Old School Night at the Gold Star Anime

Gold Star Anime is a store in Edinboro that has gaming days, both roleplaying and card games. The owner, Jerry, invited me to come to his store to run a game of Swords & Wizardry for his customers. I happily agreed.

So last Thursday I drove up there and setup. Unfortunately there was no customers to be had that night. But Jerry's son, also Jerry, showed and we decided to run a game anyway. I got to introduce another player to D&D for the first time but it was the elder Jerry not his son.

Elder Jerry rolled up a Elven Cleric of Silvanus, probably the closest thing I had to a ranger in the Majestic Wilderlands. Younger Jerry rolled up a Halfing fighter. They both rolled well on Jeff Rient's level charge. Elder Jerry got enough XP to gain 4th level and younger Jerry enough to be 5th level! Coupled with the fact that halflings get 1/2 off of their armor meant he was able to get plate armor and a shield along with his gear and weapons.

The adventure was the dungeon from the Swords & Wizardry Quick Start. Like most of these one-offs it started with a request from the Baron of Darkfield for help. In this case several of his villagers were carried off by goblins. Due to other issues he had only two guards left and needed their help to go recuse them.

Our intrepid adventurers were guided to a ruined tower where the stairwell was found that the goblins went down. They carefully investigated the tower uncovering a giant spider that they attacked and killed. Elder Jerry elf took the opportunity to harvest some of the spider's poison to use with his heavy crossbow.

Down into the dungeon they went. They emerged into a large room with many pillars with a demonic looking idea at one end. After throughly investigating the room they went west. There they found a cross passage. Forward there was short westward passage ending at a door. Again carefully checking they heard voices from the south. Pulling their cover on their hooded lantern they noticed that the corridor to the south led to a room lit by a fire.

Slowly they crept down the hall. Peering around the corner they saw 8 goblins, cooking, gambling, and sleeping. Whispering between themselves they decided to attack. The elf attacked and missed with the heavy crossbow. The halfling, named Hunt, rushed and attacked. Using every ounce of his skill, the halfling warrior slaughtered the goblins. Getting five attacks per round he managed to kill every goblins in the room. Finally he was especially happy with the finding of 200 gp in loot.

To the west was a pair of double door. Again carefully checking they opened the door to the room beyond. It was empty with only some scattered debris. However their carefulness paid off when they noticed the two secret doors, one to the north, and the other to the east. They examined the east secret door and found a corridor going further east.

Before proceeding they decided to examine the north door. It opened up into a room where 5 goblins were in a conversation. Unfortunately the goblins were quicker and one of them cast a spell on Hunt the Halfling! But by sheer force of will Hunt's threw off the Charm spells and rushed in. Again using his skill to good effect he proceeded to slaughter the goblins almost single hand.

The room opened to a corridor going west and east. Faced with a multitude of direction they decided to let the dice decide their fate. The roll indicated that they should examine the westward door they found when they exited the first room. Again being careful they heard only the slow drip of water. Entering the room all they found was a broken helmet and a damp ceiling. Fortunately there were doors on the NE wall and the south wall.

They decided to check out the NE wall. After casting a spell the Elven Cleric determined there were no traps. Listening at the door only indicated silence. Opening the door slightly while in darkness resulting only in smelling a damp earth smell and that there was room beyond. When the lantern was unhood it revealed THREE GIANT ANTS!

The light was the catalyst for the ants to attack. The confidence of Hunt the Halfling was shattered when he took two grievous blows in succession that brought him below half his hitpoints. The two acted in concert to stand outside the door where only two of the ants could attack.

The resulting fight was a grueling. Both the Elf and the Halfling suffered wound after wound. Even after the Cleric healing spell the fight remained desperate. Finally an ant went down and the Elven Cleric noticed the original westward door they entered the room in was a lot smaller. So they retreated back through that door forcing the ants to attack only one at time. The Elven Cleric pulled out his crossbow and began shooting.

After downing the second ant and suffering more cuts and bites in the process they figured discretion was the better part of the valor and fled the dungeon. (Note it was the younger Jerry bedtime so the game had to be ended).

It was fun experience and a lot of fun to GM. Despite the two newness to the game the played very well. It was only dumb luck that the ant fight turned out way more difficult than it supposed to. That is the luck of the dice.

I am looking forward to going back up in April to game some more. This time I am going to design some flyers that Jerry can hand out. Hopefully that will drum up some more interest.