S T O P !!!
Here is where I will post a more detailed account of my adventures into the solo-tunnels as I explore them. DO NOT go here and read if you do not want to find out crucial details to the published adventures! To do so, will spoil the surprises for you if you haven't yet adventured into the solo in question! It is provided to give a more entertaining story to experienced players who have already conquered the solo, and want more information about how my personal journey went.
You've been warned.
BUFFALO CASTLE: Holy buffalo chips, who'd a thunk of gettin' iced by a herd of stampeding buffalo?! That's exactly how Korag went down. Fell into a pit trap just walking in the damned thing, but did alright and even found a secret door. Wish that door would have led to something other than another intersection (this thing is nuts on the intersection business), but I did take a chance and grabbed 50 gold pieces without rolling up a monster. I was feeling pretty confident until I ran across the pendulum trap. That big ol' blade whacked Korag pretty good, and he was bleeding out and leaving a trail.
Got turned around and lost. Didn't take me too long on that...forget trying to figure out what this thing looks like in your mind's eye. Too many headings end in "you are in an intersection...go east or west"; just follow the entries and good luck. Korag finally found a door, and I knew there would be a monster behind it. What I didn't know is that it was a grassy field with a herd of buffalo heading towards me. I missed every one of them damn saves too! Trampled to death!
Even with my bonus "do over" there were just too many saves vs. luck or dexterity (and Korag was pretty average in both) to make it. Rolled crummy, and that's all she wrote! Wulfus goes in now...see how we do. He would have no notes left by Korag to go by, so I'm going to ditch any cheaters that he could have by ditching my tracking entry wise. I'm back from lunch and probably can't recall my choices much, so here he goes cold...we'll see...
Round 2: Wulfus entered thru the center door and was teleported to the octopus room (I KNEW that room was in here someplace! I recall that from high school). He actually held his own pretty well, and knocked that dude down in MR fairly quick, but he just kept adding arms to attack with, so Wulfus made his luck check and beat a retreat...he's going to rest up and go back in...
Round 3: Wulfus goes back in thru the teleport door and fights that damned octopus again and kills it. Then it's thru a series of endless intersections (!), bends in the hall and a smoked-filled room where he whups up on an orc. After he kills the orc and grabs some gold, he ends up in a tangle with a giant spider, makes his luck check to avoid the web, beats him and then ends up in a room where a 17th level wizard challenges him double-or-nothing vs. one of his stats. Wulfus gambles and loses...his charisma rating is now 1!! Ha...! After killing another orc and getting his gold, he decides to head out of the place, but now he's facing something barring the exit: 5 giant rats! That's a ton of dice vs. his...ouch. I don't believe it would be a cheat to knock their dice rating down just a tad given that I'm playing 4th edition. I think my Buffalo Castle is a more hefty 5th edition model, so I might do that, otherwise Wulfus is gonna be fine cheddar cheese to these guys! We'll see how he does!
Round: 4: Well, I had some ways of taking on these rats. My T&T online buddy Houndle from the TrollBridge had a suggestion which was similar to mine, but as he says in the comments, when he tried it it didn't work so hot...didn't work this time for me either. I rolled a die to see how many of the 5 rats would attack, thinking that would break the dice down to a better chance. I rolled a 3. At MR of 12 each + 6 adds, I didn't think it through really. Wulfus had a respectable (for 4th ed.) 3 dice and 11 adds. STILL, got gnawed to death! Ha! I didn't want to cheat, so I took the death like a man. He was even uglier than when he entered the place anyhow, so those rats can choke on him! Ha, ha.
Lesson learned: NEVER underestimate T&T monster adds! It's more than dice for the MR that you gotta think about!
6 comments:
Ha ha, good write up.
Hate that buffalo room, there's just too many chances to get mashed. I quite like the mapping element, though in the end it's a pretty pointless exercise except by way of learning where not to go. It would have been nice to see some flavour text to give a clue as to what's gibbering round the next corner.
Which version of Buffalo Castle are you using? Deluxe adds a mission of sorts, but personally I'm not sure the solo really needs it.
I know, there certainly is no clue until you are on it. Looks like mine is the second edition. Think it was one of the ones from the black and gold box. I have two sets of those. I have the Deluxe version as well, but wanted to run the earliest version I have at the time.
The first copy I had, long gone now, was the UK edition. I have a feeling the illustrations might have been different because they didn't have the rights to the original art... they were certainly different in my rulebook. I hung on to that through all the years and house moves, I wish I'd kept all the other stuff as well.
I wish I had a collection of the UK stuff. I really love the way it looks...the mono colored stuff is more my style. I have little hope, but when the Rebellion stuff comes out, I hope it's not too slick. I'm sure it will be to compete in the market and the way people prefer things, but part of the humbleness (let's say...realistically, probably a budget thing) of the original game is what I like about it. For instance, I think Liz Danforth's stuff is awesome, obviously, but nobody has much to say about Rob Carver's drawings in the early stuff, and I LOVE that look. I bet you are right though on the art for the UK stuff. It would be interesting to see.
I feel your pain... Depending on whether the dice are kind those rats can be fairly easy or absolutely impossible.
I'm sure you've got your own ideas about how to tackle them, last time I got caught by them I ruled that I was going to roll 2d6 each round and my guy only had to fight the number on the lower die. Thus he still had to fight them all, but hopefully not all at once. Might have worked if I hadn't rolled a double 6 on the first round.
I was actually thinking of something very similar, then it dawned on me: I could roll a die to see how many to take on a time. That would put them at a more reasonable level, at least a better chance at it. I might try that. Maybe only 3 charge at me at first, or something to that effect.
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