I typed up the list of player characters, what monsters they killed or captured, anyone they rescued, the rewards if any the player characters received or found, etc. and handed that out during start up for the next game session.

I updated my copies of the character sheets. Checked to see if any bad guys knew about, or cared about, the exploits.

Went over my notes, updated maps, and got ready for the next game session.

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Player character exploration continues complete.

After the leave the game area, I calculate experience, gold xp, and prorate magic item xp.

Sample XP calculations.

The character party meets 4 giant rats.

Two characters defend from, and attack, the rats and kill them.

One character hit 3 of the rats, A, B, and C. The other character hit 2 rats, C and D.

The first character gets all XP for rats A and B, half of the Xp for rat C.

The second character gets all XP for rat D and half for rat C.

The rats had no treasure.

If they had had treasure, it would have been divided up equally amongst the entire character party. Probably no more than a few copper pieces per character.

end of sample.

I would continue this for all combats in that game session.

Any magic items, in my campaign, typically went to who most needed it. Mostly the players would roll percentile dice, if more than one player wanted the item.

Scrolls and any one use items, the XP would all be given to the character who was given the item.

Items that were used for multiple times, got prorated over 10 adventures. A long sword worth 1000 xp would be 100 xp per game session it was used.

I gave out points for each adventure. Excellent 1, Good 2, Fair 3, Poor 4.

When a player character had enough experience to go up a level, I added up those points and divided them by the number of sessions.

So if a player character got all Excellent, then it took 1 game week for them to go up a level. Yes, by the referee guide manual.

Game session, followup

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Describe what was available for that session.

Rumors their characters had heard. Or request from a local town or duke. Or they might see a large fire off in the distance.

The player characters find out where the dungeon or abandoned castle/keep is located and make plans for going there.

I describe the trek there, terrain, birds, monsters, etc.

Their characters arrive and look for entrances, dead falls, guards, etc.

Make their way into the dungeon or keep.

I tell the players what their characters see, smell, and hear.

Based on the above, the players tell me what they are doing.

If they encounter a monster who has surprise, they roll to see if surprised.

After surprise is dealt with, initiative is rolled.

I have the group leader roll, and I roll for the monster. High roll goes first. Each combat round is done this way.

No monster nor character falls from wounds until the combat round is over.

If the players win initiative.

I go around the table clock-wise.

That player tells all of us what they are going to do. If using a weapon or a spell that require it, a to hit roll with a d20 is made.

I tell them if it was a hit or not. The player rolls damage.

Continue on around the table until all players have had a chance to state what their character is doing.

Then the monsters do their combat rolls.

After both are done, roll for initiative for combat round 2.

Continue until combat ends.

If the player characters survive, they look for weapons, treasure, etc. they can use.

If the monsters win, game session over until new characters can be rolled up.

At the end of 50 minutes, we take a break, unless it is in the middle of a game combat session. Then we take a 10 minute break.

The characters continue until the players are sure everything has been done, or we run out of time, and meet next week.

I describe the area, passageways, and rooms well enough so the players can make a map if they want to.

Their characters trek back to a safe location if they want to, or a town.

Treasure is divided up amongst the player characters.

Game session, end

Game session, followup

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Note: Some of these don’t apply for play by post games.

Besides each player deciding where they were going to sit.

Players do the following
1) marching order for 10’ wide corridor.

2) marching order for 30’ wide corridor

3) update character sheets with training/leveling, new hit points, new spells if any, monster burn oil, Holy Water, food, water, etc.

My referee things to do.

1) make sure I have all of the maps, information for that game session.

2) my dice and miniatures.

3) if using a computer, make sure I have the correct program loaded

4) pencil, paper, to track what rooms the characters find, NPCs the player characters talked to, etc.

5) hand out experience points for previous game session.

6) make sure we have sodas and snacks

7) turn off cell phones. Yes, OFF !

8) answer any questions about procedures, how I do things, etc.

9) get out dungeon floor tiles and green felt to put them on.

10) prepare player character order notebook for who says what/when during game.

Everyone comfy ? Restroom break needed before the end of 50 minutes ?

Game session, in progress

Game session, end

Game session, followup

A loosely interpreted map of B4 The Lost City’s Tier 5 map.

Map is 250 feet by 200 feet. Each grid square is 10 feet.

Some suggested room descriptions.

Map is 250’ × 200’

Note that the room dimensions were chosen so a bullseye lantern wouldn’t light up the opposite walls for rooms larger than 80 feet.

The different tiles could have different smoothness or roughness. Example: The terracota ones could have a nice walking surface, the gray ones could have slippery surfaces, and the light brown could be crumbly and require careful walking to move on them.

Room 1) Entrance from above. Water well, no water, in the room. A statue in the lower left corner.

Room 2) 80’ circular room. Debris

Room 3) 60’ × 60’ skeleton and broken table.

Room 4) 60’ × 120’ room is lsightly lopsided to throw off adventurer mappers. A small stone bridge in the room.

Room 5) 20’ × 10’ floor is well poished stone and slippery. Adventurers who aren’t careful wil lslide into room 6 and into the water.

Room 6) 20’ × 40’ Cool clear water behind secret doors.

Room 7) 60’ × 80’ yellow-green fungi might be mistaken for gold pieces. Rocks scattered about the room.

Room 8) 130’ circular room. Sounds of ocean waves laping a sandy shore. Otherwise empty.

Room 9) 40’ × 20’ slippery stone floor. Roll vs. dexterity to walk across the floor. Otherwise fall.

Room 10) Down stairs to next level. Two statues that wil lanswer questions by dancing.

Room 11) 10’ × 30’ tiles squeak like a badly made wood floor.

Room 12) 10’ × 20’ looks slippery, but isn’t.