Session 8 Downtime: Murder Hobo Meltdown

Based on the aftermath of the debacle with the Dragon Zenabarithon, the bros have been broken and divided into three groups which will pursue their own agendas and possibly come into direct conflict later in the campaign (By the Will of The Dice Gods!)

• Blastikus and Brother Sully have formed a uneasy alliance of convenience. Though capable in their own right, they need warrior support and need to be diligent about the Oni retribution and possible stealth attacks by the Mighty Redneck, thirsty for blood to avenge the sacrifice of the lakeside peasants. They shall be known henceforth as The Winter Blast Bros until something happens to the Wand of Frost, at least...
  
  
• Brogallo and Kleptikos have likewise been thrown into an ad hoc partnership, but they have far more common ground between them. Their interests could align into a much more mutually beneficial long term collaboration. They shall be known henceforth as The Band of Brogallos.
  
  
• The Mighty Redneck burns with hatred for his former comrades-in-arms. It took the untimely death of his long time friend Brother Fitzy to awaken him to the severe evil that sat festering in the hearts of the others. He was betrayed in his hour of need by Brogallo and Kleptikos and witnessed Blastikus sacrifice hundreds of innocents to save his own hide while Brother Sully stood complicit in his silence. The actions of Brogallo and Kleptikos could possibly be excused due to cowardice in the face of a Chaos beast, but the wickedness of the others will be punished. His group shall be known henceforth as Redneck's Mighty Riders (well, when he actually has more than just himself in the group, that is...).
  

Each of these groups need to prepare themselves for the harsh new reality that confronts them, and needs to gather reinforcements and continue building their power base before enacting any plans. I'm going to break out each group into their own post, so keep an eye out for the downtime updates.

Dramatis Personae

We've gotten to the point of encountering several notable NPC over the past year and it's probably a good idea to keep track of them in a central location. This post will be updated as warranted.

Fort Rackham

• Lady Kophyn Mizzar is the mistress of the Croaking Castle of the Miraculous Toad (Hex 300.298) and protector of the nearby Fort Rackham (Hex 300.297).
  
  
• Tazennarit is the leader of the former bandit group now turned into Fort Rackham settlers. She has a good relationship with Lady Kophyn and has become the de facto leader of the town.
  
  
• Belgos Trith is a retired fighter and master of the keep (hex 302.298) directly east of the Croaking Castle. He has ordered his forces to patrol the roads and keep trade open for the benefit of everyone (himself included, of course).

Orchard Hollow

• Patriarch Sirenion (Hex 302.294) is the stoic cleric of Law responsible for the spiritual well being of the citizens in the city. As presiding hierarch, he has a force of lesser clerics and a dedicated order of paladins at his command. He is suspicious of the motives of the Band of Brogallos and may be searching for them for "intensive spiritual discussions".
  

Tallow Watch

• Chef Manducare Sordidum (Hex 301.295) is the proprietor of the Bistro de Sordidum soup kitchen in Tallow Watch (secretly funded by the Mighty Redneck's tithing). This is a ruse, for he is really the assassin Ardot and uses his restaurants as covers for assassinations and poison development. He has a successful working arrangement with the Temple of the Iron Claw for mutual intelligence/spy networks.

Valthrun

• Lord Jirex, Guardian of Portal is the titular ruler of Valthrun (Hex 300.300), but the real power is rumored to lie with two radically different patrons: Kirenos, the Master of the Thieves Guild and Bilious Yarena, a Night Hag from the depths of Hades. The truth of these rumours, and the very existence of these presonages, is very much in dispute.
  
  
• Sister Dolorosa is the abbess of The Wretched Little Tykes Home for the Unwashed orphanage in Valthrun (Hex 300.300). Her acolyte is Sister Cruciata. The orphanage is secretly funded by The Mighty Redneck. The orphanage is a cover for the Temple of the Iron Claw monk training compound.
  
  
• Selark is a teenage street urchin and leader of the orphan spy network in the employ of Kleptikos.
  
  
• Hamyla is the madam of a nameless brothel catering to high end clientelle. She is a member of the Kleptikos spy network.
  
  
• Rakov is the proprietor of The White Rose, a discrete high-end inn often frequented by Brogallo.

Elsewhere

• The White Dragon Zenabarithon and his as yet unnamed mate were spotted in Hex 301.300. Nobody knows the location of their lair or current whereabouts.
  
  
• The master of the small keep (Hex 302.298) to the east of the Croaking Castle is Belgos Trith, a very famous human male fighter who had great success against the savage barbarian horsemen. He is largely retired, but keeps patrols on the roads to ensure trade continues to flow.
  
  
• Brog Bersk is a The Warden of Valthrun, a ranger lord and ruler of an aerie stronghold in the mountains (Hex 301.302) south of the Shrine of Lethria.
  
  
• Porius Sepret is the Druid of the Order of the Starless Wastes and is rumored to be living in the forests (Hex 306.298) east of Trith Keep.

Session 8: The Sundering of the Bros

 

The Bros are all trained up and newly buffed up with additional bro-cenary troops under Brogallo's command. A roll on the rumor table comes up with a 7, so the Bros are heading back to the Ruined Monastery to see what compelled the Oni to invade the territory and devastate Gunnolfsfell. They decide to forgo the road and cut through hex 301.300 (containing the Shrine of Lethria) to reach hex 302.301 (containing the Ruined Monastery). Random encounters both come up positive, which means we'll be rolling on the temperate wilderness tables on DMG pg 184 to see what they discover. Note even though the Cold Wastes are a northern tundra environment, I'm using the real world calendar as the campaign calendar. Since it's July and a balmy 92 degrees Farenheit here in Boston, MA it seems kinda silly to roll on the subarctic table.

Hex 301.300 is mountainous and comes up with an 11 which means Dragon and a potential world of excrement falling down on the Bros. A further roll on the Dragon Table (pg 185) gives us two 7HD (35hp, 35hp) adult average size White Dragons (per rolls on AD&D MM pg 29 and 34). They're not in their lair (31% and need a 20%), so I say they're a mated pair of dragons hunting for some food. They can speak (18%) but aren't spell casters (71%).

Hex 302.301 is forested hills and comes up with an Ogre. Given previous events, I'm ruling this is the Oni Chief and his remaining clan members who have been lurking in the area, nursing their wounds, and waiting for the chance to enact their revenge. I decide they've been quietly stocking the party invisibly waiting for their chance to kill the human weaklings and retrieve their treasure maps.

We'll resolve the dragon encounter first to see if The Bros survive to face the Oni and the Ruined Monastery.

Neither party is surprised (Party 6, Dragons 5) and the party loses initiative (4 to 3). A reaction check comes back at 53% (Neutral - uninterested - uncertain). I decide the Dragons are going to attack since I've already established they're hungry and looking for a snack. Encounter distance is 11" - well within combat range.

Round 1 actions:

Blastikus: Use Potion of Evil Dragon Control (seriously how awesome are random rolls?? It's not like I planned this encounter!)

Brogallo: Attempts to rally bro-cenaries and flee, seeing nothing but death if he remains 

Brother Fitzy: Casts Resist Cold

Brother Sully: Casts Resist Cold 

Kleptikos: Turns and runs, not willing to become a dragon snack

Mighty Redneck: Attacks with long sword

Round 1 (Party 3; Dragon 4):

The terrifying beasts of Chaos Manifest are imbued with an alien aura of utter wrongness, anathema to the natural order of the world and apex predators unchallenged by the mortal beings of this realm. The bro-cenaries fail their saving throws (with pathetic roll of 2) and are rooted to the spot in abject fear at the dread majesty of the ancient enemy. The Bros are all 6th level so are sturdy enough to shake off the effects of the dragons' horrific nature.

Dragon 1: Breathes on the party (80% roll per AD&D MM pg 30) for 35hp of damage

Blastikus: Makes save vs BW and takes 18hp leaving him at a frosty 1hp

Brogallo: Fails save and goes to 6hp

Brother Fitzy: Fails save and goes to 2hp

Brother Sully: Fails save and goes to 5hp

Kleptikos: Makes save vs BW and takes 18hp leaving him at 12hp

Mighty Redneck: Fails save and goes to 5hp

Dragon 2: Attacks Brother Fitzy and hits with 2 claws for 6hp, killing him...decisively!

Blastikus: Drinks the Potion of Evil Dragon Control; Dragon 1 fails the save but Dragon 2 makes it (with a natural 20 no less)

Brogallo: Reaction roll of 74% with a successful followup rallies the troops and they all flee

Brother Fitzy: DEAD

Brother Sully: Loses spell

Kleptikos: FLED 

Mighty Redneck: Misses

Round 2 actions:

Blastikus: Tells Dragon 1 to convince Dragon 2 that the party is their friend and they should stop trying to eat The Bros (let's see what reaction rolls determine...)

Brother Sully: Casts Cure Light Wounds on himself

Mighty Redneck: Attacks Dragon 2 with long sword since he doesn't know what Blastikus had planned

Dragon 1: Attacks Brother Sully

Dragon 2: Attacks Redneck

Round 2 (Party 5; Dragon 4):

Blastikus: Gets an adjusted reaction roll of 75% with a successful follow up so Dragon 1 reacts positively and convinces his mate to stop attacking

Brother Sully: CLW heals him for 4hp

Mighty Redneck: Misses

Dragon 1: Stops attack due to Potion of Dragon Control

Dragon 2: Stops attack due to mate's influence

Noting the disappearance of Brogallo and Kleptikos for future retaliation, Blastikus attempts to get some information from the dragons before sending them on their way.

"O great ones, we are overwhelmed by your mercy! What great beings of power you are!"

Never one to shy away from recognition of his obvious draconic superiority, the male says "Zenabarithon is pleased by your fear and recognition of the proper order of the Cosmos, fleshling. My mate and I are hungry, though, and you do look rather delicious..."

"We are unfit for the refined palate of Your Greatnesses. Surely, a multitude of plump villagers in the lakeside villages to the southeast would do more to satisfy your ravenous hungers?"

Horrified, Redneck shouts "You miserable bastard! How dare you..."

Brother Sully rapidly smacks Redneck across his mouth "Be silent, you oaf! Our fate hangs by a thread!"

The party is brought to their knees by the thunderous laughter of both dragons.

"Let us leave these primates to their own devices, my queen. These fools will do our work for us - ha! They are but a morsel best left to rot. Let us indulge ourselves in some waterside dining", Zenabarithon says as they both take to the air.

"I like you, fleshling. Make sure the Oni in the woods don't make you their meal, instead. They've been following you for miles and are waiting in Kenarath's Monastery, you know", Zenabarithon tells the survivors as he wheels away into the sky with his mate.

"Hmmm", Blastikus thinks to himself, "I didn't know that was the monastery's name. I'll have to look into that later...and into Zenabarithon as well."

Turning to address his companions, Blastikus is surprised to see that only Brother Sully remains. "What happened to the oaf?"

Brother Sully stares at Blastikus with jaded eyes before saying, "You must be joking or insane - what do you think happened? You sacrificed hundreds of peasants to save our hides. His sanctimonious personality can't abide that! We're lucky he's too battered to slit our throats here and now. He's going to be a problem later."

"For me or you?", Blastikus says in a low voice.

"Both. I'm going to have troubles of my own for daring to raise my hand against the literal manifestation of Chaos Made Flesh without worrying about your homicidal urges. Why don't you stow the murderous attitude for now, eh? We've done well together and I don't see the need to  disrupt a profitable venture with petty betrayals", Sully says while subtly changing his stance in anticipation of violence.

Blastikus sighs wearily before responding, "Agreed. I think Valthrun might be an unwise destination given our current...complications. Let's round up the horses, bury your brother and leave for Old Brightwood - it's quieted down by now. He'll expect us to go to Fort Rackham since you've got friends there and might poke around Tallow Watch while he's there. We need time to regroup and find some reasonable traveling companions. I'll send word to my idiot servants in Eilifsdalsa to let them know."

"Might as well. Pity about Fitzy, though. He wasn't a bad sort - I was starting to grow fond of him."

Updated Campaign Map

 

It's been a few weeks since my last post, but life got busy. I've used the legendary DMG Appendix B to flesh out the results of the various mapping expeditions that were underway during training downtime and have generated the above map.

A few observations from the above and the first 7 sessions of solo play:

1. So.Much.Content! This map contains a mere three fully populated 6 mile hexes and look at how much content they contain! Specifically:
• 4 cities
• 13 villages
• 4 independent castles/fortresses
• 23 ruins of various sorts
• Over 120 one mile hexes that can be rolled for random encounters as they are traversed
  
  
2. The Bros Are Objectively Correct! The three core AD&D books (the Holy Books of PHB, DMG, and MM) are probably the best value in gaming if you have even a modicum of creativity and are willing to jettison all notions of the necessity of post-1989 "gaming products".
   
   In all seriousness, ignoring the BrOSR shit talk posturing, which some find distasteful (not me - I think it's hilarious), they are objectively correct in one important fact. You don't need to buy anything outside of properly designed core rulebooks to enjoy endless hours of TTRPG fun. I think I'll post a separate rant about this, but this is enough for now.
   
   The three Holy Books are all you need to generate literally years worth of adventure content for your group. Master the concepts of downtime actions, patrons, faction play, 1:1 time, and figure scaling and you'll never need anything else for literal years of fun. You will never need to "buy product" because the campaign will spontaneously come alive on its own and the players will be invested as never before (...and yes DM, you too are a player in this game).
   
   
3. I'm quite sure that the above map as-is could easily keep me occupied for the rest of the year with no further effort. "No prep" gaming might be a little bit of a stretch, but minimal prep is absolutely achievable. Get PDFs of the Three Holy Books, use an online dice roller, and you can probably generate months worth of gaming material while you're trapped at work or during a lunch break. Ka-ren, Queen of the Harpies, and your immediate supervisor, will even think you're working on TPS reports and praise your diligence! Smiles everywhere!
   
   
4. Build factions early and don't wait until name level. Henchmen and hirelings are force multipliers, instruments of power and plot generators. Look at what my Bros have been doing, all within the rules and prior to name level:
• Blastikus has purchased a property to create a lab and start brewing potions and writing scrolls as soon as he is able. He's hired a couple of henchmen (obtained from a randomly rolled encounter) as guards and is making moves to eventually set himself up as a local power. Will he make Eilifsdalsa his future base of operations or is it merely a feint in some more clever plan? Will Bilious Yarena allow this upstart to carve out his own fiefdom so close to hers?
  
  
• Brogallo, by hiring mercenaries and giving them some bonus combat pay, now has a sizable mercenary company of 23 mounted men-at-arms under his command. This already establishes him as a non-trivial minor warlord and may get him noticed by the right (or wrong) people. What will Lord Jirex and Bilious Yarena have to say about Brogallo's increasing power?
  
  
• The Mighty Redneck, obligated to donate his excess wealth to a worthy "communal or institutional cause" (PHB pg 25) has done so in two cities, extending his influence and reputation for goodness. He has been noticed by the druids during his latest training period. Will they allow him to be initiated into the deeper mysteries of the wild? Are they angry with him for expanding the prestige of "civilization" via his urban (gasp!) social institutions? Time will tell.
  
  
• Kleptikos is laying the groundwork for his future thieves guild by quietly recruiting a network of spys and beggars, right under the nose of his ostensible "brother-in-arms", Redneck!  Remember Kleptikos is Neutral Evil and has zero problems exploiting anyone at any time for any purpose. If the goofy hillbilly wants to squander his wealth on street urchins and starving veterans, why shouldn't Kleptikos secretly leverage Redneck's gullibility for his own gain?
  
  
• Brother Sully and Brother Fitzy quite unexpectedly got noticed by one of the Chaos Gods with some pretty fearsome future implications. Why did they get noticed? Per AD&D DMG pg 38, cleric spells of third, fourth, and fifth level are obtained through the aid of supernatural servants of the cleric’s deity, so something is paying attention to their new found ability to cast 3rd level spells. 
  
  Up until now, I've been pretty light on the cosmology since this is a solo campaign but I decided the DMG quote means I should come up with some sort of pantheon. I'm going with Michael Moorcock's Lords of Higher Realms motif but putting a secret society spin on it. Exactly what does their order represent? The low level mooks will never find out, but the movers and shakers will slowly be initiated into the truth. Let's see if Fitzy and Sully learn the new secret handshakes and silly walks as they level-up. 
  
  Note that Fitzy is kind of a good natured dope (hence his friendship with Redneck), but Sully is clearly running his own program by building up Fort Rackham with refugees and survivors who all owe their lives to him in one way or another. Is Sully just being practical or is he, in fact, laying the groundwork for a new cult loyal to him and him alone? Everyone else has been going along with his suggestions since they were mutually beneficial, but how long will that last? What will the druids in the area have to say about this through their possible agent, Mighty Redneck?
  
  
5. Downtime and 1:1 time tracking is vital if you want to have a true living, breathing campaign that actually interests people! Everyone at the table should have their own motivations for advancing their character's agendas and these can be carried out in downtime. Encouraging this adds a lot of dynamic verisimilitude to the game without soaking up time at the table!
   
   If this were an IRL party of multiple players instead of my solo campaign, would Brogallo's player want to waste time listening to Kleptikos laying out the details of his urchin and whore network? No!! The group probably only has a few hours per week available to roll dice and slay dragons! All of this other stuff is nice character flavor that the group may appreciate, but free time for adults with family responsibilities is at a premium.
   
   
6. PvP is inherent to the game, but not necessarily in the way that it is popularly misconstrued. Does your group want to have the thief backstab the magic-user in the middle of combat "because that's what my character would do"? My guess is a resounding "FUCK NO" (and kick that fucking retard sociopath out of your group, by the way), but it's quite another thing if all players have competing agendas that run constantly in the background (i.e. use downtime and 1:1 time). This is even better if you have multiple player groups active at the same time since they could screw with each other via downtime actions or by swapping DMs/stories.
   
   PvP makes alignment a meaningful choice. Is the assassin going to say "Lolz - I kill people for coin and sadistic kicks!" to the NG ranger? No, he's going to keep his mouth shut and pass off his badass combat skills as "lessons from the school of hard knocks since I can never hope to develop your martial skills". So why is the assassin in the party? Because he wants to use these dopes as cover and subvert their factions for his own ends without revealing himself. Maybe the druid senses the truth about the assassin and keeps his mouth shut since he may have a future need for his services when the ranger morally objects to some necessary unpleasantness required to "maintain the balance".
   
   Study real world history, especially post-WWII to expand your viewpoint. "The party" is not The Super Friends (blecch!) or The Getalong Gang (double blecch!) - it is the Allied Powers of World War II. Remember that the "Big Four" - the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union, and China - did not ally because they had a deep and abiding love of each other. They were facing a threat to their hegemony from an organized and determined enemy. It was in their mutual interest to pool resources (somewhat) and coordinate military activity to eliminate a threat. They certainly didn't toast marshmallows and sing Kum Bah Yah around a campfire, in spite of the fairy tales they still like to tell about their "fight against evil". Oil, land, global financial restructuring, and monopolizing natural resources had nothing to do with it, right?
   
   
7. Don't get overly attached to any character when running AD&D RAW. I forgot how shockingly lethal this game is when played correctly. Look at The Book of The Dead post. As of this writing, eight of sixteen generated PCs have been sent to Valhalla which translates to a 50% mortality rate (for those of you who are too stoopid to figure that out on your own). How does that compare to reality?
   
• WWII Mortality Rate for USSR: 13.7%
• WWII Mortality Rate for Nazi Germany: ~8.5%
• WWII Mortality Rate for USA: 0.3%

This information is from Wikipedia - you can argue about the absolute veracity of the numbers but the scale is accurate IMO. Medieval/ancient battles are tougher to calculate, but this thread has some good info. If we go with a super high estimate and use 25%, it means AD&D is insanely lethal when compared to reality. Session zero, extensive backstory and "muh character" is for theatre kid dopes, not devotees of True AD&D.

OK, long post but I was on a roll (Ha! See what I did there?). Back to gaming in the next post...