Post by Scott on Aug 2, 2016 11:39:21 GMT -5
Inspired by Stranger things, I ran a short game of early 80s D&D tonight. The show really takes me back. In 1983 I was the same age as the kids in the show playing the same D&D they were playing, The Basic, Expert, etc. sets. For those familiar with the rules of the era, the only rule book I can remember seeing in the show is the Mentzer edit of the Expert rules. I actually started a little earlier with the Moldvay/Cook sets, and that’s what we used.
Rolling up characters with these rules is fast and easy, so in just a few minutes Liana, Gavin, and Liam were ready to go. Gavin is the only one with any D&D experience. Liam (my 6 y/o son) created a fighter named Ragnar, Liana (my better half) an elf named Liliana, and Gavin (my 9 y/o son) rolled up a thief named Felthsfar.
I decided to run The Lost City, one of my old Basic D&D favorites, and placed it in the World of Greyhawk. I didn’t spend a lot of time on background. I quickly explained that each member of the party was from the Wild Coast, and they had joined an expedition that was going across the Woolly Bay to explore the Bright Desert. Several days into their expedition a terrible sandstorm struck, scattering the group. When the storm ended the three members of the party were alone, and lost in the desert. They headed east, the direction they were moving prior to the storm, hoping to find their group. For days they wandered, until their mounts had died, and their food and water were gone.
Two days after their water ran out they discovered a number of large stone blocks protruding from the sand dunes. Moving closer to investigate they discovered the ruins of a city. Most of the building had collapsed, and were buried under the sand, but the tops of a few were still visible. In the center of the ruins a large step pyramid rose from the sand. The pyramid was 100’ tall with three 30’ tall statues set atop the highest step. From left to right the statues were of a strong, bearded man holding a balance and a lightning bolt, winged child with two snakes twined about its body and holding a wand in one hand a handful of coins in the other, and a beautiful woman holding a sword in one hand and a sheaf of wheat in the other.
Steps were built into the south side of the pyramid rising to the top tier. The party headed straight for the steps and the top of the pyramid.
At the top of the pyramid the party found a secret door, a stone slab held open by the rotted body of a humanoid. A large crossbow bolt was sunk into the chest of the body. They guessed it was a hobgoblin, but it appeared to have been dead several weeks, so they couldn’t be sure. A search turned up nothing, so the party decided to enter the pyramid. Beyond the stone slab/door was a dark passage. Felthsfar lit his lantern and they entered. The party followed a 10’ passage a short distance before coming upon a door. The thief searched the door for traps, and discovered that a trap did exist. He could see that opening the door would trigger something, but he couldn’t see exactly what. He spent a few minutes trying to disable it, and then told Ragnar to open it. The fighter agreed, as little brothers often do. Inside the door was a 40’ square room. Three bronze cylinders, about a yard in diameter, were spaced across the center of the room. There was a door on each. After a quick discussion the party decided to open the west door. Again the thief checked it for traps. Nothing found, but when Ragnar pulled the door open, a volley of darts shot from the west wall. The fighter stopped most of them with his shield, but one did hit for one hit point of damage.
The inside of the cylinder was hollow. There was a ladder running up and down. Felthsfar entered and climbed up. The thief climbed almost 50’ up into the head of the statue of the bearded man. He found a speaking tube and a number of dials and levers. Some experimentation revealed that the levers and dials controlled the arms, head, etc. of the statue. Unable to discover anything else, the party headed down the ladder, Ragnar leading the way. A dim reddish light could be seen down the cylinder.
After descending a short distance the shaft opened up into a 40’ square room. Looking down the fighter discovered the source of the light: three giant fire beetles. The beetles rushed to the bottom of the ladder, their legs clicking on the stone floor. Ragnar jumped off the ladder over the 2’ long beetles, drew his sword and attacked. Liliana and Felthsfar followed suit. Ragnar swung his sword in a sweeping downward arc, hitting the nearest beetle, but a low roll indicated the blow only did 2 points of damage. The elf and thief attacked as well, but the both missed. The beetles attacked. One missed, but Ragnar and Felthsfar were both bitten, the thief brought down to 1 hit point. The next round Liliana cast a spell on the giant insects, putting them all to sleep. The party then quickly killed the motionless beetles. Each beetle had three glowing glands on its back that continued to glow, shedding light in a 10’ radius. The party cut the glands out to use as lights.
Looking around the room it appeared to be a workroom of some kind. There was a foundry, forge, anvil, and assorted tools. The room also contained boxes of machine parts and several large ceramic jars. The jars each contained several flasks worth of oil. Nothing helpful to the starving, dehydrated party so they decided to press on.
There were three doors exiting the room. The party choose a door on the northern end of the west wall. They followed a winding passage until they came to another door on the right side of the passage. Through the door was a storage room that contained boxes of rotted food and bales of rotted cloth. They pressed on. A little further up the passage they came upon another door, this one to their left. Opening the door they saw a 20’ square room. In the center of the room were a stack of crates. Seated on the crates were about a dozen one foot tall winged people. They were talking in a strange musical language and laughing merrily. Felthsfar, knowing what kind of DM his father is, immediately reached for his sword. Liliana stopped him and called out a greeting to the tiny people. Sprites they were, and they gave the party a friendly welcome. They had no supplies to share with the party, but did tell them that there were humans around. Some of them could be trusted. They also told advised the party where some friendly ones might be found. The party thanked them for the information and headed off towards where the friendly humans might be. The backtracked to the room where they had encountered the beetles and went through a door to the east. Another passage with doors visible to their right and left. Through the door on their right an empty, dusty bed chamber. To the left another bed chamber, but also a giant lizard munching on a body. Not friendly humans, so Felthsfar quickly pulled the door shut. Past the door the passage T-ed. The party headed south. After 30’ they could see two doors on their right, and the end of the passage. A gold statue of a man matching the bearded man on top of the pyramid was at the end of the passage. Felthsfar wanted to investigate, but Liliana reminded them they were dying of thirst and looking for help. They opened the first door. Five humans, wearing chain mail over blue tunics, each wearing a gold mask depicting the bearded man jumped to their feet. The party put their hands up and explained they were not a threat. They were lost and needed help. The masked men were all on the short side, and the skin they could see was very pale. One of them spoke broken Common and explained that they were members of the Brotherhood of Gorm. Gorm, the bearded man, was one of the old gods of this city, called Cynidicea. The brothers were helpful and offered the party some food and water and a place to rest.
And this was where our game ended. Hopefully we will continue soon, and we can add a few more player to the group.
Rolling up characters with these rules is fast and easy, so in just a few minutes Liana, Gavin, and Liam were ready to go. Gavin is the only one with any D&D experience. Liam (my 6 y/o son) created a fighter named Ragnar, Liana (my better half) an elf named Liliana, and Gavin (my 9 y/o son) rolled up a thief named Felthsfar.
I decided to run The Lost City, one of my old Basic D&D favorites, and placed it in the World of Greyhawk. I didn’t spend a lot of time on background. I quickly explained that each member of the party was from the Wild Coast, and they had joined an expedition that was going across the Woolly Bay to explore the Bright Desert. Several days into their expedition a terrible sandstorm struck, scattering the group. When the storm ended the three members of the party were alone, and lost in the desert. They headed east, the direction they were moving prior to the storm, hoping to find their group. For days they wandered, until their mounts had died, and their food and water were gone.
Two days after their water ran out they discovered a number of large stone blocks protruding from the sand dunes. Moving closer to investigate they discovered the ruins of a city. Most of the building had collapsed, and were buried under the sand, but the tops of a few were still visible. In the center of the ruins a large step pyramid rose from the sand. The pyramid was 100’ tall with three 30’ tall statues set atop the highest step. From left to right the statues were of a strong, bearded man holding a balance and a lightning bolt, winged child with two snakes twined about its body and holding a wand in one hand a handful of coins in the other, and a beautiful woman holding a sword in one hand and a sheaf of wheat in the other.
Steps were built into the south side of the pyramid rising to the top tier. The party headed straight for the steps and the top of the pyramid.
At the top of the pyramid the party found a secret door, a stone slab held open by the rotted body of a humanoid. A large crossbow bolt was sunk into the chest of the body. They guessed it was a hobgoblin, but it appeared to have been dead several weeks, so they couldn’t be sure. A search turned up nothing, so the party decided to enter the pyramid. Beyond the stone slab/door was a dark passage. Felthsfar lit his lantern and they entered. The party followed a 10’ passage a short distance before coming upon a door. The thief searched the door for traps, and discovered that a trap did exist. He could see that opening the door would trigger something, but he couldn’t see exactly what. He spent a few minutes trying to disable it, and then told Ragnar to open it. The fighter agreed, as little brothers often do. Inside the door was a 40’ square room. Three bronze cylinders, about a yard in diameter, were spaced across the center of the room. There was a door on each. After a quick discussion the party decided to open the west door. Again the thief checked it for traps. Nothing found, but when Ragnar pulled the door open, a volley of darts shot from the west wall. The fighter stopped most of them with his shield, but one did hit for one hit point of damage.
The inside of the cylinder was hollow. There was a ladder running up and down. Felthsfar entered and climbed up. The thief climbed almost 50’ up into the head of the statue of the bearded man. He found a speaking tube and a number of dials and levers. Some experimentation revealed that the levers and dials controlled the arms, head, etc. of the statue. Unable to discover anything else, the party headed down the ladder, Ragnar leading the way. A dim reddish light could be seen down the cylinder.
After descending a short distance the shaft opened up into a 40’ square room. Looking down the fighter discovered the source of the light: three giant fire beetles. The beetles rushed to the bottom of the ladder, their legs clicking on the stone floor. Ragnar jumped off the ladder over the 2’ long beetles, drew his sword and attacked. Liliana and Felthsfar followed suit. Ragnar swung his sword in a sweeping downward arc, hitting the nearest beetle, but a low roll indicated the blow only did 2 points of damage. The elf and thief attacked as well, but the both missed. The beetles attacked. One missed, but Ragnar and Felthsfar were both bitten, the thief brought down to 1 hit point. The next round Liliana cast a spell on the giant insects, putting them all to sleep. The party then quickly killed the motionless beetles. Each beetle had three glowing glands on its back that continued to glow, shedding light in a 10’ radius. The party cut the glands out to use as lights.
Looking around the room it appeared to be a workroom of some kind. There was a foundry, forge, anvil, and assorted tools. The room also contained boxes of machine parts and several large ceramic jars. The jars each contained several flasks worth of oil. Nothing helpful to the starving, dehydrated party so they decided to press on.
There were three doors exiting the room. The party choose a door on the northern end of the west wall. They followed a winding passage until they came to another door on the right side of the passage. Through the door was a storage room that contained boxes of rotted food and bales of rotted cloth. They pressed on. A little further up the passage they came upon another door, this one to their left. Opening the door they saw a 20’ square room. In the center of the room were a stack of crates. Seated on the crates were about a dozen one foot tall winged people. They were talking in a strange musical language and laughing merrily. Felthsfar, knowing what kind of DM his father is, immediately reached for his sword. Liliana stopped him and called out a greeting to the tiny people. Sprites they were, and they gave the party a friendly welcome. They had no supplies to share with the party, but did tell them that there were humans around. Some of them could be trusted. They also told advised the party where some friendly ones might be found. The party thanked them for the information and headed off towards where the friendly humans might be. The backtracked to the room where they had encountered the beetles and went through a door to the east. Another passage with doors visible to their right and left. Through the door on their right an empty, dusty bed chamber. To the left another bed chamber, but also a giant lizard munching on a body. Not friendly humans, so Felthsfar quickly pulled the door shut. Past the door the passage T-ed. The party headed south. After 30’ they could see two doors on their right, and the end of the passage. A gold statue of a man matching the bearded man on top of the pyramid was at the end of the passage. Felthsfar wanted to investigate, but Liliana reminded them they were dying of thirst and looking for help. They opened the first door. Five humans, wearing chain mail over blue tunics, each wearing a gold mask depicting the bearded man jumped to their feet. The party put their hands up and explained they were not a threat. They were lost and needed help. The masked men were all on the short side, and the skin they could see was very pale. One of them spoke broken Common and explained that they were members of the Brotherhood of Gorm. Gorm, the bearded man, was one of the old gods of this city, called Cynidicea. The brothers were helpful and offered the party some food and water and a place to rest.
And this was where our game ended. Hopefully we will continue soon, and we can add a few more player to the group.