BECMI D&D

[The Minsky Moment]

And did you guys see they're reissuing the 1st Edition Player's Handbook, DM Guide, and Monster Manual in April?  Collector's Edition covers, but with the original content and art.*

Still have my old books in the basement, gathering mold.
If you are nostalgic there is a free PDF series of 1E rules on the net called "OSRIC" - it's better organized IMO than the original 1E rule set and nicely arrnaged, although it's missing the original "art" and rather um . .  distinctive writing style.

[CountDeMoney]

Around the time the old 1E hardbacks were being sold in the late 70s, TSR (or whatever it was called back then) began to market a simple set of "basic" rules as an intro for new players, covering levels 1-3.  It came as a book with a blue cover.

The "blue book" sold pretty well and a few years later they made a revised version (red???)  That book sold even better, so well that an expansion was written to take the game to intermediate levels (4-8 or something like that) and then more books after that, until there was a whole parallel series of books with their own fan base.  That's "BECMI"  Hardcore guys and "old timers" (such as they were back then) stuck with the 1E hardbacks.  It is sort of like what is starting to go on now with ASL and ASL "Starter".

Ah, yes, I remember seeing the different colored box kits for a while in the early and mid-80s at bookstores and such.  OK.

[Jacob]

Since a new weekend is coming, I better recap last week's session:

Group 1 didn't happen as a 17 year old cat was in the process of passing way. My friend and his wife (both players) didn't want to leave him alone when his condition was deteriorating so rapidly so naturally we cancelled the session. Rest in peace, Simon.

Group 2 came over on Sunday.

The players rolled for the incapacitated characters. One got a personality change (change alignment) and the other looked set to recover fully; they'd just have to wait 5 to 7 days to get back to 0 HP.

Of course, they weren't going to sit around so the players decided to continue playing their secondary characters. They were also joined by a fifth player - a Thief who knew the Magic-User from back in Specularum (the capital). The Dwarf player was absent, so we assumed he was off...doing something....

All that sorted, the party organized a crew of local peasants to come by and return all the stolen furnishings to the homestead.

While back in the goblin gully they searched diligently for secret doors and, in the end found set into a carved wall (depicting crows, elven maidens and warriors in feathered cloaks apparently). The thief was cautious enough, and avoided getting hit by the rock-fall trap that was triggered by opening the door.

Inside the room they found two cobwebbed covered warriors standing guard on either side of a passage. The warriors looked similar to the warriors on the relief carving in the adjoining room, and their two handed swords were glowing. The party entered very cautiously, but eventually overcame the guards (they were just two skeletons with continual light cast on their swords). The party found little of use and proceeded up a staircase to the next room.

There they found a veritable (but old) armoury of elven weapons, guarded by a living crystal statue (again, a warrior with a crow feathered cloak) that attacked as soon as they touched anything. The thief was the first to touch the weaponry, and was quickly cut down by the statue (4 HP doesn't get you far). The player brought out his back up character, a cleric who we agreed originally hailed from the area, and she met the party back at the farm.

They did defeat the statue. It was guarding a warded, magically enhanced door that simply would not budge; the magic-user surmised that a knock spell might do the trick though.

After some bickering they decided to follow some tracks off beyond the gulley. It led into further goblin territory (actually bugbear), past several territorial markers. They met three bugbears who were warning them off. The fighter shot one unceremoniously, and a quick sleep spell from the magic-user put them all out of commission. The fighter killed off the wounded one and was about to proceed to kill the others (she believed that her family had been killed by goblins, so she's not fond of them). The other fighter, Andrei Farmer, stopped her and it led to a fairly protracted passive-aggressive back and forth between the two of them that had everyone at the table in stitches with laughter. In the end, Andrei won out and they released the other two bugbears, apologized and sent them back to where they came from while the party returned to regroup at the farm.

There Ilinka fed them and the neighbours a nice meal as thanks for the help. There they decided they were better off moving to Kaskas (the village) and they had pretty much left (taking Ilinka with them, for her safety) until someone said "wait, what about the three wounded unconscious people - the PCs. Oops. The farm remained their base.

Nonetheless, they went to town to see what was going on; from what they'd seen at the gulley and heard from various farmers they were beginning to suspect bandits rather than goblins. They gathered some rumours - that Cornelius Corvex (a local Thyatian landowner with pretentions to lordship) was behind the bandits (so everyone would have to turn to him for protection) - that the local merchant was in cahoots with the bandits to sell the stolen goods - and finally, Leocas the Innkeeper was very enthusiastic about raising a militia. Another rumour they heard, and dismissed, was that the bandits all wore fake red beards to disguise their identities when they attack; though this was dismissed as being silly. Oh, and they also hear about the other adventuring party going to investigate the hill.

As they were milling about at the village well, a man wearing a black robe with arcane symbols and many rings on his fingers rode up to them, accompanied by five rough looking types on foot. He asked for directions to the farmstead, so the PCs decided to accompany him there.

Pretty much as soon as they arrived, the magic-user (because that's what he was) cast charm person on Ilinka and tried to induce her to leave. The party, of course, would have none of it and a fight broke out. The wizard, his name was Pax, used his wand of fear (saves were made), and got Ilinka up on his horse as his guards kept the party away from them. The tide was turning against the guards, but the wizard was riding off with the girl.

The magic-users sleep spell put a quick end to that.

The fighter called out to the remaining bandits (because that's what they were) to give up; she would pay them double what Pax did. One of them took her up on the offer and promptly stabbed one of his fellows in the back. It made him popular with the party, because the guy he killed had been making lewd comments at the cleric as they travelled back to the farmstead earlier.

They woke up Pax and interrogated him, putting him on his horse with a noose around his neck, ready to hang. Fearing for his life he revealed that the leader of the bandits - calling himself the Silver Blade - had sent him to secure Ilinka. They already had the rest of her family. He also offered to lead them to the leader's buried treasure - 6000 gp. He was quite worried for his hide, you see.

The fighter asked about the Baroness Penhaligon, the nearest authority figure about two days' walk away. When she confirmed that the Baroness was quite young (maybe 20) and that people weren't sure how solid a grip she has on power, the fighter decided the Baroness couldn't be trusted to do carry out justice. Thus, she slapped the horse and Pax the magic-user died from a broken neck.

The converted bandit was happy to talk - there are about 25 bandits, he can lead them to their camp, and addition to the Silver Blade there's a red-headed elf woman with them. And yeah, they were the ones who raided the farmstead and took Ilinka's family captive, intending to sell them as slaves (slavery is illegal in Karameikos, but not in neighbouring Thyatis). He also said he would run rather than fight the Silver Blade as that man was lethal (which is true - he's a 3rd level fighter, skilled with his two handed magical sword - if he hits a PC it's instant death). The party was not deterred and started preparations to attack the bandit camp. There was talk of trying to raise a militia.

Oh... and each of the killed bandits and Pax each carried a fake red beard with them. Apparently the rumour was correct, no matter how silly it might have seemed.

... and that's where we ended.

[CountDeMoney]

Rest in peace, Simon.

Sucks.

[szmik]

Is it still going?

[Jacob]

Oh yeah... lots going on. I haven't been able to keep up with the updates.

Group 1 is now completely new characters. The only "original" character left in the party is Clovis who was originally hired as a cheap mule; he was basically a "normal man" acolyte to the Cleric who got killed in the steam cavern, at which point he got promoted to PC. Everyone else is dead and replaced.

It was sort of funny, the Elf was the last original character who died. They'd finished delving into the dungeon (I replaced it with one of my own), but not completed it. In it, they'd found more evidence of the cult of the Dark Dragon. They also managed to find and rescue the lordling's son (Cornelius Corvex II) and a red haired elf maiden with her pet mountain lion (Misty and Misery); the elf is the escaped second in command of the bandits group 2 defeated, but she obviously didn't quite volunteer that. She's attached to the party for now, but will make off as soon as it makes sense and she can profit from it; she has an ESP medallion, so she has a pretty good idea what's going on.

In the dungeon, they found out that the Goblin leader was amassing troops with support from some Baron (unnamed, but there aren't many candidates - it is of course Ludovico of Halag aka Ludwig of the Black Eagle Barony in the Gazeteer), a resurgent cult of the dragon (who are trying to awaken and control the dragon sleeping further down in the dungeon and are into things like human sacrifice) and a certain infamous wizard named Bargle. The Iron Ring was also mentioned as being in on it, providing weapons and being willing to by slaves. The various correspondence they found revealing this information indicated that the various villains were often working at cross purpose (I'm drawing here from various office politics shenanigans). They had some decent roleplaying along the way, convincing some ogres they were hired by the goblin king and otherwise bullshitting to much hilarity.

They came across the dragon, sleeping on a big pile of treasure, and pretty much shit their pants (it's a red dragon with a reasonable amount of HP, so it's way beyond their ability to handle right now). After much sneaking about, they left the treasure and the dragon and the dungeon to return to the village.

They lit a fire on the riverbank to get the fisherman to pick them up, as previously arranged. A few hobgoblins came by as they waited, and only one escaped with his life. That one hobgoblin returned a few hours later as the party pushed off in the fishing boat, with another 20 or so of his friends. They fired a few volleys of arrows at the boat as they drifted away... I rolled a handful of d20 for the arrows... I assigned them randomly... they all bounced off or missed, one by one... well, one character took 1 point of damage... the last arrow remained... AC 2, on the elf... just exactly good enough to hit... roll damage... six points... she only had four. Dead. The last arrow from the last hobgoblin killed the elf just as they floated out of range. Sad and funny at the same time. Now the player is playing a magic user.

They returned first to the village, then back to the larger town (Penhaligon) where they'd started, to report, collect rewards and regroup. Almost everyone's level 2 now (except the new magic-user). They also learned that a rebel cleric named Elwyn had stolen a sacred bell from the temple and turned to the Dark Dragon, but an adventurer had recovered it (my wife, in a solo game I'm running for her, on and off). Oh, and that dragons had generally not been around these last few decades as a great hero had done something that caused them all to slumber, but that the cult wanted to awaken them again.

The party plans to return to try to extract the treasure from the dragon without waking it, and have hired a few henchmen and a boat for that purpose.

Meanwhile....

Group 2

Went off to collect the head of the Baron of Penhaligon from the goblin who cut it off, at the behest of Cornelius Corvex (the landlord they don't like). The journey was without much combat; they had a goblin guide and bribed some goblins and a troll to give them passage, ran into some weird elves living in a tree (and had some romantic fun with them, oh those elves) before tracking down this other goblin chieftain in his lair. Along the way, they saw a dragon fly overhead (possibly the Dragon Group 1 is going to go steal the treasure from, depending how that goes; I have somewhat elastic timelines, luckily).

The party found the chieftain (after a few fights with his last followers) and walked in, all swagger and bad attitude ready to kill him. It turned out that he'd lost most of his followers (many turned to stone by a wizard (who, the chieftain said, has lots of treasure and is related to the various crow things they've seen around); the rest of his minions had run off) and he was feeling pretty pessimistic. Sure, they could have the head, he didn't give a fuck. Were they going to kill him? Sure, go right ahead, he didn't care. So, of course, they didn't kill him as they almost felt sorry for him. The fighter did rob him of his last valuables (a few rings). He laughed at that and said he wanted her to lead his armies once he had some armies to lead. She said no, but relented and they agreed that if he could provide her a dragon mount she'd be his henchman. I think the magic-user took up the offer as well.

The return trip was fairly uneventful.

When they turned the head over the Cornelius Corvex I, they felt he insulted them (though he paid them in full). He also offered them another job; he wanted them to collect a debt owed him from a local clan who didn't want to pay. Privately, several people in the party thought the terms were usurious (100% interest after a year).

While thinking it over, Dragomir - the cleric they'd rescued from the Goblin Gulley - met them and suggested they broke into Cornelius' estate to steal the debt papers; many locals owe him money, and to erase the debts would do a good thing (of course, Dragomir's intention was to collect the debts owed for himself and his church, he's part of the resurging cult of the dark dragon, but the party hasn't quite twigged to that yet).

Anyhow, Group 2 takes the debt collection job but plans on playing their employer false. Their job was to go collect the debt, and if the leader of the Zoltran clan didn't pay up, take possession of a plot of land with a ruined castle on it instead (he intends to rebuild the castle). They went to meet Zoltran and told him they were going to pretend to take over the land, so please don't cause trouble, and then fix everything (they plan to break in and get the debt paperwork like Dragomir suggested.

Right now they're camped out in the ruins of the castle and awaiting an opportunity to strike. Zoltran, for his part, gathered some 40 followers and doesn't seem happy, but maybe he's just play acting like they suggested? Someone did burn down their camp the last time they left it, forcing them to spend more money on tents.

Then there's the door in the castle foundation, presumably leading to some sort of dungeon below....

... so yeah, definitely still going. I wonder what will happen to this Cornelius Corvex fellow. He's trying to work his way up to be a lord in these lands, but Group 2 in particular may destroy that ambition. They'll run in to Misty and Misery at some point as well (assuming she makes it out alive from trying to lift the dragon's treasure).

[Jacob]

So yeah, Group 2 took out the bandits though their leader ("the Silver Blade" a fighter wielding a 2-handed silvered sword) managed to escape after a long duel by taking a potion of gaseous form (leaving his gear behind).

As the party led a militia of villagers to assault the bandit camp, they saw a redheaded elf lady ride off, accompanied by a great cat of some sort (mentioned in the previous post). They were also betrayed by the village inn keeper who, it turned out, was in league with some sort of bandits. Also, the bandits had been trying to join up with the Iron Ring (whoever they may be) for trading slaves.

[szmik]

Thanks for summary. I'm eager to read more of it.

[CountDeMoney]

You should introduce them to the Warhammer40K universe.  Much more cheerful.