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.

Icewind Dale - 20 Questions

A wise blogger once wrote 'Campaign worlds, whether published or just notes scrawled in some DM's binder, contain a lot of material that most players honestly just don't give a crap about.  That's entirely okay.  Answer some of these questions or others like them and you'll have yourself a campaign regular players can relate to.'  I wrote a one page summary for the group but figured I would give Jeff's 20 questions a go.

1. What is the deal with my cleric's religion? If you're a barbarian you probably worship an animal spirit like the elk, bear or wolf. Either that or you worship Tempos. Most locals worship a mix of the Faerun deities though the god of battle Tempus and the god of trade Waukeen are favoured. The popular evil gods whom sane folk shun are the beast lord Malar, the Frost Maiden Auril and Myrkul the lord of bones.
2. Where can we go to buy standard equipment? A trading outpost operated by the trading costers has a chance of having what you need. Some towns have a blacksmith. Lonely Wood has an excellent Bowyer.
3. Where can we go to get platemail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended? Targos or Bryn Shander would have skilled enough blacksmiths.
4. Who is the mightiest wizard in the land? The tundra tribes have a mighty seer who is said to live on the glacier to the north. The Speaker of Targos' wife is an elf and skilled in sorcery. Wizards are rare these parts. Locals are suspicious of them and the barbarians go out of there way to kill them.
5. Who is the greatest warrior in the land? Cassius the Speaker and head of the council based in Bryn Shander is a veteran of the barbarian wars. His counterpart the barbarian King Revjak’s skills have dulled with age though he is still formidable. Revjak rules from Caer Konig. The now deceased Barbarian king Heafstaag was said to be a warrior without peer.
6. Who is the richest person in the land? The merchant families of East Haven are said to hoard their wealth. Cassius as speaker for the central trading town has made himself rich through trade.
7. Where can we go to get some magical healing? A temple. There are a few temples to Waukeen around and plenty to Tempus. Barbarian tribes have their own shamans to heal their injured.
8. Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath? Temples. Powerful healing can be sought at Targos or Bryn Shander but even their priests may not have the power to raise the dead. The tribes in Caer Konig have powerful shamans said to be able to reincarnate the dead.
9. Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells? No guild exists sadly. The Host Tower of the Arcane is said to have representatives in Targos, though this band of mages from Luskan are thought of as very bad news.
10. Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC? Bryn Shander has a sage, well he's more of still living detached head, a relic if you will. The head is still very knowledgeable. The barbarians have a Seer.
11. Where can I hire mercenaries? Taverns. Targos has plenty though most are disreputable.
12. Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law? East Haven will give you a hard time, bunch of stuck up snobs.
13. Which way to the nearest tavern? Small towns have one. Larger towns have several. Your closest local is the Whistling Gallows Inn. Lonely Wood is a one inn town.
14. What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous? Dark skinned raiders: Drow and Dueregar. If you put a nest of them to the sword you’ll be famous. Otherwise a white dragon will do the same. Around Lonely Wood bagging a yeti would grant you bragging rights though there is plenty of fearsome beasts in the woods.
15. Are there any wars brewing I could go fight? Their is a growing faction amongst the barbarians called the Sons of Heafstaag that threaten to plunge the region back into war. To the south the Orcs are getting uppity.
16. How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes? Targos. There is a large mercenary population left over from the barbarian war. Pit fighting is a popular form of entertainment.
17. Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight? The Sons of Heafstaag seek to subvert the barbarian tribes while The Icemaidens of Auril seek to extinguish all fire condemning the dale to freeze. The Host Tower of the Arcane are surely up to no good in Targos.
18. What is there to eat around here? Your local is the Whistling Gallows inn. Local fishermen can sell you a knucklehead trout. Game is plentiful in Lonely Wood.
19. Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for? Marbag the Mad is said to have had a gem of enormous value. Joril's axe is a legendary weapon said to be in the possession of a Frost Giant, it requires great strength to wield. Presious venomous dagger was said to be lost in a war with the orcs to the south. Winters Mantle is said to be a powerful cloak hidden in the high temple of Auril.
20. Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure? There are several white dragons south in the Spine of the World Mountains as well as residing on the slopes of Kelvin’s Cairn.

Citadel of the Severed Hand in play

Dwarf Crawl - hacking their way home.

It's been a while since I ran anything. Getting a regular group together feels like a lot of work, particularly prepping adventures, and there are plenty of others willing to take up DM duties. I content myself with running one shots every now and then. Last Saturday I threw together a last minute game based on the dwarf crawl idea I have kicking around in my head. My one page dungeon for 2013 was the first planned adventure for dwarf crawl so I ran that. We had four players which is a nice number and a good turn out for a last minute game.

I used the following with varying degrees of success: the One Page Dungeon - Citadel of the Severed Hand, dungeon tiles, my Secret Santicore present 'Random Starting Gear', Lamentations of the Flame Princess (a D&D clone), lead miniatures, the 'The Hell is Wrong with this Guy?' table, and slots for encumbrance.

We used Rient's character creation as a party game. Everyone rolled poorly so we had a bunch of battlers on our hands. Couple that with some terrible rolls on the random starting gear chart and the whole venture took on the fatalistic feel of a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay adventure. Which suits me fine.

A band of dwarf and gnome outcasts, Mo, Norin, Franklin, Ironhead and their dysfunctional henchmen set out to recover the lost Citadel of Barak Kiel. This would be the first step in attempting to resettle and reclaim their homeland. The Citadel had been over-run by orcs of the Severed hand tribe. These orcs were about to be subjected to a brutal home invasion.

While heading to the citadel they ran afoul of a half orc ambush. The brutes were led by a rotund fellow called Big Grin and a charm person spell later meant that Mo the gnomish magician had five new meat shields... fodder... um... allies. Ironhead didn't even pause to acknowledge the presence of the half orcs as they sprung their ambush; instead he marched single minded towards the Citadel. Once there he skirted the walls and climbed the side of the gate house. Having put all his skill points into back stab, Ironhead was an assassin extraordinaire. Unfortunately he missed his attack roll, followed by losing the initiative. He was promptly knocked out by a two headed orc.

The commotion at the gate house roused his companions who rushed the fortifications with their half-orc allies and their log ram. Big Grin took an arrow to the neck before the gate gave way and a swarm of dwarves rushed in. Norin let fly with a sleep spell ending the battle. A peryton, pet of the orcs, flew over to investigate the commotion. Ironhead's suicidal henchman and Franklin's penitent henchmen (dysfunctions courtesy of 'The Hell is Wrong with this Guy' table) took it upon themselves to battle the peryton. They died gloriously, impaled on the beasts wickedly sharp antlers. The rest of the party sheltered within the gatehouse, too scared to leave lest the peryton rend them as well.

The slumbering gate house guards were dispatched methodically. Some of the orcs had been drunk on spirits made from fermented milk. Empty bottles were looted and enough booze salvaged to create a molotov cocktail.

Ambush formation.

A challenge echoed up from the stairs that led from the gatehouse deeper into the citadel. Norin channeled some Han Solo with 'everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now ...' Before Mo intervened. The gnome instructed his half orc 'friend' to explain that the commotion had been due to one of their friends going ape, flinging poop at the peryton. His foolish actions so provoked the creature that he had been attacked and killed. Hence all the noise. Mo and friends then riled up the orcs at the bottom of the stairs to such a point that they came storming up ready to crack heads. The party set an ambush and trounced the orcs. Unfortunately one of the brutes fled, calling for allies and sealing the group off by bringing a portcullis crashing down.

Much to Ironhead's consternation Mo the flexible gnome magician was able to slip through the gaps in the portcullis bars (dex check). Ironhead made a mental note to gnome proof the gate once the dwarfs were back in charge of the citadel. Mo raised the portcullis and the dwarfs and half orcs tumbled in to the citadel proper. From there they clashed with orc reinforcements among the narrow corridors.

During the fight the orc leader attempted a parley. Fearing a ruse the group pelted him with bottles and hacked him and his men down. Once again several orcs escaped, this time to warn their queen. Here the party split and things got odd. Franklin went berserk and began gutting and skinning the freshly slain orcs Predator style. Once he had removed a skull and spine he turned all Hannibal Lector and began eating faces. It was clear that Franklin was a priest of a heretical cannibal god. Somewhat disgusted Ironhead and Mo did their best to ignore their companion and set about searching the orc's mess hall. Norin had his blood up though and raced in the direction the orcs had fled, and so the party was split.

Mo the flexible gnome magician

Norin followed the tunnels along which the orcs had fled until he reached an audience chamber filled with luminous myconids, cowering orcs and a demonic goat horned queen. The queen seemed friendly and tried to work her charms on the dwarf but to no avail. She invited Norin to bring his friends to her so they could talk. Norin beat a hasty retreat. Rejoining his companions the group planned their assault. Given their battered condition they felt it prudent to rest first, wisely replenishing their spells. During the night some orcs came to fetch them as the queen grew impatient, they were ruthlessly slain for daring to interrupt the adventurers sleep.

The final battle was anticlimactic. The queen began her charm offensive. Ironhead and Franklin were compelled to turn on their half orc allies. The half orcs were felled brutally as the dwarfs had consumed 'Rage shrooms' prior to entering combat. Cheers to Franklin for reminding me of the extra damage he was dealing to his allies! The Myconids were put to sleep and the queen narrowly avoided falling to the dreaded 'cast light in the eyes' tactic. Mo hurled his Molotov cocktail dousing the demon queen in flammable booze. He resisted her charms before setting her alight with a hurled torch. Burning and in a panic, despite seemingly having the upper hand thanks to her charmed thralls, the demon queen blinked to safety leaving the band feeling somewhat deflated. We left things there.

What did I learn? 

• Even though character generation as party game is quick it's better to let people play the class they want. These characters felt disposable. 
• I will modify the random equipment chart so its more forgiving.
• 'The Hell is Wrong with this Guy?' is an excellent table that gives henchmen and hirelings a meaty hook. Speaking of hooks, Mo's henchman Igor had a hook hand while Norin's wing man was hideous.
• 3 and a half hours is about the max I can run a game for these days. The group as whole ran out of steam towards the end and I felt the game suffered.
• Teleporting villains are lame. While it gives you a recurring villain, letting them die a horrid death is better. Let the players have their hard earned victory.
• Fighting in corridors sucks. We need more spears and pole arms so the second rank can get involved.
• Dungeon tiles hindered rather than helped. Having the scene and positions physically represented prevented me from abstracting the corridor battle. Abstracting the fight would have allowed more players to participate and would have sped things up. The tiles also take up too much table space and are a hassle to carry to the venue.

Citadel of the Severed Hand - One Page Dungeon

The One Page Dungeon competition has been going for a few years now. Each time it rolls around my head is in a different place inspiration wise.

In 2011 I had finished a marathon reading of the Lord of the Rings and had hobbits on the brain. That and I had spent a lot of time in Paris cooped up in an apartment in the dead of winter trying to keep warm. Unable to understand the most basic French I spent a lot of time reading and thinking about RPGs. I would sketch out game ideas late into the night. The end result was Vermin Hollow.

In 2012 I had just finished teaching, a job that slowly drove me crazy. At the time I had been reading Raggi’s dark fantasy Lamentations of the Flame Princess and a grimy port city wracked by war was bubbling away in the back of my mind. From this sprung Rot Tower. I had originally intended to post my work on the Rot Tower campaign setting to this blog but I never wrangled my writing into something I thought I could share.

A recent RPGsite thread: players as colonists, seized my imagination and I set about creating a settlement style campaign with a dwarven focus. A band of dwarven misfits reclaiming the holds long ago overrun by orcs. The first adventure involved taking a citadel that watched over a bay, with the dwarf resettlement expedition arriving by boat. Seizing the citadel would provide a foothold in their ancestral lands and a place for the initial band to settle in relative safety. From there they could look at reclaiming other sites and clearing lower levels as things moved towards a hex crawl exploration dungeon crawl style game. From these ideas my 2013 One Page Dungeon Citadel of the Severed Hand was born. Here's a blog post about the Citadel play test.

Citadel of the Severed Hand was to have included a random orc table, inspired by the John Blanche artwork of the early Citadel Compendiums. The injuries were intended to have been inflicted by the sadist demoness who lords it over the orcs. I picture her as a female Joffrey from Game of Thrones. Unfortunately the table was cut as I ran out of space. I thought I would add the table to the blog instead.

Severed Hand Orc Table

Orc name	Appearance/injury	What are they doing?	Treasure
Tizog	Severed hands nailed to shield.	brawling	Shrooms (see shroom table)
Lutnob	Keeps small rat in empty eyesocket.	dozing - half awake	Decorative dwarf beard rings.
Brugzod	Lost hand replaced with crude hook, wears necklace of small humanoid skulls.	ill - likely drunk on rotgut	Enchanted false beard. When attached becomes luxurious braided dwarven beard.
Nazram	Two heads, one is desperate to befriend the party.	eating something small and alive.	Dwarven house signet ring.

Dyson’s Delve in play.

The party was joined by a giant ferret. I think it lived.

Dyson Logos is a giver. His blog is full of maps that beg to be used. Dyson does this for free which is why he's a champ. I figured I would show my appreciation and bought his book Dyson’s Delves. I ran the micro dungeon from this book last month at Good Games. Playing at Good Games meant we only had 3 hours. It was another frantic paced AD&D fest.

• Mallaga the half-orc assassin and Leif the halfling warrior, fresh from raiding the Caves of Chaos, recruited Sprite Zero the gnome illusionist and Aide Powers a human cleric of the dark and terrible god of carbonated beverages. They set off for the Unnamed Caves.
• Mallaga pointed out that most of their hirelings die. The gnome made the point that he and the cleric weren’t like most hirelings and should instead be treated as equal partners. Mallaga promised to try not to treat them like fodder.
• Arriving at the Unnamed Caves the players promptly gave the location a mundane name so that henceforth they would be known as something like Bunnings.
• The caves lay beneath a ruined tower. The surrounding woods were searched and a midden heap picked through. Goblin, ferret and rat droppings provided a clue to the foes that lay ahead.
• The first level was full of goblins dressed in ratskins. The gnome snuck ahead and was spotted by guards. He was lucky not to have been hit with a spear and killed in the first few rolls of the game. Scouting with a lowly mage is a rash move and one that Sprite would repeat.
• Goblins were killed, tricked with creative accents and overcome. The hobgoblin leader was blinded by a timely light spell. He was later coerced into helping the group telling them what lay ahead.
• The blinded hobgoblin boss lent the band his remaining forces which unbeknownst to him amounted to no more than two goblins and a giant ferret. Together they would assault the Beetle tribe in the level below.
• Their rat tribe allies perished in an early skirmish and the momentarily masterless giant ferret was then adopted by Sprite the gnome.
• The group sought the Beetle Tribes leaders and slaughtered them in the dungeon corridors. During the battle their adopted ferret battled the Beetle tribes own ferret in a duel to the death. Fortune favoured the party and their ferret prevailed.
• Leif and Mallaga were puzzled by the ease with which they dealt with their foe and sought greater danger and reward in the lower levels.
• On the way down they encountered a grizzled goblin survivalist who tried to set them on fire with burning oil. The party butchered him and gleefully took his oil.
• While exploring a lower crypt level the groups ferret raced ahead chasing rats. They were then set-upon by ghouls that burst from alcoves. Once dispatched party robbed some tombs and set off a trap or two.
• Heading ever deeper they dismantled an obvious gas trap before battling a manticore and its mate. The first manticore went down under a hail of flaming oil flasks <sigh>. The second beast put up more of a fight. Leif, normally a sturdy fellow, had been seriously mauled and was close to dying. I think the group has finally run out of burning oil!
• Low on everything including time the party headed out. Before doing so they went back to retrieve the blind hobgoblin and proceeded to prod him ahead to set off traps which he duly did. A blade trap severed his arms and he rapidly bled out. The group then placed his head (still glowing from the light spell) on a 10’ pole and used it to light their way. His severed arms were thrown ahead into rooms to see if a) they attracted monsters or b) set of traps. Even in death the hobgoblin leader found ways to be useful.
• On the way out the gnome spotted some unsafe ceilings to avoid. The group also ran into some zombies. The black hearted priest seized control of the undead through his turning attempt. His mindless slaves were pushed ahead and were promptly crushed by falling rocks before they got to do anything interesting.
• The band made it to the surface laden with treasure and XP. Success!

We managed to cram all of the above plus character creation in 3 hours. To keep things quick I write which monsters are in which room directly on the map. That way you can tell who is where and have them join in any battles at a glance. I heartily recommend Dyson’s Delve, it gives you just enough information to wing a memorable dungeon expedition and the maps are gold!

Oil shortage hits Keep on Borderlands

How could anyone hate Gelatinous Cubes?

Preparing to run a game can be a chore. Writing your own scenario takes time but in return the session will be easy to run with little need to look things up. Running a written adventure smoothly can be tricky depending on how the adventure is presented. Format is the key and here I find Paizo adventure paths too dense to run at the drop of a hat while a one-page dungeon format like Stonehell’s is perfect. Friday nights game was at short notice so I had to fall back on something pre-written. I printed an easy prep one-page dungeon winner, but when the game started Pete and Optimus Prime were eager to get back to B2 Keep on the Borderlands. The prior session had clearly left an impression. I know this classic adventure well so there was no drama running the monster bashing sandbox / petting zoo. Here’s what happened:

When searching a medusa most folk don't look for contraband amongst her hair.

• Last time I blogged about B2 I mentioned that I’d make hirelings a finite resource. This session I did and there was much grumbling and attempts to recruit stable boys. The fragility of level 1 made the players feel like they needed fodder. I think their current level and accompanying buffer of HP make disposable meat shields unnecessary. I also figured the guards and barkeep had warned folk against adventuring with the pair as all who did had not returned. In the end a jolly cleric, Darius Train (inventing names on the spot is fun!) signed up for a tour of duty.
• Optimus Prime never fails to apply logic to things. He mounted a convincing argument to recruit/bribe some guards into joining the group for their foray into the Caves of Chaos. I was tempted to have a charisma check determine the results but his arguments were convincing and he role-played it well enough that I ran with it. He did this last session convincing an Orc Warlord to lend him some warriors. Even when I reluctant to give them things the party eventually find a compelling way to convince me.
• Pete’s Halfling found a young stable boy to bully. Leif the halfling has a bad case of small man syndrome. The group is no longer welcome in the inn as a result.
• The keep was fleshed out. I hate starting adventures in town but given that the group spent a lot of time at the keep looking for hirelings and oil it made sense to give them the lay out. There was some discussion about looting the keep but this was dismissed as the defences looked too great.
• Oil was still very much desired by the players. I didn’t give them any as the few supply caravans that had reached the keep were not carrying supplies of oil. They got by with the flasks they had from last session using them to kill the majority of foes they faced in the caves. Medusa – doused in oil and burnt alive. Gelatinous cube – burnt by fire. Wight  - set alight while emerging from its sarcophagus.
• Optimus made the call ‘I bet it’s a Medusa’ while rescuing a ‘maiden’ whose upper half he could not see. He was right, promptly failed his save and turned to stone. It was for a limited time only as the medusa had a vial that would reverse the stoning effect. We had to puzzle out the hiding place for this vial, as the medusa had been a prisoner of a Chaotic Cult. In the end we figured she had hidden it amongst the nest of snakes that served as her hair.
• The hero’s finally cleared the Temple of Chaos section of the caves. They killed a medusa, torturer, wight and gelatinous cube before breaking in to the neighboring Gnoll’s caverns.
• The players weren’t keen on the Gelatinous Cube considering it a lame monster. I see it as iconic but agree it is a bit crap to fight. It’s AC is horrible, it tends to have few HP, dies quickly and it’s slow. It's not terribly useful though it did eat an ‘off duty’ man at arms.
• A secret door led to the Gnoll Chieftain’s room. Optimus' Half Orc assassin snuck in, with newly found elven boots, and struck. Once again the assassination check was failed. With the element of surprise the group all but slew the chieftain who promptly surrendered. Once again Optimus Prime surprised me by taking the Gnoll Chief's son as a hostage / front line fighter to ensure against Gnoll treachery. Brilliant stuff that reminded me of the taking of sons as hostages in medieval Europe. 

The great thing about running a site based adventure with no 'script' or planned course of events is that you never know how a session will work out. Its the surprises along the way that make role-playing great fun.