Cauldron Convention 2025 Play Report- Part 1: Blood on the Sand (and Grass?)

October 26, 2025 / Dread Lord / 2 Comments

There came a scraping that echoed through the heart of Rosenthal — a quiet and picturesque village deep in Germany’s heartland, a town lined with half-timbered buildings and bedecked with cobblestones. The sound was metal grinding against stone, much like the battle march of an orc legion descending a mountain might sound. The British contingent had just literally crash-landed into the central courtyard of Hofraithe Park. Setting down below the eaves of an ancient gatepost, we spooled from our rental car lugging bags stuffed with forty-year-old rulebooks, dice, and lead miniature soldiers. Chris, James, Andrew, and I emerged like four riders from the desert. We surveyed the damage. The collision with a curbstone had been insignificant — merely loud — acting as a herald to our arrival. I laughed heartily, for I had come to do damage of a different kind — to pillage dungeons and kill player characters. I had come to game!

For those in the know, the Cauldron OSR Convention needs no introduction. It is the premier gaming convention for aficionados of early-TSR-era D&D. Over the course of three days we were going to set about conquering dungeons dark, deep, and dangerous — and have a bloody good time doing so.

I had only a few moments to take in the stunning surrounding architecture of the new venue before a random encounter with Attronarch in the courtyard led me to my dormitory. The rooms were small and wood-clad, somehow reminiscent of a dozen ’80s slasher movies misremembered. Exactly which cabin-in-the-woods film it reminded me of is uncertain. These bedchambers would not be dwelt in much, however, for the participants of Cauldron have approximately a 10% chance of being discovered in their lair during the convention. I dropped off my bags before gathering for beer and snacks in the dining hall.

There was a welcome speech by the magnanimous Settembrini. Then I had to dash off and prepare my first game of the convention.

Initial impressions: psionically blasted by an amazing location, awesome people, and overwhelming hype to start gaming. The night would be long — and for some, unending.

Adventure had begun.

FRIDAY BLOCK 1: THE COLISEUM OF THE LUNAR LION

I was DMing during Block One, which was a shorter three-hour session. The game I ran was lifted from my campaign world, only condensed to a single level — just enough for a one-shot I reckoned.

The concept of the adventure is that a Wizard Guild has paid the party to enter a complex to retrieve an item. The item is a scroll case stolen by one of their own rogue agents. This rebel MU escaped into the complex because it is incredibly well-guarded and usually an area of high-level adventure. However, after much research, it was discovered that the defences and traps within the complex were powered by lunar energy. And so, when a rare lunar double eclipse was due to occur, the Wizard Guild sent some expendable adventurers (ahem, the PCs) to collect the item whilst the defences were down.

This is a time-sensitive delve. I explained the nature of the scenario and the party goals to the players:

Collect the scroll case — but do not open it.
Do so within five in-game hours because…
The Moon powers some terrible defences, including an Iron Golem.
Take every bit of treasure not bolted down for yourself.

The Party

Attronarch played Gorath Zult, Human Fighter 3
Markus_cz played Wimble Hornbutton, Halfling Fighter/Thief 2/2
Niko played Osmund Vire, Human Cleric 4
Martin played Maelros Thun-Kelveth, Human MU 3
AndrewW played Zhaelor Quen, Elf MU/Thief 1/2
Theo played Emeric de Sablecroix, Human Paladin 3
Billy played Bharak Blackbraid, Dwarf Fighter 3
Sam played Gravek, Human Ranger 3

The Game

Once spells were selected, the party arranged their marching order. The characters approached the deep stairwell that led into the Coliseum. They’d arrived a little earlier than the beginning of the lunar eclipse. To make use of the time, the thieves crept down into the earth to espy the situation.

There they saw a large underground chamber with multiple tiered levels. At the centre of a sandy pit stood the Iron Golem, cast in the shape of a leonine Type VI demon. It spurted black puffs of smoke upward, and at its feet were several cultists bowed in supplication — their leader holding the reins of a warhorse.

The party hatched a plan to lure the cultists out of the area and trapped the stairs with caltrops and marbles. No luck on this plan, unfortunately. The party descended, carefully avoiding their own traps.

What took place next was a highly tactical battle. I had pre-drawn the area on my Chessex mat and we used minis with each hex representing 3.33 feet. A little different than I usually run the game, but this area was quite complex. On the battlements were archers, and hidden behind the now-inert golem was a fighter on a warhorse.

Battle began — the horse charged — but Gorath managed to slay the charging beast with his set spear before the lance could strike him. The rider fell from the saddle and was soon surrounded. Up on the crenelated battlements, arrows rained down upon the party. Fire was exchanged. The thieves stealthily climbed up to the shooters’ level and, with daggers, ended the threat.

In all, the battle took about thirty minutes and was very tense up to the last kill. These cultists proved tricky due to their unbreakable morale and higher ground. But the way into the dungeon proper had been opened. The party lit their lanterns and decided to climb the eastern battlements and enter through a vomitorium, rather than attempt the large lion-shaped double doors to the south.

The players tensed their jaws and set about tearing through this dungeon as quickly as possible. A DM loves to see it. They passed by many of the time-wasting baits I’d left them — skipping Mythos Tomes and sealed pots of slime — though they couldn’t help but interact with a helmet that had detected as evil. Inside was a Vargouille, quickly dispatched.

Soon the party found a chamber with a bowed floor, its ceiling bejewelled with a hundred moonstones. Brave Attronarch stepped forward, putting his character into the room and summarily falling twenty feet into a pool of water as the floor caved in. Down there, he was assaulted by mud men, but the party got him out quickly enough.

Onward they went, stealing gemstone eyes from statues and avoiding chain-pulling zombies. Eventually, an ethereal statue of a maiden holding a wand was discovered, draped in lush jewellery. How would they capture that treasure? Nobody knew — but they were here for a scroll case, and that’s what they were determined to do!

So onward they went into a nefarious-looking altar room. The cowled figure behind the altar looked up to reveal a skeletal face and silently pointed toward them. All but two of the party were teleported back to one of the starting rooms. The crypt thing charged the remaining characters. The teleported group rushed to their aid, but in comical fashion, Niko grappled the undead beast to hold off its attacks until the cavalry arrived.

After this, the game became increasingly chaotic as the players split into three groups to cover more ground. Real and game time were both ticking away — would they find the scroll case in time?

Eventually, one group did, after an incredibly lucky pick locks roll on a door. Inside they found the corpse of the rogue magic-user laid out on an embalming table. Unluckily, the gem in his fist contained his soul, which lashed out and possessed Billy’s character, Bharak Blackbraid.

Who said dwarves saved well against magic?

I took Billy to one side and gave him the lowdown:

“You are now SHIGAST THE SORCERER. Get that scroll case for yourself, no matter what. Oh yeah — and you have an invisible imp familiar in this room.”

It didn’t take one minute for the players to start wailing on him. Poor lad.

A few lone survivors crawled out of the Coliseum, scroll in hand. Many others had perished at the hands of shadows and imp poison. That’s the way it goes!

This was a very fun game and a great way to kick off the con — the players really kept me on my toes. Should any of my players want to join my campaign, even for a few session or two. Send me a message.

If you’re wondering why I’ve included several illustrations of the dungeon, it’s because I’ll be releasing this adventure as a Pay What You Want document on DriveThruRPG in the coming weeks (when I can find the time to properly edit the thing). All funds raised from module sales will be donated to Cauldron Con 2026! Consider this as good an endorsement of the convention as I can offer!

FRIDAY BLOCK 2: THE BATTLE OF EMRIDY MEADOWS

After some delicious home-cooked food and several beers — which, of course, all come included in the convention’s price (yes, all you can eat and drink!), I gathered at the wargaming table to partake in a recreation of the legendary battle that lies behind some of Greyhawk’s key dungeons.

I had brought along some miniatures to donate to Nexus in the 1/72 scale that Settembrini and Ghoul use for their Chainmail battles. I was so impressed with last year’s Chainmail Naval Battle that I’d offered to paint up some of my unused miniatures for them. I’d been tasked with supplying some orcs, evil horsemen of the Temple of Elemental Evil, and some medium cavalry for the Kingdom of Furyondy.

Upon hearing I was donating these miniatures, my partner was rather pleased to see me pack that mass of figures into my bag. Unfortunately for her, the convention happened to be selling cheap grab bags of miniatures for five euros a pop, so by the end of the weekend all that freed-up space was refilled and stocked with tiny lead men. (She still hasn’t learned of this shameful behaviour — they sit secreted away in a shoebox in my home office.)

Once all the players were gathered, Setti gave us a fascinating breakdown of the original lore of the battle. After researching Gary’s description of Emridy Meadows and cross-referencing it with known military history volumes from the Gygax library, they’d managed to identify a few likely historical inspirations. One of those was the Battle of Tewkesbury, and when one reads about the preemptive charges by the orcs, it does share some parallels with the Duke of Somerset’s calamitous march at that battle.

I’d encourage Setti to make a post about how he designed this recreation, as it was all very interesting — though the quantity of fine German Pils I drank that night ensures much of it is now lost to me.

There were six players, and each of us selected a division to control. I chose to take control of the evil horsemen, since I quite liked the paint job I’d done on them. I also didn’t fancy commanding the orcs, knowing full well they were going to have a bad time with morale, infighting, and going up against dwarves and elves. The horsemen didn’t have much better odds, for formed across from my vast host was a giant line of pikemen. Why didn’t I opt to control the forces of good? For the challenge!

I’ve used the rules of Chainmail enough to know that Gygax had a hard-on for Swiss pikemen (with co-morbid lusts for polearms), and they have some absolutely busted mechanics. Unless I played very carefully — and had some luck — my forces would soon be decimated upon those pikes. I was also given a secret objective that could secure me a personal victory: I had to engage Prince Thrommel in melee and then make away from him and off the board. In the event of an evil-side loss, I might still claim an individual win.

The battle began and we all started taking our turns. The evil side had a plan to begin with, but this soon fell by the wayside as we had trouble organising our lines on the right flank. I pulled my horse tight to the right and requested some screening units push forward to break up the lines of pikemen. This didn’t happen, so I had to throw my own light horse against the pike wall in a desperate attempt to stagger the line and open up an opportunity for flanking.

Evil players began dropping out a couple of turns in, as it was getting late and many of them had been traveling all day. By the end of the battle only myself and the mighty Walid stood against the forces of good. My sacrifices had paid off: as I won a second initiative round, I had broken the lines of pikemen into three separate units and rushed some horse behind them. With the sounding of a horn, my riders encircled the pikemen and crushed them to naught. The right flank of the Furyondy army, its entire detachment of pikemen, were decimated. Bring me back my legions! The printed name ‘Gygax’ on the Chainmail rulebooks before us began to miraculously run with rivulets of blood.

The before and after the final flanking.

Walid had summoned a fire elemental, and with it slew the Prince of Furyondy. History had been irrevocably changed! The Temple of Elemental Evil was victorious!

This was a great deal of fun. Settembrini did a really great job of developing and judging the battle. The game went on until after three thirty in the morning. Afterwards I staggered back to my room and collapsed in my clothes into a deep, dreamless sleep. Even the jet-engine-loud snoring inside our bedroom could not rouse me. I was content.

First day impressions: Raw Adventure Gaming Awe.

In my next post I will cover play reports for Saturday and Sunday. Fight On!

Owlbear & Wizard’s Staff 2025 Play Report: Part One — The Setian Vault

September 28, 2025September 28, 2025 / Dread Lord / 1 Comment

The sun beat down. Wind raced along the river at my side. In my fist was a glass of black nectar, which I dutifully quaffed, my lips a’smacking in pleasure.

Then I saw it. At the far end of the beer garden, tucked beneath a curtain of dry, brown leaves, stood a lonely glass cabinet. I pushed through the foliage and found the figure within. He was robed in emerald, crowned in gold.

Saint Patrick. Banisher of Serpents.

I laughed aloud. Moments before, I’d finished running a four-hour game of AD&D where the players had slaughtered a nest of serpents and their snake-man kin. Had the old saint lent them his blessing? Or were their level 4 characters simply too powerful for the scenario?

I didn’t have time to ponder theology or blessings. My next session was about to begin, something God’s favoured would not smile upon. I was entering a Glory Hole. I also needed another Guinness.

I was at the Owlbear and Wizard’s Staff Convention, held in the picturesque town of Royal Leamington Spa. The sun had come out to smile on me, but there would be no basking in it. I was grognarding hard, ready to dive into TTRPGs, which require little light; only imaginary torches and enough illumination to read a d20 and a character sheet.

I’d arrived that morning, carrying a GW case stuffed with rulebooks and game notes. My belly was hungering for Sword & Sorcery action-adventure. The town made a pleasant impression, but such niceties had to be ignored. The location of St. Patrick’s Irish Club, host of the convention for several years, was charming—great Gaelic atmosphere, friendly bar staff, and dangerously cheap pints of Guinness. But this was no place for comfort. I was preparing for dungeon war.

The crowds had gathered. RPG soldiers had come to crusade. A storm was a-brewing. This leaf-strewn town of Georgian beauty and green lawns was about to be dragged down into the gutter-level of Lankhmarian lowbrow imagination.

I’d enjoyed some chit-chat and met friends old and new, but in my mind I was preparing to inflict… the Setian Vault.

Session One: The Setian Vault

The Plan

The plan was simple. On Friday I would run two full sessions of AD&D, then drink beer.
Saturday, I’d lay back and enjoy a few games as a player—the kind I rarely get to try—and then drink more beer.
Sunday morning, I’d play in a single game before driving home to the South West, where a death metal gig awaited me. And, you guessed it… more beer.

Prep and Pre-Gens

For Friday afternoon’s session, I plucked a low-level dungeon from my campaign milieu: The Setian Vault.

It’s important to bring pre-gens to a convention. Never waste precious table time on character creation if you can help it. AD&D is notoriously tricky for modern players to parse during chargen. They’re used to having all the pertinent information in one place. Reasonable fools.

So, in the weeks before Owlbear and Wizard’s Staff (OBWS hereafter), I generated eight character sheets at 5,000 XP each. I aimed for a spread of single-classed humans and multi-classed demi-humans. Levels ranged from 2 to 4. I made eight in total, giving the six players some choice and a couple of spares in case someone croaked—as can happen. That’s old-school gaming for you.

I’d also painted some old lead miniatures to match each PC, mostly Ral Partha I’d picked up from eBay job lots.

The Party

Alan — Thalric Greybeard, Half-Elf Cleric/Ranger (3/2)
Darren — Bharak Blackbraid, Dwarven Fighter (3)
James Knight — Elyra Vornshade, Elf MU/Thief (2/3)
David — Verrin Lusk, Human Thief (4)
Hannah — Emeric De Sablecroix, Human Paladin (3)
Mike — Osmund Vire, Human Cleric (4)

All the players were pretty hardcore TTRPGers. A few were gents with stories of playing 1e back in the day. James is a regular in my campaign and plays tonnes of AD&D. One player had mistakenly signed up thinking it was a 5e game. I chuckled. This would be different.

The pull of AD&D at cons seems to break into three camps: nostalgia, genuine appreciation, and curiosity. I’ll lean into these aspects more next time I run an old-school game at a generalist con.

The Adventure

I informed the players that they’d heard the following rumours:

Children often play in a cave below Adder Hill. There is a dark statue within that local kids dare each other to approach. A few weeks ago, some kids reported a large gate had appeared in the wall, flanked by two golden wands.
Several cattle have been found mutilated around Adder Hill. Drained of blood.
A farmer swears he saw a host of “naked goblins” roaming the area.

The golden wands intrigued them. The players selected characters. Casters were given ten minutes to pick spells. I generally advise experienced players to run them, especially Clerics, because they must pick spells from the entire list.

Hannah (Emeric the Paladin) was elected party leader. David took on mapping duties. Miniatures hit the table. A marching order was formed.

We were off to the races.

Exploration Begins

Adder Hill received its moniker due to its resemblance to a snake’s head. Two caves are set into its stony face like eyes.

The party entered the right “eye.” Elyra scouted ahead using her infravision. She soon detected a large heat signature accompanied by hissing. She wisely withdrew.

“I guess we know why it’s called Adder Hill,” quipped a player.

They tried the other “eye.” There, they discovered a beast-headed statue holding a serpent in one hand and an inverted ankh in the other: the symbol of eternal death. The paladin detected evil radiating from it. To the south, the promised gate loomed: carved in the shape of a snake’s open maw, flanked by crude sconces bearing golden serpent-shaped wands that projected cones of light.

As I was rolling for random encounters, a player voiced concern:

“I don’t know about walking through a portal that leads god knows where. We should send something in first.”

Ah, a Tomb of Horrors veteran. A tear of joy welled in my eye. But I corrected him—by “portal” I meant an arched gate, not a shimmering teleportation field. It was a hallway, echoing with the sound of water.

They pressed on, finding a gushing font beyond. Elyra spotted a secret door to the west. Inside was a rank chamber filled with small serpentine humanoids. Combat broke out. The paladin was blinded by venom. Still, he and the dwarf carved through their enemies. A bit of treasure was found. Another secret door was discovered.

Snakes, Statues, & Strategy

This led to a hall with a rotating medusa bust at its centre. Much discussion ensued. Eyes were covered. Tactics formed.

They passed through into a large room with two conical reliquaries. Statues with gemstone eyes flanked the area.

Elyra listened at the reliquary door. The party formed up—except Alan, ever the wargamer, who recognised the potential of an enemy flanking manoeuvre, he pushed his Cleric/Ranger to guard the rear. Smart move. Two groups of serpent-folk burst from the reliquaries to encircle the party. They were soundly defeated.

The PCs pried out the gem eyes and smashed open one statue to retrieve a serpent-shaped wand that functioned like a magical torch. They headed east.

They came upon a room filled with strange urns. Issuing forth from these was the sound of a thrashing sea. Elyra had a listen at a door inside, and the crashing sounds of the waves grew louder and louder until she became utterly deaf. Luckily a spell was to hand to cure the affliction.

Mummy’s Eggs

They came upon a large hall. At its centre: a dais with glowing golden eggs. A diminutive mummy patrolled it’s surface like clockwork.

The party concocted a plan: four players would grab the eggs simultaneously. We diced. Verrin Lusk rolled poorly. The mummy bit him, and as he staggered back the mummy was dragged from the dais, and rapidly expanded to become full size. Battle erupted. The party fled.

As per old-school rules, fleeing characters can’t map. They got lost through the dark chambers, the wail of the mummy echoing after them. After wandering, they found another snake-maw portal, then a clerical office. Within the latter they smashed a statuette and found a scroll hidden inside.

Eventually, they reoriented themselves.

Deadly Detours

A giant spider appeared via random encounter but was quickly dispatched. (The ranger’s surprise negation is a real asset.)

They found the spider’s nest, torched it, and located a secret door leading to clay pots marked with wax seals. Some contained treasure. They left the skull-marked one alone. Very wise, very wise.

Finally, they entered a sloped hallway (angled at 45 degrees). Ten serpent-men were slain. Then they entered a candlelit chamber filled with maps and notes—here, they uncovered a dark plot (no spoilers).

In the next room: giant snakes. Silence was cast at the rear of the room, where a tapestry hid a door.

A Dark Mistress

Beyond the tapestry the serpents queen cast a darkness spell on the corridor. The paladin and the dwarf rushed through the magically darkened space, chasing their quarry. Behind the tapestry, they came face to face with a beautiful sorceress who immediately cast Charm Person on the paladin, bidding him to defend her.

Now we had a duel on our hands: the party leader versus the boisterous dwarf. Luckily for everyone involved, the dice were not in their favour. Many swings were whiffs.

Meanwhile, Osmund the Cleric stepped boldly through the darkness, carrying the magically silenced tapestry. He hurled it at the sorceress, interrupting her next spell and nearly knocking her flat. With the spell disrupted and her surprise lost, the remaining party members surged in and dispatched her, sending her back to her vile master in whatever abyss had spawned her.

Winners

All said and done, it was a successful expedition and a damn good time. The group gelled quickly, the session ran smooth, and the players engaged deeply with the old-school style. There were laughs, gasps, and dice hurled with intent.

As tradition, I asked the players to vote on who they thought was the MVP—the most entertaining or effective player at the table. On the count of three, they each pointed.

The winner was Hannah, who played Emeric the Paladin. Doubtless it was her tactical leadership and inspired (if slightly treacherous) roleplay in defending her newfound dark mistress that secured her victory.

She was awarded a copy of Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman by Gardner F. Fox. Pure Appendix N Sword & Sorcery. Just the kind of reward a paladin might keep hidden under their pillow.

Summary of Session One

The party navigated my traps, puzzles, and monsters with grit and cunning. I was two pints of Guinness down and feeling fantastic. In an hour’s time, I was going where no man should—the Glory Hole.

In my next post, I’ll continue this saga of one of the most fun TTRPG conventions in the UK. Let the blessings of Saint Patrick shine upon you, and never speak the names of abyssal demons aloud!

You can read another play report of mine for Grogmeet 2025 here.

Do you have any advice for running 1e games at Conventions? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Until the next post, Fight On!

Grogmeet 2025: A Grognard Gathering Recap

February 8, 2025 / Dread Lord / 1 Comment

After having such a fine time at the Cauldron convention 2024, I’ve decided to try and attend more such gatherings and attempt to spread my bristling love for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1e.

My first such adventure of 2025 was Grogmeet, a meeting of – as the name suggests – a bunch of grognards. I’d like start my documentation of Grogmeet by giving a shout out to James Knight, who brought this fine and genteel meeting of minds to my attention. Cheers James!

Grogmeet is self described as a casual meet-up for fans of the entertaining Grognard Files Podcast, and not really a gaming convention in the purest sense. However, with over twenty games on offer over a long weekend, with many different game systems being played, I will go so far as to say that it was indeed a convention, and a fine one.

I booked my ticket in December and as a GM this cost me £5. Not bad. I decided to run the most recent dungeon, to give it a good play test with some fresh eyes. This dungeon is called the Haunted Bordello, and I hope to release it as a module later this year. I soon realised that I needed to whip up some sort of advertisement art for sign-ups. So with a hurried ten minutes, lo and behold, witness my last minute poster for the game. Marvel at its wonky aspect ratio:

The Manchester based event took place across two lovely locations: Whitworth Locke (a fancy hotel), and Fan Boy Three (a very nice hobby shop I have visited once before). I grabbed my dice, books, and binder and headed out on my three hour train journey Friday morning.

Friday

When I arrived there was already a tournament style game of Call of Cthulhu unfolding. Unfortunately this game was already sold out when I signed up, and during my arrival I soon became aware why. I witnessed several tables of grognards playing a massive combined scenario designed by Call of the Cthulhu 7th Edition designer Paul Fricker. All manner of chaos was unfolding before me; players were being dragged off to one side and given secret notes, then returned to different tables. From my observations, it seemed like there was some sort of mind swap invasion going on by the Great Race of Yith. It looked like heaps of fun, and I was more than a little disappointed I couldn’t get involved. But there is always next time!

Later that evening I played in a Delta Green game ran by a nice guy named Wid. I believe the scenario is something published by a third party and Wid had altered it. Us player characters were all trapped in a snowed in gas station somewhere in rural America. There was a corpse in the bathroom, and some sort of computer next to the cash register running streams of random numbers. If you’ve not played Delta Green before, it’s basically Call of Cthulhu meets the X-Files, and sure enough, soon after the game started, shit started getting spooky fast. Over the course of the game we found ourselves trapped in the gas station with laser sights trailing us from beyond the road. Corpses started animating and spinning in the air. One of our team soon became mind controlled by the incessant numbers on every communication device. We had to solve the bizarre download coming in from beyond Sirius, before we all kicked the bucket. We did so, and somehow with not one of us dying. Huzzah!

This game was a lot of fun and it reminded me why I enjoy horror games as one shots.

Later that night there was much boozing and chatting at a local pub, and I got acquainted with some great guys. I got talking with a few guys who run a long term Tunnels and Trolls game that I’d love to play at the next event. The socialising was definitely a highlight of the weekend. The only down side to these events is that there is never enough time. You can’t play all the games on offer.

Saturday

Saturday morning I woke up with only a slight hangover and mooched my way over to Fan Boy Three for my first game of the day; A new Call of Cthulhu Gaslight scenario GM’d by Paul Fricker. Paul asked us not to talk too much about the scenario, as it was a play-test for a future book. What I will say is that it was a great distraction from my hangover. There was much sawing off of shotguns and chairs thrown as improvised weapons. I will apparently get a play-test credit on the document when it is released, which is always nice.

Come midday I had to rush across the freezing gulf of the city for the start of my own game. I grabbed a sandwich and a snickers bar and managed to scoff these down with not a moment to spare. I set up my table and my players began filtering in. I handed out my nifty fake golden rod character sheets and we all introduced ourselves. I gave out a few hooks to the location and we were off. Playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.

The Haunted Bordello

There was Malitar Kreen, a half-orc fighter/assassin. Eljas Tammi, a human fighter armed with a glaive. Helmut Scond, a lithe half-elf thief. Then cunning Fulrad Falk, a human illusionist. Finally there was the human cleric Isto Jantuten, worshiper of Ilmatar the Mother Goddess.

The characters arrived at the wailing wood after travelling across the vale of Tarn. They soon heard in the distance some strange barking wails they had heard rumours about. Ghosts? Who knows. They marched through a woodland trail and soon discovered a bluff with an old ruin atop it. The half elf thief climbed up alone and stole a gander. He returned with news that a few rough looking men were sat in the round tower at leisure. The party climbed up and surrounded these fellows. After the illusionist tried to hail them, the party lost their edge of surprise and the bandits nocked a few arrows. Charges were made. Arrows were loosed. The party slew two of them outright. The other one fled down a trap door and into a nasty arrow trap.

After some searching on the ground level they found a second entrance into the dungeon. A coal shaft of some kind. The thief tried to descend it but slipped in the rough soil, and tumbled down the slide and into the nest of three nasty badgers! With his weekly rations thrown to the ground he managed to get out without so much of a nip. The party then went down into the dungeons proper. They found the pleasure rooms of a sinister Bordello, long abandoned. After a bit of snooping around they found a secret door in a wash room. Beyond this there was a viewing room with many one way mirrors overlooking several boudoir. Inside was a shadowy figure of pure malice. After watching him for a while they learned he roamed from mirror to mirror. The thief took a chance, sneaking past him. He managed to steal a scroll from a shelf at the far end of the room. And narrowly avoided contact with the apparition. The party went on exploring the rooms. Unfortunately, a turn undead attempt in one of the bedrooms caused the shadow to attack through the mirror, slaying the offending cleric.

They continued on a little, killing a squad of goblin guards and two orcs fighting over a halberd. Falling into a pit trap sent them back to town for a few days rest. Later they returned to the Haunted Bordello with a new companion; an elf fighter/magic user. They had an interesting encounter with a complex portcullis trap that took the life of their illusionist. Finally they found a fine throne room, and broke the chair from the floor only to be attacked by a mess of giant rats. No match for their power, the party slew the rats and carried their treasures back to town. And glory to them says I!

It was great sharing my enthusiasm for 1st edition. Some of the players had played the system as kids, and it was like a hit of nostalgia for them. Some had never played the game before. And others were regular AD&D enjoyers. Some of the players expressed excitement that we actually got to use the grappling table and the lift gates percentiles, which made me chuckle. I also now have a real appreciation for the golden rod character sheets. Using them to roll up the pre-gens forced me to take closer looks at carry capacity and non-lethal combat rules. Good stuff.

A group of Adventurers surviving the Haunted Bordello

After my game I went back to the station for the long journey home. There were so many interesting games on display at the event, that I can’t wait to go for the next one to try out something new. The verdict is in, Grogmeet is a hell of a lot of fun and stocked with great people. I look forward to the next one!

Dreadlord Games

The Treasure Hoard of a Moody Lord

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