Beneath the Tower of Zenopus: Session III

..of carpets, apes and wizards!
(quick campaign doodles by Mike Moran)

This session saw the introduction of a new player, Zach, to our group playing Skwanky Furrytoe, the halfling fighter . So we are up to 6 players and myself. The dice rolled much more in the players favor than in previous sessions and they even walked away with a good handful of loot. This session took place entirely within the dungeon and had a bit more physical action, none of which limited any of the role-playing.

The players:

Arvin Ardmore - Acolyte of Mithra played by Corey
Gedleessmote Hammersend - Veteran Dwarf Warrior played by Clay
Wolfhier - Viking Veteran from the North played by Mike
Tibag Backstabber - Elf (half-elf) Rogue played by Brian
Slick Vinny - Human Medium played by Max
Skwanky Furrytoe - Halfling Veteran played by Zach
Jack (NPC) Stableboy, Torch-bearer
and a Mule.

Our last session left our party of intrepid adventures exploring an oddly furnished room beneath the ruined tower of Zenopus. Wolfhier was guarding the door they came in from, while the rest of the group looted the chamber. Gedleesmote rolled up the ornate carpet, while Arvin and Slick Vinny looted the bookshelves and writing desk. Tibag, while listening to the western door heard voices on the other side.

They debated a bit on what to do and soon decided to try to draw the occupants out. Everyone gathered along the walls by the door to surprise whomever was on the other side and Tibag cracked the door slightly to peer in. He saw another lit chamber and in the distance three unmoving figures. But the voices weren't coming from those figures, the voices were coming from a portion of the room around the corner from the door. He heard three distinct voices, murmuring about the city of Caladan, Lord Osric and the Merchant Guild, and a payment of sorts. The game is, indeed, afoot!

Tibag turns to tell his comrades just as the voices stop. Bursting into the door way was a burly Buccaneer in Chainmail wielding a sword! Slick Vinny, in an uncharacteristically not so slick manner, yells something about having the gold for the payment but the Buccaneer just calls them thieves and rushes in to attack. The stout dwarf Gidleesmote blocked the doorway and the two go at it while Tibag tried to get a couple of arrows off without hitting the dwarf. Wolfhier came rushing in to aid his companions. After a brief melee, the pirate lay dead and the dwarf near death. Arvin aids Gidlee with one of two healing potions he received from his order.

Upon entering the chamber expecting to confront more foes, the party finds a deserted room. Only three very lifelike stone statues (leaving the party to believe that there may be a Basilisk hovering around), a table full of alchemical equipment, a couple of chairs, a very large sack and a hanging tapestry. Tibag looks behind the tapestry for a door only to find a blank wall. Arvin and Vinny gathered the items on the table and found a scroll. Wolfhier guarded an open passage to the west while examining the statues when he heard a slow shuffling coming down the corridor. Seeing a sole Zombie and feeling frustrated in his lack of usefulness in combat, Slick Vinny grabbed a torch from the wall and rushed over to burn the creature. Surprisingly, the Zombie lashed out at the rushing wizard and deals him a devastating blow leaving him unconscious and very close to death! Wolfhier rushes the Zombie and decapitates it while Arvin uses the last of the healing potion bringing the Magic-user back from the brink!

While this is going on, Gidleesmote opens the sack to find a neat little halfling warrior who introduces himself as Skwanky Furrytoe. It seems that Skwanky had been drugged and shanghaied from the Green Dragon Inn and brought aboard a ship! After a couple of days in the hold, he was shoved into a sack (a very insulting predicament!), placed upon a small dingy and rowed to what sounded like a cave. He was dragged around until he ended up in this chamber with the three voices. The first had a thick accent from the southern Desert kingdoms, the second was more aristocratic and from Caladan, while the third didn't say much but was gruff, short and spoke in the dialect of a Buccaneer.

Not having the slightest clue to where he is at, Skwanky decides to join up with the party.

Tibag finds a hidden latch which opens a secret door. After Gedleesmote rolls up the tapestry along with his carpet the party enters the long narrow passageway which ends against a wall. Another search reveals another hidden door.

Beyond the door the behold a strange site. A lit circular room with a polished black solid stone alter in the center of carved runes on the floor. A stairwell spiraled up around the room to a hatch in the ceiling. Arvin examines the alter while the party moves up the stairs. Suddenly, a giant snake rises up from behind the alter and lunges at the cleric. A battle ensues and is ended when Wolfheir swinging with his battle axe split the snake's skull.

It appeared that the hatch was locked and after Tibag failed to open it, Wolfheir and Gedlee used their backs to bust open the hatch. In the round chamber above, they found a sparsly furnished living area, cooking pot, cot, etc. and a latched door leading outside. Another staircase lead upwards to another wooden hatch.

Climbing the stairs (while Skwanky searches the cooking pot for food) and coming to the trap door, Tibag opens it and pops his head in. Unbeknownst, to the rest of the party, the thief is put under a charm spell by the dark wizard in the room above and is whispered a command to get the others out of the tower. Tibag tries to pursued the party that there is nothing up there but an empty room and that they should just leave. The others know something is up with the thief but don't quite know what to do. This threw everybody into a confusion. Tibag wouldn't let anyone up the stairs.

Now wait, you're probably saying. I thought Tibag was an elf and is immuned to charm and sleep spells. I would say you are right, but it turns out that Tibag isn't a full fledged elf after all. It was a happy accident as that was the players intention with the character and my forgetting the elf/charm rule. It actually all worked out for the game and the player.

After much debate and argument, the party ventured outside. Geddlee said that he would climb up the tower. Tibag pointed out that, being a dwarf it would be quite hard for him to do that, so the thief volunteered (the player, Brian, did a great job playing the role of the charmed Tibag). Tibag climbed up the tower, over the ruined parapet and then disappeared on the other side! More party confusion as the whereabouts of their comrade, Tibag, was unknown. After more argument and debate it was decided that the only option was to burst through the trap door and face whatever danger was in there and try to get their companion back.

Back inside the tower they climbed the stairs and tried to open the trap door only to find it locked. The dwarf and the viking started splintering the door with their axes. Then Gedleesmote, sticking his head through the portal sees an odd site; another round chamber with stairs leading up to another hatch, a large gorilla in a cage, Tibag targeting him with an arrow and a robed magician hurling a magic missile at the dwarfs face. The dwarf tumbles back onto the stairs, wounded but alive.

The party decides that there is no other option to save Tibag but to just storm up into the chamber and take what is dished out at them. While Slick Vinny prepares a sleep scroll, Wolfheir and Arvin rush up into the chamber. Tibag lets loose an arrow at the Viking while the wizard unlocks the cage, releasing the ape. Wolfheir rushes the ape while Arvin charges the wizard who dodges the blow and sticks a dagger into the clerics ribs. Tibag lets fly another arrow at his viking friend but misses, and hitting the ape, killing it. Vinny finally gets his head up into the chamber, reads his scroll and puts the wizard to sleep.


After binding the wizard they searched the room finding a couple of spell books, a scroll, another map and a wand. Tibag, now released from the wizard's charms, and Slick Vinny question the sorcerer about the where-abouts of Lord Osric's daughter. He reveals that she may be somewhere near-by and that Captain Conik is the one that kidnapped her. Beyond that he would not say much else but insult and doom the party. Frustrated with the lack of information, Slick Vinny murders the wizard in cold blood angering Tibag who wanted to deal with the wizard himself and who is a bit confused by being susceptible to a charm spell even though he believes himself to be an elf.

The session ended with Wolfheir, upon the roof of the ruined tower spotting a ship off in the distance, Giddleesmote trying to figure out how much the ape cage might be worth, Skwanky searching the chamber for any food, Arvin, battered and wounded, and Tibag and Slick Vinny not on the best of terms and little Jack watching all the events with glee!

I didn't feel I was in my best form that evening, I was a bit tired, but the players seemed to have loved the session. There was more action and the players were getting confident with their rolling of the dice. The charmed character and battle with the wizard was a memorable highlight from the session that provided some great role-play, suspense, strategy and problem solving. The characters are starting to develop a bit more depth and the 'story' is just developing itself. A couple of near death experiences keep the PC cautious but they are beginning to realize they have to take some chances to get some rewards.

Tucson ComiCon & Classic D&D & Retro-Clones

IndieOnly Comics (my small press comic company) had a booth at the second annual Tucson ComiCon. Since I haven't put out much in terms of new comic stories, I decided to push more of the D&D / Retro Clone items that I've worked on.

Mind you, I always felt that comics and gaming are very close blood-brothers. The thing that I found interesting was that when certain people saw the "Outpost" module cover they excitedly recognized it as a D&D type of module and I took the opportunity to chat about classic style gaming and the Retro-clones.

What I found exceptional was that the people who were the most interested were some of the comic shop owners, convention organizers and other small publishers - none of which have ever heard of the reto-clones but were eager to set up a time to roll some dice and play a game. A number of these people fondly remember the good 'ol days of the game (less rules/rolling dice, more laid back fun at the table, etc.). People seemed turned-on by the rules-lite aspect of these games as opposed to the constant stat checking and dice rolling of modern games. But, again, none of the people I talked with have ever heard of the retro-clones. One book publisher, who has not heard a peep about the retro-clones, is very much into playing RPGs and is even creating a monster-based RPG.

All this tells me that this 'movement' / concept is still a very isolated (though perhaps growing) and unknown to a great many people outside of the circles, forums and blogs. Granted, word is spreading, but much more slowly than it would appear.

I think there is a potentially huge interest in classic style RPGs, whether for nostalgia or rule simplicity. The key is getting the word out there and that, of course, is the great mystery, and one in which TARGA has been working on. I really feel that, if by some miracle of the gods, WOTC was to re-released the original box sets of the games (OD&D, Holmes, or Modvay), it would be to a hungry group of players both new and old.

Friday's Fantasy Art

As I prepare for tomorrow's 2nd Annual Tucson ComiCon, my head is filled with artwork and drawings and I got to thinking what is one of the most captivating classic D&D dungeon crawl images? I'll have to go with the classic B1 In Search of the Unknown's David Sutherland III's drawing of the Room with the Pools. The apprehension at the pool's dark liquid, the blackness beyond, the fighter's alertness to danger, the wizard's pointy hat, all of these elements make for a great atmosphere that the old game inspired.
By far, one of my most favorite images and one that has stuck with me ever since.

Enjoy!

2nd Annual Tucson ComiCon!

For those of you in the Arizona area, come join me at the 2nd annual Tucson ComiCon this Saturday, November 7th at the Hotel Arizona in Tucson AZ.

My small press publisher called IndieOnly Comics. I've put out a number of comics including Bliss, Plant Guy, Sequentially Tucson and others.

The festivities begin at 10am and go until 7. Last year’s con was a total blast and this one is shaping up to be bigger and better. I’ll have all the IndieOnly Comics for sale as well as the Warlock’s Home Brew Adventure: “The Outpost on the Edge of the Far Reaches”. I will also have my classic D&D illustrations available as well. A ton of great local artists will be there and it’s something that you don’t want to miss.

Oh wait, did I forget to mention that it’s free? Yes absolutely free! So you have no excuse to miss it!

Campaign Map

One of my favorite elements of D&D were the maps. Dungeon maps, setting maps, city maps, anything that allowed me to dream-away the time in those fantastic places. I still can just stare at those same maps and be drawn into their mysteries imagined situations.

I wanted to create a campaign setting that I could develop into an open-ended sandbox adventure. I started with a larger view and mapped that with general ideas of the kingdoms and realms which gave me a backdrop for the general feel of the campaign. I moved into just one section of that land which would become the initial focus of the sandbox. That would be the land of Eir'ian.

Once the sessions started, I realized that Eir'ian was still too big of a chunk as I wanted the player's sandbox to slowly expand. I focused on the home-base town of Caladan and the surrounding area, displaying just enough to pique their interest and curiosity. Granted, the characters are just first level and it may take them a while to even get outside of the Caladan city limits, but I hope that this tiny view of the greater world will inspire their curiosity for adventure.

I didn't give the players the map to start off with, they ended up purchasing it from a shop in Caladan during the second game session.

In future posts, I'll talk about how I created this map and others.

Beneath the Tower of Zenopus: Session II

..of The Fog of Battle and Other Missteps.

(Note that I'm one session behind in my campaign tales. I'll be caught up in the next couple of posts.)

The players:

Arvin Ardmore - Acolyte of Mithra
Gedleessmote Hammersend - Veteran Dwarf Warrior
Wolfhere - Viking from the North
Tibag Backstabber - Elf Rogue
Slick Vinny - Human Medium
and a Mule.

Last session

First I'll say that the dice didn't roll in the players favor early on. That said, when last we left our faithful party, the dwarf had been paralyzed by a ghoul attack, the later of which had been dispatched and Slick Vinny had set fire to the last two wooden coffins.

As the room began to fill with smoke, the party thought it best to exit the chamber and rest in the hallway near where they entered (always a good thing to do in a dungeon) while the Dwarf recovers and the room airs out. On their way they ran into a couple of wandering giant rats which they made short work of.

After having rested in the hallway for an hour and the dwarf fully regaining his faculties, the party stepped forth once again. Rounding the corner they see, blocking their way, six giant spiders feasting on the giant rats and not paying much heed to our stalwart adventures (result of a wandering monster check during their rest). Deciding that the only way to continue their exploration is through the spiders, Tibag begins firing arrows at them which agitate the over-sized arachnids. Now, Tibag is usually a good shot, mind you, and the only one with a ranged weapon (unless you count Slick Vinny tossing darts into the darkness in vain), but the gods did not smile upon him this day and the arrows just flew into the darkness, mostly missing their targets and killing only one. People are starting to panic a bit as these 5 spiders, climbing along the walls, floors and ceiling rush closer. Slick Vinny tosses a flask of oil in front of the oncoming horrors and Wolfhere tosses the torch to light it but.....misses again (see last session). Now the spiders are upon them and things go from bad to worse!

Wolfhere, Tibag and Gedlee take the front rank, and Arvin, protecting Slick Vinny stay back. That doesn't stop the spiders as the ones crawling on the ceiling drop and attack the two in the rear! Tibag is the first to slay a spider but Gedleessmote is the first to feel the pain of the creatures fangs. But the dwarf makes his save vs. poison and continues the melee. Next it is Wolfhere that feels the sting of the spider. His save doesn't go so well. I didn't want to go the save or die route with the poison and end up with a TPK, 'cause that's where it was headed. So I rolled a d4 for the number of rounds before the poison would take affect and then another d4 for the length of incapacitation. So Wolfhere, had one round before the poison would take affect which the intensity of which would last 4 round. So the Viking slayed his spider in the next round and, turning pale, spun around to help Slick Vinny who just had a spider land on his face! Wolfhere, keels over and becoming violently ill!

Arvin's spider lands next to him, and being unable to land a hit was bit by the eight-legged creature. Arvin, of course, misses his save and shortly keels over as well, puking all over the place.

Vinny, pulls the spider from his face and tosses it on the ground, and turns to aid the afflicted Arvin. He swings with his staff and....(rolling a natural 1)....misses the arachnid and slugs the poor cleric in the head!

Tibag and Gedleessmote continue to struggle with their spider, Wolfhere and Arvin puking all over the hallway, and Vinny swinging wildly at the spider until finally breaking his staff (another roll of 1). Things are looking grim, indeed, until Tibag slays the last Spider in the front and the dwarf turns and slays Arvins spider and Vinny turns to finish off the last one but...(another 1) splinters the remainder of his staff. Gedleessmote lunges at the remaining spider and (yet another....1) slips in Wolfhere's vomit and lands flat on his back in front of the remaining spider. Finally, Tibag slays the remainingspider as it's climbing up the wall.

Wolfhere and Arvin recover from their bout with spider poison but are still woozy (-2 combat penalty for 6 turns). They decide to head back to town to lick their wounds but are disappointed that they didn't pick up any loot on their first foray into the depths of the ruined tower. The companions decide to return to the room where they killed the two ghouls and burned the coffins and see if they could find anything of value. Indeed they do and recover a handful of gems and some coin.

They return to the surface and are happy to discover their mule safe and tied to the cemetery gate (having spent a mere three hours in the Underworld, one of which they spent resting).

Heading back to Caladan and threw the southern gate they notice that the town watch is a bit agitated and learn that they have been seeking the watch captain (Capt. Conik) who went missing shortly after last week's Harvest Festival along with Lord Osric's daughter. It is thought that the two were having an affair and ran off together. Furious, the leader of the Merchant Guild is having the town watch search for them.

The party heads back towards the Cloven Hoof Inn and on the way find a small shop called Master Brigham's Curiosities. Slick Vinny enters hoping to stock up on some magic scrolls he can use. Thus, Master Brigham has no scrolls to sell save a map of the area which Vinny purchases. Also, traded for first dibs on the curiosities found beneath the tower is some tobacco that can lessen the affects of poison (thanks to Thorkhammer). They also learn that six years ago, six adventures found their way beneath the tower never to return.

After some healing at the Temple of Mithra (donations accepted, of course), the party returns to the Cloven Hoof Inn to clean up and rest for the next day's return underground. It turns out the orphaned stableboy, Jack, is enthralled by the exploits of our adventures and asks if he can come along. Vinny invites him and purchases some armor and a short sword for the young lad.

After a night's rest, the party returns to the tunnels with little Jack in tow carrying the torches. They retrace their steps and continue to explore the room with the dead ghouls. Opening on door, the party discovers a flight of stairs that lead down into the darkness. The air is very dry and stale and the darkness foreboding. Thinking it best to leave that for a later foray, they head through the eastern door. Down a corridor they find a small room with an armoire of shrunken heads and magical doors that lead them back to the corridor which they entered from. After spiking the doors open, breaking the spell, they proceed east down another corridor and enter another room filled with refuse and garbage and rummaging Giant Rats. After making their way to the other side of the room, they decide to dispatch the rats and do so easily. Searching through the refuse, Jack finds the rats nest and pulls out a leather belt of one of their victims which contains a silver dagger and some more coin. Hooray for Jack!

The party enters an open tunnel and travels down a long corridor which ends at an ornately carved wooden door. Beyond the door they find a furnished room lit by four beetles with red glowing bellies in small cages suspended from the ceiling. As Wolfhere guards the door, the others explore the room. There are books and scrolls and a writing desk with parchments. Gedleessmote rolls up the ornate rug stating that everything is loot! Vinny (finally) finds his two magic scrolls. Tibag listens to the western door and beyond hears voices speaking in the common language.

And that's where the play ended. It seemed to be another good session with a lot of laughs and mystery. The randomness of the classic dungeon presents a lot of unknowns. The shrunken heads baffled the players as they tried to gather meaning from them. Really they were just there as some dungeon oddity but it still left a puzzling impression on the players. The combat where natural 1's kept coming up was a bizarre yet fun turn of events. It was an exciting battle. I felt that I rolled with the situations pretty well and that the players enjoyed when I put them into a position that they could role-play against. The battle seemed to be very chaotic and confusing instead of just hit, miss, hit, miss.

Again, the three and a half hours flew by and we really could've gone for another hour or two but it was Monday night and everyone had work in the morning.

Third Campaign Session +1 Tonight

Tonight is the third session of our Swords & Wizardry sandbox campaign and we have a new player, Zach, joining us. That makes a total of six players plus a DM. I'm looking forward to seeing how the group dynamic and game-play changes with the new addition.

Since the party is already in the depths of the Dungeon, I've thought of two options to get the new PC into the action, a brief summary as to how and why the PC ended up where he is. I'll write out those two options on a card. Depending on the players actions, I'll give one of the cards to Zach to get his PC in game. I think that should work pretty well.

I'll post details when I post the session summary.