Ura The Dwarf Gets Eaten by Wolves
See the companion post about procedures here.
This is a quick play report to go along with my other post about combining the AD&D 1E Appendix A with OSE for a solo dungeon crawl. As an aid to anyone else thinking of trying this out, I'm adding notes on the procedural flow that led to the narrative outcomes in italics.
The map below is the sections of the dungeon I've generated so far.
Ura the dwarf is venturing to the dungeon near her home village, rumored to be the former stronghold of a wizard and his evil army, but now only housing monsters and the treasure nobody has collected yet.
I pick one of the starting room templates from Appendix A, a 15x20 ft. room with stairs to the surface and 5 exits.
She descends the stairs from the ruins of the former tower on the surface, lighting a torch as she goes. While she can see some in the dark with infravision, she prefers to have proper sight. She finds a small atrium of finished stone with five passages off it, two each on the east and west walls and one to the north. She picks the southwest door.
Roll on Appendix A Periodic Check table (Table I), result is trick/trap after 30 ft. Roll on trick/trap table, result is spear trap. Fail x-in-6 check for noticing trap. Fail x-in-6 check for triggering trap. Negative wandering monsters check. Roll on Table I, result is passage continues 60 ft. Roll on Table I, result is dead end after 30 ft.
She heads down the passage, which seems to continue endlessly in a straight line; featureless stone walls and absolute quiet in the dark underground.
Positive check for secret doors. Appendix A tables, result is door on left opening to a parallel passage.
Knowing stonework better than most, Ura takes time to closely inspect the walls around the dead end. Finally, she finds what she was looking for, a loose stone that triggers a door to open on the south wall. Peering through, she sees a parallel passage, and she heads down it to the east.
Table I result is chamber after 30 ft. (Room 2). Room/Chamber tables produce a 2,700 sq. ft. cave with 4 exits and a monster guarding 250 gp and 100 pp in bags. Wandering Monster table result is 3 cobras. Reaction roll is unfriendly. Where this room touches other previously generated rooms and there is an exit on that wall, they are added as secret doors per the appendix A procedures.
The passage ends at an opening into a much larger chamber. Peering in, Ura can see it is a massive cavern, extending far outside the light of her torch. She can see just enough to spot a cluster of snakes near the center of the room, who begin hissing when they see her. She slowly backs out to explore the other direction and returns to the crossroads where she entered this passage.
Torch expires (lasts 6 turns). Rest turn (every 6 turns). Negative wandering monster check.
At the crossroads, she pauses to light a new torch and catch her breath from the exertion so far. Then she continues down the passage to the west.
Table I result is a chamber after 60 ft. (Room 3) Room/chamber tables result is a 40x40 ft. empty room with 1 exit on the north wall. Wandering monster check positive, result is trader. Reaction roll friendly. No chance of surprise.
A short distance to the west, Ura sees the opening to another chamber with the flickering light of a fire cast on the walls outside. Moving up slowly, she sees a human man relaxing on a tattered but once luxurious carpet, and array of adventuring gear and odds and ends from the dungeon spread around. He immediately welcomes her to join him for a cup of tea. As they talk, he tells her about other rooms he has visited to the north of this chamber.
Multiple rolls on Appendix A tables to generate rooms 4 and 5 and the passages connecting them. Several Ts in the passages, as well as a trap door down one level and a secret door looping back to the first passage I generated. Room 4 is a 20x20 ft. chamber with no exits and 13 sprites guarding 1,000 cp and 250 go in treasure. Room 5 is a 30x30 ft. empty chamber with no exits.
Hearing about what's to be found to the north, Ura decides to try her luck instead with the cobras in the nearby cavern. Noticing the trader has flasks of oil around, she tries to convince him to give her one in exchange for the treasure she can gather when she Burns the snakes with the oil.
Failed Charisma check to try to convince him.
Unwilling to take the risk, the trader insists Ura pay for the oil, so she pulls out the last of her gold pieces to pay for it. Then, she heads back toward the cavern.
Distance takes two turns to reach the cavern. Negative wandering monster check. Extinguish torch outside Room 2. Negative surprise check for snakes. Snakes win initiative. Snakes fail all attack rolls in first round of combat. Ura hits throwing oil, rolls 8 damage, hits all snakes in close proximity and kills them.
Approaching the cavern, Ura extinguishes her torch, hoping for a chance to take the cobras by surprise. She moves carefully into the page, watching the heat of their wriggling bodies with her infravision. As she approaches though, they begin to hiss, and she realizes they've noticed her after all. She fumbles the flask of oil running up toward the snakes, and they all spit at her, but miss. Taking a moment, she is finally able to light the flask and hurls it into the center of the cluster of snakes, who wriggle and fall amid the flames. Searching the room, she finds 100 platinum pieces and 250 gold pieces in bags nearby. Feeling a bit hunger, she cuts open one of the snakes and finds flaky cooked meat inside the crispy flesh, so she pauses to rest and eat.
Light new torch. Search room. Succeed x-in-6 check to find secret doors on north wall. Nothing else in the room. 2 negative wandering monster checks. Appendix A results 60 ft. corridor ending at a door. Other side of door is a room (Chamber 6), 50 ft. circular chamber, empty, with 1 exit on opposite wall.
Heading out the southeast end of the cave, Ula finds a passage angling southeast and ending at a door. She finds it is unlocked and proceeds into an empty circular room, all bare stone, with another door on the east side. She heads out.
Appendix A results 60 ft. corridor, 30 ft. wide with 2 rows of columns. Ts after 60 ft. North 60 ft. and then turns east. Ending at an illusory wall with another room on the other side. Room 7 is a 20x40 ft. room with 1 exit on the south wall and a monster guarding 1,000 sp and 750 ep. Encounter check is 8 fire beetles. Negative wandering monster check.
Coming from the cramped corridors she's seen so far, Ula is surprised when the door opens out into a spacious, wide corridor with high ceilings supported by double rows of columns. Moving down coridor, she finds it comes to a T, and she turns north, following it as it then turns east and ends at a massive dead end wall after a short distance.
Positive wandering monster check. 1 green slime. I succeed surprise check. Slime wins initiative and hits first round. I hit first round with torch, 8 damage split between us. Slime misses second round. I hit second round and kill slime. Spend turn searching room and find illusory wall. 3 negative wandering monster checks to leave. Negative x-in-6 checks to notice or trigger trap in first passage.
Looking around the dead end, Ula suddenly notices a splash of neon green slime drop to the floor. She jumps aside just as a large green slime drops from the ceiling immediately above where she had been standing. Caught off guard, the slime is able to move first and glom onto her arm. She brings the torch down, screaming as it burns the slime from her arm and also chars her own flesh. The slime flails out at her but misses, and she is able to drive the torch into it, burning the rest to a sizzling pile of ooze.
Taking a moment to properly check the room after this, she finds her hands can pass through the dead end wall. When she pokes her head through and sees eight fire beetles, she knows it is time to leave and retreats out of the dungeon by the most direct path she can, heading out one of the secret doors on the north side of the snakes cave and back to the entrance. On the way, she pauses to take the sacks of coins the snakes had been guarding.
OSE healing rules take 2 days to recover to full health. Sell existing armor, shield, and weapon, at half price and buy new gear with gold from the sale and from the dungeon.
Back in the camp outside the dungeon, Ula takes two days to rest, allowing her Burns to stabilize. With more money in hand now, she sells her leather armor, shield, and hand Axe, upgrading to plate mail and a pole Arm to better face the dangers she has found in the dungeon. Feeling fully recovered, she heads back in, and this time walks up the north passage out of the entrance.
Appendix A table results are trap door with stairs after 60 ft. Then an unlocked door on the left after 60 ft. with a passage on the other side. Then a room (Room 8) after 60 ft. north, a 30x50 ft. rectangular empty room with no exits. Negative wandering monster checks.
Heading north, Ula first notices a trap door, but she has no interest in delving deeper without preparing herself better first. She then finds an unlocked door to the west, but when she sees it is only another passage, she chooses to continue the current passage north. There, she finds an empty room, and turns round after finding nothing in her search of the room.
Negative wandering monster checks. Appendix A results are a 60 ft. corridor ending in a stuck door (Room 9 on other side). Two failed x-in-6 checks to unstick door. Wandering monster checks after each. Second is positive. 10 wolves.
Returning to the door she had passed by earlier, Ula heads down it, and soon finds another door at the end of the passage. It is stuck, and she tries her hardest to pry it open with her crowbar, but fails, the sounds of her grunting and metal grating against metal echoing down the passage. A moment later, she looks back to see the faint outline of wolves stalking down the passage toward her.
Negative surprise checks. REaction roll is neutral, but wolves will never be truly friendly. Failed x-in-6 check to open door. Tied initiative. Simultaneous resolution in combat. 2 wolves can fit side by side in 10 ft. passage. 1 hits, deals 1 damage. I light torch, trigger morale check for wolves. They succeed (4 vs. ML of 8). 1 wolf hits for 6 damage and kills Ula.
While the wolves aren't immediately attacking, she can tell they are coming for her, and there's no way out back down the passage. She tries frantically to open the stuck door again, but is unable to budge it. When she turns back to check, she sees the wolves are now charging toward her, two side by side in the lead ahead of at least 8 others. She moves quickly to light a torch, trying to scare them off, but one is able to bite at her arm while she does this. Momentarily paused by the flames, they aren't scared off, and a moment later the other wolf pounces, knocking Ula to the ground and ripping at her throat. It will be quite the mess the next adventurer finds when they come this way.