Session 1: Welcome to Hommlet

PCs:

Urikas the elf, F1/MU1

Samwich Baggins, halfling, T1

SESSION REPORT:

    At Fireseek 11th of 576 CY, Urikas and Samwich arrived at Hommlet. In the local inn they heard rumours of giant animals frequenting the nearby woods way more often than usual. They decide to go and investigate. They will also take with them a few locals that are willing to help. Elmo the ranger, Spugnoir the magic-user and Furnok the thief. 

    Thanks to the ranger's tracking skills, they manage to find out that the animals are coming from an old Moathouse, that 10 years ago was used by the cults of the Temple of Elemental Evil to control the area. At the gates of the moathouse they are attacked by 6 giant frogs. They managed to beat them, however the party was seriously wounded in the process, so they decided to retreat and come back the next day.

    Indeed, at Fireseek 12th they return to the Moathouse. They enter without any problems and Samwich decides to investigate the small watch tower that is close to the gates. Here he is attacked by a large spider, however the assistance of the rest of the party saved his life. Elmo used his knowledge to extract poison from the spider. 

    After that, the party entered the main hall and opened the first door they saw. Unfortunately behind that door, there were 9 bandits ready to fight them. After a tough battle that led to Samwich falling unconsious and mainly thanks to Urikas' sleep spell, they overcame their opponents, loot them and took them back as prisoners. 

LOOT AND KILLS:

Loot:

1 gem worth 100 gp

1 necklace worth 200 gp

14 pp

122 sp

1 gem worth 100 gp

1 ivory box worth 150 gp

71 cp

Kills:

6 giant frogs

1 huge spider

8 brigands

1 sergeant

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE SESSION:

    When I created the discord server many people responded. It looked like we would have a party of 3 or 4. Unfortunately many players cancelled, mainly due to the time differences and other endeavors so we started gaming with 2 PCs. Despite that, the session was a lot of fun.

    I decided to run it at Greyhawk, although I didn't know much about the setting. I remember reading the intro to the players about Hommlet, how it was close to Verbobonc etc and felt like an idiot. Most area names that I was reading looked made up (to be fair, they were), however after a while you get used to them, as with most things. I put a lot of effort to learn the village and its inhabitants and it helped me a lot because I had less to prep in future sessions.

    As far as rules go, to generate the characters we used 3d6 down the line. It was the way that the OSRIC rules suggested, although in the future I would change that. During battles, I mainly used a b/x approach, having them declare intentions, then roll initiative and then fight. No segments were used and you didn't have to close in for combat or charge. If you are close enough, you could just hit your enemies' ugly faces. I didn't feel confident enough to run combat RAW yet. Regarding the XP that they take, I will give them 1 XP for every gold coin of a loot that they get back to town, plus the XP that they take from the slain enemies, so basically I will run it RAW.

    The players liked the session and interacted with many NPCs. They had their fun and they were ready to continue. So next week, they would march forth against the Moathouse once again!