[Session Report 7 - 9/1/24] The Cave of the Owlbear

The party surrounds an owlbear.

    This was another shorter session with my cousin.  His party had heard some rumors from the local town guards about a tribe of goblins who were spotted nearby the northwestern portion of the Dragon Peaks.  The adventurers gathered themselves and set off on foot into the wilderness, hoping to slay some goblins and get some treasure in the process.

    It was the 11th of Second Seed when the party left town and almost immediately, they stumbled onto some ruins.  The party made a note of it in their map but pressed on towards the mountains.  After a few more days of travel, they finally found a cave entrance in the Dragon Peaks.  They searched around the entrance before descending and saw several tracks.  "This must be where the goblins live!" thought the party members.    They lit their torches and made their way down the natural steps of the cave.

    In the first room they entered, they saw some bloody remains and a blood trail that led to an eastward passage.  They followed the trail and tried to listen for anything or anyone that could still be inside the cave.  One of the adventurers thought that some kind of ogre or troll must lurk in these tunnels because of how gruesome the remains were.  The party heard heavy foot steps further down the passage but they kept going.

    They entered a room and were overwhelmed by the disgusting smell coming from a mound of dung.  The dwarf of the party decided to search it and one of the fighters in the group vomited from the sight and smells.  After about 30 minutes, the dwarf was actually able to find some treasure hidden in the dung.  "Whatever made this mess must've eaten some adventurers." said one of the party members.  The party kept going and entered another room that was a ways off.  Inside was an owlbear and it stood on its hind legs and yelled out a frightening roar.

    The party, getting the drop on it, quickly surrounded the beast and started attacking it.  The owlbear clawed and bit at their cleric, Fredrick, killing him.  The rest of the fighters continued to attack and finally slayed the monster.  The dwarf, Ermerer, took the valuables from Fredrick's bags before departing.  Now, the party was starting to worry.  They still haven't encountered any goblins yet and started to wonder if the owlbear had beaten them to the punch.  They double backed, wanting to explore other areas of the cave.  Unfortunately, they were not as cautious as before and fell into some pit traps.  One of the fighters, Kratos, died in one of the pits but fortunately they weren't spiked or else more could've died.  The other party members pulled Peter the Veteran up out of the pit and retrieved Kratos' body, only to immediately loot him for valuables too.

    Deciding that they had taken enough punishment, the party elected to leave the dungeon and return to Dragonwrath with the treasure they found.  It didn't take too long before they were back within the safe walls of the settlement where they could sell some of their loot and rest before their next adventure.

[Session Report 6 - 8/31/24] Wandering Around the Wilderness

Druid Circle of Standing Stones

    This session was quite a bit shorter than the previous ones but was still quite fun.  After celebrating the execution of the bandit leader, Dantar, the party decided to hang out in town for a few days to gather some intel.  They spent their time mostly in the tavern, inn, and market where juicy gossip was bound to be and were able to find several rumors regarding a recently discovered ziggurat located in the Swamp of Dread.  According to the locals, the ziggurat resembles a famous structure previously thought to be only a legend.  Upon hearing these rumors, the party elected to travel elsewhere in the hopes of encountering something that was a little less frightening.

    So, the party gathered their belongings and set out into the wilderness in the hopes of locating the lair of a goblin tribe that the local guards have been complaining about.  They knew from the rumors that the goblins were spotted near the Dragon Peaks, northwest of the town of Dragonwrath.  Unfortunately, they were unable to find it but did stumble upon a druidic circle of large standing stones.  They inspected the stones and saw strange markings on each one, and the clerics of the party were able to recall that the Highland Clans are known to sometimes use runes and other pagan symbols.  Our adventurers then realized that they needed to take a rest since they've been travelling for several days.  

Black Dougal's Bandit Keep

    On their day of rest, they spotted a gorgon about 160 yards away.  They tried to flee but were noticed by the metal bull and it kept chasing them.  Now the party was starting to worry, they weren't able to rest and now were being forced to continue running.  Eventually the monster lost sight of them and they tried to catch their rest but then a gang of 75 bandits saw them.  The bandits were immediately hostile, no doubt due to the party accidentally entering in their territory.  The party had tried to evade but failed and the pursuit was on!  After another day of chasing the party, the bandits decided that the party was a sufficient distance away from their bandit keep and ended their pursuit.  Now the party was really beat and weary but they knew that they could reach the safety of Dragonwrath in just another day of travel.  Not wanting to rest in the wilderness for 4 or 5 days to regain their stamina they forced themselves forward until they were greeted by the welcoming gates of Dragonwrath where they stayed at the Wayfarer's Inn and were able to rest without fear.

Discovered Hex Features

Hex Features

1: Bandit Keep

2: Druidic Standing Stones

3: Halls of Ghuldesh

4: Dragonwrath

5: Grujek the Cruel's Tower (Formerly Mezhag the Imposing's)

6: Bandit Hideout

7: Fenhor the Fearless' Stronghold

[Session Report] A recap of where the party has traveled so far

 

Outdoor Survival Game Board

    In just under 2 months of in-game time, the party has explored several locations, met quite a few NPCs, and had a few encounters with mythical beasts.

Key

A: Dragonwrath

B: Tower of Mezhag the Imposing (now currently controlled by Gujek the Cruel and his orcs)

C: The Halls of Ghuldesh

D: Fenhor the Fearless' Stronghold

E: Dantar of the Dread Wilds' bandit hideout

[Homebrew] Gathering Information

A prime location for gathering rumors

    The main way that player characters learn about the various things going on in the local area is by "purchasing" rumors.  Now, at first it might seem silly to spend money on characters talking to NPCs but the way I explain it is this: the gold spent represents buying drinks, shopping at the market, bribing locals, etc so instead of playing through each individual encounter I just speed it up by having them purchase the rumors.  

    Originally, I used rumor tables and players would roll to see how many and which rumors they would learn about but I have recently changed my method.  Instead of creating tables of rumors, I create some rumors that everyone will know that gives each person at least some idea of what is going on lately.  Then, I create 4-5 rumors that explore those initial "free" rumors a little bit more in depth, print them out, cut them into strips, and place them in a bag for players to blindly take.  I also make sure to print multiples of the same rumor so there is a chance that a character could hear the same rumor several times.  When a player buys a rumor they can then take a rumor from the bag.  For example, one of the "free" rumors I gave to my players the other day was that "a strange group of men, wearing black robes, came into town a few days ago."  I then made 5 other rumors that tied into that first one, including a rumor about a local acolyte who was allegedly seen talking to the group of strangers.  Another method for gaining rumors is through hiring harlots, although this is not guaranteed.  Each harlot has a 2 in 6 chance of knowing a few rumors.  Player characters are also able to add their charisma bonus (or penalty) to their rumor rolls.

My rules for rumors

[Session Report 5 - 7/9/24] The Bandit Cave of Dantar of the Dread Wilds

Dantar of the Dread Wilds being escorted back to Dragonwrath

    The session began on the 16th of First Seed with the party recovering in town, listening to rumors, and talking to NPCs throughout Dragonwrath.  They eventually left town on the 21st in search of druidic ruins, known as the Halls of Ghuldesh, that were just north of the stronghold.  Once there, they took note of the ring of standing stones, long worn down over the centuries, and explored the underground ruins.  Inside, they saw channels within the dungeon walls and decided to hold their flame to it, believing it to be oil.  Quickly, the room became bright and fire was seen tracing the walls.  This caused the eyes of the 3 statues in the room to glow blue and a secret door opened up leading to the southern part of the ruins.  They explored the area a bit more and found some treasure and even encountered the rumored druid who was said to still maintain the location.  The druid, Kalithog the Learned, explained that due to his cowardice in the past he was obligated to act as a guardian of the dungeons.  After some discussion, the party decided to leave the druid be and traveled back to town.

A random woodland encounter

    After staying at the Wayfarer's Inn, the party went out into the wilderness again, this time with the hopes of finding a bandit lair since they had heard local merchants complaining about their caravan being robbed along Bandit's Pass within Outlaw Forest.  They traveled to Outlaw Forest and on the 25th, they saw a unicorn but it quickly galloped away after being startled by the party.  They continued on in the forest and came upon a stone tower.  A lord, riding a horse, came out to greet the party and introduced himself as Lord Fenhor the Fearless.  He informed the party about the gang of bandits that recently attacked a caravan before challenging the party to a joust.  Kratos II accepted and after 3 tilts, it was declared a draw and Lord Fenhor made sure to recognize Kratos for his bravery in accepting the challenge.

    Our heroes, still determined to find the bandits, made their way to Bandit Pass, however, after a day of traveling they realized they were nearly out of food.  They only had 1 day of rations per party member and the fear of starvation soon set in.  They decided to split up.  One group would stay put and forage while the second group would travel back to Lord Fenhor's stronghold in the hopes that he would be so generous as to gift them enough food to travel back to civilization.  Unfortunately the foragers were unsuccessful but the second group was able to make a deal with Fenhor.  In exchange for a week's worth of rations, the party was oathbound to him, should he ever need to call upon them.  Thankful for his hospitality, they said their farewells and quickly made their way to meet up with their other party members.  Once they were all together, they headed back to Dragonwrath.

    On the 4th of Rainfall, the party arrived at the gates of Dragonwrath and felt the comfort of strong walls and a warm hearth once again.  Now weakened from a day without food, some of the party members had to rest for a week.  During this time, the other party members began to familiarize themselves with the various points of interest around town.  They decided to check out the tailor and asked him if he had made any black robes lately, which was a reference to a rumor they had heard earlier about a group of strange men in black robes coming to town.  The tailor assured them he had not made any robes.  The adventurers then asked to commission some black robes so that they might get to the bottom of this mystery.  He agreed and on the 9th the party received new, black robes.

    A few days passed and the recovering party members were now completely healed.  Not wanting to waste any time, they immediately went back into the wilderness (the hunger pangs now seemingly a faint memory) to explore the bandit lair.  While walking through Outlaw Forest, the party saw a blue dragon flying overhead.  Not wanting to attract its attention , the party continued their journey to the bandit cave.  Eventually, they saw 3 men clad in leather and armed with short swords and bows in front of a cave entrance.  They decided to wait for nightfall so that they could surprise the men and hopefully take them quietly.

    It worked!  The party got the drop on them and quickly killed 2 of the 3 bandit guards and seriously wounded the last one.  Overcome with pain and not wanting to take his chances fleeing, Randall the Bandit surrendered.  The party threatened him with magic (which they did not have) in order to interrogate him.  He told them everything he knew, even drawing a map of the caves and detailing where Dantar of the Dread Wilds' personal chambers were.  After much discussion, the party thought it best to let Randall go into the caves in order for him to sound the alarm and lead some of the bandits away from the caves.  Randall was able to lead 5 of the 13 bandits out of the caves on a wild goose chase while the party snuck in like special forces operators.  They quickly located Dantar and in a moment, caused him and his 4 body guards to drop like rocks with the use of an effective Sleep spell.  They beheaded the bandits (there was a bounty of 5 gp per bandit head) but decided that Lord Branif Greencloak of Dragonwrath might prefer it if Dantar was delivered to him alive.  The party then moved on into the common area and encountered 3 bandits who were cut down almost as quickly.  

    Now that the caves were clear, the party took note of where the caravan goods were and looted Dantar's personal chest.  Some time passed and the 5 bandits (plus Randall) arrived back at the caves.  The party quickly hid by a wall next to a passage, hoping to surprise anyone coming that way.  They heard footsteps and voices getting louder and suddenly jumped out in front of the bandits.  The bandits were caught by surprise and the party attacked.  After a brief melee, Amar the veteran was sadly cut down but the party was victorious, having killed all of the remaining bandits (except for Randall).  The party loaded up as much as they could carry and marched back to Dragonwrath with Dantar bound with rope.

    When they finally reached the gates of Dragonwrath on the 19th of Rainfall, they were greeted by a guard who asked them their business with the prisoner.  They explained who he was and the guard quickly let them in while informing another guard to get Lord Greencloak.  Lord Greencloak came down from his castle riding a horse, along with his retinue, and greeted the party.  He thanked them for their service, rewarded them, and then had Dantar of the Dread Wilds publicly executed.  Then Lord Greencloak ordered some of his men to collect the caravan goods to return to the merchants and traders.  The party was celebrated as heroes and Hal the tavern master gave a round of drinks to everyone in honor of their efforts.

[Session Report 4 - 7/7/24] The Tower of Mezhag the Imposing/The Catacombs Part 2

    The party approached the gates of Dragonwrath and were greeted by a guard.  He called out to them, asking what business they have in Dragonwrath.  Our adventurers answered by saying they had just returned from a trek into the wilderness and have returned to Dragonwrath so that they might rest and resupply.  The guard, making first to collect the entry taxes from the demi humans, ordered his men to raise the gate and allowed the party to enter into the stronghold.  Now inside the stronghold, they bought some rations, had a jeweler appraise their recently acquired gem, and then went inside the Wayfarer's Inn to get some rest.

A random wilderness encounter

    After resting for a few days, the party decided to journey into the wilderness yet again and left Dragonwrath on the 11th of First Seed.  They followed the river that led to the Outlaw forest.  As they walked through the forest, they entered a clearing and were able to see the sky up above and to the party's surprise, they witnessed a dragon flying overhead.  Shortly after, the party was able to reach the Tower of Mezhag the Imposing, which was now under the control of Gujek the Cruel.  The party knocked on the double door and were greeted by an orc guard that recognized them and took them to speak to Gujek.  Gujek asked them if they were here to clear the catacombs and the party explained their plan.  They wanted to map out the catacombs and loot it if possible.  Gujek warned them of the danger and despite the party's request, he wouldn't offer any of his orcs to aid them in their quest.  He did say that he wouldn't demand any treasure they found since the party was essentially doing him a favor which he deemed as more than enough payment.  At the end of their conversation, Gujek explained that this would be the last time he would open his doors for the party and would prefer to be left alone once they finish their quest.  The party accepted his terms.

    The orcs guided the party into the room that led down into the catacombs.  The party descended down the spiral stair case and were immediately greeted by a woman's blood curdling scream that echoed throughout the cave.  The air was heavy and cold and the clerics could sense a feeling of misery about the place.  

    Not shying away from danger, the party explored the damp tomb.  As they waved their torch around to get a better look of the area they noticed that the walls were full of skulls and bones piled on top of each other.  The adventurers headed west down a short passageway and entered another chamber.  This one had 4 sarcophagi placed into recesses in the walls.  Not wanting to overstay their welcome, the party went southward down another corridor.  It turned eastward and they came into a room with a stone shrine, dedicated to some forgotten deity or hero.  The shrine had about 1,000 gold pieces littered on top of it.  The party could tell something was off and decided to poke around the room checking for traps.  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  After some discussion, greed got the better of our heroes and they decided to stuff their bags with the coins.  Immediately upon disturbing the treasure, the party could hear horrible groans and the sound of stone cracking and breaking.  They knew that whatever was in those sarcophagi was headed their way.

    Preparing themselves for combat, they got into a defensive position.  Their back was to the wall and they were determined to stand their ground.  Soon after, a group of 4 rotting corpses marched down the hallway and headed towards the party.  They gnashed their teeth and displayed their claws.  The fight began with Peter striking first.  He dealt 2 points of damage but the ghoul was unshaken.  Amar and Verbaith (Vergaith's brother) missed their attacks.  The ghouls began to bite and claw at the party members and Verbaith was slain, Amar fell paralyzed shortly after.  Our heroes were shocked, asking  "What on Y'nthros' green Urth could these foul creatures be?!"

    Clementine grabbed her cross, the holy symbol of the Y'nthronites, and displayed it to the rotting monsters.  She called out to her god but he did not answer.  Fear was setting in and the party asked themselves if Y'nthros had forsaken them.  One of the ghouls clawed at Sir Peter but proved ineffective.  Sir Peter steadied himself, shrugging off the paralysis inducing dread that was characteristic of ghouls.  He then raised his sword and with a valiant swing was able to kill one of the undead monsters.

    Gotas, knowing he would be immune to the paralysis, pushed himself through the ranks and went on the offensive.  Cherri the halfling was targeted next and despite her small stature proved resilient against the paralyzing effect.  Peter attacked again dealing 4 points of damage to another ghoul, killing it.  The party started to see glimpse of hope.

    Suddenly their hope was gone, Cherri had been slain.  This clearly shook Peter as the next time he was attacked, he failed to save against the paralysis and became catatonic.  Bonnie was next to fall, his dying moments were that of his new orc friend, Grujek, whom he hoped to meet again in another life.  Still determined to make it out of this god forsaken tomb, the dwarf swung his war hammer wildly and killed a 3rd ghoul causing the last one to flee farther into the catacombs.

    The party caught their breath and collected their friends.  They made their way out of the catacombs and not a moment too soon for they had heard the moans and groans of more undead as they ascended the stair case.  Gujek saw the state the party was in and wanted to know what had happened.  They explained that they lost some of their members, including Bonnie.  Gujek, in an act of compassion, gave his +1 sword to the party as a farewell gift and to honor the party for what they had done for him.  After thanking the orcs and waiting for the paralyzed party members to recover, they made their way home.  It took 2 days but they made it back to the safety of Dragonwrath and even though they were glad to be back, their spirits were dampened due to the loss of their companions.

[Session Report 3 - 7/6/24 ]The Tower of Mezhag the Imposing

The Tower of Mezhag the Imposing

    My cousin was visiting for the weekend so we decided to play some D&D and my sister had agreed to join in as well for the adventure.  This session would be different though, I broke out my Outdoor Survival game board and told my players that we'd be doing a hex crawl.  First, they would gather rumors about an adventure site then they'd have to go out into the perilous wilderness in search of adventure where they would then be able to delve the dungeon and finally they'd have to make the journey back home.  This would be a challenge for them since 1. they had never done a hex crawl before (and neither had I) and 2. their party consisted entirely of 1st level characters.  With that said, I'll get into the details of the session now.

    The adventure started like many others, with a party of adventurers meeting in a tavern where they could listen to the town gossip and find out where they might be able to score some treasure.  The tavern was called the Bottomless Tankard and had a good reputation amongst the people of Dragonwrath, a human stronghold which dominated the Gryphon Vale.  The adventurers learned about a mysterious tower that glowed blue in the night, which was thought to be the result of a precious gem known as The Moon's Tear.

    The party consisted of 10 members - Sir Peter III (male fighter), Hag (female magic-user), Ermer'er (male dwarf), Vergaith (female cleric), Gotas the Uncanny (male elf), Amar (male fighter), Bonnie (male magic-user), Clementine (female cleric), Juni (male thief), and last but not least, Cherri (female halfling).  So, with only a few coins to their names, the party left the safety of civilization and marched into the wilds.  After 3 days of traveling on foot over grasslands and into the forest, the party reached their destination.  They decided to scope the area out before getting too close and noticed that there were 4 orc sentries standing watch atop The Tower of Mezhag the Imposing.  The halfling, Cherri, decided to get a bit closer to the tower and used her sling to launch a stone and distract a guard.  It worked, which gave the rest of the party time to move up to the entrance.

Dragonwrath (left) and adventuring party (right)

    The entrance of the tower was an iron reinforced wooden double door.  Hastily, the party entered.  Upon entering the structure, they found themselves in a 10' wide by 30' long corridor that ended with another set of doors, similar to the entrance.  This was an airlock.  They made their way down the corridor when suddenly the ground beneath them started to break.  Peter lunged forward, narrowly escaping the nasty fall into the now exposed pit trap.  Amar and Vergaith were not as lucky.  The two fell, taking 2 and 4 points of damage, respectively.  The party then chose to drop into the pit and climb out the other way, with Peter using his rope to help his fellow adventurers get out of the 10' deep pit.

    Not deterred by this minor setback, the party pressed onward.  They reached the door and Gotas, Juni, and Cherri all listened at the door.  Confident that they heard nothing, they decided to open the double door.  The party was now in another hallway, this time with a few different directions to choose from.  They chose to listen to the door to the east but didn't hear anything.  They had been in the tower for an hour already, which prompted them to take a needed rest.

    They moved on into the room and as they were searching, they heard the distant sounds of snorts and heavy footsteps.  Immediately the party began to suspect that orcs had taken up residence in this tower.  They were on edge.  The elf, thief, and halfling decided to listen at the northern door and after deciding the coast was clear, took another rest before pressing on.  After a few attempts, Bonnie was able to open the door which led them into another passageway.  They came to a door and again, listened.  This time they could hear soft groans and the metallic clanking of heavy chains coming from somewhere nearby.  "Those sounds must come from the victims that were trapped here!" thought the adventurers.  

    The party opened the door, looked around, and saw a prison cell.  A weak voice called out asking who was there.  The party looked into the cell and saw a naked man, cowering and covered in bruises, chained to the wall.  His neck had a metal collar around it and the chain barely had enough length to allow him to sit.  The party asked him for his name and how he wound up in this predicament.  The man, now identifying himself as Hargin of the Forgotten City, explained how he too had heard the rumors of a great and valuable gem known as the Moon's Tear and had tried to scale the tower in hopes of sneaking in stealthily.  He, unfortunately, was caught by the 4 guards who knocked him out and locked him in the prison cell.

    Juni took out his thieves' tools and tried to pick the lock on the barred door but the lock was clearly to complex for his skill level.  He decided to slide the tools to Hargin, hoping that he might be able to pick his own lock as well as the door's.  Hargin was successful in removing the collar around his neck but wasn't able to pick the lock on the door.  Promising to return to Hargin, they tossed him a dagger and pressed on in the hopes of finding a key to free their newfound friend.

    The party listened at the door to the east and entered the room.  After searching it, they came to the conclusion it was empty and decided to keep exploring.  After walking though a winding hallway, the party came across two doors.  They listened at both and heard voices in each.  The westernmost room had the least amount of voices as well as the sounds of a fire and bubbling liquid.  They thought that this room must be some kind of kitchen and figured they would take their chances with the cooks rather than the larger sounding group in the eastern room.  Unable to kick the door down, the party lost their element of surprise and were greeted by 3 angry orcs.  

    "There's intruders!  Let's get 'em lads!" the orcs yelled.  Bonnie, being fluent in orcish, desperately called out to them.  "We don't mean any harm!"  The orcs, now confused that a human knew their language, paused, which gave time for Bonnie to speak more.  After coming up with a lie about how she was raised by orcs and was only coming to the tower to rescue prisoners the orcs laughed at him.  The orcs didn't believe him and besides, they had orders from their master to enslave as many beings as they could.  A fight broke out and one orc was slain by Amar in a single blow with his sword.  The other two quickly dropped unconscious as Bonnie cast his sleep spell.

    Just as the orcs fell, the orcs from the other room came pouring out into the hallway.  There were 6 in total.  They decided to rush the party, now that the intruders were backed into a wall.  Quickly, Bonnie called out in orcish.  This, combined with the orcs seeing their companions fall in a single round of combat, made the orcs a bit more hesitant than usual.  One orc pushed himself into the front of the group, announcing himself as Gujek the Cruel.  He explained that he had direct orders from the master and intended on capturing the party.  Bonnie, hoping to avoid bloodshed, pressured the burly orc into answering why he would serve anyone, least of all a human.  After some discussion about power dynamics and hierarchies, Amar decided that he would challenge their leader.  Grujek decided to honor the request out of a cultural and racial obligation of respecting strength.

Mezhag the Imposing casting Charm person

    Grujek walked passed the party, pressed some stones into the wall which exposed a secret door, and led everyone upstairs to see Mezhag the Imposing.  Mezhag, sitting on his raised throne, called out to the party members and asked who among them thinks that they are so powerful that they could best him in a duel.  Amar stepped forward and introduced himself.  Mezhag, knowing his power was almost entirely dependent on his orc followers, raised his hands and began to speak softly to Amar.  "Why, oh dearest Amar, would you want to fight your beloved friend, Mezhag the Conjurer?"  The combination of the magic-user's words and subtle hand gestures were enough to put a charm on Amar, making him think the evil magic-user was his best friend!

    Thinking quickly, Gotas cast detect magic and both Amar and Gujek began to emit a glowing, magical aura.  Clearly Mezhag had enchanted Amar and Gujek into obeying him.  The orcs, now outraged that their proud tribe was tricked into serving a lowly magician decided to side with the party in an effort to free themselves of their magical chains.  Mezhag then cast phantasmal force and conjured up a minotaur.  He ordered the minotaur and orcs to apprehend the adventurers but the orcs didn't listen.  Instead, they surrounded the minotaur and chose to fight their master's creation.

    Mezhag, knowing this could be the end, ran for his personal chest that was behind a curtain to get his scroll while the groups were busy fighting the minotaur.  Amar and Gujek both followed their "best friend" in an effort to protect him.  After a few rounds of combat, Ermer'er successfully hit the minotaur causing it to dissipate.

    The magic-user, in a last ditch effort to regain control over his minions, decided to strike one down hoping to instill some fear into them.  An orc was hit by a magic missile but shrugged it off, taking 4 damage in the process.  Hag then cast sleep on the evil conjurer and his charmed companions.  After they fell to the ground, the party beheaded Mezhag which broke the spell that was cast upon Amar and Gujek.

    Somewhat ashamed but grateful, the proud orc Gujek thanked the party for helping free him of his curse.  After some negotiation, the two groups decided that they would split whatever loot that belonged to Mezhag.  The party searched the room and Mezhag's corpse.  They found a scroll (magic missile) as well as a decent chunk of coin located in a trapped chest, which Gujek preemptively broke to avoid any casualties.  The groups split the treasure evenly and then went to free Hargin who was quite shocked to see the orcs and adventurers working together.  They also returned his equipment and because he was so thankful for being rescued, he gave the party his +1 dagger.

    The group headed back upstairs and asked the orcs if they knew of any other spots to search within the tower.  They mentioned 3 locations which they never were allowed to go.  The underground catacombs which had proven to be too dangerous for the orcs and 2 other rooms that Mezhag the Imposing had considered to be his private chambers.  The party decided to search those 2 rooms first before checking out the catacombs.  The first room they checked out was had a door of iron bars but nobody could see into the room because a large curtain blocked their vision.  A party member extended their 10' pole into the room and tapped the curtain.  Suddenly, a nearly invisible giant spider dropped down and broke the pole.  The thief threw some oil, hoping to hit the spider so that they might light it on fire, but missed.  They decided to throw their torch in anyway and the curtains began to burn.  The spider quickly hid away into the eastern corner of the room to break line of sight with the party.

    Foolishly, the cleric Vergaith, stepped into the room hoping to quickly kill the spider and possibly find some hidden treasure.  They had not yet found the Moon's Tear.  Unsurprisingly, the giant spider leapt towards the holy woman and quickly killed her.  The rest of the party, not wanting to meet a similar fate, chose to explore the second room.  It was a library with several book cases.  Due to accurate mapping, the party members noticed that the room's width would mean that a hidden room could lie between the library and hallway.  They started pulling and moving the various books around until one finally triggered a secret door to open.  Inside the hidden room was a chest which had a locked book.  It was quite ornate and seemed expensive, most likely Mezhag's spellbook.  In addition to that, the party had also found the famed gem that the locals had told them about.  It was as beautiful as they had claimed.  It's shape was tear-like and its color was a deep blue.  They also found some coin which they gave to the orcs, deciding that the gem and spell were their half of the loot.

    Not wanting to press their luck with adventuring in the catacombs after having lost a cleric, the party parted ways with the orcs and headed back into the wilderness.  Hargin tagged along since he was incredibly wounded and preferred to get back to Dragonwrath in one piece, if at all possible.  The party set out into the wilds but quickly got lost.  They found themselves at a river and chose to follow it down a ways.  After 8 days of travel they were able to make it back to civilization.  They restocked on rations and headed to the Wayfarer's Inn to get some much needed rest.

[Lore] The Gryphon Vale (Part 2)

Outdoor Survival's reaction to my fickleness.

Something I struggle with a lot is sticking to something that I've made.  Usually, my process of creating something goes like this: I create something I like > I try to improve it > I get dissatisfied > I create something new.  It's frustrating to me because I end up never being okay with the stuff that I make since I never leave it alone.  I continue changing it and modifying it in an attempt to fine tune it and make it better but it inevitably leaves me feeling like I'll never make something I am completely happy with.

My goal is to try and get over this problem so that I can make a setting (among other things) that I truly enjoy and am content with.  First, I'm trying to get myself to internalize the idea that imperfect, but complete, things are way better than a perfect thing that will never be completed.  It's fairly easy to understand but I find it difficult to actually follow through with that line of thinking.

Outdoor Survival by Avalon Hill

Now, what I'm going to do is switch from making my own hex maps to using the Outdoor Survival map that was used back in the OD&D days.  If you aren't familiar with Outdoor Survival, it's a board game that was used for hex crawling.  I've wanted to do this for a while but the lack of hills always made me feel like I'd be missing out but I've gotten over it, mostly.  There are a few reasons why I want to do this, the primary reason is that I want to not have to worry about terrain placement because whenever I make my own maps I end up changing them over and over again.  The other reason is that I already own Outdoor Survival and I've just been wanting to use it for D&D.  I figure if I'm gonna use old school rules I might as well use old school resources as well.

However, while I will be using the board for terrain placement I will still be deciding where to place settlements, dungeons, lairs, etc.  I've heard that other players have used the ponds as castles and the cabins as towns but I don't really like how those are laid out, especially the towns in the middle of the map.  The castle placement bothers me less and I might use some of the ponds as castles but not all.  I'd also like to get some tiles printed with hex features on them that I could place down on the map when my players or I encounter something.  I also think it would be fun to just have a visual at the table since I pretty much do everything through theatre of the mind.

So that's pretty much it.  The map I posted previously is going to be scrapped and I've started to work on using the Outdoor Survival map for my game.

[Homebrew] Rangers

Lego Forestmen

I couldn't sleep, as usual, so I decided to work on some stuff for D&D.  Generally, I prefer classes to be broad categories and I tend to avoid getting too into the nitty gritty of sub-classes.  If a player, for example, wanted to play a paladin I would tell them to roleplay it out rather than create something that has a mechanical distinction.  Despite this, I thought it could be fun to come up with a ranger class.  Looking at B/X, the halfling seems to be a good basis for a ranger so I tweaked it slightly and feel pretty good about how it came out.  If you're interested in checking it out, you can find it here.  Keep in mind that I haven't play tested it yet but I did try to balance it as best I could.

[Lore] [Session Report] The Hall of the Slain

"Should darkness be my fate
Then let me fall among the brave
In battle I shall die
In righteous glory I abide
In righteous glory
She'll come to me tonight
She will carry me across the other side
My brothers wait
Odin knows my name
In the hall of the slain"
- "Righteous Glory" by Manowar

Here lies the characters that have died, may they live on in Valhalla!

To-Chor the Furtive - Died from inhaling poisonous gas

Hor'No the Orange - Slayed by Troglodytes

Trabran the Mighty - Died from inhaling poisonous gas

To'Rin the Batrachian - Slayed by Troglodytes

Wal the Weird - Slayed by Troglodytes

Don Web the Pious - Died from inhaling poisonous gas

An the Mantled - Stumbled into a 10' pit and died

Hofan the Vigorous - Died from inhaling poisonous gas

Unnamed Cleric - Killed in battle against a Medusa and her cultists

Hammer the Dwarf - Slain by an Orc

Peter - Bludgeoned to death by the Ogre Lord

Merlin - Bludgeoned to death by the Ogre Lord

Gandalf - Bludgeoned to death by the Ogre Lord

Anvil the Dwarf - Bludgeoned to death by the Ogre Lord

Vergaith the Acolyte - Killed and eaten by a giant crab spider while exploring the Tower of Mezhag the Imposing

Verbaith the Acolyte - Killed and paralyzed by a ghoul

Bonnie the Medium - Killed and paralyzed by a ghoul

Cherri the halfling - Killed and paralyzed by a ghoul

Kratos the Veteran - Fell into a 10' pit and died

Fredrick the Veteran - Mauled to death by an owlbear

[Solo] My Rules for Solo Play

     Unfortunately, I don't get to play with other people that often.  There aren't any rpg clubs in my area and my social circle isn't particularly interested in roleplaying so I've looked into solo gaming.  It's a bit different from playing with a group but it does have some unique advantages such as being able to play whenever you want.

    As I've mentioned before, my preferred system is Basic/Expert and it's actually really easy to convert into a solo system with just a few additional resources.

Dungeon Generation

    For dungeon generation, I like to use either the Strategic Review procedural dungeon generation rules or the Appendix A tables in the 1e DMG.  They are almost identical but I usually lean towards the Strategic Review version.  I also like to use the dungeon generator from Donjon.  I'll generate one, print it out, put it in a plastic sleeve, and use wet erase markers to track my party's movement.  This is definitely a faster way to play and when I just want to get into an adventure right away I usually go this route but using the Strategic Review tables is really nice too since you get to make the dungeon on the fly without knowing the layout beforehand.  There's a lot of other methods for generating dungeons but I haven't tried the others out.

Dungeon Stocking

    I leave dungeon stocking up to the tables from B/X although the tables from Strategic Review and AD&D both have treasure tables that can be rolled on.

Oracles

    In the past, I have looked into Mythic but I never really liked it that much.  Instead, I simply use 2 different d6's to determine an outcome.  Sometimes I'll add in a 3rd die to sway the decision if I feel a particular outcome is more likely.  This system is very simple and doesn't require a table or any additional rules so I like it quite a bit.

Changes to B/X

    Since the rules were not intended for solo players, some changes have to be made to be able to play without a DM or group.  The first change is that, in the beginning, you will likely control an entire party's worth of characters.  This can make roleplaying a bit difficult and I'm guilty of using my characters as simple pawns.  I'm hoping that after my characters gain a few levels and can stockpile some decent treasure, that I'll be able to control 1 or 2 characters and fill out the remainder of the party with retainers so that I can get into the individual characters' goals, motives, and personalities more thoroughly.

    Another thing I had to work out was traps.  Initially, I just didn't include them and would re roll any trap result since I couldn't telegraph anything to myself.  I didn't really like this though since I felt like I was missing an integral part of a dungeon adventure.  My current rules for traps are that when a room trap is generated, the party will be given a chance to both find and disarm the trap (1-in-6 for room traps).  If the party has a dwarf, then a 2-in-6 chance is given and if a treasure trap is generated then it's up to the thief to use their skills.  This is pretty simple and although it will inevitably lead to a significantly higher level of lethality, feels fair to me.  In my previous post about solo play, I forgot to see whether or not the trap would actually spring and instead just had the traps go off automatically.  According to the rules, they should go off about a third of the time (2-in-6) which should definitely help in decreasing the mortality rate amongst my adventurers.

    Other than that, there isn't much to change in the rules which is one reason why I like to use B/X for solo games.  Its straightforward but procedural-heavy rules lends itself to be easily used for solo play.  I'm also hoping that as I get better at solo play, I will also be better at running the game in general so that when I do have an opportunity to play with others the sessions will go much more smoothly.  If you run solo games or have different methods for generating dungeons, running the game, etc I'm interested in hearing about them.  I'm always trying to research other people's ideas for how I can improve my game so any advice is welcome!

[Lore] Halflings

A halfling taking a smoke break.

    I'll start off by saying that I like halflings a lot.  I like their cozy homes, agrarian lifestyle, and love of good food.  A halfling town would definitely be a nice spot to visit, just going off of the description found in Basic D&D.  Initially I was fine with this sort of take on halflings but lately I've been thinking about how I can make them a bit more interesting.  I admit that I do want to stick fairly close to the B/X rules but I still want to add some of my own stuff to it.

    Just like how I divided the dwarves and elves into a few different sub-races, I'd like to do the same for halflings but I'm not sure in what ways I could alter them.  One thought I had was to make the halflings feral.  I pictured them as the kindergarteners from the cartoon Recess and honestly, I really like this idea.  However, I don't want this to be the only type of halfling that exists since I still have a fondness for a Tolkien-esque halfling vibe.

Spinelli with her army of savage kindergarteners.

    Another thing I wanted to explore is the idea of halfling thieves.  According to B/X, halflings are closer to being rangers than they are thieves.  I also didn't want to just slap on the entire list of thief skills to the halfling class as 1. that would require way more XP for them to level up and 2. I don't think halflings should be THAT criminally inclined.  So, I'm thinking of giving them a 1 or more likely a 2-in-6 chance of being able to pickpocket.  This would put them roughly at the ability of a 3rd level thief (it also sticks with the other demi human skills all being 2-in-6 chance which is nice).  Halflings being good at picking pockets is much more in line with my concept of a halfling thief as opposed to giving them abilities to find traps.  I never really pictured halflings as being mechanically gifted since their agrarian lifestyle kind of goes counter to having machines.  I also don't even know if halflings would be familiar with locks, considering that they generally live in incredibly high trust societies.  Pickpocketing, on the other hand, does feel like a reasonably good fit to the class since it makes sense that a creature so small and agile would be able to pull off such a task fairly easily.  It also doesn't seem like that powerful of an ability for it to really warrant a change to the XP tables.

    Giving the halfling a thief ability also plays into the general tone of xenophobia that exists in Dragonwrath.  Each race is fairly isolated and distrusting of one another and few attempts are made to build more healthy relationships between the races.  This means that settlements are largely exclusionary to outsiders.  A human keep would rarely accept the visitation of a demi human and vice versa, unless the outsider has some sort of escort that belonged to the native population.  An elf, for example, could possibly gain entry to a stronghold or town if they were accompanied by a well respected human.  They'd probably have to pay some kind of tax, venders would likely overcharge them, and they'd experience some level of racism but they'd at least be able to enter the safety of civilization even if it is fairly unwelcoming.

    I also like the idea that halflings are basically never seen or even heard of.  Having a town or village that has a mixed population of human and halfling could be fun but I would want to make it special by keeping it incredibly rare.  It'd have to be located close to a halfling settlement since the little creatures rarely travel far from home.  Towns like this could also be a source of rumors that halflings, while generally nice to be around, are quite impressive thieves.  This would result in many human settlements being quite strict about who enters the settlement and banning halflings as a preemptive measure to reduce crime.

    Okay, so back to the idea of separating halflings into sub-races.  I'm not sure what I would call each group but one would be the typical halfling described in the rulebook and the other would be feral, as I mentioned before.  I could just call them halflings and feral halflings but I'm not quite sold on it yet.  Maybe I should stick with the theme I was already doing and name them after their favorite terrain.  Vale halflings and woodland halflings?  Hill halflings and woodland halflings, that sounds a bit better.  Maybe woodland halflings could be called wildlings or something, that might be cool.  It also is very close to halfling while still being different enough for players to not immediately hear the word and relate them to halflings which could play into how different the two groups are.  Yeah, I'll probably stick with halflings and wildlings.

[Lore] Dwarves

 

A dwarf and fighter

    Since I made a post about elves I thought it would be good to expand on the other races as well, so here's a post about dwarves.  There are 3 types of dwarves that currently live within the Gryphon Vale - mountain, hill, and woods.  Mountain and hill dwarves are described according to the Basic rulebook.  They are thick-built, 4 feet tall, bearded creatures, and weigh 150 lbs.  Their skin is earth-colored and have dark colored hair.  A typical dwarf enjoys hearty meals, strong drinks, mining, slaying goblins, and recording grudges.  They are expert craftsmen and love gold and gems.  Mountain and hill dwarves build large stone structures underneath the earth and have been known to dig too deep and too greedily which always invites unwanted attention.  

    Now, at first I thought the dwarves and humans might have fairly good relations because they both are lawful and could benefit from trading with each other but after reading around and thinking about it further I think it would be unlikely for them to interact with them significantly more than humans interact with elves.  There are a few reasons for this, the first one being that I want to keep demi humans strange and mysterious so establishing well known trade routes between Dwarfland and the human lands would defeat that purpose since the two groups would become so familiar to each other.  Another reason is that dwarven smiths are so far beyond human capabilities that any dwarf wanting to set up shop within a human settlement would get kicked out after the local guild masters use their political and economic sway to force the local lord to help protect their control over various trades.  Could some trade happen, sure, but it would likely be heavily regulated and rare.  Maybe once in a blue moon, a dwarf merchant comes by to sell and buy goods but other than that the dwarves and humans wouldn't really interact with each other.  Not unless some war broke out and they had to form some sort of alliance to survive.

    Woods dwarves are a little different from their relatives.  These dwarves are much smaller, standing at 3 feet and weighing in at 100 lbs.  Woods dwarves have outsized noses, earth-brown skin tones, jug-handle ears, and their beards are usually white.  Many humans, and non dwarves in general, might refer to such creatures as gnomes.  Woods dwarves also have a different ability compared to mountain and hill dwarves, instead of noticing traps, shifting walls, and recent construction, they are able to detect slanting passages and can sniff out tracks one third of the time (2-in-6).  They are also able to create a ring of small stones that act as a spell of Protection from Evil once per day.  They do not need to memorize the spell, as long as they can find some stones and arrange them in a circle, the area will be enchanted as if the spell had been cast.  Woods dwarves (due to their more solitary nature) tend not to build large structures but rather something closer to a halfling hole but with fewer rounded corners and generally more "house-shaped" if that makes sense.  The houses can be above or below ground, it is up to the individual dwarf.  A small hut or cabin in a secluded forest would not be an uncomfortable or uncommon living situation for a woods dwarf.

    Regardless of the type of dwarf, they all speak in what we would consider a "Scottish" accent even though Scotland doesn't exist in the World of Dragonwrath.  Dwarves, again of all kinds, place great importance on their beards.  Beards are decorated and elaborately styled, according to the occasion, and can tell a lot about the dwarf who wears it.  Each braid represents something related to that particular dwarf, whether it is showing his lineage, profession, achievements, etc.  If a dwarf was to commit some kind of serious offense to his kin and clan, he would likely be stripped of his beard either by cutting it off or by burning it off (this would be for particularly heinous crimes such as kinslaying so that the steel would not suffer offense from being used on such a disgusting being).  Originally, I quite liked the idea that female dwarves didn't actually have beards but would actually style their hair into a faux-beard but I decided that would be too silly for the general tone I'm trying to achieve (plus it is already difficult getting my players to not laugh at NPCs already).  Instead, female dwarves will naturally grow beards and they would have their own set of practices for how and when they style their beards.  Most dwarves, well most demi humans in general, never actually step foot outside of their homeland and so most dwarves never actually learn that non dwarves don't grow as thick or as long facial hair compared to them.  Even when it comes to the women of non dwarven races, they are surprised to find out that they are actually beardless.  Dwarves are also identified by their beards and so not having one, is akin to a human hiding their face with a mask.  This results in a bias against unbearded folk, leading many dwarves to believe that those without facial hair are untrustworthy.  Adventuring dwarves can eventually learn how other races are and correct their misconceptions but this obviously takes time.  However, if someone befriends a dwarf then that dwarf is a friend for life.  There a very few bonds stronger than a dwarven friendship since dwarves build things to last, and that doesn't just apply to their underground fortresses.

This is what I was originally thinking for dwarf women lol.

[Lore] Elves

An elf maiden

     I've been rethinking the elves of my setting since when I started out, I kind of made them a bit too evil imo.  I've decided to change them a bit and have the evil characteristics as rumors that are believed by the local human population but aren't necessarily true, although they could still be true.  It would be up to the players to actually find out about it though.  So far, there are currently 2 types of elves that live within the Gryphon Vale, woodland elves and meadowland elves.  I might add some sort of dark elf that lives underground in the future as I think that concept is kind of cool and have already made a version of those before for a different setting I was working on in the past.

    Alright, so back to the 2 types of elves.  First off, we have the woodland elves.  These elves are how elves are described according the the Basic rulebook.  They are 5 to 5 ½ feet tall, have pointed ears, delicate features, and weigh about 120 lbs.  They also enjoy feasting and frolicking in the woods under the moonlight.  Woodland elf strongholds tend to be very beautifully crafted out of wood and stone, and often incorporate the local terrain into their construction in ways that men wouldn't.  These elves are generally neutral.  Their long lives and isolated communities make them fairly incapable of understanding the plight of shorter lived races.  This isn't necessarily because they don't care, many young elves have similar passions to humans, but more so because they rarely encounter problems that they can't just ignore or outlive.  A young elf might grow very attached to his adventuring companions but will almost certainly outlive them (assuming the elf doesn't get killed in combat) and so by the third or fourth adventuring party they will usually distance themselves emotionally or withdraw themselves from an adventuring lifestyle and go back to Elfland to enjoy the good meals, songs, and dances.  Another reason why elves enjoy these sorts of activities so much is because they have ample time to slack off essentially.  Since most elves will live to be 1,000 years old they don't feel the rush of motivation that humans or even dwarves do to build kingdoms and empires.  Although elves in general are quite xenophobic, woodland elves have been known to accept guests into their halls but this is quite dangerous as the food, drink, song, and general merriment in Elfland tends to cause normal beings, such as men, to forget the passage of time and whither away without having noticed the years going by.  It also doesn't help that elvish woodlands are permanently shrouded in twilight which makes keeping track of time even more difficult.

    The second type of elf is the meadowland elf.  These elves are very similar to their woodland counterparts except that, despite their long lives, they are much more goal oriented and disciplined.  Meadowland elves like to build large and ornate crystal palaces that can be seen for miles (unless the castle is hidden by magical means which is not at all uncommon for elves).  These crystal palaces are difficult for any non elf to orient themselves in as the crystal walls bend and refract light in ways that are strange which affect a person's ability to navigate effectively.  One of the reasons why elves do this is because the odd shapes to walls, corridors, and rooms allows for the light to create rainbows and beautiful dancing shows, similar to phenomenon such as the aurora borealis.  The added benefit of creating a "home court advantage" is largely secondary to the meadowland elves.  Meadowland elves rarely accept visitors and prefer to hide away, only leaving their castles when they have to (launching an attack against orcs, for example).  This extreme isolation tends to make meadowland elves more xenophobic and haughty than their woodland cousins.  These elves view the extermination of "lesser" races, such as orcs, as their racial obligation to their people and homeland.  This does allow for some positive relationships between human and meadowland elf settlements since they can unite against a common enemy, although the elves still view humans as being lesser than themselves even if they find it admirable that humanity, despite their short lives, still tries to fight back against chaos.

A fighter and elf

    Now, as for the rumors about elves, changelings, and the kidnapping of human infants.  I actually really like this aspect of real world elf lore but I think it will be best to keep it as a sort of unverifiable rumor that gets thrown around, which of course leads to anti elf sentiment in human lands.  I'm thinking I will possibly have some elves engage in that sort of behaviour but more likely, I will come up with a separate group entirely that does the kidnapping and swapping.  The villagers won't know who actually did it and they barely know anything of elves other than that they are weird and mysterious so some villagers might just blame the elves since it's an easy scapegoat.

    I'd also like to talk about the interbreeding between elves and humans.  The concept of half-something seems pretty cool to me but the more I think about it, the more I lean towards the idea that the child would have to choose which form to take.  One reason why I like this is that it means elf and human maturity rates match closely to each other which is something I prefer in fantasy.  I never really understood the idea that it takes 100 years or however long for a race to reach maturity.  Any race that worked that way would die out fairly quickly because they wouldn't be able to replenish the loss of life with new births after even a moderately successful goblin attack.  Animals in the real world that live long lives also reach maturity fairly early which is another reason why I prefer long lived races to reach maturity near when humans do but once they reach that point their aging process is significantly slowed.  If I were to include half elves I think I would just rule it as an elf in everything except flavor.  The player could describe themselves in any way but mechanically speaking they would act as an elf, which I also like because I play B/X.  So, I could really go either way and I'll probably have to think about it some more in terms of worldbuilding but I'm definitely leaning on the side of choosing between elf and man, I think it helps to distinguish elves as strange creatures rather than a slightly thinner human.

    Elves also have an aversion to cruciforms and if they are to use a sword, the cross guard can never be straight.  Usually it takes the form of a crescent, reminiscent of the moon which is something all elves hold dear.  They also dislike iron or steal and any armor or weapons used by an elf must be either magical or of elven-make.  Elves forge their weapons and armor out of elvish metal using methods and materials completely unknown to man.  It is assumed that when a player creates their elf character, that their equipment of elven-make but if they were to lose their equipment then they would have to travel to Elfland to buy replacements or possibly find a wandering elf merchant who deals in such goods (these are incredibly rare though).  In addition to this, elves rarely travel alongside clerics (although it can happen) because when the clerical spells are spoken or the holy symbol is displayed, elves will feel pain and discomfort.  Nothing to cause any lasting damage but the effect is similar to hearing or viewing an opposite alignment tongue, it can burn your ears, make you nauseous, fill you with anger, etc so most elves will try to avoid such things when they can.

[Homebrew] Fighter House Rules

 

This picture goes incredibly hard, feel free to screenshot.

    Since the standard B/X fighter is fairly lacking in terms of abilities compared to his peers I wanted to add some rules that would benefit the class.  I really like the idea from OD&D and AD&D 1e where the fighter gains multiple attacks against 1HD monsters and although I was tempted to stop there, part of me still wanted to add something extra to the class.  In OD&D, fighters gain a few other abilities that deal with morale which I think add a lot of mechanical benefit to the class as well as a bit of flavor.  If fighters, upon reaching a certain level, automatically gain morale and loyalty bonuses or they immediately cause fear in the hearts of their enemies then it really cements the idea that fighters are great leaders in battle as well as excelling at crowd control.  This reminds me of how Holger from Three Hearts and Three Lions, Aragorn from LOTR, and Conan the Barbarian were able to inspire the men around them and lay waste to their foes.  So, if you are interested in checking out these house rules, they can be found below.