TL;DR: Take some items off the CoX drop table and put them on the drop tables of the new, repeatable, DT2 bosses.
With Desert Treasure 2 coming in a couple months, Jagex will be pitching the rewards for FOUR new bosses that will each have their own unique drop tables. I believe that this is an opportunity to adjust one of the worst drop tables in the game, the Chambers of Xeric drop table, by moving some of the unique rewards to these new bosses.
The Chambers of Xeric drop table has too many unique items on it- it has 12 possible items that could be in the chest if you get a purple light. This is way too many for one piece of content to offer, it makes the content feel directionless. Additionally, the number of items causes "variance" in the time to obtain a certain item or items from the Raid. And the most rare items are extremely rare, making obtaining them an incredible feat of luck or persistence.
​

What do you mean by "too many" unique drops?

In almost every other piece of content in OSRS, the number of potential drops is lower, and the drop tables inform the content's direction. People go to Corrupted Gauntlet for their crystal armor and weapons. People go to Bandos for his armor and the hilt. People go to Zammy for his spears. People go to ToB for the sick weapons. People go to Muspah for the Venator shards.
When you have so many drops, and such a low chance of getting anything (especially after prayer scrolls), it feels like such a shot in the dark. Like it's going to be so RNG dependent to get the thing that you want versus the thing that you don't. Directionless.
Chambers of Xeric has 12 unique purple drops. The other two raids combined have 14 (7+7).
​

What do you mean by "variance"?

The simple calculation to tell you the rate to obtain every unique item would be to take the most rare item's drop rate (1/34.5). However, because there are multiple items sitting at that rate, the number goes up, far beyond the 34.5 number.
Take Barrows, for example. A 6/6 completion gives you a 1/15 chance at an item, which there are 24 of, all equally likely. This does not mean that the average chests to complete Barrows is 15*24, because this would only happen if you were guaranteed to get a new unique (and not a duplicate). When you do the math, the average chests to complete Barrows is actually about 1380.
Another example is drop tables like Cerberus and Zulrah. 4 equally rare items each at a 1/512 drop rate gives an average completion kc of about 1050.
Similarly, the average number of purples it takes to obtain every unique item from Chambers at least once is about 78 - not 34.5. The average number of solo runs that must be completed to obtain every unique item is about 2100.
​

How rare is "extremely rare"?

The drop rate of the rarest items - Twisted Bow, Elder Maul, and Kodai Insignia - from Chambers of Xeric is 1/34.5 from a purple. The other 2 Raids' most rare items sit at 1/19 (Scythe) and 1/24 (Shadow). (That means that Dragon Claws at 1/23 are more rare from a Chambers purple than Scythe is from a ToB purple... lmao)
​

What would a revamped Chambers of Xeric drop table look like?

Here is my proposed new CoX drop table:

Item	Rarity from Purple	Current Price
Dexterous Prayer Scroll	1/3.39	36,700k
Arcance Prayer Scroll	1/3.39	2,600k
Twisted Buckler	1/9.3	15,100k
Ancestral Robe Top	1/14	155,200k
Ancestral Robe Bottom	1/14	133,300k
Ancestral Hat	1/14	36,100k
Kodai insignia	1/18.7	73,100k
Twisted bow	1/28	1,385,400k

This new drop table would increase the GP/Purple by about 16%, from 77.4m per purple (on average) to 89.8m per purple. However, it would reduce the average number of purples to obtain all uniques from 78 to 43 and it would reduce the number of solo kc from 2100 to 1100.
It would remove the following 4 items (their current GP value in parantheses):

• Dragon hunter crossbow (66,800k)
• Dinh's bulwark (14,400k)
• Elder maul (9,100k)
• Dragon claws (91,000k)

​

What about the items that are leaving the table?

This is the tie-back to Desert Treasure 2 and its new bosses. With 4 new bosses, there is an INCREDIBLE opportunity to move items off the Chambers drop table because there are four potential new places for these items to come from.
Use your imagination. It doesn't even have to be these 4 items! It could just be one or two items leaving the table. Anything that reduces the number of items on the table and the rarity of the rarest items is a win.
​

Jagex said that they didn't want the new bosses to drop Raids-level gear

Not all Raids drops are created equally. Justiciar is worse than Bandos, no one cares about the Twisted Buckler or Elidinis Ward, Elder Maul is a joke, Arcane Prayer Scroll doesn't even give you max hits. I agree that the new bosses shouldn't drop Scythe/RapieDex/Fang/Masori/Ancestral/Shadow/TBow level items. But not all Raid items are at that level.
​

A drop rate buff for the Twisted Bow would increase the number of them in the game and tank its value!

First of all, a drop rate buff is directly tied to the number of players doing a specific piece of content. As in, if you introduce this drop rate buff at the same time as four new bosses, you might not necessarily see more Twisted Bows since the number of people at Chambers would be reduced as well. The number of players who are doing endgame content is FINITE. Adding 4 new bosses takes people away from other activites. Look at how many people have left Theatre of Blood since Tombs of Amscut came out, and how Avernic and Sang (the only two drops from ToB still in demand) have gone up since July.
Additionally, the Twisted Bow is at a great place right now in terms of price. It's up 300m from a year ago. I don't really know who would be shedding a tear over this.
​

Why do you need to get every drop? What's so important about Green Logging?

There are plenty of players and account types that want to get every single item from a piece of content, such as Ironmen and Collection Loggers. But most importantly, it's about reducing the time to get the most important items for account progress: the Twisted Bow and Ancestral. Set us free.
​

It sounds like you want every drop in Chambers to be common and good. Removing the Dihns and Elder Maul is a straight up buff

It is a buff. Every Raid should have drops that are lower in value because they have niche use cases, and CoX will still have them after these are removed. Instead of comparing the proposed CoX table to the old CoX table, compare the proposed CoX table to the current ToA table.
​

This change would make ToB the Raid with the lowest GP/Purple

That's the fate of ToB regardless. With Twisted Bow, Ancestral, and Dex rising in price, while ToB only has Avernic rising in price, CoX is going to overtake ToB. If you want to save ToB's price per purple, you need to make the Scythe as powerful and useful as the Twisted Bow and Shadow. Especially with the Rapier indirect nerfs through Fang. Justiciar will never be that valuable and the other 2 drops are carrying their weight. (ToB will almost certainly retain higher GP/HR regardless due to the 1/9 purple rate and the faster completion times)
TL;DR: Take some items off the CoX drop table and put them on the drop tables of the new, repeatable, DT2 bosses.
For reference, here are the current drop tables of all the Raids:
CoX:

Item	Rarity from Purple	Current Price
Dexterous Prayer Scroll	1/3.45	36,700k
Arcance Prayer Scroll	1/3.45	2,600k
Twisted Buckler	1/17.25	15,100k
Dragon Hunter Crossbow	1/17.25	66,800k
Ancestral Robe Top	1/23	155,200k
Ancestral Robe Bottom	1/23	133,300k
Ancestral Hat	1/23	36,100k
Dragon Claws	1/23	91,000k
Dihn's Bulwark	1/23	14,400k
Elder Maul	1/34.5	9,100k
Kodai insignia	1/34.5	73,100k
Twisted bow	1/34.5	1,385,400k
Average GP/Purple		77,400k

ToA:

Item	Rarity from Purple	Current Price
Osmumten's Fang	1/3.43	46,300k
Lightbearer	1/3.43	2,600k
Elidinis' Ward	1/8	5,000k
Masori Body	1/12	131,500k
Masori Chaps	1/12	85,900k
Masori Mask	1/12	21,200k
Tumeken's Shadow	1/24	1,440,500k
Average GP/Purple		95,281k

ToB:

Item	Rarity from Purple	Current Price
Avernic Defender	1/2.375	89,500k
Justiciar Helm	1/9.5	13,000k
Justiciar Chest	1/9.5	15,600k
Justiciar Legs	1/9.5	11,100k
Ghrazi Rapier	1/9.5	59,500k
Sanguinesti Staff	1/9.5	95,400k
Scythe of Vitur	1/19	392,600k
Average GP/Purple		78,832k

​

Hey everyone! Welcome to my Tombs of Amascut progress and loot log! After recently rediscovering my love for OSRS after a 2 year stretch of burn, I've decided that it's finally time to hit the lategame -- max combat, and more importantly, get some lategame gear! The Tombs of Amascut will be my first raids content done on the account -- I'm looking to consistently clear 400s with midgame gear and win the shadow lottery to push 500s!
And of course, I'll be logging each run -- what's more old school than an old-school-monsters-forum progress/loot log!

Contents:

1. Goals and Updates
2. The Method
3. Stats
4. Gear + Inventory
5. Invocations
6. Fun Stats!
7. The Log!
8. Supporters
9. Closing Thoughts

I. Goals and Updates

• Get filthy rich!
• Upgrade my low-to-mid level gear!
• Consistent 400s!
• 500s with a shadow!
• Pet???

II. The Method

• Mostly the hardest + most impactful invocations first; freebies turned on at the end
• Red-X Ba-ba at all invocation levels
• Butterfly/Memory Skip for Akkha
• 3-down P2 Warden and skull skip P3; only use last row for P4

III. Stats

(Starting/Current/Goal)
Hit Points: 95/96/99
Attack: 82/82/99
Strength: 78/88/99
Defense: 76/76/80
Prayer: 77/77/92
Magic: 97/97/99
Ranged: 98/99/99

IV. Gear + Inventory

Helm of Neitznot
Amulet of Fury
Barrows Gloves
Fighter Torso
Dragon Platelegs
Infernal Cape
Dragon Boots
Dragon Defender
Abyssal Dagger => Osmumten's Fang
Lightbearer
Inventory:

1. Crystal Body
2. Crystal Legs
3. Necklace of Anguish
4. Ava's Assembler
5. Bow of Faerdhinen
6. Ahrim's Robetop
7. Ahrim's Robeskirt
8. Imbued God Cape
9. Occult Necklace
10. Book of the Dead
11. Trident of the Swamps
12. Toxic Blowpipe (Amethyst)
13. Dragon Dagger
14. Bandos Godsword
15. Saradomin Brew
16. Saradomin Brew
17. Saradomin Brew
18. Super Restore => Saradomin Brew
19. Super Restore
20. Super Restore
21. Prayer Potion
22. Prayer Potion
23. Prayer Potion
24. Super Combat Potion (3)
25. Ranging Potion (1) => Crystal Helm
26. Stamina Potion (1) => Abyssal Whip => Saradomin Brew
27. Super Anti-Poison (2)
28. Divine Rune Pouch (Thrall Runes)

V. Invocations

Starting (150)

• Upset Stomach
• Aerial Assault
• Not Just a Head
• Arterial Spray
• Feeling Special?
• Boulderdash
• Overclocked
• Overclocked 2
• Insanity

Current (400)

• Walk the Path
• Deadly Prayers
• On a Diet
• Lively Larvae
• More Overlords
• Blood Thinners
• Stay Vigilant
• Mind the Gap!
• Jungle Japes
• Shaking Things Up
• Ancient Haste
• Acceleration
• Penetration
• Gotta Have Faith
• Softcore Run
• Blowing Mud
• Double Trouble
• Pathseeker

VI. Fun Stats!

GROSS PROFIT: $10M?
CURRENT DRY STREAK: 15
LOWEST DRY STREAK: 9
HIGHEST DRY STREAK: 15
CURRENT FAIL COUNTER: 8

VII. The Log!

Also noting fail count on KC to mark how many attempts before that KC was achieved :(

1. Dragon Medium Helm, 26 Raw Sharks, 2 Torstol Seeds 80k??? 35:26 150I 4 Deaths
2. 634 Souls, Cache of Runes - 2045 Death Runes 467k 31:49 150I 1 Death
3. 20 Dragonstones, 6 Ranarr Seeds, 5 Torstol Seeds 411k 31:59 150I 1 Death
4. 398 Soul Runes, 14 Battlestaffs, 39 Diamonds 274k 31:34 150I 0 Deaths!
5. 4 Dragon Medium Helms, 9 Ranarr Seeds, 14 Battlestaves ~568k 32:52 165I (On a Diet) 0 Deaths
6. 37 Raw Manta Rays, 67 Potato Cacti, 67 Gold Bars 30k??? 34:38 180I (Mind the Gap, Blood Thinners) 0 Deaths
7. 42 Diamonds, 28 Dragonstones, 7 Torstol Seeds 480k?? 32:43 190I (Ancient Haste) 0 Deaths
8. 80 Sapphires, 14 Battlestaffs, 35 Raw Manta Rays 100k?? 35:16 200I (Penetrated) 1 Death
9. 89 Sapphires, 71 Raw Shark, 4 Dragon Medium Helms 287k 33:33 215I (Stay Vigilant) 1 Death (Did not stay vigilant)
10. ELIDINIS WARD 5.4M 33:33 (exactly same as previous???) 230I (Jungle Japes, Shaking Things Up 0 Deaths (w00t first purple!!)
11. 25 Cactus Spines, 172 Gold Ore, 14 Lily of the Sands 87k 33:43 245I (Walk the Path, -EZ Invos) 1 Death (Obelisk lamps stay active after 0hp!!!)
12. 114 Raw Sharks, 23 Dragonstones 316k ??:?? 260I (Not Just a Head) 2 Deaths (Zebak prayer greed, Akkha memory skip fail)
13. 3 Blood Essence, 10 Snapdragon Seeds, 20 Coconut Milk 520k???
14. 2 Blood Essence, 5 Dragon Medium Helms, 18 Lily of the Sands 456k
15. 706 Death Runes, 23 Dragonstones, 7 Ranarr Seeds 542k
16. 17353 GP, 69 Gold Bar, 2 Blood Essence 140k??
17. 14 Lily of the Sands, 182 Mahogany Logs 91k ??:?? 280I (Blood Thinners, Jungle Japes, Shaking Things Up) 1 Death (Exact obelisk orb damage)
18. 264 Gold Ore, 78 Dragonstone 968k 40:02 300I (Deadly Prayers) 0 Deaths FIRST EXPERT!!
19. 9 Snapdragon Seeds, 14 Toadflax Seeds, Cache of Runes (1113 Soul Runes) 573k 41:07 315I (More Overlords) 2 Deaths (Slipped on a peel trying to reset red-x; Spitting scarab Deadly Prayer combo with melee scarab)
20. 606 Soul Runes, 6 Dragon Medium Helms, 39 Dragonstone 951k 42:04 330I (Lively Larvae, Arterial Spray) 1 Death (Red-X screw up) FAIL COUNTER: 1
21. 18 Snapdragon Seed, 15 Toadflax Seed 675k 42:14 340I (Gotta Have Faith) 1 Death (Zebak pot alignment) FAIL COUNTER: 2
22. 5 Dragon Medium Helms, 249 Dragon Dart Tips, 99 Emeralds 768k 41:24 355I (Softcore Run) 1 Death (Mage Scarab had 2 hp) FAIL COUNTER: 4
23. Masori Crafting Kit, 94 Rubies, 62 Raw Manta Rays, 1427 Death Runes, Thread Of Elidinis 384k 42:04 365I Blowing Mud 0 Deaths!
24. 11 Torstol Seeds, 130 Sapphires, 87 Rubies 201k 45:59 385I 1 Death (Messed up my attack range w/ blowpipe at Zebak)
25. 298 Gold Ore, 106 Potato Cacti, 12 Snapdragon Seeds 488k 45:04 400I 2 Deaths (Early Baba red-x death, walked into an akkha orb and combo'd for 70 damage) FIRST 400I!!!! 8.22% unique chance despite the deaths! FAIL COUNTER: 8

VIII. ~~ Supporters ~~

None yet :(

IX. Closing Thoughts

That's it! Supports, comments, or simple bumps greatly appreciated!

Please bare with me through this rant, but i feel it's absolutely necessary for the health of the wild, future of pking and pvming in the wild. I'm sure many will agree with me!
What on earth was jagex thinking making the voidwaker use 50% spec?!
From a logical perspective it's flawed in two unbelievable ways (if not more).
For the following reasons: 1. it's unpredictability makes it too op (when at 50%). 2. It's speed, which means you can quickly bust out two insanely powerful specs, with just the voidwaker or paired with other 50% KO weapons such as claws, ags, ags2 or gmaul.
All skill that pkers have gained after 100s if not 1000+ hours of pking and lms can go to the bin now. Any unskilled "pker" can now protect item and spec you to lumbridge.
Put how to: - learn NHing - pray correctly - predict your opponents next move - move - stack hits - fakie - eat correctly, when to double eat, when to triple eat. - veng - keep a sensible distance from opponent, call it positioning if you will - and most importantly for pvmers that enjoy the wild, HOW TO TANK.
All that people need to do now is simply ags2 spec you, then stack it with a voidwaker spec. Or, voidwaker spec, followed by an ags/claws spec.
An important question, why doesn't jagex make the dark bow, or heavy ballista spec 50% then. And what's more powerful, the dark bow/heavy ballista spec or the voidwaker? Or just make the volatile staff spec 50%. Wait, people would cry that's unfair!
Let alone that there's already a ring called... You guessed it, the lightbearer. Rip tanking, rip pking if this isn't changed.
Don't forget it's a 4 tick weapon, that means the two specs you use are insanely fast and powerful. Sorry, but I'm sure the average player that voted for a 50% spec didn't even think this through. Just wait for when all streamers start complaining when they keep getting anti-pked by absolute noobs in the wild. Maybe then jagex will cater to their complaints?
I felt pking and pvming in the wild in osrs in general was pretty much in a sweet spot, which required a combination of skill, experience and rng occasionally, as if ahkers in the wild didn't already have a huge advantage over even the most experienced of pkers.
Before this update, getting half tbed in the wild gave you a reasonable chance of survival, and even then, it still gave an experienced pker a reasonable chance of killing you, or making you eat through your supplies quick enough to kill you, even if you're an experienced tank. I've tanked the best of the best of pkers in the rev caves, and I've also died countless times to well-timed specs with good rng, even getting smited for my viggora's chainmace 3 times. That's a risk I was willing to take, but no longer.
Forget risking in the rev caves whilst having an avarice on now, it's pointless...
A simple solution in my opinion would be to make the spec, 55% like the volatile nightmare staff, or 65% like the heavy ballista spec.
Even with 55% taking into account that it's a 4 tick weapon, paired into a elder mauler hit or ags whack it will be deadly asf. Let alone dragon thrownaxe spec, into an elder maul or ags. Pkers don't exactly lack creativity.
To conclude, I'm simply asking that the skill and experience required to go out confidently into the wild, whilst also having a chance of getting KOED is not snatched away from us. Keep it risk vs reward.
Thanks for taking your time to read this post, any other suggestions or comments are welcomed. I hope we can keep the comments civil 🙂.

Tl:Dr I personally think the archeaology skill from rs3 would be perfect for osrs. The skill has something for everyone, from moneymaking to extra effects outside of the skill. And I think it could compliment the osrs world map a lot by bringing old places back to life. And yes, rewards have to be changed a lot and should not all be a one to one copy from rs3.
Hello, osrs community,
After playing runescape since 2003 and osrs since the day of release, I was getting bored, and at the end of 2020, I tried rs3 again.
When I started archeaology wasn't that old yet and I have to say it's a really great skill.
Archeaology has something for everyone. moneymaking, benefits for skilling and combat, a couple of new weapons, and a really cool storyline around it. Also, the skilling pet in rs3 is one of the best.
How the skill works. It's a basic gathering skill. You go to the location and excavate the spots, and you find materials used to restore artifacts and the damage artifacts themselves. There is also a chance to receive a tetracompas piece.
Damaged artefacts can be restored on a workbench for xp and can be given to npcs to finish their individual collections. Which reward you with relicpowers and chronotes.
The tetracompas. A tetracompas can be made when all 4 pieces are found, and it's basically a clue scroll which is 1 step and rewards damaged artifacts, some materials, also a chance to find a rare key that basically rewards you the best in slot mattock.
Relic powers, Relic powers can be a reward, or you have to make them yourself. You can then harness a couple of Relic powers in the archeaology guild.
Chronotes, Chronotes are used to pay for changing relicpowers, upgrades, and expeditions/research.
So how would this fit into osrs? Archeaology is already a big part of the runescape lore. Think about the dig site, Fossil Island, and many quests.
Archeaology could bring dead places no one goes to back to life. A couple of the places that come to mind are brimhaven dungeon, dragontooth island, island of souls, Arandar, west of gwenith, and ofcourse whatever south of Mount quidamortem is. This also saves a lot in development time. And it would be a lot of fun for us to explore gielenor again. And yew there could also be some dedicated digsites just like in rs3.
Relic powers, Relics powers are of course what everyone would train archeaology for. It's the end reward of it all.
Some things I have in mind are. The graceful effec: This could mean you need to combine your graceful with another item to create the relic power.
Lightbearer effect: This does mean the ring will be taken out of the game. But I don't think this should work in pvp.
A better magic secateurs effect, maybe the relicpower could be called the queen's secateurs?
But also simple effects like the strung rabbit foot and amulet of glory give. For better bird nests and gems.
The weapons from archeaology in rs3 are a magic weapon that's stronger against enemies who use melee, and a spear who I believe make bleeding effects last longer.
So maybe the magic weapon could have a damage and accuracy boost against melee targets. And the spear could have a special attack that makes your target bleed for the damage dealt?
Thanks for reading this.

So lets get this out of the way and be honest. A raid is supposed to be challenging content. A raid, in any MMO that provides BIS gear, is going to be difficult and requires some level of skill to complete and have a chance to be rewarded for demonstrating such skill. This isn't your sons little league baseball team, not everyone gets a participation trophy...
My opinion on the recent outrage is split in the middle. On one hand I understand the changes, on the other, I disagree with them.
First lets talk about drop rates vs raid level difficulty:
To start, allowing the fang and ring to be reasonably obtained in an entry mode raid was just plain stupid. I say "reasonably obtained" because that is the definition used by Jagex for an item on ToA's loot table outlined in gold. Entry mode, plain and simple, should be used to learn basic mechanics and get a feel for the raid. The invocation system made this process even EASIER by slowly adding additional mechanics chosen by you.
It is my personal opinion that the loot table items should have hard point thresholds. For example: In order to have a chance at obtaining Osmumtens Fang or the Lightbearer ring, a raid level needs to be at least 150. Raid levels of 200 would allow the previous and the ward. Raid levels 225 would allow the previous and Masori armor pieces to be obtained, and, raid levels 250 would allow everything to be "reasonably obtained" within a normal raid.
Some would ask: then what is the point of doing level 285 raids when I can just do 250's for a chance at everything, and its easier. Well the point is your working your way up to the next tier of additional drop chance, expert mode.
I do not agree with people in budget gear flying through 150's with 8 doses of ambrosia with access to the entire loot table, I just dont.
​
​
I could go on for days but all in all, previous to the changes I was doing 250's. Even with all the ambrosias and adrenalines, a raid still took me 30 minutes, which is quite a long time per KC, BUT, it was fun. Some of the most fun I've had on OSRS in a long time. Being able to quad dragon claw spec multiple times in a raid, make dumb mistakes and being able to recover via 8 doses of ambrosia. It was fun..

Every single weapon in Old School Runescape, and I mean, every single weapon has either a descriptive title (Volatile nightmare staff) in its name or is a single word (Arclight).
Tombs of Amascut raid rewards have bad names and are not Old School.
"Shadow of Tumeken" - No other mage weapon (or any weapon for that matter) in the game has a word that isn't descriptive of what it is. Examples: Twisted bow, Scythe of Vitur, Rune longsword, 3rd age wand, Fire battlestaff. (Excluding single word names such as Silverlight, Darklight, Arclight, Excalibur, Dawnbringer, Seercull)
The issue with this is that you are not able to tell what the "Shadow of Tumeken" is from the name alone. Someone who is unaware of what Shadow of Tumeken is will have no idea that it is even a weapon. In fact it sounds more like a boss or some unequippable item.
"Lightbearer" is the only Ring in the game that doesn't have the word "ring" in it (besides Elven/Celestial Signet, which is fine because a Signet is a type of ring).
Here's a sort of unrelated hot take in the thread. I LIKED the Osmumten's Khopesh. The concept made thematic sense with a slash weapon that has high stab accuracy (the weapon has a hook that you use to grab people's shields with a stab motion, while otherwise being a slashing weapon). Osmumten's Fang is such a downgrade to this thematically. I'm more accepting when it comes to "Fang" being called a weapon as opposed to "Shadow" but come on now, surely you can use a different title that isn't "Fang" if you don't want to use the Khopesh design. (Noting the Keris Partisan (Partisan is some obscure British pole weapon))
Old School is a simple game and its users are simple people. Please use Staff/Sceptre/Wand/Whatever and not "Shadow". Shadow is weirdly edgy and not descriptive of what the weapon is.
Thanks for coming to my rant.
Link to the wiki's weapon slot table if you're interested in checking it out yourself https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Weapon_slot_table
edit: just went through every single equippable item found on the osrs wiki, and there are 10 items that do not have a fully descriptive name of what the item is, those being Ava's Devices, Silverlight, Darklight, Arclight, Excalibur, Dawnbringer, Seercull, Wolfbane, and technically Chronicle (not really) (sidenote: etymologically speaking mjolnir's most likely meaning is "lightning-maker" which is descriptive, but technically debatable as well so if you want to include the god mjolnirs you can include those as well)

Yesterday was our regularly scheduled RPG night, but thanks to sick kids and evening shifts, only 3 of the regular group could make it. That means it’s one-shot night! I’d been itching to play Into the Dark, so it was me on GM. For those unfamiliar, Into the Dark is Stras’s old-school inspired Blades spin-off of fantasy adventurers braving mysterious places in a world covered in murky darkness. It’s BitD meets the OSR. The other players rolled up...

• Tormund, a Murkhunter (ability: War Machine, to get extra armor), hailing from the neighboring village of Mudhill and...
  
• Hector, a Lightbearer (ability: Medic, to get extra mileage out of those medkits) and a Novice in the Church of the Silver Flame
  

I did much of the rules summary during character creation so that the players knew what they were getting into with their options. Thankfully, player-facing rules proved to be dirt simple to teach - we just talked about action rolls and how rolls did double-duty (as a group we are mostly traditional RP gamers, but everyone caught on very quick). And then we were off!
To start, the local prelate of the Church conveyed the dire news: nearby Mudhill had been ransacked, and the Church was willing to pay 19 coin to have the PCs investigate and seal up the source of this Murky incursion. The PCs tipped their mercenary hands by promptly haggling for 20 coins so that they could split it evenly both ways - altruism clearly wasn’t in the cards here! They get their bit of Silver Flame (6-clock) which Hector carries, and they went to interrogate Guthram, Mudhill’s sole survivor, to learn more.
They find Guthram desperate, destitute, and mentally shattered - he begs them for a spare coin, but naturally the players have already sunk it all on adventuring gear! So they are only able to get mad ravings from him - that the Furies descended on the village, eviscerating and carrying off the citizens. “What’s a Fury?” Tormund asks, making a Lore roll. Success! Birds that grow to monstrous size if they eat the flesh of humans, and have talons like can-openers which rip apart armor. Gulp... Tormund is feeling pretty good about taking that War Machine ability now.
Watching the skies for danger, our heroes set out to the northwest towards Mudhill. Sounds like a Vigilance roll to me... mixed result. They are on the right path, but just as Mudhill is coming into view, they stumble across a blue glowing fissure in the earth, which blocks their path. The team want to build a make-shift bridge to cross, but all the trees near the fissure are twisted into crystalline glass... not at all suitable. Hector brought some books along, one of which happens to be about local flora (study with perfect tools). Success! They identify a species of Murk-resistant tree which can be fashioned into a safe path. But can they do it in time? (Athletics roll to chop it down and build). Mixed! Just as the bridge is almost finished, 3 Furies descend from the sky! The players anticipated this from their Lore roll earlier, and so got first attack - Tormund cleaves one in half with his great sword as they descend but gets scratched up by the other two in the process (most of it plinks off his armor). Hector comes in to help with a flanking maneuver to batter one with his mace. Mixed bag, and the clobbered Fury turns on him and sinks in some Murk-dripping claws. The damage is minimal, but the corruption die comes up on a six! (At this point I make an aside for explaining resistance rolls in more detail, since Hector got concerned with the big numbers flying around!) Tormund puts the last Fury in the dirt with a perfect hit on his next swing. Free to cross, they quickly finish setting the log across the ravine and venture over to Mudhill.
Mudhill is deserted, other than various mutated animals (chickens, pigs, etc) milling about. Tormund looks to track the animals to study their movements - they seem to be drawn to the north of town, in the direction of some old pre-murk ruins. But as he studies them, he gets surrounded by angry three-eyed pigs! Hector jumps to his aid, Attuning to the Silver Flame to cause it to flare up and scare them off. The flash drives the beasts away, but the flame looks a little weaker as a result (mixed, SF clock ticks down to 5 segments left).
The party then ventures north towards the old ruins, only to be stymied again by another blue ravine (mixed navigation result). This time, however, murk coalesces some levitating stones to form a bridge across the ravine. What good luck! Or was it? Unbeknownst to them, a six-limbed Night Render stalked up on them as the bridge was forming and pounced as they started to cross. Resistance rolls from both - both failures! No one saw it coming, and now the beast has pinned Hector to the floating earth and is ripping away with its claws. Tormund swings at it but misses, and is shoved to the side and is now dangling off the edge of the bridge! Hector finally gets free enough for an action, and draws out a Smogger to billow out a smokescreen for a quick getaway - success! The silver smoke chokes up the beast and the two flee across the bridge (though Tormund drops his Redline healing juice as he clambers back up). At the end of it, Hector asks if he can Attune the flame to disperse the murk that supports the bridge - sure, but it’ll be tough since Channeling would be better (-1 die). He pushes and aces it! Double six!! Not only does the bridge collapse, but takes the Night Render down into the fissure with it. You shall not pass! (Minus the part where the hero falls in as well, thankfully.)
The heroes now arrive at the ruins - plains of black asphalt, at the center of which stands a three-story glass building (actually an indoor botanical garden, but the players didn’t know) and other grey stone buildings dotting around it. Furies circle above, numbering in the dozens... This must be the heart of it. The crew tries to sneak in to the big glass building but are spotted, and need to make a quick escape into one of the peripheral buildings instead as Furies tear them up. They get a breather inside and patch up their wounds (taking up valuable time, -1 clock segment on the flame). Then after stripping an elevator control panel for scrap, they successfully cross a rickety skyway into the garden.
The garden inside is decidedly unnatural - things looked pleasant from the outside, but it’s an illusion that hides writhing sentient vines and tremendous corrupted overgrowth. That book on flora comes in handy again - these vines can be ground down into alchemical agents, if you can cut them down. Not as easy as it sounds, though... The vines grab Hector and Tormund is forced to cut him out before Hector is strangled to death. Cutting the vines spews caustic fluids all over Tormund’s blade, causing it to develop a web of cracks. Looks like he will only get one more good hit with it before it breaks entirely... On the plus side, they do retrieve a solid piece of dead vine loot for future alchemicals.
The party proceeds cautiously through the garden, and then they approach a door. Snoring is heard from the other side. As they stealthily open the door they see it - a sleeping, twenty-foot dragon with a blue glowing heart and black scales. Only it’s not sleeping for long now! (Mixed success on stealth - they were seen but gained an advantageous position for an escape or ambush.) The party has just enough time to slam the door, and for Tormund to set up a Crackler lightning trap in the hallway, before the dragon rips the door off its hinges.
The dragon takes a deep breath in. Uh oh! Tormund decides this is his “one good hit” left for his sword and throws it in the dragon’s mouth... Incredibly, a huge hit (7 damage, bypassing the scale armor)! The sword breaks off, lodging metal in the roof of the dragon’s mouth. At this point, the dragon exhales blue flames, and its absolute pandemonium. Both heroes would have died right there without resistance rolls (which they pass, but now Hector is out of stress!), and Tormund is left at a single HP. Hector does some emergency field medicine to get Tormund back from the brink, and hands his mace to the fighter, since it’s felt he’ll use it better. They both beat a short retreat to lure the beast through the Crackler trap - the dragon is badly burned by the lighting but keeps going! Tormund and the dragon trade ineffective blows (deflected by high armor scores), and Hector tries to push the monster back with the Flame to buy some time. It works, but the dragon grabs Tormund by the leg and drags him with! In a last ditch effort, Tormund swings the mace, trying to hammer home the blade fragment stuck in the dragon’s mouth. Mixed! Tormund nearly loses his arm (resisted, but now he’s also out of stress!) but the mace hammers the blade into the dragon’s brain, killing it. Tormund celebrates by carving out the dragon’s heart as a trophy.
Hector then pushes through the rest of the vines to find the swirling inky blackness of the murk well. A bit of silver flame is tossed in, and the well collapses in a burst of silvery light. Victorious, the two travel home to claim the bounty and sell their loot - each claiming 17 coins total! Hector managed to score 9 XP (and no small amount of corruption) and Tormund scored 8 XP. The curse on Mudhill is lifted... for now.
————————
For a first game, I’d call it a rousing success! Both PCs seemed to thoroughly enjoy it - the game really does a fine job of combining FitD gameplay principles onto an old school adventure game framework, making it eminently approachable for players from either mindset. It’s almost as if this was made custom for me, as an unashamed fanboy of both OSR and FitD games.
Fights are fast and dramatic (though it’s easier to run sans initiative when you only have 2 PCs, and even then it’s a little wibbly-wobbly at times). Best of all, I barely prepped other than having a map of the “dungeon” which the players never saw, and getting printouts for rules and the adventure. Not sure if we’ll turn this into a short campaign, but I’d be plenty happy if we do!
TLDR. Into the Dark is: OSR adventuring sensibilities + dramatic and exciting FitD-style gameplay = rip-roaring good times had by all. Absolutely recommended!