Monthly Archives: December 2021

Hreidmar and Company of the Galti-Gler

Wandering Monsters
Wandering Monsters.
As a general rule in Wyrmwyrd, I use the Wandering Monsters tables (B53-54, X55-56) to generate random encounters.

Returning to the first floor, Ardur posted himself, spear in hand, on the entry landing with an ear to a door. Thorsdottir examined the central pillar and the stones underfoot, while Gandrefr searched the fresco wall. Both hoped to find a hidden entrance to the dungeon below mentioned in the parchment text. Neither found it before Ardur whispered a quick warning and readied the spear, facing the door.

When the doors burst open and a half dozen dwarves rushed through, Ardur held his ground. The dwarves formed a shield wall.*

One, peering over a shield, spoke: “If you be friend, say it true. If you be foe, prepare to cross the bridge!”1

Thorsdottir lowered her mace. “We are friends to civilized dwarfolk.”

“What do you here in Schlafender Drachenturm?”*

“We are on a quest.”

“And what is the object of your quest?”*

Thorsdottir hesitated. “Before I answer thrice, answer me once: What seek you here?”

“I like not to hint, for it cannot be shared.”†

Gandrefr stepped forward, empty palms raised. “Yet, it is clear,” she moved her hands while she spoke, “the sleeping dragon’s door has not been breached these many years. No coincidence would bring us together.” Her hands now traced a slow pattern in the air. “We might fight for a thing lost, or we might join our forces to find it. What say you?”

Behind the shield wall, there was much discussion and not a little grumbling. A moment later, the dwarf raised his head above the shield. “A kind offer it is you make, my friend, just and wise. Let it so be. I am Hreidmar. These are my kin of the Galti-Gler.”2

Monster Reactions in Role-Playing Encounters

When a monster’s action is not obvious, I rely on the Monster Reactions table (B24) to determine the flow of a role-playing encounter. In the encounter with Hreidmar and company, I knew the dwarves, like the player characters, were after the sword, but their attitude toward competition could go either way.

Rolling for reaction on entry and after Thorsdottir’s first two responses, I got three “Uncertain, monster confused” results in a row [marked with asterisks (*)]. With the dialog now established, I ignored any single result of 5 or less (attack possible or immediate), assuming “Uncertain,” while allowing two such results to indicate a bad turn in the discourse—an automatic “Hostile, possible attack.”

I did not roll for reaction to Thorsdottir’s inquiry about the dwarves’ goal [dagger (†)]. The polite question could not invoke a negative response but I didn’t imagine, either, that Hreidmar would give up the information to someone he didn’t trust.

At this point, Gandrefr interceded and threw a charm person spell on Hreidmar to banish doubt, barring a successful save, about his attitude. The dwarf leader might be in love.

Notes

*† The marked sentence or phrase is Hreidmar’s reaction to the player characters. See the section Monster Reactions in Role-Playing Encounters.

1 The dwarf refers to the bridge, which crosses a chasm to connect the mortal world to the underworld, whence one goes after death.

2 The Galti-Gler [galti (boar) + gler (glass)] is a diaspora clan. As the Throrgrmir Civilization fell into decline with the gold vein and gem mines played out and wyrmlings prowling the dungeon realm, the Galti-Gler returned to Forn Fjallaheim, their ancestral home. Hreidmar’s company is an adventuring party, following rumors of a magic sword lost in Schlafender Drachenturm.

Endys the Uncanny—Fortune & Glory

This week I joined Todd Nilson’s Holmes D&D campaign Fortune & Glory. It’s an evening game in the States, which makes for an early morning game in Europe. I think I’ve never before watched the sun come up over a character sheet.

Endys the Uncanny
Endys the Uncanny.
The ability scores are 3d6 in order. I rolled a 2, adjusted to 1, for hit points, but Todd gives maximum at 1st level. For the name, I used the “Holmesian Random Names” generator from Zenopus Archives’ Holmes Ref. I happen to have a figurine that looks quite like how I imagine the character: frail, long-faced, pale-complected, dark circles under the eyes, a habitual air of “Where am I and what’s going on…?”

In Fandor, Endys the Uncanny perused adventure notices on the tavern bulletin board. He thought to get himself hired on with an adventuring party for coin, but he heard the rate in the city was low. “A copper a day come what may” would not make his fortune.

Then he met Duncan, a dwarf, and Redwald, dressed in the accoutrements of a cleric. They sought to form a party. “How much do you pay?” asked Endys. “A full share of the treasure,” Redwald said.

Suppressing joy at such luck, Endys accepted. Duncan reached on tiptoes to yank a notice from the board. “Five hundred gold is a good price for a bandit’s head.” And off went the trio in search of fortune and glory.

No need to suppress joy at my luck, I am always happy to meet folks who love to play D&D as I do. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep up oh-dark-thirty once a week, but I’ll be there next time, no doubt. For at session’s end, Endys was sneaking up on a hideous creature he believes to be Hegresh, the bandit leader. “A deadly blow from behind” for glory!

Schlafender Drachenturm, the Lonely Tower

Spurned by her lover, the wizard Agodt built the tower that now crouches below the crest of a high crag in the remote foothills of the Western Mountains. Other than the occasional apprentice, she lived alone.

Agodt named her home Schlafender Drachenturm—or Sleeping Dragon Tower—after the motif with which she adorned the structure. But even in the wizard’s day, folks called it “the Lonely Tower,” for Agodt pined after her lost love. Since her disappearance some decades ago, the tower has been undisturbed. Only time takes its toll on crumbling stones.

Before the summertime distraction that was the Valormr Campaign, I played the first session of Wyrmwyrd. Wyrm Dawn, the Battle of Throrgardr, and Valormr were invaluable in fleshing out the dungeon’s history and culture as well as the geography of surrounding lands. Though short campaigns, the three together took up the better part of the game-playing year.

The autumn passed in house-moving, “there and back again” to the beach-front apartment, where I’ll be through April at least. A nomad’s is a precarious lifestyle. I intend to get in at least one more session of Wyrmwyrd before the end of B/X’s 40th-anniversary year. In any case, the campaign continues.

The Lonely Tower
Schlafender Drachenturm, the Lonely Tower

Player Characters

Thorsdottir serves as an acolyte of the Allfather Church in the Elding Wood village. Her friend Gandrefr is apprenticed to a sorcerer, who lives in a nearby hamlet.

Now, an adventurer has come to the Elding Wood village. Ansgar the Bold speaks of a powerful magic sword once possessed by the wizard of the Lonely Tower. Proof of the claim is a parchment he found among the belongings of Arkadin Hoarcloak, Agodt’s last apprentice, long-dead. Ansgar shows this parchment to anyone who expresses interest in joining his adventuring party. The calf skin is yellow with age, its edges burnt.

“I saw it only once,” reads the crooked scrawl, “before she was aware of my presence. The sword lay on the worktable before her. It was magnificent: a serpent coiled around the hilt, from bejeweled pommel to crossguard, and runes ran the length of the bronze blade. When Agodt noticed me, she covered the sword and bid me away.

“Later, in the dungeon below the tower, she built a secret vault. Among many wondrous treasures she stored there was a yew-wood case, narrow and long, bound in brass, a serpent engraved on the lid.

“Agodt closed the vault behind a solid stone-block wall. I dared to ask: How do you get in? She answered: The key is on the lintel. I searched the entire tower from upper works to dungeons below. I found no kind of key nor anything else on any lintel.

“It was soon after this that I was dismissed. Agodt gave no reason, and she never took another apprentice.”

Arkadin Hoarcloak
Eversden Hamlet, Odenwoad

From the village and surrounding communities, a score of hopeful adventurers gathered at the Elf King’s Inn. The company discussed plans for the expedition. Ansgar hired a local guide to escort the party to the Lonely Tower. They would depart at dawn on the morrow.

Short festivities followed. The ambiance was jovial. Afterward, Ansgar retired to his room. When he didn’t come down in the morning, two of the company banged on the door before entering. They found Ansgar in a blood-soaked bed, his throat slit. The parchment was not found.

With the company now divided between those who would venture to the Lonely Tower as planned, those who doubted the parchment’s veracity, and those who would find the killer, the inn erupted in boisterous debate. Amid the cacophony, Gandrefr approached a quiet fellow who stood apart from the crowd, while Thorsdottir sought the guide. After brief negotiations, the four departed.

The guide escorted the party to the Lonely Tower then waited outside as agreed. Thorsdottir, Gandrefr, and the retainer Ardur explored the tower’s three upper levels. They discovered, above the entry door and on each floor, something of interest.

Entrance

Engraved in the arch over the entry door is the following inscription:

LOST ALONE TOGETHER FOUND

First Floor

A fresco covers the west wall, between the two stair bases, from floor to 20-foot ceiling. It depicts two robed figures, man and woman, he in blue, she in lavender. He carries a short blade. She holds a ball of light overhead. They walk through a wood. Ahead of them, a circle of stones. On the stones are carved eight-legged serpentine creatures. Above the circle’s center floats an object wreathed in a radiant aura.

Second Floor

A statue of a human female and a dragon coiled around. The paint is chipped and worn, showing alabaster beneath. The woman’s face is triangular, the nose thin. She wears a lavender robe, trimmed with white flowers. The dragon’s tail circles her waist, leaving arms free, and turns up at her knees. It’s head rests on a shoulder, peering up at her.

Third Floor

An iron statue, covered in a layer of rust, of a dragon standing, wings displayed, tail wrapped around the base. One eye is closed. The other is open, but the socket is empty. A claw held to its chest is clenched tight in a fist.

Progressive Dice for Effects Durations

In the first foray into the Deep Halls, Melqart is stunned by the defensive explosions of scarab beetles. The effect lasts for 2 to 8 turns.

Normally, the DM rolls 2d4 and makes note of the turn on which the character recovers. Playing solo or otherwise without a DM, though, we should not know when the effect is to wear off.

In Melqart’s case, had I rolled the variable duration immediately, I might be tempted to plan the next turns—or otherwise use the information unconsciously. “We guard Melqart until he can move again…” This breaks the narrative tension and challenges verisimilitude.

Procedure

For these occasions, I use what I call progressive dice. Instead of rolling for the effect duration at the trigger to know on what turn the effect ends, we roll the same dice at the beginning of each subsequent turn to see if the effect ends in that turn.

A dice result equal to or greater than the current subsequent turn indicates the effect continues. Roll again at the beginning of the next turn. A lower result means the effect ends.

Examples

Simple Variable Duration

A shrieker’s alarm sounds for 1 to 3 rounds after exposure to light. The next round is the first round of the effect duration. No need to roll this round, as the effect continues even on a 1. On the second subsequent round, the shrieking continues on a 2 or higher. Third round, the shrieking continues only on 3 result. In which case, it ends at the beginning of the next round, having reached its maximum duration.

Fixed Plus Variable Duration

A character quaffs an invisibility potion, which lasts a fixed period of 6 turns plus a variable duration of 1 to 6 turns (by my reading of Holmes, 37), which is 7 to 12 turns. For the first 7 turns, no roll is necessary. The character is invisible. At the beginning of the eighth turn—that is, the second turn of the variable duration—roll a d6. On a 2 or higher, the invisibility effect continues. Less than 2, the effect ends; the character becomes visible.

Table of Turns, Duration: 6 plus 1 to 6 (7-12) turns
Duration Turn
Fixed 1 2 3 4 5 6
Variable (d6) 7 8 9 10 11 12
*No. Subsequent Turn (1) 2 3 4 5 6
*The effect continues on a dice result equal to or greater than the current subsequent turn.
() No need to roll when the result can only indicate the effect continues.

Any Dice Combination

Melqart is stunned for 2 to 8 turns. Roll the same dice combination, 2d4, at the beginning of each subsequent turn, ignoring the first and second, when the result can only indicate the effect continues. But count all turns following the trigger as subsequent turns. At the beginning of the third turn of the duration, a 2d4 result of 3 or greater means the effect continues.

Table of Turns, Duration: 2 to 8 turns
Duration Turn
Variable (2d4) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
*No. Subsequent Turn (1) (2) 3 4 5 6 7 8
*The effect continues on a dice result equal to or greater than the current subsequent turn.
() No need to roll when the result can only indicate the effect continues.

In Play

Disadvantage

More Dice Rolls: We are effectively replacing a single dice roll with a series of rolls, which we like to avoid as it takes more time.

Advantages

Fewer Notes: On the other hand, rolling the usual way, the DM must note and remember when the effect will end. Rolling progressive dice, at least one player has a vested interest in the roll, so it isn’t easily forgotten.

Player Agency: Even with a DM, the player may be allowed to roll the progressive dice.

Increasing Tension: There can be a lot riding on that dice roll. As the turns pass, the tension mounts.

While Melqart squirms on the floor, moaning, palms over ringing ears, the harpy is leading the rest of the party—all charmed—to its nest. Will Melqart come to his senses in time to save them…?

Dice

Statistically Equivalent?

I am uncertain whether there is a difference, using progressive dice, in the statistical chance for the effect to end in any particular point in the duration.

Rolling in the usual way, we have a 1 in 6 chance for the effect to end after any of six turns. At the same time, there is a 100% chance (6 in 6) for the effect to last at least one turn, a 5 in 6 chance it will last at least two turns, 4 in 6 for three turns, and so on.

With progressive dice, the chance to end the effect increases as the turns go by, starting at 0 in 6 in the first subsequent turn, 1 in 6 in the second turn, and so on, up to 5 in 6 at the beginning of the turn of maximum duration. If it doesn’t end on this turn, it will certainly end at the beginning of the next turn.

Intuition tells me it’s the same chance, but that guy has been wrong before. I’ve put the question to a smart math person. Your comments are also welcome. I’ll add an update when I get something.

Once again intuition leads me astray. The so-called “progressive” dice method described in this article is not statistically equivalent to the traditional method. This method is still useful in play, provided we accept the limitation. For further explanation and an alternative solution, see “Progressive Dice, a Misnomer.” [08:30 21 January 2022 GMT]