Thorky's "Ice Maidens of the Frozen Horn" with BLUEHOLME™
Nov 7, 2015 20:27:16 GMT -6
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Post by Vile Traveller on Nov 7, 2015 20:27:16 GMT -6
Many of you will be aware of R. C. Pinnell, a.k.a. Thorkhammer on the Dragonsfoot Forums (yes, that's the same Thorkhammer as in the combat example of the BLUEHOLME™ Prentice Rules), author of numerous old-school adventures. Yesterday I ran his latest one-shot tournament adventure - and here's what happened:
SPOILERS BELOW!
I ran the adventure using the draft BLUEHOLME™ Compleat Rules today. Overall it was a fun ride, I think the constant need for speed added a lot to the tension and excitement. I didn't add any mechanical effects of tiredness, but the psychological effect came across nicely in play. The party made it through in about 2 hours 40 minutes, tournament mode so no random encounters. The party consisted of the classic 4: fighter, cleric, thief, and magic-user, all human (taken from the pregens and adapted to BLUEHOLME™). I upped the levels slightly and added some disposable magic items to compensate for the smaller number, but in retrospect I would reduce the opposition instead - the higher levels really tell with spells and hit points.
The party went straight in, using the map the halflings had found on the one giantess casualty of the raid. They decided to follow the tracks at first, soon finding that the map wasn't 100% accurate. I swapped encounters 1 and 3, so the first room they came to was the troll cavern. Luckily the thief went in first, checking for traps, and he spotted the troll ambush. The magic-user followed invisibly, but almost immediately decided to air-burst a fireball over the heads of 4 of the trolls, killing all four. At this point the fighter and cleric charged in on their mounts and laid into the remaining four trolls.
It soon became clear to them that trolls at close quarters were tenacious foes even for 10th level characters. The party eventually overcame them in a hard slog with the cleric and fighter, a lucky backstab by the thief, and a couple of judiciously thrown flasks of burning oil from the highly cautious magic-user. Oh, and the fighter blew off a produce flame which caused the remaining troll to flee, only to be cut down by the thief who had snuck down the tunnel to lie in ambush in the shadows. The cleric was badly wounded in the fight, and used several healing potions to get back to full strength. The fighter was also hurt, but shrugged it off.
A couple of days of exhausting chases down tunnels later, the party were now only occasionally checking for tracks and trying to catch up by following the map when they came across a purple worm (I swapped this out for 3 caecilia). Luckily, it was moving away from the party (I gave it a 50/50 chance of facing either way), so they decided to drop back and follow. Unfortunately this meant they dropped behind the giantesses again - they had unknowingly come quite close already. Eventually the worm went down a side tunnel and they passed by.
Next up, they came across the giant vampire bats, hanging from the ceiling of the tunnel. The thief had heard them chittering so the party were forewarned. The cleric spoke with animals and convinced them that they were not easy meat (I used the reaction table), and they passed by unmolested but hurriedly.
A day later and they finally got close enough to hear (or feel, rather) the giantesses' dainty footsteps. They dropped back and followed, waiting for them to make camp. This they did, settling down with the crucible while one stayed to watch the tunnel mouth. The party hatched a plan to try t get the crucible with out a fight.
The magic-user suggested to the giantess guard that it would be better to keep a closer eye on the crucible, so she duly went back to the camp, grabbed the crucible, and brought it back to her spot by the tunnel while the thief made herself comfortable in the shadows nearby.
The cleric, enlarged by the magic-user, sauntered up and engaged the giantess in conversation under pretense of being a giant of unspecified sort (speaking Giantish helped). He then cast silence on her location, followed by a devastating flame strike, but still the thief's backstab was nowhere near enough to take her down and she got a second hefty swing in with her axe, nearly cleaving the cleric in twain as he hoofed it down the tunnel with the crucible. In desperation the magic-user cast hold monster, luckily immobilising their pursuer before she got out of the zone of silence. The party decided discretion was the better part of valour and galloped back the way they had come.
They managed to stay ahead, and decided to stone shape themselves a little cubbyhole for a good night's rest. Unfortunately a small herd of minotaurs had other ideas, and after inconclusive negotiations attempted to acquire the party and their mounts for dinner. However, as only one minotaur at a time could get into their chamber, the first was quickly dispatched. Negotiations resumed, and the bull-men ade off with their fallen companion, reckoning a beef roast in the hand better than horse sausage in a cave.
After a short rest, the party re-entered the main tunnel only to be confronted with the gaping maw of a giant nematode! The quick-witted magic-user made good use of her charm monster to turn the purple worm from ravenous menace to enthusiastic and loyal (if mucus-covered) pet. It was at this point they noticed that their new friend was badly wounded but also considerably more rotund in the midriff. Apparently the giantesses had also met old Wormy.
The party did manage to escape the tunnels the next day, the depleted and demoralised giantesses declining further pursuit when they saw their new companion slithering along behind. The group made their way back to the halfling village, and were initiated into the tribe before making off with their 100,000 gp reward and the magic-user's new friend for life (it's unlikely to get another saving throw for a very long time ...).
Going in I was a bit worried by the fact that there were no puzzle encounters per se, only monsters, and only one described encounter area other than tunnels (the troll room). However, this is where the old school rooms came into play.
I have never run a game for this group, some were unfamiliar with pre-d20 games, and none had played this way in a long time, if at all. At first this led to a lot of searching of character sheets for abilities and skills that were not 'there'. But after a few minutes they simply stopped looking at their sheets before deciding what to do, and started thinking outside the box. Even without the incentive of XPs-for-treasure (this being a one-shot), they started thinking about ways to achieve their goals while avoiding combat. They came up with novel approaches to encounters which, in a d20 environment I'm sure they would have met with a well-orchestrated sequence of buffs and frontal attacks.
In other words, explicit puzzles to vary the dungeon experience were not needed - the players created them through their own initiative. That's what old-school sandbox gaming means to me. It's not necessarily aimless (the characters had to retrieve the crucible), nor is it always entirely unguided (they had a map) but they are left to their own devices as to how to reach their goal.
SPOILERS BELOW!
I ran the adventure using the draft BLUEHOLME™ Compleat Rules today. Overall it was a fun ride, I think the constant need for speed added a lot to the tension and excitement. I didn't add any mechanical effects of tiredness, but the psychological effect came across nicely in play. The party made it through in about 2 hours 40 minutes, tournament mode so no random encounters. The party consisted of the classic 4: fighter, cleric, thief, and magic-user, all human (taken from the pregens and adapted to BLUEHOLME™). I upped the levels slightly and added some disposable magic items to compensate for the smaller number, but in retrospect I would reduce the opposition instead - the higher levels really tell with spells and hit points.
The party went straight in, using the map the halflings had found on the one giantess casualty of the raid. They decided to follow the tracks at first, soon finding that the map wasn't 100% accurate. I swapped encounters 1 and 3, so the first room they came to was the troll cavern. Luckily the thief went in first, checking for traps, and he spotted the troll ambush. The magic-user followed invisibly, but almost immediately decided to air-burst a fireball over the heads of 4 of the trolls, killing all four. At this point the fighter and cleric charged in on their mounts and laid into the remaining four trolls.
It soon became clear to them that trolls at close quarters were tenacious foes even for 10th level characters. The party eventually overcame them in a hard slog with the cleric and fighter, a lucky backstab by the thief, and a couple of judiciously thrown flasks of burning oil from the highly cautious magic-user. Oh, and the fighter blew off a produce flame which caused the remaining troll to flee, only to be cut down by the thief who had snuck down the tunnel to lie in ambush in the shadows. The cleric was badly wounded in the fight, and used several healing potions to get back to full strength. The fighter was also hurt, but shrugged it off.
A couple of days of exhausting chases down tunnels later, the party were now only occasionally checking for tracks and trying to catch up by following the map when they came across a purple worm (I swapped this out for 3 caecilia). Luckily, it was moving away from the party (I gave it a 50/50 chance of facing either way), so they decided to drop back and follow. Unfortunately this meant they dropped behind the giantesses again - they had unknowingly come quite close already. Eventually the worm went down a side tunnel and they passed by.
Next up, they came across the giant vampire bats, hanging from the ceiling of the tunnel. The thief had heard them chittering so the party were forewarned. The cleric spoke with animals and convinced them that they were not easy meat (I used the reaction table), and they passed by unmolested but hurriedly.
A day later and they finally got close enough to hear (or feel, rather) the giantesses' dainty footsteps. They dropped back and followed, waiting for them to make camp. This they did, settling down with the crucible while one stayed to watch the tunnel mouth. The party hatched a plan to try t get the crucible with out a fight.
The magic-user suggested to the giantess guard that it would be better to keep a closer eye on the crucible, so she duly went back to the camp, grabbed the crucible, and brought it back to her spot by the tunnel while the thief made herself comfortable in the shadows nearby.
The cleric, enlarged by the magic-user, sauntered up and engaged the giantess in conversation under pretense of being a giant of unspecified sort (speaking Giantish helped). He then cast silence on her location, followed by a devastating flame strike, but still the thief's backstab was nowhere near enough to take her down and she got a second hefty swing in with her axe, nearly cleaving the cleric in twain as he hoofed it down the tunnel with the crucible. In desperation the magic-user cast hold monster, luckily immobilising their pursuer before she got out of the zone of silence. The party decided discretion was the better part of valour and galloped back the way they had come.
They managed to stay ahead, and decided to stone shape themselves a little cubbyhole for a good night's rest. Unfortunately a small herd of minotaurs had other ideas, and after inconclusive negotiations attempted to acquire the party and their mounts for dinner. However, as only one minotaur at a time could get into their chamber, the first was quickly dispatched. Negotiations resumed, and the bull-men ade off with their fallen companion, reckoning a beef roast in the hand better than horse sausage in a cave.
After a short rest, the party re-entered the main tunnel only to be confronted with the gaping maw of a giant nematode! The quick-witted magic-user made good use of her charm monster to turn the purple worm from ravenous menace to enthusiastic and loyal (if mucus-covered) pet. It was at this point they noticed that their new friend was badly wounded but also considerably more rotund in the midriff. Apparently the giantesses had also met old Wormy.
The party did manage to escape the tunnels the next day, the depleted and demoralised giantesses declining further pursuit when they saw their new companion slithering along behind. The group made their way back to the halfling village, and were initiated into the tribe before making off with their 100,000 gp reward and the magic-user's new friend for life (it's unlikely to get another saving throw for a very long time ...).
Going in I was a bit worried by the fact that there were no puzzle encounters per se, only monsters, and only one described encounter area other than tunnels (the troll room). However, this is where the old school rooms came into play.
I have never run a game for this group, some were unfamiliar with pre-d20 games, and none had played this way in a long time, if at all. At first this led to a lot of searching of character sheets for abilities and skills that were not 'there'. But after a few minutes they simply stopped looking at their sheets before deciding what to do, and started thinking outside the box. Even without the incentive of XPs-for-treasure (this being a one-shot), they started thinking about ways to achieve their goals while avoiding combat. They came up with novel approaches to encounters which, in a d20 environment I'm sure they would have met with a well-orchestrated sequence of buffs and frontal attacks.
In other words, explicit puzzles to vary the dungeon experience were not needed - the players created them through their own initiative. That's what old-school sandbox gaming means to me. It's not necessarily aimless (the characters had to retrieve the crucible), nor is it always entirely unguided (they had a map) but they are left to their own devices as to how to reach their goal.
