Legacies of Exera: Session 4

 

When we last left our heroes they were being charged by a gaunt figure who ends up bottle necking them into the hallway. Harl is able to spear the creature a few times and being able to narrowly shake of the paralyzing chill that almost froze Harl's bones in their place. Gareth and Helenista were able to squeeze into the room and Gareth sliced the gaunt figure from the back as Helenista was able to set the creature ablaze with a firebolt which finally put at end to the creatures existence. 

After the creature was dispatched, Gareth opens the chest that was on the table and finds some gold in it. The party then continues through a roughly carved tunnel and passes a door on their left as they continue on to find themselves where the tunnel ends in a door. Harl opens the door and finds a handuf a skeletons that are working on building some boats. The skeletons notice them and start to head towards the party as they armed themselves with various tools. Harl tries to reason with the encroaching skeletons but they just chatter their jaw bones and do not stop. Harl quickly shuts the door and after a few tense moments it sounds like the skeletons return to work. The party back tracks and discover a storage room full of rotting food and the continue on following the sound of tools working and a humming of a song. As the party follows the noise they come across a sign that stated "Work in Progress" and as they rounded the corner they come across countless mining tools working by themselves to expand the labyrinth on seemingly on their own free will and accord. 

The party then backtracks through the maze of tunnels and finally decides to transcends the stairs where the intense stench of rot is coming from. After every member of the party takes one last breath of fresh air as they march onward. After sometime on a tight winding staircase the party find themselves in a wide open chamber with a couple of bodies laying on the floor. As Claren takes lead and enters the chamber, the bodies start to move and they party makes quick work of them before the bodies even have a chance to stand up. Once the party makes sure more more bodies littered around the floor are going to decide to rise the party continues on to the staircase leading up on the other side of the room. When the party reaches the top of the stairs they come across a giant stone archway with two thick stone doors set wide open and as soon as A'nari (who is the last member to cross the threshold) steps across the threshold the giant stone doors slam shut and throws the party into darkness. Enama activates the light from her belt and a few other party members light up some lanterns. 

Harl takes lead and they party winds themselves through various twists and turns until they come across what appears to be a rather well made door with iron banding. Harl opens the door and finds a group of four Dwarves drinking, smoking, and gambling at a rather large table. One of the Dwarves stands up and lets out a stream of obscenities and that Dwarf eventually stammers out "What are you doing here? Doesn't anyone have any manners and can't even knock." Harl attempts to engage the Dwarves in conversation and to try to get any useful information about the labyrinth from the dwarves. Most of the conversation leaves the party rolling their eyes as the Dwarves spend a lot of time arguing among themselves about which way is the right direction through the maze and one of the Dwarves mention that the pet drake is a cute little fellow that likes scratches behind the ears. The dwarves then try to convince the party to bring them back more ale and eventaully Harl realizes that any more conversation is going to be pointless and with a shrug and a defeated look to Harl's companions, the party wishes the Dwarves well and closes their door. 

 

 

The party continues to explore the maze of hallways and eventually comes across a large wide open cavern with stalagmites. Before the party can even gain their bearings, they notice some movement in  the shadows an instance before a gout of fire lights up the cavern as a red scaled dragon like creature come into view an instance before it charges towards the party. 

 

Enama reacts first and grabs one of Gareth's enchanted stones, moves forward, and throws it at the dragon-like creature. As Harl moves forward and blasts the creature with a bolt of crackling black and purple energy. A'nari connects with a bolt from Shadowgrumble as Helenista steps forward with her hands raise as a deep frost grows over the creatures scales. The creature responds to these attacks by breathing more fire which catches Enama in it and as the fire scorches her flesh, she screams out "bad drake!" Claren's crossbolt flies wide and Gareth's stone throw suffers the same fate. Enama then charges the creature at full speed and slaps it with both hands which causes the creature to pause in surprise as Harl charges and leaps in the air and with both hands, drives his spear directly between the creatures shoulder blades, pinning it to the ground, and slaying it at the same time. Enama laments about how she did not want to kill it and make it her pet as Enama scratches the dead creature behind its ears. Enama continues on about how she is going to make this supposed Warlock to fix it or teach Enama how to make on. 

After a short rest and finding nothing else of note in the cavern, the party discovered a narrow passage where Harl takes lead and after what feels like an eternity comes across a ornate door that is left ajar. As Harl peers through, he sees a very ornate decorating and well lit room with an old harmless looking man sitting at a desk playing cards. As Harl gathers his thoughts to converse with the old man Enama forces her way through the line of the party members dragging the drakes dead body and drops it in front of the old man's desk as Enama demands "Fix it or teach me how to make a new one." 

The old man stands up and in a flash of light transforms into a well dressed young man and in a booming voice, "You killed me beloved pet and then make demands of me? You will never leave this mountain alive!" The party charges into the room as Harl tries to flank the Warlock and landing his spear point in the Warlocks thigh as Helenista misty steps into the room. The warlock then unleashes a deadly explosion of fire the drops Helenista and Claren. The remaining party members attempt to surround the warlock to prevent any escape in desperation as the Warlock yet again, sets off an additional explosion of fire that badly scorches the surviving party members before the Warlock succumbs to additional attacks as the Warlock attempts to escape. 

After the fall of the Warlock, the remaining party members quickly searches the room for any more dangerous as Harl heals Claren and Helenista, bringing back from the brink of death. The party finds a door on the far end of the room which leads into a large storage area filled with supplies, some treasures, and a large chest with multiple padlocks on it. The party is able to solve the puzzle using various keys and some brute strength to discover an impressive cache of resources. Eventually, after taking what they needed and searching the body of the Warlock, the party finds a hidden passage that leads them out into fresh air and daylight...

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PLAYER NOTES: This was the last session of the "belly of the beast" adventure and I found it highly entertaining. There was a lot of things that we encountered that I was not expecting. One of these being basically finding the back door to the boat house of where the skeletons were building doors. It is to bad they did not take to kindly of being interrupted but it was quickly decided to leave them where they be. Then there was the interactions with the drunk Dwarves and after they calmed down for being interrupted, it was like talking to the doors in the scene from the movie The Labyrinth and was almost maddening. A few other character's threw in their two cents into the conversation as Harl tried to get help or any other useful information out of them. I was entertained about this whole interaction but after a lot longer in real world time dealing with this situation then probably should have passed (but there was a lot of fun that was had), we left them alone and moved on. 

The Guard Drake combat was fun and I am surprised it was dealt with in such a quick manner even though Enama had an instance bound with the guard drake and wanted to try to knock it out to attempt to tame it. The slapping of the drake did not knock it before the guard drake met its end. 

When we finally met up with the Warlock, I think some of us were hoping for some diplomatic interaction before combat broke out but Enama had different ideas and wanted the guard drake revived or to learn how to create one. This obviously did not end well, as the Warlock was pissed off and attacked the party. This combat had more worried as the first fireball took out two of the characters and the second fireball left a lot of the other characters under 10 HP! I think Harl was at 6. I was worried about a TPK or death of at least a few of the characters but the Dice Gods had other plans and I think we won the combat by the skin of our teeth. 

After the session, I had a conversation with the DM and he used a conversion of the first Fighting Fantasy Book, Warlock of Firetop Mountain. I have to say, this is one of the funnest dungeons that I have ever got to play through. The dungeon had a lot of personality and there were some many unique encounters that had nothing to do with combat that was a lot of fun. I really liked the interaction with the merchant and the dwarves. I am bummed we did not do more exploration and I am curious how the interaction with the werewolf would have went. 

The end of these session gave everyone enough experience to reach Level 3! In addition to the level ups, all of the characters items of power increased in effectiveness. 

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ITEMS OF POWER UPDATE (3rd Level):

• Garvangr (Harl's Spear) - Gained +1 enhancement bonus.
• Goujian (Prince Claren's Sword) - +1 enhancement bonus.
  
• Bag of Three (Gareth's Belt) - Bag of Holding Qualities
  
• Shadowgrumble (A'nari's Crossbow) - Enhanced Critical Hit: On a critical, this eapon deals an additional 2d6 piercing damage. 
  
• Pia's Belt (Enama's Belt) - +1 to saving throws & DC's to Ki abilities. In addition, a bonus action can be utilized to regain Ki points equal to the roll of the Martial Arts die, this feature cannot be used again until the next dawn.
  
• Feyshadow Boots (Helenista's Boots) - The footsteps of the wearer make no sound and the wearer gains advantage on Stealth Checks that rely on moving silently.
  

Review: Mydwandr

 

Mydwandr is the most recent release by Olde House Rules and it sits firmly in the FKR realm with a dash for OSR/NSR for a little extra flavor. This build up to this release was pretty silent except for a handful of comments that something is in the works from the author. Then this game dropped and it took off - it did not take long to hit Copper on Drivethrurpg and it has already spurred some fan projects. This game came off of the heels of Gaming Primitive and the release of PP IV: The Divine Spark. So, lets take a deep dive and see what Mydwandr is all about. 

Presentation: Mydwandr clocks in at 60 pages of single spaced words that are cleanly laid out which captures the DIY feel of the 70's and 80's. The layout is supported by a full color cover, 14 full page black and white woodcut style images with some spot illustrations for support. The art and layout makes it feel like a manuscript from the Middle Ages.

Character Creation: Character creation follows a simple flow that provides some key choices. Though, I feel like it is important to post a quote from the book under the header "Characters" as it just provides foundational vibes for the rest of Mydwandr:

"Campaigns matter; but they need characters to occupy their spaces. These are the heroes of the story, and adventures, however enthralling, are just a thought experiment without the brave souls who undertake them. But character creation is likewise important to a campaign’s referee, who may be tasked with crafting their cast of non-player characters; for enemy humans remain the deadliest of all, even in a world of dragons, giants, and dark demons from the pits of Hell."

With that being said, character creation provides some important choices:

1. Choose a Kindred (Dwarves, Elves, and Humans)
2. Choose Abilities (Non-humans choose one while Humans choose two)
3. Record Hit Points (Non-humans start with 10 while Humans start with 15)
4. Note movement - Unarmored movement is 50' and armored movement is 30
5. All characters start with a 100 Silver (SP) to buy gear and supplies

Resolution: When the dice need to hit the table for any reason, roll 2d6 and if the dice show 8+ it is considered a success (skills, saves, etc.). If an Ability or fictional situation provides advantage, the roll 3d6 and choose the two highest. 

Abilities come in two types: Common (CN) and Special (SL). Common (CN) Abilities provide extraordinary skill to things everyone can do which translates into Advantage using that Ability (for example: Footman, Mighty). Special (SL) abilities are unique abilities that require training to even attempt the skill. Special Abilities allow the attempt with throwing 2d6 (for example: Exorcist, Backstabber). 

Combat uses the core mechanic with a few nuances and it is important top note that all characters can wear armor and use any weapons. Before combat breaks out initiative is decided by both sides throwing doubles and whoever has the highest total goes first and the initiative is kept  the combat (ties favor the enemy unless fiction dictates differently and elves act on their own initiative due to their ability). There is advice where the Referee can forego initial initiative if one side or the other has a clever plan or ambush. 

Combat is divided in 30 second rounds where each participant gets to move and attack/cast a spell/etc. When it is a characters turn the player rolls doubles usually (unless advantage is acquired) and consult the totals for damage:

2-7: Miss/No Damage 

8-9: 1

10-11: 2

12: 3

Two handed weapons add +2 to damage but shield use is impossible and crossbows add +1 damage but takes a round to reload. 

When a character is reduced to 0 Hit Points, the character dies unless the character is wearing armor. Armor allows a death save and if it is successful, the character is revived to 5 Hit Points but the armor is broken and needs to be repaired or replaced. Carrying a shield provides an Armor Save as well. If a character has both armor and shield they can save verse death twice. 

Finally, Magic in Mydwandr takes on a free form approach.  Magic is covered by the Abilities Healer (heals a set amount of Hit Points per level per day) and Spellbinder (Enter the ye old Magic User - charms can be cast one per level per day. These charms can only be used against one target within 60' either scoring hits or manifesting a different effect with a duration of 3d6 rounds. Characters also cannot cast in armor or with shield as magic takes some serious movement). Outside of these parameters magic is free from and players create their own spells and effects. It is also important to note that magic is powerful and their is no "to hit" rolls or "saving dice" allowed - the charm just takes effect.

Final Thoughts: The reading of this book has more of a unique flow akin to a novel compared to the standard player handbooks that are out in the wild. In addition to the vibe of this book from cover to cover sets a tone of the type of game it wants to run from movement rules (Outdoor/Overland movement is 12 miles per day while underground movement is 500' per game play hour), how all characters can use weapons/wear armor, low focus on treasure and money, to how it is inspired by Hawk the Slayer,  Chronicles of Prydain, Dragon Slayer and Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings Animated Film. 

(Not in the Book but from Olde House Rules Social Media)

Other aspects of the game to give the game structure and assist the Referee are as follows (some of these reference the vibe or style of Mydwandr):

• Money and Gear: Mydwandr provides a basic list of items that include weapons, armor, and basic traveling supplies. Prices for everything else are created by the referee with the guidelines of small/basic items cost a roll of a single die, medium items cost 2d6 x 10, large items cost 3d6 x 100, and extravagant items such as an entire ship could cost tens of thousands silver. 
• Encumbrance: Characters can wear armor, carry a shield, bear a single favored weapon, and carry 25 items that can feasibly fit in a backpack or hang from a belt. 
• Languages: Non-Humans speak their native language and the common tongue. 
• Advancement: Experienced is gained from completing major quests, engaging hostilities, and recovering valuable treasure. More experience is given for the quests and valuable treasure the engaging with hostilities. Every 15 experience points gained, the character acquires a new level and will gain additional hits and abilities. 
• Hazards: This is a section that lumps together monsters, NPC's, traps, ans environmental situations as "Hazards." Each of these hazards uses the same stat line so it is seamless for the Referee to run any hazard the characters come across. One of the numbers on the line is Level which when appropriate, translates as hit total as the Referee times the level by 1, 2, or 3 depending on how difficult the encounter is.
  
• Darksight: Nothing that the PC's have access to have Darksight, not even Dwarves! 
• Miniatures: Quick advice if the group wants to make use of miniatures - every inch squares 5' of movement. This removes the need for grids/hexes. 
• Treasure: Formula for determining treasure based on treasure type in the stat line and chance for magical items. There are lists of magic item, 
• Enchanting: Items are created by none player characters only and a PC that posses the required Abilities can write their own scrolls.
• Towns/Wilderness/Dungeons: Advice, random encounters, and prices for services found in most towns are listed. 

Mydwandr also has approximately 8 pages of setting information regarding the lands, people, and history of Mydwandr. The entire game has a smooth flow and even though it reinforces a certain vibe for a campaign it is nowhere near locked into that idea. There is unlimited flexibility but enough structure to make the Referee's job easy and gives enough setting prompts that a Referee should be able to build off of that or drop adventure's inside the known world without much trouble. 

My favorite aspects of the game are how light sources are important as even Dwarves do not possess darksight, money is spent and acquired in low quantities (with XP only being awards for major treasure or artifact level discoveries), the take on elves, and how initiative is paramount in combat situations. 

With that being said, I wish there was more information or explanation regarding Balance as the paragraph under that section could be interpreted various ways such as all encounters need to be balanced but I do not think that is the intention of the design. I would have also liked to see a play example outside of the included combat example and the inclusion of 4-6 regenerated characters for a group to hit the ground running.

In all Honesty, I hope Olde House Rules rules writes an entire setting book for Mydwandr. Maybe it should be called the Chronicles of Mydwandr?

You cam find Olde House Rules and Mydwandr here:

• Olde House Rules Website
• PDF on Drivethrurpg 
• Character Record on Drivethrurpg 
• Alternate Character Sheet by MSJX 
• Hardcover via Lulu 
• Mydwandr Group on MeWe
• #Mydwandr on Mastodon
  

 

Powered By Sword and Backpack

 

I have had this idea for a long time to attempt to create a Powered by Sword & Backpack movement. Something akin to a game jam that does not end. Since my previous post about my invisible rule book for Orthodox Sword & Backpack (some of the things in my invisible rule book has changed) and discovering that the game was removed off of itch but still exists in an old Tumblr blog has made me redouble my effort. This information made me paranoid that Sword & Backpack my vanish to the sands of time like TWERPS, Dinky Dungeons, and countless others. This is something I want to prevent as I think Sword & Backpack is an important touchstone to the table top role playing game scene. 

 

With that being said, this is more then just historical preservation and a call to arms because this is a CHALLENGE! As James George of Olde House Rules recently stated:

"I've always said crunchy systems are easy to write. It's the minimalist stuff that's challenging." 

I am already working on a hack that is lovingly titled "Arsenic & Old Lace" and I am hoping that it will be ready to be released into the wild sooner rather than later. Though, that is a minor note as a challenge needs rules. I know what you thinking but having some rules will create some uniformity and help keep the original spirit of Sword & Backpack alive. 

Without further ado, here they are:

1. How to Play and Storyteller section

2. At least three "Jobs"

3. Strong Implied Setting

4. Only a Single d20 for Resolution 

5. Invisible Rule Book 

6. Use of the Powered By Sword & Backpack Logo

7. Keep the Spirit of the Dungeonpunk Manifesto alive!

The Sword and Backpack logos were amazingly re-imagined by Luke Herbert (you can find him on IG @herbertappleseed). In addition, you can find the hi-resolution versions of all three styles here!

Glyphs of the Hobo

 

In my research for The Knights of the Road, I came across Hoboglyphs. These symbols were used by the homeless in the depression and dust bowl era. A lot of the information about them is second hand or from Hobo-Camp-Fire-Tales. A-No. 1. Hobo-Camp-Fire-Tales. Cambridge Springs, PA. The A-No. 1 Publishing Co., 1911. Though, it has been determined that a lot of tales were exaggerated but we will never have all of the information due to it being lost to the sands of time.

I think this would be a great reference and source material for people running The Knights of the Road.

"Hoboglyphs is a fascinating system of symbols understood only by the hobo community back during the Depression era. They would inscribe these symbols using chalk or coal as a way to leave or send a message for the next hobo. Their code features elements like circles, arrows, and more that made up the directional symbols. Hash marks usually meant danger, but many of the signs were cryptic and nearly impossible to understand outside of the hobo community. One example is the symbol for a courthouse nearby; a curly line inside a circle."