Building Bhakahsal - Session Report

I run a “dads” game, and we had a session last night. I decided to write it up in detail as it exemplifies a Bhakashal session, it highlights the travel rules, it demonstrates how game play works in a shared world setting with multiple player groups, and it shows how the factional politics of the setting can drive adventures. 

This one had it all.

They were fresh off a victory in the Bhakashal arena, where they defeated Mitrax Toma the Bold, a Lord of House Omander, his henchmen and several of his warlock allies. It was a nail biter, but a combination of smart tactics and good rolls saved the day, though the PCs did lose 4 henchmen in the fight. Mitrax, two of his warlock allies and two of his henchmen were slain. One enemy warlock and one henchman were spared by the PCs and left, dishonored. 

Bhakshal arena combat rules state that a defeated but spared combatant cannot issue an honor challenge against the victor unless they commit another offensive act, so for now the losers leave with their tails between their legs, hoping for revenge another day. These rules also state that combatants killed in the arena, no matter their status, cannot be brought back to life. 

You die in the arena, you are dead for good, magic and status notwithstanding.

Since the PCs fought as a group they did not get Mitrax’s title, but they did get his property and magic items, a small windfall that included an estate in the marshlands where he bred mounts for his personal henchmen and loyal soldiers.

All my groups play in the same game world, some even in the same Noble House. My dad’s group is part of House Quannar, where my Thursday group is now nobility. The patron for my dad’s group is Umani the Onyx, leader of a different faction in House Quannar. Umani wants to curry favor with the head of my Thursday group’s faction, Quin Faal the Iolite. Faal was the patron for my Thursday group PCs for 4 years, as they are now nobility he is no longer their patron, though he is the leader of their faction in the House.

The Thursday group PCs are interested in getting a foothold in the territories of other Noble Houses, and it ends up that one of the “spoils” of the defeat of MItrax, his estate, is in House Omander territory. The property became theirs when they defeated Mitrax, and all but a handful of his men left the property and its collection of sterling mounts. Umani asked the PCs to go and secure the estate before bandits or monsters from the marshlands moved in. He also thought it would be good for them to leave the city for a few days, as they were now enemies of House Omander having defeated a prominent House Omander Lord. 

Umani wants to offer the property as a base of operations to the thieves guild inside of House Omander territory, as a favor to Quin Faal, elevating the status of their faction in the House. The PCs discussed it and decided it was a good idea, so off they went. It was a 5 day journey through the marshlands to get to their destination, part on the road, part on a barge on the Sklar river. 

One of the aspects of Bhakashal that I’m most proud of is the travel rules, they make excursions like this awesome. Bhakashal travel rules structure random encounters while traveling using regular daily rolls with frequency based on time of day, weighted encounter tables based on terrain type, and encounter reaction rules that govern how encountered creatures react.

Choice of route impacts the frequency and kind of encounters you can have, travelling the road is different than travelling through swamps or on the river, both in terms of the speed of travel and the types of encounter possible. Importantly, NOT EVERY ENCOUNTER IS A FIGHT. Random encounters are ENCOUNTERS, which can be anything from a passing group of farmers off to market to an owlbear. 

The tables are weighted to reflect this. And they work well.

The procedure is as follows:

1. Roll based on time of day (1 in 12 - morning, 1 in 10 - afternoon, 1 in 8 - evening, 1 in 6 - night).
2. If an encounter comes up, roll for distance between parties
3. Roll for surprise
4. If surprise does not come up, both parties see each other, roll encounter reaction
5. If necessary, roll initiative

Their first encounter was on the road about 2 days out from the city, at night (between sundown and midnight). So that means there were 6 rolls with no encounter beforehand. The way the odds are set means that encounters are not constant. They can go multiple days without encounters or have multiple encounters per day. 

The important part is that encounters are NOT PREDICTABLE, Bhakashal does not assume that a game day is “wasted” when there are no fights on that day.

Distance between parties was 150’, and surprise was indicated on the monster, in this case a spirit naga, so the party had a chance to react first. They decided to move on, and added another 150 feet of distance (the distance they can travel mounted in a surprise round) before the naga noticed them. They were mounted and far enough off so it couldn’t catch them, charm with its gaze or spell cast unless they approached, and they decided against this. 

Even when you roll a monster encounter, subsequent rolls can make it such that there is no fight. Still, the referee’s job is to make even an avoided encounter engaging, so I described it like this:

“A distance away in the swamp beyond the road you see a large snake, perhaps 15 feet long,illuminated in the moonlight. It is scaled black with crimson bands, halfway standing like a cobra, and you see, much to your horror, that it has a HUMAN HEAD which is turned away from you. You spur on your mounts, deciding to avoid this evil creature, and as you ride off the grotesque beast suddenly senses your presence, its head turning slowly in your direction, ruby red eyes smoldering in the darkness, a foul hiss emanating from its maw.”

They avoided the beast, but they were suitably freaked out. Something they see but don’t actually fight can leave more of an impression, as it plays with their imagination. They all found the encounter to be disturbing, even though it was a “miss”.

On they traveled, and when they reached the river there was a village where you could charter a barge to travel downriver. Mounts are extremely common in Bhakashal, and barges big enough to carry them are common (one of the reasons why barges are more common than boats on the Bhakashal rivers). They commissioned a barge and headed downriver in the early afternoon.

They had another encounter on day 4, this time on the river. In this case the party was surprised by a giant gar, it struck their barge and two of the togmu poling the barge fell into the river. Togmu (frog-people) can swim, but the gar bit one in half before it could get back on the barge. 

In AD&D there are “niche” magic items that have special powers that don’t come up that often, one is a Trident of Fish Command. The party Mercenary (fighter) had one and had yet to use it, so he was chuffed when he finally had the chance. Using the trident he drove off the gar and kept the party from having to deal with a creature who would have been a formidable opponent in the water.

Well played.

They eventually reached their destination and set off on their gess (giant lizards) towards the estate. A 10 mile journey turned up no encounters, so they arrived and surveilled the place using the warlock’s familiar (a blood hawk). After satisfying themselves that the estate hadn’t been taken over by bandits or overrun by swamp monsters, they moved in.

Two House Omander soldiers had stayed behind when the estate changed owners, and they were expecting the party to show up eventually. Much to the party’s surprise, there was no hostility or violence, the soldiers understood that they had won Mitrax’s property in an arena duel, if anything they were impressed that they managed to slay him, and one of them guided them around the estate, showing them the mounts in the outdoor pens, and touring them through the house. The party was pleasantly surprised to discover that Mitrax had an extensive personal library of books on House Omander history and military history, as well as an extremely well stocked map room with detailed maps of House Omander territories as well as territories of other Houses that Mitrax was hoping to flip. These were extremely valuable finds.

They also discovered that Mitrax had a secret cellar meeting room, magically warded to prevent scrying, where he met with parties he did not want discovered. They were very excited about that. None of these things were magic items to use in combat, but all were extremely valuable in the factionalized setting that is Bhakashal.

While they were touring the facility with one of the soldiers, the other soldier stole one of the mounts and fled. They tried to track him down to no avail, and they aren’t sure what he will do, but they turned in for the night happy with their acquisition.

The next day they left and headed back to the river, travelling several miles downriver to find a village where they could commission another barge to return to the city.

They had one encounter on the river, but it was a doozy. One of the great things about the fact that I have always used random encounter rolls is that there are monsters that I’ve never used in game before. 

The Verme is one of those monsters, a 18+ HD giant fish! 

In this case there was no surprise, and the party saw this massive 80’ long beast moving through the water towards them!

The party Mercenary took out the Trident of Fish Command again, expending a charge to take control of the creature, but it made it’s save (an 18+HD creature saves easily) so it couldn’t be commanded, but it also couldn’t approach closer than 10’ to the weilder.  However, the barge was larger than that, and it could easily smash into the barge and send the PCs and bargemen into the water, where it could pick everyone else off.

In this case the party Seer (cleric) cast Speak with Monsters, and attempted to convince the creature to leave them alone, he told the Verme that they meant it no harm, and that they were poisonous to eat. 

There are no specific rules for this, so I decided on a modified encounter reaction roll, with a small extra bonus as the Seer worshipped the god Vekka, god of lakes and rivers. 

The roll was successful, and the Verme passed beneath them, all 80’ of it!

That took their breath away.

They continued home, their last encounter was during the afternoon on the road one day out from the city, with a group of rakasta hunters. They talked for a time, swapping some stories and sharing a meal, then passing on.

When they arrived back in the city they reported to Umani the Onyx, and made arrangements to send some House Quannar regulars to man the estate to protect it against intruders, and they discussed offering it as a base for the thieves guild in the marshlands as a gift to Quin Faal the Iolite and the PCs from my Thursday group.

End of session.

This one had factional politics, social role play, travel, random encounters and exploration. No actual fighting, but they had a grand time. 

People often assume that D&D is all about fighting, and that random encounters are just unpredictable violence. 

These people are missing out…