poorly, with indecision on what to do next removed when it was decided unanimously that the party be sent back to the moathouse to clear out these apparent agents of the Temple of Elemental Evil. It was then that Gort decided to look for another trainer, even though they were told that word had been sent to Verbobonc for assistance in training the party. In the meantime, Gort met with Elmo and Elmo suggested that his father could teach him (he was, after all, a retired hero!). For the price of a magic battle axe +1, Gort received his training (and got change in return). Thus was the party detained for 2 weeks (through Brewfest and the beginning of Patchwall). William, the apprentice brewmeister, was sorely missed but songs were song in his honor at the inn!

At the end of the 2 weeks, the party started looking for more financial assistance from the town. Jaroo promised healing spells when needed, as did Terjon and Calmert, but no money would be gained here in the village. The church offered a discount on holy waters (10 gp each) but that was as low as they could go, since the donations were the main source of income for the building of the keep (the efforts of which were doubled in light of the news). They stocked up on 10 bottles of holy water to confront the ghouls in the moathouse - 2 per person in the party. They restocked oil, had Terjon create continual light rods for them by cutting down a 10' pole bought at the traders (Kevin the linkboy would be in charge of these - one 7' tall to light over the heads of the party, and one 2' length to use in case the party had to split up.

Trixalix memorized his detect invisibility spell before they left for the moathouse (I had to remind his player that this was what he intended to do last time). The party returned to the moathouse and made their way back down to the ogre chamber without encounter. They had never found the mechanism for opening the 2nd secret door to the lower levels, so Trix used his spell to locate the hidden mechanism! And, according to the wording of the spell, this seems to work! Luckily the spell was still in effect when he noticed a tripwire across the stairs. The party spent many rounds here agonizing over how to defeat the tripwire. In the end they decided to cut it (they had no idea it was ONLY a tripwire, and not part of some sort of trap). They arrived at the bottom of the steps and found the ogre body to have been kicked off to the side. The portcullis was UP (and it took some time, but they noted where it had fallen so they could set up a means of foiling it). Before they descended, they spent about 3 turns freeing a collapsed timber from the rubble on the staircase leading to the rooftops. They now used this here - propping it against the wall where the portcullis WOULD fall if triggered again. They ended the session here....

* * * * *

Gort actually made 2nd level as Fighter! Unfortunately, he was the ONLY one to level (poor Trixalix is still stuck with 3 hit points). Gort rolled a 9 on the d10, so he added (9+4 = 13/2 = 6.5 rounded to) 7 to bring his total to 26 hit points!!! Everyone got an "E" rating for last session. I'm not showing the work for the calculations of XP here because I think we're pretty good on how it works.

I like that detect invisible works like the modern detect secret doors spell. I never knew that it could be used that way and makes it so much more useful! The party has only 2-3 more encounters to go before we wrap up the AD&D dogma version of this experiment. This will also end the module T1. I think I'm going to give them the option for 2nd edition of continuing in T2 (essentially, Nulb, the temple grounds, and the 1st dungeon level of the Temple of Elemental Evil), or going with the quintessential 2nd Edition AD&D experience and moving on to the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar in the Forgotten Realms.

The party was being particular draggy and repetitive - I notice this more when the temperature and humidity go up, especially late at night. Argumentative, belligerent, and obstinate - some of the worst traits in people - best describe how we were feeling that night. I hope it's cooler next week since the big finale should occur. They're gonna need all their brainpower and teamwork to survive!

If anyone wants to see the breakout of experience points and treasure shares leave a comment below!

Dungeons & Dragons Through the Versions: Part 10

Quick Recap: The party headed down the stairs beyond the two secret doors and followed a winding corridor into a chamber with 3 doors and a corridor. The corridor led to a room inhabited by bugbears which they killed and looted. Spugnoir was dropped during this battle but saved from death (he is now useless in combat and needs help moving). The party released a trap mechanism that released a portcullis, trapping them in the dungeon. Looking for a way out they stumbled upon a band of gnolls. They attacked and won, with one of the gnolls surrendering to them.

ROSTER

• Elana Barzan, 3rd level human female cleric of Pelor, NG (hp 16)
• Gort Martin, 2nd/1st level half-orc male cleric/fighter of Wee Jas, LN (hp 19)
• Trixalix, 1st/1st level gnome male fighter/illusionist, N (hp 3)
• Elmo (NPC), 4th level human male ranger, LG (hp 41)
• Spugnoir (NPC), 2nd level human male magic-user (hp 4) (must rest one week)
• Kevin, hireling linkboy (hp 4)
• Mort, Gort's trained hunting dog

 After slaying the gnolls, the party bound the surrendering gnoll with rope and led him north. The gnoll could not understand them and they had no way to communicate their desires to the gnoll. He was uncooperative when they brought him to the portcullis so they tied him to the bars with the rope and left him there. On their way back to the gnoll chamber I rolled another random encounter! This time the party heard a moaning sound coming from ahead of them in the chamber. freaked out by the sound, they spent several rounds in a defensive posture by the entrance. Cautiously they proceeded into the chamber, leaving Spugnoir, the injured dog, and the mule in the corridor.

While the fighters stood watch with the linkboy, Elana and Trix looted the gnolls in the outer chamber. They recovered a 10 gp gem, 11 gp, and several coppers and silvers. Then they headed into the gnoll den and looted some more silver pieces, copper pieces, 2 great bows, and 22 large arrows in 2 quivers. All the treasure was placed on the mule which was led inside. At the north end of the gnoll den, a pile of furs lay beneath an image of a flaming eye painted on the wall in blood. Disgusted, the party left the scene, not even moving the gnoll bodies from where they fell.

They then started examining the doors on the south wall. They opened the southwest door and found an empty 10' cubicle. Trix looked for secret doors but found none. They opened the middle door and found a blank wall behind it with a slack chain pulled out from a hole in the wall (the other trap release). Finally they opened the southeast door and revealed a long corridor from which cool, damp air flowed. The party headed south down the corridor, noting the diagonal side passage and the fact that it ended in a closed door. They continued south to the head of a staircase where they turned west and continued to follow the corridor. This led them into the crypts.

The party got really cautious when I mentioned the smell of decay and freshly turned earth. They noticed the niches in the walls and even investigated a few of them before revealing the curious ghouls in the western section. Neither party was surprised but the characters needed no hints to tell that the creatures were hostile (one was gnawing a leg bone). The party lost initiative on the first round and this allowed the ghouls to cross to the front-line fighters. Everyone else took up fighting positions and Elana got ready to turn undead (she wanted the undead to come closer so fighters could get parting shots; she learned from the zombies!). Mort, freaked out by the smell of the undead, retreated to the mule and Spugnoir in the rear of the party.

On the second round of combat, the shit hit the fan. The ghouls won initiative and attacked the fighters. Both Elmo and Gort were hit by claw attacks, and Gort was also bitten! Elmo and Gort both failed their saving throws vs. paralysis as well! Gort ended the round at -1 hp. Since it states that the paralysis is rigid (not simply loss of muscle control) they remained standing there like statues! At the end of the round, Elana managed to turn all the ghouls, but the fighters were in no shape to attack with parting shots. Elana got a result of 8 rounds for turning duration so the party had to think quick. Trix applied first aid to Gort as Elana cast cure light wounds on him, saving his life but he would be comatose for 5 turns. The next round, Elana and Kevin dragged Gort out into the corridor at 3" movement while Trix took the lantern and stood watch over Elmo. Then Trix fished out his rope from his backpack and began tying a loop. When Elana and Kevin returned, Trix told them to bring the mule over. They then affixed the rope around Elmo and used the mule to drag him out to Gort (much faster speed this way). They then tied up Gort in a similar fashion and Kevin, Spugnoir, and Trix led them back out to the main chamber while Elana made sure the fighters were not overly damaged by dragging. When they returned to the gnoll chamber, they realized that the ghouls would still hound them and they had no place to go! So they pulled out the oil pot (the one from the shelves by the stairs down) and dumped out 6 flasks worth of oil in front on the door. Then, using Gort's candle they lit it from the lantern and tossed it at the pool of oil. The oil immediately caught and started burning the door. Then the party continued to drag the unconscious fighters back to the bugbear chamber where they waited in nervous anticipation.

Now, while this was happening, the ghouls DID decide to pursue and chased them as far as the stairs. They were moving at 9"/turn since they were using scent to track, instead of moving fast down corridors they knew well. I rolled randomly and they chose to go down the stairs. Not finding the party, they headed north and checked the diagonal corridor. When they got to the door and found no trace of progress (I had them smell the floor for traces of blood - since Gort and Elmo probably had blood on their clothes and were dragged across the floor) they turned and headed north to the door. I rolled surprise as they opened the door and luckily they were not surprised and managed to jump back from the flames. The door is now open and burning; the ghouls hissed in aggravation, but broke off pursuit.

In the bugbear chamber I had the party all make listen checks - only Mort (the dog) heard the sound of the hissing ghouls. He perked up his ears and stood at the corridor. The party quickly untied the fighters and laid them to rest in the chamber. Kevin filled his empty flask from the oil pot (leaving just 1 flask worth within). The party was trapped and unable to get out!

Trix and Elana decided that the only way to survive this was to get out through the portcullis. They would elicit the help of the gnoll to do this. So they cut him down from the bars and convinced the gnoll through pantomime to help lift. I had Elana roll the check, adding all their strength percentages for lifting gates, and she made the roll! While Elana and the gnoll held the portcullis up, Trix led the others through the opening. Elana twisted out from under the gate but the gnoll let it fall in front of him. He was now free of the humans and would let them live so he could return to the den and recover his axe. The party made it up the stairs and holed up in the ogre's antechamber until the paralyzed members regained mobility. This happened after a total of 4 more turns. Gort was completely out of it, but alive. Elmo helped the others prepare for the journey back. Gort was stripped of his armor and heavy gear to allow him to walk at 6" (which was the party's base move rate anyway). There were no more encounters in the moathouse and the trip back took 2 hours.

The party hobbled into the village at 6 pm and this is where we ended the session!

* * * * *

Gort's player was upset that he fell so soon in combat - he was helpful though, nudging the others with suggestions (like the oil, lifting the portcullis, etc.). The others were completely flustered. Trix kept coming up with silly ideas and Elana kept shooting them down out of hand. This group is so used to winning that losing makes their heads spin!

I'm glad that we got to see some really classic maneuvers - lighting oil to break a pursuit, use of the death rules AS WRITTEN, and lifting gates rolls! Luckily there were no more wandering monsters this time! That could have spelled death for the party. It was interesting to note that some metagaming was happening when the moaning noise was heard. Someone suggested a possible ghost but one player noted that a ghost was a high-level undead and not found in such a low-level adventure. Correct, but still metagaming! The ghoul combat only lasted 2 rounds, but the pursuit dragged that out to 18 rounds! I had to roll wandering monster checks during and after the pursuit ended - again, some luck was with them as nothing was encountered.

I was dismayed that nowhere in the book is it listed how long oil burns when poured on the floor. I could find the duration for a direct oil-grenade hit, but nothing else. I ruled that since one flask burned out in 2 rounds, that 6 flasks probably burns out in 12 rounds. A lantern is a controlled burn that uses a wick, so that's why that lasts so long. I have yet to see if the door itself did burn or not. Either way, if the party returns, they have to lift the portcullis again to get by.

Gort and Spugnoir must rest one full week before they can adventure again. It's unlikely that the others will adventure on their own without them. From what I've read, they can be healed, but cannot perform any activities for a week. Elana will have to memorize lots of cure light wounds spells to heal everyone! News of humanoids in the moathouse is likely to cause an uproar in the village. This smacks of the Temple of Elemental Evil again, and they will likely make sure that the place is cleared out for good! That is if the players report this to the appropriate authorities (namely the mayor). I think it's time the party met Burne in any case.


Anyway, the party did survive and is safely back in Hommlet. They left with only a few coppers, silver, gold pieces, and a small gem. They also have the necklace which will be the lion's share of the treasure (but not likely to get them full value at the moneychanger's shop). People are close to next level (both Gort and Trix for their fighter levels) and this might be enough to get them there, but then they will lose XP if they can't train (and neither has enough to do so). I could roll some reaction checks in town and see if Rufus could train one of them for free (in service to the Viscount). I'm not sure how I'm going to rule on this yet, but it could be a moot point. Then again, Trix might survive better with 1-5 more hit points. A week off will also change the dynamic of the dungeon and might get the players killed in the village if evil forces learn of their activities. The commander of the moathouse forces might even set up an ambush in the tall reeds near the moathouse, or set spies to warn of more incursions. The wheels are in motion now!

Whew, I've put off posting about these adventures due to the hidden things in the dungeon, but most of those have now been revealed so I whipped out all 5 report posts in just a few hours. I'm exhausted - time for an ale!

Dungeons & Dragons Through the Versions: Part 9

This is the most activity we've had playing AD&D in years. Every Saturday night for the past few months we've played and it has been exciting fun! Using AD&D dogma rules is a blast - even though we've hit a few snags and can't find ways of ruling certain actions.

Quick Recap: The party attended funeral services for the fallen hirelings and did not hire anyone new to replace them. They did ask Black Jay if he was interested, but the reaction roll was a definite NO.  So they returned to the dungeon after getting XP and splitting treasure (Elmo and Spugnoir are now full members of the party with treasure shares). They got back to the ogre chamber to find the huge corpse STILL being eaten by giant rats. They easily slew the creatures then opened the secret door to find a small room and winding stairway beyond. The stair led up to the ruins and they located another secret door on the east wall. Before they could find out how to open it, an ogre opened it for them, got surprised by the party, and then slain with a single blow by Gort! The ogre fell dead down the stairs into the darkness.

ROSTER

• Elana Barzan, 3rd level human female cleric of Pelor, NG (hp 16)
• Gort Martin, 2nd/1st level half-orc male cleric/fighter of Wee Jas, LN (hp 19)
• Trixalix, 1st/1st level gnome male fighter/illusionist, N (hp 3)
• Elmo (NPC), 4th level human male ranger, LG (hp 41)
• Spugnoir (NPC), 2nd level human male magic-user (hp 4)
• Kevin, hireling linkboy (hp 4)
• Mort, Gort's trained hunting dog

Kevin refilled the empty lantern by Gort's candlelight and then the party descended the stairs. They noted the means of opening the secret door from the back side before proceeding. At the bottom of the stairs they found the ogre, neck broken and blood spilling from the sword wound. He had no treasure on him and had only a club for a weapon. They followed the winding corridor at the bottom of the stairs east into a large chamber with three doors set in alcoves and a passage leading north. They shone the lantern north to see what was there and this tipped off the bugbears beyond. Luckily, due to the presence of the ranger, the party was not surprised by the creatures.

Initially the party could only see some of the bugbears. Elana cast her bless spell on the first round as the bugbears closed for combat (and those in the back readied javelins). On round 2 Spugnoir cast a sleep spell but could only affect 2 bugbears in the rear. We learned, after reading the spell description, that hold person does not work on bugbears!! This was news to me! While the fighters in the front line attacked the bugbears who advanced, Elana got ready for melee and Trix climbed on the back of the mule for a better vantage. One of the bugbears skewered Spugnoir with a javelin and he fell to the floor, dying (-2 hp). Trix started shooting arrows from the back of the mule (he has a 17 Dex after all) while the fighters kept swinging away at the bugbears. Elana dropped her weapon and shield to tend to Spugnoir. She then cast cure light wounds on Spugnoir (back to full hp but he would be comatose for six turns thereafter). Trix exhausted his magic arrows trying to hit bugbears but only connected once. Elana dragged the unconscious Spugnoir off to the side away from combat view. Trix leapt off the mule and switched weapons to his sword and shield. One of the rear bugbears disengaged after seeing his comrades slain;  he withdrew to the rear of the room and awaited death (failed morale but not by much). The last conscious bugbear advanced and was slain by Gort. At this point Gort healed himself with cure light wounds while the others advanced into the room. Elmo and Trix slew the two sleeping bugbears, which did nothing to improve the morale of the last bugbear. Elmo charged this bugbear and was struck in return for max damage (8 points!). Trix also advanced and missed the bugbear. Gort later moved in to help. After several rounds of the party continuously missing, Elmo managed to kill the final bugbear.

The whole melee lasted 13 rounds (and luckily no random encounters occurred during the battle). Trixalix was unable to recover any of his magic arrows (and now has no magic items). The party looted the bodies of the bugbears and did manage to find a total of 72 gp and a silver necklace set with chrysoprase gems worth 450 gp! (SIDE NOTE: since the party has a gnome with them, I let them know the value of the gems and jewelry they find.) Trix then started to search the rest of the room for treasure while Gort searched the north wall for secret doors (found none). Elana cast light on her mace and stayed with Spugnoir in the outer chamber because Kevin moved in to light the room for the searchers. Gort carried the treasure until it could be placed on the mule.

The party moved back to the southern chamber and Trix listened at the northern door (heard nothing). After two attempts Elmo opened the door and revealed an empty cubicle. The party then moved to the middle door and repeated the process. This time Gort opened the door and the party heard a clang as a trap is sprung. There was a blank wall behind the door and a chain leading from the door into a hole in the wall (the door released a mechanism that allowed a portcullis to slam down in the corridor by the stairs out, trapping the party in the lower dungeons, but they did not yet know this). Curious, Trix searched the north cubicle and the bugbear room to see if anything happened, but he found nothing. Shrugging, they moved to the south door and found that it concealed only another 10' empty cubicle. The party searched in the cubicles for secret doors but found none.

Spugnoir eventually recovered consciousness but was too weak to do anything but move with help. They had him lean on the mule for support as they headed back to the stairs.... only to find their way blocked by the portcullis! Unable to escape, they followed the corridor southwards and into a chamber that looked very similar to the one they just left. When they entered the chamber, the light from the lantern revealed some gnolls down the open corridor to the west. The party had achieved surprise on the creatures and they immediately began to re-organize for combat. Gort began casting his bless spell during the surprise segment, and since the special boon of clerics of Wee Jas is a casting reduction of 2 segments, his spell would come off in the first round after 7 more segments of casting (1 full round normal casting time). The others began readying spells of their own as Elmo braced for a gnoll advance. The gnolls began to emerge from the dark room - and there were more than the party first saw! Several advanced with battle axes while 4 remained behind (2 of those arming themselves with great bows). Trixalix used his dancing lights spell to illuminate the gnoll room, showing the party exactly what they faced. Elana was thus able to cast her hold person spell at the gnoll archers (but was only able to affect one; the other rolled a 19 saving throw). The advancing gnolls were met by Gort, Elmo, and Mort. The next round, Elana cast another hold person spell, and this time she was able to affect 3 gnolls in the front ranks (thankfully, since Gort and Mort were being abused by them). The held gnolls were slain by Gort and Elmo while Elana, Trix, and Kevin dove for cover from the last gnoll archer. After slaying the gnolls in the front, Gort and Elmo moved in for the others. The gnolls tried to fight but the fighters were too much for them (especially the ranger who was doing 1d8+8 points per swing). The final gnoll failed morale and dropped his weapon, raised his paws, and made whimpering noises.

It was late, so we ended the session here with most of the gnolls dead (except for the one who surrendered).

* * * * *

This turned out to be another frustrating night for the party. My dice were rolling really weird results and they kept missing most of their attacks. When they did manage to hit, though, they were doing great damage! Everyone participated to the fullest extent, and I even got Trixalix to finally use his dancing lights spell!

The party is becoming overly concerned with mortality again. I can see them becoming attached to the characters like they are with their regular characters in my normal campaign. I'm not sure this is a good thing. One of the reasons I wanted to run these one-shots was to let the players loosen up a bit and not be too concerned about losing characters. They HATE having a character fall - mainly I guess they just want to participate. But given the reaction when one of the main characters dies in the main campaign, I think they are seeing it as some great failure on their part. We haven't lost a PC yet, but the finale is coming up and there is likely to be at least one fatality in the group by then.

Searching for secret doors without an elf is ridiculously hard. We did a little research and it seems that a detect invisibility spell will locate a secret door! This is something that never occurred to me in all my years of gaming. The gnome has this as one of his starting spells and will likely memorize it for the next day.

The party is running out of resources and have taken a lot of hits. Mort, Gort, and Elmo are all below half their starting hp. Elana is injured but not by much. They have nowhere else to go but forward and Spugnoir is of no help anymore.

Dungeons & Dragons Through the Versions: Part 8

Quick Recap: After slaying the zombies, the party found a gem hidden in the last cubicle. They searched around the torture chamber but found nothing. They began clearing debris from the two western doors in the cellar when they encountered wandering bugbears. Unable to get through the locked doors, they followed the trail of the bugbears back to the ogre room where they were surprised by giant rats emerging from the rotting ogre corpse. After killing the rats, the party found the secret door but opted to return to the village to heal and recover spells.

So, for the adventure on Moonday, the 24th of Harvester (576 CY), the party was eligible to gain experience from: 6 giant rats, 12 zombies, 2 bugbears, and 8 giant rats. The party recovered the following treasures: aquamarine gem worth 500 gp from the zombie cells and 24 gp recovered from the bugbears.

Since the zombies killed off Marshall and William, they are not figured into the division for the rats/zombie, bugbear, or second giant rat encounters. Using the conversions for figuring challenge, the zombie and the bugbears were full XP challenges given the combatants involved. The first rat encounter had a challenge rating of 0.75, the second had a rating of 0.80. Surviving characters involved included:

Wandering Encounter #1 (6 giant rats): Elana, Gort, Trixalix, Elmo
Set Encounter #2 (12 zombies): Elana, Gort, Trixalix, Elmo
Wandering Encounter #3 (2 bugbears): Gort, Spugnoir, Trixalix
Wandering Encounter #4 (8 giant rats): Elana, Gort, Trixalix, Elmo, Mort, Kevin

During the beginning part of the session the party was back in Hommlet and, the evening they arrived home, Elana, Trix, and Spugnoir took the body of William north to the Temple of St. Cuthbert (on the mule). Elmo and Gort took Marshall's body back to his home in Hommlet (area #4 on the map). Gort gave the family 1 gp for Marshall's earned pay and 5 gp for restitution and cremation services (he was of the Old Faith). Elmo spent some time consoling the family while Gort felt like a heel. Elana spoke with Calmert and they left William's body at the temple for burial preparations. Elana and Trix went to the brewery to inform William's master of his death - the brewmeister did not take the news well (he flew into a fit of rage, so they left). Trix and Elana then stopped at the moneychanger's shop to sell the gem (it had to be sold for shares). Nira Melubb offered them 375 gp for the stone and they accepted the offer (paid as 75 platinum pieces per request). They then went to the trader's shop and sold the two morningstars for a total of 5 gp. The traders did ask where they were getting all these weapons from....

Each share of treasure was thus an even 25 pp and 8 gp (the 5 gp from sale of the morningstars was not counted since it was given to Gort as recompense for his generous donation to Marshall's family). Only the PCs are eligible for shares since Elmo was being paid as a hireling and Spugnoir only asked for MU scrolls in exchange for his participation. The party returned to the inn where their experience points were totaled and given out. The totals are:

• Elana Barzan: combat 139, treasure 133, +10% bonus = 299 (E)
• Gort Martin: combat 256, treasure 133, +10% bonus = 428 (E)
• Trixalix: combat 256, treasure 133 = 389 (S)
• Elmo: combat 139, treasure 0, +10% bonus = 153 (E)
• Spugnoir: combat 117, treasure 0, +10% bonus = 128 (F)

Trix did much better with his rating this time, but still cast no spells and tended to hang back (due to low hp). Spugnoir actually DID something this time around, but for the most party hung back and did nothing. The others were very involved in all the combats. Obviously, no one has made a level yet... Gort and Trix had to split their shares of XP between their classes (the extra point for uneven division going to Trix's fighter class).

After receiving nothing for his efforts, Spugnoir decided to renegotiate his position in the party. The party reluctantly agree to cut him in for an equal share. Gort advanced him a gold piece for his rent at the inn (since he was mostly broke by this point). The party reported to the druid Jaroo Ashstaff to keep him apprised of the situation before retiring for the night at the Inn of the Welcome Wench.

Godsday the 25th of Harvester was a somber day. The party spent the day healing from their wounds. Elmo went to see Canon Terjon at the Temple of St. Cuthbert and was healed partially for free (since he is a known servant of the Viscount and lay member in good standing). The others were healed by Elana and Gort, including Elmo who was still injured. The party split up, attending funeral services for both William and Marshall.

Waterday the 26th of Harvester, the party met at the Inn in the morning and the PCs informed Elmo that he was more than eligible for a share of treasure in the upcoming adventures in the moathouse. Elmo eagerly agreed (so now all treasures are split an even 5 ways, with Spugnoir still getting first pick of MU scrolls found). Spugnoir memorized TWO sleep spells this day (at the insistence of the party).

The party left the village at 9 am and arrived at the moathouse by 11 am. They lit the lantern and descended into the dungeon, returning to the ogre chamber. Unfortunately, they found 10 giant rats feasting on the ogre corpse (the number of wandering monster encounters is mind-boggling, and almost always rats!). It only took the party 4 rounds to kill all the rats (no surprise on either side). Elana, Kevin, and Mort suffered rat bites but no one was diseased. They opened the secret door they found previously and found a small 10' square room beyond with a steep, narrow stairway curving up to the north. A lot of searching then began in the small room, with most of the party taking turns looking. Trix was sent up the stairway and he learned that it was a secret passage that opened into the bandit's tower chamber above in the upper ruins. He returned to the others as Spugnoir located the secret door on the eastern wall. As the party searched for the means to open it, I rolled a wandering monster encounter!

An ogre was rolled up as the encounter and, since there was no other place for him to enter, I had him open the secret door they were searching for!! Needless to say, the ogre was surprised by the party - Elmo armed himself as Kevin and Spugnoir retreated to safety. The first round of combat, Elmo and the ogre missed each other. The second round, Gort moved in and took the ogre out with a single blow (rolled near maximum damage for his two-handed bastard sword!). The ogre tumbled backwards down the stairs into the darkness (he was at -2 hp, but I decided that the fall probably did him in). After the ogre fell, the lantern went out (out of oil) so we ended here in darkness! (8 turns passed since entering.)

* * * * *

This was a frustrating session. It was a hot and humid night, Elana's player was sleepy, and the party just was having bad rolls all around. The somber funerals in the beginning of the session were a bit over the top, but I wanted to role-play the consequences of sending "red-shirts" into combat. Normally, the players treat NPCs like crap, but this session they realized that everyone is someone else's child, spouse, father, or friend, especially in a small village like this. Elmo was moved to tears when these men fell - he signed on to try and safeguard them but the zombies proved to be too much for even the ranger to prevent their deaths. He was practically neighbors with Marshall's family and probably grew up with the guy. The players felt that they owed the families something for getting them killed. That, to me, was a success in role-playing. Getting the players to emote during a session equals good playing.

The XP wasn't that great, but they did manage to stave off their monetary woes with the location of the gem. It's not enough to train, but they pretty much know this. These characters will likely never have enough XP and/or money at the same time to train for a level, and we'll probably switch to 2nd edition before they get the chance.

One important fact I learned from this session is to ALWAYS make sure the party splits the treasure FIRST; then the DM can calculate what treasure XP they earn based on their share. Also, one must always adjust treasure XP by the same challenge fraction from the encounter which it was derived. In this case, the treasure was gotten from the zombies and bugbears, both of which were full XP encounters, so no worries there (and no adjustments made).

Next session the party descends into the darkness....

Dungeons & Dragons Through the Versions: Part 7

Quick Recap: The party returned to the moathouse dungeons and encountered giant rats emerging from the torture chamber before the "zombie apocalypse" encounter began. The party lost their two militiamen hirelings (Marshall and William) and they are very wounded. We left off just as the last zombies were slain and the bodies of the hirelings were pulled from the chamber. (see last post for the character roster)

With the zombies defeated, Trixalix and Kevin started searching the cells along the western wall. In the last cell, behind a loose brick in the wall, Trix located an aquamarine gemstone worth 500 gp. The party then entered the torture chamber and looked around. They spent so much of their time searching the walls  for secret passages that they missed the important clues in the center of the room by the pillars. I even tried to work up the mood by explaining all the torture devices and the remains of "unfortunate victims" therein. Even though I mentioned the faint blood trail on the ground, no one investigated the columns. They wasted about 3 turns of time here (and 3 encounter rolls) before leaving and heading to the piles of debris at the cellar doors to the west of the staircase.

They began clearing away the southern doorway when they encountered two bugbears (wandering monsters emerging from the ogre's door). Surprise was rolled, but Spugnoir, on watch duty behind the party, noticed them emerging from the doorway in time to warn the others (no surprise on either side). The bugbears crossed and Spugnoir cast a sleep spell at them. Unfortunately he only managed to affect one. The other circled around the staircase to the north where Gort waited in ambush. Gort actually surprised the bugbear and hit him for 10 points! Trixalix headed over to Spugnoir to help him kill off the sleeping bugbear while Elmo headed north to help Gort. The next round, Gort feinted a withdrawal and then cleaved the bugbear, dropping him dead at his feet.

The party looted the bugbears and recovered 24 gp and two morningstars. They cut off the flaming eye symbol from one of the bugbears' tabards to show someone in the village. They then returned to clearing the door. Unfortunately, the door was locked and they had no means of opening it. Before more combatants emerged, Gort cast his last cure light wounds on himself, recovering 3 hp. They decided to clear away the other door, spending some time doing so. In order to light up the eastern side of the chamber (and prevent more ambushes) Elana cast light on a piece of wood from the debris pile and set it in an empty sconce by the mule. After spending another half hour clearing debris, the party was faced with another stout, locked door. Trixalix listened at both doors and poked the lock to see if there was a key set in the locks on the inside. He heard nothing and the locks were empty. They then started searching the walls for secret doors, but found none. Elmo attempted to track, but since he saw no one prior, he could not locate any tracks at the doors. Mort picked up the bugbears' trail and led the party back into the ogre room where the stench from the ogre corpse fouled the trail. Elmo then picked up the trail and found it led to the southeastern corner.

Before the party could locate the secret door, I rolled another wandering monster (wouldn't you know it, more giant rats!). Bursting from the corpse of the ogre, 8 giant rats converged on the party, gaining surprise! Luckily, the closest rats missed their attacks during the surprise segment. There was a lot of missing on both sides, but Elmo managed to kill off quite a few, as did Gort and Mort. Elana was bitten for 1 hp of damage (but was not diseased).

Once the rats were slain, the party returned to the southeast corner to locate secret doors. It took some time but they finally located the opening, and then Elana found the stone block that activated it. However, instead of proceeding on, the party opted to head back to town. They were injured and tired, and nearly out of spells. They returned to the mule, retrieved the fallen men, and left the moathouse without any further encounters. They made it back to Hommlet around 3 pm and we ended here.

* * * * *

Wandering monsters in a small dungeon are hard to adjudicate. Where are these creature coming from? Obviously, with the giant rats, it's easy enough to just have them appear as scavengers that were hiding or eating the dead things left behind by adventurers. However, humanoids are another story. Were it not for the roll of the bugbears, the party would NEVER have found the secret door leading down to the lower dungeons. In fact, the adventure would have ended here. Perhaps my players simply aren't savvy enough, or perhaps the late hour at the end of the session clouded everyone's judgment. Either way, the location of the secret door due to the wandering monsters was the ONLY way to justify the existence of these humanoids here (especially since the monsters were obviously aware of the green slime trap in the stairs and would not have descended that way).

Ranger tracking indoors sucks. There has to be SOME way to follow a trail on a dirty floor if you have not previously seen the creature that made the tracks! Searching for secret doors, I found, is a two-part process. The first part is locating the door itself - this takes 1 round of searching per person per 10' section of wall. Next, the means of opening said secret door must be detected - this takes 1 turn per person searching the same 10' wall. Devious DMs would place the activation trigger away from the door, but in this case I opted to allow the players to find it nearby. Their dogged determination was wasting lantern oil - and that seems to be the only cost in searching (time). If they had a continual light source then that cost would be minimal (although each turn requires a wandering monster roll).

I find that giant rats are not much of a threat to the party, especially with Elmo involved. Most hits slay a rat, unless the damage roll was poor. The biggest threat with the rats is their numbers, which can easily overwhelm a small party. I found that the rats bursting from the corpse was a clear winner of a description since it put the players off-balance and gave a more evil disposition to the encounter (blood-soaked black rats with gleaming, beady eyes and yellowed teeth).