[AD&D] A Mass Battle using Chainmail

February 23, 2024February 23, 2024 / Dread Lord / Leave a comment

I’ve been fascinated by the various methods Dungeon Masters use to tackle mass battles for some time, from hand waving them as a background event to the use of one roll resolutions like BECMI’s Warmachine. I’ve always been most interested by the use of miniature figures and wargaming rules to resolve these battles, having originally come into table top gaming by way of Warhammer Fantasy Battles.

So, several months ago, I made a conscious decision to try out all the various war gaming rules I’ve seen recommended for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (my current rules set) until I find one that best suits my current campaign and tastes.

I have currently played through the introductory scenarios in the 1E Battlesystem supplement solo and found it has some interesting mechanics and integrates well with standard Ad&d play, but the attack resolution mechanic is just a bit too bloated for me – it has a massive table that to use you must first calculate an Attack Rating, and then do arithmetic each attack and search through the many rows to find the casualty number. Not too bad really, but after a couple of rounds of play it becomes tedious and saps the excitement out of the game.

After that I set out to try all the other methods; Chainmail, Swords & Spells, Delta’s Book of War, and regular Ad&d combat resolution scaled up.

This week one of my players was unable to make my regular game, and so with two fistfuls of painted minis I set up a battle for my two players, and we did a bit of play testing; player vs player with me judging.

This is a write up of that game, and a description of how I ran it.

The Armies

I decided to roll up two humanoid forces using the 1e Monster Manual. My reasoning was that if I want to use wargaming rules in my campaign there would be plenty of asymmetric armies cropping I play. The random generation method of the MM seemed a good way to test how Chainmail handles such unbalanced battles.

I opted to use Wood Elves vs Goblins and rolled up their numbers and weaponry as if it were a random encounter in the wilderness. Then I had to make conversions, matching up weapons, and lumping the forces into sets of 1:10 for their model ratios.

Partially the reason I chose these two monsters was because in Chainmail one is clearly superior to the other. I decided to make large changes to the way they present in Chainmail rules, and have them more in keeping with the statistics found in the Monster Manual. More on these changes later.

Goblins

200 goblins with spears and slings – 20 Light Foot models with spear and sling
50 wolf riding goblins armed with morning-star – 5 Light Horsemen with morning-star
30 strong goblins (orc) with swords – 3 Heavy Foot

Elves

40 wood elves with bows (and sword) – 4 Archers
40 wood elves with spear – 4 Heavy Foot
2 Fighter Lvl 1
2 Fighter Lvl 2
2 Fighter/MU Lvl 2/1

Rule Changes

My plan is to play this as if it were in an Ad&d campaign. The rules in Chainmail are not really fit for purpose as given. Most obviously, the Chainmail rules were written before 1e, and the abilities for these creatures were both vastly changed by 1978. Some of the strange differences found in Chainmail include Goblins hitting as Heavy Foot but defending as Light Foot, and all elves constantly being invisible and all carrying magic swords. These are rules designed to counter other fantastical beasts in the Fantasy Supplement, and they have no use for me.

These are the main rule changes I made:

Goblins are light foot.
Elves fight and move as they are armed; spearmen are Heavy foot, and bow wielders are Archers.
Classed NPCs fight and move as per the rules found in Anthony Huso’s updated cheat sheet for chainmail, which I believe uses material from Delta Book of War.
Elves can split move and fire.
Elves are invisible until they first attack, but not after that. This follows how they are written in the monster manual where they are able to blend in with grass and trees until they attack.
I am using simultaneous initiative for this game, which means the two players write down their orders and I adjudicate the moves as if they were concurrent.
I use the alternative rule for Morale, pg. 17 Chainmail; Instability Due to Excess Casualties.
Spells are identical to how they are found in Ad&d, and so only as effective as they might if all the men were individual tokens. These spells take effect in the Artillery phase.
Slings are the same as found in Ad&d RAW: 20″ range, ROF 1.
No measuring allowed by players.
I changed the turn order to this:

1. Write Orders
2. Simultaneous Movement (passing fire, split fire)
3. Artillery (magic)
4. Simultaneous ranged attacks
5. Melee in weapon speed order.
6. End.

The Set up

I created a scenario with a simple goal. The goblins need to spend two turns taking a ruin. The ruin is atop a hill and if they spend two concurrent turns on it unmolested, they descend into the dungeon below and win the scenario. The elves must stop this from happening, and either wipe them out, or make them flee, or hold them off until the end of the twelfth turn.

1. The yellow sheet is the hill, the black lines are the gradient of rising levels: moving uphill is at half movement, you cannot charge uphill, it blocks LOS.

2. The white sheets are woods; cavalry cannot pass, moves are at half pace, they block LOS.

The goblin player set up on the southern edge with this order of battle:

the five wolf riders.
fifteen goblins in a single unit, two ranks deep.
the three strong goblins on the left, as a unit. Five goblins on the right in a single unit.

The elf player set up on the northern border with this order of battle:

S. Spearmen
A. Archers
1. Fighter 1
2. Fighter 2
FM. Fighter/MU

The set up was written in secret and handed to me, then I placed all the units on the table. The elves were invisible and the goblin player had no idea where they were. The photos below were taken afterwards, during the game I lined the elves table edge with die as tokens, and told them which ones represented what. I didn’t think this would be clear to follow in a blog post, so I reshot the battle afterwards.

Turn 1

Goblin ranks at the top, Elves at the bottom, ruin in the centre atop a hill.

Goblins orders: Wolves rush and circle the woods. Strong Goblins move towards hill. Remaining Goblins move into woods towards the hill.

Elves order: March into the woodland as a single unit, at the fastest pace possible.

The elves all moved in a single formation, but since the fighters move as Armoured foot they didn’t quite make it into the woods. The wolves have a very fast move, but used some of it pivoting.

Turn 2

Goblin Orders: Strong goblins and wolf riders take the hill. Other goblins get forward as fast as possible.

Elves Orders: I didn’t make it to the woods? Get inside those woods!

End of the round there was no firing with all the missile troops in wooded areas. The wolves pivot and get to the base of the hill, they know they will reach the top next turn, though they are totally unaware where the elves might be.

Turn 3

Goblin Orders: Wolves and strong goblins take the hill, the others follow up behind as quick as they can.

Elves orders: I want the archers on the edge of the wood looking at the hill. The Fighter/Magic users will go towards the hill. The spearmen and other fighters will move directly south and try to exit the woodland, next turn they will turn to face the hill.

The wolves take the hill, their leader fast footed behind them. As they reach the top of the hill however, the invisible archers catch sight of them at the edge of the forest. The Elves have moved almost 50% of their allowance, so that means they can make one round of shots.

They kill thirty wolves and their goblin mounts in a hail of arrows. The elves are now visible in the tree line. The remaining wolf riders see their fallen comrades and must make a morale check. The player fails the roll and the remaining wolf riders break and are removed from the game.

Turn 4

Goblin orders: The strong goblins shout back for their men to reach the hill and ready their slings, they charge forward.

Elves Orders: The archers will remain and pepper the hill. The Fighter/MU will move forwards, invisible. The spearmen and other fighters will take the hill from the east, invisible.

The strong goblins have run too far forward, moving closely to the written orders, and the elves shoot into them. Luckily for them, only ten of them die, they later succeed their morale check. The other goblins are slowly climbing the hill, their 9″ movement significantly reduced. The elf spearmen, keeping pace with the armoured foot of the Fighters, still struggling their way through the woodland. The two F/MU go towards the hill, still invisible.

Turn 4

Goblin Orders: Those light foot will take the top of the hill, the smaller unit screening the large one, they will shoot their slings into those archers. Strong goblins stay where they are.

Elves Orders: Archers are shooting at the powerful goblins in front. One magic user will use Light, and target the commander of the heavy goblin’s eyes. The other magic user will move invisibly towards them. Those spearmen will get up the hill.

The goblins now have the hill, if they can keep it by the end of turn six then they will enter the dungeon complex and win the scenario. The Magic user closest to the woods on the left uses Light on the goblin leader, he fails his spell save, and effectively reduces one of the strong goblins effectiveness down a grade to light foot in all the confusion. But now he’s visible to the goblin player. The elves shoot into the strong goblins but cause no deaths. The goblins return fire with their slings and cause no injury. The battle continues.

Turn 5

Goblin Orders: hold the hill and shoot dogs!

Elves orders: The spearmen and Fighters take the hill. The archers shoot. The magic users charge the ones atop the hill.

The magic user charges and becomes visible. The powerful goblins die from a volley of arrows. The spearmen finally reach the hill. The slings of the goblins still do no damage. The fighter/mu kills ten goblins in the melee.

Turn 6

Goblin orders: shoot and hold.

Elves orders: the second F/MU will close to combat. The spearmen will do the same. The archers will fire into the rear mob.

Both the goblins and elves had to shoot over the heads of the melee as in the turn before, and this really reduced their effectiveness, but this turn the goblins got very lucky and wiped out thirty elven archers. During the morale phase the last ten archers fled. The spears and F/MU didn’t have the movement to mount the hill or get into combat. Its very tense.

Victory – Turn 7

The goblins begin to enter the complex and win the game. As I was running the game I totally missed this, and we played another round, caught up in the drama of it all.

Goblin orders: I split my rear unit into two and fight on.

Elves orders: If the spearmen can combat the back rank, do that. The fighters will fight the front rank.

The spearmen are able to meet the back unit of goblins, and the two effectively wiped each other out. The spearmen lost three, and the goblins lost three, then they both failed their morale checks. The elven fighters and fighter/mu’s were totally untouched by the goblins and easily wiped them out.

The remaining sixty goblins managed to escape into the dungeons below the ruins of the chaotic temple.

End

This was an incredibly fun game and only took about an hour and a half to play through. Afterwards the players asked if the levelled elves could descend into the dungeon to hunt the goblins. I think that sounds like a great idea, and will write something up for that.

The modifications I made seemed to help bring the rules into line with the goblins and wood elves of the Monster Manual. The rules that I used from the Huso Chainmail Screen made the fighters really powerful though. They fight as two armoured foot per level, which allowed them to smash through goblins like they were paper dolls, whereas in Ad&d they would only have two attacks a round vs the goblins, not twenty.

In all this seemed to work well and I might well use these rules to play out mass battles in the future. But I would like to run the same scenario using a swords and spells first.

I hope to play another game soon and post more play reports like this. If you enjoyed this, or have any comments or questions please get in touch.

[APPENDIX DREAD] FLESH + BLOOD

January 14, 2024 / Dread Lord / Leave a comment

On page 224 of the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide Gary Gygax gave us a list of reading that had inspired him whilst creating the worlds greatest game. In this appendix he handed us the keys to the castle, the “kernels from which grows the fruit of exciting campaigns”. He recommended the list to aid us in understanding D&D’s fiction, and a gift of many hours of good reading. From this list we can derive monsters, locations, NPCs, magic items and the other ephemera that helps breathe life into a campaign.

In these blog posts I aim to share some of the great stories, legends, and cinema that have directly inspired my table top RPGs, as well as giving me plentiful hours of enjoyment. These are not reviews, they are recommendations, and in these posts I will try to identify the “kernels” of good gaming material I’ve discovered within them. So come delve into my library and, like the adventurer, return from the underworld with your fists full of treasure.

This is my Appendix Dread.

FLESH + BLOOD, by Paul Verhoeven (1985)

If you’re a fan of Paul Verhoeven movies then you likely have an appreciation for his strange brand of nihilistic brutality, his often comedic depictions of extreme violence, and his poignant ironies. In Flesh and Blood he gives us his dark vision of medieval Europe, not one of valiant knights rescuing damsels in distress, but one of brutal violence, violation, hardship, superstition, and obsession.

Flesh and Blood takes place in 1501 in an intentionally vague “Western Europe.” The film begins by following Martin (Rutger ‘tears-in-the-rain’ Hauer), the sergeant of a small band of mercenaries. The mercenaries are fighting a siege to help a Lord reclaim his city.

When we first meet his rag-tag group they are taking communion from their division priest, a slightly mad flagellant who goes by the nickname Cardinal (Ronald Lacey).

Once they claim the city walls the mercenaries begin to pillage, but the Cardinal witnesses the first in a series of omens; above them is a burning piece of rope in the shape of a noose. The omen is proven apt as the mercenaries are soon betrayed by their own captain and the Lord who employed them. They are disarmed, and marched out of the city, left empty handed without plunder or pay.

Things take a turn for the worse as Martin’s pregnant lover loses her child whilst they are holed up within a ruin. Whilst digging the baby’s grave, the Cardinal finds a buried statue of Saint Martin, ‘The only saint to hold a sword,’ who’s known to have cut his cloak to share it with a beggar. Sharing the name of the Saint is interpreted as yet another omen, casting their leader in the mould of a divine Robin Hood. Martin, in his hubris, is far too eager to take on this role and play the holy avenger. They set out with Martin manipulating the statue as a divinatory device, ‘wherever his sword points, we shall go.’ And so their life of banditry begins.

What they do next leads to the meat of the story. They travel disguised as pilgrims carrying their saintly relic and hold up the Lords caravan, inadvertently capturing princess Agnes (Jennifer Jason Leigh) in the process.

Agnes, as it turns out, is the films true protagonist, a tainted Helen of Troy type figure who longs to be desired and enjoys the drama of manipulating others around her. When Agnes is introduced on screen she is forcing her maid to have sex with a common soldier. Being a virgin raised in a convent, Agnes just wants to learn what’s involved. When Agnes tires of this display, she whips both of them with a rose branch. Later when she meets her betrothed Prince Steven (Tom Burlinson) for the first time she digs below a pair of hung criminals, looking for a mandrake root. If a couple should eat the root together they will fall in love forever, she quotes from a half-remembered book of dark lore. She indeed finds one, or perhaps just a common turnip, and she and the Prince eat it and embrace below the feet of the two corpses.

Once Agnes is captured by the bandits, Martin rapes her, but she manages use her ‘angelic charms’ to make him fall madly in love with her. She soon begins to feed his delusions of grandeur. Whether this is Stockholm syndrome or some survival instinct is not made overtly clear, but it makes Agnes a compelling character to follow.

The bandits eventually raid a castle and capture it, under direction from the Saints sword of course, fulfilling Martins desire to be more than a common man and become a faux-lord himself. Something to suit the new trophy princess he has on his arm. Finally, Prince Steven the man of knowledge and reason soon comes to reclaim his bride and assaults the bandit’s castle of debauchery. The whole battle between the bandit beast and the royal scholar maths thematically with Agnes’ confused choosing between head and heart. She is told multiple times throughout the film to ‘choose.’

The themes of the film explore Agnes as a kind of femme fatale. She plays both Steven and Martin off against each other in their battle for her, but it is the control she exudes over these men that she truly loves, for when it comes to betray one over the other, she always falters, preferring a state of flux. As stated by Martin in a late scene of the film, she permeates his body. Like the sacrament she becomes one with his flesh and blood. This is a dangerous game of course, and the paired images of sex and death blaze constantly throughout the film.

At times it is a confused film, and one that will undoubtedly provoke distaste in some viewers, but the final result is a harrowing medieval dark thriller, both tragic and enthralling. It receives my highest recommendation.

Now on to this films inspirational uses in Fantasy Adventure Gaming.

The Quintessential Bandit

The band of bandits under Martin could be ripped from this film and plopped directly into a D&D campaign with great success. They have a mad cleric who see’s strange omens. They have strong soldiers with experience in fifteen wars. They have cunning women who don’t mind stabbing and sneaking around to help the cause; potential thief class characters perhaps. They have a delusional and charismatic leader, a great warrior who craves to be more than he was born to be, with a moral compass far on the side of chaotic evil, and an appetite for self destruction.

The motivations of revenge are also very palatable for a group of D&D antagonists. Their holding of a castle with such few numbers could make for an interesting adventure location in itself, and one that a group of low level adventurers could assault over a series of games.

Whilst the band of debauched bandits in this film is fairly small, one could imagine them making a memorable enemy who hold a princess hostage. If you have read DF23 the Haunted Keep you may just find the perfect example of bandits to develop with inspiration from this film.

Superstition

Undoubtedly it is the addition of the omens and the Saintly statue that make the bandits in this film very memorable and offer up plenty of inspiration for our games. One could imagine that an animated statue or clever use of magic mouth could be used to direct a bunch of low intelligence followers just as Martin leads his soldiers. Adding a little bit of magic puts these bandits directly into Sword & Sorcery territory.

The film also has several examples of magical thinking that we can use for depicting peasants in our games. As I mentioned previously, Martin’s bandits take to wearing all red, and this becomes something of a symbol for their united strength and victory. Later, when Martin has captured his own castle, he and the princess take to wearing white. This marks the end of his good luck and the beginning of his downfall, which is posted out several times by his followers.

The use of omens in the film was quite reminiscent of Macbeth for me, another tale of manipulative woman. Perhaps the Bard inspired Mr. Verhoeven directly.

The Charm

The very intense obsession both Prince Steven and Martin have with Agnes is a good mould for the depiction of charm spells in games of D&D. The deathly obsession in both men could easily be used whilst depicting an NPC that has fallen under the spell of a vampire, or magic-user.

Here is one quote from the character of Martin, after he and Agnes lay naked in a stolen bed: You’re in my blood, I’ve never cared about anyone except you.

Or, more aptly put by Agnes herself after Martin pleads for her to choose either him or Steven: Winner takes all.

In conclusion Flesh+Blood offers up many interesting inspirational ideas we can pull from to enrich our Fantasy Adventure Games. If you haven’t watched the film before, I hope I have inspired you to find a copy and enjoy it. Look out for more Appendix Dread posts in the near future.

Appendix Dread Inspiration Rating 💀💀💀💀

[AD&D] The Making of a Milieu

January 4, 2024January 4, 2024 / Dread Lord / 3 Comments

During the last two months I have been thinking about starting a second Advanced Dungeons and Dragons campaign. This campaign would be played in person, around a real table, which is quite a rare way of playing for me these days. The main reason for this is that I’d like to spread my enthusiasm for the game, and maybe generate a bit of interest for the old game in my local hobby scene.

This blog post is the collected notes of a brainstorming session I had whilst attempting to invent a purely Gygaxian Milieu for this new campaign. It is Gygaxan because it takes into account the assumptions generated by the three core books of AD&D, and is taking liberal inspiration from the Appendix N fiction of the Dungeon Masters Guide.

I eventually decided not to use this milieu, for reasons I will state in the conclusion of this post, but I thought it might make for interesting reading for new Dungeon Masters looking to create a world of their own.

Beginnings

To facilitate speedy development of this campaign world, so I can begin playing as soon as possible, I have opted to use an existing game board, bypassing much of the labour required to create a campaign map. Using a previously made map is also a tradition in itself.

The map should, at least in part, do some of the developmental work for me. If regions are named, and there are cultural clues in settlement names, all the better. This will all be valuable information in generating ideas.

Owing to the previous point, I have deemed the outdoor survival map an inferior choice. It contains only terrain hexes. No geographic information. No settlement names. No Gygaxian fluff. Also, the outdoor survival map does not have hex numbers which would aid my writing.

So, after searching through a bunch of old hex and chit wargame maps, I found the board from the 1978 SPI game Swords & Sorcery. The pdf for the map and rules can be found for free at the company’s website: https://www.spigames.net/rules_downloads.htm

The excellent thing about the Sword & Sorcery game board is that its features fit very neatly into the assumptions of AD&D. In fact, whilst flipping through the game’s rulebook and design notes, I found that the game world was originally created for an AD&D campaign. Many of the adventurer cards within this game are converted player characters apparently. This fact made me excited.

A glance across the map will reveal a litany of obvious tropes pulled directly from Appendix N. Sinkholes, altars of evil, old gods, orc towns. The map also uses hex numbers. I became very excited.

I printed and laminated a large version of this map and prepared myself for play, reading the section of the Dungeon Masters Guide entitled ‘The Campaign,’ and began brainstorming.

Rules for Creation of this Milieu

An emphasis on using the three core rulebooks of first edition AD&D.

Playability takes precedence. Do what is necessary and move on.

The campaign will use 1:1 time and an open table.

Inspiration is to come chiefly from Gary’s Appendix N, with a leaning towards the usually avoided sources (Leigh Brackett, Jack Vance, Gardner Fox, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Michael Moorcock, H.P. Lovecraft, myths, etc.) The less of Tolkien, the better.

Map Scale

The first thing to deal with is the map itself. It is beautiful, even if there are many jokey references – Evalyn Woods I’m looking at you. The issue that becomes immediately apparent is the scale of the thing. What scale should its hexes be?

The geography of the river and capital suggest a scale far too small than is appropriate for a long term campaign. In fact, the game Sword and Sorcery is scaled to a valley, with each hex being enough space to contain a cohort of men. At this scale the map could be traversed in a single day. This hardly lends itself to a good campaign map. The map must have depicted a local area akin to the maps from T1, albeit more detailed.

Given that a campaign map should ideally cover large swathes of land, I will try my best to see if I can scale up this map to be usable in a longer campaign, given the topography available.

I have therefore decided that each hex will represent three game inches. This equates to a league, or three miles. This also pairs up well with the sub hex searching mechanics found in the Dungeon Masters Guide for when PCs decide to ‘clear’ a hex.

Whilst the scale of one league means that the map is not massive, I can design a scale of increasing deadliness as one travels north on the map. Hopefully this lends it some longevity as a region of adventure, even without the usual massive world map.

The 3 mile scale gives us a fairly substantial sized region, but makes some of the features appear strange. The river depicted is suddenly very wide, an estuary perhaps, and the bridges crossing it are colossal, six miles wide in some instances. I fight the urge to give up on this project and power through regardless. We are playing a fantasy game so we can hand wave away this scale issue with a simple piece of world building: the giant bridges are structures of an elder race of Titans. Job done.

The other features with preposterous proportions are the two cities in the north and south. Rather than having the walls illustrated represent literal city walls, in our version of the map they are ancient battlements akin to Hadrian’s wall, built to keep out the nasty chaotic barbarians and such. The city hexes are settled lands.

Movement

Whilst traversing roads, movement will be at 24 miles per day whether mounted or walking. That’s eight hexes a day. Horses may move at double pace but will have increased surprise odds.

When moving off the roads, we will use the basic inch movement in miles as per the Players Handbook. In clear terrain the speed can be used twice a day. In the other terrain types the movement speed can be used once. In the mountains it is halved.

E.g. a party with a movement speed of 6” can traverse four Clear hexes a day. The same party can move two hexes of Forest a day. It takes them one day to move through a single mountain hex, if possible.

Note: as I was writing this, Settembrini posted a very interesting essay on movement speeds which was very serendipitous. Find it here: https://hofrat.rsp-blogs.de/2023/12/01/inch-by-inch-its-all-a-cinch-by-the-yard-its-hard/

Regions

The map has several regional delineations (the red dashes) that we can use to aid in our brainstorming. We will make them political areas of control and assign them some cultural attributes, making sure to keep in mind the needs of the campaign.

What are the needs of the campaign? AD&D is human centric, with demihumans being isolated and strange. There is a general mediaeval flavour to the system that has to be attended to, but its influences range from Nordic, Hyperborean, Sword and Sandal, and of course Planetary Romance. There must also be locations that attend the various races and classes. There need to be places for druids, monks, Paladins, assassins and magic-users to train.

Luckily the designers of the board game we are using have similar influences, so next I assign some brief lore to the regional areas in a way that can be player facing, so as to inspire exploration and make later placement of adventure locations easily themed.

The World

The world is a large planet with a red dying sun and two moons. Civilisation is small and weak, humanity is the most numerous intelligent species on the surface, but still small in number. The old technological empires fell long ago, their technologies lost or hidden and rediscovered as magic. The Lords of Chaos influence the world through the beastmen, and much of the planet is wasteland.

The mapped area is the northernmost tip of the world, close to the swell of chaos, where the underworld burrows up most frequently.

The Empire

This is the northern tip of a feudal society. To the South, for many hundreds of leagues, the green pastures are governed feudally under an immortal Emperor, whose vassal kings rule over the largest swathe of cultivated land on the planet. The city of Urf Durfal is the northernmost city under his banner, but has become corrupt and decadent, influenced by the treasures and magic dredged from the chaotic barbarism beyond the Northern Gate.

Urf Durfal
Population: 10,000
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Leader: King Asmond the Grey, LG Fighter 10
Region encounters: 1:12 per check
– 1:4 a patrol
– Otherwise an inhabited area random encounter in plains.

Aardvark Wallow

These broken steppes are the hunting ground of several nomadic tribes of horse folk. They winter at their mountain capital in yurts. Their seasonal raids against the empire continue throughout the summer seasons, and they are often paid as mercenaries against the Empire’s southern enemies.

Strakhenville
Pop: 1-3,000 in winter
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Leader: Altan Khan, Fighter 10, CN
Region encounters: 1:12 per check
-1:4 a patrol of steppe Nomads MM pg 68.
-Otherwise an inhabited area random encounter in hills

Capella

A sea of rough scrub and tundra. Small villages litter the old road. The area is ruled by a petty bandit king named Sirius who wanders the waste from his gilded caravan. His ragtag soldiers harass the road, extorting tolls and protection money from travellers, or taking to outright thievery.

Region encounters: 1:12 per check
-1:4 a patrol of bandits MM pg 66.
-1:4 a merchant caravan MM pg 69.
-2:4 inhabited area random encounter in plains.

N’Dardia

This wasteland is said to be ruled from a secret Keep hidden upon the great flat karoo. The leader of this keep reigns not with armies, but with hidden assassins. Some call him the old man, some call him the Second Emperor, others call him myth.

Region encounters: 1:12 per check
On a road
-1:4 a patrol
– 1:4 bandits.
– Otherwise, uninhabited area random encounter in suitable terrain.

Ka-Chunk

Shielded by the perilous broken steppes lay an isolated religious society of great antiquity, best known for their Amazonian warrior women. This region is ruled by the religious city-state Corflu, whose ancient oaths bind them to guard the haunted tomb of the damned. In the north is the hill of Avalon, where the tomb of Arthurius is said to lay hidden, and from whence he will rise again when the planet is in dire need.

Corflu
Pop:4,000
Alignment: Lawful Good
Leader: Archpriest Simeon, LG Cleric 15.

Region encounters:
1:20 in per check in cultivated area
– 1:4 a patrol.
– 3:4 inhabited area random encounter in plains.
Otherwise 1:8 per check
-uninhabited area random check in hills or mountain

The Swamp

A vile area said to be ruled by a vicious troll king. No right minded man travels there.

Region encounters: 1:8 per check
-Uninhabited area random check in marsh

Minotaurus

Home to barbarian tribes, raiders, berserkers, and beastmen, this wasteland region is shunned by the lawful, for venturing into it’s barren flats is sure death.

Region encounters: 1:8 per check
– Uninhabited area random check in scrub or broken

Endore

The King of Endore rules from castle Grund, aided by a council of nine arch-magi. The warrior caste of Endore, mailed knights on chargers, see themselves as the last bastion of law, and lord over a society of serfs. The Endorians are isolationist and paranoid, many of their guilds and societies are said to be infiltrated by agents of chaos. Their wars with Krasnia and Zirkast are legendary.

Castle Grund
Pop: 2,000
Alignment: Lawful Good
Leader: King William, LG Paladin 6

Region encounters: 1:12 per check
– 1:4 a patrol
-Otherwise inhabited area random check in plains

Rhiannon

This forest is said to be inhabited by a confederacy of half-elves and half-orcs, outcasts led by a mysterious figure called Dylan.

The mountains in the west are famed in Folklore as the site of the downfall of the Lord of Law, Rhiannon, who is said to have betrayed the elder gods by handing their technologies to the snakemen of old.

Region encounters: 1:8 per check
– inhabited area random check in suitable terrain

Evalyn Woods

A great expanse of woodland and dense forest. They say an elven citadel rules here, working in alliance with a circle of druids who keep the mysterious Fountain of Health. The rangers of the circle keep back the forces of chaos and strive to maintain balance. The bards of this region sing of a legend, that the once and future King of the North will be crowned by the lady of the pool.

Region encounters: 1:8 per check
– Inhabited area random check in forest

Neitherworld

Woe unto he who doesn’t pay tithe to the self proclaimed Black Baron who rules here. A vampire of ancient lineage who rules from a ruined tower in the blackened hills.

Region encounters: 1:8 per check
-1:4 on the road of a patrol of vampire thralls (men)
-Otherwise uninhabited area random check in mountain

Nattily Woods

A dark and gloomy woodland, known to be haunted by all manner of beasts. They say there is a city of wild men presided over by a werewolf king.

Random encounter: 1:8 per check
– uninhabited area random check in forest.

Vynar

In the high North forest there is said to be a ruined city ruled over by a terrible ancient dragon.

Random encounter: 1:8 uninhabited area random check in forest.

Krasnia

Some of the knights of old fell to the seduction of chaos. The kingdom of Krasnia was where they drew the dividing line, segregating themselves from their brothers in Endore. There are two leaders here, the Dark King Andros leads his knights from Battleaxe Stronghold, and a city of barbarians and beastmen is ruled over by the sorcerer Zardoz.

Balkathos
Pop: 1,200
AL: LE
Leader: Zardoz, LE Illusionist 10

Random encounter: 1:12 inhabited area random check in suitable terrain.

Outer Krasnia

They say the true power behind Krasnia comes from the mountains, where sunken cities, whose stones were hewn before antiquity, harbour the secrets of demons.

Random encounter: 1:8 uninhabited area random check in mountain.

Dwarfhaven

Hidden deep are the old halls of the Dwarf Lords, who were long ago destroyed by the forces of chaos. Their ancestors roam here still – haunted, bleak – mining metals from the hills and seeking their legacy.

Random encounter: 1:8 uninhabited area random check in hills.

Kanathar

A bleak region of barren scrub and dust. The old tribes found here war against their distant cousins east in Zirkast. The Kanatharians are recognised by their tall bronze helms, which they capture from tombs found in their region. They share the deadened waste with lingering ghouls and terrible bat faced goblins.

Random encounter: 1:8 per check
-1:4 berserkers
-1:4 goblins
– 1:4 undead table
-Otherwise uninhabited area random check in scrub.

Zirkast

Old blooded reavers and slavers dwell along the river, jealously guarding their lush capital, which is shielded from the bleak northern winds by a marble gorge. Jarl Ulfr rules the region from his iron fortress and sends his river raiders south.

Nuara
Pop: 700
AL: CN
Leader: Jarl Ulfr, CE Fighter 10

Random encounter: 1:12
-1:4 buccaneers
– Otherwise inhabited check for suitable terrain

Ithilgil

Known as the passage to hell, this area is currently under the dominion of Uldrak the Chosen, a terrible foe. He has united four orc clans into a force bent on destruction.

New Orc City
Pop: 900 Orcs
AL: LE
Leader: Uldrak the Chosen, CE half-orc Assassin/Cleric 5/5

Sorcerak

The gloomiest forest, where light hardly penetrates. Little is known of the area, but many beastmen and giants roam the darkness, where they say a terrible altar to evil lay forgotten.

Convivia

The evil altars and temples of Rykalla poison the world with their followers. The terrible giants of the mountain descend, trading secrets from the depths of the earth. Slaves are sold here in their droves, and the sages say that there is a citadel of brass in the mountains.

Graumthog

A bleak tundra of ragged rocks where degenerate yetis roam. There is said to be a citadel of ice where the ancient frost giants dream hazily of their forgotten empire.

Intas

The gateway of evil is said to be a black tower under the dominion of a lich. This lich was once a magus who sought to control the powers of the citadel of blood, but was consumed.

Citadel of Blood

When the Titans ruled the planet, bowing before their elder gods, it is said they built a fortress from the bones of their vanquished enemies, and filled a moat with blood. This relic still stands today. What treasures the Citadel contains no man can say, as none have returned from that Isle of doom.

Bridges

The massive bridges of the Titans are mysterious. Some stand nearly one hundred feet tall at their apex. It is well known that trolls lair in their hollow piers, and often extort tolls from those passing through, hiding away their coins within the deep shafts inside the bridges foundations.

Random Encounter: 1:4 whilst crossing.
-1:2 trolls
– 1:2 gargoyles

Starting Area for Play

Now that is out of the way we must choose a starting area. Somewhere that low level PCs can dungeon delve and return to civilisation quickly.

There are a few notable locations that jump out straight away:

Hex 1752: The Bottomless Plungehole. This area sounds like it could be a perfect caves of chaos megadungeon. It’s placement on the map however, in the broken steppes, is probably a bit too dangerous.
Hex 1931: over one of the giant bridges, at the far edge of Endore’s controlled lands, a town on the edge of evil. This could work, there are lots of areas to probe into from here.
Hex 3443: on the crossroads next to the hill of Avalon, a day’s walk to the tombs of the damned, which again sounds like a great place for adventure. Perhaps a village with a shrine to Saint Arthurius. The city of Corflu nearby, and a road to help movement speed. This could be the perfect area.

I think that Hex 3443 is the preferable location. It has the Tombs of the Damned within a days journey and that would be our starting megadungeon, with perhaps ten levels. The perilous mountain roads leave a good opportunity for bandit encounters. The city is in a good distance for getting to training and buying supplies.

What’s Next?

development of a starting village, rumours and random tables.
the first two dungeon levels of the Tombs of the Damned.
5-10 local lairs and ruins in the immediate play region.
Then play can begin.

Conclusion

This was one of several brainstorming sessions I undertook during October and December. Finally I decided against using this map and material because I just couldn’t get over the strange topography. The rivers being massive yet called streams was frustrating to me. The map is very nice though, and perhaps this map can later be used as a smaller regional map in my campaign. I now have the thing printed out so I might try playing the wargame Swords & Sorcery.

I eventually decided on using the game board from Lords & Wizards for my campaign map, another chit wargame from the seventies. That brainstorming project has progressed much further than this one, with a town fully stated out and four dungeon levels spread across three locations. I won’t be sharing that work here though as players may well read it.

Whilst writing this I was reading several inspiring works. Rob Conley’s How to Build a Fantasy Sandbox completed on kickstarter so I ordered his Blackmarsh setting. Echoes from Formalhaut #11 by Gabor Lux also came through the letterbox. Both have been very interesting reading and have inspired me to no end.

I hope this rather rambling blog post inspires someone, somehow. I’d love to hear how others have made their own milieu. If you know of any good resources, or blog posts of your own, please post them as a comment below. Here are some I have found useful:

The Gygax 75 challenge: https://rayotus.itch.io/gygax75
How to make a fantasy sandbox, by bat in the attic games: https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-make-fantasy-sandbox.html
Hex Crawls: A Simple Guide, by Gabor Lux: http://beyondfomalhaut.blogspot.com/2021/11/blog-hex-crawls-simple-guide.html
Inch by inch it’s all a cinch, by the yard it’s hard, by Settembrini: https://hofrat.rsp-blogs.de/2023/12/01/inch-by-inch-its-all-a-cinch-by-the-yard-its-hard/

[AD&D] My Time Tracker

December 9, 2023 / Dread Lord / Leave a comment

You need a time tracker, I need a time tracker, we all need a time tracker. Well, here I am to give you your medicine. Behold, my new AD&D tracker in use at the table.

Time is of the Essence

I’ve been running old school games for a while now, and one thing that differs from other types of roleplaying games is the importance of game time; it’s passing and the necessity of recording of it. We all know that a classic fantasy campaign looses much of its meaning if strict time records are not kept. The reasons are multifarious; daily healing rates, spell acquisition, travel times, and the frequency and odds of random encounters. The list is long and has to be accounted for.

Essentially, time is an important game resource. I don’t want to bang on about this and play at being the broken record, if you’ve played older editions of D&D then you know very well how important this is. I just wanted to post the campaign tracker I’ve made for my current AD&D campaign, since I was unable to find one that fit my needs exactly.

There are plenty of trackers out there, hell, a scrap of paper would probably do, but none of the trackers I’ve found had exactly what I was looking for. Here are some of the specifics I wanted on my tracker sheet.

Segments

I wanted to have a segment tracker on my sheet. Though they don’t necessarily come up in every combat, having them on my sheet helps me adjudicate certain situations quickly.

For example, when a spell is cast with multiple segments times, or if there are player characters with readied missile weapons.

An example in a recent game was when a fighter was standing at a door with a net ready to throw (+2 segments as per their DEX bonus), during this round another player character was casting a spell, and before both of them were three charging ghouls.

The tracker sheets I’ve found online that do have segments usually only supply them up to ten rounds. That makes sense mechanically, since there are ten rounds to a game turn, but what if a combat goes beyond ten minutes? What if you have multiple combats in a game, do you need to use multiple sheets?

I want to use only one tracking sheet per game if I can help it, so I tried cramming as many rounds and segments onto my tracker as possible. When a combat ends, I strike a line below that round and the next combat to occur is recorded below.

I circle which group has the initiative where its labelled P (party) and E (enemy), or both if its simultaneous.

Turns and Days

You often see check boxes used for recording game turns on tracker sheets. I like that, and I’ve done nothing different here. I just also happen to use the same check box area for the passing of days. I have put a small space next to the rows of turn boxes to record whether the row is recording the passing of days, turns, or hours. There is nothing revolutionary going on here really.

I have a separate game calendar, so after the game I check how many days have elapsed on this sheet and update it.

Simplicity

I wanted the sheet to be clutter free, easily printable on A4 paper, black and white, and have enough space for me to record a whole session. We’ll see how that goes over the next few months.

The Tracker

Here is it, I will keep adjusting it as I play more, and if it changes significantly I’ll post an updated version.

If you have a favourite tracker for AD&D, or one of your own design, please share it with me.

[BLOG] One Year Anniversary

December 3, 2023December 4, 2023 / Dread Lord / Leave a comment

Well, it’s finally come, the first year anniversary of the Dreadlord Games blog. And come it must, for a year has but so many days. Come and read what I’ve been up to as I celebrate this blogs first year, and my minimal contributions to the OSR.

2023 – the year a corporation tried to corrupt the d&d hobby, acting the Dark Lord, just before it releasing a crap movie; genius strategy. We had many good projects released and kickstarted in the old school tradition this year though, and new publishing licences were released so not all is doom and gloom.

Gaming

I gamed quite a bit this year, breaking my personal record for the most TTRPGs played in a single year. As a player I took part in twenty eight games of BX d&d, these were mostly in Attronarch’s Wilderlands campaign, but I also played in a few sessions of a Dwimmermount campaign. I enjoy BX, it’s a nice simple rule set that allows you to pick up and get gaming quickly. I ran thirty eight games of BX in 2023. Half of these were in a rules as written Xyntillan Campaign, the rest have been based in my pseudo-hellenic campaign world: The Thalazian Sea. Session reports for all those games are on the blog.

Feeling the limits of the BX system – poor tactical options, mudcore loops through the low levels – I set out to house rule BX and insert some Ad&disms, rules from ACKs, and a host of others, in an attempt to beef the system up and make it a bit more sustainable for long term campaigning. The saga of the great Cimmerian is an inspiration on d&d for a reason after all – high level play is the paragon of emulating Mr. Conan. My house rule document came to about ten thousand words, including bits of regional and religious lore. I tried to juice up fighters, and make magic users a bit better than RAW in BX (probably a bit too much.) In the end, after about sixteen sessions of play, I’d come to the conclusion that Ad&d does the job much better than my frankenstein rules could at facilitating a sword and sorcery campaign. These conclusions arose after playing fourteen sessions of an Ad&d Greyhawk campaign. I’ve become a bit obsessed with 1e since, and found learning the esoteric nuances of the system a fun, if not tricky, project.

So I’m going to be running Ad&d for next year. It will necessitate a steep learning curve but after sinking a bit of money into procuring the original rule books, I’m in for the long haul (hold me to that please.)

Other than d&d I’ve only played a few other rpgs. I ran four games of Call of Cthulhu in person at a real table; the best way to run horror games. I have an inkling that my long- time use of Call of Cthulhu has made me a better GM for old style fantasy adventure games. Many (obviously not all) of the assumptions are similar. There is an open world filled with hidden monsters and secrets that will react to the characters’ choices, the consequences of which snowball outward into – sometimes – cataclysmic events. Player characters can die if they make poor choices in both genres. Both host no guarantee of balance. Obviously there are many differences as well, but horror gaming taught me high level assumptions, and also how to effectively describe a room or an NPC, utilising suspense as much as possible. The key to that is in what you don’t describe as much as what you do.

Outside of role playing games I’ve not played much in the way of wargames, just a few chainmail and battlesystem match ups. I’ve played a whole mess of board games though; Dune, Twilight Imperium, Ank, Viticulture, Dark Tower, War of the Ring, and a host of small party games.

Making Things

I posted forty three blog posts this year. Most of those are play reports, a few were adventure locations or little essays. Play reports were something I could consistently create whilst getting used to this blogging lark, but they are probably the least interesting thing to read if you are not a player in the game being described. Next year I will be posting less play reports, and will try to do monthly play reports for my campaign instead. The time it takes to write and post the play reports is time that could be better put to use either designing material for my campaign or writing actual fiction. Speaking of which…

This year I designed twenty nine dungeon levels of material. Each level has anywhere from ten to fifty-nine keyed entries. They range from the vanilla to the heavily themed, from orc lairs to non-euclidean deathtraps. Most of this material sits in my campaign world waiting to be discovered. In part I made so much material because I’ve been trying to improve my design skills.

Here are some of the working titles for my 2023 dungeons:

Prison of the Chitinous Killers – Extra planar insect men are collecting slaves to take to the plane of Earth.
The Torture Chamber of Dr Dread – A funhouse dungeon based on a Hammer Horror film with a similar title.
The Tomb of Gunther Wyrmslayer – Typical barrow mound where a dragon slaying sword can be found.
The Emerald Citadel of Loss – Evil Elven Non Euclidean tower with a pocket dimension.
The Crucifixion Grotto – Reskinned goblin dungeon, with a teleporting water puzzle and potential giant ally.
The Well of Damnable Pleasure – Massive demon themed multilevel dungeon with different factions.
The Red Vine Ruin – A ruined town with a dark secret leading to a tribe of Nomads.
The Riddler’s Vineyard – A slave owning Cyclops guards a passage to the underworld.
Dread Pits of the Swine Men – my try at a Gygaxian dungeon.
Catacomb of the Black Hearted King – a higher level dungeon themed around a Japanese Wakou Pirate King.

I’ve certainly got better at designing dungeons, but there is always more to learn, and the best lessons always come from play itself, not writing or reading. This year I expect to create and game at a more vigorous pace but also run more published material.

This photocopy art I made has been sat on my mantle piece for about six months, egging me on to keep going with this fun hobby of mine:

I also made a one page dungeon that can be found in the 2023 contest booklet. I tried to develop a location that was large, and had deep history, even for one page. Here it is:

those-dreaded-eyes-of-mine-opd-1 Download

I also published a module on drivethrurpg, partly as a way to see how the process worked. The House of Zaa emerged as a side quest for a thief in my Xyntillan campaign, and worked out pretty fun in play. I playtested it a handful of times and my very talented partner painted its cover. I couldn’t find many module locations for a single thief, so it’s a bit of an outlier. Hopefully someone finds use for it.

What’s Next

I’m going to be playing a lot of Ad&d and writing both gaming material and fiction. I’ll be trying to diversify what I post on this blog. Maybe some lessons I learn from playing Ad&d. I want to try and meet more gamers and play in more campaigns. I hope to go to some conventions in 2024. As I said earlier, playing is the best way to learn.

I’m writing a city state adventure at the moment for my campaign, so maybe I will post updates on that and other hex locations in my campaign world.

I read a lot of fiction, and watch a lot of old movies. I’m considering starting a series of posts talking about influences on my personal gaming. I will call this series “Appendix Dread.”

Until then, keep on gaming, nerd.

DL Campaign Sessions 15 & 16

October 22, 2023November 9, 2023 / Dread Lord / Leave a comment

Playing catch up, I will try to summarise the two sessions as best I can. The party had a town adventure, then went out to investigate the lair of a criminal organisation. They ended up slaying a powerful monster and claiming a huge treasure trove.

Characters

Andros – Cleric 1
Davy – Fighter 1
Malik – Fighter 3
Vahan – Fighter 1

Retainers

(Andros)
Guludad – Magic user 1
Tully – Magic user 1
Hestia – Cleric 1
Kull – man-at-arms

(Davy)
Hodorun – Thief 1
Ciric – NH

(Malik)
Thalzir – Barbarian 2
Zi – Cleric 1
Glenn – Cleric 1
2 light foot pirates.

The town of Ronton-on-Fie had new visitors. A massive merchant caravan from the capital had come to the town, owing to the large quantities of treasure that had been sold there recently. The caravan contained around three hundred individuals, mainly guardsmen, and thirty wagons. Malik recognised the colours of the heraldry on display as belonging to House Drakos of the city state of Acron.

The party made use of these new merchants, selling the gems from their last expedition and buying armours, weapons, and other goods and sundries. Unfortunately, the huge boom in population for the lake side town meant that all the inns had increased their prices nearly one hundred fold. It now cost 10 gp per person for a bed for the night. Not wanting to waste their coin, the party opted to camp in one of the recently tilled fields beside the temple district.

Some figures approached the tent during the night. They were minstrels, and they seemed most upset. There were eleven of them, some had bloody mouths and swollen eyes. They told the party that they’d been paid to perform at a local bordello in the docklands. The security guard at this establishment, a chaotic dwarf named Girin, had mocked them, beaten them, and stollen their instruments. Without their instruments they would soon become beggars and wanderers. They pleaded for the party help them retrieve the instruments, and if they could, to wreak revenge on the bullying dwarf. For this the minstrels would hand over all their coins as reward.

After a little deliberation the party agreed.

“How hard can a single dwarf be?”

Thinking the better of taking their new cleric retainers to a house of disrepute they figured they would travel to the bordello with a reduced party. The remaining characters were left to get some shut eye.

Andros, Malik, Davy, Guludad, Tully, and Hodorun all went to the cat-house.

They found an old warehouse in the dockland district, it’s factory doors open wide. There was a crumpled man laid on the ground. They tried to rouse him, but he was unconscious with a bloody gash on his head.

Two soldiers came out of the factory doors and told the party that the place was best avoided. No fun to be had in there, they said.

In the party went. The factory doors led into a wooden hallway with a curtain pulled across a door. They pulled this aside and found a large saloon like room. There was a bar with an old mistress pouring beer. There were many empty tables, overlooked by a high up gangway, holding many bedroom doors. In the centre was a stage, where a poor girl cried and tried to sing. Before her, leaning in a chair, was a bulky dwarf who hurled bottles at the girl.

“Come on girl, you call this entertainment, sing damn it.” The dwarf yelled. A bottle smashed at her feet.

The party sat down and ordered some drinks. Andros the cleric took the time to scan the minds of those in the bar with his medallion of ESP. The old matron was simmering with hate for the dwarf, who was her slave master. The girl was terrified. Girin the dwarf was enjoying his sadistic cruelty.

The party struck up a little conversation with the matron, she warned them not to stay too long, for Girin was in a particularly bad mood. Davy enquired, “Surely this dwarf was ruining the business, how was it that he was allowed to do so?” The mistress said that he was very well connected, and tolerated by his bosses as a favourite.

Soon the dwarf came over to the party and began to intimidate them, asking if they enjoyed the show. The party did well to remain calm and not provoke him. Almost as a taunt, the dwarf then pulled out one of the stolen lutes, and began breaking strings whilst butchering a song.

Eventually things came to a head. As Andros confronted the dwarf, Tully pulled out a scroll of charm person and began to read from it. Girin had the initiative however, and he grabbed Andros and pushed a dagger against his throat.

“Finish casting that spell and I’ll cut his throat.” He barked.

Andros nodded to his retainer, “Do it!” He yelled. The spell was cast, and the words became sulphurous smoke coiling from the page. The Dwarves eyes glistened momentarily, but he swung his massive head and shrugged off the magic. The dagger was drawn across Andros’ throat. The rest of the party leaped on the dwarf to try and pull the dagger away, but he was immensely powerful and bulldozed through them. Andros fell to the ground with his throat opened, but still alive.

The party encircled him, but again, Girin was swift, he came at Malik with his dagger, which scraped off the human’s plate male. Tully then pulled out his scroll and cast charm person. This time the spell took.

“What are we doing?” Said the dwarf, his eyes suddenly full of golden light and confusion.

With things calmed down the party collected the instruments. The matron of the cathouse called to them. “You are making a terrible mistake, you should not mess with his ilk.” The party shrugged, the spell was cast, they had already committed to this course of action.

With Girin charmed they learned that he was connected with a shadowy organisation named ‘The Guild.’ He had messed up a mission for this institution, usually this would have meant death, but since he was a blood brother with the local guild leader, he was instead left to operate this bordello.

“The Guild are obsessed with finding six children who have tattoos on their backs. These tattoos are said to be a map to find the City of Splendours, a lost land said to be cobbled with gemstones. A fools errand if you ask me, our efforts should be more focussed on banditry, like the old days. See here …” Girin showed them a map, “our secret base where all the gold of our raids is kept. The Guild should once again cut the throats of travellers and fill our pockets with gold.”

The map showed a location twenty four miles to the north, a location known as The Manse of the Troll King, a cliffside castle of great antiquity. A place that can only be seen under the light of the full moon.

The party took the map.

Then Girin offered to take his new friends to meet the guild master. They accepted.

They walked across town to the fish market. In a back ally they found an battered cobbler shop. An old man answered the door, and when Girin explained he was taking his new friends inside a scrap ensued. The old man was knocked down, and his grey hair fell off. A wig! The man, suddenly lithe, dashed down into the cellar to raise an alarm.

The party quickly withdrew from the shop, leaving Girin behind, and went to their camp. They packed up their camp and rode north, for they knew one of the moons was full on the ‘morrow. Time to break into the Guilds hideout.

Riding fast along the rich grasslands, with the golden sun arising, they made good pace. On the way, into a new map hex, they saw a tall tower made mostly from iron. The tower was five levels tall, and powdery with rust. Atop the tower was a statue of a nun like figure. A saint of some kind.

On they rode, eventually coming to a gorge with a dried up river. This they followed for a full day. They made camp a little away from where the map said the castle was, and waited for the moon to rise.

With the rising of the two moons, one of the smoother cliff faces suddenly dissolved into a two towered gatehouse. The western tower had collapsed. The huge gate was carved in the shape of a troll’s face. They saw lights in the eastern tower, and several shadows within, passing before the arrow slits.

The party waited a little longer. Soon a few riders came to the keep, flashing a signal with their lantern. The doors were opened and the riders went inside.

At this point the party thought better of assaulting the castle, even though they knew many treasures were sure to be inside. They camped, and tried to sleep. All the party members had odd dreams of the nun like figure they’d seen atop the iron tower earlier that day.

Unfortunately a random encounter was rolled for that night. Four guards came out of the keep and began trailing the gorge on the look out for interlopers. The party launched a few arrows at them, one finding purchase. The guards closed their lantern and rushed back, towards the keep. Panicked that they would soon be swarmed with bandits, the party got atop their steeds and rushed south.

Unfortunately, as they passed the guardsmen, arrows were fired into the party’s rear, a footman was killed, Davy was hit brutally in the helmet and was knocked unconscious from the saddle. He was quickly picked up. Then the party had to ride past the castle proper. More arrows were loosed from the tower, one of which hit Vahan’s steed. The party made away, but soon the steed became weak and dropped dead.

“Poisoned arrows. Those swine.”

With day breaking again, the party decided they would breach the iron tower with the nun statue. They made good time as dawn arrived, reaching the tower at around eight in the morning.

They formed up a marching order thusly:

1st rank: Hodorun

2nd rank: Malik +Thalzir

3rd rank: Vahan +Davy + Cirin

4th rank: Glenn +Zi

The rest stayed with the horses on guard.

Entering the triangular tower, they saw a relief of a nun burning skeletons with a torch around the door. The front door has been smashed inwards. In the first room there was an altar made of steel with a sculpture of a torch. In the north there was a spiral staircase, atop this was a statue of the pointing nun. A voice boomed throughout the room, “Steel is stronger than Bone. Offer up thine.”

The party deliberated a little, then put some of their weapons upon the altar as tribute. A gong like sound fired off in the room. The party then proceeded to the next level.

The next room was triangular as well, and the floor was made of highly polished steel, polished into a mirror like surface. In the south was another staircase. Hodorun was ordered to run to the southern door. As he did so he slipped over, and had to crawl to the door. The party then, one by one, crawled across the slippery surface to the stairway.

The next level had a massive font in its centre, which was erupting with steam. The bellowing steam was being vacuumed up into two huge gargoyle’s mouths. The party took a long time deciding what to do here. They tried to throw some torches into the font to see if that would reduce the steam. Davy approached the steam to see if it was deadly, and deemed it would be, if one got too close. Eventually the party circled the room hugging the wall, and passed below one of the gargoyles. Then they were off onto the next floor.

The forth floor was square in shape. In the east there was a mosaic of the nun, she was reclining on a chais longe, her habit opened at the throat, revealing her sharply form, and she drank wine from a skull. In the east was a bronze statue of a laughing fat man in lotus position, a monkey atop his head. The cleric Zi recognised this as the laughing god. In the south there was a highly realistic stone statue of a warrior in a battle pose. This latter statue faced the spiral staircase in the centre of the room that went up.

The party took their time with this room, investigating the various statues. The stairwell in the centre stank to high heaven. The stone statue had no plinth and was eerily realistic. The bronze statue of the laughing god had a magical ring on one of its fingers, but the party would have to break the finger to get it off, and decided not to do this.

They went up to the final level. On the stairway up there were hundreds of gold coins strewn about, and an empty sack. At the top they saw a room filled with hanging rags, the stench here was unbelievably bad. There were even more gold coins on the floor, and a statue of a man laid down trying to cover his face.

A voice echoed out from inside the chamber. It proclaimed to be the goddess of the tower, cursed to be trapped here. When questioned why she couldn’t leave, she told out how an evil guardian kept her here. A massive four armed man with a bulls head. If they slew the guardian, she would be free and gift them all the gold they could see within. The party agreed, and marched through the hanging rags. Their visibility was incredibly poor. Their feet were marching through hundreds upon hundreds of gold coins. Eventually one of them stood atop a skull, cracking it in twine. Then, by the final door they saw a statue of a wizard screaming, and holding his face.

“Before you go into the next chamber, I have something to offer you, my heroes.” The woman called from behind them, she was laughing mockingly. The party turned, and saw a hooded women dressed in rags. She pulled down her hood and revealed her hideous face, wreathed with snakes.

Almost the entire party instantly turned to stone upon looking at her. All save Malik and Vahan. The woman laughed, and told them it had been a long while since someone had not succumbed to her visage, she would enjoy slaying them. She ducked behind the flowing rags that hung from the ceiling.

Malik threw oil, and missed. Vahan drew his cloak over his eyes and dashed towards her. His blade struck true and inflicted maximum damage. She screamed. She tried to lash Vahan with her snake hair, but missed. Then Malik, holding his hand mirror before his face, changed into battle. The two warriors both struck true, Vahan again hitting with max damage, but it was Malik with his magic sword that struck the killing blow. The Medusa screamed and fell onto her hoard of coins, withering into a crispy waif of snake skin. Victory!

The two warriors searched around a little, before sweeping up the huge hoard of gems and coins, finding a map also. The map lead to the Cave of Souls, many, many leagues to the east, where, in a secret cavern grotto, a statue of Apollo held two arrows that could slay any creature.

The next stairway led to the roof, which was pyramidal, and atop this was the statue of the nun like figure. Malik dared to look upon her, the statue turned to him, smiled. His Wisdom increased by one point. Vahan refused to look at the saint.

All the guarding characters helped Vahan and Malik to collect the masses of treasure, and they all rode back to Ronton-on-Fie to enjoy the splendours of their victory.

DL Campaign Session 14

October 1, 2023October 1, 2023 / Dread Lord / Leave a comment

This session saw the largest party in this campaign yet, something that seems to be essential at low levels in BX, if a success is to be expected. The party go into the dilapidated elven temple of Omiron, to hunt the demon worshipping cultists of Trazn’grozan.

Characters

Vahan – Fighter 1

Andros – Cleric 1

Davy – Fighter 1

Aetos – Magic-user 1

Malik – Fighter 2

Retainers

(Andros)

Guludad – Magic user 1

Tully – Magic user 1

Hestia – Cleric 1

Kull – man-at-arms

(Aeotos)

Sharaf – Thief 1

Zont – fighter 1

(Malik)

Thalzir – Barbarian 2

Farrow – Thief 1

Cornleia Nerva – Paladin 1

2 light foot pirates.

The party had been resting at the villa of lord Blanbot for four days. Resting from their wounds. During their downtime a visitor came to the villa seeking audience with the lord. All the party were welcomed into the feast hall for the visit. Here is the pbp text the players received:

A dark rider arrived at the villa last night. He called out to the guards upon the tower, who sent a herald to parlay with him. He entered the villa and was given a chamber. Today you are all called into the feast hall of Blanbot. Maloni is there, and ushers you to stand along the walls of the vestibule. Blanbot is his sat on his throne, dressed in sparkling plate armour with a large cape of blue and white coiled around him. The heavy horsemen are all present, they look very neat and carry their lances on one shoulder. This feels very much like a show of strength. A horn is blown and the doors are opened to the vestibule, a roar echoes from outside.

“I am Mongke, son of Dax, Herald of Lord Sabe, exulted warlord of the Deshi Hill, Overlord of Castle Takova, Immortal warrior, chosen child of the deity Wei To, and most superior under all of heaven.”

The man enters the chamber, he is wearing leather armour pitted with razor sharp spikes, he has a helmet of bronze, lined with fur and two ram horns. His face is dark, bearded, and serious. He bows very incrementally towards Blanbot.

“Honour to you, and to house Hondo.” He says.

Blanbot nods, “good stead to you and your lord. What beckons a herald of the powerful warlord Sabe to my villa?”

The barbarian herald smirks, pulls a scroll from his belt, which also holds a sabre, a flail, and a dagger. He opens it and reads aloud. “Word has reached the mantle of the chosen child of heaven, Lord Sabe, that the one named Blanbot has driven off a deadly beast of the underworld. A dragon. Splitting his hide like a swine’s, and has stolen his hoard of treasure. Good tidings. Lord Sabe offers his approval and puts forth the invitation for the one named Blanbot to join His Golden Hoard in the crusade against the apemen of Thoru Fa. Spring fast approaches; so does War”

There is silence in the court for a moment. Then the barbarian smiles and adds, “Muster in one calendar month at the walls of Castle Tokova. Fight well.”

Blanbot stands, a darkness over his face, and he nods. He approaches the barbarian and shakes his hand in the fashion of the Easterling, gripping the forearm and touching his forehead against the barbarians.

“A celebration then, bring wine and music, and a our finest dancers.” The rest of the evening there is a banquet, but Blanbot seems sullen and moody.

Malik then talked to the lord discovering that he felt slightly trapped, and that he must go to war or incur the wrath of the warlord in the south. Blanbot would soon make preparations; having his court wizard seal the villa with wizard locks, and then seek out a sherif and magistrate to govern whilst he is away.

In the mean time the player party had grown large, far larger than the amount of mounts available. So the first thing that needed sorting out at the start of the session was transportation. The party have been moving around the two hexes on horses for a little while, but they didn’t have enough for this number. So Davy, Vahan, Andros, Thalzir and Malik rode to the town of Ronton on Fie to buy more horses with their treasure.

When they arrived it was around 2 pm. They knew the horse breeders and tradesmen of this town well by now, and went straight to the stables. The deal was about to be made for five extra mares. Andros lifted his sack of coins to find it had been switched with a bag of rocks! He looked around the market, noticing a hooded figure at the edge of the market attempting to hide under the eaves of a shop, poorly. This figure had strapped to their chest a heaving satchel.

The party first tried to close on the man calmly, but as they moved towards him, he moved away in a panic.

“Grab the horses!” Yelled Andros, desperate to get his six hundred coins back. The mares were mounted, and whipped down the market, peasants flailed aside to avoid being trampled. The party caught up with the man and encircled him.

“The money, now!”

The thief looked about wildly, “certainly,” he said, and threw his heavy satchel into a stall. It burst open with coins. Andros dashed for the gold, Davy threw a lasso at the man, but missed. The thief made away into the markets many stalls.

“Close call.”

The horses were bought, then the riders went back to the villa. By the time they arrived it was after dark and the horses were tired.

The next day the party readied an expedition roughly twenty four miles east, up into the hills of Omiron. They set off just before dawn and arrived just after two in the afternoon. The temple was before them, a huge columned thing atop a hill. This time its large double doors were pinned open with spikes.

“Another adventuring party must have come here.”

Inside the doors was a huge chamber lined with columns. Two lanterns were lit, and the party formed up in an imposing battle line. This was their marching order:

(Left to right)

1st rank: Malik, Thalzir, Andros

2nd rank : Zont, Davy, Vahan

3rd rank: Sharaf, Farrow

4th rank: Aetos, Tully, Guludad

5th Cornelia, Hestia, Kull

3 hirelings guard the horses 300 yards outside the temple.

All was ready. In they went. Inside the columned vestibule there came a cackling laugh from outside the range of the lantern’s light. The voice was gruff and mocked them.

“They said you would return, they paid me to kill you. But I am kind, leave me the fat ones for dinner and the rest of you can leave unharmed.”

“By the sword!” Vahan cried. The party wheeled its formation to face the voice in the dark. Initiative was rolled, the monster won. Out of the shadows a eight foot tall beastman with greasy white flesh launched itself at the front rank. It was naked and had a huge maw and massive talons. It smashed into Aetos and with its claws ripped open his chest. The holy man fell to the ground bleeding out.

Guludad had already begun reading from his scroll. The two thieves, Farrow and Sharaf moved out of formation, encircling the beast and loosed arrows into its back. One of the arrows found purchase.

“It bleeds, we can kill it!”

Guludad’s scroll erupted in eldritch flames, the spell was cast: haste.

The assault from the first two ranks was absolutely ruthless. Steel flashed again and again, the polearms of the second rank battering the creatures pale flesh.

It lay dead on the ground.

Andros was aided with the use of a bandage, and he limped his way back to the horses, he would need days of rest to recover from this. The party would continue onwards.

The battle line went through the eastern archway into the room that was lined with minotaur columns around a huge pit. To their surprise (literally) the monster they had just killed stood up, reattached its arm and head, and charged their back rank.

Unfortunately the princess Cordelia Nerva was the one who took the brunt of the assault, falling dead under its talons.

The still hasted party won initiative on the next round and surrounded the creature, making light work of him.

“Let’s throw its corpse down the pit.”

“But that will feed whats down there.”

“Lets burn it then.”

So that’s what they did.

With the smell of burning flesh at their backs the party went into the next colossal chamber. It was domed and held in the centre a far older black ziggurat. Last time they were here they had entered the rear of the ziggurat and found a hatchery of the bird headed beastmen. This time they went through the southern door.

The first room inside had obviously been cleared out. There were poles hanging that would have hung tapestries. There were scrape marked on the floor where some very large piece of furniture had been removed.

“Oh well.”

There was a door in the north and they went through this. The room beyond was large and had two doors in the east, and two doors in the west. The rooms walls were covered with magical frescoes that let off orange light. The frescoes changed; one minute showing elves in battle, then mist, then elves in meditation.

They listened at all the doors before going inside them, also checking for traps. The south-western door was tried first. They found a smashed room with an obsidian statue that had been cruelly defaced. Th head of the statue had been cut off, the arms removed, and all over it, written in the dark tongue, was graffiti lambasting law and promoting chaos.

The party noticed that the fresco room changed colour as they went into the door; from green to red.

Next they tried the south-east door. When the door was opened sand poured out of it. There was a huge pile of sand within. After a little discussion, Davy made the decision to begin scrapping out the sand. Over the next thirty minutes most of the characters started removing sand, wondering if a trapdoor might be underneath.

Hidden below they found a fallen statue of a burly elf with bull horns. After they tidied it up it the statue seemed to smile, and it its hands appeared many gems and a vial of red liquid. Gifts of the gods.

The room outside now turned blue.

The party approached the north-west door. They found it very cold to the touch and decided to not open this yet. They went to the north-east door and opened that instead. Inside was a wet room, sodden with puddles, in the centre was a pink corral statue that held a golden trident. The statue had been seriously eroded by water, so much so that no features were present.

Only five characters were brave enough to enter the room: Vahan, Davy, Malik, Farrow, and Kull. As they entered, the trident crackled with energy, and from the statue strings of magical seaweed grew about their feet, stickling them to the ground. They couldn’t move an inch and began panicking. Within seconds a cloud began forming above the trident, and this rapidly spread out of the whole ceiling. It began to rain inside the room. The party tried to hack at the seaweed, but their weapons stuck to the material rather than cutting it.

Malik pushed Farrow to see if he could free him, but the thief fell like a broom pole onto his back and was completely stuck. Davy tied a rope around his waist and threw it to the characters outside the door. They managed to heave him out. Vahan lit a torch and put fire to the magical seaweed. It erupted into flames, burning him horribly, but his feet were free!

In the next round the storm overhead was getting violent, and thunderclaps were growing loud. The rope was loosed onto Malik who was pulled to safety. But poor Farrow was caught in the burning weeds and died in agony. In the next round the rope was thrown over Thalzir and the blue skinned barbarian was pulled to safety, just as a huge lighting bolt hit the ground behind him.

“This room, this bloody room.”

The door was closed.

The party tried the last room. Inside were sheets of ice on the walls. A frozen birdman was on the ground. The statue in this room was a crab clawed elf with a large crown.

Davy stuck some cheese on the edge of his halberd and pushed it through the doorway. It froze, then his weapon turned blue, suddenly a blue wave of magical light washed over them all. Each character had to save vs spells, only two succeeded, Malik and Kull. The rest were assaulted by a powerful vision.

In the vision they were an elf carrying a silver halberd with a crescent moon blade. They had elven allies aside them, and they were fighting terrible demons in a dark hallway. Eventually the elves were pushed back into a holy chamber. The elf pulled out a lion headed wand and thrust it into the crystal altar. When the demons breeched the door the lion wand spat a flute of flame at them, killing them. The elves then opened a secret door in the wall, where there were thousands of gold coins. They then went inside the hidden chamber, and stood inside crystal sarcophagus that sent them into magical sleep.

The details of these rooms were explained in detail to the players.

The party then gathered up their treasure, and left the temple discussing theories on where the hidden altar room, guarded by a lion wand, might be.

They mounted their steeds and went back to civilisation.

Judges note: I am finding it quite satisfying using random targeting for monsters, and monster attack repertoires only being able to target one character. I copied this ruling from AD&D and it makes for a far more fair and interesting game. Malik just scraped enough xp this session to reach level 3. Well done.

DL Campaign Session 13

September 23, 2023September 23, 2023 / Dread Lord / Leave a comment

In this play report the PCs travel back to the elven ruin of Omiron. They had been sent there by Lord Blanbot, to clear out the new cult that appears to be worshipping a demonic entity named Tranz’grozan.

Characters

Malik – Fighter 2 – A Thalazian blade master and leader of a gang of land pirates.

Aetos – Magic-user 1 – An Urr experimenter in the arcane.

Thalzir – Barbarian 1 – a blue skinned warrior with a short temper.

Retainers

Cornelia Nerva – Normal Human – this noblewoman was saved from Thouls in session 12.

3 pirate thieves – two are light footmen and one is a thief 1.

Sharif – Thief 1 – Aetos’ trusted retainer.

Zont – Fighter 1 – a brawny swordsman.

Tib – Elf 1 – a light footed marksman.

Forta – Magic-user 1 – a pot bellied academic.

During the party’s downtime there had been a little rest and travel. Malik had been training Cornelia in the way of the sword. The cleric Andros ordered his two magic user retainers to craft spell scrolls. The large party of twelve travelled 18 miles west from Renton on Fie on their horses to the villa of Lord Blanbot, who was becoming a patron of theirs.

At his villa they discovered he was raising a mercenary force to head back to the black mound of the dragon who had slain him. Malik informed the Lord about the cult inside the old temple of Omiron. That they were using women to recruit men into their ranks, and that he believed these men were being used as sacrifices to some dark deity.

Blanbot gave the order to execute all known cultists, and hence bring the rule of law back to the region. For the clearing of the temple he would pay the party 500gp. Then he set about organising his campaign to the south.

Aetos the mage was still residing at Blanbot’s manor, and had been staying there for about six weeks since session 6. His player took up control of him once again and he joined the party on their ride back to Renton on Fie.

The party spent one day in the lake-side town, gathering up rumours, and employing some extra retainers. Zont, a fighter. Tib, an elf. Forta, a magic user. Each was offered one share of treasure, except the elf who made a deal for one and a half shares.

This large party of eleven hopped on their mares and rode out to the temple, deep in cultist country.

When they arrived it was around eleven in the morning. They surveyed the temple. This time there were only to guards at the temples large doors. Each wore black togas, and bronze face plates, carrying halberds. The lighter armed members of the party, Tib, Sharif, and the three pirate thieves, snuck up to one hundred and fifty yards away and rained stones and arrows on the two men. They fell quickly.

Then the rest of the party approached the doors, pushed them inwards, and again stared into the dark vestibule of the temple, lined with it’s many columns. In the centre was a strange fungal man who gave out a terrible high pitched scream. The party charged into it and cut it down. But beyond the two northern arches there came a rattling bell. The denizens of the temple knew someone was here.

The party very carefully marched towards the two archways in the north. They heard a lot of shuffling about in the next room, but no-one came through the portal. Clearly a trap was being laid for them. The party decided on moving to the eastern archway and marched forward through it. Beyond, they saw halberds held aloft and sandalled feet on the ground. The party launched burning oil down in front of them, hoping to harass the waiting warriors. But the lines of the enemy reformed after a few seconds, several men rushing past the arch. Then, a huge clatter of doors echoed from the north, followed by terrible screeching and the quick steps of clawed feet. The birdmen reinforcements were arriving. The bring lantern oil slowly diminished, and the party decided to rush through the arch and attack before the bird headed beastmen could reinforce the enemies ranks.

Malik and Thalzir took the front line, dashing forward to meet three cultists wielding halberds. Three vulture headed men were just to the east, rushing forward in a frenzy. Now that the back ranks of the party were in the tunnel of the archway, more cultists charged through the eastern arch, seeking to flank the interlopers.

Luckily the party won the initiative. Malik hit multiple cultists with his magical sword. Thalzir bound the enemies blades, the spear armed thieves in the second rank thrust and stabbed. Cornelia, who had all but six days of sword training, rushed to defend the back rank from the flanking cultists, along with Sharif.

The birdmen collided with the parties front rank, they were being pincered in the narrow archway. That was when Aetos loosed his sleep spell. Every single one of the enemies fell asleep, and their throats were promptly slit.

The party moved through next area that bore a huge pit in the centre. Then they moved north into the inner sanctum of the temple. This was a huge domed space, in the centre was a black ziggurat. In the north was an ancient high altar with a pantheon stood atop, only each of the statues had been smashed from the hip up. The party marched around the ziggurat towards the high altar. The northern wall of the ziggurat had three doors leading inside, and the high altar itself had a single stone door.

The party listened at both, hearing nothing, then entered the high altar room. Inside, amongst wretched stench and offal, were six bird headed beastmen, and a dog with the head of a vulture. A quick battle took place at the doorway. With their newly found halberds in the second rank, the party made light work of them, slaying them all. Around the largest birdman’s neck was a gold medallion and a key. This Birman also carried a silvered halberd of elvish design. All were pilfered.

This key, they found, opened the central door into the ziggurat. Inside there was a smashed room where three terrible fugal men lurked. The party charged into them and within two rounds had cut them all down. Beyond were two more doors.

They opened one door and found a silk lined room, hazed with the smoke of fragrant hashish. Amongst the smoke, fourteen scantily clad women basked and writhed. The party didn’t go inside this boudoir, worried they would be drugged from its atmosphere.

They instead tried the other door, and after moving through a desolate room of smashed carvings, found a room containing an old crone wearing a bird mask. This woman dangled live worms into the gullet of six featherless bird-headed children, who squawked and hopped for their meal. The woman began to sermonise how her sweet children would grow up to form a powerful empire.

The party briefly considered slaying all inside the room, to which the crone began intoning the name of her dark deity, Tranz’grozan. The party slew her immediately, but let the accursed children live. These chicken fleshed boys began to devour their brood mother’s carcass immediately.

The party decided to leave, for now. But on their way out they encountered a dark cleric. This decadent fellow was clad in leather armour and a bearskin cloak, he called out for reinforcements and began swinging at the party with his mace. They made light work of him, decapitating him in the same round Tib had cast light into his eyes. Malik scooped up his glowing head like a lantern, and out they all marched.

They rode their mounts back to the village of Renton on Fie and took a few days rest, selling the golden medallion for a good price. Then they proceeded back to Blanbot’s villa to collect his reward of 500gp. The Lord was still away on his crusade to the dragon mound in the south.

Judges note.

I would normally show the party’s map, but the temple uses a commercial map which I have keyed. Cornelia has now levelled up to become a paladin.

DL Campaign Session 12

September 17, 2023September 17, 2023 / Dread Lord / Leave a comment

In this session report, the party seek to rescue some merchants from the clutches of a band of thouls.

Characters

Malik – Fighter 2 – A Thalazian blade master and leader of a gang of pirates.

Andros – Cleric 1 – a lawful good priest of high morals

Thalzir – Barbarian 1 – a blue skinned warrior with a short temper.

Retainers

Hestia – Cleric 1 – carrying her stag holy symbol

Kall – man-at-arms – a swordsman

Guludad – Magic-user 1 – claims to be a great and powerful mage.

Tully – Magic-user 1 – a bumbling wreck

Six land pirates – thief 1 – though most of these are employed as light footmen guards.

After returning from the temple of Omiron, the party took a few days to heal from their wounds. Whilst doing so they heard a rumour that three merchants had gone missing, captured whilst in the south. The large fish market of Renton on Fie pooled a reward for their safe return.

The PCs were not the only adventurers interested in claiming this bounty, at least four other adventuring parties had mustered and were prepared to try and find these missing merchants. The race was on. The PCs had one advantage however, they had many horses and mules. So they set off south one hex and began searching. They followed the bridal ways and found no evidence of footfall. They spread out their search, and after four hours they concluded that the wooded bluff in the north-east of the hex was probably the best place to look. There they found humanoid tracks and followed them to a cave mouth where many human bones were strewn about.

Malik had two of his thieves go up the cliff face to search for additional entrances. Unfortunately one of them fell thirty fee to the ground and died. Poor Eden, RIP. The remaining thief searched and found nothing. So the party entered the cave.

What originally appeared as a cave soon gave way to a delicately carved tunnel leading towards an arch capped with a carving of a crying elven maiden. This arch led to a set of deep stone stairs. The party went down.

There was a long corridor and a door to the west. They went inside the door and found large chamber lined with arches. A door in the south had a stone carving of an elven warrioress above it holding a bronze great sword aloft. The party listened at the door and heard footfall approaching. They set up a trap. The door soon opened to reveal a green skinned man with long white hair down to his buttocks. He had great claws that dripped black ichor. There was a brief showdown, the green man intimidating them and telling them to leave his lair. The magician Guludad successfully cast charm person on him. With the monster hypnotised into believing Guludad was a friend, the party questioned him thoroughly.

They learned:

he was the leader of three monsters, they laired in the north, inside a chamber that would only open with his key.
They had many kobold slaves guarding their captives.
The green skinned man had many treasures hidden away in the north.
There were some dwarves to the west, who had paid him many gems to allow them to mine here.

The monster, named Grima, took to hugging the magic user Guludad, and was becoming increasingly protective and covetous of him. The party convinced the monster that Guludad could help protect his gems from thievery with magic, so off they went to complete this mission. Grima led them him towards his lair, where his brothers dwelled. They came upon a large stone door. The key around Grima’s neck unlocked the chamber, causing the stone door to recede into the floor. Inside there was a smoky chamber with two figures next to a fire. In the north a large pile of coins glistened.

Grima began conversing in goblinoid with his kinsman and was becoming increasingly confused. His brothers were trying to convince him he’d been tricked or cursed. The large clawed Grima dragged Guludad to the north. Grima’s two brothers then charged at the party.

There were a tense few rounds of combat, Malik, Thalzir, and Andros were in the front rank attacking the two monsters, the spears of their thieves helping from the second rank. Eventually the magic user Tully used his sleep spell and it worked a charm. Then the PCs slew them whilst they slept and threw their bodies into the fire.

The party then counted out the treasure finding many silver and gold pieces, a medallion with a rune carved onto it, and a special sword with a rune embossed on it.

They spend about thirty minutes putting coins into sacks whilst Andros figured out what the medallion did. He found that when he concentrated he could read minds, but only within thirty feet. A powerful artefact.

Then the party went north, through a series of alcoves and found a closed portcullis. The arch of this portcullis had a carving of an elven queens wearing a bronze crown on either side. Andros could hear the panicked thoughts of Guludad, who was locked in a darkened room. He also heard the thoughts of the monster.

The thief Kirk pulled on the crown of the right statue and the portcullis rose up.

What transpired next were some severe mind games. Andros attempted to convince the the monster they were leaving, all the while reading its mind from where it hid in the north, gaslighting it, and trying to enrage it into attacking. This eventually worked and the monster charged them at in the portcullis gate.

The party threw burning oil onto the monster, and Kirk pulled the crown of the right statue, hoping this would cause the portcullis to fall, but unfortunately his finger was pricked by a hidden needle. He immediately died.

The battle raged for a few rounds, Andros was hit and became paralysed. Malik was also hit but managed to fight off the poison of Grima’s claws. Then, the battle was over, the monster was defeated.

The key was taken from the monsters neck and the large stone door inside the room was opened. It receded into the floor and Guludad was saved. The party located a sack of thirty gems. One turn after the door was opened the stone door once again closed and the portcullis dropped. There were two identical statues on this side of the portal, Malik had another thief pull on the left statues crown and it rose up.

The party had a difficult decision to make then. They had much treasure but they hadn’t located the prisoners. So they went south. Another thief died to a pit trap, then they went through a secret door and headed east. They found a guard post with two kobolds and killed them. Then they went through a series of trapped rooms. The first had carvings of moths, when Thalzir went through the archway some strange dust fell on his head. He wasn’t feeling so well but he didn’t die. The next room had a circular room with dragon headed doorways. Grates were in the floor below these doors. The dragon carvings spewed acid down when they were opened. The party managed to bypass them by stuffing food stuffs into the mouths of the dragons.

Then they came upon a room of Kobolds. These dog headed men were having a tussle, and the party took full advantage of this and charged into the room killing four of them outright. The beastmen surrendered.

The kobolds led the party to the captive merchants and freed them. Inside the prison was also a noble woman named Cordelia Nerva, she was also freed. Then the kobolds led the party to the exit, where they made their way back to town atop their steeds and enjoyed the bounty of their treasures and the reward for saving the merchants.

Below is the party map of the Elven Catacombs.

DL Campaign Session 11

September 9, 2023 / Dread Lord / Leave a comment

During this weeks game, Malik returns from his journey to the north. Vahan escapes the Emerald Citadel. Together, with some new friends, they strike out towards the temple of Omiron, where they have heard a new cult is rising.

Characters

Maik – Fighter 2 – A Thalazian Blade Master, and keeper of a score of land pirates.

Vahan – Fighter 1 – a gruff warrior, swathed in the stolen robe of an Elven King.

Pilas – Fighter 1 – A roaming warrior, tall and hewn.

Retainers

Thalzir – Fighter 1 – a barbarous pirate, lost of his ship and sworn into the service of Malik.

Six thieves (lvl 1 ) – all wretched cutthroats from the gutters of Acron city.

Timin – Dwarf 1 – an underling of Vahan, clad in glittering plate mail.

Uman – Magic-user 1 – A Scoran sorcerer of primeval cunning.

During the last session we had a slight cliffhanger, with two PCs trapped within the ruined temple to Omiron. These players couldn’t make the game unfortunately, so our calendar moves forward.

Malik had returned to Blanbot’s manor after a two week jaunt to the captial; more information on his journeys to soon follow.

Vahan had been left in the Emerald Citadel over a week ago. We made some escape rolls for him, and he luckily made it out and back to the village of Ronton on Fie, though lacking some items and without his beloved squire.

This pair met up in Ronton on Fie, Malik followed by a land pirates, and together they made their plans. Lord Blanbot had asked for them to investigate the temple of Omiron, where strange cultists had been gathering.

Soon they made acquaintance with the fighter Pilas. Then the party searched out some retainers; finding the Dwarf Timin, and the magic user Uman.

At the inn of the Blubbering Whale they made contact with a strange crooked man. His name was Vitius Fallow. He wanted to be escorted to the temple of Omiron, for he had in his possession an amulet that had caused him terrible luck. He’d heard that there was a bottomless pit within the temple, and he wished to rid himself of the amulet, and his poor luck, by casting it therein. For this he would reward them a pouch of gems.

So they set off atop fine mares. Within a day they crosses a river and rose up into the hills. They saw the temple before them. For a few hours the party laid within the bracken, observing. Soon enough they saw a gaggle of beautiful women leading an adventuring party towards the temple.

Vahan, with his magical elven boots and cape, followed after them. This adventuring party consisted of a Dwarf, two thieves, and a magic-user. It appeared the women had spent the night with them, and now the men were to be initiated into the temple. They led the adventurers beyond the columned gate and Vahan, going totally unseen in his magic cloak, followed after them.

The party remained hidden outside, but after the dwarf and his men entered the temple, they saw the women bar the door. A little panicked by this, they began moving towards the women.

Inside the temple, there was a huge vestibule lined with many columns. The floor was totally covered with sand. In the north twelve men approached wearing white togas and black masks in the shape of skulls.

There was a heated exchange between the dwarven leader of the adventuring party and the cultists. They wanted him to give over their weapons, put on togas, and be taken before the master. The dwarf flatly refused, so the men rang a bell, and from a great columned arch in the north a terrible screeching echoed forth.

Vahan watched all this, hidden against a column and closely wrapped in his cloak. The dwarf tried to smash the door to make an exit, but found it utterly impenetrable. The cultists closed distance upon them. The magic-user cast his sleep spell, but only two of the cultists fell to the ground. The cultists clashed into the ranks, and in the north six strange vulture headed men came forth, wielding terrible serrated blades. The adventurers yielded, were cast into chains, and dragged away. Vahan could finally breath, but not without perspiration.

Outside the temple Malik led the players party towards the women of the cult. They tried to woo with their charms, offering to bed them, to rub oil into their aching backs. Malik was having none of this, and with a lashing stroke from his pommel he sent the women fleeing in abject terror.

The doors were opened. Vahan stood within and explained all he’d seen. The party made a quick plan. They would get to this pit, cast in the amulet, and leave quickly. They marched forward, and beyond the columned vestibule found a huge chamber with a recessed area in the centre. The walled were lined with marble statues of minotaurs holding severed demonic heads. In the central recessed area, by a huge circular pit, were the bird-headed beastmen. They were beating the dwarf and his crew.

Vahan crept into the room, unseen, and watched. Some of the cultists went off, but soon returned with an evil cleric clad in chainmail. This dark lord carried a giants skull as a bowl, and after a laborious speech about the virtues of the flesh, he splashed some terrible dark fluid onto the captives, causing them to scream terribly.

After this strange rite, the cleric moved away to the north, sending the toga wearing cultists back towards the pillar room.

The party set up their trap, and as the twelve cultists walked in to the room, they struck.

In all but ten seconds the party killed four of the cultists and wounded another. The barrage of their blades and spears was devastating. The cultists fled back into the pit chamber, morale totally crushed. The party chased after them, and luckily caught the bird-headed beastmen unawares. The party lined up at the edge of the recessed area, utilising the higher ground, and rained blows down on the birdmen.

Vitius cast the amulet into the pit. Then the beastmen began to split, some battled from the lower area, casting hand axes and javelins, one catching Timin and felling him, the others went up a set of stairs and sought to charge the party’s line.

Just in time Uman cast his sleep spell. The birdmen fell into magical slumber and the battle was over.

The party slit their throats and recovered a fine gold medallion. Then they helped the captees to freedom, though the terrible black liquid had caused some malign growths to form on their faces.

They exited the temple, took to their mounts, and fled back to the town of Ronton on Fie. As they left the dark cleric shouted some bitter words of revenge through the northern portal.

Another adventure complete, and many gems claimed as reward. What will they do next time?