Building Bhakashal – Session Report - Learning to Play

A few months ago, I received an unusual request, rather than running an ongoing game for a group, they wanted me to teach their kids how to run a game. We had a few phone conversations where I explained that they could just get the books, watch a few “actual plays” online, and off you go. The parent indicated that it would be easier with this particular group of kids just to teach them how to play.

I decided on a 6 session “course”, four days of actual play with pregenerated characters, and then two days of “behind the curtain” discussion on how to build and run a campaign.

I rolled up pregens for the players so they wouldn’t be coming into a first-time game with extensive backstory characters that they would be too invested in to lose. We had a discussion about character death, so everyone was on the same page. I explained that there were several modes of play, social interaction, travel, exploration and combat, and that they could switch between them as they liked. They didn’t need to use “accents’ or talk “in character” all the time, but there would be times when they had to be in character.

I ran them through a “one shot” adventure I have used many times.

They were given a task by a Bhakashal warlock, a magic sword had been stolen from him by another warlock, and he knew where the miscreant had fled, to a small island a few days away by sail. Rather than risk dishonor, he approached the three PCs and asked them to go find the guy and bring him back with the sword. The PCs were given a berth on a ship heading out past the island, they were dropped off there and had 6 days before the ship returned in the other direction to pick them up.

The party was three PCs, a thief , a warlock and fighter, the warlock had three henchmen as well.

The Warlock was described as “a short bald man with a “V” tattoo on his arm and a ring with a ruby in a pair of claws”

They spent 4 days on the ocean, so got to experience the rolling for weather and random encounters setting the rhythm for the trip. They did some socialization with the crew, joining in on a dice game, losing several rounds then winning one.

It never ceases to amaze me how much players love “games within games”. After losing some of their coin to the crew they were popular, LOL. They used the popularity to ask if anyone on the ship had been to the island. I rolled for that live. One of the crew members came up positive, so I came up with two things that he knew about the island to share with the party. The first was that the waters around the island were frequently filled with Sahuagin.

That was fun as I had the sailor describe how they approach the ship and crawl up the sides at night to toss sailors overboard and drown them then eat them. I also shared that ships in waters known to have the sea-devils will sail with lanterns hanging over the side near the water, as the Sahuagin detest light, being deep sea creatures.

The second was that the sailor had landed on the island to find fresh water when sailing by last year and barely escaped a herd of axebeaks that charged out of the forest. This is why social interaction (governed by encounter reaction rolls with modifiers) is so important, it is a key to unlocking information about the environment.

They had an encounter on day 2, it was a passing merchant ship, this gave me the opportunity to let them know that many encounters will be like this, only leading to combat or any sort of involved interaction if the party wants to engage. For example, if the party had fought a sea creature and the ship was damaged and floating listlessly, a passing merchant ship would be a godsend. But in this case they just passed by each other.

There was also an interesting role playing encounter later that day. The player had noted that the deity her character worshipped was not one that she liked. So I told her, ‘it’s your PC, you can change who you worship if you like’). They learned that the PC is theirs to play as they like, any aspect of their personality, beliefs, anything, can be changed. Sometimes there will be consequences (e.g., if the player was a priest and wanted to switch gods) but in most cases it’s up to them. The PC is directed by the player.

They had another encounter on day 3 at night, it was cloudy and dark and they sailed into a “Sargasso” field when passing between some mid-ocean islands, the green mass sucked at the ship and slowed it to a third of it’s speed. They were trying to hack through the weeds with blades lashed to long poles when the Garudin (aaracockra) bandits hit from the skies. They had a lair on one of the small islands in the cluster, and they used the sargasso patch to attack passing ships.

This was their first experience of combat. They saw the surprise roll, fortunately they were not surprised, a keen-eyed sailor spotted them before they arrived. That meant that the ship board combatants had the opportunity to attack with missile fire or spell. Fortunately this was early enough in the evening that everyone was awake. One of the PCs was praying with the priest who was travelling as a passenger on the ship, the warlock and fighter were discussing how to explore the island.

They were learning things about combat at every turn, the diving Garudin were vulnerable until they reached the party, as they were effectively charging so took a 2 point AC penalty. They learned that approaching enemies are vulnerable to missile fire and spell until they arrive.

The thief and fighter and a few of the sailors shot crossbows/bows (only 3 of the 20 sailors had their crossbows in reach when it happened), and they learned that wounded aerial foes can be taken down if their HP goes below half, and they took out a few of the bandits. Two sailors were grabbed and flown into the air to be dropped in the ocean, so the party warlock cast a spell that improved the accuracy of the missile fire from the fighter’s bow and she shot both of the bandits, doing enough damage to cause them to drop their sailors. One hit the deck and broke his leg, the other dropped into the ocean but was retrieved before he drowned.

The bandits then rolled morale, so the party learned that you don’t have to destroy all of your foes, just enough of them to give them a bloody nose and have them flee. The bandits were driven off, and the party was now a big favorite of the crew as they had saved a few of them directly and drove off the bandits. I let them know that this would contribute positively to any future interactions with the crew or the captain.

The next day was without encounter, and they arrived at the island. The only thing they knew about the island was the axebeaks were seen in the southeast end. They considered the topography (the island had a peak in the middle, and was ringed by a dense forest, they couldn’t tell if there was anything beyond the forest) and were trying to decide where to land.

Something neat happened, the quietest member of the group, who plays the party fighter, suggested that they land on the north side where the peak would block off visibility from anything on the other side, it was also away from the known location of the axe-beaks.

I smiled, we had a tactician at the table, and they were playing a fighter.

Sweet.

The decided to skirt the bottom of the peak and go around it to the other side. They scanned the peak as they went, looking for caves or movement, judging that the warlock they were after might have set up camp in a cave.

I let them know it was very slow going, these were wild forests, and a remote island. However, they did discover  a few animal runs as they travelled, and wondered if it was the axebeaks who made them.

When the skirted the mountain they made a surprising discovery, the interior of the island was grasslands, with extremely tall grasses filling it almost completely, it appeared the island was ringed with forest but the interior was all grassy. The grass came up to their necks.

They also saw caves on the side of the peak, about 6 of them, and milling around outside the caves on the landing was kobolds and axebeaks. From where they were they couldn’t see details, so the Warlock sent up her familiar, a small lizard, to investigate.

I was impressed, many groups I have run would have started to attack the kobolds on sight, or would have threatened them, or something else aggressive. They waited to see. The familiar got in close enough to see that the axebeaks had riding gear on them, and the kobolds had hunting gear.

Then the kobolds noticed them in the grasses.

I rolled an encounter reaction roll for this. The island is in the middle of the ocean, but ships occasionally pass by, many don’t stop but every once in a while one does hoping to snare fresh game or fresh water, as the island is large enough for both. So the kobolds are not completely unfamiliar with people showing up on the remote island. Once or twice a year sailors will show up, and the kobolds have traded with them on occasion, and had a few skirmishes.

I rolled their reaction and it was mildly positive, they outnumbered the party 5:1, and had the advantage of familiarity with the terrain, so they were confident and had positive modifiers. They called out to the party in Togmu (frog-folk, the only language other than their own that they knew), fortunately one of the party spoke Togmu, and they learned the importance of little details like this on your character sheet that seem like fluff.

They ask the party why they were there.

They discuss what to do, maybe the kobolds are in league with the guy they are to get, maybe they aren’t, they explicitly talk about the fact that the island could have other monsters that the kobolds like or dislike. They decide to risk it as the kobolds didn’t immediately attack, and they say they are here to find a wizard and they describe him.

They talked for about 10 minutes or so in character, these are theatre kids so they did like hamming it up, standing up and showing how they were standing or how they were gesturing while their characters talked to the kobolds, I could see they liked the back and forth.

The kobolds invited them to break bread and share a meal.

I’ve seen many group refuse this sort of offer from NPCs before, “They will poison us”, “it’s a waste of time”, but they eagerly agreed and in short order were sitting and eating fish and fruit around the fire with their shaman.

The conversation was fun, they asked a lot of questions because they wanted to learn about the island, so I had the shaman ask them a lot of questions about the outside world, and about their professions, the ship they came on, etc.

They ate it up.

They learned that the warlock had indeed arrived on the island about 6 weeks ago, he met the kobolds but just warned them off and threatened them to not interfere with his work, then disappeared to the West part of the island where there was a young green dragon that lived in it’s thick forest. They avoided that end of the island because of the dragon, but they saw the warlock again 2 weeks ago when he passed by their caves and headed to the far eastern end of the island.

Two hill giants dwelled there, they occasionally attacked a lone kobold or wild axebeak, but otherwise didn’t bother the kobolds as they were numerous enough to be a challenge. The kobolds hated the giants, but left them alone as they deterred outsiders by throwing rocks at passing ships that got too close.

So now they had to decide what to do. The kobolds were neutral, they wouldn’t go to the west end of the island as they feared the dragon, but they would be willing to help the party if they decided to go to the hill giants, as they wouldn’t mind seeing them dead.

The party decided to head to the west end of the island and see what the warlock was trying to find or doing, then to head to the east end if nothing came up.

They waited for the afternoon heat to let off and headed out. They entered the forest and began to look for evidence of the warlock’s activities. There is an entrance to a small dungeon on the west end of the island, the kobolds haven’t encountered it since the dragon deterred them. There used to be an adult green dragon and two young dragons here, the adult and one of the younger ones were slain by the giants after the adult was wounded by a rock slide on the peak, so the kobolds hadn’t gone in this area at all.

The party had odds of finding the entrance per hour of searching, 1 in 6 odds each hour. There were also 1 in 8 odds each hour of a random encounter in the woods. They decided to spread out a bit but not too far, so they could hear each other shout and see each other from a distance. They spent 6 hours searching and finally a 1 came up on the encounter die. I rolled an encounter with a killinth plant (a Bhakashal monster).

There was no surprise, but the PC lost initiative, and the plant managed to wrap a tendril around her leg and start dragging her forward, she was dragged 5 feet. She shouted out and took out her sword, trying to hack off the tendril.

We shifted into combat mode.

Her fellow PCs reacted when she shouted, the warlock cast a spell that enhanced the range of her missiles, and threw daggers at the thing. She missed, and nicked the PC (the thief) on the shoulder.

Friendly fire rules noted!

The fighter charged in and spent her action moving.

The thief swung with her sword while being dragged that first 5 feet and missed!

Round over

The creature dragged her 5 more feet.

The warlock threw two more daggers, one hit, one missed. The hit did minor damage to the creature.

The thief swung and missed again!

The fighter arrived off a charge, +2 to hit and if they were successful, double damage from the charge!

They missed too.

Now, you could see the thief player was realizing things were going poorly, she was now right in front of this thing, was going to get her in close and do something horrible, and she had been unable to do any damage to it.

New round

The magic-user started to cast a spell that shot a quarrel of acid, the fighter took another swing, and the thief dropped her sword and took out two daggers instead.

Initiative was rolled.

The plant belched out spores at the thief, she was standing right in front of the flower. She thought she was dead.

“You get a saving throw, roll a d20”

She rolled a 14, her saving throw for breath weapon was exactly that.

“The plant spewed spores but you ducked down beneath the spray just in time.”

There was a lot of loud screaming after that.

Then she drove the two daggers into the vine, one missed, but the other was a natural 20, and a critical, so she severed the vine completely.

That had her dancing around the table.

Then the fighter swung her sword, a hit! The flower had 10 hp left, she did 10 hp damage on the nose (2-12 for a bastard sword against large foes with a +2 damage bonus), slicing the thing completely in two at the stalk.

They screamed at that too. I had a chat with the parents later and apologized, “D&D gets loud”.

We stopped right after that.

I pointed out that one of the reasons why I roll everything in the open, including monster hit points, is that I want them to know that their failures and successes are because of their actions, not me making it happen to make it dramatic. They also discussed how the thief had thought that she was going to die in that encounter, her heart was pounding as it unfolded.

That lead to a discussion of why I prefer to have a deadly game, even if that means losing a beloved character.

That’s two sessions in, they have a sense of how travel works, they have had a few combat encounters so the understand friendly fire, missile weapons against charging foes, charging, initiative, surprise, basic combat mechanics and the speed and lethality of combat (each combat was only 2-3 rounds long), they have learned to interact with NPCs to gather information and form alliances, that all environments hold the possibility of dangerous, neutral or helpful encounters, and that planning ahead is very advantageous.

We have two more sessions of play before we tie up and discuss things. I’m hoping they find the dungeon so they can experience a short dungeon crawl (this one is a maze). The warlock they seek is dead in the hill giant’s cave right now, they don’t know that, we’ll see if they manage to find him!

I’ll report back after the next session.