The session starts with a couple remarks about the game. AD&D is set in a quasi-medieval world with monsters and magic. The world is full of adventure, and successful adventurers become rich and famous, which is the main motivation for most of them. I explained that the most important thing to me about the game is that the players have complete autonomy to do what they want in this world. They can take on whatever missions or adventures they want and they can attempt anything whey want at the tactical level to accomplish their goals.
That established, we generated characters using the quick character creation sheet. Thus, Dirty Derrick the Assassin, Mr. Jesse White the Druid, Zelda the Fighter, and Güsta Lamangüsta the Fighter arrive in the tiny fisher village of Trilo, some days away from the bigger mercantile town of Borgogazze, along the very long coast of Longuria, to investigate a mysterious event that has shaken up the sleepy village. It is Nov. 17.
Two months ago, a great eruption in the sea gave rise to a new island, about 2h by boat from the village. It is reported that adventuring parties are already exploring this island and the strange cave complex just below the surface of the sea, and some are returning with great treasure. Our party of adventurers first seek information about this in the village inn. They get to know the somewhat aggressive innkeeper Ada, the shipwright Melissa, and some soldiers and men-at-arms hanging out at the inn tavern.
After having too much beer, Güsta's pet parrot attacks the soldiers. Mr. Jesse tries to stop this by casting Animal Friendship to control the bird, but the parrot makes his save against magic (19) and continues on attacking. He gets skewered by a soldier's short sword and is instantly dead. Güsta leaves the inn with his parrot, panicking and looking for a vet.
The rest of the party remains at the inn and gathers information. An enterprising sailor, Frank, operates a ferry service to and from Ashes Island (the emerged island) for a small fee of 5 s.p. per person. He also sells dungeoneering gear for fair prices. The soldiers answer to Giorno the Lieutenant, who presides the small fortress overlooking the village and who basically rules the village, being responsible for its protection. Their main job is to preside the village.
Meanwhile, Güsta finds a church with two clerics in it, Arthur and Clark. They regrettably inform him that they're not able to resurrect his parrot, as they only know how to Cure Light Wounds. Then, the party reunites and goes to see the ferry operator. They make a transportation appointment and return to the inn to establish themselves, renting a large-ish dormitory room for the whole party, and leave their extra stuff there before going to the boat.
The ride on the barge is uneventful, and the party buys dungeon equipment from Frank. They arrive at the island and enter into an opening in a mound of light volcanic rock that has some steps carved in it, leading, of course, down. They hear grunting noises, but are not deterred. The descending passage eventually opens into a circular room with several exits, some pottery jars along the wall, and seven man-like creatures with wildboar heads wearing leather and shield and wielding spears.
The party immediately moves to attack with both ranged and melee weapons. Three of the orcs throw their spears but miscalculate the distance and the spears land on the floor. Derrick runs and picks up two spears, and Zelda charges with her two-handed sword. A general melee ensues, where Mr. Jesse is unfortunately killed by a spear, and Derrick is knocked out by the same. The party manages to KO two enemy orcs, at which point enemy morale breaks and they flee in panic.
The survivors take the pottery jars and carry Derrick and ex-Jesse outside of the dungeon. They turn around and return to the village on the barge. They split the treasure equally: 1000 s.p. and 250 g.p. from the pottery jars. They gain a total of 327 XP for their trouble.
Derrick is brought to the inn to rest, and Jesse is carried to his final rest. Derrick will need to rest for 7 days before being able to adventure again. Meanwhile a new adventurer has rolled up in town: Sir Goldborn the Paladin. He agrees to help the wounded party with healing. Healing is slow in this game, 1 HP per day, but Sir Goldborn can help by supplementing 2 HP of healing once per day. Güsta will heal up and then travel to Borgogazze and back, if time permits, in order to purchase a new pet parrot. Zelda will heal up and make a short excursion to the hills on the north of the village to see what's beyond them. Next session will be in 6 days, on Nov. 23.
DM's Notes
The game went well, there was some slowing down due to referencing tables such as reaction, morale, weapons vs. AC adjustment, and weapon damage, but I'm sure that we'll get faster as we use these tables more. Our basic combat sequence is: I write down actions for monsters, the party decides on their actions, we roll initiative once per side, and we resolve the round, the party with initiative generally acting or striking first. Hits are resolved by determining all modifiers, rolling d20, and consulting the combat table.
I got somewhat confused when referencing the morale tables, and I realize now that this was due to applying morale modifiers to the target number when they should be applied to the die roll. So, here's how morale works for future reference. First roll d100 and apply all modifiers as per the DMG. Then compare this number to the monsters' base morale. Base morale is 45% + 5% per hit die + 1% per "plus" to the hit die. If the modified roll is smaller or equal to base morale, morale holds. If it is higher, then the difference determines the row of the Morale Failure Table to be checked.
Here's an example from the game, done right: a 26% was rolled. The orcs suffered 25% casualties, so they have to check morale at +5%. Following modifiers are applied: -20% for enemies slain, +20% for friends killed. So at 31% vs 50% base morale, morale holds. If a 76% was rolled instead, then the modified roll would have been 81%, which vs. base morale of 50% means "flee in panic".
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| The tiny fisher village of Trilo. |
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