Thanks to many of your advice I've been running a Forbidden Caverns of Archaia with 5 Torches Deep. We've done 3 sessions so far, next one Wed night. Someone asked for a report on Archaia as there aren't many, so here goes:
Session 1
The first session was about half a session 0 with character creation as we all got familiar with the rules. Five Torches Deep is basically a 5E hack that's XP for treasure, limited # of classes and much more deadly. It also has a focus on resource management. So far I like it - if it were up to me we'd be running Into the Odd or B/X but my players like 5E so this was the compromise.
THE PCS:
Ironjack - Human Thief
Corym Yinro - genderfluid Elf Mage
Ronk - Human Warrior
"Not Stacey" - halfling cleric
The main area in FCOA is a valley/canyon with dungeons, tombs etc. at different levels of elevations. The PCs started in the Southwest...things get progressivly harder as you move North and East. They'd been hired by Retep to retrieve artifacts, and had a bunch of potential dungeons to choose from. They chose Dungeon 1, "The Ruined Arch of the Skull".
Entering a ruined archway (area 1) they found small humanoid footprints but proceeded anyway. In room 7 they found empty chests that appeared to be broken open, but missed finding a gold broach worth 300 gp. They needed to pass a DC 14 INT check to find it. I think it might have helped if the room description (and thus I) mentioned flagstones up front.
In room 5 they found and avoided a pit trap. Pushing through a door into 6 they encountered a group of kobolds looking for supplies, and they started their first combat. PCs in FTD have very few HP (you roll 3d6 in order for stats, can switch 1 or 2, and your HP is between 4 and 6 plus or minus CON mod) and there were only 4 PCs, no hirelings. Monsters have half the HP of 5E but are otherwise the same, so at 1st level combat is still challenging. Especially since there is disadvantage for ranged weapons if you have torch rather than lantern light.
They were able to trick one kobold into falling into the pit trap, but had to fight the rest, with Ronk the warrior blocking the door into the room and taking most of the damage.. The mage lost their one spell (arcane arrow) - if you fail a spell check you lose it, which I like better than one use spells. Ronk lost consciousness and was revived by "Not Stacey", the halfling cleric who refused to tell anyone his true name. Not Stacey demanded a "trinket" for his healing, and was given a pebble that the mage levitated with a cantrip.
SESSION 2
Because S1 was a partly a session 0, the combat had to be paused until the following week. Eventually the Kobold's failed a morale role and the PC's took one - Nug prisoner. They bound and then tortured the kobold trying to get information out of him, like where treasure might be, but he truly didn't know. He only warned them about the danger that lay in The Redoubt of the Red Tails, the kobold HQ in the region, that he knew of a "moaning closet" in this dungeon and that there was an old serpent man who could make potions in The Tomb of the Serpent King (which I seeded into this campaign along with Barrowmaze).
Not Stacey the cleric decided to take Nug's name so he is now named Nug, and the kobold has no name. Nug the cleric cast a healing spell as a ritual while the rest of the party rested. Casting a spell as a ritual means you don't risk losing it, but the party was subject to random encounter rolls (which they passed). One thing I found confusing with FCOA is that there seems to be a wandering monster chart for the valley but it's not clear if it applies to the dungeons.
Rested, the players found room 4 sealed by an iron portcullis. Beyond it they saw a silver goblet surrounded by bones. The PCs were able to lift the portcullis by either a DC 30 strength check (which no character could have made without a natural 20) or by a combined strength 40, which they did and which I liked (otherwise, do you just keep rolling until you succeed?). They sent the kobold to pick up the goblet, only to see the bones form 8 skeletons. The PCs closed the portcullis and left the poor kobold to die at the skeletons hands. The skeletons had bows so they needed to avoid that area.
They followed up on the kobold's rumor of the "moaning closet" (9). First they checked an adjacent closet (10) and found an Archain star chart worth 250 gp. Their first treasure in 2 sessions. The door had a 25% change of collapsing the ceiling but they lucked out.
They next tried room 3 where Ironjack the thief discovered and disabled a crossbow trap.
The PCs pushed their luck and opened the closet where moans were coming from and - surprise - it contained 6 zombies. They were able to defeat them, but again, not an easy combat for 4 1st level FTD PCs. Most of it was because of Not Stacey/Nug lighting his oilskin on fire and throwing at one of the zombies, given the fact they were in a closet it made it hard for the other zombies to avoid. This meant the fire spread and only 1 or 2 could attack at a time.
Despite Ronk losing an ear (if you get to zero HP you roll on an injury table), no one was killed and the party was able to retrieve a backpack full of 321 gp from the flaming zombie corpses. The coins didn't melt or burn the PCs because Nug urinated on them.
The party returned to town with 571 gp/xp to split between them. One nice feature of FTD - if you want to return to down without going through every wilderness hex you can make a return roll. If it's a dangerous journey you can lose HP by the amount you roll under the DC, or "load" (items/encumbrance) if it's an "arduous" journey. They chose an arduous route and only lost 10 feet of chain.
(TO BE CONTINUED BECAUSE OF CHARACTER LIMIT)
Session 1
The first session was about half a session 0 with character creation as we all got familiar with the rules. Five Torches Deep is basically a 5E hack that's XP for treasure, limited # of classes and much more deadly. It also has a focus on resource management. So far I like it - if it were up to me we'd be running Into the Odd or B/X but my players like 5E so this was the compromise.
THE PCS:
Ironjack - Human Thief
Corym Yinro - genderfluid Elf Mage
Ronk - Human Warrior
"Not Stacey" - halfling cleric
The main area in FCOA is a valley/canyon with dungeons, tombs etc. at different levels of elevations. The PCs started in the Southwest...things get progressivly harder as you move North and East. They'd been hired by Retep to retrieve artifacts, and had a bunch of potential dungeons to choose from. They chose Dungeon 1, "The Ruined Arch of the Skull".
Entering a ruined archway (area 1) they found small humanoid footprints but proceeded anyway. In room 7 they found empty chests that appeared to be broken open, but missed finding a gold broach worth 300 gp. They needed to pass a DC 14 INT check to find it. I think it might have helped if the room description (and thus I) mentioned flagstones up front.
In room 5 they found and avoided a pit trap. Pushing through a door into 6 they encountered a group of kobolds looking for supplies, and they started their first combat. PCs in FTD have very few HP (you roll 3d6 in order for stats, can switch 1 or 2, and your HP is between 4 and 6 plus or minus CON mod) and there were only 4 PCs, no hirelings. Monsters have half the HP of 5E but are otherwise the same, so at 1st level combat is still challenging. Especially since there is disadvantage for ranged weapons if you have torch rather than lantern light.
They were able to trick one kobold into falling into the pit trap, but had to fight the rest, with Ronk the warrior blocking the door into the room and taking most of the damage.. The mage lost their one spell (arcane arrow) - if you fail a spell check you lose it, which I like better than one use spells. Ronk lost consciousness and was revived by "Not Stacey", the halfling cleric who refused to tell anyone his true name. Not Stacey demanded a "trinket" for his healing, and was given a pebble that the mage levitated with a cantrip.
SESSION 2
Because S1 was a partly a session 0, the combat had to be paused until the following week. Eventually the Kobold's failed a morale role and the PC's took one - Nug prisoner. They bound and then tortured the kobold trying to get information out of him, like where treasure might be, but he truly didn't know. He only warned them about the danger that lay in The Redoubt of the Red Tails, the kobold HQ in the region, that he knew of a "moaning closet" in this dungeon and that there was an old serpent man who could make potions in The Tomb of the Serpent King (which I seeded into this campaign along with Barrowmaze).
Not Stacey the cleric decided to take Nug's name so he is now named Nug, and the kobold has no name. Nug the cleric cast a healing spell as a ritual while the rest of the party rested. Casting a spell as a ritual means you don't risk losing it, but the party was subject to random encounter rolls (which they passed). One thing I found confusing with FCOA is that there seems to be a wandering monster chart for the valley but it's not clear if it applies to the dungeons.
Rested, the players found room 4 sealed by an iron portcullis. Beyond it they saw a silver goblet surrounded by bones. The PCs were able to lift the portcullis by either a DC 30 strength check (which no character could have made without a natural 20) or by a combined strength 40, which they did and which I liked (otherwise, do you just keep rolling until you succeed?). They sent the kobold to pick up the goblet, only to see the bones form 8 skeletons. The PCs closed the portcullis and left the poor kobold to die at the skeletons hands. The skeletons had bows so they needed to avoid that area.
They followed up on the kobold's rumor of the "moaning closet" (9). First they checked an adjacent closet (10) and found an Archain star chart worth 250 gp. Their first treasure in 2 sessions. The door had a 25% change of collapsing the ceiling but they lucked out.
They next tried room 3 where Ironjack the thief discovered and disabled a crossbow trap.
The PCs pushed their luck and opened the closet where moans were coming from and - surprise - it contained 6 zombies. They were able to defeat them, but again, not an easy combat for 4 1st level FTD PCs. Most of it was because of Not Stacey/Nug lighting his oilskin on fire and throwing at one of the zombies, given the fact they were in a closet it made it hard for the other zombies to avoid. This meant the fire spread and only 1 or 2 could attack at a time.
Despite Ronk losing an ear (if you get to zero HP you roll on an injury table), no one was killed and the party was able to retrieve a backpack full of 321 gp from the flaming zombie corpses. The coins didn't melt or burn the PCs because Nug urinated on them.
The party returned to town with 571 gp/xp to split between them. One nice feature of FTD - if you want to return to down without going through every wilderness hex you can make a return roll. If it's a dangerous journey you can lose HP by the amount you roll under the DC, or "load" (items/encumbrance) if it's an "arduous" journey. They chose an arduous route and only lost 10 feet of chain.
(TO BE CONTINUED BECAUSE OF CHARACTER LIMIT)
