OD&D Castle Greyhawk on Roll20

[scottenkainen]

Back in February I ran OD&D at my public library, planning to do so again in March. And then the pandemic hit...

But we're back! My coworker Ben and I will be DMing a party of intrepid, perhaps foolhardy, adventurers through Castle Greyhawk, on Roll20. We'll be starting Saturday, July 18th, and hope to go every other Saturday from there. This is a program for our library, so library patrons will get first dibs on seats, followed by patrons belonging to the consortium our library belongs to...but after that, we'll be looking to fill ranks from all over Oerth -- I mean Earth!

It's important that I get a lot of sign-ups for this program, so I can prove to my bosses that we have enough interest to continue this long-term...

Sign up is here: whiteoaklibrary.evanced.info/signup/Calendar

[Finarvyn]

Loved the game in February, but as I noted on FB the timeslot conflicts with my home group now. I don't mind signing up (with intent not to play) to help swell the numbers, but I'm more likely to hold off until we get live games going again.

[linebeck]

HI, I signed up but understand if I need to be bumped for a local player.

[scottenkainen]

Jul 1, 2020 7:35:23 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

Loved the game in February, but as I noted on FB the timeslot conflicts with my home group now. I don't mind signing up (with intent not to play) to help swell the numbers, but I'm more likely to hold off until we get live games going again.

I appreciate the offer, but ...maybe I shouldn't be encouraging people to spam-register, unless they are actually considering joining us on Roll20.

And thanks, Ian!

[linebeck]

So we had our first delve into Castle Greyhawk today and fared reasonably well.  Party consisted of two magic-users and a dwarf.  We were aided by an NPC cleric. Everyone started at third level which meant that the magic users had access to 2d level spells.  I played one of the magic-users.  I chose sleep, charm person, protection form evil and ESP.  I cast ESP almost immediately and our referee ruled that the duration of the spell would function in "real time" which meant that I was able to use ESP for two hours of the approximately three hour game (quite the boon).  I consistently used ESP to detect thoughts behind any doors we encountered.

We were sent into the dungeon as indentured servants of the almost certainly chaos aligned magician Eneever Zig who tasked us to retrieve a bandit chieftain.  Our initial foray led us to a small cell block where we rescued a number hapless gnomes and a bandit aligned faux prisoner.  When the later turned on us, I cast charm person and thus had a friend for life.  Suitably bewitched, the bandit believed that I was one of his friends and was easily convinced that we should be led to his leader.  We took the gnomes with us as well as they explained that a pervious rescue attempt had resulted in their re-capture by an ogre.    

Through the direction of our charmed bandit accomplice, we quickly arrived at the bandit sleeping quarters and melee ensued.  My fellow magic user cast phantasmal force and summoned forth a group of phatasmal warriors which terrified the hapless bandits.  So reinforced, we quickly overcame the bandits.

In so doing, I had the pleasure of experiencing some of the Chainmail inspired quirks to the combat system introduced by our referee.  Mainly, no real inititive but attacks were instead based on positioning and the type of weapon used.  For example, in one instance I was attacked by a spear wielding Bandit.  He missed, which allowed me three (!) attacks against him using my dagger (I believe this rule is derived from Chainmail).  Only one of them landed, but I like the mechanic.  

Ultimately, we dispatched the majority of the bandits in short order.  The final redshirt bandit lost his morale check, and having identified the leader, we took this last bandit and the bandit leader as our prisoner.  

We marched our prisoners out of the dungeon and delivered the leader to Eneever Zig as he had previously requested.  He used some sort of magical amulet on the leader that quickly resulted in the leader's demise.   

Thankfully Mr. Zig also removed 100 gp removed from our collective indenture tally.  Note that he then offered to sell us potions of healing at this point and we declined (none of the party have experienced any hit point loss due to luck and tactics). He also purchased some the treasure we had liberated (a fancy non-magical shield, a set of silver candlesticks, and a key ring). 

At this point we were only about two hours in so another foray into the dungeon seemed appropriate.  This time we headed deeper into the dungeon with a bandit hostage as our guide.  We were looking for an individual known as "the master."  

In short order we came across a group of pig faced orcs.  My magic-user counterpart attempted to cast sleep on the orcs but only knocked out three of them.  I used my own sleep spell to down the rest.  We commenced to "permanently pacify" five of the six sleeping orcs and then tied up the remaining single orc.  The magic user of the group thankfully spoke orc and proceeded to "interrogate" him by taunting him with wine (not the most effective tactic, as we would come to learn).  The orc gave us directions to where "the master" might be residing.  I was of the impression that we were going to allow the orc to live, but the dwarf suddenly executed him (which my character attributed to long-standing racial enmity between dwarfs and orcs and considered it pointless to chide him for his behavior after the fact).   

We followed the orc's directions and set off through the dungeon looking for a "room with double doors."  En route we encountered a room full of large weasels (we declined further encounter by simply shutting the door) and furrier wearing a rat pelt cape.  We attempted to entice the furrier to join our company and he tentatively agreed.  

Having found the double doors, we then experienced the frustration of bad rolls attempting to open them.  We all rolled consistently poorly.  We then circumnavigated the room attempting to find a "back door" to no avail.  Finally we we were able to force the doors open and were met with nine berserkers ready for combat.  The furrier fled.  

We fled as well, in the other direction.  Our dwarf, of course, took up the rear of the party due to his reduced movement and (to his credit) was ready to sacrifice himself for our well-being. Fortunately we came to the door to the weasel room and released the weasels, half of whom attacked us and the other half attacked the berserkers.  No spells of any effect left, I doused the weasels in oil and set them ablaze thus creating a sufficient distraction for both the weasels and the berserkers.  We then beat a hasty retreat and called it a day.

We are looking forward to return in two weeks, but I believe augmenting our party could be helpful.     



  

[scottenkainen]

Wow, I missed until today that you had written this! I had written a write-up as well, unaware you were doing this, and it's interesting to see where our narratives diverge or stay the same.

A few niggling points: it was eight orcs, not six (you were in more danger than you thought if the Sleep spells hadn't worked!). The orc didn't know where The Master was, but was supposedly sending you to find The Master's lieutenant, Herg the Half-Goblin.

Using the huge weasels to slow the berserkers was genius.

[scottenkainen]

Next session is this upcoming Saturday, for anyone who thinks this sounded like fun...

[asaki]

Just curious, which version of the Castle is this?

[scottenkainen]

Jul 25, 2020 18:26:41 GMT -6 asaki said:

Just curious, which version of the Castle is this?

I am sworn to secrecy! Somebody around here has said he'd come back to the gaming table as soon as we're not online-only...

~Scott

[asaki]