Into the Megadungeon – Githyanki Diaspora

Memories of how you got down there are hazy because the Psi-Tiger that rampaged through the party damaged memories as it died. Players are the torchbearers and hirelings.
Into the Odd-like: Into the Megadungeon

We are in the process of ending the Sigil 6 campaign and figuring out what to play next in this Thursday night slot. But only 3 of 6 players could get to the digital table tonight, so I proposed a few games and we elected to play hirelings whose adventuring party has been decimated by a psychic tiger, leaving everyone’s memories hazy.

Character creation from this blog post made interesting characters. I liked what we ended up with. We used jamboard to store the character sheets. A thief’s follower, Jeb the Footpad, was chosen by a Thief Deity. Tabouli the Acolyte knows the Cthonic written world and can see/hear ghosts.

I grabbed the DNGN zine, the gold standard in layout and at-the-table-use. I stuck them X levels down, in an area that I thought was interesting and got to playing.

I rolled randomly to see which of the party members was still alive and it was Conrad the Thief. He’s got a compound fracture in his sword-arm and he’s concussed, so they are on their own. The random rolls for the surviving gear from the adventuring party worked out well. Having a character who can see ghosts meant I had to make some fast decisions about the fate of souls in this dungeon, which was fun.

The players were concerned about light, thinking about their lantern oil. When I mentioned that some rooms were lit by flasks of burning oil, they quickly began stealing oil from the flasks for more lantern-light time. They skinned and de-toothed and de-eyed the psychic tiger.

Had a really interesting moment late in the game when they realized they could count the used flasks of oil that had already been used to see how long they’ve been in this dungeon. I could’ve said the flasks were broken in the fight with the psychic tiger but loved the ingenuity. They realized that they had been in the dungeon for around 5 hours or so.

The vibe was a little goofy but everyone at the table was taking the premise seriously and doing plenty of careful exploring and creative problem solving.

I really liked the result and would use this set-up again when gaming friends were visiting or when everyone can’t show up to the main game.

Anthony dubbed the party’s name: Psychic Tiger Fodder.

https://shopofjudd.threadless.com/designs/psychic-tiger-fodder

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This was originally a pay-to-play session idea that never went to the table and has been marinating since playing lots of Into the Odd.

TEXT: The heroes are all Dead. You are all that is left.

PIC: Skull

TEXT: What happens when the torchearers, hirelings & apprentices are the only surviviors remaining in the middle of a dangerous mega-dungeon? Will you rise up or perish?

PIC: Hand holding a torch

Memories of how you got down there are hazy because the Psi-Tiger that rampaged through the party damaged memories as it died. Players are the torchbearers and hirelings.

Roll 3d6 for Strength, Dexterity and Willpower and 1d6 for Hit Protection and Coin. Keep track of any 1’s and 2’s rolled. Every 1 or 2 rolled means you get to roll on the d66 table below to the left to get cool stuff.

The table to the right is to figure out what items someone gets if they roll 41-46 on the left chart but it can also be used to see what is left from the party. Referee – roll 1d3-1 to see how many items are salvageable. Use the salvage of what can be used from the bodies of the dead as practice. Players – practice describing what you are doing and how you are doing it. Practice letting the Referee know when you are using slow and careful caution and when you are working quickly to get things done before some monster randomly comes upon you. Use this as a safe opportunity to describe what your character is doing and how they do it.

Referee, practice describing items and the placement of things like bodies and doors and hallways. Mark up the map with where the bodies are but don’t show it to the players; practice using this as a reference and describing it to the players. Don’t forget the Psi-Tiger’s corpse.

NOTE: Judd, you are saying, this is really condescending. The above is for me. I’m not used to running games from a module and a map. I need practice so I built it in to the adventure.

Spells from different spellbooks in case you need them. I’d be thinking spells are wormlike construct creatures that wriggle into one’s brain and nest there until they are cast. But I’d also change the spells and the Lore in the d66 table above based on the dungeon.

STR, DEX or WILL is 3-9, choose 2 from the gear.

STR, DEX or WILL 10-13, choose 1 from gear.

STR, DEX or WILL 14-18, 0 gear.

Maybe DNGN, maybe The Lost City, maybe one of Dyson Logo’s big maps (Halls of Geryon or the Dyson Megadugeon) with factions and areas marked off and keyed. My first instinct is to grab DNGN, start the game in the 3rd or 4th level.

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