Sometimes I just want to play D&D. Explore dark places, fight monsters, take their treasure. No complicated plot, no detailed record-keeping, no play report. Just a pick-up game, rolling dice, and enjoying the story as it emerges from the interaction of setting, character, and probability statistics.

Last winter I started “Spells End,” a pick-up game using Holmes Bluebook and Sets One of Dungeon Geomorphs and Monster & Treasure Assortment. The first character, whose name was Pengodain, came from “elf-land,” seeking knowledge and magic. He met with some success, learning of the doomed wizard Zenopus and recovering a magic sword from the dungeon below his old tower. But the elf’s career was cut short through party treachery due to a quirky alignment-determination system for hirelings.

The second character is Eydis. A former hireling, now with Pengodain’s map and magic sword, the lawful evil fighting woman led her own group into the dungeon. In one of the few remaining rooms yet to be explored, Celebrian, the party elf, charmed the thaumaturgist.

Friendly discussion ensued. All agreed that the party would assist the thaumaturgist in his endeavor to take over the level.

I added the thaumaturgist and his charmed fighter to the order of march as they proceeded north to dig out the dirt tunnel that leads beneath the cemetery. Celebrian knows his spell could wear off in a day.

Settled in after a recent move, I’m ready to renew exploration of The Deep Halls.