Jail Break

Preface

Gamesmastering for a large party of adventurers takes time and a lot of work to keep it fairly interesting and working on all the levels it needs to.

This dungeon took a different approach. It's the first time I'd given the kids -bad guy's- as characters. The story begins with one bandit (whose player stayed long enough to create a character sheet but then had to go home) already in a jail cell and the other bandit on a rescue mission.

Admittedly this scenario was inspired somewhat by the awesome computer game Thief on X-Box360, a terrible affliction which playing desktop rpg's with miniatures is a major leverage to get the kid away from it and actively using their imaginations instead. 

 

We are now using the Advanced Brains&Brawn™ character sheet.

Brains (all things mental and perceptions)

Brawn (all things strength and hit points)

Craft (how skilled you are at doing general stuff)

Move (speed, reflexes, add this value to 1d6 for your movement that turn)

Magic (how magic you are)

Power (how much you can do with your magic)

Each character gets 4,3,3,2,2,1 points to divvy up between the 6 attributes.

Session One

It was agreed that Session One will end the moment where the rescuer character encounters the imprisoned character. 

There are several other prisoners incarcerated by the Town Guard whose dungeon this is. They serve to make the story more interesting and to act as comedy, also possibly as additional enemies or more probably as helpful allies, as needs be.

Rescuer character was given an option of lock picking tools or rope&grapple in starting equipment. A discussion ensured as to whether the proper accepted name for this tool should be lock-picks or pick-locks. No final decision was made. There is at least one overhead air-vent in the complex leading to a suitable stretch of passageway. The character opted for pick-locks and to boldly storm the castle through the front entrance, in this case down a set of spiral stairs and into the office and store room. This room contained a map of the level on display, with labels, which made it easier for everybody. I was able to place the dungeon sections out in advance of them being discovered. 

This being a populated area, there are lanterns casting sufficient light that the characters did not require to brandish their own torches. We did however use the special Sneak rules (movement is equal to Move Attribute + 1d6 as normal, divided by 2) to lurk in shadows unseen. 

The first room is guarded by one guard who was easily stabbed to death with a dagger before he recognized an intruder. The bandit character looted him for everything (an iron key, 1d6 coins, a recognizable guard uniform including a +1 defense leather waistcoat, a light helmet and a short sword) and then looted the room; discovering a cupboards full of Wanted! posters, records of criminals who had previously been through the facility, their name, species, crime and punishment. 

Next to the cupboard is a writing desk on which (along with quill and ink) is a record of all prisoners currently incarcerated, their crime ("banditry" is itself a recognized albeit non-specific crime in this town), the appropriate punishment (which varies greatly) and importantly, which cell they are being held in. 

There is also a chest containing items taken from prisoners (a bottle of rum, a small red leather book of spells, a bottle of green swirly potion, and everything from the captured bandits equipment list), and a rack containing the type of Spears and short swords used by the Guards. 

Guard miniature painted low-budget circa 1990 by a pre-teen

The door from this room is locked (requires an iron key). Our bandit character opened it and entered the corridor in which a surprised guard immediately attacked him while shouting for backup. Sadly for him the dungeon doors are all closed and very thick, which meant nobody could hear him. Nobody but for the crossbow carrying guard lurking in the shadows at the far end of the corridor, that is. The bandit dispatched of both of them while suffering a lot of injuries, and added crossbow to his equipment list. By now, despite advice fom the GM that bandits typically try to travel light so as to move swiftly, he had become encumbered and his movement rate reduced appropriately.

Instead of pressing on for the cell in which his friend is being held, the bandit decided to kick open a door into the guards recreation room in the hope of murdering everybody and looting. The guard room is occupied by Tiny Tim who wields an enchanted short sword which glows when nasty people are about. The bandit player is overcome by Greed and wants that sword at all costs. The guard room is also occupied by the Sheriff, Big Bob the Hunchback HobGoblin in his hob-nailed boots. Big Bobs fists are bigger than the bandits head.

When the bandit awakens he is in a cell, his equipment gone. The only other person in the cell is Dave the Drunk, a regular prisoner who is sobering up after having caused yet another riot in the Broken Ball Tavern. He does this several times a week. The cell smells of sick. 

For a drunk he is clever. He explains that he alone knows a way out of the cell, as he has been in here so often and has figured it out. He comes here to avoid his wife, who is the reason why he drinks, and then he gets in trouble simply to avoid going home to her. His other problem is his favourite tavern, the Broken Ball, is situated half way between here and his home, so he somehow always deviates into said establishment before arriving home, wherin he gambles and drinks, usually winning enough money to buy enough drinks to make friends, or at least soften enemies, and to pay in advance for his next misadventure to ensure that even when he loses at gambling he will still have space on his slate to keep getting drunk when penniless. 

The bandit presses him for information about how to escape. Dave the drunk offers a deal. Since the bandit will likely be hung or beheaded tomorrow for murdering three guards, he doesn't have much else to lose nor many other options anyway. As he is a hardened killer, Dave requests that in exchange for being told the secret of how to escape this cell, the bandit will meet Dave in the Broken Ball in advance of the bandit killing Dave's horrible nagging wife. Once she is dead, he will no longer have to hide from her in the tavern and get drunk to drown his sorrows, nor will he have to sober up in the cells to avoid her wrath. 

The bandit agrees to the proposal so Dave tells him to pull up the flagstone in the corner, which has a passage below it. The tunnel is a rat infested crawl space which leads to a dead end, although at that dead end, an overhead flagstone can be pushed up... emerging into the corner of the other cell, currently occupied by a strange looking man in a red leather tunic and the other bandit who the first one is here to rescue. As agreed, the session ends here.

Session Two 

The second bandit who has been imprisoned here for at least a day, has already made friends with her cell mate, an un-named wizard. He explains he has memorized one sleep spell but has not the power to cast it. he does teach both bandits how they can donate any spare personal power they have, to him, so he can use it to cast his spell. 

As soon as the guard comes in to water the prisoners, he is surprised to see an extra person in the cell. The surprise does not last long because the red mage makes good on his promise and with his extra power, he puts everybody in the dungeon to sleep for an unknown amount of time, except for himself and the two bandits. With their cell door unlocked and open, they can pick-pocket the guards to find the dungeon keys, and leave quietly. 

The bandits have other plans. 

The bandits raid every guard they can find. They raid every treasure chest they can find. As they are arguing about who should get what from their loot, they decide to rescue Dave the Drunk (who is sleeping). After they wake him up, Dave suggests they lock the guards in the cells and rob the place at their leisure. Then he leaves (leaving behind his bottle of rum).

The first bandit has the terrific idea of using the dungeon torture room, and straps Big Bob the Hunchback HobGoblin and his hobnail boots, to it. He takes Tiny Tims enchanted sword of detect nasty people, which glows brighter as he holds it, and the dungeon keys from the hip of Big Bob the Hunchback Hobgoblin in his hobnail boots. There is a chest in this room containing leather gloves (of mighty punching, +1 attack), some rope, and some dice (3d6) which always land on 6.

The red wizard entertains everyone, he has a pouch of shrinking which he can fit anything into, the chests, the weapons rack, the whole lot. Then he sets fire to the cupboard of criminal records and wanted! posters, and leaves, agreeing to meet the bandits in the Broken Ball Tavern, later, to properly divvy up their loot.

TBC....? 

Cygn's Cairn

CYGN'S CAIRN

Cygn. Sign. Cygnus. Cygnet. Psy'gn. Kine. Coin.

The Eld God's name has many forms. 

Their meanings, aspects, entwine. 

The heroes do not know this as they enter its temple.

They know only that they are ready to explore a lost Barrow,

into which none has entered for a long, long time.  

None has entered because the entrance leads through a wide set of stairs to a pit shaft, 

up from which blows a cold, damp air. 

The walls and ceiling are covered in moss and vines 

which have rooted themselves into cracks in the ancient stone walls and ceiling. 

The pit shaft follows the in-game logic that 1 inch = 6 foot. 

Every "square" or "move" of a character is 1" / 6'. 

At two squares across the pit is twelve feet. 

It's a long way to jump. 

The Wizard won't make it (unless he uses his magic), 

nor will the heavily plate-armor clad Knight. 

Only the dexterous Elf stands any chance. 

He makes a successful Leap roll (Stat Test), lands niftly on his feet on the far side.

Those vines might be strong enough to support a persons weight.

Moving only 1 square per turn, 

the Knight, having succeeded his Stat Test, 

cautiously inches his way over the deep, black pit.

Meanwhile the Wizard simply casts Teleport Spell, 

dissolves into the air and reappears within the 12 Square Radius of the Spell Limit,

happens to be in the next room wherein he casts Lumos Maxima spell 

while waiting for the Knight to catch up. 

Two crumbly, rotting tables

and mossy, rotted tapestries

adorn the next room. 

Our troupe passes through it.

In the center of the pit stands an inaccessible plinth, 

upon which a huge stone statue, ten to fifteen feet tall. 

The plinth has the Eld script carved on all four sides. 

Only a Wizard will be able to read it. 

South

(midday)

"I am Cygn

Magi of Eld

Friend by some 

Feared by many"

East

(sunrise)

"In my light,

Power to friends

Who serve my goals."

North

(night) 

"In my shadow,

Consequences of my friends deeds

Create my realm."

West

(sunset)

"Bringer of Balance

For every task done

One must be undone."

  

The Elf takes his lantern into the far room,

discovers a moldy chest,

empty but for blue-purple-green fungus.  

They attack!

Killer Mushrooms  Brawn 2 Brain 1 

They bite and his wound is infected with the green-purple-blue spores.

The Elf cleverly throws his oil lantern at them. They burn.

Foul black smoke closes his lungs, and the knight who followed him in

While the Wizard translated the plinth runes. 

The smoke billows and blinds, however; 

as they come choking through into the large room,

the smoke is drawn along the cold flagstone floor and flows

as a river, as a waterfall, down into the pit.

The Knight and Elf recover.

They search the skeletons in the corner. 

The Wizard begins to leave.

In his mind he hears these words:

"Find My Pearl!" 

Two moldy skeletons locked in combat,

each plunging a rusty old blade through the ribs of the other.

The Knight who complained how boring this place is with nothing worthy to fight, 

prizes apart the bony hand of one skeleton;

it had seemed to pulse with a soft glow.

  A pearl! 

The Wizard tells him what the voice had said.

The knight gives the pearl to the Wizard. 

As soon as he hods it, that same voice speaks;

"Deaths of two

Brings Life for two." 

The Wizard passes his Brains Stat Test

and figures out that Cygn, a God of Balance

What he does not yet understand is the pearl contains two reincarnation spells,

which can be used by its wielder. 

It also has many other consequences which its wielder will discover in future. 

The characters leave the dungeon.

They may return here. 

There may be secret doors yet to be discovered, 

levels below, accessible via the pits. 

A "clean this crap up" spell

and a rickety rope bridge

may make a working temple of the place,

in time to come.

Cygn has new servants, now

An Eld God not known for many years, 

who the Wizard most certainly will research upon return to the Library. 

Cygn is working through these characters.

Consequences of their actions will bring balance.

"So he does both light and dark."

"From one comes the other. That is his realm."

The statue, wielding a double-headed axe.

Cardboard Castles / intro

B&B is being playtested as a rules system by Charley (Age 6) and some of his friends

(both for pen&paper rpg with imagination based storytelling,
and tabletop rpg with fantasy miniatures)

CARDBOARD CASTLES

When you have kids and are on a shoestring budget, the amazing and expensive resin dungeon sections available from companies on the internet are to be gladly admired but sadly not collected. 

Fortunately "keeping the kids entertained" and "encouraging the kids to be creative" are entirely compatible with "getting the kids into dice based roleplaying games".

We have cardboard. After a lifelong dedicated to much exploration with various sticky-tapes (paint does not stick to plastic tape, masking tape dries out and falls apart after six months to a year, fabric-based gaffa tape does the job perfectly) investing a couple of quid in this versatile construction  material essential. 

You will also need scissors, glue (a lifetime dedicated to exploration has resulted in the revelation that a brand called Hard As Nails is the only one worth using, certainly stay far away from superglue which sticks your fingers together and nothing else) and an ability to measure "roughly an inch" using your own judgement.  You will also need black and white poster paint, a mixing pot, and a paintbrush. Make sure the kids get changed out of their school clothes first. 

Did I mention already? You will also need a lot of corrugated cardboard, preferably not too beaten up looking.

Basically for this project we are building dungeon sections: tunnels and rooms. The blueprint is a tray with gaps in it for doors. On the floor we put random paving slabs, just enough to give the impression of a grid for moving miniatures about, without it looking too spocky. 

stick the walls onto the base before you stick the corners

a typical dungeon corridor with multiple exits (one of the first with too many floor slabs)

 A picture is worth a page of words.

STORYTELLING NARRATION

It is imperative that the Adult / Gamesmaster /DungeonKeeper becomes excellent at adding the atmosphere and guiding the imagination of the kids. This is in part slowing them down when they get too excited and in part focusing their minds on the many wonders which make the whole thing more interesting than merely rolling dice and moving plastic figures around cheaply painted cardboard. 

To this end each delve into the dungeon is a specific adventure with a specific task and purpose. Every dungeon is different, not only the lay-out has changed because its sections are modular but also the Quest itself is significantly different. It does get more complicated as the ongoing series of adventures continues, so we keep everything simple especially at the start when we are introducing new players to what it is we are doing here. 

Description is everything. The dark, dank lair of the goblins, putrid with poo smells and rotting food, rats scurrying around the shadows at the edges of your torch light. Yes that's rule one, you can only see the room or tunnel you are currently in because the light source (lantern, torch, glow spell, glowing crystal shard) which your characters are carrying only illuminates that area (basic: 3 squares of good light, 2 squares of half light, 1 square of shadows but this does depend on the type of light source). The point being that you have to describe everything with at least one adjective, and more as often as you can get away with it. Because a musty old chest is not exciting after discovering a musty old book earlier in the dungeon. But a dry musty old book is quite significantly different from a dusty musty old chest. An index of stock phrases is necessary.

NPCs (monsters) are individuals. They have names and stories. While slaying a hoard of them doesn't give you time to get to know each and every one on a personal basis, they are still going to be shnarling and cussing in goblinspeak while their dirty daggers are making clanging sounds as they bash them against the metal buckles on their scraps of leather armor.

When you encounter a lone guard, he might be sleeping, snoring, make the sound effects. He will jump in surprise, "whu? wha? wah!" the Goblin shouts as he see's you charging toward him with your weapons raised. "Alarm! Sound the alarm! Invaders!"

QUESTS

As with all the brilliant predecessors to the budget version of tabletop dungeon roleplaying, Cardboard Castles comes complete with a quest book listing the simple basics for each adventure. The backstory is the characters work for the King and are sent to retrieve items and people from various underground locations. The Kings Sword (Quest One) is magickal and necessary for Slaying Demons (Quest Two) however it is lost deep within the Goblin Lair (well okay, four or five rooms in). Because the heroes were doing so well in retrieving the sword they decided to kill every goblin in the dungeon (except for the one who escaped, which later becomes a major plot hook for the whole campaign because he gradually gathers reinforcements).

FEATURES

Stairs, Teleporters, Pillars, Chests, Weapon Racks, Secret Rooms, Pit Traps, Arrow Traps, although the last few give rise to the additional rule that Every time a character enters a new room, a table is rolled on for Traps, Treasure and Monsters. Yes, this game becomes very much about rolling on charts to randomly generate dungeon features. Lots of these charts exist. In time I will probably publish them here or on a related blog or perhaps include them as a commercial Brains&Brawn expansion module. Experienced roleplayers will make their own, there's nothing especially out-of-the-box in the types of encounters to be found in basic 'introducing kids to the rpg hobby' lists anyway.

DEVELOPMENT

Everything showed here so far is WIP (Work In Progress). The paint jobs are crude. Cartoon area's of brickwork have not yet been drawn in with pen or pencil. No spray-on matt resin has been applied to make the models more durable (and lets face it they are disposable and receive a battering from the kids), no wall-top-reinforcement has been added for extra durability (not entirely sure yet the best way to do that which is cost effective and doesn't waste so much time, if this is even necessary). Some prototype door-sections have been made to join two modular rooms together with a clip-on cardboard but they are fiddly to make (involving plastic alligator clips) and dozens are needed - except they are not really needed at all anyway to be able to play and enjoy the game. 

the Pit (for jumping / falling / climbing out of / filling with goblin corpses)

the BIG room (more regular chess type floor slabs made of thinner card)

see how it works better with less floor slabs, but you still see the grid
(patchwork section on top wall, a secret passage?)

more to follow...

Charley the dungeon designer busy at work

CQ1 Scene 5-6

The Wizards Tower

Charley and his friends wake the next day feeling very relaxed and well rested. 

They make their way from their bedrooms to the Dining Room where breakfast awaits.

Scene 5 - Wizards Tower - Day One

The Dining Room has a large, low wooden table taking up most of its space, upon which is a banquet breakfast consisting of: bacon, sausages, fried eggs, chips, baked beans, and similar. Surrounding this are lots of cushions to sit on. The walls of the Dining Room are arches through which, currently is a view overlooking the tree's of the forest. A fresh breeze blows gently in and sounds of birds and nature.

The wizard clicks his fingers and the forest view is replaced by a desert stretching in all directions. A hot breeze blows in. "Do you prefer this view?" he asks. "No." Replies Charley. The Wizard clicks his fingers again and the view through the arches is replaced by an ocean stretching in all directions. A fresh sea breeze blows in. "Do you prefer this view?" asks the Wizard. "Yes." replies Charley.

As they eat breakfast together, the Wizard asks the group to tell him their stories of how they met, how they came to be in the pub yesterday.

Charley explains that he just woke up and decided to go to the pub and he met the girl.

The goblin explains that he used to be a frog until the girl kissed him and he turned into a goblin.

The girl explains that she heard a story about how princesses can kiss frogs to turn them into princes, so she thought that if she kissed a frog maybe she would turn into a princess. But instead, the frog turned into the goblin, and has been her minion ever since.

Task One

The Wizard asks for their help to clean the Tower.

Charley helps to put stacks of books from the Wizards messy study, onto the book shelves in alphabetical order. He passes his Brains test so he successfully puts them in the right order. The Book Shelves run all the way around the outside of the room, clockwise in alphabetical order from the door starting at A and ending at Z. In the room is a comfy chair, a writing desk, and a small log fire. There are also several small lamps dotted around and hanging from wooden beams which hold up the ceiling.

The Wizard is grateful and gives Charley a Book of Spells for Beginners.

Task Two

After a short rest Charley is set his second task of the day. 

The Wizard gives him an enchanted stool of levitation and explains how it works.

"Stool Up." The stool slowly starts to rise.

"Stool Stop." The stool stops moving.

"Stool Down." The stool slowly starts to descend.

"You have to say 'Stool' so that it knows who you are talking to. It goes up, it goes down, it stops. If it hits something like a ceiling or the floor, it will stop automatically. Those are all the words it knows. They are all the words it needs to know. It does not move sideways, forwards, backwards or diagonally. Don't lose it. Don't fall off." 

Then the Wizard passes Charley a bucket of soapy water and a cloth.  

"Your next task is cleaning windows. The Tower windows are filthy."

Outside Charley stares up at the tower. Its filthy windows stretch up as far as he can see, disappearing into the clouds. He sets to work, sitting on the stool ,saying 'Stool Up' and 'Stop, I mean, Stool Stop' and cleaning the window, then "Stool Up' and 'Stool Stop' and cleaning, 'Stool Up' 'Stool Stop' clean .. and so on.

Eventually Charley has had enough of this. The tower below him has disappeared into the clouds. The tower above him has disappeared into the clouds. He has had to clean (3D10) 606 windows of the infinite number of the windows of the Wizards Tower. Finally he decides to say 'Stool Down' and returns to the ground, where it is already night time. 

Back in the tower, nobody is around so Charley goes to bed.

"What took you so long?" asks the girl who snuggles up nicely with him.

Scene 6 - Wizards Tower - Day Two

The next morning everyone eats Porridge for breakfast. The Wizard explains that bringing someone back from the dead is a complicated and difficult type of magic and will require some special ingredients. So today they are going to set off into the Forest and collect some of these ingredients.

Task Three

"Aw man this is going to take for ever!" Charley complains.

"No, this is going to take a year and a day." The Wizard replies.

The Wizard gives Charley a special bottle for collecting Pixie Giggles. "And as you are on the pixie-path, you can follow it until you come to a clearing in the forest where the RedFire Flowers grow."

The RedFire flowers, just as their flowers open, they explode into flame. You need to pick the flowers just before they are about to open.

"How many coins do I have?" Asks Charley.

"Well, you have a chest containing 581 coins which you stole form the bandits."

Charley grins. "I want to go back to the shop to buy a potion of fire protection." He explains.

"You won't be needing that, if you are careful." The Wizard explains. "Yesterday you cleaned (3D10) 606 windows to learn a bit of Patience. Today you will learn to be Careful." 

"How do we find the pixie path?" asks the girl.

"Good question!" says Charley.

"Thank you." says the girl, smiling.

The Wizard explains that to find the pixie path, you have to go into the forest until you get lost. Only then will you be able to find the pixie-path.

"But how will we know when we find it?" Ask Charley and the girl at exactly the same time.

"Oh you will know." Says the Wizard in his best David Bowie as the camp Gobin King voice.

The girl asks "Can we take a picnic?"

Charley tests his luck by rolling the dice and scoring 0.
This means one of the redfire flowers blows up in front of his face.

"Hey you found one!" Shouts the Goblin from a short distance away.

Charley now has no eyebrows and no fringe.

When they are fully big, the redfire flowers have a pod the size of a football. Charley uses his sword to chop through the stem of the first fully big one he finds. No problem.

The girl shouts "I found one!" Charley goes over and uses his sword to cut the pod off.

There is a pop-boom-bang series of explosion sounds from nearby, followed by goblin cussing. The goblin has fallen in to a patch of ripe RedFire Flowers and set them all off. He is now even more bald than he was before.

"Oh no!" says Charley.

The goblin is in a grumpy mood for the rest of the day.

However, (1D10+1) 9 flower pods are collected.

On the way back home, Charley does another Luck test by rolling the dice. A high score is very lucky, a low score is very unlucky. A score of 4 means neither lucky nor unlucky. He scores 7.

The sound of cute giggling comes from the edge of the forest path. On the edge of the pixie-path, sitting on a mushroom, is a pixie. It is a small creature with a pointy head, wearing leafs for clothes. It has wings like a dragonfly wings and a long tail.

 "Hallo." says the girl.

The Pixie blinks at her with its huge almond shaped eyes.

Charley entertains the Pixie by doing an awkward dance. This is difficult to decipher because of Charley's strong Welsh accent it sounds like he said an Oakwood dance. The Pixie watches him dance and again, giggles.

Charley turns around and catches the giggle by quickly turning around and holding the bottle at arms length and swooshing around to catch the giggle as it passes through the air. Charley rolls the dice to see how lucky he is and scores 4. The giggle flops into the jar and settles there. Occasionally, if you hold the jar to your ear, you can hear it giggling.

The Pixie flaps its wings and shoots up into the air and disappears.

"Only one problem." says the girl. "We are still lost." By now, it is getting dark. Night is falling. The goblin grunts and continues following the pixie-path. All of a sudden it bursts open like a redfire flower into the clearing around the Wizards tower!

"Stubborn as a Goblin. Goblin power." says the goblin with a "humph" and he storms off to his very own bedroom through the Door of Many Chambers.

The Wizard is pleased. "Tomorrow." Says the Wizard. "We shall be visiting the Mystic Market. We still have some ingredients yet to collect."

Scene Seven - Wizards Tower - Day Three

CQ1 Scene 1-4

Introduction

Charley's Quest is an improvised rpg campaign for a 6 year old boy using a modified version of the Brains & Brawn system. 

Charley used his INSIST special power to convince me of the righteousness of using a D10 instead of a D6.
All NPC and monster stats from B&B basic are increased by 50% to accommodate this.

CHARLEY

BRAINS: 3

BRAWN: 4

sword

chestplate

backpack

3 coins (from a D10 roll)

Scene One: The Story Starts

The story starts in the Old Axe Inn, a small but popular drinking establishment famous for its clientele of adventurers and local villagers.

This means creating some Random Non-Player Characters from the Tavern Tables. So Charley rolled for:

Human Bandit, Elf Bandit, Goblin Peasant, Human Maid, Human Skeleton, Nobody. 

UnCommon sense arranges these around the two tables of the Old Axe Inn, as follows:  

Bandits on Table1, Goblin, Skeleton and Maid on Table 2. Nobody at the bar (aside from than Big Bob the Burly Barman). Grouping the clientele into three would be too much hassle and detract form the Keep It Simple focus required for a 6 year old level adventure. Backstory as to Why the girl is sitting with a goblin and a skeleton is yet to emerge.

"Want a beer?" Asks big Bob the burly barman.

Charley exchanges one Coin for a 'Mug of Beer' and makes a note of this on his character sheet.
Charley looks around the room.

At the far end of the room is a big log fire throwing a lot of warmth into the room. Above it hangs a stupidly huge longsword probably more heavy than you can easily lift. It looks quite old. Next to it on the left is a battered looking shield. To the right is a huge, ugly, fierce-looking dog, sleeping. You don't want to get into a fight with this beast.

Opposite the fire is the wooden bar behind which is a shelf of bottles and barrels stacked against the wall, and Big Bob the Burly Barman. The ceiling is supported by two rows of pillars, the bar is between these in the middle, and to the right between the bar and the door is a staircase which twists around as it goes up over the bar. Opposite the front door is a window.

Two wooden tables either side of the room between the bar and the fire, with stools in the middle and benches against the walls. This is where the people who visit the pub sit.

Currently there are two bandits, one of whom is human the other an elf, sitting at the door-side table and a cute looking girl, a goblin and a skeleton sitting at the other.

"I want to steal the sword." Charley says.

It is too heavy for you to lift, beside which Big Bob and the Scary Dog will probably stop you. Big Bob see's you looking at the sword and tells you the story.

"That sword killed a dragon."

"I want to kill a dragon!" Charley says.

"There's no dragons around here any more." Bob explains. "They are too afraid to come around here any more ever since that sword killed one of them."

Charley grins, amazed. Big Bob continues the story. "Oh yes, there used to be a lot more houses around here but the dragon burnt most of them down with its horrible fiery breath. So the remaining villagers put all their scraps of metal together and made that sword. Then the Wizard came along and enchanted the sword with his magic."

Happy having learned some some local history, Charley looks around the room again.

"I talk to the girl." says Charley. Obviously it is the obvious thing to do.

The girl explains that she needs help. She wants to visit the Wizard and get him to bring her brother back to life. Her brother is currently a Skeleton. The Goblin makes a laugh which might be described as laughter. We shall describe this noise as a 'snerk'. The goblin snerk's.

Charley agrees to accompany the girl to see the wizard. He hasn't even drunk any beer yet. The girl is very happy and together they set off with the goblin.

Scene Two: The Coin Store

The village has a cheap edge-of-town store which is still open. They go inside.

The store sells pretty much everything, for one coin per item. Most of it is cheap and nasty. Occasionally you can grab a bargain. You know the type of place.

"I want to steal something!" Charley says.

The store is a like a small warehouse full of shelves and tables covered in stuff. In the middle of the room is a large, eleven foot tall creature with curly horns, snaggle teeth and beady eyes. The Troll is the guard for the store. "Nobody steals nuffin'." Point taken. "I said Nuffin!" growls the Troll. The GM puts the Point back.

"Buy me a lipstick!" says the girl, nicely, to Charley. Charley buys her a lipstick and adjusts his character sheet. "Thank you!" She says. "Can you hold it for me?"

Charley also buys a Potion of Strength (the red one), declining the sparkling blue one (healing) and the white one.

"Is there an invisible potion?" he asks.

"There is, but we can't find it." 

Charley also buys a lantern. He now has zero coins. He also realizes while adjusting his character sheet that he still has an undrunk mug of beer in his backpack. Technically it is now an empty beer mug in his soggy backpack which smells of stale beer.

Scene 3: Dragon Butt Hill

The road leading out of the village to the crossroads via the bridge over the river goes between two hills. The one to the left is called Dragons Head Hill and is a famous local landmark. The hill to the right is called Dragons Butt Hill and is a slightly less famous local landmark. Legend has it that the hills are the body of the Dragon which was slain by the sword hanging in the bar above the fireplace. The road runs through the exact same place where its head was chopped off its body.

"The problem is." Explains the girl. "To hire the Wizard to cast a spell to bring my brother back to life is going to cost a lot of money."

"Ah, I have just spent the last of my money on your lipstick." Explains Charley.

"No that's okay. You see, before you arrived at the pub I overheard those two bandits talking. One of them said to the other something about the treasure chest full of money they have hidden in their den in a cave at the back of Dragons Butt Hill. Now I am pretty sure both those bandits are still drinking in the pub, so we should have enough time to sneak in there, grab the treasure chest and escape with it before the bandits come back."

Of course this sounds like a brilliant idea to a six year old boy and so they set off to the Bandits Den. Around the back of Dragons Butt Hill is a tree and behind the tree is a cave. Between the tree and the cave is a muddy area which has several sets of footprints in it. The most recent of these footprints are two sets leading out from the cave. This means the bandits have not yet arrived back at their den.

Charley, the girl and the goblin enter the cave. A tunnel slopes down for a while. Charley lights his lantern. At the bottom of the slope is a big puddle of mud, across which a log has been placed. The three of them all pass their Luck tests and make it over the log without falling into the mud. Then the path slopes upward for a longer time, deep inside Dragons Butt Hill.

At the top of the slope is a cave. It is a dark cave, large enough that the lantern cannot light up the whole of the room in one go - the back of the cave is in shadow. To one side (the left) are some raggedy clothes and furs, a sleeping area. In the center of the cave is a large chest.

The goblin cackles. Charley is excited. They have found the treasure. Inside the chest is a sack full of coins. It is large but the goblin is very strong and he ...

... the sound of voices coming up the tunnel.

There is a splosh, followed by cursing, followed by laughter. 

The bandits are back! 

"I climb in the chest!" says Charley bravely.

"I am not getting in there!" says the girl. She see's a large rock at the back of the cave and hides behind it. Charley and the goblin jump into the chest and shut the lid.

The bandits are arguing about gold, girls and pizza and several other things.

"Hey can you smell that?"

"No. What is it?"

"It smells like ... I'm not exactly sure but I think someone has been here."

"Oh never mind, you are just being paranoid. Where is that pizza?"

Then from inside the chest is the sound of a loud fart."

"Was that you?"

"You are always farting and blaming me!" 

"You are always eating ore than your half of the pizza, give me that!"

Charley inside the chest has to make a Brawn roll to avoid being sick because a goblin has just farted in his face. He fails the roll. Luckily he remembers he is carrying an empty beer mug and so he is sick into that. The smell of sick makes the goblin start feeling sick."

"Sh! Did you hear that?"

"You're imagining things again. I'm going to bed."

 The bandits are both tired and fall asleep. Charley can hear the sound of their snoring even from inside the chest. After a moment he cracks open the chest. There is a candle on top of the chest, which slides a little. He opens the chest some more. The candle falls off the chest and goes out. Thankfully it was stubbed onto the chest bandit style and had no metal candle holder to clatter on the floor and wake up the bandits.

Charley signals to the girl while the bandit collects the sack of money and the three of them sneak their way out of the bandits den, all three once again passing their luck tests as they cross the log over muddy pool.

Outside the bandits den they guess how much money is in the sack. The result of 3D10 roll (hundreds, tens and units) is 581. They guess there are around five hundred coins in the sack. They are rich. Hopefully this is enough money to pay the Wizard to bring the girls brother back to life.

I am not altogether sure what happened to the mug of puke. I assume Charley left it behind for the bandits in exchange for the sack of coins.

Scene 4: The Forest

Across the bridge to the crossroads. Behind them the road leads back into the village. The main road runs left and right along the riverside. Directly opposite is the old, overgrown cobblestone path into the forest which leads eventually to the Wizards tower. It is dark in the forest, and scary. The girl presses herself into Charley for protection and asks him questions about whether he knows how to use his sword and will he protect her if anything nasty should happen. The goblin follows, carrying the sack of gold and making dirty noises.

Overhead the moon comes out. It is a cool night. Although it goes on for some time, there are no incidents in the Forest and eventually they arrive at the Wizards Tower. He is waiting for them.


"I have been waiting for you." He says. He is a mighty and powerful Wizard, of course he knows that he has visitors arriving. "I have been expecting you. Come in, come in."

The girl tries to explain to the Wizard why they have come to see him but he somehow already knows. "You can keep your money." He says when they offer him the sack of coins. "You will be needing it more than I will." 

The Wizard says that they must be tired from their journey.He shows them to their room. On the steps winding around the outside of the Hall is a door. Logic tells Charley that the door should by rights lead outside on the first floor. The Wizard explains it is a Door of Many Chambers. He opens in and shows the goblin into the goblins room. He shuts it and opens it again. This time an entirely different room is behind it. 

"This is your room." The Wizard says to Charley.

"I'm sleeping with the girl!" says Charley.

The Wizards eyes glint and he nods in agreement. The girl looks relieved and together we close the curtains on this scene.