I know this is a play by post forum, but I thought I'd begin posting a play log up here. I'll post it on my blog as well (
http://purplebagsofdice.blogspot.ca/).
We are playing Dungeons & Dragons Basic, Moldvay edition (B/X). I was going to run a LBB campaign originally, but then I scored an Expert book on Ebay and felt the simplicity of the two books was just ideal to get my gaming group back on track. We've been playing a lot of complex, story focused games over the past few years (Exalted, Pathfinder, WitchCraft, Star Wars Saga). Having come to a pause point because of some erratic attendance, I thought getting back to a simpler, direct game might do the group some good. Departing from structured plots and just letting play happen is my goal.
To begin, a little introduction. I am Ian, long time GM, RPing for 25+ years. I have an extensive game collection, and have run a lot of different games. My GMing style was, until recently, very focused on character development and interweaving characters with a metaplot. I've now come to feel that the burnout I get is because these plots get too dense, too complex and begin to strip players of choice. So I'm focusing on presenting options in a sandbox, and making the game fun and engaging. I have made it clear to the players I expect them to buy into the concept - they're adventurers, out for money, power, fame or something. Beyond that? Their choice.
My players, three at the moment, are each playing two characters. I'll give them nicknames to preserve their privacy. J is a long time friend of mine. M is a very enthusiastic player, known him a few years. G I've known for the least amount of time.
G has read the Misadventures in B/X D&D Thread over on Big Purple, and enjoyed reading it. While we've agreed the game isn't going to be quite so meta/gonzo as in that thread, we've both been chatting about wanting to run or play in a game that style for quite some time. Everyone at the table has D&D experience, but of the three I think the only one who has direct old school D&D experience is J.
To begin I presented what few house rules I'm using in the game. Ability scores are rolled straight 3D6 in order. I'm using the Prime Requisite reallocation rules in the Basic book. As well, with a nod to the "unplayable characters" paragraph in that book, any character with two scores 8 or under, the player has the option of scrapping. Hit Points at 1st level, by the option in the book, get rerolled until a result higher than 1 or 2 is scored. Not using variable weapon damage, but I did give Two Handed Weapons a +2 to damage, and ruled daggers are -2 to damage. Not using Alignment languages.
I had everyone roll up three characters. The stats are at home (I'm posting at work), so I'm going from memory with these. People play two characters at a time, with always one character made in backup for quick insertion.
J rolled up a Dwarf, good stats overall, an 18 Strength! He got a good roll for gear as well, so the Dwarf is fully armoured, and wields a warhammer. He's a beer drinking stereotype. When searching for a name, I suggested it would be fun if we named all Dwarves after brands of beer (there's a lot of craft breweries up here in Canada). So the Dwarf is "Rickard the Red". His second character was a solid score in Abilities, with the exception of a 6 Charisma. Ouch. So he made an Elf, Lord Pomponius. I had him random roll his spell, got Magic Missile. His third character had... STR 9 DEX 9 CON 9 INT 9 WIS 9 CHA 8. We all laughed at him. He's "Joe Blow the Average", a Thief who will likely never amount to much. J is playing Rickard and Lord Pomponius to start.
M created Thug the Fighter (decent stats, low Int), Shade the Wizard (okay Int, kinda wimpy) and a third Fighter whose name I don't recall. The third Fighter scored all right on stats, but rolled a 3 on his d8 Hit Die. Ouch. M's characters usually take a while to show personality (just his style), so there wasn't much to go on at first.
G rolled up the worst Halfling I've ever seen. We immediately started laughing and talking about Fatty Bolger (from the Misadventures thread). He's got a Con of 16, but his STR and DEX are both.... 6! He could have thrown the character aside, but G decided he was gonna play him. Named him Hefty Bolger, nicknamed "Hapless". Second character is a Cleric, average stats, named Tumeric (I think he looked at the spices on the counter behind us). I told the group we were using our old Exalted characters as the deities of this world (which ends up with some wacky and fun, and truly mythical feeling gods). Tumeric is a Cleric of Chino, the God of Running, Healing and Clever Lies. Chino believes that we make our own truth, and believe in it despite any outside worldly concerns. Tumeric is Lawful. His third character is a Thief, I don't recall the name right now. Nothing special.
Characters generated, people added in details as I set up the game. They figured out some likes and dislikes, made some personality and noted it on their sheets. Everyone picked Gods, and we got to play.
They are in the city of Waterside. I decided to make their environment a recreation of my own city, with the features the same. So Waterside stands in place of Kitchener/Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada. I'm not telling them this, or dropping hints, I'll just use it as my own "easy mapping cheat". It's a walled city, on the Great River (in place of the Grand River). Lot of textiles, ship trade and farming. I told them they had all met through serendipity in search of fortune, and had heard of a haunted keep to the north called "Lodestone Keep". Rumour had it that Lord Lodestone, over 100 years ago, was a powerful knight who kept the kingdom safe. He grew old, and turned to dark magics. The place became dark and gained a sinister reputation. Also, it was said to have been erected on a huge hill, a hill that was once the lair of an evil witch. The keep was abandoned after Lord Lodestone died, and his sword, said to be magical, was never found.
The players split up to gather rumours. Rickard, Thug and Hefty went to hit the taverns. I mentioned there were two taverns in the city. The upscale Golden Maiden, and the dockside Bloody Nipple. To the Bloody Nipple they went. In amidst the sweat, ale and reek, they were directed to talk to old Bill. Old Bill was in the corner, an aged sailor with a beard you could loose a badger in. Rickard challenged Bill to a drinking game to loosen his lips... and lost! However, Bill seemed to like drinking period, and told them what he knew about the keep. It was one a witches lair, but he reckoned the witches just built in a Dark Man's hole. He also knew it was up the old road to the North, into the swamps where only poor people dwelt.
Dark Men. I noted there had been an old race of Men who lived below the ground, an ancient civilization of power that died out.... leaving all these complexes in the earth behind them.
Shade and Lord Pomponious found the sheriff, Walter, arresting someone, and asked for salvage rights to the keep. The Sheriff told them to meet him in an hour at his office. The Sheriff was willing to let them march to their deaths, but wanted to know how many of them there were, names, etc. He agreed to let them keep what they found, and promised that if they returned with plunder (ie: if they ever returned at all), he would have work for them. He had a weasly scribe working with him, Neville. The Sheriff also asked that if they found the corpse of a village man, Gaston, that they return his ring to the Sheriff to return to Gaston's distraught mother. Gaston had gone to the keep months ago looking for glory, and never returned.
No one fights like Gaston, no one dies like Gaston. No one has rings returned to his mom like Gaston! sang G.
Tumeric hit the markets looking for Temples, but found that this particular city had a temple of Luanna, which meant worshippers of Chino were persecuted. Luanna is the goddess of beauty, healing and magic, but her woshippers are notorious meddlers and zealouts. After foiling a pickpocketing attempt on him, Chino was approached by a priest of Meriselle. Meriselle is one of the death gods, and promised to lead Tumeric to some Chinoites if he met him at midnight in the square.
Tumeric did, but wisely brought along Rickard and Thug. They were ambushed by five "priests" of Meriselle (I had all of them as just unarmoured humans with basic weapons, not Clerics). They killed most of them, one fled, and the leader, the priest who had encountered Tumeric that afternoon, was at exactly 0 Hit Points, so I ruled he was wounded and downed, but still awake. Rickard emptied his bladder on him (still recovering from his drinking game earlier), but Tumeric put the priest to task and forced a conversion on him. Had Tumeric do an Ability check (3d6 = or under Cha), and passed... in panic, the priest converted. Tumeric noted he'd probably die of blood loss, but felt confident that since he'd converted before he died, Tumeric had done his duty.
Rickard then insisted on going to a local whorehouse, and found himself some comfort for the night. We moved onto the next day. They hired a guide, Kyle, to shave some time off their journey. I had a group of men on hand at the inn as well, lounging around "looking for work"... loudly. Figuring a few hired hands would be ideal, Shade went to the biggest (I named him Biff, after Biff Tannen from Back to the Future), and offered to pay him 1 gp a day to carry Shade, so that the wizard wouldn't have to walk. Biff said "uh... sure!".
Lord Pomponious also hired four hirelings, negotiating with them to carry him on a chair for 1 gp a day each! He wanted them to fight, but they demanded to be equipped. He gave them each clubs, but got the impression they would not likely serve as bodyguards. The four were named John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Finally, they departed. Kyle took them north, avoiding the road and making good time. When they got to their destination, they saw a huge hill with ruins atop it. Kyle told them this was as far a he went, but he was going to linger a week and hunt in the area, and keep a camp. The Beatles rolled morale (Lord Pomponious Charisma used as a base, since he hired them)... failed, and refused to go any further. Biff, serving Shade (who also had a low Cha), managed to pass his morale check, and agreed to press on.
They went up the hill, found that the ruins were open to the sky and empty. There was a stairway heading down through moss and hanging lichen, and signs some traffic used the stairs. Biff, who I ruled had to pass a morale check to descend into the dungeon, failed. He shook his head, put Shade down and said "Nope," then turned to leave.
Laughing at how useless their hirelings were (and how funny it was the low CHA characters had control of them), the party descended into the dungeon.
Continued in Part Two...