Session Log: Hagfish Hall 1

I got to run od&d for a small group of friends this week, in a dungeon of my own devising. We made characters, talked a bit about game expectations, and did a little group world-building exercise, so the delve itself was on the shorter side, but I think everyone seemed to enjoy it, and I'm happy with how it went.

In addition to the rules in FMC, we used weapon-based initiative and a simplified version of The Clock. Additionally, I chose not to restrict weapons or armour by class.

This was my first time writing a session log other people will be reading, so I'm still trying to find the style a bit. I expect as we play more I'll find my flow a little easier.

Swamp - Susan Van Camp

The Party

Daevon, a Veteran. Polearm, chain + shield.

Isabella, an Acolyte. Pike, leather.

Dandelion, a Medium. Sword, chain + shield.

On a whim I decided that character alignment would be kept secret from those who did not share alignment with one-another. This may or may not come up again.

 

The Delve

Date: December 17th. Ice on the bogs. Some snow on the ground, now a couple days old.

To save time, I started the party right outside the dungeon, Hagfish Hall. They had come downriver from the bog-town of Cennich, and had reached the coast. A few old stone walls still stood where the Old House had been pulled below the earth a couple hundred years prior.

The ruins stood on a hill, overlooking black beaches, with a gradual slant upwards and a sharp drop-off facing the sea. A stone staircase descended into the hillside.

Dandelion's map

At the mouth

Checking the snow for tracks, Danedlion noticed several boot-marks, circling around the ruins, and also going in. Tracks where likely a few days old, and it was difficult to tell if one person had circled thrice, or three figures once. Little could be determined about the make of the boots.

The party stopped to examine the door, finding it to be made of thick black iron, with some rust. Daevon pushed it open. Isabella lit her lantern.

 

Painting Room

Party found themselves in a stone chamber with a high ceiling, doors heading east and west. Overhead, a fresco depicted a woman in a black dress, with dark auburn hair. Gently nestled in her lap was a polished black iron helmet, with fins on the sides resembling bat wings.

Listening to both doors came up inconclusive. The party headed east, and came to a hallway, going 40' before reaching a T-junction.

Cautious of what might be lurking behind those corners, the party let their light reach it, and waited. In an attempt to lure out hidden dangers, Dandelion threw a rock. The sound from the rock prompted a clock roll, which lead to some concern among the party.

Coming to the T-junction, the party found two doors, each 20' from the intersection. One was shoddy wood (north), the other fine red pine (south).

Listening at the northern door, Daevon could hear faint, shallow breathing. Isabella listened at the southern door, but heard nothing.

At this point, the clock was very low, and so tensions were running a little high. Out of concern that something may sneak up behind them, or alert whatever was breathing behind the northern door, the party retreated back into the painting room.

The group hunkered down in the corner, shields up, waiting for something to happen. Despite the low clock, a brief moment passed [a d6 roll of 1 while the clock was at 2], giving them a short moment to breath. Dandelion drew a circle of protection on the floor in chalk.

 

Random Encounter!

The party started to hear heavy plunking, like rain drops. After one hit Isabella's arm, she realized it was raining blood!

After a brief downpour, the party found themselves drenched, their chalk circle washed away. Otherwise, they were unharmed. Their lamp was covered, and luckily, was not extinguished.

Daevon looked up at the painting, seeing that the woman depicted now grinned ever-so-slightly, flashing a bit of her teeth. On a whim, he attempted to communicate, but the painting was unresponsive.

The blood started to slowly drain through the gaps in the floor, and when they examined the painted woman once more, she had returned to normal.

 

Back to the Hallway

At this point, the party were divided on whether they wanted to find out what was through the fancy door to the south, or deal with whatever was breathing behind the door to the north. They decided to listen again, to see if anything had changed.

Dandelion held the lantern, while Isabella listened at the north door, and Daevon listened to the south. Isabella did not hear the breathing which Daevon had.

Meanwhile, Daevon heard something to the south [i decided to phrase this as a sort of abstract sense, rather then a concrete sound]. Somehow, he was convinced that there was still water beyond the door. Something in the stale air seemed to give that away to him.

The party seemed pretty concerned about the breathing at this point, and decided to cautiously open the northern door.

 

Storage Room?

Behind the door, the party saw a room filled with boxes, covered with white sheets. Most were piled up in the back corners, but a single large box sat in the middle, also covered. Across from where they came in, there was a door to the north.

After some consideration, including a suggestion to light a flask of lamp oil and just set the entire room on fire, the party decided to lift the sheet. Daevon stuck his pole arm under it, and swept it off in one clean motion.

 

Encounter!

Underneath was a cage, door missing. Inside, a large, nasty looking bladed knife-dog started barking up a storm [triggering multiple clock rolls].

The long-weapon users (Daevon and Isabella) were able to act before the knife-dog [i gave it initiative as battle-axe], but Dandelion had to act after.

Daevon hit the creature with his polearm. It tried to strike him back and missed. Dandelion was able to kill it with her sword.

A few breaths later, the door on the other side of the room swung open. Some form of beast-man emerged, wearing chainmail and a surcoat. He was over 6' tall, with a face like a pink, mangy lion. He came at the party with his broadsword.

Isabella stabbed him with her pike. The beast-man hit her with his sword. Daevon hit him again, chopping him open in a spray of blood.

The party where left a little bit surprised by how hard the beast-man was to take down [more then 10 points of damage suffered].

They looted his body, Isabella taking his armour and 13 sp. The rest of the boxes where uncovered, but most where empty, save for a few bags of flour.

 

Leaving the Dungeon

With Isabella wounded, and the time on our real-world clock closely approaching midnight, the party fled the dungeon, still drenched in comedic amounts of blood.

Foes slain:

• 1 knife-dog-thing
• 1 beastman

Plunder:

• 1 coat of mail
  
• 6 bags of flour (1 sp each)
• 13 silver pieces

XP: 139 per person.

Referee Retrospective

I had an absolute blast running this session! It felt so good to DM/GM/Ref a game again after a long break, and I was really happy with how quickly the players with less osr experience picked up on everything. I was also surprised by how naturally running games came back to me.

The dungeon itself has been going well so far, I think. I conceptualized it as a primordial stack, with relatively minimalist keying, to leave myself some room to ad-lib descriptive details on the fly. I'd sort of like to post my notes for the first level at some point, if I feel like typing them up.

I was happy with how The Clock worked out, though I would consider rolling it less frequently, as I was maybe a little excessive with it. I think the best use of it was being prompted by a thrown rock. The "oh shit" energy was palpable.

I was surprised by how quickly XP for monsters adds up, being 100/HD in od&d. My initial instinct was to consider lowering it a bit, but I think for the style of play it may be decently suited. We're going to be playing shorter, week-night sessions, so leveling up faster may end up being a good thing.

Finally, before next session I need to make a call on how I want to give out XP. Right now, its between gaining XP for all treasure recovered, and only gaining XP for coin blown on downtime activities. I have a bit of concern that if every armored monster they kill yields a set of armour they can sell, it might add up a little quickly. I suppose that could be a reason armour isn't all that valuable in od&d. Additionally, armour is heavy, so carrying multiple sets out of a dungeon might cause logistical problems.

Overall I think the session went super well, and I'm really looking forward to playing more!