Previous ACKS campaign on indefinite hiatus. My fellow church dadbros just don't play often enough to keep 1:1 time going.
In the meantime, I started playing with the #BrOSR in Trollopulous online. I started a YouTube Channel. (Subscribe for D&D goodness!) I craved the madness of DMming a 1:1 time, AD&D1e campaign face to face. And thus, this campaign is born. I'm not ready. I'm still learning 1e. But it was time to invite people and nail down a start date. I invited people from church and work to come to my house Saturday, April 5, ready or not. Nothing is started when you are ready. You pick up your shield and your sword and you ready up on the way...
Many were invited, 10 accepted. 2 canceled, and 2 ghosted.
DM Prep:
I read a book from Appendix N: The Face in the Frost. I also listened to "The Graveyard Rats" by Henry Kuttner on the way down to Spring Break. One had a creepy story where rat creatures were stealing bodies out of their coffins.
I created a region map with 1-mile hexes, created and populated through the Appendix B of the DMG. I should make a video on this stuff. I found the likeliest starting hex, a Hamlet of 269 people called Folton on the Hill. That name was generated from the Sandbox Generator by Atelier Clandestine. I should make a video on that too. I should make an affiliate account on DriveThru and link to that in the show notes of my video. One day this hobby will pay me back daggonit!
I prepped level one of a starter dungeon in the Icky Woods one hex to the North
I prepped some rumors:
- Gerrold the Ropemaker swears he saw his wife (who died last week) dancing at the edge of the Icky Woods to the North.
- There are a group of Brigands who are coming some time this week to exact Tribute from the Knight who rules Folton on the Hill.
- The temperature has been unseasonably cold for this time of year and people are hearing noises in the night. Animals are stillborn or worse, one sheep was born with two faces. The windows display bearded faces looking down as if reading when they frost over.
- The current Knight has only ruled for the last year as his predecessor went mad and had to be relieved of command.
The Session:
The session began at 9:00 AM on Saturday, April 6 and went until 2:00 PM.
Char-Gen:
Steven, Aaron, Tim, Tyler, Ethan and Dan were present and rolled up their characters:
We used Method III: Roll 3d6 six times and take the best roll. Straight through STR to CHA in order.
I warned them that Monks were rare. Tyler immediately announced his rolls qualified for a Monk. This was a taste of things to come.
As Ethan was rolling for spells I told him: "You start with read magic and must roll for each category. Offensive, Defensive and Utility. This is not like 5e, you don't get to choose."
He rolled a 10.
"Okay for this category you DO get to choose."
He opted for Magic Missile.
Steven had high INT and Dex and announced he was playing a Gnome Illusionist! These are also rare but my first 1e character was a Gnome Thief/Illusionist so I was glad I would at least know how one of the PCs would work. He rolled up Audible Glamour AND Phantasmal Forces!!! As a player I know the glee of seeing Phantasmal Forces show up. As a DM I now know the dread of seeing a player roll that.
It gets worse.
We are at the final stage. I tell them, "Okay so some of you have the INT, WIS or CHA to possibly be Psionic. I'm hoping nobody is because I haven't even LOOKED AT those rules. Don't get your hopes up. With your scores you would need to roll a perfect 100."
Ethan was the first to roll and rolled a perfect 100.
a perfect...100...
There's a certain feeling that's studied in the practice of Positive Psychology. It's been dubbed "Fiero." It's the feeling you get when you overcome a difficult challenge, or score the winning goal in a game, or beat the Raid Boss in a video game. The physical gesture that accompanies it is almost universal. The hands squeeze into fists and are thrust straight up into the air as high as they will go.
Ethan displayed Fiero.
As a DM I realized how I could see one of my players feel a strong emotion, while I myself felt its equally powerful opposite. So, we spent more time trying to figure out the Psionic rules...
Thankfully, nobody else rolled as Psionic. So, at about noon, here is your roster:
- Citrix "CX" PecklePickle lvl 1 Gnome Illusionist. He rolled Phantasmal Forces AND Audible Glamour as starting spells, because of course he did. He purchased a pigeon and a songbird. I think he wants to train the pigeon.
- Oiax (pronounced Oh-ex) lvl 1 Elf Assassin. He rolled 1 on his starting HP.
- Men'theren Agaulor (of the Stonebreaker clan) lvl 1 Dwarf Cleric
- Niet Treye lvl 1 Human Monk
- Cigam lvl 1 Elf Magic User, Psionic because of course he rolled a 100.
- Leroy Stonebreaker lvl 1 Dwarf Fighter
The Gameplay:
Once characters had been created and supplies purchased, the party was interested in speaking with Gerrold the Ropemaker about his wife. They arrived at his house, noting the long yard with ropemaking equipment.
They remembered Gerrold as one of those high-strung people who yells a lot when trying to accomplish something as if he can only relax when it's done, but he's subdued today. He invites them in, the house is a mess, but there's plenty of food from the well-wishers who are looking out for him in his time of bereavement. Over dinner he tells them that nobody will believe him, but he knows it wasn't some other woman he saw dancing on the edge of the forest because she was wearing the same thing she was buried in.
The PCs ask if he's visited the cemetery and he affirms he has, but that her grave looks undisturbed. They set out to check it out, but he tells them he doesn't feel like he could go with. Leaving the palisade, they make their way down the hill and arrive at the Folton Cemetery at the bottom of the hill, where the ground levels out. They go to her plot and sure enough, the mounded earth looks fresh, but undisturbed.
Oiax the Elf Assassin promptly suggests digging her up to see if she's still there. He may also have valuables on his mind, but if so, gives no mention of this notion.
Neit the Monk asserts that that would be unlawful and is a highly inappropriate suggestion. Oiax then agrees and suggests the party split up to investigate further, whereupon Neit tells Oiax that now that he has indicated a willingness to exhume her, he cannot be trusted to leave alone. Cigam decides to run back up the hill for a shovel and Men'theren stamps the earth trusting to his Dwarvish terran sensibilities. To the untrained ear he appears to be just another angry dwarf stomping around in the grass, but his educated ear hears the slight change in tambor of his footfall to indicate a tunnel about six feet beneath the surface running northward from her grave.
Cigam returns, out of breath, with a shovel and they decide to dig over the tunnel 30 feet North instead of straight into her grave. The tunnel is six feet down, but only 3 ft in diameter. A rope is tied to CX's waist and he walks the tunnel Southward, almost upright, only having to stoop with his bullseye lantern. The tunnel walls look scratched and chewed, but when he gets to the coffin, the side facing him has been broken into as if with tools. The pine box smells of death, but it is empty save for a pair of shoes. The lantern light picks up a long slim gleam in the box and CX freezes. The player knows that Gnomes can speak to burrowing animals, so he attempts to communicate. "Squeaky, sqeuaka-sqeakums" he says, quite reasonably. Even though I have used this ability, I have never heard it verbalized. This, of course, is how it has always sounded, and will do forevermore.
There is no response in the dark. He retrieves the item, and it feels like a whisker the length of his forearm. He retrieves one of the shoes and makes his way back North to the opening.
As they lift CX out, the party spots Digger Ced walking toward them, shovel on his shoulder. He would like to know what they are doing, and informs them that if there's any digging to be done in this yard it'll be done by him, and he ain't looking for no apprentices! Men'theren tells him he has a big problem, that a body has been removed from its coffin and there are tunnels under his property. There may be more missing. Ced gets nervous and offers them money not to tell anyone.
Neit finds this suspiciously like a bribe and asks why he should do such a thing. Ced announces that people paid him to bury their kin, and if they ain't buried folk'll want their money back and he done spent most of it.
Oiax explains he understands completely and talks Ced up to 10 GP for silence. Everyone is happy about this except Neit who does not take a cut in the proceeds. Oiax shakes on the deal, but CX just gives Ced a little, light tickle on the ribs. (DM Insert here. I had no idea what this was or how to respond, but Men'theren's player asked me, "haven't you heard of the Pecklepickle Tickle?) Apparently, Gnomes in his family seal the deal that way. (weird)
Men'threm tells Ced that they won't tell anyone, but he needs to tell the Knight because something weird is going on, and they give him the shoe. Digger Ced's eyes dart left and right, and he licks his teeth, but eventually agrees to go tell the Knight. He admits he has been hearing gnawing noises in the night while he sleeps.
Men'threm does his stompy thing again while Digger Ced goes up the hill to tell the Knight and finds that the other graves do indeed have tunnels, and there's one that leads to Ced's house. They dig down into it and find that the tunnel has breached the fieldstone foundation wall of Ced's basement, but it narrows to only a foot and a half and there is a cabinet or bookcase or something in the way, so if anything got in it was small, or perhaps it only just broke through.
The whole party went into the tunnel North of the grave and worked their way through the tunnel until it tilted downward. After a few more feet it emptied out into an underground hub with 6 feet of clearance and openings from multiple tunnels. For encounters I rolled a 1, so they came across 10 very large rats. The rats got one segment of surprise. The front row of three charged the PC's and one bit Men'thren for 5 hp. In the second row four rats stood up, they were holding short swords. Men'theren (wisely) shouted, "We need to go!"
(DM insert here. Players, do NOT read this part! This was a rookie goof on my part. I knew I wanted these creatures, [you have probably already guessed what they are] but I hadn't read their stat block fully. They can only be harmed by magical weapons. Compounding this issue, I had rolled for numbers based on the Monster Manual entry (4d6!) instead of a dungeon encounter. Suffice it to say, after spending 3 hours on getting everyone's character created, I had set them up for a very quick TPK! On the Dungeon table, these things shouldn't show up until Level 3, and only one of them at that.)
"Squeak squeakums squeakity squeak" said CX, nonchalantly. I rolled a reaction with his bonus, and it came up Uncertain with 55% chance toward favorable. That came up 23, so the rats sat up and sniffed the air at them. Men'theren cast Cure on himself for 1 hit point. Everyone piled back into the tunnel and Leroy hit the top with his axe so it caved in behind them.
The Gnome read the description. He knew that he could Speak with Burrowing Creatures. And he totally saved everyone's bacon. Gnomes are OP y'all!
The party decided to reconvene at town and discuss what had happened.
Surprisingly, No deaths!
XP: 10 XP for the Gold Extorted from Digger Ced.
Treasure: 10 GP
Everyone gets 2 xp and 2 gp except Neit who gets nothing but the satisfaction of knowing he is walking the lawful good path.
Who is Dunder Moose?
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