Here's the distressed version:
Showing posts with label Home Game. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Home Game. Show all posts
Friday, September 18, 2009
Campaign Maps: The Duchy of Mar
A revision of a campaign map for our home game. More detail to follow in the coming weeks.
Here's the distressed version:
Here's the distressed version:
Saturday, September 12, 2009
After Action Report: The Burial Tomb of Ak-Owgra **WARNING: MAXIMUM CARNAGE**
After deciding on a base of house rules that suit our taste, we decided to play a short adventure of my creation. This was to have some fun but also to test the rules in actual play. We were pleased with the result.
(I'm still working on the Ruins of Mar Campaign, but with the start of the fall term I haven't had chance to get to it in detail.)
I created a short delve with the one-page dungeon sheet. I've made some changes to it, primarily swapping out the graph for a numbered photo of the dungeon (see below) using dungeon tiles. I found this cut out unnecessary steps. This adventure was designed with 4-5 hours of gaming in mind.
The adventure, entitled The Burial Tomb of Ak-Owgra (anyone know the movie reference there?), situates the adventurers as money-grubbing tomb-robbers. Here's the DMs backstory:
"Ak-Owgra, the Bandit Queen (some called the Bitch Queen) was entombed a hundred years ago. Many sought to plunder her tomb, and recently one group of brigands partially succeeded. Although they found rooms 1-4 most were killed off or fled. Rooms 5-10, including the main burial chambers, remain hidden. The defiling of her crypt has pushed Ak-Owgra and her buried minions into unlife."
What follows can be described as nothing less than maximum carnage.
The (initial) party consisted of the following first level PCs:
Rheiden the Human Male Fighter and Party Leader
Brother Banlin the Human Male Cleric (Obad-Hai)
Elwen of Riverwood, Female Elf
Talic the Human Male Magic-User
Joining the group were:
Ghiilner the Torch-Bearer (Hireling)
Grisit of Ulag (Man-at-arms)
Dros of Duloc (Man-at-arms)
Zert of Dolmvay (Man-at-arms)
All hirelings and henchmen were generated using a custom (emphasis on custom) version of the LL random hireling generator.
By the time the party arrived at the newly found tomb, the crypt door had been opened. The party lit torches and proceeded down the stairs. Here a pic:
The party proceeded into the first room and were surpised by a carrion crawler who was munching a half-eaten bandit while hanging from the ceiling. The CC paralyzed half the party before Elwen and Zert of Dolmvay managed to finish it off.
The group noticed one stone door bashed to pieces and proceeded down that hallway (without checking for secret doors). The entered a room and were attacked by giant spitting beetles. All three men-at-arms were below zero hit points and all made their saves vs death (see house rules). Sadly, Grisit was killed off by a coup-de-gras later in the battle.
The next room was filled with giant spiders and bodies of bandits in spider silk. The bit+poison or die seemed rather harsh to me and three party members died as a result. Brother Banlin (who never even had a chance to cast a spell before he died), Talic the Magic-User, and Ghiilner the Torch-Bearer all fell to spider poison.
The adventurers, now reduced by half, decided to press on rather than return to town to rest, re-arm, and recoup their loses. Instead they searched and found a secret door in the entry chamber and proceeded to a crypt room where they were attacked by lesser animated stone statues. There Dros of Duloc was killed. The only Man-at-Arms remaining was Zert of Dolmvay who had an uncanny nack for survival.
They opened one tomb and destroyed the ghoul within, found a magical longsword and some gold, and finally decided to return to town.
After spending a week in town the group added two more PCs:
Brother Percival a Human Cleric (St. Cuthbert)
Mazrik the Magician a Human Magic-User
Due to Zert unique ability to survive, he became a 1st level fighter and was hired as a henchman.
The following were also added:
Yacky the Torch-Bearer (Hireling)
Yacky had two goblin slave labourers he brought with him as part of the deal:
Yurk and Gak
Breston the Blugeoner (Man-at-arms)
Derx of Frogmorton (Man-at-arms)
Jax the Mighty (Man-at-arms)
The new (second) party:
Unfortunately things did not go well for this attempt either. In the Throne Room of Ak-Owgra the party was attacked by 7 skeletons, 2 zombies, and Ak-Owgra (Ghoul in armour with spells).
Before:
The only party members who survived were Rheiden, Mazrik, and Elwen (who I accidently killed off at one point by rolling the wrong damage die).
After:
Total Kills to date:
PCs: 3
Hirelings: 1
Men-At-Arms: 6
Henchmen: 1
Here's the tomb overview map:
(I'm still working on the Ruins of Mar Campaign, but with the start of the fall term I haven't had chance to get to it in detail.)
I created a short delve with the one-page dungeon sheet. I've made some changes to it, primarily swapping out the graph for a numbered photo of the dungeon (see below) using dungeon tiles. I found this cut out unnecessary steps. This adventure was designed with 4-5 hours of gaming in mind.
The adventure, entitled The Burial Tomb of Ak-Owgra (anyone know the movie reference there?), situates the adventurers as money-grubbing tomb-robbers. Here's the DMs backstory:
"Ak-Owgra, the Bandit Queen (some called the Bitch Queen) was entombed a hundred years ago. Many sought to plunder her tomb, and recently one group of brigands partially succeeded. Although they found rooms 1-4 most were killed off or fled. Rooms 5-10, including the main burial chambers, remain hidden. The defiling of her crypt has pushed Ak-Owgra and her buried minions into unlife."
What follows can be described as nothing less than maximum carnage.
The (initial) party consisted of the following first level PCs:
Rheiden the Human Male Fighter and Party Leader
Brother Banlin the Human Male Cleric (Obad-Hai)
Elwen of Riverwood, Female Elf
Talic the Human Male Magic-User
Joining the group were:
Ghiilner the Torch-Bearer (Hireling)
Grisit of Ulag (Man-at-arms)
Dros of Duloc (Man-at-arms)
Zert of Dolmvay (Man-at-arms)
All hirelings and henchmen were generated using a custom (emphasis on custom) version of the LL random hireling generator.
By the time the party arrived at the newly found tomb, the crypt door had been opened. The party lit torches and proceeded down the stairs. Here a pic:
The party proceeded into the first room and were surpised by a carrion crawler who was munching a half-eaten bandit while hanging from the ceiling. The CC paralyzed half the party before Elwen and Zert of Dolmvay managed to finish it off.
The group noticed one stone door bashed to pieces and proceeded down that hallway (without checking for secret doors). The entered a room and were attacked by giant spitting beetles. All three men-at-arms were below zero hit points and all made their saves vs death (see house rules). Sadly, Grisit was killed off by a coup-de-gras later in the battle.
The next room was filled with giant spiders and bodies of bandits in spider silk. The bit+poison or die seemed rather harsh to me and three party members died as a result. Brother Banlin (who never even had a chance to cast a spell before he died), Talic the Magic-User, and Ghiilner the Torch-Bearer all fell to spider poison.
The adventurers, now reduced by half, decided to press on rather than return to town to rest, re-arm, and recoup their loses. Instead they searched and found a secret door in the entry chamber and proceeded to a crypt room where they were attacked by lesser animated stone statues. There Dros of Duloc was killed. The only Man-at-Arms remaining was Zert of Dolmvay who had an uncanny nack for survival.
They opened one tomb and destroyed the ghoul within, found a magical longsword and some gold, and finally decided to return to town.
After spending a week in town the group added two more PCs:
Brother Percival a Human Cleric (St. Cuthbert)
Mazrik the Magician a Human Magic-User
Due to Zert unique ability to survive, he became a 1st level fighter and was hired as a henchman.
The following were also added:
Yacky the Torch-Bearer (Hireling)
Yacky had two goblin slave labourers he brought with him as part of the deal:
Yurk and Gak
Breston the Blugeoner (Man-at-arms)
Derx of Frogmorton (Man-at-arms)
Jax the Mighty (Man-at-arms)
The new (second) party:
Unfortunately things did not go well for this attempt either. In the Throne Room of Ak-Owgra the party was attacked by 7 skeletons, 2 zombies, and Ak-Owgra (Ghoul in armour with spells).
Before:
The only party members who survived were Rheiden, Mazrik, and Elwen (who I accidently killed off at one point by rolling the wrong damage die).
After:
Total Kills to date:
PCs: 3
Hirelings: 1
Men-At-Arms: 6
Henchmen: 1
Here's the tomb overview map:
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Our LL-B/X (OD&D & AD&D) House Rules
Much like the D&D game, our house rules are a pastiche. We base our game on Labyrinth Lord (LL) and are excited to see what the Advanced Edition Companion (AEC) has to say in a few months.
Our primary gaming experiences are from Moldvay Basic (B/X) and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D). Add on top of that a healthy interest in Sowrds and Wizardry (S&W) and you arrive somewhere close to our house rules. Our minis-lite approach stems from 3rd Edition and there's even one item from 4th Edition (Gads, I guess we just blew up the edition wars, ha!) Fun is always the final arbiter in our game.
We enjoy playing with minis and tiles. In our view, there's nothing wrong with a wee taste of tactical play. To that end we decided that the emphasis on rules-lite that suits our busy lifestyles does not exlcude a rule-lite approach to minis. We aren't power gamers and don't sit up at night finding new ways to bust the rules. So the below works for us:
Character Generation:
•Abilities: 4d6, [drop lowest], arrange to taste or 3d6 depending on adventure
•Hit Points: Maximum hp at 1st level
•Darkvision: Demi-human have vision in the dark instead of heat-sensing infravision
Clerics:
•Spontaneous Casting: Clerics can spontaneously cast any spell for a healing spell of the same level.
•Double (Spell) Dipping: Clerics may not memorize the same spell twice in one day without the use of magical items.
•Turning: For every turn attempt per day after the first the player adds +1 to the difficulty number on the Turning Undead Table.
•Bonus Spells: Clerics with Wisdom 15+ receive 1 bonus 1st level spell/day.
•Scrolls: Clerics may write their own spell scrolls at a cost of 250gp per level of the spell. The writing time is one week per spell level. Up to three spells can be written on a scroll.
Magic-Users:
•Spontaneous Casting: Magic-Users may spontaneously cast any spell for Detect Magic or Read Magic.
•Weapons: Magic-Users may use dagger, dart, quarterstaff, or sling. Human Magic-Users may use the longsword. Elven Magic-Users may use the longbow.
•Double (Spell) Dipping: Magic-Users may not memorize the same spell twice in one day without the use of magical items.
•Initial Spell Books: Magic-Users/Elves begin play with Detect Magic, Read Magic, two 1st level spells, and one 2nd level spell, of the player’s choosing.
•Scrolls: Magic-Users may write their own spell scrolls at a cost of 250gp per level of the spell. The writing time is one week per spell level. Scroll can hold a maximum of three spells.
•Bonus Spells: Magic-Users with Intelligence 15+ get 1 bonus 1st level spell/day
Thieves:
•Thieves use d6 for HP
Fighters:
•Only the human fighter may use the two-handed sword
•Excluding obvious two-handed weapons (halberd and two-handed sword), a fighter may wield any weapon on the weapon list two-handed and increase the damage die of that weapon by 1 (example: Battle Axe d8, wielded with two hands d10)
Dwarves:
•Hit Points: Dwarves use d10 for HP
•Racial Enemy: Dwarves are +1 versus Orcs and Goblins
•Two Handed Weapons: Dwarves may use the spear and the halberd, but not the two-handed sword.
•Armour Class: Armor class (+2) improves when attacked by creatures larger than man-sized (7 feet and over)
Halflings:
•Armour Class: Armor class (+2) improves when attacked by creatures larger than man-sized (7 feet and over)
Elves:
•Racial Weapon: Elves receive a bonus of +1 with the longbow
•Two Handed Weapons: Elves may use the halberd, but not the two-handed sword.
•Armour and Spell Casting: May only cast spells while wearing magical armour.
•Initial Spell Books: See Magic-User.
•Scrolls: See Magic-User.
•Bonus Spells: Elves with Intelligence 15+ get 1 bonus 1st level spell/day
Gods:
Lawful Gods:
Torm, God of Duty
St. Cuthbert, God of Justice
Neutral Gods:
Obad-Hai, God of Nature
Mystryl, Goddess of Magic
Chaos Gods:
Tiamat, Goddess of Vengeance
Orcus, God of (Un)Death
Combat:
•Ascending Armor Class
•Critical Hits: Natural ‘20′ roll DMG dice x2
•Critical Fumble: A natural ‘1′ means consult critical fumble table
•Hammer, light 1d6
•Hammer, War 1d8
•Heavy Crossbow 2d4 (Rate of fire ½)
•Mace, Heavy 1d8
•Two-Handed Sword 2d6
Mini Rules:
•To Hit Bonuses: Flank +2, Prone +4, Attack from Behind either +2 or +4 to hit circumstance bonus (DM call).
•Coup de Gras: Helpless opponent (Auto-Hit Save vs. Death + DMG or die)
•Moving: Any direction 5ft
•No Threatened Squares, No Attacks of Opportunity, No 5ft Step
•When adjacent to an opponent, movement is reduced by half
•Spears/Halberds: Have 5ft reach (1 Square); can also attack from the 2nd rank
•Missile Attack into Melee: Attack at -2, a natural low roll may hit party member (DM call).
•Missile Attacks: Must be more than 5ft (1 square) from target.
•The universal point blank range: 15ft (or 3 squares away). Any missile attack within PBR (or from either 10 or 15ft away) is +1 to hit. Any weapon listed at long range is -1 to hit (see page 54).
Combat Movement:
Human/Elf: 30 ft or 6 squares
Halfling/Dwarf: 20 ft or 4 squares
Death and Dying:
•Hit Points:
0 HPs: Unconscious for 1d6 turns then revives to 1 HP
-1 to -10 HPs: Save vs. Death, Save means 0 HPs (as above)
Below -10 HPs: Dead, No Save
•Bind Wounds: Heal 1-3 hit points after each combat if 5 minutes spent
Can bind unconscious character’s wounds to revive (with 1 hp)
•Funeral Pyres: If the body of a fallen fellow adventurer is recovered it may be burned on a funeral pyre. PCs may donate up to 100gp/level of their fallen comrade in gold, jewels, etc and earn an equivalent level of experience point bonus.
Our primary gaming experiences are from Moldvay Basic (B/X) and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D). Add on top of that a healthy interest in Sowrds and Wizardry (S&W) and you arrive somewhere close to our house rules. Our minis-lite approach stems from 3rd Edition and there's even one item from 4th Edition (Gads, I guess we just blew up the edition wars, ha!) Fun is always the final arbiter in our game.
We enjoy playing with minis and tiles. In our view, there's nothing wrong with a wee taste of tactical play. To that end we decided that the emphasis on rules-lite that suits our busy lifestyles does not exlcude a rule-lite approach to minis. We aren't power gamers and don't sit up at night finding new ways to bust the rules. So the below works for us:
Character Generation:
•Abilities: 4d6, [drop lowest], arrange to taste or 3d6 depending on adventure
•Hit Points: Maximum hp at 1st level
•Darkvision: Demi-human have vision in the dark instead of heat-sensing infravision
Clerics:
•Spontaneous Casting: Clerics can spontaneously cast any spell for a healing spell of the same level.
•Double (Spell) Dipping: Clerics may not memorize the same spell twice in one day without the use of magical items.
•Turning: For every turn attempt per day after the first the player adds +1 to the difficulty number on the Turning Undead Table.
•Bonus Spells: Clerics with Wisdom 15+ receive 1 bonus 1st level spell/day.
•Scrolls: Clerics may write their own spell scrolls at a cost of 250gp per level of the spell. The writing time is one week per spell level. Up to three spells can be written on a scroll.
Magic-Users:
•Spontaneous Casting: Magic-Users may spontaneously cast any spell for Detect Magic or Read Magic.
•Weapons: Magic-Users may use dagger, dart, quarterstaff, or sling. Human Magic-Users may use the longsword. Elven Magic-Users may use the longbow.
•Double (Spell) Dipping: Magic-Users may not memorize the same spell twice in one day without the use of magical items.
•Initial Spell Books: Magic-Users/Elves begin play with Detect Magic, Read Magic, two 1st level spells, and one 2nd level spell, of the player’s choosing.
•Scrolls: Magic-Users may write their own spell scrolls at a cost of 250gp per level of the spell. The writing time is one week per spell level. Scroll can hold a maximum of three spells.
•Bonus Spells: Magic-Users with Intelligence 15+ get 1 bonus 1st level spell/day
Thieves:
•Thieves use d6 for HP
Fighters:
•Only the human fighter may use the two-handed sword
•Excluding obvious two-handed weapons (halberd and two-handed sword), a fighter may wield any weapon on the weapon list two-handed and increase the damage die of that weapon by 1 (example: Battle Axe d8, wielded with two hands d10)
Dwarves:
•Hit Points: Dwarves use d10 for HP
•Racial Enemy: Dwarves are +1 versus Orcs and Goblins
•Two Handed Weapons: Dwarves may use the spear and the halberd, but not the two-handed sword.
•Armour Class: Armor class (+2) improves when attacked by creatures larger than man-sized (7 feet and over)
Halflings:
•Armour Class: Armor class (+2) improves when attacked by creatures larger than man-sized (7 feet and over)
Elves:
•Racial Weapon: Elves receive a bonus of +1 with the longbow
•Two Handed Weapons: Elves may use the halberd, but not the two-handed sword.
•Armour and Spell Casting: May only cast spells while wearing magical armour.
•Initial Spell Books: See Magic-User.
•Scrolls: See Magic-User.
•Bonus Spells: Elves with Intelligence 15+ get 1 bonus 1st level spell/day
Gods:
Lawful Gods:
Torm, God of Duty
St. Cuthbert, God of Justice
Neutral Gods:
Obad-Hai, God of Nature
Mystryl, Goddess of Magic
Chaos Gods:
Tiamat, Goddess of Vengeance
Orcus, God of (Un)Death
Combat:
•Ascending Armor Class
•Critical Hits: Natural ‘20′ roll DMG dice x2
•Critical Fumble: A natural ‘1′ means consult critical fumble table
•Hammer, light 1d6
•Hammer, War 1d8
•Heavy Crossbow 2d4 (Rate of fire ½)
•Mace, Heavy 1d8
•Two-Handed Sword 2d6
Mini Rules:
•To Hit Bonuses: Flank +2, Prone +4, Attack from Behind either +2 or +4 to hit circumstance bonus (DM call).
•Coup de Gras: Helpless opponent (Auto-Hit Save vs. Death + DMG or die)
•Moving: Any direction 5ft
•No Threatened Squares, No Attacks of Opportunity, No 5ft Step
•When adjacent to an opponent, movement is reduced by half
•Spears/Halberds: Have 5ft reach (1 Square); can also attack from the 2nd rank
•Missile Attack into Melee: Attack at -2, a natural low roll may hit party member (DM call).
•Missile Attacks: Must be more than 5ft (1 square) from target.
•The universal point blank range: 15ft (or 3 squares away). Any missile attack within PBR (or from either 10 or 15ft away) is +1 to hit. Any weapon listed at long range is -1 to hit (see page 54).
Combat Movement:
Human/Elf: 30 ft or 6 squares
Halfling/Dwarf: 20 ft or 4 squares
Death and Dying:
•Hit Points:
0 HPs: Unconscious for 1d6 turns then revives to 1 HP
-1 to -10 HPs: Save vs. Death, Save means 0 HPs (as above)
Below -10 HPs: Dead, No Save
•Bind Wounds: Heal 1-3 hit points after each combat if 5 minutes spent
Can bind unconscious character’s wounds to revive (with 1 hp)
•Funeral Pyres: If the body of a fallen fellow adventurer is recovered it may be burned on a funeral pyre. PCs may donate up to 100gp/level of their fallen comrade in gold, jewels, etc and earn an equivalent level of experience point bonus.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Home Game: Map for the Ruins of Mar Campaign
Here is a preliminary map for the beginning of a new AD&D-influenced B/X-LL game. I tentatively titled the new game The Ruins of Mar as the primary action takes place in a age-old ruin in a hilly region known as Mar. As you can see the town of Hillsbury will provide the base for the PCs, with the larger city of Duloc located further south. I will likely create a larger map of the region, but this is a starter. A tip of the cap to Grognardia's Dwimmermount map contained therein.
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