TL; DR

Let's be honest, I don't know if you really really want to read my six pages of playtest notes so far... but if you do, you do. I mean, it's a pretty comprehensive overview of building the Cataclysm Across the Cosmos so far. I'll summarize below:

I set up the first encounter, which ended up being 8 heroes against Gorgo. The heroes won after three rounds, but almost everyone suffered being felled once, and two characters were felled twice before they were able to drop Gorgo once. I was going to have the battle last for three drops of Gorgo, but I got to see what I wanted to from it, and was able to justify having Doc throw him out to sea story-wise, so it's all good. I had to ret-con the story as I went (no Doc at first, then added Doc), but it was no big deal.

I made a few adjustments on the fly, the biggest one being that a successful hit by a superhero against any foe deals at least 1 hit point. Gorgo's invulnerable of 10 against heroes averaging D12 damage meant that it was very unlikely he was going to suffer damage even if the hero rolled pretty well. Once I upgraded to 'all successful attacks deal at least 1 hp even if they don't', the fight sped up a little bit, and they were able to slowly wear Gorgo down. The complications I added at the beginning of the sequence also helped a bit to mix it up from a straight up fight to some strategy and something to do other than punch the villain. 

I went back and forth a bit on SP, but have realized that I have to limit SPs to the 'main character(s)' only or these battles are going to be quick. If all eight heroes had access to their SPs, they'd all be stunting immediately, doing all sorts of crazy stuff and ripping through Gorgo. Because only Gorgo and Doc had access to SP, it made the fight feel more comic-booky and less gamey, if that makes sense. I don't want it to feel like you're playing a tactical game; I want it to feel like you got dropped into the middle of a comic battle as they happen. In the big comic battles, a lot of characters get regulated to the background, doing their 'default' attack while a few others take center stage. The way I've set up SP here emulates that pretty well.

It was nice to crack out the dice and actually play Stalwart '85 again - it's been a few weeks since I actually played the game. I'm adding the Google Doc to the resources for Stalwart '85 in case people want to read through all this - I expect to continue it as I go. 

Slowly Delving my Megadungeon

I'm actually doing the thing I wanted to do... letting my Moridis' Halls Megadungeon sort of just organically grow over time. I've now played through eight sessions, and my characters are closing in on level 2. I've been logging the actual play as I've done it, and you can read it here if you really want to...

this morning they ended up killing a dragon that I thought they had no chance against after a series of unexpected events put them into a position where they kind of had no choice. It was fun to watch the social dynamics I'd set up for a section of the dungeon play out in a way I never would have expected when I created it. I was forced to react to the situation as it played out, and I was very lucky that my heroes were wearing some stolen garb so they could frame cultists for Mordis for killing a dwarf from a clan they might want to ultimately be friendly with... oopsies. I keep updating both this actual play thread and the megadungeon, and the link is over to the left under resources for Tales of the Splintered Realm.

In the interim, I've also started a map of level 2. I'm thinking that this thing has three levels proper. I threw down the grid and created all of the hook points to level 1, then started to drop in section of dungeons as I created them, starting to frame out connective tissue. I have only a few of the hook points back to the first level defined, and most of the rest I have some thinking to do. 

Backup Story in Skye Stalwart #2

I played out the events of the backup story for Skye Stalwart #2... you have the introductory page I did (I posted it again for your reference), and then the actual play of the fight... spoiler alert: it's as ugly as you think it would be.

Battle Master has, obviously, been expecting them. “I knew if I waited until Twilight Archer was on another mission and then just ‘happened’ to have your detection system find me, you wouldn’t be able to help yourselves… I figure that Twilight Archer has taken enough of my students. It’s time to return the favor…” He activates his battle staff and prepares for combat… the Young Wardens do the same.

Initiative. Battle Master has used nemesis to prepare for this fight, so rolls D12. He rolls 1 and 5, so keeps the 5. The team makes a representative roll, and gets 2. He wins, getting to attempt 6 actions (from the +1 shift from nemesis). “I don’t like magic…” he uses 1 action to get close to Minnow, and attacks. He rolls 2 and 8, keeping the 8, and landing a critical hit (dealing D16 damage because it’s a critical hit with nemesis, so a +2 dice shift from his normal D10 damage). He gets 14 (!) and drops Minnow on the first shot. Okay, then. He turns next to Aria, using 1 action to cross to her and attacking. He attacks with 6 and 9, keeping the 9. Even with her shield, she cannot parry this, and it’s a critical hit, so he deals 12 damage; she soaks 5 and suffers 7. He attacks again and gets 12 and 5, another hit (12) that’s critical and that she cannot parry. He deals 11 damage, but she soaks 5 and suffers 6. She has suffered 11 hits, and is at 9. He has one more action, so he attacks a third time and gets 9, 9… so another critical hit. He deals 9 damage, and she soaks 5, so her hits are down to 5. He spends a villain point to add D12 to this damage, and gets a 12 additional damage – OUCH. She’s down. Halfway through the round, Battle Master has already dropped two of the four members of the team.

Windsprint runs at him (using 1 action), and then punches 3 times as he circles around Battle Master; he needs a 7 or better to hit (on D8), so I don’t like his chances… he rolls 5, 8, 3, hitting once. He deals 4 hits, but Battle Master’s armor absorbs all of this. Kid Cadet uses 1 action to pick up Aria’s shield, and then attacks with it, missing with a 5. He spends a hero point, getting only a 2 (!), but this is enough to bump it to a 7, and just barely hit. He deals only 1 point with the shield… he smacks Battle Master in the face, and Battle Master doesn’t flinch.

Ruh Roh.

Round 2. Both Minnow and Aria try to recover… each checks tier (DT 4)… Minnow gets a 6, but Aria only gets 2. She spends a hero point, and gets a 6, so she is back up as well (but only with 2 hero points remaining). Battle Master starts spinning and whirling his battle staff; he attacks Windsprint first, getting 5 and 1, with the 5 barely hitting. He deals 5 damage with his staff, leaving Windsprint at 9. He attacks again, getting 9 and 5, so the 9 is critical. For damage, he rolls 15, and LEVELS Windsprint (basically clotheslining him as Wind is trying to run in circles around him). He has 4 actions remaining; he starts spinning and kicking at Aria, attacking with a natural 12 and dealing 7 hits. She soaks 5 but suffers 2 from her 10, now at 8. Cadet is still holding her shield, trying to find a moment to toss it to her (and availability of an action to do that). Battle Master spins his staff, striking at her and getting another natural 12 (critical damage). Cadet uses a hero point to take an action now, throwing the shield in front of the attack; he gets to make a hero point check, and if the result is high enough (he’d need an 8 on D8), he times the shield so that it absorbs the blow… he gets a 2 (womp womp). Battle Master is actually able to spin the shield as it’s flying and angles the edge into Aria's stomach. He deals 13 hits to her (she soaks 5), but the 8 is enough to drop her again. She’s back down. He still has 2 actions left. He turns back towards Minnow and wallops her again, getting a 3 and a natural 12… so another critical hit, this one dealing 12 damage. She’s down again. Since both Aria and Minnow have been felled twice, they are defeated. He uses his final action this round to punch Windsprint in the head, causing him to be defeated as well. Cadet moves towards him. Battle Master kicks Aria’s shield towards him, telling him to pick it up. He does, and attacks. Cadet attacks twice with the shield as a weapon, getting 2 and 5, so missing twice. He has already used a hero point this round, so there’s not much he can do.

Round 3. Battle Master circles Cadet. Cadet wonders aloud, “why aren’t you attacking me?” Battle Master answers, “you get stronger the more you get hit… so, as long as I don’t hit you, you never get stronger… like this, you cannot possibly challenge me.”

Cadet knows there’s nothing to do, so he activates his communicator. “Cadet to Twilight Archer… emergency protocol seven.”

Battle Master grabs the communicator from Cadet (I don’t bother rolling)… “Ah, Twilight Archer. Good to talk to you. I’m about to kill your students, so I’m glad to have you with us. I’d like you to hear this.”

Twilight Archer’s voice crackles back, “Oh, hey. Battle Master. Glad to have you on the line. You should know that I’ve just planted several hundred pounds of plastic explosive under your primary training facility in Echo City. It’s taken all morning, but I’m pretty sure I can wipe the whole thing out. That’s, what, about a million and a half? Maybe two million bucks.”

Battle Master pauses. “I’m going to kill your students”

Twilight Archer’s voice comes back, “Then I’ll destroy your facility. Checkmate.”

Battle Master resumes, “I’ll let them go, and you disarm your explosives. On my word.”

A pause. Archer’s voice comes back, “Deal accepted.”

Battle Master hands the communicator back to Cadet, “next time I meet you, it ends a lot messier.” And then he’s gone.

Windsprint starts to come around, “So.. did we win?”

END

Analysis:

Okay, Battle Master is as advertised. Having elite tier + nemesis + knowledge of who's most dangerous is lethal... Minnow is by far the most dangerous; she has magic and can basically do anything she can imagine... Aria is second because of her ability to do damage; Windsprint and Cadet are really only minimally able to deal damage to him, and he knows that. He attacks in order. I had him use strategy and tactics, and it paid off. Lots of actions plus several critical hits equals lots of heroes dropping quick. I REALLY like the rules for elite and prodigy.

I had already worked out the 'story' ahead of time, so I knew that if the heroes lost (I expected they would, but not THAT easily), I had a way to save their bacon.

I didn't get to try out magic at all (Minnow dropped both times before she could act), and I would be curious if she and Aria would be able to at least make things difficult for Battle Master if the team had a little bit of strategy in place. I devised Battle Master's strategy on the fly as I was playing, but it made a lot of sense. Cadet never gets to take advantage of his dice shifts and boosts if he never gets felled; so just don't attack him, and he stays at his weakest. It's how a master tactician would think. I'm kind of proud of that one :) But, realistically, if Minnow is able to hit him with a stun spell and rolls really well, she at least gets him to spend a hero point to neutralize it, and then this creates opportunities for her and Aria to beat on him a little more... Aria has the potential to deal 12 hits with her shield, and a hero point could bump this up to as much as 20, so there's a chance she's able to start hammering him a little. I guess we'll never know...

Raider of the Lost Art(ifacts) Part 1

Over the course of the Mighty Doc Stalwart #221-228, Byron John allowed his assistant, Timothy Bruce, to try his hand at creating his own narrative as an extended backup feature (8 pages each). This was a chase as the Bronze Beacon III traveled around the region to recapture pieces of Tessek's Garb and Totem before these could be reclaimed by Tessek. 
 
Tim would soon leave comics and move to animation, where he would oversee one of the greatest animated series of all time, adapting a long-standing comic book for the Distinguished Competition. 
 
Gameplay: It’s a chase to recapture the lost pieces of Tessek’s garb (three pieces) and Totem (three pieces). I’m going to say that Tessek has zero villain points for the final battle with Bronze Beacon, but each piece he recovers gives him two points to use in that fight; he could have zero, or he could have 12. That might make a difference. I also have an idea for a temporary power up for Bronze Beacon for her big fight… We’ll see how these work when we get there…
 
Part 1 (Backup feature in the Mighty Doc Stalwart #221)
 
Hook: 
    Bronze Beacon soared over the countryside north of Meridian. On the other side of her headset communicator was the Mighty Doc Stalwart. “Thanks for the heads-up, Doc. I thought there might be some trouble with transporting Tessek and his artifacts to the new museum in Gap City…”
    His voice came through, “No problem. You had a good plan - divide the artifacts in six parts and send them secretly. Unfortunately…”
    She sighed, “Yeah. I didn’t realize my assistant had been charmed by Tessek. So now I have to get the pieces back before - who again?”
    Doc was doing something. She heard a hiss of oxygen. Was he in a space suit? “I sent the data files. Six different villains have been sent… it’s a big job. I’m sorry I can’t be there to-”
    She stifled a laugh, “Doc, you’re on the moon. I can handle it.”
    He paused, clearly wishing he could be two places at once, “Okay. But if you need backup, let me know and I’ll see if Messenger or Twilight Archer is around…”
    She was already reaching for the switch to end the call. Doc didn’t need one more thing to worry about, “Nah. I’ve got this. Thanks, though. Bronze Beacon out.”
    She paused, looking around “I’m still not used to calling myself that… or to seeing stuff like this…”
    Below, a sleek black car wound down a forested street - and then something happened…
 
Round 1
Pliant has stretched himself across the road, and suddenly tightens (his legs around tree, his arms around another on the other side of the road). He has to check power, and we’ll say DT 6, because stopping a car with a giant rubber band is moderately difficult… He rolls and gets 4. He’ll use two villain points and bump this to 6. The car hits the huge rubber band dude stretched across the road, and flips over. Bronze Beacon charges. She can be there in 2 actions (it’s about a thousand feet). Pliant goes first; he will use 2 actions; the first is to reach in through the broken glass and the second is to recover the piece of the Totem he’s been sent to retrieve. He has to check reflex to keep from cutting himself on the glass (DT 4) and rolls 6. He’s fine, and he is standing there with the briefcase containing the piece of Totem. Beacon flies to within 100’ of him (2 actions), and uses 2 more to attack with her energy bolt (at -1 shift because she’s using extra actions this round). She hits with a 5 and a 4 (rolled pretty well), and Pliant is unable to dodge; she deals 10 and 5 hits with two energy bolts. His invulnerability reduces this to 6 and 1, so he’s at 9 hits. She yells for him to drop the briefcase, but he refuses (of course).
 
Round 2
He’s going to use one action to slingshot himself at her; he checks power (DT 4) and gets 12; dang! He tries to ‘hit’ her with himself, using his stretching to emulate a binding attack. He attempts power against her endure, getting an 8. He stretches all around her and binds her. I’m going to rule she suffers a -1 overall shift while so bound. She also cannot fly, and is sort of levitating here a hundred feet up with him wrapped all around her. She uses 1 action to create a wedge that pushes him outward, attempting to break the hold he has on her. She checks power and gets 10. Yup. She is still surrounded by him, but there are two generated brackets pushing him away from her and freeing her up. She uses her second action to fire an energy bolt at him, getting a 6. She only deals 1 hit, and he absorbs it. She will continue to use an action every round to keep him away from her.
 
Round 3
He’s going to start punching at her (as he’s wrapped around the energy-generated brackets about 100’ up). He rolls 6 and 4 with his two punches, and hits with the 6 only. He deals 4 points, and she is at 10. She uses her first action to maintain the brackets, and uses 3 others to attack with three energy bolts (at -1 shift because she’s using extra actions); she rolls 5, 3, and 1. She uses 1 hero point of her 4 to bump the 3 to a 4, so she hits twice. She deals 9 and 3 points. His invulnerability soaks the entire 3 and 4 of the 9. He suffers 5 hits, and is at 4 remaining.
 
Round 4
He swings two more haymakers, getting a pair of 5s; he barely hits twice. He deals 5 and 1, for a total of 6 points. She is at 4. She continues to use an action to keep him stretched out away from her, and then uses one action to fire a bolt at him (planning to use her hero points as needed; she wants to hit him with a solid shot). She rolls a 7 to hit (whew) and rolls 11 for damage! Huzzah.
 
He’s at 0, so he drops and crumples into a pile of spaghetti in the grass; the briefcase flings in another direction. She flies after the briefcase and catches it with a hand she generates from her bracers; she then hears the driver below, and pulls him from the car. He’s badly hurt, but she’s able to use her healing to restore his broken arm and mend his lacerations. However, by the time she turns to check on Pliant, he has escaped, slinking off into the nearby woodlands.
 
“Bronze Beacon to Doc Stalwart – I have recovered the first piece of the Totem.”
 
She takes off into the sky, ready to seek out the next piece.  
 
Bronze Beacon III

Kira Keller, Curator of the Grand National Museum in Gap City First Appearance: The Mighty Doc Stalwart #179 Paragon Hero (D8[4]2) Hits 14; Move 30’ (fly 500’); HP 4 Might D6 (3); Mind D8 (4); Power D12 (6); Reflex D8 (5) Energy Bolt; Energy Solidification; Force Field; Flight; Healing   Brawling +1; Dodge +1; Profession (museum curator) +2 Gauntlets must be charged with direct exposure to sunlight once per day.

The daughter of Bronze Beacon II, she is the curator of the Grand National Museum, located in Gap City. She inherited her father’s gauntlets - and his responsibilities as a costumed hero. She considers herself a ‘part-time hero’, wielding the gauntlets only when she deems it necessary. Her rogue’s gallery includes the Bod, Gloaming the Shadow Bandit, Pliant, Professor Frosten, and Vyperion.
 
Pliant

First Appearance: The Mighty Doc Stalwart #207 Paragon Villain (D8[4]2); Hits 16; VP 4 Might D8 (4); Mind D4 (2); Power D10 (5); Reflex D8 (4) Invulnerability (4); Stretch Brawl +1; Infiltration +2; Stealth +1

A common burglar who was exposed to a chemical that gave him stretching powers, Pliant has used his powers to commit more and more challenging heists. He is a frequent enemy of the Bronze Beacon. 

Stalwart RPG Playtest #1

 

Zealot
Paragon Hero (D8/4[2]); Hits 16; Move 30’; HP 4
Might D8 (4); Mind D6 (3); Power D6 (3); Reflex D10 (5)
Armor (4); Jump (swingline 120’) Melee Weapon (battle staves D10)
Brawl (+2); Infiltration (+1); Stealth (+1)
 
Goonsquad Brawler
Normal Thug (D6/3[1]); Hits 12
Might D6 (3); Mind D4 (2); Power D4 (2); Reflex D6 (3)
Machine Pistol (D8); Kendo Stick (D8)
 
In Play:
 

Zealot enters the warehouse where he believes Sudoku has been holed up. He is immediately approached by three goonsquad brawlers. Zealot offers not to break their arms and legs if they will let him go see Sudoku. They clearly decline. Initiative.
 
Zealot rolls 5; thugs roll 5; Zealot gets win for higher tier. He attacks four times at D6 in a quick barrage of his battle staves. He gets 6, 6, 5, 5 (which are 8, 8, 7, 7 with his brawler tag). Wow. Hits four times. He deals 4, 1, 6, 1. One of the thugs suffers 12 hits and falls. The other two draw their sticks and attack. They attack with 5 and 3. The 5 hits, and he deals 1. This bounces off of Zealot’s armor.
 
Round 2: Zealot turns to the one who just hit him (unsuccessfully) and unleashes a flurry of hits with his two staves. He rolls 6, 5, 4, 1 (8, 7, 6, 3).  The three would hit, but I think by rule a 1 always should fail. Going to add that. Zealot hits three times. He deals 8 and 6, dropping the second, and another 8, knocking the third backward. That one shakes his head and pulls out his pistol, unleashing a burst of small arms fire. He misses, and Zealot spins away and behind some crates. The first tries to struggle to his feet, and gets 3. He fails.
 
Round 3: Zealot throws one of his staves, hitting with 6+2=8. He deals 8, knocking that thug backwards and the pistol from his hand. The first thug rolls a 3, and fails again to rise. The second gets a 5, and stumbles to his feet at 6 hits.
 
Round 4: Zealot spins at him, hitting with 8+2=10. He deals 5 hits. He kicks up the staff that was thrown, smacking the thug in the chin. He barely hits (2+4=6) and deals 8 points, knocking that guy out. The others two get up and run away.
 
Zealot squares his armor chest plate, cracks his neck, and moves towards the doorway that leads into the basement…
 
Analysis:
-        Well THAT was pretty cinematic. Yes, a big part is how I’m interpreting the dice, but since he was facing relatively weak foes, Zealot was comfortable taking the -1 die shift to get lots of extra attacks. The dice and the way they fell felt accurate for this sort of encounter.
-        I immediately re-worked armor on the fly when I realized that even a mook is going to soak 2 or 3 points, and you are going to roll 2 or 3 for damage pretty regularly. Armored foes are going to be much harder to deal damage to and will require him to start burning hero points. I changed it so that ‘endure’ (linked to might) is now the resistant ability for areas of effect and indirect attacks (which makes sense), I’ll just have to re-work some powers so that’s how they operate. It should be simple enough to make the change (even if I have to add a few AOE-specific powers to the options to give this some value).
-        I absolutely love the rules for being felled and getting back up. THIS is the part of superhero fights that I’ve always been missing; you get knocked down but you get up again was philosophically there, but never this directly mechanically supported. It’s pretty awesome; that was the piece that made this encounter feel like a genuine fight sequence. He can knock a foe down pretty quick, and then as he fights, those he has already knocked down get back up again. As tier D6 characters, they can only do this once, so that makes a lot of sense.
-        I officially like this game.

Fanatic Four: Report 4

First, some design notes:

I knew that they were crossing the bridge, and there had to be something on the other side that they didn't like, and which didn't like them. I thought that this would be a good place for spiders. Then I realized that I have four gates (areas 41, 43, 44, 46) that I haven't decided what to do with yet. I combined the two, and decided that those are four gates to four pocket realms. One of them (we'll say 43, since it's closest) is to a pocket realm of shadow. A bunch of spiders came through, the gate closed again (it opens and closes on the whims or Moridis - but the fellowship at some point may be able to get a key or password or spell to open it). The spiders came through, got stuck, set up a little fortress, and started scheming. Okay then. Their entire abode includes areas 26-31, with a trapped hallway they've set up at 23.

***

I added a door to 22, since I decided that the goblins have locked a gibbering mouther in this room to provide a barrier against the spiders (who still crawl in through other ways). The mouther had come in via the waterfall a while back, and they managed to fish it out of the pool and wrangle it into this hallway (after losing a few goblins in the exchange). The fellowship was not able to recover the key (no idea where the bugbear had hidden it), so they had to force the door open. Indar is immediately overcome by the wailing, but the others move on unimpaired. The whole group is badly injured in the battle, and they have to rest. 

They move into 23, the fog-filled hallway. They've got a bad feeling about this (rightully so), but then remember the levitation properaties of the roots growing in area 16. The could levitate through the chamber - or even better, bypass it altogether by levitating across from 19... they could go to the bridge and into 25, or directly to the webs at 31 and cut their way in through the back door to the main chamber. This would be tricky... but it's the path they choose.

And things then went totally off the rails. The arachling heard them and set a trap, which they walked right into. They ended up sandwiched between the arachling and an addercap (that it had called to help), with 7 cellar spiders as well. A sleep spell helped, and Alari's use of a glimmering weapon on Firik's hammer offset the lost edge from darkness, which was huge. By the end of the battle, Firik was the only one standing with 3 hits remaining (all the others had dropped), and the addercap and three cellar spiders failed a morale check with a 1, so they fled. This gave Firik 5 minutes to figure it out. He grabbed the amulet from Indar and yelled an order across the water for the goblins to eat some of the root and come to their aid. A minute later, 13 goblins were gliding across the chasm and floated in to provide aid. Firik had pulled apart the nest to find 2 healing potions, the spider blade, and some coins. He had five minutes to rally the troops, and between the two healing potions and Alari's magic, the team was almost at full by the time the spiders returned.

They picked a corner of the room to defend, putting the archer and mage at the back, with a rank of goblins and the two fighters up front. They made short work of the 9 cellar spiders, 2 addercaps and 1 tomb spider that arrived, cutting through them in about three rounds with minimal damage.

They charged on through the level (since only 2 goblins had died, the goblins were very hyped), and arrived at 28, where they faced the vault spider and its 2 assistants, and they ripped right through it (in 2 rounds) without suffering any damage.

The eggs they find are given as a reward to the goblins, who begin eating heartily, and start gathering them for later. The fellowship searches to see if they find the secret door in 27. They all fail, but one of the goblins finds it as they are scouring the level, and points it out. That will be where they go next. They also use fire to burn the two swarms of spiders in the temple area (26), burn all webbing, and recover the silvered spider statue from the altar. All told, for this section they earned:

43 gold and 5 silver in wealth

2 potions of healing (already used)

Boots of spider climbing (going to Indar)

The enchanted longsword vs. spiders (going to Alari)

They found 2 healing potions in a silvered chest as well.

52 XP (so 13 each; but for Galazan this doubles to 26).

In the interim, I also realized I never used the number 20 on the key... so I still need to add that number somewhere. Oops. Probably will use it for the eastern bridge over 25.

***

Analysis of XP:

Okay, this feels like enough to have earned level 2, but they are still only one third of the way to level 2... this is one of the things I struggled with in building the game. Because it only has six levels, I want progression to be slow, because otherwise the game is over in a flash. Right now, I have progression at x3... but if I bump things back a tier, I would end up with going to level 2 @ 30 XP, level 3 @ 100, level 4 @ 300, level 5 @ 1,000.

They have gone through quite a bit of dungeon and had several experiences. They've learned a lot. They have been battle tested, and taken on a variety of foes. They have explored about 20% of the dungeon... so if this pace of xp was to continue, they would end the whole level having earned somewhere around 150 XP. The threats deeper in will be more significant, so it's not unreasonable to round this up to maybe 200. They should, without a doubt, finish this level well into level 3. The revised XP progression above puts them on that path.

I'm going to house rule that now, and revise the tiers for level progression. This means that all characters move to level 2, and are ready for greater challenges... which is good, because there's a dragon not too far away. 

Alari will take the point in Mind. She now has hits 14.

Indar will take the point in Reflex. He now has hits 14.

Galazan will take the point in Mind. He now has hits 10. 

Firik will take the point in Might. He now has hits 28 (!). He is going to be hard to take down.

Fanatic Four: Report 3

I warned you I was going to do a bit of gaming this weekend... my four characters have continued to explore, defeating the three ghouls in areas 17 A, B and C. They then crawled through the tunnels (making short work of the three rats) and into area 14. They attempted to drive back the ant swarm, which summoned the myrmidon ant and then the gnome shadow-touched ghoul. They managed to defeat all three with relative quickness. They could not figure out how to get through the narrow tunnel in the wall, so moved on to the south. Firik caused the mold of maddening to emit spores, which put him into a battle frenzy. Alari was able to draw his attention (and defend herself with her shield), while after a few tries Galazan was able to use a sleep spell on him. They burned the mold, explored area 12 (freaked out by the sounds from below) and then prepared to enter the Bazaar... which is where I'll pick up next time. 

They have thus far (in total) earned:

55 xp (so almost 14 xp each)

60 gp

23 sp

144 cp

A suit of enchanted studded leather armor

A cloak of befouling

A level 2 deeping spell scroll (from a silvered chest)

And they found a few days' worth of good food in a silvered chest

They are only 14% of the way to level 2, which feels like pretty slow progression. They haven't fought that much stuff yet, and they should start picking up the pace soon enough. They have a good amount of gold to upgrade their weapons and gear a little bit, so that will help, too.

I'm pretty sure that each is going to roll the dice of fate, and that might change the game dramatically. We'll see...

Fanatic Four: Report 2

Continuing their exploration of the Halls of Moridis, the fellowship was met at the entrance (after healing) by a goblin servant who spoke only one phrase in the trade tongue, "Xixal seeks parlay". They were escorted before Xixal (area 19) who they negotiated with (via Galazan). They learned of the temple (21), and of the ghoul snake Bitu (area 24). They agreed to destroy the snake and recover its treasures while Xixal took his goblins (and his loot) on a pilgrimage to the temple. The heroes made short work of the ghoul snake, getting several 12s. They also got very lucky in their checks to find its treasures, and recovered everything from its pool. They returned to Xixal, who was glad at their success, and asked them to travel to the Bazaar (area 8) on his behalf, and try to barter for the amulet of goblin leadership that he covets. They were 'allowed' to use the treasure they had recovered from Bitu's pool to negotiate. 

They set off and made it to area 12, where they were set upon by 7 shadelings. This should have been short work; it was not. The shadelings nearly killed both Alari and Firik, but thanks to Galazan's consistent damage from his cantrip, they were able to prevail. They had to retreat to area 16 to rest and recover before continuing onward, especially since Alari rolled a natural 1 when trying to heal herself, and has therefore lost magic access for the day. 

They have thus far (in total) earned:

28 xp (so 7 xp each)

20 gp

23 sp

144 cp

A suit of enchanted studded leather armor

A cloak of befouling

Fanatic Four: Report One

As I play, I am updating a few documents...

The Hack'D & Slash'D Companion is getting more game materials. I've added quite a bit since the last update. I used the Singing Spiders from this for area 16.

Moridis' Halls is a work in progress; some of the information in this document already needs revision, but I'm adding keyed areas as I explore them. In this session, I moved through areas 16, 18, and 21 (in that order). 

*** 

The heroes entered at 16, but realized the illusion of the spiders. After a brief battle, the heroes easily dispatched the spiders and recovered a little bit of gold from their lair.

They explored area 18, and Galazan was able to identify the magical cloak. He took it in case he wants to cause flowers to wilt or some good cakes to mold over. He's vindicative that way.

Moving into area 21, the poop hit the fan. They failed to sneak up on the zombies (there were six of them, so it's a tough enounter for a level 1 group as is). The zombies pretty quickly dropped Firik to -3 hits, and Alari failed her healing spell. Indar and Galazan were holding their own, but were overwhelmed. Galazan used his alchemist's oil, and luckily hit the four that remained at that point in the battle. The heroes fled (Alari made her might check to pick up Firik so they could run), and they made it back to the exit (south of 16) with burning zombies in pursuit. The zombies finished burning to a crisp in the entry as the heroes recovered outside. 

They have earned: 

16 xp (4 xp each)

14 gp

A cloak of befouling

Weekend Plans

I finished work for the week, came home, mowed the lawn, and took the dogs for a walk. Grace and Mary are out of town at a diving camp, so it's just me and a good chunk of time. Here's my weekend plan... going to go full pencil and paper RPG on my dining room table. I made character cards, found my big printout of the map of Moridis' Halls, and am going to start working my way through the map. I'll post as I go...

Briar's Quest: Session 1

Having made significant progress on the core rules for Cupcake Scouts, I’ve decided to start a solo game and see where this goes. I’m going to make a level 2 scout (so she has some survivability), and I’m going to make her a bit of a hybrid to test out as many different rules as I can. First of all, I am going to make her a Stalwart Scout (because those are my favorite - they are the fighter types), and I’m going to have her pick up gem use with one of her tags (so I can test out the magic rules, and give my scout some more versatility).

She is going to enter Moridis’ Labyrinth, searching for a relic she has heard of: the silvered dagger of quickening. It will give a bonus to damage and allow two attacks per round, which will make her quite powerful (in theory). As a stalwart scout, she starts with +1 to attacks, +1 to weapon damage, and two other tags: I’m going to take fighter, jeweler, and baker. This gives her the +1 edge to attacks (kind of important for her), the jewels to have some gems with her, and baker so she always has at least one magical treat, because that will also make a big difference for a solo character.

Briar - Stalwart Scout 2

[Hits 12 | Dagger (5) | +1 to attack; baker; fighter; jeweler; resolve]

- She can use 2 gems per day; she has a stunning gem and a sunlight gem.

- She has the following badges (5): shade hunter, zombie hunter, friend to gnomes, cupcake baker, and one bravery badge. She will start with no credit towards any other badges. I’ll presume that she’s been doing all of her adventuring in graveyards so far, and been helping gnomes with a variety of problems, as well as baking them lots of cupcakes.

Before setting off into Moridis’ Labyrinth, she bakes a fresh batch of muffins (since that’s what she’s working on next). She actually gets a success (natural 10), so she will have two muffins with her on her journey! She has a healing muffin and a growth muffin. Good stuff!

I’m going to use the rules for likelihoods throughout, and will see how that goes. 

Briar goes into the basement of the coffee shop (after getting a fresh cup of hot chocolate), and descends into area 33 on the map. She gets to the portcullis, which is possibly locked, but I roll a 4 and it is not locked. Someone left it open… for her? Rut roh. She carefully moves into the center of the area and looks around. She makes her social check and sees the secret door to the south; she checks that out first, and pushing the wall in (it’s spring loaded), she sees that stairs beyond descend into darkness. She is not ready to go any deeper yet! She decides to explore to the east. The room she is in was once an assembly hall of some kind (it has vaulted ceilings, and the remains of rows of seats that are long since rotted). She crosses east to area 35, and sees the statues. She examines the north statue first. The dice (rolled a 2) say that it’s an animated statue. She attempts a social check, but with the -1 edge she fails, and the statue springs to life as she is examining it. It attacks at +1 edge but misses, and she gets her turn; she leaps backwards while swiping with her dagger. She misses, despite her +1 edge (she needs to roll 7 on the dice to hit). It is very unlikely that the second statue is also an animated statue; nope. It might be special, but it’s not animated. Okay. The statue hits for 4 damage, and Briar is at 8. This time she hits for 5, but it soaks 1, suffering 4 and is down to 6. On its action, the statue swings at her hitting again for 4. She is at 4. She already has to pop that muffin in her mouth, regaining four hits (at 8) and then hitting (barely) for 5. After soaking 1, the statue is at 2 remaining. It hits her again for 4, and she’s back to 4 remaining. She totally misses (2, 1, 1 on the dice) and it hits her again! She’s at zero… Or she would be, but she uses her resolve ability to completely ignore that attack. She finally hits again for 5, dealing 4 and destroying the statue.

She was able to defeat it, but it used up a lot of her resources (she already used her healing muffin), and pushed her to use her resolve up. It’s all good, because she survived. 

On the fly, I think that having to recover 2 points an hour of rest is a lot for this game. I’m almost thinking that ten minutes of rest is enough to recover your level… because I want the game to keep moving. It’s an over the top game, so I don’t think anyone is going to be like “I accept that 11 year olds go on dangerous missions to the underdark with adult permission, but I’m struggling with the idea that they heal in a few minutes of rest”... like, this game is pretty clearly a game in a cartoonish world. People will go with it.

So, she recovers 2 points per ten minutes of rest… since she is down 8, she needs to rest for 40 minutes. I’ll say that she goes back to the stairs and snacks on a regular old everyday muffin to get some strength back, sip some water, and get her bearings. It is possible that there is a random encounter, and there is. It’s a zombie. It comes clamoring from the west just as she’s getting her muffin out, and she tries to hide to jump it. Stupid zombies. She succeeds, and gets to attack with +2 edges. Wow. She almost misses anyway! (6, 2, 1, 1) If that 6 was a 4, she misses. Anyway, she hits the zombie for 5, and it is at 1. It hits her for 2, and she is at 2. I could have her use resolve, but I’ll hold off for an emergency… She hits for 5 and destroys it.  This time she is able to rest for an hour, and fully recovers. 

Badge progress:

• 1 animated statue

• 1 zombie

Of Foolish Consistencies and Hobgoblins - Actual Play #1 for Cupcake Scouts 2E

As Emerson warned, "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds". Now, I think I have a medium-sized mind (at least), and I don't really like hobgoblins all that much, so I decided to take his words to heart. That said, I have given 2d6 another shot. And I like it.

For Cupcake Scouts 2E, I found that by scaling the numbers to cap at no better than +5 (usually +4), and by swapping out some of the things I had given as modifiers to be edges instead, I've kept the numbers very reasonable (to my mind). 

So, I have a draft going and the first half of the book is roughed out already. I have learned to work very, very quickly at this point. It's at about 6,000 words (18 pages) at present, and about half of that is language I cut and pasted over and then edited the heck out of, and half of it is new language based on things I've learned and problems I've solved in the last four years or so.  The previous edition was 48 pages, but the pages were pretty breezy, and there was a lot of white space. I'm getting almost twice as much information on a page at this point, so getting the whole package to 32 pages looks likely. I'd prefer 48, but I'm not sure if the game needs that much content. I want it to be light and airy, but you can always use more monsters, I suppose...

I thought I'd give you a taste of how it looks with the snapshot of the rules for character generation. This is my first play test character, and I'll have her fight some zombies and see how it goes...

***

Character Building Snapshot
1.       Select a troop. Looking at the options, I decide that my character is going to be a stalwart scout, so she can be good at fighting monsters.
2.       Select one tag. For my stalwart scout, I pick fighter so she gets a bonus to attack.  
3.       Gather your gear. I review the gear section. I will keep those blessed stakes at the ready!
4.       Write down your weapon damage and hits. My dagger deals 4 hits (2 base +1 from being level 1, +1 from being a stalwart scout). I have 6 hits (what every scout has at level 1).
Name your scout and think of one adjective to describe her (other than the word for her troop). I go with Chase as her name, and ‘serious’ as her adjective.

***

Okay, so Chase is going to try to throw down with some zombies. I guess I have to stat up a zombie...

Zombie Wanderer - Mindless Fiend 1 [Hits 4; Move 40'; claw (2)]. These mindless undead wander through tombs and graveyards. They attack twice on their action, raking with two claws.

We'll say that Chase goes to the graveyard near sundown because zombie sightings are increasing, and the Scoutmaster wants her to slay ten of these to earn her first hunter badge. She has thirty minutes before sunset to hunt down 10 zombies. Each minute, she can check skill to find a zombie. It's a BIG graveyard. Before she goes, she tries to bake some cookies. She fails her knowledge check - and gets 8. she overbakes them a little bit, but they are still edible. None of them are magical, however. 

Minute 1. She enters the graveyard and looks around. She doesn't see any zombies, and starts down the path. Minute 2 is more walking.

In minute 3 she finds her first zombie, just having emerged from its grave. She runs at it and attacks. The zombie wins initiative, and rakes with its claw. It misses. She misses. It hits with its claw for 2, and she is down to 4 hits remaining. She misses again. It wiffs in round 3, and so does she. It misses in round 4, but she hits for 3 damage, leaving it at 1. It misses again, and she hits again for 3 more, defeating it. That's one zombie down.

In minute 8 she finds her second zombie. She tries to sneak up on it (it's gnawing on a bone), but she fails. She wins initiative, and hits it for 3. It misses. She misses, and it does as well. She hits with a natural 12 for 5 damage, and destroys it. That's two zombies down.

She finds her third zombie in minute 14. It's unlikely she will slay ten tonight... She fails to sneak again, but wins initiative. She hits for 4, killing it right away.

She finds a fourth zombie in minute 16. She makes her sneak check! She hits with an 11, dealing 4 hits and killing it in one shot. Nice.

She finds a fifth zombie in minute 18. This time she fails her sneak check and loses initiative; the zombie misses, but she hits with an 11, slaying the zombie. She has 11 minutes to find and kill 5 zombies... not loving her chances here.

In minute 21 she comes across zombie six. She is able to sneak up on it and hit it for 3. It hits her for 2, and she is down to 2. Hm. May be time to hit the road...she hits it with a natural 12 for 5, and destroys it. 9 minutes and 4 zombies to go... and she is at 2 hits remaining. She is going home and try again tomorrow. It is possible (1-3 on 1d6) that she encounters another zombie on the way out (it will be 2 zombies on a 1). No zombies. She gets back to the library and reports what she has done. The Scoutmaster lets her make S'mores to celebrate, and then she does a coloring sheet to wind down before bed. 

The next day,  she tries to bake something and is successful! She makes a treat. I'm going to just rule that it's a peanut-butter cookie that heals her 3 points. She tucks that away in case she needs it. She returns to the graveyard, pries open the gate, and slips inside near nightfall. Zombies are starting to roam...

In minute 1, she sets off down a different path from yesterday. She wanders for three minutes.

In minute 4, she finds a zombie roaming, and manages to hide and jump it as it passes. She hits it for 3 damage. It misses. She hits for another 3, and destroys it. She has destroyed 7 zombies.

She wanders around until minute 12, looking for more zombies and failing to find them. She must have taken care of the problem more than she realized! She sneaks up on this one, too, which is trying to help another zombie out of its grave. The other zombie still needs 4 rounds to get free, and actions area t +1 edge against it until that time has passed. She moves up from behind a tombstone and jumps out,  but misses. Zombie 8 misses, and zombie 9 starts digging harder to get out. She whiffs, and zombie 8 smacks her with a claw. She is at 4 hits. Zombie 9 keeps diggin'. Lots of misses and digging in round 3. Same in round 4 - and now she is fighting two zombies. In round 5, everyone misses. In round 6, zombie 8 hits for 2, and she is at 2 hits. She uses a task in round 7 to scarf her cookie, and is at 5 hits when she swings again, hitting and killing zombie 8. Zombie 9 hits for 3, and she is down to 2 again. Good thing she ate that cookie! I need to swap out her dice - she misses again. Ugh. So does the zombie. I swap dice, but she still misses, and so does the zombie. She rolls a natural 2 (despite the +1 edge), meaning that I hit the 1 in 216 chance of rolling three 1s. That's impressive in the worst possible way. The zombie also misses. Both miss again. And again. And she FINALLY (in round 14!) hits it for 3 damage. she finishes it in round 15, with 2 hits remaining.

She is going to push her luck. It's a bad idea, but I'm going to do it anyway. She only needs one zombie! She finds that tenth zombie in minute 16 (it was three minutes, but the previous encounter went two minutes)... She is able to sneak up on it, and hits it for 4! Yes. She looks around quick and makes for the exit... which she gets to just fine, pulling the gate shut and throwing the bar across it before heading back to the library. She arrives to find that the Scoutmaster has just baked some fresh muffins, has a juice box ready for her, and has already sewn her first badge, beginner zombie hunter, to her new sash. She beams with pride. 

Analysis:

There's a lot of whiffing, which I knew would happen when the zombie has a 27% chance of hitting and she has a 42% chance of hitting. Still, it wasn't bad, and things go fast.    

In this game, zombies are the meat-and-potatoes monster. I think that zombies are just all over the place, and the most common threat you face. Since the game has no things like armor class and the like, a zombie can still hit a higher-level character 27% of the time, and can deal 2-4 points of damage... so a room full of zombies is always going to present some challenge. You never grow out of monsters being a threat, which is a good thing. 

I'm very interested to play test at higher levels (3-4). I think that those characters will cut through zombies and similar foes quickly, but I don't know how quickly or what that exactly looks like. I can find out soon enough.

I love how badges are the economy of character advancement rather than experience points. Eventually, it doesn't matter how many zombies you kill; once you have your expert zombie hunter badge, you gain nothing from killing more of them. They are just mooks in the way of the things you want. I'm fine with that. Earning badges becomes the motivating factor to seek out new enemies; both for the level advancement, and for the little 'attaboy' of knowing you've killed so many monsters. I think that it would be cool to have a coloring page for your character that has all of the badges you could earn, along with tallies for getting them - and then you get to color them when you earn them! That would be so cool as a character sheet. I'm totally and completely doing that!

I also think that there should be things you have to unlock to advance. For example, 1E had rules for grody monsters (which zombies would be, but I didn't include that in the play test here...). Maybe you have to 'get over' getting grossed out by undead creatures before you can earn level 2. Sure, you've earned all of your badges, but you still turn green and say "uhrumgurd, it's sooo gross" when you see a zombie, so you're not ready to become a true scout yet. Sorry, champ. 

  

New Delvers Session 1

Everyone knows the legend of Calidar - a wizard who went mad trying to seek entrance into Moridis’ Halls, and who opened a portal into the Infernal realms instead - his tower now burns for all time. However, in her studies, Aria learns that, while he was of considerable power, Calidar was an illusionist by craft, and her careful study leads her to believe that the flames eternally engulfing his tower may, in fact, be illusory. If this is the case, then it is possible that Calidar found a hitherto unexplored entry into the Halls. She tells her friends, and they (having learned to trust her judgment in such things), decide to go-a-delving.

Approaching the tower, they come upon three jackals picking at the corpse of a large stonecutter beetle. Two dead jackals are nearby, having taken the beetle’s best shot. The heroes see this from 60’ away, but the jackals do not see them (too busy eating). Gar prepares his blade and shield, Nil will fire a sling bullet at them, and Aria will use an arcane dart. Nil hits with a 9, killing one, and Aria automatically kills one with an arcane dart. The third fails its morale check, and runs away. The fellowship examines the corpse of the beetle; Aria makes her lore check with a natural 12, and they recover its oil membrane. This she is able to pour into a vial. They have enough oil of enchantment to coat three weapons.

At the bridge, they see that it is rickety and looks quite dangerous. Aria and Nil easily disbelieve the illusion (both getting 12s) but Gar struggles to believe that the bridge is safe. He refuses to cross until the others do; they both move across successfully. He finally disbelieves, but is on the other side when the ‘ogre’ emerges from the cave. All three succeed at disbelieving this illusion, and the fight with the zombie is on. 

The heroes win initiative. Aria deals 2 hits with an arcane dart (leaving the zombie at 7), while Nil hits with his sling for 2, leaving the zombie at 5. Gar spends his action crossing the bridge. The zombie misses Aria with both claws. She deals another 2 (leaving it at 3) and Nil misses with a sling stone. Gar enters the combat, hitting with his dagger but missing with his shield. The zombie is at 1. It attacks Gar this time, but misses twice. Aria finishes it with another arcane dart. They investigate the cave, but find nothing of value. 

This time it is Nil who struggles to disbelieve the illusion; he ‘knows’ that the tower is not really burning, but cannot bring himself to approach. It ‘feels’ to him like genuine flame, and he perceives pain as he gets close to it. He needs a few minutes.

Aria and Gar decide to approach, and they find the phantom of Calidar wandering about. Aria tries to greet him pleasantly, and succeeds with her mind check. He remembers hearing of her master at some point, and asks for help in finding his marbles. They begin searching about. Aria finds a scroll (Speak with Stone), and Gar finds a potion (Levitation). He asks if they will check ‘downstairs’ and see if they can find his marbles for him. They agree. 

Nil again attempts to disbelieve, but the illusion is just too strong. He cowers at the foot of the tower. Aria sees this, and asks Calidar if he can help their friend to see that it is safe to come up and help him. Calidar does, and permits Nil to see through the illusion. Because Nil failed twice, he does not get to look for an item like the other two did.

Calidar speaks his name backwards, the magical portal in the floor reveals itself, and the heroes descend into the Halls of Moridis for the first time…  

Arath Session 12: Exploring Dyson's Map

Arath gets to the bridge that crosses the water. I check the dice, and they decide that the water is a thick sulfurou slop. It is drinkable, but it’s not pleasant. There is something living in the water… yeah. It’s a demonic aboleth sort of thing that the goblins pay tribute to. They keep feeding it scratchers, and giving it pretty rocks they find, so it allows them to survive. It has charmed the leader of the goblins, and they are now worshipping it.
 
Arath sees a tentacle rise and drop in the water. He continues across the bridge with a little bit of hitch in his step. The dice decide that it doesn’t try to charm him or attack him right now; it is interested in him, and it watches from below the surface. Yeah. I want NO part of that right now.
 
Something definitely lives the southern cave (area 7). Arath attempts to sneak again, and fails with a 1. I’m going to use the luck here, because I don’t like the idea of bumbling into something that might be quite powerful. He nails the re-check, and sneaks up the stairs to see what’s in the cavern beyond.
 
This is a tall, narrow cave with a 60’ ceiling that is open, and sunlight shines in. The walls are lined with sleeping vampire bats. There are dozens of them here. In my imagination, Arath awakens the bats, they chase him into the goblin hall where they gorge themselves on goblins as Arath watches in hiding, then he goes around and picks up all of the treasure and pockets the XP. Then he does the same thing to the Aboleth - it is killed by a hundred vampire bat bites.
 
That is not going to happen. The odds would be SO high that a piece of that would fail. Like, incredibly high odds of catastrophic failure.
 
Let sleeping bats lie. He does.
 
The lower area (6) abridges the water, and Arath wants to avoid that entirely. That looks like the kind of place you stand if you want a bunch of tentacles to grab you and put you into the water. Yeah. In fact, that’s its purpose – this is a place where sacrifices were offered in the past to this aboleth.
 
On to area 8. I don’t know what this is… it was a complex of some kind at some point, although the odds of it still being inhabited are pretty low. Is it clearly a temple of some kind? Heck no. It was a humanoid barracks at one point, but it’s in ruins. It’s now inhabited by undead. It’s going to be a small pack of ghouls that call this place home. That’s nice. They hate the aboleth, and it hates them, so they just hang out here, occasionally going out in search of some bats or scratchers to eat. They are hungry a lot.
 
Arath opens the door into C. A ghoul is here, and it attacks him immediately.
Round 1. Arath wins initiative and misses. The ghoul hits with one claw for 5 and Arath fails his armor check. He’s at 21.
Round 2. Arath hits with a 12 for 8 damage. The ghoul fails its armor check, down to 4. It hits with both claws, dealing the +3 for a bite as a free action. Arath makes both armor checks, so he suffers 7 total damage; he’s at 14.
Round 3. Arath misses. The ghoul misses with both claws.
Round 4. Arath hits for 6. A failed armor check later, and the ghoul is destroyed.
 
It has treasure! It has 4 instances of mundane wealth (I rolled a 1), but no magic. This is kept in a small chest with a broken lock. The ghoul is aware of it, but doesn’t really care about treasure.
The first instance is 14gp in gems.
The second instance is 4 gp in silver (so 40 sp).
The third instance is 22 gp in gold coins.
The fourth instance is 10gp in copper (so 1000 cp).
 
All told, this treasure is worth 50 gp. That’s quite the good haul. He also earned 5 XP for killing a ghoul, so that’s nice as well.
 
He tries to rest, but two more ghouls break in on him while he’s trying to recover (coming from A). He fails his mind check, so gets surprised. The first ghoul hits with a natural 12 for 5 damage, but the second misses. Arath soaks half of that, so suffers 3, and is at 11 hits. This could be bad… Arath also loses initiative, so it’s all bad, actually.
 
Round 1. The first ghoul immediately hits with two claws and gets the free bite, dealing 3 and 3 damage, with 3 Arath cannot soak. He makes one of his armor checks, so suffers 8 hits, and is down to 3. YIKES. The second ghoul hits once for 3, and after a successful armor check Arath is at 6. On his action, Arath drinks a double draft of potion, recoving 10 hits to put him at 16, then attacks having lost his edge. He still manages to hit for 6, and is lucky that the ghoul fails to soak. It is at 6.
Round 2. The first ghoul hits twice with the free bite, while the second gets a natural 12 with one claw for 5. Arath fails all three armor checks. DAAANG. That is 14 points of damage, putting him at 2. Arath flees.
 
Round 3. Wow. Lots of stuff could happen here. Arath could have about 60’ on them (since he used his action to run). He is partway down the stairs by the time they emerge from the door. Problem: they have a move of 90. They will gain 30’ per round on him. He fails a mind check, but I use luck to re-roll, and get a success; he calls out loudly in goblin “help me friends!” as he runs. He is going to cross the bridge and head for the exit.
 
Round 4. It is likely that the goblins hear this and respond. BARELY. I rolled a 9. Dang. Okay…
By the end of the round, Arath is about to cross the bridge (still calling this out) and the ghouls are halfway down the stairs. The goblins are starting to mobilize in their cave.
 
Round 5. Arath crosses the bridge and is almost to the number 3 on the map. He sees a tentacle flop in the water a bit north of the bridge, but keeps booking. The ghouls are about 20’ behind him (maybe less) when the goblins emerge from the cave and start firing arrows. It is very likely that they focus on the ghouls; they know about the ghouls and fear them, and have been ready to fight them for a bit. Someone called out in help in goblin, and is running from them, so poses no real threat at the moment. The dice agree, and the goblin commander issues an order to kill the ghouls. However, it is likely that the Aboleth starts whispering in his ear… No. The aboleth is waiting.
 
Round 6. Arath is halfway up the tunnel in area 1. Ten goblins fire arrows; the first ghoul is hit once, and the second ghoul is hit twice (once for 4 damage). Since Arath is now on the edge of sunlight and the goblins are attacking, it is likely that the ghouls turn and attack them instead. The dice agree.
 
Arath keeps running until he gets to his skiff. It is now near nightfall. He climbs aboard the skiff and tries to rest. It is likely that the shadelings would avoid the skiff entirely; I presume its magic (along with the everburning torch prominently displayed) would repel them. The dice completely and totally concur (rolled a natural 1). That’s great news. Arath is able to rest for the night as dozens of shadelings howl nearby, but none actually approaches the skiff.
 
Well. The dice are very kind to me. When Arath returns the next morning (he brings the skiff all the way to the cave entrance this time), he enters to find a relatively quiet cave. He sneaks in with a natural 12 to find a single ghoul standing, picking apart one of the goblins and eating it. The goblins are all dead (including the leader), and the one ghoul is peppered with arrows and lays having been vanquished. The remaining ghoul has several gaping wounds, but remains standing (at 2 hits). Arath calls to it, and it charges him. He wins initiative, but he misses his first attack. The ghoul misses twice. In round 2, Arath hits it for 6, and slays it despite a successful armor check.
 
Arath ‘defeated’ all of these creatures, but it’s hard to argue he gets the full XP. I will award him 10 for the two ghouls, +5 for successfully getting the goblins involved.
 
The dice tell me there is one more encounter ahead, and it is in area D. Both the goblins and ghouls might still have treasure.\
 
Goblins first. I am going to rule that they have at least one instance of monetary treasure, but will roll beyond that. They have only that one instance, which is a bag filled with 600 cp.
 
This time when Arath crosses the bridge, the Aboleth attempts to speak to him. Uh oh. He makes his mind check with an 11 (whew) to fight off the charm. It tells him that it sees his aura, sees the mark of Ubek upon him, and wants to be his friend. It wants to help on his journey. The successful mind check tells him to scream ‘f-off scumbag’ and keep heading east. He does. My guess is that the Aboleth is going to be ready to strike the next time he crosses the bridge…
 
Checking area D, Arath finds the entire room is filled with a strange mold. He fails his mind check badly, and goes to investigate it; the mold of maddening releases spores into the air. Again, Arath makes his mind check (lucky guy!) and leaves the room, which was once a barracks of some kind. I’m going to say this was once a bandit hideout a long time ago, and it has since fallen into ruin. That seems reasonable. The dice agree with conviction.
 
Back to the main building.  The ghouls have 1 instance of level 2 mundane treasure, and no magic. Arath uses a luck point to reroll this (because he can), but still finds no magic. He only recovers a necklace worth 8 gp.
 
He waits a minute to reset his luck before trying the next thing… or, he could use his potion of levitation here to cross the bridge out of range of the attacks. That seems wise. This is a high level monster that will definitely try to drag him into the water, and if that happens he is almost assuredly dead. Potion it is.
 
For reference, tunning across the bridge, he would have been attacked by 4 tentacles that try to grab him and pull him underwater. That’s not nice. Let’s see… a successful attack with a tentacle (level 4 attack) deals 2 damage (not a big deal) but also forces a might check to break free and keep from being pulled into the water. Each additional successful attack beyond the first, impose -1 edge to the might check. In my simulation, 2 would have hit (one for 12), and Arath would have failed the might check; he would have used luck to re-roll and make it, barely getting away from the aboleth. But that didn’t happen, because he drank the levitation potion, pushed off the wall near the number 7, and landed far on the other side.
 
He loads up his winnings and sets sail on his skiff. In reviewing the map and my ideas for this area, I decide that area 3 is full of non-magical mushrooms of various sizes, and that the air in this entire cave is hazy, humid, and heavy with sulfur that makes a foggy mist everywhere. The water in which the aboleth resides would be strangely warm… soupy bath water sort of thing.
 
I update Arath’s character record… he’s earned 25 total XP and I convert all of the various wealth into ‘wealth’ and give it a total. I figure it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day the form it is in…
 
Arath - Pensive Fighting Man 2 (XP 127)
Armor 5; Hits 26; Move 60’; Greatsword (6); Sling (1)
Might 4 (5); Mind 2; Reflex 1
Fortitude; Luck; Two-handed (+1 edge); Warrior (+1 to hit)
Greatsword 6; Scale Mail 4+1 (Armor of the High Centurion; grants +1 edge with Gallans; no penalty to sneak); Sling 1; Adventurer’s Pack; 7 days rations; Gauntlets of Might +1; Boots of Traveling; Everburning Torch; Decanter of Sustenance (4 people of water per day, healing potion 2x per day); 20’ Levitating Desert Skiff; 70 gp in wealth (coins and jewels)

Arath Session 11 and Proof of Life!

My books have arrived! They look snazzy. Right away, Grace said they need more color, but this book looks and feels exactly how I want it to be. This is an anti-modern RPG. It's streamlined and concise, but it's got a no-frills vibe that I really like. This is absolutely and totally the game I have been trying to design for the last twenty years. 

Okay. On to session 11...

It took 10 sessions (although some were ‘interludes and a few had little XP gaining happening), but that’s the standard for progression. I expect that number of XP to increase, but not enough to keep pace with the difference in XP requirements; he needs 300 for level 3, and a level 2 foe is worth 5, so he needs to defeat 40 foes of that level to advance. On one hand, that’s not a LOT, but on the other hand, that is a lot for a solo character. We’ll find out soon enough.

I haven’t worked out movement rules for the skiff, but we’ll say that I roll 1d12-3 for movement rate at that moment; a lot depends on wind. If I roll below 60, I may as well have Arath walk and pull the skiff along. I roll and get a 5, so I use luck and end up with a 12. The skiff gets a good wind behind it, and is able to travel at 90’. Awesome. I’m also going to assume that Arath was able to set a section of deck apart and spread a piece of leather across it so that he has something of a shelter to stay under to keep out of the sun as much. He won’t do that right now, but it’s an option. Reviewing my notes, I see that the cave was in hex E15, which is about 36 miles away. However, with the speed of the skiff and its efficiency traveling over desert, 6 miles per hour is not an unreasonable rate of travel, which means that could get there by early afternoon if he sets off at dawn. There is no random encounter on the way, and the weather does not change significantly. He maintains a favorable wind the whole time.

He makes his mind check to find the cave (hard to do when everything looks like desert, but he had been intentional about marking this place in his mind around several landmarks on the horizon). He ‘hides’ the skiff among some rocks about a half mile from the cave, and walks the rest of the way. The cave is as he left it. Nothing is out front.
 
Now I get to stock this the rest of the way – presuming Arath doesn’t die or flee again. It is unlikely that Arath’s armor also removes the sneak penalty for higher armor, but I’ll check. Magic armor in D+D always did that when I played (not sure if that’s in current iterations of the rules or not). Yes! I got a 3; the armor imposes no sneak penalties. Arath attempts to sneak into the cave, and gets 8+2=10. Being level 2 is already paying off.
 
The cave is going to have attracted some life to it, since there is a river (which I haven’t decided anything about) cutting across the cave. I doubt that this water is crystal clear spring water… odds are good something is up with it. However, even strange or magical waters would draw creatures, and I am going to say that there are packs of strange little prairie dogs that scamper all over these caves. They would eat the small insects growing all around the water, and then these would provide the basic food source for whatever lives in these caves. It has to have some kind of ecosystem, and this stands in well enough for one.
 
I’m going to retro-design a piece of the desert. These prairie dogs, which the denizens of the desert call ‘scratchers’ for the scratching sounds they are always making, are sort of all over the place. They are able to chew at the bases of the infrequent cacti to get water, and they feed on all sorts of small lizards and insects. They are always scampering about, but know enough to find a hole and climb in once nightfall comes. They are not aggressive, and do not attack larger creatures. Okay. Back to exploring. 
 
Area 2. Arath finds only one of the spiders here. I’m going to rule that every round once combat starts, it is possible that the other spider returns from its hunting expedition to get a snack of scratchers. He attempts to sneak into the cave again, but he fails. He saves his luck. It’s initiative.
 
Arath wins handily, and swings his sword, hitting for 6. The spider fails its armor check and is at 10. The spider bites, hitting with a 12. Arath makes his first armor check with his new suit of awesome scale mail, suffering 4 (he’s at 22). He fails his might check, so suffers 2 more from poison, now at 20.
In round 2, the other spider returns, responding to the shrieks from its buddy. Arath hits the first spider for 6, and it again fails armor. It’s down to 4. The first spiders hits with an 11 for 4 damage, but Arath soaks half, so is at 18. The poison deals 2 more, leaving Arath at 16. The poison has run its course. The second spider will be in position to attack next round.
Round 3. Arath hits with a 12, killing the first spider (even if it makes its armor check, 4 points is enough to kill it). The second spider bites, but misses.
Round 4. Arath misses this time, but uses his luck to re-roll… and promptly misses again. Drat. The spider hits with a 10 for 3 damage, but Arath soaks, suffering 2 and is down to 14. Arath rocks his might check, so fights off the poison.
Round 5. Arath hits this time (barely), dealing 6. The spider fails its armor check, so is at 10. The spider bites with a 1. That’s a hard no.
Round 6. Arath hits it, dealing 6. The spider makes its armor eheck, suffering 3 and down to 7. The spider hits for 4. Arath soaks half and is down to 12. He makes his might check against the poison.
Round 7. Arath hits for 6. The spider soaks some of it again, and is down to 4. It hits again for 3. A successful armor check later, and Arath is at 10 hits remaining. He BARELY makes his might check.
Round 8. Arath misses. Poop. The spider hits with a 12. Double poop. Arath makes his armor check (by THIS much) and suffers 3, down to 7. He makes his might check.
Round 9. Arath deals 6; the spider makes its armor check, leaving it at 1. Stupid spider! The spider hits for 3, but after an armor check Arath is down to 5. Uh oh. Getting close. Arath makes his might check again vs. the poison.
Round 10. Arath rolls a pair of 1s. Ugh. The spider also misses with a 3, so misery loves company.
I have a combat that has gone into a second minute! First time that has happened.
Round 11. With his luck renewed, Arath feels a little better about finishing this fight strong. He has to use it (he whiffs on the first try), but hits for 7 on the re-do from luck. He deals 7. I check armor for fun, and the spider fails. It would be dead either way, but it is now extra dead.
 
Well. That was a fight against two level 2 foes, and he barely won. He had the option to chug some healing potion, so that’s 10 points of healing he left in the tank that he could have used. That healing already feels a bit puny. If I’m a healer type, I’m definitely picking up some signature spells that restore more hits at higher levels.
 
Arath has earned 10 XP. Let’s see if he gets some treasure… this is a level 2 lair. There is no mundane treasure (needed a 5 or lower, and got a 6)… there is also no magical treasure (needed a 2 or lower, and got a 5). Drat.
 
I roll for how many hours before he gets a random encounter, and I roll a 12; he’s able to recover to full health by resting here and eating some food. It is night when he emerges from the spider cave (in hour 11) at full health.
 
Area 3 is a wide cave complex with a high ceiling (peaking at 80’). There are several holes in the roof where sunlight streams through. The scratchers run all around this area, and there are dozens of scratcher holes where small packs of these things dwell. There is no other monster encounter here; there is no trap, and there is nothing else of interest. It looks like at one time things may have dwelt here on the raised stone to the south, but that has long since been abandoned.
 
Area 4, on the other hand, is definitely inhabited. Arath makes his sneak check to get to the southern edge of this area and peer inside. It is a camp of goblins. There are ten of them. Yikes. They seem to be something of a war band. They arrived a week ago on a skiff from the north, coming down the river. Their skiff got stuck here, and they set up a bit of a colony in 4. They are able to hunt scratchers, get water from the stream, and sneak out into the desert once in a while, but they are not really motivated to do that. I’d think they know what’s on the other side of the stream, but they are not friendly with it, whatever it is.
 
Ten goblins might be a bit much. I mean, only four at a time can attack him, but at best he’s killing one a round; he’s going to need 10 rounds to kill them if he hits every time and they never make an armor check. He’s going to be staving off 4 attacks per round, which if only 1 hits, he’s suffering an average of 2 points per round. He could last 13 rounds (15 or 16 with healing). I don’t like his chances… If he could create a choke point, he might have a chance (taking on only 2-3 at a time), but only the cave mouth really gives him this option with a viable escape plan. Everything else backs him into a corner somehow. He decides to skip the goblins for the moment (they’re just milling about) and investigate the bridge.
 
We’ll call that the end of this session.
 
Thoughts:
-        It is fun having the desert and campaign setting grow organically as I go. I feel like once this campaign is done, I will have enough material to publish a campaign setting sourcebook for the desert, just based on what I’ve worked out. I like how this ‘model’ is working to develop the game. I’m already thinking about a mountain/tunnels campaign… or a frozen wasteland campaign… or maybe finally the great mega-dungeon that I want to make but never get very far on.
-        I like that I got rid of the earlier rule I had around scaled armor and variations in how it soaks. The temptation to have a natural 12 fully soak an attack is strong, but that was making fights go on longer than they should; I like how armor works. It’s clean, it feels intuitive, and it keeps things moving.