Pipes, Pints, and Polyhedrons

The party arrived at the east tower of The Haunted Keep to find the doors locked. Since no one chose to play Jean-Pierre, I had him pick the lock and go back to the wagon to enjoy a pipe and some wine. I altered the scale of the Keep from the book by making each square 3' to better accommodate the minis I provided the players and because it felt right.

The party opened the doors and saw a hallway. The floor was covered with litter, wooden planks, etc. After a few minutes of the players talking about how to proceed, Eddard Lancaster (fighter with plate mail and 2-handed sword) took the lead and walked inside.... and about halfway in fell into the covered pit trap for a whopping 1 point of damage. The dwarf and elf jumped over the pit, lowered a rope, and helped Eddard up and out.

Dwalin "the Foe Splitter" opened the second set of doors, walked in, turned right, and opened the door to the room with the collapsed floor. Andoril "the Greenwarden" walked in, turned left, walked some more and turned right checking out things. I couldn't help but think, "Splitting the party already....."

Eddard and Arnbjorn o' the North stayed in the doorway watching the elf and dwarf walk out of site. Llewellyn Bane and the man-at-arms had yet to pass the first set of doors.

Ancalagon wrote: ↑December 5th, 2019, 8:11 pm...Eddard Lancaster (fighter with plate mail and 2-handed sword) took the lead and walked inside.... and about halfway in fell into the covered pit trap for a whopping 1 point of damage...

Damn that's old school and just wonderful to read!

rredmond wrote: ↑December 6th, 2019, 11:40 am

Ancalagon wrote: ↑December 5th, 2019, 8:11 pm...Eddard Lancaster (fighter with plate mail and 2-handed sword) took the lead and walked inside.... and about halfway in fell into the covered pit trap for a whopping 1 point of damage...

Damn that's old school and just wonderful to read!

That reminds me of the time I was running a Basic D&D game for some players back in our old stomping grounds of Plycon, the local game shop. There was this Airforce kid named Mike Kelsey, was just getting into miniature games and rpgs and I decided to run some old school D&D to give him a taste since he started playing with D&D 3.0.

So everyone rolls up characters at the table, Mike rolls up a thief, we start the adventure with the group standing in front of a shallow opening cut into the side of a cliff face, at the end of which, they can see closed stone door with a handle. Mike says, "I'll open the door." and then proceeds to open the door. No trap check, nothing, and of course, me being me, the door was definitely trapped and I describe how he grabs the handle and pulls, then feels an unexpected sting on his hand as if something on the inside of the handle stabbed him.

Save vs death, fail, thief is dead. I think the entire scene took all of 3 minutes. Man, we laughed about that for quite a bit, but he was a good sport and rolled up another character easily enough.

WELCOME TO OLD SCHOOL D&D!

Yes! Old school cool.
Like I noted up thread, my oldest daughter Emma, led her sisters and new boyfriend into an essential TPK. And she was the most experienced player at the table by far. But we were 10 minutes into the game and because she was impatient (and showing of for the boyfriend I'm pretty sure) she got herself, her boyfriend and one of her sisters turned to stone. The 9yo, wisely, just stayed hidden, and the 15yo kept saying - this is a useless side quest that's probably not going to get us any treasure! I swear she said it at least three times: they realized that there was a wall put up that looked like it was keeping something in she says "okay, mystery solved lets get out of here."

rredmond wrote: ↑December 8th, 2019, 11:06 am Yes! Old school cool.
Like I noted up thread, my oldest daughter Emma, led her sisters and new boyfriend into an essential TPK. And she was the most experienced player at the table by far. But we were 10 minutes into the game and because she was impatient (and showing of for the boyfriend I'm pretty sure) she got herself, her boyfriend and one of her sisters turned to stone. The 9yo, wisely, just stayed hidden, and the 15yo kept saying - this is a useless side quest that's probably not going to get us any treasure! I swear she said it at least three times: they realized that there was a wall put up that looked like it was keeping something in she says "okay, mystery solved lets get out of here."

Haha, gotta love the ones that know something is going to go down and try to curb the group, then BAM, it's "See, I told ya."

My 15yo is my most sarcastic, and definitely has the best RBF and eye-rolls in the house. Well the 9yo has the best eye-rolls, and my wife the best RBF, but the 15yo is the whole package and needless to say the look the she gave her sister was pretty frightening to behold!

Dwalin "the Foe Splitter" opened the door to the room with the collapsed floor (we all know the Haunted Keep so I've no problem stating which room is which) and let his eyes adjust to the darkness as the light was a bit behind and around a corner. He walked in and moved left to hug the wall. He soon grew impatient when no one followed him into the room which prompted some comments from the player, my dad, to the table about waiting for his backup to arrive. Eddard Lancaster, played by my mom, replied (even though her character wasn't there with Dwalin) to the effect of no prior discussion was made about making any such plans.

I sat back without interfering as it was a great moment of new players realizing the need for communication and working out a plan(s) before entering unknown areas.

Andoril the Greenwarden, played by my 12-yr old nephew, got the hint with a little help from others at the table that running off alone to explore might not the best course of action. The elf returned to the doorway reached after the pit trap. By this time, Eddard had moved into the room with the collapsed floor. Arnbjorn o' the North, played by Buddy aka Max here on the boards, held up a light (I don't recall if it was a torch or lantern). Llewellyn Bane, played by my Better Half, took a running start and jumped the pit. Her man-at-arms did the same.

Everyone took turns entering the room, one at a time. Dwalin was the first to make it to the corner of the room opposite the entrance where the door was. He opened it and walked through. Eddard followed. Arnbjorn went next. Llewellyn and the man-at-arms waited for Andoril. When the elf entered, my nephew said, "I'm going to slide down the edge into the water" which had pooled in the collapsed floor. I told hit its pretty scummy when you get into it and you think there might be more than just water in it... like maybe some pee and other grossness. What 12 year old boy doesn't like a pee or poop reference / joke?

So for a while after that, most everyone made a few references to how bad the elf now smelled.

Dwalin decided to proceed down the hallway to a closed door. He stopped, waited for some backup then opened the door. There was a door to his immediate left and a door directly across the hall from him. To his right the hallway made a 180 degree turn. The group went to left-side door and opened it. They found splinters of wood, trash, and goblin droppings. The adventure states there is a green slime on the ceiling so I decided to locate it pretty much in the center of the ceiling. No one in the party stated they were looking up. Fortunately for them, the two that entered, Dwalin and Eddard, stayed close to the door and the walls next to it so I decided they didn't get under the slime for it to drop on them. But I was ready to pull that trigger if circumstances merited!

The group went to the next door, opened it, and found basically the same things in the previous room sans the green slime on the ceiling. There were a few comments about the goblin droppings. My dad got into the "dwarves hate goblins" cultural mindset while running Dwalin.

Everyone decided to proceed down the hall which had another 180 degree turn, this time to the left. After the turn they found the hallway continued to a dead end but had two doors on the right side. Dwalin and Andoril took turns listening at the first door and heard nothing (the die rolls were not in their favor). So Dwalin opened the door and walked right in!

This was room 5 in The Haunted Keep which stated, "Once this room was a chapel, but now the altar is covered with dust. On the altar is a grime-covered statuette depicting a muscular man with a rat's head. Most of the twelve goblins [...] are either sleeping on crude bunks along the walls or playing dice games in a corner while two of them watch the door. If loud noises are made in the corridor outside, all the goblins will be awake when the party enters. They have no treasure."

I decided to have two goblins playing dice games while standing guard by the door. Four were occupied at the altar. Six were sleeping the cots positioned around the room. The party had not made much noise in the hallway thanks to some advice by Arnbjorn, the experienced player at the table. All of the goblins had short swords for combat.

The 2 goblins on guard duty were not surprised and since they were on duty, had their weapons available. Since Dwalin opened the door and walked in (player's statement) combat could begin. I decided that the 4 goblins at the altar weren't "on duty" so didn't have their swords on them at the moment. These 4 weren't surprised (die rolls again not in favor of the party) so spent their action retrieving their weapons. The 6 goblins asleep on the cots were, of course, out of it when the fight began.

More to come!

Digging it so far. Love the voice of experience!

Combat began with initiative. I typically have the player to my immediate left roll the d6 for the party while I roll for the opponents. That player rolls each round until he gets a 1 on the die. At that point, the party initiative die passes to the next player on the left and so on. For this game session, the player to my immediate left was my dad. I have to admit it was pretty cool for us to be rolling against each other in a game after 37 years. Just sayin'.

The party won initiative so Dwalin the Foe Splitter (dad) went after a goblin right away. Eddard (mom) stepped into the room to fight side-by-side with Dwalin. Both rolled poorly, in the single digits. Both characters were just inside the doorway swinging big weapons, a battle axe and a 2-handed sword, so I ruled that no one else could get into the room at the moment. The other PCs waited for an opportunity. The 2 goblins on duty attacked but, my dice being my dice, missed badly. The 4 goblins at the altar retrieved their weapons (short swords) and made ready to join the fray. The 6 goblins in the cots spent the round waking up.

I didn't make a record of the initiative results from round to round but the players' die made it way around the table during the course of the session which meant several 1s were rolled by the party.

Round 2 had Dwalin and Eddard now facing off against 6 goblins since goblins are small and require less space. Dwalin and Eddard, having stepped into the room, had a near 180 degree zone around them from which the goblins could attack. Dwalin hit a goblin and killed it outright. I asked my dad to describe the death blow to add to the atmosphere at the table and I wanted to see what he'd do with the opportunity. He did not disappoint! Since Dwalin was "the Foe Splitter" he stated Dwalin used an overhead downward swing that caught the goblin at the base of the neck and opened him up to the groin so that all organs spilled onto the floor. Not bad! But he wasn't done. He went on to say that Dwalin stomped on the organs to express his hatred of goblins. Hell yeah! Not bad at al for a newbie! In so doing, I ruled that Dwalin had stepped into the room a little more which opened a space for another PC to enter the room if so desired. Andoril (nephew) moved into the room and attacked a goblin having a go at Eddard but missed. There were several poor die rolls to start the combat!

Eddard missed again then the 5 active goblins attacked. Dwalin and Eddard wore chain and plate respectively so it was hard for the goblins to hit. The goblins divided up 3 on Dwalin and 2 on Eddard since goblins hate dwarfs. The goblins did manage to score a few points of damage on Dwalin. The 6 goblins who woke up last round spent this round retrieving their weapons. Llewelyn (Better Half) made note of this for the next round and had her man-at-arms stay between her and everything else. Arnbjorn (Buddy, the experienced player) waited for an opportunity to enter the room and pound some goblins.

Llewelyn, having seen that the party was about to be facing 11 armed goblins, decided to start casting a sleep spell to try and help the odds. Very good thinking by a newbie player! Andoril hopped up on a cot to swing his sword down at a goblin. Arnjorn stepped into the room. Eddard finally hit a goblin and with the 2-handed sword had no trouble killing it. Since this was my mom's first kill in D&D, I asked her to describe the death blow for added fun. She was hesitant but with a little prodding from the entire table came up with something along the lines of a decapitation with a back swing that hit the head like a batted baseball sending it across the room. Great stuff there! Just as the 6 newly-wakened goblins were closing to join the battle, Llewelyn loosed her spell and put 5 of them back to sleep. Some cheers broke out when that happened since everyone saw the numbers game against them on the battle mat.

In the mob scene that was the combat, Arnbjorn was stabbed twice by goblins taking 10 of his 12 hit points in damage. My dice woke up that round! Dwalin took a few more points of damage before the party's dice warmed up. At one point Dwalin, Eddard, and Andoril rolled back-to-back-to-back NAT 20s and started plowing through the active goblins. Eddard used the 2-handed sword to impale a goblin and launch it across the room like a catapult! Mom was starting to get into mowing down goblins.

By the end of the battle, all active goblins were slain and the sleeping goblins were coup de graced. Arnbjorn drank his potion of cure light wounds and cast cure light wounds on Dwalin. No PCs were slain in their first D&D combat. Good times!

More to come...