Old School Essentials - Experience Tables

This is an addendum to the Keep on the Borderlands Sessions. When we last left the party, several characters were leveling up. It turns out that only three of the PCs will level and not the three I expected: Rety the Thief, Donian, and Thomas, who are both Clerics. Although I had a good record of experience earned, I hadn't consulted the experience tables before making this declaration.

So now I have only 2 first-level characters, Left and Punch. The other two first-level characters have left the party for safety and sanity. I would imagine that Hender and Simon, the two fathers of young adult children, will stick together back at the Keep. Simon has two daughters and probably needs a drink if they hang out with Hender's son, Sonny. 

Class	1	2	3	4	5
Basic OSE
Cleric	0	1,500	3,000	6,000	12,000
Dwarf	0	2,200	4,400	8,800	17,000
Elf	0	4,000	8,000	16,000	32,000
Fighter	0	2,000	4,000	8,000	16,000
Halfing	0	2,000	4,000	8,000	16,000
Magic User	0	2,500	5,000	10,000	20,000
Thief	0	1,200	2,400	4,800	9,600
Advanced OSE
Acrobat	0	1,200	2,400	4,800	9,600
Assassin	0	1,500	3,000	6,000	12,000
Barbarian	0	2,500	5,000	10,000	18,500
Bard	0	2,000	4,000	8,000	16,000
Drow	0	4,000	8,000	16,000	32,000
Druid	0	2,000	4,000	7,500	12,500
Duergar	0	2,800	5,600	11,200	23,000
Gnome	0	2,000	6,000	12,000	30,000
Half-Elf	0	2,500	5,000	10,000	20,000
Half-Orc	0	1,800	3,600	7,000	14,000
Illusionist	0	2,500	5,000	10,000	20,000
Knight	0	2,500	5,000	10,000	18,500
Paladin	0	2,750	5,500	12,000	24,000
Ranger	0	2,250	4,800	10,000	20,000
Svirfneblin	0	2,400	4,800	10,000	20,000

Looking back at the table, I am not sure why I put in level one because it always starts at zero. I am writing directly to code, not with a WYSIWYG editor so fixing it is a pain.

You can simplify the table by combining characters into their sequence of progression.

Class	1	2	3	4	5
Basic OSE
Cleric (Assassin)	0	1,500	3,000	6,000	12,000
Dwarf	0	2,200	4,400	8,800	17,000
Elf (Drow)	0	4,000	8,000	16,000	32,000
Fighter (Bard)	0	2,000	4,000	8,000	16,000
Halfing	0	2,000	4,000	8,000	16,000
Magic User (Half-Elf, Illusionist)	0	2,500	5,000	10,000	20,000
Thief (Acrobat)	0	1,200	2,400	4,800	9,600
Advanced OSE
Barbarian (Knight)	0	2,500	5,000	10,000	18,500
Druid	0	2,000	4,000	7,500	12,500
Duergar	0	2,800	5,600	11,200	23,000
Gnome	0	2,000	6,000	12,000	30,000
Half-Orc	0	1,800	3,600	7,000	14,000
Knight	0	2,500	5,000	10,000	18,500
Ranger	0	2,250	4,800	10,000	20,000
Svirfneblin	0	2,400	4,800	10,000	20,000

This reduces the number of character types by progression to 15. I find this format handy.

My next step is to return for Session 6, but since I have started writing in HTML, I might make a detour through fixing my horrible Index page for reviews. That really needs some love.

Observations from The Keep on the Borderlands 2025 All Sessions - Part 1

We are five sessions into this mess. The party has returned to the Keep after suffering several losses that were not evidenced in the last session. Run as two parties, they suffered the deaths of Duskin and Pavel, the 3 drover characters stepping away, and from session 5, Sonny and Hender were hurt badly. NPCs and characters run in a solo campaign can act in very meta ways. 

There is nothing meta about dying, but the 3 drover characters were offered a huge paycheck to take a supporting role. Simon and his daughters are very aware of how far 300 gps goes in life and realized it was much safer to stay in the background. Hender is Sonny's (Henderson) father. Having watched his son almost die, you know he is thinking about taking that secondary role, too. 

My rationale for taking these steps is to increase the types of characters while reducing the amount of paperwork to keep this project going. 

Back to looking at this series, I am assuming that you play the way I do. My campaigns are very high magic. Magic is concerning, but not a source of terror. In some cases, magic is a consumer product. Rety wanted a bag of holding, so she bought one. The challenges she has in making the purchase are that the Keep is a wayward outpost with fewer resources than normal. This might be the normal state of affairs in your campaign, but not having a magic shop is very weird for me. 

In playing through B2 Keep on the Borderlands, you may notice that the monsters come in either singletons or groups of 6-8. I think this harkens back to the Dungeons and Dragons connection to Chainmail. (That is a link to DTRPG for purchasing.) It is almost like Gary Gygax selected figurines and assembled them in unit-sized groups and stat'd them up. You'll notice that the party is 6-9 player characters of levels 1-3, against groups of monsters in 4, 6, and 8. Those are tiny units, but units nonetheless. And they are almost on part with each other. 

This messes with time and space. In session 3, I mentioned how small the valley floor is when tripling movement and ranges. I know that this was done for artistic reasons; the scale indoors was imparted to the scale outdoors, so one did not have a giant map of empty, uninteresting exterior space. It works, until it doesn't. 

A round is 10 seconds. An unencumbered player normally moves 40' a round or 120' at a sprint. That is 4 feet or 12 feet a second indoors. Outdoors, that cranks up to 12 feet or 36 feet a second. Whew!  

People are fast, and monsters are faster. Here is a clip of a football player going endzone to endzone. The clip is a little longer than 10 seconds for clarity. This guy is dodging tackles and perhaps not running flat out the whole time.  

 

Because people are so fast, as a general rule, combat is abstract. The 6 points of damage a character or monster probably isn't a single hit. Here is a 10-second clip of a fat, old ninja swinging nunchucks. 

While I only make one slashing attack transition towards the end, notice how slow I am moving and how unfocused my eyes are. I am not even trying. This is also a very confined space; my feet are rooted, and I couldn't extend my arms. It's kind of like being in a dungeon. But it is still quick. Any one of those spins could have been a slash. Imagine how fast a fencer would move and how lethal a sword point is vs. a slap from a nunchuck.  

(This is an unedited video; you should see the outtake where I hit a pipe and made the house ring.) 

In light of these observations and many more, characters and monsters can get in and out of combat or trouble quickly. By the rules, characters are limited to a fighting retreat at no penalty or worse, giving up attacks to run for it. The first doesn't allow a character to exit combat if his or her attacker presses the attack. The second is an invitation to get hit in the back. As a DM, I choose a sort of middle ground where someone can do a fighting retreat as per the rules, or choose to forgo an attack to disengage, and of course, the disastrous spin and run. Disengagement requires A) space to move back a good distance and B) remain facing your opponent. Being faster than an enemy is good enough. Having someone available to tag in or threaten a flank or rear is best. And players intuitively handle these scenarios very well when asked.  

You see this a couple of times in session 3. When Belaphon outruns the owlbear with Pavel chasing both; again, when the chase swaps Belaphon and Pavel; and finally, when Slammer tries to pull Pavel's body away while the Knights cover him. Monsters under threat aren't going to ignore an obvious threat, giving PC's extra time to do extra things. Slammer's attempt to pull a body from a creature isn't wise, but it makes sense. He traded an attack for a grab, but failed. 

In sessions 3 and 5, the characters experience blocking. Many of the missile-armed characters find themselves behind their friends engaged in melee. They can't shoot. Oddly, Belaphon does shoot. It is one of the joys of Magic Missile - you can't miss. Rety, the Clerics, or Sonny could have tried to shoot into melee, but friendly fire sucks.  

Being blocked is a give-and-take. You can't be hit, but you also can't hit back. 

I've forshadowed events in session 6, given my rationale for certain events, and explained how I use certain rules. There will be a part two where I get into alignment and motivation, plus hit points.

The Keep on the Borderlands 2025 - Session 5 Beak, Bone and Stone

Welcome back to The Keep on the Borderlands. There is your link to DrivethruRPG. I hope you click through and purchase this classic module. 

Camp

The party left the Keep at dawn to arrive in the Valley early. As Rety promised, Simon, his daughters, and their guard detail are left to set up camp near the road. The party was armed for a war, with all of the fighting men wielding spears, in addition to their regular weapons. They march west into the valley. 

A quick look around surprised everyone. The kobolds' trees were gone, their cave entrance clogged with branches. Several mean-looking giant rats were sunning themselves. Mud was churned up in front of D and F caves. Scattered bones surrounded a fire pit in the middle of the valley. 

"The goblins," muttered Punch. He is assuming the folks in Cave F were also goblins. 

As much as she wanted the owlbear's beak, Rety decided to enter Cave D to secure a flank. The party was organized into 3 groups: Rety, Sonny, and Belphon took the lead to scout; Slammer, Punch, Lefty, and Solvo, with spears ready, brought up the rear, with Dorian, Hender, and Thomas guarding the cave entrance. They move quietly with no lights. 

I have marked these teams as R, L, and T, for Rety, Lefty, and Thomas.  

I used OSR Solo to determine that the party saw no one in the east and west rooms. They saw candlelight from both rooms, and they heard voices to the east. Rety motion for Lefty's team to move eastward, while her group moved west. 

Yeah, I made this hard on myself. Lefty's team is moving to the right, and Rety's team moves left.  

As each team creeps down the hall, all hell breaks loose. Rety spotted two goblins running away. Lefty's team was confronted with 5 of 6 goblins advancing with spears leveled. By previous arrangement, the clerics and barbarians lit torches but held their position. 

Ladies first, round 1. Rety and Sonny loose arrows, one per goblin. One was killed instantly, while the other struggled on, dragging a bag. 

The fighting men and the goblins struck simultaneously, like miniature phalanxes colliding. Four goblins go down, while Solvo and Slammer were hit for 1 and 3 hp damage. 

Next round. 4 goblins sprang from the western room. Arrow flew, and a goblin fell. The attempt to close the gap, but they won't arrive until the next round, as they are moving in formation. Solvo and the goblin exchanged blows, and the last goblin went down. The four men turn to help Rety's team. 

Punch and Lefty wear armor

Round 3, chaos ensues. The party won initiative. Rety, Sonny, and Belaphon manage to slide through the fighting men's formation, and the four men met the goblin's spears. A goblin was killed. Punch took a slash to the face. Belaphon was struck from behind by the last eastern goblin's spear. 

Round 4. The eastern goblin ran back to the room for another spear while Rety and Sonny stalked after it. Two more goblins were killed, and Slammer took a good hit. Arrows clatter against walls as the archers miss. The clerics and barbarians move down the tunnel, torches lighting up the area. 

Round 5. The phalanx took empty room 18. Lety and Sonny killed the last eastern goblin with arrows. Combat ends because the party swapped sides. No one in room 18 knew the last goblin escaped through the secret door. 

This provoked an "Oh, shit!" moment for the ogre and goblin. The goblin wasn't supposed to enter the orge's cave, and it killed him. The ogre's "Oh, shit!" moment was when the bag of gold hit the ground. He took a moment to decide what to do with the body. 

In the meantime, the whole party met up in room 17. While the party searches the room, the Clerics attend to Belaphon and Solvo, who were the most injured. 

Combat sequence 2. No was surprised, but the ogre wins initiative. This beast has AC 4, HD 4+1 for 25 hp, and does 1d10+2. This is above average for an OSE ogre. I decide the rule of funny is in effect. The ogre makes two missile attacks; the bag of gold and the body of the goblin become projectiles. Punch was stuck by the gold, and Lefty by the body for 5 and 3 hp damage. 

Lefty struck for 2 points of damage while Punch missed. A magic missile hit for 4 points of damage. Sonny, Solvo, Hender, and Slammer melee. Hender and Solvo did 10 points of damage. Rety and Clerics can't strike due to the wild melee.   

Round 2, combat is simultaneous, except for Belaphon, who unleashed another magic missile for 6 hp first. The ogre was down to 3 hp. It pounded Sonny to the ground, while the ogre was cut down. Punch and Lefty get back up. All of the noise brought the roving band of goblins to the party. They came from the western doorway. 

Round 3 was again simultaneous. The Clerics snatch up Sonny and pour a healing potion down his throat, restoring him 2 hp. Six goblins exchange blows with Solvo, Slammer, Hender, Punch, Rety, and Lefty. Two goblins were felled, Hender was knocked down to 5 hp, and Sonny was KO'ed. 

Rety's prize

Rounds 4 and 5 were the party's time to shine. Thomas grabbed Sonny while the party attacked. In round 4, all but one goblin were killed. It did not survive round 5. There was a flurry of flight as the chieftain led his remaining people out of the cave mouth and up to the hobgoblin caves, taking all the treasure they could carry. Everything not in the rooms the players entered was taken. 

The party divides again. The Hender runs off to the camp for the drover cart. It will be needed. Rety and Belaphon gather up Rety's owlbear beak and bones. She offers a salute to the goblin and hobgoblins watching her. The rest of the party found the ogre's treasure. In the mouth of cave D, the treasure piles up. 

Ogre

Sonny was loaded in the cart before all the other treasures. The drovers declined to help, as it was beyond their contract, but they sent one of the crossbowmen to help. Quietly and grusomely, Rety claimed the orge's teeth. 

Back at camp, Rety wisely declares victory and prepares the team to move back to the Keep. She explains that healing would be faster in a warm bed. The drovers were somewhat put out, as they had set the camp for a week. Rety pays them an additional 10 gp each, including the crossbowmen. The drovers let Rety and the crossbowmen do most of the work. 

Rety humbly works her butt off to get everyone out of camp and back on the road to the Keep. The players earn 1500 exp from this adventure. I need to total up Experience because I think a couple of characters may be leveling up.  

One more link. The image I have labeled as Ogre is a Cyclops drawn by Jeremy Hart. He has a massive collection of paper minis and Stock Art on DrivethruRPG, all reasonably priced. I have a ton of them. 

Review - The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Tradition

Title: The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Tradition
Publisher: The Other Side Publishing
Author: Timothy S. Brannan
Year: 2019
Pages: 65 pages
Rating: 5 of 5 stars

UPDATE - It is getting a little cool outside, so let's refresh a cool product review. This was originally posted Saturday, April 17, 2021. When I originally wrote this, I don't think there was a POD option. 

This book is designed for Labyrinth Lord as part of the Back to Basic series. Originally, it started as a joke on everything Pumpkin spice-themed. It roughly follows the form of the other books in the series, except for some level limits for non-human characters. 

This is my favorite of the series. While not entirely tongue-in-cheek, it's a fun read. It comes across as the film A Knight's Tale. Popular culture is mixed up and presented in a timeless way. The idea of harvest, fall, and Halloween is in this product's DNA, but in a way that would not detract from a series of Dungeons and Dragons experiences. Yes, there are jokey bits, but they are well thought out, so they don't break the theme of D&D. If you like Angel or Buffy, these details will be right up your alley. 

This particular set calls out Labyrinth Lord, but readers will find that it is a nice addition to any basic era game, such as BlueHolme or the Red box set. (Personally, I use BX or OSE, but that is your whole chocolate vs. strawberry argument) With a little adaptation, this book could be plugged into a great many rule sets like AD&D. The author specifically mentions a desire for this title to be cross-compatible, but also noted they didn't make that the focus of this work. I suspect that Mr. Brannan wanted this book to cover a far wider range of game systems than I am familiar with using. Even if it doesn't go there, it's still a rock-solid offering. 

Usually, when I do a review, I mention the artwork. This product is loaded with art. I didn't count, but it seems like every other page or every third has something. In this book, most of the artwork is a quarter page and inline with the text, rather than being placed in the centerline like 3.5 books. Again, like the subject matter in the book, the artwork has a gothic summer-turned-autumn feel. 

Somehow, this version of the witch character class feels old, but not too old. It invokes a pleasant feeling of Deja Vu of my college days, when game night also featured a movie or TV before or after. That feeling of people just out to get together and have fun. 

Reviewer's note: The date is taken from the forward; this could be the most recent update rather than the original publication date. If that is the case, my apologies, but then that also means the author is providing an excellent experience by routinely updating his works. 

The Keep on the Borderlands 2025 - Session 4.5 Intermission

I didn't have a picture of
a gravestone,
so please pretend.

In the last session, the party lost two characters: Duskin the Elf and Pavel the Ranger, but also reunited both teams. 

This presents Rety and the gang with some problems. They took the bodies back to Rety's camp on the concept that Thomas the Cleric could do something. Sadly, he could not. 

This left Rety in a lurch. Her objection to the A Team's handling of injured people was the cause of the NPCs abandoning the party. Now that she has to deal with those people, she is obligated to treat them better. That and cover the theft of many items. 

She elects to go back to Keep, to ensure the Elf and Ranger receive proper burials. The B-Team forms a proper escort back to the Keep. Rety does not make any promises beyond a burial to her former employers so as not to disappoint. She pays for rooms at the inn, too. 

By mid-morning, they are on their way, smoke filling the valley behind them.

Let me tell you a bit of backstory on the name Rety. I encountered this name in a David Brin book called Brightness Reef. I've always liked this name despite the character being slightly unlikable at the start. She was a young Sooner woman, a tribe of people falling down the societial path. Her tribe is brutish and barbaric, but she knows there is a better way out there, some place in the 5 galaxies. 

She never really escapes her rustic roots, but becomes a force to be reckoned with. I like that sort of character and stole her. As a D&D character, she should properly be a Barbarian, but I made her a Thief due to the circumstances. 

Here is my link to DriveThruRPG for Keep on the Borderlands. I might be trying too hard. If you don't have this by now, you never will. 

Anyway, back to the Keep. 

Being a bit of a rustic sort, Rety had no problem accosting the Curate and demanded magic and rituals for the dead. She was very humble and honest, offering service, allegiance, and even money to care for the dead. While completely overboard, the Curate found it charming in a weird way. This also reinforces Lefty and Punch's loyalty to her as she has shown respect to a higher power. It also makes the rest of the A Team more amenable to her. That and she paid for proper rooms for all of them at the inn, plus food and drink to honor the fallen.  

She paid for the burials. She made an offering and hinted that Punch and Lefty should consider service to the Curate's congregation. She assisted the A Team with contacts to help them sell their treasures. 

There was a welcome but startling discovery as the party dispensed with their loot. The Curate's followers recognize the amulets as a hazard. They will pay for the privilege of destroying these evil devices. The Curate's men advise that not only do they make it hard to turn undead wearing them, but should a cleric hold or possess an amulet, the holder loses their ability to turn undead. This explains why Dorian couldn't turn undead at the end of Session 2 and why he received a couple of rolls when he should not have. This also makes the amulets slightly cursed.

Rety tries to purchase some magic items. This is not entirely accounted for in the module. I used OSR Solo to generate some answers to Rety's desire. 

First, she wants a bag of holding. The other characters are unwilling to sell theirs, so she approaches the Curate and the loan bank. The Curate has access to one, but the price is too much. The loan bank has one but will only trade for the beak of an owlbear. Hmm. That was a bust for now. 

Rety knows the potions of healing saved the party, so she repeats the process for more potions. The Curate will not provide healing to anyone outside of his congregation, so that is not an option. Rety rolls a 6 when dealing with the loan bank. They will sell her 4 for 100 gps each. He does this because he really wants that owlbear beak. Rety has essentially doubled down on this objective. 

Despite making all the right moves, Rety gained 4 followers but lost 3. She proposed selling off the horses to adventure in the Caves. The remains of the A Team liked this idea and threw in with her. But Bela, Liz, and Simon are lifelong drovers; they hate this idea and said so. Rety was understanding and paid them to stay at the Keep, venturing out on Sundays to resupply the party. The drover family agreed to this as Rety gave them 300 gps to support the party's interest in town. One-third was salary, the next 100 was for supplies, and the last 100 was to hire an appropriate guard. This was way too much money to pass on, so the drovers agreed. 

Promises made, the party rested before heading back to the Valley of the Caves of Chaos. Rety learns of the gems in the cave of skeletons and wants them. However, she will need a good plan to secure their flanks and back before striking against the shrine. 

One of the nice things about this module is that you can make it a living place by implementing changes on the fly. I introduced the ruins, the fact that sometimes the kobolds, striges, and other monsters appear to operate together without seeming to conspire against the party unfairly. 

We need to head back to the Valley and the Caves of Chaos. 

The PCs left the body of an owlbear and a horse on display for all to see. It didn't take long for kobolds, goblins, and others to decide to butcher them. The kobolds are a thorn in everyone's side. The goblins chased them off. To add insult to injury, they cut down the kobolds' trees and burned them. This was the smoke the party saw on leaving. 

While the kobolds are the weakest creatures in the Caves, they are not helpless. To make up for their losses to the party, they adventured Cave G and herded the giant rats to their cave in the dead of night. Around the top of their cave, they dug warrens for the rats and camouflaged them. As a final step, the kobolds gathered broken branches for makeshift spears. They have no heads, but they fireharden the points. All of the kobolds will be armed from here on out. 

The Clerics in the Shrine suffered worse losses. They cannot replace their zombies, but they steal the kobold bodies for future animation. They send word of the losses to the Priest at the Keep. The priest networks and burns his platinum pieces in an attempt to hire 6 crossbowmen as reinforcing mercenaries for the shrine. 

I decided to use the book OSR Solo for this hiring task because the Priest needs to assure himself that the mercenaries are evil or at least amenable to his cause. OSR Solo provides a handy table for this sort of thing. With one die, you get results of "yes" and "no", "yes, but...", "yes and...", "no and...", and "complications". 

One crossbowman turns him down flat and is "disappeared". Two sign up right away, the third signs up but demands twice the money, a fourth accepts and brings his shieldbearer along. I also rolled two"complications". 

In this case, I decided to make the complication rather simple. The crossbowmen have a bad feeling and accept a competing offer... to guard Simon and his daughters. This handy book saved me a couple of die rolls.

I really like this tool. You can pick it up on DriveThruRPG. It is super short at 19 pages, but you don't read this sort of book. As an added bonus, the examples are from B2! 

Now, the Caves of Chaos are ready for the party to return. 

The Keep on the Borderlands 2025 - Session 4 Run Away to Reunion

Welcome to Episode 4, Run Away to Reunion. 

Here is your weekly link to DriveThruRPG's page for Keep on the Borderland. If you click this link, I may receive remuneration for this. While I am at it, the Keep was revisited for AD&D, Second Edition. 

Let's check in with the parties. Rety leads her two Knights to the eastern edge of the valley, so they can select a cave to explore. The A Team is at the top of the western side of the Valley. 

In the meantime, the A Team has spotted them from their hilltop vantage point and decided to go down and attempt a meeting with the Knights. Remember, the A Team has not recognized any of these people due to the distance. They have forgotten to use their Eyes of the Eagle. They used the Ropes of Climbing on the rougher portions of the climb and descended to an area just south of cave G.

During the descent, both teams sighted each other a few times, but once the A team reached the valley floor, there were too many trees in the way. Rety and the Knights hold their position. The A Team took a moment to get out their weapons before marching east. 

On the map below, the A Team starts in the green circle while Rety's B Team is in the purple circle. The map looks large, but when people are sprinting, it's very small. I've been calling this a valley, but it's not that big. 

Round One, the set up. Pavel the Ranger and Belaphon the Mage were wearing leather armor and robes, respectively. They both move at the same speed, 120' a round, while everyone else moves 90' due to their heavier chainmail. Belaphon heard something from cave G and moved to 2. M. Pavel moved to cover him. A shadow moved to the mouth of the cave, but everyone waited for whatever to emerge. 

Sorry about starting everyone at point 2. It was an oddity that everyone moved in round one but didn't move in round 2. 

Round 2, the excitement begins! An owlbear appeared from the mouth of the cave. If the Rule of Funny were in effect, instead of shrieking, the owlbear would parroted: "Run Away! Run Away!" The party gets ready to run as the owlbear looks over the menu. 

Round 3. The party won initiative and runs for it. In three different directions. The Ranger moved to 3. R, while the Magic User bolted to 3. M. Everyone else moved to 3. E. The Knights heard the shriek. They readied their spears and dropped their visors. The owlbear loped in a zig-zag course after the Magic User. Belaphon was just as fast as the owlbear and managed to stay just ahead of it. The others watched in horror as the owlbear raced after him. 

Round 4. As Belaphon approached cave A, the kobolds popped out of the trees. This causes the Knights to swing away from them. Belaphon uses the distraction to put a magic missile into the owlbear, reducing it to 26 hp. Pavel fired an arrow as the others caught up with him. The owlbear was struck for 6 more points of damage and turns on Pavel. 

Due to all of the running and lack of combat, I was playing fast and loose with allowing movement and shooting. All of this is technically feasible, but there should probably be an extra round inserted here. 

Round 5. The Owlbear swung in a circle, dodging through the trees and kobolds with Belaphon in hot pursuit. Pavel went down under a flurry of blows. He was down to 6 hp, even with his magic armor absorbing damage. The owlbear avoided the furious response from the rest of the party. 

In round 6, things go from bad to worse. Pavel is down with -2 hp. The party rallied to his defense. Slammer struck for 7 points of damage, while everyone else missed. Belaphon readied his last spell. 

This round, the owlbear won initiative. Pavel was killed by a bite to the head, while Dunkin the Half Elf and Solvo the Elf were struck for 5 hp each. The A Team saw Punch and Lefty explode from the trees, spears leveled and pulled back to make room for their attack run. The Knights did a total of 12 points of damage, while the magic missile did 3 points. The owlbear has just 5 hp left. Slammer attempted to pull Pavel's body away and failed. 

Round 8, the party manages to win initiative. Lefty and Punch need to wheel around and come back. Slammer and Dunkin finish the beast off. Rety finally reached the battle, too late to help. 

But not too late to take charge. She decided they needed to move Pavel's body to a horse and bring him back to camp. She wanted a second opinion* from her Cleric. 

*As an aside, Rety is expressing hopes and a little superiority, instead of actually knowing something special. A second Cleric isn't going to do any better. I allow for this all the time with NPCs and player characters. No one can be 100% sure of anything in a fantasy setting. It also keeps your options open as DM. 

As the party attended to Pavel's body, the kobolds returned in force. The 8 from the trees and the 6 from the guardroom ambushed the party. It was a brutal fight with lots of targets. 

I won't run through another chaotic battle, but the party switched to missile weapons as the Knights slashed through the enemy forces. Only 3 kobolds survived to run away. 

Horse-mounted knights plus missile fire was deadly. But not quick. Dorian, Dunkin, and Solvo went down along with Punch's horse. Belaphon used the party's healing potions, but it was too little to save Duskin. 

With heavy hearts, they retreated to Rety's camp. 

Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Begins game

I don't know why I like the easy entry tests for games. Today I found the Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Begins game on my shelf. Yeah, there is a lot on my shelf that I lose large games in full boxes from time to time. 

Adventure Begins takes the players on an adventure in the lands of Neverwinter.

It might be the tangibles that come with these sets that get me. The set includes:

• 4 mini-figures,
• 4 Boss tiles,
• 4 20-sided dice,
• 10-sided Dungeon Master die,
• damage clip,
• 4 health trackers,
• plastic deck holder,
• 20 character tiles,
• 4 dungeon boards,
• 24 gold,
• 4 adventure decks,
• item deck,
• 4 reference cards,
• 8 backpack cards,
• 12 gatekeeper cards,
• And the rules booklet.

This strikes me as being similar to the Invasion of Theed put out by WotC for Star Wars years ago. I will probably do a review in the next week or two. 

This was posted in 2020 with a link to a retailer. I removed the link and accidentally disabled the post at some point. I like this game and will be doing a review soon, so I restored it. 

Observations from The Keep on the Borderlands 2025 Sessions 2 and 3

B2 Keep on the Borderlands (A DriveThruRPG link to purchase the module) was published in 1979 and was often the first module players encountered. It was contemporaneous with B1 In Search of the Unknown from 1978. These two modules are teaching modules, designed to guide the DM and the players through the mechanics and world of Dungeons and Dragons. Both are stripped down to the bare bones of a setting, and they plug in nicely to any campaign setting. 

I find B2 to be superior to B1 because I encountered it first. That's it. It is the "Why do you think chocolate is better than strawberry?" argument. It has no answer and no end. So, here is where I drop it. If you like B1 better, that is your option. I won't even call it a choice or an opinion; you are just as right as I am. 

The great thing about these two modules is the license granted to DMs to change stuff up, to merge it with their world. 

In Sessions 2 and 3, I do just that. I gave the A-Team a ruin to operate out of. This drawing looks like an island. It is not what I was going for. 

I didn't have a good idea of what I wanted, and the sketch above is what I came up with. As the session progressed, I reworked it into this: 

It is ragged and rough. It leaves plenty of details for players to fill in, which fits with this module. 

I think DMs should always work out little maps for the party to use to make tactical choices. I don't think these maps should take much time or skill, and should rarely contain surprises. On the left side of these ruins, I imagined some sort of root cellar. I didn't add it. To the south is a collapsed cistern, also not drawn. 

Back to the actual sessions. In giving the party a ruin to sleep in, I provided them with cover, a +2 bump to armor class. It's not as good as actually wearing armor, but it does afford tactical advantages. And believably allows characters to shuck their armor to sleep. 

In Session 3, I allude to the fact that the A and B Teams operate completely differently. The A Team is a tactical unit, while Rety's Team is more strategic in thinking. Morale is more important to the Rety's team than fighting power. Lefty and Punch do some very dangerous things and are rewarded with discovery and praise, as does the rest of the party. Rety is the one holding this team together as a leader. 

The A Team is almost leaderless. They have a job, they do a job. 

I would like to take a moment to discuss a topic of great interest to me: Alignment. I like it, but it doesn't work without motivation. I think that murder-hobos happen because the player is acting with no real motivation. A lich in an impregnable fortress doesn't really have an alignment because nothing flows in or out. All NPCs and characters should have some motivation AND agency that interacts with their alignment. This makes interesting characters. 

Rety is chaotic to be sure. It's built into her nature. Rety robs from the party. She is a thief. However, she is not particularly evil. In AD&D, she would be Chaotic Good or Chaotic Neutral. Her motivation for stealing from the party was a series of slights, almost universal slights against all of the NPCs. She lashed out, and now she is probably done. Or not. We'll see.  

My choice to make Lefty and Punch Knights is based on this concept. Lefty, the former mercenary, experienced a near-death experience at the hands of the hermit. How does a mercenary become an honorable Knight? Especially when Lefty and Punch have no leige to follow? 

Well, that is where Rety's vs. the A Team's actions come into play. The A Team healed Lefty, but then forced him to stay in his would-be killer's home. That is a harsh cut. They expected the NPCs to do stuff after dealing with a near-death death. Once Rety's morale failed, so did his. Having no one to follow, Lefty followed Rety and dragged Punch with him. While Lefty was probably good and Punch was neutral, they both follow Rety.  

There is no description of liege in the OSE rules because they are so setting light. Even if there was, I would have let Lefty become a liege-less Knight anyway. A mercenary is not so different than a Knight, just the currency is different. Honor vs. coin. His Knighthood comes from an internal compass; he doesn't need a liege. Punch being neutral is simply hanging on to Lefty's compass as a good friend. 

I hope by now I have highlighted how players of differing styles can advance through the Caves of Chaos and how B2 can be an evolving moment in your gameplay. 

The Keep on the Borderlands 2025 - Session 3 Rety or Not

Yeah, I've been waiting to tell the joke in the title for a while. 

We are back with Keep on the Borderlands, session 3. If you click that link, you'll get the DriveThruRPG page to purchase the module. 

We left the A Team in the ruins of an old manor house, looking down on the valley. From their position, they're able to scope out what is happening down there. Thankfully, the B Team has shown up. 

The ruins.

I stat'd out the B-Team and made some changes. Rety is the thief, as mentioned before. Everyone else morphed into full-blown 1st and 2nd-level characters. I decided to make Lefty and Punch Knights since they have the weapons and armor for it. Thomas the Cleric is the only 2nd level character of the group. The barman Hender and his son Sonny are a Barbarian and an Assassin. They have integrated themselves with the drover family: Simon, Bela, and Liz. I made Simon a Druid, and the two young women are a Ranger and an Illusionist. 

I could be a Knight...
Or maybe not.

I used these classes so I could learn how they work in the OSE rules. I did hand myself a problem. By making family groups, I have disallowed myself Demi-Humans. I plan to avoid a TPK, so I don't see that changing unless I make some poor dice rolls.  

Rety is reasonably smart and savvy. The B Team lacks the staying power of the A Team, all being 1st level except the cleric. She has outfitted them for a long, slow slog in the Caves as opposed to the more tactical, fire-team-like behavior of the other group. Her team has horses. This fundamentally changes how they need to operate. 

Rety has split her forces. Simon, Bela, Liz, and Sonny are part of the support team, staying behind to care for the horses. Lefty, Punch, Hender, and Thomas are the adventuring group behind Rety. By doing this, the Barbarian is separated from two of the three magically powered characters. Thomas reasonably decided to give the "we are all on the same path" speech in the hopes that Hender would think of him as one of his tribe. At this point, Hender thinks "magic is as magic does" and finds Thomas to be ignorable until he acts. 

Camp is at the edge of the trees to the east of the valley. It cannot be seen from the ruins at the top of the valley, although people coming and going can be seen. Rety's stolen map shows the cave entrances and a small distance into each cave. She suspects it is not accurate. 

Punch and Lefty probe the valley floor, riding their horses along the northern edge. They encounter the kobolds in the trees near Cave A. I hate the wording of this encounter. There is a 2-in-6 chance they will come out of hiding and attack the party. Does that mean there is a 4-in-6 chance they remain in hiding, OR does that mean there is a chance they aren't there at all? I like the second option. Sometimes, the kobolds are simply not there. 

The kobolds threw rocks and garbage at Punch and Lefty. The Knights were assigned recon and kicked their horses away from the nasty bunch of kobolds. They ride south to escape along the hillside. On the way back, they note Cave E, which is not on the map. They also spot creatures inside Cave D, but they can't tell what they are. 

You never know what is in the shadows

Rety was excited about the discovery and had Punch and Lefty ride again, retracting their steps in the opposite direction. On this pass, Cave D appeared empty. They slowed near Cave E. They saw a hulking form in the back of the cave that convinced them to move faster. They wove their way through the trees around Cave G. An unwholesome smell spooked the horses, made worse by the appearance of several massive rats. They give their horses their heads, striking for the kobold caves again. 

Behind them, the striges' burst out of the cave in hot pursuit. 

The riders encountered a line of kobolds, scattering them. Although they don't know it, the Knights' ruckas brought the 8 kobold guards out of the cave, too. In turn, this brought the goblin guards and patrol out of Cave A. The Knights swung northward to escape the impeding melee, and the striges dove on the kobolds and goblins.

This is what the A Team spotted in the previous session from their perch at the top of the valley, but missed seeing Rety and the Knights due to the treecover. 

Rety was monitoring the Knights' progress from the end of the valley. She greeted them with excitement and praised their bravery all the way back to camp. Additionally, she treats everyone as if they had ridden to war with the Knights. Rety doesn't retire after a glorious dinner; she takes the first watch herself. A bunch of morale dice are thrown, and Rety wins the day. 

Thank you for sticking with me through this combat-free session. It is now time for the commercial. 

This particular image shows a list of songs, which you can find on YouTube Music. If you have an account, you can listen to the songs that make my brain go. This playlist is called "triphop by the light of the silver cords". I like to have a playlist to go along with my TTRPG games to set the mood. 

I'm not selling anything in this "commercial", it's just that it leads to YouTube Music.

9/11/25 update. 

I went on to refine the map of the ruins as a drawing. 

 

The Keep on the Borderlands 2025 - Session 2 How it Should have Been

Keep on the Borderlands is one of my favorites, you don't have it follow the link. If you click that link, you'll get the DriveThruRPG page to purchase the module. 

You can read session 0-1 here. There is also a post on observations and rationales for things here. The second post explains why I made many of the choices I did. 

For Session Two, we will follow the former hirelings, Rety, Punch, and Lefty at the Keep. They are flush with cash and ready to find adventure. Lety is in the drover's seat and knows what she wants. Punch and Lefty are all geared up and love their new equipment. They are the core of The B Team. 

Rety uses her drover skills to locate some horses. More importantly, she trades on her clan skills. She finds a family of drovers selling horses. She selects two older, but healthy draft horses for Lefty and Punch. She takes a headstrong pony for herself. That costs The B Team 150 gps. This premium cost nets them something extra. The seller was willing to tag along with his two daughters to care for the horses while the B Team adventures in the Caves of Chaos. They have their own ponies. 

This horse is 18 hands. Ponies are smaller.

Just an aside, a pony is a smaller horse. It is approximately 14 hands tall, which is suitable for riding but not for carrying burdens, such as treasure. Rety knows this and wants their speed and doesn't care about carrying capacity. That is what the draft horses are for. Draft horses are huge, suitable for a man in armor to ride, but they are unable and unwilling to let someone fight while riding. That's fine for Lefty and Punch; they don't know how to fight from horseback anyway. 

Rety is looking for something else: Security. She needs to hire a cleric or healer. Being world-savvy, she gravitates to the Loan Bank, looking for someone down on their luck. She skips over a bunch of gamblers, farmers, and other people seeking loans and targets a poor, down-on-his-luck travelling priest. Thomas of the Fen agrees to join the group for 25 gps a month, plus a share of the treasure. 

This has taken all of 48 hours, and the B Team is almost ready to leave. Throughout this shopping excursion, Rety keeps everyone well lubricated with beer. A chance happening allows the B Team to round out their party. The barman's son takes a shine to the drover's daughters, and it is decided that the barman and his son will join the party for 10 gps a month plus a share of treasure. 

B Team spends another 100 gps on supplies like boots, sacks for treasure, cloaks, rations, etc. 

All of this has taken the B Team about 4 days. They will set off for the Caves of Chaos on the morning of Day 5 since the encounter with the Hermit.

It's time to name names. B Team is made up of: 

Rety, Punch, Left, Thomas, and the Barman Hender. In order, they are a Thief, 2 fighters, a second-level Cleric, and another Fighter. Everyone but the Cleric is first level. 

Bela, Liz, Sonny (real name is Henderson), and Simon round out the party. They are the two drover girls, the son of Hender the barkeep, and the drover girl's father. 

A treed ridge-line, Mt. Prospect, NY

Back to the Original Scoobies, disaster in progress. 

Let's give them names: the Ranger is Pavel, Dunkin the Half-Elf, Dorian the Cleric, Slammer the Fighter,  Belaphon is the magic-user, and Solvo the Elf. I should have named them from the get-go. 

The A Team is not having fun. They are slogging through the forest ridge at a very slow pace. Worse, Rety took their map. As a reminder, the party thought a contour line on the map was a road. They know if they follow this line, they will get to the Caves of Chaos. Occasionally, the Ranger can sight the river or road below by climbing trees. Pavel won't let them get lost. 

The A Team ends up spending a full day on the forest ridge, unsure of how far away from the Caves they are. The next morning, they break into the clearing surrounding The Caves of the Unknown. Since they saw six deer, and the area is heart-shaped, they called it The Hart. The party breaks in two to search the perimeter of The Hart. Magic-User sacrifices one of their magic items for safety. Belaphon breaks the Eyes of the Eagle into two lenses so the groups can watch each other from afar. 

The search was cut short as they made it to the north-eastern side of The Hart, nearest the valley of the Caves. I decided to throw in a little detail, the foundation of some sort of small tower or manor house. On the western side of the ruins, they find a collapsed cistern. The ruins are a 20-foot square with two 40-foot squares to the north and south. The center section does have the remains of a low wall on the western side. The party guesses the ruins are hundreds of years old.

A cave mouth, Panama Rocks, NY.

It makes a nice camp. As the sun sets, the A Team is now 3 days out from the encounter with the Hermit. After this boring break, days 4 and 5 will involve some combat.

At around midnight on day 3, the party hears gongs and drums in the distance. This was a ceremony from cave K. They couldn't determine where the noise came from, and nothing much happened. Day 4 has the party searching the ruins and finding nothing. As the sun sets and the party settles down, they have their first encounter. 

Belaphon and Dunkin alert the party with a light spell. Giant bats or something are approaching the camp from the valley. The characters armed with bows take the four corners of the ruins, while Belaphon and Dorian take the center, with a huge pile of throwing rocks and sling stones. The 5 flying creatures scream in. 

The party has the initiative, and missiles fly. All but one arrow finds its mark, plus Dunkin scores a hit with his sling. Belaphon doesn't throw a rock due to the distance. Three creatures fall from the sky as the last two dive on Pavel. Pavel has no armor on, but receives +2 due to cover and another +2 for Dex. One of the creatures strikes for 3 points of damage, while the other wheels around for another attack next round. 

"Stirges!" shouts Pavel. The party has initiative again, but the Stirge has locked on Pavel and sucks away 3 more hp before anyone can act. Pavel kills it with his dagger. 

Three more arrows fly, but only one hits. The last stirge with one hit point left retreats over the trees. Pavel is down to 9 hp, so Dorian casts heal on him. Pavel regains 4 hp, bringing him to 13. I should have mentioned that the Belaphon was back to full health. 

About 30 minutes later, two more stirges appear wheeling in the distance. The party lights a huge bonfire about 50 feet in front of them. What the party doesn't know is that six stirges are circling, but they only see two at a time. Belaphon and Dorian do their best to study while the rest of the party stands guard. The stirges retreat at dawn. 

Slammer and Pavel attempt to track them, but lose sight of them as they enter the valley to the east. The party spends day 5 resting up while Solvo the elf brings back a deer for dinner. 

The evening proceeds the same way as the prior day, with the gongs and drums sounding at midnight, followed by the stirges buzzing but not attacking the party. Since the party was using bonfires, the B Team saw the light from the other end of the valley. It makes them very cautious, to the point of backing away and south of the valley. 

On day six, the party has used their ropes of climbing to descend into the valley and has located the entrances to K, I, and in the distance, they can make out entrances D and E. The party pushes into K, expecting the stirges. 

They are shocked to see 8 zombies shuffling towards them. No one is surprised, and the party has initiative. Dorian rolls well and turns 5 of the eight zombies. Arrows strike all three of the still advancing undead. The zombies have 2, 4, and 6 hp left as they melee the party. Pavel, Slammer, and Solvo are all hit. I decide that Belaphon can attack last and strike with his dagger, which does 2 points of damage. 

Here is the scorecard: the zombies have 2, 4, and 4 hp left. Pavel and Slammer have 12 and 19 hp, respectively. Solvo was hit for 2 hp damage, which was eaten up by his armor. 

The zombies attack last, so the party goes first again. Belaphon and Dorian miss. Slammer, Solvo, and Pavel make good rolls. Slammer splatters zombie brains everywhere. Dunkin rips down a second zombie with his sword. The last zombie misses, and in the next round, it goes down quickly. 

The fighting men sheath their weapons and move to recover their dropped bows and arrows while the Cleric and Magic User search bodies. Belaphon casts light on a rock to help in the search. The party examined zombies' amulets and meat cleaver-like weapons and believed them to be magical. 

A minute or two later, Belaphon hears something. He throws his rock, and it sails over the heads of 8 more zombies. Worse, it lights up room 53, where the 5 turned zombies are milling about. 

It will take the zombies two rounds to reach the party. Dorian attempts to turn them and is shocked to find it doesn't work at all, despite a very passable roll. The archers try a different tactic. They target just two of the zombies with arrows. All four arrows hit, and two zombies go down. 

In this round, the party backs up a bit as they target the zombies again. This slow retreat keeps the zombies out of reach for this round, too. Dorian makes a terrible turn roll again, and the 6 undead shamble on. Three arrows hit, but none of the zombies go down. 

Decision time. By backing up, the party can stay just out of reach of the zombies this round. In the next round, the zombies will be upon them. The party splits up, Dorian and Belaphon retreat to the entrance to look for anyone sneaking up on them, while everyone else readies their melee weapons and charges. Three zombies go down. The remaining three hit Dunkin and Solvo. 

Zombies: 4, 8, and 8 hp. Pavel has 12, Slammer is at 19, and Solvo has 6 hp. 

Belophon and Dorian spot two different things: first, they see a pair of knights and several attendants at the mouth of the valley. This is the B Team. Lefty and Punch are misidentified as knights since they are wearing the plate armor they stole from the party. Second, they see the stirges circling high over the valley. They back up, hoping nothing saw them. 

Two more zombies are down while the third hits Slammer. Pavel has 12 hp, Slammer is at 15 hp, and Solvo has 6 hp. 

A halfling with a bow.

The stirges dive towards the cave entrance as the last zombie goes down. The party quickly moves to the hallway leading to room 53, the guardroom. Dorian warns the party that if they threaten the zombies, they will attack. Not having much of a choice, they stay in the hall and let fly with missiles. One zombie goes down to arrows and sling stones. A second is injured by a magic missile. In the next round, two more go down, and a third is injured. There are just two injured zombies left. It only takes a moment for the party to take the remaining two down. 

Belaphon grabs the rock that is shedding light and pockets it just in time. There is a flurry of wings as stirges go by and enter Room 52. Dorian quietly heals Solvo, restoring 5 hp. 

After about 20 minutes, stirges leave the cave complex. Another few minutes... the party advances to The Hall of Skeletons. From the doorway, they see the skeletons and decide not to venture into the room. They gather the zombie weapons and amulets and beat a retreat. As they climb back up the wall of the valley, they can see some sort of skirmish on the valley floor. There are two types of humanoids fighting each other while the stirges opportunistically attack both. There is no sign of the B Team. 

The party returns to the ruins to lick their wounds. They received 452 exp for the monsters, plus they have 16 amulets and 16 battle axes. I deem all of the battle axes are worth 272 gp, and the amulets are worth 400. That is 187 exp per character. I round to 200 each. So far, the A Team has earned 240 per character by session 2. They have surpassed the B Team's 216 experience points. 

Thanks for holding on for this very, very long post.

Observations from The Keep on the Borderlands 2025 Session 0 and 1

In order to get into these two sessions, there were really two sessions. I rolled up some characters using the Old-School Essentials NPC by Class Generator. Once I had the characters selected, I got into play.

If you want to play this one set of rules, check out the following free set at DTRPG. I got the Kickstarter boxed sets a year or two back, and those are not available right now. 

You can approximate them with 3 books: The Referee's Advanced Tome and The Advanced Player's Tome, OR you could pick up the digital core book bundle. Again, these are links to DriveThru to buy digital books. These purchases result in remuneration to me.  

For part one, I don't know how the NPC Generator rolls for stats. Once I post my character sheets, it will become obvious that the stats are out of whack. If I saw a stat of 10 or under, I rerolled it. If I got a score that was higher, I replaced it. But I only tried once. Then I shifted stats around. I didn't honor any rules for doing this; I rearranged the stats as I saw fit. 

Then I handed the characters a bunch of cash. I gave them one weapon, one piece of armor, and a backpack full of camping gear. Then I rolled the OSE standard 3d6x10 for gold. 

Once the mundane task of acquiring equipment was done, I went through the Treasure books and selected 15 items from the lists. At the front of the list, I selected 5 things I didn't mind having duplicates of, and then repeated those items at the end so that I had an even 20 items. Those 5 items were a Cloak of Defense, a Rope of Climbing, a Bag of Holding, a potion of healing, and a scroll with 3 spells. The list was rounded out with various oddities, like shield +1, armor +1, Eyes of the Eagle, Bracers of Defense, a collection of various potions and rings, and so on.  

I rolled 3 times for each character. If I rolled an item that appeared only once, I crossed it out, and the next player to roll that number got nothing. They didn't do too bad, scoring 15 of 18 possible items. You'll notice that I didn't have any magical weapons. That was on purpose; it skews things too quickly in combat at low levels. 

On to the actual session. Once I had my 6 characters, I picked 3 NPCs. They were Punch, Rety, and Lefty. I didn't even bother to stat them except for HP and AC. I do love giving NPCs personalities of their own, not so much to harass the players but to make them think. 

I wrote a book called Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners that covers BX and AD&D NPCs extensively. I am currently rewriting it for OSE. This title is Pay What You Want. 

I am vaguely amused when a titled product is subverted by the players. "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" has no real thieves, the Zoomer in Stranger Things, and this time, a "Keep on the Borderlands" that no one actually stops at. I could see experienced players doing this, thinking they know better. 

The next subversion was a road. They could have used it, but made the assumption that a contour line was another road. It worked. It goes exactly where they want it to, but not in any reasonable way. 

I planned out the encounter with the Hermit and mountain lion in exactly the way the party was expecting, but they didn't really expect it. I see this as a common trope among players. Let's do something so normal and customary and assume it will work. 

All players who use a marching order pack the center with the squishy characters to protect them. Which this ambush didn't respect. The mountain lion was described as being agile, able to leap and bound. Running down the tight space between trees and players is reasonable. And it went right for the 2 people not wearing armor. It is familiar with humans and knows the guys without armor will cast magic. 

I have a rule of thumb that was borne out in this scenario. In melee, a creature will last one round for every 3.5 hp it has. And the mountain lion did that perfectly. He was projected to last 4.28 rounds against the party. 

On the other hand, he was barely able to hurt one character. But what he did on the way to that goal was a lot. He surprised the rear guard and only got hit once. It foiled an attack by the man-at-arms by spooking the mule. He forced the Cleric to drop his weapon and stopped other characters from shooting into melee. Finally, the lion bit the MU twice before being taken out. That one creature tied up 9 characters for several rounds, allowing the Hermit to kill one guy. 

Sure, that last character didn't stay dead, but it counted for something later. 

When the party decided to sack down for the night in the Hermit's abode, it forced a morale check. There was no way the NPCs weren't going to beat feet for the safe walls of the Keep. And why not take some treasure for your trouble? 

Ironically, that made the NPCs the winners.