Once again we return to the mystical realm of the Library Teen Room, where intrepid young heroes dare to enter dark domains for adventure, riches, and glory…or at least be really goofy.
Dungeon Diversion
This past week's installment began with an undersized group, so we started with a game of Dungeon! And while a new version is available, this one is an actual TSR edition ("The New Dungeon!"). There was much excitement, monster smashing, and back-and-forth ambushing (whack him before he whacks me), and then a rush to grab the loot when a certain dwarf (yes, my character) had the misfortune to die facing a pile of green slime in a treasure chamber. (Seriously, green slime may be the most impossible to kill "monster" in the game.)
Best quotes:
"SEVEN! HA! TAKE THAT!"-- teen whose elf had been continually beaten by the same Dark Elf monster, four turns in a row. He was quite excited.
"I'm going to kill 'Karth, Evil Warrior of Zhentil Keep,' because his name is too long!"-- a teen, who meant it.
We Have a Quorum, and That Means Adventure!
By this point, another teen had joined us, and as Dungeon! ended rather quickly (no, the dwarf's replacement did not win), and there was much hopeful pleading, I decided to begin the adventure a man down, letting them drag the missing player's Dragonborn Paladin along as an NPC/obvious meat shield. So yet another long-standing tradition of D&D— the infamous MPC (Missing Player's Character)— continues to thrive.
D&D is Not a Game of Wait-State
So the adventure began, featuring a long-forgotten wizard's tower and a prominent entry puzzle. They figured out the first clue (that the exterior was a massive sundial) and figured out the second clue (that the puzzle had something to do with the phase of the moon)*, and then, despite it being 9 o'clock in the morning, thought they needed to wait until nightfall for the moon to trigger it. Well, not really a bad bit of reasoning, but no, most things in D&D can be solved RIGHT NOW if you investigate a little further. Realizing that I was hinting for other solutions, they decided to…walk somewhere else. *sigh* Okay, at least I was prepared for that, and the "somewhere else" may help them find further clues, but I think maybe a little lesson in the principle of "investigate EVERYTHING" might be in order.
We Fear NOTHING…Except Bees!
Somewhere else involved a climb among a hillside covered with sunflowers, and odd flying shapes. No problem. They had no fear whatsoever of those shapes. Whether Stirges or bats or killer birds, our heroes were ready, bold and eager!
DM: "You can see them clearly now…they are enormous bees, about the length of your arm!"
Teen 1: "Okay, we're turning around. I am not getting stung!"
Teen 2:"Me either! We run away!"
Maybe I oversold the bees.
And at that point, time for the session pretty much came to a close. More this week, where we answer the questions: Do you really have to wait on the moon? Will the MPC become a PC again? Are bees the scariest things in D&D? Can you throw an MPC at them as bait? Stay tuned…
*On the Moon Phases: Two years ago I created a time tracker with a calendar that included lunar phases for a 27 day moon with 30 day months. Since the adventure was a one-shot, I simply chose actual date of the session as the date on my fantasy calendar, using the latter to determine the moon phase. By pure coincidence, the phase on my fantasy calendar exactly matched the actual phase of the moon for the Real Life day of the game!