Out of Order in the Court!

I keep mentioning how I want to run X2 - Castle Amber as a solo adventure because the characters in my last solo adventure lost all of their gold and equipment. This state disallowed X2 - Isle of Dread. No cash for a ship. This also creates a couple of side issues. 

First, the Bills are in the playoffs. Second, the party is too small. Third, I have a bunch of laser crafts to finish. And suppose that someone should do the dishes and laundry. 

Ok. Laundry and Dishes are done. 

I'm back to the main issue at hand. 

I need more characters. So I rolled up a few to reach the 36 levels needed for X2. I'll describe a few of them after the list, because I stole their names from good books. 

Yes, this is turning into an Amazon Ad. 

• Merry the Halfling, Paladin, 4th level
• (Ana) Khouri, Post Human, Fighter, 4th level
• Lance, Human, Fighter, 1st level
• Alexei, Elf, Bard, 2nd level
• Pizzaballa, Elf, Cleric, 2nd level
• Nodonn, Human, Fighter, 4th level

I stole the following names from books: Merry is from The Lord of the Rings, Ana Khouri is from Revelation Space, and Nodonn Battlemaster is from the Many-Colored Land Series. Pizzaballa was stolen from a real person: He is a Cardinal at the Vatican. I find that hilarious. 

Let's start with Merry. In every edition of D&D that I own, Halflings are not allowed to be paladins. In 3.5 and beyond, it is possible. The reason I allow Halfling Paladins is, according to LotR lore, by any imaginable measure, Merry, Pippin, and Sam all became powerful heroes and leaders. Technically, they do not remotely match a D&D Paladin except in name, but I allow it. 

Nodonn Battlemaster is a lord from the book The Nonborn King, a part of the Many-Coloured Land Series. He is an alien, but I cast him as a human. His people, the Tanu, are the prototype for Elves. 

The last character I stole is the most interesting, in my opinion. My campaign world is post-apocalyptic, so Ana Khouri is stolen from a series of science fiction novels, Revelation Space. She has travelled to the stars before returning home to Earth. She is thousands of years old, thanks to high-tech rejuvenations and time dilation. She has been many things: spacer to soldier, mother, and assassin. 

With that background in place, she should have all kinds of superpowers. I decided against that. She does have some special abilities: She has infravision and vision like a starlight scope. She has machines in her blood that make her immune to two very particular spells: slow and haste. This is because she has been engineered for long life. She also receives the maximum number of HP per level. 

Mechanically, she started life having 18s in every stat, but as she ages and becomes more removed from the high-tech society that did this to her, all of her stats are falling. She appears typical for a human fighter of this epoch. Her highest stat is a 17 in Dex. She is agile like a dancer, but not inhumanly so. 

Having described these new characters, I can list off the remaining characters from my B2 sessions: 

• Solvo, Elf, 3rd level
• Thomas, Cleric, 3rd level
• Jude (aka Punch), Knight, 2nd level
• Rety, Thief, 3rd level
• Dorian, Cleric, 3rd level
• Sybil, MU, 4th level
• Belaphon (aka Bel), MU, 3rd level

In reading over the module, there are no particular items the player characters need. I have decided that the party has 6 healing potions. The old party will keep all of the items they used to have, but have accidentally misplaced the Eyes of the Eagle. They lost those, like I do with my glasses, 3 times a day. 

The new party members will have magical main weapons, but they lack other magic items. Two of them have an elven chain, which is AC 4 due to the craftsmanship, not magic.  

The only magic item I had my eye on was a Staff of Healing. But it felt unnecessary as the party has 3 clerics and a paladin, plus those 6 healing potions. Castle Amber has a lot of nooks and crannies to hide in for healing. A magical healing device is pointless. 

The next challenge will come soon enough. I need to plan a dinner for 13 people at Chateau d' Amberville. I shall consult with my family. 

One of the issues with this meal plan is how time-consuming it is. Each and every character is being offered 10 items, for a grand total of 130 choices, and 36 of them don't mean anything. It's like going to Panera Bread on Hangover Day. The line is long and grumpy. I need to find a way to streamline this. What I had in mind doesn't seem very good. I will get back to you once I finish this deadly meal plan. 

The DM's Rubric - X2 Castle Amber as an Example

In my last post, I said that X2 Castle Amber made me a better DM, but I did not fully explain why.

What makes a good DM and good players is understanding the assignment. There is a reason that meme exists. Most role-playing games give players and referees specific roles, often resolved through specific die rolls. Understanding which choices matter, which rolls apply, and what the consequences are is critical to fun and successful play.

I used to be a teacher, and one of the hardest lessons to learn was how to create a good rubric.

X2 Castle Amber made me a better Dungeon Master because it forced me to understand the difference between player agency and railroading, and how inconsistent expectations around choices and die rolls undermine good play. In teaching terms, Castle Amber shows what happens when a game’s rubric changes without warning. Learning to recognize that made me a better DM in every game I now run.

A rubric, as I like to define it, is this:

“A scoring guide that clearly defines the criteria, expectations, and levels of achievement for an assignment.”

In role-playing games, this means understanding how different roles and different die rolls are meant to work. When those expectations are clear and consistent, play improves.

I have touched on learning before. The White Box Set teaches gameplay through tangible examples. My five-star review of the 2000 Dungeons and Dragons movie is about how not to run a campaign (or a movie). My earlier X2 post describes a real learning experience at the table.

The first thing a DM needs to learn is what is and is not a railroad.

In my Keep on the Borderlands series, I ran the same end scenario three times. I prepared over one hundred monsters for a large fight. Two runs ended in total party kills. One did not. The difference was player agency. In the successful session, the players did the unexpected. I did not force them into a fight simply because I had prepared one. 

Players do not know or care what the DM prepared. If they show agency, they should not be pushed into a predetermined outcome. The thief might back away. The wizard might find a clever solution. The cleric might use magic. The fighter might decide the fight is not worth the cost. That is not avoiding play. That is play.

From the DM’s perspective, this should be a success. The players are engaged. It's a consequence of having great players, not a failure to anticipate what is needed or desired. 

Yes, it is frustrating to prepare material that does not get used. Too bad. That is part of the job. Having those monsters ready does not mean they must appear exactly as planned. Presenting the same material in a different way is not railroading.

If the party disguises themselves as enemies and talks their way into the leader’s tent, only a few of those creatures might ever be used and probably not in a fight. If they encounter the group of 100 creatures in smaller pieces and defeat them through magic, logic, or trickery, that is also not a railroad. In each case, the party made meaningful choices despite what the DM planned. 

De-escalating a railroad situation is not railroading.

X2 Castle Amber works differently. It presents a series of changing criteria and expectations. It uses alternating rubrics, and structurally it is a railroad. The players are trapped and pushed from scenario to scenario like a movie. The fun comes from recognizing the railroad and finding the exits. The module describes only one exit, but players are savvy and smart. They might come up with 3 exits. 

This only works if the players are competitive and willing to play that kind of game. If they are not, the DM should not run it. The same warning applies to “you wake up in a prison,” “the king summons you,” or even “you meet in a tavern.” Any of these can become a railroad if handled poorly.

At this point, you are getting spoilers for a 44-year-old module. I don't feel bad, but if you don't own this, perhaps you should stop reading here and buy it at DriveThruRPG.  

Consider the boxing match in X2. It is a straightforward sequence of attack rolls with the option to quit. The rules are clear and the odds are fair. The very next encounter, the dining room, is completely different. Survival depends on a chain of choices and saving throws. A saving throw is not the same as a combat roll.

An attack roll rarely kills a character outright. A saving throw often represents a single moment of survival or death. In the dining room, players are given chances to avoid those saves, but they are not told that those choices matter. The consequences are not clear. If the DM presents this poorly, the players may never realize they had a choice at all.

From a teaching perspective, combat is a series of connected decisions that lead to random outcomes. Each result feeds into the next choice. The character has agency.

Dice are uncertainty. Don't roll them
if everyone is certain. 

A saving throw is one roll with no follow-up. X2 makes this worse by mixing saves that grant benefits on failure, events with no rolls at all, and standard save-or-die effects. The rules change from scene to scene. When players face many such challenges in a row, survival becomes unlikely, not because of poor decisions, but because of constant uncertainty.

This reminds me of another lesson about rubrics.

In school, passing is often set at sixty-five percent. That may not sound impressive, but context matters. On a spelling test of seven to twelve words, that threshold makes sense. It balances difficulty, memory limits, but not the fairness. 

Problems arise when teachers scale assessments without adjusting expectations. A twenty-word spelling test with a ninety-five percent passing requirement allows only one mistake. That is unreasonable. It also confuses failure with consequence.

I remember having to write misspelled words ten times each. That was not failure. It was reinforcement. I was not retested, but I learned the words. That is a consequence, and it is good teaching.

The passing bar stays at sixty-five percent because some people have advantages. Some know spelling rules. Some do not. Knowing when to apply “I before E” is like knowing what the Deck of Many Things is before drawing from it. The situation is stacked whether you realize it or not, and there is nothing hard and fast about applying rules of thumb. "I before E" is often wrong and a Deck of Many Things is usually a deal from the bottom. 

In role-playing games, failure and consequence are often treated as the same thing. In real life, they are not. Surviving Castle Amber’s infamous meal, where the rules and consequences change from roll to roll, is hard. It can work, but only if players understand the choices they are making.

I have already scripted out the meal and the boxing match to conform to how I should have done the meal years ago and to match how I really handled the boxing match. One is what I wished I had done and the other will be a retelling of a good experience. I hope you roll with the creative drama. There will be spoilers warnings on the dramatic turn in my posts. And hopefully some sage advice. 

To survive Castle Amber and enjoy it, both the DM and the players need agency at the table. Once you understand what choices are available, you can make decisions that lead to success as a player, a character, and a DM.

I hope you will follow my future series on Castle Amber. I will be running it solo so I can explain the choices I make from both sides of the DM screen.

And now for the overt commercial: 

I use Necrotic Gnome's Old-School Essentials but picked up the boxed sets from a Kickstarter. You can approximate this with two titles: 

The Referee's Tome and The Player's Tome. 

I hope that I can replace my original D&D books someday. 

You can get the Basic PDF from DriveThruRPG, and they offer both The Expert Book and B2 as print-on-demand. I cannot tell you how nuts that makes me. Why offer parts 2 and 3 as POD but not part one? Pull it together, WotC. You do crazy stuff. 

And for that matter, if they had the BECMI titles in POD, I'd own those, too. But alas, WotC. 

Erase-Rewind X2 Castle Amber

 When we last left Rety and the gang, I promised an adventure to X1 Isle of Dread. 

Erase and Rewind, because I've been changing my mind. 

The problem with X1 following B2 Keep on the Borderland is that my party lost nearly all of its resources in exchange for survival. They have no means to get a ship, short of some divine intervention. I could just make it so because it's my solo game, but I really don't want to do it. It seems like cheating. 

I have been replacing all of the modules and books I lost over the years. X2 Chateau d'Amberville was next on the list, and by providence, it arrived today. I've spent 3 hours poring over it. It's as good and crunchy as I remember it. I have to say, this was massive good luck. I don't think I waited more than 12-14 days for the POD to arrive. 

Thank you, DriveThruRPG. 

This module shaped my DM style. It's one of those modules you MUST read to understand. It has some warts, but if you're a good DM, you can make those sticky points pure magic. This is why you must read and re-read the whole module to understand where you are going. 

I want to write a review of this module so bad, but I will have to wait until I have some time off. In the meantime, check out Tim Brannan's The Other Side Blog post on Castle Amber. Tim covers all of the various iterations and many of the source materials, which are just as good as this module. 

Today, I will share how this one module changed my DM style. 

I purchased this at Kay-Bee Toys in the mall. The X2 came out in 1981. It was years before I saw it in the mall. I would guess the summer of 1985. At the time, I played in three very different groups. Group one was older players, like my parents' age. They focused on tactics and combat like a wargame. The second group consisted of all my friends' older brothers and sisters, who were familiar only with D&D, not wargaming. And then there was my Kiddie Table D&D group, us tweeners who were still learning how to play. 

The first time I played this module, it was a disaster. In the first two encounters, three-quarters of the party died. And they didn't understand what was happening. This is a 44-year-old module; you're getting spoilers. So if you don't want that, "Please stop reading now," as the good book says. 

The party wandered into John-Louis Amber's Salon. One character died of blunt force trauma, and two more were knocked out.  

I didn't know that could happen. That wasn't really an option in previous sessions or modules. I should have read the whole thing through. But I didn't. I figured the textboxes would be enough. It worked before.  

Magic in a Bottle

In the next room, the killing really began. As the party ate, they dropped like flies without ever really knowing why. They didn't know I was secretly rolling saving throws, and the food was the cause. They were baffled because I simply read the text to them, and they accepted everything I said without really making choices. No agency is deadly in and of itself. 

Confused, they wandered back to John-Louis and questioned him. This ended up in a brawl where most of the rest of the party died. The 3 survivors wander back to the foyer, desperate to find a way out. 

No one was happy, but no one was exactly angry. I muttered something like, "Next time, let's do something different." 

In the next session, I declared that events in Castle Amber had been a dream, and everyone was still alive. However, I also took the time to read the whole damn module. I was going to be a great DM, and this was the module that would make it happen. I could feel it.  

The party went on a side quest or four. At the end of each session, the characters found themselves dreaming about fog hemming them in. In the follow-up session, I never mentioned the odd dreams but ended again with the dreams of fog. I kept this up for a while. 

Through this series of adventures, the older kiddos were watching. Sometimes mocking, sometimes helping, but hardly very interested. They weren't intentionally mean. They were just 18 to 20-year-olds watching 12 to 13 play a game they had mastered to the point of near boredom. They probably would have quit playing D&D to move on to all of the things young adults do when they hit college age. 

Stuff, I was trying very hard to learn myself. I worked up the courage to introduce X2 again. 

First, I told my players I wanted to replay X2 Chateau d'Amberville. But this time, I wouldn't screw it up. They nodded in assent or maybe agreement that I had screwed it up.   

I gave them a piece of paper that looked similar to the one below and ducked outside for a cigarette. 

My five friends examined the paper, perplexed. Perplexed because no one in the 80s would smoke outside, not even a 13-year-old kid. They were left to stew for a few minutes. Just outside, below the window, were the older kids. I grabbed my bag out of the garage and pulled out a rope. 

I asked my friend's older brother to pull the rope when I opened the window. He thought it was odd but agreed. 

Back inside, I suspect the players had been going through my notes, as I planned. I adjusted my notes and handed my would-be girlfriend the end of the rope and took my place. I didn't have a screen. I just had the seat next to the window because I smoked. 

Maybe this is how Castle Amber looks.

I described the approach to Castle Amber, with the fog and darkness that they had all dreamed of closing in for real. One of the mules wandered off into the mist. 

I lit a cigarette. I used the smoke to describe the fog hemming the foyer in. As the smoke got too thick, I opened the window. 

The rope jerked. 

Howls erupted from the table. Followed by laughter from outside. The rope jerked again. 

"Something has the mule," I said calmly. 

Evil cackles came from the window as the rope jerked again and again. Who couldn't resist going overboard? Older teenagers, tormenting younger siblings and their friends, that's who. 

I told the party something evil was in the fog, mocking and laughing. 

Before long, the gang outside had to see what was happening and came in to watch. 

The party advanced to the Salon and the makeshift boxing ring. I lit up the table by having John-Louis remember them. He mentioned it was not that odd for the dead to walk the halls of Castle Amber. 

That's when I had everyone. 

The older siblings and friends wanted to play this, and there was a mad dash for paper, pencil, and dice. Suddenly, I had 11 people at my table, hanging on my every word. I didn't just hook the kids at the table. I had adults wanting to play my game. 

The party boxed again, but under slightly different rules. 0 HP would not kill you. I declared it was non-lethal damage that could turn deadly if they were too injured. Being forewarned, the party was more careful. 

John-Louis tutted at them when one of the Clerics healed a downed fighter. "Cheaters never prosper," he said. 

I knew what I missed before. I needed to paint pictures with words, and nothing drives that home like making an NPC step out of the pages. 

A Boxer, Demos Magen.

More fireworks went off in the next boxing session. The players had lost most of their money to John-Louis, and they combined all of their cash and resources to fight again, this time with a magically enhanced fighter. Bless and Strength gave the fighter the win. 

Then poof! It happened. A cleric cast cure light wounds on the Demos Magen, and it rose again. 

"Why would you want to do that?" asked John-Louis. "I wouldn't waste my time if I were you." 

The table went silent. My friend's older sister hissed and ran from the table, grabbing her bag from the closet. She pulled out a book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. 

"You have got to read this!" she said. 

When you are 13 and an 18-year-old woman hands you a book, you accept. She dog-eared several pages and took us all on a tangent about "Quality". I had brought Quality to my game.  

"This is so cool," her boyfriend said. "What happens next?" 

I agreed, it was cool. I was being praised by adults. Not for the first time, but in the most high-quality, public way. 

John-Louis was not impressed. He ordered the defeated, but healed Demos Magen to the corner and had it switch places with one of the guardian Magens. Two more fights, and the party was better than even with John-Louis. Pleased with the gold they won, they made their goodbyes. 

Knowing what would happen next, I gave the party a cruel parting gift. John-Louis ordered the two defeated Demos Magen to go with the party, as if they were somehow damaged, less than what they were. He was throwing them away. 

Bastard. 

The party encountered a wandering monster in the halls, a half-dozen Rakasta. The party ran to the study and crashed through the door. 

The lead Rakasta bellowed, "Get out!" 

Before the party could act, the six Rakasta from the hallway came in and ejected them. Now, I didn't roll reactions. I just thought the whole idea was intriguing and so did the players. 

Not everything has to be super deadly here, especially the still living creatures. They could be dangerous, but they are because the world they live in is dangerous. Why take needless risks? 

The party just left John-Louis and his totally dismissive attitude towards kindness, mercy, and compassion. Why couldn't the next room have people who were gruff but not cruel? 

It certainly piqued the party's interest. They were looking for the next challenge, the next would-be villain, the next hook. We played this one module for months. Since we played this one module for months. I could go on forever, but I won't. When I come back, I will have that review and a series of solo sessions in Castle Amber. 

A Tiny Map for a Tiny Place - The Kingdom of Saunders

The Kingdom of Saunders is such a tiny place, it is often not labeled on maps. It is the 3 blue hexes on the map. These are 24-mile hexes, so there is a fairly reasonable amount of area for the characters to romp through. 

Saunders was one of the first client kingdoms of the Human Empire (in red). It is pinched between the Empire and the always rebellious Savanna lands (in green). 

By way of background, the Kingdom is named "Saunders" because I liked the way it sounded. It reminded me of Winnie the Pooh, who lives under the name of Sanders. 

The original image I stole the name from is actually bigger than the map. Even the quote is larger than the whole kingdom map of Saunders: 

Once upon a time, a very long time ago now, about last Friday, Winnie-the-Pooh lived in a forest all by himself under the name of Sanders.

(“What does ‘under the name’ mean?” asked Christopher Robin.

“It means he had the name over the door in gold letters, and lived under it.”

“Winnie-the-Pooh wasn’t quite sure,” said Christopher Robin.

“Now I am,” said a growly voice.

“Then I will go on,” said I.)

My campaign world is called "The Peninsula of Plenty," and you can read more about it on Ko-Fi. 

Returning to the Party

I used the OSE rule set for my last solo campaign run. You can get a copy from DriveThruRPG. This is the super bundle; you can actually pick and choose from various titles rather than purchase the whole bundle.  

I plan on taking the party to the Isle of Dread; however, I need to reboot the group. 

In the last session for the Keep on the Borderlands, the party lost several characters: Lefty and Slammer, Celia, and Dorin, plus several other unnamed NPCs. Additionally, some of the characters have changed wildly. 

Punch now uses his real name, Jude, and has become dedicated to the priests at the Keep. I imagine this is a tiny religious group based in the kingdom to the west of the Keep. Jude is now adventuring to become a fine and proper knight, with lordly guidance. In this case, he is seeking a religiously minded lord. While this might sound more like a Paladin's quest, it makes sense in the context of how he became a Knight in the wilderness.  

Sybil took an evil, murderous turn. She has returned west with the party to seek out her family and get herself back. Rety has joined her. Sybil's father is a magic user and adventurer, and her mother is a ranger. The two women hope to find some solace from the wise and experienced parental units. Rety isn't traveling with Sybil for support, but for self-healing. At the family home, Rety spends her days on a small boat on the family pond, trying to find some way to pick up her life after the disaster in the Caves of Chaos. She lost many friends and blames herself. 

The rest of the party: Dorian, Thomas, Belaphon, and Solvo took the same path as Sybil, Jude, and Rety. The tables have turned, and they now follow Simon the Drover and his two daughters. They have been making ends meet by performing guard duties for various shipments and caravans, but the work is very boring. 

On the positive side, Hender and Sonny have tagged along, and the party is vaguely amused by Sonny's attempt at a relationship with one of the drover girls. He has no idea what he is doing, which pleases Bela and Liz to no end. They haven't had this much positive attention before. Simon is less enthusiastic about Sonny's misadventures with his daughters, but remains aloof. It's a lot like watching a puppy learn how to socialize. Or house broken. Or something like that. 

The first issue I have in setting up X1 - Isle of Dread is that the party has no ship. They also have very few funds. In fact, Simon, Bela, and Liz are the only people with any significant funds, as Rety was paying them a lot. The adventuring party could sell of some of their goods to make up the funds and supplies they lost. Rety did leave several thousand gold back at the Keep, but that leaves them dozens of thousands short to purchase a ship. 

I am tinkering with OSR Solo to brainstorm ideas. There is a lot of meta going on here, as I run down things that seem reasonable, but after reflection are somewhat unworkable. I'll let you know how that goes. 

One choice that I have solidified is that Hender, Sonny, Liz, Bela, and Simon will be on that ship, but as NPCs that won't adventure much. That leaves the core group of Jude, Dorian, Thomas, Belaphon, Solvo, and Sybil. They will need new friends to adventure with. These new adventurers will not be the remnants of the NPC party they met in the Caves of Chaos. They are done as adventurers and have set up shop in the Keep. Maybe they will come back someday. 

I really haven't been using figures for this project, but I have to tell you, a collection of plastic dinosaurs sounds great right about now. 

I hope you join me for this new adventure coming in December or, more likely, January 2026. 

The Keep on the Borderlands 2025 - Sessions 12 - Out of Options

This is the third scenario that I played out with the party. The other scenarios ended in a TPK and a few survivors running for their lives after making a series of choices. Also, Simon and his daughters are just off the east and south edge of the map with a wagon. They will not enter the fray for any reason, but will wait to see if anyone escapes. They have a wagon ready to go. 

In this session, the party does not make a plan, and we are just one round after the explosion. Bel has run to the main entrance to see what happened. Sybil ran to room 17 to see what had happened to Celia. Rety brushes past Bel to get to the team at the secret door. 

Bel pours a healing potion into Thomas, and in the next turn, Thomas attempts to revive Dorin. Unfortunately, Dorin died in the explosion. Sybil found what was left of Celia and her dog. She decides murder is her plan. 

Rety arrived at the other entrance and was shocked to see the monsters arrayed:

There is a tree missing because the hobgoblins and goblins cut it down.

Previously, I had mentioned that instead of rolling wandering monsters, I had those wandering creatures join their allies in the caves. The forces arrayed against the heroes are massive. There are 32 Orcs in 4 groups of 8. The goblins and hobgoblins have 2 groups of 8 and one group of 10 on the valley floor for a total of 26. Just off the map, to the southwest are 12 more hobgoblins, armed with spears (6) and crossbows (another 6). There is a second group of 6 spear-wielding hobgoblins up the hill and over the entrance D. I did not draw these because they aren't visible to the party. The kobolds have a group of 8, one of 4, and the last group of 10. The group of 4 kobolds is wrangling 18 rats. The leaders of each tribe are in the middle near the trees. 

The party is about to fight over 100 monsters in one go.

Rety took the bow-armed Fighters and Knights into the ogre cave with her. They couldn't be seen and awaited the monster's first move.

As the explosion went off, I had the monsters roll morale to move on the caves. 16 orcs and 8 goblins pass the check and enter cave D. The goblins led the way and made themselves busy dismantling the chain and wheels so the orcs have an easy path to the slaughter. 

Bel, Sybil, and Thomas arrayed themselves against the other group. Bel, who was closer, fires off a sleep spell on the 8 goblins and drops 6 of them. Sybil steps out and does something interesting; she unleashes phantasmal force on the 16 orcs. 

Before I resolve that action, let's talk about the rats and kobolds. They move on cave entrance E. Remember, there is no communication between Sybil's team and Rety's team. Rety believes the Magic-Users and the Cleric were on their way. They aren't going to the secret door or room 18. They are fighting.  

Everyone with a missile weapon opened fire on the rats from the ogre cave. One was killed, another was wounded. The rats strangely pass their morale check. 

Time to resolve Sybil's attack. She makes an illusory attack on the orcs, an explosion like the one that claimed Celia's life. This is not entirely imaginary; she saw the results in real life. The illusion is instantaneous. It is also a repetition of something that just happened. Only 4 of the 16 Orcs made their saving throws. However, they also see 12 of their friends go down. They flee. 

Now, way back in Session 8, I mentioned how little I like low-level spells that are permanent. Phantasmal Force is a potent spell for 2nd level spell. In this case, it is the opposite of permanent, which can also cause just as many problems as a permanent spell. Sybil's illusion ends quickly and is very specifically tailored. I like it and hate it. 

As a DM, I have to ask myself what just happened. Let's make a couple of rules of thumb for the monsters. To save against this, they need a 16 or better. Roughly 4/5s of the monsters should fail, and 1/5 should succeed. The second rule of thumb is that everyone saw the illusion, but some didn't believe it. However, even those who disbelieved it saw 4 orcs and 2 goblins flee it. They did not see all of the other critters drop as they are deep in the cave.

I rolled morale for all of the monsters collectively. They failed, and I use OSR Solo to determine what this means. I asked, "Do they all run?". I got a result of "Yes, but..." 

The leaders of each tribe move to stop the rout. I rolled again to see what the effect was. The result of stopping the rout was  "Yes, but..." again. I make a simple choice. They could not stop the 4 orcs and 2 goblins from fleeing, but everyone else held it together. 

Additionally, the unit of 10 goblins marked with a star was made up of 8 newcomers and two residents of the Caves of Chaos. The newcomers, shocked, flee with 2 of the resident goblins in hot pursuit. The home team goblins are pissed at the cowards fleeing. A melee breaks out between them.

In the meantime, Sybil, Bel, and Thomas walked to the mouth of the cave and saw the enemy force for the first time, and turned around. The leadership was shocked to see the party hacking and stabbing the downed orcs at the cave mouth. They howl and start rallying the troops for another charge. 8 Orcs advanced on the cave entrance while the 6 spear-armed goblins came down the slope to follow them. Behind them, the leadership unit moves away to the melee happening between friendly forces in an effort to stop it. 

On the other side of the battlefield, the rats and party are battling for the cave entrance. Initiative is simultaneous. Rety and Dorian don't get to attack as the fighters formed a wall. Since the fighting men get multiple attacks based on their level, the rats died horribly. In the exchange of blows, several of the fighting men were injured. The next wave of 9 rats pauses its advance. 

Sybil and Bel killed as many orcs as they could as they retreated back to the hallway. Once inside, they started killing the downed goblins, waiting for the next wave. 

8 orcs and 6 goblins enter the cave. The Cleric and Magic-Users win the initiative. Bel fires off his sleep spell, downing 13 orcs and goblins. Sybil and Thomas take on the last one. While the last orc survives the party's initial onslaught, he wounds Sybil before going down under a flurry of blows in the next round. 

The second wave of rats rushed the orge's cave, but barely held out for three rounds. Rety sees the 2 hobgoblin forces advancing from above and orders the secret door closed. Several members of the party are stuck in the back with spears and bolts, but no one has dropped yet. 

Sybil spends her time wisely, killing as many unconscious orcs and goblins as she can. Bel and Thomas were horrified. She had lost track of the dead and was "killing" the same couple of creatures over and over again. They made a choice to gather up Dorin's body to flee this place. 

Rety gave an impassioned speech to the two Knights, convincing them to doff their armor so they could carry the dead. They agreed. Slammer, Rety, and Solvo took the lead, bows ready. Everyone else carried the remaining bodies. Rety kept impressing upon the Knights that removing the dead was the honorable thing to do. The party was ready to run. The Knights hate this but follow the logic of honoring the dead. 

Rety was pleased to see Bel and Thomas had the same idea, but Sybil's actions were concerning. Rety tried to calm her as the others made their way out. 

The kobolds and the enemy leaders were closest to the entrance as the party exited. The 10 kobolds stuck six different characters. Both of the unnamed Magic-Users were struck, but only one went down. The unnamed fighter picked him up and carried him away. Bel cast a shield to cover the retreat, but as the party ran, not everyone was protected. Behind them, Rety and Sybil argued in the cave. 

In the next round, Solvo and Slammer fired on the leaders as they ran after the party. They traded 2 arrow strikes to 3 spear hits. The party continues its retreat as Rety bodily pulls Sybil after her. Outside, Sybil stopped to cast her last spell, invisibility on Rety. Again, the fighters exchanged missiles with the leaders while Bel ran back to shield them. 

The kobolds let loose one last barrage on the fleeing party. Lefty went down. The leaders and their bodyguards threw spears at Solvo, Bel, and Slammer, who were protected by the shield spell. Invisibly, Rety stopped to help carry Lefty's body. He was critically wounded. Sybil ran to assist by taking the body of the Magic-User Lefty had been carrying. 

Another volley of spears rained down on the party. Slammer rushed the enemy while Solvo called for him to retreat. Bel and the Elf dragged the wounded fighter away.

The enemy froze as 6 crossbowmen, 3 warriors, and a wagon appeared in the valley. The party escaped more cleanly this time.

The party had far fewer dead in this scenario. They lost Lefty and Slammer, in addition to the unnamed Magic-User. Everyone was injured in some way. This was much better than the last butcher bill, which ended in one TPK and one near TPK, where only 4 people made it to the wagon. This time, the party lost all of their loot, most of their equipment, and 3 characters in the breakout. They did manage to escape with the dead, which is something. 

They also know that Punch's real name is Jude. The part of Lefty was played by a man named Arthur. Slammer's name was stolen from the book What is Dungeons and Dragons, a nice score if you can find it. I last posted a link to Amazon. This time, I am using a link to AbeBooks. As an associate, I receive remuneration for purchases through these links. 

I can't wait to do this again, but to be honest, I want to wait to do this again. Yeah, it's that sort of production. Next time you see Sybil, Rety, and the gang will be on a ship, heading to the Isle of Dread.

You can get a copy of X1 - The Isle of Dread from DriveThruRPG.  

One week later, Sir Jude, Rety, and Thomas the Cleric returned on horseback to the Caves of Chaos. Sir Jude wanted to recover the plate armor he had lost. Rety and Thomas were there to stop him from doing anything stupid.

They heard a clanking in the wind as they approached. The orcs had mounted the two suits of plate armor on logs at the opening of the valley. A pile of the party's weapons was displayed below them. Arthur's armor was on the left. The trio paused to take in the sight before Jude kicked his horse and led the way back to town.

"That seems right," Jude said.

Relieved, the orcs retreated to their cave, knowing the display of their enemies' destruction would protect them in the future. 

The Keep on the Borderlands 2025 - Sessions 11 A and B - The Total Party Kill Post

This is a post about choices, for both the party and the DM's side. This will not be a blow-by-blow post like the other sessions. I will have one last session post where the party successfully defends themselves. Let's recap quickly before I get into the mechanics of a TPK and a near-TPK scenario. 

Outside, the orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, and kobolds have arrayed themselves to crush the party. Here are the dynamics of this order of battle. The B2 booklet explains how the two orc bands have an alliance; they are effectively one group. The same goes for the hobs and gobs. 

In every session post, I have stated that every monster group was planning to kill the annoying kobolds until the appearance of the party. The party's presence in the Caves of Chaos has delayed the planned attack on the kobolds. We have three forces outside working together to kill the party. However, they don't entirely like each other. This is important for morale, which is a big deal in BX. 

Here is a link to these books on DriveThruRPG: Basic and Expert. One of the great things about DriveThru is that they actually update titles and send notifications when they do so. Maybe this is really the author doing it. In any case, I noticed that the Expert book has a POD option. As soon as the Basic book has the same, I will order them both. 

Back to morale. 

The orcs will not roll morale if something happens to the hobs and goblins and vice versa. If anything bad happens to the Kobolds, these two groups will react positively, as they want them dead. This will prevent them from running off if the party defeats the kobolds. Also, it allows coloring, as these forces will cheer the party's successes against the kobolds, which is all rather ominous for the party. 

For sanity, I grouped up the monsters: 

• 2 groups of 8 Goblins each 
• 1 group of 10 goblins
• 3 groups of 8 Orcs each
• 1 group of 10 Kobolds
• 2 groups of 9 rats, led by 2 Kobold handlers each
• 2 groups of 6 Hobgoblins 

You see why this ended in both a TPK and a near-TPK. That's 94 monsters and I haven't even mentioned the leaders and their bodyguards. 

Two other events are going on outside. The party's mule has escaped and is running around. It reacts to the monster's movements, so the party does receive an alert when the monsters move. The second event is that the drover family has pulled a wagon up to the southeastern edge of the map with six crossbowmen. They will not enter the fray or the valley, but are watching. 

Inside the cave, we have the party starting in two groups. Belaphon, Thomas the Cleric, and Sybil the second Magic User are all near the cave mouth. There is a raging fire in Room 17. At the end of the last session, Sybil went to Room 17 to see what was happening. 

All of these character links go to PDFs of the character sheets on my Google Drive account. If you like them, you can always use them in your campaign. You could also hit Support Me on KoFi on the upper right to send me money. Either way, I would really appreciate it if you used them at your table. 

At the other side of the map, we have Dorian, Lefty, Punch, Rety, Slammer, and Solvo in Room 18. They are supported by the newcomer party, made up of 2 Magic-Users and one Fighter. The newcomers have already lost a Cleric, a Thief, and a Fighter. The party recovered their bodies in the last session. 

In the TPK scenario, Rety decides to array the party in roughly equal groups to defend both entrances. We have a Cleric, a Fighter, and a Knight at both entrances, plus two Magic Users at each. Solvo the Elf is with the group near Room 18, and Rety is at the other cave mouth leading that group. 

Wave upon wave of monsters eventually breached the caves and crushed the party as they retreated to Room 18. 

The primary issue was that the Magic Users and missile-armed fighters held the monsters off outside the cave entrances using sleep and arrows on whatever wave they were facing. Since the sleeping monsters were outside, they could be woken up again and form another group of attackers. Once the spells ran out, the battle quickly descended into melees that the heroes couldn't win. The archers never ran out of arrows because they were pre-stocked in various places. It simply didn't help. 

In option two, the near-TPK scenario, the party blocked up the secret door and focused on only the cave mouth. Basically, the same thing happened. The party ran out of spells and retreated to Room 18. They managed to unblock the secret door and fled to the waiting wagon. Once the party started the breakout, I ran the scenario 3 times. The Fighters, Clerics, Rety, and Knights died over and over again, and usually only the Magic-Users made it to the wagon. 

What helped the party was that ALL of the monsters participated in the breaching of the cave mouth, leaving a very weak force outside to stop the party. Whoever made it outside simply needed to outrun the leaders and bodyguards, who were already disinclined to get into melee. 

I'd like to talk about this scenario because I tried several game-breaking options to allow the heroes to escape. From the DM's perspective, these were all bad choices because they would have killed follow-up sessions and possibly my whole campaign. In my opinion, TPKs happen because players make bad choices. It is not up to the DM to try to fix it by breaking rules. Let the party find out what works and what doesn't. 

First, I did the easy thing and cheated by letting the magic users enter the fray with undeclared spells. I simply let them have whatever spell they deemed necessary. This is a really bad choice, AND it didn't help the party at all. I posted about letting Magic-Users hot swap spells in Session 6.5. This is a non-combat event, NOT at all appropriate for what happened here. Second, allowing MU's the ability to just select spells at the time of casting gives them too much power and takes away from the spontaneous casting that Clerics can do. This would damage future events by giving too much power to the spellcasters. I do let clerics spontaneously cast. If your god needs you to do it, you can do it. Clerics have that kind of power. Magic-Users do not. 

The second thing I tried was even more egregious. Since the party was facing total extermination, I allowed anyone to fire a crossbow at the onrushing horde of monsters. Lefty and Punch shouldn't use crossbows, but I justified this as they started as crossbowmen. That feels bad, but it has some logic to it. 

Magic-Users firing crossbows is also "just ok", as they would face serious penalties to their die rolls.

Clerics and bows should be right out. They won't use sharp weapons against living creatures by choice or oath. Sharp weapons tend to be ineffective against the undead in most cases. They have better tools in these scenarios, like spells or turn undead.

In all cases, none of this cheating actually helped the party, and as a DM,  I damaged my ability to run future sessions because I broke major rules. I would never do this with players at the table. 

I DO allow MU's and Clerics to use bows and sharp weapons under very strict conditions. Clerics can have the ability to use ANY weapon under non-combat conditions. They can't hurt people with them, so this is limited to sparing or target practice. They never get to roll damage, so no harm, no foul. 

For Magic Users, I allow them to use darts for 1d3 damage at very close range. They can have a very wimpy hand-pulled crossbow for flinging darts if they so choose. Most players try this and determine if hand-throwing a dart and firing one from a crossbow does the same exact thing; they won't carry the crossbow to save weight. The weak, hand-pulled crossbow is a campaign flavor thing with some historical notes. 

Did you know they made clay pellet bows and crossbows for game hunting? Stonebows were completely ineffective in warfare. I would imagine someone tried it to find out how bad it was. Of course, there is a video or 10 on YouTube. 

I also have a rule that Magic-Users can use swords under limited conditions, too. Sybil has a short sword. She is limited to 1d4 points of damage. If a fighter used it, it would go back to its full 1d6. Magic-users are ineffective with swords, but I love the idea of Gandalf and his sword. This seems to be a good compromise, as there is considerable crossover between a small sword and a big dagger. I wouldn't let them pick up and use a 2-handed sword, and no one has ever asked to do so. Of course, this is one of the things you can do with the original rules combat, where everyone did 1d6 per attack, no matter the weapon. 

In these two scenarios, the party's choices and the DM's choices lead to a Total Party Kill and a near TPK, with only random characters escaping over a couple of replayed events. 

In the next post, I will do a nearly round-by-round description of how the party avoided both of these scenarios. The clever party came up with some great ideas that required some game-changing adjudication by the DM. This would completely change the flavor of a campaign and needed to be handled strictly by me so as not to cause problems in the future.  

The Keep on the Borderlands 2025 - Taking Stock

I have finally gotten around to scanning all of the character sheets I am using. I hate my HP scanner, and I am on the lookout for a new printer/scanner combo.  

My default character sheet is the one from OSE/Necrotic Gnome. This is a funny choice for someone who created their own character sheet, but this one is better than mine. At least for B/X games. The one I created was done in 1989 for AD&D 1e with Unearthed Arcana. You can get it at DriveThruRPG at that link. 

Here are the characters in alphabetical order: 

• Belaphon - Magic User
• Dorian - Cleric
• Lefty - Knight
• Punch - Knight
• Rety - Thief
• Slammer - Fighter
• Solvo - Elf
• Sybil - Magic User
• Thomas - Cleric

You can also download a single PDF of all of them here. All of these links lead to my Google Drive. I don't believe they require an account to view and download. 

The individual characters have a lot of resources and gear. 4 of them have Bags of Holding. Rety made sure that everyone with a Bag of Holding had enough food and water inside to support the whole party for a day or so. 

Also, as mentioned in Session 6.5, all of the magic users have shared their spellbooks. This was done at Rety's request to strengthen the party. Solvo, Belaphon, and Sybil have access to the following spells: 

1st-level spells:

• Charm Person
• Detect Magic
• Floating Disk
• Light
• Magic Missile
• Read Magic 
• Read Languages 
• Shield 
• Sleep

2nd-level spells:

• Continual Light
• Invisibility  
• Phantasmal Force
• Wizard Lock

This is a devastating array of magic. 

Rety also made the fighters and clerics pre-stage weapons in locations. In each room the characters control, there is water, food, 40 arrows in two quivers, 6 crossbows and 60 bolts, and 12 spears. Slammer, Solvo, and the two Knights also have shields and polearms prepositioned in the locations they believe they will be most. They don't have enough to supply every room. 

The heroes are now divided into two groups, one at each entrance to their system of caves. This is a problem as they can't communicate and support each other. Also, the fighting men are separated from the spell casters. 

The party does have a pair of minor advantages. First, the escaped mule is causing distractions outside; various factions want to eat it. Second, the drover band is waiting at the base camp for the heroes with six archers. Since they see the smoke, they are on their way to see what is happening. 

I have actually played this scenario out three times, with very mixed results. One was a TPK, one was a near TPK, and the third was a victory for the party. I will have a short post for the two TPKs and why those happened, but I will have an extensive post on the heroes' victory. 

Having the party succeed required careful gameplay by the characters and a ton of adjudicating by the DM. Part of my reasoning for posting these solo sessions was fun, and the other part was to talk about how I make choices as a DM. The last post in this series will show how a DM can fairly referee a session that results in a win for the party without turning monsters into dumb zombies. However, some of these choices can come back to haunt the DM later. 

Let the Fall Begin

A couple of days ago, I cracked the joke that the hours of daylight in Western New York are less than the runtime of the three extended editions of The Lord of the Rings. It feels true. 

This is also the time of year when I struggle to get people to play games with me. I am gearing up for two pre-holiday trips, one personal and one business trip. The Bills are on, hockey is on, and the holidays are rushing at us. I can get people over here, but there are too many distractions to play games. This is the season of friends and family, sports and food.

As of late, I am doing a solo run through of Keep on the Borderlands. I am on session 10, and I don't plan on running past session 12. I would like to complete this in the next week or two and move on to painting figures. You can see that I have the figures I need in session 10. 

Since I want to end the year painting, I would like to play some more Battletech. I also have a game called A Billion Suns that I'd like to play. 

Once the Keep sessions are complete, I want to kick into planning posts for next year. To that end, I'm sharing the last couple of modules and books I've purchased. 

OSR Solo: Since I have been playing solo, this book is instrumental for solo play. I am pretty good at improvising, but this throws some curves into gameplay. 

B2 The Keep on the Borderlands (Basic): Levels 1 to 3. Made for B/X, but I have also played it with AD&D. AD&D causes issues, which I will talk about at the end of this series of posts. Click this link to read the sessions. 

L1 The Secret of Bone Hill (1e): Levels 2 to 4, for AD&D. True fact, when I was in sixth grade, my school had a collection of D&D books in the library, and this was the only module they had. We had a D&D club and played it twice. 

X1 The Isle of Dread (Basic): Levels 3 to 7 for B/X. Assuming anyone survives the Caves of Chaos, this will be my next solo play-through. 

B1-9 In Search of Adventure (Basic): Levels 1 to 3, for B/X. I have never played this set of modules. Maybe I can gather a gang of humans to run through all 9 adventures in 2026. 

S2 White Plume Mountain (1e): Level 5 to 10 for AD&D. I have never successfully completed this module, either as a player or a DM. It's deadly, and I can't believe it's meant for 5+ level characters. It has 3 of the most iconic AD&D weapons in the lore. I want my characters to get those. 

G1-3 Against the Giants (1e): Levels 8 to 12, for AD&D. Again, this is a modole of I have never completed. It is pretty deadly for the party. 

Old-School Essentials Adventure Anthology 1: This is a great series of adventures, ranging from levels 1 to 9. It was written for my new favorite set, OSE. 

Fiend Folio (1e): This one is not a module, but an old AD&D companion book to the Monster Manual. Since I received this book fourth, I never actually obtained Monster Manual II. I might pick up Monster Manual II.  

Do Not Let Us Die In The Dark Night Of This Cold Winter: This is a standalone game that can plug into D&D. I have played through a couple of times and really enjoy it. I would like to see if I can do a play-through with friends again before the end of the year, but it is really the opposite of the holiday season. We'll see if anyone feels like it. 

I also have this cool D&D product I'd like to review. 

I have a few other non-blog projects planned, like a mini-staycation at the beginning of December. I will be doing a cleanup and decluttering of the house and garage. I also need to do some work in the basement. That might come up on Tog Side Channels. 

The Keep on the Borderlands 2025 - Session 10 - Dragon Fire and Prune Juice

Good Evening! I am itching to paint some figures, but I also don't want to let this series go. Please excuse the unpainted and half-painted figures.  

Our party was surprised by a well-armed band of adventurers wandering the valley of the Caves of Chaos. They were more surprised that their mule had escaped the kobolds for several days running and had become a regular denizen of the Caves. 

Norin spotted the new group first and alerted everyone. The two Knights blocked up the secret entrance to the ogre cave with the stone treads and met the rest of the party at the main entrance. Rety and Celia wormed their way under the chain and wheel contraption for a better look. 

Rety, I think.

"The first one is a Thief," whispers Rety. "They have two Fighters and two Magic-Users." 

"Right," answered Celia. "And the skinny lady has to be a Cleric. Look at that holy water sprinkler."

Rety hissed in amusement. The "sprinkler" was studded with large metal knobs, and the woman appeared like she watered it with blood, frequently. 

Celia crawled back to explain the situation before Rety made a decision to call to the newcomers. They looked mean. She never got the chance. 

The other party turned away, looking to the kobold caves. 12 of the little beasties came out in formation. 6 held large shields with large spikes on the bottom. In their tiny hands, they looked like mantlets, a piece of siege equipment the Castlian brought to the Keep. The other six lugged crossbows, two each. They only ventured 20 feet out of their cave, and the shield bearers drove the spike of each shield into the ground. 

One of the women, a Magic-User, waved her arms, and an eye-bending shimmer of light appeared between the groups. Three bolts shattered against the shield spell, but a fourth winged the Cleric who was too wide of the barrier. 

As the newcomers took refuge behind their shield spell, Rety dragged her belly on the floor to get back to her team. 

He looks like a Punch. 

"Punch and Lefty, open the secret door! Slammer and Solvo, get your bows ready, but wait for my signal. Dorian, back them up, but don't expose yourself. Bel, give them a shield," she ordered. The men ran off to comply. 

"Thomas, I want you here with Dorin and Celia. I want you to lift the chains and wheels when I call." 

They nodded and took up the rope Dorin had rigged to his contraption.  

"Come on, Sybil. On your belly, with me," said Rety.

Sybil took a crossbow, a quiver of arrows, and another of bolts with her as she slid on her back. She was ever non-compliant. Rety kissed her magic ring of protection and wiggled her way back to the entrance. 

The newcomers and the kobolds hunkered down behind their respective shields, exchanging missiles. It was clear the newcomers were considering the caves to the south with trepidation. The kobold crossbowmen were working with their shieldbearers. The bearers reloaded for them, allowing them to fire every round instead of every other round. 

I deemed this effective but slow. The kobolds always lose initiative when doing this and also fire last. I also deemed the prior two sentences should have been one sentence with a semicolon connector, but no one but AI uses semicolons in 2025. Goddamn AI, bane of my existence. This is why I use a 1999 iBook for writing. 

It gave me a semicolon like I wanted. However, it left the redundant "but". 

I thought Bel would be younger.

The one thing that AI does do well is track characters and locations, so long as those locations are well labeled. Bel, Dorian, Lefty, Punch, Solvo, and Slammer were in room 22, removing the stone treads they had just put there. Punch and Lefty, trying to be true Knights, didn't swear too much. Rety and Sybil were in the cave mouth while Dorin, Celia, and Thomas were holding the rope to let them back in quickly. The 3 mules were munching breakfast quietly in the L-shaped hall, left of the intersection to the cave mouth. 

And in room 17, 3 giant rats wiggled their way out of the debris blocking the stairs. They snuck up on and surprised Dorin, Celia, and Thomas. Instead of attacking, all three went through the motions of washing their faces with their paws. A small necklace fell from each rat's neck before they fled back to room 17, with Thomas in pursuit. Dorin inspected the necklaces; each was a simple piece of twine with copper coins strung on it. 

A very militant-looking Cleric. 

Thomas entered room 17 in time to see the rats disappear back into the pile of debris clogging the stairs. He couldn't stop them. He also couldn't think of a single reason why they would enter and then flee. Cursing, he retreated back to the cave mouth. 

"I'll do the missiles, you do the shield," Rety said to Sybil. 

Sybil nodded. All of the action was happening to the left of the cave mouth. Rety moved to the right to get a better angle and waited for the fighters to appear from the ogre cave. 

In the meantime, the new Fighters unleashed arrows on the kobolds, and the Cleric and the Thief pelted them with bullets. It was a stalemate. The kobolds wore chain armor and had a plus 2 bonus from the giant shields they hid behind. Relatively speaking, they had a wall rather than individual shields. 

Rety edged to the right of the cave mouth, trading range for a better angle. When the fighting men stepped out, she struck one kobold dead with an arrow. The fighting men knew a signal when they saw one. Punch and Lefty charged, Solvo and Slammer arching arrows over their heads. 

And the trap was sprung. 

From above, 6 bolts whistled overhead, striking both of the new Fighters and one of the Magic-Users. Mercifully, it wasn't the Magic-User controlling the shield spell. 

At my table, once a spell is in effect, except if the description says otherwise, it will not fall. Unless the caster died, that is. If a caster is getting ready to prep a spell and gets hit, I declare the action is prevented. They don't lose it; they just can't cast it now and have to start over in the next round. If they have completely prepped the spell, then get hit, that hit foils the spell and results in losing it. I am semi-generous because of the relatively few spells low-level casters have. In AD&D, this is a common thing. Due to the way B/X works, it is far less common.      

The newcomers are under serious threat, but not completely screwed, yet.

Slammer. The name was taken from the book
What is Dungeons and Dragons?

In the next round, Solvo, Slammer, and Dorian fired at the hobgoblins to break up their reloading, while Lefty and Punch advanced on the Kobolds. Slammer rolls a luck 20 and 6 combo, killing one hobgoblin. The other Magic-User and Sybil threw up shield spells. Bel hung back since the team was doing well. 

The hobgoblins retreated back out of sight to finish their reload. Rety downs another kobold with a good roll. The kobolds fire furiously, 11 shots that all miss because the heroes have bunched together behind the shield spell. 

There is a difference between crossbows and arrows, one part training and one part mechanics. Arrows obviously can arch through the air to hit targets at greater ranges. Crossbows can also arch, but they lose effectiveness fast. It's harder to do and not obvious to do unless one is also an archer. The hobgoblins aren't great crossbowmen or archers. 

Elves, like Solvo, look better without helms. 

Solvo and Slammer loosed two arrows over the ridge where the hobgoblins are hiding. They missed, but the arrows gave the hobgoblins pause, and they took cover. Rety and Dorian took potshots at the kobolds. In the momentary break, the newcomers begin to move to the orge's door and safety. 

The heroes won the initiative and began moving, while Rety's team discouraged the enemy with additional missile fire. The problem with winning initiative is that you go first. There were no easy targets, and all of the party's missiles were wasted before the hobgoblins popped out to respond. 5 of the kobolds do the same. The effect was devastating. The only newcomers not hit were the mages behind their shield spells. Punch slung his shield to pick up the Thief while Lefty assisted the Cleric in a hobbled run to the orge cave. 

The party lost initiative, but only had to fend off the kobolds for the round as the hobgoblins reloaded. Rety struck another kobold, causing it to leap behind a shield. 

Back inside, Celia noticed an odd noise, a gurgling sound. She checked the water barrel and shrugged. Thomas sends her to check the other barrels in 17 and 18. Celia dashed to room 17 first, as room 18 had ready guards. 

Celia discovered the water barrel in room 17 was also intact, but an odd smell permeated the room, like oil, alcohol, and strangely, prunes. Outside, above the mouth of Rety's cave, a mixed group of goblinoids rained bolts down on the newcomers and the Knights. Rety was grazed by a spear from above, and Sybil found herself hemmed in the entrance, her shield spell protecting only her. 

"Lift!" yelled Sybil. 

The two heroes pulled the chain and wheels out of the way. The escaping party, the Cleric, Thief, Fighter, and Knights, bore the brunt of the missile fire. The Thief was killed instantly, and Lefty threw the unconscious Cleric over his shoulder. 

Celia searched around the room for the source of the smell and gurgling. It came from the clogged stairway. A fluid ran down the slope from under the debris. The smell of prune brandy*, oil, and other vile and volatile liquids accompanied it. A blue flame licked over the surface.

"DRAGON FIRE!" yelled Celia. 

A massive whomp shook the Caves of Chaos, stunning everyone near room 17. 

Sybil.

Lefty and Punch deposited their charges in the orge cave and took up a rear guard as the other retreated with the dead and wounded. Thomas flailed, clutching his ears as smoke wafted from room 17. Dorin lay still. 

Rety and Sybil emerged from under the wildly swaying chain of wheels. Sybil ran off, following the smoke, while Rety collided with Bel coming from the other direction, seeking answers or at least orders. Rety motioned for him to tend the wound and dashed to the western rooms to see what other trouble she could find. 

Bel tended to Thomas, knowing the Cleric could help Dorin. Rety continued on to the room with the secret door.  

The scorecard looks very bad. Rety, Thomas, Punch, Lefty, the two Magic-Users, and the new Fighter were all wounded. The new Cleric, a Fighter, and the Thief were dead. So were two of the three mules. Celia was missing, and Dorin lay dying. The new Magic-Users only have one 1st-level spell left each. Bel, Thomas, and Dorian have all of their spells available, while Sybil has expended one first-level spell.  

Lefty matches Punch.

Outside, the orcs came down from their perch as the kobolds, goblins, rats, and hobgoblins advanced on the main entrance to the heroes' home. Rety* and the Knights argued about blocking up the secret door. 

(*Edit - I botched reading my notes and said this was Sybil. Sybil went the other direction and is nowhere near the Knights. It was Rety.) 

Under all of the shouting, Punch muttered, "If I live through this, I'll start using my real name." 

Lefty and Rety looked askance at him before continuing their bickering about honor vs. hiding.  

In Session 11, we will learn what the Caves of Chaos have in store for the heroes and how they will react to this loss.  

*Prune brandy is just the sort of stuff that I would think goblins would drink. In the real world, as near as I can tell, no one makes actual prune brandy. Plum brandy is unaged brandy, while what is called prune brandy is aged plum brandy. That is aging in barrels, not aging the plums or prunes. I would think there would be a difference. 

I am throwing an ad here for very little reason. I strongly suggest reading "What is Dungeons and Dragons" by John Butterfield, Philip Parker, and David Honigmann. I have seen several covers, but I don't know if they were different runs or different covers for different markets. As always, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The first link leads to my 2020 review (below the picture), and this link leads to an Amazon page for the book. (2026 edit - Link Removed as the prices went through the roof. Sorry about that.) 

As always, thank you for reading along and supporting me.