D&D Cave C

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This play was started on Christmas Day 2025, and conclused on ???.

Granpa and the nephew continue our D&D Starter Kit campaign, with the nephew learning the DM ropes. Having successfuly(?) completed Cave A and Cave B we are off to Cave C.

Some highlights so far:

  • No traps at entrance, but we cannot read the runes inscribed around the entrance.

  • First room on the left (west) going in is empty of life, but apparently has a burnt out summoning circle.

  • The second room is to the east at the end of a hall and turns out to be a library. The books which are shelved turn out to be of no value, but the “Iron Tome” open on a table has some information on some sort of “demon bell.” We took this book with us.

  • Going up the hallway across from the entrance we get attacked by a carrion monster, which is where we left off for now.

We plan to pick it up later.

2025-12-27

Picking up where we left off:

  • the Carrion Crawler chased us out of Cave C, after dealing us some damage.

  • After resting up a bit, we rushed back in to try the door that the crawler was guarding. The wizard put it to sleep, we opened the door, and found a nasty thing in a room, with a flying sword to menace us. We shut the door and left.

  • We decide to go to the keep and buy some stuff, meeting kobolds on the trail. I cold cocked one, another ran away, and I intimidated a third one to run away as well.

  • At the keep we had to sweet talk the guards, but we got in.

  • At Trader’s, I get a rapier and shield.

  • At Provisioner’s, we get anti-toxin, healing potion, and a healing kit.

We left off at the Guild House for this session. We’ll pick it up there in a new game.

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.