Solo: Sealed Library AP

These are my notes of a solo play-through of the Sealed Library, a solo game by Matt Sanders based off the mechanics of the Wretched by Chris Bissette (and their SRD). I'm a neophyte when it comes to solo or journaling games, with only a short stint into Ironsworn, but here we go.

Day 1 after the barricade. The diary of Junior librarian, Thaddeus Blocher. The doors and windows remain secure though the ceaseless banging and distant screams still fill me with dread. I tell myself some of the others left outside might have survived. Today, I must begin choosing and moving the most important works, or what remains of them, down to the catacombs. I hope my food and water will last until my task is complete.

Roll a 6 on the die.

Draw, in order, 7 of ♡, 2 of ♡, 7 of ♧, 2 of ♧, 5 of ♡, 7 of ♤.

Day 2 after the barricade. The diary of Junior librarian, Thaddeus Blocher. I first locate as if by miracle an exquisite tome with exotic flora and fauna, pages animating as I assay the work. An image of the Bürokraken within will haunt me in tonight's sleep. Next, I choose a tome by Aarimar Calvoso, in hopes to salvage the best poetry known to mankind. Paging through, masticating the words, my mind away from the library for a split second. A boulder smashing through the northern window makes me jump. The re-enactment of the Old Ones' Demise in the glass gone for good. Who will come behind me, to pick up the ruins? Who will rebuild? How often does the cycle repeat itself? To reassure myself I start barricading the main entrance with shelves of newer works, their worth no less significant.
heavy tablets, showing the decapitation of King Vlademar. He was the last monarch after the revolution of the three roses. A tyrant, yet responsible for paving the way for the more civilized ways: roads, hospitals, and the ancient shell that turned into this library. This will do for the day. When I return to rest for a few minutes, I find my bread moldy. Cutting the pieces and eating the scarce remains. My stomach protests like a band of angry cats.

Roll a 1 on the die.

Draw, in order, 7 of ♢.

Day 3 after the barricade. The diary of Junior librarian, Thaddeus Blocher. A respite from outside. Have the invaders lost interest in our library, turning to other parts of the citadel? Did help arrive? During my search and cataloguing of the day, I run into the skull of Italvo Klakk, famed royal assassin. Judge and executioner of mischievous revolutionaries of her time. A person of unquestionable law, with what that rigid view entails. Her brain analyzed by our library. Her skull archived as a sign of warning for future generations.

Roll a 3 on the die.

Draw, in order, A of ♤, 3 of ♡, A of ♡.

Day 4 after the barricade. The diary of Junior librarian, Thaddeus Blocher. With the first rays of light in the morning, a section of wall on the river side of the library springs a leak and destroys priceless works of calligraphic art. On the upside, I have now access to clean, cool water.
I think after clearing the classic philosophy section I need a rest. Negationismus seems like the worthier of them to save, if anything to prevent future generations to make our same mistakes. The invaders were able to drop from the cliff to our weaker roof? Have they employed cranes or other works of engineering to assail us? It is then and there, that an idea appears on my mind... what if I check the destroyed sector for further underground rooms? And then and there, I find the vault my masters claimed as only hope! It will take me days to figure out its opening mechanism. But there is hope now.

Roll a 6 on the die.

Draw, in order, 2 of ♢, 3 of ♡, A of ♡.

Day 5 after the barricade. The diary of Junior librarian, Thaddeus Blocher. My work must continue! The chamber of maps! I snatch one to save. From the stars, galaxies and the endlessly spanning Universum. Claimed to be a token sent form the lighthouse at the edge of the Universum. We are but a speck of dust. As a next stop, I have to move to the medical ward. Since magic flourished we made a prominent leap. A volume detailing salves and roots for common ailments and viruses seems the most valuable for our future. To the vault with it!

As I take these relics to the vault, I discover Master Justus resting dead on my return to the underground safe. I feel like a scavenging rat, picking his pockets for any valuables. Smoked beacon! If only I had been more thorough in guarding the kitchens... Tonight I'll feast! Passing adjacent cellars, a swarm of foul rats jump on me, surely judging me for stealing from the dead. I get repeatedly bitten until I find a safe place. These wounds will haunt me in the coming days.

After I calm down, and my eyes adjust to the dark, I see Master Braulis cold dead on the ground before me. A blade sticking from his back. Few paces away an invader, his neck trickling with blood from a wound caused by a letter opener. Braulis taught me the letters, and was the architect of my place within the library. He deserved a better death.

Baffled, depressed, and more alone than ever, I return to the main hall. The invaders have the audacity of unleashing scores of snakes through the cracked doors and windows. I have no alternative but to show them fire, always with the dread of adding their bites to my already festering collection from the rats. And the risk of scorching some precious volumes in the process.

Roll a 5 on the die.

Draw, in order, K of ♧, K of ♡, J of ♤, Q of ♢, K of ♤.

Day 6 after the barricade. The diary of Junior librarian, Thaddeus Blocher. I wake up cold and tired, from my hiding place underground. How long have I been out? A wide-eyed, gaunt invader walks out in front of me, coming out from the cellars. How did he get here? We struggle, he with sword and me with my bare fists, meant for writing and not barbaric acts. I eventually win, but not without a bit gash on my side. I need some time to recover. But there is none to spare. Deep in the basement of the library, damp, and mold has claimed the legibility of many ancient maps and scrolls. Spores from purple mold fill your lungs. Hours later, you begin to cough up blood and hallucinate. I see my mother, before she had to abandon, her smell of lavender filling my nostrils. I don't blame her for what she did. Not now.

I move upstairs, to look through the Head-archivist Qualius' quarters. I find a bottle of fine Valindian wine in the lower drawer. He always had his vices, despite his virtues. I pour a third to my still open wound, and drink the rest in fast gulps. Alcohol gets to my head, and I am intoxicated again. I start scribbling all my sins on the walls. Maybe this will exempt me from judgement. I tumble down to the library proper. In a fall, I knock over a neatly stacked tower of books. As if calling to me, the open pages of a tome of restorative magick show up to me. I have little training in the arts, but I mumble the enchantment, which seals some of the blade's wound, but not all. Why didn't I pay more attention at the teachings from Braulis?

The kitchens? I already checked them, but what if there's something left? I go in quick pages, leaving a red trail behind me. Finally, I reach it, and start searching in a desperate fit. Sausages! They smell of rot. Might have gone bad? I need the energy, so down they go.

Not an hour later, I have a strong fever, unable to walk even. I hear loud thumps from the ceiling. I get sick. What's next...

Aftermath Debrief

• Overall a great experience. Can't wait to try Sealed Library again, and other games in this Wretched SRD family.
  
• My game was cut short by those 4 almost consecutive kings. Despite that, seems like a punitive game with many ways to lose, that state being the default and assumed outcome. Will make the few victories more joyous and unique.
• Being in control of pulling the blocks gives a sense of self-inflicted perish.
• It seems the game could run for several hours, I was at it for 1h30. If the A of ♡ is not placed at the top of the deck at the beginning. In the future, I'll try that.
  
• Detailed journaling is an exercise I'm not completely fond of. I also chose direct digital notes, which are probably detrimental here. In future games I'll just jot down bullet point notes on a piece of paper as I go (just key details), and day-dream/meditate the rest.
• How good is it on a second, third play? It seems there are a handful of plays here, before having to start the tinkering machine by changing entries on the cards, questions, etc.
  

d10 Fantastic Libraries

1. Tomes scattered across the towns' private homes. Volumes are crumbling, dry, and weathered, so they are to be presented and perused only with silken gloves. Membership requires a donated book to the library.

2. Twelve stories of impeccable architecture. Floors, shelves, and furniture made of glass. Clockwork automatons make sure there's not a single speck of dust. To be admitted and become a lifelong member you have to present a handful of gemstones.

3. Interconnected network of underground tunnels, filled with pipes and tubes. Whistling sounds resembling marimba. Music sheets, vinyl, and records of all music exists here. Mandatory silence in the premise, or the librarians will dispose of you. Free admittance, but the network is tricky to find.

4. Entrance through a forgotten closet with rejected tomes. Pocket dimension space behind it is infinite, full of rows of packed shelves. The first tome contains a thousand empty pages. The second just a single letter "A" on the first page. This continues on until all permutations have been reached. All works are here. Admittance and membership are free, but good luck finding the exit.

5. Inside the hollow of an enormous oak tree. Ran by a family of yellow dragons. Any book read is immediately scorched after consumption. No exceptions. No memberships, to be admitted you have to bring twice the number of tomes you are going to read in that particular visit.

6. Inside a citadel's bunker, under siege. Place is being destroyed by the detonations. Fine tomes and relics on demonology and astrology, could help bring any angel or demon forth. To enter you have to find a way past enemy lines.

7. A throne reaching the skies. A tower made of books, tomes, and stacked paper. The library is the collection. Hanging from their thumbs, for all to see, suffer thiefs, textbook scribblers, and loud rascals. Atop the throne sits The Despot, overseeing their collection. Membership requires an offered infant.

8. An archipelago amidst a restless sea, with the aquatic god-duo of ignorance and envy sluggishly pounding the land. On each island, a colony of gnomes resides within a mirror palace. Each gnome has memorized works, in alphabetical order, which they can recite. Trade goods, fuel, food, and tools will be taken in exchange. There are ancient feuds between the colonies. And there are the gods.

9. A collection of walled gardens. Admittance is completely free. Visitors are treated to tea, pastries, and the most exquisite cigars. The collections are writings, thoughts, and musings of other members, which can discuss under the most strict supervision, censoring, monitoring, and excessive advertising. Once you enter, you can't leave. If you leave, everything you ever did, said, or thought will be part of the gardens. Forever.

10. The lighthouse at the end of the Universe. The lone guardian gladly journals all happenstances that she oversees or cross her mind, as she pets her companion frog. She loves the quiet and reflective nature of her existence, but welcomes visitors to converse about history, ethics, and philosophy. Admittance is free, pastries encouraged. Good luck getting there, though.

Ten People You Meet in the Undergarden, Zine Review

This is my attempt at taking a look and reviewing the Zinequest 2 projects I backed.

Disclaimer

- In the interest of full disclosure I bought this with my own funds.

- I was a backer on their Kickstarter campaign and paid 5 US$ for the PDF version of the product in February 2020.

- Nobody is paying for this review. All of the opinions you see are my own.
- Nobody is approving or reading this post before it goes up.
- I have no relationship with any of the authors of this product.

 

Overall feel

Ten People You Meet in the Undergarden (TPYMITU from now on) is a 26 page-long zine (including front-, back cover, and notes from both autors), written and edited by Kari Aldrich and collaged/illustrated by Sam Mameli. The digital version is deceivingly arranged in spreads, which can mess up the page count. This Troika!-compatible volume has exactly what it says on the tin: 10 creatures you would meet in the Undergarden (reminiscent strokes of Alice in Wonderland, Narnia, and Gardens of Ynn), with collage art and extensive accompanying prose.

 

Full disclosure here, I'm not really familiar with Troika!, only having skimmed the game that I got in a bundle some time ago. So not very familiar with the underlying game and community. It feels the Troika! creators are more artistic, pushing the boundaries of what constitutes a TTRPG. I'm a bit out of my depth here, but I'll approach the material with an open mind.

TPYMITU is not affiliated with the Melsonian Arts Council.

Reading the digital version for this review, I was listening to a bit of Rachmaninoff whilst enjoying a cold one.

The Ten People

"A bad day of fishing is better than a good day of work' CLICK DING!"

There are 10 individuals presented here, with evocative collage art, and extensive descriptive prose. Reading them as short stories makes for the odd chuckle, and they seem taken straight out of (a less decadent and broken version of) Gardens of Ynn. One of my biggest criticisms in that work is the lack of things the players can talk to, so the Undergarden's denizens seem like an excellent fit on paper.

 

In order of appearance, we get the following:

• Anne Fredd, shrub knight of the church
• Geralmine, a mushroom mercenary in the city of broken clocks
• Effum Deffum, a clockwork angler by the pond
• François, a bird thief in town
• Marcot Egglet, a spider archer on the bridge
• Mrs. Hedgemaze, a hedgemaze
• Arry Coole, a spider farmer near the castle
• Mr. Whiskers, a cat merchant on the road
• Broos Greenshoe, a bug cleric in the castle
• Hom Tinsel, an elven carpenter in the tower

My favorites are probably François, Arry Coole, and Broos Greenshoe. But they all were interesting to read.

Example spread for Arry Coole

Prose is written in the second person (with some entries in third person instead). There are not really many situations that could be incorporated into a gaming table, at least not as is. No gaming material here. People from TPYMITU are inspiration, and give ideas to feed and ingrain into the referee's head. Some have merit, and could help me derive my own material for my games: a spider farmer that cares for their population making sure of their sustainable development, a sentient hedgemaze with powerful abilities, an book-rat of a bug that lets you into the castle's library by signing a ledger (you notice: previous entries only have an entrance date in them!). You get the picture.

The implied setting of the Undergarden is vague at best, just strokes here and there. We know that Mr. Alpred is a skilled clockmaker. Bietemoupe is a town. There is a half-ruined tower that is undergoing reparation work. A protected manor. Etc etc. There is even a library in the Undergarden, making the potential crossover between Ynn and Stygian Library a reality for us to enjoy.

Mien are useful words to understand the monster better, they help. To have a sense of these People's beefiness I quickly open the Troika! Numinous Edition and see that Dragons have Stamina 32, and Goblins 6. There is someone with Stamina 40 and 6 in TPYMITU, so a wide range. But gaming statistics hardly matter in this publication at all. They could've been removed, making perhaps a stronger zine.

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This concludes the review.

 

I'm definitely out of my comfort zone with this one. There is almost no actionable material here, but some good food for referee thought. Reading the short stories was an interesting and picturesque 70 minutes, and the collage art was delightful at places. Might incorporate some of these into Ynn's encounter tables if I ever run that again.

Glad I got to do these (belated) reviews to sit down and read material like this, which otherwise would sit in my digital-folder-of-shame for eternity.

Hunters in Death, Zine Review

This is my attempt at taking a look and reviewing the Zinequest 2 projects I backed.

Disclaimer

- In the interest of full disclosure I bought this with my own funds.

- I was a backer on their Kickstarter campaign and paid 8 US$ for the print and PDF versions of the product in February 2020 (plus 4$ postage, to a total of 12US$).

- Nobody is paying for this review. All of the opinions you see are my own.
- Nobody is approving or reading this post before it goes up.
- I have no relationship with any of the authors of this product.

 

Overall feel

Hunters in Death is a 34 page-long zine (including front-, back cover, and table of contents), written and mapped by Tim Shorts and illustrated by Jim Magnusson. It details a wilderness location infested with undead and other vermin (in the form of a verbose encounter table), includes a town with factions and personalities (Hounds Head), a barrow mound generator, and three fleshed out adventuring locations. This is written for Old School Essentials (aka B/X), and I like that this is spelled out. No playtesters are credited.

 

Art is black and white, consistent throughout, sets the tone according to the written material, and there is enough of it to keep me engaged. Bringing Jim Magnusson into this project was a great choice.

 

The PDF formatting and layout is well executed, clean, and easy to read, in two-column format. I'm missing the bolding of key words in certain paragraphs, which could aid when running the module to bring the key aspect to the referee's attention. This is a minor criticism, but valid.

 

Production of the printed zine seems to have happened at the author's home printer, which adds to the flavor of an indie low-scale product. The digital version includes (annotated, referee-facing) maps included in the adventure. A nice touch for use in times where VTTs are king, or to print as an additional aid at the analogue table.

Sandboxing through Komor Forest

Hunters in Death is set in the author's home campaign world, the expansive Komor Forest. The meat of the sandbox material is split into three different areas, which I'll touch on in a second. (Un)Death, hunger, and crows dictate this setting's dressing, without falling into the over-saturated edgy grim corner.

I would like to highlight the first pages of the publication, comprising Referee Notes & Organizations/Gods. Notes from the author are important and something I'd like to see more often. Minutae like currency standard, peculiarities for the setting, or factions and organizations are discussed here. Great! Saves me for going fishing into the adventure to reverse-engineer this content.

Next we get the sketch to the hamlet of Hounds Head. The base of operations for the PCs, where they will have most amenities and services needed between adventures (equipment, smithy, sage, etc). Six adventure hooks set the springboard to adventure.

So, back to the sandbox's contents:

First, a 4d6 table of random encounters. That's a steep spread. Some encounters are unique, others generic goblins/bandits/skeletons. Luckily some of these more generic encounters include d4 variations, because nobody want to run into yet another generic goblin patrol... Common monsters, but with enough coherent situations to them.

Second, a random barrow mound generator in the form of random tables to determine number of barrows, monsters (if any), and treasure (both mundane and magical). There is re-usability in mind here, since players are going to fall into several of these mounds as they adventure. Magic items make the most interesting content in this section, since they deviate from the lame +1 weapon into more interesting options for the players.

Third, we get 3 more fleshed out adventure locations. An abandoned hunter's cabin, a temple (crows!), and Hunters Crossing, with a pair of killer foes. From those, the hunter's cabin reads like a creepy little locale that would keep most players biting their nails throughout, and would require critical problem-solving. The other two locations read to be serviceable, and I like that all three are tied to elements of the sandbox's random tables, or Hounds Head.

None of the material above will blow your socks off. Komor Forest is a cohesive region where the expectations from a semi-serious D&D game will be met. Dressing and innovation to be purchased elsewhere.

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This concludes the review.

 

During my first years at uni I ate an embarrassing amount of pasta with pesto. We're talking three to four times per week. It was cheap, easy to prep, filling, and had an ok taste to it. Luckily this habit didn't translate to bloat around my waste line.

Hunters in Death feels like pasta with pesto. Serviceable, filling, fairly priced, no bloat. It won't flex your palate with exotic or refined flavor, for that look elsewhere. But it will do the job as a micro sandbox setting for B/X with a few interesting adventure locales that your players can explore. With this, the OSE SRD, dice, and a bunch of friends I'd have game for days.

Sinister Red, Zine Review

This is my attempt at taking a look and reviewing the Zinequest 2 projects I backed.

Disclaimer

- In the interest of full disclosure I bought this with my own funds.

- I was a backer on their Kickstarter campaign and paid 5 US$ for the PDF version of the product in February 2020.

- Nobody is paying for this review. All of the opinions you see are my own.
- Nobody is approving or reading this post before it goes up.
- I have no relationship with any of the authors of this product.

Overall feel

Sinister Red is a 32 page-long zine (including title page and table of contents) written by Rudy Mangual and beautifully illustrated by Yvette Lopez. It details twelve locations in a pointcrawl, plus The Island, a more fleshed out locale spanning numerous pages. Playtesters are credited, which gives the hope that it was actually put to the table before release.

 

The watercolor feel of the art is evocative and abundant (see below). Every single page has a piece on it! The abundant red color emphasizes the underlying themes and landscape of the adventure. It has an eclectic and collage structure to it, that fits the module's mood.

Formatting and presentation are of my liking. Each of the (pointcrawl) locations has a one to two-sentence read aloud, followed with summarized bullet points. Then, more complex features, relevant items, creatures stat-blocks etc get detailed in the rest of the page. Bold and italic fonts are used to remark important or flavorful keywords, respectively.

The PDF is decently cross-referenced with hyperlinks and page numbers to help navigation. Missing bookmarks, even with the project's brevity, seems like a missed opportunity. Omitting PDF layers will make it hard (and costly!) to print at home.

 

The (pointcrawl) Adventure

There are 12 points of interest, taking a single page each, and The Island, a final location with considerable detail (and eight island locations of its own).

How do the PCs get to this literal sea of blood? There are a few hooks, but probably they are pooped from a portal. A demi-plane of fever dreaming, oozing crimson flavor, could do well for an adventure more elaborate than "goblins in a cave". There are vampires, but of the mutated and alien kind (high on blood!), rather than the gothic decadent nobility we are used to seeing.

First points in the crawl are heavy on combat, as I feel all the foes presented are the kind not to be negotiated with. There is also little for the players to interact or experiment with. But at least they get a sense as to where they got, and can start drawing their own conclusions as to what is going on here. It is only when we get to the middle portion (locations 4 & 5) where more interesting NPCs start to flourish, presenting pointers, rumors, and quests.

One piece of mild criticism I have is... What system is this written for? B/X? OD&D? It's nowhere to be found, but some assumptions are to be made by the referee reader to peruse this adventure. In the OSR space, everything is fairly compatible, but the devil is in the detail, e.g. treasure quantities assumed.

Continuing, locations 6-9 seems also heavy on the encounter side, and even if the monsters could be negotiated with, and are unique, there is no tactical depth or again, interactivity, for the players to engage with.

The Island, albeit again suffering from the overabundance of foes, presents more interesting spatial design, with players having to find ways to climb to the upper half of it, the Ruined City, and ultimately the palace. I wish some NPCs (for instance Hernan Corteso) would have more fleshed out wants and goals, as they could make good allies to the PCs if a deal is struck towards a common goal. This is implied, but not clearly spelled out. At least the Vampire Queen is given more details (but no stats, or at least a HD range to assess her prowess, so we assume her a goddess).

Now the tower, even though extremely linear by design (bad!) has more interesting and fleshed out encounters, that I think do work well on paper, and could translate to some puzzled players. I like them better. The final encounter, The Stand Off, is imaginative enough and has interesting outcomes laid out, which could wreck the campaign or bring it back to a more traditional plane.

End sprinkling

The last three pages of the zine have a few helpful tools (in the form of tables) for the referee. NPCs, Random Encounters, and a d66 table of "I Search the Body/Room/Rubble" type. Short and punchy, I like these. Note that most monsters are cross-referenced for gaming statistics to other pages of the pointcrawl proper, but it will result in more flipping back and forth. And some of the items are powerful and dependent on the group (gun, etc), but imaginative and meaningful, as should be in an OSR adventure.

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This concludes the review.

 

Interactivity is hurting here, as I believe the pointcrawl nature does. Laying the adventure elements differently, removing many of the spelled out encounters, or at least making them more interesting for the players and meaningful would go a long way. The Island, and more particularly The Tower are much more to my liking.

 

Sinister Red is good for a zine coming out of nowhere (at least for me, I knew nothing about the authors involved going in). If not to use wholesale in a planescape or high gonzo campaign (with some work to fix the interactivity), then as a visual treat and to pilfer for ideas and visual flavor. A nice surprise from my Zinequest 2 purchases.

OSR: The Calaveras Campaign 11, 12, 13

This is an ongoing Knave Macchiato Monsters campaign, a smallish sandbox of sorts with new players to the hobby. Read what happened before here.

The cast of characters:

Solbion (iagson) - dwarven smith apprentice of the city of Falkcrest. On a sabbatical year, seeking to see and experience the world. Nerisse (Mo) - redhead bow-woman, who wakes up in the first visited dungeon without any memory of how she ended up there. Has some newly discovered Fae-powers. Angan Enge (Copernico) - beastman of the Biber Hills, assigned by Rhys to accompany the adventurers. Hirelings/Animals - Sprig, the freelancer astrologer-wizard

Session 11

After seeing the phantom, illusion, ghost or hologram of the robed elder in the last session, we get an immediate random encounter with reptilians (troglodytes) carrying a sack to "Old Gregg", wanting to pass by the PCs. Their reactions is weary and rude, but not necessarily hostile. They move north, past the ghost/illusion of the wizard's warning, without giving much information to the party.

 

The next room, circular and with a the rug in the center. The players avoid stepping on it, seeing the troglodytes did that too when carrying the sack. It has passages in all cardinal directions, and they go for the studio room to the left. Exploring it reveals tiny people in jars, and a scroll of diminution as treasure retrieved.

 

Returning to the rug room, and going further to the north. They have the suspicion the troglodytes moved to the doors to the east. Unfortunately, they are locked. To the west, however, they see some bodies at the end of the corridor. Wisdom makes the PCs avoid them and trace back their steps. Next, they decide to check the second corridor to the west, opposite one of the locked doors.

 

There's a pit, and behind it a pile of treasure. Solbion jumps to retrieve that, only to find out that it's an illusion. Instead, there is a peacock's feather, and instructions on how to enter the realm of Ynn...! Returning, they notice (by dropping a torch) that at the bottom of the pit there is a pool of water and a skeleton floating on it. Again, caution prevails and they decide to ignore the valuables...

 

Back in the room with the rug, last cardinal direction to check out is east. They find the statue of a hunter flanked by two hounds. The statue itself flanked by some (mildly glowing mirrors).

 

Solbion has the clever sense to pass the open room by ignoring the statue and mirrors, looking into the floor to avoid unwanted reflections. Dwarven cunning! Unfortunately some steps ahead, past an arch with serpent motifs reveals a fearsome foe, yet another giant spider. Spells fling, spear jabs, but its a lone one this time, so they hurt it and it manages to escape through a crack in the ceiling, after a poor morale roll.

Proceeding to two rooms that get explored, but not interacted with!

First, a big room with several chipped statues of old nobles, and corridors and locked doors going in all directions. The body of a chocked dead dwarf near an archway. Then, a "control room" with a stone boulder on a corner, and 6 numbered levers. Again, the party ignores that, and prepare to rest for the night.

Session 12

Group wakes up cold from the metallic floor in the control room. Angan's condition due to the spider's poison is debilitating, the hill-man starts the day coughing blood. Lesson: don't get bit by any spider!

Almost immediately his acorn necklace starts flaring with heat for an instant. A signal? A cry for help? An enchantment? All of these are unclear for now...

 

They continue exploring North, following the underwater noise in search of the reptiloids. There's a skirmish with three troglodytes near the sandy river bank (they are aggressive from the get to). Decent use of glue by Nerisse to blind one, the corridor as a choke point, and some spells make this a short affair. The adventurers have the upper hand this time around. Tumcool, one of the troglodytes, agrees to present Old Gregg to the group. Angan hopes the troglodytes might have an antidote or cure for his poisoned condition.

 

They meet with Nancy, an albino troglodyte, takes the offering the adventurers bring: the body of the dead dwarf they found a while back. Sadly, the troglodytes are not able to provide help regarding the poison, only freak the PCs out with their primitive "fresh meat" diet and hanging fish... Old Gregg is even less helpful!

 

Moving back to a known location, they are able to capture the spider with a well-placed Roots spell by Angan, and Nerisse's ability to put it to sleep. Then the coup de grace, the carcass might help to concoct an antitoxin with the right tools, perhaps? Sprig suggests that...!

 

Finally, they decide to move towards the corridor where they found the dead dwarf. A stone archway with tree and root motifs carved serving as ominous entrance...

Session 13

Last we left off.... out heroes scoundrels were exploring the archway. Solbion advances as much as possible, torch in hand. With the flickering light he's able to see black roots all around, their density increasing as the corridor advances.

Angan thinking himself a naturalist druid from the nearby Biber Hills, decides to step forward, all care to the wind. The roots animate, and grab his legs, twisting and squeezing painfully! He suffers some damage, Solbion and Nerisse quick to the rescue.

Another strategy then: Nerisse uses her fae-ability to hover above the ground (and the roots!), tied by the waist by a rope. On the other end both Angan and Solbion hold tight.

Safe enough! Passing by the roots is harmless for her. Moving forward, the roots thicken, and she's able to see an ascending staircase. Going up, she sees a big space, thick with vegetation, almost a jungle. In the center, a big bronze buddha-like statue? And... movement on some branches? Monkeys? Babys!
Nerisse wants none of this, and quickly traces back.

Now on the corridor with the roots, she's able to retrieve... some big black tomatoes! The graffiti at the entrance of this place was right! And we all know what players do when presented with rare food/drugs/substances...

Their pupils and eyes turn pitch black, they recover some stamina (HP), and.... Solbion develops an addiction. How fitting for a dwarf! He convinces the group to advance and get more tomatoes: "QUICKLY!". Fortunately the roots seem non-aggressive to black-eyed individuals.

Finally, they find a space of black trees. A garden. In there, a bucket and more tomatoes! In searching and harvesting them, a shadowy figure appears. No-nonsense, it wants the intruders dead!

A lengthy combat ensues. The creature seems immune to parley, reason, or willing to flee. Angan uses his Roots spell to start rearranging the vegetation in the room, creating for himself and his companions a "safe" patch in the center of the room. Solbion ignites one of the trees, to be able to track the shadow even better. Unfortunately Nerisse suffers the most getting her Str drained (gulp!). But the party has the upper hand, once again, since they are resourceful and are in a 4 to 1.

With the shadow gone, they take a minute to recover, check the room, and find several goodies (including a secret door and a chest) that we will reveal next session.

Referee Commentary

For session 11: on about fifteen turns of exploration I was only able to roll a random encounter once, right at the beginning of the session, these pesky troglodytes. As a consequence exploration felt static at times, void of urgency or tension. But such are the trappings of randomness.

The dungeon has some very interesting locales and encounters, like for instance the hunter's statue with the mirrors. It genuinely annoyed my players and made them be paranoid about that and future statues in the underground complex. Oh, and the layout of this adventure (the PDF) is brilliant, like every Necrotic Gnome product. I was running this pretty much as we go, only having done a cursory skim of the material beforehand.

One point that surprises me is that two PCs have spellcasting at their disposal, yet they get rarely use it during the game. Not sure why that is? Perhaps free-form casting is too intimidating for them? Have to try and remind them that this is a possible option in their arsenal.

All in all, we are having a tough time to cram OSR dungeon exploration. Our sessions are quite short, and the players have a hard time to decide a course of action. For instance Mo is losing interesting in these kind of procedures and game. Seems to favor (light) puzzle solving, and more role-playing and politic interactions. So I will have to think what to do about this.

Memorial

• Daniele - woman-at-arms, sword & board.
  Mauled to a pulp by an animated serpentine statue in session 4.
• Pancho - guy with a lance, and a tendency to grab shiny stuff in front of him.
  Dropped from great height by a giant eagle in session 5.
• Ber - a goat granted by Rhys the beastwoman shaman.
  Eaten and scratched to death by fungal goblins in session 7. Instrumental even after death.
• Zemalayu - carrying a crossbow and knows some spells. Ranger-like. Face heavily scarred and mutated. Speaks through some tattoos.
  Bitten dead by giant spiders from the Glenry Wood and their poison in session 10.

2020 ends, 2021 begins

Well into the year by now, but the nice disconnect of the holidays has kept me away from screens and RPG games. A good number of light boardgames (King of Tokyo, Azul, Splendor, etc) were enjoyed these days with the few close family members I was able to see.

What a bizarre year this has been. I'm extremely fortunate on how good it was for me personally, but also professionally stable. And for that I'm thankful.

Gaming

This year I enjoyed some games, but the circumstances in the world have also kept others from happening:

• I continue to play a whispers bard Oswald Lach in a 5e campaign, Tomb of Annihilation. We should finish the campaign within the next months, I reckon.
  
• It saw my Knave Stonehell play-by-post tables fizzle after some slow exploration of the first levels.
• Played a couple session in IdleDoodler's Barrowmaze open table. Good fun, and still going strong. The time just doesn't fit my schedule too well.
  
• The Calaveras campaign picked up with some old friends new to gaming. Knave at first, we've moved to Macchiato Monsters.
• We had a stint at the Stygian Library with Electric Bastionland characters and rules.
• Tried Microscope for one sitting, and I definitely want to toy more with it, and Kingdom.
• Played a bit (more) of Magical Murder Mansion with Macchiato Monsters, and the guys really want to continue playing that.
  
• Played a solo session of Ironsworn and enjoyed the experience. Might blog about it in the future.
  

The Blog

31 articles published. Some with useful ideas. But more importantly a repository of them for my future reference and use. And I like the "dead" nature of blogging. Seems archaic and ancient, even in the OSR circles, where Twitter and Discord seem more predominant. Here are my four posts of 2020 I myself liked best:

• d66 Random Inn NPCs
• The town of Walfalkon
• Zinequest 2 Post-Mortem Reviews
• Knave Inventories
  

The Future, 2021

First, about TTRPG purchases. Seeing how much I play and use, I will stop buying products and backing Kickstarters. Doing so at a much lower pace. This has been in my head much before Grognardia's piece, which echoes my thoughts like a megaphone. In my future, less is more. Might even consider giving some physical stuff away, or trying to sell it.

Second, about my gaming. The 5e game will wrap up in a few months. The Calaveras campaign will continue, but most likely at a tortoise pace even if I try to revitalize it. I will try to join or launch an open table to have a weekly game in the OSR space, beer & pretzels style. Perhaps OSE and Stonehell, but who knows. I'm also eagerly eyeing Mothership, but need the right group for me to take a stab at it. Solo Ironsworn will continue as well.

Third, the blog. The stream of thought dumping in this space will continue. At what pace, no idea, 31 posts a year seems like a lot. I will keep my focus on TTRPGs, might do a stint into other media I enjoy. Blogger will be nuked by Google, but hopefully not in 2021.

Anyhow, as we say around here, good slip to 21!