OSR Incandescent Grottoes: Play Report

[kapars]

Have been playing and running 5e for a while. I just ran my first session of OSE Advanced using Incandescent Grottoes for my kids. They were a party of a Druid, Paladin, Cleric and Thief. 2 PCs and 2 hirelings.

Some Anecdotes:

1. This adventure layout is incredible, it’s like my brain goes on autopilot and I just describe the room.
2. My 10 year old start mapping spontaneously. I didn’t even raise this as necessary we were just going theater of the mind and she started out of necessity I guess.
3. Player comment: “Are you sure this is real D&D? We aren’t even rolling dice.”
4. They’ve rolled 11 and 12 on their reaction rolls so far. No blood spilled yet.
5. A Druid’s ability to know what plants and beasts are is actually useful. Mind blown.
6. Post session player feedback: “It feels more like a fairytale. I cannot believe we have to make our own maps. It was very tense, it felt like our lives mattered more.”

They are in Room 4 and that’s where the attention span stopped. A lot of time was spent in Room 1.

Summary: I’m stunned by how easy this was to run - I hope that I got it right - the dungeon tracker helps. The kids stayed engaged throughout, even the six year old stuck around. They’re looking forward to more “fairytale” D&D.

 

[kenada]

I’ve been running this for my group with my homebrew system (a bit of commentary here, here, and here). It’s a good adventure (along with a lot of Necrotic Gnome’s). I really like how it’s just a bit weird. Has anyone eaten anything yet? Dingo (the thief in my group) wanted to find new mushrooms to eat last session.

 

[kapars]

I’ve been running this for my group with my homebrew system (a bit of commentary here, here, and here). It’s a good adventure (along with a lot of Necrotic Gnome’s). I really like how it’s just a bit weird. Has anyone eaten anything yet? Dingo (the thief in my group) wanted to find new mushrooms to eat last session.

Nothing consumed just yet but they did ask what the mushrooms in 3 did and I said something like “ah reports are just all over the place” which given the effects isn’t untrue.

 

[Musing Mage]

Summary: I’m stunned by how easy this was to run - I hope that I got it right - the dungeon tracker helps. The kids stayed engaged throughout, even the six year old stuck around. They’re looking forward to more “fairytale” D&D.

If everyone was buzzing and had fun (including you) then I'm pretty sure you got it right.

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

Did a one shot of this a few weeks back with a drop in group , enjoyed it.

• agree on layout of adventure, organization of map
• so much great stuff in the dungeon to interact with - crystals, levers, switches, mushrooms, gases, etc. Lots for players to interact with.

OSE rules wise - even though I carefully read rules I missed the nuances of the order of combat. The rules seem really simple at first read and I thought they were weird at first. Post game I recognized more how each stage interacted with the next. The rules don’t really break down the how and why order is set up this way.
1-2 players seemed more into hobo type antics, which I didn’t want and is poor fit for OSE style.
We did about first 10 rooms , I’d like to return to it for sure .

 

[Arilyn]

There is so much content packed into a few pages. And yes, so easy to run with interesting encounters. Great fun!

 

[kapars]

Small update from 2 brief sessions.

1. Mosses were traded with Kobolds
2. First combat, they survived

Questions that arose:
1. Can a ten foot pole be used as a weapon? With reach?
2. Do rations have salt? Enough to hurt an overgrown snail?
3. Does anybody give combat XP immediately or only at the end of the adventure as recommended? It seems to make more sense and is easier to track for treasure XP

 

[Cruentus]

Small update from 2 brief sessions.

1. Mosses were traded with Kobolds
2. First combat, they survived

Questions that arose:
1. Can a ten foot pole be used as a weapon? With reach?
2. Do rations have salt? Enough to hurt an overgrown snail?
3. Does anybody give combat XP immediately or only at the end of the adventure as recommended? It seems to make more sense and is easier to track for treasure XP

I’ll give my opinions on your questions (for what its worth, every table is different, others would rule differently, etc.):

1. No. I mean, it’s a 10’ pole designed to poke things, open doors from a distance, tap on floors/walls. It wasn’t necessarily designed of materials that would withstand combat. In extremism, I might rule that it could be used ‘improvised’, with a hit penalty, doing d2. But it likely wouldn’t survive the combat.

2. Rations, to my understanding, are dried meats and fruits, pre-salted and wrapped to help them last longer - think Slim Jims and dried fruit. I don’t think they would come with salt that would not already be incorporated into the ration. Although it is totally OSE to buy a pouch of salt “just in case we encounter some giant slugs.” LoL

3. I give XPs for combat and treasure and exploration and RP when the party returns to a ‘safe place’. That is defined as a town/city/village, and not a camp site or dungeon, or wilderness area. Once they make it back to a safe place, they can rest, gain xp, and gain levels.

Now, those being said, I’ll often be flexible with #1, for dramatic and thematic effect. I want my players to think outside the box and be creative in using their tools. My initial ruling is based partly on the pole being “equipment” and not a weapon. Likewise, I wouldn’t let a “hammer and piton” hammer be used as an effective weapon in combat.

#’s 2 and 3 would have less flexibility the way I run my games.

I really like the Dolmenwood rules, and have incorporated elements into my own OSE games, and find the adventures he puts out to provide me a lot of interesting elements. I have yet to actually run any of them, but have followed some YT playthroughs that used them.

*edit: just realized that you're running this for your kids. In that case, rule of cool. When I started playing with my son, it was all very loose and not really based on any rules, but what worked best for his 'theatre of the mind'. Usually the rules got in the way of that .

Now that he is a few years older, and having played 5e a bit, he prefers the OSE game, and actually likes the structures and things like rations and such mattering.