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The original was posted on /r/osr by /u/Beekanshma on 2023-09-18 23:18:02.

I’m currently reading through a fun OSR Zine called Kingdoms which is about playing through generations of warrior god-kings that hunt big scary monsters and navigate the politics of their lineage. Its most brutal starting scenario is you wake up at the dawn of humanity on a random hex with nothing but a torch. A monster is approaching 10 minutes out, sent to snuff out the light. Surrounding you are 3 fearful lowbloods each. If the players put out their torches they will be killed by the supernatural darkness in a few turns. I absolutely love the concept, and I’m fine with a few attempts failing due to bad luck or poor choices. But I have very little experience with the OSR gaming mindset and I have no idea how the PCs would survive this scenario ever!

The monster in this encounter has between 0-2 armor and 60-80 HP, varies from dumb to intelligent, and is faster than the PCs. Players have 3d6 HP, 3 stats and a couple random bloodline traits like 20 ft darkvision or wings that can fly for 1 minute, fists do 1d3 damage without any traits and I’d rule that torches do 1d4 damage. Lowbloods die in one hit and must make a difficult Willpower check to enter combat.

The one advantage in a fight the players have is that the monsters are not truly sentient and follow an attack pattern when challenged directly, and if the part of them that they use in that pattern is destroyed they are stunned whenever they try to use it.

I just can’t wrap my head around how the PCs could survive this encounter, and I would have no advice to give them if they were stuck! What sorts of strats would you pro meat-grinder players pull? GMs, what sorts of rulings would you make and what information would you volunteer to make this encounter interesting and fun?

Or is this scenario so unfair that it doesn’t even qualify as a challenge, and I should look to the softer intros when I run this instead?