Showing posts with label Dungeons and Dragons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dungeons and Dragons. Show all posts

Sunday, 25 October 2009


Here's a brief extract from my eldest's cartoon log of the old-school AD&D dungeon adventure I've been running.  The observant may note that the party has swelled in size with the addition of a druid (played by youngest son) and his badger.  The badger has proved a more capable fighter than several of the other party members...  We don't have a badger model; Harry appears to have drawn the giant rat that we use in his place, but tail-less !

This week the party entered a throne room, but decided discretion was the better part of valour when they found that they faced with a fiery-eyed lich, casting fire magics.  A minority of the party wanted to return to reason with the lich... this led to much soiling of pants and a very rapid retreat.

A later encounter with a faerie led to an enjoyable riddling contest, through which the party ultimately won a magic, talking stave.

"Earth born sword I stab the sky, but bow down low for passersby.  So what am I?"

Sunday, 27 September 2009

Dungeon Crawl


Yesterday we played a further installment of my D&D campaign, and my eldest boy kept a rough narrative of the events, in cartoon form.  Above, Cassander the cleric leads Derck the thief, Paxmanicus the mage, brave Sir Titus and Dorian Fingertoes the other thief back towards the Palace of Tyresius.

The party's expert thieves scale a tall tree in order to reach the top of the battlements; and fall.  Some might say that two thieves in a party of five... is two too many.

Encountering a barred door, and seeing an eye peering through a spyhole, Dorian carries out some "keyhole surgery", with a skewer.  This initiated an orgy of violence as the party stormed into what turned out to be a Kobold stronghold, through a defensive barrage of darts and crossbow bolts.

Sir Titus (above) spent most of the afternoon trapped in a net, surrounded by a pack of Kobolds who fortunately experienced considerable difficulty piercing his magic platemail armour with their clubs and spears.  In the end, he had to be cut loose by the halfling!  Once he was freed, the party made swift work of the survivng enemy.

The party successfully ethnically cleansed this area of the former palace.  Unbeknownst to the heroes, who had blithely ignored the religious symbols scrawled on the doors to their section of the dungeon, the Kobolds had long before been converted to the lawful worship of St Cuthbert by a saintly Dwarven priest.  Above, a kobold warrior bids farewell to his family and marches off to his doom.

The party (above) were very (briefly) troubled by the realisation that they had sacked a Lawful Neutral temple, and slaughtered both priest and congregation.  There was some discussion about whether it would be safe to donate the holy books to the Temple of St Cuthbert in Hommlet; "We found them in a sacked temple."  And whether they'd get much money for them.

Later, during the night, a red apparition of a hag materialised and chased Sir Titus hither and thither around the room.  Sir Titus, who had decided (after due consideration) to spurn her advances, was saved by a barrage of holy water phials.

This week we had only four players, which seemed to help; the adventure rolled along very swiftly.  Hopefully we'll play again next week.

Sunday, 26 July 2009

Palace of Tyresias

On Friday last, my boys + friends AD&D adventuring party stumbled back in time to 1984 and discovered my multilevel-dungeon.

This is a scanned and retouched image from the 1984 frontspiece. Whilst there are elements of "Tyresias" that I'm not entirely happy with (the Kobolds of the Golden parrot, for example!), much of it seems to have borne the passage of time really well and I'm refurbing (and even extending!) the place.

I wonder whether anyone else out there is writing for AD&D?

Sunday, 19 July 2009

Does anyone recognise these Drow?

I think they are Ral Partha, but I can't find them in a catalogue or online. I really like the minis and want to buy a few more... especially if I can find some with crossbows. If anyone has a code that would be fantastic.

My (temporary) diversion into fantasy has continued; the kids completed the Village of Hommlet after an epic final encounter, and now have buckets of treasure burning holes in their moneybags. Next, I'm toying with running a multi-level dungeon I wrote around '85. With 24 years perspective, it doesn't look bad at all; needs a little work, and I'd need to buy/paint a few more minis.

I must confess to having squandered the better part of 2 weeks refurbing/rebasing my D&D figures. Tonight I shall get back to Ancients!

Monday, 13 July 2009

Wot I have been doing...

Alarmingly little painting, thats what! The end of the school term has led to a rash of parents evenings and social events that have cut my painting to a slow crawl. This week I've managed a little more work on the Tegeans, and I've rebased some spare fantasy miniatures for AD&D. I hope to finish basing the Tegeans by Friday so that I can start the Zama project!

On the AD&D front, we had a third very enjoyable dungeon delve last Saturday. At one stage, the entire party was staring death in the face; however the wizard managed to rescue them with his one (only moderately) useful spell "Dancing Lights". They are nearing the tail end of Hommlet and I'm toying with literally dusting off an old dungeon of my own, that I think they might enjoy...

Monday, 6 July 2009

Return to Hommlet

At the weekend I ran a second D&D session for several of the smaller RedBats and friends. I've been really surprised how many and how enthusiastic they have been; we had a party of seven, including a couple of girls, which is really nice.

We are doing the Village of Hommlet, and doing it old-style; Second edition AD&D played exactly like it was played in the early 1980s (when I adventured there). The kids have all picked it up quickly and I'm looking forward to running a weekly session for the next month. It's all very nostalgic!

Friday, 26 June 2009

AD&D; a la recherche du temps perdu

Tomorrow I'm going to introduce several of the LittleRedBats, and assorted friends, to AD&D.

A good portion of my twenties was spent playing the game (particularly the Lost University Years, over which we shall draw a veil), but I don't think I've rolled a d20 in anger, since I got into figure wargaming around 1985.

Digging out the old manuals has been an almost archaeological experience; I've had to borrow various tomes from one of my gaming mates, and I still lack a screen and the combat tables. Luckily I still have a lot of the old miniatures. Skimming the rulebooks today it is all starting to come back to me, but it is daunting that I remember so little, when once upon a time I must have almost known them by heart!

I've decided to stay thoroughly retro and eschew all the more modern versions of AD&D, so that tomorrow will be almost an exercise in time travel! Last time I visited the village of Hommlet, it was 1980...