Solo Goblins
Intro
As a little experiment I'm running a solo game of Old School Essentials, where I play as a tribe of goblins exploring a randomly generated dungeon. I make up rules as I go but the idea is to use as many OSE (i.e. D&D B/X) procedures as possible while mixing in some settlement management downtime mechanics (to be determined as it comes up).
I'm using just a simple d6 yes/no oracle and a bunch of random tables and generators sourced from all over the interwebz. As opposed to using a heavier game master emulator such as Mythic GME 2e, which I feel is too narrative oriented for a procedural OSR sandbox. To generate the dungeon layout I'm using Roll 4 Ruin. To stock the dungeon I'm using Ktrey's Dungeon Stocking - Expanded and a slew of other tables from him (he has so many! check them out).
To begin with, I roll 6d10 for the size of my goblin tribe, based on the number appearing for goblins in OSE in a dungeon room/wilderness encounter. Then I roll 20% chance that 1/4th of my tribe have bonded dire wolves and the luck is with me. This is going to be a great boon in the survivability of my tribe. Size of the expedition sent to explore is then rolled as 2d4, based on the number appearing in a dungeon encounter.
Day 1
Filthy Tongue Gang, a tribe of 45 goblins, flees their former home, driven off by the hateful dwarves. They travel into the heart of the Pinevale Forest and enter the ruined town of Hohenthal. At the center of the town, upon a low hill, lie remains of a stone keep. Now just a roofless square of moss covered walls. Goblins can smell a rich aroma of a dungeon coming from the cellar underneath.
Wizzbit manages to scramble up the great lectern as the first, despite Dibby biting his heel. He is named (by himself) as the executive officer for the week. His first decree is to send out an exploration party consisting of Dibby, Zopp and Ekkie. The movement passes with 41 in favor, 1 abstaining (Wurekkie, fast asleep on top of her dire wolf), 3 against (Dibby, Zopp, Ekkie). Wizzbit offers Ekkie to take care of her dire wolf while she’s out exploring but one warning snarl from the beast makes him reconsider.
The exploration party descends down the cellar stairs, while the rest of the tribe scatters across the ruined town, finding whatever hidey hole they can. Downstairs the party finds a sizable room with 6 additional doors leading out. Long unused bunks line the walls. Dibby calls dibs on the filthiest looking one. In a corner stands a gilded rocking chair now covered in mildew. Dibby dreams of sitting upon it once she becomes the rightful queen of the Filthy Tongue Gang. Meanwhile Zopp and Ekkie dismantle it for makeshift clubs.
Goblins listen at the western door but hear nothing. They spend some time repeatedly throwing themselves against the door until it bursts open. Carried by the momentum, Ekkie rolls inside onto a richly woven rug. It immediately starts to sink, revealing a pit trap beneath. She’s saved by her dire wolf grabbing her by the scruff. The party rolls up the rug to fully reveal the pit. Peering over the edge, they feel an icy breeze coming from its dark depths and can see some wickedly sharp ice spikes covering its bottom.
Carefully jumping across a corner of the freezing pit, they find a once marvelous ottoman now decayed by mildew, similarly to the rocking chair in the previous room, a wooden display cabinet filled with hundreds of colorful spools of twine, a big metal box cold to touch, several neat stacks of unused sturdy sacks and a lustrous antique religious icon depicting a crowd of worshippers kneeling before a half naked eagle-headed champion.
Ekkie inspects the metal box. From inside, she can hear quiet whirring. She lifts the hinged top and the box opens with a hiss of cold fog and then a series of loud bangs and clunks of dying machinery. She cringes as the sound reverberates across the dungeon. The quiet whirring stops. Zopp climbs to hide inside one of the sacks and Dibby hides behind the cabinet. A tense moment passes but thankfully no assailant is attracted by the noise. Inside the now broken cold box they find a large haul of fresh fruits and vegetables. They sample a few just to be sure they’re not poisoned. Then a few more to double check. And a few more for good luck.
With their goblin bellies full, Dibby and Ekkie grab a couple sacks each and start stuffing them with remaining fruits and vegetables. Zopp handpicks the best twine spools, according to her color preference, a task not made easier by the fact the infravision limits her to grayscale vision. Before they leave with their haul, they carefully lay down the rug over the pit trap again. Each carrying two full sacks, the party backtracks to the surface successfully.
Wizzbit is surprised and a little disappointed, they all survived. He begrudgingly commends them for the job well done. Then a little less begrudgingly once Ekkie’s dire wolf growls at him. Goblins feast upon the fruits and vegetables recovered. Finny fashions some of the twine into three slings and snares to trap squirrels and rabbits.
Wizzbit reckons the dungeon will need to be explored further before they can move in. Preferably finding a defensible dead end room. For now, as the sun slowly rises, goblins return to their hidey holes among the ruined town of Hohenthal, to sleep away the nasty bright day. Shortly before dusk settles on the next day, a roving band of 13 hobgoblins sweep through the Hohenthal. They linger where goblins left remains of their feast but ultimately the goblins hide well and hobgoblins pass without finding them.
Outro
A very short delve (only two rooms explored) which still took quite a bit of time irl and many many rolls. Goblins recovered some food and supplies (worth 26 gp and thus 26 xp in total). Since Dibby, Zop, and Ekkie all gained some xp, they gained a class and became level 1. Dibby and Zop became fighters, while Ekkies mind was suddenly opened to the arcane arts and she became a magic-user. Goblins will have to explore the dungeon more fully before they can claim a corner of it for themselves. As it stands right now they could still be attacked from multiple sides which is not safe. Tomorrow the executive officer will name a new group to further explore the dungeon.