Topic: [AP] Stonehell with noobs

We started an (I hope) continuing sandbox campaign with LotFP tonight. I've got a bunch of modules prepped: all of LotFP's, plus Stonehell Dungeon and Tomb of the Iron God. None of us have ever played anything pre-3.5e D&D; so it's a bit of an adjustment. Me? I'm already there. And I think most of the players were bought in. We always have one guy who's a 4e diehard, but there you go.

I can't remember the character names, but there were 2 fighters, and halfling, and a dwarf. They were pretty poor starting out, but, through pooling their resources, they managed to get reasonable armor and equipment and set off for Stonehell (although, of course, they didn't know of it as such).

During the session tonight, they made 2 forays into the dungeon. The first foray cleared the north half of the gatehouse; the second cleared the south half and explored the roof. None of the encounters were really an issue. The goblins in the gatehouse (5 of them) had a great reaction roll toward the party, half of whom decided to use it to slaughter everyone there. The other two PCs jetted and closed the door behind them. Afterward, though, everyone was cool.

Upstairs, they found the satchel and wine cask guarded by the giant wasps. A quick dash in and out secured the satchel. For the cask, they took an hour or so and smoked them out by breaking a hole in the door with a previously purchased crowbar and lighting a fire right next to the door, wafting in the smoke with a cloak. It was just mop up from there on out.

But then new logistics problems appeared: this cask is *heavy.* It's got extra-vintage wine in it. What do they do? At this point, they figure they might as well head back to town and sell this junk. They've got the (correct) feeling that it's going to multiply their current net worth by 2 or 3 times. So they heft it between them for a hard two-days march back into town.

After selling and reequipping, they've got a horse, a cart, and a guard (paid double so he'll travel with them), Jonathan Witcherton, who got dishonorably discharged from the legion for some reason and has this thing for potatoes for some other reason. By now they've pooled corporate assets, elected officers (e.g., VP of Human Resources, VP of Execution), and they're back to clear the south portion of the gatehouse.

They do, with the halfling taking potshots from the roof and the wandering wildlife, and then, what do you know, it's 8.30p.m. game time and midnight realtime. That's when we break. They're taking the horse into the gatehouse for the night and giving Jonathan Witcherton the night off-duty, hoping for an increase in his morale score (which is terrible: 4, although they don't know that).

So, yeah, not a whole lot *happened* aside from the goblin-slaughter and the barbarianish fighter's near-death experience with giant centipede poison--a save right on the money. Oh, and a Bushcraft success let them gather enough of the poison for a lethal dose. And I was like "Do y'all have a container for that poison?" And the barbarian said "I've got a pint of beer in a glass here." So now they have poisoned beer. You know, in case they ever need it.

*But,* even though not much happened, I had a blast. I think, at the end, everyone was getting a handle on the flow of the game. It's a much different experience than any RPG we've played so far (D&D3.5-4, plus a variety of indie stuff). I'm really hoping this campaign continues. In particular, I'm looking forwarding to seeing the contrasts between playing this classic-style megadungeon module and playing LotFP's modules--especially Death Frost Doom.

Last edited by Vanoj (2011-10-01 07:40:15)

Re: [AP] Stonehell with noobs

Seems like you all had a great session. I was reading the preview of Stonehell and was wondering how it would do with LotFP.

Obviously if one doesn't have any of the standardized monsters Stonehell uses (which go against the feel provided in LotFP somewhat) it would be a bit harder. Luckily I happened to pick up the S&W Complete book at my last trip to the webstore, so I'm not in much of a bad boat in that sense.

How much converting did you need to do to get the megadungeon to conform to the LotFP rules, and for materials the Adventure assumes you have access to (monsters, treasure, traps, etc.) what source book(s) did you pull them from?

Last edited by Neko--kun (2011-10-02 02:12:54)

Re: [AP] Stonehell with noobs

I started to downconvert all currency, but I gave that up midway through because, basically, I wanted the PCs to be able to buy some cool adventuring stuff. If I were playing a straight-up, for sure, this-is-a-thing-we're-definitely-going-to-continue campaign, I wouldn't do this.

The monsters were easy to use on the fly. I absolutely love LotFP's AC system for this. You don't even need to consult monster statblocks. You just eyeball it: is the monster like an unarmored, lightly armored, medium-armored, or heavily armored human? And then you just use the corresponding AC value. For HP, I only consulted the statblocks for larger, more significant creatures. For everything else, I just assumed 1d8 hp doing 1d6 damage (or poison, if the monster is a poisonous kind of thing, like a centipede).

Now, again, if I were running this in the context of a certainly continuing campaign, I'd simply remove most of the monsters and make most humanoid monsters simply humans. The stats don't really even need to change. And the whimsical stuff in the dungeon proper (like the kobold market) would need to go. You'd keep the layout but have the place ruined and abandoned, haunted, filled with vermin, etc.

All that to say, you don't need to worry about sourcebooks. You can get away with the above eyeball-conversion/approximations for HP/AC/damage, and, for everything else, just tune in to your GM-instincts. Rule confidently and don't worry about how things are "supposed" to work. Just ensure that they feel right for LotFP.

For instance, there's this level where some ogres have a gym, basically. They're lifting big rocks for bench press. It's perfectly D&D but not appropriate for LotFP. If you're doing things on the fly, you're going to think: "This doesn't feel right." So just obliterate it. The ogres aren't there. It's not a gym. Or keep *one* ogre, don't explicitly call him that, give him like 4-5HD to make him a significant threat, and make him bellow from the shadows. There: converted. And the beauty is that you can do these things off the top of your head.

Oh, and remember reaction rolls: not every wandering pack of wolves is going to attack the PCs straight off. Having the PCs see a bunch of things that are standoffish enforces a sense of reality and tension.

Re: [AP] Stonehell with noobs

Fantastic post, and timely too.

My campaign setting will be kicking off in October and I've settled on LotFP. Some of the key early locales include Stonehell and the Tomb of the Iron God, so it's reaffirming to hear someone else making similar edits to capture the Grindhouse feeling.

Keep up the posts, please!

Re: [AP] Stonehell with noobs

timmyd wrote:

<snip> Some of the key early locales include Stonehell and the Tomb of the Iron God, so it's reaffirming to hear someone else making similar edits to capture the Grindhouse feeling. <snip>

I just ordered a bunch of books from Lulu last night, those two included. After my group is finished with Stargazer I'll run Tomb of the Iron God, probably. So if I get mine run before you I'll post how it went, I hope you'll do the same, timmy, if you get your group through it before me.

And if they all die horribly be sure to post about that too! wink

Re: [AP] Stonehell with noobs

It has begun.

I've kickstarted my sandbox campaign in Rob Conley's "Golden Shores" setting (from Points of Light II), although the colonies are now largely abandoned since the "Old World" was ravaged by plague and famine and invasion. The result is a "New World" that is post-collapse. This is great for my "West Marches" style game (see Ben Robbin's posts on ars ludi lame-mage for details)

Stonehell Dungeon is 1.5 days from the only remaining major settlement, and the players in the first expedition set out immediately for Stonehell.

Sadly, they bypassed the Gatehouse and went straight to the undead crypt in the cave on the left... and the thief was skewered by an animate skeleton on the fist blow. There was shock and awe around the table, but he quickly rolled up a new character (a beefy warrior) and they found him camped out in the gatehouse!

The party has now returned to Stonehell in multiple excursions and are learning to "sniff" for treasure and avoid fighting if possible. It's great!

Sadly, I regret how much I have used the undead, as I wanted them to be more special and terrifying (although my rules for Terror and Sanity are causing a stir: witnessing such cosmic horrors forces a Wisdom test (roll under) or suffer 1d6 temporary Wisdom damage, on a '6' one point is permanent).

In addition, I've replaced the demihumans with human savages. e.g. the Goblins are short cave pygmies, while the orcs are larger cave pygmies from another tribe. It's all in the description, and the players don't suspect anything.

Re: [AP] Stonehell with noobs

Those are the first sanity rules that I have really liked (the wisdom damage). Might use that next time.

Re: [AP] Stonehell with noobs

untimately wrote:

Those are the first sanity rules that I have really liked (the wisdom damage). Might use that next time.

Sadly, I cannot take credit for them.

I lifted the rules from the Akratic Wizardry House Rules.
http://enrill.net/documents/akratic-wizardry.pdf