Over the past several months, I have been percolating a game design that has become my latest rules-lite fantasy role-playing game. It is a typical dungeon crawl-focused set of rules, simple enough for Maximan to handle, but also deep enough to be a satisfying experience for me. I finally wrote up the rules--which are still a work in progress, of course--but it was time to get it to the table.
As mentioned in my previous post, SurfMonkey was kind enough to playtest it with us. His input was the final piece I needed to balance out the game. After applying his suggestions, Maximan and I sat down for a few sessions of RPG, sword and spell, fun. Below is the pictorial history of that session. Enjoy!
The Rulebook in all its homespun glory.
Here is the adventuring party, hired by the local mayor of the village of Vigil--a most unusual fellow--Uncle Pugga, to investigate the abandoned and supposedly haunted shrine of Palan on the outskirts of his town. Recently, there have been rumors of livestock and travelers disappearing near the shrine.
The questers approach the shrine alert for trouble.
As the questers investigate the shrine, the halfling, Gorbo Foothill, and the wizard, Zortan Gethen, find an activation sigil on the altar of the shrine. After pushing the sigil, the group feels a slight rumble in the earth. Soon, the questers found themselves in combat with hyena-headed creatures known as gnolls.
After dispatching the gnolls, the questers found a stairway behind the shrine that led down into darkness, a sub-level of the shrine, no doubt. There the questers encountered a room of orc guards. The presence of the orcs definitely points to something wicked occurring here under the abandoned shrine. After defeating the orcs, the party searched a statue room where they found some hidden magic items and two doors. After Gorbo picked the door's lock, they were attacked by a band of kobolds pouring out of the other door. This subterranean area was proving to be a bit more crowded than anticipated.
Bronden healed his companions' wounds with the power of his dwarven god. Then wanting to investigate the area the kobolds came from, the questers left their newly unlocked door behind.
Down a passage, they found the room the kobolds had recently inhabited and yet another door.
Behind the door, unlocked by Gorbo, was the living chambers of a foul and evil priest of Mordenmaul, Thola Doom. His cozy, macabre bed chamber was guarded by the undead! Five skeletons leapt to their master's defense.
After a pitched battle filled with magical dooms, and magical missiles, the questers rid the world of the evil priest and his foul minions. They searched his room and found gold, silver, and a magical ring of Damage Warding. They also found a letter Doom was composing to a woman who lives in a 'haunted hole' nearby. The two were apparently planning on turning the denizens of Vigil into their own personal undead army. Now the questers must quest to find this mysterious woman named, T'ashra.
On the way out from under the Lost Shrine of Palan, the questers decided to open the door they had unlocked earlier. Behind it was the final resting place of a paladin of Palan known as Palathas. His spirit roused and granted his sword to Nameless Nada to use in further forays against evil. The sword proved to be a holy sword that provides a bonus in battle and is particularly effective against the undead. The adventurers left now to continue their quest to rid the world of evil. Off they go to find T'ashra.
I am looking forward to the second chapter of this story. Hopefully, Maximan and I will find some time to tell the tale in the coming days. Expect another update when we do.
Thanks for reading and until next time, roll some dice while traveling the imagination.
