Solo Dungeon Session 3 (or, this dungeon kills parties)

To cut a long story short, you (that is, Old 4 Eyes, Ruarigh and Dungeonmum) committed our brave stalwarts to Death or Glory. Well, to cut a short story even shorter, the next two rounds saw Sanathris and Wulfram ground down by the rats until they fell beneath the furry horde. Nasty way to go, that. Perhaps Garamar should have cast Find Familiar and hoped for a cat...

A week or so later, in town, Bishop Cuthbert summons one of his clerics, Flynn to his office. He informs him that they have lost contact with the colony on LB426...oh, sorry, wrong story, with Sister Sanathris and Brother Algo.

"Your mission, Flynn, should you choose to accept it, and since I am your Bishop" (ooh, another Aliens reference) "you have no choice, is to seek out the dungeon in which they were lost and bring back what is left of them for a decent burial. Right, off you go."



Flynn, a wise but not particularly bright cleric gathers his bits and bobs and sets off for the tavern where he hopes to recruit five brave adventurers for a bit of dungeon-delving. Let's see who he gets to come out and play...

There's Nigal the gnome thief, studded leather and a short sword (well, short for everyone else, that is)


Gavurak the half-orc fighter, longsword, bow, armour class 5


Dirk Average (there's a name I've not used in a long time) AC8 due to bad dexterity, short sword.

Chumley the magic user, AC10, darts and daggers, spells are Read Magic, Enlarge, Dancing Lights and Find Familiar.

Cassis (he says it's pronounced Cass-eese)the half-elf Magic-User/Thief, leather armour, dagger, sling, short sword. Spells are Read Magic, Magic Missile, Shield and Unseen Servant.

Well, that's the gallant party for the latest session. So far, we've lost eight dead in two sessions.

Off they set to the dungeon, two days' travel as before. On the first day (or should I say night) the dice decree an interesting encounter around midnight - merchants. Why, I ask myself, should merchants be skulking around at the witching hour? There's a story there, but I daresay we'll find out later, or perhaps one of you will chip in with a good idea.

The next day, further into the wilds, there are no further encounters. The party arrives at the dungeon entrance. You will recall that Room 1 has a choice of five doors. This being a brand new party, I'll roll to see which one they choose.

3 - a door that has not been chosen before. Let's see what's behind it. A room, 20' x 30', three exits, all on the far wall. Contents are treasure and monsters!



The treasure rolls give us 250gp and 1000sp, which is not bad stash for a 1st level party, provided they can find and keep it. Unfortunately, the eleven kobolds in the room might have other ideas. The party listen at the door, hear voices and decide to plan ahead. They pour oil all over the floor in front of the door and fall back to near the steps, missile weapons at the ready.

They start shouting and banging their weapons and out come the kobolds. The party lets the first six or so come across the oil, then set it ablaze, the final five taking 1d6 damage each. Three perish at once, two are blazing but still alive. They dive back through the door and shut it behind them.

Cassis, Chumley and Gavurak open fire with sling, darts and bow. Two kobolds hit the floor. The kobolds and the party clash into melee.

One kobold hits Dirk and does two damage. Dirk hits and kills his kobold. Everyone else in the melee misses.

There are now four kobolds against four characters - Flynn is hit for 3 damage and falls to zero. None of the party hits.

Round three - the party have much better luck this time, Cassis (coming in to take over from Flynn), Dirk and Gavurak hitting and now there is only one kobold standing, on 1hp. The alignment of the party is predominantly CN, with Flynn more or less out cold, so they dispatch him quick sharp.

First combat and victory to the party! Flynn casts a Cure Light and gets his HP back.

XP earned comes out to more or less 15 per member, except for Nigal, who gets 8. The treasure goes into the party kitty.

Okay, so which door to try next? The party try the far right one and the dice say that there is a passage straight ahead, running for 30' before the next check.

That check tells us that the passage turns 90 degrees and at its end, another chamber, 20 x 30 feet, zero exits and empty of treasure and monsters. Ah well, back to room 5.

A check of the middle door tells us that the space beyond is another room, this time 40 feet by 40 feet. Number of exits is zero. It contains monsters and treasure but a die roll tells me that the treasure is hidden in a secret room nearby. The monster in question is a pack of nine giant rats. Alerted to the furry menace, the party use the last of their oil bombs to fry most and scatter the rest.

Unfortunately the die rolls to find a secret door are pretty bad and the party returns to room 1 without having found anything.



Let's try another door. The motto of this dungeon is "There's always another door to try" and we know where most of them lead, don't we?

The d4 with the attitude decrees that the party try door 1 - another untried option. What lies beyond? Well, the dice tell me it's a room, unusual shape and size - how unusual? Will a 2000sq foot oval do you? It has two exits but I'm going to put them on as displayed on the map because they won't really fit anywhere else.



I roll for contents and guess what? Monsters and treasure! The treasure is 1000cp and 750ep in pottery jars, no hidey, and guarding it is a gang of nine orcs!

Yay, mass combat! And we're out of oil bombs!

It might get a bit confused and the figures might go a bit wibbly-wobbly but stick with it and here we go.

Round One, and as the orcs come hurtling towards the party, Cassis finally remembers he's got Magic Missile and fires it for three damage. Chumley hurls a dart and misses. Gavurak (being a half-orc, does he have a conflict of interests here?) fires his arrows, hits with one and does two damage.

Clash! And battle is joined. One orc hits, and does three damage against Gavurak. Another hits Nigal for three damage. Gavurak hits and kills an orc, Chumley wields the dagger like a madman and does three damage, Cassis clips Orc number 6 for 1 damage.

Round 2 - it's all melee now, no chance for missile weapons. An orc hits Gavurak for six damage, knocking him spinning into a pool of blood on the floor. The party fight for their lives, Cassis clipping Orc 6 again for another 1hp, Chumley hits and kills orc number 3, Dirk does 2 damage on the fourth orc. Flynn misses.

Round 3 - Cassis gets the business end of an orc spear for six damage, Dirk does five damage to orc 2 and Flynn follows this up with a footman's mace blow to the head that sends it into the arms of Gruumsh.

Round 4 - an orc manages to get Nigal with a hammer blow that floors the gnome, leaving him on -2. Chumley gets 2 damage against orc 4, Dirk kills orc 7 with five damage, Flynn sends another one to the floor with six damage.

Round 5 - with Cassis on -6, Gavurak the same and Nigal on -3, things are not looking quite so rosy for the party. Still, press on...

An orc knocks Chumley to the floor, reducing him to zero. All three party members miss.

Round 6 - the tough orc who hasn't really been hit yet knocks Flynn down to zero but before that, the doughty cleric has killed orc number 4 (at last). Dirk misses his attack but is determined to do better next time.

Round 7 - Chumley and Flynn crawl across to the fallen party members and start to bring them round for a bit of first aid. Dirk squares up to the orcs and with a 19, he inflicts 4 damage on orc number 1, killing it. For all his toughness, the surviving orc legs it.

Round 8 - with all Flynn's Cure Lights used, the party is now on the following hp

Chumley 0
Flynn 0
Dirk 8
Cassis 2
Garuvak 1
Nigal 0

Party kitty is

1000cp
750ep
250gp
1000sp

XP for the orcs is 20 per party member, added to the earlier totals gives all but Nigal 35, the gnome on 23.

They're not getting any worse but they're not going to get any better for quite a while. The only sensible course of action is to make haste for room 6, where they can rest up, Flynn can pray for more Cure Lights and they can ready themselves for the next session.

So, with no obvious choice for party action this time, perhaps we could have a think as to what those merchants were up to at midnight? All options will be given a good hearing.

LATE EDIT - it being midnight by the time I'd finished the post, I'd forgotten to give you the next two tables in the Random Dungeon Generator. Here they are:

Solo Dungeon Session 2

Taking the advice of both commenters on the last post, the party decides that it would be a good idea to head back towards the entrance. So that's three hundred and forty feet, checking for anything untoward every sixty feet or so.

That works out at five checks, so let's roll the d20 of doom. Remember that because we're going back over known territory, we'll only pay attention to a 20, which means wandering monster.

1st roll, 5.
2nd roll 15
3rd roll 19 - ooh, a close one.
4th roll 5
5th roll 4

And off they set to town, which I'm ruling is a couple of days' travel away. It always seemed odd to me to have a base town literally on the doorstep of the dungeon. And it never got raided by monsters wondering where all these guys in armour kept coming from.

According to the DMG, page 47, there is a 1 in 10 chance of an encounter, morning, evening and midnight. I roll the d10 for day one and it tells me that there is an encounter in the morning. A check on page 184 of the DMG tells me that a pack of wild dogs is encountered, but they lope off after a couple of arrows have been fired at them.
Day Two sees an encounter in the evening. The dice are rolled (page 186 this time as it's an inhabited or patrolled area) and Leprechaun comes up. They would probably not have anything to do with the party at present, so nothing happens.

Morning of Day Three and they reach town. I turn to the town encounters table of the DMG and roll 11, City Guard. Well, that makes sense.

On the way to the tavern, I roll and get Band of Mercenaries. The party tags along, figuring that this is the best way to get new recruits.

At the tavern, a roll of 18 reveals that City Officials are there. Possibly tax inspectors? I roll a d6 to check their attitude, 1 being very friendly, 6 being the exact opposite. A 6 comes up - the officials are hostile. I wonder why? Perhaps they don't like mercenaries and think the party is associated with them.

I'll say that 1d3 days pass by before they can recruit two new members for the party. A quick roll shows that it is 3 days. Money is getting low now, so let's hope they find some gold on their next dungeon crawl.

I'll roll three random encounters for the three days - I get Cleric, Pilgrim and Tradesman. Maybe the city has a popular shrine and the tradesman is a relic seller. The character of the city is slowly starting to emerge.

Two new characters present themselves to join the group.





Wulfram the dwarven fighter, a tough guy with 10hp who I've given AC5 and a battle axe and crossbow.

and Hendrix the magic user, whose spells I rolled up as

Read Magic
Sleep
Ventriloquism
Unseen Servant

It doesn't take a genius to know that he's memorising Sleep. Garamar is looking a bit envious of the new guy's spell book. Hendrix has the habitual daggers and darts.

Off to the gate then. Rolls of 54, 00 and 08 tell us that another band of mercenaries is at the tavern or thereabouts (perhaps there's a war on or for some reason, lots of soldiers are needed), a werewolf (but the party don't know this, of course) and a beggar at the gate to whom Brother Algo gives a silver piece.

Rolls for countryside encounters reveal gnomes at more or less the same place where they encountered the leprechaun on Day 2. Clearly there is activity by the little people in this area.
Day 7 sees the party encounter a nest of large spiders but they wisely steer clear when they see the webs.

Day 8 - back to the Dungeon. Let's roll the periodic check dice again and see if something nasty encounters the party on their way back to the point at which Athgal was crushed by the rocks.

1st check 10
2nd check 16
3rd check 19 - close; there's clearly something about that area.
4th check 20 - encounter!

The encounter happens about sixty feet before the trap so just by the secret door but probably more likely to be that door on the right that they decided to bypass.

They're on level 1, so I'll check the table and roll - a 6 tells me to check the 1st level monster chart from which a roll of 56 reveals that a group of orcs has appeared through the door. Yay! First encounter and it's an OSR classic. Encounter number is 7-12, so 1d6 gives me a 1, plus 6 is seven orcs. As the party draw their weapons, Hendrix casts his sleep spell. He rolls his d4 and gets 3,2,1 and 1 which is exactly seven. Down go the orcs and the party quickly put paid to them.

Each individual orc has treasure type L, which is 2d6 electrum pieces, and some quick d6 rolling tells me that the total garnered by the party is 44ep.

Now we have a choice - go down the corridor from which the orcs issued or press on in their original direction. They're a fresh party but they've just shot off their only sleep spell. The next combat may be tougher as a result. However, the way they were going is equally uncertain.

I'll let the dice decide again - 1-3 onwards, 4-6 down the orc passage. I roll a 2, so onwards it is.

Sixty feet after the trap that killed Athgal, there is a chamber. I roll its size, which gives me 20 feet by 20 feet. I'll check for exits - a roll of 19 on the exits table tells me there is one. The direction is straight ahead, and it's a door. The contents table reveals that the room is empty.



The party moves on nervously, in case any more orcs appear. Their new marching order is

1. Ralgaz
2. Algo
3. Garamar
4. Hendrix
5. Sanathris
6. Wulfram

Now we roll for the space beyond the door and I get a 10 - 45 degrees passage behind/ahead. It can't be behind, so it has to be ahead. A d6 tells me it heads left. Thirty feet further on, another periodic check reveals another side passage, 45degrees right this time. I wonder where that goes?



The party decides to bypass it and press on but thirty feet further on, they come to another side passage, this time on the left, curving and 45 degrees. I'm not sure exactly what the DMG means by this, but I think it looks like this


Note by my use of the letter D that an 18 on the periodic check table gives us a dead end. The party turn around and head back to the junction. A quick d6 check tells me that they decide to investigate the 45 degree side passage that they passed thirty feet back.

As they wend their way down this passage, a die roll reveals that it forks into a Y junction. Always the choices, this dungeon. The party decide (okay, the dice decide) to go left. Thirty feet on, the dice reveal that they have come to a chamber. Further rolls tell me that it is 20 by 30 feet, with two exits and there is something in it - monster and treasure.

Table 5G lets me make two treasure rolls because of the presence of the monster, I get 97 and 37. That's a piece of jewellery per level and 1000sp per level. The treasure is in metal urns and let's see what's protecting it?

Well, it's a trapdoor six feet in front of the treasure. The party has no thief. I'll just check to see what the monster is. On table 1, my percentile dice say that the party has encountered shriekers. They've never seen them before and go blundering in with their torches. Of course, the shriekers do their stuff and before long, something is coming.

Before that, however, I need to dice up who goes to investigate the treasure. 1d3 of the party will probably do so - a roll tells me that one person will get caught by the trapdoor. The dice say it's Brother Algo. His intelligence is only 6, so that probably explains it. Down the hole he goes, and takes a d6 of damage. It comes up a 5 and Algo is on -1.

The party rushes forward to see if they can get their comrade out of the hole before his hit points ebb towards -10. As they are uncoiling their rope, there is a scuttling and scurrying sound; they turn and see ten giant rats coming at them. The fight is on and Hendrix wishes he still has his sleep spell.

Round 1, Sanathris misses.
Ralgaz misses.
Garamar hits with an 18 and does 1 point of damage. The rat had 2hp.
Hendrix misses
Wulfram misses

Rat attack! They need 10 or better to hit the magic users, 15 to hit AC5, 14 to hit AC6

Ralgaz takes 1hp damage and is down to 5
Sanathris is safe
Garamar takes 2hp and is at zero.
Hendrix takes 6 damage and is now at -4
Wulfram is not hit.

Round 2
Algo is on -2 now and there are still 10 rats.
Sanathris hits and does 3 damage to a rat that has 4hp
Ralgaz, Garamar and Wulfram all miss.

The rats carry on gnawing. Ralgaz takes a hit, 1 damage means he's on 4hp
Garamar takes 2 damage and is down to -2
Sanathris takes a hit and she loses 2hp, down to 6.
Wulfram escapes damage.

Round 3 - ten rats versus three characters. Holy Moly!
Algo is on -3, Hendrix on -5

Sanathris hits, kills her rat.
Ralgaz misses.
Wulfram hits and kills his rat.

Eight rats launch their attacks. Sanathris is lucky - no hits. Ralgaz is hit by all three (19,16 and 15) and takes five damage - he's now on -1
Wulfram takes a hit and suffers three damage. He's now on 7.



So, we have a decision to make. There are only two members of the party left standing. They face eight rats. What should they do?

Fight it out and risk a TPK?
Run for it, leaving their comrades to be rat food?
Some other cunning plan?

Your suggestions are welcomed, and as always, I'll go with the consensus.

And here are the next two tables in the Random Dungeon Generator series. Collect them all and play along at home.

Solo Dungeon - Session One (and some handy charts)

The Solo Dungeon - will it work? Whatever does happen, it's all in the hands of the dice - those fickle, twisted and evil lumps of plastic we love so much.

Last time, we generated the party - six doughty adventurers who were set to plump the depths of the earth if we could just decide on their weapons and spells. No-one had any preferences, so I decided that Garamar the MU had chosen Shield as his defensive spell, and would learn that up for the session. The two clerics went for ring mail and shields, the fighters for Scale and shields. The thief had studded leather and a small shield. Swords, axes and bows for the fighters, flails and maces for the clerics. Sling, short sword and daggers for the thief, daggers and darts for the MU.

Their equipment list was as follows:
Oil bombs x 5
Iron spikes x 10
Mallet
2 x 50' coils of rope
Torch x 6
Tinder box
6 large sacks
1 week's rations for each character
2 x 10' pole.

Just before we start, the marching order for the party is

Ralgaz, Algo, Feebul, Garamar, Sanathris, Athgal. My rationale for this is that the toughest characters are at front and back, shielding the weak thief and MU in the middle. The cleric spells, incidentally are Command, Protection from Evil and Cure Light for Sanathris, 2 x Cure Light and Light for Algo.


This is the starting areas selection. Roll a d5 and go from there. I'll just roll a d5 - result, a 4.
So we've got a choice of five doors; let's roll that d5 again - we get a 2. I wonder what's beyond the door? I go to table II, roll a 6 on a d20 and this tells me that there's a passage, 10' wide (table IIIa) and running straight ahead.

Check on Table I (see below) and with a roll of 17, it's stairs! Table VI tells us that a roll of 19 gives up one level and down 2. Chamber at the end. I'll check on table VI to see what it is. I roll a 10, so it's a 20' x 30' and a roll on the exits table tells me that there are none. A dead end - or is it? I'll check for secret doors - the generation tables are a bit vague on that, so I'll roll a d20 for each wall and allocate a random chance - none present, it transpires. A roll of 12 on the room contents table gives a great feeling of emptiness.

The party decides to return to the starting room and try another door. So far, then the map looks like this:

It's my attempt to make the dungeon more realistic - this is the sort of map that someone in torchlight, with a piece of charcoal and some parchment would draw. Well, that's my excuse, anyway.

I did check for wandering monsters as they returned to the first room but nothing happened. Let's check to see which door they try this time. Four doors left, so a quick d4 roll tells us that they try door 3 - a roll on the Space Behind the Door table tells us that there is a room there. It's 10' x 20', not so much a room, more a broom cupboard. A 10 is rolled on the exits table and the result is a big, fat zero (again). I roll an 8 for the room contents and again, the room is empty. Apart from the brooms.

A d3 roll gives us the choice of door 5 this time, so off the party go. What's behind door 5? A roll of 5 tells us that it is a straight passage. A roll of 12 after 30' indicates that the passage turns to the left, 90 degrees. 30 feet later, another periodic check indicates a side passage, and table IV, roll of 4 tells us that the side passage is right, 90 degrees and 10' wide.

So, a decision point - time to consult the dice. I'll rule 1-3 straight ahead, 4-6 right. I roll a 4 - right it is. The map now looks like this

Thirty feet later, I make another periodic check - 7, another side passage. I roll on table III and with a score of 11, it tells me that the passage is a T junction. A quick roll for width indicates that the left hand passage is 10' wide and the right hand one is 30' - that's more like a room than a passage but never mind. A quick d6 roll comes up with a 6, so right again. Along the 30' passage they go, and after 30' of this, a roll on table I tells us that they have come to some stairs.
I roll on the Stairs table and get an 8, which is up one level. Up they go and another check at the top gives me 19 - trick or trap. Ooh - something interesting.

The trick/trap table, which I'll be posting on a future session is an interesting one - some good, some bad, some neither. On this occasion, a roll of the d20 of Doom comes up with 15, an arrow trap. 1-3 arrows, 1 in 20 chance that each is poisoned. Well, a d3 roll gives 3 arrows in this trap and I'll just check to see which party member is on the receiving end. And with a 3 on a d6, it's Feebul. A d20 roll for the three arrows comes up with 15,8 and 18 so two have definitely hit. A d6 for each arrow comes up with a total of 12 points of damage, so Feebul is definitely dead as a door knocker.

Decision time - do they retreat or press on? And what to do about Feebul's body?

1-2 retreat
3-8 press on sans body
9-10 press on with body and try to find resting place

I roll a 4, which means they leave Feebul behind. The thief is dead and there is no chance of disarming the trap but at least his body should remind them if they come back this way. Or come back at all.

The passage at the top of the stairs runs on another 30' - I'll check to see what happens after that. A 6 means a side passage, 10' wide, right hand 90 degrees. But the d6 decrees that the party bypass that and press on straight ahead. Another check thirty feet later reveals a door, on the left hand side. Beyond it, according to the die roll is a parallel passageway, running at least 30' in either direction.

Now we have three choices - straight on with the original passage, right on the new passage or left - a quick d6 roll gives us the choice of left on the new passageway.

On the party plod - more or less heading in the opposite direction alongside the way they came. A periodic check reveals that they have come across a door but it's on their left, and there wasn't anything in the other passageway to indicate one there. I'll roll again.

Three rolls on the d20 say that it's on the left. The dice rule in this dungeon so I'll decree that it's a secret door, visible only from this side. That's why nothing was noticeable in the other passageway.

The party presses on, and thirty feet further on, they come to another door, this time on the right. A d6 roll indicates that they ignore it for now and carry on down the passageway. A further periodic roll comes up with 19, trick or trap again. Strangely enough, it's just alongside the arrow trap that killed Feebul. I'll make the roll to see what it is - 18, rocks fall, everyone dies - or at least they do if they fail a save vs Petrification.

Sanathris needs a 13 and gets an 18
Ralgaz needs a 17 and rolls a 16. Fail.
Garamar needs a 13 and rolls a 19
Algo needs a 13 and rolls a 20, critical pass. I guess he sort of vaults out of the way and lands on his feet, ready. Or something like that.
Athgal needs a 17 but gets a 7. Fail.

The trap does 2d10 of damage to everyone who fails their save, so two characters take it. Ralgaz takes 10 damage and finds himself on -4. Athgal takes 16 damage and as he started with four hit points, he is now a pulped mess of splattered half-orc.

So, casualty number two. The map now looks like this:

Algo and Sanathris bring Ralgaz round and a Cure Light from Algo restores his HP.

The party's looking pretty battered and two members are dead, no monsters, no treasure. Should they:

Press on in search of loot or XP?

Make their way back to the entrance and recruit two new PCs to take the place of their fallen comrades?

If they do head back, they'll have to make a d20 check for wandering monsters as they go.

I'll wait to see if any consensus emerges from the comments to this post. If there are no comments, I'll make a dice decision for them.

I did try to scan the tables from the DMG to post here, but the edges of the pages didn't scan, being at the spine side of the book, so I'm transcribing them, a couple of tables at a time and posting them so that you can play along at home.

Tables I and II for your personal use (if you don't have a DMG)

Saturday Night Fight Club - Conan v Fafhrd

Well, it's Battle of the Barbarians time and have we got a clash for you tonight. Fierce and bloody but not overlong - Lankhmar's champion versus the Hefty Hyborian himself.

Fafhrd

I did try to scan in the picture in Deities and Demigods but it's quite close to the centre of the book and I was quite reluctant to bend back the spine enough to get a good copy, especially as it's a very good condition D&DG with Cthulhu and Melnibonean mythos in. So I thought that this Mike Mignola drawing might do instead.

AC3 – I’m assuming that this is with his DEX bonus factored in.
Move 12”
HP 120
No of atts 2
Damage per att by weapon type
Height 6’ 11”

15th level fighter (ranger)
13th level thief
5th level bard (oh yeah, that’s so going to come in handy)

S 18(00) +3 +6
I 17
W 14
D 18
C 18
Ch 17

Bastard sword (8-14 (2d4+6)) and dirk (poignard or short sword) (8-14 (2d4+6))

2 atts per round (presumably with two weapons per attack)

Base THAC0 6 so to hit Conan he’ll need a 4 and with his strength bonus, it’ll be a 1, although his strength bonuses mean that he is almost certain to hit Conan, I’ll rule that a 1 will always miss. It’s either than or there’s no suspense whatsoever. And we wouldn’t want that, would we?

Conan
Good old Frank, he doesn't let us down.

S 18 +2 to hit, +4 damage
I 14
W 10
D 18 +3 reaction, -4 AC adjustment
C 18
Ch 17

Fighter level 13 THAC0 8 so to hit Fafhrd he’ll need a 5 or better, and with his strength bonus, that’ll be reduced to 3

Two attacks per round. I’ll rule that he gets the second attack in at the end of the round.

Thief level 7

HP 100

Leather armour (well, loincloth, anyway) (base AC8, less DEX bonus = 4) , broadsword (2-8 + 4 damage = 6-12) , dirk (poignard or short sword) (6-12 (2d4+4))

I’m giving Conan the same weapons combo as Fafhrd to make things a bit more even. Since Conan was a dab hand with many weapons, I think it’s credible. Also, since Fafhrd is using two weapons per round, methinks the Cimmerian should do likewise.

Well, let’s see who dies first. Ah, wait, we are still using the ‘down to 10% of HP means they yield’ rule.

That means that Conan has to drop to 10, Fafhrd to 12.

With two such evenly matched contestants, it’s really down to the luck of the dice. That means the d20 of Doom could decide the match. Oh hell…

Round 1

Both fighters have the same DEX so there’s no point adding the bonuses, they’d cancel each other out.

Fafhrd gets a 3, Conan a 1

First attacks, Fafhrd rolls a 6 and a 20 – as you will recall, we do operate the SNFC critical rule, so let’s see if it is. A 9 means double damage from that poignard. Good job he brought it with him.

12 damage from Greywand and 22 damage from Heartseeker, doing exactly what it says on the tin.

Phew! What can the shocked and bloodied Cimmerian do about that?

He rolls a 9 and a 13 – good hits, those. Let’s see what damage he manages to inflict on Nehwon’s finest.

9 and 11 damage. That’s not bad. Not quite up to what Fafhrd did earlier but nevertheless, we have yet to see their second attacks.

Fafhrd rolls first, although I’m deeming second attacks come at the end of the round and are more or less simultaneous, unless of course someone’s life depends on it.

12 and 10 for his hits, and for his damage, 9 and 8.

Conan rolls an 8 and a 9 for his to hits, and 10 and 7 for his damage.

End of that round and let’s look at where we stand hit point-wise.

Fafhrd is on 83

Conan is on 49 – he’s lost half his hit points in one round. That critical really left him reeling. Let’s see what round 2 has to offer.

Ding ding!

This time, Conan comes whirling out and into action on a 6 and Fafhrd is caught on the hop with a 3.

15 and 4 means that the Cimmerian has two hits, and the damage from each is 11 and 6.

Fafhrd replies with a 9 and an 18. I was half-expecting another critical there. Given the damage that these two can do, two of those in one fight could be a real match-killer.

Greywand does 11 and Heartseeker slides home with 13. Why do I get the feeling that this fight is going to be over sooner rather than later?

Second attacks – Conan rolls first; 19 and 3 so his poignard thrust only just catches Fafhrd. Damage of 9 and 10 respectively.

Fafhrd’s second attacks (I’m tensing myself to see what the rolls are) yield rolls of 8 and 4. If anyone is interested, the first roll looked as if it was going to be another 20 but decided on the 8 instead.

The damage from Greywand is 12 and from Heartseeker 9.

At the end of round 2, who’s alive?

Fafhrd 47

Conan 4

Crikey! End of Round 2 and it’s all over! The big Cimmerian has yielded. Seeing as how Fafhrd is Neutral Good, he’ll probably shake Conan’s hand and buy him a drink.

Well, let’s take a look at the numbers – Fafhrd had a good head start with an extra 20 hit points to his tally, and he did achieve that whopping critical in the first round. If he had started out with 100 hp, he’d be down to 27 at the end of round 2, and if Conan had not taken that critical, he’d be 11 points higher on 15. Closer, but it’s virtually certain that Fafhrd would have knocked him down to single figures or even minus figures the next round. The damage bonuses are only 2 higher but that makes the difference when there are four attacks thudding in each round and virtually no chance of missing.

I’m not sure what to serve up next weekend. I think I’ve used up most of the non-magical monsters in the Monster Manual and I might take a look at the Fiend Folio or Monster Manual 2 for inspiration. If anyone has any ideas as a combo they’d like to see, let me know and I’ll take a look at the stats.

As a postscript, and because I'm a big fan of miniatures, here's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouse as customised figures.