Wizard Tricks (OSE)

"Do not mistake me for some conjurer of cheap tricks!" 

- Gandalf the Gray

"A trick is something a hooker does for money... or candy." 

- Gob Bluth

"What can my wizard do when they're out of spells?" It's a common question  when playing old-style D&D, and it's been addressed dozens of times. "Tricks" are my attempt at an answer. It's not an especially original answer. They're pretty much Edition 3+ cantrips in all but name, but I wanted to make them even less tactically useful in order to keep that OSR flavor. Zot! Is the only trick with a direct combat application. It's moderately less effective than a sling, and only slightly better than a thrown dagger. “Rods/Staves/Wands” is typically one of the easier saves for opponents to make, so it's not going to replace your MU's flaming oil flasks. Still, it lets your low-level MU feel all wizardly by zapping kobolds with their wand. 

Tricks

Tricks are minor magical invocations, typically learned by aspiring spellcasters early in their apprenticeship. They are usually forgotten or ignored by the time they become a full-fledged Magic User. Tricks are only known by Magic Users, Illusionists (from the Advanced book), and Necromancers (from the optional class). A 1st level spellcaster knows a number of Tricks equal to their Intelligence bonus +1 (to a minimum of 0), determined randomly, by the player, or by the referee. Once chosen, the character cannot change the Tricks they know. The spellcaster adds another Trick at 5h level, and another at 9th.

Once cast, a Trick does not leave the spellcaster's memory! They may perform the Trick repeatedly throughout the day. All tricks require the spellcaster to have a wand or staff in hand, and the caster must chant and gesticulate as with any other spell.

 

1) Zot! (MU only)

Range 30'. A small jolt of arcane energy. Target must save vs wands or take 1d4 damage.

2) Kindle

Instantly create a small flame at the end of your wand or staff, enough to light a candle, pipe, fireplace, etc.

3) Open

Open an unlocked door, lid, or hatch you can see within 30'

4) Snail

Summon a fist-sized snail for 1 round per level. Appears in your hand and follows your commands.

5) Skull (necromancer only)

A mindless, ghostly skull floats around your shoulders for 1 round per level.

6) Leitmotif (illusionist only)

Your personal theme song plays around you at conversational volume for 1 round per level. 

7) Candle

Your wand or staff produces a 5' radius of soft light. Lasts 1 turn or until you cast another spell or trick.

8) Wash

Cleans 1 dish, cup, or utensil within 10' to acceptable quality.  

9) Scribble

Write a message upon a surface in softly glowing letters, up to INT words. Lasts 1 turn. 

10) Confetti

Conjoure a handful of colorful paper shreds up 30' away. Optionally accompanied by kazoo fanfare.

Ashes of Angels Sessions 9 and 10, plus Mid-Campaign Assessment

I’m a bit behind on my session reports, and the last two sessions have been kind of light on plot, so I’m going to try and keep things to bullet points. After that, I’m going to mull over some thoughts on where the campaign is, where it’s going, and how well the system is working for us.

Our Heroes
Belinda Kage: Serpentblood 2, Midwife
Madeline: Specialist 3, Grave-robber
Mortimer: Alice 3, Librarian
Gerrit Liddstadt of Worms: Fighter 2, Soldier
Jacob: Cleric 2, cultist of Balor

NPCs
Ana Fischer: Witchy henchwoman
Ekans and Arbok: Belinda’s doggos

Svetlana: Innkeeper's least-horrible daughter

Session 9

• The party returns to Kotstadt and prepares to return to Pagan’s Well to dig out the collapsed tunnel.
• They hire two laborers, the brothers Kolin and Rolf who claim to have “dug the finest latrines from here to Berlin!”
• J’s new character, Jacob, joins the group. He’s a secret cleric of Balor—and old man in a rough brown robe and an eye patch. He hides his holy symbol in his empty socket. Dreams have lead him to Pagan’s Well.
• Back in the Well, the party discovers a large bloody handprint on a wall. It wasn’t there before. Madeline feels like there’s something watching them in the dark and mist. The diggers are spooked, but a big pile of coins convinces them to stay.
• They clear the tunnel and discover a round stone door carved with one-eyed skulls. The door rolls away easily.
• Beyond the door is a burial chamber. Seven partially-mummified corpses with rusted armor and weapons and shiny gold torcs. One corpse clutches a large and sinister-looking spear.
• Belinda grabs the spear, and of course the pagan corpses (draugr) rise up and attack.
• The fight goes very badly. Jacob’s leg is badly injured, and Rolf dies. Kolin's morale breaks and he runs away, disappearing into the misty tunnels of the Well. The party isn’t landing any hits. It’s time to retreat. Jacob flings his lantern, lighting one of the draugr ablaze.
• The party retreats from the crypt. The round door is harder to close than it is to open, but they manage to seal the tomb once more.
• Back at Kotstadt, the clearly-injured party faces a lot of questions as to what happened. The diggers' father is very distraught and wants to know what happened to his sons. The party lies, and tells the villagers that they were looking for treasure in a (fictional) cave, when the roof collapsed, crushing the brothers.
• The villagers (who are, remember, all very stupid) believe the party, but the diggers’ father insists that they go and dig out his son’s body. That’s when Kolin stumbles back into town, raving about monsters, the walking dead, his murdered bother, and the party’s witchcraft.
• The party explains that Kolin has clearly gone mad with grief from his brothers’ death. Again, the villagers believe them, but there’s still a bunch of unrest. Father Hrothgar, the burly-but-friendly village priest mollifies the situation. “These are troubled times, and misfortune can break a man’s mind. Let’s all go to bed. In the morning we will take our visiting friends and a dozen stout men to go retrieve Rolf's body from this cave and ensure a proper Christian burial.” The rest of the villagers approve of this idea.
• The party decides to skip town in the middle of the night before the villagers discover their lies. On the way out, they run into the innkeeper’s least-horrible daughter, Svetlana, who is obsessed with Belinda. They agree to take the girl away with them.
• The party plots a circuitous route back to the Abbey of St. Agnes so they can retrieve the Lucifer mirror.
• On the road, they come upon the village of Grossbeck, which has seemingly been abandoned.
  
  There are no people or animals to be seen, the homes are still intact, but most of the furniture and possessions are missing. A large black monastery lurks on the hill above the town, with an ancient cemetery at its base.  Hooded figures can be seen at a distance, entering the monastery doors. (I stole this entire set-piece from The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart.)
• The party finds an abandoned inn to spend the night in. Around midnight, they hear the monastery bell toll thirteen.
• In the morning, the party decides to explore the cemetery, hoping to find a passage to the Ghoul Market.
• Inside an old crypt, they discover a secret passage beneath a statue of St. Drogo (patron saint of the ugly and deformed, true fact.
• The underground passage splits in two. One passage continues towards the monastery. The other bears the white-ankh mark of the Ghoul Market! The decides to continue towards the monastery for now, hoping the monks there might have knowledge of the Market.
• They encounter and easily defeat a giant albino spider. Jacob fails to harvest any venom from its fangs.
• The passage terminates at a secret door that leads to the basement hallways of the monastery.
• Session ends.

Session 10

• There are several doorways in the torch-lit hallway. To the left, the hallways slopes downwards and out of sight. To the right are several doors, which they choose to investigate. One leads to a privy with a dead monk at the bottom of the cesspool. Another leads to a laundry room. One leads to stairs going upwards. And another leads to a pantry full of rotten and worm-ridden foodstuff.
• They go back down the other way. A short flight of stairs leads to an iron-barred cell with casks and chests visible. Two robed and cowled figures hold antique longswords and guard the door.
• The party lusts for that treasure, so they attack! The faces of the “monks” are revealed to be
  
  rotten and gray with clay-like flesh and moldy beards, like something out of a Spanish-Italian horror movie!
• The monsters are tough! One claws Garrit, and his muscles freeze up, paralyzing him. The undead monk continues its onslaught and chews Garrit’s shoulder down to the bone. Belinda’s Shield spell protects Madeline, who puts her pickaxe through the monk’s head. Blades and bullets finally put down the other monk.
• In the treasure vault, the party finds a chest full of 1000 silver thalers, a gold chalice, a couple vials of holy water, and a glass reliquary that seems to hold the blood of St. Drogo. The party packs up and leaves, declining to explore the rest of the monastery.
• Spending the night in the abandoned inn again, the party hears someone (or something) lurking outside in the darkness. In the morning they find six sets of sandaled footprints. They decide to leave the abandoned town.
• The part cuts cross-country to make their way through a small neck of forest before they make it to the Abbey of St. Agnes.
• Making camp in the forest, they are approached by a group of eight orphans, refugees from a village to the south. Belinda and Ana determine which of the orphans are first-born (for later use). The party will take the children to the Abbey with them, hoping the nuns will take care of them.
• On the way to the abbey, the party is attacked by a large bear. Garrit is struck down, but is not killed. After a desperate fight, the PCs manage to put the beast down.
• They arrive at the abbey the next day. The place is on lock-down. Sister Catherine guards the door with a large musket. Garrit is taken to the infirmary.
• Things haven’t been good in Hegendrof since the PC’s left. Old Man Hagan’s house burnt down, and a demon haunts the city, killing people and livestock. The witchfinders have been called in and are expected in the next few days.
• The party goes to the shed they rented from the nuns, where they stashed the Lucifer mirror, to consolidate their loot and ask Lucifer some questions. They take the Nihal, the brattiest of the firstborn orphans with them.
• Belinda casually shanks Nihal and asks Lucifer where they can find a Writ of Protection to let them safely enter the Ghoul Market. Lucifer tells them they can get one from Baron von Winter, representative of Dracula, in the Black Forest. The party has their new travel destination!
• The party drags Nihal's body to the woods so they can blame his death on the roving demon. They go to report the boy’s abduction to the nuns.
• The nuns are horrified. Doughty sister Catherine (fighter 1) grabs her musket and insists the PCs help her find the body.
• Of course, they run into the demon itself while out in the woods. The demon looks like a giant protein crystal atop five scaly legs. It glows with an alien light. Sister Catherine opens fire and the PCs run away. They hear the sounds of combat, but don’t look back.
• Mortimer the Alice voices his Exasperation, and the PCs find the grown-over door to an old abandoned root cellar from a long-destroyed building. They hide there for several minutes until they are certain the demon is gone.
• When the PCs return to the abbey, Sister Catherine is there, badly wounded, but alive. She said she was able to drive away the demon with a vial of holy water she always keeps on her. The nuns are grateful that the witch hunters are only a few days away.
• Party performs charity work around the abbey. Mortimer gets adopted by a three-legged, wall-eyed sheep. Mensch, the insane eunuch from the Pale Lady adventure, decides Madeline is his new best friend. ("Can he hold a sword? Then he's in!")
• The PCs move Lucifer and the rest of their loot to the hidden root cellar, figuring it will be a more secure location.
• Session ends.

Treasure from Both Sessions

• Ancient war spear with a bone shaft wrapped in man-skin and a head of meteoric iron. 
• 1000sp
• Gold chalice worth 500sp
• 3 vials of holy water in silver vials
• Blood of St, Drogo
• Miscellaneous mundane goods salvaged from abandoned Grossbeck

Mid-Campaign Assessment

I’ve played in a number of sandbox games, and I’ve greatly enjoyed them. This is the first time I’ve run a pure sandbox game, and honestly, I’m not sure my home group is the right match for the style. They aren’t bored, and everyone seems to have a good time, but the party wanders a lot and leaves a lot of half-finished jobs and fractionally-explored sites.

I think a lot of this comes from the horror setting. We had similar pseudo-problems with the Silent Legions game. My players are smart and genre savvy, with good survival instincts. But there’s a fine line between “playing smart” and “missing all the cool stuff.” The party has fought a lot of humans and animals, but not a lot of monsters (Pale Lady notwithstanding). I put some fun, goopy monsters in the Pagan’s Well and the Black Monastery, but the PCs bugged out before they encountered them.

I have laid down a bunch of plot hooks and breadcrumbs for about six different modules. I’ve been trying to rely on my players’ own curiosity, and trying to avoid the whole quest-giver “hey I got a job for you” thing. I may need to rethink that. No railroads, but maybe some road maps.

Let’s talk systems. This game started as Lamentations of the Flame Princess game with a bunch of house rules. I’ve added even more house rules as the game has progressed, mostly to make the PCs more adaptable and survivable. At this point, it doesn’t really resemble LotFP, but rather a mulligan stew of various B/X based games. From what I’ve seen the DIY/OSR scene, this isn’t unusual.

I like lethal games. I pitched this campaign as a lethal game. But I think some of my players might be getting frustrated. Maybe not so much with the lethality, but with how ineffective they are in combat. I know old-style combat is supposed to be swingy, but that draugr fight in Pagan’s Well took five rounds before anyone scored a hit (the draugr only had AC like leather armor and 2HD). After a point, swingy becomes tedious. I’m already taking on some rules to address this. I’ll post those later.

This all sounds negative, but I’m still really enjoying the game, and my players are still having a good time. I really enjoy playing all the terrible villager NPCs. We’ve just been in kind of a slump the past couple of sessions. If they stick to the plan to go visit Baron von Winter, that gives them a solid goal. He can definitely give them the old “If you want this from me, I need you to do me this favor” thing, which will lend some much-needed structure to the game.

Mechanical Bastard [OSR Class]

Aaron Goddamn Stack!

I honestly can't tell you if I wrote this class as a joke or not. That's not an unusual situation for me. I'm not sure if I'll ever use it in my game, but I'm pretty happy with it as a weird alternative to the Warforged. The Mechanical Bastard mixes little Bender with a whole lot of Aaron Stack, and of course some Gonzo the Mechanical Bastard.

MECHANICAL BASTARD

The Once Begotten of the Machine God are referred to as “Mechanical Bastards” by almost everyone else in Wyrld. These alien creatures are native to some strange otherworld full of machine life. They are mechanical beings possessing a living, alien soul. Mechanical Bastards resemble humans until they use one of their abilities or are wounded. When damaged, they bleed oil and show exposed gears, springs, and alien circuitry. The Mechanical Bastard is human-sized and shaped, and can use normal armor and weapons. Certain upgrades will allow it to permanently integrate armor and weapons into its system. Not all Mechanical Bastards assume gender roles, but many do so in order to blend in with humans. Mechanical Bastards speak Common, their own language (Cyberchat), and their alignment tongue.

At level nine, the Mechanical Bastard can construct a factorium. This complex will attract 1d4 low-level (level 1-3) Mechanical Bastards to his service, as well 6d6 0-level humans fascinated by robots.

Requirements: INT 9, CON 9

A high-CHA Mechanical Bastardess

Prime Req: CON
Fights As: Fighter
Saves As: Fighter
Weapons: Any
Armour/Shields: Any
Hit Die: d8* (+3 HP per level after level 9)
*assumes fighters have d8 Hit Dice

A Mechanical Bastard is a Living Construct.

This has a number of benefits and drawbacks...
* Immune to poisons and disease.
* Need not eat, drink, or breathe.

* Still affected by sleep, charm, and energy drains.
* Doesn't actually "sleep" but requires four hours of downtime each day to defrag itself.

* Affected by Heat/Chill Metal and suffers double damage from the spell.
* Cannot benefit from Cure X Wounds spells, nor damaged by the reversed versions.
* Mending heals 1d4 damage per 2 caster levels (max 5d4)
* Suffers 2d6 damage from successful Rust Monster attacks.
* Cannot be Raised or Resurrected, but can be Reincarnated. (Welcome to organic life, Sparky!)
* A Mechanical Bastard falls “unconscious” at 0HP. It is killed when brought to negative HP equal to its Constitution score. While unconscious it cannot eat coins to heal. If it is not brought to positive Hit Points through Mending within 24 hours, its automatic reboot systems will kick in. The Mechanical Bastard will wake up with 1 HP. When it reboots, the Mechanical Bastard will need to re-roll all its upgrades. It will lose any integrated weapons or armor if it no longer possesses the proper upgrades.

* Does not heal normally or naturally and is too complex to be repaired by mortal smiths or engineers.

A Mechanical Bastard heals itself by eating minted coins.

1 gold piece heals 1 hit point.
1 platinum piece heals 2 hit point.
It takes 1 round to eat 1 coin.
The Mechanical Bastard cannot eat more coins per day than its Constitution score.

A Mechanical bastard develops random upgrades as it gains levels.

*At level 2 and 4, the player rolls 1d6 to see what power the Mechanical Bastard gets. Re-roll any duplicates.

1) Integrate Armor

Gonzo the Mechanical Bastard

Permanently absorb mundane a suit of armor and assume its AC. Only half of an integrated suit of armor’s weight is counted towards encumbrance. This does not change the Mechanical Bastard’s appearance. The armor cannot be “un-integrated” and effectively destroys the armor. Integration takes 1 turn, and a newly-integrated armor replaces an old one. Shields cannot be integrated.

2) Integrate Weapon
Permanently absorb a mundane, one-handed weapon, which it can retract and extend at will An integrated weapon is not counted towards encumbrance. This does not change the Mechanical Bastard’s appearance. The weapon cannot be “un-integrated” and effectively destroys the weapon. Integration takes 1 turn, and a newly-integrated weapon replaces an old one.

3) Night Vision Eyes
Infravision 60’. Works however Infravision works in your campaign.

4) Static Zapper
Can make ranged attacks with non-magical electricity from its hands. Has a range of 10/20/30. Does 1d6 damage. Usable a number of times per day equal to the character’s Constitution score.

5) Bending Unit
+2 to Open Doors and similar rolls.

6) Scanners
Can find secret doors like an elf.


*At level 6 and 8, the player rolls 1d6 to see what power you the Mechanical Bastard gets. Re-roll any duplicates. 

1) Integrate Magical Armor
As above, but also works with with magical armor. If the Mechanical bastard already has the mundane version, replace it with a newly-rolled upgrade.

2) Integrate Magical Weapon
As above, but also works with magical weapons. If the Mechanical Bastard also has the mundane version, it can now integrate two weapons--one mundane, one magical.

3) Extendo-Arms
Can stretch its arms to reach and manipulate objects 30’ away. The character can now attack from the second rank, with “non-reach” weapons. The arms are not effective in combat at further length.

4) Laser Eyes
Can make ranged attacks with a magical heat ray from its eyes. Has a range of 30/60/90. +1 to hit. Does 2d4+1 damage. Usable a number of times per day equal to half the character’s Constitution score.

5) Overclocked
The Mechanical Bastard’s base movement is increased by 10’.

6) Mecha-Morph
The Mechanical Bastard can cast Alter Self on itself once per day.

Experience	Level	Hit Dice	Title
0	1	1d8	Cog
3,000	2	2d8	Droidling
6,000	3	3d8	Automaton
12,000	4	4d8	Droid
24,000	5	5d8	Robot
48,000	6	6d8	Robodroid
96,000	7	7d8	Mechadroid
200,000	8	8d8	Android
400,000	9	9d8	Megadroid
800,000	10	9d8+3*	Super Megadroid

*CON modifiers no longer apply

Captain (OSR Class)

A while back, I posted my Captain class to the ACKS forums (where I posted under the name "luftmensch"). The captain is an inspiring warrior and a leader of men. The class is inspired by the marshal and warlord classes from D&D, and the captain class from Lord of the Rings Online. As I'm starting to gather material together for an upcoming FLAILSNAILS game, I thought I'd dust the class off, tweak it a bit for Labyrinth Lord and share it with y'all.

The beastmen hordes had pounded our forces all day. Me and the other boys from the Forsaken Sons hunkered in the shelter of a broken wall, catching a few minutes of respite while the other forces of Law fought and died in the ruins of the city. Maiden's Tower would soon fall, and the Chalice of Silver Tears would be in the clutches of evil.

We each looked to each other and nodded, no words needed. It was time to turn and run. There was no shame in it. All was lost.

Then a thunder of hooves, and Captain Belwyn rode up on his exhausted horse. He leaped from his saddle and strode towards us. His armor was rent in a dozen places. The left side of his helmet was dented, and his face was covered in blood with one eye swollen shut. Still, his voice was clear as a bell as he stood over us.

“Up! Get up, lads! We have them right were we want them! See? Soon the sun will rise and burn away these black clouds. With Bramahn's light behind us we'll send these beasts back to their pits!” He grabbed my by the shoulder roughly and lifted me to my feet, then turned and did likewise to the other Sons. “Up! Up and fight, I say! Fight on for the fate of Law and the kingdoms of men!” Our hearts stirred, and strength came back to our arms as we picked up our spears and shields once more.

Suddenly, a black shadow fell across the battlefield, and Therrovaux, the Dread Wyrm landed in the shattered city square. Black waves of terror washed from the beast like a palpable force. Elves and dwarves dropped their arms and fled in fear, but we did not falter. The beast spotted us, turned its serpentine eyes to us, and bellowed its defiance. Acidic death sizzled on its lips.

Captain Belwyn just grinned. He spat a wad of blood and broken teeth from his mouth and gripped his massive two-handed warblade. “C'mon, lads. Let's show these curs what human courage looks like!” The Captain bellowed a wordless warcry and charged the dragon.

And we followed.

Captain

The captain is a fighting man trained in leading and inspiring others. He may be a beloved commander who earns his troops' love and respect, or a tyrannical bully whose men follow him out of fear. While not as sturdy as a pure fighter, he is competent in all weapons and armor. His most powerful ability, though, his his skill in instilling courage and confidence in the men and women that follow him. With an few rallying words he can remove fear and bring strength to his fellows' arms. An experienced captain is so commanding, that even kings and emperors might pause and follow his orders.

Requirements: CON 9, CHA 13

Prime Requisites: CON and CHA

Hit Die: d6 (+2 HP after 9th level)

Fights as: Fighter 

Saves as: Fighter

Weapons: All

Armor: All

Special Abilities

Master Commander: The captain has mastered the art of command. His authority inspires men to follow him into danger. The captain’s henchmen and hirelings receive a +2 bonus to morale.

“But it is not this day…”: The captain can improve the morale of troops. Inspiring courage requires a few moments of oration before a battle (one round), and grants all allies within a 50' radius a +1 bonus to attack throws, damage rolls, morale rolls (for monsters or NPCs allied with the captain), and saving throws against magical fear. The bonus lasts for 10 minutes (1 turn). The captain can inspire courage in any given character once per day per class level. He cannot inspire courage on characters who are already engaged in combat.

At Fifth Level:
Bravery: The captainis immune to all natural and magical fear effects.

At Ninth Level:
Commanding Voice: The captain gains a +2 bonus to reaction rolls with creatures he speaks to. If this bonus results in a total of 12 or more, the subjects act as if charmed while in his presence. Creatures with a WIS greater than the captain’s CHA are immune to this power (and the captain will know they are immune).

At ninth level (General), a captain can build a castle. His legendary leadership abilities will attract 5d10 0-level warriors looking for training under his leadership, as well as 1d6 low-level captains (level 1-3) rallying to his banner.

Experience	Title	Level	Hit Dice
0	Bannerman	1	1d6
1,700	Standard Bearer	2	2d6
3,400	Rallier	3	3d6
6,800	Sergeant	4	4d6
13,600	Officer	5	5d6
27,200	Lieutenant	6	6d6
55,000	Commander	7	7d6
110,000	Captain	8	8d6
210,000	General	9	9d6
310,000	General, Level 10	10	9d6+2*
410,000	General, Level 11	11	9d6+4*
510,000	General, Level 12	12	9d6+6*
610,000	General, Level 13	13	9d6+8*
710,000	Lord Marshal	14	9d6+10*

*Hit Point modifiers from Constitution no longer apply.

B/X Dyson's Delve at BASHcon

I went to BASHcon this weekend at the University of Toledo in Toledo, OH. It's not my favorite con, but it's only 15 minutes away from my home, and my son likes all the anime stuff.

I got a chance to run a game for some younger* friends of mine I don't see very often. Most were Pathfinder or D&D 4.0 players. I, on the other hand, had just bought the B/X D&D books at the con for a criminally low price (only five bucks per booklet!). I decided to show the kids what D&D used to be like, using a mash-up of B/X and Labyrinth Lord.

*And by younger, I mean 20-somethings.

SCORE!!!

I had them roll 3d6 for attributes, straight down the line in order. I also had them roll for Hit Points. This gave us some fighty-types with 2hp. To makes things a bit less tense, and to have some meat-grinder fun, I had them each make 3 characters. This gave us a team of 15--1 elf, 2 clerics, 3 dwarves, 3 thieves, 2 M-Us, 4 halflings, and NO fighters.

The straight rolls gave us some wonderfully diverse characters like Incindro the Magic User with a beefy 18 STR and a fragile 4 CON.

Character sheet  also by Dyson Logos

I decided to put the company through the first level of the ultra-nifty Dyson's Delve. It was decided that they were five independent adventuring parties that had grouped together and formed a guild called "the Doomed Knights" to explore the dungeon in search of adventure, glory, and gold.

The adventure went as well as I could have hoped. In the first encounter with a pack of giant rats, two characters were slaughtered in the first round, and two more were gnawed to death before the combat was over. A fine bloody beginning.

We kept a list of the dead on a "Scroll of the Doomed" in the middle of the game table. The players were always excited to list their fallen adventurer's name on the scroll, along with the cause of death.

Salklerik, killed by a Halfling named Scrotum. Both PCs belonged to the same player.

Through giant ferrets, goblins, and zombies, the PCs quickly learned the value of defensive lines, ranged attacks, and the liberal application of flaming oil. Whenever a player lost two of his characters, I let his remaining third PC advance to level 2. This created an interesting tactical decision for my players after their first character died. "Do I try and keep two first level guys alive, or do I kill this one and let this other one become 2nd level?" Sophie's Choice, man.

I sketched out the map as they explored. That's one explored dungeon!

We played for about five hours, and the party cleared out the entire first level. Everyone had a blast. The 4th Ed players were stunned by how fast combat went. Eight-or-so fights (with a ton of characters, no less!) in one session, as compared to maybe one or two. A friendly grognard at a nearby table told me afterwards how much he enjoyed hear people play old-style D&D again. He also remarked on how much fun it sounded like my players were having. That, I think, is the greatest compliment.