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, they can sight the river or road below by climbing trees. They can't get lost easily. 

They end 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. They party breaks in two to search the perimeter of The Hart. They sacrifice one of their magic items for safety. They break the Eyes of the Eagle into two lenses so they 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 sees 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. They push 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 horrible 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. After 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 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. Since you made it this far, perhaps you'd consider this ad for Chessex dice from Amazon. I may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. 

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. 

The Keep on the Borderlands 2025 Session 0 and 1

Session 0: 

Keep on the Borderlands is one of my favorites, and today I decided to run a solo session. If you click that link, you'll get the DriveThruRPG page to purchase the module. 

I have selected 6 2nd-level PCs to run through the Caves of Chaos: Elf, Half Elf, Magic-User, Cleric, Fighter, and Ranger. I haven't selected names for them. Maybe next session. 

The PCs have 3 NPCs with them, a drover and two man-at-arms leading 3 mules. They also have a collection of fun magic items. I selected them as they were both effective and fun. They have 3 Bags of Holding, 4 potions of healing, a potion of gaseous form, 2 Cloaks of Defence +1, Boots of Travelling, Eyes of the Eagle, 2 Scrolls of 3 Arcane Spells each, and +1 Leather Armor. 

These are basically all of the items I would wish for as a low-level character. 

They have one more "great" item, a map of the Caves of Chaos. They don't know the map is hopelessly incorrect. Because of this, they bypass the Keep and head due north into the forest. They are reading the map wrong and are expecting a road running east to the Caves. They are looking at a contour line. 

Session 1: 

This mess continues until they meet the Hermit. Well, his mountain lion first. The marching order was: 

Ranger, Elf, followed by 1 mule and a man-at-arms, Magic User, and Cleric (side by side), followed by the drover and a mule, Half-Elf and Fighter, followed by the last man-at-arms and a mule. 

The lion missed its chance to surprise by leaping on someone. It bolts towards the party from the rear. The Fighter and Half-Elf swap places with the last man-at-arms and mule. 

Startled to see a lion racing at them, the Half Elf passes a javelin to the Fighter before they both heave at the lion. The Fighter hits for 4 points of damage as the lion flashes by, running up the right side of the line of characters. The mule spoils the man-at-arms' shot with a crossbow. The Cleric had his sling ready, and the drover and Magic-User drew daggers. The Magic-User goes down under a flurry of bites and slashes. He is bitten for 3 points of damage. 

The Magic-User hits the lion with a dagger for 4 points of damage. The drover weakly swings and misses, while the Cleric drops his sling and lands an incredible kick for 2 points of damage. 

The rest of the party is charging to the Magic-User's defense. The round is over. The mountain lion has 5 hp left, the Magic-User has 3 hp left. The NPCs are struggling with the mules rather than fighting. 

Next round. Initiative is a tie; all attacks are simultaneous.

The lion bites for 2 points of damage and flubs his slash attacks. The Magic-User's dagger bounces off the lion's hide. The Cleric gets his warhammer out and kills the lion. As everyone is running towards the center of the group, only the Fighter and Half-Elf see the Hermit brain the man-at-arms, and they are at the rear. The module doesn't say what weapon the Hermit has. I like the idea of a massive wooden club. I am using my damage reduction rules, and the man-at-arms' chainmail absorbs 2 points of damage. It doesn't matter much.  He goes down and has -3 hp. 

The Half Elf elects not to throw his last javelin at the Hermit, but the Fighter knocks an arrow. I am using my modified attack rolls for archers. The Fighter rolls an 8, which would be a miss. However, being an even number, he realizes he would miss and does not actually release the arrow. Nothing happens, and the Fighter has an arrow ready for the next round. 

Round 3. The party handily wins initiative this round. 

The Fighter takes aim again and hits with a 20. I was going to give the Hermit some sort of advantage because of all the mayhem around him, but a 20 is a 20. He has taken 5 points of damage, damage reduced by one for his leather armor. 

The Half-Elf charges ahead with his javelin and won't reach the Hermit this round. The Cleric pulls the Magic-User up as the drover and the second man-at-arms struggle with the mules. The third mule darts up the road. The Ranger and the Elf hem in the Hermit with sword and mace. They hit for a combined total of 8 points of damage, again reduced by 1 point per attack. 

Round 4. The party decides to make sure they both stay down. The initiative is tied again. 

The Hermit misses the Elf. The Half-Elf flings a javelin, striking for 2 points. The Fighter holds his arrow on a second roll of 8. The Ranger and Elf close in again. The Elf hits for 5 points of damage, and the leather armor eats up one point of damage. The Hermit is down, and the Ranger makes sure. 

The drover, Ranger, and Half-Elf go after the lost mule while everyone else attends the fallen man-at-arms and the injured Magic-User. The Cleric casts Cure Light Wounds, bringing the man-at-arms to 2 hp. The Magic-User forgoes healing. 

It doesn't take too long for the Half-Elf and the drover to round up the mule. The ranger has a 50% chance of finding the tracks left by the Hermit. He does so. They take some time to strip the bodies, skinning the lion and picking over the Hermit's body. 

They collect up their goodies; they have the club, the lion pelt, and the Ring of Protection +1. It doesn't take long to follow the footprints back to the Hermit's Hollow in the tree. They toss the place and find his treasure: a Potion of Invisibility, the +1 dagger, 31 gold pieces, and 164 silver pieces. 

The party decides to bed down around the hollow for the day to rest up before tackling the Caves of Chaos tomorrow. The NPCs decide to roll for morale. They get a 9. 

The party talks among themselves, attends to their weapons, and beds down for the night. They have been awarded a total of 175 for the Hermit and the lion, plus 47 exp for the treasure. That is 37 each. I will round this to 40 exp and award it now. 

The next morning, the party awakes long after sunrise. It is strangely quiet. 

The 2 men-at-arms, the drover, and all three mules are gone. 

The three NPCs have taken stock of their loot while having breakfast at the Keep on the Borderlands. They have a map, a 100 gp lion pelt, 3 mules, 2 scrolls with 3 arcane spells on each, two suits of plate armor, a +1 dagger, a potion of Invisibility, a giant club, 232 gold pieces, 164 silver pieces, a bow, 3 javelins, 2 swords, 6 weeks of iron rations, a lantern, 6 flasks of oil, and 40 arrows. 

They divvy up their stuff, sell the pelt (50 gps), the scrolls (300 gps each), the mules (15 each), and saddle bags (2.5 each). They are awarded 216 exp each. They also have 650 gp in cash, plus fine armor and weapons, a potion, and a +1 magic ring. They don't know what to do with the giant club, so they give it to a barkeep. They pop into the armorer's for a nice suit of leather armor for the drover turned thief and pay to have the platemail properly fitted to the newly minted fighters. 

Rety the drover hears rumor 11, while Lefty and Punch are being fitted. 

Taking Stock: Part One The Game

Well, the solo sessions using Old School Essentials went south. It was the wandering monster list that did the party in:

1. Bandits, 3d4 appearing.
2. Sheep, 3d6 appearing.
3. Giant Ants, 2d6 appearing.
4. Ranger, 1 appearing.
5. Troll, 1 appearing.
6. Kobolds*, 3-6 appearing.
7. Mountain Goats, 2d4 appearing.
8. Mage*, 1 appearing.
9. Wild Horses, 1d4 appearing.
10. Wolves, 2d4 appearing.

Infi, I seem to be butting my head up against the concept of Random this week. I randomly rolled the number 3 several times too many. This is a rookie DM mistake and I shouldn't be a rookie DM 40 years in. Giant ants are far too imposing for 1st level characters to encounter. 

I'm equally a willy player and a willy DM, so I tried to make it work. Time was not on the PC's side, they have limited food and no capacity to heal magically. But they had other resources. 

In the first encounter, they faced 7 Giant Ants in an abandoned mansion. This played well as the party was naturally in 3 small groups with cover and the ants needed to advance on their positions. The Fighter, Halfling, and Elf all had bows while the Clerics had slings. The third group was the Magic-User and Thief with only melee weapons and spells. The MU cast light, drawing the first group of ants towards them. 

A halfling with a bow.

The rest of the party rained missiles down on them from two different positions. I had the ants roll modified morale. If they succeeded, the ants would pursue the FIRST person who shot at them. If they failed, they plowed on toward the MU and Thief. This had the effect of splitting the ants up and allowing the party a chance to shoot them from behind. Four ants fell to this tactic. When the party saw the next wave of 3 ants coming, they escaped to their hideout. 

This worked well except for the expenditure of arrows. This came back to hurt the party the next time. 

The party realized that the Thief was a better shot than the Fighter, so the bow was handed over.  

In the next combat, they encounter 4 ants in an alleyway. They downed all four ants in a hail of stones and arrows but lost one Cleric in the process. The party was also down just a handful of arrows. This is where slings shine as you can use any old rock as a missile. The party was dismayed when they returned to the mansion and the alleyway to recover arrows. They found the ones that missed their targets, but the ants carried off their dead, arrows and all. 

Later, the Party got bushwacked on a city street when the ants caught them again. The Fighter went down after a quick exchange of swings with the lead ant. The Halfling, Elf, and Thief took off to get a better angle on the Ants while the Magic-User and Cleric saved the day. The MU had an oil lamp in his hands and hit an ant on the first try, setting it on fire. The Cleric tossed a flask on the ant to finish the job. By now arrows were raining down. The party managed to kill five ants between missile fire and oil, but the Elf and Halfling were horribly wounded and the Fighter was dead. 

The party limped back home. The party was down by a lot: 3 characters dead, 2 injured badly.

The next day was better. They ventured out and encountered sheep. The Elf and Magic-User managed to kill two for food.  

They made one final foray, trying to make for the walls to get the heck out of this place. They were armed with torches and oil as they were out of arrows. They had one final encounter with 5 ants which was overwhelming despite the arsonist's mentality. Only the Thief and the last Cleric made it back to the fountain. 

The thing I like about this scenario is the mad card-playing Game Master randomly teleporting in new characters. I think this town has hopes as a good play environment so I want to keep it going. The petty little card cheater has unloaded another batch of heroes: a Half-Elf, a Paladin, a Cleric, a Fighter, a Thief, and a Magic User. Third level this time with a bunch of magic and good gear. Of course, I used the random Character Generator (Retainers), so all I need to do is name the party members. 

This post naturally leads to tomorrow's post about taking stock of my personal goals for the next year. 

PS: You can pick up a copy of Old School Essentials Characters, Magic, Monsters, and Treasures on DriveThruRPG. You can also try Wordlographer before you buy.  

Expanding Horizons with Worldographer - Solitary Sessions

 I started working with Worldographer to flesh out the town the characters are exploring. 

Before the town was abandoned, it was home to 2,500-3,000 people.

This is an autogenerated map and I needed to add some details to make it match my hand-drawn map. I plugged in the fountain and tree while thinning out some of the buildings. 

The characters have explored all of the buildings around the fountain and tree. The three structures along the northern east-west road are 2 homes and a tailor's shop. The tailor's shop is interesting as the owner had a setup to dye cloth. 

The Party spotted horses and sheep around the barn just across the way. From the barn, they recovered a couple of large lanterns. The well in the northwest corner is in good working order and doesn't taste brackish like the fountain. The remaining buildings in this section are homes, which the Party skipped over. 

To the south, the Party bypassed the mansion. Every time they enter, the ants appear. I didn't place a ruined structure on the map yet. The roof is intact and that is just one more dimension for the ants to use in an ambush. The Party briefly consider burning it down but restrain itself. 

Directly across the street from the mansion is a blacksmith shop with nice a wagon out front. Inside the shop, they discover iron and silver ingots in addition to many weapons and tools. The Party returns to the general store to recover their supplies and bedding from the apartment. The blacksmith shop has an open floorplan which suits the Party's needs better than the shop. As the sun sets, the group takes some time to bring water from the well to their new indoor campsite. 

I might have time to explore more tomorrow. 

PS: You can pick up a copy of Old School Essentials Characters, Magic, Monsters, and Treasures on DriveThruRPG. You can also try Wordlographer before you buy.  

World Building - The Monster List

This has been a hectic week. I've been at work before the sun rises and long after it sets. But I am thinking about these sessions and this campaign setting. 

I didn't describe one building, the one shop directly to the left of the fountain. It's a shed-like shop, a summer building for the general store to its north. It has heavy up-swinging shutters that open to large counter displays. 

Presumably, the town was abandoned in the fall and the shop was shuttered. There are many knickknacks left over from the summer. Urns of summer wine are probably the thing that will attract the PCs, but also household items such as paintings, and small curios like necklaces and lockets. There are the odd socks and tights, soaps, and cleaning agents. And perhaps incense and candles.  

Again, the idea is to point to a once vibrant town. 

Since it was abandoned, it has been taken over by various critters, some of which have already been introduced. The characters have stuck to this one tiny area for several days. They don't realize the extent of the town but they feel comfortable where they are. 

It seems that I have misplaced my notebook, so I have recreated the wandering monster list from memory. Before we get to the wandering monster list, there are two types of monsters that do not wander: the catfish in the fountain and the green whip snakes which are busy brumation, the cold-blooded version of hibernating. 

The rules of engagement for the catfish are:  

1. There is a 1 in 6 chance that they will be visible. 

2. The catfish respond 1-3 rounds after a person enters the water if not immediately visible.

2a. They may be tricked into coming into range by dropping stuff in the water.  
3. If they need to flee, there is a hole in the fountain.  

The rules of engagement for the green whip snakes are: 

1. There is a 1 in 6  chance they will be found in any house. 

1a. They are everywhere, not finding them in one particular house doesn't mean they are absent, just undiscovered. 

2. They are brumating, so they will not wake unless held by a warm person or a fire is lit in the house. 

3. The snakes do damage by poison, not through biting. The poison causes muscle spasms, pain, and long-term shaking, all of which prevent using Thieves Skills and spell casting for hours. It is more annoying that anything else. 

3a. If the players decide to milk the snake for poison, it requires a Dex or Wis save the first time. After that it simply requires a plan and care. 

Now on to the main list: 

1. Bandits, 3d4 appearing. 

2. Sheep, 3d6 appearing. 

3. Giant Ants, 2d6 appearing.

4. Ranger, 1 appearing. 

5. Troll, 1 appearing. 

6. Kobolds*, 3-6 appearing.

7. Mountain Goats, 2d4 appearing. 

8. Mage*, 1 appearing.

9. Wild Horses, 1d4 appearing. 

10. Wolves, 2d4 appearing.

Starred monsters are singular creatures. 

The bandits hang out on the north side of town, this is a waypoint on their patrol range where it is generally safe to camp. Since there are no people here, they don't engage in looting and raiding activities here. They don't wander the town much as the trolls prey on men. None of them seem particularly skilled at combat, but they do have swords, bows, and light armor. They also don't have horses and have been warned about taking wild horses found in the as mounts or as pack animals. 

The sheep and goats are more amusing than a threat. They are feral, so hunting them is easy but treating them like farm animals will end in disaster. The funnier the better. The goats can be dangerous if mishandled. 

The giant ants have tunnels all around town. There is a 50-50 chance that characters encountering them will find a tunnel entrance near the encounter site. Inquisitive characters will find clues that indicate the ants arrived either after the town was abandoned or that the same time but not before, which means they were not the cause.  

The Ranger is an associate of the bandits. He is more daring in his explorations of the town than they are. He will avoid combat, if possible. Every season, he picks a new house to live in. When encountered, the characters might find him in his home. There is a 1 in 6 chance of this. 

There are several trolls hiding in the town, but only one is on patrol in the town at any one time. The troll will fight anyone he can for prestige and food, but like all trolls, he or she can be bought off. The Ranger pays rent, so they leave him and anyone with him alone. They also prey on horses, wolves sheep, and goats. If the characters offer them gold, the trolls will offer them housing. The trolls are brain-bustlingly dense. They will not accept animal carcasses as food, but if they are properly butchered, they will accept the meat and pelts as highly valued resources. It's like they don't know sheep are mutton. 8912                  

 

The Kobolds are of the Tribe of Minwan that hale from the Kobold's Folly. The Kobold party numbers six, but they may be encountered in smaller groups. The tribe is oddly friendly so long as they don't witness anyone abusing the wild horses. They care for the horses and will happily eat people who harm them. They are willing to trade with the party, they would like daggers, knives, and hatchets. The Trolls avoid them like the plague. These kobolds are very furry like a pug dog and taste horrible. The trolls don't want to offer them the opportunity of renting space in their town. 

The Mage is a singular person. He is mute yet can somehow cast spells. He has both clerical and arcane magic. He will heal characters in need. He can disappear and appear at random and often does. 

The wild horses and wolves are just typical beasts. They are comfortable in the town, but if put to flight they try to exit the town. They are not troubled by human dwellings, sometimes appearing inside buildings or peeking in open windows and doors. Obviously, this trait makes the wolves very dangerous. 

Introducing intelligent creatures into the town allows the characters a chance to dig for clues about the town. The troll, the kobolds, and the bandits will all be in agreement that the town has been abandoned for a long time. The trolls will term it as "forever" while the bandits and kobolds say, "many, many seasons". If trying to nail down a specific timeframe, it becomes obvious that the trolls and kobolds don't live very long so "forever", "many", and "seasons" may not mean much to them. The bandits don't recall a time that the town was inhabited and the individuals here aren't very knowledgeable. It seems that this is a newbie outing with only a few bandits having much experience at all.  

The Ranger has the most information which he himself finds to be odd. He indicates the town always appears to have been abandoned within the last 1 to 2 years, but he has been visiting the site for a decade. His mother and father knew of the place, so he feels like there is magic at work.    

Write What You Know - Zing!

I'm watching Wednesday on Netflix. The second episode leads with the line: 

"I've always hated the expression 'write what you know.' It's a hall pass for the imagination-impaired." 

Wednesday then shifts her opinion. To paraphrase, "if the things you know are weird, maybe you should lean into it." I like that. It comes up very often in role-playing games. Here is the odd thing, the DM or game master is trying to offer scenarios that make sense to the players, no matter who they are. Since the players don't know what the referee has in mind, things get weird. 

For example, in my last post, I refused to say, "Solo Play". I know how some people will react to that phrase. When I shared the post, someone commented exactly as I expected even though I tried to avoid it. Such is the world of RPGs and social media. I tried to avoid the probable and walked right into it anyway. And this happens at the table, too. 

Anyway, Wednesday is right. A game master and a player really don't know what is going to come of the words. Things are bound to get weird, so lean into it. 

If you design things from the exclusively top down, you start with big topics and get smaller. The larger and more vague a topic is, the more likely that basic concepts will get skewed by the listener. My next project (recap - part 1, part 2) is being built top-down but the solo adventure I am running is in that world and is very bottom-level. Facts over concepts. 

How and why do I link small details to large concepts? 

Well, let's look at the basic map in relation to what is happening. There are 3 buildings, a tree, and a fountain. Or more simply, it's a hub with spokes. The center of the hub is the fountain and stuff radiates out. The three buildings and the tree are the edges of the hub and the start of the spokes. It's designed like many cities and towns, and amusement parks. The mini-map is simple, familiar,  and hard to get lost in. The reason for this is player and character comfort. They can forget mapping and wander for a bit. 

The buildings are much the same way. The general store is very much like a free-standing market stall, the store in Little House on the Prarie, or any number of old buildings in a zillion cities around the world. The image makes itself, which is very player friendly. You don't have to see it to know it. The details build themselves. 

Let me press on with the adventure for a moment. The players entered the shop to the east. It's a rug shop. The players checked it out and found nothing of interest. Until they tried to leave. Then a couple of them fell through the floor in front of the door. This is a subverted pit trap. 

If I had real players at the table, they probably would have picked up on the slapstick amusement of slowly sinking into a carpet over a hole in the ground. It was hard to get out of but not too hard with friends to help. How many old TV shows and movies have someone sinking into quicksand or Tom Hanks getting trapped in a hole in the Money Pit. 

But it isn't just for humor. The characters and the players will discover the why in a bit. 

Moving on, they hazard the church or temple. Actually, the structure is neither. It's a mansion. Outside, they find a couple of decaying bodies which presents the first mystery. Entering the building, they realize that it had collapsed first and caught fire at some point, much later than the collapse. 

They also solve the minor mystery of the missing tools. They were used to recover the bodies. Each body shows signs of trauma from falling or having things fall on them. They were obviously cared for after being recovered and placed in repose. Unfortunately, burial never occurred. The Clerics and the Magic-User might surmise some sort of magical protection was used on them. 

As the players explore, aside from the tools, they find nothing of value except information. A lot of debris has been moved. Strangely, more than what could be done by the shovels and pickaxes they found. They also find several openings leading to a cave system. As they advance in the dark, they are ambushed by giant ants. 

They fight a retreating battle in the tunnels of the anthill until they discover a soft squishy cloth covering an exit. Hum... they are back in the pit trap in the carpet shop. Fearing pursuit, they run through the fountain and back to the general store, baring the doors. 

You see, these tiny details have been placed not randomly but purposefully to echo the overreaching theme of romanticism.  Seeking answers in places and people long gone. The players will see that someone who cared about something lived here.  

And then there is the weanie in the middle of it all. The fountain and table are what is called a weanie. It towns and cities, the center of the hub has something significant like a fountain or a town hall. Those things draw your attention, they pull you in. For Walt Disney, the weanie was the Castle. It pulls people in and pushes them out to the edges in a repeating pattern. The Castle as a hub insures that people are always pulled in no matter how many times they move out. 

(Walt Disney used to have a dog that he would lead around with a hot dog, which is where the term comes from. I can't imagine he was the first to think of it, but he was known to make the comparison. There I go again, putting amusement parks in my games...)

What gives the table and fountain drawing power is what they do mechanically. The party was dumped there by the Game Master, a ridiculously petty person who teleports away his problems. The party can't be depleted because more characters will appear at the table. 

The fountain also has a purpose that is far less deadly than it appears. The giant catfish are a replenishing food source. The party doesn't have to enter the pool to hunt them, they can be hunted without entering the water. It's not entirely safe, but much safer than starving. 

I had thought that giant catfish were fantasy monsters, but they are real and do like brackish saltwater. They can often get to be hundreds of pounds. Taking one down feeds the party for an incredible amount of time for minimal risk. 

The players, I hope would be left with a feeling of wonder. Wonder at who lived here. Wonder at where they went. That sense of a real living place is the core concept behind romanticism. It's deviated but still there. 

PS: You can pick up a copy of Old School Essentials Characters, Magic, Monsters, and Treasures on DriveThruRPG. You can also try Wordlographer before you buy.  

OSE, Solitary Playthrough

I have my new boxed sets of Old School Essentials. Right now I am sticking to the Basic set and generated several characters. In no particular order, they are 2 Clerics, a Thief, a Dwarf, an Elf, a Magic User, a Fighter, and a Halfling. My intent is to roll as many dice as possible, covering as many scenarios as my players want to do. So, one of every character type in a freeform environment. 

I took inspiration from a photo I took in Disney's Epcot. I have this weird mental association between amusement parks and D&D. 

This was taken in the United Kingdom pavilion, I think. This is close to what the characters are experiencing. 

The dark circle in the middle of the map is the party's table. Each square is 10 feet. To the north is a willow tree that blocks their line of sight. East and west are a couple of buildings, clearly shop fronts. To the south is a working fountain and what appears to be a damaged church or temple. It is also nighttime here. 

The party landed on top of a monster's lair. In the fountain is a group of giant catfish. We'll get to them in a bit. 

The party gathers their gear and seeing no immediate trouble,  finishes their drinks and meals. They notice their money, chips, and cards are gone from the table. There are several candles, a lantern, and a lamp on the table, just like in an Italian Bistro. 

Their first real move is to explore the tree. 

Nothing... it's a tree. 

On the other side, there is an intersection of roads, three of the roads meet here and curve back to the north. There is also a couple of shops and houses. They decide not to go that way because this is solitary play and I say so. 

The characters hang the lantern from the tree limbs on the north side so as to silhouette anyone approaching from that direction. While this is sort of the right idea, it is kind of like saying "Oneth by land" to any wandering monsters. I haven't been rolling for wandering monsters because the party hasn't been loud or there long enough. 

They go to the larger building to the west. It's a general store with large windows covering the eastern side. The Thief goes into thief mode and accesses the building. The northeastern door is made of wood and glass and it has a lock. She notes no traps but knows the bell will ring if she forces the door. The southeastern door is barred with a heft piece of wood. They can't see into the back of the building. 

Plans are made and they decide picking the lock is best. The whole party works together to get a small sack around the bell to prevent it from ringing. 

They quickly explore. There is an apartment upstairs, the backroom is for supplies while the front room is for home goods. It is musty, dry, and smells vaguely of the sea. All foodstuffs have rotted so long ago, they don't smell. There is no money in the till. The party also notes some odd things missing. In the supply room, there are all sorts of tools, but no pickaxes or shovels only rakes and hoes. Upstairs, the family's clothes have been tossed like someone packed in a hurry. Everything else seems normally well-kept. 

They return to the fountain. Since the catfish stay in the water, the party doesn't notice them. The fountain smells of the ocean and the fountain's water moves with a heartbeat-like pulse. This attracts the Dwarf's attention. At first, he wants to know how it was done. On inspection (and die rolls), he determines that it used to be a freshwater fountain, but the sea has infiltrated the source waters and the pulsing is from the ocean waves. He notices that the bottom of the fountain has collapsed and is where the sea water comes in. There is nothing to indicate that a group of catfish are down in the deep.  

Now for the amusing part of random. 

The Thief finds a couple of coins in the fountain and goes to look for more in the water. The rest of the party is disinterested in a few old coins and goes to investigate the shop to the east. 

Surprise time. 

The Thief and by extension, the Dwarf surprise the catfish. I could totally see this in real life. The catfish don't expect invaders and don't normally investigate stuff. They take time to warm up to prey entering from above.  

The Thief finds a few coins and attempts search the waters in the first round of surprise. Just because she has the advantage doesn't mean she is ready for a fight. She is barefooted, holding a lamp in one hand and fishing around with the other. In the next round, the water boils. The catfish launch themselves at the Dwarf and Thief. 

Dice can be dirty.

I had high hopes for this part. A Catfish springs at the Thief from behind, who is wearing leather armor, and another snaps at the Dwarf in plate armor and partial cover from the wall of the fountain. 

I had expected to use THAC0 or ascending AC. In order to calculate either, I need to look in the Adventures book on Page 30, then look at the Character book for character's THAC0 number then go back to pages 26 to 28 in the Adventures book before finding out that I need to look in the Monster book for information on Catfish. 

Or... I could look at one table on page 31 and be done with it. There is no difference in any of the methods except extremes are more with the table. This really is a case of never using either rule before and having to access the info. It really is just a matter of remembering stuff so I will try it again next session. 

The Dwarf sees that catfish rising to strike the Thief from behind and swings his warhammer at it for 4 points of damage. The Thief is running, not attacking and also takes 4 points damage from a leg bite. Since that is all she has, she goes down narrowly avoiding setting herself and the Dwarf on fire with the shattered oil lamp. The catfish doesn't land any hits with the feelers.  

The rest of the party comes running and gets the double dirty from the dice rolls. 

Since there is a virtual riot of activity, I roll for a wandering monster. The result is a herd of wild horses. They enter from the east of the map, see the fire and mayhem, then loop around the store and retreat into the dark as the party lofts arrows at them. The Clerics attend to the Thief.  

I use a -10 HP as house rule for death, so the Clerics are able to stabilize the Thief with first aid but she is not able to convey any information about the threat. The party decides that the general store is a great place to hold up for the night and retreats.  

Since only the Thief and the Dwarf know what actually happened, the rest of the party is mystified by the fire and blood spatter caused by horses. 

They forget about the bell on the door and there is another die rolled for wandering monsters. Nothing answers that dinner bell. 

They post a watch downstairs and take the Thief upstairs to a bedroom to sleep it off. I have some of my house rules for healing in Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners, if you are interested. They are useful and timely in this case as the Clerics can't cast spells but can perform first aid or use healing skills. I have a priority of healing: aid (1 hp), then doctor or healer's care (a die roll), then rest (as per whatever rules) and finally magical healing. No one can render first aid or skill-based care after magic has been cast, but the reverse is NOT true. It annoys healers to no end when Clerics cast magic first and then drag someone to a healer. It forces a healer to use only magical means. Magic is a consumer product in my world; it has consequences for society.  

By sunrise, the Thief comes to with 3 hp. She wants to thank the Dwarf for rescuing her. There is a sheepish look from the party as they realize they didn't do a headcount after their retreat to the general store. In splitting the party between upstairs and down, they had no idea he was missing.   

By the fountain, they find a warhammer and a boot. In saving the Theif, a second catfish hit the Dwarf. He had 9 hp and the first bite did 15 points of damage. Then came the 4 feeler attacks. -10 was not enough HP. The second catfish pulled his body into their lair. 

I could calculate XP, but the party doesn't even know if they found anything or killed a monster... yet.

I think I'll end it here. Next post, I will talk about the Temple and the Missing Tools from the general store. 

Party of 6 for the Castle - Experience

In my last post, I ran a series of characters through the Ghost of Lion Castle using the Basic and Expert D&D and Rules Cyclopedia sets. This was a solo run so I totally determined the outcome of adventure. The party crossed a half dozen challenges in the form of traps. Ultimately, they found the main entrance and two dead bodies loaded with loot. 

Thematically, this fits in with the character's backgrounds. The young characters want adventure while the two older characters want to safeguard them, but Nicholas and the Dwarf are also treasure and relic hunters. The younger characters did find some relics in the form of two magic journals and two maps. 

This is a case of character backgrounds and details meshing with the shared campaign world. 

What did not come to pass was the distribution of treasure and experience. I skipped the first due to lack of time, that will be the first thing I do in the next session. Experience is a tougher judgement call. Under B/X and Rules Cyclopedia, experience is awarded in a 1:1 ratio to gold plus whatever experience a monster would provide. 

In the last session, the characters encountered only traps and treasure, some of it magical. I can easily map out found items to coin value excepting magic items and weapons. They don't have clear price in these rules. It seems the intent was to have the object be the reward. I'm of two minds on that as it makes perfect sense. But there is the kid of the 70's who used to make wish lists from the Brand Names Catalog that wants everything to have a value.  

What I came up with was a value of about 250 experience points divided among four characters. (Two characters are sitting at a base camp.) 

This has happened because I should read the rules of this module strictly for solo play. The party has no thief and even if they did. the traps they encountered are not the sort a thief can disarm. No experience for them.  

If I had a "live" party, I could see many opportunities for the party to gain experience off of the traps. The traps in this section of the module was the very reason I selected the front door as the party's destination. In solo play with a single character, any of these traps could be deadly. The traps the party encountered would be unpassable to a single magic user with max hit points. However, 4 characters can eat up that damage. I did it because I've always wanted to do it in solo play but couldn't with an individual character. 

The traps are a series of obstacles, two magic missile attacks, a molten metal trap, two sets of murder holes and several slamming doors and dropping portcullis's (portculli?) to force the characters forward. 

As described, the magic missile attacks and slamming doors are unavoidable, the molten metal trap plus the dropping portcullis's both requires a save, and the murder hole attack requires judgement. 

Were I DM'ing this with real characters, the potential to judge situations allows for experience awards for these traps. For the doors, murder holes and portcullis traps, the simply decision to act as one and move forward or back allows for roleplay. Tricky PC's could fill sacks with dirt to prop the doors or prevent the portcullis from closing. The magic missile and murder holes are interesting traps for the PC's because there is that small chance of evading them through trickery but then wandering back into them by poor choices. 

Ah, let me tell you about parties and poor choices... 

But all of that implies thinking through an immediate problem and receiving experience for it. 

This Friday, I am looking forward to reading some materials I received plus another session in Lion Castle. 

Revisiting Star Smuggler - Session 008 Repeating the Motion - Mission Summary One

The crews of the Zephyr and Sirocco are fully fueled and ready to go. They have 76,253 to spend. 

In this post, I'll be trying the Regari to Palatek run again to see if more resources can make this work. 

This event is offered via e192. The stated rules are you can buy hand carved items for a base price of 5 CU on Regari and sell them on Palatek for 10. On Palatek, you can buy electronics for 60 and sell on Regari for 100, base prices. Base prices are modified by a die roll. On Regari, it's impossible to buy or sell for greater than 1 1/2 times base price. Palatek could have prices up to triple the normal cost. 

There are some unstated restrictions here. First, each drop off/pick up takes "the rest of the day". Second, boosting into orbit to get to the jump point takes 4 hours. Jumping burns 1 hypercharge. Landing requires 2 entry rolls which could be either dangerous or cost time. You are also limited by funds available and if those are fine, how much space you have on board for cargo. The items are 1 CU and have no special restrictions on storage, so you could pack every available space with them. 

The Sorocco and the Zephyr have a total of 150 CU of storage in their combined cargo bays. Being two ships, each jump will burn 2 hypercharges. 

The crew loads up the 150 CU worth of carvings at a price of 750 secs. This takes all day. They get to Palatek and roll for entry. They get result e103, which describes finding a 4 CU status pod. There is plenty of room, so they bring it onboard. They manage to avoid detection landing and off load the goods. They make 3000 from the carvings. They take on 150 CU of electronics for 9000 secs. They have burned a second day. 

On the return trip to Regari, they get through both checks without being detected. On landing, they sell the electronics for 15,000. This ends a third day. 

They move over to the spaceport and refuel at a cost of 2000 secs (500 times 2 times charges, times two ships).

At this point, I will sanity check the numbers. They had 76,253. In the plus column they have 15,000 and 3,000 and in the loss column they have 2,000, 9,000 and 750. Additionally, that have used 4 days and have a 4 CU stasis pod with unknown contents. They made 6250. 

On the surface, they 2.5 times the normal cargo space and far more money than a typical player would have. Under normal play conditions, the player would have to make 10 runs to make this much money. It is possible to get lucky and have nothing slow you down, but it would take a minimum of 11 days because they would have to take on hypercharges at least once. 

Entry rolls are a key factor. At Regari, there are 4 rolls that do not effect you while there are two that lead down paths that can kill you outright and one more that ends the game in a single die roll or choice. At Palatek, there are three entry events that have no effect, two that could end in either all day events or combat which would probably end the game and a 6th event that has 3 bad endings, two neutral and a sixth that could end the game in a win condition after a lot of time and investment of energy. 

The rolls when entering areas are far less dangerous, you could by pass them by making a good roll.  On these two planets, there are 5 events which are more flavoring than anything else, while a sixth path leads to two slightly dangerous or annoying events and one event that is usually positive. There is event an event that allows you bribe your way into an area, trading money for time and safety. 

Spitballing things, if you run this mission 11 times you'll average about 568 secs per run. However due to the low prices of the carvings, the player would have to complete a full cycle to see this level of reward. Early in the game, the player will be more conservative that this and may fail to pick up on all the nuances of the mission. 

Since my team doesn't have a clock ticking, I can investigate many of the mini-missions in the game to see what pays off most. 

Revisiting Star Smuggler - Session 007a All Over But for the Accounting

We left on at the end of Day 5. On Day 6, the ship is repaired and ready to go. As mentioned before, they want to get back to doing something easier. That cargo run from Palatek to Regari sounds nice. Anything that doesn't involve shooting sounds nice. 

But they have one thing little thing that they can do on Mynkuria, pay off the ship. For a while there, I was tracking the ship's account and 9 different character's funds. That ain't fun, so it ends here. The ship's account is at 292,183 while the characters have an additional 8,820. After paying the ship off, they have 111,003 left. I am just keeping one pool of funds. 

The gang decides to run back to Palatek, via Nipna, Talitar and Imperia. They have no intention of landing anyplace except Palatek Prime, so the trip could take as little as a day. Depending on the dice gods, that is. Infi! 

At Nipna, they roll a 2 for their entry roll. They land in the middle of space battle and jump again before anything bad happens. At Talitar, they get a 3 which means they go undetected. At Imperia, they roll a 1 and drift by a broken down ship. Oddly, they have no chance to interact with it. For Palatek, they score a 3 which gives them a chance to attack a merchant ship with 12 hits. No deal. 

They land on the planet with two hours of daylight. They land at the city uneventfully. It's time to do the gear mamba to make space in the cargo hold. 

They have two hoppers which can hold 20 CU including passengers (it's odd, but the hopper boat guns are bigger than the ship guns). On each hopper, they leave five seats open for crew. They divide the fuel units 8 per hopper. One fuel unit is in the vacuum skimmer. They place 7 life support units in each hopper and one in the skimmer. 

In the cargo bay, they have 9 repair units and a skimmer (10 CU) leaving 41 CU of space for stuff. The remaining u-suits (4 in all), side arms and heavy side arms are scattered in the crew quarters. Since the crew space is 32 CU in all and I only have 9 crew plus their gear, I'll place the repair units there, too. Odd, but efficient. There is now 50 CU in the cargo bay. 

They buy 50 CU of electronics and get ready to go. That costs 3000 secs. They now have 108,003. That ends Day 6. 

On Day 7, they boost for orbit which takes 4 hours to reach the jump point. On arrival, they are ignored and land on the surface at the colony to off load the electronics for a base price of 100. They make 5,000 secs. and buy 50 CU of carvings for 250. 

Day 8 starts by moving the ship to the spaceport. They are out of hypercharges and need to "reload". They make the deal in one hour, but the loading process takes all day. They are down 3000 secs. 

Day 9, they boost for orbit and jump to Palatek. On landing, they offload their goods and take on the next load of electronics. They take in 1500, but end up spending 6000. 

Back to Regari. They get 5000 for the transaction. 

Emily points out that after 3 runs, they only have 110,253. They only made 2,250 but they are also down 1000 secs in fuel costs. This isn't working for them. 1250 of profits would make a starting player, they could pay their 300 interest payment, hire some crew and upgrade equipment fairly quickly, but it would be labor intensive. 

Time for a new plan for a new week. They buy a full load of Gm-bots at the space station plus two hypercharges. It sets them back 6000+1000. And they are off to Imperia. 

On arrival, they get slugged with a meteor in the engineer compartment. Mel and Sarah do their thing and get the ship repaired. Tired and bored and terrified, they call it a day. 

Day two is better. They land at the spaceport with no problem. Their entry roll indicates a roll on the regular spaceport table which is great. They get e037 - Sell GM-Bots and roll a 6 for their multiplier. They just made 100,000 secs. in one run. They have 203,253. 

Emily says, "Gee, we need to go back to Regari." 

The crew cries, "Why on Earth would we do that?"

"We need to buy a ship..." 

Their new ship cost 120,000 secs. Its TL-1, it doesn't have a hopper or guns. They only have one hypercharge, so they outfit both ships with a full load of six. That costs an additional 4000 secs. They have 79,253 left over. 

They spend the rest the week appointing their new ship. They outfit it with a set of Tl-5 guns from the Zephyr and one of the hoppers. They replace the guns on the Zephyr with TL-6 guns. This means the Zypher has 90 CU of storage while the other ship has 60. That sets them back another 3,000. 

They name it the Sirocco. They are joyriding around an empty spaceport lot trying to figure out who's gonna driver her. 

I'll probably rework this design to have guns. I can live with 2 30 CU bays instead of one large 60 CU bay. I like the look of this ship.