[Actual Play] Secret Hide-Out of Glaxorzis pick-up game! (Searchers of the Unknown)

I ran Glaxorzis as a quick pick-up game on the OSR Discord server yesterday! Around 90 minutes, for three players – a nice group of chill folks, two of them I’ve interacted on the server before (but haven’t played together) and one new person – so, overall, a great time!

We used Searchers of the Unknown. Great ruleset for quick games. “Think D&D without the ability scores. Do you know how in Basic you can write down the scores of a monster in a single stat line? This game just uses that for player characters as well”.

I whipped up some pre-gens using my trusty science fantasy frankentable (a gigantic ever-growing generator I maintain in Inspiration Pad Pro).

The players picked these characters:

 

Baron Chosroes the Purple (enterprising mercenary)

 • Stats: Leather, AC 7, MV 9, HD 1, 8 hp, #AT 1

 • Arms: laser pistol (d8), shield (-1 AC, -1 MV), axe (d6)

 • Equipment: hand-torch, chalk, small sack, electric lamp, holodisk

 

Timo (holographic golem)

 • Stats: Plate, AC 3, MV 3, HD 1, 8 hp, #AT 1

 • Arms: energy pistol (d6), shield (-1 AC, -1 MV), sling (d10)

 • Equipment: 50' rope, hand-torch, 6 rations, 50' wire rope, backpack, moldy looking glass, with the power to make the material immaterial

 

Europa (shy hero)

 • Stats: Chain, AC 5, MV 6, HD 1, 4 hp, #AT 1

 • Arms: shield (-1 AC, -1 MV), grenade (d10), polearm (d6)

 • Equipment: musical instrument (loud synthesizer), water bottle, hand-torch, candle, grappling hook, bedroll, decaying book, acquired from the frightening tower

 

We bumped them up to level 2.

Then the players came up with their motivation to go after Glaxorzis, that sorcerous CREEP!: Timo the golem had been created by Glaxorzis and now wants to take revenge; Baron the mercenary was cheated out of a promising contract by Glaxorzis, and Europa (who joined 30 minutes into the game) was the heroic type who is generally out fighting baddies.

 

The session was enough to cover most of the first level.

• The group explored the passages, got into a fight with the Orange Goblin guards, routed them, took and interrogated a hostage (“Bingus”), then let it go free.
• They went back to free the imprisoned giant. They gave him rations and started working on bending the prison bars.
• The goblins returned with back-up and their leader, striking from two directions, and another fight ensued.
• But in the meantime one character managed to free the giant (using that randomly rolled dematerialization device). The giant (“Chungus”) went berserk – well, it couldn’t do too much, as he is a 15’ tall dude in narrow cave passages. So he crawled through with great fervor, sometimes blocking the passage, which added an interesting element to the fight.
• After defeating the goblins, the party explored some more. They steered clear of the lake with mist, got the giant to clear the passage blocked by the collapse and went round. They found the shaft to level 2, descended, and this is where we finished.
• They left three rooms on this level unexplored (which is where the treasure was…). However, they did grab the goblin chief’s Scimitar of Unhealing Wounds!

Glaxorzis, you sorcerous creep, they are coming after you! AND THEY ARE GONNA FEED YOU TO CHUNGUS.