Swords & Wizardry Light - Forum

Friday, May 24, 2013

Delving Into Dwimmermount - A Look at Last Night's ACKS Session From a Player's Perspective

Yes, I actually got to PLAY in a session of Dwimmermount. If all goes as planed, I'll be playing in many sessions of Dwimermount with my ACKS Wonderworker (pretty much a M-U/Cleric hybrid class), which is a bit of a change for me as I tend to not go for the classes that have d4 for HD and no armor ;)

I was surprised to find out I wasn't the only Wonderworker and even more surprised when the other Wonderworker cast a Magic Missile spell with 4 missiles. At least 4th level, I suddenly felt like a one-trick pony, but that's later in the story.

Rathman and the other party members - a crazy cleric, a dwarven fighter, a halfling fighter / theif, a thief and the previously mentioned wonderworker comprised the party. I also brought along Grud, my protector and shield bearer. Grud was the only chance I'd actually get to roll some dice in combat ;)

My mission, if I chose to accept it, was to say a prayer in the room with all of the rats, which, come to think of it, we may have found.

You see, when we got to Dwimmermount, there were rats with a mission carrying coins clenched in their mouths heading up the stairs to Dwimmermount. Old coins of Ancient Dwimmermount in nature. I suspect we were watching the restocking of the dungeon. Still, right off the bat, we had rats with coins, so I felt right at home.

On the way up the mountain we encountered some dwarves that had a nicely secured base. They were there to observe comings and goings on the way to Dwimmermount. We knew we had found a good place to retreat to when the night was over.

After nearly deciding to open a glowing door in the mountain but deciding it was just too dangerous, we continued following the rat parade to an iron door that someone had propped open with a statue.

The first room inside was ankle high in rats, who seemed to stop here to get their bearings before moving on to later destinations. There was a soft glow of light coming from behind a closed door which some of the rats were able to pass beneath. Upon peeking, it was revealed there was the sheen of oil on the other side of the door, so out halfling rolled a lit flask of oil under the door to light the slick - hilarity ensued (and just reinforced my previous observation that players setting fires).

Behind the door was another group, so I summoned Berserkers (it's my one useful trick) and set the quartet to kill.Other players also attacked, as did my henchman, but it was the assortment of berserkers that stole the show in my humble opinion ;)

After the combat the party questioned a survivor and found out they were there to oil up a talking head and ask it questions about Dwimmermount. We then took turns buffing the head and asking questions before trekking back to the dwarves (and killing some kobolds along the way).

All in all, a great time with some excellent players and an amazing DM. +Tavis Allison , +Jason Paul McCartan , +Joe D , +Miguel Zapico and all the rest - great game! Looking forward to next week :)


3 comments:

  1. I asked ahead of time if using the character I made for a playtest I did as part of my backer rewards for the ACKS kickstarters was acceptable, and I got a response to the affirmative. In retrospect, perhaps I should have made a new character rather than bringing in a max level Wonderworker.

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    1. I've had a fair amount of experience running the approach to Dwimmermount and the Path of Mavors for entirely low-level groups, and wanted to see how a high-level spellcaster might open up new avenues. In Caverns of Thracia, one of my favorite things is the way that familiar areas reveal unsuspected depths once the party acquires certain abilities. Also it was awesome to see the original Wonderworker in action, having missed that patron deity playtest! In future sessions you might want to make an assortment of scrolls for a lower-level henchman to use in your stead, so that we keep the possibility of unlocking new areas via magic resources in a more balanced-party context.

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  2. The few times I played in Dwimmermount were pretty fun, and tavis really is a great DM!
    (and I am not trying to schmooze him!)

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