Mini-Session Report: Solo Adventuring in the Tower of the Elephant

I had a session scheduled for earlier today. Four players, two of them absolutely new to RPGs. I really love getting new players. Not only are more players coming into the hobby, but I get to introduce them to a part of the culture most won't get exposed to.

Unfortunately, all but one of the players were unable to make the game. Which left me with one completely new player, and no adventure. I had been planning to run another delve into the Tomb of the Serpent Kings. Probably not the best plan for a single adventurer, even with hirelings. So instead, I tried making a solo adventure in the two hours before the session began.

In retrospect, that was unnecessary. Even putting aside TotSK, I had been looking through the new Trilemma Adventure, The Mouth of Spring, which explicitly explained that it could be used as a solo adventure. Oops.

Instead, I pulled an idea out of my pocket. And by pocket I mean ass.

Thou shalt f*cking prepare properly next time!

I had been kicking around the idea of adapting the Conan story 'The Tower of the Elephant' into a small adventure. Arrive in a strange city of thieves, hear about the great bounty to be found in the Tower of the Elephant, of the wicked sorcerer who terrifies the entire kingdom. Nighttime infiltration, burglar kings, evil charms and trans-cosmic monstrosities. Classic stuff, with the original sword-and-sorcery flavor to back it up.

Given proper preparation, it could have been solid. Given a couple hours I just sped through the audiobook a couple times and wrote down what I could. The end result was a messy improvisation that took a little under an hour. Even so, my newest victim convert lovely friend had fun and, most importantly, is up for coming to the next real session.

The Session

I kitted out our hero, Bing-Bong the Slugling Thief, with the tools necessary to take on the Tower, a grappling hook and blowpipe loaded with a single dose of White Lotus Powder. He snuck past the lions in the garden, climbing up the walls onto the roof. Seeing the prince of all thieves burst out the door and die, he ventured inside with caution. Dodging the Giant Spider's attack, he ran across the room and shut the door on the spider, rushing down a stairway into the Elephant Chamber. After revealing Yag-Kosha and more monologuing than I'm used to, Bing-Bong elected to destroy the Heart.

Not that Heart, sit back down Dagoth. 

He sundered it, releasing Yag-Kosha from Yara's control, but losing the tool that might help him defeat the sorcerer, currently rushing up the steps in a murderous rage. Hiding under Yag-Kosha's couch, Bing-Bong tried to throw a pot of oil at the sorcerer, but missed. He then ran out of the room before Yara could hit him with a magic missile. Rushing down into the sorcerer's chambers, still heavy with lotus smoke, he hid in the doorway and, just barely making his attack roll, drove his dagger into Yara's chest. Did I mention Strength was Bing-Bong's highest stat? It was. I rolled Yara's hit dice and came up snake eyes. Bye bye sorcerer.

With the guards coming up from below and the tower gradually dissolving from the top, Bing-Bong rushed upstairs, filled his sack with as many jewels and coins as he could grab, and rappelled out of a window back into the gardens. Rushing through the hedges, he tripped and fell, right in front of a trio of patrolling lions. The lotus powder saved his neck, and he escaped into the city without further incident.

Takeaways

A good lesson, one best learned early. Keep a solid one-shot and solo adventure in your back pocket, for when your best laid plans don't pan out.

Having NPCs around for the player to question and interact with is valuable. I planned to do this by placing some cowardly thieves in the garden, which could also help inside the Tower. Bing-Bong elected to ignore them. Next time, have the solo player start with hirelings off the bat.

If you're adapting text to an adventure go through it more than a couple times, and write down stretches you don't think you can remember. In this case it couldn't be helped, but in the future it certainly can be.

I experimented with using Luka Rejec's system for statblocks. In his SEACAT system, monsters are shown with a level and type of damage. Defense, health and bonuses are all derived from the level. If you were dealing with lots of monsters around the same level, this might get old, but in a session like this, that isn't happening.

Solo adventures move really fast. Like, really fast.