megadungeon

Château des Faussesflammes (Castle Xyntillan)- Session 1

David Skelector Fantasy, megadungeon, OSR, Play reports, Roleplaying Game, RPG , , ,

Introduction: The Beast of Averoigne has finally been slain. During its month-long rampage, many believed its lair and origins laid in the accursed Château des Faussesflammes. Armed townsfolk broke through its decayed gates but when they found themselves in the gloomy interior, their courage soon faltered. The Beast may be dead but the Château des Faussesflammes and its many horrors is still there…

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
  • Zachary (Isaac), Elementalist lvl 1
  • Monmon (Edmond), Warrior lvl 1

Retainers:

  • Eudes le Bâtard, Man-at-Arms (lgt), noble, Morale 9
  • Bruno, Man-at-Arms (lgt), dreamy-eyed, Morale 9
  • Jean-Paul Jean, Man-at-Arms (hvy), lackwit, Morale 4

Rumors:

  • Don’t believe everything you hear about the castle. There is nothing dangerous about the gazebos.
  • The ancient incantation « FOE GYG » will keep the lesser undead at bay… well, usually. For a while anyway.

First Foray:

Weather: mainly sunny

  • Gathered in the city of Vyones, the adventurers bought some supplies and then left for the town of Périgon in the South
  • They recruited 3 Men-at-Arms in Périgon.
  • A pair of brothers from Périgon guided them to the Château des Faussesflammes, a few hours away, at the fringe of Malinbois. Dreamy-eyed Bruno said it would be better to go inside the castle at night.
  • In front of the castle Cordélia said they should first go check the smaller structure they could see by the lake. The others overruled her and they all entered at the main gate into a garden area.
  • Entered a smithy, heard noises in the adjacent barracks. A hammer worked by itself, sparkles flying, the forge was lit. Cordelia tried to order the hammer to forge a weapon, the hammer tried instead to smack her head but missed. Zachary fetched water at the pond to cool down the forge, hammer attacked but Paul managed to snatch it mid air. Kept the hammer hoping it’s magical.
  • Went to barracks, skeletons training on dead adventurer. Jean-Paul Jean runs away. Cordélia blasted them all with a very efficient Smite Dead. Poster on the corpse, « Wanted: Claude Malévol, dead or alive. Preferably dead. »
  • Jean-Paul Jean came back convinced by Loic that all will go well (it won’t).
  • Paul and Zachary wanted to see the pavillon at the garden pond. Joined by Monmon, others waited. Opened the sarcophagus, four-armed skeleton sat straight up. PCs won initiative, all hits, and that was it for Tristano Malévol the Love-lost.
  • Paul took Tristano’s rose and put it inside the hand of the statue of the comely maiden, was rewarded with a wedding ring. He resisted the soporific flowers.
  • Cordélia still suspicious of what seemed to her as the main entrance so they chose to enter the castle at the rose garden’s side door. Before that they opened a gardener’s shed and found magical dancing beans.
  • Inside, in a corridor, fat monk Reynard Malévol sitting on floor drinking from a wine skin and singing lewd songs. He cheers when Zachary and Paul are trampled and almost killed by phantom steeds.
  • Z and P healed by Loic.
  • Paul, Zachary and Monmon ran and got across the corridor, nearly getting trampled again. The others chose to open another door to try to avoid the phantom steeds.
  • That right there effectively split the party for the rest of the session…

Paul, Zachary and Monmon

(It’s notable that the 3 kids got together, extricating themselves from the group at the first occasion. My 2 sons led by a reckless teenager Olivier. I did not try to dissuade them on their course of action, this is very much a push-your-luck game, and push they did… )

  • Inside a weird menagerie with ape statues and taxidermy stuff. Leper-face Huntsman on a throne with a dozen of hunting dogs around but just blew his horn and disappeared along with the dogs.
  • Went straight to next door (Storerooms aisle), opened another, heard thumping noises, followed by the appearance of the baleful specter Merlerik Malévol. The specter misses all his attacks and is soon eliminated, leaving a strange shadow on the wall. (wasn’t a +1 or better to hit, not sure what the incorporeal trait does)
  • Storage room, found a moldy corpse skewered by a sword beaneath a pile of rags, Monmon took the sword.
  • Another storage room, coffin in the middle, inside is a woman with a dagger through her heart. Paul remove the dagger, keep it for himself, a geyser of blood erupts from the woman’s body and screams from nowhere in particular. (nothing on encounters check)
  • Inside a nursery, hairy woman in nightgown teach young children how to eviscerate on a dummy. PCs leave discreetly.
  • A corridor, stairs going up. PCs go to second floor (Maze of the Occult) and arrive in great hall with red plush carpets. Eerie children singing, portraits along the wall. Magic runes on a door. Singing stop abruptly and ghost of Malvine Malévol the Strangler appears. This time the adventurers’ weapons don’t seem to hurt their opponent at all. Malvine strangles Zachary. As he sense his life leaving him, in a last desperate act, he touches the nearby door’s handle, activating the runes and a powerful lightning bolt strikes both Zachary and Malvine, dissipating the latter. (lightning supposed to be inside the room but heck!)
  • With Zachary dead, Paul and Monmon decide to call it a day. They left their companion’s corpse behind after looting him.

Meanwhile; Cordélia, Loic, Eudes, Bruno and Jean-Paul Jean

(The 2 adults wanted to find a way to get the group reunited but instead got confused and explored a bunch of rooms in the Ruined Quarters aisle.)

  • First door to the right was locked, next room was full of rotting banners. Next corridor with a mini-whirlwind going on, could see garden area through arrow slits to their right. They were getting farther from their companions, that was obvious.
  • Open a door, fat woman is doing laundry. Cordélia and Loic convince her that her masters asked for her. She leaves hurriedly. Nothing here but linen.
  • Next door is stuck, they backtrack.
  • Corridor full of leaves on the ground and fresh air. Room with mushrooms, they leave.
  • They enter a room with a broken beam leaning on a statue, more leaves, moss and vines. Vines shoot on the PCs, they escape and throw a torch on the dry leaves. Bonfire. Lots of smoke, beam and furnitures blackened. Painting of an automnal landscape damaged. No more vines.
  • Loic, with help, remove the beam from the statue and get rewarded with a wand of the marshlands. gave it to Cordélia. They got out of the room.
  • And then the fat washwoman was upon them: « You lied to me! Made a fool of meself to the Mistress! And what’s all that smoke?! » she shouted with a bloody handkerchief in one hand. Was she that hairy before? She proceeded to whip the hell out of them with her bloody handkerchief but when she got hit by Bruno’s sword (no silver, no damage) she fully shafeshifted into a Werewolf and almost bit his arm off. Loic healed him with magic. Jean-Paul Jean cried, useless. In panic mode Cordélia tried the wand of the marshlands and vines immobilized the Werewolf washwoman and they scrambled away as fast as they could. She let them go, fortunately.
  • They found themselves in the other side of the menagerie, the stuffed animals that were there started to attack! Jean-Paul Jean got hypnotized by a Giant Owl and then stabbed by a Killer Bambi’s poisonous antler, white foam frothed from his mouth. The others fled into the adjacent display room. Trapped into a room with no exit they snatched the copper bowl and precious silver reliquary they found and then dashed out while poor Jean-Paul Jean was savaged by the stuffed animals.
  • They traced back their steps and left the castle, Eudes covered their exit and managed to get out alive somehow.
  • The two separated groups assembled at the gatehouse and left le Château des Faussesflammes.

Wrap up:

  • XP: Participation: 1 Treasures: 3 Secrets: 1 Total: 5
  • Treasures: wedding ring, copper bowl, Reliquary of Bygone Kings: all sold in Vyones thereafter
  • Crypt: Zachary strangled by Malvine Malévol and struck by a lightning bolt from the Anteroom, Jean-Paul Jean ripped apart by stuffed animals.
  • Quote from Olivier: « The flaws, and there were many, of Jean-Paul Jean made him someone special and endearing, I’d say. He’ll be missed »
  • Infractions: Eliminated Tristano Malévol the Love-Lost. Eliminated Merlerik Malévol. Eliminated Malvine Malévol the Strangler (temporary). Smoked the Ruined Quarters and angered a werewolf washwoman. Stole the Reliquary of Bygone Kings. Infractions rating: 3

Choose a Sponsor for your Dungeon Delve

David Skelector Fantasy, megadungeon, musings, Roleplaying Game, RPG, world-building , , , ,

A neat idea from the gamebook Battlepits of Krarth (Dave Morris, Oliver Johnson) is to make you start the adventure while choosing a sponsor as the first obligatory step before entering said battlepits. In pure gamebook fashion you can choose blindly and then of course you risk getting a bad one (one sponsor is actually a vampire who, guess what, is more interested in getting your blood than having champions to compete), or, you know, you could try to get some information first and make a better choice…

Those are « Sponsors » too but they’re a bit, huh, different?

Of course, a Choose Your Own Adventure has a limited scope and so there’s only three sponsors to choose from (others are mentionned but aren’t availaible). One good, one bad and one really bad (the aforementionned vampire). An interesting twist is that the good one, Magus Balthazar, is harder to get, he’s actually picky as to whom he chooses. It’s not like he wants the first boneheads to cross his door to represent him in this prestigious, yearly competion. No, no, no. You will be tested, and if your intelligence is found lacking, well… You’ll have to find another sponsor.

This asshole doesn’t care one bit if you die horribly…

With a Tabletop RPG, of course, you could have a lot more options to choose from, leading to interesting roleplaying opportunities.

But what’s the point of having a sponsor? Well, suppose you get one that’s interested in your prolonged well-being, a sponsor could ensure that your chances of success are a bit better, providing you with starting funds, equipment, henchmen and so on… And, depending on the style of play, maybe a kind of insurance against setbacks (healing services, or even resurrection).

In any case, there would have to be something to gain for the sponsor too. A share of the profits, first bid on precious stuff, etc. In a TTRPG, a sponsor wouldn’t be a simple employer, there’s a long-term relationship (or debt serving) to consider.

If I ever do something like a megadungeon campaign, you can be sure there’ll be sponsors around!

Undermountain: Lonely Vampyre

David Skelector Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, megadungeon, musings, Roleplaying Game ,

With my previous post you could think I don’t like The Ruins of Undermountain but that’s not the case, there’s a lot of clever stuff in its pages.

One location/encounter in particular reminded me how much I like unlikely allies as a DM. I’m not talking about factions (which are nice too) but monsters or seemingly evil characters that, under certain circumstances, can bond with the PCs. I like it but I also know from experience that Players are absolutely thrilled by it!

But here’s the one I’m talking about here (1991’s spoiler I guess):

This vampyre was once a female human merchant of Waterdeep, Spadreera Omarkhont. She now appears as a slim, svelte, beautiful (but dirty) creature clad only in ash-covered tatters, her eyes glittering with red fire and much of her hair all burnt away.

Yeah, she’s a fire vampire.

Spadreera is lonely, more than anything else. She’d like to chat and gossip about Waterdeep regularly, with someone she could regard as a friend and will try to befriend any beings who survive her initial attack, and cease hostilities when she offers to. PCs who befriend Spadreera never need fear attack from her again. She will not accompany PCs out of the dungeon, and is reluctant even to leave her lair but she will meet PCs at agreed-upon places elsewhere on this level, and even aid them against encountered monsters. She does not appreciate being used, however PCs would be wise not to try to dupe her into fighting every other monster on this level. Spadreera will plead to any befriended creatures for visits as often as possible! In return, she can guard treasure for PCs, give them all the (sadly outdated) information she knows about the intrigues and secrets of Waterdeep, and give them advice on trade (she was a very shrewd merchant). Her lair can become a hideout and safe house for PCs, if they conduct themselves in the right manner.

She’s still a monster in some way but:

Spadreera’s alignment and tendencies are overruled by her loneliness; she will look for prey and opportunities to unleash her cruelty elsewhere, among the monsters that roam this level, and never harm PC friends. She will even nurse injured PCs faithfully back to health without attacking them!

What an interesting NPC!

Do you know of any other cool unlikely ally?

Megadungeon: Dungeon Ecology, Gloutons et Dragons

David Skelector Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, megadungeon, Roleplaying Game , ,

Il y a, je crois, quelque chose de fascinant à voir le donjon comme un ennemi à vaincre, un puzzle à surmonter; en gérant intelligemment les multiples ressources d’un groupe et en faisant preuve de prudence et d’astuce.

À  partir du moment que l’on accepte le donjon comme élément que l’on retrouve dans sa campagne de rpg, on peut l’accepter tout de go, sans y voir autre chose qu’un motif pour s’amuser, et dans ce cas on peut aller jusqu’au Funhouse, une ménagerie de monstres et d’obstacles qui défient toute logique ou, à l’autre extrême, on peut tenir mordicus à la cohérence (dans un univers fantaisiste, on s’entend) du donjon.

Et voilà, ce préambule m’amène à vous parler du manga Danjon Meshi, Gloutons et Dragons en français, de Ryoko Kui.

Dungeon_Meshi_cover

Très légers spoilers:

Un groupe d’aventuriers explore un vaste donjon, fruit d’une malédiction: un château sous la terre. Les premières pages nous plongent dans un combat contre un dragon rouge, la magicienne Falyn se fait dévorer mais parvient dans un ultime effort à téléporter ses compagnons à la surface. Cette terrible épreuve incite deux membres du groupe à le quitter. Les trois derniers veulent à tout prix sauver Falyn, c’est en effet possible de la faire revenir à la vie, à condition qu’elle ne soit pas entièrement digérée, et donc il faut faire vite!

Le groupe a perdu provisions et argent, le seul moyen de se rendre à temps est de manger ce qu’ils peuvent en route: les monstres. Heureusement, ils font la rencontre fortuite d’un expert en la matière, le nain Senshi.

 

0be6778daeb6103fb62ccdf3e8ac7bf3b02de28d_hq

L’attention aux détails est assez incroyable (trop?) pour ce qui à trait aux recettes mais également (les deux vont de paires dans ce manga), pour l’écologie du donjon.

DungeonMeshi Slime Anatomy

Bon appétit!