"D&D-ass D&D", session 1
I ran a session of what I had been calling "D&D-ass D&D" in my gaming server for chill mostly 30-40 year olds. There's a little ttrpgs played there, and plans for grand experiments, but I just wanted to run something light and airy for mostly non-OSR/non-D&D heads.
See my rules here, but in summary, The Littlest Brown Book + [Supplement א: Chromatic Charms & Spectral Sorceries](Supplement א: Chromatic Charms & Spectral Sorceries, focused on the dungeon part (aka arcade-style. I ran Mike's Dungeons.
There was also a strict 2-hour time limit.
The cast:
- Haegel the Dwarf (Fighter 1)
- Sickly Steve (Red Mage 1)
Haegel's player was kind enough to grant me permission to post their summary report:
Summary
Haegl the dwarf and Sickly Steve the mage entered the Caverns of the Unknown with their hirelings Brad and Fuji.
Steve handled the imposing stone door in the traditional fashion, which is to say knocking on it. Since no one answered, Haegl and Brad pushed it open. Finding a fork leading East and West, Haegl explained that one should always turn right, but Steve correctly intuited that since that is what 'they're' expecting they should turn left.
At the next junction, leading West and North, Haegl explained when mapping one should always alternate turns, so they headed North. Hearing bugs ahead, they opted to try another door instead. Attempting to push it open, it pushed back and light blazed through the gap. Preparing for trouble, they let the door fall open, only to reveal a small boy who scrambled back into the overwhelming light. After a moment a hand extended, clothing in fine silks, and the Lady Ophine emerged.
Recognising that blood flows at the whim of the nobility, Haegl pledged the party's service immediately. She deigned to explain her purpose: to spread the light in this dungeon. Imperiously, she led them back along the path they hadn't taken West to another door. "My lady, allow us" Haegl gestured to Sickly Steve to help open the door, but he immediately knocked instead. Muffled voices and the sounds of drawn steel answered, so the party cautiously pushed the door open and called for the unknown denizens to surrender.
"There's no one here" came a poorly thought out reply, and an awkward stalemate of wits followed. Steve broke it by randomly reading a magic missile spell from his book, which arced around the corner and struck a foe in the chest. Battle followed, Haegl rushing around to skewer one spike-plated assailant in the chest, while Brad and Steve engaged the other. After striking a blow against Brad, the man surrendered, wetting himself and blubbering for mercy.
After a cursory interrogation ("You mean you're just killing people and piling their coins up in this hole?" "Yeah, what do you do?" "Fair point"), Haegl asked Lady Ophine how their prisoner should be treated. "He must die" and so he did, by Haegl's blade. Brad took the heavy spiked plate for himself, and the crassly decorated arms to match.
Allowing time for rest, Lady Ophine continued to lead them East through the dungeon. At the warning sound of insects ahead, she conjured mist to hide them. Clutching together so as not to lose their way, the party were led through a room of uncaring bugs, through corridors and a door into a large room they could not see. The Lady halted and commanded "Rid me of these miscreants."
The mist fell away to reveal three equally surprised brigands. Seizing on the moment of mutual shock Haegl ordered their surrender, gesturing to Brad as a compatriot who had seen the light and joined them. They threw down their crossbows and explained where their ill-gotten gains were stored. Distrustful, Haegl ordered they retrieve it themselves, which they did, handing over a large bag of coppers. While waving them back into line, Lady Ophine reminded her inferior that the brigands must die. An attempt at an orderly, if deceptive, execution was seen through and melee ensued. Scrabbling daggers and flailing arms saw Fuji distinguish herself with two notches to her belt, one a shot through the heart, the other in the back, while the last was cut down by Haegl.
Laden with coin, the party bid their leave of the Lady Ophine. She maganimously bid them farewell, drawing a magical tarot card for Haegl- the 10 of Spring, symbol of passion and restfulness.
My thoughts
This was very fun! Character creation was a little hectic, I was relying on two OSR-familiar people to be there to help ease creation, but we got through it. I used an old necropraxis post for rolling gear, and Havoc's spreadsheets for characters and campaign stats and etc.
Chromatic mages are very fun and everyone instantly understands their vibes due to the unfortunate pervasiveness of Magic the Gathering.
I rolled encounters using the default LBB charts. I rolled the first 3 encounters ahead of time (and we only saw one, so I have 2 more in the chamber).
I had so much fun running Ophine (she was a rolled mage encounter). I was pitching this as 'classic' d&d but secretly is my flavor: the first encounter is an old weird White Mage with white sequin robe with a 10-foot long trail, followed around by a page who announces her presence. She counts as a dungeon denizen so I made her weird. I used a few Krey tables including Monster Meins rolled "Domineering' for her and that was perfect. I wasn't quite sure what her deal was besides 'Bringing Light to the dungeon" but now it's "kill all chaotic monsters" which pushed the party into situations they probably wouldn't have been in otherwise. Plus she walks at a stately 3".
This was generally a zippy 1.5 hours of adventuring. I kept things moving at a good pace and we all had fun. There's no scheduled 2nd game yet but I'm sure we'll play more.
Prep notes
I have the first 5 levels of Mike's Dungeons printed out in a small binder, along with a few pieces of graph paper and a couple Ktrey tables. That's it. I spent less than an hour on prep for the dungeon and about 2 hours writing the google doc and manipulating the google sheet the way I wanted.
The goal was a little prep as possible for me and I was successful.
THANKS FOR READING <3