Barbigazl: Part Four Notes

Barbigazl Part Four: DM’s Notes [by Peter A. Picture is of Slugur of Nikilburg.]

Is it obvious that I had a lot to do in this round of the game? In fact, it was the last night of play. Paul had already left town, so Thaddeus his Thief and Lotus the Cleric were packed off together, both given the rather flimsy excuse that they were disgusted at the turn of events Hurin’s orders had brought about. In fact, in game time and real time a similar outcry was evident. For the most part the clues that I’d dropped about the Gnome settlement being close by, and a bee being used as a spy were simply not enough reason for Hurin to want to actually kill a reasonable group of Gnomes found on what he saw as his turf. For the part and for the most part the Gnomes themselves were either an unknown quantity or above suspicion to the players – and I intended this pretty much. In basic D&D Gnomes aren’t usually a player race (although by the Master Rules Set there’s almost enough for any DM to put together to fudge a PC Class out of them), and for the most part again I assumed that to the guys Gnomes were just those Dwarf-like little dudes in the Monster descriptions, wandering around good-naturedly looking for treasure. But in the same descriptions read words to the effect of: “Gnomes love gems and have often been known to make bad decisions about them”. This was such a case, and I used their love of mechanics (they prefer crossbows) and hammers (again, a preferred weapon in their description) to flesh out a race that more often than not is pure Wandering Encounter fodder. The Gnomes of Azhfelton were along the lines of a Gnome Class I’d been working on, incorporating existing D&D stuff, some AD&D ideas, and some home-bashed ideas from the Dragonsfoot forums. Largely fighters with some ‘Tinkers’ thrown in and a couple of ‘Delvers’ (a cross between explorers and sages with illusionist powers) they put up a good fight. Morf was of course among them, so having Jamas play him allowed the two of us to practically test the character class. I think I might make one for myself one day!

The Bard was a similar invention, but less-defined. Jamas and I spent days sorting through spell lists and ability tables to come up with something that was distinct, yet faithful to the Moldvay Rules of basic D&D. As for me the jury’s still out, but Jamas entered into the night’s gaming with real heart, as they say in the US and A, and produced a cheesy plastic ukulele every time the eponymous Bard used one of his song spells. It really lightened the mood during what could be a fraught evening. [Yeah, no decent Bard kit in the early days, we cobbled ideas together from later Bards. Not entirely sure either, but since a D&D game I had been listening too really trashed Bards and I liked their jack-of-all-trades nature, I really wanted to play one. Inspired by The Last Hero, I did so! (Spells still need work though) - JE]

Oh, what an evening. Things didn’t run smoothly, with some strong protests from one player in particular who found the (ahem) trumped-up magic items he’d had suddenly weren’t the ‘get out of jail free’ card they once were. Facing more than one vampire (I think it was four) was unheard of, so being able to turn more than one at a time was seriously difficult, much moreso with pesky bats interrupting every attempt. Levels were lost, spells failed and, during the evening’s worst moment, the question of initiative got called, and the decision I’d made had to stand or the game would have been over then and there, I’m sure. Not pleasant. Players don’t like to ‘lose’, and neither do DMs. Poor old Gary Gygax probably never intended the game to be so confrontational, but hey – it definitely brought back old times.

Between the arguing and the combat sequences thing were still going slowly, so the rest of the module (which was still sort of unfinished) was raced through – here’s the King’s Chamber, oh listen – here’s the sad tale of Nim. Here’s some treasure – but it’s guarded by Thouls.

“I turn them”
“Nothing happens”
“What do you mean? My Cleric is eighth level”
“These aren’t undead”
“So what are they – another bloody monster you just made up?”
“No they’re Thouls – they’re in the Monster listings. Save versus Paralysis”
“Oh for God’s sake”

Et cetera
After that it was the same deal with the Shadows. They’re not undead, but they’re highly effective at slowing down a party, with a resistance to normal weapons and a top-scoring Morale. They’re also very good at slowing down a game, so by the time of the great reveal, when Nikilburg’s toughest Dwarves arrive spoiling for a territorial fight, we’d already gone into extra time in the real-world, and the game was over.

[Yes, the speed was definitely a hindrance to understanding what was going on. While D&D is really about the combat, there were possibly a few too many opponents to plow through while trying to get a grip on the plot... and I'm not sure I ever did. - JE]

[END]