Core Competencies

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JimboJimbo
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Core Competencies

Post by JimboJimbo »

Since it’s quiet on the Campaign Report front, I figured I’d write up a solo dungeon crawl I’m about to start.

I’ll be using house ruled Core 3rd printing (because it’s cleared up fighter saves, keeps the dwarf warrior, and has bookmarks/links) and Boons by MSJ Maps.

Other house rules are:

Fighters get to Drop & Chop. If they kill an opponent (regardless of HD) they can make another attack. If they do another murder, they can create a daisy chain of carnage (who doesn’t love those?).

Clerics & Magic Users gain a spell slot for exceptional stats, so a 1st level cleric can cast.

Clerics & Magic Users can also scribe a scroll @ 100gp + 1 week per level (needless to say, the magic users on the team don’t have much equipment).

Bandages can be applied after combat, healing 1d4-1 HP.

Slings do 1d6 damage (did you know the Romans had special tongs to remove sling bullets?).

Armour selection has been expanded per OSRIC (AC kept in line with S&W).

Random Dungeon will be generated via the OSRIC system.

Any non-standard action (picking locks etc.) will be handled by a d6 or d8 roll, modified by exceptional attributes (Core’s max of +1 being one of the main reasons I like it).

@Merias, if this is in the wrong place/not what you want here/a load of rubbish, feel free to delete it/move it/hit me with the ban hammer. I promise I won’t cry too much.

Okay, our heroes:

Ezra Kantoom, Human male, Cleric 1 (Cure Light Wounds from high wisdom).
Pluvia Stardew. Elf Female, (currently) Magic User 1,
Mancho Boracho, Human male, Magic User 1,
Arn Copper Tongue, male Dwarf Warrior 1,
Festoonia Chipway, Hafling female, Fighter 1,
Barnabus Cloth, Human male, Cleric 1 (average wisdom, no spells).

Background:

The Fizzlewick & Stone Mining Corporation had set their sights on the Nahkleeta hills as a prime source of silver and other precious metals.

Things were going swimmingly until an ‘accidental’ explosion opened a hole in what appeared to be an ancient structure.

Superstition slowed work to a crawl so Fizzlewick & Stone offered Delving Licenses to any fools willing to investigate. Our heroes, calling themselves the ‘Six of Spades’, have answered the call.

The Six crawled through a large hole in the wall. On the other side they find a 20×30 room. The air smells of damp. An old, rusted lantern sits in the middle of the dirt spattered floor. There are no exits.

The six scratch their heads until Pluvia wanders over to the opposite wall.

“There’s something not right here,” she says.

Battle axe in hand, Arn strolls over to join her and together they find a line of mortar that looks more ‘solid’ than the others. Between them they activate the latch. Stone grinds against stone and the door slides into a recess.

The stench of brimstone and corruption wipes self-satisfied smirks from the demi-humans’ faces. Slurping, popping sounds ride a breeze of rancid heat. Gurgled, choking moans filter through the entrance.

“Brother Barnabus,” Ezra Kantoom growls, loading a stone into his sling and passing through the open doorway.

The rest follow Ezra into a 30×30 chamber. Mancho’s lantern sheds its glow over a twisting, amorphous blob. Twisted faces strain against its membranous exterior.

The party wins initiative and Ezra hurls a stone into the writhing mass.

The Six of Spades send the lemure back to hell in short order. Brother Barnabus received a slight wound, but Ezra Kantoom’s skill with herbal bandages were an effective remedy.

Ezra & Barnabus had 1-2/d6 of knowing only holy water could banish the creature for good. Lucky, with his +1 modifier for exceptional wisdom, Ezra recalled the scriptures and emptied his sole phial of blessed water over the cursed creature.

With the stink of damnation burning their airways, the Six of Spades made bee line for the door opposite.

Festoonia Chipway, keen of eye and fast of hand, hung back to secure the acid-burned leather satchel tucked in a corner. Only after slinging it over her shoulder and adjusting her cloak to cover it did she move out to regroup with her colleagues.

She joins them in a large circular room. Humid air smells slightly sweet. A large pool fills the southern end. The others stand work gawping at the still waters, but Festoonia (with her Wisdom of 8) can smell the remnants of demon stench on her newly-acquired satchel and dives head-first into the pool.

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merias
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Re: Core Competencies

Post by merias »

@JimboJimbo this is the perfect place for this. Also, I love reading campaign reports, keep them coming!

I have not used OSRIC's dungeon generation, but I have used the 1e tables. I think they are similar. Are you using any other resources, like an oracle of any kind? I like the tables in Scarlet Heroes for solo play.

JimboJimbo
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Re: Core Competencies

Post by JimboJimbo »

merias wrote:
Sat Aug 06, 2022 7:49 pm
@JimboJimbo this is the perfect place for this. Also, I love reading campaign reports, keep them coming!

I have not used OSRIC's dungeon generation, but I have used the 1e tables. I think they are similar. Are you using any other resources, like an oracle of any kind? I like the tables in Scarlet Heroes for solo play.
Ah, great stuff! I'll update fairly regularly as solo RPGs are mostly how I spend my free time.

I think OSRIC tables are basically the 1e one with the TSR/WoTC IPs stripped out, but I'm not 100% certain. Oracle-wise, I usually use the 1-page-solo-engine, but I'm trying out Mune at the moment. I also have about a gig of assorted tables, charts, etc. Goblin's Henchman does some excellent hex-flower solo resources and they're PWYW over on Drivethru.

I don't own Scarlet Heroes, which is a bit of an over sight on my part, but I fully intend to pick it up when I have some spare cash.

JimboJimbo
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Re: Core Competencies

Post by JimboJimbo »

I don't usually updates two days in a row, but it's Sunday and I don't have a lot else on.

Shouts of disbelief, anger, and shock fill the moist air but a moment later Festoonia breaks the pool’s surface. The other five Spades notice that her lips are a little fuller, her hair more glossy, and her leather armour filled out a little better.
“Come on in, the water’s lovely,” she says, her voice a touch less abrasive than before.

(Enchanted pool. +1 random stat. Festi’s Charisma is now 9).

“Is there anything at the bottom? Gold or gems?” Arn asks.

Chittering squeaks and raking claws draw their attention from vibrant waters. A score of shining red eyes glimmer in Mancho’s lamplight.

(wandering monster check. Yes. 3D8 CL A beasties).

“Rats,” Festoonia spits, drawing her twin daggers.

Scaled, spiked and the length of a human arm, the red-eyed vermin pounce.

(No surprise. Spades lose initiative 2:3. Fest is in the pool, the others are in a half-circle around it. 2 rats per dry Spade with three going for [4/d10] Pluvia.)

Pluvia goes down in a shower of gore, a gaping cavern where her throat once was. Mancho falls next, blood bubbling around his nose and lips. Arn’s mail coat stands strong, but sharp spines rip the leather of his boot. Verminous teeth and spines shred Barnabus Cloth’s armour, ripping at the flesh beneath. Red fluid pumping from his wounds, he topples.

Ezra swings with his mace, but his feeble (str 6) arms can’t move it fast enough. Arn, eyes wide and body numbed by the speed at which his companions were felled, swings his axe too high.

Ezra Kantoom falls to ripping claws but Arn’s mail coat and sturdy shield hold firm.

Panic turning to lava-blooded rage, the dwarf bellows hate as his blade splits a rat in twain. Fury overtaking him, he spins and turns, blade flashing in the guttering light of Mancho’s dropped lantern. Six of the scaled vermin lie dead at his feet.

(1-3/D6 the last 5 rats flee. Roll: 6).

Stinking bodies scale his hauberk. He shakes them loose with a muscular shrug, but one sinks its teeth into his neck a second before.

(nat 20 to hit. Full damage).

Two more rats fall to his fury. Festoonia, shaking off her paralysing shock (I forgot about her), ends another with rapid slashed of her twin blades.

(1-4/d6 for the last three rats to feel. Roll: 1).

Not pausing for breath, the 2 remaining spades attend their fallen comrades. Drying blood crusts open wounds. Not breath leaks from pallid lips.

“Arn!” Festoonia bleats, grabbing the dwarf by his pack, “you’re bleeding.”
She drags him into the water, washing away the blood so she can see the wound. Nimble fingers secure a bandage from the dwarf’s pack and secure it around his neck.

(4/d4-1, 3hp restored. Arn successfully saves vs disease).

“What in the five frozen hells happened?” Arn growled, voice choked with grief.

Defeated, minds trapped by the horror of loss, they drag each of their dead friends to the secret door. Doleful miners aid with the extraction & burial.

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badams30
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Re: Core Competencies

Post by badams30 »

Very cool! I enjoy reading these. Nice!

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merias
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Re: Core Competencies

Post by merias »

Almost a TPK! Rats can be surprisingly deadly when PCs are first level. Great stuff.

JimboJimbo
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Re: Core Competencies

Post by JimboJimbo »

badams30 wrote:
Sun Aug 07, 2022 9:22 pm
Very cool! I enjoy reading these. Nice!
Thanks! I'll keep posting them :)

I'm never sure if I hit the right mix of adventure report and narrative flourish. Sometimes I think I'm straying too far into 'aspiring author with dice' territory.

JimboJimbo
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Re: Core Competencies

Post by JimboJimbo »

merias wrote:
Sun Aug 07, 2022 10:07 pm
Almost a TPK! Rats can be surprisingly deadly when PCs are first level. Great stuff.
Thanks Merias!

I lose a lot of 1st level parties to 1/2 or 1/4 HD monsters. I find if a low-level team lose initiative then they'll usually die. I had a team of 1st level BFRPG characters win intiative and take out a quartet of ghouls (lots of lucky saving throws). The very next adventure, they were TPK'd by a solitary ghoul after losing initiative (no lucky saving throws). It was at that point I decided that all fighters could cleave, regardless of enemy HD ... although I forget to implement it more often than not.

JimboJimbo
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Re: Core Competencies

Post by JimboJimbo »

Had a spot of bad news, so tomorrow’s plans are out the window. On a positive note, it frees me up to get another session in!

The Team:

Festoonia Chipway, F halfling fighter,
Arn Copper Tongue, M Dwarf Warrior,
Astra Ven Darn, F human magic user,
Nerva Quintus, M human fighter,

After burying their friends, Fest returned the two clerics’ holy symbols to the local chapel then sold off their adventuring equipment at the general store. She returned to Arn (by way of the camp assayer, who made her pockets bulge and eyes spring out on stalks), who she’d left drowning his sorrows in the Sloppy Dig saloon.

The dwarf sat, hand on chin and face in mug, while two humans tried to address him. Not wanting to lose another friend, she stepped in and introduced herself. The pale-blue woman introduced herself as Astra Ven Darn, a mage of sorts, and her olive-skinned and dark-eyed friend as Nerva Quintus of the republic. She informed Festi that they’d been travelling around the Nahkleetas when she sensed something unusual and not entirely pleasant. They heard the two adventurers were the only survivors of a delve and wandered if they’d be kind enough to divulge their findings.

After a fair few rounds of wine and mead, the two remaining Spades told of ‘great, pink pools of accursed snot’ and spiked rats more vicious than a rabid dog. They also agreed to take the two humans to the subterranean ruins the following day.

They crawl through the open wall. The secret door stands open and the rusted lamp hasn’t been moved. Festoonia pulls a long tube from her satchel, hoping Arn doesn’t register the clink of her newly-acquired ring mail.

“You may as well take these, Astra. The store master didn’t want them.”

She pulls out two parchment scrolls and smiles at the halfling.

“Thank you, these will make me far more useful.”

They duck through the secret door. Festoonia waves her sword at the circular chamber beyond.

“That’s where the weird pool is. Do you want to take a look?”

Arn clears his throat.

“We know it’s empty. Maybe what the girl’s looking for is elsewhere.”

Astra favours the dwarf with an understanding smile and gestures to the left-hand door.

“Perhaps this one?”

Arn nods in agreement. He presses his ear against the ancient wood. He hears nothing but the squeak of rusting hinges as its slides open. Axe in hand, Arn crosses the threshold. The others follow.

Four men stand around a small fire. Its orange flames do little to illuminate the 40×40’ chamber. Its smoke hangs in the air like a curse. Ancient furniture, wardrobes and dressers, are scattered around the room. Some stand empty with their doors ripped off, others have been smashed to kindling. At the sound of clinking mail and heavy boots, one of the men turns to face the four Spades.

“The hell do you lot want?”

(Reaction Roll 4; unfavourable)

Astra works her way to the front of the party, clasps her hands at her chest.

“Just passing through. We believe there is something unpleasant in this ruin and we’d like to find it.”

“Searching for buried treasure, more like. We wuz ‘ere first so sling your hook.”

Arn growls and steps forward. Nerva’s meaty paw stops him in his tracks. Astra presses her fingers to her temple.

“Maybe you should return to you camp fire and relax with your friends?”

The bandit returns to his camp fire and sits down, pulling the cork from a wineskin.

“You heard the lady. Time to relax.”

The Spades take the west exit (the only one) into a 30×30 room. The air stinks of decay. Rusted cages line the walls. Rusted hinges creak and four shambling, half-mummified creatures stagger from within.

Party win initiative 3:2

Festoonia hacks one of the leathery-skinned horrors to pieces. Astra sends a handful of darts flying through the air, turning one into an inactive pin cushion. Nerva hurls a spear, but it goes wide, clattering against the bars of an open cage. Arn’s axe bits deep into flesh and rib bones, but the abomination keeps on coming.

Fest’s and Arn’s mail fend off putrid claws. Festoonia responds to the blow with a repost that opens the zombie’s guts, almost tripping the horror on its own entrails. Arn’s axe flashes through dessicated flesh, splitting the shambler in twain. Astra hurls a handful of darts. This time she misses the zombies completely but Festoonia yelps as a feathered shaft burrows through her mail and into her shoulder.

(Astra rolled 1 to hit. Festoonia was targetted by a miss-fire roll. Astra then scored a natural 20 on the miss-fire to hit roll. Luckily darts do max 3!).

Festoonia turns to scream at Astra, dodging raking claws and snapping teeth. The zombie staggers over its own entrails, toppling to the dusty floor. Arn executes its with a blow of his axe.

“By the gods!” Astra yelped, rushing to Festoonia’s side, “I’m so sorry.”

She eases the dart from the hobbit’s shoulder and slaps a bandage on, taking care to stem the trickle of blood leaking from her flesh.

Festoonia remembers the human man sitting by his campfire and decides the apology is a good one.

“It’s okay,” she says, “these things happen.”

While the mage patches her up, Festoonia’s sharp eyes catch the glint of metal coming from inside one of the cages. Shaking off the wizard’s attentions, she holds her sword ready and investigates.

Festoonia whistles, holding up a pair of old leather sacks. The light from Astra’s lantern highlight the dips and bulges of weighty coins.

“Aces,” Festoonia grins, “they’re filled with platinum aces!”.

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merias
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Re: Core Competencies

Post by merias »

I liked your description of the charm spell. The narrative form is nice, something I should try in my own play reports more often - I think it takes more effort to do in that style.

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