Post by harlandski on Jan 22, 2019 23:16:18 GMT -6
After playtesting it solo over the winter break, I have run Palace of the Vampire Queen for three different groups, one in private and two at KazakhCon4, the local con I organise in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In part I was interested in understanding how to play OD&D and offering this experience to others, and so as well as story I'm going to share my rules cogitations here.
For all of the games, I used a custom wandering monster table for the first level of the dungeon, with a wandering monster appearing on a 6 of a d6 each turn. This was probably the main thing which drove the game forward in each case, as players realised that if they dilly-dallied they risked wandering monster encounters. I made the players rest for a turn every six turns, or suffer fatigue. Cribbed from Holmes I let torches last 6 turns, and a flask of oil 24 turns. I used the Instability due to Excess Casualties table from Chainmail for morale checks.
In general I only used the rules from the 3lbbs and Chainmail, but I added in the thief class and the necessary monsters from Greyhawk.
First game: The Perils of Vengeance
The party entered the dungeon, ignored the doors on either side of the corridor, and made it to a room with no treasure and lots of skeletons. They proceeded to be killed by skeletons, and only one member escaped. As the players were now playing the heirs of the deceased, the new characters decided they had to avenge themselves on the skeletons. This pattern was repeated several times, until the referee decided to put the players out of their misery and move the skeletons elsewhere. After this the party was somewhat more effective at fighting goblins and bandits (and at setting a watch/pegging door shut when resting), and found a moderate amount of treasure in copper.
From a rules perspective, we found the Alternative Combat System to be very deadly, with armor not offering as much protection as one would hope. By the end of the skeleton encounters, one of the skeletons was wearing a suit of plate mail salvaged from a dead adventurer. The fact that the players chose not to play elves meant that few secret doors were discovered.
Second game: Beware the Rust Monster
This delve went well to start with, the party quickly and cunningly dealing with sleeping goblins - including taking some captive - and rescuing a lawful fighter who had been captured by bandits. However, things started to go badly when they ignored his advice and entered a room with a rust monster. This 5 HD rhinocerous-sized monstrosity had a tail like a flail which could sweep round for five attacks each round, quickly making mincemeat of most of the party and their goblin captives.
From a rules perspective I was faced with what to do when a magic user decides to defy weapon restrictions and pick up a sword (I went for 'your wrists are too weak to wield it'), and what to do when players try to attack with weapons not on the Man-to-Man table (the wooden haft of a weapon whose metal parts had been eaten by the rust monster. I decided it was completely ineffective as even some metal weapons needed a 12 on 2d6 for the rust monster's effective plate).
Third game: Gold and Glory
This game was the most fun, and the party achieved the most, possibly due to changing caller every six turns, meaning that the caller wanted to make an impact on the game during his/her 'term of office'. After some prevarication trailing a fleeing goblin and failing to open a stuck door he had hidden behind, a succession of callers decided to go deep into the dungeon and learn its secrets. Finding the madman with his cats, and first having fed the cats, the party endeared themselves to the madman, who told them the location of some treasure on the first level. Armed with this information, the party sallied forth, losing one member to a pit trap, and dealing with a wandering giant spider, but ultimately finding the treasure (some silver pieces and a jewelled silver dagger worth 2000GP). At this point the thief decided to steal it, the (chaotic) cleric attacked the thief, the fighting man tried to stop the cleric attacking the thief, at which point the latter hid in shadows and ran away, getting out of the dungeon without any wandering monsters and claiming the 2000XP. Meanwhile, I let the player of the character who died in the pit take his turn at being caller, and the party (armed with the map of the dungeon which they had bought between delves) found the stairs down to level 2 guarded by a spider. Setting fire to the webs, they only lost one more party member (the cleric) before defeating the spider, whose front legs attacked like two swords.
The players were satisfied, both to have found the treasure and the way down to level 2, and several of them asked to play again, which we are doing this Friday.
From a rules perspective in both this and the previous session, I enjoyed using the M2M tables for monsters, as it gave my imagination free reign over exactly what their attacks might be like. Changing the caller every 6 turns led to a dynamism in the group as the caller drove towards success. EDIT: Using the M2M tables also made things a little less deadly for the player characters, especially those wearing plate.
For all of the games, I used a custom wandering monster table for the first level of the dungeon, with a wandering monster appearing on a 6 of a d6 each turn. This was probably the main thing which drove the game forward in each case, as players realised that if they dilly-dallied they risked wandering monster encounters. I made the players rest for a turn every six turns, or suffer fatigue. Cribbed from Holmes I let torches last 6 turns, and a flask of oil 24 turns. I used the Instability due to Excess Casualties table from Chainmail for morale checks.
In general I only used the rules from the 3lbbs and Chainmail, but I added in the thief class and the necessary monsters from Greyhawk.
First game: The Perils of Vengeance
- 3 players, initially running one PC then 2 each, in a private group.
- Using Alternative Combat System
- Changing caller between delves
- Players nominate an heir in advance
The party entered the dungeon, ignored the doors on either side of the corridor, and made it to a room with no treasure and lots of skeletons. They proceeded to be killed by skeletons, and only one member escaped. As the players were now playing the heirs of the deceased, the new characters decided they had to avenge themselves on the skeletons. This pattern was repeated several times, until the referee decided to put the players out of their misery and move the skeletons elsewhere. After this the party was somewhat more effective at fighting goblins and bandits (and at setting a watch/pegging door shut when resting), and found a moderate amount of treasure in copper.
From a rules perspective, we found the Alternative Combat System to be very deadly, with armor not offering as much protection as one would hope. By the end of the skeleton encounters, one of the skeletons was wearing a suit of plate mail salvaged from a dead adventurer. The fact that the players chose not to play elves meant that few secret doors were discovered.
Second game: Beware the Rust Monster
- Saturday 12 January 4-8pm at Kazakhcon
- 5 players, running 1 PC each, with 2 more players sharing a character joining for one game.
- Using Man-to-Man tables from Chainmail
- Changing caller between delves
- No nomination of heirs
This delve went well to start with, the party quickly and cunningly dealing with sleeping goblins - including taking some captive - and rescuing a lawful fighter who had been captured by bandits. However, things started to go badly when they ignored his advice and entered a room with a rust monster. This 5 HD rhinocerous-sized monstrosity had a tail like a flail which could sweep round for five attacks each round, quickly making mincemeat of most of the party and their goblin captives.
From a rules perspective I was faced with what to do when a magic user decides to defy weapon restrictions and pick up a sword (I went for 'your wrists are too weak to wield it'), and what to do when players try to attack with weapons not on the Man-to-Man table (the wooden haft of a weapon whose metal parts had been eaten by the rust monster. I decided it was completely ineffective as even some metal weapons needed a 12 on 2d6 for the rust monster's effective plate).
Third game: Gold and Glory
- Sunday 13 January 4-8 at Kazakhcon
- 7 players, running 1 PC each, with 1 player dropping out after the first delve.
- Using Man-to-Man tables from Chainmail
- Changing caller every six turns
- No nomination of heirs
This game was the most fun, and the party achieved the most, possibly due to changing caller every six turns, meaning that the caller wanted to make an impact on the game during his/her 'term of office'. After some prevarication trailing a fleeing goblin and failing to open a stuck door he had hidden behind, a succession of callers decided to go deep into the dungeon and learn its secrets. Finding the madman with his cats, and first having fed the cats, the party endeared themselves to the madman, who told them the location of some treasure on the first level. Armed with this information, the party sallied forth, losing one member to a pit trap, and dealing with a wandering giant spider, but ultimately finding the treasure (some silver pieces and a jewelled silver dagger worth 2000GP). At this point the thief decided to steal it, the (chaotic) cleric attacked the thief, the fighting man tried to stop the cleric attacking the thief, at which point the latter hid in shadows and ran away, getting out of the dungeon without any wandering monsters and claiming the 2000XP. Meanwhile, I let the player of the character who died in the pit take his turn at being caller, and the party (armed with the map of the dungeon which they had bought between delves) found the stairs down to level 2 guarded by a spider. Setting fire to the webs, they only lost one more party member (the cleric) before defeating the spider, whose front legs attacked like two swords.
The players were satisfied, both to have found the treasure and the way down to level 2, and several of them asked to play again, which we are doing this Friday.
From a rules perspective in both this and the previous session, I enjoyed using the M2M tables for monsters, as it gave my imagination free reign over exactly what their attacks might be like. Changing the caller every 6 turns led to a dynamism in the group as the caller drove towards success. EDIT: Using the M2M tables also made things a little less deadly for the player characters, especially those wearing plate.
