GUEST POST: OLD SCHOOL ESSENTIALS CAMPAIGN: SESSION 6 (MY DAUGHTER'S CAMPAIGN)

An example of how I took Z's notes and 
put them on a template that looks like an
antique journal entry.

We played our last D&D session (using the Old School Essentials rules which emulate the Moldvay Basic D&D rules I started with back in 1981) back on May 23rd, and once again, I asked the players if one of them would like to volunteer to write the recap of our session in the voice of their character. After much hemming-and-hawing, one of the players stepped up to volunteer. As a reward, she got to take her pick of a different flavored packets of dried Filipino pancit noodles (kind of like dried ramen packets). I did this because there are four families who are playing in this D&D and three of us are at least part, if not all, Filipino and we had decided to have a homemade Filipino potluck dinner after the game that night as a way to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. 

This friend, whom I will call "Z," is actually the youngest in the group (she's the younger sister of another player who is my daughter's age) but she takes really great notes. I'll be featuring a copy of her notes in one of my "Playing D&D with Tweens" posts in the future, as an example of how taking notes during a game session can be good practice for taking notes in school, which is a skill that all tweens will be developing as they progress through Middle School. My daughter's teacher this past year in 6th Grade focused a lot on teaching them to take good notes. 

As with the notes I posted for the last session, I will start out by providing a quick summary of the session from my standpoint, and then I'll post the recap that "Z" wrote in the voice of her character, Greta the Wanderer. 

I'd like to once again thank Professor Dungeon Master from the DungeonCraft YouTube channel for the idea to incorporate elements from the movie Apocalypse Now into the Caves of Chaos, specifically by changing the kobolds into sub-human cannibals and their leader, the former commander of the Keep, Colonel Kurtzman. I took the idea a bit further by also creating the character of Hopper, a mentally-unstable "Keep Investigator" who had previously been sent out to find Kurtzman and instead got caught up in the madness happening in the caves. Hopper was a big hit with the players, specifically because of the way I role-played him and his mannerisms, patterned directly off the Dennis Hopper reporter character from Apocalypse Now. 

Also, once again, I would like to ask folks to please leave their comments below so I can share them with "Z" to let her know how people enjoyed her recap. Thanks! 

A page from my DM's notebook to run
the session including some pictures of the 
Creepers I found online. 

SESSION 6 SHORT RECAP (by Martin)

The adventurers faced a dilemma, having been attacked by some unknown foes, whom they began to call "creepers," with many in their party wounded and unsure of their next course of action. The decision was made for them when more creepers attacked, specifically always going after the members of the party who carried their torches or lanterns. 

Holly Short, who was able to make out some of the creepers' odd clicking language realized that they hated the light and also were sending one of their comrades to warn any other creepers further in the caves. A short combat broke out, but after two of the creepers were killed, the remaining creepers dragged their comrades off into the darkness. Sounds of drums in the dark began to grow louder and the adventurers decided to follow the three creepers rather than face an unknown number of other creepers in front of them. They came across the creepers feasting on their fallen comrades, and after another combat, the adventurers killed the remaining three creepers and made plans to defend themselves. 

More creepers came, and Cora Netflix cast a light spell from a scroll, driving them away. A human named Hopper, whom the adventurers recognized as a former Investigator from the Keep, approached them and, talking in nonsense and riddles, led the adventurers to the creeper's chief, who turned out to be Colonel Kurtzman, the missing commander of the Keep's guards, who had killer the former chief of the creepers and set himself up as a kind of god. The adventurers fought him and Kurtzman was defeated in a violent clash. 

FULL RECAP (As told by "Z")

Redleaf Folkday, 20th.  Shadow Hunters!

We are walking through the Caves of Chaos. Everyone is severely injured except for me, Greta. Torches help lead the way. We can hear the clicking noises again, but this time with drums.

Six savages come at us saying,  “Kill the light. Warn the others.”

They attack Raddax and Alex who both have torches. Bartolo tries to get one with his hammer, he misses. Holly goes for one, also missing. I tried, but I also missed. Cora takes her arrow and shoots one in the neck killing it. Raddax dodges all spears coming for him. Bartolo uses his slingshot and does damage to one of the savages’ head, they just shake it like nothing happened. Holly misses her shot at one of the savages. I get my spear and hit the one that Bartolo did damage to and kill it. Alex attempts to hide in the shadows, she fails. Cora goes for another one but misses. Clara also goes for one, misses. The savages who threw their spears at Raddax don’t have any weapons anymore, just their bare hands. One goes for Raddax, choking him. Raddax has fallen. We hear the drums, louder and louder by the second. The three savages that are left go to the dead savages and grab them. They pull them into the shadows. The drums get louder and faster.

While all of this is happening Cora and Holly take healing potions. Cora and Holly both heal a little bit. Raddax is still unconscious. Bartolo gets Raddax on his shoulder and we move toward where the savages pulled the dead ones to.

It smells disgusting but we move through. We see the savages from earlier. We have caught their eye with the light. Bartolo goes up to one and hits him but not enough. Holly slices into one, but just not quite enough. I go for one, but I miss it. Alex attempts to hide in the shadows but fails again. Alex tries to kill the last one and kills him viciously. We have killed them all and have time to explore. We understand that this is a guard room. This is a cave that is made of all natural rock. We find jewelry and take it from the savages, we think that someone might buy it. The drum noises get louder. We have found some rotten planks that we think we could use to get across the pit trap. We move out of the room.

All the noises, clicks and drums, they all get louder. We build a barrier trying to protect ourselves. Cora decides to use her light spell. She puts it in the middle of the hallway and stuns them with the light.  All the savages run away. There is a man shaped figure still heading our way. Speaking gibberish, he comes toward us. He starts talking about the chief and how great he is. We agreed to go see the chief with him. As we are moving through, we see that natural rocks are replaced with worked rock. We move through and realize that this place is ancient. It has a horrible smell, and every once in a while, you can see glowing rocks. We assume they are moon rocks. We can smell spices, one like cinnamon. As we go in, we start to get the little light needed. We arrive at a staircase and there are savages guarding. There are chanting and gongs. We move closer and we can see bodies hanging from pillars. Hopper (the manly figure who told us his name on the way) tells us we are wrong, thinking it's weird. The guards move so we can walk through. Me, Holly and Bartolo walk up the stairs.

As we go up there is another man figure, He is bald, and has a very powerful look to him. He has sweat beads dripping down his head. He looks at us and we realize it is Colonel Kurtsman!! He gave a speech. We feel shocked. He pulls out his sword and slashes at us, it hits the floor, and it breaks.. Bartolo hits him and he falls to the floor. I slash him. Alex fails to hide in shadows once again. Cora runs up the stairs and hits him. Cora has set his cape on fire and has done damage. Holly swings her sword at him, and he has died. We search the room. We find a chest and get the key from a necklace he is wearing. Inside there was gold, silver, and copper. We split it equally, and we head out of the Caves of Chaos..     

We are safe.. For now. End of Session 6.

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That's the end of Z's recap. She actually had inserted in her notes how much damage was healed when the two PC's drank the healing potions, but I removed that part since the rest of her recap was written in character. It's always interesting to see what things the players focus on and what parts they gloss over. In this case, while Z is very good at taking notes, she also got notes sent to her from at least three other players (and it's possible her sister also shared her notes with her, but I wasn't copied on that). 

We'll be playing again this Sunday, so be on the lookout for another recap written in character by one of the other players. 

Hanging: Home office (laptop)
Drinking: Trader Joe's Sparkling Water w/ Lemon and Ginger Flavors
Listening: "Don't Look Back" by John Lee Hooker, Charles Brown, and Van Morrison, from the album "Best of Friends"