SoloDark Together: Session 1

My brother and I play D&D regularly over Discord. Recently we decided to try Shadowdark but with neither of us as the GM. We're using the free SoloDark rules alongside the standard Shadowdark rules combined with random tables from the Dungeon Master's Guide, Maze Rats, and Cairn.

I play as Ardo, a halfling wizard, and my brother as Radovan, a goblin priest. We're both undersized and weak which should affect our strategy.

We decided together to start in a dungeon and then work our way back to civilization if we survive. We rolled up "The Crypt of the Thieving Horde" from SoloDark, and the name alone gave use a bunch of ideas. We consulted the Oracle—a mechanic in SoloDark for answering yes/no questions—and learned that that we were not there willingly and knew nothing about the Thieving Horde. We decided that we were in debt and the collectors were forcing our hand to find treasure and fast. Hopefully the Crypt would be the solution to our problems!

By rolling tables in the DMG, we found that the first room was a crypt for less important burials with exits on each wall that contained a monster searching for sanctuary. We imagined a wild boar that was fleeing some other terror had found it's way into the crypt and was snuffling among the sarcophagi. Radovan tried to shepherd it out the entrance, but the boar was not interested in returning to the wild. It wasn't hostile to us, so we decided to ignore it and more on. Radovan took the lead while Ardo followed with the torch.

Through a wooden door to our right, we found a hallway filled with a spiderwebs. "Are there spiders, Oracle?" We rolled a 20: the outcome is the most extreme version possible. The webs are filled with thousands of small spiders. Radovan tried to light the nearest webs with our torch when we heart a small clicking voice cry "No, not our webs!". I had rolled on an NPC reaction table from Cairn and learned that these spiders were kind.

We told them we were looking for treasure and they eagerly brought us to a large ball of web suspended in the air. We unwrapped it, hoping for a large gem, but instead found a rat. The spiders were eager to see our reaction to their "treasure" so we feigned enthusiasm while insisting that they keep it.

The only other exit was an iron door at the other end of the room. We had a long discussion about whether the door itself was treasure enough for first dungeon dive (that much iron would surely be valuable to the blacksmith in town). We learned from the Oracle that we didn't have sufficient tools to unhinge the door, so we decided to go through it instead. On the other side we found a descending staircase that led to a... dead end.

That was strange. Why would there be an iron door that led to nowhere? Radovan investigated and found a secret switch that opened the hidden door. Two things greeted us as the door opened: a robing room for priests to prepare for burial rituals, and a spear flung by a group of five kobolds. The spear clattered off the while and we decided to flee up the stairs and hope for advantage with high ground. Ardo wounded one kobold with a magic missile as they fled. The following turn Radovan took a spear to the gut and fell to the ground dying. Rolling the death timer, we learned that he had two turns to live. Ardo finished the turn by dropping the torch (which had 1 turn left) and pulling Radovan through the iron door.

Ardo was forced with a decision: try to save Radovan from the kobolds or flee for his life. He chose the former and barred the door in the pitch black.^[1] He failed the contested strength check on the kobolds' turn and their glowing red eyes burst into the room. Two turns to save Radovan and probably Ardo's lives.

Ardo's last-ditch effort was to cast Sleep. He rolled a natural 20 (critical success!) and put all of the kobolds, spiders, and Radovan to sleep. There was a brief celebration before Radovan's death timer ticked down: one turn to save his life. Ardo probably should have rolled with disadvantage on the stabilize check since we were in the dark, but the moment was suspenseful enough. I shook the die in my hand for a long time, afraid of opening the door to Shroedinger's cat.

I rolled a 14, which combined with my INT modifier was enough to succeed against the DC 15. Radovan was saved! After stabilizing, he cast Heal Wounds and rolled a natural 20—doubling the spells effectiveness. Radovan went from the verge of death to fully healed in the span of one turn.

We dispatched of the sleeping Kobolds but saved a set of uniforms each (+1 XP) in the hopes that they will come in handy later.

That was the most suspenseful session that I have had... maybe ever. I think it was a combination of the system, the situation we found ourselves in, and the rolls that we made. I'm looking forward to playing more and seeing if we can create more moments like that.

• Rolling on the NPC Reaction table from Cairn was funny (thousands of kind spiders?) but probably the wrong choice
• Dying players are unconscious
• Dying players roll a d20 every turn of their death timer. On a 20, they stablize with 1 HP.
• In total darkness, players have disadvantage on most things