Live or Die

First an update. Since the Bridonia campaign ended we have been experimenting with a new gaming system -- Lord of the Dice*. Joe, Mr. Lord of the Dice himself, created the rules-lite system to encourage more roleplaying and less reliance on rulebooks. I won't go into the details of the system other than to say that everything is based on rolling no more than two six-sided dice.

Ah, the dice...
When I prepared to start play The Fantasy Trip after many long years, I went into our Friendly Local Game Store (FLGS) and bought a bunch of D6s from the bargain barrel. They worked well enough and I didn't think a lot about how fair or random they were.

Once I got my big box of goodness, i.e. The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition, I had several sets of red (Melee) and blue (Wizard) dice that I used regularly in our sessions. I generally favor the blue dice over the red, but that is just a color choice.

Joe, as game master, used a set of finely made, aircraft-grade aluminum dice from Ultra Pro. He bragged as to their feel and balance. There is no discernible bias in them. When we started this new game I was prepared to use my newly acquire Munchkin Rainbow dice, but Joe stopped me and
handed out sets of two of these dice in various colors to us so we all would be rolling completely fair dice with no bias.

Soon after that Joe told us that a supplier of his had the same dice for sale at a ridiculously low price. Even better, the set of five die were the same price as a set of two. We placed our orders and last night Joe delivered. I got to say these dice are awesome. Of course now I need a dice tower or tray to roll these bad boys in. Otherwise they are going to ding up the table top.

* Lord of the Dice, copyright 2019 by Joe Starza.

THE SIEGE OF GROMLY CASTLE

In the first week of the siege the army of East Riding took control of the town and built barricades across from the castle moat. There were exchanges of arrows and each side lost men. Ralph, our loyal ogre threw rocks and one petard (that exploded harmlessly in the moat) and managed to break down the castle door. Our wizard harass the guards with gargoyle illusions flying into the battlements. We cut off the supply of fresh food. The castle's supply of fresh water came from a well in the lowest level.

 On the eighth day the catapult arrives and our catapult operator put it in action smashing the portcullis with rocks. Indorel cast a magic rainstorm over the castle to demonstrate our powers. John sends a gargoyle to attack the battlements. The guards are more prepared and kill it. Both sides exchange missile fire.

With Stilton, the thief, guiding us, Bantra, Meat DeShield, and Indorel go down the tunnel that night. Bantra is carrying a fear potion to pour into the well. At the door to the dungeon, we see through a peephole that there are three guards. Indorel casts an illusion of a large hornet that flies in and distracts the guards as the team opens the door and sneaks in. Bantra stumbles and makes noise. Indorel tries an occult strike. Bantra strikes one of the guards and tries to push him into the well. Failing that he goes to the well and pours in the potion. Indorel cast 3-hex fire. One of the guards splits Bantra in half with his sword. Stilton stabs one guard from behind and kills him. Then he runs and tackles the last one that is trying to escape. Indorel kills him. The team hides the bodies in the tunnel and leave.

On the ninth and final day of the siege Jack Swifthand shouts to the castle guard to surrender. Having drunk from the well, they are more fearful. John casts a cloud of smoke over the castle that spells out “Surrender”. Six more flee leaving only a few with the ogre. We storm into the castle and find the Ogre lord with his six remaining men in the keep. The ogre is far bigger than we imagined. He is a megahex in size with a strength of 60. He is twice as big as our friend Ralph. 

We enter the keep with four archers, four swordsman, and the rest of the party. The only obstacles in the room are the pillars. We face Mortimer with six warriors. One is heavily armored and seems to be in command. Another appears to be wild-eyed and crazy with two knives.

We enter the room and move cautiously forward. Our soldiers engage theirs, while our archers provide covering fire. Jack advances close enough to throw a grenade. It hits the ogre and does damage to him. It also hits a couple of his men. The concussion in the room knocks down our archers and Indorel. Petra shoots the ogre with a poisoned bolt. Archie does the same with a poisoned arrow. Meat and a new guy named Bill advance on the left. The ogre moves up and pushes over a column. Meat gets crushed. One of our soldiers gets trampled. John casts two gargoyle illusions. They fly around behind the ogre, land and attack from the rear. Finally, Indorel has moved into a position close enough to cast a creation spell. He creates a tunnel in the chest of the ogre. Blood and guts fly everywhere as he falls forward, dead. The remaining fighters are quickly killed with no quarter given. The battle is over.

The campaign is over. Maybe one day we will return to explore more of Bridonia, but for now we rest and celebrate. The Lady Archie will marry Lord Rumbold in 12 more days. The word will spread that Bridonia has a new queen in the castle. The crisis of government is finally at an end.