[Challenge of the Frog Idol] Session #10: The Haunted House Part II

Continuing on their exploration, the party discovers several hiding spots with small treasures in the "haunted" house, as well as plenty of living dangers - spiders and centipedes lurking in the fireplaces or in the dark, and a nest of stirges roosting at the attic. While the other party of adventurers has suddenly vanished, the characters find three corpses of what appears to be a separated party, who got killed three weeks prior. One thing is for certain though, no such thing as mythic treasure is to be found; in addition, no workshop or a lab the alchemist conducted his foul research has been so far revealed, which leads the characters towards the underground levels of the mansion. But before venturing in the dark, another "haunting" strikes fear into the hearts of the characters, just as they step at the staircase, but with determination, the party moves downwards. By this time, they are convinced that these "hauntings" are actually magical traps to scare off intruders, pretty much a work of some magic-user placed to deter anyone from messing with their job.

A seemingly ordinary wine cellar hides a well-placed secret door that takes the party to a different scenery: a big, long room, well-lit by lanterns and furnished with a table and stools, cooking utensils and cots for ten people. What purpose this chamber served has now been turned into barracks for a group of ne'er-do-wells, as the characters meet one of them carving a wooden boat, unaware of their intrusion. Striking swiftly, the man lies dead before even raising his head, however, a sneaky blow sends one of the retainers bleeding and frothing at the mouth; Ned, who previously assisted the party now looks keen on halting its advance, a poisoned dagger in his hand. As they battle him, the characters find out he was placed here to hinder and discourage them from coming across the smugglers' hideout, which means someone must have known they were to explore this house. And as they look for more clues in what appears to be the leader's private room, they come to the realisation that indeed, the place serves as a hideout for a lucrative smuggling and slavery operation.

Still, the party is determined to investigate further and soon enough, they happen on the undead guardians of the alchemist, just beyond the door with the chalked warning. The presence of undeath in the room makes the characters hesitant at first, but they steel themselves and the two clerics use their divine power to turn the skeletons away, while the rest of the party strike them down. With a little bit of searching, the secret door to the alchemist lab is finally revealed, hiding amongst rubble and ruined alchemical gear extraordinary treasure, as well as the skeletal remains of the alchemist, still seated in front of his beloved workshop. The characters loot everything and, as they don't seem able to proceed any deeper underground, they decide to head back to the city and inform the City Council of their findings, who eagerly asks them to expose the smuggling den. However, the party prefers to stay and recuperate in the city, thus giving the chance to the smugglers, after finding out their hideout was busted, to pack everything and leave at once.

Characters involved:
Rolf the Bold, fighter 1
Aurora, cleric 1
Yudel, dwarf 1
Lolék, thief 1

Elaine, fighter 1 (retainer) KIA
Raine the Despised, cleric 1 (retainer)

This session actually marked the end of the adventure. The players didn't fancy going back to the mansion, especially now that they returned laden with treasures, so I had to devise a plan. The Iron Overlord made a recurring appearance, so I thought of him as being the mastermind behind the smuggling operation. He would write a letter to the characters to cease their investigation and co-operate with him, with the promise of handsome rewards. For now, that was the end of a slightly modified Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, a fun module in which your typical "haunt" trappings turn out to be a cover for criminal activity. Since my group runs a not-really-good party, they never felt the need to fight off the evil; instead, they enjoy messing around with the underworld and go after quests for riches and power.

What is an adventurer?

As I was sitting in my comfy living room and reading about inns and accommodation in European Middle Ages, a certain article helped spark a thought in my mind, or rather reignite something that may have been tormenting me (not really) for quite some time now, possibly since I first experienced the might and magic of D&D. The nature of this thought may comprise a significant portion of the existence of possibly all tabletop RPGs and involves the meaning of the D&D adventurer.

Hopefully, an adventurer is not that.

What exactly is an adventurer? Various gaming sources have attempted to give an explanation or two about the band of misfits who usually (and inadvertently) end up saving the world - or condemn it, and it often comes down to this:

A person who becomes rich and renowned through mighty deeds and perilous adventures

Suffice to say, I find this description lacking. The portrayal of the adventurer as the hero who fights off evil, recovers ancient treasures and builds strongholds and fiefdoms feels a bit dry. Certainly, one can have all sorts of juicy and exciting stories unfolded, but there is one critical aspect that occasionally frustrates me in D&D: the characters are often disconnected from society, as if they do not clearly belong in the social structure the fantasy communities are part of. Don't get me wrong, characters may have backgrounds and motivations that specifically engage them in social affairs and can be quite active in the matters of their region, but these don't invalidate the fact that adventurers don't quite fit any social role in a fantasy setting. Characters were given backgrounds/themes across all editions, accompanied by special traits and/or skills (5e uses artisan, knight, noble, outlander and sailor amongst others), but there's no telling what they're supposed to do besides adventuring, a meta-linguistic term used to denote a story in D&D. On the other hand, running the daily chores of a farmer, a fisherman, or a coach-rider isn't all that exciting, is it?

The closest I can liken adventurers to are mercenaries and sellswords, though it can be argued that these people weren't exactly the adventuring type, let alone them being motivated solely by wealth. And during lean times, mercenaries would often resort to banditry and other petty crimes, very unlike the mighty deeds and perilous adventures we mentioned earlier. What's more important is that mercenaries didn't possess any social rank; while having military experience, their usefulness was only situational, compared to a knight or a city guard whose position was clearly defined within the medieval social system. One can claim that adventurers are not driven just by monetary gain, but personal goals as well. I would say a prince may be also motivated by personal goals, but that doesn't make him an adventurer. An explorer, perhaps? A dungeon delver, a spelunker etc? Good call but still, historical explorers possessed other occupations. Leif Erikson was a farmer and a warrior. Pytheas of Massalia was a merchant and a scientist. Ibn Fadlan served as a member of the Abbasid embassy. Marco Polo was also a merchant. On the other hand, adventurers can be something akin to a farmer, a smith, a warrior, a merchant and for some reason they decided to take up arms; I can agree with that. A devastating raid that burnt their whole village and forced the characters into adventuring life, that's a pretty acceptable reason. If I want, however, to use this term to refer to a whole bunch of people doing whatever they know best, and not because of some random incident, I have to construct a class for them to fit in the social hierarchy.

So the idea that stuck in my mind is this: what if the adventurer is a traveller, as expected, but one who keeps the various settlements in contact, over a world dominated by foul monsters and vicious bandits? Imagine a world where merchant capitalism has yet to replace the feudal economic system; ideally, we have a Points of Light setting, where settlements are confined between vast expanses of untamed wilderness, filled with hazards and perils to the brim. Trade within a landowner's region is particularly limited, even non-existent, and only the local ruler has means of communication through a network of spies, scouts, and the military. As in a feudal society, commoners are bound to the land they work for, so movement is not feasible. Villages and towns in a given region are isolated from each other, as there is no centralised government to provide  adequate protection and maintenance of roads. Nobody dares venture beyond the safety of their community, however efficient that is. Enter the adventurers, folk that have travelled far and wide, picking up gossip, rumours, and the occasional trinket. For commoners, adventurers are the postmen who bring news from the neighbouring settlements, such as the marriage of one's relative, the death of another's friend, the struggles or merry times of said town etc; it isn't unreasonable for a family of peasants to approach an adventurer and ask the whereabouts of a specific person in the village directly south of here, or to deliver a message to a poor man's son who got enlisted in the nearby town's militia. Monetary rewards would be typically trivial (a few silver pieces, food and shelter for the night, a cheap trinket) but their social service would be of enormous worth. For craftsmen, adventurers represent traders and merchants, able to pick their crafts and sell them to their next stop; many an adventurer on a cart full of gear has been dubbed a pedlar, for good or ill. Smart adventurers can profit from this type of commerce, even though the life of a merchant is not very appealing an affair. Still, managing and protecting trade routes between towns can result in a prosperous living for both settlements and anyone involved. For the nobility, adventurers can serve as providers of gossip, intelligence over a rival's welfare, or information of any sort. They can also tackle current issues a local ruler faces, like delving into dark dungeons, clearing an area of monsters, getting rid of brigands, defending against raiders etc. While this employment comes with its own risks, its rewards are unmatched, and nobles learn to trust and cater to folk who advance their agendas. It's no wonder most adventurers are therefore drawn around the ruling class, for their chances of gaining wealth, fame, and prestige improve proportionally.

With those in mind, we can henceforth perceive the adventurers as an integral part to the medieval society, an effective carrier of information and goods, as well as able hands (or minds) to deal with local nuisances. Instead of being portrayed as social outcasts who hoard up treasure and make a name for themselves, somewhat detached from the rest of the community, adventurers and societies form a bipartite reliance that is built on connection, transaction, communication, aggression and protection.

In the end, though, adventurers can be whatever you want them to be in your game. Do they have to fit a specific social role in a fantasy setting for them to make sense? Certainly not, as long as you want to narrate an epic story, what purpose each adventurer has is of a lesser matter. What's interesting, however, is the history of the adventurer through D&D editions. I might tackle that at some point.

Rules I don't use in B/X (or plan not to)

For all its glory as the epitome of old-school D&D, B/X still remains a product of its time, proposing rules and mechanics that today might seem frustrating, outdated, and do not bear any relevance today. This is due to the system still clinging to wargaming trappings and perception (check the combat round, for instance), coming in stark contrast with the evolving nature of D&D gaming, especially post-2000 era, that turned the game away from its wargaming roots and towards a more narrative experience. Most of my group has been gaming since the mid-90s (our youngest member started gaming about five years ago, while the oldest one used to play AD&D in the late '80s) so while we lean towards old-school sensibilities, we do bring a variety of gaming notions in our table, primarily thanks to our involvement with other genres and hobbies (board games, war games, video games, you name it games). Thus far, I've collected a few rules in B/X that I find unnecessary in my game. The party is still at low levels, so I have yet to touch on stronghold and army building, a character process that has since 3e been totally switched from being a core mechanic to a more or less situational affair.

First and foremost, the role of caller is nowadays redundant. Since we're talking groups of four or five at each sessions, there is no need for a coordinator between players, a single voice to dictate what each character does at any given time. Occasionally, a player occupies this role when we want to make haste while venturing a not so dangerous location or to briefly proceed with mundane actions. As for the role of mapper, my group is usually happy to just wander about and the few times someone sits down to draw a map is more likely to use it as reference, not tied to a certain character with mapping skills.

Second, alignment as presented in the book is in my opinion too restrictive and unimaginative. My take on the world's alignments deals with the cosmic struggle between Law and Chaos and which faction each character sides with, instead of a representation of one's morality and general behaviour. While quite distinct in theory, not much is different in function, except that now lawful characters don't switch to chaotic if they witness or participate in an "evil" act. Lawful now means that your character strives to uphold and defend the power of human civilisation and the ways of the Age of Man, whereas as a chaotic you try to undermine and eventually overthrow it in favour of wild nature and ethics of the Old World. A good analogy would be lawfuls coming from "civilised" lands whereas chaotics call the wilds home.

Third, resting after 5 turns of constantly moving in the dungeon (or other enclosed areas) seems odd. I can see that characters being stressed out for 50 minutes need to relax for a while, and I would also assume that since time is of the essence in dungeon delving, especially when wandering monsters may appear, I get the urgency of the group to make haste and rush the place. So, forcing the party to rest every 5 turns makes sense in this way, but feels weird to my players, who are used to a more narrative style of dungeon crawling. So far, we haven't run a true dungeon to test it, but I plan not to use it if it turns out more a chore than increasing tension.

Fourth, spell research severely limits magic-users and elves and, along with magic item crafting, can be quite an expensive affair for spellcasters. Judging by the amount of treasure my group recovers from adventuring, it almost feels impossible to have enough for spells or magic scrolls, essential items for the otherwise restricted spellcasters. I've borrowed Holmes' rules for magic scroll crafting, in that it requires 100 gp and one week per spell level of each spell; additionally, the spellcaster can craft magic scrolls at any level but must be able to cast the spell they want reproduced. As for spell research, magic-users and elves can use it to pick spells from the list at the cost of 100 gp and one week per spell level but must make a successful Intelligence check.

There are the evasion rules which we haven't even tried yet, stronghold, dominion and army rules which I don't think we will ever touch since we run a short-term campaign, and waterborne adventures which we might not check unless the group decides to board a ship to explore the river and its vicinity. As we test out more aspects of the game, and face the various rules and mechanics proposed, I shall update the blog accordingly.

[Challenge of the Frog Idol] Session #9: The Haunted House Part I

The demise of the party in the latest expedition leaves the sole survivor, the halfling Li, with the responsibility to recruit a band of adventurers. It isn't that difficult, after all, as a bunch just visited the city of Coruvon in hopes of exploring the nearby Haunted House. Rumours say that hauntings and phantasmal lights come out of this decrepit mansion, just four miles south of the city, and its owner, a notorious alchemist who conducted all sorts of sinister experiments, hid a treasure of mythical proportions somewhere in the bowels of the house. With the prospect of filling their pockets, primarily his own then his party, with gold, Li and his new companions gather resources and hire retainers for the trip. They are informed by an aged poacher of its mysterious happenings and perilous haunts, and approached by Gylain, a City Council member, who shows interest in letting the council know of able adventurers investigating the haunted mansion, also hinting at possible rewards.

The next day, the characters embark on their short journey and reach the dilapidated house at noon. A brief exploration of the surroundings reveals the two-storied house looming on a steep cliff over 30 metres above the river, and three different entrances, along with a shallow well. Intrigued by its crumbling state, the characters enter the building through a back door from a ruined patio, only to be greeted by a booming, ghastly voice welcoming them. Fear then strikes their heart, and they scatter in all directions, running for their lives. A few turns later, and after regaining their composure, the characters delve deeper into the house, encountering numerous run-down rooms that show the alchemist's apparent lavish life. A few spiders and centipedes emerge from hidden nests to pose a danger to the party, but they are dealt with rather quickly.

It doesn't take long for the characters to realise they're not alone in the mansion. Their very first encounter is with another party of seven supposedly adventurers, who claim they also came looking for the alchemist's treasure. They seem friendly, if a bit aloof and reserved. While exploring the second floor, the party comes upon a tied and gagged man, who claims he was attacked in the previous night by unknown assailants. His belongings are bundled in a nearby room. The man, who comes by the name Ned Shakeshaft, decides to assist the characters in their investigation, and warns them of another party who may be ambushing them. So far, no sign of hauntings, except for the ethereal voice, has been found nor any amount of treasure has been recovered, which make the party skeptical over the rumours.

Characters involved
Rolf the Bold, fighter 1
Aurora, cleric 1
Li, halfling 1
Yudel, dwarf 1

Elaine, fighter 1 (retainer)
Raine the Despised, cleric 1 (retainer)

The session was straightforward and bore the classic trappings of haunted house adventures: creaking floors, strange noises, otherworldly wails and a dark secret hiding under the house. While at first, players were prepared to face any dangers from the Shadowlands (the land were the spirits of the dead reside, according to my homebrewed setting), by the end of the session they were almost certain there were no such things as hauntings and wondered whether the rumours of the alchemist's treasure were true. They were faced with few and easy encounters, and any poison inflicted was weak enough to not kill a character outright.

Thoughts on B6 - The Veiled Society

Hooded figures and dark corners, oh my!

The Veiled Society is, for its time, an ambitious and innovative adventure, presenting the characters with a series of set events that accompany a choose-your-own-adventure game. It has an urban setting, but also includes two half-dungeons, if such a term is to be used for these types of underground locales (a series of recently dug tunnels and the secret hideout of the Society). But it has also been described as a dull and uninspiring adventure, one that relies too much on key events to move the adventure forwards. Taken to the extreme, it can lead to a fairly linear game, where the characters are forced to experience a chain of events, without being able to change the course of the story. Whatever the case, The Veiled Society offers a few interesting ideas that a DM can work with to make the adventure shine.

My group seems to have enjoyed this module (at least, none of them has since made any complaints about it); most of the characters made it all the way through to the end, even though the first party was nearly decimated. In total, we had four character deaths, but that never deterred the players from venturing forth and unfolding the conspiracy behind the murder mystery. I can also say that there were moments that felt kinda disappointing. Overall, I have mixed opinions about this module that I share below.

1. The introductory scene helped setting the mood and the situation in the city, by having all three factions come into conflict from the very beginning. In my campaign, Coruvon has two supposedly rivalling factions, the City Garrison and the Red Lanterns, with the third (the Brotherhood of the Writhing Arm) being a secretive cult aimed at bringing a certain Old God back. While it shows a sample of what power struggles there are in the city, the introductory scene runs the risk of not engaging the characters. My group, being the cynical and impartial lot, decided to keep their distance from the event, at least inquiring the folk around to learn more about the opposing groups. Another party could potentially ignore the whole conflict altogether.

2. While the hook that lead the characters to the underground tunnels and, subsequently, to the location of the murdered woman (in my case, she was a high-ranking official of the city garrison) would classify as your typical introduction, sort of "monsters at the cellar" hook, it was placed in such a way that felt seamless to the rest of the particular scene. Players were exploring the underground tunnels out of curiosity, and not because they were forced to, and collected the pieces of information from almost all keyed locations (the slave business running in the shadows of the city, the Brotherhood's sinister plan of digging tunnels under specific buildings). A simple errand to investigate the "demons" under the poor lady's cellar turning into an exploration through the dark tunnels under the city and the discovery of a murdered person was certainly a surprise for the party. What I really liked in this section was its open-endedness, with tunnels branching out to unknown areas, left to the DM to insert a dungeon of their own making. This section I believe was one of the strongest in the module.

3. On the other hand, while the riot scene was chaotic (as intended), it had stuff I deemed unnecessary or maybe a bit too complicated. Had it been a scene were the opponents of the Red Lights decided to take matters into their own hands and thus raising an uproar against them and their city garrison allies, only for the revolt to die out a few days later, it would be understandable. But the scope of this scene stretches far beyond a mere riot being quickly suppressed. The characters are charged into commanding a restless crowd to clash with the city garrison, and details are given as to how to run such a battle. There's plenty of stuff going on and it can get confusing to implement them in-game. 1st-level characters facing a dirty-fighting 3rd-level thug? That's suicidal an action, let alone having a single character fighting that brute. Getting in the middle of the riot? My group wanted to stay away from any trouble, so they tried their best to keep their distance. At least, they decided to go after the orator but, unlike what the book proposes, they befriended him and he instead offered them the job to kill or capture the statesman from the next scene (that was my twist to link this to the next scene, since the early meetings with members from both factions turned sour - they were weak enough, anyway). It is also stated in the book that the Duke (in our case, the city commander) gathers hundreds of troops against the rioters, slaughtering anyone who looks suspicious or is rumoured to have been involved in the upheaval.  It would be very interesting to see the characters lead a mob against the town's rulers, but this would turn the whole campaign on its head. I agree it would still make for a great adventure, but had the renegade characters managed to plunge this land into turmoil, DMs would have to ditch this module and design something new.

4. After the characters help the Brotherhood of the Writhing Arm (the Veiled Society of my campaign) dealing with the statesman and his troupe of bodyguards, they are told to wait a few days before the Brotherhood contacts them again. But then the book jumps to the Chase event, where the Brotherhood inexplicably wants the characters out of the picture. I can see the reasoning had the characters opted instead to help the statesman and protect him from the Brotherhood's ambush, but it seems the designer forgot to develop the story where they side with the other faction. It is only stated that members of the Brotherhood identify the party as the investigators of the earlier murder and their leaders order an ambush. To fill this gap of inconsistency, I ruled out that the party was framed for the disappearance of the afore-mentioned statesman, and when the orator (the party's new friend) wished to warn them of such treachery, he was assassinated. The characters just happened to be moments after the orator was shot to death so this "ambush" was unplanned.

5. The chase scene was likewise poorly designed. The characters weren't surprised by the crossbowman's attack and won initiative, so they closed in on him; as a result, the "ambusher" was trapped and couldn't escape, thus triggering the next scene. I decided to let the bowmen approach the scene, since they heard commotion but couldn't see their fellow ambusher running for his life. They actually triggered the chase action scene. In addition, certain spells could turn the whole scene redundant. The party's magic-user cast her sleep spell on the bowmen, rendering all but one unconscious, due to her rolling badly. If this wasn't the case though, and the magic-user had rolled well enough to send all of the bowmen into torpor, there wouldn't be the need for a chase. As I anticipated such an occurrence, I used the note found in one of the ambushing bodies, that pointed to the Brotherhood's hideout. The party still managed to pick up the note and interrogate the surviving bowman, learning more about the Brotherhood.

Concluding, the Veiled Society can be labelled as a railroad-sandbox hybrid. The set events are meant to happen, and the characters are sort of forced to interact with the subjects presented in each event, but there's enough space to deal with them in a creative way, or try and avoid them (where's the fun in doing that, though?). Each scene is loosely connected with the previous and the next one, giving both the DM and the players the opportunity to go wild and develop their own story. Surely the module suffers from inconsistencies and a weak plot at times, but DMs can accomplish something worthwhile, with a little bit of prep work.

[Challenge of the Frog Idol] Session #8: Ruins of Grey Dragon Hill

After their shady dealings with the recently appointed head of the family Wilfa Pheray, the characters reside at an inn, and spend a few days recuperating and hiring mercenaries for venturing out in the wilds. A fighter (Victor), the elf that was rescued in the previous adventure (Etaine) and three hobgoblins join the party. Rirna contacts Vyncis, a curator of the city library, who discovers the location of a treasure map that will lead them to an ancient god's lost shrine (and treasure), in a ruined castle a day and a half into the eastern hills. So the group gets prepared for the expedition and soon after, embarks towards the ragged hills.

Legend says that the Grey Dragon Hill was so called due to a ferocious wyrm attacking the old fortress some centuries ago. None survived its fiery attack, and there are rumours that all the people who lost their lives defending the fortress that day turned into vicious ghouls. While as a landmark, the Grey Dragon Hill is not easy to spot, people have nevertheless been avoiding the surrounding area, for fear of summoning the dragon or angering its undead army. According to the librarian's research, somewhere within the walls of this forlorn building the details of the Shrine of Plures, the Chaos god of rain, can be found there.

Without any incidents, and exploring the vicinity, the party arrives at the foot of the hillfort, and climbs the ruined stairs at a steady pace, to reach the edifice's only gate. Navigating through the few desolate rooms of the fortress in the only floor that's still standing, the party encounters some monstrous denizens that strip them of one hobgoblin, and come into contact with a group of kobolds who don't seem hostile enough; instead, they encourage the adventurers to venture deeper into the castle's dungeons and examine the creepy prison cell. Turns out, the strange, cold-emanating rune at the floor of the prison cell was hiding a secret trapdoor further deep into the ground, which the party follows in caution.

The stone stairways beneath Grey Dragon Hill reveal an ancient crypt. The party faces weird flying creatures at the very first room, in which a mystical throne hands them the key to the ominous iron door, and entrance to the crypt. Traversing some dusty corridors and flooded chambers, the adventurers happen upon two star-shaped keys, as well as a patrol of undead skeletons, and combat quickly ensues, with the second of the hobgoblins being felled. Exploring a little further, it seems that the crypt belonged to some magic-user with the power of necromancy, and intruders must have breached its defences at some point, only to die by the blades of its dire guardians. It is in that moment that the party is just realising what may have happened in those musty corridors, when they're trapped in a partially flooded chamber with a band of skeleton warriors wielding their rusted blades against them. And while it is a fierce and brave battle, nobody manages to make it through; rather, each one of the adventuring party falls victim to the crypt's eternal guardians. The last thing everyone remembers is the torch dropping on the wet floor, and darkness engulfing their surroundings.

Characters involved
Rirna, magic-user 1 [KIA]
Caledon, elf 1 [KIA]
Victor, fighter 1 [KIA]

Loc, Dur, Olka, hobgoblins (retainers) [KIA]
Etaine, elf 1 (retainer) [KIA]

The session, which lasted its full three hours, ended in a Total Party Kill. The dice leaned more in favour of the skeletons, while the players had a few missed opportunities (and missed rolls) to prevail. I didn't want them to travel the swamps, since it would deem too tough a journey for them, so I proposed we ran a prequel to their so-wanted expedition to the Shrine of Plures. It didn't turn out well for them, unfortunately, but such is the will of Lady Luck. For the dungeon, I picked and modified Dyson's dungeon of the same name, adding an extra layer with the help of watabou's One Page Dungeon. Good thing that B/X has a quick and easy character generation, and the players had already set up their new group of intrepid adventures, ready to set foot once again at Coruvon.