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.

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?

Learning to Crawl

I've done some dungeon crawl experiments recently.

Sort of Order of Eventide

I created an extremely stripped down dungeon format for my OoE characters. Here is the dungeon sheet I created.

I also revamped the character classes a bit, using a mix of Four Against Darkness with OoE. The game worked, but I do have concerns about its long-term viability, specifically how how higher levels will work.

The Surge and Blunder concept for OoE is really growing on me. I like how it tailors the results to the class or monster, providing different effects that feel natural.

Loner

I then tried Loner.

I created a character based on my example from my first impressions post. Brok, a burly barbarian that is skilled with a sword and has a good sense of direction but has persistent nightmares, ventures into a goblin lair.

Note that good sense of direction and persistent nightmares came from some of the Loner: Dungeoneer random tables. I'm not sure how relevant they'll be, especially the nightmares, in my type of dungeon crawls.

I initially tried to use the tables in Dungeoneer to create the dungeon but I quickly gave up. There were a lot of tables that gave more info than I wanted and the encounter results did not give enough combat. I ended up scrapping them all, jotting down some encounters, and then went at it.

I recorded the dungeon with pencil and paper. Brok did not explore the shaded rooms. I generated them after the fact to see how the whole dungeon looked.

I was pleased with how easily and effectively the Loner task resolution system worked. Statting the monsters was easy - I just decided if Brok had an advantage or disadvantage, or was evenly matched.

I had to tweak the Luck rules. In his first combat, I treated the rats as a collective, with 6 Luck total. They quickly whittled Brok down to 3 Luck. I then evoked the 4AD morale roll when the rats were halfway down. They fled. I gave Brok a healing potion, which brought his Luck back up. After that, I started most monsters with less than 6 Luck. Brok was able to make it through the rest of the dungeon without issue.

I did struggle a little with defining And and But results, but ultimately I came to decision (I was not using the damage system suggested in the book as it seemed too deadly). Ands were critical hits that allowed victor to make an extra, free attack. Buts allowed the loser to make an counterattack.

What Next?

Ironically, I like Loner, but not for solo play. Why? Because,

• I prefer to run multiple characters, not just one.
• Rolling multiple dice per character slows down the game. It's quicker to roll 1 die per character.

I liked how streamlined Loner was when handling a single character. I would totally run it with multiple players each controlling a single character, but that's not what Loner is for. In fact, the author recommends using Freeform Universal for multiple characters.

Where does this leave me? I find myself drawn back to my Micro Dungeon rules. I think the solution to my scaling problem is to reduce hit points. Either do not increase them with levels, or make it difficult to increase them. I'll have to experiment some more with it.

House Ruling OoE

I started dabbling with some house rules for Order of Eventide (OoE). To playtest them, I rebooted my 4 characters and ran them through a dungeon.

Initiative

I switched to old school D&D party imitative rather than switch back and forth. This allows me to roll all characters at once. 

Character Sheet

I created a new character sheet that allows me to put all 4 characters on a single page of paper. Rather than track items by character, I'm just going to have a communal area for items (aside from carried weapons and worn armor).

Themed Dungeon

I did not like the randomness of the random dungeon. Like my efforts with Four Against Darkness, I decided to create themed dungeons.

I noticed that there are 3 different bosses (behemoths) in the starting area. I decided I'd create a different themed dungeon for each boss.

Here is the dungeon encounters for the bandit leader.

I created this sheet in Excel and set it up to print on half a sheet of paper.

Dungeon Tiles

I also used Excel to create some dungeon tiles. I planned to print them, cut them out, and then draw randomly to create the dungeon.

Test

My goal with many of the above changes is to play OoE with physical components instead of on my computer. But before I print anything up, I decided to do a test.

Here is the dungeon I created before I stopped.

The main issue I had with this setup was redundancy. I fought 2 batches of banditos and 2 of bloated corpses. When I ran into more banditos, I had enough.

For tabletop dungeon crawlers, I get bored fighting the same opponents again and again. I'm thinking of going back to the Micro Dungeon structure discussed in this earlier post.

Looks like I'll be rebooting OoE again.

Order of Eventide Playthrough

Previously, I discussed my first impressions of Order of Eventide (OoE), a solo/co-op dungeon crawl game. The game has a campaign structure that piqued my interest. I decided to start a one.

Character Creation

I created the requisite 4 characters. I decided to go with one of each class - fighter, hunter, mage, and adventurer. The hunter is an elf while the others are human. No bunny-men for me.

Here they are (thanks to Chat GPT) - Aldric, Corvin, Rook, and Lethariel.

Character creation was not difficult, but a little confusing. Different rules are in different sections of the book, which requires a lot of flipping around. I was using a Kindle, which makes flipping especially challenging.

There is a mention of armor in the resources section, but I didn't find rules for armor. I guess it's built into the defensive abilities. Shields and some racial traits will give defense bonuses.

There are not a lot of stats, which I like. Each character has an Attack Bonus and a Defense Bonus. Use these when rolling in combat. Here are their bonuses:

• Attack - Aldric +2 in melee, Lethariel +3 ranged, Corvin +1 arcane, Rook - no bonus, but he dual wields
• Defense - Aldric is +1 for a shield and Lethariel is +1 as an elf.

Characters get starting weapons for free. They also have a small amount of gold, er glowstones, to buy additional items. I got a healing potion for each character.

Corvin is a mage but I don't see magic rules. Oh well, hope he can find an arcane weapon.

Into the Dungeon

My heroes decide to adventure in Sundessa. Using the random tables in the book, the dungeon is called the Martyr's Crypt.

OoE has blank dungeon sheets that are 25 by 25 squares. Instead of printing a sheet, I used Excel. here it the dungeon explored by the heroes so far.

The entrance is pre-mapped. From there, our heroes choose to go north.

• Rm 1. They encounter 5 spark sprites (will o' wisps?). Spark sprites are level 3, so the heroes need to roll 3 or better to hit and to defend themselves. They manage to wipe out the sprites with only one minor wound. They gain 1 Essence (experience) and roll for treasure. They find a two-handed sword.
• Rm 2. 5 blackpaw cultists (orcs?) - Another victory. This time they find glowstones.
• Rm 3. An event that give them a token to reroll any altar rolls. Characters use altars to summon the region's main boss.
• Rm 4. Another event. This time they lose half their treasure to a pirate.
• Rm 3. Backtracking, they run into wandering monsters, 16 skeletons.
• Rm 5. Another event. They purchase a scroll.
• Rm 6. A boss! They defeat a bandit leader. More wounds,
• Rm 7. 3 blackpaw cultists.
• Rm 8. 6 orc blademasters.

As you can see, this part of the dungeon dead-ended. There are 3 more doors leading from the entrance that the heroes can explore. I stopped for the time being.

Right now, Lethariel has lost 1 of 4 health. The others have lost 2 of 5. So some damage but they can still press on a bit.

My Thoughts

Now that I played it some, what do I think of OoE? Note that I have some peculiar tastes when it comes to dungeon crawl games. I an really in it for the combat. I generally don't like searching for treasure or dealing with inventory. I also prefer short dungeons.

• Combat was simple and quick (aside from Surges and Blunders).
• Combat alternates between heroes an enemies. For example, Aldrich attacks, then an enemy, them Lethariel, then an enemy, and so on. I prefer to roll all the hero attacks at once, then the enemies. I may house rule this.
• Combat seemed too easy for 1st level. With their attack bonuses, Aldric and Lethariel often could not miss (and a natural 1 is not automatic failure). I wonder how things will work at higher levels.
• 8 rooms and still maybe 75% of the dungeon to go. Longer than I like.
• Checking for treasure dragged, especially because I had to flip pages on my Kindle. 
• Surges and Blunders required more reference than I like. Perhaps it would be easier using printed pages. I may just need to get used to it.
• The enemies felt a little too random, a common issue with randomly generated dungeons. I thought that the OoE campaign structure would alleviate that, but it still is a minor problem.
• Nevertheless, I still find the campaign structure appealing.

OoE still scratched the dungeon crawl itch. I like the campaign and am interested in seeing where it goes.

What Next?

I think I may play it some more, looking for ways to streamline.

Order of Eventide

I recently picked up, Order of Eventide (OoE), a solo/co-op dungeon crawler tabletop game akin to Four Against Darkness (4AD).

First Impressions

I happened to see a couple of glowing references to it in a Reddit thread on solo RPGs. It was $9.99 on the Kindle so I took a chance.

Here are some of my thoughts as I read through it the first time.

• The artwork is good, albeit AI-created. I don't care about that but some do. My issue is not AI but the amount of art. I'm not a fan of a lot of art in rulebooks. I just want good rules.
• You play with 4 heroes, like 4AD. Logical.
• Wow, they have a lot of difference races. Not my thing, but I guess modern audiences prefer that. I'd probably just stick with the old standards.
• Odd class system. 
• You start with one of 4 classes - fighter, hunter, mage, or adventurer (I guess that's like a rogue). 
• Then when you reach the second tier (whenever that occurs), you unlock new classes. I guess you dual-class.
• Then there is a third tier. And paladin is third tier. So I need to level up to play a paladin. Not keen on that either.
• There doesn't seem to be a level cap. This is my big issue with 4AD - there is an effective cap at level 5, unless you switch up all your dice.
• They don't have experience points or gold pieces. Instead, they have Essence and Glowstones. Why not just use plain language?
• You get ambushed by wandering monsters when you backtrack through a room. More shades of 4AD.
• All hits do 1 point of damage. I see a lot of 4AD here.
• I like how they do dual wielding, You roll 2D6 and take the highest. This fits my experience with dual wielding in LARP. It is extremely rare to attack with both weapons simultaneously. Generally, you use one to feint or defend and strike with the other. OoE seems to simulate that in a simple manner.
• It is a D6 system. Huzzah! 🎲
• They make a big deal about Surges (roll a 6) or Blunders (roll a 1). Surges or Blunders can have a variety of effects.
• There are 3 types of enemies - horde, forsaken, and behemoths. Forsaken and Behemoths kind of fit into 4AD's minions and bosses or weird monsters dichotomy. Hordes are undead but seem similar to 4AD vermin.
• Again like 4AD, enemies never roll dice. When enemies attack, roll for the characters to defend. I like this.
• There is a built-in setting. For example, the campaign starts at town called Kara's Vale. The characters join an Order to fight evil. The Ordermaster is headquartered in Kara's Vale. Generally, I'm not fond of prescribed settings; I prefer to make my own. But I can see the appeal.

This takes us about a third of the way through the 200+ page book. So far, it's just making me want to pull out 4AD.

But now it starts getting interesting. There are six regions in the game world. Each region has different charts for creating the dungeons. This gives the adventures in each region a distinct feel. There is also a different big boss (sorry, Master Behemoth) for each region. Once you defeat all those bosses, there is a final boss of the campaign. As much as I don't like built-in settings, I rather like this premade campaign structure. It gives a sense of purpose for your characters.

The rest of the book mostly fill in details on classes and races.

Quick Synopsis

Based on my initial readthrough, my impressions were:

• It is a lot like 4AD. That's a good thing, but it also begs the question - why not just play 4AD?
• The rule differences from 4AD didn't really appeal to me. For example, I'm never going to play a Sylveran (looks like a bunny person).
• But I really like the campaign structure. Dungeons in each of the 6 regions of the game world have different enemies and therefore different feels. This made me want to try the game.

What's Next?

I was going to include a short playthrough in this post, but it already got very long. I will create a separate post for my playthrough. Stay tuned!

Woodland Manse

A Ser Killian Micro Dungeon Adventure

Spoiler Alert - this adventure is loosely based on the D&D adventure Dragon's of Icespire Keep. You may not want to read it if you plan to play that adventure.

Ser Killian's Tale

This missive continues the tale of Ser Killian, originally told in this chronicle.

Ser Killian is a level 4 paladin. He is joined by his squire Haiden (L4 fighter), his confessor Martin (L3 cleric), and man-at-arms Nashad (L3 fighter).

In his last adventure, Killian and his party battled through various enemies to reach Falcon's Hunting Lodge. The owner then asked for help clearing out some marauding orcs.

Quick Aside for a Game Note

I was originally playing Ser Killian's adventures using my MicroQuest rules. But I ran into difficulties when the adventurers got their butts kicked by some orcs in a long, drawn-out battle. Seems that my damage / armor rules weren't working very well. So I shelved MQ until I could sort out the problem.

Anyway, as I've been experimenting with Micro Dungeon, it dawned on me that I could use MD to complete Killian's tale.

To the Manse

Falcon informs the party that there is an abandoned manse to the east in the woods. Once the home of a wizard, it now seems to be the stronghold of the orc marauders.

Along the way, the party runs into an orc warband. After a brief but intense fight, the orcs break and flee. Our heroes have taken some wounds.

Next, they get ambushed by blights, humanoid-looking plants that thrive on human blood. Once again, there is a brisk fight that our heroes win.

Finally, from the brush a pack of boars rush the party. Our heroes quickly kill the attackers.

The Manse

At the entrance of the manse awaits an orc shaman. As the party approaches, he warns them to leave.

Killian responds "We come to destroy the corruption that has blighted these woods. If you are not involved, then move aside and let us do our work."

The orc sneers, "I am the corruption." With that, he chants an incantation and an earthquake knocks the party off their feet. In an instant, he is among our heroes, smashing them with his staff.

The shaman dodges our heroes, striking again and again. Martin is bleeding profusely and must retreat from the combat. Killian covers him, only to suffer the wrath of the shaman. Before the orc can strike a killing blow, Nashad comes up from behind and strikes him down.

The Corruption

Inside the manse, they find a courtyard with a blackened tree in the middle.

Martin shivers and says, "This is the source. I can feel the evil."

Suddenly, the tree lashes out with vines, striking our heroes. This begins a terrible fight. Again and again, the vines lash out. Again and again, our heroes rush in and strike the tree's trunk. Little chips of wood fly, but the tree seems unaffected.

Blood runs freely from our heroes. The vines grasp Killian and squeeze him. Winded and bloodied, his strength is nearly sapped. Yet he breaks free, and rushes forth. In a little chink in the bark, Killian drives his sword. It penetrates into the blackened heart of the tree. It thrashes wildly, vines trying to withdraw the sword piercing. Its efforts are in vain. Within minutes, it sags and moves no more.

After this, Martin and Killian cleanse the manse of evil. With this, the orcs should depart.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE ADVENTURES OF SER KILLIAN!

NOTES

About the Ser Killian campaign:

• That worked surprisingly well. I think I will convert my Ser Killian campaign to these new rules.
• Just checked - I have 3 adventures left in the campaign. Using Micro Dungeon should allow me to knock them out in no time!
• Checking the Icespire Peak campaign book, I realize that Ser Killian and his compatriots should have leveled up last time. I will correct this going forward.

About the Micro Dungeon rules:

• I did not use counters, or even the dungeon board. Instead, I had index cards with the monster starts on them. I laid them out face down then flipped them as I went. This worked well and leads me to a new option - monster cards. It's something I experimented with before but never completed. But I think it solves the problem I mentioned previously. I may design cards without images; that should speed up the creation process. They won't be index card sized. That's just too big. I'll probably make them half an index card.
• I did use the tracking board. It just makes the game so much easier. I realize I can also use it to track spell points and potions.

A Practice Dungeon Run

I took my micro dungeon out for a test spin. I'm using a generic warrior and mystic as (unnamed) characters.

Here is the board at the end of the game.

We were fighting the boss and the warrior was down to 1 hp when the mystic finished it off. Whew! Although the heroes got a bit unlucky; they had to go through all 6 encounter areas.

Thoughts

Just some random musings about how it worked.

• The entire dungeon probably took 15 minutes or so. Perfect.
• The wounds tracker works well. I don't have to worry about penciling stuff down. If I want to record results, I can snap of picture of the tracker after each battle.
• I gave the heroes a chance to heal after each encounter. Without it, they would have failed. I like the mechanic better than giving them a ton of hit points. I just need to formalize rules, and perhaps impose some limits.
• Successful hits did 1 point of damage each. I am toying with a variable damage mechanic. Stay tuned.
• I forgot to account for armor. I assume the warrior would start with light armor. That would likely have reduced damage taken.
• I still haven't devised a magic system.

The Big Problem

I mentioned a potential problem with the counters, and I think it is an issue I need to address.

It took a long time to create the monster counters. Now that the dungeon is done, I need new counters. It just seems like too much work.

So here is my new plan.

• Make generic monster counters labeled 1 to 6 plus a generic boss counter.
• Randomly place these on the board, facing down, at the start.
• Create a dungeon key on an index card. The key lists the monsters and their stats.

So this will be my next experiment.