And Then There Were None

I continued the adventures of Roderick using Demonslayer.

Last time, he defeated the fifth of six demon lords, Zorrak the World Eater

Here is the map of his quest to find and kill the last demon lord. He started at the star and ended at the shield. X's are encounters.

Here is a list of encounters. Purple shading indicates a combat encounter.

At the ancient obelisk, Roderick usea the clues he gathered to summon the last demon lord, Xal'Vyr the Plague Herald. "The demon of pestilence and disease, Xal’Vyr spreads corruption wherever he goes. His rotting, festering form oozes sickness, and his breath carries death."

Chat GPT's conception of Xal'vyr

Roderick rushes into the attack, striking the demon. Surprised by the blow, Xal'vyr misses with his counterattack.

Then the demon surprises Roderick with his quickness. Roderick's attack falls short, but the demon strikes him.

Then they trade blows, slowly whittling down each other's strength. The foulness of the demon lord makes Roderick sick, furthering weakening him.

Roderick parries a blow and then counters with a savage strike. Roderick presses, exposing himself to a hit. He shrugs off the pain and slashes, slicing open the demon's abdomen. Foul entrails spill out. The demon lord collapses in a heap.

Roderick has defeated all the demon lords!

What's Next?

After his harrowing adventures, it is time to retire Roderick. At some point I will replay the game with a new hero.

Zo Long, Zorrak.

Sir Roderick has defeated another demon lord.

It's been 2 months since Roderick's last victory. Over that time, I've mostly played Dominion of the Spear, but I decided to try a little adventuring using Demonslayer.

Here is the map of Roderick's wanderings. He started at the star and ended at the shield.

Here is his diary of encounters.

When he found the Demon's Mark, he was able to use his clues to summon his next enemy, Zorrak the World Eater.

The two combatants circle each other, looking for an opening. Roderick dodges under the demon lord's claws. Using his knowledge learned from a wizard, our hero knows exactly where to strike. His magic sword bites deep. Zorrak howls in rage.

The demon slashes with his claws. Roderick does not move and the claws rend deep into his flesh. But Roderick is within reach of Zorrak's weak spot and he does not want to give up his advantage. He stabs again, deep into Zorrak's vitals. The demon howls and claws madly. Roderick takes another brutal wound but he holds his ground. With a mighty slash, Roderick splits open the demon's belly. Black ichor spills over the warrior.

Zorrak collapses and his body disintegrates.

Roderick is victorious! Only one demon lord left!

The World Breaker Breaks

Sir Roderick is at it again.

I had some free time one morning and decided to play a few encounters of Demonslayer. Roderick defeated a demon lord in his previous outing so I reset the board and his health, and started again.

Here is his path, starting at the red star and ending at the red shield. Black X's mark encounters.

Here is the diary of his encounters.

I only planned to play a few encounters, but I kept going. I wanted to end with a good fight, but Roderick is pretty powerful now so combat was generally one-sided.

Finally, our hero reached an obelisk. With 3 clues, he could summon a demon lord. As it so happened, he got a third clue in an abandoned library in his previous encounter!

Enter Vorgath the World-Breaker!

I was confident going into this - Roderick actually had an advantage over Vorgath. Roderick had more hp, hit for more damage, and defended on an 8 or lower on 2D6. But he needed a 6 or less to hit the demon lord. Also, the demon lord's powerful blows could knock Roderick to his feet.

There was a stalemate early on - Roderick kept missing but so did Vorgath. But slowly Roderick whittled down his enemy. He also took some wounds, but he usually managed to stay on his feet. Thus, the advantage remained with Roderick.

Finally, the combatants traded hits. Roderick remained standing while Vorgath collapsed and disintegrated into nothingness!

Roderick has now eliminated 4 of the 6 demon lords!

And this game remains a great time-filler for when I don't feel like setting up anything more complex.

And then there were three

Continuing on the fantasy theme, I completed another Demonslayer campaign.

It was another long campaign, with my hero Roderick wandering across much of the breadth of the land. I started at the red star. The red line shows his path and black Xs are encounters. The shield is where he ended.

You may notice the red X. It was an encounter I did in a previous game so I skipped it.

Here is the diary of Roderick's encounters.

Roderick finally met Khazrak, Beast of the Abyss. The game describes him as a "hulking, feral demon with the head of a ram and claws the size of swords."

Generated by Gencraft AI

He was big and slow, so Roderick was able to dodge most attacks. However, Khazrak was very powerful so it was difficult to score a hit. As a result, the battle went for many rounds, with Roderick unable to hit but able to dance away from attacks. Nevertheless, sometimes the combatants would score, and slowly their health drained away. At one point, both combatants were down to 6 hit points. But then Roderick hit with his magic (4 damage) sword and then avoided Khazrak's counterattack. Then Roderick struck the final blow, and Khazrak was no more!

Roderick has managed to take out 3 of the 6 demon lords!

Another One Bites the Dust

After my initial success at Demonslayer, I decided to press on with a campaign. Roderick continues his adventures, but I reset the game somewhat. I bumped Roderick's hp back to max, chose a new starting point, and pressed on.

This turned out to be a short adventure.

Rod started at the star and ended at the shield
Crosses are places he visited

Here is Roderick's diary of encounters.

As you can see, he met a demon lord on turn 7. This time, it is Maldrath, the Soul Reaper

But Roderick has an advantage. He wields a magic sword that he acquired from a skeletal knight. This sword slices easily through Maldrath's shadowy form. The demon lord bellows in rage as Roderick successfully strikes again and again. Meanwhile, Roderick easily dances away from Maldrath's scythe. Until Roderick grows careless. Maldrath slashes and wounds Roderick. Worse than that, Roderick feels his willpower fading. He needs to end this battle. He charges and lunges. His blade pierces the demon lord's chest. With a wail, Madrath disintegrates into nothingness.

Roderick has killed another demon lord. But now he carries a scar - his Will is permanently lowered by a point. 

Roderick Victorious

I continued with my Demonslayer campaign. After some more wandering, I had the opportunity to summon a Demon Lord. I decided to chance it, and end the campaign for good or ill.

Roderick vs. the Demon Queen

Roderick began having ghostly visions. Using his knowledge gained from his adventures, he was able to challenge the demon lords. I used clues to cause a demon to appear.

Suddenly, Inthara, Queen of Flames, appeared.

Image created using Gencraft

Roderick attacked using his new axe. He managed to inflict a number of wounds upon Inthara. However, the heat of the flames that surrounded her threatened to overwhelm him. Then she managed strike him with her burning staff. Roderick was close to death. But he took a mighty swing, and chopped off her head!

Game Notes

This was an incredibly tense battle. 

• Roderick (Rod) used all his healing potions prior to the battle, but he still was down to 24 hp. Inthara started with 26 hp.
• Inthara had the chance of doing up to 6 hp of damage per turn - 4 from attacks and 2 from heat damage. Rod only had an axe that did 3 hp.
• Nevertheless, things started well. Rod managed to get in a bunch of hits while avoiding damage.
• But then the heat began to takes its toll, slowly whittling away his hp.
• Finally, both were down to 2 hp. Rod got first attack, and hit! Down went Inthara!

What Next?

• The rules state that you can play an ongoing campaign, keeping your character and going after the remaining demons.
• However, Rod's down to 2 hp. Should I reset the game? Rod won't last long otherwise.

Straying Instead of Slaying

I've been playing Demonslayer when I have spare moments. As I predicted, it's a neat little filler game when I don't want to set up something formal.

I like that the rules are simple and straightforward. Encounters are incredibly easy to adjudicate. I can usually complete one in a minute or so.

My First Campaign (So Far)

I created a hero named Roderick. He has Intelligence 9, Dexterity 8, Might and Will 7, and 4 Charisma (on 2D6).

Here is Roderick's progress so far.

I started at the red star and have visited the locations marked with a black X. The shield represents Roderick's current position.

Here is the log of his encounters. You can see it's quite a varied list.

But I Have A Quibble

When don't I? I have completed a lot of encounters, but I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere. I'm straying but not slaying.

As you can see, I've gotten over 30 encounters under my belt, 25 of which are set encounters. That means that I have finished about a quarter of the set encounters. Yet I am not any stronger than I was to start. In fact, I'm weaker because I've lost a lot of hit points. Sure, I have some healing, but I want to save that until I meet a demon lord. In the interim, I can't find a town to heal and sell some of my spoils. I recently managed to find a slightly stronger weapon. It doesn't seem enough.

Given that there are 6 demon lords, I figured I'd level up enough to confront one after exploring about 1/6th of the map. That hasn't happened. Perhaps I haven't hit the right places yet. I'll keep going but I am getting a little frustrated.

Demonslayer

Just in time for Halloween, Ganesha Games has released a fantasy game about hunting down and destroying demons.

Synopsis

Ganesha Games describes Demonslayer as "a retro-fueled, sword and sorcery hex-map game for a single player. All you need is the rulebook, the map, and two six-sided dice. Will you be the one to slay the demons, or will you fall victim to the shadows?"

As described, this is a hex crawl game, reminiscent of the classic Barbarian Prince. Here is a sample of the board. The numbers represent encounters. You can also run into random encounters in the unmarked hexes.

This is a rules light game. Your character has 5 abilities. They start at 4 and you have 15 additional points to allocate among them. Your Might and Will score determine your hit points. You start with a hand weapon and off you go. Task resolution, including combat, is simple - roll under the relevant ability.

Your goal is to track down and destroy one of the demon lords plaguing the land. To do it, you wander around the map visiting encounter sites. You can gain experience, gold, luck, equipment, and clues from your encounters. But you can also take wounds - ouch!

Your character starts with a lot of HP but gets whittled down slowly over time. You need to find the demon or find healing before you run out.

My Thoughts

I started a game and have played out a dozen encounters so far. I enjoy playing out a few encounters at a time, then setting it aside for a later time. I put the map, rules, and character sheet on the computer so I don't have to fiddle with physical components other than dice (which I keep on my desk). This makes it a great filler game. Have a few spare moments for gaming? Play out a few encounters of Demonslayer.

If I were to go physical, I would mark my progress on the map using a pen or pencil. That way, I could quickly pull it out or put it away.

I'm not sure how long it will take to finish a game. I'll let you know when I get there. I'm curious how much replay value there is. Ultimately, you'll learn where the encounters are located and can cherry pick your way around them.

Nevertheless, I think this is definitely worth the $5 price. I've been wanting a quick game for spare moments. Demonslayer fills that need.