Outcasts – Session 03 – Part 1: Taking It to the Goblins

[The adventurers return to the cave and work on clearing the level, primarily of goblins but also in general.  I also introduce the rule “Shields Will Be Shattered” to great effect.]

[This game uses a modified version of the first ever roleplaying game.  These rules will be released as Adventures in the Green RPG in the (far) future.  Game session happen once a month.  This is the second half of the session that happened November 23, 2019.]

Player Characters:
Bigz Bigguns of the Big’uns Clan – female goblin Village Priest
Lars – male halfling Apprentice thief
Porkins – male human Medium
Tiny – male minotaur Veteran
Tor Wind – male human Veteran


Sunday, Sextilis 17th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
The trio of adventurers, Bigz, Lars, and Porkins, located Tiny drinking in The Little Ox tavern.  [Its real name is The Elk and Oak, but Tiny misinterpreted the sign out front.]  The tavern is just outside the Smolberg’s South Gate.  Tiny was there drinking with a human [Tor Wind] and both were drunk and speaking Mü, which the trio took as a good sign.  The trio informed Tiny and Tor what they had been up to and what the plan was for the next day.  Both Tiny and Tor are up for it.


Moonday, Sextilis 18th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
The ragtag group of adventurers gathered in the morning at the job board in the Smolberg market square.  The job of clearing the feral goblins from the Watch Tower was still there, but also still paying 150 gold coin.  This was a minor disappointment as the group was hoping the bounty had gone up again.  Maybe next week.

The group went to the docks and took a ferry across the Jeetzel River to Waldrand.  There they headed south on the River Road to the forest and left the road to circle the hill the Watch Tower was on.  They circled around to the south-southwest corner of the hill to the cave entrance hidden by small trees and bushes there, arriving at 9:00 AM.

The adventurers entered the cave mouth.  They checked the main cavern and the two side caverns to see if anything had changed.  The dead rats in north cave and the skinned giant ferret carcasses in the south cave were starting to smell a bit but nothing was out of place.  The group squeezed through the narrow passages in the back to the corridors under the Watch Tower.  This was uncomfortably tight for Tiny, being an adult minotaur, and a bit cramped for the two humans [Porkins and Tor], but the halfling and goblin [Lars and Bigz] were completely comfortable walking through.

With a choice of directions [west to a room or east to a corner and a door], Lars snuck east to see what was around the corner.  The door had faded crudely painted skulls in black paint on it [I missed this in the initial description, but this is when they would have noticed].  Around the corner the corridor continued a short way to a wide room.  Lars snuck closer, using his bullseye lantern to only light the floor in front of him.

The room was sixty feet wide but only twenty feet deep.  Off to the left was a set of stairs coming up from a lower level and on the stairs were two goblins with a giant ferret on a leash.  They saw Lars, who turned and ran as fast as he could back to the other adventurers.

When Lars came back around the corner at speed, he whispered that two goblins and a giant ferret saw him.  The adventurers prepared as they could hear the pursuers getting close.  The giant ferret rounded the corner first and was peppered with range attacks from Tor and Bigz.  Then Tiny chopped it with his axe, killing it.  The goblins came around the corner immediately after that and attacked Tiny but both failed to connect.  Tor and Bigz missed one goblin with their ranged weapons, but Lars killed it.  Tiny and the other goblin traded attacks, Tiny’s killing the goblin in one hit.

Just as that fight ended, the adventurers heard two other goblins behind them say, “What the…?”  The adventurers turned and saw two goblin guards peeking out of the room behind them.  Tor attempted to kill one but missed.  Bigz was able to kill the other goblin, but the first goblin turned and ran, calling out an alarm.

The adventurers moved into the room the goblin guard had fled into and discovered there was an open passage to the south, in the western corner, that they could hear the guard running down, and another northwest passage from the northwest corner of the room.  Lars darted ahead and pursued the goblin down the southern passage by himself.  The passage turned west, went on a bit and then turned north again.  Lars stopped at the corner of the turn to the north to listen.  He heard the goblin guard telling a group of other goblins that intruders were attacking and had already killed the other guard, Fritz.  Liking how the last fight went, Lars stepped around the corner to see the fleeing guard surrounded by four more goblins and the smallest hobgoblin he’d ever seen.  They looked at Lars and drew their weapons.  Lars turned and ran as his plan seemed to be working.

Meanwhile, the other adventurers set up an ambush at the southern passage with Tiny waiting beside the passage opening.  Tor, Bigz, and Porkins waited at the entrance to the room, Porkins keeping an eye out behind them in case more goblins showed up from that direction.  When Lars returned, he quickly told the rest that five goblins were pursuing him and then stepped next to Tiny to take part in the ambush.

The goblins, not being dumb, did not charge into the room blindly – they pushed the scrawny hobgoblin in first to see what happened.  Tiny cut the hobgoblin in half with his axe.  Lars stepped out and attacked with his sling but missed.  Thinking they know what to expect now, the goblins attacked.  Lars and Tiny killed two of them as they advanced, but the lead goblins attempted to stab Tiny with their spears and missed.  Tor moved from the room entrance [northeast corner] to the northwest passage so he could get a line of fire with his short bow to the goblins but his shot missed.  Bigz followed but had the same luck shooting her sling as Tor had with his short bow.

Lars switched to melee and killed another goblin.  Tor finally hit one of the goblins but failed to kill it.  The goblins pressed the attack, splitting their attacks between Tiny and Lars but failed to hit either.  In return, Tiny completely lost his grip on his axe and it clattered to the ground.  Afraid he was going to grab them, the goblins turned and fled.  Bigz and Lars each killed one of the fleeing goblins, but Tor tried to kill the last goblin before it escaped but accidentally shot Tiny instead.  [Shooting into melee can be dangerous, especially when you roll a “1”.]

Tiny chased the fleeing goblin back to the next room where a hale and hearty hobgoblin was just entering the room through a door.  Tiny grabbed the goblin who called out, “Boss!  Save me!”  The hobgoblin swung its longsword at Tiny but missed.  Tiny turned to go back and get his axe for a fair fight, absent-mindedly tucking the goblin up under his arm.  On his way back he passed Lars and warned the halfling a “big goblin” was following.  Unfortunately, being warned did not save Lars.  The hobgoblin came around the corner to where Lars was and cut Lars down in one blow.  Tiny, axe back in hand, stepped back to the hobgoblin and attacked, but missed.  The hobgoblin did not miss and dropped Tiny.  [Tiny’s player pointed out that the hit would not have dropped Tiny if Tor had not shot Tiny with his bow two rounds earlier.]  Tor and Bigz, wanting revenge for their friends attacked the hobgoblin and their combined hits killed the hobgoblin and ending the fight.

Bigz immediately healed Tiny, who survived the near-death experience with only some minor scars.  Bigz then healed Lars who was not as lucky.  Lars’ heart and lungs were damaged by the attack and he would need a week of bed rest.  [I use the Fatality Table from Adventure Conqueror King System when PCs go to zero hit points or lower and Lars’ player rolled poorly if not terribly.  It could have been both better and worse.]  Lars now had a new goal: save enough gold coin to afford having a cleric cast Restore Life and Limb on him.

With the fighting over, the group efficiently looted the goblin bodies and the dead hobgoblin, including taking their shields.  [This is when Tiny’s player remembered that he uses a shield and could have sacrificed that instead of taking the hit.  He was more conscious of that after this fight.]  They also spiked shut the door the hobgoblin had come through, not knowing where it went or if there were more goblins that way.  After that the group was exhausted and took a rest, Lars wheezing in the background.  During the rest the group discussed their options.  All agreed that they had pushed their luck far enough and it was time to head back to town where they would heal up.

Half Past 11:00
The adventurers returned to Smolberg.  The group dispersed, with Bigz and Tiny handling the selling of the goblin loot [which included their armor and weapons].  Shares of treasure were dispersed.  Lars convalesced at an inn for a week [as mandated by the Fatality Table].

End of Part 1


Behind the Greens
[Tor Wind is a new player to the group but an old friend who has been in several of my gaming groups.  One of the primary reasons for adding a fifth player is so the group has at least four players if one of the other players cannot make it, which will happen again in December.  I don’t plan on adding anyone else unless someone drops out permanently.  I’m happy with the current mix of players and the small size of the group and I need to remember that it’s not my group – I’m holding the place for the return of original DM for this group so we can go back to Artesia.  Until then (and it may be another year or so), I’m using this group to experiment with OD&D and rules variants as I write my own set of OD&D rules.]

[I’m not certain if I’m getting too granular with my combat notes.  I’m making an effort to actually record what happens in combat as it happens, but I’m not certain to what end.  Previously, I kept stronger notes about the not-combat stuff and just wrote a short summary of any combat.  For more complex game systems, like HERO System, this can get difficult as there are so many options and more detailed notes are required, plus there are not easy rounds to keep track of.  I may change things later, but for the moment, this is mostly a dungeon crawl and this style of notes seems to fit best.]


Outcasts
Session 01, Part 1
Session 01, Part 2
Session 02, Part 1
Session 02, Part 2


Session 03, Part 2 [Not Written Yet]

Outcasts – Session 02 – Part 2: Enter the Cave

[Certain the feral goblins at the Watch Tower are the culprits, the adventurers investigate a cave, hoping for a back door to the goblins.]

[This game uses a modified version of the first ever roleplaying game.  These rules will be released as Adventures in the Green RPG in the (far) future.  Game session happen once a month.  This is the second half of the session that happened October 19, 2019.]

Player Characters:
Lars – (fe)male halfling Apprentice thief
Bigz Bigguns of the Big’uns Clan – female goblin Adept
Porkins – male human Medium

Not appearing this episode:
Tiny – male minotaur Veteran


Sunday, Sextilis 17th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
Midday
After a short break for food, the adventurers cautiously approached the cave entrance they found in the southwest corner of the hill the Watch Tower ruins were on.  Lars went in first, to scout a bit.  He found the entrance tunnel was relatively short and opened in the corner of a cavern roughly 40 feet by 30 feet.  He made use of a bulls-eye lantern to look around without too much light and located two exits from the cavern, on in the far corner on the north wall and one on the east wall.

Lars returned to the cave entrance where Bigz and Porkins were waiting and reported what he saw.  The group decided to follow a right-hand path and, as a group, went in, planning to explore the tunnel on the eastern wall.  Once they were in the cavern, they discovered a third exit from the cave on the south wall, where Lars couldn’t see it from the entrance.  After a short discussion they decided to investigate this new passage as it was now the most to the right.

A short passage opened on a smaller cavern where three giant ferrets were each eating on…something.  Before the adventurers could get a good look, the giant ferrets attacked, upset at having their meal disturbed.  The ferrets had surprise [due to the suddenness of their attack and the players rolling low on the surprise die].  Only two of the giant ferrets could attack at a time and one bit Lars [who was in front] a fierce wound while the other missed.  Lars retreated a few steps and then attacked with his sling, hitting and killing the ferret that bit him.  Bigz used her sling to kill another, which emboldened Porkins to step forward and attack with his dagger.  He failed to wound the last ferret, but it also failed to wound him.  Lars and Bigz both slung stones at the last giant ferret and killed it in a quick one-two attack.

[NOTE: OD&D does not have rules preventing ranged attacks into melee.  I rule that if a PC does so and misses, there is a chance they will hit the other combatant, which is often another PC.]

Bigz cast cure light wounds on Lars to heal him back to full health.  Lars then set to skinning the giant ferrets and cutting their tails off [for the bounty in Burgwindheim].  Porkins kept watch.

One the giant ferrets were skinned, the adventurers resumed exploring.  This cave was a dead end, so they returned to the first cavern and explored the exit on the eastern wall.  This passage immediately forked and they went to the right.  This way led to a set of rough stone stairs leading deeper down into the earth.  Not wanting to descend with paths behind them unexplored, the trio reversed course and took the other fork.  This path also forked into two narrow and low passages [the halfling and the goblin were fine, but the human was starting to feel a bit confined].  They took the right fork, which ultimately led to a break in a stone-lined wall and a proper corridor going east and west.  This might be the lower levels of the Watch Tower above.

Again erring on the side of caution, the trio backtracked to the first cavern and explored the passage on the north wall.  This led to an oddly-shaped cave where giant rats were nesting.  The giant rats clearly objected, hissing their displeasure at the adventurers.  Porkins cast sleep on the rats and got 11 of the 12 rats with the spell.  The lone awake rat was quickly dispatched and the rest slaughtered.  The trio then searched the cave, finding 3000 copper coins scattered among the nesting materials.

With loot in hand and really wanting Tiny to be with them before attempting the corridors under the Watch Tower, the trio decided to stop exploring.  They left the caves and walked the hour back to Eggstetten.  The two guards at the village gate stopped them from entering the village, claiming their blood-spattered state and smell would cause problems.  They asked the trio to wait until buckets of water could be supplied to clean off in.  The trio, only mildly offended as they were a bit ripe, agreed to this.

One set of bucket-washups later, the trio could enter the village.  They walked directly to the mayor’s office and made their report on their findings.  The mayor was pleased that they had identified the perpetrators and asked what they planned to do to stop it from happening again.  Bigz explained the group would return to the tower the next day with their fourth member and see what they could do.  The mayor liked this plan [it meant he didn’t have to pay them yet] and approved it.

After talking with the mayor of Eggstetten, the trio walked two hours north to Burgwindheim in the hills to the north, beyond the croplands [they got a bit lost in the croplands along the way].  There they found Thord Grizzlykiller, the headman, and turned in the three giant ferret tails for the bounty, earning 15 silver coin.  Lars also located a local tanner to get the three giant ferret pelts properly tanned.  The tanner agreed to have them done in two weeks’ time.

Done with their business in Burgwindheim, the trio followed the road down out of the hills to Waldrand.  In Waldrand they caught a ferry across the Jeetzel River to Smolberg.  Near the market square they located a merchant willing to convert their 3000 copper coins into gold and silver, ending up with 19 gold, 8 silver [after the 2 silver exchange fee].  Satisfied with their earnings for the day, they went to a nearby tavern for their dinner and drinks.
End of Part 2
End of Session


Behind the Greens
[This write-up is a bit shorter but covers about the same amount of game time as part 1.  The significant difference was this part had all the combat and Part 1 had all the roleplaying.  This wasn’t by design, just how things worked out.]


Outcasts
Session 01, Part 1
Session 01, Part 2
Session 02, Part 1


Session 03, Part 1 [Not Written Yet]

Outcasts – Session 02 – Part 1: Walkin’ and Talkin’

[Tiny sleeps in, but Lars joins the group and the Three Investigators look into a case of stolen crops.]

[This game uses a modified version of the first ever roleplaying game.  These rules will be released as Adventures in the Green RPG in the (far) future.  Game session happen once a month.  This is the first half of the session that happened October 19, 2019.]


Player Characters:
Lars – male halfling Apprentice thief
Bigz Bigguns of the Big’uns Clan – female goblin Adept
Porkins – male human Medium

Not appearing this episode:
Tiny – male minotaur Veteran


Sunday, Sextilis 17th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
Tiny slept in this day.  Unable to awaken the sleeping minotaur [they sleep very soundly], Bigz and Porkins wandered the town market, where they ran across Lars, a halfling acquaintance of Bigz who recently completed his apprenticeship training.  Lars was looking for some quick income, as were Bigz and Porkins.  The trio scoped out the mostly empty market square [the next Market Day was not until Freysday] and decided maybe they should check the job board.

The job board had several job listings, but the only three that paid enough to interest the trio were:

• A reward of 150 gold coin for convincing the feral goblin squatters in the Watch Tower Ruins to leave.  There was also a disclaimer that the sheriff will not pay burial expenses for those who try and fail.
• A 10 gold coin reward from Adolphus Osricsson, the mayor of Eggstetten, for investigating missing crops and putting a stop to the theft.
• A notice that the Burgwindheim steading was having troubles with giant ferrets and now pays a 5 silver coin bounty on giant ferret tails.  Bounties could be claimed from Thord Grizzlykiller in Burgwindheim.

While going after the feral goblins in the Watch Tower would have been emotionally satisfying, Bigz was of the opinion that the group was still not strong enough to try that again, especially with Tiny sleeping the day off.  The ferret tail job was promising, but did not pay enough.  The crop investigation seemed to have the best pay for the least danger, so they decided to pursue that job.

Eggstetten was a farming village about a two hours walk from Smolberg.  The trio went to the docks and took the ferry across the Jeetzel River and set south on the River Road.  Bigz was a bit nervous as they passed the Watch Tower Ruins, but nothing happened and they continued past.  At Kaidorf, some riverside wharfs and support buildings that acted as the river landing for Eggstetten, they turned west, away from the river.  Eggstetten itself was about half a mile from the river along a glen that opened onto fertile plains.

When the trio approached the village gate they were challenged by some guards asking their business.  Bigz explained they were there to investigate the missing crops and looking for the mayor’s office.  The guards sounded somewhat dubious about the truth of that statement, but the lead guard pointed the trio at a slightly larger house inside the village walls as the mayor's.  Bigz thanked the guards and the trio headed to the indicated house.

The group found a door with a sign that indicated it was the mayor’s office and walked in.  The mayor’s office was a single, somewhat large room that occupied the front half of the building’s ground floor.  A three-foot tall railing separated the area immediately around the door from the rest of the room.  A large man with an impressive handlebar mustache looked up from some paperwork on his desk [on the other side of the railing] and asked what they wanted.  Bigz explained [again] that they were there to investigate the missing crops.

Mayor Adolphus got up and opened a low door in the railing and invited the trio to seats over in the front corner of the room.  Once everyone was seated, the mayor explained the job.  Crops had been stolen from three different farms out on the north fringe of the croplands Eggstetten farmers worked.  The three farms were

• The Kuhlefische steading run by Godric Kuhlefische
• Vanechka Tosyaski’s farm
• Maks Elderwood’s grove

Mayor Adolphus had sent some of his village guard to investigate, but they came back slightly beat up by the farmers.  The mayor admitted he may have sent the wrong people, but he didn’t have many people available, hence the job posting.  Bigz agreed to take the job and asked for directions and something as proof they were working for the mayor.  The mayor called in a scribe and dictated a letter authorizing the trio to investigate the crops under his authority, said authority to last until Freysday, Sextilus 21st [the end of the week].  Market day was on Cromsday [the day before] and the heads of the farms would be in.  If the trio had no answers by then, he wouldn’t need them any more – he’d send for soldiers from Smolberg.  Further, pay was contingent upon the adventurers either stopping the raids or providing proof of what or whom was stealing the crops so he could send soldiers after them.  He then gave the trio instructions on how to get to each farm and the trio left.

The trio left the village and followed the mayor’s directions north to the Kuhlefishe stead.  The dirt road they followed passed through croplands with occasional copses of trees.  After a half an hour of walking they arrived at the Kuhlefishe Stead.  The stead was a mixture of crops and orchards.  Across the road was another farmer [his name was Torr] weeding a field and they stopped to talk with him a bit [he wasn’t particularly helpful] before approaching the gate to the Kuhlefishe Stead.

The head of the steading was Godric, a farmer in his forties who was wearing a heavy leather apron over his clothes and carrying a crossbow.  Once the trio of adventurers showed him their authorization letter, Godric walked the them over to his apple orchard.  Six of the trees on the edge of the orchard had been picked clean of cider apples.

The adventurers looked over the area for clues.  The ground was tracked all over as the soldiers the mayor sent previously walked all over everywhere.  There did not seem to be any sign of ladders.  Lars and Bigz climbed up into trees and immediately found scuffs and rope burns on the tree branches indicating inexperienced climbers had been up in the trees and used ropes to haul themselves up and/or shake the apples from the tree limbs.  Porkins found an iron spike with saw teeth along one edge out beyond the edge of the orchard.  He brought it to Godric’s attention, which caused some tension with Bigz as she recognized the spike as one of hers that the goblins of the Watch Tower had taken [see Session 1, Part 2].

The adventurers suggested that it was likely that feral goblins had stolen the apples.  Godric asked where there were any feral goblins, the trio confidently informed him that feral goblins had taken up residence in the ruins of the Watch Tower along the River Road.  Godric walked over a couple of steps, pointed southeast, and ask, “You mean that watch tower over there?”  Looking where he was pointing, the adventurers realized they were just under a half mile from the Watch Tower and could clearly see the ruins on the hill from here.

Bigz told Godric they didn’t want to draw any immediate conclusions and needed to see the other two farms before reporting back to the mayor.  Godric asked where else they were going and Bigz told him the Tosyaski farm and Maks Elderwood’s grove.  Godric warned them that Vanechka Tosyaski, the owner of the farm, was of the shoot first school of thought and gave them advice on how to approach the farm safely.  The adventurers thanked him.

On the walk over to Vanechka’s farm, the adventurers discussed what they had found.  The iron spike was definitely one of the ones taken from Bigz a couple weeks ago and she reclaimed it.  She also let Porkins know she did not appreciate him bringing it to Godric’s attention and she would like it very much if he did not repeat that at Vanechka’s.  Bigz didn’t want to get shot by the cranky farmer.

As they approached the gate to Vanechka’s farm they walked along part of the front fence of the property.  There were numerous signs warning that trespassers would be shot and the split rail fence noticeably provided little cover.  The front gate to the farm had several signs of its own and was in clear line of fire from the front porch of the house.  There was a bell hanging from the gate post and Bigz started ringing it loudly and calling out the group’s presence.

Eventually a large human peasant woman came out the front door of the house, carrying a loaded heavy crossbow.  She called out to Bigz to stop making that racket and what did they want.  Bigz yelled back that the mayor had sent them to investigate the missing crops and they had a letter authorizing them to do so.  The woman thought about it and then told them they might as well come in then.

The woman introduced herself as Vanechka Tosyaski and walked the trio around the right side of her sturdy farmhouse to some crop fields near the back edge of her property.  The thieves had stolen tomatos, potatos, and goats, clearing out about a half a field of the vegetables, plants and all.  Vanechka pulled out some rails from the fence she had set aside after fixing the fence.  They all showed signs of being sawn through [poorly].  The ground was churned with the passage of many feet.  Out past the fence the adventurers found some goblin-sized footprints, goat tracks, and wheelbarrow tracks that led off to a nearby copse of trees.  They lost the trail among the trees but were satisfied the tracks generally headed towards the Watch Tower.  The adventurers told Vanechka what they suspected and that they still needed to go over to Maks Elderwood’s place before reporting back to the mayor and made their good-byes.

The adventurers followed the road around to the southeast, turned off the road where the mayor’s instructions indicated, and followed a small stream to a large grove of trees.  Maks Elderwood was a nut farmer with hickory, hazelnut, and walnut trees making up large sections of the grove.  His low house was flanked by two enormous oak trees and Maks was sitting on his porch, smoking something aromatic from a pipe.

Bigz introduced the group and displayed the letter of authorization from the mayor.  She asked what crops he was missing.  He responded with, “Better I show you.”  He then walked the group back through the grove to a far edge.  There he displayed three tree stumps and a lot of sawdust.  He told Bigz that he had been away for several days making religious observances and came back to discover that someone had cut down three of his walnut trees and dragged them away.

The adventurers looked around.  There was a lot of sawdust in three areas near where the trees had been and furrows in the ground.  It looked like the tree limbs had been cut off to make it easier to drag the trunks away.  None of the limbs and very few of the twigs from the fallen trees seemed to be left behind.  The ground had been walked all over, but there were a few goblin tracks still visible and what might have been hobgoblin tracks as well where the tree trunks were dragged away.  The adventurers thanked Maks for showing them the site and told him they were going to follow the drag marks.  They expected the marks led to the Watch Tower, where feral goblins were known to be squatting.

After they were away from Maks’ grove, the trio discussed their findings while following the obvious drag marks.  They were very certain that the goblins of the Tower were responsible and concerned that the goblins were fortifying or repairing the tower.  This suggested the goblins were planning on staying for a while.

The tracks did lead to the hill the Watch Tower was on.  The tracks circled around the edge of the hill to the north.  Lars suggested the team go around the other way in case the goblins were watching the approach.  As they circled around to the south of the hill they discovered a cave entrance into the hill itself in the southwest "corner" of the hill.  The entrance was partially concealed by some trees and bushes and could not be seen from the Tower itself.  The adventurers made note of this and kept circling the hill.  When they reached the southeastern corner of the hill they ran out of cover and stopped.  They could see the front of the Tower from here and Lars took his first detailed look at the tower.  The trio could see that the front entrance now had both doors, the left one obviously new, and that the doors were closed.  There did not appear to be any other noticeable fortifications or repairs to the Tower or the few other ruins on the hill.

End of Part 1


Behind the Greens
[This is where we paused playing for a dinner break.  The rest of the session will be covered in Session 2, Part 2.  Foreshadowing: they finally explore that cave!]

[Tiny's player could not join us for this session, but Lars' player, who missed Session 1, could, so the group size stayed stable.  Next session should have all four players, which they will need.]

[Part 1 of this session was a lot of investigation and talking to folks to get information.  The players had to do the talking as OD&D doesn’t have skills for them to roll against.  I like this as it makes for a more organic role-playing experience.]


Outcasts
Session 01, Part 1
Session 01, Part 2


Session 02, Part 2

Outcasts – Session 01 – Part 2: A Worse Ending

[The same three adventurers look to make some money clearing out the Watch Tower of goblins.  It does not go as planned.]

[This game uses a modified version of the first ever roleplaying game.  These rules will be released as the Adventures in the Green RPG in the (far) future.  Game session happen once a month.  This is the second half of the session that happened September 28, 2019.]

Player Characters:
Bigz Bigguns of the Big’uns Clan – female goblin Adept
Tiny – male minotaur Veteran
Smols Wedge – male “gnome” Medium

Added Later:
Porkins – male human Medium


Hernesday, Quintilis 25th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
After killing a bunch of goblins at the old Watch Tower and capturing one of them for questioning, the three outcast adventurers hauled their captive back to Smolberg.  [See Part 1 for details.]

Back in town, the adventurers turned their feral goblin captive over to a sergeant of the town guard.  They explained they found feral goblins in the Watch Tower and killed some, but they were not certain if there were more.  The sergeant took their captive to see if there were any specific rewards and asked the adventurers to come back in a couple days.

Magusday, Quintilis 26th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
Bigz cast Cure Light Wounds on Tiny while Tiny and Smols rest and heal from their wounds.

Cromsday, Quintilis 27th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
Tiny and Smols finished resting and healing from their wounds.

Freysday, Quintilis 28th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
All healed up, the adventurers checked the town public announcement pillar for anything interesting.  There was a notice from the Smolberg Town Guard offering a reward to get the feral goblins to leave the Watch Tower.  Intrigued by the word “reward,” the adventurers went to the Town Guard headquarters to get details.  There they learned that the reward was 50 gold coins, a serious amount of money.

Bigz decided to go to the Land Office to find out who owns the land the Watch Tower is on.  Maybe it might be available for purchase or the current owners might pay an additional reward for removal of the goblin squatters.  The bureaucrat at the land office was not especially helpful, but did tell Bigz which form to fill out.  Bigz spent an hour filling out the form and turned it in, only to be told that a reply would be available in a week.  Bigz shrugged and left.

With nothing else to do in town, the adventurers took the ferry across the river and then walked south, through the woods, to get to the Watch Tower.  This time, the adventurers decided to sneak up the hill to the watch tower.  Finding the entry hall much as they left it, minus the goblin bodies, plus blood stains.  Tiny once again approached the door on the right, but kicked it open rather than knock.

The room beyond was an impromptu goblin barracks, full of once-sleeping goblins who were now awake.  Smols immediately cast his Sleep spell and put all 14 goblins back to sleep!  Tiny entered the room and started using his axe to kill the sleeping goblins.  Smols hopped down from Tiny’s back and used his knife to cut throats.  Bigz tied up one of the sleeping goblins to question and take back to town later.

Unfortunately, the noise of kicking open the door drew alert goblin guards from the room across the entry hall.  They snuck up on the slaughtering adventurers and threw spears at Tiny.  Two of the spears hit, heavily injuring Tiny [5 of 7 hit points in damage].

This fight went much worse than the previous fight.  The adventurers faced 10 awake goblin guards and had only killed 5 of the 14 sleeping goblins before the noise of the combat started waking those goblins up.  The adventurers were surrounded and fighting for their lives, trying to kill the goblins before the goblins got a lucky shot in on them.  Bigz cast Cure Light Wounds on Tiny to heal him up while all three adventures did their best to kill goblins.

Tiny attempted to force an opening through the goblins for Smols and Bigz to follow, but took a big hit from a spear as more goblins could now target him [6 points of damage from a single hit].  Smols wanted to follow, but two goblins skewered him with their spears, killing him [two critical hits, back to back].  Bigz also took a major injury and saw death.  She instead surrendered, hoping the goblins would accept it.  She also called out to Tiny to surrender.  Tiny was angry with the goblins for killing his friend Smols and bellowed loudly, but eventually surrendered as well.

The feral goblins, still in shock about the suddenness of the fight accepted the surrender.  [The goblins knew they could kill the two adventurers but the adventurers had killed 8 of them in the short fight and none of them wanted to be the ones who died taking down the adventurers.]  The goblins made the adventurers strip to their small clothes and then leave, allowing them to take Smols's body and keep Bigz's holy symbol [the goblins didn’t want to get a deity angry at them for stealing it].

Despondent but alive, the adventurers fled the Watch Tower for the nearby forest.  There Bigz attempted to revive Smols, but he was gone.  [Rolled low on the Mortality Table and received the result “That’s a bad way to go.”]  Bigz and Tiny dug Smols a shallow grave and buried him in the forest before returning to town.

Quintilis 28th through Sextilus 4th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
The remaining two adventurers, sans gear but burning with a desire to get even, took jobs for a week to earn enough money to replace their gear and heal up.

Tiny, heavily injured but still strong, spent his time chopping wood.  After subtracting the the cost of renting an [over-priced] axe, Tiny earned 4 silver coins.  [Tiny has an INT of 6 and WIS of 6, so he felt this was a good deal.]

Bigz found a wealthy and [after I mis-read the rules] generous patron who hired her as a healer for a princely sum of 300 gold coin.  While working for her patron, Kismi the Sybaritic Sorcerer, Bigz met a human Medium named Porkins.  While Bigz mostly ignored the humans working for her patron, but one day she was angry and cursing in Mü, the language of minotaurs, and one of the humans snorted at her comments.  This sparked an interest in Bigz.  She and Porkins took to talking [in Mü , of course] and he wanted to be an adventurer, but wasn’t willing to strike out on his own.  Bigz smiled wide.  She had such a deal for Porkins.

Sextilus 5th through the 8th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
With pay in hand and a new adventuring partner, the group spent several days re-equiping with gear and armor, especially plate armor that fit Tiny.  Bigz also used Cure Light Wounds to finally heal up Tiny as all the wood chopping he had done kept him from healing naturally.

Magusday, Sextilus 6th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
Geared up, healed up, and well fed, the adventurers decided to check the job board for something that would pay well but wasn’t going after the goblins yet.  Bigz felt the group needed some additional experience before going after the “gnawers” at the Watch Tower.  Besides, the reward for removing the goblins was now up to 100 gold coins.  If they waited another week it might go up even higher.

The adventurers checked the town public announcement pillar and found a job protecting a merchant taking goods to Grossestadt [a large city down the Weser River] from river pirates.  This seemed like a good job for the group of adventurers.  After tracking down the merchant [who liked the visual deterrent a minotaur would bring] they negotiated pay of 100 gold coin each for the trip down river and back.  The merchant, Aron Kalteswasser, explained that the dangerous part of the trip was the trip back when the boat would be poled upriver, against the current and at the boat’s slowest speed.  As a result, they would not get paid until the group returned to Smolberg.  The adventurers were fine with this.

Cromsday, Sextilus 7th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
Early in the morning the adventurers climbed aboard the river boat at the Smolberg docks.  The boat set sail shortly thereafter, following the current down the Jeetzel River.  Late in the afternoon, the boat transitioned from the Jeetzel to the Waser River and sailed down the Waser.

Sunday, Sextilus 10th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
Early in the morning the boat arrived at Grossestadt.  The Aron instructed the adventurers to stay onboard the boat while he delivered the cargo.

Later in the day Aron returned to the boat and told them they would be staying in the city overnight.  The adventurers could get off the boat but should stay in the vicinity of the docks.  The merchant had arranged sleeping space at a hostel in the docks area for them and the boat crew and paid for it.  They were on their own for food.

Moonday, Sextilus 11th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
Late in the day Aron returned to the boat with a chest he locked up in the hold.  The boat’s crew poled the boat out of the city docks and started the laborious process of poling the boat upstream.

Magusday, Sextilus 13th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
Mid-afternoon, a group of river pirates pushed a skiff into the Waser River from a concealed spot on shore.  Two of the pirates rowed in quick conjunction while three of the pirates pointed loaded crossbows at the crew, calling out, “Ahoy!  Prepare to be boarded!”

Bored out of their minds, the adventurers sprung to attention.  Bigz started slinging rocks at the pirates with the crossbows while Tiny and Porkins waited for the pirates to close.  Bigz killed one of the crossbowmen just as the skiff pulled up to the boat.

With a bellowing warcry, Tiny, clad in plate armor, leapt from the boat to the skiff and attacked the skiff’s bottom.  The skiff nearly capsized and immediately started taking on water.  This caught the pirates off-guard and their crossbow shots went wide of their marks.

Tiny, satisfied the skiff would sink, attacked what he perceived to be the lead pirate, cutting in half the man and his crossbow [critical success].  Bigz killed the third and final crossbowman with her sling while Porkins waited – it seemed to him Tiny had things under control and casting a spell would have been a waste.  The rowing pirates jumped from their skiff and started swimming away.  Tiny jumped from the sinking skiff onto the pirate swimming upstream, grabbing the pirate and pulling him under the water.  This attack drove the air from the pirate’s lungs and he immediately drowned.  The last pirate, swimming with the current and staying under water as long and as often as he could, escaped.

Tiny, still holding his breath, slogged along the bottom of the river to shore.  The boat pulled over to pick him up and he spent the rest of the day cleaning and oiling his armor to keep it from rusting.

Yggsday, Sextilus 16th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
The boat arrived back at the Smolberg docks.  Aron gladly paid the adventurers for work well done.  Bigz asked for and received a letter of recommendation from Aron for the group.
End of Session


Behind the Greens
[Yes, I will be using Kisme later as an adventure hook – assuming Bigz lives long enough for it to happen.]

[What does Mü sound like?  Imagine every scene in a MCU movie with Groot in it, but shorten his dialog to the word “Mü”.  That’s exactly what it sounds like.  The players started using it in play and it became the defacto language of the adventuring group, especially since it is the only language Tiny speaks.]

[After the near-TPK, the players greatly enjoyed the fight with the river pirates.  It was running late, so I only ran the one attack.  Perhaps word got out.  The players wanted to level their characters before going back after the goblins, plus they wanted to wait for the next session when the fourth player would be available.  I’m fine with this, but pointed out that direct assaults on the front door where all the goblin guards are might not be the best plan and maybe they should do some thinking before returning to the Watch Tower.  I think they took the hint.]


Outcasts
Session 01, Part 1


Session 02, Part 1 [Not Written Yet]

Outcasts – Session 01 – Part 1: A Hard Start

[Three adventurers looking to make some money investigate reports about the Watch Tower Ruins.]

[This game uses a modified version of the first ever roleplaying game.  These rules will be released as the Adventures in the Green RPG in the (far) future.  Game sessions happen once a month.  This is the first part of the session that happened September 28, 2019.]


Player Characters:
Bigz Bigguns of the Big’uns Clan – female goblin Adept
Tiny – male minotaur Veteran
Smols Wedge – male “gnome” Medium

Added Later:
Porkins – male human Medium


Hernesday, Quintilis 25th, 523rd year of the Aegean Kingdom
A motley group of near outcasts in the town of Smolberg comprised of a goblin, a young minotaur, and a “gnome” [really a short and filthy human] overheard rumors of things seen at the abandoned watch tower ruins across the Jeetzel River and a little way upstream.  With no other plans and hoping to make some coin, the outcasts decided to investigate the rumors.

They rode a cheap ferry across the river to Waldrand landing and took the River Road south.  Smols had a harness that he called a minotaur saddle that he used to ride Tiny.  The harness was similar to a backpack, but without the container part and adding a low bar that Smols could stand on.  Some clamps and a strap around his chest anchored Smols and freed up his hands for casting spells.  [Google “standing toddler backpack” and you’ll see one.  Really.]

After casually walking for an hour the group arrived at the foot of the hill the Watch Tower sat on.  The hill was a little steep, so Bigz pulled out a cob-goblin-made iron spike and used the serrated edge on it to cut off a tree branch to use as a walking stick.

[Note: “Cob-goblin” is a shortening of “cobbler goblin”, one of the nicknames given to goblin that live in close proximity to human settlements.  They collect human junk and broken things and cobble together “fixed” versions for cheap resale.  They also collect wood scraps to soak and create wood pulp for paper making.  Due to a quirk of their psychology, everything they cobble together has a saw-tooth edge on it somewhere “in case you need to cut some wood.”  This includes iron spikes, books, helmets, and even clothes.  Hey, you never know when you’ll need to cut some wood.  Cob-goblins tend to dress in the styles of the humans they live near.]

The group hiked up the front of the hill.  About halfway up they noticed a low wall in front of the watch tower and investigated.  The wall outlined a corner in a paved but overgrown walkway.  Ahead of them were stairs down the side of the hill.  To their left the overgrown paved walkway led to a flight of stairs to a portico area in front of the entrance to the watch tower.  They could just make out the large doorway and noted one of the two doors was missing completely.

The group followed the path to the Watch Tower and climbed the stairs to the portico area.  Not seeing or hearing anything unusual, they stepped into the dim entry hall.  It was 20 feet wide by 30 feet deep with a side passage on each side wall at the far end of the room.  Tiny pushed open the remaining door to let in some additional light before wandering in, Bigz following along behind the minotaur and his “gnome” rider.

The left-hand passage opened to a room while the right-hand passage contained a single, closed door.  Tiny walked up to the door and started knocking.  Bigz and Smols both turned to observe the other passage while Tiny knocked, so they saw six “feral” goblin guards walk forward from somewhere off to their right, deeper in the room.

[Note: “Feral” in this case indicates goblins that do not live in close proximity to humans and follow “traditional” goblin ways.  They feel that cob-goblins has forgotten what it means to be “true goblins.”  Cob-goblins hate this and refer to feral goblins as “gnawers,” claiming they use their teeth to fix everything by chewing on it.  Both sides feel they are true goblins and the other side are fools.  I think you can see which way the ensuing encounter is likely to go.]

After Bigz and some of the “gnawers” exchanged near-ceremonial insults, both sides prepared to fight.  The goblins each had two spears and the six visible goblins were ready to throw theirs.  Fortunately for the adventuring outcasts, Smols got his Sleep spell off first, dropping all six goblins he could see.  Tiny stepped forward and killed a sleeping goblin with his axe.  Bigz used her sling to kill another sleeping goblin.  Some additional goblin guards stepped forward from around the corner.  One threw a spear at Tiny and missed entirely.  [Cue "sad trombone" sound.]

The adventurers concentrated on killing the sleeping goblins first, before they woke up and joined the fight.  They were mostly successful at this, killing five of the six before the last one woke up from the combat noise.  As a result, Tiny took damage from the awake goblins.  Tiny stomped on one of the goblins, pinning it to the floor and held it there for the rest of the battle.  This affected his accuracy for the rest of the fight [not as part of a game mechanic but dramatically, he started rolling really poorly after this point].  Smols flung his dagger at one of the goblins attacking Tiny and missed widely.  A “gnawer” attacked and dropped Smols to zero hit points in response.

While Tiny held the surviving goblins at bay, Bigz cast Cure Light Wounds on Smols and revived him.  [See my notes below in Behind the Greens about this.]  The morale of the feral goblins started to wane at this point and individual goblins started fleeing the fight.  Bigz killed one trying to escape out the front of the tower.  Smols flung his dagger at one of the goblins fleeing deeper into the tower and hit Tiny instead.  The remaining feral goblin attacked Tiny, trying to finally kill the minotaur, and was only stopped by the minotaur’s shield.  Tiny killed the goblin in return [finally rolling a hit].

With all the feral goblins dead, Smols tied up the one Tiny was standing on.  They took their captive and exited the tower, retreating down the stairs and into the forest just north of the watch tower hill.  There they questioned the feral goblin but the only thing they learned of use was that the feral goblins had moved into the tower about two months ago with “lots” of goblins.  The timing mostly matched up with when the rumors of "things moving around the tower" started.

After discussing their options, the adventurers decided to haul the feral goblin back to town to see if they could get a reward for the goblin and the information as to what was in the tower.

End of Part 1


Behind the Greens
[So while we are using the 3 LBB version of D&D, I’m using this campaign as a testbed for writing my own version of those rules.  My goal is to use the rules as written, no matter what strange things that leads to.  I’m using select rules from Supplement 1, including the Thief class, and a few choice rules from other versions of D&D.  This includes the Mortality Table from Adventurer, Conqueror, King System.  Therefore, when Smols went down to zero hit points, that was not the immediate end of him.  Immediately after the fight we calculated the modifiers and rolled on the table.  He had a lot of positive modifiers to the roll and rolled high, so he saw visions of lost companions while down but immediately rebounded.  This mechanism makes beginning characters a little less fragile without inflating hit points and with some uncertainty – as will be apparent in part two.]

[This campaign only plays once a month, but we play 8-10 hours with a dinner break, so most session reports will be spread across two parts.  I want to avoid a full-on Wall-o-Text each blog entry.  Part 2 of Session 1 will cover the events after our dinner break and the further perilous adventures of the Outcasts.]


Outcasts

Session 01, Part 2 [Not Written Yet]

Change in the Blog's Purpose

I started this blog as a place to post some story telling with photographs of Lego minifigures.  After the first story arc, I was at a bit of a loss as to which way I wanted to go next, so I let the blog fall fallow for a while.

In the meantime, my plans for writing my own version of the original D&D rules from 1974 got pushed forward.  I decided that using the world I was just hinting at in this blog would be a good place to test out my rules and make adjustments to them.  I also had a gaming group that was already transitioning from one set of rules to another, so I hijacked that process [being the GM and all].  There were some other factors, like the player whose character was going to be center stage for the next story arc had to drop out of the group for a while and I had nothing else ready.

So for the next while, this blog will post session notes for the test campaign along with observations on what rules issues we ran into with the 3 LBB version of the rules and how I'm fixing them.  I want to eventually get back to the photography story, but that will be a while as I either need to expand my selection of minifigs or paint up my fantasy miniatures and start using those.

I hope you find the session notes detailing the adventures of a small group of outcasts adventuring in lands similar to the Holy Roman Empire of the 1500s but different in several important ways.

Pickup Job for the House of the Unseen - Part 2

Caught in the canopy of the forest known as The Green, the chartered adventuring company House of the Unseen is under attack while attempting to retrieve a chest containing lost mail and other loot.  The attackers are ruffians in the employ of the blackguard Comte Donat Boivin.  The shifting surface of the giant leaf balances the fight a little, but the Comte's forces are going to overwhelm the adventurers soon...

The pirates press the attack.

...but what is that line!?

Who fired that arrow and line?

Reinforcements arrive for the adventurers!  It's the Regular Irregulars sliding down the rope!

The Regular Irregulars arrive...

Sergeant Pherik Mackelly and his men quickly engage the ruffians, the Sergeant himself bracing the Comte and his spy, Perroquet Rouge.

...and turn the tide!

With the help of the Regular Irregulars, the adventurers of the House of the Unseen turned the tables.  The ruffians, sensing defeat through down their weapons and surrendered.  Sergeant Mackelly kept an eye on the spy and an eye on his men taking the ruffians prisoner, but this left him without an eye to keep on Comte Donat.  Where did the Comte escape to?

Barbebrune and his pirates surrender.

Making use of his own rope, the Comte made his escape, swearing he would not be defeated by vagabonds.

Comte Donat Boivin escapes by rope.

With the chest secure the adventurers still had to transport their prisoners and the chest through The Green back to the barony and Barbebrune's pirates were not the only forces at the Comte's disposal...



Back to Part 1

Forward to Part 3 [Not yet written]

Behind the Greens

[I needed help to get these pictures taken.  The number of minifigs was too much for the plants to support on their own, so I had a friend hold the leaf steady as I posed the figures and took the pictures.]

[I'm scouting around my yard for a good site for the next scene.  There is plenty of places but crawling around on the ground in the summer heat kicks my butt rapidly.  I need to start taking these pictures much earlier in the day before the heat and humidity become overwhelming.  File that under "Things Other Imagine-ation Bloggers Don't Have to Worry About."]

Pickup Job for the House of the Unseen - Part 1

The House of the Unseen, a chartered adventuring company, was under contract with a minor baron to retrieve some lost mail.  The complication was that the mail was lost when the carrier griffon delivering it was attacked by an unexpected pack of wyverns over the forest known as The Green.  During the aerial fight, the chest the mail was in fell, landing somewhere in the canopy of the unusually large plants in The Green.

The adventurers marched into the forest.  Sir Udo Jundt led the way, followed by Small Lukas, and then the company's leader, Erin the Gray.  The hike into The Green was uneventful...

...but who was that following them?  And who are they communicating with using that messenger parrot?

Once in the correct vicinity, the adventurers climbed up into the canopy to start their search.

Finally up in the canopy!

As the adventurers spread out to search, who spied on them from an adjacent growth?

At last the chest was found!  Lukas used his masterwork prybar to open the chest.  [It was super effective!]

Inside the chest the adventurers found gold coins, gems, and the lost letters.  As the adventurers checked the contents of the chest, unseemly ruffians snuck up behind them.

The wind chose this moment to blow, driving everyone to their knees as the enormous leaf became unstable.  Erin and Sir Udo noticed the ruffians sneaking up on them and prepared their weapons.  It was Comte Donat Boivin and his crowd of vile henchmen!  Lukas closed the chest and got behind it for safety.

The combat started!  Sir Udo quickly felled one of the Donner Brothers and held off Barbebrune, another of the Comte's henchmen.  Erin was pressed by Hache but held him at bay.  Meanwhile, more of the Comte's flunkies climbed up onto the leaf, including his chief spy, Perroquet Rouge.

With nowhere to flee and rapidly becoming outnumbered, will the House of the Unseen survive this assault?  Why does Comte Donat want the chest?  Is it the coins and gems or whatever is contained in those letters?  Turn in next time to find out!


To Part 2

Behind the Greens

[This was all photographed in my front yard where the elephant plants have grown to the largest I've ever seen.  I told my wife I was going to put some Lego minifigs on the leaves to provide scale and take pictures.  Her reply was, "When?"  So here we go.]

[Selecting minifigs for these pictures gave me a story idea.  The process of coming up with names fleshed things out.  Getting the next round of pictures will be challenging as getting the minifigs to stand on the leaf is hard, especially when a breeze makes the whole surface wobble.  I will have to put some flats under the minifigs for stability, but that raises their weight and makes the leaf bend.  I may have to work out a way to prop up the leaf to keep it steady.]

[That's a problem for next weekend.  I plan to post these about once a week on Mondays, but we will see if that is sustainable or too ambitious.  Not all of these will be done outdoors, but this story will.  Thank you for reading!]