Session 3 Downtime:

Lady Kophyn Mizzar hosted the party for 3 days while Louie recovered from the savage wounds inflicted by the Manes demons on the Blighted Tor. Brother "Face" Sully won over the castle's mistress with his inimitable charm and managed to extract some history of Castle Toad, as well as the area surrounding Valthrun.

As expected, the toads that give the Castle its name are not ordinary amphibians. Although they do seem to protect the castle (and its owner), they are never seen hunting, nor are they ever seen anywhere other than the surrounding moat and, most mysteriously, end every day facing southwest towards the Blighted Tor, crooning a baleful dirge until the sun has fully set and darkness covers the land. Nobody has been able to explain why they exhibit such frightening behavior and, being a warrior, not a sage, Lady Mizzar is not terribly inclined to investigate more deeply.

She is far more troubled by a large group of bandits that have been spotted in the north and their increasing raids on the northeastern roads. Her bondsman, Kophra Era, has led his heavy cavalry unit in scouting missions to better understand the size and strength of the bandit forces. He's met with mixed results. He's confirmed that the group is quite large, perhaps double the total contingent of her keep, but apparently very ragged and in apparent desperate straights, given their battered and disheveled appearance. They do not seem to be excessively cruel since local villages have been left unmolested, and seem to be focusing on merchant caravans that are carrying foodstuffs and basic trade goods. She has sent envoys to Belgos Trith, master of the small walled keep to the east, but has been unsuccessful in convincing him to join forces to deal with the bandits. Perhaps he has other concerns, and though he is known to be a good and kind man, but his sanity is...somewhat questionable. Rumors abound abound some past battles against fearsome otherworldly beasts have scarred Lord Trith in ways that cannot be seen by mortal eyes.

The situation weighs heavily on her, and in a moment of candor, she confesses to Brother Sully that she would prefer to try to come to some sort of accommodation with the bandits and try to win them over to her banner with promises of land and safety in exchange for an end to their predations. She further admits that she only fully trusts her squad leader Velgara (a long), and is starting to suspect that the others may be plotting against her for reasons unknown. Lady Kophyn bitterly laments that though she treats them all fairly and pays them generously, she cannot help but notice the hard stares and minor acts of insubordination from the remaining three squad leaders. Although she could easily beat them in combat if it were to come to it, she fears that will break the morale of the troops and force them to desert, thus leaving the castle defenseless and the villages under her protection vulnerable to the numerous dangerous surrounding the Castle.

"Face" Sully knows an opportunity when he sees one. He can win an important ally in Lady Kophyn if he helps with either the bandit problem or smacking around the squad leaders to get them in line. He's pretty sure Velgara will side with him, but three against one are not good odds, especially when the squads outnumber the party significantly. Perhaps a little of the Sully charm can win over some ragged bandits, so he elects to try to win over the highwaymen before the situation spins out of control.

...and they might have leads on loot. The group is running low on funds and nobody wants to owe money to the rapacious dwarf moneylenders that haunt the darkened alleys of Valthrun.

Brother Sully calmly looks Lady Mizzar in the eye and tells her, "My Lady, the Gods speak to us and the path is clear. The bandits are nothing more than wretched men fallen into despair due to their destitution. They can be turned to your side with the right words. Let me ease your burden and speak to them."

Holding his gaze, Lady Mizzar asks "And in return?"

"A donation to my order. We are a wandering brotherhood with no lands or wealth of our own. I would not deign to sully your honor by being so crass as to name a price, as a common fishmonger in the market. Whatever you decide will be sufficient."

"Done. Your compatriot, Louie seems recovered from his wounds. Leave in the morning and win these men over to my banner. Their camp is to the north, near the northern shores of the lake. Return to me with their fealty and I will be most grateful."

Session 3: Miracles of the Toad

With a newly healthy Mighty Redneck and Brother Fitzy in tow, Brother Sully saddles up and leads his intrepid group into the wilds of the Cold Wastes. He elects to begin their travels on the north road towards the Nameless Stronghold, before cutting west towards the Croaking Citadel of the Miraculous Toad and the more interesting ruins that lie to the southwest. While on the road, the group encounters 90 herd animals in hex 300.299 (let's say they're reindeer since we're in the tundra). The group continues to hex 301.299, and is surprised by a group of 3 tigers on the hunt. Fortunately, the reaction comes up as a 48 (neutral), so I rule that the tigers are uninterested in man flesh and continue upon their way to get some tasty venison in the next hex. Again, how cool is this? Random rolls and we've already established a plausible ecosystem. Old skool rules!

The remaining journey passes uneventfully and the party reaches the ruins in hex 299.298 (rolled a shrine when populating the hex). The party dismounts and leaves the horses with the men-at-arms before beginning their exploration of the ruins. At a distance, the ruins appear to be some kind of megalithic structure atop a tor. Spotting a particularly strange looking configuration of stones in the center of the ruins, the PCs slowly make their way to investigate. They are immediately assaulted by a horrible stench, a multitude of corpses left to rot in a foetid swamp/ They also notice that the stones seem to emit a faint phosphorescent mauve glow. Perhaps these unsettling effects are caused by the sickly algae and lichen that coat the obsidian stones of the monoliths, or perhaps they are caused by the strange fungi that blanket the ground as if they were some sort of twisted carpet. None can say and it is beyond the experience of the party members. It comes as little surprise when two of the masses rise up before them as 3 foot tall misshapen fibrous...things (2 shriekers) and begin glowing with a bright multi-hued deep purple sickly light as they emitting ear piercing screams. The glowing vapors that ooze from their surface begin to coalesce and form twisted shapes.

Surprise Round:

We roll for surprise and the party comes out on top (4 to 1) with an encounter distance of 18". Brothazar, Lightfingers Louie and Mighty Redneck waste no time laying down covering fire with their missile weapons, while Brogallo, Brother Fitzy and Brother Sully rush to engage before the strange vapors turn into something nasty. They land a few hits on both shriekers in surprise segment 1, but the fungi's fibrous hide remains largely unscathed. They score no hits on surprise segment 2, but our frontline bros finally close to melee distance. Segment 3 sees the missile bros holding their fire while melee bros finally start swinging. Both Brothers connect solidly with their warhammers, ending the surprise combat.

Shrieker Combat Round 1:

Melee bros will continue hand-to-hand and missile bros will spend the round closing to melee range. The shriekers will...shriek. We role for initiative and the party comes up winners (6 to 3). Brothazar and the Brothers both score hits on shrieker and destroy it while shrieker 2 successfully summons a wandering monster (44%). I roll on the Appendix C Dungeon I table and get a 15 (Manes Demon) with 3 of them appearing at 10" distance. I rule there is no surprise since the party knew something would be attracted by all the ear-splitting noise so proceed to combat.

Shrieker and Manes Combat Round 2:

Brothazar, and Slicer decide to finish the shrieker while the Brothers, Brogallo, Mighty Redneck and Light Fingers Louie decide to smite the infernal evil that has blighted the land. The Manes will lumber towards the melee bros at their 3" movement rate (that's pretty slow!). We roll for initiative and the party loses 3 to 1. The manes slog across the tor with unearthly cries of hate fueled bloodlust towards the melee bros. The remaining shrieker rolls a 12, so it successfully summons a character party (38 - this is so cool; see below) that arrives in 2 rounds. The melee bros close to combat range with the Manes, ending the round.

Shrieker and Manes Combat Round 3:

Opponents are already selected so we know what actions will occur. We roll for initiative and the party's lucky streak continues as they win  4 to 1. Brothazar and Louie easily finish the last shrieker (ah! blessed silence!) as Brogallo and the Mighty Redneck quickly dispatch two of the accursed demons.

Shrieker and Manes Combat Round 4:

The remaining demon wins initiative (6 to 5) and selects poor Louie (with a whopping 3hp) as his victim (so much for the backstab attempt) and does 3hp of damage taking Louie to 0. Redneck and Brogallo deliver the goods and quickly dispatch the remaining demon before attending to Louie. The character party appears and I rule it is one of the squads from the nearby Croaking Castle of the Miraculous Toad. I roll a d4 and get a 3 so 16 heavy infantry appear, led by Velgara. A reaction check comes up at 84 (with all mods - cuz Brother Sully is pretty charming), so Velgara is quite impressed with the way the party acquitted themselves against the corrupt denizens of the nameless tor. She invites them back to the Castle to discuss these developments with Kophyn Mizzar to see what the next steps should be.

The journey to the castle is uneventful, though the party notes that the entire area between the castle and the demon-haunted tor seems to be rancid with the same filthy lichen and fungi that infested the tor. Accompanied by Velgara and her squad, they enter through the main gates under the watchful eyes of the crossbowmen and other men-at-arms manning the ramparts. With Brother "Face" Sully acting as their spokesman, Velgara introduces the party to the Kophyn Mizzar, Lady of the Castle. Sully is absolutely commanding in his presence and charm (98% reaction check with modifiers) and when coupled with the brave deeds of the party, he easily wins over Lady Mizzar. She extends the castle's hospitality to the heroes and bids them a good night so that Louie may have some time to recover from his honorable wounds.

Let's see what happens next time...

Experience Points:

2 Shriekers (13,19) = 42xp

3 Manes Demons (8,6,5) = 73xp

Total: 115xp (divided by 7 = 16xp each; 18xp for those with attribute bonuses)

Session 2 Downtime: The Fine Art of Carousing

Having reconnoitered the area, our crew decides to return to town to see if they can dig up some information on their newly discovered sites. They hit the local taverns and learn that the Croaking Castle of the Miraculous Toad (Hex 300.298) was a derelict stronghold that has existed for hundreds of years. It gained its moniker due to the herds of ice toads that inhabit the keep's moat and always seem to protect the castle master, regardless of who it might be. 

Recently, Kophyn Mizzar, a human female warrior of local renown, has taken possession of the castle and started taxing the nearby villages for "protection donations", ostensibly to rebuild the castle and secure the surrounding areas. She has attracted a group of followers and utterly destroyed four sizable warbands of orc marauders, and the peasantry has gone along with the taxation imposed by their new "lady"...for now.

The Croaking Castle and its eternal batrachian watchers seem to have likewise accepted the new mistress. Several local tradesmen have left Valthrun to join her stronghold staff directly and rumor has it that Kophyn has begun excavations in the nearby ruins (Hex 299.298). No one knows for certain what she's doing, and numerous wild tales are swapped in drunken confidences by the tavern hearths throughout the city.

Lord Jirex, overt master of Valthrun, has remained silent on the latest developments and most assume he is indifferent to Kophyn's machinations don't impact the flow of trade to the Obsidian Portal. If she wants to practice her swordplay on the orcs and squeeze the peasants a bit, who cares? As long as she knows her place and doesn't develop delusions above her station, all benefit.

Less is known about the small keep to the east of the Croaking Castle (Hex 302.298). The master of the keep is Belgos Trith, a very famous human male fighter who had great success against the savage barbarian horsemen far to the west and has seemingly retired to this keep to enjoy some well earned rest. He has patrolled the surrounding areas for years and rescued countless caravans from various monsters and bandits on the North Road. He collects reasonable road tax for his services and rumor has it that he secretly made a mutually beneficial agreement with certain hidden hands to ensure trade, and the fat merchants that accompany it, flow uninterrupted to Eternal Valthrun. Whether or not these rumors are true remains to be seen.

Of course, the true masters of Valtrun, Kirenos the Thief and the Night Hag Bilious Yarena, do not care at all what happens with these petty lordlings. So long as the trade flows and these delusional upstarts do not interfere in the affairs of their betters, they are of no interest...for now.

Regularly Scheduled Rant

I'm really enjoying this solo campaign so far and I think it highlights why the #BrOSR old school style of play appeals to me so much. Over the first series of posts, we have created a pretty decent campaign setting in a few hours using the tables from the 1979 AD&D DMG. Our burgeoning world has inherent dynamics, plenty of gaming hooks, variety and sufficient verisimilitude to suspend disbelief and promote player engagement. This is far superior to any commercial offering because you and your players can make this world your own and go completely insane with it because there is no railroad story to knock off the tracks.

This was done without cost, without lore dumps, and without prepackaged ideology imposed upon us. 

Don't give money to people who hate you.

I've been playing RPGs since I first discovered the D&D Basic boxed set (with the awesome Erol Otus cover) in 1981 when in the fifth grade (via the famous Dynamite Magazine #82 article, for those old enough to remember). I quickly graduated to AD&D and these tables are how we would create dungeons and the surrounding environs (albeit in a flawed a cheesy manner that only 1980s pre-internet adolescents could execute, given the lack of tutelary resources at the time). Of course, I played all the classic modules (with Against the Giants/Descent into the Depths of the Earth being clear favorites), but only recently realized, in  hindsight, why those modules are truly classics and why all Current Edition content will never achieve any lasting impact on the soon-to-be dwindling tabletop market. 

All TSR-era modules were intentionally generic so you could insert them into your world. The designers always left room for customization (sometimes intentionally, sometimes not - looking at you T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil and Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits). Sure, they assumed a World of Greyhawk background, but once you get past the intros, you could essentially place them anywhere. "Lore dumps" were typically 3-4 paragraphs max, all of which could be easily summarized, changed or omitted. Especially when High Gygaxian prose took over...

The classic designers didn't cram political ideology down your gullet and were active fans of the medium. They genuinely wanted you to enjoy playing the modules in actual AD&D game sessions. 

They weren't failed authors with delusions of grandeur, hoping their magnum opus would be optioned for the next doomed Hollywood affront against common human decency. 

They weren't self-obsessed navel gazing idiots who wrote the "adventure" as a testament to their enlightened vision of how you should view the world.

They weren't interested in building a "lifestyle brand" by writing adventures...with cookbook/cocktail recipe tie-ins that will only end-up in landfill.

I've read far too much Current Edition official product as well as indie/OSR content and have come to what should be a fairly obvious conclusion.

It sucks.

Most is poorly conceived, poorly written (seriously: use MS Word and hit F7; also use this and this), and poorly produced (it literally falls apart whereas my 1980s era TSR rulebooks are still in near mint condition despite heavy use). 

The only objectively good material that is getting produced is at the indie level (just a few personal faves: Operation Unfathomable, ACKS, RPG Pundit's stuff - there are many others) and most definitely NOT by purple-haired WOTC Wokesters. Even at the indie level, easily 90% of the material falls into the "failed author with delusions of grandeur" category and not anything that would be useful to the core audience of TTRPG players. I'm not the first to ruminate on this. I refer you to Walker's Retreat for more detailed, and excellent, commentary.

Why would you spend your hard earned dollars, in an inflation-fueled recession, with a company that produces an objectively physically inferior product containing subjectively poor content? Buy the old books from eBay or yard sales if you require physical media, or get creative with your internet searches for digital options. Try to avoid feeding the beast by giving it your hard-earned cash for official reprints via DriveThru RPG unless that is your only option.

Don't give money to people who hate you.

Once viable source material is in hand, use it to make your own content - for free! You'll find it to be infinitely more enjoyable that being harangued by the Current Edition propaganda spewed by mentally ill proselytes.

Session 2: Hexcrawling and the Glories of AD&D DMG Appendices

Since our new group is a little wary of the Shrine of Lethria given how badly it went for our previous crew, they decide to explore the wilderness around Valthrun. 

For map scale, I've gone with a 6 mile master (blue outline) subdivided into 1 mile sub hexes. I think this gives me enough to play with for quite some time and it's easy enough to expand if I get bored. 

Since everyone knows where the Shrine is located, I've added it to the map gratis. I roll a d6 and get a 4 so that means the group originally came to Valthrun from the southern road. This is a nice synchronicity since I've already decided the empires of Man are to the south. Some quick rolls on the tables Appendix B tables fill out the road's environs and encounter checks don't reveal any hungry critters. So far so, so good.

Our group decides to explore the immediate area around Valthrun and then begin working their way outwards based on what they find. They start in hex 300.299 and begin exploring clockwise. The terrain is generated as shown and yet again, no encounters. They return to the starting hex and then randomly strike out from each hex. I'm using a d6 to determine direction of travel with 1 indicating north and subsequent numbers continuing clockwise around the hex (e.g. 4 is south and 6 is northwest).

The dice take us in a northeastern direction and end up generating a shrine in hex 299.298, a castle in hex 300.298 and another one in 302.298. Nice! After some rolls on the Appendix C castle and inhabitant tables (with a detour to a random castle name generation site) we get the following:

Hex 299.298: A Ruined Shrine

I roll a 15 and a follow-up 82 which means we have another ruined shrine located between Valthrun and the Croaking Castle of the Miraculous Toad (see below). This is pretty awesome since this means the entire 6 mile hex seems to have been some sort of pilgrimage in the distant past. What caused the collapse of these religions? Why did they spring up around Valthrun and be surrounded by fortresses? This is awesome - I'm getting vibes about hidden cults, buried secrets guarded by some sort of Knights Templar order and the hidden hand of the Chaos Gods or the Great Old Ones. 

Hex 300.298: The Croaking Castle of the Miraculous Toad

This is a large fortress complex (97 on CASTLE TABLE I: SIZE CLASS AND TYPE) inhabited by an NPC and retainers (68 on CASTLE TABLE II: INHABITANTS). We roll on CASTLE SUB-TABLE II.B for the castle master/henchmen (a 50/50 rolls tells us this is a named castle and we use random alignment rolls of d6 for Lawful/Neutral/Chaotic and another d6 for Good/Neutral/Evil) to get the following:

Kophyn Mizzar, human female, Lawful Neutral L11 Fighter with 2 henchmen:

• Chalbale, human male, Neutral Good L6 Illusionist
• Tar Ahlys, human male, Neutral Good L6 Magic-user

The men-at-arms are determined to be:

• Squad 1: 9 Heavy horsemen (Men-at-Arms) (Heavy horse, splint mail & shield, lance, long sword, mace); Squad leader is Kophra Era (human male, Lawful Evil L3 fighter)
• Squad 2: 15 Light horsemen (Men-at-Arms) (Light horse, studded leather, light crossbow, long sword); Squad leader is Thirn Phyn (human male, Lawful Evil L4 fighter)
• Squad 3: 16 Heavy Infantry (Men-at-Arms) (Men-at-arms, scale mail, shield, spear, hand axe); Squad leader is Velgara (human female, Neutral Good L4 fighter)
• Squad 4: 10 Heavy Crossbowmen (Men-at-Arms) (Men-at-arms, scale mail, heavy crossbow, morning star); Squad leader is Alarra Durdana (human female, Lawful Evil L4 fighter)

Lots of interesting dynamics here, based on the alignments. Why is this place named the Croaking Castle of the Miraculous Toad? Why does a fighter have two magic using henchmen? Who knows? We haven't gone there yet! Let's see what the other castle is doing.

Hex 302.298: A Nameless Stronghold

This is a small walled castle with keep also inhabited by an NPC and retainers. Interesting...do we have competing warlords in the area? Let's find out who's running this place:

Belgos Trith, human male, Lawful Neutral L12 Fighter with 5 henchmen:

• Kyonithmyn, mountain dwarf male, Neutral L7 Thief
• Lymma Keldana, human male, Chaotic Good L7 Fighter
• Jael Kyorlicar, human female, Lawful Good L7 Paladin
• Myrra Tazennarin, human male, Chaotic Neutral L7 Illusionist
• Imra, human male, Lawful Neutral L7 Fighter

The men-at-arms are determined to be:

• Squad 1: 9 Heavy horsemen (Men-at-Arms) (Heavy horse, splint mail & shield, lance, long sword, mace); Squad leader is Ildia Houndraern (human male, Neutral L3 fighter)
• Squad 2: 12 Light horsemen (Men-at-Arms) (Light horse, studded leather, light crossbow, long sword); Squad leader is Xundara Kophyn (human male, Chaotic Evil L3 fighter)
• Squad 3: 18 Heavy Infantry (Men-at-Arms) (Men-at-arms, scale mail, shield, spear, hand axe); Squad leader is Lymeoynet (human female, Neutral L4 fighter)
• Squad 4: 7 Heavy Crossbowmen (Men-at-Arms) (Men-at-arms, scale mail, heavy crossbow, morning star); Squad leader is Tazena Urmeoynrae (human male, Chaotic Evil L3 fighter)

What is up with all the evil men-at-arms squad leaders (in both castles, no less)? Are they just waiting to turn rogue and become highwaymen? Do their good-aligned masters not know of their nefarious  natures? Is the paladin Jael Kyorlicar weak in her faith to tolerate this? What is the relation of this stronghold to the Croaking Castle of the Miraculous Toad? Who knows? We'll figure all that stuff out if and when the party explorers the area. What happens if they don't? Who cares? We'll roll up something else equally awesome. If this turns into an ongoing tabletop campaign, we'll give these areas to patron players and let them expand the areas in downtime/Braunstein sessions.

I think that does it for this session. The crew is going to return to town and plan their next moves.

New Murder Hobos Enter the Fray!

While Brother Fitzy and the Mighty Redneck are nursing their wounds with booze and babes, I rolled up a new group of miscreants that just rolled into town. I picked a random direction from the roads on the map as their arrival point and rolled the terrain per Appendix B. Luckily our group didn't have any encounters so they arrive at Valthrun fresh and ready to delve.

New party stats:

I forgot to roll for age on the first batch of PCs and they were subsequently punished for my sins (let's pour one out for the fallen). I remembered to do so for this group and adjusted their stats appropriately. Let's hope they fare better than their predecessors.

Since I rolled a cleric, I'm going to say he's in the same religious order as our battered friend Brother Fitzy. It seems Brother Sully has become concerned for his missing cohort and has come looking for him with some boon companions he met on the road. He finds Fitzy in a local watering hole in a sorry state of drunkenness and pain, which does not sit well with his rather unpredictable CN nature.

A reaction roll (AD&D DMG pg 63) comes up at 14 with a +10% adjustment since Fitzy is a lovable kinda guy bringing the total to 24%. Oh crap - Brother Sully is majorly pissed off!

Although somewhat sympathetic to Fitzy's sad fallen state, he was unable to hide his rage at Fitzy's lack of faith and utter stupidity for going into the Shrine so woefully unprepared. 

"You're making us all look bad, Brother Fitzy! How could you be so careless to undertake such a dangerous expedition without the support of our Order! With BLOODY HERETICS, no less!!! And to shame us even further, where do I find you? IN A TAVERN with a - ahem - hill person and harlots! Harlots, Brother Fitzy!! And ugly ones at that!!" 

As senior member in The Order, Brother Sully grants a penance of one week in cloistered prayer to Brother Fitzy which means he's out of action until 8 March 2024 now. See kids? Charisma is NOT a dump stat in Real D&D...

Considering the alignments of our new group, Brother Sully seems a lot more "morally flexible" than lovable Fitzy. He soon learns of the Shrine of Lethria and some other potential leads to some potential loot ("For benefit of The Order, of course!"). He commandeers the late Sir Stabbington's horses from Brother Fitzy ("Pay you?!? Be grateful I don't flog you for your sins!") and learns of the men-at-arms. Some quick negotiations (a reaction roll of 65 plus his Charisma bonus of +25% brings it to 90%) and they ethusiastically agree to join his group under the command of Brogallo. Let's hope Brogallo can keep his sadistic side in check for the time being...

Brother Sully decides that the rumors of loot in the wilderness are too good to ignore. The Shrine of Lethria is clearly too dangerous with hordes of orcs and fire breathing cockroaches. "Donations" to The Order can probably be found more safely...elsewhere.

Next time, we explore the wilderness!

Session 1 Downtime: Travails of AD&D Healthcare

Our intrepid band of murder hobos had a pretty rough night in the Shrine. Blasty, Shifty and Sir Stabbington are feeding the worms under boot hill, our new resident badass ranger is at 4hp and Brother Fitzy is contemplating his many and creative sins after nearly crossing the veil. I'm ruling that Brother Fitzy is out for 7 days since he went to 0hp and won't be able to cast any spells for that period (AD&D DMG pg 82). The Mighty Redneck isn't going to waste precious gold on healing, and has decided he's going old school grizzly man and will nurse himself back to health with booze and food. He'll be out for 11 days which means the earliest that both will be available is Friday 1 March 2024. 

Since this is the first real adventure the crew has undertaken, I'm assuming they already paid upkeep for February and will not hit them with February upkeep expenses. Funds are running low (85gp for Fitzy and 76gp for Redneck). That gives them 161gp total which is not enough to cover 100gp per level expenses (AD&D DMG pg 25), so they're going to be in desperate straights if they don't get some cash flow in March. That's another problem for another day.

Looks like we're rolling up more murder hobos...