Shadowdark Thracia 1
Players: Zema-Zafat Calil Akakius Akashic
Recap:
Party left the town of Minos hearing rumors of the local Tribes performing human sacrifices, the beastmen taking human slaves and Orpheus looking for Thracian Ceremonial armor.
They took the old ruined road up to the Lost City armed with some knowledge of the nearby structures in the surrounding area. They decided to approach the largest, most prominent one (Area A) first and discovered a party of Gnolls guarding it (Gnoll Patrol A). Calil tried to communicate with them, but since he did not speak Thanian or Ancient Thracian, he struggled. Akashic, being a wizard was able to commune with them in Thanian and learned that the Gnolls were guarding this entrance to the Lost City and served the Minotaur King. They were not happy to see humans nearby.
Zema, sensing that the situation could easily turn hostile casts a sleep spell on the Gnolls but only managed to knock out two of the sentries. The big Beta jumped down to attack the others, calling on his two comrades behind him to back him up. The Clerics of the party and Akashic, the Wizard, were able to handle the Beta, in a tense brawl. Zema put the other two Gnolls to sleep as well.
When the fight was over, the party killed 3 sleeping Gnolls and woke the fourth one to be interrogated. Being the lowest rank, he really did not have much to say other than state that there are many, many more Gnolls in the caverns below and that parties like his are tasked with patrolling the caverns. He also spoke of Lizardmen and worshippers of a Dark God within. The party let him go and he ran off into the forest, thankful for his life.
The party then searched a bit of the nearby area and saw another building north of the main one. It was in a complete ruin with no discerning features other than half of its rubble went into the pond (Area D). They did not decide to approach it and decided instead to head into the Caverns via Area A's entrance.
Through the entrance they lit a torch and descended, reaching a room filled with bat guano and more bats. They marked the entrance hall of Area 1-1 and mapped out the hallway north and the bat Alcove (1-2, and 1-3). On entering the Bat Hallway (1-2) they were caught by another Gnoll patrol of similar composure to the last. Zema got to cast Sleep in time to get rid of the small ones so the rest could focus on the Beta.
The ensuing fight burned through one torch and almost killed Akakius, if it were not for Calil's healing hands. When the fight was over, Zema cast detect magic at the top of the alcove and saw a faint ping under the floor tiles, as though some faded magic once existed here.
The party left promptly after this.
Thoughts:
Good kickoff session. Everybody is just warming up so its nice to start off with something lightweight but with enough meat on it to get everyone invested for more.
Game ran surprisingly smooth. That’s great considering how much I prepped this thing. I was a bit worried I’d get overwhelmed but was surprised by how easy it was to track what I needed to. I’m very glad I have my notebook organized for easy referencing. Not sure if I want or need to jot down room description notes or how best to approach that.
This session featured two combats with identical enemy encounters and the early teaser of dungeon exploration. Combat was straightforward. Its a testament to Shadowdark’s speed that it flowed pretty easily. Removing hit rolls would make it faster but moment to moment missing isn’t that bad because rounds go fast.
I like that this module really does feel like classic D&D. A lot of modern OSR stuff actively tries to break away from those aesthetics and I can understand that impulse for sure. With Thracia I may as well lean in. Even still, I like the Bronze Age theme of its setting. It’s classic but not generic.
One thing I already appreciate is that the faction relationships are not deep. This might otherwise have been a criticism but for someone like me who hasn’t run a megadungeon it helps to know what a faction’s deal is off the bat. Since the Gnolls were the first encounter I really just made them the bottom of the food chain for the Beastmen. They don’t know much and they don’t ask a lot of questions. Players do though, so I was glad to know at the very least what their overall presence in the dungeon is like.
Also I don’t think GG’s area descriptions are that bad. Going over the important stuff with a highlighter helps a lot though. There are some information design issues I need to look out for, but for the first level it’s not so bad.
Player pace at getting through the dungeon is about what one might expect. I am glad they got to see a few rooms. I was a bit worried they would only explore the overworld, which would have been ok, but I think there just isn’t much going on there so it wouldn’t have been that fun. The first few rooms of Thracia (1-1 - 1-3) have a lot of charm and tactile elements (namely bat-shit).
Some things to look out for:
- XP rewards. I am probably being far too generous with how much I am handing out. I have never run Shadowdark long-term so I don’t know how to handle XP in the long run. I want it to feel earned, but the system is a bit handwavey about how its handed out.
- Treasure values: Shadowdark awards XP for valuable treasure mainly. I don’t quite know if dividing DCC values by 10 is appropriate all the way through. I need to read up on Shadowdark’s treasure valuations.
- Patrol loot: Random patrols should be carrying some coinage on them. It’s not explicit that they do in the text. Room 1-7 has Gnolls that carry 4cp and 1 gp on them for the DCC module. I may go with this across the board for the Gnoll Patrols.
Factional shifts:
- The Gnolls know of the party. They will be on the lookout for adventurers next time and keen to take them out as revenge for their fallen comrades.
Downtime Resolution:
- Akakius' hunting attempt gave him a bit of knowledge of the land. Next attempt will have DC 17 (15 with guide).
- Calil's next attempt to learn Thanian will be at DC 17
- Zema, Akashic, and Akakius will be carousing with Elmer the carpenter (he knows ancient Thracian). If they spend the money collectively to buy him drinks he will assist them next week.
- During the carousing, Elmer will let slip that his wife Marta taught him the language. Her family still worshipped the old God Thanatos. He will have a silver skull pendant with turquoise eyes that belonged to her which he keeps hidden on his person (this is a relic of the Old Cult of the Dark One and the mark of a Priest)