Like the short first session, this one was a lot of role-playing and wandering about town. When headed up to the castle to confront the rumored-to-be-evil local baron, however, they decided they might need a bit more muscle. At this point my daughter went to successfully coax her brother into joining the game. I ruled that his albino half-orc fighter had slept in (keeping in character with the PC’s player) but was roused from bed and ready to adventure.

I believe that the start of this session might be the first time I’ve run an all-girls group of players where there was more than one player.

Since I know a lot of readers aren’t necessarily interested in reading full session reports from other peoples’ games, I’ll put the write-up below the fold.

FIGHTER/THIEF arrived in Restenford and joined up with HEARTH and HEARNORA (NPC F Half-Elf MU-3) at Falco’s Tavern. They decided to continue the search for the giant rats in town by checking out the woods behind the abbey but found nothing after extensive searching. They spoke with two acolytes from the abbey.
RUMOR: The Baron of Restenford is really chaotic evil.

They decided to go check out the Baron’s castle but wanted more strength so HEARTH convinced GORK the albino half-orc to join them. They asked the guards at the gate if they could speak to the Baron about the rat problem and one of the guards went to go see. While waiting, the PCs saw Peltar the sorcerer leave his tower and head down into town. The Baroness came out and offered them a reward of 150gp per person if they would rid the town of giant rats and told them that Gelpas, the captain of the guard, could maybe give them some more info about the rats. She gave them a letter stating that the party was acting on behalf of the Baron.

The party found Gelpas at lunch in the Inn of the Dying Minotaur and after seeing the letter from the Baroness he told them that he suspected the giant rats had a nest somewhere near the burned-out guard house. When he kept the letter, FIGHTER/THIEF tried to get it back by picking his pocket. The first picking attempt failed and a second failure resulted in Gelpas noticing and arresting him. The party followed at a distance as Gelpas marched FIGHTER/THIEF up to the castle and summoned the Baron. Fortunately, the Baron ruled that it had all been a misunderstanding and that all were free to go and carry on with their mission. The Baron kept the letter and Gelpas was displeased with the decision.

The party decided to talk to the fishermen’s families living near the guard house but didn’t learn much, so they decided to put out a bucket of fish heads to try to bait some giant rats into coming out. They put the “rat chum” out in the field near the ruins and took up position behind a fisherman’s dwelling. That night, two giant rats took the bait; FIGHTER/THIEF shot them both with his short bow and they took the tails as proof of their success.

Having seen that the giant rats approached from the direction of the ruins, they ventured in to check them out again but initially found nothing. As they were leaving, however, they discovered a concealed trap door under a rotting carpet in the bedroom. Another rat was at the bait pile and they shot it too. They dragged the carcasses to the crossroads, doused them with wine, and burned them. As it was three in the morning by now, they decided to head back to Falco’s to sleep.

So far, two sessions in and the only combat has been three bow shots at giant rats.

We didn’t have a lot of time Monday evening and it took a bit for the players to get their bearings, but we got things started. PCs are starting at level 3 but with 0 XP and normal starting money and gear. So though they’ll be a lot more survivable and have a good boost in power, they’ll still have to earn enough XP to advance and they’ll have to find magic and treasure the old fashioned way.

Here’s the log of the first session:

Session: 1; Date: 9/5/2011; Location: Home (1.5 hrs)
Game Dates: 9/1 – 9/2; Start: Restenford; End: Restenford
Characters: Hearth, Gork, (Hearnora)

Hearth (F Half-Elf F3), Gork (Half-Orc F3), and Hearnora (NPC F Half-Elf MU3, sister of Hearth) arrived in Restenford in search of adventure. Got meals and rooms at the Inn of the Dying Minotaur.
RUMOR: A child was bitten by a giant rat.
RUMOR: There are ruins on top of Bone Hill.
RUMOR: A band of brigands lairs on Bald Hill.

The party debated whether or not to head for Bone Hill but decided to investigate the rat attack and began searching along the western bank of the river. While looking under the dock at Falco’s Tavern the owner sees them and invited them in for a drink.
RUMOR: There are huge wolves in the Kelman woods that serve a giant.

The party continued the search along the river and surrounding area, including a burned-out stone building at the end of the road near the stockade wall. GORK got pricked by a needle trap on a chest of drawers in a bedroom but it had no effect. They also dug through the warped remains of an armory in the building but didn’t find anything of interest in the ruins and gave up for the day.

They got rooms at Falco’s Tavern because it’s cheaper than the Inn of the Dying Minotaur.

Not a lot accomplished, but things are underway. The second session (actually already played last night) didn’t have to deal with introductions and background, and the PCs already had some idea of what they’re wanting to do.

I also decided to institute a 100 XP/level session award for each PC. This session consisted of no combat and no treasure found. I’m not really interested in subjective “roleplaying” or “story” awards, but I also don’t want PCs going completely empty-handed after this sort of session. 100 XP/level/session is my compromise, though I might have to cap it at higher levels. We’ll see.

In a throwback to the way we played back in the day, I dumped them in town with no idea what to do and eventually they ended up in the tavern “looking for adventures.” A bit of interacting with locals and scrounging up money for a map finally produced a lead, and they prepared to set out.

As in the old days, though, actually getting out of town proved problematic. A meeting with a mysterious cloaked figure in a dark side street led to being narrowly missed by an assassination attempt, a rooftop chase, pursuit of the cloaked figure, and a fight with the would-be assassin. In the end, of course, evasion of the city watch was called for and the cloaked figure joined the party.

About three hours after sitting down, the PCs were finally on their way to the abandoned mine which had hit a shaft leading down to monster-infested places. A couple of days travel got them to the entrance. At that point we broke for the night.

I intentionally played up the city portion, offering opportunities without railroading anyone like in the olden days. Fortunately, they bit on most of the bait and things went well. Like in the old days, there was little combat and few references to rule books during the urban portion, and we seemed to play a long time without making any measurable headway. Which is just like it was back in the day.

We hope to continue today.

He tried squeezing under the door but got stuck. Then they couldn’t get him back in. My son’s character poured oil all over and tried pushing him through, but to no avail. Suddenly the expiration of the potion dawned on everyone and they began to fear for the dwarf’s life.

Finally, my son took the cleric’s staff, rammed it against the dwarf’s banded armor, and told everyone to push.

Pop. The dwarf was levered through and released them once the potion wore off. Whatever it takes.

I have to hand it to him. When rolling up his fighter, he had hoped for good enough abilities to create a paladin, but our 3d6 seven times, arrange six to taste, remaining roll is starting gold method means getting those numbers is rare. So he ended up maing a half-orc fighter and told me that even though the guy wasn’t anywhere near the universe required for paladinhood, he was going to live the life of one anyway. A half-orc paladin wannabe. He bought a holy symbol and has even tried to turn undead with it. I’m not sure if he is trying to turn to be “in character” or if he thinks it might really work. I’m letting him roll and so far all of his rolls have been low, so he doesn’t know if normally-successful rolls will result in failure, also.

My daughter, meanwhile, joined in after we had been playing for a while. She picked out a character she had rolled up recently, a half-orc with an intelligence of 4. In Labyrinth Lord, an INT of 4 means “Unable to read or write,” so she named him “Grunt” and decided he’d be a less-than-talkative character. His STR of 15 means that, despite social shortcomings, he’ll be welcome in many adventuring parties.

Now, I really don’t think I’ve ever had a PC party with two half-orcs in it at the same time before. And we do not use the “half-orcs are so cool” idea that seems to have caught on in later editions. Half-orc humans, as a race, are definitely not considered “so cool” in our game. But here we are, and not only are my kids playing two half-orcs, they are both playing them in pretty fun way. In both cases they decided to go this route on their own without any direction from dear old dad.

One of the rooms in the fortress is a sort of “trophy room” with a dragon skin, a turned-to-stone basilisk, mounted heads of enemies, captured weapons, and the like. Against one wall of this trophy room stood six skeletons which had not been included in the pre-written description. These, of course, were placed there by me from the monster list and attacked as soon as the PCs looked closely at them. When the paladin wannabe’s turning attempt failed, battle was joined. As luck would have it, the players rolled poorly and the skeletons rolled pretty well. Things ended with three PCs, an NPC, and a hireling all unconscious with another hireling dead. Two skeletons remained, but as they were under orders only to attack those who approached them, they returned to their positions and resumed their silent watch.

The two half-orcs were the first to come to, and they carefully prepared to take on the two remaining sentries. I kept rolling to see if the skeletons would react, but they did not until the PCs were as ready as they could be. Fortunately, my son’s fighter had one vial of holy water left and they were able to take out the two remaining undead, revive the rest of the party, and retreat back to town.

Except for the fact that they were facing mindless undead, it would have been another TPK. Again, their tactics weren’t stellar but it was the horrible rolling that really did it to them. That and the fact that they had no cleric in the party. The key is to get yourself into position so that even if you roll badly you’ve got a chance to disengage. My kids need to work on that a little.

But I’m liking the half-orcs and the way they’re playing them.

The kobolds were down to the last two standing, but they kept passing morale checks and kept on fighting. Having just finished off his last one, the half-orc fighter stepped over to assist one of the men at arms who was in bad shape. The fighter missed, and during the kobolds’ turn I rolled a d6 and a d20, stating that on 1-3 the kobold attacked the fighter instead of the man-at-arms. It was a 1 and the attack roll was a 19. I rolled damage and the fighter went down below zero. Our rule is that when a PC goes below zero they must make a save vs. death. If they pass, they’re unconscious at 0 hit points. If they fail, they’re dead.

My son wasn’t terribly happy (which is understandable) and said he didn’t know that the kobold could have attacked his fighter. I had earlier stated that he didn’t get a rear attack, which meant that the kobold had him in sight and I ruled that it was possible. My son rolled low, and the fighter died.

A couple more rounds of combat saw the last pair of kobolds wiped out, and my son again complained that he didn’t understand how the kobold could switch targets like that. I repeated that there was no reason that the fighter couldn’t be attacked.

But then my son clarified what he meant. He wasn’t arguing that the kobold couldn’t switch targets; he just didn’t think the kobold could switch targets tHAT ROUND. The previous round, his fighter had been in combat with a different kobold, and this round he declared that he would move over to aid the man-at-arms. (We declare actions before rolling initiative.) He pointed out that the kobold didn’t know that the fighter was coming, so how could he have decided to attack after (presumably) declaring the man-at-arms to be his target?

And he was right. I had not initially figured on the fighter coming over, and to change the kobold’s action after my son declared his wasn’t really fair, even if I used a die roll to determine the actual target. I’ve previously ruled that attackers can only switch targets after declaration if the target goes down from another attack first. Since the man-at-arms was still up, I should have had the kobold attack him that round and roll for target the NEXT round.

Now, I’m not a big fan of going back in time and fixing things. But I’m also not a big fan of screwing up, particularly when the players suffer for it. So I ruled in favor of the players (for now) and allowed another save vs. death. He made it, the fighter they thought was dead groaned when they began to grab his gear, and everything was all right in the world.

Was I being a softie? I don’t really think so. Though the transgression wasn’t a major one, it certainly didn’t follow the standards we’d been using and that he had every right to expect would continue to be followed in normal circumstances. I even make him roll again, and failure would have meant dead.

On the other hand, if I would have ruled dead was dead, I would have basically been saying “Yeah, I messed up a little but it’s no big deal…other than your character dying.” That’s the sort of thing that jerk DMs say.

They decided to spend a day searching for hirelings as their previous trek into the jungle ended badly at the hands of goblin raiders. Being short of funds, they could only afford to hire two men at arms, an old worlder with leather, sword, and shield and a native tribesman* with scale mail, spear, and shield. I explained that the tribesman’s scale was in rough shape, and my daughter wondered if it might not be stolen. I did nothing to discourage the thought.

Rumors floating around town centered around a tower across the big river, off to the southeast. My son’s previous character, the ranger detailed here, had been to this tower but had told the boatmaster he had not been able to locate it. Despite the ranger’s story, the amount of loot he brought back out of the jungle had set the townsfolk a-talking. So the party decided to set out in search of this tower. They rented canoes and paddled across the river. The elf had trouble and was nearly washed out to sea, but after an hour of fierce effort they were all safely across and the canoes hidden.

After an afternoon of jungle trekking, they set camp for the night. Being as everyone was in good shape and the weather was good, they decided not to set a fire. All three PCs have infravision (simply good night vision in our game) and the three of them decided to take turns on watch. Shortly after the other bedded down, my daughter’s dwarf spotted a man and a mule loaded with packs and tools making their way southward. As the dwarf had surprise, he quietly watched as the man stopped and set up camp. Soon the man was snoring away. The dwarf let him sleep and waked the halfling druid for her watch.

The druid (played by my wife) cast a Speak With Animals and asked the mule what was going on. The mule complained about being awakened but informed her that they were headed toward the sea. Apparently the previous place had not worked out, though the halfling didn’t understand exactly what that meant. The halfling thanked the mule and let the strangers sleep. At the crack of dawn the man awoke, grumbled about his sore bones, and set off toward the south with his mule in tow.

The party continued on their way through the jungle, taking cover when a group of five elephants rumbled past. The old worlder man-at-arms, a newcomer to the new world, wanted to take one down for the ivory. Fortunately, both the elf and the halfling talked him out of trying. Soon they stumbled upon the tower they sought, but while they looked it over they were surprised by something in the trees.

An arrow flew into the tree next to the old-worlder’s head, and not waiting to see who was shooting at them, the party ran for the tower. A huge set of bronze double doors, one of them slightly ajar (from the ranger’s previous visit), was visible through the vines overgrowing the tower, and they fled inside. The native tribesman, slowed by his scale mail, lagged behind and was narrowly missed by another arrow. But soon they were all safe inside.

My son’s cleric/magic-user watched the door while the others checked out the inside of the tower. They spotted two sets of spiral stairs, one heading up and one heading down. They went up. The levels above showed signs of previous exploration, though when they spent a turn digging through a ruined laboratory the dwarf found a short sword in a drawer. He gave it to the native man-at-arms, who stuck it in his belt as a back-up weapon. Climbing another few levels, they encountered a clan of chattering monkeys. The druid once again made use of the Speak With Animals and brokered a truce with the monkeys. The party asked if the monkeys had ever been to the lower levels but were told they were afraid of “the scary bone monkeys” and never went down. (This refered to the undead monkey skeletons my son’s ranger ran into previously.) After some more exploration, they decided to head down the stairs that led below the surface.

They found themselves in a basement level with water pooled at one side of the room but otherwise empty. Afraid to enter the water, they searched the floor, walls, and staircase for secret door without luck. The dwarf even spent a turn trying to “disbelieve” the water without success. My son’s elf finally decided to walk into the water, which was only a few inches deep, and search the wall for secret doors. Lo and behold, he found one. A keystone trigger opened a sliding panel to reveal a 20′ corridor also flooded with a few inches of water. They went down the passage and, with some difficulty due to the swollen timbers, forced open the heavy wooden door at the far end.

They found a passageway heading left and right. Heading left, they entered a 20′ by 20′ room with a large glass mirror on the far wall and an arched doorway to the left leading out. A Detect Magic spell by the elf revealed two things: A) the mirror was not magical and B) the sword that the dwarf had found in the lab and lent to the native was. After making sure the native understood that the sword was just a loaner, they tried to check behind the mirror. They found nothing on the wall or on the back, but as one of them was a dwarf and another was a halfling, and the mirror was 6′ tall and 4′ wide, they were not able to do a very thorough job of it.

Heading through the passageway, they found themselves in another 20′ by 20′ room, this one occupied by a 5′ diameter stone pool of water. A 3′ pedestal in the middle of the pool was topped with a golden carved creepy-looking snake. The elf’s Detect Magic, just about to expire, showed that the snake and the water were both enchanted. He approached the water but when he got close found himself oddly terrified of the snake and could go no closer. He cast Protection From Evil and tried again. This time he was able to get to the edge of the pool. He tried to grab the snake but found that it was attached to the pedestal. So he took a drink of the water and apprehensively waited to see what would happen. Surprisingly, he found that he felt much stronger than he normally did and was told that he had experienced a +2 increase to his strength.

At this time I informed the players that our pre-determined time allotment was nearing its end and that any characters who had not returned to town by the end of the session would find themselves in terrible shape. Virtually no one survived out in the jungle on their own for very long. So the party decided to head back for town.

On the way, while camping after a day’s march, they were attacked by a group of pale-skinned vaguely human-looking humanoids. Four of the creatures were visible but others were heard in the trees. Unsure of what they were faced with, the druid cast an Entanglement spell and three were tangled tight. Five others were partially entangled and howled in rage, trying to fight their way through the branches and vines that kept them from their targets. The characters leaped into action, and soon all the attackers, hampered by the entanglement, were dispatched.

The rest of the trip to town was uneventful, though the river crossing once again found the dwarf’s canoe in trouble for a while. While they returned safely, they found no gold and are more destitute than before. They don’t know who was shooting at them outside the tower, and they don’t know what those nasty creatures who attacked them were. I’m also wondering if they’re going to be successful in keeping an eye on that native with the sword. We’ll see next time.

Line of the game: (After complaints about the great deal of time spent hiring men-at-arms, haggling over canoe rentals, and crossing the river) “Well, at least we’re still alive!” –by my daughter.

* I will have more information on our alternative experience/advancement system and the Jungle Minions up on the blog soon.

His ranger was dismayed to discover that the trolls are keeping a closer eye on their hoard now that he’s stolen some of it while they were away from their lair, but was excited to check out a little more of the tower he’s been exploring and managed to get back to town with another ivory tusk. Another NPC bit the dust, this time a thief who fell victim to the undead monkeys within the tower when the characters failed to take sufficient precautions.

That evening my wife and daughter rolled up PCs and we had our third-ever whole-family game. The two new PCs joined my son’s ranger and yet another NPC and headed into the wild. After some tense moments when they became disoriented in the trackless jungle, they managed to find their way back toward town and drove off some jungle goblin raiders near town. Unfortunately, the next morning they ran into more goblins and were wiped out.

The first time we all played together, the party was captured out by goblins. The second session we all played together was a successful rescue mission with new PCs. And now the third time was a TPK. Though I want the threat of danger to be very real and want 1st-level characters to be justifiably frail, the death rate is discouraging. My son, in particular, was pretty upset about losing the ranger that had done so well in the first two sessions.

He and I have discussed this extensively and we are going to be making a few tweaks to improve the survivability of PCs. I’m going to up the binding of wounds from 1d4-1 hit points per battle to 1d6, and the overnight healing is going to be upped to 1d6 hit points as well. I think this is in keeping with the sword & sorcery vibe I’m going for. Battles are savage and death is not uncommon, but soon the characters are back into the thick of it. So we’re going to give it a try.

I’ve got another change, much more significant, in mind as well, but I want to think on it a bit. The goal is to increase survivability at the first couple levels without altering game balance or making mid-level characters TOO powerful. I also want the risk of PC death to remain significant, and even a threat to well-played characters. It’s a fine line and one that I think a lot of people have trouble with.

Me: The dead half-orc has seven gold pieces and two vials filled with liquid.

Son: I’ll take the first vial and give the second vial to the dwarf. Dwarves have a bonus against poison, right?

Me: Correct.

Son: I take a sip of my vial.

Me: Which vial is yours, again? The first one or the second one?

Son: The first one.

Me: Roll a d20.

Son: [Sighs] 11.

Me: What’s your saving throw vs. poison?

Son: 12.

Me: It’s a potion of healing.

He was so relieved that he wasn’t even mad at me for messing with him a bit.

The woodsman, feeling guilty, returned to the village and began recruiting a rescue party.

The other night my family’s party was soundly defeated by a band of goblins only a couple of turns in to the ruins Below Wolf Rock. Two hirelings were killed outright, but the three PCs were all knocked out and captured.

Last night the rescue mission was launched.

The halfling quietly pulled open a heavy door in a side passage in the tunnels below Wolf Rock but was only able to get a quick glimpse of a number of dark forms in the room beyond before dogs began barking. Slamming the door closed, the three adventurers and three dwarves set themselves and prepared for an attack. It wasn’t long in coming.

A goblin shoved the door open but was hit immediately by an arrow from the halfling. However, four savage attack dogs rushed out and attacked. One of the dwarves went down almost immediately, and as a couple more goblins joined the fray the entire fight devolved into chaos. Soon the cleric went down, too, but the two remaining dwarves, the fighter (a woman with 17 strength and a halberd) and the halfing archer were finding success and slowly wearing down the gobs and their attack dogs. In desperation, one of the goblins charged the halfling, but she dropped her bow, pulled a dagger, and shoved it into the goblin’s throat. With a spurt of black blood, the goblin fell to the cold stone floor.

The fight was soon over and the party took a moment to bind wounds and try to revive their fallen comrades. Unfortunately, two goblins remained in the room and took advantage of the moment by attacking. A watchful dwarf kept them from getting surprise, and they were soon cut down.

Approaching some dark shapes in the far corner of the room, the halfling nearly fired before realizing that they were, in fact, the three missing adventurers. Of the two hirelings or the dwarves’ comrades there was no sign. The party quickly freed the prisoners but realized their position was precarious and decided the a hasty retreat was in order. The dwarves, disappointed in not finding their own missing adventurers, reluctantly agreed.

As the party, moving slowly, made its way back toward the entrance, more goblins appeared. The cleric, still woozy from the previous fight, prepared to do battle but was hit by a goblin arrow and went down for the second time. The fighter dropped her halberd in disgust, dragged the cleric toward the stairs, and yelled for everyone to run for it. The halfling archer covered the escape, taking down one goblin and injuring another, and bought enough time for everyone to make it out into the sunlight. The goblins, howling in rage and hatred, dared not follow.

It was ugly, and I screwed up some record keeping during the fight which halted things for a few minutes while we sorted it out. All in all, though the rescue mission was a success and everyone got out alive, it wasn’t really a great session. There’s a lot of frustration on the part of the players, and my bad handling of the battle didn’t do much to improve anyone’s mood.

Regardless, after a few days of rest and recovery, perhaps some bold adventurers will dare a return to the labyrinth Below Wolf Rock.