Decided to create two characters and run them through a short solo dungeon, using the Deck of Many Dungeons. I also used my Fantasy Gamemaster’s Apprentice Deck to decide solo questions.
While I had earlier been fiddling around with these guys as part of a playtest of another game, I decided to also give myself a run through with the same dungeon and characters using Castles & Crusades. Basically, I wanted to see how deadly C&C can be.
I rolled up a Halfling Rogue named Goriel (why do I always come back to that name, eh?) and a Human Fighter named Alfstan.
You can see their Castles & Crusades character sheets here: Goriel & Alfstan
Delving For Profit
The heroes arrive at the dungeon. They have found a map that led them here and are determined to explore. Going down the stairs, they find a passage running east-west. They head west… to a closed door.
Alfstan puts his shoulder to the door, shoving it – rolls Strength vs Challenge Level (CL) 5 needing 17+ (Strength is prime for Alfstan, giving base 12 plus the CL5), scores 17 + 2 for Strength + 1 for level = 20. The door opens.
Inside are two small chests below a raised area upon which stands a pool.
Goriel goes over to see if the chests are locked. Are they? Even odds. No. Decides to look over the chests for traps.
Rolls Traps vs CL6, rolls Intelligence needing 24 (non-prime gives 18, plus the CL6) scoring 21. Not enough to be sure… what the heck!
Opens the right hand chest. Is there a trap? Even odds. Yes. Decide it’s a poison needle – click! Poison Needle trap is CL3 and does 1 point of damage. Save versus Poison to resist poison, CL3; Goriel rolls Constitution needing 21, gaining +1 from being a Resistant Halfling – scores 19. He feels the prick of the needle, his head goes slightly dizzy and he feels the burn of the poison… 1d8 damage, -2 to all secondary checks, lasting 2-6 days. Eek! Rolls 1 point of damage (lucky!) but will be sick for 5 days.
Inside the chest is 1d8x10gp = 60gp. Goriel pockets it.
Meanwhile, Alfstan is investigating the pool. Decides to drink a little, out of curiousity. Magic Pool effect rolled 10, Poison! Constitution versus 15, rolls 10. Alfstan starts to drink the “water”, tastes the bitterness and tries to spit it out! 1d8 damage, 2-6 days, -2 to secondary checks. Rolls 1 damage (double lucky!) and 5 days.
Goriel decides to risk opening the other chest but opts to see if he can slip the knife in to stop any possible poison needle. Traps skill versus 21 (-2 penalty, total -1) rolls 15. Hmph! Is there a trap? Even odds. No. Opening the chest, Goriel discovers it has no treasure. Hmph.
They backtrack to the east. Decide to add some Goblins to the scene, guarding the treasure room. Let’s try six Goblins. Two by the first doors, two with bows behind, two in the room with the secret door. They’ll have short bows and daggers, 4 HP each.
Roll Initiative, 1d10 for everyone. Goblins roll 3. Goriel rolls 8. Alfstan rolls 6.
Goriel stands back and readies his shortbow, taking a shot at the nearest Goblin. Rolls 1d20+2, scores 9 vs AC15. Miss!
Alfstan closes 15’ and attacks a Goblin with his Battleaxe. Rolls 1d20+4, scores 17 vs AC15. Hit! Rolls 1d8+3 damage, scoring 8, killing a Goblin.
Goblin next to Alfstan tries to stab him before running back 10 feet. Rolls 1d20+1 (for being 1HD monster), scoring 19 vs AC16. Hit! Rolls 1d4, scoring 2. Ouch!
Goblins by the door shoot bows at Alfstan. First rolls 1d20+1, scoring 10 vs AC 16 to miss. Second rolls, scoring 16 to hit! Rolls 1d6, scoring 5 damage. Alfstan is down (on -1 HP).
Facing three Goblins and his friend down, Goriel wants to run… but we roll Initiative. Goblins score 3, Goriel scores 2. The three Goblins fire their bows at the Halfling!
First rolls 17 vs Goriel’s AC 14 to hit – scores 4 damage. Goriel passes out…
Adventure ends.
Reflecting…
Hmm. Well, that shows how different Castles & Crusades (and, effectively, the 0e/1e D&D era) is to the 5e game today. I know that those two heroes could take six Goblins, four of whom were up front, much more easily than that in 5e. Also, the poison was nastier.
As GM, I need to be a little more careful on how I stack my monsters against the heroes. Food for thought.
Game on!
Wow! That deck of many dungeons looks pretty cool.
I’ve also been using the GM Apprentice deck tables to supplement my solo roleplaying (updated my profile so I link to my gaming blog instead of my more general one). I primarily use mythic but have been using the Verb/Noun words from the GMA when I need to define an event in mythic–just a little faster than rolling 2d100 and looking it up on the table.