The Dark Wood

Keep on the Borderlands Campaign

In the tavern at the Keep, our heroes learn that bands of monsters have been raiding in the area. It is said that they have a lair somewhere nearby. Reputedly, there is also plenty of treasure. This piques the interest of our heroes. They decide to find the lair, end the monster threat, and pocket the treasure.

The party begins exploring the region around the Keep

First Foray

The party begins its exploration. They head west into some woods. They find an area where thick spider webs run from tree to tree.

"Be careful," Lothariel warns. "There are tales of spiders the size of a large dog. Their poison can even incapacitate a human."

Not long afterwards, they hear clicking from the trees. There is one of the giant spiders!

It leaps at Aldric. Lothariel looses an arrow; it strikes the creature right in the eye. It bounces off Aldric's shield. The fighter rushes forward and stabs the monstrosity. It dies.

Suddenly, another spider lands on Aldric's shoulder. It bites him, but he shakes it loose before it injects its poison.

Rook rushes to help. The spider turns and bites him. Aldric tries stabbing it but also gets bitten. Finally, he slashes the monster, chopping deep into its vitals. It also dies.

The party finds the spider's lair. There are skeletons strewn about. One was a human fighter. He has a battered shield, but Aldric takes a liking to it.

"With a little love, this will be a fine shield," he declares.

With Aldric and Rook badly wounded, the party heads back to the keep. Corvin stocks up on medical supplies for a longer journey.

Dungeon Crawl Rules Notes

Notes about the rules I'm using for my Keep on the Borderlands campaign.

Characters

I started building the characters using the rules from Swords and Six-Siders. Then I started making some tweaks.

• I don't record all their attributes. I only make note of any exceptional ones that give bonuses or penalties.
• I don't roll for hit points. Instead, I give fighter types 3 hp and the others 2 hp.
• I record the attack and damage bonuses direct from the rules
• I don't bother with buying equipment; I just assume that they can get most of what they want. I do roll for armor. For example, Aldric the fighter could start with medium armor on a roll of 4-6. (He failed).
• I record armor and weapons but I don't bother with all the doo dads. If something is needed, I'll assume they have it. If it is unusual, I might require a roll.
• One thing I do record are bandages. They can be used to heal wounds after a fight. The Party started with 3 bandages and can add D3 when visiting the Keep.
• Damage resistance comes direct from the rules.
• I've added LUCK as a party resource. The party can trade it to negate a wound. They start with 1 per character and can add 1 at the end of a successful mission.

Game Play

• I use the monster stats from S&SS, specifically AC, damage resistance, and damage bonus.
• I don't track individual hit points for swarms of minions. Instead, I have a total HP pool. When it is 0, the enemy is defeated. I usually give them 4-6 hp. For individual monsters, I use hp = monster level. I may add hp for particularly tough monsters.
• Characters attack as per S&SS - roll >= AC to hit.
• I do a damage roll - 2 or less = glancing blow (no hp loss), 3-5 = 1 hp damage, 6+ = 2 hp damage. Damage bonuses and damage resistance modify the roll.
• Monsters do not roll to hit. Instead, characters make a defense roll. They need to roll the enemy's AC or better, modified by any defense bonuses.
• Characters gain defense bonuses from shields or dexterity. As I think about it, I will need to give a bonus based on level as well.
• Against swarms, each character must make a defense roll. They only roll once, even if outnumbered.
• Big monsters can make 2 attacks per turn.

Bandit Attack

Keep on the Borderlands Campaign

After the encounter with the giant crab, the caravan sets out for the Keep. Later in the day, they find themselves traversing hilly ground. Lothariel notices a glint of metal on a distant hill.

"We're being watched," she tells Scar, the guard captain.

Shortly after, the caravan is winding through a ravine, As it nears the end, they see a roadblock.

One man calls from the barrier. "Stop! Throw down your weapons and abandon your wagons. Or else!"

"Bandits!" calls Scar. "We need to fight"

Then they hear battle cries from behind them. More bandits!

Scar commands our heroes to take the ones in the rear. He, Mutt, and Geoff will deal with the barrier.

⚔ 

The hiss of crossbow bolts pierces the air. Corvin tries but fails to cast a shield spell. Lothariel pulls out her bow and shoots down a bandit. Aldric and Rook charge forward. A bolt buries itself in Aldric's shield. Rook manages to knock one aside with his twin blades.

Corvin casts another spell, this time freezing a bandit in place. Then there is a clash as the two sides come together. With his dazzling swordplay, Rook slays an enemy. But he and Aldric take wounds. Then Rook strikes down the last bandit.

⚔

Then they hear a cry. Turning, they see that Mutt and Geoff are down. Scar is battling 3 bandits near the roadblock. Our heroes rush to his aid.

Corvin casts his last spell - a magical bolt that slays his foe. The party then joins the melee, They hack down the last bandit.

⚔

They tend to Mutt and Geoff (both thankfully still alive), tie up the frozen bandit, and proceed on their way. Night draws near but the caravan continues on, driven by fear of bandits. Near midnight, they arrive at the Keep. Safety!

Caravan to the Keep

Keep on the Borderlands Campaign

It had been a long, boring journey from the civilized lands to the Keep on the Borderland. Over that time, four plucky individuals, hired as guards to protect a small caravan, have grown close.

Aldric, a fighting man, Corvin, a mystic, Rook, a rogue, and Lothariel, an elven pathfinder. formed the core of the guard. They were led by a drunken veteran named Scar and two inept fighters, Mutt and Geoff.

⚔

It is morning. The caravan is camped by a small lake, about a day and a half from the Keep.

Our heroes hear a cry from a servant girl drawing water from the lake. A giant grab emerged from the waters and tried to nab her with its massive claws. She ran, screaming for help.

Lothariel unleashes an arrow, but it ricochets off the hard carapace. Aldric and Rook rush past, interposing themselves between the crab and the girl. The crab strikes them, wounding them with its claws.

Lothariel drops her bow, draw her blade, and rushes into the fray. While Aldric keeps it busy, she ducks underneath it, striking upwards into its vitals. Again and again it plunges deep, until the crab shudder and collapses. Lotahriel barely escapes being crushed.

The Campaign Begins

As I mentioned previously, I'm beginning a new dungeon crawl campaign using the classic D&D module, Keep on the Borderlands.

Reading through it, I noticed that the player characters must first find the Caves of Chaos before delving into the dungeon. So I decided to create a "hex crawl" (although I'm using squares). Along the way, they might encounter wandering monsters and other denizens of the region.

Here is my hex crawl map.

The party begins in square A4. I rolled randomly for terrain and it came up as fens. I also rolled for a wandering monster. I used the table in the module and got a giant shrew. That seemed silly so I changed it to something more water-related - a crab. I also changed the terrain to a lake to fit the story of someone going for water.

The Characters

The characters may seem similar - I initially created them for my experiment with Order of Eventide. I just converted them to Swords & Six-Siders stats.

I decided to create the caravan backstory to give a reason why they end up in this isolated outpost. I thought that a guard of 4 seemed a bit light, so I added some NPCs. I made them somewhat useless so that the party needs to do the heavy lifting.

And with that, they're off!

A New Campaign

Get ready - I will be journeying to

I decided to start a new dungeon crawl campaign, and I'll be using this classic D&D module. I chose it based on commentary from Professor Dungeon Master. Here he recounts a campaign he ran.

I am heavily revising my Micro Dungeon rules. I am using Swords & Six-Siders as the basis for my design. This way, I can just use the S&SS monster stats (and it is easy to convert from D&D to S&SS)

Stay tuned!

More Random Thoughts

On Skirmishes and Dungeon Crawls

Some of my recent thoughts:

• I've reversed course and now lean towards "small skirmishes" with individually based figures.
• I'm reading Five Leagues from the Borderlands again. Some good ideas but I don't think it will work for me.
• It calls for 8 figure bands. I prefer 2-4 heroes vs. the enemy hordes.
• There are a lot of pre-battle steps. I just want to get stuck in; I don't want to game a shopping trip.
• I am looking at a simplified wound system. My dungeon crawl rules ran into the same issue as D&D - at higher levels, combat drags because of higher hp. Five Leagues has a system that could work, however.
• Why not go back to Four Against Darkness?
• I don't like having to switch dice at higher levels
• I'd like all possible enemies in one place, not scattered over multiple volumes
• Dungeons are too random. And crafting specific dungeons takes too long.

On Arena Fights

Thinking about skirmishes led me back to my arena fights with Nocan.

• Thinking about ditching the junior/senior circuit. Graduating to the senior circuit seems too much like starting over.
• But then, how do I do levels? My tables that generate opponents are all predicated on 3 levels per circuit. I would need to redo all my tables.
• I also thought about adding possible death rolls during bouts, just to make the games more risky. No decision on this yet.

Soccer and Star League

With the World Cup approaching, I've been thinking about some prior gaming. Back in 2014, I played some soccer dice games, then modified the rules for Star League - grav ball style sporting contests. I wonder if I can dig up these games?

Stuck and Some Random Thoughts

I find myself in the wargame doldrums again, and I don't care. It has me pondering my gaming.

The LARP Effect

I've mentioned before that my favorite hobby is actually LARP. Things have been going well, with lots of new players. I've also been busy with some crafting projects (mostly weapons).

Alas, the season is drawing to a close (we shut down for the miserable Florida summers). That has me thinking about using games as a substitute. But how?

Dungeon Crawls

This seems like the perfect substitute for LARP, but I've been having issues.

• I'm not satisfied with my rules and I haven't found commercial rules that work for me.
• Setting up a game can require some work - I have to come up with the dungeon encounters. I could use a random generator, like Four Against Darkness, but it can feel too random. Playing a battle, like the Dominion of series, is actually simpler to set up.

I'm still thinking about how to do quick and easy dungeon crawls, but I'm not really getting anywhere.

Skirmishes

In lieu of a dungeon crawl, perhaps I could do some fantasy skirmishing.

As part of my stalled American Revolution skirmish project, I made some counters with small numbers of figures per stand.

I designed these for "big skirmishes" where each unit is approximately a "squad."

But I haven't printed them because of printer problems. First, I ran out of toner. When I refilled, my tablet that was linked to the printer died. I have a new tablet but I have to figure out how to link it to the printer.

Regardless, I am still wondering if I should do small or large skirmish (1 figure vs. multiple figures per counter).

Posting Less

I'm writing this as a way to sort out my thoughts. But I'm feeling that I'm wasting time with blogging. I may reduce posts to just battle accounts, in which case there may be long periods of silence when I fall into the doldrums.