Brutal Magic Desert Campaign -- The Setup

Hu Nhu

I’ve been mulling over what kind of campaign I want to run, what I want in it, and what system I’m going to use to make it happen. Many things to consider, many choices to make, and yet…

 

In the immortal words of Bill O’Reilly (may he rot): Fuck it, we do it live.

 

Murderhobo, B/X-style, GP = XP, hex crawl is the M O V E.

 

I really took to heart a comment from Arnold K of Goblin Punch on my last post:

 

“Another question for yourself: what's the minimum amount of rules you need to have prepped for session one? Because you can always add more rules as the need arises to flesh out the rest of the system, but session 1 can be pretty small.

 

I'm a fan of smallest-viable-system for session 1. Let's you focus on the important stuff.”

 

I got a lot of great comments on the OSR discord, too, about systems and Dark Sun adaptations and the long and short of it is this: I’m gonna run OSE.

 

Why?

 

I told my friends we were going to play old school-style D&D and I want to stay true to that. I have a bunch of B/X compatible materials and OSE seems to me to be the least conversion-heavy. It’s rules-light and easy enough for noobs to understand. I like the idea of the simplicity of the OG classes, and I think I’ll steal the (Chris Kutalik’s of Hill Cantons fame) idea of the players “unlocking” more classes through play.

 

So to circle back to what Arnold K was saying – what do I need for session 1? A non-exhaustive list:

• Rules – check. I have the free OSE Basic rules, which is enough as-is, but I think I may just link the players to the OSE SRD and use that. Or maybe both.

• Starting Dungeon – check. Prison of the Hated Pretender, Tomb of the Serpent King, and Dyson’s Delve are all on the menu. Which one the PCs go for is up to them.

• Starting Area – check. I stumbled upon the Welsh Piper hex crawl generation method (though I used Noisms from Monsters & Manuals simplification) generated an area, hated it, and decided instead to just do a rough hexmap of the Tucson area. I followed the procedures for generating sites, though.

• Starting Hooks – WIP. I like the Elder Scrolls trope of the player starting as a prisoner, and the Dark Sun intro adventure can be mined for ideas. I’m thinking the PCs start as slaves being transported in a caravan that comes under attack and the rest is up to them.

• Player Gazeteer – WIP. Not strictly necessary, I suppose, but nice to have to introduce the players to both the bespoke setting and the house rules I plan on using.

• House Rules – check, sorta? Right out of the gate I want to steal the OSE Dark Sun weapon materials/breakage, currency, and survival mechanics.

 

What else am I missing?