The last 4 months has been hellish. I've been laid up with sciatica down my left hand side. Pain so bad at times I was screaming. Thankfully I've been given physiotherapy exercises which have eased off the swollen disc in my spine just enough to halt the screaming adabs. For the most part. It seems unlikely that I'm going to end up in a wheelchair. I am also on all the best painkillers. Which means that when this all finally ends I'm going to have to spend some time being weaned off them. Opiates being highly addictive.
So in my spare time I've done some solo D&D. I've been running Zaunn the Thaumaturge, my old FLAILSNAILS character. I managed to get him to 4th or 5th level before that hypercampaign petered out; breaking my old Level 3 Curse. (I could never get a D&D character, of any edition, past level 3 before the campaign I was playing in would prematurely end; it's now 5th level.)
I've run Zaunn through a couple of solo adventures since then. The classic Basic solo module Ghost of Lion Castle, and another solo choose-your-own- style adventure which I found in an old me magazine. Maybe Dungeon, or Dragon mag. I don't recall. It involved genies, flying carpets, and an imprisoned Magic User trying to escape by becoming a lich. IIRC. Zaunn also came away with a magic carpet and some reasonable wealth. Which I forgot to note down so it must have been lost/spent.
But now he has been reunited with his cohort.: His pox-scarred wife Karra, his apprentice Margar the former Torch Bearer, and bodyguard Sacco the Gravedigger. They've also found a Cleric called Misty Grimm.
Together they've taken Zaunn's oxen-driven bigger-on-the-inside vardo to the city of Cryptopolis from Kabuki Kaiser's solo module Ruins of the Undercity.
Unexpected Review!
Ruins of the Undercity is at it's core a reworking of Gary Gygax's random dungeon from the back of 1e AD&D DMG. At it's core. But around it has been built a wonderful sword and sorcery metropolis. There are no maps of the city or its many and expansive dungeons. The latter you generate yourself in play.
(My map of the delving made by Zaunn and company over 4 expeditions.)The city is a lawless place ruled over guilds and councils, over which literally looms the cult of the Red Goddess, with her giant statue. The city has detailed shops and merchants, with prices for goods laid out. It takes time to get everything you need and every day you spend wandering the city streets you'll have an encounter with the locals. Sometimes this can be beneficial, like there are Dervishes around to hire for your next expedition. Or alternatively you're mugged by ruffians in the street and must fight to survive. The city feels alive to me despite being just a series of charts and the barest of descriptions. Perhaps because I'm prepared to put in the mental work to get it to gel for me. Please, I'm in agony; I'll take any distractions I can find.
But this is just an appetiser. The real meat and potatoes comes from the DIY dungeons. Cryptopolis is built on the ruins of many prior cities; an enigmatic ancient civilisation about which little is known beyond polished alabaster and marble tunnels and mysteriously polished walls. Entrances to the titular Undercity can be found anywhere in the city. The ruins can intersect with the sewers. Sometimes they've become the sewers. But most often they're just a series of steps leading down into darkness.
I pictured Zaunn and company parking the Zardo in a courtyard surrounded by mostly disused buildings. The treasure map Margar had found leading them to a doorway beyond which a flight of stairs led them to adventure.
The random nature of the dungeons is equally fun and annoying. The effective level of your party is a third of their total levels. Which means when you roll up a wandering monster instead of whatever is down that unexplored corridor things can get crazy.
Zaunn's first expedition ended almost immediately. Turn 1, after finding a locked and barred door to the north, that nobody could unlock or kick open the party turned around and went left/east and immediately ran into a Skeleton Warrior as a wandering monster. Three of the party members, being only 4th or 3rd level, turned and ran without even the chance to make a saving throw. Zaunn and Karra, both 5th level were like "Hi, were new in the neighbourhood and..." The skeleton warrior drew his sword and the couple decided that discretion is the better part of valour; running after their friends.
Their second expedition went better. Although the next room they found had the sounds of flapping wings and demonic mutterings. Detect evil revealed an overwhelming amount of evil beyond. I'd rolled up a major demon, with minimal hit points, but still powerful enough to one shot the entire party. Moving on they explored several rooms. Before finding themselves running out of places to go. They'd approached one rock fall from two different directions. But a nearby room contained a secret door that led to a room with three gargoyles. There was some confusion; literally I repeatedly rolled "enemies confused" on the BECMI reaction roll table. I'm using BECMI rather than Flamentations because I don't want to touch the system Zaunn was created under with somebody else's. Ancient history, yada yada. Eventually the confusion ended but Zaunn hit the gargoyles with Web while his companions ran in a repeatedly struck the immobilised monsters until they started to break free. At which point they fell back as their mighty leader threw in a fireball and incinerated the enchanted rock monsters. Treasure was uncovered and collected. Explorations revealed a sealed gate to the south that led to an octagonal room. Nobody could open the gates. But Karra spotted a falling rock trap inside. So nobody wanted to go in anyway. A door in the east wall was locked, and again nobody could open it. Which was fortunate as a mummy was inside. After 20 turns of exploring the party returned to the surface only to be assaulted by 4 shadows that stalked out of one of the abandoned buildings around the courtyard. A brief melee later and the party had defeated the shadows, with some minor injuries, and gained more treasure. After two further expeditions they'd killed the demon by using a scroll of Conjure Elemental and another of Protection from Evil, 10' radius. They also defeated an undead rogue by turning the traps of the dungeon against it. In its horde they discovered the deeds to that abandoned manor house and are now living there. A month after arriving they're preparing for their fifth expedition. Now with property, and lovers, in the city. Misty is preparing to turn another building off the courtyard into a temple for her cult. I was planning for this to be a short layover before more adventures elsewhere. But with Zaunn and Karra both dinging 7th level, who can say what the future may bring?
I really like Ruins of the Undercity. I like the atmosphere of the city. I like the ruins and the randomness. Even though the number of ridiculously overwhelming power of some of the encounters is partly on the random nature of the encounter generation and on me with a large party of relatively high level characters (mid level, but in numbers; The level of the monsters being a third of the party's total levels)
I give it 5/5 stars. It's intended for Labyrinth Lord, but it's good for any B/X adjacent system. I'd love if the module had a bit more atmosphere. But I can provide that myself. If you want it for yourself it can be found on DrivethruRPG.
I was introduced to the module by the Books, Bricks and Boards YouTube channel. He covered the BECMI books recently and inspired me to create my own BECMI tabletop folder; start playing solo D&D again, and a third secret thing I will reveal in a later post.
Basically all prior projects I've covered here are shelved until prior notice. What was the plan? Traveller Tuesday? Supers Saturdays? Fuck knows Friday?
I'm sure I'll figure it out. TTFN! Ta-Ta-For-Now
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