In previous posts, on July 28 and December
11 of last year, I talked about the shortcomings of our first two sessions of
AD&D in almost 30 years. Players were rusty, sure – but now we’ve just
tackled session #3, and things went very well. Only a matter of time, after
all. It’s like riding a bike. The guys got their mojo back!
The visual aid – that “Dungeon Completion
Chart” as I called it before – did help a great deal. PCs had a rough,
century-old map of the dungeon they were sent to explore... and it kept the game
mostly on track.
Priests of Boccob detected the presence of a
relic in that dungeon complex, and this is why they’re sending in a party of
adventurers, with that old map from a previous expedition – more than a century
ago. “Bring back the relic. Anything else you find in there, you can keep it.
It’s yours.”
The entrance was not a mundane entrance, but
a teleport ward hidden deep in the forest, on a cliff face. When the PCs appear
in the dungeon, there is no way back: that teleport only works one way. There
was also a second teleport that kept bringing them back to the far end of the
hall...
One have to run in order to slip
through the second teleport, they soon realized. The Dwarf, the thief, and one
magic-user passed right through, but had to stop short on the other side,
because there was a large pit just ahead.
So you have to run to get through the ward,
but then you have to stop to avoid falling into the pit. Like it or not,
that leaves you standing squat in the middle of a TRAPPER!!!
When this cool homemade monster begins to fold
up on itself, three concealed doors open in the right wall, and goblin archers
start to fire away at the party. As if all that wasn’t enough already – two hunting
drakes rush towards the PCs from across the pit, on a creaking narrow wooden
ledge...
Sweet mayhem!
The thief rapidly climbed the wall, and both
magic-users fired magic missiles at the goblin archers. Barbarian and
Dwarf pounded the trapper to avoid being crushed like walnuts. The archers died
first. One magic-user even cast spider climb and went through one of the
concealed doors to stab a goblin with his dagger! The trapper was vanquished
two savage rounds later, and only the drakes remained – both stuck underneath
the dying trapper and alongside the cursing / thrashing barbarian...
The nearby goblin lair was a dilemma: attack
it directly, right away, or bypass it and continue on deeper in the dungeon.
The Dwarf wanted to attack. “Don’t leave any living monsters in your wake,
because then they’re behind your back, and you can be surrounded at any moment.”
The two magic-users wanted to lure the goblins out into one of the corridors, but
not attack their lair directly... Who’s gonna win that argument? The PCs with a
combined INT of 36, or a lone stinky Dwarf with INT 7?
This fight was the easiest of the game. Goblin
chief was a tough bastard, but 2 magic missiles and 1 angry Dwarf did
him in. The goblin cutters / archers fell quickly. Treasure: hand axe +2,
leather armor +1, potion of clairvoyance, potion of healing, 12 gems, 340 g.p.
After the goblins, the party rested for a
while, replenished spells, and the cleric cured some light wounds. Five hours
later, they were back at it, exploring a long winding passageway, an empty
room, and reaching the largest room of the entire dungeon. This room contained
a 3-ton silver menhir, and nine magical wormholes writhing on the ground in a
chaotic pattern. The Dwarf jizzed in his pants when he saw the menhir, but
that’s when those gibbering mouthers started to show up. I augmented the confusion
effect for those who failed to save vs Spells, and added illusions. “Illusion”
tokens / minis included random doors, random piles of treasure, a fireball,
a wizard eye, a monk, a cave bear, two giant caterpillars, and the
barbarian’s own mother...
Mouthers killed the barbarian, and came very
close to killing one of the magic-users. But the group prevailed, in the end. And
then they were five...
After backtracking to check out another
empty chamber, they returned to the menhir room and pushed onward to another
corridor and, finally, the room with the relic and exit gate. That fight was
something. Executioner’s hood, flesh golem, and 10 zombies! The hood wrapped
itself neatly around the cleric’s head, since he was wielding the only torch,
and the frenzy started again – because you cannot turn undead effectively with
an executioner’s hood smothering you! One of the magic-users grabbed the hood
with both hands, delivering a shocking grasp spell that also shocked the
poor cleric.
That’s my second homemade monster – tin
foil, black paint, white paint for the eyes, and black sharpie to tone down the
“shine”. Hard to photograph. Helpful players took a lot of pictures with phones
and camera, and this one was the best.
Hoody didn’t live for long, though, and the
cleric was finally rid of him. In the meantime, the Dwarf chopped up zombies
like Michonne. Real zombie apocalypse!
Flesh golem struck the already weak cleric,
and he was down and out. A clever “strategic” retreat to the silver menhir room
ensued. A few stressful hours later, the party was back to turn the remaining
zombies and square off against the spell-resistant golem, which was done in a
timely manner by the thief’s +1 shortsword, the Dwarf’s +2 battle axe, and the
cleric’s +3 cudgel. Thief dealt the killing blow with a fancy / nasty
backstab-ish assault.
Treasure: incense of meditation, horn of
blasting, spear +2, shield +1, ioun stone, boots of elvenkind, 54 gems, 825
g.p. and 1052 s.p. Boccob’s relic was also there of course – a colossal crystal
whose usefulness they don’t know yet, even with the help of an identify
spell.
Very nice game, and a big round of applause
for Trappy McFloor and Goodie Hoody! Long Live Homemade Monsters!
