Gorgon Bones

O(cean)D&D - Session 2 Session Report

I had the lovely privilege of playing in spuk's Ocean D&D game yesterday, and here is a quick recap and thoughts on it.

Featuring

Session Recap

A new day in the Reef brings with it new chances for exploration, but also new problems. More specifically, a trio of crown-of-thorns starfish are slowly making their way towards the reef. Blubbub, with his developed communication skills attempts to converse with the starfish in their slow and methodical movement and gleans what they are on about - they are heading to the reef in order to dissolve and eat it.

This won't do! The party does have a few days to find a solution (those starfish are really slow), and heads out in search for help. They quickly find it in a meandering gaggle of sea urchins. They too hate starfish (a recurring theme in the ocean floor as we will find out) and are willing to help us fend them off, in exchange for getting them kelp.

Slight problem - sea urchins are indeed rather prickly and the group doesn't quite know how to move them in an appropriately speedy manner over to the path of the starfish. As plans are pondered and debated a group of small black clownfish fratboys (in a more literal sense, as they are indeed all brothers) approach the group looking for help with finding a sturdy and flat something for their momma to lay more eggs.

The two groups decide to work together as the plan is ironed out. They will head south back to the giant clam that was defeated in the previous session, and use it's large shell to transport the sea urchins to their defensive location, and in exchange for their help the clownfish will get to bring it home to their momma. The next day, as the plan is executed a majestic and terrifying shape appears in the sky, a whale swimming above the group. An omen of...something.

Swimming in familiar waters the group makes quick progress to the clam shell, finding a group of crabs scraping meat off it still. Magnifico, with his magnificent and glittery shell is already friendly and familiar with these crabs and rallies them to the anti-starfish cause. Together everyone - the party, the crabs and the clownfish all work on moving the shell back north into the sandbank with the sea urchins. However progress is slow (it's a very big clam shell, ok?) and Blubbub is worried that the starfish might getting too close to the reef. He decided to split from the group and go distract them.

However on the day he does the sea turns stormy and dark, and swimming in waters he is not super familiar with (there is a lot of kelp around), Blubbub finds himself lost and heading in the wrong direction. Worse still, four large and imposing shapes appear near him. In a panic he tries to camouflage himself, but clearly he was already spotted. Strangely, the shapes are not just friendly but also able to communicate with him.

A council of sea turtles, large and wise, tell the little octopus not to worry and that they are here looking for the reef. He explains to them that he can lead them back to the reef, as it is his home, and on the way there gives them a rundown of the situation the party had found themselves in, along with the general "existing in a community in one place" experiment that the Reef has been trying out. The Turtle Council are fascinated by the whole thing, and agree to help. Just as the rest of the group drag the shell into the sand, Blubbub appears with the heaviest of heavy cavalry, riding on the back of one of the sea turtles.

The clownfish are given the clamshell for their help, the sea urchins are loaded onto the back of the turtles and later dropped in front of the starfish and the Turtle Council itself goes into the Reef to commune with it and its inhabitants. With their ancient wisdom, they do tell the group that the urchins might have a fighting spirit, but likely won't be able to truly push back the starfish invaders. They suggest that a natural predator be found instead.

The group remember the snail they met in the previous session and through failed attempts at camouflage and taunting it via bonks to the shell, the group finally manage to get the thing to follow them. As soon as it gets close to the starfish it senses its natural pray and devours the things, saving the reef.

Thoughts and Observations

This was a lovely hour and a half long session of spuk' off-kilter experiment of an ocean-based D&D. I highly recommend looking through his player document as this I think is a beautiful implementation of the mechanics of OD&D in a rather radical different context.

The session itself was mostly marked by a high number of random encounters, coupled with very good reaction rolls from basically all of them (even the starfish were chill, their goals simply not aligning with that of the party). With the party being rather squish (Blubb had only but 1 hit point!) direct fighting was out of the question for the session, the starfish being 4 HD each and very spiky. So diplomacy, faction play and general exploration were instead employed and to great effect.

I really loved this session, and I look forward to the next one this Sunday. There is a charm to the alien world of the sea, especially since beyond small elements like communicating animals and nanites, there is little fantastical in the actual game. These are not anthropomorphic beings, there are no merfolk to be found. These are actual fish and other sea creatures trying to do this stuff. I will say this, the general lack of itemization I find very refreshing and stripped down - since nobody can really carry much beyond one or two things, you are left to rely on your natural abilities, player skill and negotiation to solve problems. Plus, it makes character generation extra quick as there is no item shopping to deal with, easily the slowest part of making any OD&D character.

The classes themselves I find wonderful and intriguing. The Octopod is probably the single best Thief class I've seen in OSR games - they are weak and squishy, yet the extra arms allow for great offensive capacity and plenty of shenanigans. I hope to explore more of that as Blubbub (now dubbed Inkognito after he leveled up) grows stronger and more in control of his own semi-autonomous limbs.

The Hermit Crab is a fairly straightforward tank, a sort of knightly or even paladin-like class of honor, chivalry and duel over better shells. Also the only class with the capacity to grow infinitely beyond the unlikely to be reached higher levels of experience. They are sturdy and durable and I am glad the party has at least two around at any point.

Axolotls are the magic-users of the setting with their nanite powers, dexterous hands and inability to really fight in any meaningful way. Not much to say there, as I'd need more experience with them.

The Stomatopod, a.k.a. the pistol shrimp, is a curious class. It is small enough that it can't do normal attacks, instead using its powerful punch ability to stun enemies, represented by the ever versatile Cleric Turn Undead table. These, beyond the Octopod, are the ones I am most interested in seeing in action, as they are effectively a fighter as well, but a more aggressive one, though paradoxically one unable to deal direct damage. I envision them as a supporting auxiliary to the hermit crab front liners.

I think the whole Ocean D&D thing has a ton of potential for a great and wonderful campaign, I love the emphasis on exploration XP as well as finding meat, curios and obviously defeating enemies (it is still D&D after all). This was one of the freshest and most interesting RPG sessions I've played in a long while!

#ODnD #OSR #Session Repor