It’s amazing how, after getting the chores done, sitting down to play a game becomes somewhat irresistible.
As a solo player, you steadily find your own style and rhythm; playing with an old Dungeons & Dragons adventure from the 1980s is also slightly different because most of the details are already in the module notes.
So far, though, I’ve found that Mythras emulates the style of “Classic Fantasy” really well.
Here’s what happened next…
East or West?
“Which way should we go?” Itomas asks the other two. Bjorn shrugs.
“East was where the zombies were so maybe we go west,” Sven suggests. Itomas nods in agreement.
Bjorn goes first, with Itomas close behind and holding the lantern. The area is 20 feet by 30 feet, has another doorway in the north wall, and is divided by stairs on the south side leading downwards. In the northwest corner of the room is a fireplace.
“Interesting. You reckon that’s where those runty Kobolds ran off to?” asks Bjorn, nodding towards the stairs.
“Makes sense,” says Itomas. Sven grunts affirmative.
“Heading through that door might put Kobolds to our rear,” whispers Itomas.
“Let the little gits try,” says Bjorn, heading towards the door.
Through the north door lay a 30 feet square room with another doorway in the east wall. A large log is in the centre of the room. One end is on the floor, but the other end is held up by a strong rope, which runs through hooks in the ceiling, wall, and floor. It is tied to a large chest, which is on the floor directly below the upraised log.
“If that rope breaks,” says Itomas, “it’s going to crush that chest… and anyone fiddling with it.”
“You reckon there’s a trap set to cut the rope?” asks Sven.
“Would make sense.”
Itomas walks around the chest, sizing up the situation and looking for clues as to the nature of the trap.
I’m giving Itomas a Perception check, augmented by his Mechanisms skill. This means that he can add 20% of his Mechanisms to his Perception of 43%. With Mechanisms at 54%, that’s +12% (you round up in Mythras), taking Perception to 55%. Itomas rolls 73. I give him a re-roll with a Luck Point, scoring a 06 – a critical success!
“Hey, you know what? I think this is a trick – nothing’s going to cut the rope unless we do,” smirks Itomas. Before anyone reacts further, he strides up to the chest and flips open the lid.
Nothing happens.
Smiling, Itomas ushers the other two to come and see: inside the chest are dozens of gold and silver coins; right on top is the shining form of a citrine gem about 2 inches in diameter.
“That’ll do nicely.”
With Bjorn keeping watch, Itomas and Sven count and bag the coins and gem: some 500 silver coins, 50 gold coins, a gem that Itomas reckons ought to fetch perhaps 100 silver coins.
Returning With Loot
Bags filled, the party decides to exit and go back to the village. Retracing their steps they go through the bedroom and, noticing that the enchantment isn’t repeated, back through the storage room and on to the entrance. Opening the doors to the outside, they make a quick dash across the courtyard to the wall. Once through the wall, the three adventurers begin their walk back to town.
The walk being only about an hour or so, they arrive during the early afternoon. Walking south from Mistamere into the village, and passing the watchman on the tower next to the road, our heroes wave as they walk by.
Itomas decides to first of all try to sell the gem and the hat pin. Looking around, he spies Heiko’s Tailorshop tucked just past The Golden Dragon Inn. With new purpose, he strides over to the building and steps inside.
“Good afternoon, friend,” says Heiko. His shop is well-appointed and sports mannequins wearing some surprisingly fashionable clothing.
“Greetings,” says Itomas, “I have an item which I wondered if you might be willing to value for me?”
“Really? Well, I suppose if it’s to do with clothing…”
Itomas draws the hat pin from his backpack and hands it to the shopkeeper. Heiko grabs a cloth from the counter and wipes the pin carefully.
“My, my,” mutters the man, “quite a find, quite a find.”
“Is it worth much?”
Heiko smiles, “Perhaps… well, perhaps as much as 800 silver pennies to the right buyer.”
“Really? My, my,” says Itomas, “Would you be able to sell it for me?”
Heiko eyes the dwarf carefully.
“Where did you get it? It’s not stolen, is it?”
Itomas smiles widely, “Of course not. My companions retrieved it from Mistamere Castle. At great personal risk, I might add. But, you see, we don’t have much need of a hat pin. No hats.”
Heiko nods, sagely.
“Well, I don’t have 800 silver pennies to offer you for it,” says the shopkeeper, “I’m sorry.”
“What could you offer me for it? Could you perhaps spare 200 silver coins?”
I really have no idea how much cash Heiko would have, but it seems unlikely. Drawing from the GM Apprentice deck, figuring that it’s Bad Odds, I draw… “No”.
“Sadly, I don’t, friend,” says Heiko.
Itomas sighs and thanks the man for his sage advice. Stepping out into the sunshine, Itomas rejoins the party.
Finding Rest
Returning to The Golden Dragon Inn, the three adventurers decide to buy some ale and take stock. Bjorn’s hungry too, so they order some plates of meat and bread – a luxury in these parts, really. After this, Sven decides to go and sleep and the others take some time to reflect on the day’s adventuring.
The party has recovered treasure totalling the equivalent worth of 288 gold pieces. They’ve also fought kobolds and zombies, as well as being victims of tricks and traps. I’ve decided to award them 3 Experience Rolls each.
Itomas recovers his two Luck Points. He spends the first Experience Roll on his Thief Combat Style, reflecting on his recent battles: I roll 69 and add his INT of 11, scoring 80; this beats his 56% skill value, so I roll 1d4+1 for improvement… rolling a 2 for a total of +3%. I also decide to improve his Perception and Stealth, succeeding in giving him a +2% boost to Perception and a +5% boost to Stealth.
Sven recovers his Luck Point. His three Experience Rolls go to his Cleric Combat Style, Channel skill, and Willpower. He improves the combat style by +3%, Channel by +5%, and Willpower by +2%. Sven will also recover his fatigue.
Bjorn invests his Experience Rolls in the Fighter Combat Style, Evade skill, and his Perception. He improves the combat style by +4%, the Evade skill by +5%, and Perception by +5%. Not bad at all.
How’s Mythras Classic Fantasy Doing?
So far, pretty good. I’m enjoying the game and learning lots about the system as I go.
Most noticeable is the difference in combat detail: Mythras fixes the complaints I usually have with Dungeons & Dragons. More than this, though, I find the skill system nice and intuitive.
I’ve enjoyed the resistance rolls for the Poison and Enchantment effects that we experienced in Episode 4. It was pretty easy to eye-ball the values and was a neat way to deal with things.
Yes, I’m enjoying the game. For now, it’s time to let the heroes stash their treasure and rest up before they go back for more. I think it’s time they dealt with those Kobolds again. Assuming, of course, that Itomas is right about where they went.
Game on!
Awesome as usual.