Donjon - Clinton Sunday (Sep 15, 2002)

[Zak Arntson]

Alright, I've been putting off the Actual Play post for too long. Last Sunday I played Donjon with Clinton, Justin and Alan.

Alan played a movie-styled Conan the Barbarian type. I played Wagner's Kane. Justin played a Druid/Ranger blend. (You can see my character somewhere here: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3479

We played the Fungus Among Us from the actual book, so spoilers ahead (not like any two Donjon sessions go the same way).

Play started out in a bar. Of course! So right from the start, we are informed that an emerald has been stolen by somebody from the Crimson Forest. We immediately start using our skills. Using our facts, the Barbarian spies someone watching us from across the way and my Brooding Warrior senses a magical air about the stranger.

System: The facts allowed Alan to sense this potential threat, and me to determine that it was magical.

Already we had a mysterious, magical stranger. We didn't know whether he was friendly or not. The stranger made my beer mug cold, which I perceived as a threat. Justin remarked on the side that he made my beer frosty! So it turns out he was just being kind.

The mayor (no longer a stranger) gives us the skinny on the emerald. I wind up rolling well enough on my Occult Lore to determine that the emerald is actually the remnant of an ancient fertility god. You know, kind of like Shub Niggurath or something.

So we're off into the forest! Our first encounter was with a tree. Turns out this tree was vibrating (I can't remember whether that was Clinton or Alan with a fact). I used Sense Magic and got two successes: There's a dryad, and something naughty's going on (heck, the tree's vibrating).

Clinton runs with that and we see a pair of bloodgoblins chuckling away while trying to grope the poor dryad. Without hesitation we attack! An awesome fight ensues with parts of one goblin landing at the dryad's feet, and another turning into a fine mist (if I remember right). She's very happy and points out the glint of treasure up in a tree.

Yoinks! Time for more skills! The Barbarian Climbs (skill) up the tree, and does fine until the very end. He fumbles the roll pretty bad and falls, bringing the nest down on top of him, and both go sliding down a hill! Time for magic!

I prepare an Unspeakably Awful Helper spell, but Justin rolls well enough to create a big Wall of Thorns (or maybe just a Wall, I can't remember) to block the slide. Barbarian saved and treasure found!

System: Only the Barbarian discovered something neat, Boots of Initiative. The other two PCs wound up with coppers (i.e., bupkis).

System: The magic system makes me want to cast spells all the time. Even for no reason. Even after the Barbarian was saved, I was tempted to continue casting the Helper spell.

The dryad points the way to the cave. On our way, there's a river! And a fallen tree! We make it across, no problem. Kind of a weird obstacle. In any case, the Druid/Ranger has, by this point, summoned a little bramble elemental. It's about knee-height and soon earns the moniker, Stumpy. Stumpy soon became our mascot.

We reach the cave and lo! Giant poison frogs attack! Combat is weighed heavily in our favor when Stumpy wades into 'em. Stumpy manages to kill most of 'em, I cast Befriend Batrachian, but I don't think it was successful. In any case, the frogs turn to paste.

From there we search further and are attacked by weird humanoid spore clusters! A short fight later and we come across some murky underground river. Somebody rolls enough facts to determine that the water never goes above our heads. Phew! I cast Corpulent Batrachian Guide which summons a bloated toad to guide us through the water.

We make it to the Mushroom King. Hooray! Combat was super, duper fast, what with Stumpy's thorny fists and the Druid/Rangers overwhelming magic. I do remember my Warrior trying to scramble up a slippery heap and falling down, with the Barbarian performing a mighty charge past me to fight. Funny!

And voila! Dead mushroom king, dead spore clusters, dead everything! We win!

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Observations: The fact system is amazing, the magic system (for Primary Ability mages, anyway) is overpowered, and combat seemed too easy. Clinton mentioned that this isn't so much of a problem with higher-level campaigns. Perhaps the game should start with 3rd or higher level characters as a default? In any case, I'd like to see things balanced more.

This is counterbalanced by how freaking cool the fact system makes every encounter. At one point I rolled enough successes to kill the goblin with 5 extra successes. After a quick count on my own body, I discovered I could use a fact to separate each limb! So a head, legs, arms and torso all fell at the dryad's feet. How fun!

Lastly, is a module needed? I would highly suggest the adventure-system found in octaNe: Against the Reich (is that out yet, Jared?). I'm guessing with a simple setup (like the stolen emerald, evidence of fungus and the crimson forest) and enough facts, the adventure would write itself in no time.

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What makes Donjon great is the fact system. I love this system! I am planning on running Donjon for my own Indie Gaming Monday. Here're the modifications to the basic system I am going to make:

+ Magic as a primary ability is too overpowered. I'm going to increase the difficulty for casting magic (it's going to be a medium or hard task, I think). Any other suggestions?

+ Enemies go back to an old-school Basic D&D where they aren't fully statted. They'll consist of a few stats (like Attack & Defense), some Flesh Wounds and special attacks/defenses. As a player, I didn't ever decide to reduce a monster's stats (instead of Flesh Wounds), so I always opted for Flesh Wounds. I think if a monster has a special ability, you should be able to do damage to that ability (instead of an ability-related stat).

+ I found combat (what with active dodging, etc.) a little confusing, as a player. I will reread this and either simplify the rules or write up a little summary hand-out for my players.

[Zak Arntson]

Holy Crap! I just read the Donjon rulebook and noticed how completely tiny the adventure is (all of three pages of actual adventure). It's very similar to Against the Reich, so my bad.

In fact, it speaks real well of the game that I thought there was more adventure written in the book than there was!

And after reading the book, combat is fairly straightforward. I'm going to write up a player cheat sheet (and a GM cheat sheet, too) for a possible Monday Planescape-Donjon game.