Play Report: The Worlds Toughest Dungeon

[cartomancer]

Let me start by saying that boy does this solo live up to it's name but, boy is it worthwhile. As you'll see from the report that follows, i didn't make it too far in this monster but, that aside, it is still by far one of the best solo gaming experiences i've had.

So i started off by rolling up a monster of the prescribed precautions, a Rock Troll but, as i'd be using 7.5 my character would only just qualify for the adventure, weighing in as 4th level Rock Troll (and saying that my rolls were pretty poor!)

Meet our antagonist: Grunk!

Kin: Rock Troll
Type: Monster

Gender: Male
Level: 4

STR: 42
CON: 30
INT: 6
WIZ: 4
DEX: 6
LK: 10
CHR: 27
SPD: 7

Personal Adds: +25
Missile Adds: +22

Weapons: Claws (3+0)
Armour: Natural (5 Hits)

Talents:

Krash! (STR + 5)
Smash! (STR + 4)
Bash! (STR + 3)
Trash! (STR +2)

As you can probably a slight problem arose from using the Monster type in conjunction with 7.5 rules. Level in 7.5 is based upon your prime attributes and as monsters aren't a listed type there is no hard and fast rule for them. Given this i decided that instead of the prime attributes, a monster's level would be based upon it's highest attribute (nice and easy), giving me a 4th level Rock Troll and thus 4 Talents (which i used to turn him into a Trollish battering ram :0)).

So now i was all set up and play could begin.

Things started off pretty slow, taking a slow lumber down a stream to find it went nowhere but soon picked up when i found a high-ledge down another passage that was ideal for an ambush. So i lay in wait and it was only a couple of hours before a small party of greedy delvers came along loaded down with loot... It was clobberin' time.

All in all the delving party looked like:

Human Rogue.
Carrying treasure, knows magic.
Armed with a Pilum (5+0).
-1 Personal Add.

Human Warrior.
Carrying Treasure 1-2 on a D6.
Armed with Great Sword (6+0)
Wearing full Scale Mail (11 Hits, 22 for a Warrior).
0 Personal Adds.

Dwarven Warrior.
Carrying Treasure 1-5 on a D6.
Armed with a Pole Axe (7+0).
+12 Personal Adds.

Human Rogue.
Carrying Treasure 1-5 on a D6.
Armed with a Poinard (2+0).
0 Personal Adds.

To cut a short story, shorter, i attacked because of the amount of treasure on offer was quite high but was cut down within 2 combat rounds (no great suprise) and my adventure came to an end.

Although i didn't travel very far i did get a lot from this. The first thing being the house rule for leveling monsterous types, the second being enjoyment and the third being that i realised the Delver Generation system needed modification if i wanted to play it with 7.5... Which i intend to do now. :0).

All in all however, a good solid solo that lives up to it's name and is well worth a play. If i survive any better in the future however, i'll let you all know of my further impressions.

[sligo]

I have a copy of thus dungeon, and as yet, no character has survived very long. I agree - the levelling components of 7.5 make this dungeon nearly impossible. I've considered house-ruling the level increments based upon the character's kindred, or at least a hybridized version of it. Right now in the play group, I've not done this and though we have a troll in the party, the characters aren't that far apart in relative combat ability.

[cartomancer]

Here's my mod of the Delver Generator in TWTD, modified to take into account WIZ and SPD but laking "The Rule of Perversity" (Which is noted in the original document) to protect the integrity of TWTD.

As a side note, this makes for a rather nice NPC Generator! :0)

Attachments:

[gaptooth]

Awesome, Cartomancer, and I just made an exalt. What's the idea behind the "perversity" mechanic? Is it a method used to individuate the characters?

[cartomancer]

Mar 4, 2011 14:34:57 GMT -5 gaptooth said:

Awesome, Cartomancer, and I just made an exalt. What's the idea behind the "perversity" mechanic? Is it a method used to individuate the characters?

Why thank you sir! :0).

The perversity mechanic is what the solo uses to ensure that every delver you encounter is tougher than the last, in much the same way that Are(n)a of Khazan makes each opponent slain tougher when you recycle it... The perversity mechanic however adds larger values ensuring that it's not long before you're overwhelmed (one battle in my case!)

Ooh, as a side note to the generator. The value's listed for the armour are for body armour only. If ever a delver cannot use the armour, halve the value again to represent only greaves and gauntlets of the said material. Halving it again would give you the values for a helm (rounding up in all cases), so a full suit is 2 1/4 the listed values.

It is also possible that a devilish GM may roll three times on the table, once for each area (body, limbs and head) to turn a delver into a tank... But the solo's already tough enough i think! ;0).

[fellgore]

The Toughest Dungeon in the World is indeed grueling. I have the old Judges Guild version. Was it renamed since then? Anyway my book instructs you to roll up a Troll using the chart in section 3.6 of the rules. In v5.0, the only rules I owned at the time I played TDW, this gives you a seven times multiplier for STR and CON, which makes you a lot tougher than most Troll types in v7.5, and even beats Mountain Trolls by a narrow margin. Even so, I sent a great many Trolls to their deaths in the caverns of Hael.

After around a dozen failed campaigns (and campaign is probably a fairer description than adventure), by virtue of both cunning (e.g. avoiding large parties whenever possible) and luck (discovering a source of greater power within the caverns' depths), a real bruiser of a Troll named Fellgore Gravedrool amassed the ten thousand gold worth of treasure required for victory and egress from the solo.

I can't imagine attempting this with any v7.5 Troll short of the Mountain variety. Even then it won't be easy, but you will have a feeling of accomplishment when you win unlike that offered in any other solo adventure I have seen (and my collection is extensive).

You will also probably come away with a greater sympathy for the so-called bad guys in most fantasy campaigns.

I will have to check out your generator. It may give me incentive to give it another go!