D&D B/X: Sample Dungeon Expedition (2/2)

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Our story continues.... 

Morgan: "OK, what does the room look like? We are checking the floor and ceiling, too."DM: "The room is six-sided, 30' on a side and 20' high. The door you came in is the only one you see. There is nothing unusual about the floor or ceiling. Besides the bodies of the goblins, there is a wooden box along the northeast wall and a pile of old rags in the north corner."Morgan: "Silverleaf is checking for secret doors, Fred is looking for traps, Black Dougal is examining the box, and Sister Rebecca is guarding the door. I'm prodding the rags with my sword--any movement?"

(No matter how much I try, the above format is the only thing Blogger can come up with.  Does it just suck?)

More of the caller running the show.  Note the assumption that everything should be examined.  Totally expected and common these days, but apparently "back in the day" it needed to be shown. 

DM (after rolling for the appropriate chances): "Silverleaf notices that one of the tone blocks in the southwest wall is slightly discolored.  Fred does not see any traps.  The box is the size of a small trunk; it is latched, but not locked.  Morgan: nothing moves in the pile of rags."
Fredrik: "I want to have a look at that block, Silverleaf."
Morgan: "Fred examines the block."
Fredrik: "For traps."
Morgan: "Sorry, Fred; for traps."

Fred can't even speak to the DM?  (Remember, tales are told of Gygax DMing from behind file cabinets so the players only heard his voice.  So serious.)

Dougal: "I'm looking for traps on the box, too."

Maybe I'm daft, but I'm pretty sure this is the chest the hobgoblins were describing when talking about the poison needle....  Even for "back then" this seems a little odd, to the point of possibly just being an oversight. 

DM (rolling for Fred, even though the block is not trapped; the DM also rolls for Dougal's "find traps" ability.  The roll indicates that Dougal has failed to find the poisoned needle in the latch.):  "Neither of you finds a trap."
Fredrik: "I'm pushing, pulling, and trying to twist the block."
DM: "When you push it, a secret door opens in the west section of the southwest wall.  You see a 5' wide corridor that goes south for 30' and ends at a door."

If I can have two words to describe what dungeon crawling is about, they're "secret door".  Nothing says hack-and-slash, smell-of-burning-pitch-in-musty-caves, explore-the-underground-with-graph-paper like "secret door".

Morgan: "Fred and Silverleaf will guard the secret door, and Black Dougal will open the box.  I'll search through the rags.  Anything that looks like a cloak or boots?"
DM: "Black Dougal, you find out that you missed a tiny discolored needle in the latch.  Roll a saving throw vs. poison, please!"
Dougal (rolling): "Missed it!"

Want to know a big part of what "Old School" is about? 

DM: "Black Dougal gasps 'Poison!' and falls to the floor.  He looks dead."

That's it.  No heals, no resurrections, no recoveries, no bennies, no fate points (although to be fair WFRP 1e included these a couple years later).  Dougal's dead.  Thanks for coming, dude.

Fredrik: "I'm grabbing his pack to carry treasure in."

LOL.  What would people around a table say in 2015 if someone did that after a death that abrupt? 

Rebecca: "I'm giving Black Dougal the last rites of my church."

Cleric's not surprised, either. 

DM: "OK.  Meanwhile, Fred, you find the box is full of silver, perhaps two thousand pieces.  Morgan, you do find a pair of old boots, but nothing like a cloak."
Morgan: Fred will dump the silver and looks for hidden compartments in the box.  I'll try on the boots and see if I move silently--we could use a pari of elven boots!"

Again, note the assumption / insistence on "no stone unturned".  In a sideways manner, this is a good example of old school as well.  If you didn't find the secret door, you just didn't find it.  The DM generally wouldn't fudge rolls or railroad you if you needed to find it.  You probably just... didn't.  Of course all DMs would have handled that differently.  But players basically knew that there were not going to be gimmes.  Others have referred to this as being evidence of old school games requiring more player skill.  I haven't thought about it, but that seems like a pretty big leap of logic. 

DM (rolling another wandering monster check): "Fred finds a false bottom in the box.  It contains another smaller box of carved ivory that holds two gold bracelets set with jade."
Fredrik: "How valuable do they look?"
DM: "You think the jewel case is worth 100 gp and each bracelet is worth about 600 gp.  Morgan seems to be moving very quietly."

In the last post I mentioned treasure as experience.  This is 1300 gp in stuff, and 200 gp worth of coin, and a pair of magical boots.  Not a bad haul to be split four ways. 

Morgan: "GREAT!  I'll put the case and jewels in my pack and then watch the door as the others take turns filling their packs with silver."
Fredrik: "I'll dump out Dougal's pack and fill it with coins."
DM: "OK; the loading will take four turns."  (The DM makes the wandering monster checks.  As the party finishes loading, a large party of bandits approaches.  Since Morgan is watching the door, the DM gives a very high chance that the bandits will be heard.)  "As you finish loading, Morgan hears the tramp of many booted feet coming from the north.  It's getting louder. . . ."

Four turns?  Forty minutes?  What am I missing here?

I might be nitpicking here, but large parties of bandits wander around in dungeons?  A bunch of 1-hit-die NPCs looking for people to rob?

Morgan: "We'll beat a hasty retreat through the secret door.  Fred will go first, then me.  Silverleaf is next, and Sister Rebecca will bring up the rear.  She'll spike the door shut behind us."
Fredrick: "Before we do I grab Dougal's body.  We can't leave him behind."

Each character has just added an average of 500 coins of weight, and the dwarf is also dragging a dead human around.  I find it curious and a bit disappointing that encumbrance isn't handled here, but to be fair it was an optional rule.

DM: "OK.  As you reach the end of the secret passage, you hear a cry of discovery and a babble of voices afrom the room behind you.  Black Dougal's tools and rations have been discovered."
Morgan: "What?!  didn't anyone bring his things along?"

Expecting her party to be smarter than that... obviously she has to do things herself? 

All: "No!"

But no one says, "Why didn't you?" 

Morgan: "Nuts!  We're going to be more careful from here on, gang.  Anyhow, Fred will listen at the door.  I have my bow ready."
DM (rolling): "Fred, you don't hear anything."
Morgan: "Fred will force open the door."
DM (rolling): "It opens.  You see a square room, 30' on a side and 20' high.  Your door is in the west section of the north wall.  You don't see any other exits.  The room appears to be empty."
Rebecca: "What about behind us?"
DM: "The voices have died down and you don't hear anything."
Morgan: "We'll search the room very carefully, taking at least two turns.  Silverleaf and Sister Rebecca are looking for secret doors and Fred is looking for shifting walls.  I'm guarding the rear."
DM (rolling for wandering monsters): "OK.  You search for two turns.  You don't find anything, but something finds you.  A secret door that Silverleaf and Sister Rebecca didn't find in the south wall opens, and two hobgoblins stroll in . . . ."

The party searches for twenty minutes (meaning four characters get secret door checks at least once, but that's a ruling, not a rule), which was a good idea because there's another one.  Secret doors all up in the place.  Personally I don't like them sprinkled so liberally. 

OK, next time I'm going to talk about some mechanics, what they imply, and whether they do a good job or can be improved on.