jeux de rôles

Château des Faussesflammes (Castle Xyntillan) session 6

David Skelector Château des Fausseflammes, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, jeux de rôles, megadungeon, OSR, Play reports, Roleplaying Game, RPG ,

Life has been hectic the past few weeks, which is usual for this time of the year, but more so this year as my wife is trying to adapt to a new job whilst still having to tie ends at the one she’s leaving behind. We’ll go at a much-needed trip at our cabin next week one last time before winter but for now, it’s gaming time!

Olivier is with his father this week end so no Team Jean this time. Well, that’s not entirely true as Stuffed Jean-Paul has seemingly disinterred himself and somehow got at the rendez-vous point (I’m sure Olivier will protest vehemently when he’ll hear about that!) and so he’s back as Cordélia’s creepy beads-eyed retainer.

Castle Xyntillan, by Gabor Lux. https://emdt.bigcartel.com/products

System: Worlds without Number, by Kevin Crawford

Adventurers – Player Characters (PCs)

  • Cordélia Lenoir (Marjorie), using the dark arts for good (probably), Necromancer lvl 2
  • Noah (Isaac), crafts stuff, Expert lvl 2
  • Monmon (Edmond), has a powerful antique spear, Warrior lvl 3
  • Loic Leblanc (Jason), healbot, Adventurer (expert/healer) lvl 2

Retainers:

  • Eudes le Bâtard (Marjorie), Comte de La Frenaie’s young bastard son, Morale 9
  • Stuffed Jean-Paul (Marjorie), killed by stuffed animals, now stuffed himself, Morale 12
  • Conrad (Jason), crusader, heavy drinker, Morale 9
  • Jacques (Isaac), daytaler, grumpy, Morale 7

Crypt

  • Zachary, Elementalist, electrocuted in front of the Anteroom (corpse in castle)
  • Pierre-Jean Pierre, ex-monk, clawed to death by a dark monk (RIP)
  • Edgar, daytaler, throat slashed by a dark monk (corpse in castle)
  • Charles, daytaler, skewered by a drunken skeleton (corpse in castle)
  • Hercule, caravan hand, seized off the raft by the Lake Monster. (MIA)
  • Pierre Laroche du Rocher, mason, pierced by the Huntsman’s arrows. (corpse in castle)
  • Alphonse, crusader, savaged by Count Giscard’s Children of the Night. (corpse in castle)

Previous Infractions:

Eliminated Tristano Malévol the Love-Lost. Eliminated Merlerik the Ancient. (0)

Smoked the Ruined Quarters: 1/2 Angered a werewolf washwoman: 1/2 Stole the Reliquary of Bygone Kings: 1 Failed to convince Jean-Honoré the butler of their lies: 1/2 Stole a treasure chest full of gold from the Lake Grotto treasury: 1/2 Interrupted Runcius Malévol’s pagan ritual: 1 Slightly annoyed Count Giscard Malévol while he drank « wine »: 1

Infractions rating: 5

Rumors:

  • My uncle once tried to rob the place with his pal, the miller. He was killed by a cupboard.
  • Alchemists and practitioners of dark arts have been seen in the company of Azédarac, the Bishop of Ximes!

We start in Vyônes. Noah have crafted himself a fast-loading crossbow. Noah and Loic fail to find a buyer for a regal outfit. Loic hires the Troubadour de l’Automne to help find competent hirelings. He hires ex-crusader Conrad this way. Noah hires one Jacques who seems to have a bad temper. Stuffed Jean-Paul simply show up at the rendez-vous point near Périgon, even if he had been put in a grave the previous week. Bruno is back but Cordélia isn’t interested as she’s been put off by his weird demeanor and his suspicious absence last delve. He begs to be in, without pay if need be, but to no avail. Instead, Cordélia forcefully gets him in the care of the monks at Périgon, hoping that they would find what the hell is wrong with him. Cordélia buys vials of holy water from the monks.

Grand Entrance

  • Near the Château Cordélia spot someone hiding behind a bush and send Stuffed Jean-Paul after it. The man in hiding start to run away and Cordélia shoots him with her bow. Loic heals him just enough so he can be interrogated. They learn that Gilbert the Fox want to ambush them once they exit. Loic slit the wounded man’s throat ruthlessly.
  • The adventurers try to interact with the 2 monstrous statues at the grand entrance but fail to have any reaction.
  • They open the great doors and see that Jean-Honoré the butler is there again in the vestibule. He seems lethargic, with his head down, but still hold a platter with goblets ready to serve. Cordélia sucessfully shoot the platter off his hand, the butler is dismayed at the spill and hurry away through a door to re-fill the drinks.
  • Nearby in the Entrance Halls the PCs find a Portrait Gallery. They interact with the portraits (Harry Potter-style): Philomène Malévol smiles and invites them upstair; a bureaucrat is annoyed with the interruption; skeletal and richly-attired Aristide Malévol ignores them; a paint his covered over and bleeds when scratched and a voice says « I’ll be vindicated, you can’t prove anything! »; an executioner is sharpening his axe; Marcel the Malnourished begs for food, Cordélia gives him a ration and ask him a few questions after but he’s sleepy after eating and takes a nap.
  • Cordélia sprinkles holy water on the living paints, except Marcel’s, they cease to be « alive »
  • A bit further they hear loud singing and much ruckus from a mess hall, they turn left instead in another corridor
  • They open a door into the Summer Wing, push aside a heavy curtain and get into a vast throne room with much cobwebs. There’s empty armors each standing in front of columns in rows facing each other. The PCs want the team to coordinate to tie up the armors with ropes, and using the curtain also (as they don’t have enough rope) to immobilize them in case they would get hostile. The plan mostly works, 5 armors are tied to columns but then they animate suddenly and Loic didn’t have time to tie his. And the 2 armors under the curtain just slice it open and free themselves. Combat ensues. Jacques takes a halberd hit on the face and dies instantly. Monmon manages to push an armor on the ground with the help of Cordélia, the armor disassemble with the impact, a swarm of (little) spiders get out of it, quickly scattering away. Loic slam his hammer on another’s helm and dislodges it from its shoulders with the same result. They then team up to break apart the last free armor.
  • They inspect the decorated throne. They find a jeweled scepter in a hidden compartment. They also find a button and when pressed it makes the throne descend into the catacombs.
  • They go down with the throne into the Lake Grotto area.
  • Next room Cordélia does a Smite the Dead, annihilating a bunch of undead nuns.
  • A bit further, now into the Oubliette area, they get inside an impressive statuary, they’re attacked by 3 Stone Reapers (statues with scythes). Monmon uses his magic spear to good effect. He and Conrad got wounded too but are immediately healed by Loic. A tough fight but they prevail. They find a precious necklace, a mundane lantern and sheet of paper with a spell of warding (single use) inscribed on it.
  • Right next to the statuary are prisoner cells. There’s 3 prisoners, one weirdo is chewing on a dead rat, says that this way the vampires will choose to drain somebody else. Another, Jaubert, gets a promise from the adventurers to kill Mortagu the warden/executioner and bring back the keys. The other one is a gaunt woman that keeps silent.
  • They leave the captives behind and go in search of the warden. Past a clammy corridor they get into a root cellar. There they see giant beets, almost humanoids in shape, slumbering. Careful to not disturb the beet creatures they go inspect a statue of a woman that seems out of place. They find a secret passage behind and go inside.
  • They get into a cistern room. There’s a well entrance above them. There’s corpses in the water, zombies that animate when they get near. The PCs hurry away and spike the door behind them.
  • They get further, evading a trio of cackling witches in a kitchen.
  • Next room is empty except for an axe and a stump. And dried blood everywhere. Monmon takes the axe, thinking it will piss off the executioner to be weaponless! (there was chance of finding Mortagu here but it didn’t happen)
  • Next room there’s a weird thing going on as heavily-armored Monmon is attracted in the center where a spiked ball attached on a chain is rotating furiously. He got hit 2 times before he could extricate himself from the magnetic field (but he can take it).
  • Nearby they find a secret door and get into a large circular room bordered by alcoves. They have time to search a few before alerting the resident rats. A whole horde of rats, hundreds. The PCs flee through the only door and quickly close it behind them.
  • They leave the angry screeches and scratching and now see that they’ve circled back to the clammy corridor and root cellar. From there they get to a wine cellar. There’s many barrels along the wall and messing with them they find one that is empty, behind is a secret passage.
  • They enter and once they get out of a man-made tunnel they arrive in a cavern. Oddly, they can see the light of day entering at the other end of the cavern. There’s also a satyr wearing robes. He let them pass with the promise that the adventurers bring him alcohol on their way back.
  • The PCs enter the Indoorness, a primordial forest unstuck in time and space.
  • They follow a path and soon get into a clearing where they see a gazebo surrounded by wildflowers. They get inside. (the players are not old-timers, they have no fear of gazebos) The gazebo fly up at vertiginous speed and reach a splendid cloud garden. They get back on the ground after a while, feeling refreshed.
  • Further on the forest path, they come across another clearing, this time there’s a mill. The miller talks about giant mice, trolls under bridges and a druid who’s master of the forest. They pay good money for a cask of whiskey and leave.
  • The adventurers were worried at the thought of encountering trolls and decided it was time to turn back and call it a day. They gave the satyr the cask of whiskey which he seized and gulped down without another word. They entered back the catacombs, found their way up to the throne room and managed to get out of the castle yet again… with grumpy fellow Jacques as casualty.

(I had planned to have the players ambushed by bandit Gilbert the Fox and his men as they exited the castle, as it was pretty much telegraphed from last session’s rumors and today’s foreshadowing (the man in hiding) but it was getting late and so it’ll be another time.)

Session wrap up:

  • 5 hours session with a lot accomplished, a lot of exploration done if a bit haphazard. They found the way to the « Indoorness » which frankly I’m quite surprised by. When I read the book the first time I wasn’t sure they would ever find it at all. Interesting…
  • First time the players get to interact with portraits, even if they’re like everywhere in the castle. That was fun.
  • No random encounters, not a single one, against the odds, as I’ve rolled like 30 times (with a 1 on d6 needed)!
  • XP: Participation: 1 Treasure: 2 Secrets: 3
  • Treasures: Scepter of the Merovings. Jeweled Necklace.
  • Fatalities: Jacques, got hit in the face by an Empty Armor’s halberd
  • Quote: Marjorie: « Eeeekkk, spiders! I squash them all! Every single one of them! »
  • New Infractions: Stole the Scepter of the Merovings, Defaced living portraits with holy water.

Session 46: Temple of the Ever-Burning

David Skelector D&D 5e, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Homebrew, jeux de rôles, Play reports, Roleplaying Game, RPG, Ruins of chult campaign

Petite session de 3 heures dans laquelle les PJs ont eu le temps d’explorer et de nettoyer le premier de trois étages du temple volcanique. Nous aurions pu jouer plus longtemps mais honnêtement j’avais atteint mon quota plus tôt qu’à l’habitude.

Personnages Joueurs (PJs)

  • (Jason) Shin, (level 10) Tabaxi Fighter (arcane archer), Outlander, veut devenir le plus grand chasseur de tout les temps + Vorn, Shield Guardian
  • (Marjorie) Kalohan, (level 10) High Elf Wizard (evoker), Inheritor,  doit trouver un sort inconnu jusque là avant de pouvoir obtenir son héritage
  • (Isaac) Anfi, (level 10) Locathah Fighter (eldritch knight), Outlander, venu sur la terre ferme en passant par la Caverne-Tunnel, là pour découvrir ce nouvel environnement + Salamandre Géante
  • (Olivier) Léon, (level 7>>8) Human Monk (way of shadow), Outlander, revenu à la vie grâce à Zotzilaha, maintenant libre de faire ce qu’il veut
  • (Edmond) Vingt, (level 6>>7) Myconid Druid (circle of spores), Acolyte, envoyé de Zuggtmoy, la Déesse du fongique + Fourmi Zombifiée

Fuite de Gaz

Les PJs sortent de la salle au trésor. Ils savent que les ennemis sont maintenant aux aguets mais Shin trouve un second passage secret qui leur permet d’éviter de sortir là ou on les attend de pied ferme. Ils formulent un plan: la magicienne va utiliser un sort de Gaseous Form sur elle-même pour tenter de trouver les captifs tandis que le reste du groupe l’attend dans la pièce fermée. Pour plus de sûreté, Kalohan crée une grille avec un Fabricate pour bloquer le passage d’où ils arrivent (1). Puis elle s’échappe en flottant (2).

Chapelle de Feu

En nuage de gaz la magicienne traverse des groupes d’ennemis impunément et parcourt le lieux. Elle traverse des logements de Firenewts, des étables pour les Striders, des entrepôts à vivres et matériels; un habitat assez mondain pour le moment (3). Elle trouve aussi une pièce où sont emprisonnées des harpies, de celles à la langue coupée au service des mercenaires du Flaming Fist, mais pas de traces de l’équipage du bateau volant pour le moment. Puis elle aboutit dans un lieu de culte dédié à Kossuth, dieu des Volcans. Au milieu d’un cercle de braises ardentes se tient un individu agenouillé, en prière, faisant fi de la chaleur. Kalohan hésite à faire un Detect Thoughts, décide contre, et au moment ou elle veut quitter les lieux un mur de feu s’érige et lui bloque le passage. L’individu se redresse, toujours parmi les braises, (c’est visiblement un Efreet) et l’enjoint à venir prier avec lui. Nullement intéressée elle fait un Dispel Magic dissipant le mur de feu et s’éloigne (lentement). L’Efreet lui dit: « On se reverra » et se contente de la regarder s’éloigner.

La porte est percée

Pendant ce temps le groupe subit un premier assaut contre leur position alors que les lourdes portes sont rougies de chaleur puis percées par un pseudopode magmatique. Léon attaque le pseudopode avec un puissant poing d’air, repoussant ainsi le Magma Ooze. Celle-ci par contre peut tirer de dangereuses boules de magma, heureusement que Vingt est là pour faire de la guérison!

image:paizo

Shin et Anfi en profite de leur côté pour envoyer flèches explosives et Ice Knife respectivement par l’ouverture, réduisant les ennemis. Un moment s’écoule puis une nouvelle tentative a lieu alors qu’un imposant personnage (4) défonce la porte!

image:paizo

Il est accompagné d’une autre douzaine de Firenewts, certains ont le temps d’envoyer des crachats enflammés vers les PJs mais ils sont bien vite en déroute alors que le Children of Kossuth succombe sous les attaques combinées des aventuriers.

Dernière Vague

Les ennemis n’ont pas dit leur dernier mot, 2 Fire Elementals s’infiltrent par le tunnel, la grille n’étant pas un obstacle pour eux, tandis que des Firenewts mené par un dangereux cultiste Pterafolk se prépare à attaquer par la porte défoncée. Les élémentaux se révèlent plus difficiles à éliminer pour les PJs, Anfi et Léon absorbent beaucoup de dommages simplement en les attaquant de proche. Shin est lui aussi blessé puisque il était à l’arrière et se retrouve cibler par un des deux, son Shield Guardian est passablement endommagé par l’autre.

Heureusement, Kalohan revient de son exploration à ce moment et un Cone of Cold bien placé a vite fait de changer le rapport de force. Elle est un moment en duel magique contre le Pterafolk mais ce dernier n’est pas de taille contre le combo Lightning Bolt/Counterspell de la magicienne (5).

Ensuite, le groupe de nouveau réunit se rend dans un coin de l’étage encore inexploré où ils affrontent de nouveau des Firenewts, cette fois accompagnés d’une sorte de dinosaure cornu à carapace. Léon se téléporte d’une ombre à une autre et esquive ainsi une charge qui fait trembler le sol. Flèches, sorts et coups déferlent sur la bête confuse, qui succombe vite malgré son blindage. Les Firenewts sont de la chair à canon et sont encore une fois décimés.

Les aventuriers trouvent un imposant escalier…

Notes du DM:

  1. Ils auraient également pu mieux barricadé les doubles-portes mais ils n’y ont pas pensé
  2. d’un point de vue tactique c’est bien, mais un joueur qui fait de la reconnaissance seul c’est presque toujours un problème pour l’ambiance du jeu selon mon expérience
  3. ce qui est réaliste mais pas fascinant
  4. un children of Kossuth, un Fire Giant essentiellement
  5. le système de magie de D&D commence à sérieusement me répugner!

Next session: D&D 5E, Temple of Fire

David Skelector D&D 5e, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Homebrew, jeux de rôles, Roleplaying Game, RPG, Ruins of chult campaign, session prep

Our next gaming session will be this weekend for Marjorie’s birthday. She tells me she’s eager to play her 10th level wizard again, and feel powerful, that’s what she said, so we’ll be back in our 5E campaign. We’ll return to the Château des Faussesflammes/Castle Xyntillan soon enough though as the kids much prefer it.

Anyway, last time we played the characters had entered the volcanic lair of fire-loving pterafolks. Their goal is to find the survivors of the Star Princess, an airship that crashed in the area a couple of weeks ago. They managed to enter the lair with stealth and immediately had a choice: turn left into a dimly lit area and explore discreetly or turn right and have a fight against a pterafolk leader and two dozens firenewts guards. They chose to fight. They pretty much decimated their opponents without much resistance and not long after, past a secret door, found the lair’s treasury.

Right there, after like 4 or 5 keyed areas, on a 3 levels, mid-sized dungeon.

That’s because I’m using Gygax’s Hall of the Fire Giant King layout:

The main concept is pretty neat in my opinion; the fire giant king, the « Dungeon Boss » and his treasure is accessible at the very start of the lair. But is it worth abandoning discretion so soon? The players have to make that choice and as designed, it will have a huge impact on how organized or not will be the dungeon’s defenses afterward. Because the goal of the adventure isn’t treasure this time around, it’s to find information (who united the giants in this case), attacking the Boss (and looting the place) can be actually detrimental to their mission.

So, I’m not actually running this adventure mind you, I just needed a map (I’m lazy with maps), but then I liked this idea and decided to use it. It’s a similar setup, in our game too the goal is to find someone, or clues at least. And as I said, my players chose to fight and loot, so our upcoming session will be combat-heavy as the defenders, who are intelligent and had time to organize, will try hard to repulse the invading adventurers. It’s fire-themed, with the aforementionned pterafolks and firenewts will be a variety of monsters that I didn’t use at all in the campaign until now. Including magma oozes, I have this great mini… I just have to use magma oozes!

Play report here.

Château des Faussesflammes (Castle Xyntillan): Session 4

David Skelector Fantasy, jeux de rôles, megadungeon, OSR, Play reports, Roleplaying Game, RPG ,

This play report, and the next one, comes from game sessions played at our cabin with the boys. This summer has been incredibly rainy here in eastern Quebec so we had to stay indoors more than usual. Its unfortunate – I hope that’s not a climate trend that will settle, though it could be a lot worse of course, like the fires that are STILL raging west. But let’s switch to a lighter subject…

Castle Xyntillan, by Gabor Lux. https://emdt.bigcartel.com/products

System: Worlds without Number, by Kevin Crawford

Adventurers – Player Characters (PCs)

  • Paul Neref (Olivier), Warrior lvl 2
  • Noah (Isaac), Expert lvl 1
  • Monmon (Edmond), Warrior lvl 2

Retainers:

  • Paul-Jean Paul (Olivier), in training to be a full-fledged Warrior, cousin of deceased Jean-Paul Jean, Morale 8
  • Hercules (Isaac), Caravan Hand (hvy), nervous, Morale 7
  • Alphonse (Edmond), Crusader (hvy), has a ring of false keys, Morale 9

Crypt

  • Zachary, Elementalist, strangled by Malvina Malévol and electrocuted in front of the Anteroom
  • Jean-Paul Jean, Man-at-Arms (hvy), lackwit, ripped apart by stuffed animals
  • Pierre-Jean Pierre, Man-at-Arms (hvy), clawed to death by a dark monk
  • Edgar, Man-at-Arms (hvy), throat slashed by a dark monk
  • Charles, Man-at-Arms (hvy), skewered by a drunken skeleton

Previous Infractions:

Eliminated Tristano Malévol the Love-Lost. Eliminated Merlerik the Ancient. Smoked the Ruined Quarters. Angered a werewolf washwoman. Stole the Reliquary of Bygone Kings. Failed to convince Jean-Honoré the butler of their lies.

Infractions rating: 3

Rumors:

  • It is said that the Hero Roland himself was buried under the Castle, and a great relic with him.
  • The goats are not what they seem.

Through the Cave Mouth

  • The group, smaller than usual, decide to search for the cave mouth entrance that they’ve heard about. They build a raft with the help of artisan Noah’s knowhow. It’s a bit fragile but it’ll do to get them on the castle’s lake side.
  • They disembark in a garden area with unkept vegetation and an outdoor chapel. There’s a fountain in the chapel with copper lambs with topaz for eyes. Paul can’t enter the chapel for some reason. Monmon wanted to pry off the topaz eyes but changed his mind and went against it. Noah takes the white clothe from the altar.
  • There’s stairs leading down to the lake surface. Paul notices a small cave entrance hidden behind vegetation. Here it is, the entrance to the Lake Grotto, the rumor was true! They go inside, water to their thighs.
  • Bats fly out of the passage. The adventurers find objects in the water, amid bones, a golden comb and a decorative sword.
  • The passage leads to a larger grotto but Paul finds a secret door and they get to a flooded vault with 7 submerged sarcophagi. Another secret door, hard to find, leads them to room with a treasure chest. They’re happy with their find but at this moment they hear the dead coming at them. The fight doesn’t go too bad, except for Noah that is nearly dead the others only have a few light wounds. They resume pillaging the treasure chest. There’s a lot of gold and also, a mummified bird that squawks: « X marks the spot« .
  • With bags full of gold, the adventurers decided to call it a day.
  • They’re back in the flooded passage but between them and the exit are 7 headless manservants. They’re weaponless and not much of a challenge though and the adventurers cut through them and get out.

Wrap up:

  • XP: Participation: 1 Treasure: 2 Secrets: 1
  • Treasures: 5000gp!
  • Crypt: None
  • Quote:
  • New Infractions: Stole a treasure chest full of gold
  • Paul Neref still mentally shaken after 3 visits at the sanatorium

Château des Faussesflammes (Castle Xyntillan) – Session 3

David Skelector Fantasy, jeux de rôles, megadungeon, OSR, Play reports, Roleplaying Game , ,

This session’s goal (as stated by Olivier), is to retrieve henchman Jean-Paul Jean’s corpse so that his cousin can bring him back to the family. Olivier has really taken this to heart to Marjorie’s utter befuddlement… I think it’s hilarious and awesome. Jason could not be with us so no healer this session but fortunately for the players my random encounter rolls were very light, no dangerous Malévol specter this time around.

Castle Xyntillan, by Gabor Lux. https://emdt.bigcartel.com/products

System: Worlds without Number, by Kevin Crawford

Adventurers – Player Characters (PCs)

  • Cordélia Lenoir (Marjorie), Necromancer lvl 2
  • Paul Neref (Olivier), Warrior lvl 2
  • Noah (Isaac), Expert lvl 1
  • Monmon (Edmond), Warrior lvl 2

Retainers:

  • Eudes le Bâtard (Marjorie), Man-at-Arms (lgt), Comte de La Frenaie’s young bastard son, Morale 9
  • Paul-Jean Paul (Olivier), in training to be a full-fledged Warrior, cousin of deceased Jean-Paul Jean, Morale 5
  • Hercules (Isaac), Caravan Hand (hvy), nervous, Morale 7
  • Alphonse (Edmond), Crusader (hvy), has a ring of false keys, Morale 9

Crypt

  • Zachary, Elementalist, strangled by Malvina Malévol and electrocuted in front of the Anteroom
  • Jean-Paul Jean, Man-at-Arms (hvy), lackwit, ripped apart by stuffed animals
  • Pierre-Jean Pierre, Man-at-Arms (hvy), clawed to death by a dark monk
  • Edgar, Man-at-Arms (hvy), throat slashed by a dark monk
  • Charles, Man-at-Arms (hvy), skewered by a drunken skeleton

Previous Infractions:

Eliminated Tristano Malévol the Love-Lost. Eliminated Merlerik the Ancient. Smoked the Ruined Quarters Angered a werewolf washwoman. Stole the Reliquary of Bygone Kings. Infractions rating: 2

Rumors:

  • You can get in through a cave mouth from the lake if you don’t care for a frontal approach.
  • Périgon’s monks had their faith shaken really bad recently, some of them aren’t devout christians anymore…

Retrieving Jean-Paul Jean

We start in Périgon. Loic the Healer is unavailable. Louis the Man-at-Arms promptly retired after seeing 3 companions die horribly in last foray. Bruno the Man-at-Arms didn’t show up, reasons unkown. There’s only a pair of recruits to hire but both have seen action before and are capable fighters. Paul Neref spent some time at Ste-Zénobie’s sanatorium trying to restore his sanity, wasn’t done with his treatment and still went back with the other into the cursed château.

  • The adventurers decide to enter at the Grand Entrance instead of the Gatehouse, a bit odd as it’s farther away from their chosen objective, the Ménagerie.
  • The two statues bordering the double doors react at their approach, one erupts in maniacal laughter, the other flicks its fingers. Nothing else happens.
  • They open the heavy doors and find themselves into the Vestibule. There’s a ghostly butler weeping softly in a corner. The PCs ask him why he cries but he simply denies and ask whose names he shall announce. Cordélia thinks on her feet and answers « Claudette Malévol ». The butler, Jean-Honoré, seems unsure but tell them to sit down and wait for his return.
  • The PCs bolt away as soon as he turns the corner, open the nearest door and get into another part of the Servants’ wing.
  • First room is a simple maid’s room but they do find a silver dagger under a pillow.
  • Next door opens into the Stables. Through their rummaging they manage to find a lucky horseshoe.
  • They then open the door to the kitchen where 5 horrible cooks (ghouls), are busy hacking henchman Charles’ corpse. The PCs react first and Cordélia do a powerful Smite the Dead and kill 4. Monmon finish the last one with a spear thrust but then he opens another door and a guillotine trap hurt him severely. Cordélia heals him with a balm.
  • Paul hears Jean-Honoré in a nearby room talk to others about the « visitors ». The PCs hurry up further away. They get into a corridor and then another and finally get to a place they already visited, the entrance passage leading to the garden area.
  • They find henchman Pierre-Jean’s corpse in a wheelbarrow with ravens pecking at his face. They leave him there for the moment.
  • From there they open the same side door they did in their first visit, hesitated at the propect of crossing the corridor of the phantom steeds and looking at their maps decided to go the long way.
  • Heard the werewolf washwoman singing and they hurried away.
  • They finally get to the Ménagerie, once again the Huntsman on the throne blows his horn and disappear along with his dogs. They see the stuffed animals on their pedestals, To their dismay they can see that Jean-Paul has been added to the display, dressed as a hunter!
  • Cordélia tries something, a Command the Dead spell on stuffed Jean-Paul and it works, he’s under her command! She wishes to use him to shoot the Huntsman if he gets back.
  • They wait.
  • And wait some more.
  • Still no Huntsman.
  • But 6 undead aristocrats, alerted earlier by the butler, found them: « you misérables mécréants, surrender! »
  • The adventurers attack. Cordélia use her wand of the marshland, points the moss tapestry, and vines immobilize one undead fop. Paul and Monmon charge side by side and kill 2 in no time.
  • The stuffed Lion chooses this very moment to come to life and jumps on Cordélia but he only graze her with a claw attack. Stuffed Jean-Paul shoots the lion but misses.
  • Eudes bravely attacks the stuffed Lion and slashes it with his sword. Monmon gets over there and pierce it with his magic spear.
  • Meanwhile, Noah and Hercules kill an undead aristocrat together and Paul Neref another one. The remaining one tries to flee but Paul is swifter and ignoring his pleas for his unlife, slays him.
  • Eudes finishes the stuffed Lion with another good slash. Alphonse cuts the head of the undead aristocrat bound by vines.
  • They get out of the castle, Jean-Paul Jean in tow, looking creepy with glass beads for eyes…

Wrap up:

  • XP: Participation: 1 Treasure: 0 Secrets: 0 Special Mission: 1 Total: 2
  • Treasures:
  • Crypt: None
  • Quote: Marjorie: « I’m Claudette Malévol, a, er distant relative… »
  • New Infractions: Failed to convince Jean-Honoré the butler of their lies.
  • Retrieved Jean-Paul Jean and Pierre-Jean but left Charles all hacked up on the kitchen’s table.
  • Paul Neref still mentally shaken after 2 visits at the sanatorium

Worlds Without Number rpg – almost a review

David Skelector Fantasy, jeux de rôles, review, Roleplaying Game, RPG, science fantasy

Edit 2024-04-09: I’ve refined a bit my thoughts after more sessions of play.

Edit 2024-06-25: idem

Worlds Without Number (WWN) is a 396 pages book by Kevin Crawford. It’s origins lies in the Stars Without Number sci-fi rpg system by the same author. This time the default setting « Latter Earth » is a science fantasy world in the vein of Jack Vance’s Dying Earth, Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun or M. John Harrison’s Viriconium (those are my own references, sadly the author doesn’t cites his inspiration sources).

What the book claims to offer is nothing less than everything you need to run a sandbox campaign, or about 2/3 of the book on worldbuilding, mostly in the shape of random tables. The worldbuilding part seems well done to me but I’ve only skimmed through that part, I might use some of this content some day but as of yet I didn’t. The reason why I’ve bought WWN is for the rpg system it offers – so my comments for today will focus on this (much slimmer) part.

What the WWN system is all about?

  • It’s a hybrid system. An old-school D&D chassis (i.e roll 3d6 in order for your six attributes) combined with a modularity (i.e foci (feats) that let you be an expert at something, combat or otherwise that also have hydrid classes) that you don’t find in most standard old-school systems.
  • It has only 4 main classes: Expert, Warrior, Mage, and the Adventurer (that lets you combine with one of numerous « part-classes » with something like 80 combinations). There’s sub-classes for the Mage: the classical High Mage, the Necromancer, Elementalist and many more. To be frank, I’m on the fence with this whole part-class thing, it offers a lot of options for customizing a character but it also feels a bit wonky. It’s like two systems of character creation instead of one, maybe not a bad thing per se but not the most elegant piece of design either IMO.
  • Human-centric world. You can play an elf or dwarf or WWN’s own brand of fantasy races, but only with a bit of fiddling.
  • The spells have Vancian names like: « The Coruscating Coffin » or « The Jade Palanquin of the Faceless God ». The magic-users have very few spells per day (only one at 1st and 2nd level!) but again, they’re a lot more impactful than your regular magic missile, i.e. Invisibility at level 1. Magic isn’t risky (like in DCC for example) but you have to choose your moment carefully for maximum impact. Aside from the spells, mages have Arts, lesser magical abilities, most of them utilitarian in nature (read magic + darkvision combined as one example). Each magic specialities have a good list to choose from.
  • Combat is d20 based but skill checks use 2d6 + attribute mod + skill level (1 to 4) to beat 6, 8 or 10 or more depending on difficulty. With this less random formula, the characters skill’s competency feels a LOT more relevant.
  • On the character’s sheet there’s a list for « readied items » based on the encumbrance capacity (strength-based) of the character. It’s great and efficient.
  • Combat is fast and deadly and in my impression it feels more chaotic than tactical (not necessarily a bad thing) unless you pay very close attention to the list of combat options provided i.e. screen ally, snap attack, etc.

Some things unique to WWN:

  • There’s a « Shock » mechanics in combat – martial melee weapons will often (except against an opponent with high AC or with a shield) do damage, even with a miss. It’s a bit conterintuitive but characters that are built for combat (warriors in particular) can do potent damage without ever succeeding with their d20 fight checks…
  • There’s a System Strain mechanics that put a limit (your constitution score) on the number of time you can be healed before having to recuperate in a safe place (i.e in town).
  • Levels are capped at 10 at which point you may (depending on the type of campaign) become a « Legate » and have access to new powerful abilities.
  • A lot of character features to mititgate randomness, including automatic hits, sucesses on skill checks, balancing of hit points the more you level up, etc.

So here’s a few from the hip comments after we had several sessions of play, this might change with further experience:

  • Overall WWN characters are as fragile (edit: not quite true, they have several options to mitigate damage) as your standard old-school one but feel a lot more capable.
  • The list of part-classes and foci available ensure a great customisation but that comes at a cost: if a player wishes to examine all the options then creating a character in minutes like in simpler systems would be impossible.
  • My players are a bit confused with the Shock thing. A low hit points character can easily die from just the shock damage and that seems a bit excessive. But overall I think it makes more sense than wooshing weapon swings half the time.
  • My brother Jason played an Adventurer (part-Expert, Part-Healer) and can do magical healing all the time, like every frikin round. He even calls his character a « healing tower » like in these tower defense video games… It’s an odd design choice, in stark contrast with the full Mages who have one big moment per session and I’m still on the fence on what to do with this character. (edit; removed the character)
  • The system strain is, as far as I can tell, designed to be implemented within an expedition of several sessions’ worth of play. With how we’re playing now with the PCs always back in town after their session of dungeon-crawling (and with downtime), it doesn’t come close to being relevant. I think I’ll have to adjust that.
  • My sister’s Necromancer have wiped out 20 out of 24 (1 HD) skeletons with her Smite the Dead spell in last session. Her unique spell of the day but certainly well-spent. The magic system is still fairly close to D&D but its tweaking of limited-use but POTENT spells is interesting. But don’t expect your main villain to fare well in this environment!
  • If most of the WWN system is perfectly okay for generic fantasy, the crafting system notably is pretty much designed with science fantasy in mind.
  • The Intelligence attribute isn’t linked to magic-using this time around so I guess you could have a dumb as a rock Mage? It feels wrong to me. Intelligence is linked with « efforts » which are used to fuel the « Arts », the lesser magical abilities.
  • The book lacks a proper bestiary, (edit: it has some creature base stats as well as options/powers to add but that’s it, creatures have to be « built », they are not ready to use). Edit: That’s still my biggest complaint to date.

All in all, WWN has some weaknesses and I might tweak a few things but I like it. It offers a solid core, with its main strengths being the handling of skills, character customization and idiosyncratic magic system. The main character classes are well thought out and you can easily create whatever you have in mind if you invest a bit more time. A D&D-adjacent game that has a pretty unique feel.

Not an Oathbow, a Hatebow

David Skelector D&D 5e, Fantasy, Homebrew, jeux de rôles, Roleplaying Game, Ruins of chult campaign

I’m still committed to our D&D 5E Ruins of Chult campaign in case anyone wondered with our recent foray into OSR. Proof is in the pudding as the English say (I love these kind of silly sayings), here’s a little post about something that happened not too long ago.

I’d messed up badly with a magic item that the players looted in their last dungeon-crawling. I had put an Oathbow in the Master Archer’ sarcophagus fittingly enough; the fight was difficult and warranted a good reward. Sooo, I read the description of the Oathbow a bit too fast and ended up involontarily boosting it a lot. The Oathbow gives a potent bonus to damage (3d6) to an opponent that its wearer chooses as its « sworn enemy ». There’s an important drawback: as long as your enemy lives you have disadvantage on attack rolls with all other weapons (if an enemy ever succeed in fleeing you’re in for a rough time). If your enemy dies, you can choose another next dawn. And that’s the last part that I’d skip. Félix’s character, the owner of the Oathbow switched from one dead enemy to another continuously for a few fight at least, until I realized my mistake…

I could have just corrected it, adding the limitation I forgot earlier but it felt kinda wrong as it was my mistake and not the player’s. But then I had an idea, what if it’s not really an Oathbow but an Hatebow, its more powerful but cursed (homebrew) version?! The Hatebow causes its wearer to be so full of hate that he sees enemies everywhere! Use it too much and you won’t distinguish between friends and foes…

I LOVE cursed items.

Anyway, we have had similar situation earlier in the campaign with Rufb’s berserk axe and the players broke the curse with a suitable quest. This time I just told the player, Félix, that his character felt the danger posed by the Hatebow, that he had to be careful less he succumbed to the dark side so to speak. No mechanics, just roleplay, as long as the character behave accordingly. And young Félix was excellent all along, limiting himself and roleplaying an increasingly morose character when he did use it. It proved to be a very good decicion I think.

Château des Faussesflammes (Castle Xyntillan): Session 2

David Skelector Fantasy, jeux de rôles, megadungeon, OSR, Play reports, Roleplaying Game, RPG , ,

Short session, 2 hours only and the players did some shopping and recruiting first so not a lot accomplished. Still, they went to a new section of the castle, found a few trinkets, had a dangerous fight and lost a few people…

Castle Xyntillan, by Gabor Lux. https://emdt.bigcartel.com/products

System: Worlds without Number, by Kevin Crawford

Adventurers – Player Characters (PCs):

  • Loic (Jason), Adventurer lvl 1 (partial expert/partial healer)
  • Cordélia Lenoir (Marjorie), Necromancer lvl 1
  • Paul Neref (Olivier), Warrior lvl 1
  • Noah (Isaac), Expert lvl 1
  • Monmon (Edmond), Warrior lvl 1

Retainers:

  • Eudes le Bâtard, Man-at-Arms (lgt), Comte de La Frenaie’s young bastard son, Morale 9
  • Bruno, Man-at-Arms (lgt), dreamy-eyed, Morale 9
  • Paul-Jean Paul, Man-at-Arms (hvy), cousin of deceased Jean-Paul Jean, Morale 5
  • Pierre-Jean Pierre, Man-at-Arms (hvy), escaped friar, Morale 9
  • Louis, Man-at-Arms (hvy), scrounger, Morale 7
  • Edgar, Man-at-Arms (hvy), have a pet hawk, Morale 8
  • Charles, Man-at-Arms (hvy), scrounger, Morale7

Crypt

  • Zachary, Elementalist, strangled by Malvina Malévol and electrocuted in front of the Anteroom
  • Jean-Paul Jean, Man-at-Arms (hvy), lackwit, ripped apart by stuffed animals

Previous Infractions:

Eliminated Tristano Malévol the Love-Lost. Eliminated Merlerik the Ancient. Smoked the Ruined Quarters Angered a werewolf washwoman. Stole the Reliquary of Bygone Kings. Infractions rating: 2

Rumors:

  • Fausseflammes? I would rather go to Malinbois, a much better place!
  • Wearing red will keep away the Scarlet Specter… for a while.

We start in Vyônes. The adventurers have a buyer for the Reliquary of Bygone Kings. Fortunately they found its secret before selling it; a hidden compartment held an antique spear tip. They sought a capable artisan to assemble the spear tip into a potent weapon. The artisan, Noah, joined them thereafter. They also recruited a few other Men-at-arms, amongst them is the cousin of deceased Jean-Paul Jean who wants to retrieve his corpse. Cordélia decides to triple their hiring fees (she has now 4 retainers by herself).

Gatehouse:

  • Dozens of ravens perched on the gatehouse.
  • They go at the double doors, two skeleton sentries are quickly dispatched.
  • Past the double doors is an entrance passage with murder holes, door at their right is stuck, Monmon kick it in.
  • There’s loud singing coming from further away but first they stop by an ominous statue depicting a zombie or leper. Cordélia notice a hidden compartment in the pedestal. Inside is a brain in a jar, she breaks the jar and turn the brain into a pulp.
  • Next there’s a mess hall full of cobwebs with singing skeletons acting like they’re drunk. Cordélia destroy most of them with a Smite the Dead (necromancers can be potent undead hunters in WWN). But the remaining skeletons pick up their rusty swords and charge. New retainer Charles is slain in the ensuing melee.
  • The PCs search the mess hall but are interrupted by the sounds of rattling chains, a red specter appears, barely visible, demanding a blood sacrifice! Most weapons they have don’t seem to work against it. He inflicts a terrible wound which bleeds profusely on Monmon but Loic heals him with magic. Monmon counters with a stab of his powerful spear and hurt the specter. Paul hit it with his magical dagger. The PCs hears the chains fading away, they follow.
  • They’re now in a chapel with a strange procession of monks. The red specter already waiting for them goads the monks in taking a « blood toll ». One monk points the PCs with a clawed hand. Combat ensues. The adventurers managed to slay the dark monks but have lost Edgar and Pierre-Jean to their sharp claws. Fortunately the red specter did not join the fight.
  • On an altar, Paul finds a fossilised ammonite and as he takes it he gains primordial insights (xp) at the cost of his sanity…

Wrap up:

  • XP: Participation: 1 Treasures: 0 Secrets: 1 Total: 2
  • Treasures:
  • Crypt: Charles: skewered by a drunken skeleton, Edgar: throat slashed by a dark monk, Pierre-Jean Pierre: clawed to death by a dark monk
  • Quote:
  • Infractions:

Castle Xyntillan

David Skelector Fantasy, jeux de rôles, Roleplaying Game, RPG , , , ,

I took a day off last friday and decided it was time to try something new for our scheduled gaming session.

Some months ago I had bought Castle Xyntillan, directly from its designer in Hungary.

Now, Castle Xyntillan is an Indie/OSR megadungeon from game designer Gabor Lux, and is very much UNLIKE the D&D 5E books that I’ve purchased the past few years (albeit the last one I bought was like 3 years ago). Being nothing like a 5E book is in my present state of mind, a very good thing.

Its an adventure module set in haunted castle, not entirely serious but not a pure funhouse either. At the heart of the adventure is, of course, the impressive castle, but also its twisted and wicked inhabitants, the Malevol family members, truly a malevolent bunch!

As designed the module offers no clear end goal (indeed, goals should emerge from play) but it has TONS of delightful content to throw at the players. I think we could do easily 12-15 sessions just with the castle. Or dozens of session if I add side-adventures and whatnot.

I’ve decided to put Castle Xyntillan in author Clark Ashton Smith’s Averoigne, only the slightest of divergence from the default Valley of the 3 Rainbows setting anyway.

Set in a fictional medieval France. Averoigne is a forested and backwater region, beset by monsters, particularly witches, werewolves, vampires, and huh, beasts from beyond the veil…

I’m a big fan of CAS but I won’t be the first to use Averoigne. Tom Moldvay, in his 1981 module Castle Amber did just that.

The capital of the region is the gargoyles-infested city of Vyones. The other city is Ximes in which resides the Archbishop Azédarac, a dark sorcerer and demonologist.

(Aside: I’m pretty sure Gygax distorted the name Azédarac into Acererak, his infamous demi-lich of Tomb of Horrors fame)

There’s the cursed woods of Malinbois, the smaller town of Périgon with its monastery and then there’s the disquieting Château des Faussesflammes. Indeed, Castle Xyntillan will in fact be this very Château.

Now, I’m using the Worlds Without Number rpg system (which I might talk about in a future post). Learning how to play with both a new system and new style of play wasn’t effortless on my side or my players’, mistakes were made and a few tears were shed even, but our first session was certainly memorable and worthwhile.

Stay tuned, play report coming soon!

Supreme Headdress not fashionable enough?

David Skelector D&D 5e, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Homebrew, jeux de rôles, Roleplaying Game, RPG

One treasure the players found in Iyayo’s tomb was the latter’s « Supreme Headdress », a magic hat that gives +2 to all 6 attributes.

No character have claimed the Supreme Headdress yet.

It’s pretty good, even if it does compete with load of magic items accumulated in 45(!) sessions of play. It’s D&D 5E so there’s a limit of 3 « attuned » magic items per character. I’ve houseruled that at 10th level (as most of the PCs are now) they can have a fourth.

looks like the one at the bottom right, nice beard heh!

But that’s not the crux of the problem. My players all agreed that their characters would look weird with this hat on.

I did want something that looked ancient and it does seem, huh, impractical, but in-game there’s no real drawbacks…

And I mean, both Shin and Leon have wore a hat that looks like a dead spider but somehow that’s the one that is too weird? Is that the line they won’t cross? I find this all very funny!