Game 4This game was set underground and involved the party navigating their way through a dungeon to the other side. We set up a reasonably open dungeon for this as we weren’t sure how t would go with the corridors and wandering monsters and the author of the original scenario had issues with this when they played this scenario.
The party had to travel from left to right in this photo
We had 6 main room areas joined by doorways and corridors. For the final 2 rooms, it was decide that we wouldn’t know which room had the exit until we got there.
Also it was our first game with these rules in a dungeon so we had to makeup some rules for certain situations as we went along. For monster arrivals we rolled a D6 for the rooms and a D4 for the walls and then placed the monsters next to the most appropriate piece of terrain, eg a crypt or door.
A note on the terrain. I've been making dungeon furniture and these dungeon walls for a while out of XPS foam but I ran out of time to finish them for the game. The walls join onto each other using rare earth magnets and this was the first time laying them out. Most of the sections are painted but I didn’t get time to give them any washing or weathering. I also have a bunch of extra pieces - shields, banners, torches, sewage pipes left to glue onto the walls.
And excuse the poor quality photos, I'll try my camera next time as my phone only has a cheap camera.
Both parties started in the bottom doorway on the table. There was a group of skeletons near the entrance.
Turn One
My party went first and rushed into the room I managed to get most of my guys into the room but only one fighter contacted the nearby horde of Skeleton and subsequently was wounded in his first combat However my first turn was better than the other party who managed to rolled 2 sets of 3 failed activation dice, including triple ones!
The second turn was better with both parties engaging the skeletons but there was a monster frenzy and a horde activates so all the foes got a bit closer. Two skeleton ambushes also jumped out of the skeleton cabinets in the room
We played it that the foes didn’t lose any movement for going through doors
The parties continued to fight the skeletons making hard work of it, and a couple more ambushes were triggered. We drew a "That may come in handy" card and decided it contained a clue as to which room contained the exit to the dungeon.
Due to some poor activation dice rolling (a common theme this game) the large horde of Cultists edged around the corner and were fireballed by the mage, killing 6 of them.
Monster reinforcements began to arrive, firstly a minor demon along with 3 ghouls!
The parties continued to clear the first room, killing the last 2 cultists but some had taken wounds, so they paused to heal.
While the ranger party floundered due to very poor activation dice, the other party boldly (or foolishly) moved into the main room. However it was very dangerous, with the Minor Demon and Chaos champion both activating and entering the same room!
Some very effective Strongbow fire downed the Chaos champion and then the Minor demon, while a group of ghouls popped out of a hidden section in the walls.
The other party was left fighting another horde of skeletons while some Cultists had arrived in the same entrance the party had. Shortly after fireballing the cultists, the mage rolled a 1 when trying to cast another fireball and was out of magic for the game!
Back in the main area, some cultists were chanting at the altar, getting ready to fight.
The ghouls activated on a Hordes activates card and charged the 2 bowmen, while the cultists finished chanting and exited the room
Back in the entrance room 2 groups of 6 skeletons arrived at the entrance after 2. They are at our backs cards were drawn, making a huge horde of 12 skeletons!
Meanwhile the Rangers continuing to fail their activations and were just making the way out of the first room
Another monster frenzy card was flipped over and the Wraith enter the main room. I’d forgotten the figure so I had to use a puny ghoul instead, in red clothing.
The party in the main room decided to foolishly charge the wraith, but it was a very tough creature. The managed to get 2 wounds on the wraith.
However in the PCs next activation they all failed their willpower tests and fled. One PC was cutdown while fleeing but this was actually a good result! Now the archers could shoot the wraith from a safe distance!
The first archer let lose an aimed shot, scoring another 2 HP damage and the second archer also got a lucky hit, killing the wraith!
The ranger party had cleared the skeletons in front of them and decided to make haste, as they didn’t want to take on the large horde of skeletons following them. The moved into the now empty room, but behind the door was yet another horde of cultists.
In the bigger room there were still some Imps and more cultist to kill. All the PCs had been wounded, but they had found some nice loot. The downed PC was checked and was wounded (-2 to activations, and half speed movement) but still alive.
The ranger were now fighting the cultists thanks to another horde activates card but were struggling to some appalling activation and combat rolls. The lack of armour in the party was not helping them either.
Meanwhile the party had killed the imps and were fighting some cultists. Another horde of Cultists arrived as wandering monsters and charges the PC. The Cleric was cut down by them, while the archers desperately joined in the fight!
The rangers had finally got some decent dice and were able to clear the cultists and enter the last room. They fought the last ghoul and made for the mysterious looking cabinet on the far wall.
Back in the main room, the PCs were slowing killing the cultists, but an armoured cultist arrived and proceed to activate again, and charged the archer. With no shield or armour to save him, he was taken out. Desperately the wounded fighter and the other archer fought the armoured cultist and managed to kill him.
Two of the rangers had opened the secret cabinet and entered, while the third ranger stayed back to fight two Imps who had appeared.
The other party activated and the wounded fighter managed to roll well and moved 3 moves towards the exit.
More foes were arriving in the main room including another Chaos champion so the party decided to make a dash for the exit before the skeleton horde blocked their way.
Luck was on their side as the second fighter rolled 4 successful activations, so he picked up the cleric and sprinted past his party had through the door into the last room! Impressed by this the archer, got 3 success and picked up the other downed archer and followed closely behind.
Back in the final room, 2 of the Ranger’s PCs made a dash for the safety of the exit. The ranger who was struggling to kill a couple of lowly Imps, was only 1 monster activation away from being swamped by a massive skeleton horde decided to break off combat and make for the entrance. They PC had not been wounded so far and rolled 3 successes. They broke off combat and took one wound but they were able to make a good dash into the last room and meetup with the other party.
More luck shined on the other party with the wounded PC who was at -2 on activation rolls, getting 4 successes and dashing to safety.
The remaining PCs managed to exit to safety just as the horde of skeletons entered the last room. Game over and another close call!
AfterthoughtsAnother tough game and a lot of that comes down to the sheer number of foes that turn up, which can turn into a slugfest. The ranger party had terrible activation dice all game and that meant a lot more actions for the foes everywhere!
Playing in a dungeon worked well but we made it pretty open and less like a groups of rooms with corridors in between. We noted that on the original game they had issues with monsters never getting into contact, but we didn’t have that due to the openness, small area and lots of monster actions. I’d like to develop this further type of dungeon crawl game further.
Losing the fireball spell early in the game really makes it hard to deal with large groups of foes, and it’s something to consider for our own scenario designs. We talked about less foes, but perhaps tougher, or a fixed number of foes in the scenario.
Finally I do think the strong bow is too powerful, and with 2 in my party I was able to kill 3 tough foes with relative ease. I have been considering a house rule were a strong bow has to exceed the DL of a foe by 3 or more, to get the second point of damage (kind of like a called shot), and I want to trial this in a future campaign.
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April 26, 2024, 07:17:58 PM
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