Icewind Dale and the sandbox

 Icewind Dale has plenty of inspirational art.

There are many guides to creating a sandbox style game out there. Most of them go into too much detail for me. In setting up the Icewind Dale game I looked to Zak S, in particular these posts as well as Kevin Crawford’s excellent Red Tide and its supplement An Echo Resounding. Kevin gives you the tools you need to set up a sandbox quickly keeping you focussed on the gameable content.

Once again the group gathered at Good Games and I raced to see how much Old School D&D I could cram into just under 3 hours.

The characters were a mix of new and old. They had all arrived in Lonely Wood, the northern most of Icewind Dale’s Ten Towns. All were down on their luck which explained the lack of magic items won from prior games. Sprite Zero the gnome illusionist had retained his giant ferret, Leif the accomplished halfling fighter was back for more as was Power Aide the ‘evil is more fun’ priest. The new addition to the group was Jon the occasional drunk berserker

Adventure leads offered via email before the game were:

• expedition to an abandoned mages tower (Judges Guild adventure - Pegasus magazine),
• exploration of an ruined Aurilite temple (Red Tides sample adventure),
• what’s happening at the Former Gnomish Caves? (Alex Schoeder’s - Fight On issue 7)
• a trip to see what an band of barbarians occupying Bremen’s Run are up to (something I came up with).
  
  

Its a good thing Jon’s player is the motivated sort as he volunteered the group to explore the gnome caves and so I was able to prep for the adventure.

The group hired on three down and outs at The Whistling Gallows (local tavern). Power Aide recruited a suitably evil woodswoman while Leif continued his fine tradition of disposable hirelings by immediately negotiating a pay decrease for his hireling. As the poor wretch had only half his eyes (having lost one) he should receive half the usual pay. The hirelings had character thanks again to this awesome table and I enjoyed playing them even if their lives were destined to be cruelly brief.

They traded Leifs hireling’s chainmail shirt with a trapper for a sled and a team of dogs so they could sleigh through the forest of Lonelywood. This sped up their trip to the sites of adventure.

On the way to the Gnome Burrows of Klinderstone the band bumped into an Ogre with a trapper captive. The ogre was dispatched with little fuss and Jerrod the trapper freed. Some valuable scrimshaw and a magic bag that produced giant rats was duly looted. A wisdom check secured a good camp site for the night and their rest was not disturbed. The following day saw them avoid the sound of some large predator hunting. They snuck past the commotion by carrying their sled silently and urging their hounds to keep silent.

One of the twenty ogres occupying Klinderstone.

Arriving at Klinderstone the group ambushed the sole ogre guard while he took a leak against a wall. He fell before he could raise the alarm. Searching the body Sprite Zero discovered a ring wreathed in enchantment spells.

Exploring to the north the group came across some slumbering ogres and some caged gnomes. The band snuck in and stabbed the heck out of the sleeping ogres. I am playing double max damage against helpless foes. Even so four ogres awoke and put up a token resistance before being slain. During the battle Sprite Zero had summoned up a giant phantasmal weasle which proved most handy. The gnomes Sarsha the dancer and Tarpa the carpenter were freed, Tarpa was given a mace and told to guard the rear. The freed gnomes sketched a map on the floor giving the players the lay of the land. They were told there were about twenty ogres about the place in the service of a priestess of Auril. Captives who were taken to the priestess did not return.

Delving further north the group came across a group of ogres hurling stones at a gnome chained to the wall. Battle was joined and two hirelings fell to the ogres clubs before the foe was defeated. Another gnome was rescued this time a midwife called Oakleaf who even Leif felt reluctant to press gang into service. Sprite Zero had by now become despondent at the general homeliness of the gnomish maidens they had rescued.

In an adjoining chamber the band came across a gnome trapped in a crows cage in the midst of a burnt out pyre. The gnome had become some kind of vengeful half blind revenant and despite his pleas to be released the group would have none of it. Leif placed a blanket over the cage in the hope that the revenant would fall asleep as birds are wont to do. When his ranting only increased in pitch Power Aide tipped his cage upside down to further antagonise the doomed spirit. They left the hapless gnome alone.

The party then headed south to the alchemist lab. The lab was smashed up with nothing salvageable. During the search they stumbled upon a grey ooze which they fled from. They would later return and encourage the ooze to roam the halls of Klinderstone in the hope that it would munch an ogre or two for them.

The freed gnomes helped the heroes find a safe campsite for the night. In the morning they planned to butcher the priestess of Auril and her remaining ogres before a probable return to Lonely Wood.