It was Friday night and time for another session of Dungeons and Dragons. We had gathered in the basement of Matt’s house to get started on our campaign. By using the Class Construction Engine from Shadowcraft Studios I had managed to make a Space Marine class, the Warhammer 40k type. I now had to get Matt, our Dungeon Master (DM), to agree to it.
(Me) “Please? I just want to see if I can make it work.”
(Matt) “Fine, just be glad this is a one-off campaign. Just use whatever your character would have at 6th level”
(Me) “Thank you! Now let’s kill some things!”
(Other) “You know that there is more to campaigns than killing things, right?”
(Me) “Yes but you know I don’t roleplay well, I mostly just sit in a dark corner or loom behind people.”
That was Jim, playing a stereotypical Elvin Ranger. The other members of our party included David playing a Halfling Rogue, George playing a Dwarven Cleric, Ian playing a Half-Orc Barbarian, and Steven playing a Half-Elf Sorcerer. As a Space Marine I would be the other heavy hitter in our merry little band.
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We started our adventure in the port city of Safeld. Apparently Matt had put some effort into designing the world so we could be seeing it in later campaigns. After getting off the ship Matt started to describe what we were seeing.
“The smell of salt lingers in the air and the cries of gulls surround you. To the north, you can see a great forest stretching to the horizon and to the east off in the distance you see a line of mountains. Stepping off the ship onto the wooden wharf you are greeted by the sight of a well-ordered port. Dozens of masts rise from anchored ships, and on nearby wharfs you can see other ships being loaded with trade goods. Walking down the wharf to dry land you are greeted by a customs officer. He asks you if you have anything to declare. How do you respond?”
“I CLEAVE HIM IN TWAIN!” shouts Ian.
Steven smacks Ian on the back of his head. “No, he doesn’t!” he says. “We tell him that we are adventurers, have nothing to declare, and would like directions to the Adventure’s Guild.”
“The customs officer is writing on his clipboard, but looks up at you when you ask for directions.”
He asks you, “Have you never been to our city of Safeld before?
“How do you respond?”
George pipes up saying, “We are travelers from across the Sea of Tears. We have come to this new land to explore and to seek our fortune.”
“The customs officer looks at you before sighing.”
“Look,” he says, “I don’t know or care where you came from, but things here are probably more organized than what you are used to. You can’t just go galivanting off into the countryside, as adventurers you need to register at The Guild Hall which is up the main street a few blocks. Don’t cause problems, and you will get along fine with the guards in town.”
“He waves you through and starts to check people behind you. Now what do you do?”
“Well, lets head to the Guild Hall and see what it takes the become adventurer here” I say.
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“Just to speed this along you guys successfully register at the Guild Hall and can now take quests.” says Matt, “And because this is a one off you can go North, South, East, or West from here. To the North is the Great Forest which you saw from the ship. There has been strange noises reported from the woods and someone needs to investigate. To the East mines near Thrmam’s Hold have been reporting infestations of monsters that are making mining more hazardous than normal. To the South a sage has gone missing on one of the may islands scattered through the sea and the local wizards are wondering if something has happened to him. To the West lies the remains of a Dungeon Tower…”
(George) “Hold up Dungeon Tower? What’s that?”
“Ok. So, dungeons in this game come in a few varieties,” explains Matt. “There are the portal kind which exist in their own pocket dimension joined to this plane with portals obviously, but there are also vertical dungeons. These can stretch up and down with almost no limit. The towers stretch into the sky impossibly high and the others are more like what you would think; they extend deep underground. There are also forest, cave, and underwater dungeons which we won’t use for this campaign.”
(Steven) “What kind of enemies can we expect to be facing for each of the quests?”
(Matt) “North would be more woodland type, East would be mountainous and subterranean, South would be more aquatic but would be more roleplaying than fighting, and West would be more random due to the magical energies of the Tower.”
“I vote for the Tower or the mines,” I say, “so I can hit things.” Matt adds in more information about the quests telling the group that the Tower is a dungeon crawl whereas the mines involve a bit more roleplaying such as talking to miners and other people in the area. After some discussion amongst ourselves we head to the mines.
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Map Zoom [http://i.imgur.com/YXTsDdh.png?1]
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“Now,” says Matt, “the next question is how you want to get there. You can strike out on your own by foot or by horse staying at various inns and waystations, go with a trading caravan, or take an airship. For future reference that list is in order of danger and cost; there are also other modes of transportation that I have in mind for later. For this instance, you can choose whichever method without paying for it.”
To get the quest area faster we decided to use the airship. From what Matt said about in game time, the trip took several days. When we arrived at Thrmam’s Hold we still had a several day trek on foot to get to the mines. Fortunately, we encountered no wandering monster to impede our progress.
“Arriving at the mines you are greeted with the sigh of a poor but well maintained town,” describes Matt, “They have nothing fancy or outlandish but what they do have is well taken care of. However, you notice some new construction near the mine entrance. It appears to be a set of hastily constructed fortifications facing the mine entrance. You need to find the mayor of the town to start your quest; how do you go about doing so?”
(Jim) “I ask the nearest townsperson to point us in the right direction”
(Matt) “The townsperson says that, at this moment, the mayor is taking his turn at the barricade”
“After heading to the barricade, you find the mayor standing behind it with a spear. After explaining that the Guild Hall has sent you to clear the mine of monster, he is overjoyed, he even gives you a map of what to expect in the mine”
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Cave_1 [http://i.imgur.com/I0C6Xq4.png]
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“As you enter the mine the sun’s warmth fades away leaving you in the cool dark. You are momentarily blinded as you transition from the bright sunlight to the shadowy illumination of the caverns. The illumination comes from candles and phosphorescent bugs and fungus. The walls are hewn from the generations of picks that have carved their way into this mountain and the floor is worn smooth from the generations of footsteps and carts. How do you wish to proceed?”
“Let’s start with the smaller caverns first,” says David. “Our matching order should have Ian and Zane in the front to absorb damage, with me and George next and Steven bringing up the rear. So our first stop should be the cavern that is straight in front of us.”
“As you start to enter the cavern you notice that it is noticeably dimmer as if something is covering the fungus or eaten the bugs; there is no candle light. Thin gossamer strands gently float across the opening.”
“It’s spiders isn’t it…”
“As you enter into the wide part of the cavern you see 4 Large Monstrous Spiders in various locations. They all turn to look at you before hissing and charging at you. Roll initiative.”
The rolls were as follows:
Jim (Ranger): 22 David (Rogue): 12 George (Cleric): 15 Ian (Barbarian): 9 Steven (Sorcerer): 15 Zane (SM): 10 Spider 1: 16 Spider 2: 13 Spider 3: 5 Spider 4: 5
“Jim, what do you do?”
“I shoot the foremost spider with my bow. [Rolls dice] Does 17 break their armor class?”
“Yes, roll for damage”
[Rolls dice] “9 damage”
“Next is one of the spiders. It approaches you Zane and attempts to take a bite out of you. [Rolls dice] Does 19 break your armor class?”
“Nope.”
“Ok Steven, what is your move?”
“I delay my turn.”
“Alright then, George what is your move?”
“For my turn I move to behind Ian and cast Bull’s Strength on him.”
“Alright, Steven you’re up. What’s your move?”
“I cast Fireball at the spiders, and judging by how close they are, I can hit the three spiders that haven’t gone yet. [Rolls dice] YES! Each spider takes 6 damage. It’s a DC 17 to half.”
“Lets see…[Rolls dice] nope, yep, and yep. Two of the spiders take 3 damage and the other take full damage. One of the spiders moves and attacks you Zane. [Rolls dice] 23 break you AC?
“Nope. Need to do better than that.”
“Man, what is your AC?”
“24”
“How?”
“I’m considering the Space Marine armor to be a step above full plate so I gave the armor a bonus of 10 and since the armor is powered and directly connected to the Space Marines nervous system a Dex modifier of 2. I was thinking about using a Dex modifier of 4, but I thought that would be too overpowered, so I just added a Ring of Protection +2 instead. I also didn’t include any damage reduction in this character build yet.”
“You know this means I just get to throw harder monsters at you right?”
“Yep, bring it on”
“Alright then, lets continue…”
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After several drinks and a quite a few hours of avoiding cave-ins, disarming traps, and fighting spiders, zombies, a Gargantuan Monstrous Centipede, some Gelatinous Cubes, more zombies, some fungus, Duergar, Gricks, and some Derros, we had finally finished clearing the mine. Now, all that was left was to close the tunnel the miners had made into the monster pit.
“As you approach the tunnel you see that the celling is supported by roughhewn timbers,” described Matt, “in the distance you can hear more monstrous things in the darkness. How do you proceed?”
“I say we pull the timbers out to start the collapse the tunnel and to help it along set the timbers on fire to speed the collapse and force any monsters to stay away,” says Zane.
“But,” asks Matt, “what about the smoke?”
“We are under the assumption that there is magic in place to supply fresh air into the mine so that the miners don’t asphyxiate,” extrapolated Steven. “Going by that assumption we can assume that there is a positive pressure flow where we are standing and that will blow any smoke into where the monsters are since they are probably relying on less powerful method of air circulation.”
“You know what, sure. Let go with that,” Matt says exasperatedly. “This is a good idea as any to wrap this up. Zane we need to work on your Space Marine some more; it’s just too OP. You have a high constitution modifier due to your biological add-ons, you’re hard to hit, you hit hard, and your weapons are ridiculous. I can understand how, when using the creation kit, you limited your weapons so that you could put the extra points into other areas; but the chainsword, bolter, and grenades are ridiculous. The character is probably going to need some level adjustment for future use.”
“Alright is 0330 and y’all need to go home so I can get some sleep and be somewhat productive later today,” utters Matt tiredly.
And so we all tromped out saying our goodbyes and headed to our separate homes. I went back to my dorm to catch some much-needed shuteye. Little did I know it would be my last night on this earth.