Best Left Buried - Experience and Leveling Up

The cast of Characters -

Amy - plays Wormac, a Dastard who’s quick with her blade

Bill - plays Gannon, a hulking Protagonist

Tom - plays Bjorn, a Cabalist with an unhealthy obsession with fire

Pat - The Doomsayer, or referee

In this example, all of the players are starting with 4 Experience from a previous adventure.

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The most important thing to remember about Experience is that you, the Doomsayer, are in control. You can award and withhold it to encourage the style of play you’re hoping to see at your table. As you do, make sure that you’re fair and consistent.

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Unlike a lot of games Experience is not given for killing random foes.  Characters gain Experience from treasure brought back to camp, making Grip Checks, doing clever things, or experiencing great things (the kinds of things bards sing about.)

Pat/Doomsayer - The three of you make it back to camp in time for a well-deserved dinner. But before you can join the chow line Titus, the company steward wants a briefing of your delve into Torvald’s Folly - and an accounting of the treasure you recovered.

Amy/Wormac - Fine.  Let’s get this over with, Wormac is cold and hungry and I’m sure whatever glop is on the fire smells pretty inviting after two days underground.

Tom/Bjorn - So we’ll sketch out a map of the new spaces we discovered and go over what we fought. Then we can get to the good stuff.

Amy/Wormac - For Wormac’s share, she wants to keep that Woundknitting potion we found.

Pat/Doomsayer - No problem.  You can each claim one treasure for yourselves - just remember, magic items don’t give you any Experience points.

Bill/Gannon - Gannon wants that scroll of My Shining Armour Gleams.

Tom/Bjorn - And Bjorn will take that Firebreathing potion.  Besides that, we brought back: two large silver ingots; ancient copper tools;  a gilded, leather-bound tome; some bloodstained, fine clothing; and a fraying, large tapestry

Pat/Doomsayer- OK. That will be worth some Experience.  Two large, silver ingots - that’s three positive descriptions, so 4. The tools and tome are worth 3 each. The clothing has one good and one bad description, so it’s worth 1. Same with the tapestry.  That would be 12 total, or 4 Experience each.

Bill/Gannon - I passed three Grip Checks, so that’s 3 more Experience, right? For a total of 11.

Pat/Doomsayer - Yup.  Amy and Tom, your characters succeeded on 2  Grip Checks each, right? So you’ll each get a total of 6 Experience, each of you will be at 10 now. And all three of you can head over and see what the company’s hunter brought in for stew tonight.

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Since each of the characters earned enough Experience to put their new total over eight, they will each “level up.” Each will get an additional point of Vigour and Grip. They will also get to choose an Advancement. Then, their Experience will be reduced by 8 and they'll start working on their next advancement.

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Bill/Gannon - I already have Lay on Hands, I think I’ll take the Holy Song of War.  Gannon seems like he might be headed toward a supporting/tank combo.  I like that he’s a big lug with a bigger heart. Then, after I reset my Experience, I’ll be at 3. 

Amy/Wormac - Hmm, I need to find something that pairs well with Nimble Dodge. Can I take My Shining Armour Gleams and use it as more of an advanced “bob and weave” fighting style?

Pat/Doomsayer - Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. Great use of reflavouring an existing Advancement. Let’s go with that. After you take your Advancement you’ll be at 2 Experience.

Tom/Bjorn - I really love Fire and Lightning Strange but I think I need to spread out a bit.  What about Concoctionist. I think Bjorn would love to whip up some more Firebreathing potions. In fact, I’ll spend that new point of Grip and craft a second one while we’re in camp. And after my advancement, I’ll be at 2 Experience too.

The Best Left Buried Collection

I've got a couple of posts up about Best Left Buried, and I'll be adding more soon, so I thought I'd better start collecting things here.

Stuff on the blog:

• Character Generation
• Stat, Observation, and Grip Checks
• Experience and Leveling-up

The Game itself:

There is a Questing Beast review of Best Left Buried.

You can grab a hard copy from either Exalted Funeral or Melsonian Arts Council

And you can grab PDFs from DriveThruRPG

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Best Left Buried is a Horror Fantast RPG by Zachary Cox and Ben Brown.

Best Left Buried - Observation, Stat, and Grip Checks - Oh My!

I've been enjoying Best Left Buried recently.  Some folks have asked for some play through examples, so I decided to start putting some together.  This time around I'm writing about Stat Checks, Observation Checks, and Grip Checks.  We'll also take a look at the Against the Odds and the Upper Hand mechanics. Let's start out by introducing our intrepid group:

• Amy - plays Wormac, a Dastard who’s quick with her blade
• Bill - plays Gannon, a hulking Protagonist
• Tom - plays Bjorn, a Cabalist with an unhealthy obsession with fire
• Pat - the Doomsayer, or referee

Pat/Doomsayer - You manage to outrun the mummy and enter a room at the end of the hallway.  There’s a table in the center of the room. It has some papers and books on it. There are shelves of urns on the wall to your left. A doorway on the wall to your right leads into another hallway.

Tom/Bjorn - Gannon, wedge that table up against the door while we check things out. 

Bill/Gannon - Ok, Gannon will move behind the table and push it up against the door.

Pat/Doomsayer - The table is pretty heavy, make a Brawn Check for me.

Bill rolls 2d6, getting a 5 and a 3.

Bill/Gannon - an eight, but my 2 Brawn makes that a ten. Gannon grunts with the exertion, but he muscles that table up against the door to block it.

Pat/Doomsayer - As you search through the shelves, let’s make an Observation Check, Wormac.

Amy rolls 2d6, getting a 3 and a 6.

Amy/Wormac - A nine - I make it.

Pat/Doomsayer - Among the urns, you see one that stands out, shaped like a lion, little black stone eyes seem to stare at you. As you try to move it aside to see what’s behind it, you find that it shifts. There’s an audible click and the shelf pivots to the side opening into a room behind it.

Tom/Bjorn - What do we see?

Pat/Doomsayer - Bjorn’s torchlight flickers, casting shadows on the walls. As you peer around Wormac you see a small room layered in heavy dust. No human hand has disturbed it for ages. A cot and a desk are along one side of the room, shelves of books and pottery casks line the other visible walls.

Tom/Bjorn - There’s loot to be had, friends! I can smell it. Let’s go in and see what we find.

Bill/Gannon - I’ll bet those books are worth something, c’mon let’s check it out.

Pat/Doomsayer - the room is about 15 feet square except that the corners of the far wall are cut off at 45-degree angles forming a bit of a niche, 5 feet wide in the center of that wall. A quick search reveals that the crocks are filled with powders and oily substances. It’s going to take you a while to search through it all.

Tom/Bjorn - It’s worth it. And maybe we can use this room as a cache for the other stuff we’ve found.

Amy/Wormac - Wormac will go back outside to stand watch.

Pat/Doomsayer - Great. She steps back into the room with the table, it’s dimly lit by the torch in the room behind you. Suddenly Wormac feels something softly hit her ankle. She looks down and sees a ball of yarn rolling away. Looking up, she sees a cat at the very edge of the torchlight. It looks at Wormac, tilting its head, and she suddenly sees that it has no eyes. In fact, it is unnaturally thin, it’s body wrapped in bandages -

Amy/Wormac - I think I need to make a Grip Check. (Rolls 2d6, getting a 1 and a 2..) A three! Wormac’s will isn’t going to make a difference with that roll. I’ll mark off a point of Grip. Wormac shudders and lets out a little groan, why did it have to be a cat? Umm, that leaves Wormac with just one point of Grip - can I take an Aflliction for her now?

Pat/Doomsayer -  Sure. Shall we roll on the chart, or is there something you think fits?

Amy/Wormac - I was thinking maybe Debilitating Dread of these mummy cats, what do you think?

Pat/Doomsayer - That sounds a little narrow, what about undead in general, So, you’ll need to make a Growing Will Check anytime Wormac sees undead monsters. If you fail, you’ll either need to spend a point of Grip or you’ll be Against the Odds on any action other than running or hiding from them until they’re gone. Since this is Wormac’s first instance of a Debilitating Dread, you’ll roll your checks with The Upper Hand. The good news is, you’re up to ten points of Grip now.

--Later-- 

Pat/Doomsayer - The three of you come up to a large stone door. There’s a pull ring near the right side, but it looks heavy.

Bill/Gannon - Let’s give this a go. Will it be a Brawn Check to open it?

Pat/Doomsayer - Yes, but given the size and weight, Gannon will be Against the Odds.

Bill/Gannon - Well, Gannon has a crowbar which would normally give me The Upper Hand and will offset that, plus Wormac can help. That gives me two instances of The Upper Hand and just one Against the Odds so I’ll have The Upper Hand on this. (Rolls 3d6.) Two 4s and a 3. With The Upper Hand, I’ll drop a 4 and have a seven, but my 2 Brawn brings that to a nine. Gannon and Wormac are able to open it.

Pat/Doomsayer - Great as the door pulls open, a skeleton that was propped against it falls at your feet.  Gannon, you’re totally unprepared for the skull that rolls in front of you and stops, seeming to grin up at you. Why don’t you roll a Grip Check but Against the Odds?

Bill/Gannon - Gee, thanks! (Rolls 3d6) I rolled a 4, a 5, and a 6 - I’ll have to drop that 6 but I still made the nine, so I’m ok.

Pat/Doomsayer - Awesome!  You’ll get a point of experience for succeeding on that check. 

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Best Left Buried is a Horror Fantast RPG by Zachary Cox and Ben Brown.

There is a Questing Beast review of Best Left Buried.

You can grab a hard copy from either Exalted Funeral or Melsonian Arts Council

And you can grab PDFs from DriveThruRPG

4d4 Minor Magical Weapons (Twice)

@goatmansgoblet (http://www.goatmansgoblet.com/) and I put together a set of minor magical items suitable for low-level characters.  I've created a pdf of our collaboration.  The first page has a pair of tables to determine what kind of weapon.  The second and third each have a 2d4 table you can use to determine what the weapon will do for (or to) the wielder.  You can use either or both depending on your game world.

Grab a copy here

Thanks for the invitation and the collaboration, Brian!  I had a great time, we should do this again some time.

The Last Night in An Unquiet Home

A collaboration with @goatmansgoblet (or http://www.goatmansgoblet.com/)

I drew the map, Brian did this incredible writeup.

Your Uncle is on his deathbed, and though you were never the closest of companions he always respected your ambitions and encouraged you to be yourself. Though adventuring does not come kindly, nor easily, to most; he confided to you in letters that if you survived your first year you could survive anything.

The Wicked Baccahnali Fever has ravaged his frame, he lays in bed, the last of his money spent on the courier to ask you and any boon companions come to his estate on the edge of the borderlands, deep past the elder glade and far from any road. He cannot move, he can hardly speak, his bed sores leak gin-scented vapors and his jaundiced face can seldom crack a smile let alone an unkind word.

“The house is yours if you can end that wretched puckering.” He coughs out, “They’re in here, just puckering and suckering and whistling dark and deep, like low waters…” His eyes draw towards an armoire in his room, then towards the door, to the window, to the wall; panic and paranoia set in. He wheezes again. “You must do this for me, please. I cannot take the sound. It does me indignity and disrespects I do not deserve.”

He doesn’t expect to see the mid-day sun of the day to come. You will have one night to relieve him of this sound and what he thinks will produce it. You have run of the house, he needs to rest.

The first floor consists of: a butler’s pantry, an overgrown courtyard, a water closet which feeds into a septic ditch, a kitchen, and a receiving hall. None of the rooms on the first floor have seen much use in the last month, not since the wasting rendered your uncle bound to his bed and the pan within it.

The second floor consists of a personal office and a guest room which overlooks the entrance of the house. The office contains discarded drafts of many letters he had meant to send you over the years, as well as correspondence with other, perhaps more qualified, individuals who could come and relieve him of his stress. The guest room contains a large bed with a mattress as hard as stone, a locked antique armoire, and a large oval mirror covered by a sheet.

The third floor consists of a secondary water closet which feeds down into the septic ditch down a long stinking chute, a closet containing many outfits that while long out of fashion would be worth quite a bit of money, and your uncle’s bedroom wherein he sleeps between hacking fits and groans of anguish. His bed is very soft, his sheets are very fine and well-patterned, his armoire also locks, though the key remains in the hole, and his bookshelves are well-used since he’s become bedridden. The books contain all manner of manuscripts and codices on the topic of hunting, legalism, sculpting, herbalism, and moral philosophy---though primarily stoicism.

The attic contains several mouldering trunks filled with hiking equipment, old mementos from times now forgotten, a well-stocked liquor cabinet, and some old furniture in need of reupholstery. The tower room is well lit by its windows, containing several half-finished paintings of your mother, a dog you remember from your youth, and scenes of the countryside. A deck of cards and a bottle of fine wine sit in this room as well.

The Threat
Your uncle is beguiled by a Boggart who has exacerbated his sickness and brought him to death’s door. Your uncle will die by morning, his hope has long been devoured though you and your associates have rekindled a spark of it with your presence. The Boggart will attempt to turn your uncle into one of its minions if it is not properly contended with.

Your uncle is undone by the minions of the Boggart, puckering goblin-like creatures the size of cats who scramble about in the dark; often making sucking and clicking noises or popping his blisters with their obscene boney fingers.

He knows he is being tormented by these goblin-creatures, he just does not know they are aspects of the Boggart, whom he has no idea exists. The Boggart is bound to the armoires, a twin set your uncle purchased a few months before you first went adventuring. The boggart is only acting up because of your uncle’s poor health, hoping to consume a soul and haunt the house in total. It was not strong enough before.

The Boggart [As Wraith]
Where is it? 
The Boggart is hiding in the locked armoire on the second floor, as it gets to be left alone here. It whispers into the wood of the armoire and its words are projected out of the one in your uncle’s room. It can teleport freely between the two, but it can only exit whichever one is unlocked. They both use the same key. It can be trapped inside, as it must return within come sunrise; being locked out will see it attempt possession or die in the sunlight.

What is it doing? [d4]

1. Calling out in your Uncle’s voice many hateful things you could believe him saying about you though not to your face. If you have found the office correspondence and read it, the voice is replaced by a raspy guttural snarl.
2. Peering into windows in the form of your mother, half-formed and grotesque. If you have finished the painting of your mother in the attic or covered it up fully, it will appear instead like a “ghost” under a sheet. 
3. Snarling like a dog, its bark coming from rooms the creature itself is not in. If spotted, it appears as a gigantic black mastiff. If you have finished the painting of a dog you remember from the attic or covered it up, the Boggart’s voice is heard chanting “Get Out. Get OUT!” rather than proper scare tactics.
4. Ordering around the puckering goblins. If witnessed on the second floor, it gets violent with them if they go close to the covered up oval mirror.

How can we stop it?
Trap the Boggart outside both armoires and get it destroyed by tricking it into entering a sunbeam. Trapping the Boggart inside an armoire, locking both, and then burning them both will also suffice; provided neither is damaged until the fire begins. Uncovering the oval mirror on the second floor and forcing the Boggart into it through force of arms will see it trapped forever in the spirit realm, unable to interact with the mortal world so long as the mirror remains covered or obscured. Breaking the mirror once the Boggart is trapped inside will destroy the creature, but will cause seven years of bad luck to the one who does the deed.

The Puckering Goblins [As Meenlock, 3d6 in Total] 
Where are they? 
In the shadow behind the door, atop the bookshelf, clamoring outside the house like a set of gargoyle grotesques, pooping in the garden (mainly birthing weeds, fungi, and cockroaches in doing so), or clogging up the septic ditch.

What are they?
Nasty manifestations of the Boggart’s hatred for the mortal world, they exist to make things worse. They are physical entities, born of the energy it has stolen from your uncle. They are cruel and enjoy inflicting pain; but they are also cowards and flee from any light. They like to lock and unlock the armoires in the house at night so the Boggart need not wander the halls between floors.

What are they doing? [d4]

1. Tormenting your uncle, he moans and calls for aid while you hear a strange sputtering sucking sound. 75% chance of vanishing upon arriving to aid your uncle, though if spotted they will attack.
2. Throwing filth everywhere, scratching at the walls, trailing ash and footprints all over the house. 75% chance that the party only encounters the aftermath, which looks like someone dipped some chickens in ink and threw them into a hallway.
3. Turning the key to the armoires in the wrong direction, constantly. If spotted, 35% chance it will panic and swallow the key (easily retrieved if killed, as the creature will melt back into shadow).
4. Climbing the walls of the interior of the house as though they were overgrown spiders.

In the Morning…
If the Boggart was destroyed, so too were the goblin-creatures: Your uncle dies peacefully in his sleep around noon, though he will wake for breakfast and wonder if you might make him a cup of tea. He’ll tell you stories of your mother’s bolder days, of how he tried to do the things you’ve done but he was often held back by fear of failure. He will offer you his home, as it seems a good idea to have a place to return to when you have the odd hour of peace in your life. He will be kind, and look less sickly for the few hours he has left in his life.

If the Boggart was not destroyed but some goblin-creatures were killed: Your uncle will be horrified by the corpses of the creatures (as they are awful to look at), but he will say he is thankful that he might finally enjoy some quiet. He knows not why they came to vex him, though he will confess that despite being a more humble type than an adventurer, he had still made many enemies. “Though I know none who’d send these...things.” He will ask that you cook him some breakfast, there is food in the pantry; but he will die before he gets a chance to eat, passing away with a pallor and a chill.

If neither the Boggart or any goblin-creatures were killed: Your uncle will wonder if it was all in his head, he’ll plead that he knows he isn’t cracked, but he has no explanation for all this recent nonsense. He says he knows the disease doesn’t cause mental wasting, then he will hack and cough. He’ll ask for help getting out of bed, he wants to put on some nice clothes. The armoire will be unlocked, either by you or by his own hand, and he’ll slump forward and die in an undignified position.

Best Left Buried - Character Generation

I've been enjoying Best Left Buried recently.  Some folks have asked for some play through examples, so I decided to start putting some together. Setting up characters seemed like the best way to start. 


Creating Insil One-eye
Best Left Buried recommends starting with a name and an idea, and I thought Insil would make a hard-bitten warrior.

Next, I need to set up his attributes: Brawn, Wit, and Will. I can set one of them to 2, one to 1 and leave the other at 0.  I want Insil to be fast and strong, so I’ll go with:

Brawn 1  Wit 2 Will 0

Vigour (physical health/HP) is 6 + Brawn. Grip (mental health/Sanity/mana) is 4 + Will, so Insil is

Vigour 7  Grip 4

There are a number of archetypes (the base for a character) that fit the warrior mold. To match the hard-bitten aspect, I’m going with Veteran.

A veteran has Years of Experience, I can have the Upper Hand* against one kind of monster (subject to the Doomsayer’s approval.)  I think Insil might have spent a lot of time fighting skeletal creatures, my Doomsayer thinks that’s reasonable, so we’ll go with it.

Veterans also have Danger Sense, they’ve got the Upper Hand on Observation Checks to detect dangers in crypts and the like.

Finally, Veterans are Battle-Scarred, I roll a random injury a 3 on the d3 and a 2 on the d6. Insil has lost an eye and will be Against the Odds* on Observation Checks that rely on vision.

I think Insil lost his eye to a skeletal warrior. This coupled with his experience drives him to fight against skeletons with particular hatred and skill.

Players get to choose an advancement to start the game, I chose to give Insil Horde Killer. This means he can negate 2 instances of the Upper Hand from Ganging Up (a benefit some monsters have) by any monsters he faces.

Finally, I need to pick some equipment.  All characters start with a week's worth of rations, a full waterskin, a backpack, a bedroll, three torches and a set of Basic Armour. They add two weapons, I’ll take a light weapon (a scimitar) and a throwing weapon (3 darts.) Characters also get 5 pieces of equipment, I’ll go with a shield, 3 doses of medicine, some caltrops, 50 feet of rope, and a crowbar. The basic armour and shield give Insil an Attack Target Number of 9. This is the number opponents will need to roll to hit him.

Creating Marcon
I also wanted to create a crypt-shaken spell caster and I thought Marcon would be a great name for her.

I’ll follow the same pattern that I did with Insil:  As a spell caster, I’m much more worried about Will and Wit:

Brawn  0  Wit  1  Will  2

Vigour 6  Grip 6

There are several archetypes that could work, but I’ll go with Cabalist. Cabalists start with an Affliction, my Doomsayer and I talk about it and Hoardlust seems to make sense.  Marcon will be prepared to betray NPCs (or, eventually, PCs) in order to collect more treasure.

Cabalists have Been There and Done That, so the first time they would lose a point of Grip on any adventuring day, they ignore the result and don’t lose it. They also have the ability, I’ve Seen Things, which gives them the Upper Hand on Grip Checks* due to monsters or the environment.

For an advancement, I’m going to give Marcon Fire and Lightning Strange. This lets her attack foes with one specific kind of magical or elemental material. I’m going to go with ice.  Marcon can spend up to three points of Grip to attack an enemy within short range*.  The attack will be with the Upper Hand and deal damage equal to the damage die times the number of Grip points spent.

For equipment, Marcon gets the same starting set of equipment: a week's worth of rations, a full waterskin, a backpack, a bedroll, three torches and a set of Basic Armour.

For her two weapons, Marcon will take a light weapon (a dagger), and wants to use a whip. The section Strange Weapon Types suggests that this be treated as a Wit based throwing weapon.


Marcon will carry two bottles of alcohol, a lantern, a dose of paralysing poison (-1 Wit), and a set of fine clothing.
 

We’ll look at how weapons and equipment work in another post.

* Check out my Best Left Buried Collection page for information on these features of the game.

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Best Left Buried is a Horror Fantast RPG by Zachary Cox and Ben Brown.

There is a Questing Beast review of Best Left Buried.

You can grab a hard copy from either Exalted Funeral or Melsonian Arts Council

And you can grab PDFs from DriveThruRPG

Foot Of The Mountain 1500

Now that I've hit 1500 followers on my twitter account I'm releasing my hanging garden map.  A few folks expressed interest in putting together a one-page adventure to join in the celebration, I'll link them below as they pop up.
You can see my previous celebratory map at https://footofthemountainadventures.blogspot.com/2019/02/1000-twitter-followers.html


Adventures based on the hanging garden:

• Black Tome Press - A Guardian's Exile 
• DM Wrinklewroes - The Four Knights of the Four Pillars

Thanks to my patrons over at https://www.patreon.com/mountainfoot  - their sponsorship makes it possible for me to make more of my maps publicly available and re-usable.  If you'd like to help and get access to additional maps available for your personal or commercial re-use, please sign up.  Sponsorship levels start at $1 each month.

This map is available for personal or commercial re-use with attribution. Please let me know if you use it for a personal game, I love to hear that my maps help people enjoy gaming. If you need an actual license with terms, this works for me: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/