I DMed a session of
X1 “The Isle of Dread” for my D&D group* last Saturday, it
went well. I haven't felt so good about DMing in literally years,
mind you, there hasn't been a ton of gaming for me over the last few
years, but this one made me feel like I got my mojo back. I ran it
with AD&D character classes and a mixture of B/X and AD&D
rules, just like back in the day. I gave us a non-standard start, in
part because I am tired of starting new campaigns, so I started them
at 3rd level, and partly because I have been thinking
about launching a campaign from a shipwreck for a couple of weeks
now. They left the port of Specularum after receiving the map and
journal entry from the player handout, with a mission to find the
lost temple. I played a couple of ill omens pretty hard, to give them
a sense of foreboding; first, just before they departed, the temple
of the sea god at the port was destroyed by an earthquake, then,
their first night at sea, a comet appeared in the sky, growing larger
over the days of their voyage until, finally, their ship was caught
in a storm and tossed about until it struck a reef and shattered.
There was one survivor from the crew, the ship's navigator (who also
happened to be a 1st level Magic-User), the 2 PCs (a
Ranger and a Druid, both 3rd level) and 11 of the motley
band of lackeys that they'd hired for the expedition (a mixture of
classes with a couple of Dwarves thrown in for good measure).
Waking up on the
beach the morning after the shipwreck, the PCs took charge and
organized the survivors. First the scavenged what they could from the
wreckage and bodies that had washed ashore, then they divided into
two groups, one to set up camp on the beach and act as a burial
detail for the bodies, the other to recon in force to find a source
of fresh water. Group A, on the beach, unfortunately had a random
encounter with a Cave Bear and over half of them died. Group B,
moving into the interior of the island, cutting a path through the
jungle, had some tough going, but they found a stream, filled their
available water vessels, and made it back to the beach uneventfully.
Realizing that
staying on the beach was a non-starter, the 2 PCs decided to lead the
rest of the survivors overland to explore the island. The jungle had
plenty of food they could eat, and was easily identified by the
Druid, so they stuck to the stream until it disappeared going into
the mountains. Assuming they might be able to get a better look
around from the mountains, they moved on up, over and, ultimately,
through the chain, with just a single encounter with some Rock
Baboons. Coming out on the other side they encountered some
Neanderthals, and ended it peacefully. Unbeknownst to the party, they
were moving deeper into Neanderthal territory- towards their camp.
The same Neanderthals returned to trade, but after a couple of minor
trades, attempted to trade a Cave Bear pelt for a Two-Handed Sword,
and the owner (one of the NPCs, Engeramus) didn't want to. The
Neanderthals were a bit insistent, so Calliphana, another NPC,
attacked and killed the insistent would be trader. Initiative got
rolled, and the party went first, Calliphana and Hinrich attacked in
melee, Irenaeus cast Sleep, dropping all of them, at Berengaria's
(the Ranger PC) command. Urrialdo, the Dwarf thief NPC, cut two of
their throats before she could be stopped. This left the party with a
dilemma, and after some heated debate between all of the party
members, the party decided it would be best to kill the remaining 2
Neanderthals, leave their trade goods behind, and flee though the
night as far as they could to try and leave Neanderthal territory.
This went as well as
it could I guess, the party strayed from their original course a bit
to the east in the darkness, then ran into (almost literally) a
Titanothere. It woke up and blindly attacked the nearest party
member, Grenville, an NPC Fighter, and nearly killed him. The Druid,
whose name I don't recall at the moment, quickly cast animal
friendship and saved the day, then cast some Cure Light Wounds spells
to save Grenville. The Titanothere wandered off and the party decided
they could probably safely bed down where it had been. They were
right, and slept until awakened by a mid-morning rain. They spotted
the lake in the distance and followed the lake shore south for a
while. I am pretty sure we broke there, as it was getting late, and
Mona had to fix a map error, which took a while.
*and by group I mean
my wife and friend Mike.
