Acolyte of Death... a session report

 is the name of my current Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery adventure. One of the players has been so kind to write up a session report of the action so far. Here it is as I like having as many records of a session as I possibly can get.

Acolyte of Death

Hardon Kumar, unlike his father, is unlucky in games of chance. Sure, he wins a bit from time to time but nowhere near enough to cover his losses. And his recent losses have been substantial enough that those he owes have decided to get their money another way and arranged to sell his niece into slavery. This obviously didn't go down too well with his long-suffering Uncle. His Uncle in no uncertain terms told Hardon to return to him his daughter or to expect to find a price on his head. So, Hardon ropes his old friend Frisco Shan's, the fabled hunter into his half-baked rescue plan, and together they set out to rescue his put upon niece.

They trace the kidnappers back to a half-ruined town in the ash wastes. Twenty or so crumbling buildings, half buried, only half seemed to be currently occupied. An inn, a ruined temple and what looks like an old fort seem to be the only substantial buildings remaining. The town's name is Fanwier or something similar and after getting a hostile reception from the few townsfolk encountered outside they made their way to the dismal looking Inn known according to its swinging sign as the Twilight Inn. The inn is well named as it's ill-lit, full of smoke and unpleasant odors. Behind the rough looking barman are shelving which holds filthy glass jars in which human heads float. A few drinks were had and a couple of questions were asked. It seems the man we were looking for is indeed Varaak Ironthorn the local taxman who seems to moonlight as a bandit. The dynamic duo are interrupted by a low born Susrahian mercenary who tries to start trouble but luckily is soon dealt with. Unfortunately, he seems to have been working for Ironthorn so hearing angry voices approaching it was time to flee with what little information they had gathered.

They flee and barely manage to avoid the pursuing mercenaries, and they head towards the ruins of the Tower of Eternity, the possible location of Hardons kidnapped niece. It seems that she was sold onto this unpleasant sounding man by the name of Aulric. Hardon was sure that if he could just talk to this fellow, it could all be sorted out, Frisco wasn't too sure about that, but you never know. After hours of travelling across the barren ash filled landscape they make it to a vale with the black stone ruins of a tower, surely this is the place described to them.

Frisco was able to confirm that this was indeed their target as she noticed the tacks of a cart pulled by oxen heading towards a small outbuilding to the side of the ruined tower. Stealthily approaching the buildings, they were surprised to hear nothing apart from the groans and snorts of the oxen in the small building next to the tower. There didn't seem to be a way into the main body of the tower but they did discover a crude tunnel that led underneath its ruined bulk. The tunnel was dark and noisome and there was a strong smell of animals underlined with the smell of their dung. They explored the nearby chambers, not finding much apart from a pile of human offal and in a side chamber a box containing several glass vials. A mix of red and green liquids, what they did is currently a mystery. They then encountered a lot of armed, armored apes who were oddly annoyed. Much bloodshed and heroic combat happened but at last they managed to fight their way back out but at a terrible cost, Handsome Hardon was nearly beaten to death and was currently unconscious, the sound of his ribs grinding against each other as he was dragged back into the moonlight and away from that grim tower.

Even though it may look like I have mangled the spelling of some of the names I am in fact using the way they would be spelt in beautiful Laksha. All praise Simatala God of the bloody white jade altar.

Lying abandoned on the ash plains Hardon experienced a fever dream. He was so close to entering his god's blood-flecked maw but instead of falling into that black abyss he saw a humanoid figure seemingly made of stone walk towards him holding a large copper bowl in his hands. This bowl smoked and produced a hellish smell as amongst its hot coals Hardon could make out burning entrails. He began begging for mercy, saying he was too young to die and that he had things to do. And this is where the new hero enters...Genn a mysterious stranger consumed with thoughts of bloody revenge onto Ironthorn and his men. They had cast envious eyes onto Genn’s farm and in one bloody night had claimed it in fire and blood. Leaving Genn half mad and alone in the wastes seeking his vengeance. It seems that Frisco had disappeared into the surrounding darkness but not before leaving Hardon by a weak fire and it was the light from this as well as the painful murmurs from Hardon that drew him to the pitiful camp. After quickly scanning the area to make sure that it wasn't some elaborate trap, he being a man of honor in these dishonest times he attempted to bring Hardon to consciousness, if only to find out why he was alone out here in the middle of nowhere. He managed to wake Hardon and after several attempts he got the gist of what the hell was going on. He had seen the stone figure briefly as well before it had disappeared somehow but decided to keep that to himself for now. Any further questions had to wait as they were interrupted by the sounds of hooves and the angry shouting of men. It seemed like Ironthorn and his men hadn't given up on their search and had now arrived at the tower demanding answers and Aulric. They were not met with offers of refreshments or hospitality and after sending two men into the tunnels three apes yelled out their challenges.

Hardon and Genn lay hidden nearby in a small fold in the ground and watched in fascinated horror as these two groups began to rip into each other. The battle was hard fought with heads and organs crushed and blood flying out everywhere, turning the dark ash beneath the bellowing combatants into a thick sickly soup. The men managed to down one of the apes but at the cost of most of their lives. Finally, only a few men remained. One looked at the odds and wisely fled, whipping his horse madly in his desperation to get away. Ironthorn though bravely stood his ground, his horse no longer an option after it had been raked by an ape’s vicious claws. It now lay thrashing madly on the ground and no good to Ironthorn. So, he yelled out to his gods and with his sword in hand charged into the two remaining apes. They welcomed his cries with bellows of their own and with a crash the last battle was joined. Genn was tempted to send a stone into Ironthorn via his sling but decided that that wasn't necessary and may reveal their position to the apes and that looked like a bad idea as with horrendous cries they ripped Ironthorn apart. The wastes returned to silence after the shocking noise of battle. The apes began to rip the bodies apart occasionally biting chunks out of choice parts as they went. They then picked up anything that looked valuable including Ironthorns sword. The weak light causing the large ruby on its hilt to gleam red. Clean-up finished they dragged their dead companion back down into the noisome tunnels with only the occasional huff and snort to mark their passing until they were consumed by the shadows. Genn and Hardon looked at each other, shrugged and began to slowly make their way down to what was left of the ten men hoping to find something of value if only that was Ironthorn's skull.

 

 

Example of Flexible Use with USR Specilisms

Specialisms in USR are essentially custom mechanics for the game completely player generated. This differs from a traditional skill system common in most tabletop roleplaying games (ttrpgs). Where a skill list is restrictive a specialism is permissive. A player creating their first (U)nbelievably (S)imple (R)oleplaying PC would be served well deciding how their character would most likely break the game rules to achieve results as any other factor in initial character concept. But this is easier said than done. 

What follows is an example of lifting game mechanics from other game systems and turning them into useful, thematic specialisms for your PC (Player Character). Zenobia is a sword and sorcery ttrpg from Zozer Games. It mimics Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery's combat procedure closely with its use of simultaneous action resolution and the difference in attack totals derives the damage done by a successful attack. This means any of the games combat mechanics, buffs, feats, tactics, etc. should easily translate into USR terms. For example:

"Saving Combat Results As a tactical option the winner of a combat round can opt to save some or even all his combat result to increase the level of any injuries inflicted in a subsequent round. This simulates the maneuver called a feint where the advantage is gained but not exploited immediately. Feinting requires the attacker to have uninjured legs since quite a bit of rapid maneuvering is assumed. These saved result points are instantly forfeited when the character loses a round of combat. This makes the tactic a risky one; you dare not save them too long - keep your feint stringing along. Note that combat result points saved in this way only add to the injury type available and are never added to the Combat Attack roll. Non-Adventurers (most lowly NPCs and extras, in other words) are not able to carry over their combat results in this way."

This is straight out of the Zenobia rulebook. As a USR Sword & Sorcery Specialism it might look like this:

Feint +A.  Save some or all combat result to increase the level of injurie in a subsequent round.

Notice there is no positive Die Roll Modifier (DRM) listed in the Specialisms' description, just the Attribute it is tied to. In this case, the character's Action Attribute. This indicates this Specialism modifies the basic rules in some way instead of the normal +2 to the Attribute roll itself. In the normal case of most Specialisms the application of a DRM to increase a degree of success makes most sense. The PC has Melee +2 Action then any melee attack will be 2 points of success greater than would normally be expected. But in the above case, the rules from Zenobia are allowing the player to change failure into success in future, later rounds. A sharp departure from how most players would approach Specialism design.

This does require more rules for governance of effects as unintended consequences manifest from these adjustments. But this labor is mostly solved by the games mechanical descriptions already provided. As always, the Crypt Keeper, the game's referee, has final say on the design of any Specialism. I think the effort is necessary to take advantage of all the freedom a rules-lite game system provides players. 

For example, 

Feint +A.  Save some or all combat result to increase the level of injurie in a subsequent round. Feinting requires the attacker to have uninjured legs. Saved result points are instantly lost when the character loses a round of combat. 

It is this free roaming poaching Trollish Delver's USR game was designed for. Cobble useful mechanics and skills from other existing roleplaying books (which you no doubt have many) and adding them into the USR tool kit. This is the brilliance of USR, as a base for the rules of your game. It allows you to build new concepts out of your existing game library.

Quick NPC Stats for USR

 Book Three Worlds of Adventure includes a bestiary for Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery. Fully-stat'ed animals and monsters the Crypt Keeper can use to quickly populate their Sword & Sorcery world.

Even though Unbelievably Simple Roleplaying is a simple roleplaying game, crafting and creating NPCs does require much supposition and guesswork on the part of the Crypt Keeper. Rules-lite roleplaying systems, if they have one thing in common, is the expectation the game master will do much of the world building and additional rules creation as fits the genre. This makes relevant supplements written for the obscure, niche games are doubly valuable. 

But if you are not sitting down to write a book for other referees to use you can save yourself time with useful shorthand for the statistics and mechanics of the game. Here is the shorthand I devised for Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery;

• One Attribute die instead three. Instead of listing all three attributes of Action, Wits, and Ego just assign one die type to cover the spread. For example, listing d8 instead of Action d8, Wits d6, Ego d10 as would normally be written.
• Pick Hits, don't roll for them. Whatever you think the NPC should have is what they should have. 
• List attack and defense as briefly as possible. For example, +2 A means any roll against the Action Attribute receives a +2. Or +2 short sword. This means the wielder applies this bonus only when using this specific weapon. 

Therefore, a mad Battle-Ape could look like this: 

Gorilla Guard d8/7, +2 A when Berserk, +2 DR. 

What is left out is the headings for three attributes and Hits. We use a d8 for everything, and the creature has 7 hits. Any "physical" actions it takes receives a +2 if the beast is in an enraged state and the triggering events would be known by you, the Crypt Keeper. And the +2 damage resistance from both hide and armor is not detailed in full. What is here is enough to run an encounter with these creatures whenever they come up. 

The Alchemist's Folly

Kael pressed his back against the cold stone wall, listening to the guttural hooting echoing through the alchemist's tower. Beside him, Mira checked her throwing knives for the third time, her dark eyes reflecting the sickly green luminescence seeping from under the laboratory door.

"I don't like this," she whispered. "Torven was supposed to meet us an hour ago."

"Torven's probably dead," Kael replied, adjusting the leather bracer that concealed his lockpicks. "Along with everyone else foolish enough to collect Magister Vohn's bounty."

The bounty had seemed straightforward enough: enter the alchemist's abandoned tower, retrieve his research journals, collect five hundred gold crowns. But abandoned was not the word Kael would use now. The tower was very much occupied.

A crash from below made them both freeze. Heavy footfalls on stone, then silence.

"They're hunting," Mira breathed.

Kael had seen one of the creatures from the courtyard before they'd climbed in through the third-floor window. It had been massive, easily eight feet tall, with shoulders like a bull and arms thick as tree trunks. But it was the intelligence in its eyes that had chilled him. This was no mindless beast.

"Vohn was experimenting with transformation elixirs," Kael said, piecing it together. "The city guard said he'd been buying apes from the exotic traders. He must have been trying to create soldiers."

"Well, he succeeded." Mira peered around the corner toward the laboratory door, which hung askew on broken hinges. "Question is, can we get past them?"

Through the doorway, Kael could see overturned tables, shattered glass, and the scattered pages of ruined books. Claw marks gouged the wooden benches. Whatever had happened here, Vohn had lost control of his creations.

A shape moved in the shadows of the laboratory. Massive, deliberate. Then another behind it.

"Two inside," Mira reported. "Both between us and wherever Vohn kept his journals."

Kael studied the room's layout. A balcony overlooked it from the floor above, and a heavy chandelier hung from iron chains over the center. Alchemical apparatus lined the walls, including several large glass vessels still bubbling with colored liquids.

"I have an idea," he said. "But you're not going to like it."

"I already don't like it."

"We need a distraction. Something to get them out of that room."

Mira's hand went to the small pouch at her belt. "I have two smoke bombs left."

"Perfect. Throw one down the main stairwell. When they go to investigate, we slip into the laboratory, grab what we can, and get out through the balcony window."

"And if they don't take the bait?"

"Then we improvise."

Mira gave him a flat look but moved silently toward the stairwell. Kael watched the laboratory entrance, counting heartbeats. One of the apes moved past the doorway, knuckles scraping the floor, its enhanced musculature rippling under patchy fur. It wore the remnants of a leather harness, probably from Vohn's attempts to control it.

The smoke bomb clattered down the stone steps with a pop and a hiss. Thick gray smoke billowed upward.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then came a deafening roar that shook dust from the ceiling. Heavy footsteps thundered toward the stairs—not two sets, but three. A third ape emerged from the laboratory, this one bearing a wicked scar across its face and wielding a broken table leg like a club.

"Go!" Mira hissed.

They sprinted for the laboratory as the apes descended the stairs in pursuit of the phantom intruder. Kael leaped over an overturned chair and began searching the debris. Papers everywhere, most torn or stained with chemicals. Mira rifled through a chest in the corner while keeping watch on the door.

"Here!" Kael found a leather journal wedged under a collapsed bookshelf. The symbol on its cover matched Magister Vohn's seal. He stuffed it into his pack and grabbed two more nearby that looked intact.

A roar, much closer now. The apes had discovered the ruse.

"Time to go!" Mira was already at the balcony door, forcing it open with her dagger. She swore. "It's locked from the outside!"

Footsteps pounded up the stairs. Kael looked around desperately. The chandelier. The alchemical vessels. The balcony above.

"Up there!" He pointed to the interior balcony. A rope used for hoisting equipment still hung from its railing. "We climb!"

The first ape appeared in the doorway, scarred face twisted in rage. It spotted them immediately and charged, table leg raised high. Kael grabbed a glass beaker of violet liquid from the nearest table and hurled it. The vessel shattered against the creature's chest, and the liquid began to smoke and hiss. The ape howled, clawing at its burning flesh.

Mira was already climbing, her lithe form scaling a bookshelf to reach the rope. Kael followed, hauling himself up as the second ape entered the room. This one was smarter. It grabbed the bookshelf and shook it violently.

Kael jumped, caught the rope, and scrambled upward as the bookshelf crashed down. The ape leaped after him with terrifying agility, its massive hand closing around his ankle.

Mira's knife flashed. The blade sank into the creature's wrist and it released Kael with a shriek. He pulled himself onto the balcony as Mira helped drag him over the railing.

The third ape appeared below, pointing up at them. All three began climbing—using the furniture, the walls, the very architecture of the tower itself. They moved with horrifying coordination, their enhanced bodies making them far more capable than natural apes.

"The window!" Mira ran for the balcony's exterior window. This one opened easily. Cold night air rushed in.

But escape meant a three-story drop to the courtyard below. Kael looked around frantically. The rope they'd climbed. The chandelier chains. An idea formed.

"Cut the chandelier!" he shouted, drawing his sword and hacking at the thick rope secured to the balcony railing. "When it falls, it'll hit those chemical vessels!"

Mira understood instantly. She sheathed her knife, drew a small hand axe, and began chopping at the chandelier's chain where it anchored to the balcony wall. The metal links parted slowly.

The apes reached the balcony level, pulling themselves up from below. The scarred one, still smoking from the chemical burn, was in the lead.

The last chain link separated. The chandelier plummeted, its iron frame crashing directly into the cluster of bubbling alchemical vessels below. Glass exploded. Liquids mixed. For a heartbeat, nothing happened.

Then the laboratory erupted in flame.

The explosion sent all of them sprawling. Kael felt the heat wash over him as he grabbed Mira and pulled her toward the window. Below, the apes' roars turned to screams as fire engulfed the chamber.

"The roof!" Mira pointed upward. A wooden beam extended from the window to the tower's peaked roof. It was narrow, precarious, but it led to the exterior.

They climbed out onto the beam as smoke poured from the window behind them. The night wind whipped at their clothes. Behind them, the entire tower was now burning, flames licking from windows on every floor.

The beam led to the roof's edge, where a decorative spire stood. And beyond that, the stone wall of the adjacent building, perhaps ten feet away.

"Please tell me you're thinking what I'm thinking," Mira said.

"Jump or burn. Easy choice."

They ran along the beam, footsteps sure despite the smoke and heat. At the edge, they leaped together into the darkness, arms windmilling for balance. Kael hit the adjacent roof hard, rolling to absorb the impact. Mira landed beside him with cat-like grace.

They lay there for a moment, breathing hard, watching Vohn's tower burn against the night sky. From within came one final, agonized roar before the roof collapsed inward.

"The journals?" Mira asked.

Kael patted his pack. "Three of them. Singed but readable."

"Five hundred crowns?"

"Split two ways." Kael grinned despite the pain. "Not bad for a night's work."

"Not bad?" Mira laughed, the sound slightly manic. "We were nearly killed by enhanced apes in a burning tower!"

"That's what makes it worth five hundred crowns." Kael pulled himself to his feet, offering her a hand. "Come on. Let's collect from Magister Vohn before he hears about this and decides to renegotiate."

They disappeared into the shadows of the city rooftops, leaving the blazing tower behind them as the watch bells began to ring across the midnight streets.

In his pack, Vohn's journals remained safe. And in their margins, scrawled in the alchemist's desperate hand, were the words that would have warned them all: The formula works too well. They're learning. They're organizing. Gods help us, they're planning.

But that discovery would have to wait for another night.