Our group has been meeting about biweekly for 8 years - we lagged a little in COVID, obviously, but a core group of 4 to 6 players and a welcome number of infrequent attenders. Our games generally have me as the DM and 4 players, so it works out nice. They don't often remember to buy henchmen or hirelings, so sometimes they are motivated to avoid combat A LOT, which some folks don't like. Roll/Role playing is the thing, I guess. But I can safely assert that about half the time there's no combat and it's all negotiation and stealth. Since the Arduin/Whitebox OD&D system we use is a little bit dangerous, they have avoided combat except when they have the advantage, and it mostly goes okay. Some of the players are used to 5e and have not really experienced getting your ass handed to you and so the first few sessions of the campaign the PCs were hilariously outmatched by a giant soul-sucking crab creature in the very first dungeon room. The fun was had in the running away!
Anyways, we had 6 players and I was running, and since the previous session ended in a hilarious Total Party Kill at the hands of a local wingless green-dragon, all the players started afresh and we moved the game from the locale of Smegburg to a Nameless Metropolis on a river in the middle of the continent. The PCs were almost all literally fresh off the turnip-boat. Since two players arrived late, everybody rolled up fresh Arduin characters in the "Ruins of Arduin" style. You can find the document here.
We had two Neanderthals - one a warrior and one a wizard (Matt gets a pass since he's getting married this weekend and he hasn't been in a game in a while). We also had an Amazon Forester and an Elf Wizard. When the two late players showed up they picked a Human Thief and a Human Cleric of (insert Time god from Arduin pantheon). We use Zach's OD&D reference sheets to add some spice to human characters with the "Swanson" charts (Which Zach Keeps HERE)
The first four spent all their money carousing on the charts and so sadly were somewhat materially unprepared - they didn't have a light source or anything! No poles, no ropes. Just the armor and weapons they brought to the town. Since they were new on the scene, they have no gang or guild affiliations, and no home-base, so they got a hot tip and ended up at the entrance to the dungeon.
To prepare, we always use this Oriental Adventures 1e yearly/monthly events chart. It helps us keep some continuity and some framing for the broader story of the campaign, which often impacts play. For example, the TPK resulted from a predator ravaging the countryside after the stymying of the rise of a nature god in the game before. This turned into a Kudzu Being, and its destruction caused all sorts of ecological upset including the dragon that killed the party taking residence in the area. Added to the regular incursions, plagues, fires, earthquakes, uprisings, and other Fun Events the chart makes, it's pretty evident that poor Aereth is hotly contested by Law and Chaos.
This time, the rolls gave us the seasonal event "Birth", but the monthly result also happened to be "Birth" on the next chart. This has not happened before, and by agreement it was decided that the Wizard the party has butted heads with in the past used the Shadow Nymphs he took from the Ancient Temple when the party first encountered him to produce an heir! Not one heir: Twins! The second twin for reasons we haven't discerned yet, was stolen away. Monstrous? Is it a secession issue? Anyway, you don't need two heirs, so one disappeared. The carousing chart we used signaled that the Elf Wizard was quested by his god when the Elf prayed under duress, so by fiat I decided that Lorelan Coralthion or whatever pressed upon him the importance of finding the Lost Heir!
Anyway, the "funny voices" improv chart provided me with "Pubescent Teen" so I did my best Morty Sanchez as the new Hobgoblin guard at the entrance to the local Adventurer's Guild Endorsed dungeon. They didn't have guild badges, or even a reservation, obviously. And not enough money for a decent bribe. Neither wizard had prepared Charm Person, so the thief stole the reservation book and entered them in on the next page, implying that they just had the start date and time for their reservation mixed up. A classic "Abe Frohman" moment.
More later I guess - I forgot what happened but fun was had
