Monday, March 12, 2018

Game Session: Swords & Wizardry Super Light

Over the weekend I ran a session of Swords & Wizardry Light for my daughter (11 years old), little brother (11 years old), cousin (first time player) and my wife. This is also the first real time my wife played D&D.
I took Swords & Wizardry Light and made it Super Light. I asked them each what they wanted to play as and quickly wrote on a sheet of paper their Health, AC, Saving Throw + Bonus, Attack and Spell Slots/Special Abilities. I didn't even include the stats. I just rolled their HD to get their Hit Points.
My daughter and cousin were both Elven Magic-Users and so they decided that their characters were sisters. My little brother was a Human Thief and my wife was a Human Cleric. I told them that their characters already knew each other and that they wake up in a prison cell hearing a voice in their head telling them the direction of their gear and, "Act quickly and don't think." Which I explained that when things are taking a little longer than they should I will count to five and expect to have a decision. Fortunately, I never made it to five.

The premise was for the adventurers to escape from their cell and find a way out of the dungeon/fortress that they were in. They didn't know where they were or how they even got captured. The real point was just a quick dungeon crawl session to show the basics of the game and just to have fun. 

After forgetting to check for traps on a locked door they eventually get their gear and begin searching for the way out...
With some inspiration from Matt Finch's Swords of Jordoba, the adventurers encountered two human sized slug-like monsters that wield a shield and sword. One of the Magic-User's charmed one of the slugs and he killed the other slug without causing a scene. The charmed slug became their guide and henchman. Fortunately, he had some keys to the doors and knew the way out. They came across a corridor where the ceiling was becoming more narrow the further they went. This wasn't much of a problem to the party except for the cleric wearing bulky armor and a shield. It took her a little bit longer to get through. At the other side of the corridor was a room with a large portcullis blocking the path. In the room there were two vents, one on each side of the portcullis, they were large enough that a human wearing no armor could crawl through if needed to. They looked through the left vent and saw that on the other side was a prison cell with the remains of a human skeleton. Through the right vent was this small creature with spikes all over its back hunched over eating something in a prison cell. The slug opened the portcullis for the adventurers and on the other side was three wooden doors on the left, three on the right and a metal door straight ahead. When they passed through a loud scream can be heard coming from one of the doors to the right. They had the slug lock the doors on right side of the room. One of the Magic-Users went back and climbed up to look through the vent on the right side of the wall but couldn't see anything and then suddenly that creature was at the vent screaming in her face....I actually screamed in her face which causes my daughter to actually be frightened and almost fall out of her chair. It was a great moment. And because of that her character fell back frightened and the portcullis fell down causing a loud bang. Then through the narrow passage three slugs came through with the Magic-User stuck on the side with them. She was able to blast one with Magic Missile but then lost her staff when trying to fight another before the friendly slug could open the portcullis and the rest of the adventurers helped finished off the rest. Though, the other Magic-User got a little crazy and pummeled one of the slugs over and over and over with her staff until it was a nasty mess (she landed a critical hit). After this they wanted to go through the metal door and as they opened the door a nasty, vile, disgusting smell blew through the door causing both the Magic-Users to get really sick causing them to vomit for a few rounds. That smell was the food that the slugs eat. Through the metal door was a small spiral stairway that led down to the kitchen. The slug went first to see what was down there but after a moment he never returned and then adventurers in their head heard, "help!" They stormed down the stairs and found three slugs. Two of them were taking their friendly slug away and the other one had it's back turned against the adventurers. They managed to take down these slugs without getting hurt, though, in the process one of the slugs killed their friendly slug. It was a sad moment for the adventurers. They figured that this fight probably caused a lot of noised so they continued on through the next door...

The next room opened up into this large area where the opposite side didn't have a wall. There was a huge opening. On the right of the opening was this large creature that was double the size of a human. It was operating a large crank that was connected to a platform. The adventurers could tell that this thing was lowering down a platform. This monster had this metal plate across it's mouth and this weird green slime over it's head. One of the Magic-Users managed to charm this creature and realized that it couldn't speak because of the metal plate on it's mouth. The thief was able to unlock the metal plate from the creature's mouth. As it fell off the creature's jaw lowered revealing nasty sharp teeth. After having all the players make a roll we discovered that the Cleric was able to understand the demonic language this creature spoke. The creature told the Cleric that the only way out is through the lift but currently on the lift is something more powerful than him....

The adventurers agree that it is time to fight and prepare them selves as the creature continues to lower the lift. Once the lift was low enough a human was surprised to see the creature without it's metal plate over it's mouth. He saw the adventurers and targeted the Thief with a necrotic spell, fortunately it wasn't deadly. Then one of the Magic-Users cast sleep but wasn't able to cause the human to fall asleep but in trying to do so it caused the large creature to fall over asleep. Then the human began to transform into this large demon. It had massive arms and claws and on each shoulder it had tentacle-like spikes that would whip around. It jumped off the lift and landed in the middle of the room. Three of the Adventurers were together while one of the Magic-Users was on the other side of the room. She blast the demon with a Magic Missile which made him very angry. He swiped one of his spikes at her knocking her over and sliding her across the room next to the rest of the Adventurers. With his spikes he made an "arena" around the him and the Adventurers so they couldn't get away. After a round of fighting this thing the injured Magic-User cast web on the demon's spikes and it bound his spikes to the ground. When he couldn't break free from the web he bashed her with the back of his hand sending her across the room...dead. With that the other Magic-User, after seeing her sister's lifeless body fly across the room, shot the demon in the face with a Magic Missile which was the distraction the Thief needed. He successfully managed to get away from the demon's site and over one of the tentacles. After another round the Cleric landed a brutal hit to the demon's head which made him angry and he slammed his claws into the sleeping creature and drained it's energy. Though, it didn't matter when the Thief landed a Back Stab and I said the words, "How do you want to kill this demon?" Everyone cheered and was excited. And the Thief stabbed the demon through it's back and cut off his tentacles and his arms.

The Magic-User got her sister onto the platform and the Thief raised the platform while the two Magic-Users and Cleric were on it. Once it made it to the top the Thief climbed the walls and they made their way out of the dungeon and back onto the surface. The Cleric was able to cure the Magic-User's wounds and restore her to life. They gathered themselves and made their way to a nearby town.

And that is where this session ended.

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