RECON '04 REPORT

At the HMGS (Historical Miniatures Gaming Society - South) RECON convention held in Tampa on the weekend of April 24, 2004, I ran a 1st Edition AD&D game with part of a module of my own creation. The module, WGH2 Temple of the Sun, went through a revision, a playtest, then a second revision and was modified "en media res" (see below). The full module will be published and available for download from my website soon at some point in the future.

I arrived at the site Saturday at about 12:30 noon, got my "GM's" kit and checked the sign-up board. My best friend's wife was in, as well as five others. So of a desired eight, I had six. Not too bad. I didn't know 100% for sure where I'd be setting up at so I went to find Gregg, my aforementioned best friend and person who finagled me into running the game. I found out where I was slated to game - it was a 20x10 room with two 3x3 card-tables as my gaming area.  Since my Dwarven Forge setup was 85" long by 50" wide, I needed to make new arrangements.  Fortunately Chuck Kennedy, HMGS founder, was able to accommodate me and I was moved into the main RPG room and on to a sufficiently large table. 

I appealed to the Con organizers from LRPG (Lakeland Role Player's Guild) and got a large table in a different room. Once I started to set up on the ten-foot-long table, I realized that it still wouldn't be wide enough. So I set up as near to the original setup as possible, and modified the module on the fly.

The party consisted of:

A 7th level Paladin
An 8th level Dwarf fighter
An 8th level Human fighter
An 8th level elven magic-user
A 6/6 elven cleric/magic-user
A 7th level Human Ranger
A 5/5 Dwarven fighter/cleric
A 7th level human cleric

Setup took from 1:30 (my game was slated to start at 2:00) until 2:40. Also very bad. My game window was from 2:00 to 6:00, and I knew I'd lose at least four players at 6:30 if the game ran long due to the "flea market" and other games starting at 7:00pm.

But we got started quickly enough. Most of the players were familiar with Dungeons and Dragons in some form, a couple were familiar with 1e, but one of my players had never played an RPG at all. The characters were divided up, and this inexperienced fellow ended up with the Paladin.

The game kicked off, and the party entered the first area. Using torches and lanterns, they began to move through the first chamber, only to be ambushed by a group of Ogre Rats (see the Delver's webpage for full monster info). While this group put up a spirited fight, Morale failed after two of the Ogre Rats were slain and the second two fled. Before they could get too far, the Dwarven fighter-thief, invisible, backstabbed and finished the fourth, and the third was dropped by a crossbow bolt to the back from the Human Ranger.

The party searched a fountain which - despite the desert clime - seemed to be in operational order. The cleric investigated closely and was immediately set upon by three water weirds. He dodged the first two but the third grabbed him and pulled him under. This is where the rank newbie paladin began to shine. He leapt, un-prompted, into the fountain and helped the cleric get free from the water weirds! Other party members in combat with the 'weirds were pulled in as well, but he stayed in the fray, assisting all of them (I gave his Strength damage bonus as a bonus to save v. paralysis for drowning party members to break free). Although a few party members came near, none were actually drowned by the 'weirds.

The characters explored further, discovering a bricked over shrine of the goddess Xan Yae. The human Cleric made a sacrifice of a gemstone and recieved a boon of a bless spell cast upon him. The rest of the party followed suit. After a quick "left or right" debate, they made their way to the next major area, a mustering point for Ogre Rats and Ratmen. Here the party's mettle was tested: the room was filled with twenty-five ratmen and five Ogre Rats, all of whom charged the group. While a lightning bolt from the elven Magic User took down a swath, there were more than enough to move in and melee.

The Dwarven fighter and the Paladin were in the forefront, with the other fighter and the Cleric backing them up. The Ranger was covering the party's rear, watching a mysterious door at the end of a long corridor directly opposite the entryway into the ratman lair.

The party did well against the Ogre Rats, but the archer Ratmen in the rear phalanx were giving them hell. The party made a tactical blunder when they allowed an Ogre Rat to flank the Magic User, but fortunately it rolled a 4 on it's to-hit and the Magic User was unscathed thanks to her Ring of Protection +3. The Cleric moved in and engaged the ogre rat, drawing it off of the magic user which gave her enough time to launch a second lightning bolt. At this, these 'rats too fled, leaving the party in poor but servicable shape.

After binding their wounds, the party went to the area opposite the Rat staging area and opened the mysterious door. The Paladin detected evil before they did so, and thus they were prepared...and a wizened old man stood before them. He questioned why they had come here, and the dwarven fighter shouted "To slay you, evildoer!" Initiative was rolled, and the party unfortunately failed. At the beginning of the melee, the "old man" became invisible and backed up a step. The party foolishly "held" their action, and the "old man" cast a cone of cold, which attacked the party, damaging the front ranks seriously. Had they been closely packed in the narrow corridor it would have done more damage.

The "old man" became visible and revealed himself to be an Ogre Mage. The party won initiative in the new round and charged in, weapons swinging. The Ogre Mage was immediately struck with magic missile spells from both the Magic User and the Cleric/Magic User. He was also struck by all three fighter types in the front rank. Sensing his doom was near, he became gaseous and fled down away from the party.

The party pursued, following him around a corner and up to a portcullis. Using combined strength, the two Fighters and the Ranger raised the portcullis, which stayed fixed at the top of it's tracks. The rest of the party followed through, but they were immediately set upon by four Monster Zombies. The ranger's good combat senses failed the group for the first (and only) time and the party was surprised, and the Zombies got in a few good (serious) hits.

The human Cleric turned the zombies, but the dwarven fighter chose to close to strike and broke the turn for one of them. Then the ranger fired his crossbow at another, breaking it's turn. The two Zombies closed in on the dwarven fighter, leaving the Paladin to again affect a rescue mission. After a very touch and go brawl with the two Monster Zombies, the party dispatched them.

At this point it was almost 7:00, and I called the game. However, the players agreed that they wanted to pick the game back up in the morning.

I had to be on the road by noon, Sunday, so it was imperative that I get the room set up and ready to play by 8:30. I almost pulled it off, with the game restarting at 9:00.

The paladin, having been in the fray with the Undead Zombies, immediately stepped back a bit - and into a Corner Trap and was smacked for 20 points of damage from a swinging spike-wall. A potion of healing (one of the last) kept him fairly healthy.

The party rounded the treacherous corner to face a new challenge: a narrow wooden log over a trench of stagnant water. The human Fighter probed the trench with his 10' pole and the party's worst fears were confirmed when the pole was destroyed by green slime.

Thus they had to walk individually across the log, each saving v. dexterity (Dex or lower on d20) to make it across without slipping. Three party members slipped in, but made it through, only losing their boots in the process.

The party came to a cul-de-sac in which three skulls rested in alcoves along the walls. The first (an obsidian) asked of them "Which is sinister?" The Cleric/MU blurted out "The left!" A second, white sandstone skull asked "Where is my brother?" The party then noticed that next to the niche the sandstone skull sat in was an empty niche. The dwarven fighter noted that a bronze skull was resting in one of the niches, and attempted to pick it up to move it - and took a shock of 28 points of damage. They searched the small dead-end but found no other skulls. The thief braved the log bridge and made his way back to the Ogre Mage's lair to see if he could find aught. The thief came back with a dusty human skull and they placed it in the alcove. However, a Spectre materialized and began to attack the party. Fortunately the human cleric quickly turned the spectre and that was the end of that.

The party had no recourse but to explore other areas of the dungeon, but they were concerned that before they could do so they had to rest to regain spells - at least 1st level healing spells - before continuing. They carefully made their way back across the bridge and to the Ogre Mage's lair to hole up for the "night" (a few hours at least) and rested.

Since the rest was primarily for spellcasters, the dwarven fighter and human ranger took up guard outside the door and waited. After an hour of in-game time had passed, the two were rushed by an annis which immediately began to melee with the dwarf, injuring him critically. The ranger let into her, but it was going pretty badly.

Meanwhile inside the room, the paladin and human fighter sprang into action, ready to leave the room. The thief, showing his true colors, tried to bar the door to keep the bad guys out. I kid you not. The paladin shoved him out of the way and made his way into the hall.

Just then the dwarven fighter was struck down to zero hit points (in my campaigns, 0=unconscious but - and this is important - not losing more hits; at negative hits you start incurring the penalties outlined in the DMG (comatose for 1-6 turns, must rest for 1 week, etc.)). The Paladin stood over his fallen comrade and engaged the Annis.

This was the paladin's shining moment, in a way. He defended a fellow adventurer who'd been downed, but in doing so gave his life. The Annis struck all three times against him, and the next round she automatically bit and rent him for 30 points total. The paladin was slain outright in that round, despite the party winning the initiative. However, the group had injured her quite badly and she threw down a large sack she'd tied to her rags, and limped away.

The party was in no condition to pursue and searched the bag of stuff.

(As time was running out for me, I had to do a "gimmie" and the Annis had dropped her treasure including a crystal skull, which the party quickly surmised was the "brother" mentioned by the white skull in the alcove.)

So the party took the skull and returned to the alcove and placed the skull in the niche. The hazardous Bronze skull said "Speak reverently the name of she upon whom you turned your backs and brought your own destruction in doing so". (This pertains to the location of the Lost City - it's in the Sea of Dust and a ruin of old Suel) The Cleric recalled the icon of Xan Yae the party had excavated in the entry hall and spoke her name. A stone portal in the floor rolled away to reveal stairs leading down.

The party took the stairs down and entered a room to find an efreet waiting for them. In his first action he cast an illusion of a great burning pentagram surrounding him to ward off the party, but the human cleric used Dispel Magic to dispose of it. The party then won initiative, and the Thief began to move around the perimeter of the room, using his ring of invisibility to do so unseen. As he did so, unbeknownst to the party, the Ogre Mage (who'd flowed into the room in gaseous form and summoned the efreet from a jug) used it's charm person ability and halted the thief.

The efreet cast wall of fire and raised a barrier to protect himself from melee, but in the following round the elven Magic User cast wall of ice and snuffed it out! The dwarven fighter and human fighter closed, dealing grievous injury to the efreet. The human ranger held back, firing his magic bolts +2 from his crossbow of speed. The Magic-User Cleric threw a spread of magic missiles at the efreet for telling effect.

In the next round the Efreet used his pyrotechnics ability to detonate a torch along the wall and blind the party for 2 rounds. Fighting at serious disadvantages, the party was unable to effect any damage to the Efreet. It then used create fire to catch the elven magic-user off guard and spoil any potential spellcasting she had. Another round passed with the efreet slashing the dwarf for a telling 24 points of damage, and all other attacks from the party amounting to nil. In the final round of combat with the efreet, it had every intention of fleeing. However, with their senses returned, the party closed in on the efreet and before it could make good any escape negotiation or parley, they slew it!

However, just at that point the now fully-recovered Ogre Mage became visible and cast darkness on the party and moved in to melee. The party held fast and despite nearly losing the dwarven fighter and human ranger, disposed of the Ogre Mage. At this point it was 11:30 am and the party elected to retire, having beaten what they percieved as the "level bosses". The group recovered a minor artifact that had been sealed beneath the stone floor of the room.

I'd like to thank the great folks at the HMGS-South chapter as well as the Lakeland Role Playing Society for pretty much bending over backwards to make sure I had a play area large enough to host the copious amount of Dwarven Forge "toys" I needed to realize the entirety of the dungeon in 3d.  They were really on the ball, and I thank them for their assistance.