Overview
This is a play report for my ongoing ttrpg I run during occasional lunch breaks at work, all dependent on who is available for that day. This occurs roughly once a week, but there are occasional longer breaks when people are unavailable. I require a minimum of two players to run a session. I am using Index Card RPG and various other resources to run the sessions.
Please refer to this post for more details.
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June 5th Play Report
Each session, players present are given a sheet in the style of a Classifieds ad. This ad contains features five problems occurring in the aptly named Dungeon Town. Players are asked to select from these five options as the adventure for the session.
This session, the players chose the following scenario:
Child lost in local dungeon
Elgar Tailor has reported that his child disappeared near the Farehill Road entrance of the Bleak King’s Dungeon. Child responds to the names Jim, Jimmy, and Jameson. Child has a love of animals.
Player characters present:
- Chadwick, Human Warrior
- Siel, Gnome Shadow
- Clara, Elf Mage
Preparation
I
did not prep anything for the scenario beyond the pitch above. I planned that the child had befriended a monster in the dungeon that was taking care of him. The players would have to resolve any encounters on the way to locating the child, finally handling the monster with the child.
I had the following resources available to myself for prep:
- Index Card RPG Master Edition ;
This is my core rulebook for these sessions. I am not using the actual
setup of "difficulty per location" that ICRPG uses, instead using the
more traditional "here is the number you need to beat". I also adjusted
the Effect dice so that D6 is "Bows & Tools" and D8 is "Weapons"
because I did not want to include guns. Otherwise, pretty much using the
system as is.
- Dungeons & Drawings ; This is my favorite monster manual. It has a set of generic stats to describe the creature, a paragraph of text on the creature, and a full page picture. It is not specific to any rpg system, but gives me enough tools to pull in a creature and run it if I understand the system itself pretty well.
- Monster Miens
; I wanted a reaction table like the Miens for Troika!!, but just some
general lists. This is sorted by creature type, which I thought would be
great for the quick reaction I want as a GM during the sessions. I may
need to replace this in the future if it begins to feel too repetitive,
but for now it works.
Session Summary
The players entered the dungeon. I did not have a dungeon map prepped and used ICRPG's hearts & effect mechanic to determine success in navigating the dungeon. This would feel similar to the "clocks" mechanic for players of other games.
"Finding the child" was given 2 Hearts (10 points of effect) and each player was allowed to make an Intelligence roll to navigate the dungeon, success allowing a roll for effect. One player had a collection of local maps in their inventory, and so was able to roll with higher effect.
In response to each effect roll, I offered the players to move to a new room and rolled a d4 to determine how many exits there were to that room. After all effects rolls were resolved, I asked players to roll Dexterity determine if they had drawn any attention while navigating.
One player failed the roll, and so I rolled a percentile dice to determine a page number for the encountered monster from Dungeons & Drawings, resulting in a ghoul. Rather than fighting the monster, Clara used the spell "Mindtrap" to send the monster off into the dungeon away from them. The casting roll was failed, and so Clara chose to burn the spell, ensuring success but exhausting the spell for the rest of the session. The Ghoul was sent into the dungeon and the spell would only last 4 turns based on an effect roll.
A few more effect rolls resulted in finding Jimmy and his new found friend, a giant lizard (randomly rolled from the Dungeons & Drawings book). Using Monster Miens, the monster was found to be friendly. I also decided in the moment that the creature was vegetarian.
The party interviewed Jimmy, a 6 year old, who had been living in the dungeon for almost a week. He said his new friend Rover (a name generated by the players), had been scavenging food for him from packs abandoned by adventurers. Chadwick offered an apple to the giant lizard and lured both of them out of the dungeon. The players felt the lizard was incredibly responsible and that Jimmy should be allowed to keep it.
On the way out, they encountered the ghoul. The spell had worn off and the ghoul had tracked them back to the entrance. Chadwick and Siel reduced the ghoul to near death, and I ghoul fled into the dungeon after a failed morale roll.
Upon returning the child to his home, the father objected to keeping the giant lizard as a pet. The players made a successful Charisma check to shame the father for failing to find his child sooner. The giant lizard took great care of the child and would probably continue to be very responsible. The players were rewarded with funds that they could use for future purchases.
Reflection
I feel mostly ok with this session. I think this really showed some of the flaws of too little prep. While the session was fun, I find the friction points to be too much for my comfort.
While I never intended to have a planned dungeon map, I think the randomized dungeon made it hard to add more atmosphere to the exploration. It felt to random and thus a bit inconsequential. I have a deck of dungeon rooms I've added to my toolkit for future sessions. This should give me some better details and help strike the balance between randomized and prepared dungeon details.
In addition, I think having some specific monsters would be better. At least a short list of potential encounters would provide a consistent environment that players can interact with and plan around. This would also help me with developing a history of play so that players recognize the dungeon name and know what to expect when taking on that job.
Overall, an ok second session with plenty of opportunity for growth.
