This post is part of a multi-post series. You can read the previous one here:
http://vedronspotionshop.blogspot.com/2023/01/b1-in-search-of-unknown-campaign.html
SPOILERS AHEAD -- B1 "INTO THE UNKNOWN"
THE MAGIC POOLS
The players recently learned from a captured NPC about the path to some interesting pools. So, off they want to check it out. First, there was a brief fight -- two giant lizards (level 2 monsters) had taken up residence in there for some reason. They were quickly dispatched.
The players then carefully examined the pools. Astrid our cleric was not able to attend so this was just young players going solo, and I'm impressed at their thoroughness and caution vs. risk taking. They were good about poking water with spears before investigating further, taking very small sips rather than big gulps, and not touching stuff that was clearly Really Icky (like slimes). They did try to carry off as many of the potion-y waters as they could, and were disappointed when they lost their glamour upon leaving the room. The only one that really tripped them up for awhile was some illusory treasure.
They also had an absolute ball in this room. I actually set this one up with minis using little round circle wood disks for the pools and they had a blast moving them from pool to pool. There was a chance for total disaster here but they avoided all the major missteps.
THE WIZARD'S APARTMENTS
The next place they stumbled into was the great wizard Z's chambers. They had a brief fight with some giant spiders which went pretty well for them. I did tone down poison for my game -- instead of an instakill, it deals 1-6 points of damage per hit die of the victim on a failed save. These nasties had a moderate bite (2 points per HD) which hurt plenty, especially as we are all using D6 hit dice (+1 per die for fighters, +1 for high con). Again, like the mapping last game, an OSR heresy -- but I don't find insta-kill poison on common monsters found at low levels before anyone has any countermeasures (Neutralize Poison) to be particularly fun.
After a thorough search of the apartments, the players found a clue that I added to the adventure: among the wizard's invoices was a receipt for a "special door" associated with the "vault" along with the name of the craftsman. I'd decided the treasure was well hidden behind a secret door and there was little chance of them finding it without some assistance. If the players wanted to there was also an easy little town sidequest there for them to look up the guildmaster and then find and interrogate the masons.
The illusory treasure trick really threw them for a loop. They really got onto the idea that perhaps the treasure in the pool and the treasure in the wizard's room were linked. I linked a simple trap to this trick -- a magical gong that would sound three times after someone messed with the loot (of course, triggering a wandering monster check).
DER KOBOLDS
The kobolds popped up again on said wandering monster check. I decided that the wards that the wizard had put in place kept them bound to the stronghold but also prohibited them from entering certain rooms, like his chambers and the library.
The kobolds had a great reaction check and I decided that they'd want to bring the adventurers to meet their chief and parlay. So they left a trail of breadcrumbs back to the kitchen/dining room and dashed off.
The characters opted to go to the kitchen which I had as a bustling place with two kobolds cooking up a storm. Everything of course was a fairy illusion. A little overwhelmed by the bustle, the characters opted for the dining room. In the dining room, the chief was prepared to receive the adventurers. Had things gone ugly, he was ready to make a quick escape via the salon and a secret door, but there was no need.
I decided the kobolds had a problem: they were magically bound to the place and they wanted out. The wizard's McGuffin of Binding was in the library, which they can't get into, and so they needed someone else to go in and get it for them. In exchange they would help the adventurers find treasure. I played the kobolds as shifty, uncertain, and terrified of the lawfully aligned magical sword (cowering in its presence and refusing to talk if it was not covered up), but generally telling the truth or half-truths (NEVER TRUST THE FEY!).
A deal being struck, the kobolds led the adventurers into the dungeon... but they couldn't help themselves. Instead of going a direct route to the library, they led the adventurers to a maze-like area that happened to be infested with undead. They figured they'd let the adventurers go through the maze and meet them on the other side, (1) because it'd be entertaining and (2) to wear the adventurers down, just in case. But primarily because if you're a 2' tall chaotic fey creature that's been trapped in a dungeon for awhile its hilarious to watch a Zombie/Adventurer cage match.
The heroes were less than amused, although they did survive the maze. Dragonwing fumed: "They tricked us! And wasted our time!"
The heroes caught up with the giggling kobolds and demanded to be taken right to the library, right now. So off they went again. The kobolds started plotting in dwarvish to each other. Dragonwing and Flowing River told each other, "They're going to trick us again, we know it..." Luckily, the party wizard -- invisible -- spoke dwarvish! Magic Hands snuck up behind the kobolds and listened in.
"We'll take them to the library... and then they break the thing... then we trap them with the cage trap... then we run away! Hee hee hee!"
Magic Hands relayed the conversation to his comrades and they all whispered: "They're totally going to trick us! But we know how! Hah!"
The Kobolds took the crew to the library, where the old Chief was waiting with another of the group. He explained that the Kobolds were not permitted into the room. The heroes broke open the door easily enough, and found the McGuffin -- a purple magical glowing lava lamp. The Chief tried to touch it and got zapped with magic, so he asked the heroes to break it. All three eagerly agreed and threw it on the ground to shatter it. A burst of magical energy filled the stronghold, and the Kobold's binding was released!
THE TRAP
The kobolds then agreed to lead the heroes to the treasure room. Instead, they took them to a certain corridor which has a nasty portcullis trap. "There secret door that way!" urged the little chaotic imps (technically true -- not at the end of the hallway, but if one looks at the map, there is a secret doorway in that general direction).
The heroes were skeptical. Flowing River looked at the map and it definitely did not make sense for a secret door to be there. Dragon wing and Magic Hands were muttering "its a trick, they're going to try to trap us."
"Ummm. No we aren't. Definitely not trapping you right now." (technically true -- they'll trap them in a few seconds)
Flowing River asked how they would find it.
"You're a clever hoo-man hero! I bet you find toooons of secret doors! It will be easy!"
The heroes asked the kobolds if they were sure.
"Oh yes! Very sure. Many secret doors are magic. Like the voices at the entrance! Easy to find!" (again, a half truth and not outright false)
Well, that settled things. All three heroes ran to the end of the hallway and started searching. CLANK! Trap deployed. Heroes trapped. The kobolds ran off giggling.
"Those things actually tricked us! We knew they would! And they still did!"
The players were equal parts laughing hilariously, proud that they'd seen it coming, and now worried about being stuck in a trap. I "bent" the module rules a bit to let one of them escape through the bars (there is a picture of a halfling working out through the bars in the module art, so its not too far off...), and after a brief outnumbered battle against some giant rats, Dragonwing rescued his companions by hauling on a lever and resetting the trap.
They went back to the kitchen only to find it completely abandoned, all the delicious banquet food actually long rotten. The dining room where they had parlayed with the chief much the same, except for a note left there for them.
THE CLUE
Luckily for our heroes, the kobold chief thoughtfully left them a note because as obnoxious as the fey are, especially the chaotically inclined ones, a deal is a deal.
It explained that they were scared of hooman adventurers so they ran away (true), that they didn't know where the crown was (true) but to be careful in case its cursed (its not, but the kobolds are scared of all things elvish and lawful and good), that there is a hidden treasure room in a secret passage in the basement near the flying mice (true -- they're bats though), that there is a powerful bad hoo-man warrior in the basement that the adventurers should be on the look out for and ambush if they can (sort of true -- he's a lawful Fighter 4 I rolled up, so of course the Kobolds are terrified of him -- and wouldn't mind sowing a little more discord among the forces of weal on their way out). And if they want to meet up again the heroes just need to leave out silver and sweetcakes on Midsummer's Eave, because the last few days have been absolutely hilarious entertainment for bored chaotic fey house spirits and these adventurers put up with their constant and potentially lethal shenanigans, unlike most other visitors (true -- I'll let the heroes summon them later that way, its how one would traditionally appease/summon their local Der Kobold House Spirit).
The players puzzled over this for awhile and pieced it together! Now they just need a safe way to return to the basement level, for they know exactly the spot to look.
THOUGHTS THUS FAR
The pool room and copious "Tricks" in B1 are great for low level adventure. It really keeps the lethality down but has definitely kept our young player's interest. The game has a lot of exploration, interaction, puzzle solving, and just a tad bit of combat. We have busted out a battle map for the fights but barely need it, as B/X style combats are a quick and simple affair. This is a big departure from later editions, where even simple fights can take a half hour or more.
As a GM B/X is awesome. Most things happen on a roll of 5-6/6 or 6/6. If I want more fidelity I roll 2d6 -- 6 equals neutral result, 9 equals success. Snake eyes are critical failure and boxcars critical success. Monsters are easy to improve -- AC13, does 1d6 damage, has 1d6 HP. If it is beefier than that it goes up a level (fewer in number), deals 1d3 or 1 HP damage instead of 1d6, or has only 1 HP. Works great. Super easy to improvise on the fly.
For dice rolls I've started converting as many player facing modifiers as possible to different dice combinations. 1d6+2 becomes 1d10. Instead of adding +2 to hit when charging, roll 1d20 and 1d4 and add them together. Stuff like that. I'm finding it makes the player facing math much faster. The odds are somewhat different but close enough, and players of all ages love rolling dice. I think I am going to go through my rules and full-on embrace the 5E style "advantage/disadvantage" (for big modifiers) and a +/- 1d3 or 1d4 (for small modifiers) to the maximum extent possible. There is a purity in using a D6 for as much as possible that I appreciate but its just plain faster to have players chuck 1d10 instead of 1d6+2.
Dynamic storytelling and emergent worldbuilding is great. From the simple decision to treat the kobolds I generated as mischievous, chaotic, and somewhat evil house spirits run amuk I got two sessions of adventure and the heroes had to really work for a clue. We also have established what kobolds are in this game world. I thought about making the Binding McGuffin harder to find or destroy but due to pacing just wanted to keep things moving -- it would have been easy to say that it needed to be destroyed in one of the pools for instance though (like acid). As much as the kobolds wanted to be free, it was in their nature to impulsively put the heroes through potentially lethal side jaunts just for chaotic funsies, so they did so. I've also had them carefully tell half truths or mostly truths in typical fey fashion, again setting the character for kobolds going forward. I would not have had all these plot threads, tricks and traps, or other things thought up in advance had I sat down and tried to do it -- it all came together from random rolls which is pretty awesome.
I was impressed at how B1 is being handled by very young players. They have continued to have a good mix of caution with tricks balanced with boldness when needed (valiant Dragonwing slaying the rats to free his friends!). Things that might seem a played out trope for more experienced players in B1 are fresh for the true novice, which is who the module is intended for, so its hitting the mark with the target audience.
I think we will get 1-2 more sessions out of this module, depending on thoroughly they search the entire place. At the pace they're at it feels like they are about halfway through. Also of help in the quest, Magic Hands picked the "locate object" spell to learn so that he can help find the crown. Very clever that little pre-k kiddo. Between the clues and the spell they'll be well on the track.
The PCs also gained just enough XP to hit level 3. Had they missed the gems on their first session they'd be just hitting level 2 now which is fine. They'll probably be knocking at the door of level 4 depending on how much they find. I don't love the lowest levels, frankly and getting to the sweet spot of level 3-7 is great. Also the player's experience here checks with what I remember from Random Megadungeon Meat Grinding in AD&D back in the day -- much of your survival depends on getting an early, easy score of gems/jewelry, preferably on a high risk/high reward run to level 2 of the dungeon where you roll the dice on finding jewelry without running into an ogre or something similarly nasty.
I have not been pulling punches with random dice, encounters, etc. The only real things I'm softening are insta-die poison and mapping, which I would do for any group.
Finally it was a good chance to learn an important lesson that you should NEVER TRUST THE FEY and that dealings with them never go as expected. Luckily the heroes didn't eat any of the faerie food being prepared in the kitchen...
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