The Solo Adventurer's Toolbox

Another day in isolation and I try out another Solo roleplaying ruleset. This time it is The Solo Adventurer's Toolbox which I picked up on the DM's Guild. These rules are a collection of tables and ideas for playing D&D 5th edition solo. Many of the ideas come from other solo rules. The influence of Mythic is noticeable and credited in the text. Like Mythic, the direction of your adventure is set out by asking Yes/No questions that are modified by circumstance.

Below I have copied my journal text from a few hours of gaming. I decided to set the adventure in Aedenne (DF11 Guide to the Realms of Aedenne) a product I have owned for a long time and never made use. I rolled up a first level fighter named Valgrim and decided that the adventure would start with Valgrim marooned in the Khosian desert of Istandar. I had the image of Kevin Kline's character at the start of the movie Silverado.

I was hoping to get to try out the random dungeon generator but I let the dice fall where they may and a dungeon was not part of the story this session. I have to say I really enjoyed this session. It only takes a few rolls to get the hang of it and the basic mechanic is quickly committed to memory. I have only gotten into the basics so far.

The Wanderings of Valgrim in Istandar

Valgrim a mercenary from Isenwald was part of a caravan traveling through the Tahbasi Expanse from Delreaata to Yorque. On the third evening out of Delreaata, Valgrim was very successful at dice. So much so that there was some complaining from the other mercenaries. But after some grumbling, the other mercenaries got over it and they even shared their wine with him.

The next morning Valgrim woke up alone in the wastelands. He had a bad headache, is a little dehydrated and the camp had been struck and the caravan was long gone over the horizon. Much of his equipment had been taken and he had no food or water.

Figuring he would not be greeted warmly if he could catch up to the caravan, Valgrim set out for the coast. Putting the sun at his back he trudged off into the distance.

Does he have any wilderness encounters? No.
Does he become lost (Possible)? Maybe. Make a Survival check (13) failed. He becomes disoriented as the sun rises and he loses track of his direction.
Does he find any water (Unlikely -4)? No. Rolled a 1. He begins to suffer from dehydration (2 levels of exhaustion).
As evening arrives he spots a light in the distance.

Is it a village (Unlikely -4)? Maybe. Is the village abandoned (Likely +2)? Maybe.
He spots the light from a village that is abandoned except for one family living in an old waystation. There is a well and he drinks his fill as the sun begins to set.

Are the villagers hostile/bandits (Possible)? Maybe.
The villagers make a living supplying bandits with water and food as they pass the area. Valgrim intimidates the headman, whose name is Tarkan, into giving him food and water and allowing him to sleep within the walls for the night. Tarkan tells him the waystation is called Dry Water.

Quest Generation (13) Item Lost.
The next day, Tarkan, asks Valgrim to journey to a nearby bandit camp to retrieve his daughter Nisa who has been kidnapped. Valgrim is grateful enough for the hospitality that he accepts.

Does Tarkan give Valgrim any weapons (Possible)? Definitely.
Tarkan pulls out an old trunk and hands Valgrim an old suit of leather armor. He also gives him a rusty shortsword (-1), a couple of pieces of hard bread, and a full waterskin. Valgrim sets out for the bandit camp.

Does he find the camp? Roll survival. Maybe.
He gets lost for much of the morning even though the bandit camp is only three miles away according to Tarkan. By early mid-day, he spots the smoke of a cooking fire. Valgrim attempts to sneak up on the camp and scout it out.

He passes his stealth check and makes his way within 100 feet of the camp. There are four tents and one bandit on guard. Valgrim sneaks up on the guard and gets a surprise attack.

Bandits (4) AC 12, HP 11, SPD 30, Perception 10, Scimitar +3 to hit, damage 1d6+1.

Valgrim misses completely. The bandit stumbles forward in surprise fumbling for his scimitar and drops it. Valgrim swings again and strikes the bandit viciously (7 damage), who now cries out in pain and warning. The three other bandits in the camp are alerted! The bandit leaves his weapon in the sand, turns, and runs for the safety of the tents. Valgrim swings at him as he runs away but he misses.

Valgrim fires a stone from his sling at the retreating bandit. He misses. The bandit runs amongst the tents yelling loudly. Two bandits emerge. One is pulling up his pants. They check with the injured bandit and then yell curses at Valgrim and advance menacingly upon him.

As they approach, Valgrim attacks one but misses. Valgrim is struck twice (4 points damage). With a roar to intimidate the bandits, Valgrim slashes at one bandit and chops through his neck! The bandit falls to the ground and his head rolls away. The other bandit backs away to stand with the previously injured and now unarmed bandit. Valgrim closes on them and attacks but misses. The two bandits step in to attack, one hits Valgrim (2 points) but the other (who is unarmed) leaps at Valgrim and misses disrupting his companion. Valgrim attacks with advantage (and rolls double 18). Valgrim stabs the armed bandit. The armed bandit stabs back. Now Valgrim is in trouble (2 hp left). Time for second wind (10 hp regained).

Valgrim feels the adrenaline surging and attacks the bandit, he kills the bandit. The unarmed bandit lying on the ground puts his empty hands out in surrender. Valgrim gestures for the bandit to be gone and the lucky fellow scrambles away from the fight.

Valgrim checks a tent and finds some camp gear. The next tent contains only some more sleeping gear. In the final tent, he finds the bandit chief standing with a dagger to the throat of a young, plain-looking woman. The bandit yells out for Valgrim to stop and demands to know why he is here. "What business is this of yours?" Valgrim says he is repaying a debt. He tells the bandit he can die or live. Let the girl go free.

Reaction table. Rolls 00.
The bandit chief pushes the girl aside, draws his scimitar, and charges screaming at Valgrim. Valgrim sets himself and gets in the first swing. He misses. The bandit chief misses wildly and barrels straight past Valgrim and right out of the tent. Valgrim attacks again, (natural 20!) he stabs the bandit in the heart killing him.

Is the girl happy to be rescued (highly likely +4)? Maybe?
Did Nisa join the bandits voluntarily (possible)? No.
Nisa tells Valgrim that she was kidnapped but she does not want to return to Dry Water. Her father is cruel and beats her and makes her do all of the chores.

Valgrim ponders the situation. He must repay the debt. However, Tarkan only asked that Valgrim rescue Nisa. He said nothing of returning her to Dry Water. Valgrim tells Nisa to pack up some gear from the camp and prepare to leave with him.

In search of the campsite, Valgrim finds 5 gold coins. He also takes the best of the scimitars, a dagger, a bedroll, a tent, rations, waterskins, and 5 torches. Nisa arms herself in leather armor and takes a scimitar. Valgrim and Nisa set out for the coast.

Valgrim asks Nisa if she knows the direction to the nearest settlement (possible). No.
Nisa tells Valgrim that being kidnapped was the first time she left Dry Water since being a child. She does know that there is a village called Sandcrest about 2 days from Dry Water. She thinks it is to the Southwest.

Valgrim and Nisa set out on foot to the Southwest. They travel all day without seeing another soul. The horizon is flat and featureless. As night begins to fall Valgrim looks for a suitable campsite but cannot find one. They camp out in the open. Valgrim puts up the tent he took from the bandits. There is no fuel for a fire.

Are they disturbed while sleeping (possible)? No.
It is an uneventful night, which is a good thing because both were exhausted and no watch was set. It is another hot, sunny day. Valgrim and Nisa have enough water for another day of travel, two days if they ration it.

Does Valgrim find Sandcrest this day? Unlikely -2. Yes.
As the sun starts to set, Valgrim spots the lights of a village on the horizon. They make it to Sandcrest before the sun has set.

Do they find a place to stay for the night? Yes. How does the Innkeeper react? Civil.
What is the quality of the Inn? Poor. Are there any rooms? Four.

They find an Inn called The Greasy Spadger (the greasy boy). The innkeeper is a female halfling, Savanna Galpsi, she judges the pair with some suspicion but becomes civil and almost friendly when Valgrim places a gold coin on the bar. The coin buys them a room for three nights plus meals. Valgrim sits down at a common bench before a trestle table. He nods at several other travelers who are drinking.

Roll for Rumours. 2.
Valgrim keeps his ears open and listens to the stories the travelers tell. A pair of travelers from Ishtariopolis talk of the failing health of the current Priest-Queen in careful, low voices. Another merchant tells of losing three horses to a giant lizard that rose out of the sand to attack his caravan. They also lost four of the guards, but he seems less concerned about that then he does about the pack animals that were lost.

Is the Merchant looking for more guards? Likely +2. No.
Valgrim asks the Merchant where he is bound and whether he is looking for a new caravan guard? The merchant looks at Valgrim with some suspicion and says that they have enough guards. He says they are headed for Delreaata and that they have several loyal, and well-armed guards. Then he gets up and leaves.

After a meal and some poor quality wine, Valgrim and Nisa retire to their room and sleep the night uneventfully.

In Search of the Unknown Session 1

Session 0 was last week and I had two players. This week I had five players (although one dropped off) so I moved the action overland to Quasqueton. The players went through the caverns quickly finishing them in one session. I made a few mistakes but I think everyone had fun. Sometimes large dungeon crawls can drag in online play but this went quickly. The players did not have any character deaths even though the one fighter/magic-user has no armor. He did take a few hits.As before I was using Swords & Wizardry rules and we used Roll20 for the dice rolls, maps, and the voice. Below is the session report if you are interested.

Those who have read In Search of the Unknown will note that I made some changes to the adventure. I made it far more likely that the characters would enter the caverns first. I felt that the most exciting part of the adventure is in the upper level so I wanted it to be last. There was still a chance the players might find the upper-level entrance first but they did not. I also added an iron door between the levels to explain the separation of the monsters in the dungeon as a whole.

The Iron Door

Session 1 report

Players: Marta the Cautious (cleric), Manny Lightfoot (Halfling Thief), Raeish Farstrider (Elven Fighter/Magic-User), Gaeleath Olomaer (Elven Fighter/Magic-User), Daen Shieldbreaker (Dwarven Fighter).

The day dawned in the village of Larm with Manny Lightfoot sleeping one off at the Borderlands Inn and Marta comfortably asleep on the floor of the local church. Manny was joined by Marta at the tavern for breakfast. After breakfast, Manny went looking for Haldo the tavern owner, a good source of gossip. Unable to find the halfling she instead talked to some local fishermen who did not know much about Quasqueton.

There was a commotion in the village common so everyone went out to see what was causing the excitement. The village militia arrived back from a patrol in the nearby hills where they had ambushed a raiding party of orcs (called ruk locally). Manny and Marta pushed their way to the front of the crowd and managed to work their way into the conversation between the village mayor, Claus Oland and Commander Arbogast of the militia. It seems that the militia found a map on one of the orcs that might show the location of a large orc lair or possibly even Quasqueton (the lair was marked with a Q on the map). The Mayor introduced the pair of adventurers to the Commander and he appraised them and asked them to meet him at the militia office at noon. “And bring a few more bodies, you’re going to need them.”

Intrigued Marta and Manny looked about to see any likely muscle they could bring along with them. As luck would have it, the commotion in the village common had brought out every adventurer in the village. They soon spoke to the elf known as Raeish Farstrider, the elf Gaeleath Olomaer, and the soft-spoken dwarf Daen Shieldbreaker. The five heroes made their introductions and agreed they were all game to take on the task set out by the local militia.

Meeting with Arbogast they discovered that the map might very well lead to Quasqueton. The militia commander was not certain. But he was certain there was an orc lair that needed scouting.  He asked them to journey to the lair and report back on their findings. The lair was over 40 miles to the northeast and far outside the area of jurisdiction of the militia but if orcs from the lair could be found within a day's march of the village this needed to be investigated.

The five adventurers decided they would set out early the next morning. They split up and went looking for more equipment but little could be found other than more rations. They did spend a fruitless few hours looking amongst the farms for a draft horse or a cart. Marta resigned himself to a long walk. Raeish (Ray) managed to acquire a large mongrel puppy from a local farmer. He named it Muttley. Some of his fellow adventurers expressed doubts about bringing the mutt along but Ray assured them that the pup would come in handy guarding their camp at night. That evening the five got better acquainted telling stories of their adventures.

The next morning the five adventurers and one dog set out on foot toward the destination noted on the map. The map showed that the quickest route was to follow the Dolm river north into the mountains and then strike out directly east.  It took 4 days to reach the location marked on the map and the trip proceeded without incident. Once they came to the location on the map they found themselves in an area of heavily forested rocky outcrops at the foot of the mountains. Ever outcrop looked about the same as every other and there was no sign of an orc camp. They spread out and searched. After an hour Gaeleath called everyone over to some tracks he had found on the bank of a small stream. Orc tracks headed through the brush. They followed the tracks for an hour to another rock outcrop. The tracks continued around the tall hill but they also saw a tower on the hill. Although it looked like a difficult climb, they decided to leave the orc trail and set out for the tower. Manny discovered an overgrown trail up the side of the hill leading to the tower. The tower itself was recently built (in the last 20-30 years) but never completed. It was the shell of a tower with no roof or floors. Building material was stacked nearby overgrown with bushes. Ray climbed to the top of the tower for a look around. He found it was the highest point in the region but he could not see anything interesting. Disappointed, they trudged back down the hillside. Picking up the orc trail again they circled around the hill and came upon another entrance above a field of rock debris. An open cave on the side of the hill 20 feet up. A crude staircase led to the opening. Manny moved up silently and spotted an orc resting just inside the entrance apparently on guard but not very alert. Everyone came up the slope quietly. Then they moved to attack. There was a quick exchange of blows, Gaelaeth was pierced once with a spear. Then Ray cast sleep on the orcs and the creatures promptly fell over in slumber. (NOTE: I messed up the rules here. Ray was wearing chainmail and should not have been able to cast a spell as per the Swords & Wizardry rules for elves).

Marta argued that the orcs should be tied up and left behind but the rest of the adventurers felt a more permanent solution was needed. Manny delivered the killing dagger thrusts to the helpless orcs.

The lantern was lit and handed to Marta. The two elves and the dwarf could see in the dark and while the halfling could not see in the dark, she liked to hide in shadows away from the lantern light.

The cave entrance led to a much larger cavern. They spread out and checked the cavern. Gaelaeth spotted some orc tracks headed south but also a few tracks heading east to an empty alcove. Searching the alcove, the two elves found a loose stone that activated a secret door and revealed a secret passage. The passage showed signs of a lot of use by the orcs judging by the foot traffic. It led to another secret door that opened into an enormous cavern. A beam of sunlight high up on the wall shone into this cavern. The floor was covered in a foot of bat droppings. Heading east they found a few more cave tunnels. One tunnel led up into a cave where they discovered a sleeping orc. Manny moved silently up to the orc and killed it in its sleep. A search of the chamber revealed a few coins and a magic spear +2 claimed by Ray.

The group headed south again and passed into a cavern with the old litter of excavations that occurred to open up these caves. Suddenly, they were ambushed by six goblins running at them from out of the darkness. Ray, who had gotten a fair amount ahead of the rest of the team, was attacked by two goblins. But using his new magic spear he quickly dispatched them. Manny dropped two goblins with his sling stones and Gaeleath got the last goblin. Marta got into the fight but found it difficult to pin down the agile creatures. One goblin seeing the plight of his friends turned and ran off to the south. Following cautiously, they saw glowing purple fungus ahead. The five conferred briefly and decided to avoid the fungus and went east down a side passage. Almost immediately they came upon a door barred from the outside. Gaeleath removed the barrier but struggled to open the door. After several thumps and some sore shoulders, the door finally ground open. In the cave beyond, two angry troglodytes sprang forward and immediately attacked. The troglodytes were killed but not before releasing their sickening musk that briefly sickened Ray. Gaeleath was also injured in the fight.

Not finding anything in what appeared to be a prison cell for the troglodytes, they headed north and came to a flooded cave. A very cold pool of water sat below a wooden ceiling far overhead. In the water below something sparkled. A few efforts were tried to fish it out of the water with a grappling hook but all they caught was part of a human skeleton. Manny removed her armor and dove into the pool. She almost drowned in the frigid water but she did come up with a silver holy symbol of Law. Marta requested it and placed it in his pack.

Heading south again they walked for several minutes before coming upon a section with stone block walls and flagstone flooring. In the center of the wall was a heavy iron door with no locks or latches. A message on the wall read, “Once spoken, I am broken”. Gaelaeth immediately said “Silence” loudly. Everyone looked his way, then the door let out an audible clank and swung open.

Beyond the door were some chambers with stone block walls, floors, and ceilings (supported by wooden beams). Also, visible was a stairway leading up. Perhaps into the lost stronghold of Quasqueton?

In Search of the Unknown Session 0

I started a new online adventure, or series of adventures, we will see. I used the In Search of the Unknown rewrite I made for Swords & Wizardry. I advertised the adventure on Roll20 and had four players request invites. Only 2 players showed up for the game. I felt just two (even with NPCs or Henchmen) would be too light for Quasqueton. So we did a sort of session zero. We used Roll20 for voice, video, and dice rolls. Theatre of the Mind for maps. I did share some artwork. Everything worked fairly well from a technical standpoint. I have not tried to use the Roll20 native chat for a long time and it worked fine. I did have Discord ready as a backup.

I used a rewritten Village of Larm adventure from Brave Halfling Publishing. I redid the village map and a lot of the descriptions. I also redid maps of two of the short adventures. Everything was also rewritten for Swords & Wizardry. The players seemed to enjoy it. We still managed to come very near to a total party kill. We were one saving throw die roll away from it. But in the end, only one character died, and it was one of the NPCs I had tag along.

As far as where we go next, I will leave that up to the players. I have dangled a few hooks for further adventures in the village and they still have Quasqueton looming in the background.

Below is the session report.

Session 0: In Search of the Unknown

Players: Marta the Cautious (Human cleric 1), Manny Lightfoot (Halfling Thief)

Manny Lightfoot a female halfling wanderer and sometime collector of missing goods arrived in the village of Larm following up on stories of the stronghold of Rogahn and Zelligar. Known as Quasqueton, the word was that the founders of the stronghold have perished somewhere in the north leaving untold treasures unguarded. Unfortunately, no one seems to know where exactly Quasqueton is located.

Manny stopped at the Borderland Tavern hoping to pick up some information. She conversed with the owner and fellow halfling Haldo Bramwise. Haldo appeared to know little beyond what is commonly known about Quasqueton and nothing about its location. He did put Manny onto a local problem, namely the Forbidden Temple of Law located a short distance from Larm. This also got the attention of pious Marta the cleric of St. Cuthbert who was sitting enjoying his second lunch. Marta’s interest was piqued by the chance to make right a fallen temple of law. Marta is a former cloistered monk who has been encouraged by his order to head out into the world and right wrongs and convert non-believers (and to stop dipping into the wine).

Manny felt that just the two of them might not be enough to clear the temple. So she started looking for likely candidates to add some muscle to the group. Her eyes fell on an unlikely pair. Seeful the Unforgiving of the Church of St. Aleena and his friend Alho Rengate. Seeful was reedy thin and old seemingly not cut out for the adventuring life. But his companion Alho was every inch the adventurer. Over six feet tall of muscle he had the look of someone with northern barbarian blood.

From the Left Manny, Seeful, Marta and Alho approaching the boarded up Temple.

The four stopped at the local temple of Law to get some information and then set out for the temple. It was only a short walk up the hill overlooking the village. A dark and foreboding place built like a fortress. The front entrance was securely barricaded with beams and a large log. Even Alho could not budge the barricade. Manny commented that it looked like it was done to keep something in the Temple. The side entrance, however, was only barred by three planks of wood. Marta removed the boards with ease. They entered the temple and found it undamaged but full of drifting ash or soot. Everything was covered in layers of black dust. In a small confessional off of the nave, Marta discovered a skeleton wearing the robes of a monk. The skeleton attacked but Marta destroyed it. Examing the skeleton Marta found a Book of Law (prayer book) and surmised from the robes that the skeleton was that of one of the unfortunate monks of the temple who perished 30 years ago when the Temple fell.

The group made their way into the cellars where Marta twice got them past more skeletons of monks using the power of St. Cuthbert to turn them. The skeletons fled from his holy light. They also managed to get past a stone guardian that required proof that each of them was a follower of Law before allowing them to proceed.

Finally, in the crypt of Thorlief the founding abbot of the temple, they found the source of its downfall. A ceremony had been performed to destroy an evil tome by burning it. Something had gone horribly wrong transforming the monks of the Temple into the undead. In this crypt were the remnants of that ceremony and two horrid ghouls.

The ghouls attacked immediately and a desperate struggle ensued. Alho and Marta were in the front and were the first to come under attack. Marta was hit but survived but Alho was not so lucky. The fighter was killed in the first attack. Manny fired sling bolts from the door while Marta continued to tussle with one ghoul and Seeful fought the other. Seeful was hit and fell to the cold stone floor paralyzed. Marta had dispatched one ghoul but the second got past him and hit Manny, paralyzing the halfling. Now Marta was alone against the remaining ghoul.  A long and exhausting fight ensued as both combatants sought to dodge out of the way of the others strikes. The ghoul hit Marta but the doughty cleric fought off the creepy paralyzation with the force of his will. Marta then struck the ghoul twice finally destroying it.

Near TPK in the Temple

It took 2 hours for Seeful and Manny to recover from the effects of the ghoul attacks. Once they had recovered they opened the crypt of the abbot to check on his corpse. The body was undisturbed but he did clutch a beautiful mace. The decision was made not to disturb the body and leave the treasure where it was.

On leaving the crypt, Manny checked out one side room and discovered a hidden niche that held a wooden box holding a magic short sword. This sword came in useful as the three adventurers climbed up to the nave of the temple and found the five skeletons waiting for them. Marta turned two of them and the skeletons fled out into the sunlight. One of the remaining skeletons knocked down Seeful who was now near death. Manny destroyed two skeletons with his new sword and Marta and dispatched the final one. Marta picked up the limp body of Seeful and ran down the hill to the village church where the abbot was able to revive him.

The heroes returned to Larm and caused a big stir in the local population with tales of their exploits. At the local church, Manny surprised Marta by donating the two fine silver candle stands she had found in the cellar of the Temple. At the local tavern, Manny regaled locals with every more embellished tales of their exploits. So much so that Haldo suggested she and Marta go talk to the local miller who had a problem he needed to be sorted.

Nantwin the miller explained that giant rats had gotten into his cellar where he stored the village’s grain. He was no longer able to refine the grain into flour. One of the local boys had gone down into the cellar but he had never come back. The local militia was called but too many of their forces were out looking for marauding orcs.

Manny and Marta agreed to help. They learned that the Mayor was offering a reward and Manny negotiated the amount to 80 gold coins. Entering the cellar by a ladder they quickly found that there were at least six giant rats amongst grain sacks in one of the storage rooms. Manny announced she had an idea and lead Marta back up into the mill. Heading next door to the smith Burin, they asked the dwarf to make them some small spring-like metal spikes. Then Manny went across the street to the grocer and obtained some spoiled meat chopped into chunks. Bending the spikes they put them into the chunks of meat. Back in the mill cellar, they tossed the meat at the giant rats.

After a long wait, they descended into the cellar and found a pile of lifeless looking rats. Just as Marta got close to the pile of rats, two of them leaped forward and attacked. But Marta and Manny managed to put them down. Checking another storage room they found it undisturbed and full of sacks of grain. In the last storage room, they found the corpse of the local youth, a hole in the wall and a pool of water. Marta began blocking the hole with sacks of grain but three giant centipedes rushed out and attacked. He quickly dispatched two and the last one fled back into the hole which he completely closed off.

Marta and Manny returned to the miller and told him of their success. Nantwin the miller was broke but he did offer to get them free bread from the local bakery whenever they wanted any.

The Village of Larm (Players Map)

Darkfast Dungeons and the Temple Theft

I have had a copy of Darkfast Dungeons for several years now and I have only flipped through the pdf never really stopping to learn the system. What better time than now when I am trapped indoors.

There are 2 versions of which I am aware. I have a 2014 Basic Rulebook which I played through today. There is also a much bigger 2019 Basic Book that is a complete roleplaying game. I have it as well but I have not read it yet.

The version I played through has a really sparse set of rules. They are only 30 pages and a number of the pages are random charts. This is a strength if you want to quickly learn the game. I read through it 3x trying to pick up everything. But it also means that there is little explanation of anything. I am still not certain I am following the rules as intended.

The game is for 1-6 people to play on a large table-top or floor. The 5 tile shapes that make up the dungeon floors are two-sided and meant to be printed out multiple times. In total you should have 26 tiles to play with. They are put down randomly. For my game, I created a random table to choose which tile to put down next. I played solo, with two figures (characters) and I played the crawl scenario. The object of which is to survive 12 tiles.

Once entering a new tile it is activated and you roll on a chart to find out if there will be an opponent, an event, a trap, treasure, or nothing.  Characters (and opponents) each have a card that displays their attributes (to hit, damage, armor, defense, etc). To customize them you draw (or roll in my case) Talents and Dark Secrets. Dark Secrets are a secondary mission objective unique to that figure.

Combat is an attack roll + ability vs. the defender’s roll + ability.  Everything is done with a d6. The difference if you succeed on the attack is the amount of damage.  It seems simple, but it quickly gets complicated with gear like magic weapons adding a plus to hit and damage. Some opponents have special attacks and damage, etc. In one well-matched combat, it went on for 7 game turns before my figure finally defeated the opponent.

Some of the talents that the figure can get do not seem to have any purpose in the game. One of my characters had Scholar which gave him knowledge of history or fluency in another language. Which is it? Neither has any purpose. I assume these are of use in the full game. Some abilities do not make sense until a specific trap or event occurs. One character had the Climb talent. It appears to serve no purpose unless you happen to fall in a pit trap.

The Temple Theft

What follows is a description of the game I played. I do not have a color printer and frankly, I do not want all of the bits to spread all over the floor.  So I played the game in the 3D render program blender. I created opponents, cards, tiles, the works. I tracked everything in Blender.

As the game starts we find the Cleric of good Tauser, and the hired Fighter Hans just entering a crypt in the wilderness. Tauser is tracking an orc thief who stole Holy symbols from a nearby church.

Two Heroes enter the Dungeon

In the first chamber they enter, Hans finds one of the missing Holy symbols. After two more uneventful rooms, Tauser starts to become more confident and strides ahead, suddenly, there is a tremor that shakes the dungeon and the roof collapses down on top of him. Tauser is only slightly injured but it takes him and Hans three turns to clear the rubble. I rolled the Tremor event.

Tauser digs out after a cave-in

Shaken, Tauser still takes the lead into the next hallway. He triggers a swinging blade trap that slices him in two and kills him instantly. I rolled a swinging blade trap that does 2d6 damage and I rolled boxcars.  Then I rolled a 2 on my defense. I forgot about his Hero point but looking back I do not think it would have kept him alive. He had already lost 2 points of health.

The Cleric is dead

Hans decides to check a little further in the dungeon despite the death of his boss. In the next chamber, he finds the Orc Fighter. The orc immediately attacks ferociously. After two Game turns Hans has killed the Orc. He finds the second missing Holy symbol.

Hans confronts the Orc Thief

Hans decides to push on a little further, but as he steps into the next chamber he triggers a trap and a stone wall slides down behind him blocking his way back. He decides he has no choice but to move on. I rolled an event in this chamber and got the blocking wall. The event stated that the trigger to raise the wall would be located on the spawning point in the next tile. But events on the next tile made me decide this was not what happened.

The Only way now is forward

Hans moves into another large chamber and triggers another trap. Walls slide down over the exits and the chamber fills with greenish, slimy water. Suddenly, a Slime worm rises up out of the muck and attacks. The combat goes on for a long time with neither opponent able to get a hit on the other. The slime worm webs Hans in slime three times but he always manages to break out. Eventually, the tide turns and Hans strikes the worm twice killing it. He finds a trigger that drains the slime away and raises the wall over the exit forward.  I rolled a trap in this room that produced the flooded room and the slime worm. So I decided it was unlikely the trigger for the previous room door trap would be in this room. The combat with the slime worm seemed to go on forever. A couple of times I confused the rules. The Slime worm has almost identical abilities to the fighter. They were evenly matched. The worms web attack immobilizes the victim and he must defeat the points of Health of the web to escape. There is no explanation on how to handle this beyond what was printed on the opponent card. The web prevents the figure from using weapons so how does he attack? Does the web roll a defense roll?  I thought it would not make sense for the web to roll defense and I decided the victim could attack as normal but he could not use weapon bonuses. This made it too easy to escape the webs so I suspect I might have done it incorrectly. One funny typo, the slime worm opponent card notes that it is wet and covered in smiles.

The hideous Slime Worm rises from the muck with a smile

After the fight with the slime creature Hans moves down a new passage that comes out back to an earlier room he passed through. He checks the wall and finds a trigger that opens a secret door that allows him to get back to the entrance to the dungeon. Since this was the 12th room I decided there was a trigger that opened a secret door to get around the slab of stone trap.

Hans finds a secret door that leads back to the entrance

Hans leaves the dungeon with the two holy symbols he was charged to find and one minor wound from the Slime worm.  I managed to finish successfully and had a total of 6 Victory points. In this version of the rules victory points are only used to decide who was the mvp of the session. I assume in the full rules they would work like experience points?

Impressions

This is a simple board/card game that should not take that long to set up and play. It took me 6 hours because I was creating 3D figures for the game as I played along. I would have preferred another page of explanation on how combat worked. I was never sure I was getting it correct. The rules also need to explain some of the talents, abilities, and secrets. Some of them do not appear to serve any purpose. One confusing note in the rules is that they refer to heroes and opponents as figures interchangeably. So when they mention a figure could have the ability to fly and I am thinking how is that possible. But there are flying monsters like the demon and manticore.

For those interested in what the dungeon map ended up looking like. Below is the full play surface after the game session was complete.

Appendix A: Random Dungeon Generation

The first Roleplaying Game book I ever owned was a Christmas gift of the AD&D 1st edition Dungeon Master’s Guide in 1981.  I had never been part of a D&D game and had no background on it so I struggled to understand the DMG. I ended up learning by reading the Moldvay Basic rules. But in the back of the DMG, I found Appendix A: Random Dungeon Generator which I used to create my second dungeon (my first dungeon was a continuation of the Haunted Keep in the Basic rules). I posted the maps of the dungeon not that long ago and even rewrote it.

Being forced like most people to stay at home right now I got the impulse to try out the Appendix A Random Dungeon Generator to play the game solo. I actually decided to use the Swords & Wizardry Core rules which are a sort of simplified AD&D 1st edition.

I needed some heroes so I took four, first-level humans from the back of B1: In Search of the Unknown:

Farned of the Great Church (cleric 1)

Alho Rengate (Fighter 1)

Nickar (Magic-User 1)

Luven Lightfinger (Thief 1)

I had them all start at their maximum class hp because I know how brutal 1st level dungeons can be on OSR heroes. This turned out to be not enough.

The random dungeon generator is a series of tables that let you design and stock a dungeon. The tables come with very little explanation. The key table is the first one. Table I the Periodic check is the table you roll on whenever the heroes advance. It then directs you to more tables. These can be doors, corridors, chambers, rooms, traps, stairs to another level, or wandering monsters. Continue straight for 60’ is only supposed to come up 10% of the time but I seemed to keep getting this result so I ended up with a very long dungeon. For monsters, you are supposed to use random monster tables in Appendix C.

As I was playing solo I made some changes. The traps that came up I reduced the damage to 1d6. For the monsters, I reduced the number appearing to 2-4. I also ignored the “human” result on the monster table because it generates an adventuring party which is just too much work to put together. Instead, I just re-rolled on the table.

Everything started out pretty quiet for the four heroes. They traveled down a long, stone dungeon hall and had a minor mishap with a flaming oil trap. They did not find any rooms until their first encounter and they found no treasure. The first encounter against kobolds went well. They dispatched them easily. Then they ran into some shriekers (and in S&W the shriek causes damage) and ran in the other direction. The shriekers appeared to have alerted more kobolds because they encountered four more in a hallway. Again they managed to kill the monsters with only light damage.

Then they ran into trouble. They got by a pit trap because they now had Luven out in front. But they encountered a door and Luven did not hear anything on the other side. They opened the door, entered a room and were confronted with four goblins. Really, four goblins should not be that big of a problem. But the dice went cold. Farned, Alho, and Luven all missed. Nickar expended his one spell and killed a goblin with a magic missile. Now it was four against three. But the goblins fight desperately and on the first round, Alho and Farned who were in the front were both injured.

On the next round, everyone but Nickar missed again. And Nickar hit a goblin with a dart doing 1 point of damage. The goblins pressed their attack and both Alho and Farned were killed The next round Luven was struck and killed with a single blow. That left Nickar, who only had 3 hit points and no spells. There was no point in running so he attacked with his dagger and missed. The three goblins surrounded him and slashed him to the ground.  A total party kill.

Appendix A Map

My solo adventure debacle took about 2 hours to run and had four fights with monsters. Some of this time was spent drawing the map in paint.net. I did not use graph paper so the dungeon could grow in any direction to any size. Unfortunately, the entire party was killed. It was still fun, although I could see it getting boring if I ran this all of the time.  I would like to look at customizing the charts to remove some of the odd results, tone down the trap damage and increase the number of rooms. I would also like to come up with new random monster charts. These could be tailored for each adventure. So if you were entering a wizard’s lair you might have the wizard and his kobold guards and a few random dungeon creatures. I could even have a Finale room worked into the charts.

I did spend time online looking to see if anyone had taken these charts and turned it into a random dungeon maker. I did not find any.  Which is odd, I would have thought it was a natural for this. I do have some other rules systems that are similar. Darkfast Dungeons has a solo option and strikes me as being a little bit similar. But Appendix A gives you the opportunity to play D&D in a solo manner which is really great. It also can be used for its intended purpose which was to generate a dungeon for a DM for a regular tabletop game.

Mythic Game Master Deck

My Mythic Game Master Emulator Deck arrived in the mail from Drive Thru RPG. I have had the pdf version for years but never made much of it. With ou current forced isolation I thought I would try out the Deck of cards version of the game.

The Deck does make things so much simpler to learn. The rules are a short 20 pages and for the most part it is just an explanation of how to interpret the cards. The Mythic cards are quite busy and can be used to generate Yes/No answers to questions, descriptions, Scene setups, actions, and events. And they each have two possible outcomes depending on which way the card is facing.

I ran a simple scene involving a first level solo player. It went well but I did not have any complications or unexpected turns come about just by chance. It is certainly no replacement for a human GM. But you can use it to generate a story. Mythic can be used to replace the mechanics of a roleplaying game but for the most part it is used only to decide the direction of the story.

Below is a short story about my character Ham Crowscall and his adventure in the Dark Wood looking for a missing cow.  I used the Swords & Wizardry rules.  To generate the hero I used Fantasy Name Generator and an online random hero generator.

Ham and the prize cow

Ham Crowscall Str 13, Int 9, Dex 11, Wis 12, Con 11, Cha 11, hp 6, AC 14 (chainmail), Save 14, BAB +1, Longsword (1d8), 6 torches, backpack, bedroll, waterskin, 1 weeks rations, 50 rope, 12 iron spikes, mallet, 11 sp.

Thread Cards: Find the goblins (9), Rescue Bessy the cow (1).
Character Cards: Fallvale Village (2), Bessy the cow (14), Goblins (15).

Our hero Ham is a young member of the militia in the village of Fallvale. One morning Farmer Wilfred Heard comes to him to tell him that his paddock was broken into the night before and someone made off with his prize cow Bessy. Bessy is the best cow in the tiny village.

Ham is eager for an adventure so he does not bother to wake the sergeant of the militia. He sets off to the Heard farm with the farmer in tow. At the farm, Ham finds the tracks of several goblins (five) leading a cow into the Dark wood north of the town. The dark wood has a harsh reputation but Ham in undeterred. Our hero moves quickly through the woods on the trail of the goblins who must be moving slowly because they are pulling a reluctant captive cow.

Soon, Ham catches up with the goblins resting in a dark grove in the forest, squinting their eyes in the bright sunlight. Ham attempts to scare the goblins into fleeing without the cow so he makes a lot of noise and bangs his scabbard on his leg.

The goblins are startled and run off into the woods but the continue to drag the complaining cow behind them. Ham races after them and catches up to the trailing goblin. Winning the initiative he swings with his longsword and kills it in one fell swipe.

Running up behind the next goblin in the line Ham swings again and kills a second goblin all the while yelling at the top of his lungs. The remaining goblins panic and run leaving the distressed cow behind.  Realizing he is several hours by foot from Fallvale, Ham collects the lead of the cow and leads her back to the village with no further incident. He arrives late in the afternoon to a jubilant crowd of well-wishing villagers.

Ham Crosscall has been emboldened by his little adventure and is thinking about what his next adventure might take him.

Ham Crowscall on the track of some Goblins with a cow