Calamitus Castle

[houndle]

7. The Personalities of Calamitus Castle
This section is concerned with the personalities who inhabit the Castle. It also discusses the main objectives of the adventure.

One Person you won't be meeting is Calamitus himself. He's too busy doing something else - conferring with other evil wizards perhaps, or maybe he's popped out for a coffee. Anyway he is far too powerful for the kind of low level adventure I have in mind for this outing. He knows Death Spell #9 and he can turn it up to at least 11. He may feature in a more conventional, high level adventure at some point.

There are several Personalities in the Castle and they may be encountered in various areas. When you encounter a Personality, roll 2d6 on the table for the appropriate area.

If you roll a Personality you have already encountered, you may choose to encounter that Personality again or re-roll if you want. If the re-roll turns up the same Personality again, choose who you want to encounter. Personalities you have killed or otherwise disposed of are not available to encounter again.

Passage

2d6

2-3 Leigh Lowe

4-5 Sir Roger

6-8 Geordie Crozier and Bart Elyot

9-12 G'Argull

Garden
2d6

2-6   Leigh Lowe

7-12 Sir Roger


Stairs
2d6

2-3   Leigh Lowe

4-6   Sir Roger

7-8   Geordie Crozier and Bart Elyot

9-12 G'Argull

Hall
2d6

2      Leigh Lowe

3-5   Sir Roger

6-7   Geordie Crozier and Bart Elyot

8-12 G'Argull

Dungeon
2d6

2-4   Leigh Lowe

5-8   Grendel's Mother-in-Law
9-12 Carl Kullus

Store
2d6

2-8   Leigh Lowe

9-12 Sir Roger


Bedchamber
2d6

2-4     Leigh Lowe

5        Sir Roger

6-9     Geordie Crozier and Bart Elyot

10-12 G'Argull

Laboratory
2d6

2      Leigh Lowe

3      Sir Roger

4      Grendel's Mother-in-Law
5      Geordie Crozier and Bart Elyot
6      G'Argull
7-12 Carl Kullus

These people will be described in the next post.

9 July 2022: By a strange coincidence I have used the same terminology as MSPE in delineating the major NPCs. This is pure coincidence; I'd never read the rules before yesterday. Proves my mind was working in the same direction, though 30 years later.

[houndle]

7. The Personalities of Calamitus Castle, continued

Carl Kullus
The alchemist of Calamitus Castle. The only person who can restrain Grendel's mother-in-law. A small, withered and rather unimpressive person, he will automatically attempt to flee any encounter unless you can pass a L1SR against Charisma. In combat you will have to pass a L1SR against Speed at the end of each round to stop him getting away.
In combat he counts as a Very Easy opponent. But in addition to his normal attack he will cast a weak form of Take That, you Fiend in each round. This is worth 1d6 hits; 6's add and roll over, but if Carl rolls a 1 the spell is exhausted until the next time you meet him.
Carl has a talisman that will slow down Grendel's mother-in-law; it halves her total combat score in any round in which you pass a L1SR against Dexterity to wield it effectively. He carries no other treasure, science being its own reward.

G'Argull
G'Argull is a goblin captain. He leads the goblin contingent within Calamitus Castle and acts as Sir Roger's deputy. He's a humble, sensitive soul... not really.
G'Argull acts in all respects like a goblin ruffian except that he is a Tough opponent and wears armour that protects against 4 hits per combat round. His most prized possession is his sword; it's a specially crafted weapon worth 4d6+3 in skilled hands. He also carries a pouch containing 3d6x10 gold coins.

Geordie Crozier and Bart Elyot
These two are always found together.
Geordie Crozier is a grizzled mercenary and criminal. His proudest boast is that he is an outlaw on every continent, including some that haven't yet been discovered. He lost an eye in some long-forgotten battle.
Bart Elyot is Geordie's lieutenant. Tall, elegantly dressed and well spoken. But don't make any mistakes with him. In combat he's sneaky and vicious.
Geordie and Bart are responsible for the military aspect of Calamitus' plot. You'll either have to fight them or rob them to secure the plans, which form one of the victory conditions for this adventure.
Fighting:
Jointly they count as a Moderate opponent with armour that absorbs 5 hits per round. Bart's special talent is for the low blow; each time Geordie and Bart roll a 6 in combat, Bart has tried something tricky and unchivalrous. To evade this attack you'll have to make a L1SR against Speed or Dexterity each round (your choice). If you fail, deduct the amount you failed by from your total combat score for the round. A fumble always deducts at least 2d6 from your score.
Robbery:
You'll need a L2SR against Luck to get away with the plans undetected. Otherwise you will have to fight. If you fumble the luck roll, Bart reacts instantly; he gets a minimum of two low blows in the first combat round, irrespective of his combat score.
Geordie and Bart are carrying 100 gold pieces, their reward for leading Calamitus' army.

Grendel's Mother-in-Law
She really isn't a bad person. But deceived by Calamitus, shunned by Good King Barry (whose title is more honorific than accurate), goaded beyond endurance by the neighbours' endless partying she now lives for violence and revenge. Defeating her is one of your principal objectives. She will always attack and she is a Very Tough opponent.

Leigh Lowe
Leigh Lowe is Good King Barry's youngest daughter. Perhaps she sometimes tries a little too hard to prove herself worthy of her royal titles. 
She has broken into the Castle hoping to foil Calamitus' plans, but hasn't got very far. She is naturally highly suspicious of anyone she meets.
When you encounter Leigh, make a L1SR against Charisma.

• If you pass, she is convinced by your story. She will either fight alongside you or leave the castle - your choice. You must eventually get her out of the castle. If she is killed or injured whilst fighting alongside you, your victory will be tarnished. King Barry will be annoyed with you.
• If you fail, she is not quite convinced. She will accompany you but will not take part in any fighting. Each new area gives you an opportunity to persuade her by taking a L1SR against Charisma. If you attack or intimidate any servants during this time the required roll goes up to L2SR (Leigh has a lot of sympathy for the hapless servants of Calamitus Castle.)
• If you fumble, Leigh assumes you are an enemy and fights you. She is a Moderate opponent and is wearing armour that absorbs 4 hits per round. She will be trying to kill you, however you'll have to strike non lethal blows against her (the penalties for injuring her still apply). If you manage to subdue her, you can leave her in the room and go searching for her later. She won't remember the previous encounter.

Sir Roger
Sir Roger is not so much a bad knight as one who got into bad company when he was a boy. He rules the castle in Calamitus' absence and is often to be found wandering the premises muttering about overheads, lack of dependable ruffians and the like. When in this state (4-6 on a d6) he may be interrogated or ignored in the same fashion as an unsuspicious servant. At other times, and invariably when the castle is on alert, he will be much more suspicious and a L1SR against IQ will be needed to get past him unchallenged.
Sir Roger is a Tough opponent who will try to capture you if the castle is not already on alert. His armour protects against 6 hits per round. He carries an enchanted sword - it has no special qualities apart from being able to hit opponents who are immune to ordinary weapons. He wears a gold chain worth 5d6x10 gold.

[houndle]

8. Combat
There are probably as many ways of balancing combat values as there are T&T players. Or possibly more if you account for people changing their minds.

I tend to stick with the rules are written for resolving combat more or less, though the house rules in Days of High Adventure seem to working well as I write this.

For the purposes of calculating Monster Ratings in Calamitus Castle I've come up with a little chart. Cross reference your dice and adds (the columns with a red heading) with the opponent's difficulty rating as given in the text, and look up the suggested value. There is a rough mathematical progress which should allow you to derive any missing values, though I hope I've covered most of the situations a beginning character is likely to encounter. The values are predicated on the character having a roughly 50/50 chance of winning against a "Very Tough" opponent given average dice scores. Taking Spite into account, the average character should win most encounters but will suffer the odd hit which may prove serious in the long run. 

Dice	Adds	Very Easy	Easy	Moderate	Tough	Very Tough
2	0	1	1	2	3	4
2	10	10	11	14	15	16
2	20	22	24	25	26	28
3	0	3	4	6	8	9
3	10	15	16	18	19	21
3	20	26	28	30	31	32
4	0	8	9	10	11	12
4	10	18	20	22	23	24
4	20	30	31	34	35	36
5	0	12	14	15	16	17
5	10	23	25	26	28	29
5	20	35	36	38	39	41
6	0	15	16	18	19	21
6	10	26	28	30	31	32
6	20	38	40	42	43	44
7	0	20	21	22	24	25
7	10	32	33	35	36	37
7	20	44	45	46	48	49
8	0	23	25	26	28	29
8	10	35	36	38	39	41
8	20	46	48	50	51	52

I'm indebted to several articles in Trollszine and on this forum in helping to clarify my thinking around combat and balancing encounters. Any mistakes in the mathematics are mine.

[houndle]

8. Combat - a further thought
While I'm on the subject of combat, I'd like to reference Sid Orpin's article on "Random Stunting" in Trollszine 12. A really useful idea, though given my inability to pass saving rolls my preference is to use open ended saving rolls (using the outcomes in Sid's article) and randomise the attribute against which the SR is taken before deciding whether to perform the stunt, e.g.

D6
1:  Strength
2:  Constitution
3:  Dexterity or Speed (choose)
4:  Intelligence
5:  Luck
6: Wild Card: any desired attribute (including one of the above)

[nialldubh]

I enjoying your thoughts on the (CC) castle houndle, but great idea for getting a balanced fight, I have suffered same format problems, my chart for formatting MR placed in Return to BC post tries to do what you are doing; make a fight more interesting other than a slaughter for either monster or delver! Progress!!!

Also just a wonder, but where do you think in Trollworld this castle could exist, I got it in the south in the Human City states, near Jankhun?

[houndle]

Glad it is of some interest. I get a perverse enjoyment out of trying out various figures through a spreadsheet.

When I started thinking about the castle I didn't actually have a copy of dT&T and the Trollword material - now corrected! I would be inclined to put it near Celtic Broch. One Eyed Geordie Crozier and Bart "Longshanks" Elyot started as characters in a "Border Reivers" campaign for the De Bellis Antiquitatis rules.

[youfiend]

I'm sorry if interjecting here messes up your flow, but I just want to say all of this material is tremendously entertaining and I'm looking forward to having some good fun playing it when it's all posted!

[houndle]

9. Treasure
Some thoughts about additional rewards to be found in specific rooms. May only be tried once in each room.

Lavatory and bedchamber
If the room is empty you may try a L1SR against Luck to find some forgotten item.
1-2   1d6x5 silver coins
3-5   1d6x5 gold
6       A magic dagger. Rolls 2d6 in combat. Also gets adds equal to 1d6-1d6 (so may be -5 to +5)

Hall
If the hall is NOT empty you may try picking a pocket of two. After testing the reaction of the room's inhabitants.
Make an open ended SR against Dexterity. You find gold coins equal to 10 times the level you made. On a fail you're attacked.

Armoury
If the room is empty you may search for a weapon or a piece of armour. Decide what you want, divide the cost by 100 and round up to the nearest whole number. Result is the level of saving roll required on IQ. On a fail a guard comes in and attacks.

Laboratory
Room must be empty. Make a L1SR against Luck. 1d6 to see what you find.
1   d3 potions. Roll again: 1-2=restores 1d6 Strength of WIZ. 3-5=restores 1d6 CON. 6=poison, take 1d6 hits.
2   A scroll. 3 shots of any spell up to L3. You must be able to use magic.
3   5d6x10 transmuted gold.
4   A necklace.1-3=worth 5d6x10 gold. 4-5=lucky charm, add 3 to your Luck when wearing. 6=strangling. Suffer 1 hit per turn until you make a L1SR against Strength or Dexterity.
5   Gems worth 6d6x10 good
6   Anti Grendel poison. On an edged weapon, doubles dice roll against Grendel's mother in law for 3 rounds

Kitchen
Contains herbs.
Any unsuspicious servant present will find the herbs for you if you pass a L1SR against Charisma. The herbs will heal 1d6 hits but must be taken immediately.
If the room is empty you may search for the herbs making a L2SR against IQ. On a fumble you have poisoned yourself - take 1d6 hits.

[houndle]

Jun 1, 2022 10:40:04 GMT -5 youfiend said:

I'm sorry if interjecting here messes up your flow, but I just want to say all of this material is tremendously entertaining and I'm looking forward to having some good fun playing it when it's all posted!

No worries@youfiend it's all a bit experimental if it works out I'll turn it into a single document with better formatting!

[houndle]

10. In conclusion (for now)

There are three objectives identified in the adventure:

• Get Leigh safely out of the castle
• Defeat Grendel's mother in law
• Retrieve the plans and remove them from the castle

Achieving any one of those gives you 50 bonus AP
Achieving any two gives you 125
Achieving all three gives you 250.

This is in addition to AP you earn through fighting and saving rolls.

You can leave the castle at any time via a room with an external exit. I'm not cruel enough to penalise you for uncompleted tasks. (It did cross my mind.)

I hope there is enough here to outline the kind of adventure I had in mind. I may amend various parts from time to time if I discover errors or if there are things which need clarifying or expanding. But I think the skeleton is now in place and postings may become less frequent as I turn my attention to other things. Thanks for reading,  I hope you found it worthwhile.

[order99]

This is amazing stuff here, houndle-any chance of publishing the finished product for consumption later? We has shinies, oh yes we has...

[houndle]

Jun 9, 2022 22:22:16 GMT -5 order99 said:

This is amazing stuff here, houndle-any chance of publishing the finished product for consumption later? We has shinies, oh yes we has...

Thank you for the kind words (blushes). I may well do something with it but not sure what or when. I was half way through writing up the adventure in a more conventional format when I got distracted by this exercise. Also I have a few other ideas in the pipeline. 

It's a long time since I was so intensively involved in playing T&T and I'd want to "learn the craft" properly before thinking about commercializing any of my stuff. In the meantime if anything I do produce helps to support the game and its player community I'll be happy.

[trolletgunnar]

May 23, 2022 11:58:54 GMT -5 houndle said:

This is an idea I've been fooling with for a while, though I doubt it's particularly novel. A "semi random" adventure. The idea being that much of the adventure is generated randomly, but there are certain key events that will always happen sooner or later and that eventually come together to form a vaguely coherent whole. Key design parameters include:

   Random generation to give a slightly different experience each time.
   Specific goals which still give a variety of outcomes.
   Some genuine player choices and opportunities to influence outcomes.
   A credible (-ish) setting.
   A balance between the effort involved in setting up the game and the enjoyment of playing it.

Whether I succeeded in doing any of this is in the eye of the beholder of course. There are some aspects which undoubtedly need improvement. What I'll be doing in this thread is describing the adventure in (what I hope is) a series of logical sections. Eventually the sections should comprise the full adventure,  with opportunities for commentary and feedback. I hope it proves worthwhile.

I much enjoys playing randomly created solos; I often use Gary Gygax rules -from 1974? – for creating solo dungeons, and another on adapted for tunnels and trolls, I don’t’ remember the name of the author. I will look more close at what you have written so far and, give it a test run.

Keep up the good work!

[nialldubh]

My Elf is battling his way through the castle at moment, only explored one room per se, but his first room was a 'Stairs,' so had it as if he climbing a tower and actually entered a dovecote at the top floor which made sense, but not expect that to happen too often?!


Question at Houndle: In each room it seems like it about 99% chance of an encounter. Is that right or did I miss something?

[houndle]

Jun 13, 2022 7:56:08 GMT -5 nialldubh said:

My Elf is battling his way through the castle at moment, only explored one room per se, but his first room was a 'Stairs,' so had it as if he climbing a tower and actually entered a dovecote at the top floor which made sense, but not expect that to happen too often?!


Question at Houndle: In each room it seems like it about 99% chance of an encounter. Is that right or did in miss something?

The frequency of encounters is something I want to think about. Conceptually I was thinking in terms of Deathtrap Equalizer, i.e. each room is a separate encounter with very little "downtime" (mapping); and as the characters progress they earn the chance (through diplomacy or intimidation) to direct the random dice rolls towards the "boss" encounters. I suspect that longer term I'll want to decrease the randomness somewhat to prevent an interminable succession of low level encounters.