X2 - Castle Amber 2026 - Session 3.1 Be Strength and Warning and Speed Forever

Let's take a moment to stat up Gabby's familiar, a giant rabbit named Gronk. 

Gronk: 

AC 6, HD 1/2, hp 7, #AT Special, D None, Save As Gabby, ML 10

Gronk has several special abilities.

He can identify plants at will. This ability can detect decay, poison, and other unsafe conditions. His armor class reflects his high speed. Gronk has more HP than normal thanks to his bonding with Gabby. Gronk rolls his own initiative at a +3 every melee round. He is surprised only on roll of 1. 

He can move at 240'/80' for up to 10 rounds. He can also deadstop at those speeds, allowing him to run and hide in shadows in the same round. He has a 50% chance to hide in the shadows, but is more likely to hide behind something rather than in the shadows. He can listen at doors on 1-5, an ability he extends to Gabby. Gronk, like all rabbits, can see better in the dark than humans. This is another ability he extends to Gabby.

Gronk is not terribly inclined to listen at doors. He finds it weird and unrabbit-like. When he identifies plants, he expects to eat. 

Gronk has no attacks. If he wins initiative, he can blow through humanoid opponents, meaning he can always escape combat in any direction he wishes. He cannot do the same to other creatures or animals.

Gabby can cast spells through him, as if the spell originated at his location. I don't know where this rule came from. It is not in the from Timothy Brannon's books. This ability is something I have always done for Magic-Users, but I don't know where I got the idea from. This ability does permit Gronk and other familiars to make attack rolls to touch someone if required by the spell. Gabby believes it's wrong to cast a harmful spell (blight, charm, cause light wounds, etc.) using Gronk as a conduit. Evil Witches and Magic-Users do not suffer from this limitation. 

All of the rest of Gronk's "abilities" tend to fall in the category of "being a rabbit" and will be explained as they occur. They don't affect combat as they are flavoring.  

Alexei and Lance followed Gabby through the door to the Indoor Forest. Gronk thumped in warning. 

"Hey, your guys are here," said Gronk. 

"Am I hearing things?" Lance asks Alexei. 

"Of course you are, I'm talking to you," said Gronk. 

Alexei, being an Elf and a Bard, succeeded in not looking surprised, but couldn't think of a response. Gabby saved him from his silence. 

"Hey, what did I tell you about sitting in the grass?" asked Gabby. 

"The killer trees will magically appear and try to kill me," answered Gronk before thumbing in mock alarm. As if summoned, tenticles appear on the right side of the path, with a third appearing behind Gabby on the left. 

Characters in Purple, Killer Trees in Red

Roll for initiative! 

Lance and Alexei had their bows ready and went first. They target the tree accosting Gronk. They easily hit, severing two of four limbs. The remaining limbs missed the rabbit. The second tree retracts its limbs, frustrated by the bowmen. 

The next round saw the third tree also back off, as Gabby slowly walked out of reach. She set a large bowl-like shield down on the path and spread a large blanket to sit on. The Bard and Elf sent two more arrows after the tentacles, but missed. The tree flailed its limbs uselessly. 

The killer trees grumbled in frustration as Gabby began humming a tune. Pleased, Alexei sat down and pulled out his lute to play along. Gabby said nothing as she picked through a pile of harvested plants on the shield. The trees went silently, listening to the party. 

(Witches normally don't use shields. This is on loan from the rakasta so she can carry more plants.)

Gronk seated himself next to Gabby, placing himself between the herbs and the two strangers. Sorting through her plants, she distractedly placed some in front of Gronk. The rabbit muttered the name of each as he grazed from the offerings. 

"Mint... Ooh, clover. Nice," he said. 

Lance gawked at the rabbit, causing Alexei to elbow him. Not sure what to do, Lance pawed through his pack, pulling some rations and two wineskins out. As an afterthought, he pulled an apple out.  

"My name is Gabriella Durant," she said. "Such kindness is appreciated. You wouldn't happen to have some meat in there?"  

"For the rabbit?" he asked. 

"No. For the trees, silly." 

Lance shrugged, pulled some jerky out and sniffed it. "Do trees here normally eat meat?" 

"Unfortunately, yes," she answered. 

"Ahem," said Alexei, nodding to Lance without missing a beat in the tune he played. 

"Oh," said Lance. He stood and pulled off his sword, placing it between himself and Gabriella before settling back to his knees. "My name is Lance, man-at-arms of the Lady Khouri. My companion is Alexei Gleeman." 

Gabby responded by placing her silver dagger on top of Lance's sword. "Well met, kind sirs." 

"Pfft," said Gronk. Gabby smiled and patted the rabbit on the head. 

"Sorry, my friend. Gentlemen, this is Mon Seigneur Gronk, Chevalier du Bois de Lilas, le Défenseur des Voies Anciennes et Secrètes." Neither man understood anything beyond the name, the severe tone, and the gravity of the title.  

Gronk honked at them before continuing his forging. 

"Allow me to offer such hospitality as I may, in this accursed place." She pulled out four small bowls and several thimble-sized cups. Lance offered her the wine, and she beamed. 

She cast the Ritual Spell, Bonds of Hospitality, upon them all and they all drank except for Gronk. 

"As the lord defender of the Witch, I may not be bound by such magic. Instead, I offer you my respect and care on the lady's behalf," said Gronk as he bobbled through a lagomorphic version of a bow. 

Gabriella removed Gronk's cup from the blanket, kissed it, and poured it into the grass as an offering to the forest. When she returned the cup to the blanket, Lance and Alexei solemnly bowed their heads, in respect of the sacrifice. Gronk repeated his odd bow to the lady before thumping in respect to the forest. 

"Peace and kindness to you and all you defend, great sir," Alexei said to the rabbit. "We thank you for your consideration." 

Gronk looked pleased. "They are so civil compared to the rakaska." 

Gabby shrugged, then placed some berries and leaves in each little bowl. The rabbit didn't seem to mind eating this. Once they were done, the ritual was complete. All participants are unable to engage in hostility for the next 24 hours, or they will be sickened. Except the rabbit, of course. 

Gabby gathered up her belongings, packing them away. She flicked through the herbs on the shield, selecting several large leaves. She gestured towards the jerky Lance had produced, and he handed them over. 

Unbeknownst to the men, the ritual included the two closest killer trees. Gabby took the jerky and leaves over to the wounded one and set them on the ground within its reach. It ate all of it and was healed. This one tree will ignore Gabby, Lance, and Alexei from here on out.

"You mentioned the rakaska. Are they the cat-men we saw?" asked Alexei. 

"Yes, I am in their employ. I keep them well and healthy," she waved, indicating the herbs she had collected. "However, I grow tired of this agreement." 

She pulled a large silver key on a chain from her tunic. "I wish to be free." 

If you like the Witch character I am using, thank Timothy S. Brannan. 

Please see the following links for DrivThruRPG: 

• The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition
• The Left Hand Path - The Diabolic & Demonic Witchcraft Traditions
• Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games
• The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games
• Cult of Diana: The Amazon Witch for Basic Era Games
• The Basic Witch: The Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition
• Witch Character Sheet - Folio

X2 - Castle Amber 2026 - Session 3 - Split the Party Quarce

There are a lot of good reasons not to split the party. In the last session, Lance and Alexei wandered off after a woman they saw. After a brief combat, the party spotted the Raskasta and split again. Merry and Nononn decided to confront the Raskasta to see where Lance and Alexei went. Rety and Jude led the rest of the party to the Indoor Forest before changing their minds and choosing a different course. Rety and Jude fixated on room 8, the obvious trap. 

Let us get to the fourth division of the party. 

Pizzaballa was sitting at the bottom of the stairs to the foyer. Black smoke poured from the double doors. He was watching the Demos Magen* with interest, trying to think of a name for each of them. One was rubbing down Jude's horse while the other watched rabbits frolicking in the grass. There was a mighty TH-ruHMP! as Jude and the gang threw another flask of oil at the slimes. 

"Burning flasks of oil do 1d8 per round of damage," said the Magen watching the rabbits. "That is an awful amount of damage for such a low-tech utility item." 

Pizzaballa shook his head, "We aren't supposed to talk about it. It's not in the spirit of the game. But I do get your point, kind sir." 

"Who says?" the other Magen asked. 

"'Who?' indeed," answered Pizzaballa. "If I may be so bold, may I call you 'Warren'?" 

The Magen looked pleased. "We would be pleased. Warren is a good name. Where does it come from?" he asked. 

"The French, I believe. People from Jean-Louis's homeland," said Pizzaballa. 

"Warren, Pizzaballa. What shall we be named?" The Magen had gone back to brushing down the horse. 

"Hmm. Good question." After a long minute, Pizzaballa offered, "Parker, I think 'Parker' is an excellent name for you." 

"I do like it. Where does it come from?" he asked. 

"Well, that is complicated. It started in Old French, then was adopted into Middle English. Many people would be familiar with it from a comic book character. His name was Peter." 

"I do not like Peter. I like Parker," said the second Magen. "What does it mean?" 

"Well, a parker one who watches or cares for animals," answered the Cleric. 

A sizzle came echoing from the doorway and the black smoke was softened by a gout of steam. 

"Do you really think the wet carpet will stop them from burning down the castle?" asked Parker.

Pizzaballa shrugged. "Maybe. I hope."  

Before this session, I ran a poll among the younglings I know. Room 8 held a gray ooze, a giant green slime, and a black puddling. It is a classic Gygaxian trap for the unwary. I also mention that I have run this module several times. The first time, the party avoided the trap with a 10-foot pole, as any good D&D player would. The second time, it was throwing objects, like the towels from room 6. After that, everyone immediately identified the ooze, the slime, and the pudding by description. 

I polled 7 players between 20 and 25 years of age. All 7 of them identified the threat from the description only and proposed throwing as much burning oil into the room as possible. Zero modern players are fooled by this scenario. 

To paraphrase Octavia Butler, "To be remembered is to be lied about." 

I have taken great liberties with this module. There are movies, French, Shakespeare, Old and Middle English, comic book characters, cell phones, etc., in these posts and sessions. This is because my campaign takes place in a fallen version of our world. I can do that. 

In running the poll, this scenario SEEMS not worth running. But is that true? 

No, this is the lie. No one has fallen for the obvious trick of setting foot in the room for four decades of my play experience. Since that is a fact and true, I have to ask, "What is the point of this scenario?" The obvious trap is not the purpose.  

Moldvay isn't Gary Gygax, but he wrote to his level and style, which includes some fairly deep thinking. Room 8 was meant to be a sink for resources. Look at my characters (click the link to see that post). I made mistakes when creating these characters and did not permit myself time or thought to properly equip the party. Even still, the party has access to 23 flasks of oil and dozens of torches. 

This scenario needs to be played out because I can't have the party walk into the Indoor Forest with the ability to unload 23d8 points of damage every round. They also cast some spells to give themselves an advantage, like bless and their remaining magic missile spells. 

This is why I let this play out as I did. I won't bore you with the details, but the gray ooze is the dangerous creature here. It has the fewest hit points but is faster and better protected than the slime and the black pudding. I used an Excel spreadsheet to run through the combat several times. The RND function is not great for dice rolls, but it is a close approximation. The longest fight took 8 rounds. But used up most of the party's oil and torches. 

Let's collect up treasure and experience: 3000 gp plus 1000 pp in coins. Thomas and Dorian decide to grant Pizzaballa the staff of healing. Jude is offered the sword. This is 888 exp per character. While Pizzaballa didn't participate in combat, he did engage in planning, so he received experience this time. 

Pizzaballa is now level 3. Sybil is a special case; she has the power of a 4th-level Magic-User, but only had 9851 exp due to the use of a wish spell. She is now earning experience towards 5th-level. 

Let me share this album, as it seems appropriate.  

This post is getting long, so we will visit with Gabby, Alexei, and Gabby in Session 3.1 and Nononn and Merry in 3.2. 

*Is Magen a collective noun? For the way I have been playing them up, I think it is appropriate. 

Taxing Times - An IRL Update and Session 2.5 Update

Real life is really interesting. I helped a friend get her Book Club going. I don't attend Book Club, but I help her vet books. I am reading a lot of books lately. Add in that the Buffalo Sabres are rocking it in the NHL and tax season, and I know I am gearing up for a posting rut. 

I will just have to power through it. 

Let's get this show on the road with Gabby the Witch, who was mentioned in my last post. Castle Amber has a weird and taxing structure for any DM. If you can successfully run this module, you can do anything. 

The structure of Castle Amber is a straight-up railroad. I've played it with others several times, maybe as many as 4 times. The players really enjoy it, so long as you lampshade the railroad. I can guess why this module is written as a railroad: you bought a module with the intention of running it. Therefore, there must be no deviation from actually running Castle Amber. 

That isn't the style of modern games, and to be honest, it was probably never sytle of B/X games, either.

I gave some suggestions to avoid the initial railroad back in Session 0. The railroad doesn't end when the characters enter the misty foyer; it is assumed throughout the whole story. It's structurally built into the scenario. In Session 1, the players encountered Jean-Louis. The way it is written, it seems like Jean-Louis will always be there in the same state the party left him in. The same happens in a bunch of encounters, and in the discovery of the key and the letter for those who would be free. Annoying, but a good DM can compensate for that with some minor changes. 

One of my minor changes is the introduction of the rakshasa. Because of repeated replays over the years, the rakashasa are more often than not neutral or friendly toward the party. I've decided on this run that they will be friendly again. My head canon for the rakshasa is that they are exiles and are using the unusual properties of the Castle to stay out of harm's way. 

That is where Gabby comes in. She is a hierling of the rakashasa and didn't sign up to live in a castle trapped in time. She wants out. She is one who would be free. Gabby knows what must be done because the rakashasa shared the letter/scroll with her, but can't do it herself. This is where the party comes in. 

The witch character class is  from Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch. They have some cool abilities. She is a spell caster who can wear cloth, padded or leather armor, she has 1d4 hp per level and weilds a sling and a magic staff. Of course, she has a couple of daggers. Witches can heal with herbs and cast ritual magic. They also have their own spell list. At the 5th level, Gabby has 2 first-level spells, 2 second-level spells, a third-level spell, and 2 ritual spells. 

The rakshasa have given her tiger-claws, but she has no idea what to do with them. She made a couple of lanyards and uses the claws like clasps for her robes and a buckle for her belt. 

Currently, she has left the rakshasa on the mission for them and to check on her Familiar named Gronk in the Indoor Forest. I "decided" Gronk is a giant rabbit because I have a giant rabbit. 

Alexei and Lance have abandoned the party to follow her. Typical. 

The remaining party members know about the rakashasa in the Study, they know someone entered the Indoor Forest, and they know they haven't searched Room 8, Servant's Quarters. They detected the green slime in there, but since Alexei and Lance vanished, they have other fish to fry. This is where session three will pick up. 

As always, I am using my favorite B/X rules, Old School Essentials. You can grab the "Basic" set for free on DriveThru. It put Basic in quotes because the rules cover characters up to 14th level and has an attack matrix to 36th level. Obviously, you'll need X2 - Castle Amber. I also have an Oracle resource called OSR Solo. 

X2 - Castle Amber 2026 - Session 2 - Into the Breach

In session 1, the party retreated to the Castle's exterior to take stock. Merry, Jude, Rety, and Nononn make a plan of attack once the foyer doors open in the morning.  

Session 1.5 presented the character sheets. If you want to know what the party has, take a moment to review. 

The party obtained some treasure, but more importantly, received two Demos Magen who are now behaving oddly. They make the choice to leave them outside under the watchful eye of Pizzaballa while the rest of the team explores the northwestern corner of the castle. 

Rety checks the door just south of rooms 6, 7, and 8 and finds it unlocked. As the main party listens at door 8, there is a click. Alexei and Lance walked to room 6 and opened the door. Nononn has a caniption. While the team searches the linen closet, he orders the two green characters into the main hall to listen for Pizzaballa and keep watch on the approach. 

The party doesn't hear anything in room 8 and opens the door. They study the slime-encrusted room and decide that there is nothing of interest at the moment. They close the door. 

Rety believes she heard something in room 7, so the party arms itself for battle. In reality, she failed her roll and reacted to an imagined sound. 

Rety, Merry, and Kuri take a knee, bows drawn in 5 feet back from the door. Behind them, the magic-using characters stand ready to fling magic missiles over the bowmen's heads. Thomas and Dorian flank either side of the door to push it open. Behind the clerics, Jude and Nononn wait, weapons drawn. 

This is Kevin.

On the other side of the door, Ted turns to Bob and hisses, "Did you hear that?" 

Kevin waves 6 of his eight legs. "Someone's stealing our towels." 

The Arenea ready themselves for what will be known as The Battle of Soap and Towels. 

This is one of those odd times, where A) I wasn't going to do a commercial but now I am, and B) one module refers to another. Castle Amber refers the reader to X1, which features the Arenea as antagonists to the Phantons on the Isle of Dread.  

In this case, neither side will engage in movement. Everyone is locked and loaded. Thomas unlatches the door. Both Dorian and Thomas give it a good push. Initiative is simultaneous, and no one is surprised. 

I have decided I didn't like the Arenea's spells and gave them different ones, but it doesn't matter much. All three bow wielders target Bob and let fly. Not only is his spell foiled, but he drops dead. Kevin and Ted unleash Magic Missiles at the same time as Solvo, Sybil, and Belaphon. 

All of the magic users are hit and are slightly toasty. Since the party is making all kinds of noise, I roll for a wandering monster and get Raskasta. Alexei and Lance notice the largest Cat Man they have ever seen and retreat into the corner of the main hall, behind the double doors on the south wall. They are trying not to be seen. A group of five of them comes out of the Study. No one looks at Alexei and Lance.  

Round 2. The Arenea win initiative and take the fight vertical, skittering up the walls to the ceiling. Thomas, Dorian, Nononn, and Jude rush into the room. The two Arenea try to blind Nononn and Jude with continual light spells, but fail. Jude has a polearm and is able to take Ted off the ceiling. No one else can reach that high. 

The Magic Users fade southward, with Solvo guarding them. They both took heavy hits in the last round and are really annoyed. They don't realize Alexei and Lance are not visible. 

The party found better jewelry than this. 

The lead Raskasta gives a gruff command to a young woman and closes the door to the Study. The woman runs off down the hall to the Indoor Forest. 

Round 3. The bowmen advance into the room, and the party mops the floor with Kevin. Bel, and Sybil led by Solvo, stumble out into the main hallway to regroup as the rest of the party searches for more monsters hiding in the webs. They were tagged by one magic missile each, but sometimes Magic Users will play up their spells' power for the watching masses. 

Bel sees the door to the Indoor Forest close. He looks to Lance and Alexei, but they are nowhere to be found. Bel lets out a groan as Sybil runs to the foyer to check on Pizzaballa. 

The party splits again. Bel, leads Nononn, Solvo, and Rety to the doors to the Forest, bows ready. Sybil and Pizzaballa return to the southside of the main hall with Merry and his bow for cover. Kuri, Jude, Dorian, and Thomas continue to search the Arenea lair. 

Bel opens the door to the Forest. There is no one in sight. They communicate this the best they can with hand gestures to Merry's team. Jude collects up the treasure they find in the lair and returns to the team in the main hallway. 

Each character has gained 435 Experience, except Lance, Alexei, and Pizzaballa, who missed out on the combat. This closes up Session 2. I hope you enjoyed it.

X2 - Castle Amber 2026 - Session 1.5 - The Character Sheets

Here is the scorecard post. I should have started with a character list and character sheets. You know why? In Session 1, I put Lance at the front and in the last rank in the marching order. Dummy. Tracking 13 characters is a beast. 

These are PDF files from my Google Drive account. You don't need an account to download them

1. Merry the Halfling, Paladin
2. (Ana) Khouri, Post Human, Fighter
3. Lance, Human, Fighter
4. Alexei, Elf, Bard
5. Pizzaballa, Elf, Cleric
6. Nodonn, Human, Fighter
7. Solvo, Elf
8. Thomas, Cleric
9. Jude (aka Punch), Knight
10. Rety, Thief
11. Dorian, Cleric 
12. Sybil, MU
13. Belaphon (aka Bel), MU

There are also Demos Magen with the party now. They do not have character sheets. 

If I had posted these earlier, I would have successfully completed my #CharacterCreationChallenge. As it stands, I am still a few short. 

Before we go further, let's have the overt DriveThruRPG commercial: 

I use Necrotic Gnome's Old-School Essentials. I picked up the boxed sets from a Kickstarter. You can approximate this with two titles: The Referee's Tome and The Player's Tome. Or you could taste test it with the Basic Rules. These are free. 

Exactly why I haven't been posting links to X2 Castle Amber is beyond me. I've been nattering on about it for weeks. 

When I posted Session 0, I listed the characters' levels. I didn't do that this time because modules like X2 put the characters in a sweet spot where low-level characters rapidly catch up with somewhat higher-level characters due to the taking of gold. The party won 10,000 gps from Jean-Louis D'Amberville in Session 1. 

In adapting this for my table, I have solved the railroad problem by allowing the characters to retreat to a point of safety outside of the Foyer. That's cool. However, the module was written as a railroad and doesn't take into account that if you subvert that point, the party could return to Jean-Louis's Salon over and over again. 

Should 10,000 gps and 3 more Magen be available every time? 

Yes-No. Jean-Louis and his Magen should be there, but should not offer a match to the players each time. At least not for money. That would be game-breaking because dumping 10,000 gps on the party would send their levels through the roof in short order. 

Here is a handy post where I compare all of the character level charts from OSE. Since OSE doesn't have the concept of "Challenge Rating", you can use this chart to quickly determine how much experience is too much to hand out. It doesn't help with creating a combat scenario, but it will stop you from throwing too much cash at the party in one go. It also helps you determine how quickly low-level characters can catch up to higher ones and what classes will rapidly level. 

Jude (formerly known as Punch) had this issue. In the B2 sessions, he struggled to keep up because he obtained most of his experience from combat, not treasure. In B/X, limiting the treasure is the best way to keep characters in a certain regime of play. 

I don't know if we'll see Jean-Louis later, but I have a couple of ideas about how I would play him. He was a pomus ass at first, then morphed into a gamer and gambler. The next time the party sees him, I suspect he will act like a trainer, a promoter, and a coach. He should stay interesting, but slightly annoying, so the party doesn't get stuck. This is why I gave him a cell phone in the last session. Players would catch the meta of a pre-republic French dude trying to be an Instagram influencer. That's fun. 

I believe I'll have time to post again on Saturday or Sunday. 

X2 - Castle Amber 2026 - Session I - Free Time. Get Your Patter on!

In modern role-play, Castle Amber is challenging. There are so many moving parts, and the module is presented as a straight-up railroad. 

In Session 0, I suggested that the DM either dispense with the mist/fog to stop the railroad. Or present it as a mysterious force that stymies the party. The module was written for an unknown cast of players and makes the obvious assumption that one purchased X2 to play X2. That requires the author to turn it into a railroad. 

At your table, the motivation to explore Castle Amber can be different, specific to your campaign world. Therefore, you don't need to push so hard. 

I have given these characters a version of "Horse Heaven", so that they feel safe in proceeding into the castle, and the question of the mist never came up. After setting up camp, the party walked right into the adventure. 

Theoretically, the party could explore all of the castle without being forced or arm-twisted into slogging through the whole adventure. At least until they reach the gates to Averoigne. Then they are trapped.

The entry to Averoigne wouldn't be a surprise. They can back out, up until that moment.  

This does present some flex in your campaign world. If the party can back out of Castle Amber, why can't other parties find it, too? That is where you need to get creative and make something different or special happen to the characters. 

Anyway, let's get into Session 1. 

The party has opted to enter the Grand Salon with Jean-Louis D'Amberville. If you opted for the railroad option, this is your first challenge. Most modern players would question Jean-Louis about the situation. I dodged that here by allowing the players to retreat to a safe zone. 

Nononn is fully suited in his ghostie armor and throws open the door. 

"Marvelous! Enchanting!" exclaims Jean-Louis. "Take it off! And step in the ring, please." 

Nononn's ghostie armor should cause fear, but the D'Amberville family is highly magical and bat-shit crazy. I figured I'd put a lampshade on that from the get-go. That would give players a nice meta-jolt. 

The party exchanges a few questions, while Jean-Louis encourages one of them to get in the ring with his Magen. Jean-Louis really wants Nonnon to be the first. Jean-Louis's bet is his suit of armor vs. the ghostie armor. As per the instructions, he also offers side bets. There is a lot of gold here, and therefore a lot of experience on the line. 

The Magen is not much of a challenge to an equal-level character like Nononn, who is 4th level. This is because most characters with high strength, dexterity, and constitution have bonuses. What hinders the party is the fact that they don't know the Magen's stats, plus they have the opportunity to throw in the towel, whether the combatant wants it or not.  

The challenge for the DM is managing a large party watching a single combat. I would sort the party by PLAYER demeanor. Those who want to fight go into one group, those who want to gamble go into another group, and those who are not interested in either of those go into the third group. 

Before we go much further, let's have the overt commercial: 

I use Necrotic Gnome's Old-School Essentials. I picked up the boxed sets from a Kickstarter. You can approximate this with two titles: The Referee's Tome and The Player's Tome. Or you could taste test it with the Basic Rules. These are free. 

I mention this because this combat uses non-standard rules per the module. PC's do 1 or 2 HP of damage while the Magen does 1-3. Any time a combatant does max damage, there is 5% chance of a KO. Being reduced to zero kills a combatant. Each boxing round is 6 normal combat rounds, and there are 5 boxing rounds. Mechanically, we are talking 30 initiative rolls and 60 to hit rolls. This is why I split up the party into 3 groups.  

I use one house rule at all times, which means I can't take it back for this scenario. All characters, including monsters, can go to -10 hp before dying. It makes death virtually impossible in this scenario. It also sets up a dramatic twist later. There is a second house rule in play that I will mention later.* 

Those interested in boxing are engaged with Nononn, and Nononn's player can ask other players to make his die rolls if he wishes. Gamers are a superstitious lot and may want to switch who rolls and what dice are used for luck. They also get to throw in the towel for Nonnon, even against his wishes. This keeps them busy. 

The gamblers are verbally engaged with Jean-Louis, making bets and throwing taunts. You want to have snappy patter going for them. 

The last group will take over the DM's role and will roll the dice for the Demos Magen, including throwing in the towel. This sets up a little friendly hostility because they can screw the party with random die rolls or save the party by throwing in the party. Jean-Louis will meta-shit-talk them if they throw the towel without a good reason. 

By breaking the party up into different groups, you get everyone engaged rather than 1 person rolling dozens of times while everyone else watches. 

Remember, I mentioned that a like-level fighter has an advantage in this combat? That is not entirely true. They only have an advantage if they know the Magen's hit points. And only the group rolling the dice knows the Magen's hit points, and I ask them not to reveal them on pain of forfeit. They need this information so they know when to throw in the towel. 

*My second house rule that is always in effect is "Just say it". If a player is discussing gameplay and tactics, but not speaking for their characters, they can use numbers and such. If they flip it around and have the characters speak about HP or levels, I'll break the fourth wall and mock them. This is important for this boxing match because it clues in the party as to Nononn's state of health. 

Nononn doffs his armor and gets in the ring. The other two Magens signal the start of the match by stamping their feet. To make the insanity of the situation complete, the floating wizard's eyes appear, and Jean-Louis orders his Magens to cheer. I want the vibe to be Heath Ledger's William Thatcher vs. Heath Ledger's Joker. And here we have it. 

Nononn is a beast of a fighter. He has more hit points, is harder to hit than the Magen, and he has a plus one to damage and to hit. At the end of the first round of boxing (six combat rounds), the Magen is down to 18 HP from 29, plus Nononn tags him for both a 20 to hit plus max damage at the end of the first. The Magen avoids being KO'ed. Nononn has 22 hp left. 

In the middle of the second round, things go south for the party. The Magen rolls a pair of 20's in a row, rocking Nononn. He takes damage and rolls 94% and 06% to avoid being knocked out. 

Remember what I said about players being a superstitious lot? Due to a fluke of the dice, Nononn happened to roll within one of the top five or bottom five on a 1d100. The team got spooked and threw in the towel. That's not how random or die rolls work, but that is the choice they made. Players do this all the time, but shouldn't. 

Annoyed, Nononn climbs out of the ring, glaring at his friends. The party heals Nononn and more than a few characters ask for double or nothing. 

Jean-Louis suits up in the ghostie armor and asks the party, "Do you really have enough for double or nothing?"  

They do not. They do have 2500 gps and Jean-Louis bets his suit of +2 chainmail against them. Ana replaces Nononn in the ring. Jean-Louis orders one of the guardian Magens to take the place of the slightly banged-up Magen. 

If anyone asks, the ghostie armor has turned into something unusual, but completely normal plate armor once Jean-Louis dons it. It is essentially non-magical now. 

Ana and the Magen survive round one and round two, but the Magen goes down in round 3. Pleased, the Nononn accepts the +2 chainmail and suits up. 

Back in December, I posted about my first and second run through of X2. And I would like to incorporate an event that happened decades ago. The party in that session healed the Demos Magenes they defeated, and a perplexed Jean-Louis asked: 

"Why would you do that? They are just automata. A thing." 

Jean-Louis is still super excited and dismisses the banged-up Magens to the corner, like broken toys. But he hasn't had this much fun in a long time, so he wants to go again. The third Magnus takes off his armor and gets in the ring. 

The gang of gamblers wants to go big. In addition to the 2500 gps the party has, they offer a pair of +1 daggers, a +1 short sword, a bag of holding, and a cloak of elven kind as a wager. 

"My, my. You are suddenly very rich, and perhaps on a winning streak." 

The healed but bruised Demos groans at the condescending tone. He is now ashen, instead of the golden tone he started with. The party dismisses it as not remembering correctly, and Jean-Louis ignores the automata entirely. 

The floating eyes examine the groaning creature, then the party's wager. After an oddly one-sided conversation with the eyes, Jean-Louis gives back the party bag of holding and bets 10,000 gps against the party's wager. Everyone is all smiles as Merry starts to strip off his armor. 

Jean-Louis bellows, "Bravo!" and the party turns around. Jude, armor off, is standing in the middle of the ring. 

"What a fine challenge this will be. The lightning bruiser against the magical automata!" Jean-Louis is not wrong. "Perhaps, you would like to accept my offer of magical preparation? I wish I had ordered food and libations for this." He pulls out a cell phone, but having no data here, puts it away. 

Thomas enters the ring and bestows a blessing on Jude, who kneels to accept it. Jude has an 18 strength. He now has a +4 to hit and damage thanks to the spell. But he only has 18 hit points vs. the Magen's 29 HP. Rety and Bel consult each other as Sybil uses her magical Cloak of Wondrous Items to produce a pig on a spit.

Jean-Louis claps and 2 of his creatures approach to assist him out of his not-so-ghostie armor. The ashen Magen is nearly useless in this task, and Thomas takes an interest in him. It removes a guantlet and stops to examine it. The other Magen completes the task before it is finished.  

After everyone is situated with food and drink, Jean-Louis asks if they are ready. 

Rety replies, "Almost," then nods to Sybil. 

"Wait!" shouts Jude as Sybil casts invisibility on him. Jean-Louis is not amused and mutters something about cheaters being drawn and quartered. The Wizard Eyes flutter around the boxing ring. The eyes face each other, bouncing up and down as if having an animated conversation. 

The challenging Magen vanishes, as one of the eyes casts invisibility on it. 

Jean-Louis chuckles appreciative and says, "With that, I believe we are ready." 

For drama, Invisibility isn't canceled by attempting to attack. It's the rolling of damage that causes the spell to end. The first round of boxing doesn't go well. Jean-Louis roars with laughter as the two combatants stumble around the ring trying to find each other. Jude utters an oath, and the Magen fixates on his location. Jude moves, and the ring quakes as the Magen strikes the turnbuckles.

The party seems to be ok with this turn of affairs, continuing to engage with their host. The food and libations go down fast.  The round ends, and the opponents retreat to their corners and the merriment continues. 

The second round is a stunner. Both fighters come out of their corners swinging, and as a consequence, both drop their invisibility spells. The Magen strikes on each swing, but does poorly with damage rolls. When Jude hits, he rocks the Demos Magus hard. 

They move on to the third and final round. Jude is staggered by a series of hits, stumbling around with one hit point left. The Knight pulls himself up and chases the Demos Magen now. Jean-Louis considers throwing the towel. Jude unloads 3 powerful hits to finish the fight. 

The party cheers, and Jude comes out of the ring. They collect their winnings as Jude asks to retreat from this horrible place to rest. Thomas, Merry, and Dorian pour on the healing spells as the party cleans up. They have decided to exit Castle Amber and rest until the next morning. 

Jean-Louis says, "Bonne journée," as they collect their winnings and equipment. They smile and make for the door. The madman groans and asks, "So, you don't clean up after yourselves?" 

Sybil laughs and smiles as she turns to recover the empty spit. Lance packs up the food, but Nononn and Thomas are dismayed. 

Jean-Louis is pointing at the two Magens who received healing. Both have lost their golden luster and no longer respond to the man's orders. They dumbly allow themselves to be led out by Nononn and Thomas. 

The party has won 10,000 gps and a +2 suit of armor. 

In the yard outside the foyer, one Magen mumbles, "We don't remember our name." 

Name by the Goo-Goo Dolls. 

X2 - Castle Amber 2026 - Session 0

It is time to begin. This is the introductory post of my solo play-through of Castle Amber. I grabbed a copy just before Christmas from DriveThruRPG, and you can, too. Click the link. 

I am using the Old School Essentials rule set. For the most part, these are available on Drivethru. You might like the Rule Tome, or you can carry on with whatever old-school D&D product. I've played it with AD&D e1, B/X, BECMI, and RC. There is no real reason to change what you are comfortable with. None of these rule changes should break X2. 

Carry on as you see fit. 

I have already outlined the characters that will be adventuring in Castle Amber in this post. The party is loaded towards physical combat, having only 2 Magic Users and 3 Clerics. Two elves give the party a little more magic. For brevity, I will simply list all 13 characters:

1. Merry the Halfling, Paladin, 4th level
2. (Ana) Khouri, Post Human, Fighter, 4th level
3. Lance, Human, Fighter, 1st level
4. Alexei, Elf, Bard, 2nd level
5. Pizzaballa, Elf, Cleric, 2nd level
6. Nodonn, Human, Fighter, 4th level
7. Solvo, Elf, 3rd level
8. Thomas, Cleric, 3rd level
9. Jude (aka Punch), Knight, 2nd level
10. Rety, Thief, 3rd level
11. Dorian, Cleric, 3rd level
12. Sybil, MU, 4th level
13. Belaphon (aka Bel), MU, 3rd level

I said the magic words: Comfort and Brevity. This is not a good combination. You should be comfortable with the rules you are using, which is why I suggest your favorite because you will know them best. X2 launches with a railroad. The characters find themselves in the 1. The Foyer. There is no path but forward. This is where brevity hurts. 

There is no way the author could know what type of campaign you run, so it goes into a default railroad scenario. This might not be necessary for your campaign setting and style of play. First, you can ditch the railroad entirely by landing your characters in the Foyer, but not subjecting them to the mist. This is easy enough, but you have to know your players, not the characters. The presentation you use might put a bug in their bonnet to explore Castle Amber without the nasty wall of mist to force them. It's your world, and Castle Amber can sit idle until the party takes the challenge. You can wait them out. 

Or you can go all Fifth Edition and declare a "one-shot" where Castle Amber is the ONLY adventure for a series of sessions. 

For my session 0, I am going to lay out a cosy-catastraphe scenario. The party has wandered to the castle in the dark, and is brought up short by locked doors to the Foyer. The doors unlock in the daytime. The party sets up camp for the night. 

In the dark, exploration is limited to an area of 200 or 300 feet east, west, and south. In my campaign world, I limit nighttime activities, and I would not present any wandering monsters or other suggestions they should explore at night. 

In the morning, they will be able to either try to get out of the area and fail or proceed willingly into the Foyer. If they explore the environs, the trail approaching the castle goes south for a few hundred feet and turns. It is entirely hemmed in by trees. 

Proceeding around the bend will result in the party stumbling back to the castle. A perplexing mystery. If they wander into the trees, they will encounter the fog and mist as described in X2, with one change. Animals won't wander into the mist, and the mist hides a dense forest. 

It is like the box to the right. Not particularly notable or scary, just odd. 

Next, the area around the entrance to the foyer has fruit trees, berries, grass, two troughs of water filled by a fountain, and two wall-mounted hay racks. There are also several post-mounted hitches on at the foot of the stairs. 

This area has several magical oddities: 

• Horses tied to the hitches will magically release themselves to graze. 
• The hayboxes will refill every morning. 
• Dogs will find bones and small prey easily, as if set out for them.
• If a character mentions a type of fruit or berry that has not been described previously, it will appear the next morning. 

The gist of all of his is that it is horse heaven. The party should feel very comfortable leaving their animals here, which speeds progress into the Castle. 

Try not to make the party too inquisitive here. The windows are too high to easily reach and have dark-stained glass in the panes, meaning they can't peek into rooms. The party could load up on fruit and berries here if short on supplies. For several sessions, they can retreat here to heal up and rest. 

On the first night and first morning, the party discovers themselves in a trap. 

Alexei and Rety scope out the Foyer doors and deem them safe and free of traps, while everyone else readies their gear. The Foyer's inner doors open by themselves, jump-scaring everyone. The weapons come out and the party assembles into a marching order:

Merry, Lance, Jude, and Nodonn take the front rank.
Ana, Alexei, Solvo, and Thomas are in the second rank.
Dorian and Thomas bracket Sybil and Bel, who want to go first.
Lance, Pizzaballa, and Rety take the rear.

The party bypasses the door to room 2 quietly and moves into the main hallway. Entering the majestic hallway leaves the party perplexed. They put away their weapons, except for Solvo and Lance, who keep their bows out. They quietly send Rety and Alexei down the hall, creeping down the right and left walls respectively.

Rety listens at each door, but hears nothing. She detects a musky and smoky smell from the second door. She also notes this is the only door with a keyhole. The door is very thick and has covers on both sides of the keyhole, so she can see nothing. Once they reach the end of the hall, they pull out their bows to cover the rest of the party.

Merry, Jude, and Nodonn quietly advance to Rety and Lance's position. At this point, I roll for wandering monsters, and the result is nothing. Bel and Sybil follow the three men to the door to Indoor Forest. Merry signals for everyone to draw weapons and open the door.

Curious glances are exchanged as they view the Indoor Forest. Cautiously, the rest of the party advances to get a look. Confused by the sight, Lance and Alexei are sent back outside to get a better look. They return and confirm that this forest is actually inside the castle. I roll again for wandering monsters, and again the result is nothing.

The whole party exits the castle to regroup.

They know three doors have locks, but do not try them. These are the two bedrooms and the study. The party opens and closes the door to the Indoor Forest. They know there are no traps in the hallways, and the carpet nicely silences footsteps. They have no reason to believe there are wandering monsters, but this is wrong.

Rety, Nodonn, Merry, and Jude convince the party to start at the first door, searching room by room until they discover someone or something. 

We will pick up there in Session 1.