#rpgaday #rpgaday2019 - RPG a Day - "Guide"

-

Day 14 - GUIDE

I could write about the many Game Master's Guides but I will just tell you a story.

In the early days we were playing something homebrewed loosely based on Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Somehow, without internet, without contact with other groups, without even Dungeons and Dragons we were doing dungeon crawls, rolling for randomised encounters and such. We've been playing OSR / retro style because to us it was the intended way to do so.

So, for one reason or another we are being recruited to help the local innkeeper. Something is in the wine cellars, he says. He saw a hole in the wall, something broke through.


1st edition D&D goblin.
I love that image, I should get it tattooed or something

I believe someone mentioned wine tasting at one point so the innkeeper wants to go as our "guide" and to watch the barrels. Passing through the basement and then the wine cellar is uneventful. We find a few emptied barrels but nothing more. We're getting to the hole in the wall. It is a short corridor burrowed in the ground. On the other side there is a brick hallway with burning torches on the walls.
Our guide, the innkeeper, decides to get to the bottom of this and storms off into the far end of the hallway. 

He springs a trap and a hidden blade chops off his head. 

As fairly inexperienced adventurers we have only now realised that there might be traps, of the deadly kind as well. After a short conversation the strongest person in the party ( I forget who ) lifts the innkeeper's body and carries it over their shoulder. We are also looking for traps now. 

The next time there is something suspicious in the corridor we throw the innkeeper's corpse in front of us to trigger the trap. In the meantime, having gotten lost, we are occasionally fighting goblins while also trying to find a way back.
After several such gruesome encounters the dead body is in pieces. 

At the end of the corridor stands an armoured skeleton. Crossbow bolts and arrows fly through between the ribs. It is fast and resilient and parries sword attacks. 
If only we had a bludgeoning weapon.

I do not remember who came up with the idea, who performed the attack but...
The innkeeper's entire leg gets used as a giant club and the skeletal warrior gets clubbed back to... well... death. 

Even in death our guide has helped us multiple times and saved our lives. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Silvery Moon Tavern - review

-
Image
Product received for free So... You meet in a tavern... This supplement from Silver Bulette   gives the DM a fully fleshed out tavern, easy to insert in any fantasy city but also a part of their  Undying Orbs Omnibus   campaign (review soon-ish to follow). The basic idea is to have a sort of headquarters, a place where the party will be coming back on a regular basis to replenish the resources and rest between the adventures. What's in the box?! The many sections of the Silvery Moon Tavern supplement give an overview of the history of the tavern hinting at some events in the outside world. There is a dozen of tavern employees described, with portraits and plot hooks involving them either by referring to their personal lives or by tying them to some events in the area. There are five adventuring parties frequenting the place - from very low level to a serious threat - that can be utilised as a friendly competition or straight up enemies. A random...
Read more

Khan of Khans - review

-
Image
Stay Golden It's the Gen Con weekend and now we know.  Two Gold ENnies for " Khan of Khans " (Best family product, Best RPG related product) and they are well deserved. *le box Khaaan!  Do not pay any attention to the BGG score - the bitterness comes from people expecting a deep strategy or tactical game. This is not that at all. Khans is a simple push-your-luck family game with some tactics derived from the memory element of the game. The whole premise of the game is slightly absurd for people living in modern society - you are leading a tribe of animal riders and your goal is to procure  as many cows as possible through raiding different locations. Caaards! The game was designed by that German guy that pops up everywhere when board games are mentioned - Reiner Knizia .  Mechanically there are 10 piles of cards representing different locations in Glorantha's Dragon Pass (you may see a pattern developing here ). On your turn you draw a card ...
Read more

#rpgaday #rpgaday2019 - RPG a Day - "Vast"

-
Image
DAY 21 - VAST The original, old school way of playing D&D promises a vast, almost infinite world with infinite possibilities. The land that was promised But this is what you as a player might get. A lot of imagination required For many players, not always new ones, that is too much of a choice. "You can go anywhere, you can do anything". But where to go? What to do? Even with maps that present something it is usually abstracted to a degree that is difficult. Looks good to me when I analyse it a bit, but what does it tell you? This is mostly just colours ChicagoWiz's advice on both his blog and in his unfortunately defunct podcast The Dungeon Master's Handbook  was to create just three hexes . Start small, don't smother your players with choices, develop as you go depending on the events of the game, player expectations and your own ideas. The world does not need to be overly vast to feel alive.
Read more