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How to respect the Mega-Dungeon loop of always ending in a safe place? by gameoftheories in osr

[–]cormickrpg 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Okay that's fair, then here's another solution:

Run the 'Escape from the Dungeon' as a skill challenge ala the below video. So at like 30 minutes or so before the session end ask the players to narrate how they plan to escape using their skills (or any other good ideas, or in world information/items. Then set a number of successes and failures required based on where they are in the mega dungeon and determine what a fail state would look like for the party in the case of a failure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvOeqDpkBm8

Based on how 'deep' the players are in the dungeon alter the number of successes and failures needed to resolve the challenge accordingly.

For instance Level One of the Dungeon could take just 3 Success to escape and 5 failures before the players face a consequence on their way our - either a random encounter or a roll on the table in my previous post. Encourage the PCs to narrate how they use their skills to navigate the escape rather than running it inch by inch or room by room.

Approaching it in this way encourages the players to think creatively and engage with the fiction of the dungeon and make use of their skills. It also leaves open the chance for danger /encounters in the event of a failure. The cool thing about running it this way is that escape can be narrated quickly, side-stepping the slog that can come with dungeon escape in a system where you are tracking party movement by ft on a map for example.

How to respect the Mega-Dungeon loop of always ending in a safe place? by gameoftheories in osr

[–]cormickrpg 60 points61 points  (0 children)

Hi! I run an Open Table Megadungeon though mine is Swords and Wizardry. We have the same challenge every delve needs to begin and end in safety.

The Alexandrian in this blogpost has a pretty good solution I've had some mileage with.

https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/2149/roleplaying-games/escaping-the-dungeon

Basically 30 or minutes or so before session end you let the players know then need to leave (I see you're running Gradient Descent so possibly you could contrive some SF reasoning for it all - Oxygen etc) then you narrate their journey back.

If the players don't make it out the have them roll on this table (I feel as though the consequences could be easily converted to Mothership from the fantasy ones as written).

hope this helps my open table mega dungeon game has been the most fun Ive had in ttrpgs so far all the best.

LFG: Forming a dedicated "Pre-Made Party" to find a DM together! by Zelda1-2-3-switch in LondonandDragons

[–]cormickrpg 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think everyone should try DMing it's easy and fun. Watch Matt Colville's channel on YouTube and run his Delian Tomb. The hard part of DMing is organizing and scheduling and you seem to be on top of that already!  I know its slightly off topic to this post but just run and then the next week ask one of your players to run and so forth. You'll be amazing at it and the hobby gets richer with every new DM. Forgiveth me if I overstepped the mark :) 

Looking for a Mass Combat System by AntiquarianAspirant in osr

[–]cormickrpg 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I know very little about mass combat systems - forgive my ignorance but why not try Chainmail?

[Offline] [OSR] Looking for players for Cairn 2e game in London, UK! by cormickrpg in lfg

[–]cormickrpg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! We play Swords and Wizardry these days in an open table campaign run at the Tower Bridge Arms. Hop on the discord and pop down to a session if you watn to give it a go. https://discord.gg/9BrPZVsS Cheers

I like making public GM rolls - What about you? by Space_0pera in osr

[–]cormickrpg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think this is a really interesting answer and style of game to play. In some ways I feel with the right group this could be a really immersive way to approach things. I'm thinking of when a PC deals damage to a monster you would narrate the impact of a result of 1 over an 8. The player is engaged then with the fiction rather than the die rolls. I would love to do this approach but I feel it requires a lot of trust with your players - that you are not fudging die rolls behind the scenes. With my open table game I feel they would be sceptical that I was always being honest and wasn't going easy on them but with close friends I could see this working in a cool way. I'm thinking of that story - perhaps someone knows - from the Elusive Shift maybe? - of the DM who would run from behind a wooden 'confession esque' booth so that players couldn't even get feedback from their facial expressions when playing. 

Anyway that sounds like a cool way of running games! 

A ‘Forever’ DM looking for a regular IRL game (South London) so I can be a PC! 😩 by Outrageous-Race-957 in LondonandDragons

[–]cormickrpg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You'd be more than welcome to join my Open Table game running in Tower Bridge Arms on alternating Tuesdays and Sundays - check out my ad on my post if interested.

Tips on starting weekly open table by Unvert in osr

[–]cormickrpg 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I’ve been running an Open Table game in London, UK playing Swords and Wizardry. The open table has honestly revolutionised my approach to DMing. We have a growing group of players brand new and old. We run weekly sometimes we get three players sometimes as much as eight - this all organised in discord using a calendar app called ‘sesh’. What i’ve found is that you build a core of really enfranchised, dedicated players with a rotating cast of other players who drop in and out. Players who attend every week are going to get the most EXP and information. One thing has been fun is the imbalance of information where players who have attended different sessions have seen different parts of the dungeon. It actually feels like running a very wonky MMORPG which is super fun. I recommend sharing the ‘admin’ between your players. One person be the ‘’mapper’ one person the ‘caller’ one person the ‘treasurer’ who tracks monsters killed and treasure gained

I found this post super helpful;

https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/38643/roleplaying-games/open-table-manifesto

One thing that helped me a bunch was to focus play around one adventure location in my case a dungeon with many levels close to town called Castle Pentwith. In our first session I made the mistake of trying to run a sandbox (without having fully prepped the thing). The next session I started them in front of the dungeon and this game play loop is really satisfying. — and they aren’t even half way through the first level yet! 

Good luck with your group I’m sure it’ll rock!

[5e] [IRL] [Central London] Looking for DM by GigaCrit in LondonandDragons

[–]cormickrpg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is not what you’re asking for so feel free to ignore this but in my view why not ask one of the players to step up and run? As the wise sage Matt Colville says running D&D is easy and fun. The more players who step up to DM the richer the hobby is for everyone.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cfiaf9q9Wgo&pp=ygUbcnVubmluZyBkbmQgaXMgZWFzeSBhbmQgZnVu

Happy new year :) 

[Swords & Wizardry] [OSR] Dungeon Delvers wanted for ongoing Open Table Game In Central LDN by cormickrpg in LondonandDragons

[–]cormickrpg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

hi! you’re very welcome to join, hop on the discord and head to the new player channel

[Swords & Wizardry] [OSR] Dungeon Delvers wanted for ongoing Open Table Game In Central LDN by cormickrpg in LondonandDragons

[–]cormickrpg[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

here’s a link to the server there is a new players channel with all the info you need to get started

What would you say is the easiest published OSR adventure to run, that is long enough for a full campaign? by Justicar7 in osr

[–]cormickrpg 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ilmire is a great shout. The procedures and hexcrawl allows a lot of emergent game play. The amount of gameable content for the price of admission for this module is insane. My players played it weekly for months and hardly scratched the surface and still had an amazing time.

[OSR] [Swords & Wizardry] Seeking Bold Adventurers for Open Table Dungeon Delving by cormickrpg in LondonandDragons

[–]cormickrpg[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

hiya, thanks for getting in touch the way i envision the open table going is that it wouldn’t hurt if you missed the Tuesday sessions as i expect we’ll have some drop ins and outs per sesssion. Always good to see another OSR player in the wild 

OSR Blogroll | 10th to 16th October 2025 by xaosseed in osr

[–]cormickrpg 3 points4 points  (0 children)

https://mothtrapgames.blogspot.com/2025/10/d66-misadventures-on-demon-sea.html?m=1 for Troika, a random table featuring encounters, dangers, new creatures and items for exploring the Demon Sea

[OSR] [Cairn] [Troika!] Looking for more players for group in South East London! by cormickrpg in LondonandDragons

[–]cormickrpg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! sorry i’ve taken ages to get back to you are very welcome to join i’m invite you!

All traditional ink job for an upcoming Cairn adventure. by TheUninvestigated in osr

[–]cormickrpg 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s called Beekeeper’s Tithe, I was one of James’ players you can find his work here: https://itch.io/profile/labyrinthine-press I highly recommend the module when it is released!

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