The Greylands Campaign - Part 1

 This year I ran my first OSR campaign, which also has the (dubious) honor of being the longest campaign I've ran, as well as the one with the most sessions in it. As I will not be able to run the game for several months, it is currently on a (hopefully non-permanent) pause. 

I thought this would be a good opportunity to write down some thoughts, observations and stats for this campaign, for the benefit of mostly myself. 

This is going to be a series of posts, and in this first one I would like to present a general overview of campaign, my goals with it and some details on how it actually was organized and run. 

System

The game was ran using Old School Essentials with a bunch of house rules and on the fly decisions, as one would expect in any real tabletop experience. The majority of those house rules were collected in a Google Docs document, but for the sake of both presentation and ease of use at the table, I also made them into printed booklets which the players could reference during gameplay:

Player booklets for the campaign.

I made 6 of those in total and they are one of my favorite things about the campaign, providing a wonderful physical artifact for the game and also serving to impress people at the table.

Campaign Structure and Format

This entire campaign was started because I wanted to have a weekly, in-person, OSR game to play in. As none of those were available, I had to make it happen myself. The game was ran as an open table, with no single player ever being required for the game to commence. 

The campaign was ran in person at my LGS, with sessions usually averaging around 4 hours, though we've had some short ones and some that go for 6+ hours too (with breaks included of course).

The initial recruitment for the game was done through either just telling people I knew would be interested, as well as making a recruitment post on said LGS's Facebook page. I had also spent a good few weeks telling people I was going to launch the campaign, drumming up interest, which I think helped in the long run.

The image accompanying the first player recruitment post.

From there on most week to week games were organized through a discord server I set up for the campaign, and I'd say it worked quite well overall. The game would consistently have 5-6 players, with only a few occasions where there were not enough people available to actually get a game to fire.

The actual sessions themselves followed a pretty standard pattern. Wait for everyone to show up, tell them any rumors or news that their characters have heard over the previous week of downtime in town, finish up any last-minute gear purchases (for characters who chose to spend their downtime buying and selling stuff), retainers hiring and so on. Then, ask them what their plan was for this expedition, usually them following up on events from the previous week's session, or exploring places on their map they've not run into yet. Then the bulk of the game happens, and once we reach a natural stopping point, or it gets too late, the party goes back to town and we do downtime activities for the next in-game week.

Setting

The setting for the campaign was quite sparse, serving more as matte painting in front of which the action takes place, rather than having exploration of the setting and its themes, characters and so on being a primary aspect of gameplay. As such I decided to just make the campaign's setting be a very broad strokes rip-off of the excellent Hill Cantons by Chris Kutalik with the serial numbers filed off. The entire setting bible is this very sparse Google Docs file that I sent to the players after they asked me for some setting clarifications.

The tl;dr version of it is this - In one of the border territories of a NOT!16th Century NOT!Holy Roman Empire a cataclysms of some magical origin causes the entire region to lose some of it's vitality and color (hence the Greylands) and makes dungeons and treasures and weirdness start popping out of nowhere. The place turns into a frontier for adventurers, outlaws, heretics and other such assorted Player Character types. There's only one major settlement, a town whose inhabitants and the rest of the empire have even forgotten the name of. The adventurers who hang out there call it Greytown, in a stunning display of creativity. And...that's it.

Goals

The main goals I had for this campaign were to have a weekly game happening, to get over my problems and anxieties associated with GMing, to introduce people into the OSR style of play (whatever the hell that even is or looks like these days), to have an actual campaign that runs for longer than 3 sessions and to just have some fun.

How well that that work out? Well, pretty good I think! This was one of the more enjoyable GMing experiences that I've had, and despite an initial hump of prep work most week to week game prep was quite minimal and tended to follow just obvious progression from what happened in the previous session.

I also think I did an okay job in showcasing and introducing the OSR play culture to people of varying familiarity with it, plus helping me get some more experience under my belt. 

The game also was quite consistent, only missing a few weeks usually due to me being unavailable, which resulted in a total of 11 sessions over the span of roughly 3 months. Compared to some other games I've run over the years, this has been outright unprecedented! 


I think this is enough for now. In the next post I think I'll write up some interesting stats that I've tracked for the campaign.

Art: The Incandescent Grottoes

 Earlier this year I ran and then switched to playing through the Incandescent Grottoes and that very much is what made me start recommending it as a beginner adventure to people. It's charming, well laid out, extremely easy to run and has a lot of interesting and fun stuff in it for several sessions. With that said, here's some art.

Art: Classes

Here's a series of drawings I did depicting the 4 "classic" classes.

First is the Thief, who I thought turned out well enough to be worth actually making this into a series of drawings, rather than just a one-off thing.

After that was the Fighter, who I've also shared in the previous posts. Despite multiple adjustments in photoshop I still can't get the colors on this one to really read as well as they do in my sketchbook. A shame, really, since I think they turned out nice.

Next up was the Magic-User, and this one is my personal favorite of the four. 

And last is the Cleric, who I actually like the least. I think the perspective ended up looking kind of off (that's what happens when all of this is just drawn directly in pen), although I do like the overall color palette. 

 

 Also I am planning on posting more art and sketches in here, since I might as well use this blog for something, since it sure as hell won't be used for too much writing!

I like Fighters

 As I spend more time playing OSR games, I grow more and more fond of the Fighter as a class. In this post I'll try and articulate why.

A common refrain often heard is that Fighters are "boring" compared to something like the Cleric or Magic-User (let alone the billions of other small variations that exist as classes over the years and editions of D&D), and I just do not agree.

A Fighter is more than just a meathead with a sword. Often they are played as such, but even then I think it does the class a disservice. The Fighter has connections to the idea of the noble class, the aristocracy, of knights, warlords, and other such types.

 Here's some of the things that are unique to Fighters, as well as what I would tweak to help further underline their qualities. 

Establishing a Stronghold

While every class gets to establish some kind of a stronghold at 9th level, the Fighter explicitly can do that at any point in their level progression, as long as they have the funds, people and will to do so.

This is often the most overlooked and yet I think the most enjoyable unique feature of the Fighter. They are not just a marauder, but a leader. A warlord, a tyrant, whatever you want to call it. For the fighter the "domain game" can start at any point, and I think more players would benefit from giving it a go, and more GMs should encourage their players to do so.

And of course at 9th level a Fighter becomes a Baron(ness), again underlying the connection that the class has with the noble class of any Feudal or pseudo-feudal society, which as we know are quite common in D&D settings. 

Multiple Attacks 

This is way more common, and usually put back in if that specific version of old D&D that people are using doesn't already have it (B/X being the most common one in omitting it). A Fighter, after all, should be good at fighting. Yes, a big revelation I know. 

In race-as-class systems like B/X the Dwarf is often sturdier and more resilient, due to its superiors Saving Throws, which is why I like to make sure that a Fighter always has the ability to mow down swarms of lesser enemies. Not only does it help give the player a sense of power and control in a large and chaotic melee, but it also has the beauty of scaling with the Fighter's level. Plus, it makes enemy Fighters that much more terrifying especially if a party relies heavily on henchmen and retainers during combat (which they should). 

Swords, Magic or Otherwise

An often pointed out fact about OD&D is that the Fighting Man is the only class that can actually use magic swords, which are some of the most common and usually quite powerful magical items in the game. This, of course, comes from the simple fact that the Fighting Man is also the only class that can just use regular, run-of-the-mill swords too.

While in my current campaign the Dwarf, Elf and Thief can all use swords, I am seriously considering removing those as options for any future games that I run, and making them the exclusive domain of the Fighter. This I think will help delineate the class from the other martial classes and it, once again, reinforces the connection to status and nobility, as swords often were historically. A spear or an axe, a dagger or a bow are all weapons, yes, and they can kill you just as easily as a sword. But a sword is something else. It is Special, it is a tool which has only one purpose - to kill other humans.

So the Fighter, the class about fighting and killing fellow humans makes the most sense to be the only one allowed to wield this tool. 

Armor

This one is just purely my own brainstorming, but I am also getting more and more down with the idea of having the Fighter be the only class that can ever use or even own Plate. Like with swords above, plate armor is the sole right of knights, kings, nobles. It is a status symbol and a clear demarcation of one's place in society. As such, I think the Fighter is the only one to have access to it. 

Leadership

As above, this is also a house rule that I am debating implementing. While Charisma should still play a part in establishing the number of Retainers and  their Morale/Loyalty scores, I think a Fighter should always have an edge when it comes to leading others. As such I would give the Fighter a flat +1 Max Retainer slots and have all retainers get +1 to Morale, on top of what their Charisma score would usually set for those values.


All of this makes the Fighter, at least to me, stand out quite well on it's own against the Magic-User or the Cleric in terms of impact on the game. Don't get me wrong, I love playing Magic-Users (and often not for any of the spells, but because it feels like it gives me the freedom to poke everything and have an excuse to know random trivia or facts about what the character is seeing), but I feel Fighters have just as much to give to a game of dungeon crawling, exploration-based adventuring as anyone else. 

The Greylands Cleric, an OSE Class

 In my Greylands OSE campaign the game began without a Cleric class available to the players. Instead I used the Acolyte from issue #1 of Carcass Crawler as the default "Fighting type, but with magical abilities" role. 

However, through gameplay (and a good amount of gold pieces) the players have managed to get the temple of the Most Blessed and Heavenly Sun Lord back in town restored and have sent messages for some more priests to come and restore the faith to this grey and forgotten border town.

With this Cleric class I wanted to do something different, as I don't think I want to just have something that simply covers the same ground as the Acolyte. As such here is my take on the Cleric class (or really more of a Priest class in this case) as they appear in The Greylands. 

Lair of the Owlbear

 

There’s a 50% chance the owlbear is in its lair, sleeping. If it’s not, roll d6 for every 2 turns spent inside. On 1-3 the owlbear returns, possibly with a fresh kill. If the owlbear is sleeping in its nest, every turn or if a loud noise is made, roll a d6. On a 1 it awakens, grumpy and looking for food (The party gets a surprise round to act).

1) Entrance

• Barrow’s stone door is tossed to the side.

•  There’s bits of dead bodies, animal carcasses and blood splattered around it and clear drag marks leading inside. There are coins and a few gems scattered around, worth 20 gp in total.

• The smell of death and rotting meat comes from within. 

2) Votives

• Votive statues on piles in the niches on the floor.

• Votives are made from clay, stone and metal.

• There’s enough tarnished silver ones to be worth some money. If 1 turn is spent collecting them you can get 2 slots worth of little votives worth 200 gp total.

• Dried and fresh blood pooled around them. Brown feathers can be seen stuck in the mud.

3) Bodies

• Corridor slopes gently down to the main burial chamber.

• On the floor among pools of blood are mangled remains of bodies. There is fur (identified as bear fur) and more brown feathers around them.

• Searching the remains yields 2x long swords, 1x helmet (slightly banged up), 2x lanterns (no oil) and a pouch with 60 gp in various coins (100 coins total).

4) Nest of the owlbear

• Main burial chamber of the barrow, now converted into a nest. 

• A giant sticky pile of cloth, sticks and clothes form a large nest. If the owlbear is in its lair it’ll be sleeping in the nest. It seems like there’s a faint light or glow emanating from it.

• Stench of rotting flesh is overwhelming. Save vs poison or get violently sick (making a lot of noise). 

• If a character spends 1 turn digging through the detritus of the nest they can find some treasures. Roll 1d6 and consult below. If the treasure is already found, just pick the closest one. If the owlbear is sleeping in its nest, searching the nest has a 1-4 chance to wake it up, giving the party 1 turn of surprise before it starts mauling them. 

I dig through the nest! 1d6

1. Scroll containing a 2nd level spell. Roll d6: 1 - Cleric, 2-4 - Magic-User 5-6 - Illusionist.

2. Loose gemstones. 2d6 of them each worth 200 gp.

3. Potion of healing.

4. Leather codpiece with a secret purse in it. Contains 1 gold ring worth 350 gp + 1d6 x50 gp in coins. 

5. Mace +1, can also hit incorporeal undead.

6. Magic helmet with a crystal third eye. The third eye provides illumination like a torch when the helmet is worn, but the wearer is always the first person to be attacked in a fight.