Game Session Report 10/21/16 (Part 2 - Fragmentary): Descent into the Depths of the Earth

I know, I know...I said in my first post of 2017 that I didn't want to finish blogging about my two sessions of RPG action with the neighborhood newbs...but I started a post and dammit, I want to publish it! 

Specifically, I want to post it because of my inane...observations. And because I have no time to blog here usually, so wasting my precious words is a crime to my sensibilities. 

See below for the fragment I wrote up before despair overtook me and my will to write on...

Let's return to the recap of my newbie players and their first RPG session, shall we?

So, a gang of goblins (probably the same that attacked the priests of Libra) came running out of the excavated barrow and attacked the party. The group made decently short work of the creatures, but player Laura (aka Noo the cleric of Leo) had the presence of mind to consider capturing one of the goblins in order to interrogate it.

Now, this brings me to an interesting observation: these folks, being newbs, have actually displayed a lot of aspects of more experienced players. Specifically, from the very first battle, they decided it would be a good idea to have a captive to interrogate.

And, if it came down to it, they wouldn't balk at a bit of torture to get information.

Now, does this say something about human nature? Granted, we're talking about an imaginary torture situation of a non-human creature, so there's really no need to be disturbed by the players decision. But I find it really interesting that no matter who I've gamed with, no matter the experience level of the players, they usually see the need to get captives and glean information, and consider torture a necessary evil.

Again, human nature? Or is there too much torture on the TV and Internet to learn from? Too much waterboarding and Gitmo Bay news footage to teach them what to do?

Oh my god, I'm Tipper Gore!

Anyway, they did indeed capture a goblin and started to interrogate, and of course threatened it with torture. The goblin told them it was a part of a tribe that moved into tunnels below the barrowlands. When the archaeology team ventured into their tunnels, the goblins reacted, attacking the humans and capturing them. 

The goblin offered to take them to the captives in exchange for its freedom. They decided to take a chance and believe that the goblin was sufficiently cowed to guide them truthfully and accurately.

That's all folks! Little did I know at the time of the writings above that the newbs would also resort to the good old lamp oil Molotov cocktail tactic in the dungeons they entered! It was instinctual, I tell you! They just came up with it out of nowhere! No prompting from me at all!

Am I way too excited about this? Let me know, please!

Game Session Report 10/21/16 (Part 1): Hello Dorkness My Old Friend...

...or maybe for a few hours on Friday!

...it's good to game with you again!

Yes, On Friday night (October 21st) we had "roleplaying with the newbs" night! Over the last few weeks my wife and I had heard through the grapevine that some folks in town were curious about D&D. My wife leaked the word that I am a veteran roleplayer, and...Boom! A game night was scheduled!

I expected people to be a bit shy and tentative about the experience. I expected some of them to be nervous about word getting out that they were playing D&D. All very normal and valid concerns for the casual gamer, given the stereotyping and ridicule of gamers that still exists in the world.

I assured them I'm a discreet game master! No need to fret, folks, your secret is safe with me!

Everyone arrived at our place, and introductions were made as needed. We had a good supply of food and drink to share. I called everyone to the kitchen table, where I had my DMing gear already set up.

There was much joking and rib-poking as the players went through the pile of pregens I provided. I made a short speech about the rules and gave them a tour of their character sheets, but I could tell they just wanted to play.

"We'll get the hang of it as we go along," they insisted. "Let's get started!" Eager, they were, indeed!

So, I set the mood and the stage: Castle Westguard, a wilderness outpost of the Great Kingdom in Southland (thanks Rob Conley, for the setting). The lord of the walled settlement, Lord Griff, needs hearty adventurers to explore the barrowlands to the northeast. Why? Because an archaeological dig seeking artifacts from ancient kingdoms has gone missing, of course!

Lord Griff needs those willing to sacrifice life and limb for the promise of treasure. "Go, find the lost archaeologists," he decreed, "and you'll be rewarded 10 gold pieces each!" The party was ready for adventure, indeed, and they set out without hesitation!

Our party of first and second level pregens (created via Wizardawn) consists of:

• Matt, playing the wizard Magic Mike (of course).
• Laura, playing the cleric of Leo named Noo.

(note, I made the on-the-fly decision that the gods of this world are the twelve gods of the zodiac, based on the suggestion of one of the players...)

• Jennell, playing the female dwarf Elvira.
• Ed, playing the fighter Donald.
• Lesley, playing the male dwarf Tases the Archaic.

 As they marched through the barrowlands, they came upon a grizzly scene: three dead bodies of priests (of the god Libra) laying outside the excavated entrance to one of the barrows.

The party decided to investigate, and discovered one of the priests was still alive. He was badly wounded, so Noo the cleric decided to heal him. Once he recovered enough to speak, the priest introduced himself as Brother Thomas, and he thanked the party profusely before telling them that he had been part of a group of ten people sent by Lord Griff to excavate barrows. The ten were a mix of scholars, priests, and guards.

The scholars had been following an ancient text that pointed to this particular barrow as having deep significance to a long-dead civilization. They had broken open the entrance and entered the circular chamber within, the walls of which were lined with niches that contained mummified bodies wrapped in linens.

One of the scholars had walked onto an elaborate mosaic of colored stones in the center of the chamber. The floor had given way underneath the man, who had plunged a hundred feet or so to his death. The majority of the group decided to descend the shaft to recover the body and explore what was below.

Thomas and the other two Libran priests had remained on the surface. They waited for hours for the return of their fellows, and even engaged in some prayer to pass the time. It was during their prayers that they were attacked by a group of small, horrible green-skinned creatures bearing rusted swords and shields that looked as if they were made of stretched skins.

The creatures, of course, were goblins. They attacked the priests and slaughtered them...except for Thomas. Once they had finished their bloody work, the goblins disappeared back into the barrow, and presumably went back down the shaft to the depths from whence they came. And, of course, it seems none of the others on the archaeological dig team had ever come back up from below...

His story complete, Thomas then asked that one of the party escort him back to Castle Westguard. The party, as a whole, told him that wasn't going to happen, because they needed to find the rest of the archaeological team. Thomas balked at that, but before he could continue to argue, the gibbering voices of goblins once again boiled out of the dark entrance to the barrow...

TO BE CONTINUED...

Michael Curtis coming to my neck of the proverbial woods...

That's right, folks! Michael Curtis, of Stonehell Dungeon and Dungeon Alphabet fame, is coming to the awesome All Things Fun! store on Sunday, November 4th! Go here (Michael's blog) and here (the All Things Fun! event page) for more details.

I have to say I'm really excited for a number of reasons. Of course I'm probably preaching to the choir here, and I'm sure you know who he is already. But anyway, Michael is a prominent figure in the old-school gaming scene because of the body of work he's produced. It looks like he'll be running a game session to take players through one of his latest creations, the DCC RPG module "Emirikol Was Framed!"

I can't wait to meet one of the people behind the old-school movement, and maybe have time to chat about the OSR, his upcoming projects, etc. And I also cannot wait to finally play DCC RPG! You know what this means?! I GET TO USE THOSE FUNKY ZOCCHI DICE I BOUGHT! Nice!

This should really be a fun time. Ok, I'll stop with the gushing now. If you can make it, I would love to meet anyone who's been reading my blog. Thanks to the incredible proprietors of All Things Fun!, Ed and Dina Evans, for setting up this event! It should be a great time! I'm planning on taking some photos and blogging about the event afterwards.

U is for Unknown

As in the famous B1: In Search of the Unknown module, through which my Labyrinth Lord group is exploring.

In a recent Grognardia post, James Maliszewski wrote:

 I think the word "new" gets overused, mostly by the jaded. By that I mean that the cry for "the new" is often a function of what one has experienced. Sure, for many gamers who've been playing for three decades, "goblin raiders" or "excursions into the underdeep" may be old hat, but not everyone has been playing for that long. For a lot of younger and/or less experienced folks, The Keep on the Borderlands or The Village of Hommlet is new. And, for us older and more experienced players, seeing a new spin on these old adventures can be just as fun.

I definitely agree. As someone who's been playing for over two decades but never played Basic D&D, modules like B1 have been a subject of mystery for me. I've never explored them, nor has my group of players, so we get to experience these classic, oft-referenced works for the first time, decades after their release.

I feel truly blessed with near-limitless resources, because I have the old modules to use as well as the plethora of new published game materials that are coming out all the time. And though I never really used modules in my youth, the busy "adult-me" (with my limited free time) is grateful for modules and such to use as inspiration.

I for one am glad to be a part of a grand tradition of gaming, as I help to bring new life to a sinister dungeon delve of yore.

Regarding Modules

Just like miniatures, I never once used a module during any part of my gaming career. This was somewhat economic when I was younger, being a kid with not a lot of spare money.

But I was also dubious of the concept of modules because I never was a big believer in the concept of "RPG as commodity." I have always thought that you should only need a few core books in order to play a game, and that a company should never push you into buying more stuff (especially by withholding game mechanics and the like from core books in order to release them in subsequent books).

On top of that, since I've mostly been a GM and not a player, I always felt that the onus was on me to create worlds and adventures. I didn't want to leave that up to others. And I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction, so I could always pull from those sources for inspiration, rather than a published adventure.

But now I think I should have gotten into modules more, since it would have been another way for me to flex some of my creative writing skills. I've dabbled with the idea of publishing adventures and such over the years. Many are the times during my life that I wish I would have gotten into game design as a career. Ah, but enough of regrets...

These days, I am considering modules now as a busy adult/parent in his mid-30's. The more I make plans to start a campaign in the near future (cross fingers!), the more I realize that I will probably need to break my fast when it comes to modules. I simply don't have the time to build all of my worlds and adventures from scratch. I can't sit around for an entire weekend creating this stuff like when I was a kid. I am going to need all the help I can get! I will probably wind up doing some split (most likely not 50/50) between pregenerated stuff and my own creations.

So, the inevitable question: what do you think of modules? What place do they hold in your gaming circles? How important (or unimportant) are they for you?

P.S. I just bought my first module ever on the cheap from eBay: the old Keep on the Borderlands. I've heard of it and the other legendary early modules over the years (Tomb of Horrors, Queen of the Demonweb Pits, etc.), and I will finally actually get one of them in my hands and read the damned thing! This better be good, considering the years of hype!