Joined: Feb 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 23 Location: Kent, WA Karma: 7
Kardallin's Palace, Session 1, 2/15/08 « Thread Started on Feb 15, 2008, 7:20pm »
Today I ran the first session of my OD&D campaign at the WotC offices. Yes, we're rolling original D&D-style in the very heart of the land of fourth edition.
Here's a log of what happened. I'm trying to crank this out as quickly as possible before I forget everything that happened. So, don't expect grade A fiction prose, but I think this gets across the gist of what's going on.
Two brave adventurers set out from Port Town to delve into the depths of Kardallin's Palace, the fighting man Robilard and the magic-user Frederick. Robilard sought out the place upon hearing rumors of a cult of Set operating out of the dungeon, while Frederick's reasons were less clear. However, it is already obvious that the two enjoy an at best uneasy alliance. Robilard does not trust the magic-user to forego throwing charm person on him, while for his part Frederick seems worried that Robilard's zealous embrace of Law might lead to a conflict between the two.
Our heroes entered the dungeon and opted to head to the eastern wing of level 1, where minions of Set are said to dwell. While traveling down a wide corridor, they encountered the skeletal remains of a slain adventurer. Frederick threw a rock at the skeleton's skull to see if it concealed a tripwire, only to watch as eldritch energy spilled from the skull as it animated.
Luckily, the animated skull proved eager to talk rather than fight. It seems that the skull was that of a greedy adventurer who was cursed by Odin to rest here until an adventurer sacrificed 50 gp to the gods on the unfortunate's behalf. In return, the skull would accompany its benefactor and answer three questions about the dungeon. When this service was complete, the adventurer's spirit would finally return to Valhalla.
Frederick, much to the surprise of Robilard, happened to have 50 gp on his person and glady sacrificed it for a new ally.
The group ventured further into a dungeon, coming to a dead end passage where a number of lizard men tripped a hidden portcullis. With the party trapped, the lizards spilled from a secret door the party missed and attacked. The dice were with the adventurers, in particular Frederick's use of charm person to net himself a new ally, Slazzrik. With the lizard men defeated, Slazzrik showed the characters the hidden lever needed to open the porcullis, and away they went.
Further exploration yielded two choices: head back to the entrance and seek another path east, or travel down a narrow passage. The PCs opted for the narrow corridor. At several points the characters had to strain to squeeze down the passage before reaching an open area before a door. As yet unbenownst the party, the passage is too narrow for them to head back down it.
The next room held a statue to Set that charmed Robilard, causing him to empty his backpack of the treasure found by the characters thus far. While the fighter made his impromptu donation to the forces of evil, a cleric of Set and several orcs emerged from a nearby secret door. Slazzrik held back the orcs long enough for Robilard to throw off the statue's charm. Alas, the poor lizardman fell, his head caved in by an orcish flail, but not before Robilard slew the cleric with a crossbow bolt and Frederick dashed into to finish the last orc with a lucky dagger thrust.
A search of the cleric's hidey hole yielded several sets of clerical robes, along with holy symbols of Set. Donning this attire, the adventurers headed east where they found a large chamber decorated with several murals depicting Set triumphant.
After pausing to inspect the room, they headed south. The next chamber was filled with skeletons clad in platemail. The undead formed a neat rank before the adventurers, while one clad in armor inlaid with silver strode before them. A quick parlay yielded a few important facts:
1. The undead were here to guard the entrance to the Guards' Tomb, where Kardallin's honored warriors are laid to rest.
2. The undead hate the followers of Set for infesting this area of the dungeon.
3. Seeing as the characters were wearing the vestments of priests of Set, the undead would like them to remove the robes or renounce Set. Otherwise, they'd be turned into shish-kabobs.
The adventurers, seeing the wisdom in avoiding violence, did as requested. Unfortunately, the captain of the dead was not yet finished with them. It was not enough to simply renounce Set, he declared. They had three days to find the high priest of Set on level 1, kill him, and bring his head to this room. Otherwise, the characters were cursed to a horrible death.
The PCs agreed, gathered up the robes, and fled the room.
That's where we called it a day.
I have at least two more people who want in on the game. Today was a little bad, in that we only had 30 minutes at lunch time due to a heavy workload for the next week or two. Still, we'll be playing again next week.
So far, so good. The sense of improvisation in the game, the idea that anything can happen, really made the game a lot of fun.
Ernest Gary Gygax 1938 - 2008 "How many people could say that they impacted the lives of millions without bloodshed, political power or a global marketing machine - just a small game of gelatinous cubes, strange dice and 10' corridors? Gary did it just like this, and he did it out of his humble game room in Wisconsin. The context makes it all the more remarkable." - Melan
Ernest Gary Gygax 1938 - 2008 "How many people could say that they impacted the lives of millions without bloodshed, political power or a global marketing machine - just a small game of gelatinous cubes, strange dice and 10' corridors? Gary did it just like this, and he did it out of his humble game room in Wisconsin. The context makes it all the more remarkable." - Melan
Joined: Aug 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 321 Location: Leander, TX Karma: 13
Re: Kardallin's Palace, Session 1, 2/15/08 « Reply #3 on Feb 15, 2008, 7:58pm »
Quote:
Oh, I also wanted to mention I am not a fan of prose in game journals. I actually prefer the way you wrote it. YMMV.
Likewise!
Sounds like it was fun. The talking skull is cool. I also like the mishmash of mythologies and the rivalry within the dungeon. I look forward to future reports!
Joined: Feb 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 23 Location: Kent, WA Karma: 7
Re: Kardallin's Palace, Session 1, 2/15/08 « Reply #4 on Feb 15, 2008, 8:25pm »
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Mike, are you at liberty to say who the players are?
Frederick is played by Peter Schaeffer, a developer on D&D.
Robilard is played by Stephen Radney-Macfarlane, another D&D developer.
I think the parlay came about simply because the players saw that they were outnumbered and had few other options. I think Robilard may have wanted to fight, but Frederick was ready to run for the hills if a battle started.
Joined: Oct 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 1,220 Location: Argentina Karma: 47
Re: Kardallin's Palace, Session 1, 2/15/08 « Reply #5 on Feb 16, 2008, 12:10am »
Hey, that looks good fun! I loved the levitating skull and the Set statue. Also, I like the "Ruined Palace" as theme for a mega-dungeon. Seems it really allows for lots of possibilities.
By the way, I'm very interested in you sharing how you "felt" as a DM. Did OD&D help you to run a good session? Did you felt comfortable, satisfied with the system? Did you feel the game system was good to run, and enhanced your DMing skills? What did you liked as a DM? Having been the prime designer of the 4E monster manual, did you liked the way OD&D handles monsters? (this may be what I find best in OD&D, it's the best take on monsters ever. I really love the way they were designed)
Also, I'm very interested in any house-rule you came up with.
Joined: Feb 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 23 Location: Kent, WA Karma: 7
Re: Kardallin's Palace, Session 1, 2/15/08 « Reply #7 on Feb 16, 2008, 12:46pm »
Quote:
By the way, I'm very interested in you sharing how you "felt" as a DM. Did OD&D help you to run a good session? Did you felt comfortable, satisfied with the system? Did you feel the game system was good to run, and enhanced your DMing skills? What did you liked as a DM? Having been the prime designer of the 4E monster manual, did you liked the way OD&D handles monsters? (this may be what I find best in OD&D, it's the best take on monsters ever. I really love the way they were designed)
I've thought about this question quite a bit, and here's my first thoughts on it.
A lot of the fun parts of the session (the talking skull; the undead and their bargain) were possible under any edition of D&D. However, I think that OD&D's open nature makes the players more likely to accept things in the game as elements of fiction, rather than as game elements. The players reacted more by thinking "What's the logical thing for an adventurer to do?" rather than "What's the logical thing to do according to the rules?"
The thing I like best about OD&D monsters is that they are simple to run and easy to improvise. It was nice to simply write down AC, damage, and hit dice. On the other hand, I missed the variety of weird effects and tactics that 4e monsters can use independent of any work I put into them as a DM. The two approaches are very different.
OD&D and D&D 4 are such different games that they cater to very different needs. For me, in OD&D things are fast, loose, and improvised. I can write rules without worrying about strict interpretations or covering every possible case. The players, since they've agreed to sit down at an OD&D table, are probably more likely to accept random craziness and a game that requires a bit more deductive reasoning (I disable a trap by wedging an iron spike into the lever that activates it) as opposed to D&D 4 (I disable a trap by finding the lever then making a skill check).
To be honest, I think the games are different enough that I easily have space for both of them in my library. For me, they fill very different needs. OD&D is like jamming with a band. A lot of stuff gets made up on the fly, and when we find something interesting everyone just rides with it. D&D 4 is like playing a symphony. There's more structure and more pieces to work with, but everything comes together in this grand ensemble.
Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 432 Location: Hollywood, California, USA Karma: 39
Re: Kardallin's Palace, Session 1, 2/15/08 « Reply #8 on Feb 16, 2008, 1:18pm »
Very cogent analysis (which I suppose shouldn't be too surprising, since it's actually your job to think analytically about D&D) that underlines the fact that, despite the dropped letter, D&D3 and (presumably) its direct descendant D&D4 are really following in the tradition of AD&D -- the stylistic difference you describe between OD&D and D&D 4 in your last paragraph pretty much echoes the distinction in intent between D&D and AD&D described by Gary Gygax in TD14, though perhaps to a greater degree -- and that the freewheeling/DIY OD&D tradition has been allowed to wither away, at least commercially (which was perhaps inevitable, since the AD&D/3E/4E model rewards more commercially-oriented behaviors (buying and studying rulebooks, keeping up with the latest "official" word, organized play, etc.) whereas the OD&D model says, essentially, buy 1 product ever and fill in everything else with your imagination -- and once you've got the basic idea even that 1 product is optional!).
Joined: Aug 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 321 Location: Leander, TX Karma: 13
Re: Kardallin's Palace, Session 1, 2/15/08 « Reply #9 on Feb 16, 2008, 8:23pm »
Quote:
A lot of the fun parts of the session (the talking skull; the undead and their bargain) were possible under any edition of D&D. However, I think that OD&D's open nature makes the players more likely to accept things in the game as elements of fiction, rather than as game elements. The players reacted more by thinking "What's the logical thing for an adventurer to do?" rather than "What's the logical thing to do according to the rules?"
That is some rather sagacious analysis, sir. I had not yet been able to formulate that thought so precisely and well. My compliments!
Falconer Level 5 Thaumaturgist Cleric of OD&D member is offline
Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 313 Location: Chicago, IL Karma: 17
Re: Kardallin's Palace, Session 1, 2/15/08 « Reply #10 on Feb 16, 2008, 9:46pm »
Quote:
OD&D's open nature makes the players more likely to accept things in the game as elements of fiction, rather than as game elements. The players react more by thinking "What's the logical thing for an adventurer to do?" rather than "What's the logical thing to do according to the rules?"
Michael Falconer - http://mux.net/~ulmo/ "Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?"
"A man may do both. For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day!" --J.R.R. Tolkien
Joined: Jul 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 1,625 Karma: 42
Re: Kardallin's Palace, Session 1, 2/15/08 « Reply #11 on Feb 16, 2008, 10:20pm »
Quote:
OD&D's open nature makes the players more likely to accept things in the game as elements of fiction, rather than as game elements. The players react more by thinking "What's the logical thing for an adventurer to do?" rather than "What's the logical thing to do according to the rules?"
Joined: Feb 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 23 Location: Kent, WA Karma: 7
Re: Kardallin's Palace, Session 1, 2/15/08 « Reply #13 on Feb 18, 2008, 1:49pm »
Quote:
I really wanna hear about session two!
Hey mike, how are you handling combat?? An issue every OD&D referee must resolve!
I don't have easy access to Chainmail, so I am using the combat matrix from Men & Magic.
To determine who went first, I simply rolled a d6 against the players' roll. High rolling side went first.
However, I'm considering adding some house rules to speed this up. I'm thinking of the following:
1. Resolve missile fire. 2. Resolve movement. Characters who do not move can use opportunity fire to shoot while a target moves. 3. Resolve melee. 4. Resolve spells and any action that doesn't fall under the categories above.
In each phase, the characters go in Dexterity order. Monsters use 9 + HD for their "Dexterity". A character (or monster) can act on any two of the phases. Missile fire is not allowed if a character is in melee. Spells are, but casting comes after melee to see if the unlucky M-U is still around to cast.
I'm not sure if this will work out. I'm still thinking over my options.
Joined: Oct 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 1,220 Location: Argentina Karma: 47
Re: Kardallin's Palace, Session 1, 2/15/08 « Reply #14 on Feb 18, 2008, 2:04pm »
1d6 vs. 1d6 works fine most of the time. The D&D FAQ that appeared in THE STRATEGIC REVIEW Vol. 1, No. 2 (Summer 1975) suggests that a high DEX can modify that roll. Of course, that can be ignored, and the example shows a single PC against 10 orcs.
I would keep it simple, or device something simple. I think that Monster DEX 9+HD does not model well every monster.
Thanks for the answer, hope to hear about session 2!
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