THE CRYSTAL SEAS, Episode 15:The Bishophtu Bath House Part Two

The party have travelled to the city of Nahemot on a mission of murder: Lila, the second wife Romani lord, Geta Shaoul, has ordered them to assassinate her former "friend", the wizard Kharzan. After a night of meticulous planning at the  local massage parlour and a morning spent staking out the bath house to formulate the perfect crime, the party instead decided to rifle through coat pockets in the cloak room resulting in ejection from the premises, bereft of clothing, and being pursued by a pair of angry guards. What now?

This instalment includes lots of material adapted or drawn directly from The Boswitch Bathouse by Arnold Kemp of Goblin Punch fame. Spoilers abound!  This post also summarises two sessions that took place on 15th and 22nd of September: apologies to my players, hope we can get back to the campaign soon!

22nd Sositi, Around Eleven AM

The party burst into the foyer of Madam Palfrey's Bathouse: Ursula and Analicia draped in modest bath robes (Analicia's being a stolen staff uniform) and Horace naked from the waist up, his modesty only preserved by a towel. Bolg has already rushed down the stairs to meet them, holding his magic cat, already aware of what has happened from his second floor perch.

Bolg is accompanied by a young girl, who urges them to follow her. They are led into a small, wood panelled room. The door shuts behind them. It is windowless and pitch dark. Ursula ignites a magical flame:

"What the fuck happened?"

No one says anything, the door opens, an unfamiliar young woman enters. She has brought their weapons from their room upstairs, and some dark-coloured robes. as the party thank her and get dressed, she seems impatient:

"Is it done?"

THE CRYSTAL SEAS, Episode 14... The Bishophtu Bath House part One

After a week of rest and recreation in Romani, the remaining party members are seeking the favour of the local lord, Geta Shaoul. They are to carry out the assassination of the sorcerer Kharzan, at the behest of Geta Shaoul's second wife, Lila. The party spent the night in a massage parlour with a good view of the local bath house, wherein they anticipate finding the wizard Kharzan.

This instalment includes lots of material adapted or drawn directly from The Boswitch Bathouse by Arnold Kemp of Goblin Punch fame. Spoilers abound! 

22nd Sositi

At dawn, the party decide to get breakfast at the local noodle house. They are shocked to see that the proprietors are the fat men they were spying on from the massage parlour the previous evening. They did not let the fact that they had already seen the men naked ruin their breakfast of fine noodle soup.

THE LOST CITY PART 6 (LEVELLING)

Actual play adapted from module B4: The Lost City. Will contain spoilers.

Lost in the desert, four foreigners (Luke, Kostas, Romulus and Xavi) found refuge in the mysterious city of Cynidicea, joined the Brotherhood of Gorm and have been leading a recce into the pyramid in the hope of capturing agents of the fellowship of Usamigaras, teaming up with a party of prospecting gnomes. However, bruising encounters with spectres and gargoyles have left the party and their gnomish allies injured, and possibly trapped on the fifth tier of the pyramid... read part five here. 

Day Three - Goodbye Cicadia

When the party awoke, one of the injured gnomes was already looking fit and healthy. Xavi, too: though he was grateful for Luke's healing miracles. Romulus rubbed his eyes:

"Is it morning already? No blasted sun in this place."

"I would have though sun-up'll not be upon us fer another three hours at the very least son!"

After just two nights in the pyramid, the party's body clocks were beginning to get a little off kilter.

THE LOST CITY, PART 3

Actual play narration adapted from module B4: The Lost City. Will contain spoilers.

Lost in the desert, four foreigners (Luke, Kostas, Romulus and Xavi) arrived at the mysterious city of Cynidicea, and decided to align themselves with the Brotherhood of Gorm. Believing their best way to find a way home to be the restoration of order to the chaotic city, Ser Luke sought to forge an alliance between the Brotherhood of Gorm and their rivals, the Sisterhood of Madarua. Initially rebuffed (and receiving a spear-wound for the trouble), Luke struck a deal: to assassinate the leader of a third faction, the brotherhood of Usamigaras. Explaining his plan to the his reluctant master, Kanadius, Luke then grabbed his men in order to explore the pyramid a little more. 

Read part two here

Once they had their combat gear together, the four comrades set out to explore the lower tiers of the pyramid. They had already explored an estimate 25% of the next level, and Luke was keen to unravel the deeper mystery of the place.

Down to the third tier they travelled, and once again to the mysterious twisting corridor. They opened the sliding granite panel and crossed the corridor without activating its turning mechanism, finding themselves at a t-junction. Taking the left-hand path, the party quickly found themselves in an abandoned storeroom. The men rummaged through the crates, before Xavi noticed that the room was rapidly filling with water. Kostas checked the door through which they had entered: it had sprung shut behind them, and possessed no handle with which to open it!

THE CRYSTAL SEAS... EPISODE 10: More Than They Could Chew

The following content borrows heavily from the 5e update for The Sunless Citadel, available in Tales from the Yawning Portal. There will be spoilers, although the module has been adapted for our Crystal Seas Sandbox. If you intend to play The Sunless Citadel, please look away now!

After raiding the Sunken Citadel, falling foul of one or two traps and finally defeating an ancient elf-troll, the party decided to spend the night in the abandoned tomb of the dragon priest, only to have their sleep troubled by dreams of a quaist-demon.

13th Sositi

As soon as the party had begun to stir from their slumber Analicia was excitedly informing them all about the "dream" she had experienced. The party were mildly interested but not entirely convinced of its value, although Ursula did seem a little perturbed that she had not been granted the opportunity to strike a deal with the devil. Sadly, Analicia's inability to recall the name of the demon she had spoken to meant neither Horace nor Ursula could shed any more light on it. Kuriakos shivered: he had had his fill of devils and demons.

The party made their way back through the hallowed halls of the dragon priests towards the crumbled turret, trying their luck with an unopened northwestern door. After examining an uninspiring cistern (in spite of the very sophisticated plumbing, they elected not to investigate it any further), they burst into a large, slightly smelly hall. The room contained a small shrine, and crude graffiti in the draconic language. A large metal cage sat on the southern wall, empty. A whimpering sound emanated from a pile of rags against the far wall...

THE LOST CITY, PART 2

Actual play narration adapted from module B4: The Lost City. Will contain spoilers.

After losing their way in the desert, the four surviving members of a pilgrimage to the Holy City - Ser Luke, Kostas, Romulus and Xavi - stumbled upon a seemingly abandoned ruin of a metropolis. Desperate for food and water, they entered the structure and were accosted by a group of masked men. Provided refreshment and respite from their hardship, the survivors had a difficult choice to make. Read part one here

After gorging themselves on a simple yet copious meal, Ser Luke's party lay down to rest. The Holy Knight's conscience was troubled, however, as he wrestled with a dilemma. He went next door to parlay with leader of the group some more.

The party had not yet been divested of their weapons, and the leader seemed comfortable to allow Luke to join him in his study for a private conversation. Luke pressed the leader, Kanadius, for more information. Kanadius answered Luke's questions as fully as possible, yet all the while remaining masked.

THE LOST CITY, PART 1

Actual play narration + account  adapted from module B4: The Lost City. Will contain spoilers.

Ser Luke and his cohorts were heading south to the Holy City when the sandstorm struck. Only their local guide, Mahaba, had experienced one before, and by the time the dust cleared he was nowhere to be seen. Their party of seventeen was reduced to eleven, and some of the mounts were missing, too. Feeling as though his faith was being tested, Luke bid his party press on: the Holy City would not be far.

They continued south, through the featureless desert wastes. One by one, pilgrims and followers succumbed to heat and exhaustion, until only four remained. Beside Ser Luke stood his faithful acolyte, Xavi; the boorish but capable man-at-arms, Kostas; and the poorly educated foot soldier, Romulus. Those mounts that had not already collapsed had been slaughtered for food, and they soon ran out of water.

THE PYRAMID, THE PRIESTESS, AND THE PIT-FIEND

The Pyramid

Nearly eighty feet high and at least as broad at the base, it dominates the small city of single-storey buildings. Crude granite blocks make up its angled walls, tapering to the apex in three distinct tiers. The temple at the top is open to the elements, and consists of four braziers around a square hole: a vertical shaft leading into the bowels of the pyramid.

The High Priestess

Nira is young. She assumed the post following the ritual suicide of her predecessor, Mirdok, who threw himself into the pit. Since this happened her dreams have all been nightmares, and always of the same thing: a hunger that cannot be sated, a gaping maw threatening to swallow the entire world, a crushing despair that has bled into her waking life.

Nira leads the acolytes and through them controls the city. She alone now realises the horrible truth: her entire culture exists in order that the Pit-Fiend be fed, else it might swallow the sun and stars temselves.

Level Zero - Nobles & Gutternsipes

Every city at some point in its history, upon reaching a certain size, comes to realise its most tragic feature is the vast number of dirty, poorly behaved, terribly educated children occupying its streets and causing more than merely minor mischief. There is no romance to their often all-too-short lives, for theirs is a lot of unrelenting suffering: a daily battle for survival in an unforgiving landscape. 

The city of Tethis, nearly 900 years since the collapse of the once-great empire, was at that point in its history: swollen and cracked from corruption, teeming with hordes of unwashed urchins. These children formed their own gangs or tribes... some even assembled murderous cults of personality, and launched holy crusades against rival factions.

The question for which no-one had an answer was where the children had come from. Myths abounded, of course, ranging from the unlikely (they are all the bastard children of the House of Thrane) to the absurd (they are really rats assuming human form). The prosaic truth would never be accepted, by virtue of the mirror it held up to all of Tethis' citizens: these were all children who had been abandoned by, or fled from, families who were incapable of raising them. What's more, the culture they had developed was tacitly encouraged by some of the less scrupulous merchant families: some of the children's' gangs helped to run racketeering and smuggling on their behalf ,as well as supplying fences with reliable goods. Some of those merchant families, though lowly in status, were rich in coin, and they were cunning enough to keep the status quo in place.

Kob had grown up on Tethis' streets but was a teenager now. It was time to think about his future. Sure, he'd made it this far on his own wits, but he had wits enough to know that it was more luck than anything else. And he was grateful for it, too: his profile had been low enough that neither the guard nor the merchants knew his name. Neither renown nor notoriety interested him.

"Once they know who you are, they own you."

HIT DICE

When I read through the D&D 5th edition basic rules at the start of this year I was especially pleased to see the role hit dice played in character recovery. Perhaps it was because it fitted succinctly with the notion I had of hit points representing "combat stamina" rather than physical wounds: characters were able to recover their stamina between encounters by resting, but were limited by the number of hit dice they possessed.

All the damage dice used by a 20th level rogue making a sneak attack

When characters level up, their hit dice increase too, thus increasing their max HP... but also their powers of recovery. Characters spend hit dice to recover HP during short rests, and while character hit points are fully restored after a long rest, the character only regains half their total number of hit points. Hit dice are thus a renewable resource that has to be managed, and while I think the fifth edition rules-as-written for rest and recovery are generous, this concept inspired a few ideas.

Trial by Combat

Following some musings on death and dismemberment it was time to have a little play around with the rules in a live situation. It was also the chance for my friend to get some tabletop action, as he's unable to play in our regular campaign at the moment. So I rolled 3d6 36 times and generated six totally random characters for some arena conflict. I used a standard BECMI character sheet (from the red box) and followed the simple character creation steps from the Rules Cyclopedia (roll stats, then choose class). We ended up with a pleasantly random array: 2 fighters, a magic user, an elf, a cleric and a thief. They were all jacked up to second level to give the casters a bit more to do, and all but the mage and the thief were kitted out in plate.

Combat was going to follow the resolution mechanic of basic, but using the initiative-action-reaction of fifth edition (character base speed is 30', characters can make attacks of opportunity). This was to be an arena battle to the death between two teams of three, with the player getting first pick of which characters to use. Scenario one was to use the death/dying mechanic from standard 5th edition rules (at 0hp, players are unconscious and must make 50/50 death saves each turn).

DIY: WELCOME TO THE OCTAGON (yes, that is supposed to be a pit in the centre of the arena)

THE FIFTH EDITION FIGHT
Following 5e initiative, each combatant rolled individually and a turn sequence established. Team Good Guys (consisting of the thief, magic-user, and cleric) made some cautious movements to re-position themselves. Team Not-So-Good Guys (consisting of two fighters and an elf) went in for the kill. In the first round a big guy with a big sword tore a chunk out of the cleric, while the combination of the elf's magic missile and the other fighter's longsword dropped the thief down to 0 HP, and the first save was made (two more positives and he stabilises, three more and he's out). Last in the initiative order, the magic-user unleashed sleep.

Now, we were using a bit of a mash-up of systems, and had made the decision to use the BECMI spell descriptions without really looking too much into it. Sleep affects 2d8 hit dice of combatants within a forty foot square, who are sent into a magical sleep for 4d4 TURNS (that's old-school turns kids: forty to 160 minutes!) with NO SAVE. The entire opposing team (and also the cleric) were knocked out, leaving the magic-user to go around and stab everyone.

DEATH, DYING, INJURY AND WOUNDS

The mechanics of death are as good a place as any to start with any hack of an existing RPG system where combat is an important aspect. Most old school hacks and retroclones are quick to emphasise the lethality of their system in comparison with modern iterations of the world's most popular ttrpg. High risk of character death encourages more role-play, lateral thinking, and other indirect approaches to obstacles in the characters' path.

Before I layout what I want to do with our house rules, I thought it might be wise to reiterate how player death and injury is handled in a few existing systems and their "hacks"

CANTRAPS

Why Cantraps?

It's a variant spelling of cantrip, and the one used by Jack Vance in The Dying Earth, so why not.

When I arrived very late to the 3rd edition party Cantrips struck me as a surprising addition. My previous experience having only extended so far as the fabled Rules Cyclopedia of BECMI, I was accustomed to magic users starting out with the power to memorise and cast just one spell each day. 3rd edition provided wizards with a similar power to cast one first level spell/day, but this was augmented by the power to prepare up to 3 cantrips, any of which could be cast an unlimited number of times each day.

Level Zero - Acolyte & Slave

The staff came down with such force across the old man's bare back that it broke in two: a piece of the shaft was sent hurtling into the distance before clattering on the ground, the only sound in the courtyard. The old man lay motionless on the floor as the assembled crowd held their breath. 

For a moment it seemed as though the guard would be satisfied with this punishment: it had been a minor slight, after all, and the offence had been met with exacting force. Davit mouthed a silent prayer for it to be true, for this to be it, for the guard to walk away and leave the once proud old man to wallow in his humiliation. But he knew the look in the guards maddened eyes. His prayers were not going to be answered

Davit turned his face away, locking eyes for a moment with the young woman from the temple. Her narrow, dark eyes fell to the floor in shame. As the guard began to bring down blow after blow upon the prone form of the old man, the young acolyte took a step forward. Davit gripped her upper arm, imploring her not to intervene. She was no ordinary slave like he - she was a Mekonini, a temple had - but she was not immune to the summary justice of the temple's guardsman.

The young woman's name was Aia, and she had been raised in the service of the city's priests. At twelve she was deemed to be of sufficient devotion to merit formal induction as an acolyte of the goddess Ishka. On her seventeenth birthday, just weeks ago, she was ordered to travel to the site of a new temple under construction on the outskirts of the city. Her initial ecstasy upon witnessing the sublime scale of the project was soon to be subsumed by guilt, as she came to understand the extent of human misery necessitated by such grandiose undertakings.

Aia had been without an ally when she first began to experience this crisis of faith, but the slave Davit had been of some comfort her. Now, his hand still clasping her arm, she realised she wanted nothing more to run away with him, to flee the nightmare into which she had casually meandered.

The guard had not relented. Aia had hoped that sooner or later he would, and she  would be able to tend the old man's wounds. But there was heard no sign of this happening now, and she dared not look for fear of what she might behold.

Leave this place

The voice was not her own, yet it had come from within her own thoughts. She glanced up at Davit, who did not seem to have heard anything.

Take him with you. Tonight. Leave this place.

The acolyte felt a new strength rising in her blood. She turned away from the miserable scene unravelling in the grounds of an unconsecrated temple, and taking Davit by the hand, led him to a shaded corner.

"We're leaving."

Aia's voice was firm, immovable.

"Now?"

"Tonight."

* * *

Backgrounds for the Realms of the Indigo River:

Bariya (slave)


• Your hit die is 1d4
• You have four hit points +/- your constitution modifier
• Rolls 4d4 for each stat, no swaps
• Pick one skill appropriate for your highest stat: this represents your slave profession or trade
• Role 1d12 to determine the weapon that you stole when you escaped. You do not have competency with this weapon.
  1. Club
  2. Club
  3. Club
  4. Staff
  5. Staff
  6. Staff
  7. Sling
  8. Sling
  9. Sling and club
  10. Bronze dagger
  11. Sling and dagger
  12. Shortsword
• Your only other possessions are 1d10 copper coins, a set of clothing appropriate to your trade/craft and one of the following (roll 1d8):
  1. A holy symbol
  2. A full wineskin
  3. Five days worth of (stolen) iron rations
  4. A cameo of an ancestor
  5. A gold coin
  6. A platinum coin
  7. Roll once on the trinkets table (5e PHB)
  8. Roll twice on this table; ignore this result and repeats
• You're free now. Go! Live your life.

Mekonini (temple hand)


• Your hit die is 1d4
• You have four hit points +/- your constitution modifier
• Rolls 4d4 for each stat in order, but swap the highest score for wis or cha
• Knowledge of religion and one other (suggested: literature, history, arcana)
• Possessions: common clothes, ceremonial robes (lowest degree), bronze knife, some holy item, d6 silver coins +d10 copper
• Your possess one of the following items(roll 1d8):
  1. A healer's kit
  2. A full wineskin
  3. Ten days worth of (stolen) iron rations
  4. A cameo of an saint/god/demon
  5. 1d6 gold coins
  6. 1d4 platinum coins
  7. Roll once on the trinkets table (5e PHB)
  8. Roll twice on this list, ignore this result and anyrepeats
• You have forsaken your temple, which makes you either an apostate or a heretic. Which one is it?

SOME NOTES ON O5R

THE CRYSTAL SEAS

Currently we're running a 5e sandbox campaign in the homebrew world of the Crystal Seas. The setting was conceived as a low magic, sword and sorcery environment in which PCs scoured the wreckage of several ancient civilisations for magical artefacts, either for their own use or to sell to the highest bidder. 

Such a setting and tone would, at face value, best suit an old school system, but the players had already invested some time in familiarising themselves with the free basic rules of fifth edition, so we kicked off the campaign with that rule set. It's been a lot of fun so far, and I hope to continue exploring the world with this group. However, eight sessions in and I'm beginning to think how different this campaign would be with a few modifications to the rules (I believe it's popular to use the term "hack" these days, though for some reason that trend upsets me).

FIFTH EDITION: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNCERTAIN

There are some elements I really enjoy about 5th edition: 

• Combat: especially action/reaction and bonus actions; grid-based tactics
• The advantage/disadvantage mechanic
• Streamlining of ability scores, saving throws and skills
• Ascending armour class
• Proficiency bonuses
• Lair actions and legendary actions for certain monsters
• Spending hit dice to restore HP
• Ritual spellcasting

Some elements I'm not so keen on:

• Powerful cantrips
• Number of classes and subclasses/archetypes: there seem to be a lot
• Feats (although this is an optional rule)
• Rapid level progression early on
• HUGE number of hit points
• Availability of magic (every class can cast spells, if certain choices are made)

Some elements about which I'm ambivalent:

• Backgrounds. They're good for helping the player come up with character ideas, and it's nice how they tie in to proficiencies, but the consequent flaws and traits etc. take up a lot of space on the character sheet.
• Short rests. I like the spending of hit dice to regain HP, but for some class features (arcane recovery; warlock spellcasting), short rests can lead to a devaluation of magic.

Some things I'd like to add:

• randomised magical effects during spellcasting
• hit point caps
• 0-level characters
• Wounds and serious injuries

HALF-HEARTED HACKS

Inspired by Giffyglyph's Darker Dungeons  we've made a few amendments to how death, rest and recovery are handled but nothing too extreme. However, at this stage further adjustments will start to upset the continuity of the campaign, and an itch persists that wants scratching.

Consequently, and mainly as a thought experiment, I'm working on my own amendments (to throw on the pile of other hacks), but attempting to more fully ground it in the setting.

Posts concerning this project will be tagged O5R

FURTHER READING

Arnold Kemp's GLOG, the most interesting, idiosyncratic and inspirational B/X homebrew there is

Five Torches Deep, a 5E/OSR hack
A mashup of B/X D&D and 5E by u/DataL0r3
The very healthy and active OSR subreddit r/OSR
The largely inactive 5e/OSR subreddit r/dndO5R
The sub concerning Giffyglyph's Darker Dungeons r/darkerdungeons5e