Tags
campaigns, caves of woe, dungeon crawl, od&d, play reports, ravendale, swords & wizardry, whitebox
Third Session: “Now We’re on a Roll…” – 4/19/15
This was actually two mini-sessions, broken by a brief respite in town. It was also the first time we used Holmes-like initiative order, based on dexterity, rather than the standard d6 roll per side (foes of equal dexterity do merit a d6 roll, however). I wanted to try this and see how it played. It definitely speeds up combat, at least once everyone gets used to the round-by-round order. I’m using Holmes’ suggestion to roll dexterity on the spot for monsters, which adds an element of chance. It also makes dex much more important than normal in S&W White Box, since PCs are normally limited to the +1 bonus to missile attacks for a dex of 15+.
PCs:
- Eth-Tue (level 1 Elf FM/M-U)
- Garros (Level 1 Dwarf FM)
- Aella (Level 1 Cleric)
Hirelings:
- Sporzer, Tredron, Vak – Mercenaries who survived!
- Chorme, Gar, Fezzig – RIP all three meatshields were killed by cyclorcs
- Aelzef the porter
- Blart the wagon driver
In the first venture into the caves, the party discovered two sets of jail cells and torture chambers guarded by one-eyed orc-like creatures, henceforth known as cyclorcs. In the first jail cell room, three guards and their human leader put up a fierce fight, flanking the group and killing three of the mercenaries. In the second, three guards and their leader were surprised and taken out easily after Eth-Tue utilized a sleep enchantment to good effect. Several prisoners were rescued – Farfuleg the Bold, Plumb the Hobbit, and a local farmer named Dumbfeld. Plumb told tales of a wish-granting statue, and offered his services if the party would assist in his search. Farfuleg, grateful just to be rescued from certain death, offered his services for free. One cell held a surprise for Aella – an illusory door and a giant, animated skeleton. It proved no match for the Amazon’s bronze mace, however Aella was wounded in the exchange and the party decided to head back to town to rest.
They returned the next morning, with more mercenaries and this time entering through a second, northern cave entrance. A long, wide dirt mound blocked their way. Garros wisely probed the mound, discovering a connected series of large bear traps. He removed the traps, and the party continued on, soon encountering a faerie dragon lair. They were surprised by the stealthy creature, and several members of the party were put to sleep as the dragon winked from sight. A lucky sword strike from Farfuleg caught the invisible creature in flight over their heads, however, and it materialized in front of them, cut in half. Much of its treasure hoard was collected by Plumb, the only one brave enough to approach an open pit full of gold.
~
Smoldering Wizard 
They go through meatshields as fast as my group does!
I don’t think druids or faerie dragons are in S&W WhiteBox. Presumably you’re using monsters from the Monster Manual and elsewhere. Anyway, this is fun. Have you played more yet?
Heh, yes the death rate early on in this campaign was impressive! It has stabilized a bit recently as the PCs have gained levels. I have a bunch more session reports and will post more as time allows, but yes I’m using outside stuff mostly from the White Box Bestiary by James Spahn, and the Creature Compendium by Richard LeBlanc, Jr. Druids are from the original idea of them in OD&D (they were lumped in with the monsters before the class appeared formally in supplement III), so I have them as basically evil clerics. Darkness and cause light wounds turned out to be a deadly combination at low levels.
The Creature Compendium, of course! I thought I recognised cyclorcs from somewhere. I look forward to your PCs encountering some wonderfully weird foes.