goodbyetoashoe's RPG Blog

Session Report: Dolmenwood Session 1

Well we didn't get rolling in February like I hoped, but our Dolmenwood campaign is off to a good start! I'll see if I can come up with a snappier name for the broader campaign after a few sessions.

Most of the session was character generation -- although random generation speeds things along for most OSR-style games, this also included a bit of setting/kindred/class info that slowed things down a little bit. There was a little good-natured grousing about what to do when rolling low/extremely average scores, but I think it soon became apparent that they weren't quite as important as in later D&D-derivatives. The party currently consists of:

Of the various things generated by rolling, most notably the mossling rolled the knack where once they can ask a root a question and it must respond truthfully in d6 words are less, which will be fun (?) for me to deal with (and has already hit the table).

I don't think I'm going to use the prime requisite modifier to experience, though I still allowed it to be a factor in character creation per the book (the typical 2 for 1 decrease/increase). I think it cuts against the idea that "your ability scores aren't really that important, you can play a low strength fighter and still be just about as good!" sentiment. True, it isn't that much of a difference in the long run, but I dunno, just didn't want to tell the players who are mostly new to OSR stuff that, by the way, your XP could be penalized by your ability score rolls right after telling them they weren't that important. I'll instead be giving a +5% XP bonus for various player roles: mapping, recapping, quartermastering, and so on.

I'll admit, I'm a softie -- despite my interest in OSR-style stuff, there's still a part of me that has trad/neotrad tendencies, and while I want character death to be a possibility I also want things to be a little less lethal than death at 0 HP, and I didn't particularly care for Dolmenwood's version of the death's door rule (2-in-6 chance of death each round without medical healing). Thankfully this is one of one of the most extensively houseruled matters in the history of D&D. While looking for something else on the Necrotic Gnome server I came across eleanor's variation of the classic save versus death:

We managed to fit in about an hour of actual gaming, where we got through a little less than half of the adventure provided in the campaign book, Pipes on Droomen Knoll. I started the party outside the dungeon, hired to find Arda Vague, the apprentice of Prigwort's resident magician, Moustlemyer Drouge. Making Vague Drouge's apprentice was lifted from Der_ASJ on the Necrotic Gnome server, and should give them a connection to a guy who can drop other hooks (assuming he is pleased with their performance he'll probably see if they're interested in obtaining a certain magic ring, which would kick off Winter's Daughter).

The first, and so far only, combat went very well for the players. With some well placed spells and a good bit of luck the players managed to best five crookhorns completely unscathed. They did, however, burn through nearly all their spells to do so, so we'll see if they regret that -- I don't think it will backfire too much, since minus some unlucky random encounter rolls that was probably the most threatening encounter for this location, but there are still a couple possible opportunities for things to go tits up.

As an aside, I don't think I'll ever touch individual initiative again. God bless side-based initiative.

They'll almost certainly finish off Droomen Knoll next week and then get into the wilderness exploration that Dolmenwood emphasizes. I still need to discuss with the group whether they want travel points and such to be completely player-facing (I think that's where we'll end up) or just keep that behind the screen and otherwise have travel be more narrative so far as they're aware. I remembered I have an old mat with a hex side that I could fit the map onto, but with the way even wet-erase markers smudge good old paper and pencil is probably the better option. I may have already drawn out the outline of the forest on the mat in a fit of mania, though.