Having won a $25 voucher in The Redcaps Podcast Child Hero Contest – something that I really did not expect – I decided to buy a copy of the D100 Dungeon Solo Adventure Game by Martin Knight. Given my recent re-kindled interest in the dungeon delve and my status as home alone, I thought it might be good fun to give the game a go.

As ever, this is a solo actual play report and is posted unedited.

To begin, I need to create an adventurer. There are three characteristics used in the game – Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence – and I get to assign 50 points, 40 points, and 30 points to them however I desire. Given that I enjoy playing dextrous characters, I opt for Dex 50, Int 40, Str 30 and name him Goriel.

There are three Hero Paths to choose from – Warrior, Rogue, and Sorceror. I am clearly going to choose Rogue for Goriel, but I do like the option of rolling it randomly. This modifies his Dexterity to 60 but drops his Strength to 25 and Intelligence to 35. He gains +5 to Locks and +5 to Traps, both skills and the Dexterity characteristic getting their experience stars shaded in (which makes them more likely to develop quickly).

I decide to roll randomly for Race, rolling 1d6 and scoring… 5 for a Human. He gains +5 Intelligence and loses -5 Dexterity, then gains +5 Aware skill with the experience star shaded. For my skill bonus, I choose to add +5 to the Agility and Dodge skills too.

For equipment, I get to roll once on Table W and twice on Table A: W is for Weapons and I roll D100, scoring… 08 for a Stave, a two-handed weapon worth 32gp. Table A is for Armour and I roll D100 twice, first roll scores… 23 for some Leather Arm Guards, and the second roll scores… 63 for Mail Cuisse for my legs. I then add 20 oil, 10 food, and 15 picks (as in lock picks) to my supplies, plus three Lesser Healing Potions (restores 4 lost HP, worth 80gp each) to my belt slots. Goriel adds 20 primary Health Points, 1 Reputation, 3 Fate, and 3 Life to his sheet. Because my Dexterity is 55, I can shade the Perfect Aim ability on my sheet – this allows Goriel to roll twice for hit location and choose either.

The first quest will be “Dungeon Training 1”. Exciting!

DUNGEON TRAINING 1

It’s not the most exciting name for a dungeon, but I get the idea. There are five training dungeons to work through before you start to randomly determine quests. There appear to be 50 quests in the core rulebook, which is pretty awesome!

The quest is to enter the dungeon and Loot 3 parts from monsters in there. The Encounter Modifier is -40, making it a low-risk dungeon. If I am successful, Goriel will earn +50gp; if he fails, he’ll lose 1/2 his gold pieces as a penalty.

Let’s begin!

We advance the Time Track to 1 and I must expend 1 Oil to see in the dungeon. I grab the dungeon sheet and place the dungeon doors at the bottom. I roll on Table M: Mapping to see what’s in there, scoring… 46, a Red area with a door ahead and openings left and right too, and there’s an outcropping of rock blocking my view of the right hand exit. I must roll an encounter. I roll D100, scoring… 45-40 = 5. Combat!

Three Giant Rats scuttle out of the dark! I roll 1d10 on the Monster Reaction Table, scoring… 1. The table says, “Monster has less than 1/2 its HP gains AV+5”. I not entirely sure if that means it starts with 1/2 HP and a bonus, or if it gets to less than 1/2 HP it gains the bonus… but from the phrasing, I am going to assume the latter.

Attacks in the game are simultaneous but the player acts first. Goriel swings his stave and tries to hurt the largest of the three Giant Rats. I need to roll D100 and score under my Strength of 30 to hit – eek! Rolling… 99. Miss. The Giant Rats attack as a pack, gaining +10 Attack Value to need 35 or less, rolling D100… 02 is a hit. I roll the 1d6 Damage Die and the 1d10 Location Die together, scoring… 5 and 10 respectively. This strikes Goriel’s feet for 3 damage (because the rats have a -2 damage modifier). There’s no armour on Goriel’s feet, so he takes the injury. Ouch!

Rolling Monster Reaction for Round 2, I now realise I was correct in my reading of the table last time. I roll… 5, meaning the Giant Rats will attack. Goriel decides to strike with his stave, rolling… 26 to hit! Rolls damage (at -2 for the Stave)… 6-2 = 4 to the Waist (8). The rats have no Defense value so they take the 4 points, killing the first rat and wounding the second. Nice! The hit location roll seems weird but it’s really to see if there’s a modifier to the damage (which there wasn’t this time). The Giant Rats fight back, rolling under 30 now that one of the pack is dead, scoring… 98 to miss.

Round 3, the Giant Rats… attack! Goriel strikes out with the stave, swinging in a wide arc… to miss ineffectually. The rats bite at him, scuttling around his feet… but also failing to connect with their teeth.

Round 4, the Giant Rats…. gain +5 Attack Value! Goriel swings the stave and… wildly misses. The rats… also miss and scuttle about his feet menacingly.

Round 5, the Giant Rats… attack! Goriel… hits with the stave! He scores 4 damage and kills both the rats in one wild frenzy of thudding attacks. Meanwhile, because the round is simultaneous, the rats… miss. Goriel is victorious! He gains +100GP for killing his first monster. He gets to roll on the Parts table to see what he can loot, scoring… 52 on P2, taking the Blood from the rats which can be used as an aphrodisiac by the weird and witches.

Goriel can now search the room, rolling D100 with a +10 bonus because it’s a Red location. We turn to Table F for Find, rolling… 95+10 = 105. As there is no result above 100 I count it as 100. Shifting through the rubbish strewn about the floor, Goriel is startled to find a skeleton. It has been a good source of nourishment for the small insects and rats that inhabit the dungeon. A quick search reveals the poor fellow has little at the time of their death except from this magnificent treasure… roll on Treasure C at -15, scoring… 08-15 = counts as 01 (I presume). It’s a Brew of Superior Damage (+4 to your next damage roll)!

And that completes the first full Turn of the game.

Time marches on, so I shade in the 2 on the time track. Goriel decides to investigate the door at the top of the room. I roll on the Door table, scoring… 84. When the handle is turned, the door opens. We roll to see what’s ahead… 20 is a Green room and G is for Geographic, so we roll on Table G, scoring… 51 Boulder. A huge boulder blocks the entrance to the room, perhaps explaining why the door didn’t need to be locked. Goriel can try and shift the boulder by making a Strength check at -10. With a total 20% chance, I opt to give it a go, even though it seems a forlorn hope, rolling… 52 to fail. Goriel suffers -1 HP and expends 1 Time. This triggers a Wandering Monster check, rolling 1d10. If I roll equal to or less than the number (4) then we get an encounter… a 3. Damn!

Encounter roll is… 16-40 = 01 (presumably, given there are no values below 01) = Giant Rats! The rats attack! Goriel grunts from the effort to lift the boulder and turning, sees the red eyes of the giant rats behind him. He swings the stave and… wildly misses! The pack of rats swarms forward and… Goriel dodges their bites as he tries to recover his aplomb.

The rats attack again. Goriel swings the stave and… narrowly misses. The rats’ bites are ineffectual and they circle around looking menacing.

The rats decide to press the attack. Goriel swipes out with the stave and… misses widely again! He is feeling a little desperate at this stage. The rats seems to be toying with him but they don’t manage to strike.

The rats attack again. Goriel stabs out at the largest rat and… misses. The rats bite! Pain tears into his foot as the lead rat penetrates his boot for 2 points of damage. Goriel grunts!

The rats continue the attack. Goriel… hits with a wide sweep of the stave. Remembering his high Dexterity allows him to reroll the Hit Location, he scores a 2 and gains a +2 damage bonus. Rolling 2 on the die means he hits a rat for just that: 2 points. It squeaks angrily as it takes a crack across its back. The rats nip back at Goriel… missing.

The rats attack! Goriel… just connects a strike with the stave – I rolled exactly 30! He rolls for damage, but the strike is too weak to cause harm. The rats bite and miss as Goriel dances around on his injured feet.

The Giant Rats… attack! Goriel hits and scores 1 point of damage with the butt of the stave, killing the first of the three rats! Yay! The other two rush him and strike, leaping up to nip at his hands and dealing 3 points of damage. Ouch! Goriel is down to 11/20 Health Points.

The rats press the assault. Goriel swings the stave and scores well, earning himself an experience pip on the Strength track for rolling under 10… he scored 7. He strikes the torso for +1 damage, totalling 5 and smashing the bodies of both the remaining rats in one fell stroke. The rats expire without causing him further harm. Goriel loots the bodies and takes the head of the largest Giant Rat, which can often be used for ashtrays or be made into a trinket box. That’s two of the three parts I need to loot from monsters in this dungeon.

Time advances by 1. Standing in the entry cave, Goriel decides to forego the boulder ahead and turns to his left and check out the tunnel. I physically turn the dungeon sheet to place this exit at the top, then roll on the mapping table, scoring… 64. It’s a small cave that appears empty (it’s a Yellow = Empty location). Goriel decides to search it, rolling… 83. He spies a small stone which appears to be hiding an alcove, inside of which is a small spellbook with two spells. I roll twice on the Spells table to see what’s there… 07 means the Resurrection spell and 66 means the Clumsy spell. Goriel can’t use spells yet because his Intelligence is below 50, but these are good finds nonetheless.

Time moves forward 1 and he expends another oil. Goriel is at a dead end, so he backtracks to the entrance cave. There is nothing to do here because I’ve already searched it and the Red locations only give an encounter when first entered.

Time moves forward 1, now on turn 6. Goriel advances through the last remaining exit… 47 (Yellow) is a straight tunnel ending in a door. Goriel searches around… 54 uses 1 time but he’ll find something useful, rolling on Table N for Needs… 16 is +1 Food in the form of Dried Rations stashed in a bag near the door. Time having moved on, however, we need to roll for a Wandering Monster on a 5 or less… scoring 5. The encounter roll is… 74-40 = 34 for Goblins! Goblins fight as a pack, there are three of them, and they might surprise poor Goriel. Test Int-10 using the Aware skill, which gives Goriel 40% chance to spot them… 88 fails.

The Goblins immedietely attack Goriel from the shadows. Presumably they had set up the rations as bait and I feel for it. They have Attack Value 35 as a pack, rolling… 31 to hit! Goriel is struck on the feet (-1 damage) and they roll 5, minus 1 for being Goblins… totalling 3 damage. Goriel is once again hopping mad!

The Goblins attack! Goriel swings his stave and hits! Slamming into the first Goblin’s waist, he scores 4-2 = 2 damage, killing it! Yay! The Goblins, now needing 30 to hit, roll and hit! Goriel is struck on the torso (+1 damage) for 6 points of injury. He is down to 2 Health Points! Eek!

The Goblins attack with +10 Attack Value! OMG! Goriel debates drinking a potion of Lesser Healing but figure it’s all or nothing time. The swings the stave… 79 to miss! The Goblins slash out and miss too!

Phew! I am panting with the fear here. The Goblins attack. Goriel swings that stave and hits with a 25! His attack cracks the lead Goblin’s weapon hand and smashes it down, killing it. On the back swing, Goriel cracks the other Goblin for 1 points of damage too (I rolled 6-2 = 4 damage). The Goblins miss.

The Goblin decides to press the attack. Goriel swings the stave and rolls… 10 – a hit and another experience pip for Strength! He strikes the Goblin’s off-hand side and smashes into the body, killing it with 2 points of damage. The Goblin fails to strike, so the combat ends! Holy cow! Let’s roll for Loot… I can choose to roll on Table A, I, or W. I choose W for Weapons, roll 42 and get a Chakram. This can be used one-handed and either as a Melee or Ranged weapon. Think: Xena, Warrior Princess! I decide to swap the stave for the chakram, putting the stave in my backpack.

Time advances 1. Goriel tries the door ahead… 53 is a closed and trapped door. He must test his Dexterity at -5 but can use his Traps skill. That gives Goriel as 55% chance. Rolling… 04. That’s either a two experience pips for his Dexterity or 4 for the Traps skill. I opt for the latter.

Let’s see what’s beyond the door. Rolls… 47 is another (Yellow) tunnel with a door at the end. Goriel makes a quick search of the area… 46. It takes a little time to deal with but wedged into the wall is a scroll tube. Opening it, Goriel finds a Scroll of Healing worth 200gp. He slips it into his remaining belt slot. Goriel refills the lantern oil, expending another vial of oil.

Time moves on 1 more. Goriel checks out the door ahead. It’s a Trapped and Locked Door. He’ll need to test at Dexterity -20 but can use the Traps and Locks skills. That gives him a 45% chance and he’ll have to use a lock pick too. Here goes… 42 is a success! The door opens.

Beyond is… 38, a large cavern (Red) with visible tunnels leading ahead and to the left. Roll Encounter… 61-40 = 21, Giant Ants! There’s four of them and they fight as a pack. The Giant Ants react by attacking! Goriel throws the Chakram, needing 55 or less… rolls 11 to hit! The damage roll is 6, the Chakram gives +0, the ants have Defence 2. It’s 4 points of damage to the arms of the lead creature, hacking it down and hitting a nearby ant for the remaining 1 point. Neat! The Chakram curves back to Goriel’s hand… or at least, that’s how I imagine it. The Giant Ants attack and miss wildly.

The Giant Ants continue to attack. Goriel throws the Chakram as he tries to evade their mandibles. He hits and chops through two more of the four Giant Ants, killing them. They fail to strike him.

The last ant decides to fight. Goriel throws the Chakram a third time, hitting and chopping out it’s legs, killing it. The Giant Ant misses. The fight is over. Goriel loots the ants and table P1 gives him… 22, Exoskeleton parts that can be used to make armour. Awesome! Goriel searches the cave… but doesn’t find anything. He does, however, discover that in the battle his Chakram has taken a pip of damage from where it stuck in the wall at the end of the fight. Goriel winces with the realisation.

And with 3 monsters looted, Goriel has completed the quest. He gains 50gp, taking his total to 150gp. To set him up for next time, I refresh the time track. I decide to spend 120gp on healing 6 points of damage, bringing him up to 8 HP, and then spending 18gp to repair the Chakram pip. I decide to hold on to the items and not sell anything.

Next time he hopes to find more treasure.

Game on!