Month: March 2021

I realized I haven’t talked about the mechanics for the Quest calendar. There are days where you make choices and others, like the main combat situations, where you’re just rolling dice. The back of the previous day’s page has instructions on how to resolve any dice rolls or choices you make.

Attack rolls in combat use a 20-sided die (d20), the character’s attack score (mine is currently +4), any weapon bonuses, and any special skills you choose to use (my companion weasel will add a +2 to an attack once a day). A successful hit results in a damage roll, which I currently have at 2 6-sided dice (2d6). A successful hit and enough damage will usually prevent the opponent from hitting back. (They offered a set of mini-dice as an add-on to the Kickstarter, in case the buyer didn’t have the appropriate dice. Or just needed to compulsively add to a dice collection.)

There are days when you pick from a selection of choices, which allows the various character classes to pick something best suited to their skillset, such as dealing with the grate in part 1. That day offered three choices: pick the lock (using dexterity), force open the lock (using strength), or smash the lock (just a damage roll). My character has a higher dexterity than strength, so I tried that first. If that had failed (like when I dealt with a lock in part 4), I could have tried one of the other options.

The dice roll resolutions are typically two or three ranges… either a basic pass/fail situation (failing tends to incur damage); or pass (great job, no damage type situation), pass (with some damage) or fail (without damage or with less damage than the next level of failing), and fail with damage.

For example, while descending the ladder in part 1, I wrote: “As I climbed down, I was hit by an overwhelming stench. Sad to say, I lost my lunch on that ladder, and lost my grip as well.“

This was a roll against my Constitution, which was a -2. I rolled badly enough on a d20 that my total fell into the “5 or less” result, which resulted in vomiting and falling off the ladder, reducing my health by 2. At the time, my starting health was 10.

There are also exploration pages, either during an adventure (the caves where Fellmont was being held) or between adventures (shopping and such in the city), where a map is presented and you decide which route to take or locations to visit. During the adventure, the extra risk of exploring further brings the possibility of additional treasure.

Of course, the character has to level up at some point, and this is handled by either updating the original character page, or printing out the appropriate level from the Sundial Games character sheet page. The level sheets account for every bit of leveling up except which attributes you want to increase this time. And they have mechanics for resurrection in case of character death.

All in all, they did a nice job of setting up a little daily entertainment while giving the players some choice in how they reach the grand finale.

I’m enjoying this so much, I’ve already ordered the 2022 Quest Calendar on Kickstarter. My adventure continues where part 3 left off.

Three tunnels branched in the cave. One smelled foul, perhaps their equivalent of a latrine, and another was littered with bones. I choose the tunnel with light from a distant fire, thinking if Fellmont was still alive, he’d be with the goblins. I surprised a goblin, but tripped and missed my shot. It managed to hit me with a sword, then ran off. I snuck further in until I saw a rope bridge, with a single goblin guarding it. I tried to sneak past, but he must have heard me, since he flung an axe my direction.

Further in, I found another band of goblins, noticing them first by the stench. We fought, two of them hit me before fleeing. I only hit one of those two, but killed their big friend, which I suppose scared them off. I paused to heal myself, figuring I was going to run into those guys – or their friends – again.

There were a surprising number of distinct rooms in those caves. I decided to minimize the number I actually entered, listening at the entrances or peeking in to see if they were lit. The stench from some was terrible. The goblins steal food and let it rot. It’s as absurd as leaving those dead horses and feeding people to the wolves.

The only excuse for tripping on that wire was the darkness in the caves. I avoided most of the falling boulders that it triggered. As luck would have it, I found Victor Fellmont in the next room, locked behind wood and bone bars. I failed to pick the lock, so I tried to force it open. No luck there either. I finally just picked up a rock and broke it.

The noise attracted the biggest goblin I had seen yet, along with his pets – another wolf and a bugbear. I got a lucky shot on the wolf, killing it instantly, then engaged directly with the bugbear. We both got some hits in, then Luc helped me finish him off, scurrying between his feet to distract him. His mace was too heavy for me, but the bugbear’s shield – presumably stolen from some deceased traveler – was perfect.

As long as I was looting the bodies, I decided to check the room too, finding a locked trunk. I searched for a key, then gave up and picked the lock. The bugbear had a decent stash of coins and a health potion that I tucked away. Then we snuck out of the caves, getting a good distance away before setting up camp for the night. Victor used a bit of magic to start our fire, and I took the opportunity to ask what had happened to him. It turns out he was apprenticed to the missing court wizard, Godwin the Great, and suspected him to be a traitor, so he set out to find him or related proof.

I was startled awake the next morning by giant bearfrogs attacking our camp. Luc and I took out most of them, but one rammed into me pretty hard before retreating into the water. I quickly packed up the camp, retracing the route back to West Haven. We did pause en route to cook a rabbit I caught, and never ran out of fresh water.