This is session 2 of my single PC game of The Dark Eye, featuring Wilhelm Alflock, an apprentice guildless magician. In the last session, Wilhelm had left Magister Burkhardt’s tower and traveled to the nearby village of Eldham to investigate the disappearance or kidnapping of several children and young adults.
After bringing up a haul of treasure worth more than 1,500 gold pieces in their last delve, the party decides that it may be time to consider seeking employment in a place more conducive to their well-being, at least while the money holds out.
In game terms, this means that it is time to create an overworld for Mythic and d30 Sandbox-driven adventures as the party seeks out non-megadungeon encounters for a while (although I’m hoping to still explore dungeons, possibly using the DMG Appendix A, the 1001 Pagodas of Doom, or Schweig’s Themed Dungeon Generator).
The time has come to return to the party stranded in the darkness beneath the City of Spires. When we left them last time, the party was taking a short rest in room 15 after having spent five hours in the sewer system beneath the City of Spires.
Exciting times here at AdventureMaterials! I’m starting a new campaign using a whole new rules system, Fifth Edition The Dark Eye. I recently posted session 0 outlining character creation for my young mage, Wilhelm Alflock, and have created a Companion Page to support the new campaign with Mythic thread/NPC lists, a character sheet, etc.
Setup: Remote Event – Decrease/The Public (people are disappearing in a village)
Chaos: 3 (no roll–first scene)
Has the government come for help? +0: no, it’s a mother
The woman in Magister Burkhardt’s study is frantic, but Wilhelm can’t blame her. She carries an errand of dark portent, and the villagers of Eldham have few options if the magister is unwilling or unable to aid them.
Is the Magister the kind who would help? +0: no, he has become a shut-in
“Please,” the magister says, patting the woman’s shoulder, “I know your errand is urgent, Hermine, but Adeptus Alflock was not here when you began, and he has traveled more than me of late, and so may have some insight into your situation. Wilhelm, this is Hermine Krueger of Eldham.”
Inspired by Alea Iactanda Est’s outstanding (but too short) solo adventure using the fifth edition Das Schwarze Auge rules, I picked up the English translation of The Dark Eye and decided to use it for my next solo game. To get started, I grabbed hardcover copies of The Dark Eye – Core Rules and the Aventuria Almanac, the base game and setting book for the game’s canonical rules.
A quick apology–this post is 3,200 words long (there are jump links below). Character creation in TDE is involved. After this PC, though, I’ll be mostly winging NPC skills and abilities using Mythic or estimated ranges.
First impressions: this is a lot of information, and most of it strange.
The setting book describes the Middenrealm, apparently the game’s most popular setting, as essentially the late medieval version of Germany that can be found in folk tales. The idea is intriguing–this isn’t the Tolkienesque or D&D pastiche of high fantasy, but rather a magical folk-tale realm of occasional monsters and demons and powerful churches. It reminds me a lot of Darklands, which I’m thinking may well have been inspired by the game.
Rules-wise, this is definitely the “crunchiest” RPG I’ve attempted to solo so far. The core mechanic is intuitive, if hard to explain–it basically boils down to a series of roll-under-attribute tests on a d20–but the amount of minutia involved in character creation can be quite high. It’s taken me the better part of a few hours to create the character below (I probably should have decided on a non-magic-user for my first PC).
After having a week-ish long break due to family in town, I have been looking forward to getting back to my solo campaigns. Since I have been short on space and time, I’m running another segment of my Pits and Perils Alandra adventure instead of my Ruins of the Undercity Labyrinth Lord campaign.
In session 3, the party scaled the walls of the bottled-up tower and learned that both Georgia and Nell had been corrupted and would not be coming back peaceably.
Alandra, Magician 1 (25/250 xp); HP 3/5; SP 1/2; Dexterity/Performer; Atk +0 (Daggers, +1 dmg); MV 50′; Purse: 2 gp 5 sp 2 cp; Inventory (9): bedroll, rations (7), dagger (2), flint, torch (3), waterskin, 10′ pole, 20′ rope; Spells: Hide, Link, Song
Ben, Archer; HP 4/7+1 (leather); Hunter; Atk +0 (Bow or Dagger); MV 40′; Inventory (7): bedroll, rations (1), bow (19), dagger, flint, torch (1), waterskin
Lanaior, Footman; HP 5/8+2 (chain); Carpenter; Atk +0 (Axe, +1 damage); MV 30′; Inventory (6): bedroll, rations (1), axe, flint, torch (2), waterskin
Tia, Archer; HP 3/7+1 (leather); Bowyer; Atk +0 (Bow or Dagger); MV 40′; Inventory (7): bedroll, rations (1), bow (20), dagger, flint, torch (1), waterskin (currently fled and hiding in forest)
In the last session of this campaign, Alandra the bard has been swept up in a search party for a kidnapped priestess, drawn by the young woman’s sudden disappearance and the town’s obvious love for what must have been a kind soul. After hours searching through the darkness, they reach the edge of a clearing in which stands Stonereach, a once-abandoned but now rebuilt tollhouse on the edge of a river.
Alandra, Magician 1 (0/250 xp); HP 5/5; SP 1/2; Dexterity/Performer; Atk +0 (Daggers); MV 50′; Purse: 2 gp 5 sp 2 cp; Inventory (9): bedroll, rations (7), dagger (2), flint, torch (3), waterskin, 10′ pole, 20′ rope; Spells: Hide, Link, Song
Nell, Cleric 1; HP 11/8+3 (chain + shield); FP 1/1; Constitution/Farmer; Atk +0 (Mace); MV 30′; Inventory (6): bedroll, rations (1), mace, flint, torch (2), waterskin
Tia, Archer; HP 8/7+1 (leather); Bowyer; Atk +0 (Bow or Dagger); MV 40′; Inventory (7): bedroll, rations (1), bow (20), dagger, flint, torch (1), waterskin
Ben, Archer; HP 8/7+1 (leather); Hunter; Atk +0 (Bow or Dagger); MV 40′; Inventory (7): bedroll, rations (1), bow (20), dagger, flint, torch (1), waterskin
Lanaior, Footman; HP 10/8+2 (chain); Carpenter; Atk +0 (Axe, +1 damage); MV 30′; Inventory (6): bedroll, rations (1), axe, flint, torch (2), waterskin
Quest NPCs: Georgia, missing priestess; kidnappers; undead in woods
After earning nearly 600 gold pieces during their last delve, the party has spent five days resting and exploring the City of Spires. Now, after sweltering beneath the sun for nearly a week, the call of darkness beckons them back.
Last time in my Pits and Perils campaign, Alandra had just signed up to help a search party try to recover a young captured priestess named Georgia.
Alandra, Magician 1 (0/250 xp); HP 5/5; SP 1/2; Dexterity/Performer; Atk +0 (Daggers); MV 50′; Purse: 2 gp 5 sp 2 cp; Inventory (8): bedroll, rations (7), dagger (2), flint, torch (1), waterskin, 10′ pole; Spells: Hide, Link, Song
Threads: Escape the control of the Great Houses; rescue priestess; attacks in the night
NPCs: Tarek, Sorcerer of the House of the Silver Star; Georgia, missing cleric; enemy in the woods
Reminder: You can find a list of all of my plays on the Campaign Logs page.
After spending the better part of a week recuperating above ground in the City of Spires, the party has prepared itself to return to the Undercity. Better equipped and fully healed, the party descends again with a goal of further mapping the top layer of this section of the complex.
Adventure Materials 