Last Night the "B" Team Playtested Swords & Wizardry Extra Light & an Adventure I am Finishing Up

Idi the Ogre by Eric Quigley

Its been a long time coming. I hadn't run a game for the "B" Team ( +Tim Shorts , +Peter V. Dell'Orto and +Douglas Cole ) since late 2015. Yeah, the last year or so of work was rough.

As Tim mentions in his post over at The Gothridge Manor, in the time since we last gamed, Doug created a Kickstarter to make grappling feasible in D20 based games and I put together Swords & Wizardry Light. Of course, Pete's been writing GURPS articles and Tim's been a beehive of creativity with his Patreon and SWL projects.

If you want a recap of last night's game session, read Tim's post on it. Its well done and entertaining.

Here's my highlights:

I got to put the Swords & Wizardry Extra Light rules into play. They are built off of SWL and they really don't change the core, just add to it. The Ranger class played well.

I also got to give the short adventure I owe +Pete Spahn a playtest. Some parts can use tightening and I certainly need to take into account that even my players can attempt non violent solutions to encounters ;)  Attempting to Charm Person an Ogre, even one that speaks Common and is inclined to negotiate, shouldn't work. But when you roll a Natural One on a save, anything can happen ;)

I need to flesh out the setup a wee bit. Which is good to know. I also know where I left out details that were in my head but not on the sheet.

It went well, even though I knew we were on a time constraint. It played out in about 2 hrs 15 minutes - probably closer to 3 hours with a larger party and a tweak to the last part of the dungeon the party reached. Right about where I want it.

I expect a relatively quiet posting weekend...

Original set up of the adventure is here.

Last Night the "B" Team Was Exposed to Far Away Land - No One Died - Damn Shame ;)

I'm disappointed I never got to run Far Away Land at NTRPG Con, but even though I didn't pack my schedule to the brim like last year, I still found my time filled. Damn but there were good folks to socialize with. I did give away Quickstarts to semi random folks. Hopefully over the coming months I'll get some feedback.

I did get to run Far Away Land last night with the "B" Team: +Douglas Cole , +Peter V. Dell'Orto , +Tim Shorts and +Joe D . Joe had played the first half of the adventure the Saturday before the con. He's also the one with the quote "This is a great game to play drunk and still understand the rules." Yes, Joe's character made a great guide for the others: "We gotta do something here - or specifically NOT do something here - I don't remember which." It worked so well ;)

Tim has a recap of sorts up at his blog Gothridge Manor of the party's mission to the Temple of Zoko. It's written better than I ever could do for y'all, so go there, read the recap and come back. Make Tim earn those extra 2 XP :)

Edit: Doug has an update at his blog Gaming Ballistic and Pete has his at Dungeon Fantastic

I changed things up from the original module to account for the previous group's actions and I think it worked well. Far Away Land does well as a sandbox because the resolution system is dead simple, but deeper than it initially looks. I was able to run things without referring to the Tome of Awesome more than once or twice, which is on par with me running Swords & Wizardry. As I've been playing S&W for years and running FAL for a few weeks, that speaks volumes.

The "B Team" Returned to The Castle of the Mad Archmage - and I "Turned it Up to 11"

It had been a couple of months since we had a session of the mostly once a month foray into the depths of The Castle of the Mad Archmage (CotMA.) Pretty much my fault for the lapse, as work has been a busy bugger of late.

As I've mentioned before, I'm extremely generous with the expo with the "B Team" due in large part to the infrequency of the sessions. This has led to a bit of a conundrum - the level the party is currently exploring is no longer a challenge as written, but they are having such a good time exploring it I don't want to push them on before they are ready. What is a DM to do?

Simple. "Turn it up to 11"

Not everywhere, of course. There were still some encounters that were a challenge to a party of 2 6th level fighters and a 5/5 cleric / magic-user, but those challenges were going to be few and far between.

I didn't remove anything - I just added. The orc tribe, complete with women and children? They were now led by a small hill giant and his two ogre bodyguards. Yep, that was so perfectly balanced that two out of the three PCs were dropped before the hill giant fell, and that last standing fighter was a hit away from dropping himself.

Yep. Balanced it just a bit too closely perhaps. If the fireball hadn't taken out a bunch of orcs and weakened the big bads it may very well have been a TPK. Actually, maybe it was balanced just fine, as everyone was on the edge of their seats.

You can read two session recaps thus far: +Douglas Cole 's at The Gaming Ballistic Blog and +Peter V. Dell'Orto 's at Dungeon Fantastic Blog.

Not 1! Not 2! But 3 Write Ups of the Latest Session of the "B" Group's Delve into the Castle of the Mad Archmage

The "B" Group, as I call them, is a mostly monthly, mostly regular group that gathers to delve the depths of the Castle of the Mad Archmage. For us, fun trumps all :)

I'm generous with expo, and I also award a 10% expo bonus to those that do write ups of the session on the blog. This week we have three write ups.

+Tim Shorts of the Gothridge Manor blog posted his. Here's a sample:

+Douglas Cole of the Gaming Ballistic Blog had his up before the last light went out on the session:

Mot to be left out, our very own +Peter V. Dell'Orto of the Dungeon Fantastic blog had this to say:

Same scene, three distinct POVs. I love it :)

If This Brings Back Uncomfortable Memories, You Might be an Old School Gamer

This cartoon was found by one of my players in the monthly "B" team after exploring some more of the Castle of the Mad Archmage earlier tonight.

Hello nurse!

My name is Erik Tenkar, and I'm an Old School Gamer...

Castle of the Mad Archmage - Session Report "Whatever" - More Fun Than a Barrel Full of Drunken Monkeys!

We had a blast during last night's session of the "B" Team's adventuring in the Castle of the Mad Archmage.

+Douglas Cole says it was six weeks since out last session - it felt longer than that. Our last session was postponed due to me being sick and rescheduling wasn't easy to do. To make up for it, we are aiming to get our next session in in two weeks.

+Peter V. Dell'Orto , +Tim Shorts and Doug rounded out our regular trilogy and +Joe D and +Reece Carter brought out numbers to five for the night. First time in a long time that all four core class rolls were covered even if three of the five are pure fighters.

The group descended from level 3 to 4 last night, which surprised me as much as anyone else, as i couldn't find the stairs down on the map if my life depended on it (like I said, our break from last session was a long one.) Amazingly enough, the party found it in about 10 minutes of play (intermingled with about 50 minutes of bullshitting at the time.)

Level 4 should be a blast. As +Joseph Bloch said elsewhere, level 4 of CotMA is chuck full of role play opportunities should the party accept it. If not, there are stairs leading to lower levels (and possible death.)

I award my players a 10% experience point bonus if they do a write up of the session. Thus far, Doug, Peter and Tim have done so. Click the links and enjoy yourself. I know we did.

Wherein the Party Gets Damaged by Pink

Last night was the "B-Team's" more or less monthly delve into the Castle of the Mad Archmage using my houseruled version of Swords & Wizardry Complete. We play it for shits and giggles. My group has no intention of moving on to another dungeon or location. The group has faith that their DM (myself) isn't looking to unjustly hose them, and in return I often pull back the curtains a bit after an encounter or a room has been successfully conquered or bypassed. I'm also fast and loose with the expo, as we only get together once a month. I feel a bit like the Wizard of Oz ;)

CotMA can be played straight or slightly gonzo. I try to run it slightly gonzo while keeping a straight face. Not always easy, but I think it adds to the experience for all of us. Besides, all mega dungeons have gonzo to them - it's just a matter of how much. Even Rappan Athuk had the magical slot machine...

One thing that stood out to me (and was missed in +Douglas Cole 's Gaming Ballistic session write up which shouldn't be missed) was when the party took "pink damage" - no save allowed. Ouch! I wonder if that was an easter egg critique of her music. Heh

We really are having a blast with CotMA.

Second Session of Castle of the Mad Archmage Went Well (even when the party zigged instead of zagging)

The infamous "B Team" has their once a month session last night, which was also their second session delving into the depths of the Castle of the Mad Archmage. Whereas the party virtually trounced through a sizable amount of territory on the first level of the dungeon last session, this session they decided to explore the 2nd level, and dipped their toes, intentionally and unintentionally, into the 3rd level.

Some observations:

- while the lack of a thief in the party is less than ideal, the party has done well with crowbars and hammers
- given the choice between a thief and a cleric, I suspect they'll always pick a cleric going forward
- giving incrementally increasing "exploration XP" as they explore the dungeon works as an amazing carrot. I'm still giving XP for gold and monsters defeated but no longer adding the discretionary XP I would add to a session. As the session went on, it was much like watching a game of craps at Vegas ;)
- a 1/1 cleric / magic user on the 3rd level of a megadungeon is extremely squishy. +Tim Shorts did an excellent job in not being completely squished.
- the Sleep spell really is magical at lower levels

Now, I rarely run anything "as written" these days. It's just the nature of the beast - no commercial product will ever be a perfect fit for the type of game I want to run for my groups. Sometimes I make a pencil change or note as I do my read through, but other times I just make a mental note and make the change at the table.

Also, prep usually covers where I expect the party will explore and skim the next "layer" or areas and locations. I did not expect the players to venture down to the 3rd level, and was therefore not prepared for it (although it is a snap to grab maps and drop them into Roll20). A well done megadungeon doesn't drown you in room descriptions. A good DM should be able to keep a few rooms ahead of his players by reading the sentence or two for each room in a given area and filling in the gaps for the rest. Castle of the Mad Archmage allows for this, and that is fucking awesome. We hardly missed a beat when the group dipped their toes into the 3rd level, not once but twice. Stonehell is the only other megadungeon I can think of that comes close.

+Douglas Cole has a play report of the session over at the Gaming Ballistic Blog as does +Peter V. Dell'Orto over at Dungeon Fantastic

Wherein the "B Team" Delves into the Castle of the Mad Archmage

Last night we had three players for the monthly (more or less) Swords & Wizardry "B Team" session. By popular of the regulars, it was decided that the PCs would venture into the Castle of the Mad Archamage. Megadungeon delving works well for a once a month game where the player roster has the potential to change a bit.

A few quick comments and notes:

- I change shit up, often spur of the moment. Your players may or may not have a pair of guardsmen with a tent set up outside the dungeon entrance, asking for "valid adventuring licenses", but if your players are asked, they probably should ensure they get their paperwork in order. Mine did ;)

- I like to play with accents in the sessions I run, often with "notable results", even if these results aren't the ones I was seeking

- I really wish all PDF modules / adventures included an unkeyed, sans secret doors and traps, made to be viewed by the players sort of map. With the amount of gaming that is going on online these days, this would be the icing on the cake for many otherwise excellent adventures. That being said, I've gotten skilled at using "fog of war" and keeping the secret doors"secret". If I have a single complaint about Castle of the Mad Archamge, it would be this. Not sure if it it so much a complaint as "I wish it included..."

- my party zigged when I thought they would zag. Isn't that always the case?

- poop is poop. some poop is more than others. some poop has treasure, most holds horrors. can I help it if the poop I scoop is deeper than written? ;) (couldn't help myself +Joseph Bloch )

All three of my players wrote up play summaries from their perspectives:

+Tim Shorts wrote his over at the Gothridge Manor blog.

+Douglas Cole wrote his over at the Gaming Ballistic blog.

+Peter V. Dell'Orto wrote his over at the Dungeon Fantastic blog.

Do I have great players or what?

The "B-Team" Will be Taking on The Castle of the Mad Arch Mage

Trying the get the "one Friday a month B-Team" to finish adventures in a single session is far from the easiest thing to do. Not because they aren't willing and able, but most adventures just seem to take more than a single session to complete, which really isn't conductive to "drop in / drop out" play.

So, I gave it some thought after today's morning post and decided a megadungeon would be the way to go. I also left the choice to the regular "B-Team" members. I gave them a list to vote on that included the following options:

Temple of Elemental Evil

Stonehell

Castle of the Mad Archmage

(Barrowmaze was not on the list, as there are already groups on G+ playing such, and if my group is going to do session write ups, we may as well use a different megadungeon)

Castle of the Mad Archmage won hands down in some of the quickest voting I can ever recall seeing. It doesn't hurt that it's a relatively new product that hasn't been read, run and played to death ;)

We'll be using this in conjunction with the classic Thieves' World Boxed Set - so, urban sandbox when the players desire and megadungeon to kill shit when killing is their business ;)