Quest Calendar – Page 3 – Mom's Guide to the Galaxy

The Quest calendar mechanics

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.

The Quest (calendar) continues… part 4

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.

The Quest (calendar) continues… part 3

I’ve certainly never had this problem before… some days, I’m tempted to flip ahead to see what’s coming on the calendar. I haven’t, but it is tempting. I’m also enjoying the daily writing exercise, though it varies how much there is to add. Anyways, the adventure picks up where part 2 left off.

Then I spotted a missing person poster, with a reward of thirty gold! I jumped on that offer, starting with a little reserach on the missing man, Victor Fellmont. It seems he disappeared a few days ago, soon after the court wizard went missing. There’s someone who frequents the inn I’m staying at that may have a lead on where he went.

Of course, it’s a dwarf, though more sober than the last one I tried talking to. He wanted five gold for information on Fellmont’s last known location. I tried to talk him down on the cost, in the interest of saving a life, but in the end, handed over the coins. He marked the spot on a map where his team abandoned the search when they were attacked by goblins.

I realize, as I’m heading into the unknown, both in terms of danger and territory, that I should leave some details about myself. If something happens to me, please deliver this journal to Wiel Leafwind, and inform her that it belonged to her sister, Faris. She’ll likely criticize my adventuring lifestyle, but our parents were traveling merchants – a trade she picked up – and they were murdered by bandits.

Before heading out, I stopped by Filly’s, thinking that rations and health potions would come in handy. A compass would be useful too, but I don’t have that much money to spare. I left West Haven following the dwarf’s map, which led me into a dense forest. The forest smelled so fresh after spending several days in town. Game and water were scarce, so I ate both meal rations. I probably should have bought more.

The next morning, I continued following the map, eventually finding – by the stench – a pair of dead horses. This is clearly where the dwarf was attacked by a handful of goblins. The saddle bags had been picked clean, but the goblins missed a hidden compartment with a bit of gold in one of the saddles.

Fwwwt! Fortunately, I found that before some goblins started launching arrows at me. I killed two of them easily, bounced an arrow off the third, but missed the fourth one entirely. I checked to see if they had anything useful, wondering if goblins even use maps. No maps, and their weapons were in such lousy condition, I’m surprised they could even fight with them. Oh wait… I guess they couldn’t.

They did leave a trail to follow. OK, it included a spiked pit trap that I narrowly avoided, but at least it’s a trail. A bit past that, I found their camp, outside a cave, and thought that maybe Fellmont was held inside. I decided to hide until they went to sleep, settling in for a meal and a bit of rest.

After resting, I snuck into the cave and found a pair of wolves chained up, apparently guarding a small room behind them. Poor things, I wished I had enough time to calm and release them. Instead I tossed a scrap of meat to them and slid past into the corpse-filled room. It seemed this was the usual source of food for those poor wolves. Happily, I didn’t find Fellmont among the corpses.

The Quest (calendar) continues… part 2

My journal is filling up fairly quickly from my Quest calendar adventure, so I’ll periodically update the story. I added a new category called “Quest Calendar,” so there’s an easy way to find these specific posts. They’ll pick up where the previous post left off.

I limped away from the ladder and ran into two more rats. Ugly buggers. I killed one with Luc, my weasel’s, help, but the other bit me and ran off.

I followed a rail of blood downstream, almost walking into a pack of rats feeding on… something. Every so quietly, I turned around and snuck off, moving through a series of rooms. The first room had mice, I’m surprised they stuck around with those rats rampaging through. The second room had spider webs large enough to trap a rat. I didn’t stick around to see the spider! There was a rat in the third room, and I killed it as soon as it snarled at me.

Faris Leafwind Half-Elf Druid character sheet

And then I found the nest, with the ugliest mama rat I’ve ever seen. I hit it a couple times, and it got one good bite in at me before it died. I searched the disgusting room, filled with garbage and carcasses, for anything useful that might be lying about. The rat corpses had a weird purple slime on them, I made sure not to touch it. I did luck out and find some gold coins though. I headed back to the tavern for my hard-earned meal and a night’s rest, along with a desperately needed bath.

I woke up feeling well-rested and somehow improved as an adventurer, having survived my first solo adventure. I went down to the dining room and spent a bit of time talking to people. The elf I spoke with suggested I contact the head guard, Rufus, about working in the city – they’ve been having weird trouble lately. I assume the ginormous rats fall under that category. I tried talking to a dwarf, but he was drunk and passed out. Sadly, he didn’t even win the drinking contest, the half-orc outdrank him and then some.

I found a local job board and decided it was a good way to earn some cash and familiarize myself with the town. Why somebody named their baby hell beast “Fluffy,” I’ll never know, but I found the missing critter and took him home. Also, that was not quite what I expected from a sign that said “missing puppy.” Convincing spirits to stop haunting a house turned out to be easier than corralling Fluffy. And then I picked up a nighttime job protecting some deliveries. All in all, a good day’s haul.

I’m going on a Quest… with a day-to-day calendar.

Many months ago – last April, in fact – I supported a Kickstarter campaign for a 2021 day-by-day “Quest” calendar. It was advertised as a single-player role-playing game that takes place over the course of a year. Having thoroughly the random facts in my 2020 calendar, I thought it would be entertaining to have another daily calendar with an entirely different style to it.

The first couple weeks introduced the mechanics, along with a sample character and adventure. The third week introduced several characters to choose from, along with some bonus characters available on the Sundial Games website.

I had pulled out a blank journal to keep track of equipment, health, and what not for the first couple weeks, finding it easier than writing on the calendar page for Godwin, the Great (Half-Elf Wizard), but decided to print the Level 1 character sheet from their website for Faris Leafwind (Half-Elf Druid), which has ample space for tracking damage, equipment and such. Well, shoot, what am I going to do with that journal now? Ah, that’s what….

My adventures began that day in the tavern, when the innkeeper asked for help dealing with the alley rats. Silly me, I thought he was referring to the street urchins, but these were actual rats, larger than me, and quite aggressive. I tried to calm the beast down, but it bit me before scurrying away. Once it was gone, I took a quick look around the alley. There seemed to be a small bit of blood* on the barrel the rat had perched on, but nothing else stood out as odd.

There was a grate though… the rat could have come from there. Who locks a grate anyways? I was a bit rusty, but managed to pick the lock. 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.**

*I rolled poorly… the text for better rolls said this was definitely not blood.

**Let’s not even talk about that die roll.

I’m not sure where this adventure will go… that’s a mix of the calendar pages, my choices, and my dice rolls. Also, Faris’s background mentions her twin sister; I’ve decided to name her Wiel. Just in case it ever comes up.