gizmomathboy wrote:

The kids have been pestering me to "play D&D" for some time. Initially I had them create some characters using Moldvay Basic. They ran one adventure into the haunted keep from the booklet. They made good use of floating disk to get over a trap and later carry a dead cleric back to town.

That lapsed for a long time, then shortly before Gary Con they wanted to play again. I had them make new characters using Labyrinth Lord. Then a few days later I said screw and had them make new characters using ASSH.

They are:

Basha the Bard, Luna the Monk, Lester the Firelord, and Hamlet the Mountebank.

Start of their campaign

The got off the boat at Stonebrook headed to the Adventurer's Guild Hall and Bar and Grill. They checked the rumors board and decided to check out what was making folks disappear in the Lug. They decided to take on a priest and fighter to augment their ranks. Each getting an equal share in the treasure found.

They head off into the marsh lands of the Lug.

The first day goes by uneventfully. On the 2nd day they cross paths with a giant ant and easily dispatch it. Day three has a harpy swooping in to try and beguile them but not before they fill her full of bolts. At the end of the 4th day they come across a large metal box with strange wheels. They manage to open what looks to be a small door. The putrid smell of rotting meat wafts out. Bash looks inside and see 2 dead bodies. She pokes at it with her sword. It doesn't move. They decide to close the door and spend the night on the top of thing. Just as they are deciding this 2 zombie shamble into the clearing. Luna is able to get a headshot on one and kill it. In the ensuing melee Lester gets bitten. The NPC priest informs them that a zombie bite will turn one into a zombie. I happen to forget that monk's can cure disease once per week. So poor Lester is assumed lost. The boy takes it well as they trudge further into the Lug. Day 5 has them coming across the path of a small, black bear. Luna gets mauled a bit but they kill it and Hamlet proceeds to cut it up and cook it. It is at this point while I double check on the monk's healing powers that I rediscover they can also cure disease once per week. So Lester the Firelord gets to rejoin the party.

This is my Lost Ranger Patrol sketch and the kids are doing a bit better at it than my online game that ran through it. They are guys that have been playing longer than my kids have been alive, probably twice as long. For some reason their party didn't have any cleric types so they couldn't turn them nor have any chance of curing their disease. Who would have thought how useful a 1st level monk would be against zombies. Of course, there are a lot more zombies in their future if they keeping going the way they are going.

Sounds like a lot of fun!  Two of my daughters play in my ASSH group.  They are much older but it's pretty cool to have handed off the torch.  I'd be interested in hearing more!
 

Fantastic stuff. BigPerm's been playing with his boys, too. Great to see them start young on being old school!

Handy Haversack wrote:

Fantastic stuff. BigPerm's been playing with his boys, too. Great to see them start young on being old school!

Well, the choice was this, 1e, Basic, or Traveller. :-)

I haven't run Traveller (yet). It would be interesting to see what they would do with a death in character creation. :-)

Day 6 (I'll have to fix a date in Hyperborea's calendar...)
They encounter a rust monster. Three of the party lose their swords to it, but the bard keeps her armor intact. Lester takes his dagger and skins it. He loses his dagger to the not quite as potent rusting powers.

Later that day the run into 6 zombies and escape without getting bitten. Two of the zombies are dressed similar to the 2 in the metal box with wheels. They find 2 belts with 10 small pouches on them. They find small metal cylinders in them. Lester decides to smash one with a rock and get his hand damaged as a result. Lester and Hamlet take the very nice but strange boots from them as well. It turns out they fit perfectly.

An ant is dispatched that night.

Day 7
The marshland dries out a bit and a small, low hill rises up out of the muck. They carefully walk up it and up to the mouth of cave they can see from the flats.

The mouth of the cave drops about 9 feet into the cave mouth proper. They decide to tackle it in the morning after camping for an uneventful night atop the hill.

Day 8
Lester, Hamlet, and the NPC Priest go into the cave. The run into 9 zombies and the priest is able to turn them all. As a result they are quickly re-killed. They find a host of weapons they don't recognize:
* Boom Spear (M1 Garand with attached bayonet)
* Boom Stick (Springfield Sniper rifle)
* Boom Log ( BAR)
* Boom Twig (Thompson)
* Boom Rock (Frag grenade)
* Many belts and bandoliers of extra ammo

Lester shoots a boom spear in the cave and it ricochets back into him for a bit of damage. He then decides to fire it towards the mouth of the cave where Luna is unlucky enough to catch that ricochet.

Not content with this mayhem Lester takes a boom grenade, has the other 2 go down the cave before he pulls the pin and runs like heck away from it. They are fortunate to only be temporarily deafened by the explosion, escaping contact with the fragments.

Day 9
The split up the weapon stash and head back.

Day 10
A tiger attacks them but they make short work of it with their normal weapons. They decide to take it's hide and claws and try its meat for tastiness.

Later that afternoon they spy a giant elk. Even they are amazed at it's 10 foot height and sheer size. They take their new found weapons for a safer test drive. The get 3 almost devastating hits on the beast. Right as they fire they hear similar  noises ahead of them, past the elk.

They cautiously move up  towards the sound. Five figures rise up out of the wasteland with weapons very similar to what they killed the elk with. They decide to sling their weapons and raise their hands.

Shortly after this 5 more men rise up on their right flank. They are all dressed like the zombies in the metal box and the cave. One of them starts speaking in several different languages at them. Finally they understand a word and start a small discussion. 

It is decided that the elk meat is split (which shouldn't be a problem with a 3,000 lb ungulate). Lester gets to keep the head and antlers, and the other guys get to keep the hide. An additional day is spent dealing with the carcass.

on Day 13 another rust monster is stumbled upon. This time Basha loses her armor, but worse Lester shoots into the melee that Bash is part of, and misses. Basha is sent to -1 HP, but the priest is quick to give her a cure light wounds. Lester stabs it with his boom spear, losing the bayonet in the process. The rest of the party recklessly shoots into melee with their shiny weapons. Thy somehow miss Basha and rip the rust monster to shreds. This time Lester doesn't take a trophy.

On Day 17 they get back to Stonebrook. It was also past bedtime so it was a good place to stop.

So, I guess I better go tally up XP and such.