This past weekend, I had my first experience with True Dungeon. I went to GenCon with one of my friends, and had heard of True Dungeon before through one of my favorite authors. Unfortunately, we purchased our passes pretty late in the game, so I didn't know I would be going to GenCon until after tickets had already gone on sale for True Dungeon.
So, I arrive at GenCon and poke around for the first day, getting myself acclimated. When we got back to the hotel that night, I was flipping though the program looking for things to do when I came across the ad for True Dungeon. For the hell of it, I look to see if tickets are still available and am delighted to find a spot open for N1 - Astral Journey to the Bliss, on Friday at 11 am. Despite a bit of trepidation on my part, I decide to jump on the chance for a ticket.
The next day, I show up anxious and unsure, not knowing what to expect but hoping for a good time. I sign the obligatory entrance waiver, and then get my first set of True Dungeon tokens and head into the prep room. I'm not the first to arrive, and I pick the easiest looking class that is available, which happens to be my favorite class in D&D - the paladin. Taking a seat, I examine my tokens to discover that I actually have some good equipment for a paladin, with good armor, a couple decent weapons, and a shield. Thinking myself to be a bit of a badass, I am quickly awed when the players for the time slot show up, armed with their binders and sashes full of tokens from years of True Dungeon runs. I quickly realize exactly how much I am NOT a badass when the rest of the party fills up their character token mats, while I have a measly 4 slots filled. The more experienced players take charge while we decide a running order for combat, and a suitable difficulty level for the dungeon run.
With all that in order, our characters decided, and our party sheet filled out, it was time for us to head to the training room. This is where I would like to give a major shout out to our training room coach, a man named Don. He did an excellent job breaking down the basics of True Dungeon for the other newbie and myself. He was energetic, happy to help, answered all the questions we had, and clearly was just excited to be there. Don was the first one to give me a glimpse of what the run would be like, and it only served to get me even more excited.
Anyways, we entered the dungeon, and the whole run became a blur to me. We got through the beginning fight pretty easily, with minimal scratches on our characters, and I was able to admire the projections used to set the scene around us. It really gave the feeling of being in the Astral Sea, looking around at swirling clouds of color, giving the impression of going on forever. Then, we moved on to the ship-summoning puzzle. I thought it was well designed, with just the right level of challenge, taking our party a good chunk of the allotted time slot to complete. We moved on to fighting the ship's captain, and thanks to some good sliding on our party's part, got through it pretty quickly.
Now, it was time to board the ship. I would just like to say how well designed this part of the dungeon was. The set was very well constructed, with all the requisite gears, pipes, and knobs to give off the impression of a great, Astral Sea-faring vessel. The puzzle in the engine room was definitely frustrating (I think we reset the engine and had to start over at least 3 times), but that made it all the more rewarding when we were finally able to complete it and restart the engine (just as the one minute warning horn blared). Moving on to the ship's navigation room, we encountered my favorite puzzle of the dungeon. Having to navigate your ship through the astral sea, dodging mines and various obstacles, was the perfect mix of teamwork, individual judgement, and group decision making. I loved that every member of the party really had to contribute, otherwise failure was certain.
Having successfully navigated to the plain of Bliss, we enter the staterooms only to find a great foe awaiting for us: a rakshasa (whose name escapes me, but I do remember it being a solid pun). This was the perfect climactic battle for the dungeon, and thanks to some quick thinking from the party's Bard, we were able to nullify the creature's invisibility by throwing the bucket of ashes on him. After a few rounds of solid hits from the group, we were able to slay him, and depart the ship for Bliss.
Just when I think the hard part is over, we meet a valkyrie who tells us we must cross the Bifrost bridge to truly enter the plain - a bridge which no living creature can touch. Though I ended up dying to this puzzle, I liked that it was in a slightly different vein from the others in the dungeon, requiring a mixture of mental fortitude and physical dexterity to recognize the patterns and be able to follow them. While only one of our party members managed to cross the bridge successfully, I think we were all satisfied with how the run went.
Overall, I had an amazing experience at True Dungeon for this convention. I would like to say thank you, to the volunteers who made this event possible, the people who plan out the dungeons for making entertaining puzzles and challenges, to Don for starting the run on the right foot, and most of all to my party, for making my first True Dungeon experience one I will always cherish. Though I may not have survived, I was able to tell my friend that I defeated a rakshasa, and died trying to cross the Bifrost bridge into the plain of Bliss. All in all, I would say that is a successful Friday morning.
TL;DR - I got the chance to run through N1 at GenCon this weekend with a very experienced party, and had a great time. Special thanks to my party, Don the training room coach, and all the volunteers for making it such a spectacular experience.
