Old School Hack, Dungeon Delve 2

I made some modifications, mostly to my encounter cards to make the encounters tougher (more minions per encounter, for example). I also wrote up some additional monster types and variations, with a special ability or tactic for many of them, including minions. For example, I give orcs 1 free Charge per combat. That means, at any point during the combat (usually right off the bat) the orcs charge their opponents, giving them +2 to hit and +1 damage if they hit. Some of the abilities, like Charge, are ones described in the OSH rules. Others I made up. An example of the latter is I give hobgoblins an All Out Attack. This allows them to roll 2D10 to hit, rather than the 1D10 minions usually get, but they are eliminated in the process. I tried to give the various monsters abilities and tactics that fit how I think of them.

I ran the same party as the previous test run, 1 fighter, 1 magic user, 1 thief, and 1 dwarf, with the same skills and stats. This time was less of a cake walk for the party.

Here is the map that arose during this playtest. The numbers are the sequence the delve followed. The lowercase letters are the arena types, t = tight, d = dense, h = hazardous, o = open (or would've done if I had had any), and n = neutral. Doors are represented by the colors; no color = no door, green = open, yellow = closed, red = locked.

1. The party enters the dungeon through a Tight tunnel that leads straight ahead. There are puddles of water, making the floor slippery and Hazardous.

2. They come to a T intersection , branching off left and right. This tunnel is dense with various odds and ends strewn about. 6 kobolds spring a trap that drops a net down on the party, but they all manage to avoid it (the dwarf barely dodged out of the way). Then they kill 4 of the kobolds before the last 2 flee.

3. Taking the left branch of the tunnel, heading west, the party comes to right turn. This section of tunnel is Hazardous, with lots of scattered rocks and broken debris.

4. The tunnel turns right again and narrows into a Tight space. Here they encounter 4 gnoll guards with heavy weapons. The magic user tries to blast one with his staff, but misses. The thief wounds one. The fighter kills one. And the dwarf attacks, but also misses. One gnoll hits the fighter, spending 1 AP to increase the damage to 3. The fighter spends 4 AP to reduce the damage to 1.

The magic user wounds one gnoll. The thief wounds another. One gnoll attacks the thief and another attacks the fighter, but neither lands a hit. The dwarf kills one, and the fighter lops the head off the last one.

5. The party goes through the closed door into a small Tight room. Here they encounter 2 more gnoll guards. One is larger than usual (+1 HP). A wild melee ensues, in which the thief lands a wound on the smaller gnoll. The magic user is unable to land any hits. The fighter wounds the larger gnoll. And the dwarf finishes off both gnolls in the end.

They search the room and the gnolls and find one healing potion.

6. The party exits the room through the closed door to the east, and enter a straight but hazardous tunnel. There are various bits of debris scattered about, with some possibly useful odds and ends, like rope, a pole, candles (Although it didn't come into play this time I would have this allow the party to have one minor needed item later on.)

7. Following the tunnel a but farther, they come to a dead end. Hazardous and full of sand.

8. The party backtracks to the straight tunnel where they encounter a group of 6 gnome warriors. After exchanging pleasantries they part ways. (Where did these gnomes come from and where are they going? Since they are heading in the opposite direction to the party that means they're heading off towards the dead end, but they shrugged off the party's warnings. More than meets the eye there?

9. The party returns back to the small room (at 5) and encounters a party of skilled kobold slingers (+1 to hit). The magic user kills one, and the fighter and dwarf each kill two. The remaining 3 gang up on the thief but fail to hit. The thief kills one and the dwarf kills the remaining 2.

Searching the bodies they find 3 GP.

10. They arrive back in the tight bend in the tunnel and encounter 4 bugbears. 2 bugbears attack the thief and land 1 hit, but the spends 2 SP and avoids the hit. The other 2 bugbears attack the dwarf, but fail to get through his armor. Combat ensues, with several misses, the fighter kills 2 bugbears, the thief and dwarf each kill 1.

11. Back around the second bend, the party encounters 6 skeletons. The fighter gets in a mighty swing and kills 3 of them and the dwarf kills 2 more. At this point 8 goblins show up and join in the attack on the party. The magic user kills the last skeleton. The thief kills one goblin, the fighter kills 3, and the dwarf kills 2 more. The last 2 goblins run away.

12. The party arrives back at the T intersection, where they encounter 4 orc guards with heavy weapons and good armor. The thief wounds one, and the fighter and dwarf each kill one. The orc fighting the thief deals out 2 points of damage. The thief spends 4 AP to avoid the wounds. The last orc charges the dwarf and hits for points of damage. The dwarf spends 1 AP to reduce the damage to 2. The dwarf then kills the orc.

The dwarf drinks the healing potion they found earlier to cure 1 hit point.

13. At the end of the tunnel an open door leads into a long room extending eastward. about 2/4 of the way in there is a Hazardous area. At the far end the room closes down to a Tight space. The rest of the room is Neutral. To the right there is a closed door. Farther down the are doors on either side of the room, the one on the north side is closed but the one to the south is open. The entry area to the room has a pit that can only be crossed by a narrow bridge. As the party moves across the bridge it tilts and the thief gets dumped off into the pit. 4 skeletons attack the other 3 party members as they reach the other side. The fighter kills 2 and the dwarf kills 2. After getting the thief out of the pit they search the room and find 2 GP.

14. They go through the open door on the south side of the room, entering into a small Dense room, looks like a storage room. Here they encounter 12 goblins (6 plus 6 reinforcements). The magic user kills one. Then 3 each attack the dwarf, getting 1 hit in which he avoids by spending 2 AP, 1 hit on the thief and 1 hit on the magic user. The last 2 goblins attack the fighter, but fail to cause any damage. In turn the dwarf and fighter each kill 2 and the thief kills one more.

Another round of combat ensues, with the fighter and dwarf each killing 2 more and the thief killing 1. The last goblin runs away.

They find another healing potion. The magic user drinks it and heals i wound. Everyone else has 1 point of damage on them.

15. They leave the storeroom and return the the large room, where 6 goblins armed with bows shoot at them from a distance, but the arrows fall harmlessly around the party. The magic user fires a bolt from his staff killing 1, and the thief kills another with thrown daggers. The dwarf and fighter move to get close enough to attack the goblins.

The thief kills another goblin, the dwarf kills 2 and the fighter kills the last one.

16. The party opens the door on the north side of the room and enters another small room, full of hazards this time. Here they encounter 4 ratmen guards armed with pole weapons.The theif wounds one, and that ratman fights back, hitting the thief. The thief spends 2 AP to avoid the wound. The fighter kills one and the dwarf kills another. The fourth ratman hits the magic user who spends 2 more AP to avoid the wound.

The ratman fighting the thief lands another blow, but the thief spends more AP and dodges that hit, too. The the thief kills the ratman. The last ratman gets one wound on the magic user before being killed by the fighter.

The party finds a helmet that add 1 to the wearer's Armor Class.

17. The party returns to the large room where they encounter 8 orcs. armed with bows. The magic user blasts one and the thief strikes down another with a thrown dagger. 2 orcs fire at the thief causing 1 wound. 2 more hit the magic user for one wound. The last 2 fire at the fighter, but miss. The fighter and dwarf move towards the orcs.

The magic user blasts another orc, and the thief also kills another one. 2 orcs charge the fighter, dealing 2 points of damage. 2 more charge the thief, but fail to cause any damage. The fighter kills 2 orcs, and the dwarf finishes off the last 2.

18. They try to open the last door, but it's locked. The thief quickly picks the lock and the party exits into a 

tunnel that branches left and right. They find orc footprints heading east, so they try following the other branch.

19. They enter a Hazardous tunnel heading south. As they move into the tunnel a trap is sprung spreading sleeping vapors into the tunnel. The thief succumbs and falls asleep. Before the others can do anything else an orc shaman appears, along with 8 hobgoblin minions. The shaman hits the magic user with a bolt, dealing 2 points of damage. The magic user strikes back for 1 point of damage. The fighter also attacks the shaman, dealing 2 more points of damage. And the dwarf cleaves through the shaman with a mighty blow of his axe, finishing the shaman off.

The hobgoblins gang up, 2 per each party member. They miss the fighter, but hit everyone else, doing 1 point of damage each. The magic user spends 2 AP to cancel his hit. The attack on the thief wakes him, but he's probably still a little disoriented as his attack misses.

The fighter kills 3 hobgoblins with a mighty swing of his sword. The dwarf kills 2 more. The remaining 2 hobgoblins go for all out attacks, hitting the magic user, who is now down to zero HP, and missing the dwarf. The magic user was just knocked out though, and after some quick first aid recovers back to 1 HP.

20. With all of the damage they have taken and nightfall coming soon the party decides it's high time to head back to the dungeon entrance. They return to the previous section of tunnel where they are attacked by 6 bugbears. The magic user focuses his energy to increase his AC. The thief kills 1 bugbear, but the fighter and dwarf each fail to land any hits. The bugbears fight back, landing 1 hit on the thief.

Rallying a bit the magic user and thief each kill a bugbear. The dwarf kills 2 more. And the fighter finishes off the last one.

21. Back to the large room. For a change nothing happens here.

22. Back to the T intersection nearing the exit. Another respite.

Night is falling fast outside now.

23. The party reaches the last section of tunnel leading out of the dungeon. But here they run into 10 more hobgoblins! The thief kills 1, and the dwarf and fighter each kill 2, while the magic user tries to Focus his energy. 2 hobgoblins attack the fighter, but fail to hit. 1 goes for an all out attack on the magic user for 1 hit, but the magic user cancels that by spending 2 AP. Another hobgoblin tries the same against the thief, with similar results, 1 hit canceled by spending 2 AP. And 1 hobgoblin tries against the dwarf, but fails to hit. The 2 remaining hobgoblins continue to battle the fighter, but the fighter manages to do them in.

Finally the party exits the dungeon, bruised and bloodied, with 3 hits on the fighter, 4 each on the magic user and the thief, and 2 on the dwarf. The party spent a total of 26 AP, all to avoid or cancel wounds. They found 2 healing potions, which they used. 1 helmet, and 5 GP.

This was quite a bit tougher than my first playtest, and not a lot to show for their efforts. On the other hand, at this rate they will have spent enough awesome points in another session to "level up", which in OSH lets them gain skills or increase attributes. OSH talks about levels, but I don't know if levels mean much in these rules. It seems like it's more about smaller incremental increases in character's abilities.

This game was fun and I feel like I'm getting "dialed in" to where I want the games to be. I don't know if this sort of report is of any use or interest to anyone else, but at least it gives me a record of the sessions, and thoughts about future sessions. If anyone has any thoughts about these reports, their structure or content, feel free to leave comments. I'd be interested to read them. Thanks!