Using AD&D for 3rd age Middle Earth roleplaying – a quick and dirty guide.

A short collection of thoughts on running a Middle Earth campaign using AD&D rules.

Character creation

• There are no clerics, except for elven magic-user/clerics, who are restricted to magic-user weapons and armour usage, but may also wield longswords, shortswords and bows.
• Pure magic-users, illusionists and druids must be human and derive their powers from the same source, given to them by the Valar and is spiritual in nature. They are nominally lead by the 5 Istari Wizards (Saruman, Gandalf, Radagast, Morinehtar and Rómestámo ) who train all types by tend to favour certain classes, Saruman favouring magic-users, Gandalf favouring magic-users and druids, Radagast favouring druids, Morinehtar favouring magic-users and illusionists and Rómestámo favouring illusionists.  There is no magic-missile spell!
• There are no gnomes or paladins.
• Half-elves are considered High-men and half-elves are usually elves.
• Half-orcs are considered Uruk-hai, evil by all other races, and maybe challenging to play unless the party are in league with Sauron or Saruman. 

Bestiary

• Goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, bugbears and ogres are all types of goblins and orcs.
• Undead of all types. Nazghul are fighter/magic-user spectres.
• Will'o'wisps.
• Wyvern's without stings are fell beasts.
• Giant spiders of various sizes. Shelob being one of the largest.
• Hill giants are trolls.
• Stone giants.
• Balor demons are Balrogs. Other demons are hinted at throughout the books.
• Were-creatures.
• Dire wolves are worgs.
• Treants are ents. They can be used for evil or angry tree spirits.
• Faerie spirits are related to Tom Bombadil, and can be dryads, nymphs etc,.
• Creatures like carrion crawlers are hinted in the dark caverns of the world, and should be used as singular entities.
• The watcher in water could giant squid or even a hydra aka cold drake.
• Dragons and dragon like giant lizards.

Magic items

• These should mainly be arms and armour, often of elven manufacture and all individually named.
• Avoid very D&D themed miscellaneous items. 
• Herbs, properly harvested and applied can count as healing spells of various sorts.  Rangers, druids and elves are able to recognise such herbs on a % roll of 5x their level.

Birthday AD&D game

As part of my birthday celebrations I'm running N1 Against The Cult Of The Reptile God [spoilers] for a group of about 8 players on Saturday from 12pm-6pm (ish). I've not run 1st edition AD&D in a very long time and want to use some of the improvements that have come along with later editions. On top of that 8 players can be slow, even in 1st ed, so I've streamlined the combat even further, particularly around initiative and player order. Effectively what happens now is the following:-

• Optional surprise d6 roll based on class, with Thieves, Monks and Assassins being surprised on a 6+, Fighters, Paladins, Rangers, Clerics and Druids on a 5+ and Wizards and Illusionists being surprised on a 4+. Monsters such as Bugbears add to this roll. 
• The initial roll is made by the player who's character is unsurprised and has the highest dexterity rolls d6 and adds their reaction adjustment, as do all the monsters in similar fashion. Which ever team scores highest goes before the whole of the other team.
• Players take it in turns to do their move around the table. The starting player is the whoever is sitting closest to the DM's left or right, alternating left to right between each combat.

Other rules changes include positive Armour Class values, so that they are target values (e.g. Chainmail is normally AC 5, but is now AC 15 and therefore the base to-hit is 15+), spell mastery so that spellcasters can substitute their memorized spell with the spell they have chosen to master. (Often Cure Light Wounds or Magic Missile).

I've worked up a single page rules explanation cheat sheet with many of these based on the character sheet PDF, which can be downloaded here.  
 

Dungeons & Detectives

GUMSHOE-like rules for AD&D, which are far more rough and poorly thought out than the excellent Lorefinder. As I ponder running AD&D again for the first time in very many years I find the lack of a skill system, particularly knowledge and research skills, a bit daunting. Recent de-motivating experiences with skill rolls in the otherwise excellent Dark Heresy make me favour GUMSHOE style never roll points pools, and it’s a relatively simple idea. Player characters with a particular skill never need roll to receive information from the GM that pertain to that skill. Initially to an old-school gamer this might seem bizarre. Why not just read the wholegoddamn scenario out to the players, why don’t you? Gah.

But actually the art of figuring out things isn’t in the rolling of dice but knowing to ask the right question. And GUMSHOE adds an additional level of decision making, as you spend points if you believe there is more to known about a subject than just the base line given to you, and you have limited points.

So for example, until the Identify spell came along in Unearthed Arcana, it was difficult to know as a PC what magic items did and as a GM it was always a little awkward to manage them unless you were very meticulous. However, say we have a character called Thego the archeologist-duelist and who has 5 points in History. Upon finding what appears to be a magical sword he examines and, suspicious that there is more to meet than meets the eye about this weapons spends 3 points. The GM reveals that yes, the sword may well be the fabled Nailbiter, created by the ancient war-wizard Thanazdul for his henchman to battle against the Golem foes of his rival. The sword was past from father to son for many generations, as Thanazdul extended his life by necromatic means and retained the services of the henchman’s family. It was lost some 300 years ago, stolen by a band of Ogre mercenaries. The sword has a minor enchantment (+1) against most foes, but against Golems and constructs it is immensely destructive (+4).

The GM decided that the baseline (no spend) would reveal the sword is indeed unusually ancient, 1 point would have revealed the swords name, two points that it was created by Thanazdul and passed onto his henchman and that it was designed for use against specific foes and 3 points revealed that the foes were Golems and constructs. If Thego spent 4 points the extra point would have been wasted.

It’s important, vital in fact, that information that the players absolutely must have to continue the story can be revealed at the baseline. Further points can give more background and flavour in these cases but you shouldn’t hold up the flow because someone didn’t spend or have enough points.

Now that the points are spent, how do you refresh the pool? It’s between the GM and player to come up with interesting refresh opportunities, but Thego might for example spend the evening talking to a sage in a tavern or an afternoon in a old library and the next day wake with a refreshed pool.

One final optional extra, specialization. PCs can specialize in a particular area. This means that they spend one less point, and 1 point clues or information become free, if the area is in their field of specialization, and is always available meaning they always know more than just the baseline.

Rules stuff...
1st level characters receive points based on their class.

Magic-users and Illusionists get 5 points at 1st level and gain an extra 1 point per 2 levels thereafter.

Thieves, Clerics, Druids, Paladins, Fighters, Rangers, Assassins and Monks get 4 points at 1st level and gain an extra 1 point per 3 levels.

Specializations cost 1 point to add to a skill and can only be taken once per 3 levels.

Example skills & specialization

History (ancient, local, regional, military, secret societies, religious, magic)
Magic (elemental, demonology, necromancy, illusion, alchemy, fae, planar, spells, divination)
Religion (pantheon, ancient, planar, history)
Nature (regional, fauna, flora, fae, peoples)
Dungeoneering ( monsters, peoples, underdark, caves, traps, regional )
Military (strategy and tactics, arms and armour, melee
Appraisal (art, jewelry, gems, magic items)

Alternative AD&D Character creation rules

If say, I was to run an old school game, like N1 Against The Cult Of The Reptile God, or something.

1. Choose between picking a class you are aiming for or rolling completely randomly.

If you roll randomly, roll 3D6 six times, and write them down in order against Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma. Then roll a further 3d6 and if it’s higher than your best result replace it.

If you decide you are aiming for a particular class, from Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Cleric, Druid, Wizard, Illusionist, Thief, Assassin or any of the racial multi-classes you should check the class requirements and then roll 3d6, assigning them to your stats once you have completed. If you failed to meet the requirements, you must pick another class entirely although it is likely to similar. You do not have to stick with the particular race you chose. E.g. if you wanted to play an Elven Fighter/Magic-User but you only got the stat rolls for a Fighter, you can play a Dwarf or Human fighter.

2. Roll on the relationships table, in secret, about the your characters relationship with the character of the player to the left of you. If you get a secret relationship, roll again to find a public relationship that covers the secret one. If you gain gold from the relationship table, make that in secret. You then discuss with the the story behind the relationship. This is repeated around the table, skipping the DM of course, until all player characters have a relationship. If you absolutely hate your relationship, you may re-roll once.

3. Choose a first name, last name, title or nom de plume, which may or may not be related to your relationship with another player.

4. Hit points at first level are always at least half you maximum, so when you roll for hit points if it’s less than half you just take the half value. e.g. 2 for Magic-Users, 3 for Thieves, 4 for Clerics and 5 for Fighters. Rangers however only get this rule on the first d8 they roll, not both so their minimum is also 5. Then add constitution bonuses after this.

Relationships table (d4 x 10 + d10)
Your character...

10	Is the sibling of
12	Is the lover of
13	Is married to
14	Is the parent of
15	Is the uncle, aunt or cousin of
16	Is the childhood friend of
17	Is employed by the family to protect [+d10 g.p.]
18	Is indebted to the family of
19	Is a childhood friend of
20	Is an old acquaintance of
21	Is a firm friend of
22	Competes for the love of a third person with
23	Family’s have traditionally worked together
24	Saved the life of
25	Had their life saved by
26	Worked together for a cruel lord with
27	Was apprenticed to a cherished master with
28	Was hired to guard [+d10 g.p]
29	Was tasked with a quest together with
30	Travelled together with and defended each other from slavers, monsters or bandits
31	Shared a lucky find with [+d10 g.p., shared equally with]
32	Owned a business with
33	Escaped imprisonment with
34	Escaped slavery with
35	Were in the town militia with
36	Were part of the same guard unit with
37	Were part of the same hunting party with
38	Had family members kidnapped by the same slavers, monsters or bandits as
39	Were mentored together wiht
40	Was a former enemies of, but who became friends with
41	[Secret] Murdered a family member of
42	[Secret] Is employed by a family member to watch [+d10 g.p.]
43	[Secret] Is employed by the family to protect [+d10 g.p.]
44	[Secret] Is in love with
45	[Secret] Must prevent from fulfilling some prophecy
46	[Secret] The illegitimate scion or first born sibling of
47	[Secret] Prophesied to defeat some mighty enemy together
48	[Secret] Holds a grudge against
49	Your choice

What I'm working on - Dungeon Masters

I've got a head full of ideas at the moment and two are particularly cornucopian. The first is a tile game based around dungeons, where the players take the role of dungeon masters digging and stocking a single dungeon together. In the points scoring final phase a 'party' of adventurers descend into the dungeon, moving at random, slaying monsters and taking treasure. The object of the game is to have as much of your treasure as possible still in the dungeon, as well as having had your monsters kill members of the party.

Much like Carcasonne there are both competitive and cooperative elements to laying dungeon tiles. There are also some unique 'rooms' that cause special actions to occur in the final stage. Games should be run in the 45-1hr time frame, and the ruleset and will be as simple as possible.

As per usual I have both more ideas than time or money, however I found an online shop selling square white cardboard tiles, so I bought 100 and hope to build a prototype at the very least. I'll be very interested in finding alpha playtesters for this. The very few people I've talked to about in face to face all seem to think it sounds fun.

Coding expectations

I've been working on kind of cheat sheet for the development team, and I thought I'd post it here too as it counts as geek :)

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Pair programming

Pair programming is a technique that hopes to achieve three main things. Those being: better architectural design, shared knowledge and code quality. Pair programming often reduces waste during code review as core concepts are already decided, leading to fewer rewrites.  When done well it helps to build trust and understanding between developers. The following steps are all equally important and can be considered a cheat sheet.

·      Define the task, with small goals in mind. You’ll then be able to move in the same direction quickly.

·      Agree on the solution. It’s worth spending a little time before coding to fix in your minds how your solution will work.

·      Talk constantly about what you are both doing. 

·      The developer with the keyboard writes, while the other one directs. An analogy is that of driver and a navigator. The driver at the keyboard makes the tactical decisions while the navigator keeps them on course and suggests short cuts.

·      Switch roles at least every two hours.

·      Consider checking into a temporary pair-programming local branch in git at each swap point. This shouldn’t be master.

Code Reviews

Code reviews are there to catch mistakes, keep the code base balanced and gain the insight of another pair of eyes before you submit your work to the wider business. It’s there to help and protect you, not to criticize you or force you to change complete direction. When you are reviewing others code, you should be wary of asking for changes to make the code look like you had written it. The following points should be considered during code review.

·      Select a reviewer as close to the code as possible. Therefore if you are pair programming or working with someone on a user story, they should be the reviewer. You must stick with this reviewer for re-reviews.

·      If at all possible, do code review together at a desk before it is even pushed to Gerrit. Even better correct problems there and then. This makes it more immediate, less confrontational, more productive and a better experience all round.

·      Review the code, not the coder. Refer to the code, not the coder.  Don’t say ‘your code here tests the wrong object’ but ‘this code tests wrongObject, not rightObject’

·      The reviewer should assume that things have been done by the reviewee for good reason. The developer has likely given it more thought than the reviewer, so challenges to how something has been done should be diplomatic and open. Equally, the developer may not have thought of everything and may not have thought of the best solution. When such things are raised in review, they should be discussed and either corrected or clarified (e.g. better code structure or comments may resolve the issue).

·      The developer should not take feedback as personal criticism. They should view them as honest questions/feedback aimed at ensuring that the delivered code is of an acceptable quality (fulfills the requirement, complies with best practice in terms of architecture, design and code etc.). Any feedback should be considered openly and as an opportunity for improvement, learning and to deliver a better end product.

·      Be clear in identifying the issue and suggest obvious fixes. ‘This doesn’t work’ is worse than useless.

·      Programming style should be challenged not demanded. Rather than saying ‘This code style is not following a pattern’ say ‘Consider the use of the Command Pattern?’ This however is not an excuse to ignore best practice or consistency issues with the code by the developer.

·      When you review code you become part of that story. If a reviewer just rubber stamp the review, they’re directly responsible for failure. If they sit on a review, or re-review you are responsible for it being held up. Check you requested reviews often.

·      Always respond to every code review comment in Gerrit. Either with “Done” or with a suitable response. This aids re-review.

·      Point out the good. When reviewing code you may learn things yourself or spot elegant solutions. When that happens, say so, the coder may be unsure that it was elegant and it positively reinforces the good stuff.

Checking in

Git is complex and powerful, and there is a lot to say on it, however these general check-in points are important.

·      The code you write is valuable and needs to be backed up as much as possible so that there is no danger of losing it.

·      Check the code in at end of the day. Otherwise you are preventing others from picking up the work to get it finished. We can’t ever predict what will happen from one day to the next in terms of illness or transport problems.

·      More frequent commits mean more flexibility in code reviews. This leads to faster turnaround and less context switching.  Small commits are easier to understand, easier to review, and can be merged to master much sooner. This means that your code gets picked up by others sooner, reducing the complexity of conflict resolution, and ensuring that your code is in use sooner which gives you a higher degree of confidence that there are no corner cases that you missed in your unit testing.

Everything I know about software development I learnt from playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Roleplaying games, the kind you play using odd shaped dice sat around a table with friends, are about three things. You play a role, usually a dramatic heroine or hero, you are part of a story and you overcome challenges together achieve some goal. Software development is also best done sat in groups, with people you like. It’s also about overcoming challenges to achieve a group goal, and often each person in the team has a particular role to play.

Diversity
The most famous RPG is Dungeons and Dragon, in which a party of adventurers explore Tolkienesque worlds fighting foes and finding treasure. The secret to a successful adventuring party is diversity and the same is true for development teams. If everyone in your team has the same background, the same experiences and outlook they’ll tend to solve problems in singular way and make software for people like themselves. An adventuring party made of just dwarven warriors might find it easy to fight their way through hordes of orcs, but without a cunning thief who will pick the lock to the impenetrable doors that guard the dragon’s treasure? Better to have a diverse team and end up with software that has been thought through by people of different backgrounds, genders and cultures, teams who won’t get snagged by issues that come from a single perspective.

Leading
Roleplaying games require a Game Master, sometimes called a Dungeon Master. This is the person who has the story their head, who frames the challenges and who plays the parts of the other characters in the story. It’s like a Scrum Master and Product Owner in one. The worst kind of Dungeon Master is one who ‘railroads’ the players. Rather than encouraging the players to figure out how to proceed, they tell the players what to do and railroad them into a particular course of action. This isn’t much fun for the players and rarely goes to plan as the Dungeon Master can’t think of every turn beforehand. It’s not playing to the strength of the game. The same is true for software development. When you’ve hired a talented group of developers, testers, product owners and sys ops don’t tell them as a manager what to do. Tell them what is required, and let them get there themselves. If they wander off from the user story, guide them back to it by reminding them of the features needed.

Resource planning
A big part of roleplaying is essentially resource management. Players worry about how many spells they can cast, how many gold coins it costs to buy that magic axe or how many sips they have left in their potion of healing. Eventually it becomes risk management. Trolls have hidden enough gold to buy the magic axe and a bunch of healing potions, but the fight might be so tough that characters could be defeated. Perhaps it’s better to face the orcs first and use the little treasure they have to buy a single healing potion so that they have a better chance of defeating the trolls. Or maybe they should try and sneak in and steal the treasure instead.

Software team’s dilemma is how to divide the work up between them. It’s rare that there are enough programmers, let alone QA to work on all the ideas the company has at once. It helps to think of resource planning in terms of risk management. Is it possible to take a small step that brings in some value rather than rushing into a big long project without knowing it’ll be successful? This of course is a fundamental principle in Agile software development, but incremental gains work just as well in D&D as it does in product development. When you don’t have quite enough QA engineers to give you complete coverage, do you risk reducing coverage or match the pace of development with that of testing? It depends on how valuable and risky the project is. Orcs or Trolls? Silver pieces or gold? 

Experience
As characters gain in experience in roleplaying games they also gain in power, and more interestingly options. A freshly made wizard can recite a single and low powered spell once per day but as they gain in experience, and go up in levels their titles and options change. An experienced Enchanter can change shape, go invisible, befriend monsters, throw fireballs. They can also build magical towers that aid their spells and train apprentices to do their lesser magic.

The same is true in a way of developers, both in terms of technical and product experience. When they start out they are often given very specific jobs to do that aren’t very complex. As time goes on they learn more about best practice and the way their software is used. The variety of problems they can solve increases, but additionally and vitally the creativity they can bring to bear on product development also improves. Senior team members should be building wizard’s towers and training apprentices.    

No More Heroes
There is one area where software development shouldn’t be like RPGs. In Dungeons and Dragons the heros and heroines grow in power and become superheroes, saviours, invincible and invaluable.

When you have heroes in a software development team it can cause all manner of problems. These are the people who stay late, who can seemingly solve any problem, who will avoid all the process and management layers to get things done. The trouble is they never look back, they rarely leave behind code that others can work with in their quest to get things done and disrupt the workflow of others because of their sudden needs for unplanned QA or releases. The set expectations that others can’t meet, hoard knowledge and avoid helping others. While the hero mentality is noble, and not to be squandered, it is better to show them why teamwork is finally more productive and desirable that wearing spandex and a mask.  

Beauty is (in) the eye of the Beholder

I'm in New York this week doing product delivery agile training in which none of the product team seemed to be paying any attention. Towards the end of the day we had to sketch persona faces and then have others in a training group vote on which one the thought the most interesting. I was a little tired and bored, never a great combo, and went off piste. However the beholder got the most votes none the less, proving the old staying beauty is in the eye of the beholder is true in more than one sense. 

Day 2, Hidden paths, deep and dangerous

So having defeated the wicked goblin cook and his rabble of staff, the brave adventuring party set about searching the large and chaotic kitchen of the Purple Bruise clan. A floor to celing wardrobe or cabinet yielded the first interesting find, in the form of a bound and gag human male. After some discussion as to what to do, the first instinct was to shut the cabinet again, the party release the prisoner, who is a tall, well muscled man named Druss. Druss is played by our Belgium Javascript Engineer Julien.

Druss remembers nothing about how he came to be found in hidden in a goblin kitchen, but was once a guard captain and the last thing he does recall is being a battle. Druss was rolled randomly using 4d6 for each stat in turn and produced a very physically strong character. The slayer subclass of the fighter fitted nicely and I suspect will decidedly help the party take down foes more quickly.

Helja the dwarf knight decided to search the cabinet some more, and it proved wise to do so as it had a false side. When he pulled away the hinged panel a delicate glass bottle of green gas slipped out from the top, but in an amazing piece of luck he caught the bottle (I rolled a 1). The high elf wizard, Riardon who seems to be rapidly becoming a pyromancer, found a box and layered it with material to transport the bottle, which is a suspected poison gas trap, around for later use.

Behind the panel Helja found a magical warhammer, his favourite weapon and two bags filled with gold coins and silver jewelry. It seems the cook had been hoarding things from his boss. Later Helja tried shouting the rune names found on the hammer and discovered it was a warhammer of thunder which could unleash lightning and thunder when it struck an enemy. He gave his precious old hammer to Druss, who also donned the chainmail vest of the goblin cook. Also stuffed into the area was old parchment map of what must be the surrounding area.

 

CC3 map

Then the party must have been blessed by the god of eagles, for they found not one but two well concealed secret door, going north and south as well as a silver dagger that the thief Lucan like the look of. He recounted a tale about how, when he was working as a fence, a thieves guild were buying silver weapons to fight against lycanthrope rivals. The secret doors were definitely too well concealed to be goblin made. Exploring the door to the south, the elven thief Lucan stealthy made he was along a rarely used narrow corridor that ended in a flight of steps upwards. Here he heard a screeching sound and out of the darkness shown many pairs of small red eyes. Then suddenly huge rats, some the size of dogs flew down and attacked. After putting an arrow into the first, biggest rat, Lucan retreat and a battle with giant and dire rats was joined. The party made a good tactical choice and boxed them in so that they only had to fight one at time. They dispatched the pack quickly, and remarkably none of the party succumbed to the filth fever the rats carried.

Rats in the walls!

After burning the bodies, the party explored further, finding the corridor leading away from the stair led to another secret door that opened into entrance corridor they'd fought in the day before. Then they followed the corridor up the stairs, and surmised that the dead end held a secret door that might lead to the area the goblin mapper had said the boss lived in. Not feeling ready for such a bold fight they decide to check out the northern secret door from the kitchen. It opened onto a short corridor at the end of which the thief could make out was a yet another secret door. The eagle-eyed god, Thurriak, had definitely blessed them, but it's a fickle gift if used without great care. Lucan boldly strode into the corridor and must have stepped on a pressure plate as large block of stone from ceiling fell on top of him, immediately knocking him out and crushing the life out of him. Druss and Riardon rushed forward to try and shift the block off of the body of the elf, but were too late even with Druss cleverly using his heroic effort to re-roll his athletics check. His organs had been pulped and the party had it's first death. I made Adam an award certificate in remembrance of Lucan's ignoble end.      
 

Lucan's death unlocks the second Dungeons & Dragons Essentials book - Heroes Of The Forgotten Kingdom. This means Adam has access to new races - half elves, half orcs, dragonborn and tieflings as well as the the new classes - druid, paladin, ranger and warlock. I'm not allowing drow in this campaign as they are, as intended in the original Greyhawk campaign, unremittingly evil. Another death will unlock further player options.

What the party don't know is that the original members, Thanus, Riardon and Helja have now made it to second level! 

Day 2, What's cooking?

Our intrepid adventurers decided to take refuge in the chamber that had held the goblins and walking dead monstrosity defeated in the previous session. They secured the doors and locked the remaining goblin a cell, then Riardon the high elf took watch and meditated over his precious and strange spell book while the others slept. Someone or something tried the door handle during the night, but went away again without further action.

Deciding to press further into the goblin warrens then entered the next chamber which they already heard muffled voices coming from. The goblins here, some of whom were unarmed, demanded to be left in peace rather than attacking the party and after various threats they put their arms down and surrendered without a fight. Apart from a huge green eye painted on the ceiling that the goblins said had been there 'forever' this was quite an unremarkable room that seemed to serve as quarters from the goblins.

One of these goblins with an artistic bent drew a map for the party that seemed to show some key points, namely the 'cook', 'nasty hexer' and 'boss' locations. As the cook was the nearest they decided to head in that direction, but not before exploring two more rooms they found. The first seem to be a nest of goblin-kids and apart from a brief discussion on morality the group ignored them. The second chamber though was some sort of temple to the goblin god Maglubiyet and was defended by goblin warriors and an acolyte, who seemed to gain power from the rough clay statue of the god that he stood next to. After a well fought battle Helja triumphantly took the magical amulet that hung from the statues neck. Thanus the dwarven war-priest of Kord struck down the statue in disgusted, bravely ignoring the possible curse that might come from such an act. It seems that the amulet protects the wearer from falling into pits and other dangers.     

Then finally they went into the goblin kitchen, which was a sprawling mess of pots and pans, horrible pieces of hanging meat, great steaming pots of foul smelling liquid and a number of goblin undercooks, lead by a huge blotted goblin creature, clutching a vicious meat cleaver.

At this point the party realized that they faced their first 'elite' foe, and immediately fell to planning the best way to maximize their damage. This was mostly down to the thief, whose sneak attack did a great deal of damage but relied on him having combat advantage. The wizard's Burning Hands spell dispatched a number of the undercooks, while the knight took the brunt of the attack from the cleaver. The head cook was turned out to be surprisingly nimble, but was eventually taken down from a combined weight of attacks from the party. A search of the chief revealed little of use, but the kitchen itself has yet to be and may reveal treasures beyond dried rat and boiled cabbage soup. 

Day 1, Star Trap Cage Fighting

After the running battle in the goblin halls that marked the 1st session of our Star Trap campaign, the party ponder where they might rest to relearn their most powerful spells and powers as well as regain some curative ability. Lucan the elven thief crept stealthily through  illustrated and dank dungeon corridors, revealing more of the map and discovering a way up into what might be the chambers that the rain of arrows came from as they entered Star Trap. They also worked out that a side room, which held another door and was occupied by what was probably more goblins as well as a taller figure trapped in cage, might have a secret door into the great wide hallway that seems to run endlessly into the heart of the level. Searching for it however revealed nothing, but Helja the dwarf knight heard a strange and ominous hooting, like that of a great owl, coming from the dark. The high-elf wizard Riardon recanted the tale of the owlbear, a huge ghastly magician's experiment that crossed an owl with a great bear and resulted in a beast both huge and vicious. The party decided not to investigate in that direction further, but to surprise the goblins in the side chambers. Just as the plan was started, horrors from the dungeon appearing marching down the corridors, undead skeletons! The party dealt swiftly with them, the warpriest Thanus proving his worth against these necromantic nightmares, although the skeletons were snapping off their own ribs and using them as darts. Then they returned to exploring more of the goblin's lair.

Lucan mustered all his subtle might and shot the shaman of Maglubiyet who was commander four goblin warriors, between the shoulder blades causing serious injury. The rest of the party then charged into the room, with the wizard sticking to the rear. A vicious battle ensued, with Helja taking the brunt of the goblins attacks and everything seemed to be going well until a goblin warrior ran to the cage and opened the door to the prisoner, who threw of it's ragged cloth and revealed itself as a putrid zombie. It immediately set about attacking the goblin. Helja bravely bull rushed the goblin, hoping to push it and the zombie further into the cage where they could be contained or fight it out between each other. Such was the force of charge that the goblin and zombie were thrown to the back of the cage, but the recklessness of the knight (a 1 may have been rolled) meant that he too went into the cage, and the door slamming locked behind him. The goblin threw himself at Helja's mercy while the zombie drooled a single word - "braaainzzzz". Desperately Lucan tried to pick the lock of the cage, but to no avail and while Helja held off the zombie, Riardon enspelled the zombie with a bewitching psychic assault. This caused the zombie to momentarily pause, and Lucan, having heard from Thanus that zombies are vulnerable to beheading then succeeded in a trick shot, shooting two wide bladed arrows into the neck of the zombie. Victory!

The remaining goblin fell to it's knees and begged for clemency, and although it seems nobody speaks goblin the party are set to interrogate the weasel about the map they have been drawing.   

It was a classic session, and really enjoyable for me to run. The combats, while fairly decisive went back and forth, the party started learning that to survive they need to work together and they now fear a creature they have not seen.

Best of all was that there was no way this kind of story could be told through CRPGs. People who have claimed that 4e is a MORPG clearly have poor players and DMs.