The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar - Delve 2: Panic! In the Privy

In which the party fights a series of horrible bugs in ruined bathrooms and recovers a surprising haul of magic items. They find barely any money.

A Week In Town

After a week spent scrimping and saving in town in order to afford the room in the Golden Unicorn (Eveningstar’s 2nd-best inn) that Trigg needs to recuperate, the party is back on the trail towards Starwater Gorge and the Haunted Halls.

Tansybell got some part-time work in the inn’s kitchen to cover her expenses, while Sassaran went to camp by herself in a stand of trees off of the High Road. Old Dolf blew through his pocket money halfway through the week and then philosophically returned to sleeping in haylofts, scrumping, and bothering people for money, which is more or less what he did before.

I got my OSE town prices from Carcass Crawler #2, which also has a Wood Elf class that I decided to use for Sassaran – the main trade off here is getting the Fighter’s attack bonus and an additional +1 to-hit with ranged weapons in exchange for turn undead.

The Halls

Now that the party has alerted the kobolds and opened the portcullis, I’m using a d6 wandering monster table, where a 1 indicates a kobold patrol and a 6 the hunting owlbear.

I’ve also decided on a solution for the empty rooms: I’ll roll a random room from the upper level of B1 In Search of the Unknown, with a 50% chance to contain treasure and a separate 50% chance for a monster from the relevant tables at the back of that module.

Modeling their behavior on my old high school friends’ exploration method, the party’s goal on this delve is to double-check the areas they’ve already been to before braving the obviously dangerous doors in Area 8.

Solo D&D: The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar -- Delve 1

There are many kobolds, but Sam Wood's 3e one is mine

THE HAUNTED HALLS

In which the party is nearly slaughtered by an owlbear in the very first room, avoids green slime and a giant spider, fails to search an unusually treasure-filled toilet, wanders around long stretches of empty corridor and battles some elite rootin’-tootin’ crossbow-shootin’ kobold guards. They do not find any money.

OUR HEROES

Trigg Sunbold, fighter 1: aspiring hero and party leader

Gimwort of Greydelve, dwarf 1: a doughty young dwarven warrior

Sassaran, elf 1: aloof elvish archer, doesn’t speak common

Eldred the Enchanter, illusionist 1: weak of body but sound of mind

Tansybell of Merry Meadow, halfling 1: a lass of great courage but little ability

Old Dolf, thief 1: how is this stupid old coot still alive?

Solo D&D: The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar – Session 0

I’ve been reading and listening to a couple of fun solo D&D games, and for various reasons (mostly work and the schedules of my friends’ young children) have been slow to deliver on my promised 2025 D&D game, so I decided to try a solo adventure myself as a form of journaling game. I'm writing everything out by hand and developing my format as I go, which has been surprisingly satisfying. The party has now survived three delves, and the record of their exploits now occupies eight sheets of printer paper.

I’m a bad perfectionist when it comes to designing things or running games for other people, so I decided to start immediately – I’m using OSE from the SRD website and I’ll be playing The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar, an adventure that I’ve read once but haven’t wasted a bunch of time thinking about what I’d like to improve.

I know I’ll be using a couple of house rules:

• Max HP at 1st level.
• Ascending AC.
• The “Smoothed Attack Progression” table from Tales of the Rambling Bumbler.
• Slot-based encumbrance of 10 +/- STR
• My own Tolkien/Iron Age Armor, which lives on the Notes app on my phone:
• Leather: +1 (can be worn under mail)
• Mail: +2
• Helm: +2
• Shield: +2
• Elves progress as Clerics but without any weapon or armor restrictions. They still get the Elf’s incidental class features and use the Magic-User’s experience chart.
• For easy bookkeeping I'm giving bonus XP from prime requisites at the start of each level up, rather than modifying XP yields in each adventure.

Where appropriate I’ll use a simple “Yes/No” oracle on a d6 (high for yes, low for no). To simulate group discussions I’ll roll the oracle die for each character to get a “party vote”.

Now to generate some characters. I wanted to use a party of six PCs, and I wanted a Fighter, Magic-User, Thief, Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling, so I decided to roll six sets of 3d6-in-order attributes and then assign the classes. I then distributed equipment based on a vague sense of balance and aesthetics. I didn’t use any of my prized name generators, instead inventing names by drawing from my own ideas of light-hearted vernacular fantasy. I started with pretty basic sketches of these guys, but their character bios have been fleshed out over a few sessions of play by now.

Foul Acts Done With Seaxe

[Verse 1]

If you’re having trouble with your lord
He taxes fit to bust
And snatches up yer maiden girls
To satisfy his lust
Put out the call, for dash it all
We’ll only tax yer wine
Ask for Torold’s Company
We leads a life of crime!

[Chorus]
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe

[Verse 2]
If you have got a tenant
Who will not pay his rents
And when the church comes tithing
He tells ‘em to get bent
Put out the word, or send a bird 

We’ll make a social call

A good sharp knife can end yer strife

We’ll have ourselves a ball!

[Chorus]
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe

[Verse 3]
If you have a lady you want gone
But you haven’t got the guts
She keeps naggin’ at you night and day
Enough to drive ye nuts
Gird up yer loins, hand o’er the coins
It’s time you make a stand
For a fee, we’ll happ’ly be
Most anyone’s hatchetman!

[Chorus]
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe

[Verse 4]
If you have got a countryside 
That could stand to be on fire
Full of lovely unsacked villages
And maids in sumptuous attire
Then don’t feel stuck, for you’re in luck
Are fees are very small
And if they’ve any money
We’ll simply take it all!

[Chorus]
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe

[Verse 5]
If you have got an army
That is sweeping all the field
While your levies fall before them
And you wish to make ‘em yield
You needn’t pray, cough up the pay
I’d never tell a lie
For the men of Torold’s Company
It’s always do or die!

[Chorus]
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe

[Verse 6]
If you have got a castle
That you wish to have besieged
While your men beg off for harvest
We are happy to obleege
For though we’ll never scale a wall
Your fears I will allay
We’ll happ’ly sit in camp and wait 
We charges by the day! (Ha-ha!)

[Chorus]
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe

[Verse 7]
But if you have got a hangman
With a yen to earn his pay
And you wish to try your luck upon
The men of our Companay
We bids you wait, don’t take the bait
And speak with some more tact
[musical sting]
For on those who try to harm us
We’ll commit some foul acts!

[Chorus]
All together!
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts (done with seaxe), ooh
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
(Yea)
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
(Verily)
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts (done with seaxe)
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe (Lo!)
Foul acts and they're done with seaxe

Oaths and Feasts [Wilderlands, Orcmont]

 Another selection from my Orcmont draft, here are a couple of ways to inject a little more Tolkienesque, Iron Age flavor into your game. These rules make a couple of assumptions:

1. You are using GP-for-XP with BX/OSE experience charts, but are reducing the amount of treasure given.
2. Community leaders are expected to host feasts as part of their obligation as lords and ring-givers. Characters can reasonably expect to receive a feast in their honor after performing a great deed for a community, and there are also regularly scheduled seasonal feasts such as a harvest festival or yule feast. Securing invitations to those feasts is a good way to earn XP. 
1. If playing B2: Keep on the Borderlands, for example, a feast in the tavern might count as a village feast. If you can wangle an invitation to feast with the castellan in the inner bailey, however, it counts as eating at a lord's table.
2. You can scale the XP to reflect the relative prestige of a given place. For example, sitting among the lower benches at a warrior's longhall might get you 500xp, but a seat at the high table for that same feast gives you 1,000.
3. You are re-rolling HP totals every session, or at least before each new adventure. Comfortable accommodations let you roll with advantage, uncomfortable ones with disadvantage.

Once again, these rules owe a large debt to Rise Up Comus' Wilderlands setting. Feasts are essentially a variation on the carousing rules common to OSR circles (popularized by Jeff Reints, although many excellent variations can be found on other blogs), but modified to fit the social milieu of a vaguely Iron Age fantasy - less burning down the town or spending the night in the drunk tank and more embarrassing yourself in the mead hall because you ate too much blood sausage and the wolfhounds peed on you.

Their oath shall drive them, and yet betray them

Oaths

Swearing an Oath creates a new condition under which the character gains Favor when they are attempting to fulfill their oath. For example, a character who swore to “defend the King” would gain Favor when fighting in defense of the King.

If you ever break your Oath, you become Doomed. This means that at a crucial moment you will automatically suffer a critical failure.

You may have up to 3 sworn Oaths at one time.

Once fulfilled, an Oath is removed from your mental inventory. A broken Oath occupies its memory slot until someone with the authority to do so (generally the NPC the oath was sworn to or their designated heir) forgives the character. If the Oath was sworn to a person, that person can release a character from the oath at any time, should they wish to do so.

Feasting

In addition to finding treasure, the other main way a hero gains experience is by attending feasts. The amount of XP is determined by the lavishness and prestige of the feast:

• A village feast: 100–500 XP
• A warrior’s longhall: 500–1,000 XP
• A lord’s table: 1,000–1,500 XP
• A king’s court: 1,500–2,000 XP
• A fairy revel: 2,000–4,000 XP

Additionally, a feast provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your reputation by distributing gifts. You may spend at least 100gp per level in goods and/or coins, then make a Wisdom saving throw. If you succeed, receive XP equal to the amount spent.

Then make a Strength saving throw and roll d20 on the table below to determine what sort of trouble you got into while under the influence of food, drink, and good (or bad) company.

1. A Pleasant Evening: you had a great time and nothing bad happened.
2. Secrets Revealed: something you should have kept secret was let out. In the absence of other secrets, you are more likely to encounter a rival NPC party during your next adventure as you spill your travel plans.
3. A Game of Strength & Skill: you engage in some ill-advised drunken game. If you passed your saving throw then you receive an additional 100 XP per level. If you failed then you suffer some kind of humiliation in the attempt and subtract 50 XP per level from the amount you would have gained from the feast.
4. Got in a Fight: lingering injuries still trouble you – roll your HP for the next session with 1 fewer HD (level 1 characters begin with 1 HP instead). If you passed your saving throw you are now friends with whoever you fought with. If you failed then you stepped out of the hall and settled the matter with steel. The GM will tell you who you killed and how angry their relatives are about it.
5. You Are Insulted: if you passed your saving throw you kept your head and were able to make your insulter look foolish. You gain an enemy (as 16) but retain the good opinion of your host. If you failed then you gain an enemy and swear an Oath of vengeance against them.
6. Robbed!: you fell asleep in your cups and lost something of value. If you passed your saving throw, you may choose to lose either your money or a random piece of equipment. If you failed, you lose both your money and the item.
7. Made a Boast: you swore an Oath in front of witnesses to accomplish some grand deed. If you passed your saving throw, you get to choose what you swore. If you failed, the GM and the other players will choose for you.
8. Fallen in Love: if you passed your saving throw they return your love, but for some social reason you cannot be together just yet. If you failed, they’re not interested in you. Note: you may always choose to re-roll this option.
9. Sworn Your Sword: overcome with high spirits, you have pledged your service to your host or another local person of importance. If you failed your saving throw, your new liege is ready to call in that favor now.
10. Open-handed: you made someone a truly excessive gift. If you passed your saving throw, you can choose what was given. If you failed, the GM chooses. You can’t take it back without causing a scandal, but you may have made yourself an ally, or at least a good impression.
11. Drinking Contest: you engaged in a truly heroic bout of drinking. If you passed your saving throw, roll your HP for the next session with advantage. If you failed, roll with disadvantage instead.
12. Songs & Stories: you passed the night sharing tales of joy and sorrow. If you passed your saving throw you are buoyed by the experience and make your next saving throw with advantage. If you failed you are overcome with melancholy and make your next saving throw with disadvantage.
13. Received a Great Gift: your host or some other local person of importance has made you a gift. If you passed your saving throw, you receive an appropriate treasure. If you failed, you still receive a treasure but it carries some sort of complication.
14. Granted a Boon: your host or some other person of importance has promised you a boon. If you passed your saving throw, you may name your boon. If you failed, what you asked for cannot be granted, at least until you perform some service.
15. Someone Fell in Love with You: If you passed your saving throw, your life gets more complicated in a pleasant way. If you failed, your life gets more complicated in an inconvenient way. Decide if you return the favor or not, then work with your DM to determine the details of the NPC and the situation. Note: you may always choose to re-roll this option.
16. Insulted Someone/Made an Enemy: If you passed your saving throw, you may choose who you offended. If you failed then the GM chooses. In either case, their attitude towards you moves 1 step towards hostile.
17. Gained an Ally: gain a follower of level 1d3. If your new ally is higher level than you are, they will aid you for a single adventure, although they will remain friendly afterwards.
18. Outlawry: you killed someone, stole something, or otherwise instigated some calamity. You are exiled from this Haven until you can clear your name, and people from here will react more negatively towards you if they encounter you in the wild. It is legal for anyone from here to hurt, kill, or rob you. If you passed your saving throw, you may decide on the key details of the case, including whether or not you were falsely accused. If you failed, the GM decides.
19. Named the Master: you spoke unwisely and drew the attention of the Master of Orcmont. If you passed your saving throw, you are Doomed. At the worst possible moment, you will automatically suffer a critical failure. If you failed, you swore an Oath with the Master of Orcmont as witness. You are Doomed, and if you ever break this Deadly Oath your character will die by the end of the game session in which it was broken.
20. A Wild Night: Roll again twice, both things happened. You may choose to re-roll additional 20s, or let things spiral out of control.

Hosting Feasts: a player may host their own feast by spending 10x the amount of XP to be gained in gold (a modest village feast would cost 1,000 gp). A player who hosts a feast must also distribute gifts.

Note: These prices are not necessarily indicative of what it costs an NPC host to throw a feast and reflect the fact that PCs rarely have a hall, land, and dependents to draw upon.

Ideally your feast complications don't get quite this bad

Blatant Theft: Alternate Spell List for Rise Up Comus' Wilderlands

Since 2025 is apparently the year of the beta, I've decided to go ahead and post something from an unpublished google doc from ~2019. I was a few months into an administrative assistant job with a lot of seasonal variation in workload and had just gotten jazzed up about Tolkien and OSR writing from reading Rise Up Comus, The One Ring 1st edition and Adventures in Middle Earth, so I was able to get a lot of writing done on the clock.

Piggybacking off of Josh's Wilderlands posts, I hatched a grand scheme to write a boxed campaign with a megadungeon, a small hexcrawl, and a bespoke ruleset in a kind of "The Hobbit meets Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay," "what if you replaced Smaug with Chernobog" thing called "Orcmont". I wrote a bunch of stuff for it before realizing that A) I'd bitten off way more than I could chew, and B) I was adding very little original material to my sources. Bits and pieces are still pretty good (although you'd certainly hope so, since the google doc is over 100 pages long), and a lot of the work that I've done since has owed a creative debt to Orcmont.

Maybe I'll revive it in some form one day, who knows! While these rules are mostly me clambering onto the shoulders of giants, there are a few minor innovations and ideas that I like:

• The sigil rules are pretty fun. You can make a ward or magic item by casting a spell as a sigil, but you can only ever have one at a time. For example, Josh had the great idea of letting the caster choose who the victim of a Charm Person is charmed by, so it can be a love spell. Using the sigil rules, you can also make a love potion.

• Making Blessing work like Glinda the Good's kiss is pretty cute.

• I combined Josh's Animate Object and Command spells, which feels resonant to me. They are both in a sense Words of Command.

• The table of non-magical counterspells for lifting curses is neat.

• While unnecessarily clunky in implementation, this marks my first attempt to combine the Light spell with a Turn Undead effect. To be honest, I think they should be the same thing in any setting where the cleric isn't warding vampires off with a cross. Everybody's always trying to rework or drop the cleric because "adventuring priest" is a fairly specific archetype, and the best way to do that in my opinion is to just hand their tool set to the wizard. Gandalf holds a demon at bay and Ged banishes shadows with magelight: why not do the same in your game?

• Wizards should also be able to turn into animals.

• While my Speaking spell is lifted almost word-for-word from Josh's Give Voice, I do think that I wrote a nice line expanding on how to give the target of the spell a thematically appropriate personality.

In the meantime, if you like the Wilderlands magic system but wish it had a little rule for carving magical symbols on things and a slightly different set of spells, check this shit out:

Night-Haunted Hogwarts: Downtime Draft

Belly up to the bar between adventures

 Josh of Rise Up Comus recently asked me if I had posted my Hogwarts downtime action rules and I said that I had put the the proof-of-concept version that I'd used in the playtest session report that I posted back in September. This, it turns out, was a lie. I referenced the downtime actions in the write-up but I didn't actually post the rules! Well, here they are: