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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fissionessence" data-source="post: 4802390" data-attributes="member: 63357">And so what's Rinian's reaction going to be? Will he try to attack the halfling? What will the halfling's reaction be to Rinian? It will probably help to have a personality for the halfling. Thank you, Instant Game. Humble. That doesn't really sound like a halfling to me, but okay. So Rinian runs in and yells that this his treasure. Does the halfling concede the loot immediately? Unlikely. Yes. Nice! And I was about to ad hoc a skill challenge, too. After that exchange, the scene seems to have ended, with not much more than a slightly entertaining exchange, and a new NPC to add to our list. I could have rolled more stuff to find out more about the halfling and see if he wanted to stick around and whatnot, but I'm ready to keep this game moving! Plus, it'll be nice having another dungeon NPC on my list for any event rolls that might come up.Now I'll propose my same scene again . . . for the third time. "After teleporting to a mysterious dungeon, defeating a skeleton and goblin, conversing with the skeleton's goblin spirit, and persuading a halfling adventurer not to steal his treasure, Rinian finally claims his rewards." Oh, also, we'll lower the chaos to the default Chaos: []. Now we roll. 2. That's another interruption. Now I'm getting sick of this, but let's see what we got. Move away from a thread. That means I need a thread list. Let me scroll up and grab it.Threads1) Become a full-fledged adventurer2) 'Infiltrate psychic abilities'. That is, discover the source of the warlord's power over the sea creatures.3) Learn what happened to the island; what caused that blizzard, and where'd everyone go?4) Discover the distracted captain's secret.Should I add any threads? I think we have one or two more to work with . . . 5) Discover the meaning of this dungeon. (That is, why was Rinian sent here?)Hm. That might be it. I'm expanding the meaning of the second one to encompass pretty much anything having to do with the sea warlord. And we roll: 5. And then an action and subject: Intolerance [of] environment. That means the meaning of this dungeon (or at least how it applies to Rinian) should become more obscured through some 'intolerance of environment.' I'll take that to mean that some kind of mist or something begins to pervade the place. This hazard is intolerable (or at least uncomfortable) to Rinian, and so it makes him wonder why Chersin would have sent him to such an intolerable/uncomfortable place. Actually, Goodman Games's GM Gems has some random tables in it. I think I'll use their Empty Rooms Worth Describing table to see if Rinian notices some aspect of the room that he hadn't noticed, but that is awkward to him. I've never rolled on this table before, but I'm assuming most of these rooms won't carry positive aspects. If this result doesn't make sense, I'll throw it out. The grinning countenance of a devilish skull beams down from the frescoed ceiling. That's actually everything I was asking for. It gives a great reason for Rinian to not have noticed it before, is very unsettling, and even goes so far as to match the tone of the undead Rinian already defeated. Rinian will check the ceiling to the larger room to see if it's frescoed as well. Is it? 50/50. Yes. As I predicted before, the dungeon is really starting to describe itself. Plus Rinian's passive Perception of 9 really goes a long way toward justifying how details like this can just 'appear' <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> (I only partially did that on purpose during character creation <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />)So that 'scene' was just Rinian noticing the ceiling. These scenes are seeming less and less cinematic, but nonetheless, it's what Mythic says I'm supposed to do, so I'm doing it. I guess that was unsettling (or intolerable) enough that the chaos should go up to Chaos: +. Now I'll present the same scene again. 5. That means the scene happens, but it slightly altered. Finally my treasure! According to Mythic, I need to come up with the slight alternation myself, and the first thing I think of is that the halfling stole some of the treasure. Jerk. I guess Rinian saw the treasure when the halfling was handling it, and something Rinian noticed specifically is not in the chest; that's how Rinian can tell the halfling took it.Anyway, to figure out what is in the chest, I'm going to use a random treasure generator. I happen to have one such treasure generator from a website called Dark Tales and Good Times. At a glance, it looks like it has most (if not all) of the 4E magic item sources in its database, plus a third party product (which I happen to own). You can also program in your own items if you want the generator to potentially grab them. Oh yeah, here's the website: <a href="http://www.freewebs.com/ummtg/" target="_blank">Dark Tales and Good Times | 50 Foot Divine Suplex</a>So I'm going to generate an entire level's worth of parcels, suited for a 'party' of one level 1 character. I was able to 'turn off' items that would be of no use to me, such as big axes and plate armor. Anyway, here's my level of treasure:Level 1 Treasure Parcels1: [Level 3] Safewing Amulet +1 (Player`s Handbook p. 251)2: (1) 100 gp turquoise, 80 gp3: 120 gp4: (1) 100 gp garnet, 20 gp5: 1 [Level 1]Antivenom (Adventurer`s Vault p.25), 40 gp6: 400 spSo there we go. Now I'll roll a d6 to see which of these parcels Rinian found in the chest. 1. That's the amulet! That means that another parcel must have also been in the chest, and the halfling must have run off with it or part of it, so I'll roll again. 5. It seems that while the halfling poured all that 40 gp back into the chest, he managed to slip the antivenom into his sleeve. Rinian plans on getting that back. So, Rinian will don the +1 safewing amulet, increasing his non-AC defenses by 1 each, and giving him some leeway from falls. Before we end the scene completely, let's have Rinian peer down the unexplored hall. This brings us back to the AD&D Random Dungeon Generation appendix. Okay, so I accidentally just spent too much time mapping ahead, but I think it'll come in handy over the next few minutes. I even drew it up in Photoshop, so I'll try to attach the map when I post. The Random Dungeon Generation tables actually made some wandering monsters for me, kind of doing Mythic's job for it . . . I guess that's okay. For now, Rinian is looking down a 20' wide passage that backs up on itself 45 degrees 30' ahead. I'd say our previous scene lowered the chaos back to Chaos: [], so we're ready to propose our next scene. "Rinian ventures into the passage, seeking the meaning of his visit here, and the halfling who stole his treasure." Now I'll roll. 1 means the scene is slightly altered. I think that's easily covered by the wandering monsters I've already generated. Rinian gets to the end of the 30' passage, then turns to follow the 45 degree turn. After another 30', the passage turns 90 degrees to the left. There, ahead, is a wandering monster. The passage turns 45 degrees to the right at that point, though Rinian can't see around the corner to know that's there's yet another wandering monster 30' down from that turn. Since these monsters can easily see each other, I'll assume they're in some way related. My first guess is that the 'monster' Rinian can see is the halfling, who has now stopped his escape when the other monster came from the direction where the halfling was headed. I'll ask the fate table if this is the case. It seems likely. Exceptional yes. Nice! I must be a pretty good guesser. I'll roll an Insight check for Rinian to see if he can tell the trouble the halfling's in. 20. Not too shabby, considering he gets only a +1 <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> In order to get a better grasp of this situation, I think I'm going to find out what this other wandering monster is. First I'll find out the encounter difficulty, using the same table I had before, but this time I'll build an encounter for two players, assuming the halfling will be fighting alongside Rinian. Tough (level +1). That's 125xp per character. I'm trying to decide if 'wandering monster' means invariably a singular monster, or if it can be a full encounter. I think I'll go with 'AD&D assumed you fought a single monster at a time' and '4E assumes more monsters in a fight' and convert the term 'wandering monster' to 'wandering monster(s)' or 'wandering encounter'. Thus, I'll come up with a list of possible encounter builds. 1) Two level 2 monsters. 2) One level 2 elite monster. 3) Two level 1 monsters and two level 1 minions. 4) Eight level 2 minions. 5) One level 2 monster and four level 2 minions. 6) Ten level 1 minions. Man! Things really get complicated when we add more xp into the mix. I'm sure there are some options I missed there, but the point isn't to create an exhaustive list of encounter builds. I'll roll a d6 to pick one. 4 - Eight level 2 minions. Interesting. Also, it's worth noting that I seriously doubt the halfling slinger is going to be worth the difficulty he's adding to this encounter. I thought about only making him add 50xp or so to the mix, and maybe I should have, but for whatever reason I decided not to. Let's see if I regret it!Okay, well this time I'm using the DDI Compendium to find my monsters. I have eight hits on possible level 2 minions; none of them is a goblin, which would have been the perfect fit here. I'm going to ignore the grand melee gladiator (this is not a coliseum), the kobold cleaver (I already decided to exclude kobolds earlier in the adventure), and the halfling stout (because . . . whu?). That leaves me with 5, and I'll roll to randomly determine . . . kruthik hatchling. I wonder where those came from.Good, he's accepted Rinian's agreement. Now let's roll initiative. Normally I roll groups' initiatives together, but eight is a lot, so I'll roll them in pairs. Rinian: 12. Halfling: 23. Kruthik pair 1: 21. Kruthik pair 2: 15. Kruthik pair 3: 23 (after the halfling). Kruthik pair 4: 6. We're in a 10' wide hallway here, so there's not a lot of room for maneuverability. Wider than the 10'x10' room, but still.The halfling pulls out his sling and uses his recharge power stone rain against three of the closest kruthik young. 7, 23, Critical miss. Not great, but one of the kruthiks drops with an insectoid screech. The halfling runs back past Rinian, and the bugs begin their swarm. The first kruthik runs up past Rinian, circling around so all the kruthik can attack in the cramped space. Rinian doesn't have his crescent blades conjured, so he tries an unarmed punch for his opportunity attack. 5 misses, and the kruthik misses its claw attack with an 8. The next kruthik on 23 is dead, but the pair on 21 go next. This one also tries to circle around, but gets taken out by Rinian's punch with a 22. The next one just scampers up and claws at Rinian with a 9. Then are the kruthiks at 15. One runs up and claws with 24, dealing 4 damage, putting Rinian at 18 (he wasn't healed up all the way because of awkward healing surge math). The next kruthik uses its climb speed to attack from the wall so that it doesn't have to circle to provoke an opportunity attack. Its claw is an 18, dealing another 4 damage. (14.) Now it's Rinian's turn. I realize I forgot to roll for his racial power. He gets . . . fey step. I swear I'm not making this up, folks.Rinian fey steps a few squares away, only slightly around the corner from the swarm of kruthik young who swarmed up around him. However, the angle isn't such that he incurs any cover penalties for the blazing starfall he calls down on the kruthik. Let's start rolling attacks. 7, 8, 7, 17. Of the four kruthiks in the area, only one goes down. However, if any of the kruthik try to leave the area, they'll die. This essentially creates a minion barrier in the hallway, and Rinian can just use the power round after round. Something doesn't seem right, but hey I'm not complaining. I guess it's expected these kruthiks should have ranged options or something. Well, Rinian's done and it's the last pair of kruthik's turn.Are the kruthiks (as a group) dumb enough to trigger this damage on themselves? Unlikely. Yes. The last two kruthiks move from their positions way back at the end of the hallway, then charge to attack Rinian and/or the halfling. However, their charges are interrupted when they die from blazing starfall's fire damage. The halfling goes next, shifting back from one kruthik that was next to him, then firing his sling. His stone rain recharged, but he only has one target in this portion of the corridor. A 24 hits, taking out that kruthik young, then the remaining two young take their turns, both trying to move out of the starfall area, and burning up.Rinian takes a deep breath, and gains 125xp! (Also the halfling gains 125xp . . . in case he's keeping track.) Rinian's up to 250xp.I don't know whether or not the halfling knows a way out of this dungeon, so for now I may as well have him stick with Rinian. When there's a fork, I'll assume the halfling knows one direction is the way out. Since Rinian is looking for something and doesn't know what it is, he'll go the other way, hoping to delve deeper. For now . . . there's no fork, so the halfling's coming with us. At the end of the last hall turn is a door. We'll figure it's open, since the kruthik would have come through it. (Note that this stuff I pre-rolled.) Beyond the door is an empty 10'x10' room, with another open door on the opposite wall. Here's where I start rolling again. There's another room here. It's 30'x40'. Upon entering, there are three other exits: two on the right wall and one on the same wall as the entrance. There is also a secret door in this room, but I can't figure out some of what this Random Dungeon Generation table is saying. Anyway, Rinian only has a passive Perception of 9, and isn't exactly in 'dungeon delving' mode, so he's not going to look for or find this secret door. Another thing I can't figure out from these dungeon generation tables is whether the three exits are supposed to be door or just passages (the tables for finding out stuff about what's beyond them is different). I'll just assume they're all doors. Also, these three doors are essentially 'forks' in the road. I'll assume one of these doors leads to the exit of the dungeon and whatever exists above ground. And so, the halfling leaves through that door, ready to escape this dangerous dungeon. See ya, halfling!Let me roll to see which door was the exit. It's one of the doors on the right, closer to the wall that we just came in from. Thus, Rinian will explore the door on the same wall as the one he just came in. Actually, it looks like it's not supposed to be a door, just an open passage (I think I figured these tables out, at least partially). Woah. This passage opens up to a 60' wide river with a bridge connecting Rinian's side of the passage to the other. Since this direction is actually doubling back from where we just came from, it looks like that portion of the dungeon is somehow suspended above this river, which runs below. Knowing this, let's check the other passage in the room. This passage goes 45 degrees to the left for 30', before opening into a 4000 square foot empty circular chamber. Well that's silly, having a big 'ol useless chamber. I may as well roll on that GM Gems Empty Rooms Worth Describing table again. This room contains a greenhouse covered with tinted glass. Dim light reveals rows of withered stalks in beds of cracked earth. Interesting. Hopefully that'll mean something later. Oh yeah, I should also roll for exits to this room. There are two. One is on the left side of the circle (from the entrance), and the other on the right. I feel like I should be asking more fate questions right now. I've hardly asked any this session . . . with the other tables and random devices at my disposal, I think I'm favoring them for their specificity . . . and I really don't know what questions I should be asking. However, the fate mechanics are the core driving mechanic of Mythic, and apart from my own intervention, they're what'll be motivating the story forward. The random dungeon generator has helped, but I don't think it's really doing the whole job.The problem is I really just don't know what questions to ask. At least, not without starting a long series of boring yes/no questions. I guess this random greenhouse is worth formulating something. So how about: Does Rinian recognize these dead plants as having anything to do with the moon or stars? 50/50. Exceptional yes. Well there you go. Plot. Kind of. As I said, fate questions driving the story . . . except that I still don't know how these plants have to do with the cosmic cycle, and I have no table to ask about it. That means I have to come up with options on my own and ask or decide about their validity. I really don't like doing that (which is probably why I don't ask more fate questions). Let's see if the Things table from Instant Game can give me any advice. War. Mmmm. Tastes like vague. Well, wars mean history, so I'll have Rinian make a History check. A good result will be an excuse to make something up. 7 is not a good History check. Nature? 21. That's much better.These plants only grow under moon- or starlight. Rinian can sense that the dim light emanating from the greenhouse is indeed starlight, though there are no stars in this underground dungeon cavern. It must be magically generated starlight, though signs of a battle (war) indicate that these magical generators were damaged in the scuffle.Okay; now's a good time (as any) to recap everything we know (or that I can remember without re-reading everything) about this dungeon.Dungeon facts1) Goblins dwell here, and they work for the psychic sea warlord.2) At least one undead was here; there could be more. 3) At least part of this dungeon has a demonic aspect to it (the fresco with the grinning devilish skull). That could have been the only room with that theme, and the fresco could actually have been the reason that skeleton reanimated. (Thus, we may not encounter any more undead or demon frescoes. On the other hand, the goblin I killed in that room could be reanimated the same way. Maybe I should add him to my NPC list!)4) This complex is connected to underground caves, which includes an underground river and an unknown number of kruthik.5) At some point, great care was taken to grow plants that thrive in moon- and starlight. However, a battle destroyed the magical devices sustaining these plants, and they were never repaired or cared for again.Okay. Now. Does Rinian want to go into the natural cave structure, or investigate the passageways leading from the circular greenhouse chamber? Well, he knows there are kruthik infesting the caverns, and this greenhouse has to do with what he's probably looking for, so the passages from the chamber seem to be the best bet. That's where we'll pick up next time. I'll even propose Rinian's next passageway venture as a scene, to give the Mythic system more of a chance <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> * * * * *Thanks for reading! If you are reading at least some of this and finding it interesting, please let me know. I like having a log of all this, and will probably continue writing it even if no one reads it (assuming I keep having the time). However, there's definitely more of an incentive if I know at least a few people find this entertaining or useful to some degree.~ fissionessence</blockquote>

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