Tales of Escia

TALES OF ESCIA: Running an OSE Hexcrawl 04

Player Characters

Melora Kriss - Human Druid
Myr’tacae Malenia - Elf Fighter

The Premise

As explained in my previous article, we’re running a modified version of Old-School Essentials in a minimalist romantic fantasy setting, which will be fleshed out as we play.
We began with our first session of B2 - Keep on the Borderlands and decided on a bi-weekly rhythm every second wednesday evening, playing for 2 hours.

For the play report of the previous session, click here.

Session 04 - Tonight, we dine like kings!

TL’DR: The players arrived at the Caves of Chaos, only to find the goblins attacked by the harem of baboons they scattered a few days prior. A bloody battle ensued, that saw the bloody birth of “Baboon Butcher” Dandelion, the first goblin barbarian.

On the road again

After learning were the demihuman encampment is located last session, the party met up with Dandelion and headed west. The dice indicated the foreshadowing of a random encounter for this day, and that result was: baboons, again. I reasoned this made sense in the fiction, as they spend the day travelling through the same hex were they encoutered the harem and Dandelion a few days prior.
The group found what was supposedly the harems’ latest night camp, with leeftover food, feces and the like. The rest of the day was uneventful and they arrived at their destination in the next day’s afternoon.

Baboon Raid

Since foreshadowing a random encounter means predefining what the next encounter is going to be, I knew that they would see the baboons on the day of their arrival at the encampment. Rolling up how many there were this time and how they would react, the dice told me 30 and hostile. This led to being the same harem they scattered on their previous encounter, now being extremely pissed.
Since we were near the encampment full of malnourished goblins and monkeys being the assholes that they are, I ruled that the harem was there, in the goblin cave, raiding it for food and monkey-knows-what.

Into the Caves!

Visibly distressed after being mobbed by the baboons before, Dandelion feared for his clan, urging Melora and Myr’Tacae to help them. Before they entered the cave, Myr’Tacae gave Dandelion her Battle Axe for self-defense, and equipped her new sword and repaired shield. Together they entered, already hearing the shrieking sounds of the baboons and goblins alike, from deeper within.

A glorious Slaughter

Inside the cave was chaos. The baboons apparently were on their way to the storage chamber, attacking the weakened goblins left and right. The party first encountered a smaller group of six baboons, engaged with an equal group of goblins. Myr’Tacae felled the biggest baboon in one fell swoop, causing the other 5 to lose their morale and run for their lives through a hole in the wall. Relieved at seeing Dandelion return with bigger and stronger help, the goblins told them about the heading of the harem and ran of after them.
In the common room they found another 10 baboons in battle with goblins and the clans’ hired ogre bodyguard, defending a group of female goblins and their young. This battle took a little longer as the baboons succeded their morale checks and needed to be put down first, before moving on. Having no weapons on her, Melora started to collect stones in a blanket, ready to set it on fire and throw at the monkeys.
Until this point I forgot about usind Dandelion in the initiative order, declaring he needed to built up courage to act. Little did I know what the little guy had in store.

The first goblin Barbarian

Bolstered by more goblins and an ogre, the party made their way to the storage chamber, were they found the remaining 14 baboons engaged with the goblin king and his entourage. Outnumbered in the relatively small room and flanked from both sides, the baboons lost their morale check after the first casualty, but found themselves unable to escape.
Glad for the reinforcements and seeing the opportunity to restock the storage with baboon meat, the goblin king rallied his servants, promising them “Tonight, we feast like kings!” When it was Dandelions turn, something wonderful happened: he rolled a natural 20 and enough damage to kill two baboons with his attack. In contrast, Meloras plan to hurl her burning sack of stones was graced by a natural 1, misjudging her momentum and throwing it behind her.
The rest of the round saw many more monkeys slain, with they themselves having little to no effect on their enemies. When it was Dandelions turn again, emboldened by his last attack he rolled another natural 20, killing two more baboons, and proceeding to decapitate and present the heads of his four victims in triumph, covered in their blood.
After Myr’Tacae finished off the last of the monkeys, the other goblins cheered at Dandelions show of force, who took some time to cool off, due to all the adrenaline coursing in his body.
Meanwhile, Melora and Myr’Tacae conversed with the goblin king, learning valuable informations about the state of things at the demihuman encampment, including a possible location of the halfling merchants wife. There’s a chance she’s being held by the hobgoblin clan living in the caves right above the goblins.
Myr searched the storage chamber and discovered a secret door that wasn’t usable from inside, hinting at the way the food thieves could enter and leave without the goblins noticing. After he calmed down, Dandelion thanked the group and voiced his interest in joining them for more adventure, as the goblin king ordered the promised feast to be prepared.
That night, they truly dined like (goblin) kings.

Closing thoughts

What. a. BLAST! I had some thoughts about how the group may encounter the goblin clan this session and what they could do to earn their trust. But all of this went out of the window the moment I rolled up the baboon spoor. At first I thought “meh, again?”, but when I rolled up the exact same number and their attitude, I knew it had to be the harem from before, out for vengeance. I love how sometimes it’s so easy to interpret random table results in context of what happened before, leading to a coherent narrative.
I also love how Dandelion critted two times in a row, leading to the surrounding characters and even the players and myself cheering the little guy on. Without much planning or negotiating, they got themselves a trusty and loyal hireling. Here’s hoping he’ll live long and can bring much honor to his clan!

See you next time. =)

May 23, 2024

The Azure Archipelago - A LEGO hexcrawl.

This is an submission to DIY&dragons’ Summer LEGO RPG Setting Jam.
Now, this was a fun exercise. I didn’t imagine I’d ever write a Pirates of the Caribbean x Secret of Blue Water mashup, but here we are!

The azure archipelago has long been a haven for fortune seekers and other freeminded folk.
In recent years, the imperial navy has established a foothold in the area and outlawed piracy in the name of the emperor, come to mine arcane crystals and search for the legendary fountain of youth.
Unbeknownst to many, an advanced civilization lives below the sea, trying to preserve the delicate balance of the ecosystem.
Lately, the archipelago seems cursed, as anyone who dies at sea is brought back as a ghost.

Archipelago
Map made with Hex Kit and Nate Tremes cartography set.

Campaign Seeds

Since much of the archipelago is only accessible by way of water, player characters are best advised to procure a seaworthy vessel themselves or join one of the factions to gain access to the seas.

Here are some hooks to reel in your players (pun intended) and get the campaign started. Any one of them has the potential to lead to a unique game:

You found a treasure map that speaks of an impossibly large blue pearl on Skull Island. Find it, and you’re set for life. All you need is a ship and a crew to get there.
Your ship sank after a pirate attack. They spared you, but took all your belongings. You find yourselves adrift at sea in a lifeboat, with no food or water. Was that a shark fin you just saw?
A moment ago you were captives of the Imperial Navy. Now the ship you’re being transported on is under attack, and you managed to escape the brig in the chaos. Just hope you don’t run into anyone who remembers your faces.
You grew up as free pirates. Your first assignment should have been the Sea Vulture, but you were too drunk and overslept her departure. Now the ship is reported missing. Maybe you’ve dodged a bullet.
You’re members of the Imperial Navy. The latest assignment has you arriving at Fort Sabre. You’re to find the mystical Fountain of Youth for his majesty. Is it a fools‘ errand or your way to rise in the ranks?
You don’t know how it happened, but you died. You awoke as ghosts on the Dark Shark, surrounded by bloodthirsty pirate ghosts, eager to conquer the peninsula. Do you join them?

Factions

The archipelago is home to a variety of factions. Their individual territories, goals and resources are listed below.

Territories

Faction territories
Teal: Imperial Navy
Red: Pirates
Purple: Atlanteans
Grey: Ghosts

Imperial Navy

Stationed in the archipelago to mine arcane crystals for the emperor and search for the legendary Fountain of Youth to ensure his reign for eternity. Little do they know this spells their doom.
Superstitious about steel whales destroying navy ships.

Goals:

Mine arcane crystals. (3)
Discover the secret of the steel whales. (4)
Find the Fountain of Youth. (8)

Resources:

0101, 0105, 0303
HMS Sea Lion
Sea Hawk

Pirates

A group consisting of fortune seekers, swashbucklers and even ex-navy members.
They elect their leaders democratically, and every one of them is willing to die for this freedom.

Goals:

Disrupt Navy activity. (3)
Retake Port Royal. (6)
Drive the imperial navy from the archipelago. (10)

Resources:

0103, 0204, 0304, 0502
Black Skull

Atlanteans

Nautical humanoids who have perfected the building of submarine ships, called Garfish. The imperial navy calls them steel whales.
They know the mining of arcane crystals is weakening the ecosystem, but not to what extent.

Goals:

Attack Navy ships. (3)
Find a replacement for arcane crystals to power the Garfish. (8)
Find a way to prevent the volcano from erupting. (10)

Resources:

0302, 0404, 0505, 0602
Nautilus

Ghosts

Undead sailors all, indiscriminate of origin. You die at sea, you become part of their crew.
They know about the cause of the curse and seek to spread its blessing to all.

Goals:

Bolster crew numbers. (4)
Get rid of the guardian of the deep. (6)
Provoke the skull island volcano to eruption. (10)

Resources:

0604, 0606
Dark Shark

Random encounter tables

2d6 Random Encounters (Sea)

An atlantean miner with engine troubles. (Set: 7984: Deep Sea Raider) (Atlanteans)
The Nautilus from 0505, scouting the surface. (Set: 6190: Shark’s Crystal Cave) (Atlanteans)
The Black Skull from 0502, looking for booty. Preferably, something to be ransomed. (Set: 6286: Skull’s Eye Schooner) (Pirates)
3d6 daring pirates on a raft. They will attempt to seize any ship greater than their raft. (Set: 6261: Raft Raiders) (Pirates)
3d6 castaways. They’ve been adrift for two weeks now. (Set: 6257: Castaway’s Raft) (Neutral)
2d6 pirates on a raft attacked by octopi. The octopi are winning. (Set: 6240: Kraken Attackin’) (Neutral)
A lone imperial sailor, lost at sea. (Set: 6245: Harbour Sentry) (Imperials)
The Sea Hawk from 0101 looking for survivors of a recent battle. (Set: 6274: Caribbean Clipper) (Imperials)
The HMS Sea Lion from 0105, on the hunt for pirate ships. (Set: 6271: Imperial Flagship) (Imperials)
The Dark Shark from 0606, surrounded by thick fog. (Set: 6285: Black Seas Barracuda) (Ghosts)
Big Fin from 0306, basking on the surface. (Set: 8058: Guardian of the Deep) (Neutral)

1d6 Random Encounters (0204, 0302, 0303, 0304, 0305, 0403)

A lone treasure chest emerges from the sand. It contains a skeleton holding a blank map with inscriptions in invisible ink. (Set: 1747: Treasure Surprise)
2d6 pirates run from 2d10 imperial soldiers. They just escaped from a brig. (Set: 6204: Buccaneers) (Pirates vs. Imperials)
2d6 imperials hunt 1d4 pirates for sport. With cannons. (Set: 6239: Cannon Battle) (Pirates vs. Imperials)
A smugglers’ hideout. 2-in-6 chance no one is at home. (Set: 6258: Smugglers Shanty) (Pirates)
A makeshift gaol holding 1d6 pirates captive. 2d6 imperials are guarding them, reinforcements arrive in 1d4 hours to escort them to Fort Sabre in 0105.(Set: 6259: Broadside’s Brig) (Imperials)
A wounded atlantean scout, barely able to fight off a giant crab. (Set: 8056: Monster Crab Clash) (Atlanteans)

Hex contents:

0101 Port Royal

Imperial settlement
6277: Imperial Trading Post

Former pirate outpost, now officially imperial. Being a Trading Post, as neutral as it gets.
A seaworthy vessel can always be found for the right price.
Home port of Sea Hawk (2-in-6 chance of being in port).

Notable NPCs

Lieutenant de Martinet (Married to rum. Easily bribed.)
Bo’sun Will (Shady merchant, will sell you your own mother if given the chance. The quality of his wares speaks is worth it, though.)
Captain Barbossa (Imprisoned pirate captain. Thinks the navy isn’t so bad after all.)

Quests

Gather arcane crystals (0305 or 0403).
Find out what causes ships to sink in hex 0503.
Rescue the imperial spy ‚Fishwife’ William from 0502.

0102 Empty

Imperial territory
2-in-6 chance of encountering the Sea Hawk or HMS Sea Lion.
If the hex encounter happens and the dice indicate a random encounter of a neutral or opposing faction, both encounters are happening simultaneously.

0103 Vultures Nest

Pirate Settlement
6296: Shipwreck Island

Newly established hideout on the Sea Vulture, a derelict ship that ran aground on a sandbank in shallow waters.
Despite the constant threat of being eaten by salt water crocodiles, ‚Pirate Queen‘ Chess stands by her bold decision to establish an outpost in imperial territory.

Notable NPCs

‚Pirate Queen‘ Chess (Ambitious, thinks Captain Redbeard should step down. Could be convinced of making a move to relieve him of his duty.)
Captain Ironhook (Ex-Atlantean. Was rescued by Chess when adrift at sea.)
‚No Knees‘ Gibbs (Former navy sailor. Couldn’t abide by their expansionist methods anymore.)

Quests

Track down the Pirate Queens’ daughter (0304) and reunite her with her mother.
Establish a safe trade route between the hideout and Ile-a-Vache (0502).
Verify the fate of Captain Ironhooks crew at 0201.

0104 Empty

0105 Fort Sabre

Imperial settlement
6276: Eldorado Fortress

The imperial foothold in the azure archipelago stands proud, overlooking a cliff. Always a huge presence of soldiers. Always 2d8 pirates in custody, eager to escape.
Home port of HMS Sea Lion (2-in-6 chance of being in port).

Notable NPCs

Governor Broadside (Loyal to the emperor. A man of his word.)
Admiral Woodhouse (Secretly wants the Fountain of Youth for himself. )
Lieutenant Lesaro (Lost his family to pirates, hates the lot.)

Quests

Capture the legendary Pirate Queen (0103).
Get rid of the giant squid, Shamos (0205).
Track down the steel whale (0505).

0106 Stone Cobra Statue

Imperial territory
7325: Cursed Cobra Statue

A statue of a giant snake embraces an ancient stone obelisk at a cliff overlooking the sea.
Although cut from solid stone, it looks eerily lifelike and ready to move in a moment’s notice.

0201 Destroyed Hideout

Imperial territory
6254: Rocky Reef
6254: Rocky Reef
A former pirate hideout, abandoned after the imperial troops took control of Port Royal. The skeletal remains of killed pirates are the only inhabitants left.
Rumor has it some treasure might be left, although it’s not easily given up by its former owners.

0202 Empty

0203 Empty

0204 Vane Bay

Pirate settlement
6281: Pirates Perilous Pitfall

A newly established outpost, chock-full with traps to keep intruders away. Its inhabitants are armed to the teeth.
Sister settlement to Port Graff (0304). Connected with a secret tunnel.

Notable NPCs

Jack Raines (Naive youngling, glorifies pirate life.)
‚Tide Turner‘ Helena (Retired pirate captain. Wants to live out the rest of her days in peace.)
Clara Lancaster (Escaped from her drunk of a husband in Fort Sabre.)

Quests

Help get rid of the Navy presence on the island (0303).
Clara is sick. Find the Guardian of the Deep and petition for an ointment (0306).
Help reinforce the defenses of Vane Bay.

0205 Big Blue Hole

Imperial territory
8061: Gateway of the Squid

Shallow waters hide a deep blue hole. The remains of countless ships adorn its bottom, deliberately placed by a giant squid sailors call Shamos.
A docile pet to its squid-man master, it collects treasure from the vessels it has sunk.

3-in-6 chance a vessel traveling the hex is attacked by the Shamos.
If the hex encounter happens and the dice indicate a random encounter of a neutral or opposing faction, both encounters are happening simultaneously.

0206 Empty

Pirate territory
2-in-6 chance of encountering the Black Skull.
If the hex encounter happens and the dice indicate a random encounter of a neutral or opposing faction, both encounters are happening simultaneously.

0301 Empty

0302 Stone Arch

Atlantean territory
8078: Portal of Atlantis

An inconspicuous cliff hides the entrance to a cave that holds a magic portal to Atlantis ind 0505. Skeletal remains of a battle between atlanteans and some squid-people scatter the floor.
1-in-6 chance of accidentally reactivating the portal. Anyone of atlantean descendant should know how to get it working again.

0303 Imperial Outpost

Imperial settlement
6263: Imperial Outpost

Recently established foothold on the island. Understaffed, but eager to prove themselves to their superiors.

Notable NPCs

Officer Swift (Secretly in love with Officer Magda.)
Officer Santos (Critical of the navy’s methods in the archipelago. Easily swayed.)
Officer Magda (Wants to impress Lieutenant Lesaro in Fort Sabre.)

Quests

Gather arcane crystals (0305 or 0403).
Kidnap the Pirate known as ‚Sealegs’ (0304).
Verify the location of the main pirate hideout (0502).

0304 Port Graff

Pirate Settlement
6273: Rock Island Refuge

A reinforced fortress built into the cliffside. Its location is known by the imperial navy, but every attempt to seize it has been thwarted by the resourceful residents, until now.
Sister settlement to Vane Bay (0204). Connected with a secret tunnel.

Notable NPCs

Captain Brickbeard (The pirates’ second in command, hates the navy.)
‚Sealegs‘ Nadia, Pirate Princess (Enjoys her freedom, will not be bound again.)
Philipp Swift (Ex-navy sailor.)

Quests

Establish trade relations with the Atlanteans (0505)
Find the origin of the mysterious fog that appears at sea (0606).
Disable the flagship of the imperial navy (0105).

0305 Empty

Pirate territory
A deposit of arcane crystals can be found in the crags of these hills. Almost exhausted, but solid and easy to handle.

0306 Deep Sea Lair

Atlantean territory
8058: Guardian of the Deep

An underwater cave located in a deep sea trench, hidden by kelp and protected by groups of sharks. Home of a dragon-sized Oarfish called Big Fin. The atlanteans travel here to ask for its blessing on special occasions and know a ritual to placate the sharks.

3-in-6 Chance a vessel traveling the hex is attacked by Big Fin, the guardian of the deep.
If the hex encounter happens and the dice indicate a random encounter of a neutral or opposing faction, both encounters are happening simultaneously.

0401 Cave Lair

Pirate territory
8076: Deep Sea Striker

A rocky reef hides a deep cave. Easily navigable if one knows the way.
Anyone coming to close is immediately attacked by Snappo, the giant sea scorpion.

3-in-6 Chance a vessel traveling the hex is attacked by Snappo.
If the hex encounter happens and the dice indicate a random encounter of a neutral or opposing faction, both encounters are happening simultaneously.

0402 Empty

0403 Empty

Pirate territory
A large, as yet undiscovered deposit of arcane crystals. The volatile sort, prone to exploding if handled wrong. Difficult to tell the difference, though.

0404 Garfish Wharf

Atlantean settlement
6199: Hydro Crystalation Station

The Garfish submarines are built here, in a large glass dome. Biggest source of arcane crystals in atlantean territory.
Garfish submarines from Atlantis (0505) and the geothermal research lab (0602) come and go regularly.

Notable NPCs

Jean Rocque (Upstart engineer, wants to be recognized.)
King (Captain of the watch, a man of few words.)
‚Two-Finger‘ Sanson, ex-Pirate (Almost drowned, rescued by Jean. Deeply loyal.)

Quests

Salvage a crystal pearl guarded by Snappo, the giant sea scorpion (0401).
Intercept a shipment of arcane crystals to 0101.
Find a way to reactivate the ancient giant snake statue in 0106 to destroy Port Sabres defenses.

0405 Empty

Atlantean territory
2-in-6 chance of encountering the Nautilus.
If the hex encounter happens and the dice indicate a random encounter of a neutral or opposing faction, both encounters are happening simultaneously.

0406 Fountain of Youth

Atlantean territory
4192: Fountain of Youth
4192: Fountain of Youth
Once every month, when the moon reaches its pinnacle, a small volcanic island rises from the depths of the sea.
The fountain it holds grants eternal youth, but at a terrible price: anyone who dies in the archipelago is raised as an undead. The Atlanteans know this. King Nemo used it last, three moons back.
The imperials search for it, ignorant of its side effects.

0501 Empty

Pirate territory
2-in-6 chance of encountering the Black Skull.
If the hex encounter happens and the dice indicate a random encounter of a neutral of opposing faction, both encounters are happening simultaneously.

0502 Ile-a-Vache

Pirate Settlement
6270: Forbidden Island

A rag-tag shantytown and the biggest pirate haven in the archipelago. A daring crew can always be found here for the right price.
An imperial spy is currently held captive and eager to escape.
Home Port of the Black Skull (2-in-6 chance of being in port).

Notable NPCs

Captain Redbeard (Elected leader of the pirates. Some say he’s getting too old, but never to his face.)
‚No Smile‘ Angelica (The pirate’s weapons’ master. Lost her edge when her brother disappeared at sea.)
‚Fishwife‘ William (Captured imperial spy, would promise anything to be free again. Empty promises, all.)

Quests

Free Captain Barbossa from 0101.
Find out what happened to the Sea Vulture (0103).
Discover the fate of Angelicas brother, Bullette Bill (0606).

0503 Underwater Lair

Pirate territory
7978: Angler Attack

At night, a bright light shines seductively under the surface of the sea. During the day, nothing seems out of the ordinary.
At the bottom of the sea, Luminee has amassed treasures of unwary travelers lured into the depths.

At night, 3-in-6 Chance a vessel traveling the hex is attacked by Luminee, the giant angler fish.
If the hex encounter happens and the dice indicate a random encounter of a neutral or opposing faction, both encounters are happening simultaneously.

0504 Empty

0505 Atlantis

Atlantean settlement
7985: City of Atlantis

A magical bubble houses an ancient underwater city made from solid white marble, its buildings adorned with golden statues of ancient kings. A giant silo serves as an underwater port for the Garfish submarines.
Home port of the Nautilus (2-in-6 chance of being in port).

Notable NPCs

Nemo (King of Atlantis. The latest Atlantean blessed with eternally youth, but old and tired inside.)
Grandis (King consort, runs the day-to-day business. Seeks to free her beloved from his mixed blessing.)
Eiko (Master of logistics, has a crush on Electra in the geothermal research lab.)

Quests

Help the Nautilus to destroy the navy flagship HMS Sea Lion (0105).
Find out what happened to the man known as Ironhook (0103).
Destroy the cause of undeath in the archipelago (0406).

0506 Empty

Ghost territory
2-in-6 chance of encountering the Dark Shark.
If the hex encounter happens and the dice indicate a random encounter of a neutral or opposing faction, both encounters are happening simultaneously.

0601 Empty

0602 Geothermal research lab

Atlantean settlement
6195: Neptune Discovery Lab

An atlantean base to observe geothermal activities sits at the edge of a deep trench. Research garfish arrive and leave on a regular basis.
From the bottom of the trench, a horde of undead begins their long climb up. They arrive in 1d6 days.

Notable NPCs

Electra (Chief engineer, worried about the archipelago.)
Hanson (Captain of the guard, not very good at his job.)
Ayrton (Rookie engineer, has a crush on Hanson.)

Quests

Fend off the undead attacks.
Help find the origin of the increased geothermal activity (0604).
Recover a shipment of arcane crystals from 0503.

0603 Empty

0604 Skull Island

Ghost territory
6279: Skull Island

An active volcano with a cove resembling a giant stone skull at its base. A giant blue pearl lies at its heart, guarded by countless ghostly pirate that once tried to claim it.

0605 Empty

0606 The Dark Shark

Ghost settlement
6285: Black Seas Barracuda
6285: Black Seas Barracuda
Once the biggest pirate flagship to sail the archipelago, the Dark Shark now houses only lost souls.
A thick sea of fog surrounds the ghost ship, further hiding its silent approach. It can always be found here.

Notable NPCs

Davy Jane (Legendary pirate, now a ghost. Dreams of her glory days.)
Gargoyle (Known as the Butcher, his bloodlust persists even in undeath.)
Bulette Bill (Unfortunate pirate, drowned at sea. Would rather be elsewhere.)

Quests

Locate the home of the Nautilus (0505) and destroy it.
Kill Big Fin, the guardian of the deep (0306).
Defend Skull Island from the Atlanteans. When the volcano erupts, the crew will gain many new members (0604).

May 22, 2024

Tales of Escia

TALES OF ESCIA: Running an OSE Hexcrawl 03

Player Characters

Melora Kriss - Human Druid
Myr’tacae Malenia - Elf Fighter

The Premise

Session 03 - Of Baboons and Celebrations

TL’DR: The party decided to return to Margrave Keep to restock on supplies and find way to store the unexpectedly heavy treasure chest they found. They rescued a malnourished goblin from a hoard of baboons and found the keep in a state of week-long celebration: Duke Albanns heir had been born the day before.

Monkey Business

After the group found a heavy chest full of coin in an abandoned Thieves Guild hideout, they decided to return to Margrave Keep for the time being, to resupply and store their newfound wealth.
The dice indicated a random encounters for the day and my table result was ‘Troop of 10×1d4 baboons. Might grab and run.’. The d4 came up a 3, so 30 baboons - a whole harem.
The day before play, I realized that my prepwork offered the players no real opportunity to find the demihuman settlement yet, which is a hex’s secret location and requires third-party knowledge to discover. In light of that realization, I decided to use the baboon encounter to make up for that, and had the baboons harass a malnourished goblin by playing piggy in the middle with a loaf of bread.
The PCs were sympathetic with the goblin, but the prospect of having to fight 30 baboons was daunting. Melora came up with an idea of holding the monkeys with her Entagle spell, grabbing the goblin and making a run for it. Since all of the baboons were standing in a circle around the goblin, I ruled that the spell would be able to affect all of them, including the goblin.
With their focus being solely on the ppor goblin, the baboons were surprised by the sudden plant growth and only 10 out of 30 made the save. Being generally cowardly creatures with a morale rating of 5, I found it reasonable to have them check for morale right away, and all of them failed, causing the non-entangled baboons to run away and the entangled ones too scared to act, as Myr’tacae walked right up to the goblin and carried it to safety.

Dandelion

Shaking with fear but to weak to put up a fight, the goblin surrendered to its fate immediately. After being offered some honey and rations, it revealed its name, Dandelion, and told Merlora and Myr’tacae about the goblins plight at the demihuman settlemend: their storage had been plundered and they haven’t been able to find the culprit, leaving the whole clan hungry and desperate. He asked if the party might want to help him out and would offer the location of the settlement if they agreed and procured some food for his clan.
As they were being on their way to restock supplies anyway, the party agreed and took Dandelion with them to the keep, asking him to hide somewhere nearby and wait for them to return.

Party All Day Long

Arriving at the keeps gate, the party was held up by an obviously drunk guard. He explained that news of Duke Albanns newborn son had arrived at the keep the day before and a ten day long celebration had been ordered in light of this joyful event.
Much of the keep had been decorated and several bands were filling the streets with music, with nary a resident being sober.
Melora and Myr stopped by the provisioner first and found Cori to be an exception, voicing his concern about the keeps apparent vulnerability during the celebration. He offered his wares and suggested the party hire some help to carry their equipment and deposit some of their money at the Guild Houses bank to keep it safe. Stocked up with extra rations for the goblin clan, they went to the blacksmith next to have the shield repaired.

Guild Advertising

At the Guild House, the party met the local guild master, a male halfling called Cassyon Button, who explained the basics of depositing gold at the bank and how guilds worked in the earldom.
Cassyon asked if the player characters might want to join one and become subject to all the advantages of being a guild member, we talked about Meloras background as a beekeper and established that she was technically a member of the Saltmarsh beekepers guild, now on the run.

Off to new adventures

With their gold safely deposited, the party decided to call it a day and went to the inn.
The next morning, Myr picked up her order at the blacksmith and they met up with Dandelion, who told them the location of the demihuman settlement.
Or, as the residents of Margrave Keep would call it: the CAVES OF CHAOS.

Closing thoughts

I love random encounter tables. The whole session could have gone totally different if I had gotten another result.
Whether its ol’ reliable 2d6 goblins or something like the 107 mountain dwarves encounter from Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, random encounters make the world feel alive, especially if they’re not designed with combat as the default solution. Combine them with activity and reaction tables, you’ve got the potential to fill a whole session and lay the groundwork for future adventures.

I’ve come to structure of my random encounter tables based on Papers and Pencils blog post, where 2 is always a dragon and 12 is always a wizard and gave it an Escia-specific spin by adding a potential demigod encounter to the list:

Dragon
Territory
Territory
Territory
Territory
Recurring Character
Universal Threat
Universal Threat
Universal Threat
Demigod or their Avatar
Wizard

For every type environment there’s a day- and a nighttime table, with entries 3-6 containing encounters depending on the environment and hex contents (we’re in hillside territory right now) and 8-10 containing mainly encounters with local factions like the Knights of the Blue Shield, the Knights of the Golden Promise and others.
Encounters not rooted in hex contents or factions were filled with entries from Skerples brilliant Monster Overhaul.
Adding a demigod encounter to the list felt right after I read Rise Up Comus’ article about greek gods just being high level PCs. So in every random encounter there’s a chance of engaging with one of the 9 demigods or their avatar, possibly gaining their favor or pissing them off.

So for example, my daytime hillside table looks like this:

Dragon (Sruthkin form XXXX)
The Manticore from XXXX, looking for prey. (hex content)
2d6 starving Lions stalk 1 Elephant. Might switch to easier prey or remember assistance. (Monster Overhaul)
4d6 Addercapper Raiders from 0902, looking for easy money. (hex content)
Troop of 10×1d4 Baboons. Might grab and run. (Monster Overhaul)
Recurring Character (separate table)
1 Griffon surrounded by 10×1d10 Knights of the Blue Shield, hoping to capture and tame it. (faction)
3d10 Knights of the Waving Banner, patroling the road. (faction)
2d6 Bandits, harassing a merchant and his cart.(universal threat)
Demigod or their Avatar (separate table)
Wizard (Stepladder Burke from XXXX and his pet lion)

See you next time. =)

April 28, 2024

Tales of Escia

TALES OF ESCIA: Running an OSE Hexcrawl 02

Player Characters

Melora Kriss - Human Druid
Myr’tacae Malenia - Elf Fighter

The Premise

As explained in my previous article, we’re running a modified version of Old-School Essentials in a minimalist romantic fantasy setting, which will be fleshed out as we play.
We began with our first session of B2 - Keep on the Borderlands yesterday and decided on a bi-weekly rhythm every second wednesday evening, playing for 2 hours.

For the play report of the previous session, click here.

Session 02 - Of talking Spiders and merry Outlaws

TL’DR: The party unexpectedly found a group of soldiers in need of help. Their quest to find an antidote for a poisoned soldier led them to negotiating with a pair of giant black widows and learning more about the goings-on in the region, as well as spending the night in an old thieves guild hideout.

Road Investigation

As was planned in the last session, we began with our party travelling from Margrave Keep to hex 0801.
Regional Hexes
Hexes on this map are scaled for 24 square miles, so it takes approximately a day to travel from one to the next, unless the journey is impeded by difficult terrain. With hex 0801 being adjacent to Margrave Keep and travelling along the road they came through from Saltmarsh, the party arrived at their destination late in the afternoon.
My dice indicated no random encounter for the day, so they found the location where the webbed merchant cart was discovered without any hold-ups. Being a relatively busy road, any possible tracks since the cart was moved back to Margrave Keep were already mixed with newer ones.
Looking around, Melora and Myr’tacae discovered two things: a female voice screaming in pain, coming from the top of a hill to the west; and an off-road trail, leading to a deeper section of the area to the east.
With the additional task of looking for the halfling merchants’ missing wife, they decided to head up the hill first.

Landmark Discovery

On top of the hill, the party discovered a ruined tower and a group of five people inside. They were clad in armour and wearing colors they hadn’t seen before at Magrave Keep: a black tower on red ground.
One of them - a human woman - was lying on the ground next to one of three statues, resembling the demigods Aphrodite, Demeter and Hephaistos, and the source of the screams. The four others - three male humans and one male halfling - were standing over her, obviously distressed.
The halfling noticed Merlora and Myr’tacae first and gave his captain a good nudge to the kneecap. My reaction roll told me they’d be wary of the party, but their desperation for their comrade in distress quickly led to them talking about what had happened: Last night while camping, their party was ambushed by giant spiders, with one member ending up wounded and poisoned and another being carried off into the darkness. When asked why they didn’t bring the poisoned soldier to Margrave Keep for healing, the captain responded that doing so would most certainly lead to the lot of them ending up on the gallows, since they aren’t welcome there.

To the Nest!

Alton Crang the halfling had an idea how to cure the poisoning, but his captain wouldn’t let him try it, because it involved tracking the spiders and extract their venom from their body to cook up an antidote. When Melora and Myr’tacae agreed to help, the captain gave in and allowed Alton and the two other soldiers to go with them. When talking about how to extract the poison, Alton suggested Melora and Myr could try to talk to the spiders, rather than killing them off.
On their way from the tower, Alton shared that he knew where the spider nest was located, because him and his group regularly travel these hills. It didn’t take long for them to arrive at a grove of web-covered dead trees, hidden in a valley.
Standing before the massive Nest, Melora and Myr debated on how to best approach the spiders, with Alton stressing that he made a joke, since everyone knows that animals aren’t supposed to be talking.
Heading deeper inside, the group found remains of spider eggs and two humanoid sized cocoons. Just as Myr’tacae was approaching the cocoons, two giant black widow spiders descended from the webs and barred her way, demanding to know what they were doing here.
Surprised by the fact that these spiders indeed were talking to them, Melora took the lead and explained the situation. My reaction roll again told me the spiders would be wary but willing to negotiate, so they told Melora that they were only attacking the soldiers because they needed something to eat and that the poisoning of one of them was only in self defense. Melora offered some honey in exchange for their venom, which the spiders accepted.
Too baffled by the spiders’ apparent sentience, Alton forsook any plan to attack them, instead asking to take their abducted comrade back with them. The spiders told him that it was already too late for that, but that they were free to take his belongings back with them. Myr took his broken shield as a token of proof and they left the nest in (relative) peace.

Return to the Tower

On their way back, Melora and Myr’tacae asked Alton about the halflings’ group and their conflict with Margrave Keep. He told them that the keep originally was property of the Addercapper family, before Lord Brackenwold gifted it to Commander Margrave a few years back. She arrived at the keep with her soldiers and gave the Addercappers the choice of leaving quietly or be executed for insubordination.
Outnumbered, the current head of the Addercapper family, Katerynne, chose the former option and has been living in the hills with her loyal entourage ever since. They make their living by stealing from the keep and its associates, but Alton stressed they only ever take as much as they need and try to avoid violence whenever possible. The reports of attacks on merchans are, according to him, not about them.

Dinner and Goodbye

Back at the tower, Alton started cooking up an antidote right away, while Melora and Myr talked to his captain again. He introduced himself as Molly Fraggleton and invited them to stay for dinner. They could also keep the broken shield as payment, as it would prove to be a helpful piece of equipment, once repaired.
Melora and Molly talked at length about the beekeeping and honeymaking and how it could provide the Addercappers a way to trade with merchants rather than stealing from them. Molly was intrigued by her expertise and promised to at least propose the idea to Katerynne.
When wondering about the untouched offerings lying before the three demigod statues, Molly told the party that the tower was supposedly used as a hideout by the thieves guild, although he and his group have never actually encountered anyone here.
After dinner, the soldiers headed home to their encampment, providing Melora and Myr’tacae with its location , should they ever want to trade or need their help.

Cellar exploration

After the soldiers left, Myr took a stroll around the tower to look for a good place to spend the night and under some rubble discovered a hidden door leading to a cellar below the tower.
Inside, they found one door that proved too stuck to move, and another leading to a small but hopefully safe enough room to sleep in. During the night they heard the cry of an eagle outside (my rolled omen of an random encounter) and noticed their fire moving in a draft of air. Myr looked for the origin of the draft and found the eastern wall of the room to be an illusion, hiding a passage to another room deeper within. The room, which contained several sleeping rolls and a large chest filled with gold and gems, seemed to have been unsused for quite some time as everythin was covered by a thick layer of dust.
Happy about having found a more comfortable place to sleep and their newfound treasure, Melora and Myr’tacae went to bed.

Closing thoughts

This is where we ended the session, again with 15 minutes left to talk about other things.
We determined the XP gained in the session (1165xp for the gold plus 480xp for exploration per PC) and where they plan to go the next session - further westwards to look for the missing halfling, Pearl.
Overall, the players discovered the landmark (tower ruin) and hidden thing (spider nest) in hex 0801, which just leaves its secret feature to uncover. They also got directions to the secret feature of hex 0902, the Addercapper camp.
Most of the sessions RP vibes were determined by the NPC’s reaction rolls, which I’ve come to embrace for all my recent games, and which proved to generally fall into the partys favor.
I like using the Mausritter reaction table on the left over the actual OSE one on the right, because as you can see, it tends to give even more opportunities to parley with a possible enemy, which serves quite nicely for our type of play.
OSE reaction table

See you in two weeks. =)

March 14, 2024

Tales of Escia

TALES OF ESCIA: Running an OSE Hexcrawl 01

Player Characters

Melora Kriss - Human Druid
Myr’tacae Malenia - Elf Fighter

The Premise

As explained in my previous article, we’re running a modified version of Old-School Essentials in a minimalist romantic fantasy setting, which will be fleshed out as we play.
We began with our first session of B2 - Keep on the Borderlands yesterday and decided on a bi-weekly rhythm every second wednesday evening, playing for 2 hours.

Session 01 - The Beginning

TL’DR: The player characters arrived at Margrave Keep after receiving a call for help in the town of Saltmarsh: they are to investigate a series of attacks on merchants and abductions of the keeps populace. The group got their bearings and met most major NPCS at the keep, before settling down for the night in the sleeping room of the Stinking Ogre tavern. This was a 100% RP session.

Arrival at Margrave Keep

The session began with the PCs arriving at Margrave Keep, passengers on a merchant cart, after hearing of a call for help in the coastal town of Saltmarsh, located about 5 days of travel to the west: The keeps Commander seeks a neutral party to investigate a series of recent attacks on merchants and travelers, as well as disappearances of people in the vicinity of Margrave Keep.

Still flying the banner of Brackenwold, Margrave Keep is located at the northwestern border of the earldom of Albann. Six months prior, the former ruler of the peninsula, Lord Brackenwold, had to give up this part of his land to Count Albann, by decree of the twin emperors of Courland. As part of the division, the hills around Margrave Keep were defined as the new border and for the time being, the keep remains staffed with its former inhabitants.

At the gate, the party was met by Brackenwold soldiers of the Knights of the Golden Promise - remains of Lord Brackenwolds army, consisting mostly of breggles (goatfolk) from the Dolmenwood region far to the east - and granted access to the keep.

The Stinking Ogre

They started to get their bearing around the keep by visiting the local tavern, the Stinking Ogre, meeting the dwarven barkeep Dombo Barkhop, as well as grimalkin noble Madame Pusskin - first claw and ambassador of King Pusskin of Dolmenwood - while talking about their reasons for arriving at the keep.
Mme. Pusskin stated her task of retrieving a lost sword, stolen from another grimalkin noble in the area not long ago. Unfortunately for her, she was the only person around when the task was issued and forbidden to return to court until the sword was found, and had no one to delegate to - until now. She offered 100gp to the party, should they come across the sword in the course of their investigation and return it to her.
Dombo mainly talked about the issues around the keep, as well as warning of the dangers in the surrounding area. As the barkeep, he was the main source of local rumors. He also showed interest in Melora adding honey to her ale and offered to name the drink after her, should it prove popular with his customers.

Audience with the Commander

Afterwards, the group decided to visit the keep fortress and met Commander Malgrave - an ageing, too-old-for-this-shit breggle - and her advisor Woken-Too-Soon - a dolmenwoodian elf - and talked long about investigating the attacks and missing people. Commander Margrave explained why she needs a neutral party: the locals are starting to blame a group of demihumans that are known to have a settlement somewhere in the area and, until recently, regularly came to the keep to trade. She doesn’t have the manpower to start a large-scale search and wants to prevent unnecessary bloodshed.
They advised the group to talk to the locals for more details of the attacks and disappearances and also bid them to keep an eye out for the keeps mage, who went missing a week or so ago.

Talking with the locals

Next, the group went to the merchants quarter of the keep, where they found the local trader Fennig Cornicus - a breggle - arguing with the merchant they arrived with. Fennig had little additional information about the missing people and wares, except that a few days ago, a patrol discovered an abandoned cart southwest of the keep with its cargo untouched, covered in webs.

They then went to the local provisioner, Cori Brandywood - a halfling - and learned that his wife Pearl is one of the people reported missing. Three weeks ago, she went looking for herbs southwest of the keep and never came back. His own search unsuccessful, the guards and soldiers couldn’t be bothered looking for her and Cori strongly voiced his opinion and disappointment of them and was glad that finally somebody showed interest in investigating the issue.
They also talked about the culinary preferences of goblins, since reports involving them reported only stolen foodstuffs, but little else. Cori suggested they buy a pack of rations from him, for themselves or as a bargaining chip.

Having rolled up a whopping 12+2gp after choosing their background and starting equipment, Melora and Myr started discussing the price of 5gp for the rations. Cori, glad that someone was finally willing to look for his wife, took pity on them and offered a payment in increments: 50% now and 50% when they return his wife. The rations still ate up a good part of the groups funds.

Return to the Stinking Ogre

With the day nearing its end, Melora and Myr returned to the Stinking Ogre, and there overheard another group of adventurers discussing a bounty issued by the local guild house: hunt a certain basilisk and earn 250gp.
To save some money, the party decided to sleep in the taverns hammock room, the cheapest option availabe.

Closing thoughts

This is where we ended the session, with 15 minutes left to talk about other things. I briefly explained the downtime rules (we’ll be using Ben Laurences Downtime in Zyan as a base) and we decided on giving the PCs the opportunity to spend a week or more on downtime activities whenever we end a session in a safe haven.
Overall, I think we got a lot done in the relatively short time of play, even if it was a pure roleplaying session. I basically got to dish out every hook and rumor I had prepared for this session, with all of them coming up organically during roleplay - no rolls needed.
It certainly helps that we’re an established play group, every one of us having played with (and GM’d for) the others before. Aside from re-establishing some starting facts, everything went smoothly fast and the PCs already show a lot of character after one session.
The players already decided to go look for Pearl and the location where the webbed merchant cart was found next, starting their exploration of the surrounding lands.

See you in two weeks. =)

February 29, 2024

On Bucket Lists and fighting the real enemy: Time Management

The Dilemma

What to do, if you’re like me and have hoarded a lot of adventure modules and settings (not unlike a dragon, actually) and realize you’ll probably never find the time to play them all properly, because we’re not kids anymore and time management became the arch enemy of ongoing longtime play?

In my case, (part of) my current bucket list consists of four things:

I want to play more Old-School Essentials and collected quite a lot of adventure modules for it.
I want to run some “classic” AD&D modules like B2 - Keep on the Borderlands, mainly because I enjoy Seth Skorkowskys AD&D reviews a lot.
I want to run a Dolmenwood game, because I love what Gavin Norman cooked up with this setting.
I backed Wildendrem - The Valley of Flowers on Kickstarter and I enjoyed reading the book and its ideas.

That is a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Possibly years of play with multiple groups and every organizing issue that may come with this.
Complicating the issue further: I also run a game set in Eberron and I am a player in two regular campaigns.

So, what to do, other than surrendering to fate and accepting that some things simply aren’t meant to be?

The Solution

Now, I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here and a lot of more eloquent people have elaborated these things on their blogs before, but here’s my approach.

Pt. 1 - The Setup

Take the best parts and mash ’em together! Luckily for me, all of the above are quite similar in theme and tone, or can be relatively easy modified to fit them. I wrote up a minimalist setting and did what every sensible GM would do: Stuff. Everything. Into. It.
The result is a hexcrawl with a total of 130 hexes, filled to the brim with Landmarks, Hidden Things and Secrets, consisting of adventure module parts, Locations from Dolmenwood and the Valley of Flowers and other things, in a Dune-like setup.

The Duchy of Albann
In total, there are dungeons, villages, NPCS, monsters and points of interest from 40 different sources in it. It’s dense.
In fact, it’s almost certainly overkill. We probably still won’t be able to see everything, but we’ll decide together what we’re most interested in and take it from there.
But first and foremost, it’s a toolbox. It took a lot of work to fill it, but now it’s ready to be used. Doesn’t matter when. Almost doesn’t matter where. Even if this experiment doesn’t work out now, I can use it again anytime in the future.
The framework is an Excel sheet in my google drive with multiple pages, like this:

It contains everything I need to run a game, aside from individual module texts.

Pt. 2 - Find interested players

Two players of my regular game were interested in trying this out with me. Admittedly, that is a small group, but it helps immensely with time management and getting the game going.
Since they didn’t want to run several PCs at the same time, it poses a challenge when most of the adventure models are designed with a party of 6-8 PCs in mind.
In our Session Zero, I proposed some houserules, like adapting the Luck-Attribute from DCC and thus the possibility to find a downed PC still alive if a LCK-Check was successful.
The latest KNOCK! issue contained an article originating from a blog article by Joseph Manola about playing OSR D&D in a romantic fantasy narrative. Our group liked the concept, so we’ll try it out. The game focus hence will be more on the social side of things, rather than combat, further alleviating the smaller PC count, although henchmen and helpful NPCs will still be around.

Pt. 3 - Time management

If I’ve learned anything from my ongoing Eberron game of two years, it’s that for us, a regular, bi-weekly date helps immensely with planning when everyone involved knows what day they need to keep free of other activities. Playing remote certainly helps a lot as well.
So, naturally, we’re going with this approach again. We also decided to only plan for two hours of play, leaving more wiggle room if LIFE decides to throw stones in our path. That way, it will hopefully be like watching a movie.
Almost everyone can make time to watch a movie together.

Closing thoughts

This is an experiment. And it’s a fun and promising one. Maybe it won’t work out. But even then, I’ve learned a lot and I don’t regret having put in the work I did. Maybe I’ll start writing session reports in this here blog, further elaborating on elements and techniques I use.
We decided to begin with B2 - Keep on the Borderlands, starting tomorrow. I’m excited to see how it goes. :)