Now, with a delve under K's belt, we proceed on to our first classic Olde School D&D adventure! And (for me, anyway), it doesn't get more classic than the iconic solo adventure in the Mentzer Red Box (1983):
As a gateway to role-playing, Frank Mentzer's Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (affectionately nicknamed the "Red Box") is an excellent entry point to RPGs for young children (as I was at the time), with its easy to follow, step-by-step tutorial. Since the Red Box was my first RPG product, it's not surprising that the solo adventure is the first adventure I ever played. In a smart design decision, the solo adventure was written in a game book format, and, as an avid reader of "Choose Your Own Adventure" books at the time, it wasn't a big leap for me to start dungeon crawling.
Also, it's worth pointing out the ridiculously badass Fighter on Larry Elmore's evocative cover, who we catch in medias res trying to solo a ginormous dragon! If you want a snapshot of epic daring and audacity, this is hard to beat. By all rights, the nameless Fighter should be dragon chow, but you get the sense that somehow the lizard is going to end up with the short end of the stick.
As the new Session begins, first off, we handle experience from Session I: as I've mentioned before, I have no love for accounting or other fiddly bits:
As a result, I got rid of experience points in my house rules. Instead, advancement is based on the number of major challenges that the PCs overcome, with the definitions of "major challenge" and "overcome" left to the DM's discretion.
I feel this makes much more sense than the Olde School D&D rule of GP = XP. Yes, it's true than folks like Conan the Barbarian, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser were often in it for precious gems or such, but you didn't see them carting off furniture!
Also, incidentally, since my house rules balanced the player classes, I use a unified advancement table, a move which I'm glad that D&D Next has also followed.
Anyway, I figured that successfully rescuing Petit Moi qualifies as a "overcoming a major challenge" and the PCs are credited with such.
Taking a couple days rest after their first delve, the PCs are then contacted by a friend of Médecin Diabolique, Capitaine d'Artagnan of L'Eau Noire:
Seeing the picture, K asks, "Are there guns in this setting?"
I say, "No, in that picture d'Artagnan is holding a Wand of Fireballs."
K muses, "So, there are wandkateers in this setting?"
[After a moment] I reply, "Well, I guess so."
L'Eau Noire is the world's most successful (read "notorious") company of private military contractors, currently employed by the Vietnamese government to work with their internal security forces. Capitaine d'Artagnan tells the party that kobolds operating in a city is a new and troubling development (they've heretofore only been encountered in the countryside), so L'Eau Noire has analyzed papers recovered from the Kobold Chieftain's lair, which point to a handler working secretly from the caves underneath some ruins just outside of Vĩnh Long.
D'Artagnan needs a team to head up to the ruins ASAP and identify the handler (street name "Mr. Infamous") before Mr. Infamous realizes his cover is blown. D'Artagnan also casually mentions that the PCs weren't his first choice, but the elite team he originally sent was eaten by a shoggoth.
Undeterred, the PCs accept the job. Capitaine d'Artagnan says that the ruins are known to be inhabited by undead so the PCs should pick up some maces and, noticing their lack of a cleric, d'Artagnan also suggests that they see the world's greatest monster hunter, Father Bernardo Gui:
Father Gui, the only person to single-handledly destroy a shoggoth (using nothing but his sheer fanaticism), terrifies the PCs with his gaze. Once they regains their composure, the party tells the Grand Inquisitor about their mission. Beaming, Gui says he's got a new cleric, fresh from seminary, who'd be perfect!
Thus, Father Gui introduces the PCs to his beloved niece, Aleena:
As the new Session begins, first off, we handle experience from Session I: as I've mentioned before, I have no love for accounting or other fiddly bits:
I feel this makes much more sense than the Olde School D&D rule of GP = XP. Yes, it's true than folks like Conan the Barbarian, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser were often in it for precious gems or such, but you didn't see them carting off furniture!
Also, incidentally, since my house rules balanced the player classes, I use a unified advancement table, a move which I'm glad that D&D Next has also followed.
Anyway, I figured that successfully rescuing Petit Moi qualifies as a "overcoming a major challenge" and the PCs are credited with such.
Taking a couple days rest after their first delve, the PCs are then contacted by a friend of Médecin Diabolique, Capitaine d'Artagnan of L'Eau Noire:
Seeing the picture, K asks, "Are there guns in this setting?"
K muses, "So, there are wandkateers in this setting?"
[After a moment] I reply, "Well, I guess so."
L'Eau Noire is the world's most successful (read "notorious") company of private military contractors, currently employed by the Vietnamese government to work with their internal security forces. Capitaine d'Artagnan tells the party that kobolds operating in a city is a new and troubling development (they've heretofore only been encountered in the countryside), so L'Eau Noire has analyzed papers recovered from the Kobold Chieftain's lair, which point to a handler working secretly from the caves underneath some ruins just outside of Vĩnh Long.
D'Artagnan needs a team to head up to the ruins ASAP and identify the handler (street name "Mr. Infamous") before Mr. Infamous realizes his cover is blown. D'Artagnan also casually mentions that the PCs weren't his first choice, but the elite team he originally sent was eaten by a shoggoth.
Undeterred, the PCs accept the job. Capitaine d'Artagnan says that the ruins are known to be inhabited by undead so the PCs should pick up some maces and, noticing their lack of a cleric, d'Artagnan also suggests that they see the world's greatest monster hunter, Father Bernardo Gui:
Father Gui, the only person to single-handledly destroy a shoggoth (using nothing but his sheer fanaticism), terrifies the PCs with his gaze. Once they regains their composure, the party tells the Grand Inquisitor about their mission. Beaming, Gui says he's got a new cleric, fresh from seminary, who'd be perfect!
Thus, Father Gui introduces the PCs to his beloved niece, Aleena:
I take it that since this is based on Leiber and Howard, there are nubile mademoiselles in every adventure? That, after all, is why the finest thieves in Lankhmar didn't usually go for the furniture. Mademoiselles want gems!
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