A Sample Dungeon: Rooms 15, 17 & 18

Room 15

The door to this room is stuck shut.  It opens into room 15 from areas 14 and 16.  If characters linger in the room, don’t forget to roll for random encounters.

The air here is thick with what must be fungal spores; it tastes musty and sour and burns your eyes and the backs of your throats.  The walls of this room are lined from the floor to the ceiling and end to end with shelves filled with books, scrolls, tablets and other items.  Three heavy-looking tables and several chairs of dark, dust-covered wood occupy this room.  Upon the table-tops sit more books and scrolls.

The dust upon the tables is mostly mold spore.  The mold here feeds upon the vellum and parchment of the books and flourishes in the moist air of the dungeon.  Individuals staying in the room longer than a minute are required to make a saving throw vs. poison.  Those that fail become lightheaded and faintly nauseous as a result of exposure to the spores (-1 to all rolls).  Those who remain longer than a minute must make an additional save for each subsequent minute.  With each failure the character receives an additional -1 to all rolls.  Upon the third failure (-3) the spores begin to have a psychotropic effect upon the character, roll below for specifics.  The penalties will fade 1d10 minutes after one removes oneself from exposure to the room. 

Roll d10	Temporary Disorder	Effect
1-4	Anxiety	Character becomes restless and feels on edge.  No further penalties.
5	Panic Attack	Character experiences a pounding heart, sweating, shaking and  shortness of breath.  -4 to all rolls lasts for 1d10 minutes after removing oneself from exposure to mold
6	Panic Attack	As Panic Attack above, plus an overwhelming fear of losing control or losing one’s mind; character must save vs. spell to remain in the dungeon.  Failure indicates a compulsion to leave for at least 24 hours, at which time the character will feel normal and may return.   -4 to all rolls for 1d10 minutes after removing oneself from exposure to mold.
7	Hypochondria	Character fears he or she has contracted an illness due to being in the dungeon.   Must save vs. spell to remain in the dungeon.  Failure indicates a compulsion to leave for at least 24 hours, at which time the character will feel normal and may return.  -4 to all rolls for 1d10 minutes after removing oneself from exposure to mold.
8	Paranoia	Suspects that other characters are exploiting, harming, or deceiving him or her; reads hidden and threatening meanings into remarks or events.
9	Paranoia/ Schizophrenia	As paranoia above plus auditory hallucinations (i.e. “hearing voices”) Character has a base 25% chance plus 5% per additional minute spent being exposed to spores of becoming violent and randomly attacking  another character
0	Stunning Insight	In a moment of epiphany, character will suddenly understand something about the dungeon and be 100% certain of its truth.  The DM should not confirm the truth, only relay to the character their belief in it.  Roll on the next table.

Roll	Knowledge
1	The gem is still hidden somewhere in the ruin (true)
2	The gem drew forth the life force of its victims and provided its user extended life (true)
3	The gem is controlled by a powerful, evil entity (true)
4	The specter Ergon is bound in unlife to protect the gem and will not allow it to leave the ruin (true)
5	A secret crypt area can be accessed from area 3 (true)
6	The priests and monks of the abbey were forsaken by their deity for their foul acts (true)

Most of the books appear similar to the below image and at one time may have been valuable, but time and the elements have ruined them.  They will typically be illegible or fall apart upon touching.  But, for every minute spent searching the library a legible and/ or valuable tome may be rescued from the heap on a cumulative roll of 1 (2,3,4,5,6) on 1d6.  These include the below (with special thanks to Michael Curtis and The Dungeon Alphabet)

 

Roll 2d4	Tome
2	The Apotheosis of Saints by Father Buckwald Idell
3	The Selected Letters of Archbishop Hy
4	Vulgar Gestures of the Orcs by R'utc Bilegob
5	Entrails, Clouds & Birds:  A Practical Guide to Beginner's Divination by Ptolus Thutmeses
6	Herbs of the Night by Thryvil Clemes
7	A Price Too High by Zeke the Undying*
8	Sand, Wind and Djinn by Sajid Hadad

Each of the above books is a competently written and well-known tome and will provide a character capable of reading it both general and some specific information of the respective topic.  I like to use books (when not sold for cash) as adventure hooks or sources of information.  I rolled all of these randomly using Michael Curtis's The Dungeon Alphabet.  I've got ideas in mind for how each one could provide some future feature to the campaign.  If they don't make it that far, each book can be sold for 2d4 x 10 gold to the right collector.

The book with the asterisk (A Price Too High by Zeke the Undying) describes the author's use of a magical gem to steal the life force of others in order to extend his own life for centuries.   A picture of the gem is included.

Room 17 & 18

Characters that carefully search or observe the door leading to this area will note that a mist of some kind escaping from the room from beneath the door.  The air there is cooler and damper than that of area 14/16.

The chamber beyond has a tall ceiling and the beginnings of what appear to be rather intricate carvings and embellishments worked into the natural stone.  The overall effect presents the aspect of an important but unfinished room.  The center of the room descends from where you currently stand by way of several broad steps.  A white mist fills the lower portions of the whole area, up to a foot and a half where you currently stand.  Soft currents of air push it to and fro.

The center of the room indeed descends.  An open pit, concealed by the mist, leads to a natural cavern below.  The floor of the cave below is 50' below area 17 & 18.  Players not cautious in descending the stone steps will fall into the pit, taking falling damage from a 50' drop.

The inhabitants of the monastery were expanding the dungeon, this room was to be an important ceremonial chamber, when the workers carving out the lower portion of the room fell through the floor and into the chamber below.  This natural cave contains a small underground stream with a broad and shallow pool and the remains of a worker never recovered from the fall.  It can serve as an access point to a 2nd dungeon level or be an isolated cave. 

An Update on Using IMech

I've heard enough about the card system that Alexis is working on (Conflict!) to know that I want to give it a shot once its for sale.  In the meantime, my own rudimentary IMech has been getting lots of use in my home campaign.  Recent notable encounters include the party coercing a prisoner into revealing the location of his mistress (a harpy) and haggling with a town priest to get a better deal on a critical cure.  In each case so far the interaction has been fun, resolved in about a minute or so and as or more exciting than most typical combats.  I've been noting some negative trends, though, and am so far indecisive on how to address them.

Chief amongst these concerns is that while the party has so far not asked something completely unreasonable of an NPC and expected that we resolve it using the IMech, it's dawning on them that they could.  It's only a matter of time before this happens.  For the time being I'll simply rule when to apply the system and when not to, but I recognize that this is a poor, ham-handed way of implementing a social interaction mechanic.  The party is, after all, free to attack and try to kill whomever they want to so why should engaging the same in conversation for the purposes of influencing or taking advantage of them be more restrictive?

The key seems to be applying a consistent and reasonable consequence to losing the IMech.  In the case of the party indiscriminately using force, the logical reaction of those being so abused and oppressed is to either fight back or appeal to an equally or even more powerful group than the PCs.  In either case, losing a resulting combat could mean death, imprisonment, banishment or any number of troubling circumstances that will potentially derail the party's overarching efforts in the game world.  This is a no-brainer.  What is the analogous response to a lost IMech encounter?

I think I get the gist of how Alexis is solving this.  Losing an IMech is a tangible loss measured in influence, in one's ability to act freely on the matter resolved by the IMech (or future encounters) and things along those lines.  In the case of the coerced prisoner of my own campaign, had the party lost (which wasn't likely given the imbalance in level and ability scores, another nagging concern) they simply wouldn't have gotten the information they needed.  Nothing really ventured here, so nothing lost.  Given a loss, what possible tangible, negative effect could the prisoner invoke upon the party?  I don't know yet, but it must be something.  I'd sure love to get my hands on the rules for Conflict! in the meantime...

My Ode to OSR Bloggers

OK, not really an ode... more like a drunken rambling.  This is where I pander to all of you fine, fine folks and later may blame it on the large amount of Baccardi comsumed in so short a time.   Had I not been married and faithful for the last decade or so I'm sure I would have been going through the phone numbers of ex-girlfriends and passing acquaintances instead, but here we are.      

to Alexis, of Tao of D&D:  All killer, no filler... anybody that writes about this crap should aspire to produce such a quantity of quality posts.

to Paladin in Citadel: whom I dare to read every blog he follows.  When starting a fledgling blog there's this inertia one must overcome to keep up with it and looking over at the followers tab and seeing that somebody, anybody has joined up is encouraging.  Paladin, thanks.

to Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor , who was the source of the second shout-out I ever received (Alexis being the first) and whose adventure I've mentally committed to buying (which is an oath as good as gold Tim, I assure you).

to Ivy Shorts, The Happy Whisk whose blog makes me hungrier around lunch time.  Seriously, I dream about the salmon and cream cheese thingies to this day.  

to Rob Conley, who pointed out to me, on his blog,  Medieval Demographics Made Easy and whose products I've actually purchased.  I've also got the entire series of How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox printed out as a reference for my own world-building

to Kellri, whose CDD#4 is among the most useful things I've gotten out of this whole OSR whatchamacallit aside from the Labyrinth Lord rules.  And it was free.

to Blogger: You actually had whatchamacallit in your spell-check.

to Zak S., whose blog has expanded both my view of the game as well as my favorite pornography.  Seriously, there's something about Kimberly Kane as agent Scully that sets a fire under my nerd ass.

to Chris at Hill Cantons, whose Domain Game kicks ass and this reminds me I owe my turn three submission and oh yeah, I've gotta tell Tim Harper about the attack from the boat and all that...

to Sir Larkins of RPG Corner, whose Pendragon write-ups are the archetype for post-play reports being things of beauty.

to Ancient Vaults and Eldritch Secrets:  just, Wow

to Trey at Sorcerer's Skull, for endless setting inspiration

to James at Underdark Gazette for his selfless chronicling of what's going on

to Michael Curtis of The Society of Torch, Pole and Rope, whom I've stolen plenty from

to Jeff Rients of Jeff's Game Blog for reminding me from time to time that this is supposed to be fun

to anybody and everybody I may have missed, because, well... I'm half-cocked right now and not entirely in control of whatever I may blather on about and that shouldn't reflect poorly upon you and your fine work.

A Sample Dungeon: Rooms 14 and 16

So I’m back at the Sample Dungeon.  Given the limited number of comments and page views I suspect that this is something of a vanity project, but that knowledge won’t dissuade me from seeing it through.  Once complete,  I’ll do something with the finished product and provide access to it from here in an easier to use format other than just the collected blog posts.   For the time being I've made a separate page with everything I've done so far collected into one place. 

Lacking access to areas 24 through 38 via the secret door in area 3, this upcoming series of rooms ( 14 through 23) represents a sort of climax (or false climax) for the dungeon level.  Here, for most of the time, resides the restless spirit of the long dead abbot of the monastery.   When an invading army sacked the abbey in search of the legendary magical gem hidden here, the abbot was slain and his body dumped unceremoniously into the pool in area 2.  But with his dying breath he brought a curse down upon the ruin and all those within, himself included.  Now he remains behind as a specter and his principal killers reside in the crypt areas (24 through 38) as ghouls.  

Room 14 & 16

If the party has not yet encountered the specter (named Ergon) there is a 5 in 6 chance that he is present here.  In the event that the party has met the specter its presence here may be dictated by circumstance or by simply rolling as above.  

The air seems blacker, colder and denser here than elsewhere in the ruin.  It presses ominously about you on all sides and your breath feels more labored than it should.   A great, vaulted chamber extends away from you and into the bleak shadows beyond.  The walls and floors here are of dressed stone and well-fitted.  The floor everywhere is covered with bones, debris and dark, rust-colored stains.  Faintly you hear suffering calls and pleading cries for help coming from all around, but you see no living occupants nearby.

When the abbey was sacked many of its occupants perished here when they were caught and run down by the invaders (they were fleeing to area 18).  The strange calls that the characters hear are the ghostly manifestations of the monks’ final struggle.  The bones, debris and blood stains upon the floor are all that remain of those massacred.

Exploring the room, the players may eventually meet the specter of Ergon, the late and final abbot of the monastery.   His pale, translucent figure glides about the chamber dressed in torn, “bloody” vestments similar to those found in room 7, though his garb possesses more embellishments to denote his rank.  Among these embellishments is an amulet worn upon a chain.  The amulet is actually the ghostly rendering of the key found in area 2 upon the abbot’s remains.  Ergon continues to “bleed” from a number of nasty looking wounds, including a likely life-ending sword stroke that nearly clove the top portion of his head in two.  Ergon’s appearance, the bones and detritus of the room and the ghostly wailings of the long dead monks should all be played-up to evoke a sense of bleakness and fear.

Ergon will not attack the party unless provoked.  If engaged in combat, Ergon will only follow a fleeing party out of area 14 & 16 on a roll of 1 in 6.   Indeed, the specter will largely ignore the party unless the DM rolls a “friendly” result on a reaction roll or the party dons the priestly vestments located in area 7 when attempting to communicate.  In either event, the specter will seem distracted and disconnected when engaged in conversation, but he will reveal the following information if asked directly:

• His name (Ergon) and his former position (abbot of the monastary)
• Where he was slain (area 2) 
• His killers dwell in the crypt areas and often leave the ruin to capture and feed upon people from nearby villages
• The crypt areas may be accessed via the secret passageway in area 3 (but he won’t remember  how to activate the secret door) 
•  The monastery guarded a great treasure (he will absentmindedly handle the amulet/ key about his neck when relating this information).  He won’t confirm  that the treasure (the gem) is still here and will become hostile if pressed for this information
• His order served the god Horkos, who presides over the gateway to the Land of the Dead and punishes oath-breakers
• He attributes the fall of the monastery and his undeath to the punishment of Horkos, necessitated by the order’s use of powerful, forbidden magics to extend the lives of its principal members (he will absentmindedly handle the amulet/ key about his neck when relating this information)
• That he (Ergon) was over two centuries old when laid low at the time of the sacking, his life extended as a result of activities related to # 7 above

Ergon will not reveal the resting place of the magical gem (area 29) nor the nature of the crypt areas beyond their existence.  Pressing him on either of these two topics has a 1 in 6 chance of making him hostile and likely to attack. There are no valuable items amongst the debris of this area.

Observant characters will note mist emitting faintly from beneath both doors to area 17 & 18.

Not a Play-a Hate-a

Two weeks or so went by rather quickly without posting an update to the Sample Dungeon or even dropping in.  It's the normal combo of work and family life and for at least two nights now the NHL playoffs have filled in the free time remaining at night.  Before that it was On-Demand episodes of AMC's The Killing.  Anyway, I'm still here and still playing and thinking about the game.

Speaking of The Killing, I went into it having read the comparisons drawn to Twin Peaks, but I wasn't prepared for the almost identical story elements and even the similarities of the promos. "Who killed Laura, er... Rosie Larsen?"  Normally I think these sorts of comparisons are off the mark if not unfair, but its tough to avoid or argue against in this case.  While The Killing lacks a lot of the quirkiness and cleverness of its predecessor so far it's at least worth checking out.

But I'm not here to post about TV or my home life, so lets get down to it.  I'm here today to post about my players.  Something Zak S. wrote a while back about picking  a player and describing what they bring to the table (literally and figuratively in this case) combined with a comment made here by the affable Happy Whisk about getting to know bloggers got me thinking about how I'd like to pay homage to my regular crew and perhaps, by extension, reveal something to the potential reader about me.  Here goes. 

Bobby:  What Bobby brings to the game table, other then a severe case of narcolepsy when the going gets late, is wide-eyed enthusiasm.  He loves the in-game aspects of what's going on.  He's the guy most trying to figure out how the cultists were connected to the bandits and the duke's cousin while guys like Danny (below) are busy totaling up XP and dividing treasure.  Bob is the first guy to want to know more about NPCs and the only player that has ever sat around my table and questioned the morality of breaking into a dungeon, slaying all of the inhabitants and taking their gold.  Bobby relishes the camaraderie and problem solving aspects of RPGs... the meat and potatoes of the game as its played.

Danny:  If you subscribe to the notion that the D&D group has its corollary in the rock band, Dan is definitely our drummer.   He just wants to game.  Whenever. Wherever.  He's a gamer with a capital G.  XP... treasure.... XP.... treasure.  In addition to hosting the bi-weekly sessions at his place he does most of the phone-calling and coordinating of who is showing up and when, he does most of the set-up and break-down and will pretty much do anything to keep the session going on track.  Dan once said that if he ever struck it big somehow... lottery, inventing the slinky or some other means of accessing obscene amounts of cash... his first desire would be to pay all of our salaries forever so we could hang out and game everyday at his house.  Any number of people might say something like that.  Dan actually means it, I think.

Jay:  Jay is the yin to my yang.  The Moriarty to my Holmes.  The Lois to my Stewie. The Tupac to my B.I.G.  The Frazier to my Ali.  We are linked to one another as much by mutual likes and interests as we are reciprocal animosity.  I love and hate Jay like a brother.  Put dice in our hands and a Risk board between us and prepare to have an awful evening.  We're petty. Vindictive. Hostile. Deprecating. We drag the whole game down with us in our unrelenting competition.  Jay once relinquished a chance at victory in Risk to march his hordes all across the face of Asia and stick it to me in South America/ Africa in a fiery blaze of glory.

Jay is also the DM when I am not.  He's the first guy that I run a new rule idea by because he's the guy that I most want to see use and abuse it.  In this manner I can see if it actually works.  While Dan generally keeps the group organized and lays out the decisions that need to be made, it's often Jay's advice that the group weighs most heavily.  Like Ross below, Jay is finally a selfless provider of high quality snacks and beers for communal consumption. 

Mike:  The most interesting man alive.  OK, maybe not quite that interesting but he does shoot people in the crotch with lasers for a living.  He has also owned a pet store, writes for and plays the piano beautifully and even spent a full winter plunged in Antarctic darkness (not to mention sub-zero water).   Mike brings a newly minted, up-to-date photo-shopped character sheet to every session, complete with a small picture of some beautiful and often scantily clad or suggestively posed woman wedged between his saving throws and the stats for his horse, Ignatius.  This sheet, which he swears makes finding his character info easier, is a convoluted mess to me.  But it is beautiful.  And that, in many ways, is Mike as a D&D player.  Mike still isn't sure sometimes which dice to roll for damage, but damn it if he often isn't directly in my head when it comes to figuring out what's really going on in an adventure that I'm running. 

Ross: Ross is that rare individual who can serve as both cautionary tale and sage adviser.  His approach to life is a combination of debaucherous zeal and ironic distance and he could tell you some pretty crazy stories given the inclination.  In fact, if he ever mentions to you that he's got a crazy story to tell, you'd do well to stop and listen.  Ross has a keen insight into human motivation and a razor sharp sense of humor.  I think as a group we all pride ourselves on being at least smart and more than a little funny.   But Ross is the most likely person amongst us to illicit belly laughs from those around the table.  If he leans any way on the so-called three-fold model spectrum of players, he's a narrartivist.  He really digs that shared, imagined space.  His characters are always interesting ones to see being played.  I can recall as far back as 20 years ago the name of the dog of a former rat catcher run by Ross  in a Warhammer campaign.  Yes, the dog.  The dog was Shekky.  Shekky was a bad motherfucker. Ross almost always brings a huge stash of cured meats, aged cheeses and other culinary delights to the game, and there is a special place in heaven for these sorts of folks. 

There are other players that come into and out of the game.  Pete, Eric, others... but these above are the ones that are there almost every session and the ones that I know best.