I briefly mentionned Blade & Bastard in an earlier post and if you’ve been reading my blog a bit you know I’m a big fan of Ryoko Kui’s Dungeon Meshi (Delicious in Dungeon). Tower Dungeon by Tsutomu Nihei (author of Blame!) would be another one in this rare breed of manga that goes DEEP in the dungeon aspect of fantasy.
Or maybe I should say HIGH, ’cause y’know, it’s a TOWER DUNGEON…
Brought forth from the Heavens by the Big Bad Evil. It’s so colossal that I think oxygen-deprivation should legit be a problem.The way to access it is via the old decrepit mountain fortress that is conveniently close to its base.The Tower, Tower of the Dragons more precisely , appeared very recently. A makeshift bridge is all there is. Watch you step.The interior is a proper labyrinth, with nice verticality.You can bypass some Levels by climbing these rickety stairs outside, which obviously entails its own risk.The structural integrity of this 18km high, 3 km wide Uber Tower, is far from perfect.As for its denizens… They’re a close-knit bunch, a bit exclusive of outsiders one might say.And have seen better days themselves.What is he saying? Some kind of warning?
I should add that Tower Dungeon is kind of the opposite of something like Blade & Bastard (or most fantasy stuff really) which is also interesting but follows a set of fantasy conventions to a fault. Most things in Tower Dungeon are unique to this original setting as far as I can tell.
Edmond had this idea of acquiring some sort of ballista on wheels and I had to explain the impracticality of it inside a dungeon environment sadly. Could have said yes and he wouldn’t have get past the chasm and rope bridge of Level 1 and crushed his dreams that way…
Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (Isaac)
Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)
This session’s main goal: kill the orcs’ first line of defense
What the other adventuring guilds are doing at the moment:
Green Imps: training in Longfelt
The Protectors: exploring Longfelt’s underworks
Black Axes: adventuring, try to find a tower in Ganfal swamp
The Musers: left Longfelt but kept quiet on their objective
Longfelt
The Battle Brothers stay the night at the Hare & Hound Inn. They buy some field rations. Jedri pays to repair his morningstar. Torch would like to buy an oversized crossbow but finds it too expensive. Forca pays some rounds in taverns and listens to rumors: « The Wizard Balfour’s tower is rumoured to hold great treasure. » And: « A group of bandits is operating out of Prickly’s End Forest. They have so far been able to evade the Baron’s forces. Their leader, Uthbarth the Pike, is wanted, dead or alive. »
Ganfal Swamp
On their way to Gunderholfen they encounter a group of four hostile Ogres and have to fight them. Forca got hit by a powerful blow and barely stands on his feet but Grimoire heals him back to health after the fight. They find suspicious meat, foul-smelling tobacco, smoking pipes and a few coins but not much else.
Closer to the dungeon they spot some broken statues of hobgoblins in awkward poses. The elf hunter can see oversized chicken feet tracks all around. The « statues » are the work of a Basilisk it seems, but fortunately it’s nowhere in sight.
Gunderholfen
They make a stop at Fryniwyd’s new shop. They chat a little and buy a vial of paralytic poison extracted very recently from a local cave scorpion.
They go down via their usual shortcuts, have reached Level 3 and only have a few rooms to go to the stairs leading to Level 4 but… they can see that the series of doors leading south are all open! That means… Yes, there it is, you can see it, can you? The floating sword! The Gelatinous Cube is upon us! Torch the goblin reacts quickly and burns it with his torch and it seems that fire work amazingly well against it. The Cube counters on Torch, firing a big ball of corrosive slime but most of it didn’t touch the goblin (minimum damage). Forka is reluctant to get close to it, Aracyne let go of two arrows, doing very good damage. Grimoire channels maximum mana into a spell to send 3 Fireballs at once into the Gelatinous Cube and slays the big slime monster! The freed sword clanks on the ground. Jedri takes it, remove the scabard and everyone can see a dim purple light emanating from the blade. There’s writing on it, its name is Perseverance.
This done, they go directly to their Level 4 outpost. It hasn’t been disturbed in their absence apparently. They add another barrel of dry meat to their emergency food stash.
Thence, they go south and east to reach the great cave inhabited by the orcs. Exactly as the previous time there’s 10 orc archers, 5 sentries on each side of the cave entrance, on higher grounds than the invaders. The orcs act first and fire a volley, no questions asked, inflicting a few wounds on the adventurers but nothing too bad. Grimoire casts Levitate on Forka who lands on the western promontory and immediately kill an archer with a massive hammer blow. Aracyne kill two orcs with arrows. Torch wounds another with a thrown spear, finished by a thrown dagger from Jedri. Now five against six, the adventurers continue the onslaught as Jedri joins Forka with another Levitate, and kills an orc with his new magic sword. Aracyne kills another orc but then his bow almost breaks in two and is damaged. Grimoire the goblin mage is the target of a deadly arrow but he is saved by his fellow goblin companion who takes the hit instead on his armored self, with lesser consequences. The adventurers have the upper hand and finish off the orc archers who chose to fight to their bitter but swift end, their calls for reinforcement not yet answered.
The PCs are now all together on the western promontory and they can hear a lot of commotion from further north and west. The orcs are far from defeated.
TBC…
Closing comments:
The past few years I’ve slowly learned to embrace random tables as a Dungeon Master, having « learned » my trade (if we can say that) in the 90s when it wasn’t a popular thing to do at all. Random encounters are simple enough to use or design, and a staple of dungeon-delving and understandably a main component of OSR gaming. But I’m still trying to improve my homebrewed random tables, specifically for the other adventuring parties’ actions. I could easily decide by myself what they’re up to but that’s not the point. Impartiality is the point. Emergent story is even more the point I should say. Anyway, a work in progress it definitely is.
For the Gelatinous Cube I’ve used the statblock of the Giant Amoeba from the DB Bestiary, simply added a camouflage ability. It’s a pretty powerful monster in fact with 64 hp and ferocity 2, but takes double damage from fire, which fortunately the players exploited almost immediately.
Isaac had the idea of hiring mining folks to dig a tunnel to reach the orcs from a less unfavorable direction, but he changer his mind after I said it would take at least 10 days of digging, maybe a month, with something like 6 gp per day to pay the crew in salary and food. So it had to be frontal assault instead. Their characters are better equipped and stronger than last time but the orcs are a lot more numerous than the players suspect.
Our family just did a no-screens weekend as a kind of mental detox. No computer, no tv, no cellphone, no nothing. And it went so well that the kids would do it again every other weekend!
And guess what doesn’t need any screen? You got it.
Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (Isaac)
Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)
This session’s main goal: exploring more than half of the « dwarven city »
What the other adventuring guilds are doing at the moment:
Green Imps: adventuring but not in Gunderholfen
The Protectors: resting/recuperating in Longfelt, Bodil is concussed, Bodil and Efram have infected wounds
Black Axes: adventuring in Gunderholfen, Level 2 and 3
The Musers: leisure in Longfelt
Level 4A outpost
The Battle Brother did not leave the dungeon last time but rather, they’d rested in their Level 4A’s outpost and did so without any disturbance. Rejuvenated they went back directly to the cavern of the flaming bats, the two surviving ones were in no mood to fight.
Level 4B
From there a passage leads to a cave with an obelisk in the middle with writings in dwarvish. Nobody can read it but Forka knows (myth & lore check) that this must the entrance to Nharzed, the City of the Masons, a place renowned for its craftsmanship before the War of the Long-Lived.
A slight breeze is coming from the south, bringing an awful stench of death to the adventurers’ nostrils.
There’s a set of large steps leading up and a high crenated wall a bit further with a broad entrance from which mist furtively enters.
The PCs start to climb the steps but then a stocky humanoid gets out of the shadows, a dwarf but with dead flesh crawling with maggots: a Plague Zombie. Its stench is overhwelming and its presence is frightful to behold. Forka cannot will himself to attack it. Aracyne shoots two arrows, hitting the undead square in the chest but with no great effect. Grimoire pushes it with a Mental Strike, sending it tumbling violently backward almost thirty feet. But the undead gets up, and it is fast, and dashes toward the nearest adventurers and get into melee against Forka and Jedri, who both manage not to flee. A Fireball from Grimoire finally seems to do some real damage to the monster. Forka has a hard time with the awful stench that is even worst for his acute sense of smell and he gets wounded by a claw attack. One more Fireball from the goblin mage and then Jedri gets wounded but counters with a mighty hit (crit) to the dead dwarf’s head with his morningstar, splitting its skull open, slaying it to everyone’s relief.
Grimoire casts Treat Wound on Forka and Jedri and after that the party enters the City proper:
« Crumbling buildings from a forgotten age and cracked, worned streets stretch away through dim, gloomy mists.The cavern walls soar upwards out of sight, the space ahead vast and foreboding. Fallen walls, piles of rubble and shattered stone line the streets, the air heavy with the stench of fear. »
The PCs are exploring the nearest buildings and attract the attention of a group of ten skeletons. Forka, Jedri and Torch gets into melee, trying not to be surrounded, and get to work. They slay the skeletons without too much troubles, Jedri needs healing from Grimoire again but Forka and Torch only have a few scratches.
They continue exploring, see another group of undead east through crumbled walls and decide instead to go west and south. They enter an empty building and go to the next but are welcomed again by undead, this time eight Living Dead. At one point in the fight, Forka was forced on the ground and threatened by several hungry Living Dead but his companions helped him back up and the undead were defeated. They find a golden locket and silver lyre among the rubble inside the building.
They go east and get near some kind of temple but Forka can tell that the smell of death is even more awful in this place and they decide to go elsewhere.
Thence they go directly to a kind of central plaza with large standing stones that they can see further south and east. When they arrive there though all hell break loose as a pack of skeletal animals, 6 ghouls and 6 civic officer-garbed undead get out of several nearby buildings, mostly from the south, and all converge on the PCs. The latter choose to make a tactical retreat and run back to the building they’ve just cleared in order to benefit from the protection of mostly intact walls. Aracyne quickly perch himself up on top of a wall as the building is roofless, and start to rain arrows at the ghouls, wounding two severely, making those flee. Forca and Jedri block the entrance and fight the skeletal animals, with Torch using his spear to attack from behind. Aracyne shoot another ghoul, hurting it badly, and now the ghouls collectively have enough of the whole getting shot at thing (failed morale check) and all flee. The three fighters finish off the swarm of skeletal animals and get into melee against the « civic officers » undead but those don’t prove to be that fearsome and the adventurers have the upper hand ultimately. The fight finished, Grimoire heal the wounded.
The PCs decide to clear the northern area of the undead they saw earlier and soon get into a fight against ten more skeletons. Aracyne put his bow aside as it’s not that useful against skeletons, and get to work with his short sword alongside his companions. Grimoire, who was staying back, spots three ghouls (some of the group they saw earlier) that were trying to sneak up on them. He incinerates a ghoul with a big fireball and burns another with a smaller one. The two remaining ghouls flee again. Meanwhile the fight against the skeletons is under control, the adventurers got a few painfuls stabs here and there but they managed to win again.
Grimoire uses his last reserve of mana to heal the wounds. All of the adventurers are quite exhausted by the successive fights by now (depleted willpower points) and Aracyne, the guild leader, call it a day. The Battle Brother leave Nharzed behind, and go up, by their usual method of shortcuts, all the way to Level 1 where they make a short stop to talk the newly-installed gnome merchant Frinywid – who tells them that he saw another party of adventurers a bit earlier, the Black Axes. He wasn’t sure if they were going to rob him or worse at the time as they look like a bad batch he says, but they didn’t. They’re probably somewhere in Level 2 by now.
The Battle Brothers leave Gunderholfen, the trip through the Ganfal Swamp is fortunately uneventful and they reach Longfelt before the end of the day.
Closing comments:
Nothing happening while they rested at their Level 4 outpost between sessions. Rolled at random of course. There’s a countdown going on though (random too, but chances are increasingly higher the more time goes on), as the orcs will understand sooner or later that the ogres aren’t there anymore and they’ll want to look into their former den. The orcs, or maybe someone or something else will.
Several big fights in this session, there’s no xp for combat so I’m not sure that it really served the purpose of the players (apart from having fun) not to try evade them. They can certainly be systematic about it and clear one area after another but this will take a lot of time.
Level 4B, Nharzed, is a cool place, spooky and all. There is several special locations in the area but the players didn’t explore any of them this time, instead they explored one building after another full of rubbles. I think a random table of stuff to find in abandonned buildings or things happening or whatnot, would be great to make the area even more interesting. I may do just that for the next time they go there, we’ll see.
Crossing the Ganfal swamp in their depleted state was a bit risky, another big fight like last time could have doomed them.
I’ve been reading two new mangas, published recently, both interesting and heavy on dungeon-delving but very different in style: Tower Dungeon and Blade & Bastard. Tower Dungeon is the more interesting of the two in my opinion and I’ll probably talk about it soon enough, but today I’m gonna talk about the other one, or more precisely I’m gonna talk mostly about the inspiration source of Blade & Bastard – the original video game Wizardry that started it all.
Note the Wizardry trademark on the bottom right of the book, it’s not simply wizardry-inspired like so many other stuff out there, it IS wizardry in manga form.
What intrigued the most in Blade & Bastard is one of its main theme that the main protagonist explains to a rookie adventurer- you can die in the Dungeon – in fact, there’s a really good chance it will happen sooner or later if you keep at it – but other adventurers may find you, bring your corpse to the Temple of Cant and you can be resurrected (paying the Dime of course) and be back to adventuring. There’s also a pretty high chance that the resurrection magic doesn’t work, in that case, it it most certainly God’s will, or so the priestess says, deeming you worthy of an afterlife instead of sending you back to your adventuring life. NO REFUND. Or maybe the ritual has been botched… Who can tell?
So one thing leading to another, in a full on autistic endeavor, I’ve decided to try the steam’s re-mastered version of the first Wizardry video game, with all the « retro » options on. If I’m to believe the game’s blurb the only difference with the original (apart from vastly improved graphics, music and sound effects) is some corrected bugs that afflicted the original, the gameplay and content is essentially the same.
After losing several characters in the Proving Grounds’ Level 1 (they clearly didn’t make the cut!), I finally managed to have a half-decent party of level 3-4 characters and explored a big chunk of Level 1 and 2.
There’s several monsters in Level 2 that do POISONED, a real pain in the ass, each time I have to rush back in town to lose the effect as I’ve no easy way to counter it otherwise.
My party also encountered Rotting Corpses that do PARALYSIS, and 3 of my 6 characters were affected, including my priest that could have removed it with his newly-acquired DIALKO spell. Back in town, I see that I can pay the Temple to remove the effect but I don’t have enough money.
I recruit a bunch of new guys, level them up a while putting them with the 3 non-paralysed characters, lose some of them, get back two of my paralysed ones in time and then I find an elevator in a darkness-shrouded area of Level 1 while bumping in the dark.
I try the elevator, can’t really do much in Level 2 with it so I go to Level 3 for the first time, just a quick look I said to myself and then the game throws one of its NUMEROUS CURVEBALL at me: the door I just opened is no longer accessible from the other side – I’m stuck in unkown territory… That’s really bad. I defeat a bunch of « level 3 priests » and then encounter six coyotes (of all things) that wipe the floor with my party. All DEAD.
I still have one level 5 guy that I had left in town, Bragg the dwarf fighter, and I recruit another bunch of level 1s, enough in fact to build up two parties as I now want a back-up party at all time.
After much grinding to level up the two parties, I begin the exploration of Level 3 but from the stairs now. I find out the hard way that Level 3 has several undetectable pit traps and I lose another entire party.
Now, I go more cautiously around with my surviving no-longer-back-up party, my priest’s spell LUMILWA helps a lot as I can detect secret doors and evade the pit traps that way. My gnome priest now has LATUMOFIS to remove poison, so that’s no longer the big annoyance it was. And she can also casts MAPORFIC, a very useful spell that lowers (that’s good) everyone’s armor class for the entire delve.
Anyway, I manage to reach the spot where my last party was TPKed, there’s a message on the bottom of my screen « characters are present in this area » or something like that. I can take my dead companions with me! But wait, I can never have more than six characters at a time in my party for some reason, I have to leave some of my living ones behind (they will wait there) but I still need to have the strength to cross Level 3 and get back in town…
So I go with 4 living characters and bring 2 corpses back at a time, a real chore I tell you. Some I resurrect at the Temple sucessfully, some turn to ashes and are now too expensive to be worth resurrecting, some I just take their equipement (I have some +1 armors by now) and leave them be. Sorry, but I need the money.
That done, I level my guys up some more in Level 3 and start to explore Level 4, both by way of the elevator and by the stairs.
My A Team has now in the front row: a level 5 human Lord (when he changed class he dropped back to level 1, his stats dropped significantly but he kept his hp), a level 7 elf samourai (a fighter with low-level mage spells), a level 8 gnome priest (got up to 9 but was drained a level by a Shade), in the back row: a level 7 gnome bishop (mix of mage and priest spells, can also Turn undead), a level 9 halfling thief (almost useless in fights but necessary for disarming traps on chests) and a level 9 elf mage (the most useful character for big fights, her spells are devastating, but she has only 22 hp).
I’m pretty confident by now, I’ve just killed two Gas Dragons (okay I thought I was doomed in that fight but they weren’t that fearsome at all). I found the stairs to Level 5 but I’m finishing Level 4 before I go further down.
And then I open a door to an unexplored area (just got the gold key to open it) and immediately (programmed I suppose) get into an encounter with: a Masked Man, 2 Priests, 2 Robed Men, 2 Armored Men. Competing adventurers? I have no idea, this game doesn’t offer this kind of information. Now, the « Robed Men » are obviously mages and I think they are priority targets. I select my actions for this round, my mage’ll do a LAHALITO (level 4 spell, 6-36 dmg on everyone of a row) on the mages, attack them with my fighters too and my priests will soften up the opposing Priests, my thief will hide as it’s the only thing he can do. The actions are completed, I’ve killed only one mage, the Priests are wounded and that’s it. On my side… The opposing mage had let off a MAHALITO (level 3, 4-24 on everyone of a row) on my front row, not too bad. But the Armored Men and Masked Man do massive damage, 40+ each, my Lord and Priest are DEAD. My Samourai is at half hit points. UTTERLY RIDICULOUS. I get it now, another curveball. This is a serious, serious fight. I select MADALTO (level 5, 8-64 dmg on row) with my mage on the Armored Men, my bishop will try a MANIFO on the Masked Man to try to paralyze him (this spell rarely works but I have to try something), my Samourai and Thief will attack the Mage, hopefully they’ll finish him off before he acts. The second round’s results: the mage foe dies, that’s great. My bishop’s spell fails. My samourai is slain by an Armored Man. My mage is too slow to act and is killed by a single sword swing as she’s no longer back rank. My two surviving characters are my worst in a fight, my bishop and thief. They try to flee next round, they fail, they die. I’m back to grinding if I want to continue.
An absolute beating… My soul is crushed. I have still some characters in town, Bragg the dwarf fighter, now level 9, is still alive somehow and I could assemble another decent team if I wish. But I have enough of the game for now.
I still enjoyed a lot the game, the playful nature of the dungeon’s levels, the joy of discovering secrets, of understanding what has to be done in order to survive, of gaining new spells that offers a new quality of life suddenly, etc. Apparently I was underlevelled for this big fight too. And my whole team had some bad rng for hit points gains except my priest I think, with my front rank not that great for tanking hits. But all that said, it’s gonna take a while before I play this game again, the grind needed to win it is painful and my leisure time is limited. But you have to respect Wizardy: proving grounds of the mad overlord, both for the challenge it offers and its legacy. A legacy particularly important in Japan due to some twist of fate, where it inspired a multitude of sequels and spin-offs.
And that leads us back to the Blade & Bastard manga wherein we can see all of the wizardry’s quirky gameplay on display but with the narrative format that allows to explore its universe from other angles, as with the aforementionned resurrection in the Temple of Cant. As a player of the video game I had some incentive toresurrect some of my characters, but only if it meant keeping a good character instead of the grind of building another one from the ground. In an immersive story it can mean much more obviously, getting back your fellow adventurers, long time friends and such.
Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (Isaac)
Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)
This session’s main goal: find the « dwarven city »
What the other adventuring guilds are doing at the moment:
Green Imps: adventuring but not in Gunderholfen
The Protectors: resting/recuperating in Longfelt, Bodil is concussed, Bodil and Efram have infected wounds
Black Axes: leaving for Gunderholfen soon
The Musers: leisure in Longfelt
Longfelt
The BB buy a lot of food rations, put them into a small barrel, with the idea of leaving it inside their newly-acquired Level 4 outpost.
While taking their breakfast at the Hare & Hound Inn they are visited by a gnome merchant (and magic-user) named Frinywyd who has an offer for them. He wants to open shop into the liberated Level 1 of Gunderholfen and asks for the BB if they would escort his caravan to get there and they gladly accept.
Ganfal Swamp
The crossing is slower than usual, leading the caravan on the treacherous road half-eaten by the swamp. Halfway through, one side of the cart slides into muddy waters and it takes great effort from the group to get it back on firm land. (Forca get disheartened in the process)
Fortunately they reach their destination without further hindrances.
Gunderholfen
The BB advise the gnome merchant to occupy the room of the late goblin chief in Level 1B and he does so. They also take a look at his wares and Aracyne buys an amulet of spell focus. They see that the gnome sells bottled elementals that can help in fights but the asked price is a bit too steep.
They then go down to Level 2, have to defend themselves from several hungry Stirges and then take the secret ladder to Level 3. From there they cross the dead kiigoths’ territory and go down (very cautiously) the slippery stairs to Level 4.
They find their outpost undisturbed, door still staked, and they leave their rations inside. They write a quick message on the door: « The Battle Brothers are here » with a cray and leave to explore.
They first go nearby, just south of their outpost, and entered a warm area with low visibility due to steam. They hear a high-pitched laughter and a loud PLOP and see, barely, a small winged creature flying above them – a steam mephit. Aracyne has time to shoot an arrow at it and manages to hit it despite the obscuring vapor. Forca is convinced that the nearby stalagmite is a creature and hits it with his hammer, breaking a chunk of it but with no further result.
The wounded mephit avenges himself by creating a rain of scalding water on everyone below. Torch protects himself with his shield but the other adventurers are wounded (fortunately I rolled very low on damage). Another mephit sends a jet of hot water at Jedri, who fails to evade and is wounded. But then the PCs act. Aracyne finishes the wounded mephit with another well-place arrow. Grimoire casts a fireball at the other, hurting it ligthly. He then casts Levitate on Forca who smash the mephit with an hammer blow and kills it. With no further threat, Grimoire casts Treat Wound on Jedri and then PCs search for treasure and it takes some time but they finally find some ancient dwarven coins (10 gp each) that were stashed on top of a stalagmite.
Thence they go back at the intersection and go south and soon get in another fight despite their attempt at stealth, this time against a juvenile ankheg. An arrow from Aracyne is deflected by the insectoid’s carapace and the creature try to hit Jedri with one leg but he evades. The ratman then counters with two powerful hits from his light flail and morningstar, wounding the ankheg. Next, Forca delivers a massive blow of his hammer, so powerful that it detaches the monster’s head from its body, killing it instantly. The close by lair lair of the ankheg is littered with bones but nothing else.
The PCs continue on the path that they’ve been told leads to the the dwarven city, going east and south generally, and after that west, inside a long and warm natural passage that debouche in a large, even warmer cavern. The air is dense with mist.
Forka the dogman, even with his helmet on, hears some kind of high-frequency sounds emanating from somewhere above and, through the mist, the PCs can see several glowing spots. They soon see what’s the meaning of all this when creatures plunge towards them: Flaming Bats!
5 Flaming Bats (with some other « warming up » above) get near the PCs. Two of them belch clouds of black smoke, partially obscuring the adventurers’ vision. Another try to rake Aracyne but he dodges. Same with Jedri. Another let go of a jet of fire on Forka but his armor protects him. The adventurers make quick work of all but one bat, but 3 more are coming to the fight! One makes a fiery dive towards Jedri but he dodges. One comically latches on Forka without managing to hurt him in the least and the knight body slams the bat on the ground (brawling attack), crushing it under him. Meanwhile, Aracyne concentrates his shots on the bats flying too high and kill several. Jedri kills a bat but then he inadvertently throws his flail several yards away and also bends his morningstar (two mishaps in a row)! Grimoire casts Levitate on Forka and the latter smashes another bat midair. A bat bites Forka and this time, pierces the armor. Another one painfully burns Jedri with a fire jet. But before long there’s only two Flaming Bats remaining, still on the ceiling, that seem more interested in perpetuating the species than to fight.
Victorious in this big fight, the adventurers have a look at the passage to the south, a bit further peek at the gate of the dwarven city and call it a day, having numerous wounds and depleted willpower for almost every PCs (and some conditions) and return to their Level 4 base to rest.
Closing Comments:
Escorting the caravan meant increased chance of random encounters but none occured, only a DB ‘s journey mishap.
I did not really convert the steam mephit for DB but it worked fine nonetheless, with the first mephit summoning another and then trying to keep away from the PCs and attack at range.
Forka’s heavy armor is very handy in fights, no doubt about that, but that makes sneaking for the group virtually impossible (they could still split and scout ahead). I like how it balances overall.
The fight with Flaming Bats was finished within 6 rounds, a pretty big fight and really fun I’d say. I made it easier because I ruled that 1d6-1 bats joined the fight each round, so not the whole14 bats of the room all at once. But it was challenging and the PCs had to spend a lot of ressources to win so I think it was good.
Just a quick shout-out to dripton from DF Whiterock as he consistently offers the best rpg play reports out there on his blog, in a category of his own really. Way better than what I’m doing over here I must say, my dear readers. He includes an impressive level of details for one, and never to the detriment of entertainment – not an easy feat to accomplish when writing play reports.
His present endeavor is a campaign of Dungeon Fantasy (a GURPS variant), he’s indeed a DF guy – within the Halls of Arden Vul mega dungeon (which as a bonus I’m also a big fan of).
So, what can I add? The best play reports ever, precise and humorous. Also, a lot of behind the curtain to be appreciated by dungeon masters or would-be dms.
I’ll try to have something like a weekly session, at least bi-monthly, of this campaign with my kids for the coming months until summer, we’ll see if I manage to do it.
Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)
Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (me)
Gunderholfen
We start in Level 4, with the Battle Brothers and Protectors in the ogres’ den. Having slaughtered most of the adult males and ordered the survivors away, the adventurers clean up the place, using the open pit to good effect, to make it, well, less of an ogres’ den.
After that, they block the door and camp there for the night. Forka, in his turn to keep watch, hear footsteps nearby and whispering voices. There’s the smell of orcs. But they seem to turn back the way they came.
Next day they begin together their ascent towards sunlight. They tie themselves together with rope for the slippery stairs to Level 3. Reaching Level 3, they do a small detour to see Grom the ogre and ask him some questions. They give him a 50 gp gem and learn from him of the quickest way to reach the « dwarven city » (going south of the ogre den in Level 4, then south-east and then west in a long, noticably warmer passage into a large carvern and then south to reach their destination).
They encounter a patrol of ant workers in Level 2 busy transporting dead giant rats and neither side is interested in fighting.
They reach Level 1C, into what was the hobgoblin area and got to a portcullis that was always closed to them in the past. They opened it and, a bit further, got to a deep vertical, artificial shaft with chains dangling but no easy way down.
They backtracked and then reached Level 1B and got out by the « goblins » door.
Ganfal Swamp
Aracyne leads the group competently through Ganfal Swamp and they make good progress despite the harassing environment but then, several hours in, they see a dozen or more humanoids in ragged clothes emerging from behind an outcrop: ghouls!
The adventurers fire a salvo of spells and arrows on the howling undead and four of them are slain and another immobilized by a spell of ensnaring roots. But the ghouls are now in melee. Bodil gets hurt by a claw attack and then tackled to the ground and is in great danger. Efram the Mage gets vomited on by a ghoul and then flees not long after, demoralized by the terrifying howling. Aracyne is dishearthened but stands his ground.
Two more ghouls are on the approach. Bodil the elf is badly hurt and unconscious. The Hunter Adalbert also flees after another howling near him. Two ghouls are avidly pursuing Efram and Adalbert. Bayard smashes a ghoul’s face in with his magic mace and it’s killed. Jedri drops his flail inadvertently but has a dagger to continue fighting two-weapons style. Grimoire the goblin Mage casts 3 small fireballs and efficiently finish 3 already wounded ghouls. Forka team up with spear-wielding Torch to slay another. The mage Delevan cast Levitate on the ghoul on top of Bodil and throws it away, hurting it in the process, then he goes to help his fleeing companions.
Twelve ghouls have been slaughtered, two surviving start to run away, one is stuck in place by Ensnaring roots and is finished by a big hammer blow delivered by Forka. The adventurers have won, with one casualty among them: Bodil is concussed and has infected wounds. Adalbert and Efram also have infected wounds. Fortunately they soon get out of the swamp, into the farmlands, talk to some peasants on the road and reach the city of Longfelt.
The two adventuring guilds make a vow of friendship, decide to leave each other signs (cray writings) in the dungeon if they go separately and then say farewell to each other.
Closing Comments:
Grom has gotten back his leadership of the ogres thanks to them, there’s that, but he thinks of the adventurers as dangerous and untrustworty and won’t be a true ally. Giving information in exchange for money to the PCs so they go explore a dangerous area is the most he’s ready to do in my mind.
The Level 1 mining shaft isn’t there in the book (it replaces an exit to open air), I added it for some unscrutable reason…
Rolled an encounter in the swamp and was tempted to just pick an appropriate monster in the Dragonbane Bestiary but instead I’ve rolled on the d20 table and got 20, ghouls.
Ghouls in dragonbane don’t have any paralysis abilities as the D&D ones but, as monsters, have a d6 table to roll on to determine what they do, and also, as monsters, they always hit (it’s up to the target to try to defend if they wish). I rolled for each ghoul separately and it went smoothly enough.
First session of Dragonbane/Gunderholfen since september of last year. Shame on me.
Last session the Battle Brothers had persuaded Bayard and his Protectors to make a temporary alliance and fight together against the denizens of Level 4.
Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)
Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (me)
Level 4
The two adventuring guilds, ten strong, descend the long slippery stairs down to Level 4, taking their time to decrease the risk of falling. They also devise a plan to fight the ogres which they already know reside very near the entrance of Level 4.
Upon arrival they go east and get to the door leading to the ogres’ den. First trying a quiet approach, they try to open the open door silently but it’s blocked from the other side. Letting go of subtlety, Bayard and Forka, the two strongest characters push the door open, displacing a large rock and a wooden beam, the latter falling to the floor with a loud bam. The PCs hear ogres nearby shouting to each other and get ready for a fight.
Getting back quickly to the first room, the adventurers get in formation, with 4 of them frontline and mages and archers (and Torch) behind. The first two ogres in are not very efficient (one good hit to heavily-armored Forka) and are assaulted by weapons and magic and are killed just like that. The following ogre is a bit more successful as he rushes in and rams into Bodil the Elf, tossing him aside on the ground while another ogre misses Jedri the Ratman with a big swing of his club. Aracyne hurts the ramming ogre with two arrows to the chest, wounding him badly and Jedri manages to finish him with a deadly two-weapons combo. Efram, one of the Protectors’ mage uses magic to make one ogre fall asleep and now there’s only one left from the five that were coming at them. The last one still has the will to fight though and wounds Bayard with a big hit but get overhwhelm quickly after.
They hear a door slam somewhere close but no other ogres are coming for the moment so the mages have time to do healing magic and everyone is healthy anew.
There’s three corridors, with the one in front being were the 5 ogres got out. There’s nothing interesting northeast, they go south and walk close to the wall to get past a (non-hidden) pit trap.
They see a room full of refuse, inspect a storeroom (nothing but food & water) and then get in front of double doors, there’s a faint odor of woodfire smoke (along with strong body odours and other unpleasantness).
The adventurers bash the doors open and see a big room, something like a cooking area, two teenager ogres were ready for them and immediately kick the burning logs, spraying embers directly on Forka and Bayard. Neither of them were quick enough to evade and lose a round removing the painful embers. The two young ogres don’t stand a chance though and after one is killed the other surrenders and pleads for his life. Bodil would have killed him but Aracyne his in a merciful mood and spare hime in exhange of information. They thus learn of some of the closest areas in this part of the dungeon, not much, the young ogre says that their ex-leader, Gorm (from Level 3), knows a lot more more.
The adventurers then proceeded to round up the surviving ogres in the other rooms (in this self-contained area) consisting of: 2 adult male ogres, 5 adult females, the teenager and 2 other youngsters. Aracyne tells them to leave Level 4 and get to Gorm in Level 3 if he would take them. They agree to leave on the condition that they could take their stored food and water with them and the adventurers accept.
Closing Comments:
Not much exploration this session but a big step accomplished in removing the ogres, as their presence near the entrance of the Level was always going to be a problem each time they passed.
10 adventurers together are certainly a force to be reckoned with. I’m thinking that they must attract more attention than a smaller group obviously and, at the very least, I will adjust encounter rolls to reflect so in the future. Otherwise, in a non gold-for-xp system there’s just no much disadvantage in being that numerous.
The Dungeon of Kargen, named after the fantasy city where it’s located, is 10 yo Edmond’s new homebrewed adventure location, with his brother as the unique player. I will try to highlight what happened so far with what they told me.
This is done within a 100% DIY system by the Dungeon Master in which there’s only 4 « attributes »: ranged attack, melee attack, magic attack and Defense. Starting numbers are rolled with a d20 for the main character or d20-6 (min 1) for hirelings (yes many hirelings have pretty abysmal stats…). There’s no cap on levels for characters, each level gives 3 points of attritubes to assign and 5 hit points. Melee damage is linked to attribute bonus but ranged attack bonus is only to hit and not for damage. Magic does more damage but depletes and must be purchased (a new wand). For the moment, magic is just another way of attacking and there’s no utilitarian or any other kind of spells (but that could change I was told).
The main character can bring along a maximum of 3 hirelings, or 5 when he reaches level 10 (and presumably more when of higher level). Also, a nice gameplay rule is that after 5 successful combats in the same area, it is considered « safe » (no more spawning) with the condition that at least one hireling is left in a strategic spot.
Interesting to note I think is what Edmond feels he needs to run his adventure: a list of shops and the items they sell and prices, two pages of hirelings and their stats, a chart of xp needed to advance in levels, a list of weapons and armors and their stats, a chart of bonuses associated with attributes numbers and that’s about it. Everything else he seems to create on the go.
The adventure so far:
The adventurer Jean-Paul, an archer, enters the newly-accessible dungeon of Kargen for his first foray and explored the Caves of Riches.
He defeats several squeletons and zombies but later on, he almost get killed by a mimic that was near a corpse holding a key in his hand.
Back in town he hires Petit Jean (a mediocre fighter) and Rolex (a capable but fast-exhausting magic-user) with the money from the treasures he found.
Next foray, the team reaches the City of the Imps. Most imps are non-hostile, they can control monsters to do their bidding and those are sometimes loose and dangerous.
They reach the Armory where they have to fight Living Armors.
Further on, they spot a throne chamber with a Lich and decide to give it a wide berth.
Back in town, he hires Georges (capable archer).
Next foray, they find the Area of the Lost Ones. Inhabiting the place are knife-throwing zombies that are fond of torturing people.
Back in town, he hires Gengis Khan (average fighter).
They find the Prison where a Dragon Skeleton is roaming. There’s many prisoners, all in separate cells. Frees and hires Robert (great fighter) from a cell.
They find the Maze and hear the mighty roars of The Minotaur. Find and open a secret door and gets face to face with the Minotaur, who’s in fact the Level’s Boss. They manage to kill it.
Gets in a very prolonged fight against 12 Living Armors and a Mimic in which the adventurers get the worst of it and flee.
After a stop in town, the team gets back to one of the first area into an unexplored and very long tunnel that leads to a section dubbed the « Mixtature« , inhabited by orcs, zombies, ogres and many other monsters.
Find 14 sarcophagi but already looted. Find a large fireplace and get into a fight with a fire elemental. The chimney leads to somewhere else but is haunted by ghosts.
Get into a treasure room with a strange statue with one arm extended in front of it, hand open as if waiting to receive something.
See a big fight between 3 parties of adventurers (11 total) and 40 orcs, join the fray and help kill the orcs.
This is all been happening on the fist Level of the dungeon.
Battered from their last expedition, the Battle Brothers are back in town to recuperate and do some training afterward – before going back to the dungeon. They bring their new member, another goblin named Grimoire, a friend of Torch that can do magic.
Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)
Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (me)
Longfelt
Rumor
-There’s a monstrous rat disguised as a person going by night in the thieves’ quarter – hey (pointing at Jedri) wait a minute, y-y you’re a rat!
Hearing of this « disguised monstrous rat » they immediately think of their friend Tlali and they go see her at her house. There’s a nice reunion, she explains that she started the process to get back her human form but there’s powerful magic involved (Sethid’s, the Master of the Dungeon) and it will take a while.
They do some training and are living at the Hare & the Hound inn for the moment.
They buy some supplies, Forka buys a great helm and then, after 9 days in town, are ready to go dungeon-delving once more.
Gunderholfen
Travel through the Ganfal swamp is uneventful.
They enter the dungeon and when they approach Level 1C they start to see a trail of dead hobgoblins – all missing their ears. The corpses are fresh – recently killed for sure.
Forka pick up the scent of non-hobgoblins and tries to track where it goes – more dead hobgoblins on the other side of the (cut) rope bridge that leads to the exit of Level 1. They spend some time reparing the bridge and continue their tracking down in Level 2 and then it goes south and west in an area the PCs already explored (and had a bad time against both zombies and giant ants).
They’re near the giant ants’ nest, the insects are clearly agitated. The PCs quickly cross the area and further south, they hear some voices coming from the room with the aforementionned zombies.
The Battles Brothers decide to go back the room with broken crates and wait there for the other guild to come their way (there’s no other path). They soon hear the sounds of a battle between adventurers and giant ants though.
It seems like the other guild is retreating in order, with a rearguard fighting in the narrow tunnel. The Battle Brothers see an elf, with short sword and buckler in hand, emerging from the tunnel. The latter is surprised and maybe a bit alarmed but then he asks for their help against the giant ants – they’re coming in great numbers.
Aracyne hesitates an instant on what his best for his guild (even contemplating murder!) but then he decides to help the other adventurers IF they accept to give his guild some money… The two elves quickly negociate and settle for 80gp to be given after this fight. The other members of the rival guild come into the room one by one, two mages, a hunter and the last being Bayard the Bold, their leader, brandishing a glowing mace and his plate armor covered in insect juices – an impressive sight! His companion informs him that the Battle Brothers will help the Protectors and already the first giant ants enter the room.
The ensuing battle is intense, with the fighters type holding the line, at least at first, against both normal worker giant ants and bigger, meaner soldier giant ants. Another wave of monsters arrives though and some get past the frontline and one mage of the Protectors get nearly bitten in half by a soldier ant. The other mage hurries to keep him alive with healing magic. Forka makes good work of his two-hand hammer, delivering massive blows left and right. Aracyne and his hunter counterpart shoot arrow after arrow on the incoming ants. Grimoire, their new goblin mage, proves to be a good addition and incinerates ants with fireballs. Two dozens dead ants are littering the floor and the two guilds seize the opportunity to move away from there, going east and south, with the Battle Brothers knowing their way around, and soon getting behind a door where the ants horde won’t reach them.
Now in safety, the Elf from the Protectors (their treasurer named Bodil) counts 80 gold coins and gives them to Aracyne with Bayard frowning at the sight but not saying anything. The two guild leaders then exchange a few compliments, talk about their recent delves and then Aracyne has this idea, he offers to the Protectors to do a joint expedition into Level 4. Bayard, not one to decline a challenge less his reputation for bravery takes a hit, doesn’t think much and accepts.
Closing comments:
I had decided when I started this campaign that I would put some emphasis on adventuring guilds interactions. I have written some random tables, erased them, re-written some more, to help me get a sense of what NPCs guilds would likely achieve as competing explorers (the PCs still having a decent headstart, of course it’s still about them). I’m not quite satisfied with this tool yet but it did indeed lead to this, I think, interesting session.
Now, dealing with so many NPCs, adventurers with all their abilities to boot, is certainly cumbersome for me as a the DM. In fact, I’m pretty certain it’s the reason why in most campaigns rival adventurers don’t seem to accomplish anything ever and are reduced to discreet appearances here and there.
Isaac’s first instinct was to ambush the Protectors while they were fighting the giant ants. A sound plan strategically speaking. Also quite ruthless. I let him choose his course of action but I’m happy in the end he chose to help (with a price attached) instead of killing.
Streets & Spores 