Halfway to Nowhere

I am at the halfway point of my vacation and I have done nothing.

OK, that's not really true. It just feels that way because I have not played any games worth posting. 

What I haven't done

As my vacation began, I had a few game-related items on my to-do list.

• A Memorial Day Civil War battle
• The next expedition into the Caves of Chaos
• The next mini campaign in my Twelve Foes of Rome series

What have I done?

As I mentioned, it's not really true that I've done nothing. I made some progress in other areas.

• Completed some yard work
• Worked on a couple of shields
• Dabbled with some baseball rules

Shield Work

Here they are so far. I cut everything out; I just need to glue everything and then add covers.

I experimented with a design change. I used to use PVC pipe for my handles. Being round, they had a tendency to twist. This time, I'm using square dowels. They should not twist. I used a Dremel to round the edges for the handhold.

Baseball

I've had a hankering for baseball, but I haven't been feeling Fast Inning Baseball, which was my jam last year. I've been hunting around for alternatives, but found nothing that  I like.

Now, I'm dabbling with some ideas of my own. The key concept is to resolve an inning using an opposed die roll (inspired by DBA).

We Remember

May God bless those who gave their all for our country.

Kobold Caves

My Keep on the Borderlands Campaign

The continuing adventures of Aldric the fighter, Corvin the mystic, Rook the rogue, and Lothariel the elven pathfinder

After exploring the region around the Keep, our heroes discover the caves. They rest for a night without incident. The next morning, they begin their delve.

Notes:

• As I mentioned last time, I'm not going to do a full blown narrative. Instead, I'm just publishing my notes.
• I'll be making a number of changes to the caves to make them more interesting for my solo play:
• While I'll use the general creature in each cave, I may add or swap out ancillary encounters.
• I'm not using the maps from the published module. I often don't even map in solo play; I'll just have a series of encounters leading to the big boss. If I do map, I won't stick to the originals.

Our heroes enter the cave. It spirals downward into the bowels of the earth, with passages randomly leading out from the main tunnel.

Here are the party's encounters:

• Kobold miners – A hits. A and R hit. The rest flee
• Pit trap! A and R fall in. Bandage R
• More miners – L gets hit. Wipe them out. L recovers.
• Fire beetles – R gets hit. C and A stomp them. C heals R.
• Kobold guards – wipe them out in 1 turn!
• Kobold priests – A fried. C heals A. A, R, and L get hit. L and R hit. R takes out high priest. A, R, and L recover.
• Salamander – A, R, and C take heat damage. R hits. C’s luck negates a hit. A, R, and L hit and kill it.

Note: In my mind, the kobolds tunneled down until they met the salamander, which they worshiped as a god. I nerfed the salamander's stats to make it a suitable boss for a party of 1st level characters.

Image created by Chat GPT

The party loots the cave, retraces its steps, and returns to the Keep.

Note: I'm not keeping track of treasure, but I added the "looting" part just for narrative purposes.

Pontic Problems

The Twelve Foes of Rome Campaign

The next chapter of the campaign.

Another sire of the famed Bellicosus family has a chance to win renown. This time, the Senate sends him east to deal with King Mithridates of Pontus.

Battle of Bithynia

Mithridates invades Bithynia. Bellicosus defends this Roman ally.

The forces involved:

• Bellicosus: 2 legions (elite, armored), cavalry, and allied spears
• Mithridates: Cavalry, pikes (armored), spears, slingers, and scythed chariots (elite)

Note: Camera was charging so I scribbled down a battle map then transcribed it.

1. Roman cavalry advances but gets cut down by slingers.
2. The Pontic cavalry takes out a Roman legion but is spent.
3. The scythed chariots flank and rout the other legion.

Battle of Chalcedon

Bellicosus retreats to Chalcedon and sets up defenses on and around a hill outside the city.

Same forces as above but one legion is downgraded from elite to normal and the Romans get a hill.

Note: I probably should have downgraded the armor instead of elite. Or better, I should have put the spears on the hill so it could take advantage of the defensive bonus.

1. The scythed chariots and Roman cavalry take each other out.
2. Roman spears defeat the slingers but Mithridates rallies them. A legion defeats the pikes.
3. This time, the slingers defeat the spears.
4. Pontic cavalry rout a legion.

Aftermath

A disaster for Bellicosus, who earns the sobriquet "the Least." It will take a better general to defeat Mithridates.

Explorations

The Keep on the Borderlands Campaign

I'm changing the way I document the campaign. No more narrative, just some notes. I'll explain why below.

I just use the characters' first initials. For reference, the party consists of Aldric the fighter, Corvin the mystic, Lothariel the elf, and Rook the rogue.

The Second Foray

March N through woods. No event.

Turn W. Enter fens. Camp for the night.

R is on guard. Hears something and quietly warns the others. Lizardmen attack.

Hard fight against lizardmen. Kept hitting but had trouble penetrating the lizardmen’s tough skin (DR prevented damage). Ultimately, they cut down the enemy. All but C wounded. Used heals and bandages.

Return to Keep – no encounters.

The Third Foray

Head S, past the area where they fought the bandits. No encounter.

Turn E, into grasslands. Meet some human farmers. Get supplies. Spend the night safely.

Turn N. Meet a hermit. Encounter a mountain lion. Just then, hermit backstabs C, who goes down. A and L drive off the lion. R struck down by hermit. A wounds hermit, who runs away.

Revive and bandage C and R. Return to Keep.

The Fourth Foray

Travel N through woods then W into grassy plain. No encounters.

Travel E through woods. No encounters,

Turn S into hills. Run into a goblin band. C runs amok. Then A and L finish them off.

Turn W into wooded hills. Discover a ravine and the Caves!

My campaign map

Next time, they begin to explore the Caves of Chaos!

GAME NOTES

I decided to get a little lazy, primarily due to the way I am playing and recording results. Previously, I played on the tabletop and recorded notes in a journal. Then I transformed the notes into a narrative that I posted.

However, I also used the computer for some recording - specifically the game map. Then I thought, why not just put the characters on the computer. I can just play at my desk (using dice - I'm not going totally digital), I started a Word journal with my game notes. I figure it will just be easier to copy my notes to this blog.

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.