BECMI D&D Solo Play: Ruins of the Undercity

[@JesseTarkWx]

Great video!!!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Thank you Jesse!

[@stevenkennedy4130]

W00T!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Thanks Steven.

[@AceneDean]

Yesss 🎉 solo play back again! We back, baby! We back!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

lol. Well hopefully this was what the doctor (or in your case, scientist) ordered.

[@magehammersgametable]

Excellent example of how any RPG can be a solo RPG. Well done!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Thanks Hammer! I think that a lot of people haven’t really thought out how simple it can be done. I’m not a tremendous voice actor, or writer of great stories, but I can have a good time with just a few tools in my kit!

[@magehammersgametable]

Exactly! All a solo game requires (even for one on video) is a willing player and the system(s) of his or her choice (and dice, of course, if the system calls for them, of course). A few accessories help but are not required.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

@ absolutely!

[@NerdyLiches]

Appeasing the Evil Algorithmic Overlords. Not a huge solo play fan, but I'm here for it. Listening while I drive. Safely ofc. Commenting at a red light.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Your safety and your contribution are noted! Thanks buddy!

[@SimonAshworthWood]

I wasn’t aware of this DM-less adventure. Thanks for letting us know about it. 🤗

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Absolutely. Thanks for watching Simon.

[@davidpaul1970]

Excellent compromise. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@dangarthemighty0980]

Wooohooo! Great video Justin. This was a very exciting Solo session. I got my hands on Into the Unknown from Pacesetter Games a few years back when I backed the Kickstarter. It is also a great Solo campaign that is compatible with BECMI and other BECMI OSR Clones. 😊

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Nice! Kabuki Kaiser has a follow up product called “Mad Monks of Kwantoom”, which plays like Ruins of the Undercity, but with an Oriental Adventures style. It adds BECMI versions of the OA classes as well. Might give it a run sometime too.

[@dangarthemighty0980]

@@booksbricksandboards783 That's awesome. Now I've got to look into that. Big fan of Oriental Adventures. 😊

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Mad Monks of Kwantoom definitely feels more polished and complete than Ruins too. I think it is an upgrade!

[@retrodmray]

Awesome stuff at always from you, Brother! 🤓👊💥

[@booksbricksandboards783]

There’s that great Easley knight riding through the canyon that I remember from my childhood! Welcome back Ray! Thanks my friend!

[@JeffreyBrining]

This looks great! I haven’t done solo adventuring since Thunderdelve Mountain.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Thanks!

[@simontemplar3359]

This ran really well! Having a cleric mattered so much! I remember the first season of MM&D where he went looking for a cleric but couldn't find one to come with him. Would have made all the difference. My first D&D character was a cleric. I remember when I finally got a few spells. That was a great feeling. Anyway, great video! Thanks for doing it. It's not just entertaining, but it is helpful to see it played out. Cheers!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Thanks buddy… I really think the BECMI Cleric is very underrated. It has the most advantageous XP table, can wear the best armor, can use a decent variety of weapons, has access to some game changing spells, AND completely owns a major type of enemy with its turning ability. Put it this way, I’m joining an online BECMI game, I’m playing a cleric.

[@Ike_of_pyke]

Dope stuff man , exited to see you run through

[@booksbricksandboards783]

It was a bit of a surprise for a minute😉

[@davidrobertson5996]

Great content, Justin. Thanks for putting it together for us. That's only the second solo play I've seen, and it looked interesting. Shame that so many corridor sections came out but that's just how the dice fell! I've never really felt like playing solo, despite living away from all of my gaming buddies. Might think about giving it a shot. As you said, OSR-type games are pretty deadly at low level, but that's part of the fun. Anyway, nice job and looking forward to seeing what you do next!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Hey buddy, thanks for watching. I have several solo plays on the channel. I created a solo playlist that compiled them if you want to take a look!

[@davidrobertson5996]

@@booksbricksandboards783 Thanks Justin, will do!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Welcome! I cover a variety of games in there, so probably something you’ll like!

[@davidrobertson5996]

@@booksbricksandboards783 I'll take a look tomorrow - bedtime for Bonzo here in the frozen wastes of Scotland 🙂

[@booksbricksandboards783]

G’night buddy!

[@agilemonk6305]

Very well done good sir. ❤

[@booksbricksandboards783]

You are very welcome!

[@alexanderblack8434]

New sub here love the video!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Awesome! You might check out my solo playlist. Have several different solo play videos in there. Thanks for watching!

[@alexanderblack8434]

@booksbricksandboards783 i will!

[@yagsipcc287]

Nice stuff bud. I pretty much solo everything Shadowdark, AD&D and my new game Tales of Argosa. I enjoy it plus anything can be played in terms of adventures with no problem really. Just try to be objective as you can, I mostly create as I go and dont use to many adventures, Have some tools I use from time to time in cards when I am extra lazy ha

[@booksbricksandboards783]

I like to be surprised, so the dungeon geomorph style game will help keep me wondering what’s next. Thanks for watching!

[@Ike_of_pyke]

Just got time to sit down and finish , it sounds like a good time, I'm gonna run the oracle using Dolmenwood. If you haven't looked at it , Dolmenwood is setting + campaign for a system that's B/X + 1ed AD&D race seperate from class(though those are an option )with additional quirks system by the Old School Essentials team.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

I’m interested in checking out Dolmenwood, but I am reserving judgment. I like everything they have done, but I don’t like that OSE seems to have been replaced. Wait and see is my plan for DW. Thanks for watching!

[@HermieMunster]

Always interested in solo stuff especially BECMI as I don’t have a group these days. I might take a look at using this with some pre made maps.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Mad Monks of Kwantoom is from the same author and improves on a few things, as well as presenting new player and monster options. That said, if you aren’t into the theme, it won’t be for you.

[@wingusryu8289]

Where did you get that screen? Looks magnetic! Could you go over the supplement you used. I would like to learn my out it for my own start of solo play

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Like a separate video covering just Ruins of the Undercity maybe? Regarding the screen, it is magnetic and I bought it from Fun3DPrints on Etsy. I have been very happy with it, bought it in 2020.

[@wingusryu8289]

@@booksbricksandboards783 Yes, would love to see more about the Ruins of Undercity

[@booksbricksandboards783]

What about its big brother “Mad Monks of Kwantoom”? Same publisher, same type of product, but focused on eastern mythologies, and provides some interesting BECMI analogs to the OA classes, as well as some nice monsters based upon art from a 16th century matchbook company. Very cool.

[@wingusryu8289]

@ I would definitely be interested in that. Totally my jam. Funny that despite speaking japanese and being a martial artist I never played oriental adventures

[@booksbricksandboards783]

@ my martial arts experience was limited to two months of boxing, two months of jujutsu, and 3 months of wrestling lol. My Oriental Adventures experience on the other hand… 35 years…😎.

[@jesternario]

What interested me about the GM's screen was the screen itself, not the Inserts. Is that an STL? If not, where did you get it?

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Etsy. Fun3DPrints. Ordered in 2020.

[@anarionelendili8961]

Quick comments: General: Yeah, the story was left somewhat thin, and I am not that interested in procedural dungeon generation to be honest. As you said, quick system check, fine, but anything deeper, you want to put in more work. Magic items: I assume you used the Rules Compendium tables? Honestly, one big criticism I have for the RC is that it doesn't scale the power level of the loot, unlike the individual boxes did. I would be more inclined to use an Expert table for this one. Skeletal Warrior and Treasure: Since it was its lair, I would have made it into its tomb, with grave goods. Maybe take the Mummy's lair as the comparison or something like that. Find Traps and movement: Normal exploratory round in BECMI is 10min, but that makes Find Traps almost useless. Instead, I use 10min for the actual "let's check for traps and/or secret doors" careful advance, and otherwise let them use 1 min rounds. They can do the full combat move instead (10 sec), but that is automatic surprise, no mapping, etc.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Thanks Ana!

[@anarionelendili8961]

@@booksbricksandboards783 Oh, and this little adventure is a prime example why I dislike energy draining monsters so very much. Lose initiative, nothing you can do to avoid and in most cases fix it. The only saving grace is that since the XP tiers are factors of 2, you probably catch up the lowest levels pretty quick, one per adventure, but it still sucks majorly. Which is why I don't use this mechanism, but have replaced it with attribute drain.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

@ lol yeah, I was thinking… “if I played this character like 30 sessions to get him to 9th level, and one bad roll he is now 7th level?” Me and the DM are having a conversation about how we fix this… what quest do I need to do to get rid of these negative levels? I remember as a kid, energy drain was always a “threat” but I don’t remember using it much, or seeing it used much… outside of one shot campaign games where we weren’t invested in the characters. The big time I remember it, was House of Strahd in 2nd edition… otherwise it was more like a morality tale to keep players in line!

[@anarionelendili8961]

@@booksbricksandboards783 Yeah, exactly. It is not fun, and it is forcing the campaign to backpedal, which is also detrimental. And it is also a huge pain to do all the adjustments in mid-adventure.

[@feralgamersincrpg]

Do you have a link to the character sheet you are using?

[@booksbricksandboards783]

I got it off of Dragonsfoot, under resources.

[@feralgamersincrpg]

@@booksbricksandboards783 great thanks

[@booksbricksandboards783]

@ welcome!

[@squidlicious8449]

Please do Wrath of the Immortals!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

I will at some point for sure… but I can tell you, it will take a lot of work and research to do it justice. The Immortal Box was the hardest of the originals to cover, and it was one of the least viewed. Need to have a few high view videos before I dip back into one that will likely be much lower. Nostalgia seems to be a factor, and not many folks have nostalgia for those sets 😀.

[@JeffreyBrining]

This looks great! I haven’t done solo adventuring since Thunderdelve Mountain.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Thanks Jeff. I’ve wanted to pick up some of the old solo adventures from TSR, but always worried I won’t get the silly glasses to read them lol.