He's only gone and done it.
James V. West has published Black Pudding, the game setting and rules. Fantastic. You already know that I am a fan, so I'm sure you'll forgive me with sharing the links to buy it/download it.
Last Sunday, one of the GM's from my ttrpg group called off his game at short notice due to health reasons. With our usual Sunday evening game now not going ahead I offered to run a one-shot instead. For months I'd been itching to run the two page adventure, Ghiki's Hole, from James V. West's zine, Black Pudding issue #8. This was the perfect opportunity.
I had two willing volunteers and here's how the game went. NOTE: SPOILERS ahead!
SYNOPSIS
Eight Fingers Oran, the Grand Master of the Seapath thieves guild has had his magic ring of charms stolen by the outcast wizard, Zasto Fillistian. Oran is so enraged that he's chewed off yet another finger. He's out for blood and only Zasto's will cool his temper.
Oran wants you to infiltrate Zasto's warren, find the ring, and bring it back along with Zasto's tongue. There's only one problem - the warren is hidden somewhere amongst the Dweomerdrake Mountains. Oran has heard that Finni the Black has a map, but he was last seen lowering himself into Ghiki's hole.
Go to Ghiki's hole. Get the map off Finni the Black and make your way to Zasto's warren. Find Zasto, cut out his tongue and bring back that fecking ring!
The person that brings back the ring will be awarded 10,000 go and be inducted into the prestigious Veiled Brothers of the Night.
* * *
Your PC either:
1. is a member of the Seapath thieves guild
2. owes Eight... no, Seven Fingers Oran a very BIG favour
3. is a mercenary (very) desperate for cash
Using Old School Essentials rules and any other supporting product (including Black Pudding character classes), create a level 5 character. No laser guns or blackpowder weapons allowed. This is Sword & Sorcery at its best.
Will you survive Ghiki's hole? (BTW, no-one who has ever gone into Ghiki's hole has ever come out)
CHARACTERS
Hattori: Half-Orc Ninja, level 5. STR 12, INT 8, WIS 10, DEX 10, CON 13, CHA 8, AC 11, HP 14.
(Ninja character class from Black Pudding #5, pg 6)
Shanks: Duergar, level 5. STR 10, INT 9, WIS 11, DEX 11, CON 11, CHA 11, AC 16, HP 19.
(Duergar character class from Old School Essentials Advanced Player's Tome, pg 44)
OUTCOME
Hattori and Shanks approached Ghiki's hole. They found a 20 feet diameter iron grate unlocked and pulled aside enough for a human sized creature to squeeze down into the inky black shaft. They crawled on their bellies to peer down into the depths. Both had dark vision out to 60 feet, and so they could see that the shaft dropped down sheer and beyond their meagre sight range. Interestingly, they saw what looked like a lateral opening some 50 feet below.
Hattori uncoiled his 50 feet of rope (very handily the exact length he needed), tied it to the iron grate and lowered himself down. I asked him to make a climb check that he passed with significant ease. When he reached the lateral opening he swung himself over and landed lightly on his feet in the mouth of a dark passage.
Shanks followed close behind. Unlike Hattori, who was clothed in black cloth armour and carrying a fairly light pack, Shanks was wearing heavy plate armour and carrying a lot of gear. As Shanks doesn't have a climb skill, I asked him to give me a STR check as he began shimmying down the rope. He rolled right on the button. A pass and no more.
Shanks dropped down the rope. By the time he'd reached the side passage his arms were quaking and he was sweating profusely. He swung himself over and fell onto solid ground with a gasp of relief. Dusting himself down he joined Hattori to investigate what was before them.
The passage was short, about 40 - 50 feet in length. It opened into a rough cave-end, about 20 feet across and the same again high. In the gloom they spotted a sack lying amongst the cave debris. Picking it up and peering inside they were surprised to find a stinking, mouldering collection of severed feet and one milky-glazed eye.
Hattori: How odd. Are they matching pairs?
Me: Eh... yes.
Hattori: How many pairs?
Me: (WTF? I rolled 1d20) There are ten pairs of mouldering severed feet in various states of decay. Many are almost skeletal. A couple are fresh-ish.
Shanks: How have they been severed? Are they clean like they've been cut off with a sharp blade, or are they rough like they've been torn or bitten off?
Me: (I never contemplated this kind of questioning when I first read the two page adventure) Uhm, they're all roughly severed.
Hattori: Interesting. There may be a dangerous creature somewhere below us.
Shanks: Yes. We should proceed carefully.
Me: (No shit sherlock)
Hattori searched the cave for any exits or secret doors, but didn't find any. They put the feet back in the sack and returned to the mouth of the passage. (I can only imagine the stench now clinging to their hands. Actually, I can imagine it, as I've smelled with and dealt with dead people on many occasions (not for this blog))
BOAK!
The pair peered over the edge down into the darkness of the descending shaft. About 50 feet below (again, how fortunate) they could make out another lateral opening.
Shanks uncoiled his 50 feet of rope, banged in an iron spike to the lip of the shaft, tied off the rope and lowered it below. Then he came up with an ingenious idea. He didn't want to risk falling off the end of the rope if he failed another STR check, and so he used one of his Duergar class mental powers - Shrinking.
Reducing himself to 6 inches in height he settled himself in Hattori's pack for the climb down. Hattori deftly dropped down the rope and swung with grace and ease into the side passage below. Shanks jumped out of the pack and resumed his normal size.
The passage they were in descended down worn carved steps until it reached a closed door. Shanks laid an ear against the door and listened for noises beyond. He could hear the murmurs of some feminine voices. Feeling bold, the pair swung open the door and jauntily strolled in. The steps continued down and opened up into a small illuminated room. Reclining upon a mouldering chaise lounge was a very fat woman in what appeared to be a large dark dress made entirely of feathers. Her face was slightly pinched towards the nose and mouth. Another two women, garbed in the same manner, but slimmer in size and shape, were seated in broken and dirty armchairs around a wonky small table.
Cuddly Aunt Mabel: Ooh, visitors!
Aunt Bella: How positively delightful. Come in. Come in.
Aunt Clara: I love an unannounced visit. Come over here, dearie, and give your aunt Clara a kiss.
Hattori and Shanks were naturally on their guard. They explained that they were looking for a friend called Finni the Black, and asked if they had seen him? The three aunts hummed and hawed in their clucking manner and insisted that they must stay for tea. A tea pot and a brazier were produced along with a small pouch of herbal matter. Hattori pointedly looked the women over, and focused on Aunt Mabel's feet. He saw taloned claws, much like that of a bird of prey.
Shanks and Hattori: Really, it's very kind of you, but we don't want to take up your time. We'll just be going. Sorry to burst in on you like this.
At that point the three aunts launched into a clucking song about how they must stay for tea and have a blether about whether they'd seen their friend. (No, I didn't sing. I'm not that gifted)
I asked Hattori and Shanks to make a save versus Spells. They both failed. I explained that they had both been charmed and the three aunts seemed very plausible and endearing. They asked if they were compelled to do as they were bid. I explained that they could not discern any danger, and it would be incredibly rude to refuse the ladies some company over a cup of tea. The two promptly relented. Hattori seated himself next to Aunt Bella, whilst Shanks saw a box and sat on it.
"Ooft!" came a muffled voice from the box. Shanks stood up, opened the box and saw inside the severed head of an elf. It opened its eyes, looked at him and smiled. "Hello! Are you here to rescue me?"
Aunt Bella: Oh, that's just Wildflower. He's such a nuisance. You just can't shut him up.
Tea was had. The aunts implored them to give them kisses, shucked their hair and pinched their cheeks. They'd learned through a short conversation that a young man had passed by recently, but he'd been terribly rude by not visiting. They'd not seen him since, and no doubt he'd been at dinner with Ghiki. They laughed.
Shanks and Hattori quickly stood up and retreated towards the door with a profusion of thanks, Shanks swiping Wildflower's box in the process.
Cuddly Aunt Mabel: Oh, you can't go without giving your auntie Mabel a big kiss.
Aunt Bella: Yes, kisses all round. It would be so rud...
SLAM!
Shanks closed the door behind him and the pair raced up the stairs for the shaft. They could hear muffled shrieks of dismay coming from the aunts. Looking down the shaft they couldn't see any more openings below. The shaft descended beyond their meagre dark vision. What's more, they had run out of rope. Behind them the door crashed open and light flooded up the stair.
Aunt Clara: Boys! How rude! You must stay for dinner. I insist.
Shanks shrunk himself down again and leapt into Hattori's pack. Hattori tied Wildflower's box to his belt, dropped over the lip of the shaft and scrambled down with all his freestyle climbing skill he could muster. I asked Hattori to roll his climbing skill (a whopping 94% chance of success). He rolled 05. Sweet.
Hattori descended another 50 - 60 feet. It's at this point that the adventure describes the shaft being spanned by a sticky web that requires a successful DEX check to pass through. Hattori failed his DEX check and promptly and inexplicably found himself stuck to the sticky strands.
Shanks opted to use another of his Duergar mental skills - Heat. OSE's Advanced Player's Tome describes the power thus:
A creature or object within sight is subjected to a scorching heat. Paper or cloth ignite, liquids boil, and metals glow. The heat lasts for one round per level of the duergar. Applied to flesh or to metal in contact with a creature (e.g. armour), the heat inflicts 1d4 damage per round.
I ruled that the web immolated out of existence, and Hattori, with Shanks and Wildflower attached to him, fell the final 40 feet to the bottom and landed with a crash in a very large pile of loot and bones. I rolled 1d10 falling damage for Hattori and he took 6 damage. As Shanks was in the pack I decided he would take less damage, but not much less. I rolled 1d8 falling damage. I rolled an 8. 😱
On picking themselves up they realised they were in a wide circular chamber, one that was much bugger than their dark vision could pick out. They were surrounded by bones of every size and time, and lots of coin, and items of value. It was at that point that they noticed a large dark shape scuttle towards them along the underside of the chamber's ceiling. A huge spider (known as Flyder, but they didn't know that as it didn't introduce itself. How rude!) dropped down towards them and they entered combat.
The fight was short. About three rounds. They won every initiative. They pounded the spider with arrows and sling stones, breaking her concentration and preventing her from casting spells she'd prepared. Flyder was outmatched, and after being reduced to half Hp, she ran away screaming, Ghiki! Ghiki! GHIKI!
The sound of rippling, sloshing water from an unseen pool in the darkest recesses of the chamber announced that they were not alone. A HUGE single-eyed, monstrous snake, slithered into the edge of their vision.
Initiative was rolled and Hattori and Shanks won. Shanks promptly hid behind a large giant's skull. Hattori melded one with the dark, and quietly crept his way around and behind the giant snake. Ghiki slid closer. "Hello," it said, "Have you come for lunch?"
Shanks again utilised his Heat mental skill and caused a small amount of damage. Hattori struck from the dark but failed to penetrate Ghiki's scaled hide. Ghiki struck back at Hattori, but missed. Shanks replied with more heat damage and Hattori struck true with his Kama, opening up a wound.
Ghiki swiped his tail and cleared away the giant, giant's skull, revealing Shanks. Hattori struck again with his Kama, but Ghiki hardly noticed. Shanks, still huddled into himself, and thinking that Ghiki couldn't see him, applied more heat damage. Ghiki shrugged it off, lunged at him, bit, and swallowed him whole.
At that point, Flyder the giant spider re-joined the fray and attacked Hattori, but missed. Hattori retreated into the darkness. He pulled out a smoke grenade, threw it and watched with grim satisfaction as it went off, engulfing both Flyder and Ghiki.
With a moment's respite Hattori fled to the outer reaches of the chamber and attempted to break through an iron grating he'd discovered. His strength failed him. Hattori turned around seeking a means of escape.
Ghiki appeared. He lunged, bit, and swallowed him whole.
CONCLUSION
I really enjoyed running Ghiki's Hole. It was surprisingly (well, maybe not) my first TPK. I think, had Hattori and Shanks had at least one other half decent companion, they might have scraped victory from Ghiki's jaws.
The adventure is well written, quirky, short and succinct. It's quite humorous too. Sadly, Hattori and Shanks failed to defeat Ghiki and harvest the ENORMOUS wealth that had accumulated over the decades. Nor did they find Finni the Black's map, or go onto exact revenge against Zasto Fillistian, and recover Oran Eight... no, Seven Finger's magical ring of charms. Their bones were shat out and added to the bones of Finni the Black and a myriad other fools who had dared to enter Ghiki's Hole.
No-one who enters Ghiki's hole, ever comes out alive.
* * *
If you'd like to play Ghiki's Hole, you can find it on James V. West's itch.io page, or Drivethrurpg. If like me you prefer a dead tree in your hand then you can purchase Black Pudding zines from Squarehex in the UK.
Since May of last year I've been dipping my toes into game design, working alongside Jean-Luc Lariviere-Lacombe from The Dungeon's Key. I'm a member of The Dungeon's Key Discord server and Jean-Luc put out a request for play testers for a new game he was developing. I jumped at the chance and it has been one massive learning curve for me and my gaming pals.
Jean-Luc has been developing a Sci-fi Shooter RPG, emulating the ethos and styles of the movies Aliens and Starship Troopers, and pulp comics such as Tank Girl. It's a fast paced, gung-ho, paramilitary shooter where players control penal convicts who have signed on with a corporate military scheme to pay off their sentence quicker than languishing in a prison. The characters fight hordes of xenomorphs, pirates and other scabs whilst completing corporate missions to earn credits and a discount to their sentence. Characters that survive missions can spend creds to upgrade equipment, learn new skills, grow lost limbs, or pay down on their sentence.
Mechanically the game is d6 based. Players have two dice pools to use - the Action Pool (AP) and the Ammo Pool (AM). AP is used to carry out actions such as moving, seeking cover, reloading weapons, using a tool or interacting with a construct or vehicle, etc. AM is used to shoot a weapon. Players have complete agency and use both pools to progress the mission and to defend themselves against attacks. Ultimately the pools become exhausted and the characters' combat effectiveness degrades. Good decision making, resource management and successful dice rolling will win the day. Poor decisions and crap rolls lead to only one result - character death.
It's been a great privilege to work on this project. Jean-Luc and I have chewed the fat over rules, weapon types, ammo types, typefaces, whether CAPs or lowercase should be used, how to determine initiative and distance, and many other niggly observations and rulings. I've play tested the game intensively with my regular gaming group and we have had an absolute blast, literally, blowing stuff up, mowing down enemies in a hail of lead, and biting off various body bits in close quarters, no-holds barred combat. It's dirty, nasty and so much fun.
I have writing credits for one of the supporting missions, and my name on the inside cover as playtest lead. I'm very grateful to Jean-Luc for giving me the opportunity to become involved in TTRPG game design. I'm just at the beginning of my journey, and I can truthfully say that I'm a published author, as I've actually been paid for a writing gig. It's a dream come true.
Dirtbags! went to Kickstarter at the end of January this year and was successfully funded by 235 backers who raised about ten and a half thousand Canadian dollars. I went all in on the physical tier and I got my filthy mitts on the loot by mid May.
I'm so very, very chuffed with it all.
One thing I'm definitely looking forward to is attending at Tabletop Scotland on the first weekend of September this year. I'm signed up to run two sessions of Dirtbags! on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. I'm super hyped about this for a few reasons. The first is that I've not been to a convention since summer 1993, when I attended at Claymore in Edinburgh. The second is that it will be the first time I have ever hosted a game at a convention, and the first public play of Dirtbags! in Scotland.
If Dirtbags! intrigues you, please consider supporting it and introducing it at your own game table. You can purchase the core rule book from the Dungeon's Key website, if you're in the USA or Canada or at Composed Dream Games if you're in the UK or EU.
And if you're attending at Tabletop Scotland in September, don't be afraid to come along and say hello. I'll have copies of the Dirtbags! Quickstart rules to hand out to anyone who is interested.
For quite some time now, I have been searching for an easy to use mass combat system for my Old School Essentials (OSE) campaign, Riven Realm. My players, whilst hovering around the 4th - 5th level bracket, have advanced beyond mere monster bashing, and have struck it out as political power players within the local region.
The catalyst for this change in play style is their attempts to thwart the growing hegemony of the shadowy faction known as, the Gilded Eye. Furthermore, the king was assassinated and the southern neighbours, the Sais, blamed for it (the planted evidence was clumsy, but it served its purpose). This led to cross border warfare in both directions and heightened tensions, not to mention a domestic scrabble for power between the leading families.
I found that vanilla OSE is comfortably capable of simulating combat between thirty to forty individuals, but once you get into the realm of hundreds, or even thousands of combatants, there are no mechanics for it. I had a read of the mass combat rules in B/X, and also in Third Kingdom Games' Into the Wild and I utilised them for some combats, but I found them exceptionally crunchy and time consuming. I dabbled with GW's old game Mighty Empires, and whilst I found the rules very playable, they did not translate well into OSE or any form of early D&D games. I muddled through and handpicked the rules I liked, and we had some really interesting wins and defeats that hinged on a single roll of a d20 with modifiers, but I found it all finickity, inconsistent, and it lacked player agency.
On a slight tangent, I've recently been working on producing domain management mechanics for my players, so they can effectively run and develop feudal, mercantile, faith-based, and arcane domains. I've chosen the excellent domain management system from TSR's Birthright setting for AD&D 2e. Birthright was released in 1995 and I played it at the time with my friends and loved it. I still have all the old box sets and domain packs that were released before TSR shelved the setting entirely in 1999. One aspect of Birthright was its mass combat system involving the use of unit cards, a battle map and a cross-reference chart to compare morale markers and attack vs defence margins. It was a decent system, but it was only really usable in face to face games.
My game is run virtually, and so I need something that is easy to understand and use, that meshes well with OSE and Birthright's domain mechanics, and can be played out on a virtual table top in a matter of minutes rather than hours.
I had been percolating ideas about using a simple d6 to-hit mechanic, with a successful hit translating to a wound on a unit. Whilst thinking about this, and how it could easily transfer into OSE I stumbled upon KillChain by Castle Grief. Castle Grief is a small game designer owned and operated by the New Jersey, USA based artist, Matt Killinger.
I found this about ten days ago and it perfectly fits my needs.
KillChain is based on early Chainmail rules, and other offshoots. I'll use the author's own words to describe KillChain's primary objective,
"...to A) further streamline the rules to avoid wargame levels of crunch and B) to avoid the need for miniatures and other wargaming setup and be able to determine the outcome of battles in a satisfying way and using graph paper only."
How does this rules-lite system meet my criteria?
1) To-hit rolls use a d6
2) Armour is described as light, medium and heavy, just like in OSE, and occupies the upper range of a d6 roll to hit - light 4+, medium 5+, heavy 6+
3) The system is abstract enough that it can be applied to units of any size
4) Unit hit points can directly relate to monster Hit Dice
5) The turn sequence mirrors the normal combat sequence in OSE
6) Movement rates are simplistic and easy to scale to OSE
7) Morale relates directly to OSE
8) Terrain modifiers, weapon qualities and optional rules are easy to apply without excessive crunch
I haven't entirely utilised the rules as written. I've adjusted them slightly for my own purposes and to gel nicely with both the domain management rules for military units, and with OSE monster stats. For example, I've tied hit points for units to their experience ratings:
Green - 2 Hp
Regular - 3 Hp
Veteran - 4 Hp
Mounted - +1 Hp
Some units may take a number of hits in a turn, such as ranged attacks and melee attacks. Unarmoured levies are vulnerable, as they have only 2 Hp and are hit on a 3+, whilst heavily armoured and mounted knights are kings of the battlefield with 6+ armour and 5 Hp.
In my setting of Riven Realm, military units number 200 individuals, as they also did in Birthright. The costs of raising and maintaining them closely align to the mercenaries costs in OSE. I've created simple stat blocks for units that can almost be lifted directly from their OSE stats. The following example is for a unit of Crossbowmen:
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The Save numbers come from the Fighter progression chart in OSE. Ranges and Movement are counted in 10 yard squares. The saves come into their own when battle magic is used, or the unit faces area affect weapons or large monsters.
I'm quite pleased with the system of mechanics I now have. I'm working on making VTT tokens for each unit type so that players can move troop units on a gridded VTT map in the same manner they would their character tokens.
Overall, if your looking for a simple to use mass combat system for your OSR game, one that doesn't involve crunch and lots of calculations, then look no further than KillChain. All the art is hand drawn by Matt Killinger. I also heartily recommend his Kal-Arath game setting, of which an expansion is currently live on Kickstarter; there are 19 hours to go at time of publishing this. Think of Conan the Destroyer sword & sorcery style of setting. The artwork is excellent, as is the lore.
I played some Old School Essentials with my bairns this afternoon. Took them dungeoneering on a published adventure for a party of levels 1 - 2.
Calum was playing a Lvl 4 Magic User, Bizzard the Lizard Wizard (Yes, really) - **HP** 9; **AC** 10; **Spells** Charm Person, Sleep, Invisibility, and Web; **Weapons** Dagger.
Katie was playing a Lvl 3 Elf (Dolmenwood style), Koldrah - **HP** 12; **AC** 15; **Elf Runes** Gust of Wind, Rune of Vanishing, and Sway the Mortal Mind; **Faerie Glamours** Conjure Treats, and Through the Keyhole; **Weapons** Shortbow.
**PART 1** The intrepid duo entered the sewers under the town of Prigwort. Their task was to investigate the mysterious disappearances of the local folks' cabbages and turnips, a magic egg, and one missing sewer man. Folk had reported seeing strange furtive individuals with glowing eyes and spiky combs on their heads.
They came to a collapsed sewer wall and discovered a hidden chamber. Inside they saw a trail of freshly spilled blood and obvious marks of something heavy being dragged through the stoor. This led into a second smaller chamber where two Troglodytes were chewing on desiccated rat.
<<Enter combat>>
The Troglodytes won initiative. These creatures are nasty. They have three attacks, 2 x claw and 1 x bite for a total of 3d4 damage. They also exude a noxious odour that causes opponents to save vs poison or fall into a vomiting spasm and suffer -2 penalty to hits.
Bizzard and Koldrah both failed their saves and emptied their breakfast onto the stone floor. The Trogs attacked. Koldrah's chainmail warded off 2 out of 3 attacks, sustaining only 1 damage. Bizzard, in his loose fitting wizard robes, wasn't so lucky. He received three vicious attacks and I rolled 4, 4, and 3 on 3d4.
Bizzard was dead! Oh FUDGE! :scream:
Before Calum could see the result I announced that Bizzard was down to 1 hp. DM fiat also teleported one Healing potion into each of their packs.
They managed the rest on their own. No more daddy fudges of the dice. Winning the next initiative Bizzard cast Invisibility and withdrew in order to call for help. Koldrah, remained in combat for a further three turns until she also withdrew and put a sliding gate between her and her pursuers.
**INTERMISSION** The local town guard were tongue lashed until they provided two constables to aid the heroic duo as retainers. Enter Trevor and Michael (the bairns chose their names, not I), Lvl 1 fighters each with chainmail, shield and swords. The healing potions were consumed. I gave them the opportunity to purchase further potions, but with Koldrah being poor, and Bizzard being a rich skinflint, they declined.
**PART 2** The fortified group re-entered the sewers and crept up upon the Troglodytes. They could hear them laughing and boasting about how they put to flight the wizard in his bathrobe. I rolled to see whether the Trogs were surprised that the party had returned, and they were.
Koldrah and Trevor stuck an arrow and a crossbow bolt into one of them, killing it immediately.
<<Enter Combat>>
The remaining Trog won initiative. It launched itself at Trevor but its attacks failed to penetrate the Constable's stout chainmail.
Bizzard then waded in with a truncheon and clubbed it in the knackers for 4 damage. Koldrah and Michael failed to hit with their melee attacks, but Trevor got a critical hit and took the Trog's head clean off. As blood and trog oil sprayed everywhere I got them all to roll save vs poison. Only Trevor passed. Bizzard, Koldrah, and Michael emptied their lunches onto the floor.
**End of Session**
Tomorrow, she wants a battle.
From left to right: Marauder II, Atlas, Crusader, Orion.
It's been a year and a season since I last posted. I'm trying to come up with a valid excuse as to why I've allowed such a gap to exist, but frankly I think it's down to just being too distracted, and too undisciplined.
Nae excuses, laddie!
Righto!
So, here we are in late 2024. The last post I put up was about James V. West's Black Pudding #7. Funnily enough, a few months ago I purchased issue #8 and it's just as gloriously unforgiving and entertaining as its predecessor. I've been looking at both issues over the past week, as I've decided that I'm going to run a 3 or 4 session short campaign in the world of Yria.
The short adventure location, 'Ghiki's Hole', published in Black Pudding issue #8 was too good to pass up. My plan is for a group of ne'er do wells to get thegither at the whim of the Master of the Seapath Thieves Guild. He has a hard-on for some comeuppance over the infamous wizard, Zasto Filistian. Zasto's stats are published in Black Pudding issue #8 as a 17th level Magic User. He's supremely powerful, and has powerful servants to aid him. I'm not aiming to have such a high level confrontation, so I'm going to downgrade Zasto to an earlier level of around 11th level. He'll have built his hidden den, and recruited his henchmen, but that's all.
With regards to how the players will present I really like James V. West's homebrew player classes such as Death Witch, Feral Knight, and Eyeball. I think they really give an alternative skewed view of the game from the traditional classes that are available.
I know that there are further 'West' character classes available, but I haven't bought those options as of yet. The Chainmail Bikini chick will make an appearance no doubt.
The gist of the short campaign is that Zasto has stolen a magic ring from the Thieves Guild master. He's apoplectic and wants Zasto taught a lesson. Unfortunately, no one knows where Zasto's lair is.... except for Vinimar Six Fingers. The problem is that Vinimar was last seen going into Ghiki's hole. Everyone knows that NO ONE comes out of Ghiki's hole alive!
It should be a skoosh.
Drop into Ghiki's hole and find Vinimar's map. Then travel to Zasto's hidden lair, break in, repatriate the Ring of Charms, cut out Zasto's tongue, and return to Seapath to collect the rather LARGE reward.
Nae bother at all!
He's only gone and done it. James V. West has published Black Pudding, the game setting and rules. Fantastic. You already know that I am...
