Gorgon Bones

O(cean)D&D - Session 3 Session Report

The party fight against the dishonorable Shellmaster, and Inkognito (formerly Blubbub) the Octopod is slain in the battle, his story told here for all of the Reef to remember.

Featuring

Session Recap

Another day in the Reef brings with it bad weather (an omen of what is to come). The Triton Snail is still patrolling the southern edge of the reef, looking for more starfish. The group of intrepid underwater adventurers decide to head out north instead, and learn more about what lays beyond their reef.

It's sand. Mostly it's just sand. The group see a school of 16 large blue fish approach them, but manage to evade the encounter, before spending the next day searching through the hex for more interesting things. Instead what they found was another triton snail. This one unfortunately was a lot more aggressive than the one they lured last time, and before the group could disengage from it its paralyzing touch claimed Wooper the axolotl's life.

Continuing north the group found yet more sand, but hidden among it they also found strange smooth pillars and heavy stone plates, all covered in engravings. As Inkognito rummaged around to try and figure out a way to crack things open he found floating green sparkles coming from a rhizome, which the party tried to pull out and bring back to the Reef, but which dissolved as soon as they dig it up.

The engraving on the pillers indicated something further to the north, but the group could feel that this was a longer expedition than they wished to embark on, so instead they returned to the reef to tell everyone of what they found, and consult with the visiting Turtle Council.

Any plans for future exploration however get immediately put on hold as the next day a storm passes through the sea, damaging the Reef and worse still scattering its denizens in the nearby waters. Chocolatl, Mantle-of-Cloud and Davy Crabcakes (who just jumped into the whirlpool voluntarily) are scattered away from the Reef. The rest of the group head out to look for them, and the two parties meet up east of the Reef, near a rocky outcrop in the sand.

That rocky outcrop turns out to the domain and stronghold of a large hermit crab calling itself The Shellmaster, on account of both it's truly magnificent and reinforced shell, but also the numerous other shells it appears to horde and collect. Bay challenges the Shellmaster to the customary duel, which does not go well for the little crab, but as Davy is looking around a realization is made. The Shellmaster is clearly dishonorable and a villain, as the crab code (about which all hermit crabs are quite serious about!) states that a crab must only have the best shell it can get, and must leave, or better yet pass along, any lesser shells to other hermit crabs to start them on their way.

This excessive hoarding, gaudy display of wealth and consumption is deeply offensive to the hermit crabs in the party. Inkognito, for his part, mostly just wants to smash shit up, and so scooping up some clam shells descends upon the Shellmaster, landing numerous devastating hits. Davy Crabcakes and Bay also have a go at the larger crab, with Creel Crusher trying to get a good opening for a stunning blow, but fails to impact the imposing target.

The Shellmaster, after being staggered by the aggression of the party, manages to use its mighty claws and rip Inkognito in half, ripping the soft flesh of the octopod, but this display of dishonor (turning one's back to other crabs in order to attack a soft and squishy target) turns out to be his last, as Davy Crabcakes lands the final blow, slaying the villain.

The group mourn Inkognito's passing, and Davy gives the Shellmaster's fabulous and metal-hardened shell to Bay Taking the Place, as the other crab had been the one to first challenge the lord. For his own Davy takes very good looking shell from the collection as well, and as the party return to the Reef they spread the word of Inkognito's deeds, and direct the young hermit crabs of the community to the bounty of shells, starting many on their path of valor and violence. Inspired by the octopod's deeds, a stomatopod named Chili con Carnage realizes that there is much potential outside of the Reef to go fuck shit up and get fame for itself, and joins up with the party.

Thoughts and Observations

Ok, I know the recap is a bit lengthy, but goddamn what an absolute banger of a session this was. In keeping with the OD&D abbreviation, the session involved very classic OD&D Wilderness Exploration tropes - large numbers of enemies all appearing at once, a way too powerful of a foe (that triton snail I think has 6 HD?), and of course, the finishing touch of running into the stronghold and territory of a lord (In this case, the equivalent of an Anti-Paladin) and having to deal with their bullshit.

Spuk continues to run a wonderful game, with whimsy and charm. Sure a lot of those come from the context and setting, but his delivery is also great.

I absolutely loved this session. Last one was good, with a lot of swimming around back and forth to find solutions to the problem of the starfish, dealing with various locals and so on. That was great. But this one? This one was just peak D&D right there. You can see how the simple, almost bare bones ruleset of OD&D, filtered through the salty lenses of the ocean floor, combined with the elements people often consider weird and off (the extremely dangerous encounters in the wilderness, the high level lords and their domains) just combine for a wonderful session of gaming. I went into the session absolutely exhausted and under-slept, and it woke me up and energized me in a way that only a good session of gaming can do.

The Shellmaster was absolutely brilliant. If you are running a classic D&D or OSR sandbox wilderness, and you do not have random petty lords squatting in it and picking fights with the party as they pass by, you should change that and add those in immediately. A big regret lives now in my heart that The Dungeon Game is so focused on Stonehell, and we are not doing more wilderness exploration, but that is a choice I made for my own sake and one that I plan on sticking to for at least a while longer.

Gaming with others can inspire one better than any book or rules text ever can. The approach to classes in Ocean D&D, along with the joys of wilderness exploration and encounters has made it so that I am already planning things for whatever campaign I run once The Dungeon Game winds down. This happened also when I played in Devil's World Heroes, as so much of that ended up in my own house rules.

Finally, a note on O(cean) D&D's classes. I really liked the Octopod, and the fact that a level 2 character managed to deal 13 out of 21 damage needed to kill a 5 HD enemy speaks to how powerful that class can be. I would have just rolled up another one, but with abysmal (hah) stats and a desire to try out more, my next character is going to be Chili the Pistol Shrimp. I am very curious to see how their punch mechanic plays out.

#ODnD #OSR #Session Report