Back in the Saddle Again

Hey, I'm back. I plan on posting regularly, albeit less frequently that before my absence from this blog. You might notice that the post is authored by "A Dragon Adept." It's still Ken H., I just combined my two Blogger accounts.

Gaming updates:

• I am currently playing Finkus S. Snotrags, a halfling, in Tim Shorts' BX Essentials campaign.
• I am working on a set of house rules for my Montporte megadungeon setting that combines Blood & Treasure, BX Essentials, and Crypts & Things. I will post some basic information about the house rules this blog, but I will avoid specifics. I am happy to promote the previously listed products but I do not want to "steal" their content. I plan on using the rules for our gaming group only, so no plans to publish.
• However, on the topic of publishing, I am slowly working on a Montporte monster book for publication. Some of the creatures have appeared on this blog, but many will be exclusive to the book. Tim Shorts has agreed to publish the Montporte monster book through his GM Games (Thanks, Tim!). I am thinking that I will use the Swords & Wizardry Core Rules as the basis. 

That's all for now. 

Montporte Dungeon Campaign 2.0--Campaign Reboot

We are six sessions into the second Montporte Dungeon campaign. I will try to catch up with some gaming session notes in the upcoming week before I get too far behind and I lose track of what happened in each session. Sadly, because of my work schedule, the gaming session notes will be less detailed and will have fewer maps.

Here are some random details for the Montporte reboot:

Bloody Basic: We are using John Stater's Bloody Basic: Classic Edition for our rule set, with the following modifications:

• Player characters are limited to humans only.
• Clerics, fighters, and magic-users are the three classes. Most of the thief skills that are useful in the dungeon have been allocated to these three classes.
• Player characters have additional hit points at first level--Clerics have an additional 6 hit points, fighters have an additional 8 hit points, and magic-users have 4 hit points. These points are in addition to the hit point die roll at first level for each character.
• Clerics can lay on hands for some additional healing, fighters have a weapon specialization, and magic-users automatically read magic.

Bloody Basic tops out at sixth level, which is fine by us. We plan on using something similar to the E6 variant of Dungeons & Dragons. We do not have all of the details I worked out, but there is a lot to draw on from Blood & Treasure (e.g. feats and additional spells) as well as other resources.

Heroes and Sidekicks: Each player has two characters. One character is their "main" character and the other is the "sidekick." The main character is the default for role-playing and decision-making, unless there is a specific reason for the sidekick to be involved (knowledge of a language, class-based conversation, use of a skill, etc). Main characters earn two shares of experience at the end of each session while sidekicks earn one.

Resource and Time Management: We are keeping more careful track of resources, such as food, torches, and arrows. We are also tracking encumbrance. We are working to streamline the process for the former while relying on the simple and elegant system in Bloody Basic for the latter.

Economics, Exploration, and Experience: In additional to the usual ways to gain experience points, the party gains experience with successful conversations and negotiations, exploration of new areas of the dungeon, and making a profit off of trade. The party was commission at the start of Session 1 to establish trade relationships in the recently discovered dungeon and Deep Dark, as well as to seek out a mythical subterranean ancient dwarven city.

Campaign and Continuity: One of the challenges for a dungeon-based campaign is maintaining momentum and continuity. We lost a lot of that in the final dozen sessions of our last Montporte campaign. We changed rule sets, lost players, added players, and the main threads of the campaign were lost in all of it. This time around, we are starting with a couple of goals (explore, establish trade relationships, and find a dwarven city), using a simple rule set, and playing with a smaller group (and only playing when everyone is present).

A key to the campaign working so far is the players themselves--they are keeping notes, making decisions, and determining the direction of play within the parameters we had agreed upon prior to playing.

So far, so good.

Mail Call

It seems like ages since I have purchased gaming stuff. I did get the 3 core rule books to D&D 5e, but nothing since then. My hard copy of Pits & Perils arrived on Wednesday, just in time for me to run a Pits & Perils game on Wednesday night. I actually didn't the rules for last Wednesday's session, but I will need them now. Having participated now in 4 sessions of Pits & Perils (3 as a player, one as a referee), I can say that I love the game. It is also working very well for our round robin GMing pilot program.

Hard on the heels of this purchase, I will be ordering a print version of Bloody Basic. I think I have settled on Bloody Basic as my rule set for my next Montporte Dungeon campaign.

Dungeon Rules: Four Classes

In thinking of streamlined rules to support dungeon play and exploration, I have one last approach. This approach falls into the "race as class" category. If I used it, I would either bolt it onto Swords & Wizardry Core or Blood & Treasure. The four classes:

Human Fighter

• HD: d8
• Armor: All
• Weapons: All
• Skills: A small selection of thief/rogue skills (optional)
• Other: Feats (Optional); Additional attacks per round at higher levels (optional)

Human Mage

• HD: d4
• Armor: None (or light non-metal, optional)
• Weapons: Typical magic-user/wizard
• Skills (Optional): ???
• Other: Spells (maybe include a few lower-level cleric spells, such as Cure Light Wounds)

Dwarf

• HD: d8+1
• Armor: All
• Weapons: All
• Skills: The usual dwarf stuff. Maybe Find/Femove Traps and Open Locks.
• Other: Extra damage with a battleaxe (optional)

Elf

• HD: d6
• Armor: Light
• Weapons: Wide selection
• Skills: Some thief/rogue (Move Silently and Hide In Shadows, optional); Tracking (optional); Short/low bow specialization (optional)
• Other: Spells (as per Druid or Ranger, or combination)

Dungeon Rules: d20 Generic Classes + Blood & Treasure

I am indebted to +Rob Conley for pointing out the Generic Classes on the d20 SRD. This could easily be bolted onto Blood & Treasure, a rule set I particularly like and one that most in our gaming group have played (and own). This approach, I think, would work particularly well in a megadungeon-centered campaign.

All player characters would be human and there would only be three classes: Adventurer, Mage, and Warrior. If I used Blood & Treasure, I would beef it up with some additional skills and feats, borrowed from other classes within Blood & Treasure or from the d20 SRD. Here is a basic outline of what the classes would look like:

Adventurer:

• Hit Dice: d6
• Armor: Light armor + shield
• Weapons: As per thief (B&T)
• Skills: 10 (d20 SRD calls for 12*)
• Feats: One feat to start plus one additional per every three levels

Mage:

• Hit Dice: d4
• Armor: No armor (or light, nonmetallic armor)
• Weapons: As per wizard (B&T)
• Skills: 4
• Feats: One to start plus one additional per every five levels
• Other: Spells (here I would allow almost any B&T spell**)

Warrior:

• Hit Dice: d8 (d20 SRD calls for d10)
• Armor: Any + Shield (d20 SRD calls for Light and Medium armor)
• Weapons: Any
• Skills: 6
• Feats: One to start plus an additional one every second level
• Other: Additional attacks per round at higher levels

*12 skills would require a fairly lengthy list of meaningful skills.
**I would allow the mage to construct a spell book from any spell, but I would probably eliminate some spells, such as Resurrection and a some other cleric spells. Some of the lower level healing spells would remain.

YES! Good Things in the Mail

It has been a good week, as some post-holiday gaming purchases have arrived.

Blood & Treasure Monster Tome: This is John Matthew Stater's (The Land of Nod) companion for his excellent ruleset, Blood & Treasure, which we used for about 40 sessions in the Montporte Dungeon. John is the Isaac Asimov of gaming writers/designers, cranking out huge amounts of high quality stuff, which is all the more remarkable in that he has a full-time job doing something else. This also serves as a reminder that I want to pick up a copy of Bloody Basic: Classic Edition and also Bloody Basic: Contemporary Edition. And I am way behind on my NOD purchases. As a side note, John's PARS FORTUNA is my favorite d20 game when it comes to a very creative yet simple game.

Cyclopean Deeps Volume 1: I ordered the Swords & Wizardry version of this from Frog God Games. This is the first in a planned series of adventures that also serve as a mini-campaign setting. Cyclopean Deeps presents a very creative take on the Under Realm, the area below the deepest portion of the Rappan Athuk dungeon. I bought mainly for inspirational reading, as player characters are starting to delve deeper (and beyond?) into the Montporte Dungeon. I have just started reading it, but it is groovy so far.

The Dungeon Dozen: This book is a little treasure trove of gaming goodness by Jason Sholtis (The Dungeon Dozen). It has become my favorite dungeon book and sits on my dungeoneering bookshelf right next to Central Casting: Dungeons by Robert Sassone (my go-to dungeon design book). The Dungeon Dozen has 195 pages of d12 tables, most of which are dungeon related. How can you not love a book that has three tables dedicated to "Dungeon Love Connections." And there are tables like "The Lich's Downtime Activities" and "Underworld Cash Crops." The book is useful, highly entertaining and incredibly inspirational. And the art is awesome!

Starter Adventures: This is Tim Short's (Gothridge Manor) long-awaited book, aimed at players and GMs absolutely brand new to gaming. Tim presents 16 very short adventuring scenarios--four scenarios for each of the four core classes (cleric, fighter, magic-user, and thief). These scenarios give the newbie player and GM a chance to learn about each class, as well as the basic game mechanics. In addition to the 16 scenarios, there is a detailed tavern, "Red Bear's," with adventure hooks. There is also a simple adventure, "Betrayed at Bender's End" including in the book, which rounds out the collection rather nicely.

The D&D 5e Megadungeon: Two Observations

I ran my first D&D 5e session with our Monday Night Gaming Über Goobers. This also happened to be Session 40 of the Montporte Dungeon Campaign (after a 5 month hiatus). First of all, I like D&D 5e a lot. And, my appreciation of the 5e system is not diminished after an evening on the other side of the DM screen.

As a ruleset for a megadungeon setting, it does play very differently than AD&D 1e and Blood & Treasure, our two previous rulesets for Montporte. Here are two quick observations after one night of play:

1. D&D 5e dungeon play involves less resource management that AD&D 1e. With the rejuvenating abilities of short and long rests, plus a highly modified Vancian magic system that presents more flexibility for players, players have to worry less about running out of hit points or spells (for a similar observation involving D&D versus GURPS, see Patrick Halter's (Renovating the Temple) blog post, Maintaining Encounter Balance). With the earlier editions of D&D, resource management (in the form of hit points and spells), is usually a critical component of megadungeon play.

2. Turn by turn combat tactics matter more in D&D 5e than in AD&D 1e. In AD&D 1e, combat is primarily an exercise in attrition. Tactics matter and can, on occasion, determine combat encounter outcomes but usually the raw abilities to dish out and avoid/absorb hit point damage matters most. With D&D 5e, players have a wider (but still limited) number of meaningful tactical options at their fingertips. And creatures have have more options as well, which can create havoc for careless players. At the same time, magic spells often require concentration and/or a "to hit" roll. This increases the unpredictability in combat, which players have to account for in their tactics.

Despite these differences, D&D 5e is still very much in the D&D family. For example, the speed of play in a dungeon setting is closer to AD&D 1e than 3e/Pathfinder and 4e. We were not bogged down by too many options or modifiers. We had surprisingly little need to stop play to look things up in a book. Most importantly, we enjoyed the session.

Montporte Dungeon Campaign Sessions 38 & 39 Notes

The Cast
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the Second Circle (Half Orc, Hunter): Tim (Gothridge Manor)
Dante Rathburn (Human, Warlock): Chris (The Clash of Spear on Shield)
Luven Lightfinger (Human, Thief): Rob (Bat in the Attic)
Duncan Kern (Gnome, Wizard/Thief): Dan
Lief (Half Elf, Wizard/Cleric/Trickster): Josh
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, Marksman): NPC
Diana (Human, Torch Bearer, Goat Driver): NPC
Marcus Aurelius (Magic Sword): NPC
Daria (Human, Rebel Leader): NPC
Silvaria (Human, Rebel): NPC
Muh ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Zot ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Mechlor (Thuragian, Rebel): NPC
Dwemmon (Gnome): NPC
6 Naked Dwarfs
7 Rescued Gnomes
5 Cave Goats

Summary of Sessions 38 & 39
A few sessions previous, the brave adventurers had used a portable teleport pad (attached to the surface of a small carpet) to teleport to an unknown part of the underdark. They assumed that they they were still in the same dungeon complex and, as their current goal was to return a group of rescued gnomes to their homeland, they decided to continue the mission. The only thing that the brave adventurers knew was that they needed to descend further into the dungeon to find the gnomes' homeland.

Map A (1 square = 5 feet)

The party had begun exploring an area during the last session that included a dead underground forest and garden area (Map A and Map B). In Area 1 (Map A above) above, the party encountered a nasty band of hybrid demon gnomes at the beginning of Session 38. They telepathically attempted to seduce Duncan to their side. During the conversation, the demon gnomes unwittingly confirmed that there were gnomes living somewhere below this area.

To no one's surprise, a battle ensued. The demon gnomes turned out to be tough foes, but Duncan and Daria managed to kill the majority of them and the rest of the party took out the remainders.

The party found one living tree in Area 2 (Map A above). The party used their Finder's Lens and discovered a magic crown embedded with the tree. It turned out to be a gnome crown, which Duncan immediately placed on his own head. The crown imbued Duncan with increased intelligence and an experience point bonus. Duncan found that he could not remove the crown. Dismayed at having a shiny crown on his head, he covered his scalp bling with his magic beanie.

Having completely explored the area, the party moved back to the elevator pad (Area 3 on Map A) and descended to the next lower level (Map B below).

Map B (1 square = 5 feet)

Once the elevator pad had descended (Area 4 on Map B above), the party moved west and discovered a stairway in Area 5, heading down. The stairs descended 21 miles vertically, which was two days worth of travel. At the bottom of the stairs (Area 6 on Map C below), the party found a deep narrow chasm (Area 8 on Map C).

Map C (1 square = 5 feet)

The party was unable to determine the depth of the chasm, nor could they discover a safe way to descend. They could see the remnants of a bridge (Area 7 on Map C), with a corresponding structure in the tunnel mouth on the opposite side of the chasm to the west.

They decided to tie a rope to Duncan, have himself levitate himself, and then give him a firm shove out into the chasm towards the tunnel mouth opposite them. He missed.

Duncan hit the chasm wall and was able to grab hold of the rock surface and pull himself towards the tunnel mouth. He then secured his end of the rope to the the bridge structure while the rest of the party did the same with the other end of the rope on the east side of the chasm. Using plenty of safety line and a fair bit of luck, the party managed to make it safely to the other side. Rather than bring everyone across, Diana stayed with the cave goats on the east side of the chasm. She was joined by Daria and her small band, plus the dwarves.

The party then moved into Room 9. They was a small pink bubbling pool in the middle of the room. The party searched the walls of the room and found three secret doors--one each in the middle of the north, west and south walls. Despite their best efforts, they were not able to any of the doors. In the process, they discovered that (a) the pool and the doors were connected and (b) the pool and doors were, in fact, a sentient creature.

They "fed" the creature a silver bar and the north door opened. A long corridor led them to a door (Area 10 on Map C), which opened into a weird area much like the obelisk rooms they had found in Session 33.

They found a group of large vertical tanks in Room 11. The tanks had clear walls and contained glowing green liquid. In the liquid were large birdlike humanoids, floating peacefully.

The peacefulness was interrupt by the party smashing the side of one of the tanks. The nasty green liquid splashed all over the room and the creature within came out in a foul (fowl?) mood. The party managed to kill it, but not before it did a significant amount of damage, including Adzeer getting his head swallowed. Given the nastiness of the fight, the party opted to leave the rest of the tanks intact.

The party moved into Area 12 and found 4 boxes, each with a small 3D geometric object (each object was about 4" across). Using the Lens of Melnar, the party determined that each of these objects was a key. Moving into Area 13, the party found four larger horizontal tanks. Each tank had a depression shaped like one of the 3D shapes found in Area 12. The tanks also contained the same green fluid found in the tanks in Area 11. The tanks also contained a birdlike humanoid, only these were larger and nastier looking than the ones found in Room 11.

The party decided that (a) these creatures were somehow responsible for many of the most bizarre and ancient features of the Montporte Dungeon, including the obelisks (Session 33) and the magical mysterious panes of glass (Session 6 and subsequent sessions); and (b) these creatures were too tough for the party to deal with at present.

The Dungeon So Far

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Mystery Level A

Mystery Level B

"21 Miles Below"

Converting Experience Points To D&D 5e

We are converting our Blood & Treasure characters to D&D 5e in the Montporte Dungeon Campaign. I could think of a couple of different ways to do it this. One way would be to convert experience points directly. However, because Blood & Treasure has three different experience point tables compared to one for D&D 5e, characters could potentially gain or lose levels based on a meta-game activity.

Instead, I decided to convert each character based on their current level and how far they were from making it to the next level (stated as a percentage). I then placed them the same distance away on the D&D 5e experience table. So if your character is 5th level and has 34% of the experience needed for 6th level in Blood & Treasure, you will still be in exactly the same place in D&D 5e.

The upside is that all characters are still in exactly the same position on the experience table that they were in before. The downside is that character on the "steepest" experience point table (e.g. wizards, sorcerers and warlocks) lost experience points relative to those on the least steep table (e.g. thieves).

Montporte Dungeon Campaign Update

Our Monday Night Gamer Übergoobers have been taking a break from the Montporte Dungeon Campaign, mostly due to my absence because of work duties. I have managed to get in on a few games on Monday night as a player, mostly playing in +Rob Conley's Majestic Wilderlands. We are using D&D 5e and I am playing Aeven Steelhand, a human fighter.

We'll be starting up with the Montporte Dungeon in a few weeks. I will be converting it to D&D 5e from our current rule set, Blood & Treasure. We have had more people in and out of our Monday Gaming Group and I think it works better with newbies and transients if we can use common rule sets.

So, in the next few weeks I will be:

• Converting my Montporte Dungeon to D&D 5e.
• Helping the players convert their current characters to D&D 5e.
• Facilitating character creation for the new players.
• Catching up on my session notes on my blog. We have played 39 sessions and I have session notes for the first 37 sessions.
• Retooling the Roll20 Montporte Dungeon campaign.

I am excited about the conversion as I have really enjoyed D&D 5e so far.

Montporte Dungeon Campaign Session 37 Notes

The Cast
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the Second Circle (Half Orc, Hunter): +Tim Shorts  (Gothridge Manor)
Dante Rathburn (Human, Warlock): +Chris C.  (The Clash of Spear on Shield)
Luven Lightfinger (Human, Thief): +Rob Conley   (Bat in the Attic)
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, Marksman): NPC
Diana (Human, Torch Bearer, Goat Driver): NPC
Marcus Aurelius (Magic Sword): NPC
Daria (Human, Rebel Leader): NPC
Silvaria (Human, Rebel): NPC
Muh ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Zot ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Mechlor (Thuragian, Rebel): NPC
Dwemmon (Gnome): NPC
6 Naked Dwarfs
7 Rescued Gnomes
5 Cave Goats

The Session
The brave adventurers had just finished an encounter with Elias the One, leader of the "Breeders." The party was victorious, but Elias managed to escape to parts unknown (Session 36). The party decided that they should return the rescued gnomes to their underground forest home, but neither the gnomes nor the party knew the route. The party started Session 27 in Room 1 on Map A below.

Map A (1 square = 5 feet)

Luven, using the Cap of Useful Ideas, suggested that the party use the portable teleport pad that they had with them to see if would take them in the correct direction. The party had not tried to use this 6' x 6' magical carpet since they obtained from a group of hobgoblins in Session 29. The party unrolled the carpet and, one at a time, stepped into the teleport area. The party was teleported to a place they had never been, Room 2 on Map B below.

Map B (1 square = 5 feet)

They were in a small room with the red "destination" teleport pad on the floor. They soon discovered that Room 2 was a small building in a large high cave with topsoil and dead trees. After close examination and some divine inspiration, Adzeer determined that some sort of demon fungus had attacked and killed the trees.

The party made their way east and found another small building; this one containing Room 3 (Map B above). Room 3 featured a  10' x 10' metal grating in the middle of the floor. The party looked up and saw doors in the ceiling. Deciding correctly that this was some sort of elevator, they looked for and found the mechanism to operate it. The party ascended 150' on the elevator (as estimated by Adzeer) and the party arrived in Room 4 (Map C below).

Map C (1 square = 5 feet)

The party moved into Room 5 and found a small grove of dead trees. These trees were killed by being burned. The party saw another elevator in Area 6 but chose not to explore. The party then moved to Rooms 8 and 9, both of which were part of a living area for gnomes. It was abandoned and some of the rooms had suffered serious fire and explosion damage. The party did find a few small gold bars. They also discovered a flaming grill in the northeast corner of Room 9. This turned out to be a magic item, Weber's Everburning Flaming Grill.

The session ended at this point. It was the only session that we could remember where there were no encounters. While we would not want a steady diet of encounterless sessions, this one created an eerie sense of emptiness, gloom and destruction. It also emphasized that the party were lost again as a result of using the teleport carpet.

The Dungeon So Far

Level 1 (1 square = 5 feet)

Level 2 (1 square = 5 feet)

Level 3 (1 square = 5 feet)

Mystery Level A (1 square = 5 feet)

Mystery Level B (1 square = 5 feet)

Montporte Dungeon Campaign Sessions 33-36 Notes

The Cast of Thousands
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the Second Circle (Half Orc, Hunter): +Tim Shorts (Gothridge Manor)
Dante Rathburn (Human, Warlock): +Chris C.  (The Clash of Spear on Shield)
Luven Lightfinger (Human, Thief): +Rob Conley  (Bat in the Attic)
Duncan Kern (Gnome, Wizard/Thief): Dan
Leif (Half-Elf, Wizard/Cleric): Josh
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, Marksman): NPC
Diana (Human, Torch Bearer, Goat Driver): NPC
Marcus Aurelius (Magic Sword): NPC
Daria (Human, Rebel Leader): NPC
Herodius (Human, Rebel): NPC
Silvaria (Human, Rebel): NPC
Muh ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Zot ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Mechlor (Thuragian, Rebel): NPC
Dwemmon (Gnome): NPC
30 Naked Dwarfs
7 Rescued Gnomes
5 Cave Goats

The Setting
Sessions 33, 34, 35, and 36 of the Montporte Dungeon Campaign all occurred on Map A (2nd Level) and Map B (3rd Level). All the spiral staircases on Map A are descending and correspond to the spiral staircases on Map B, which are all ascending. Because Roll20 only allows for one map to be displayed at a time, the party was almost immediately lost. This was compounded by the impulsive use of two teleport pads by Luven, whose low wisdom and charisma was played to perfection by Rob.

Map A (Level 2: All spiral staircases are descending): 1 square = 5 feet

Map B (Level 3)

Session 33
Session 33 began where Session 32 left off, with the party come into the lower left of Map A via a low narrow tunnel accessed through a hidden door in a crypt (not shown on the above maps). The party was searching for a group of gnomes reportedly being held and prepared for sacrifice by Elias the One, the evil overlord of the "breeders" (as the players call Elias' faction, due to their practice of breeding and eating humans).

The party easily defeated a large floating eye in Room 1 (Map A above). It was about 1' in diameter and floating near the ceiling, watching them as they entered the room.

The party learned that a distant chime sounded every time they opened a door on Map A (the party never located the source of the sound). The party descended the stairs in Room 2 and immediately became turned around as they ascended and descended staircases between Levels 2 and 3. They found themselves in Room 3 (Map A above), which contained a teleport pad on the floor. Luven stepped on it and the party decided they needed to follow him.

The party ended up in Room 4 (Map A above). However, the GM (me) spun the map around randomly, hid everything behind Fog of War and the party was beyond confused, they were now lost. Once they found more staircases, they guessed that they had not teleported very far. Still, they were lost.

In Room 5, they found a secret door. They continued east (at the time, they thought that they were heading west) and discovered the most bizarre area of the dungeon so far. The rooms in Area 6 (Map A above) were made of a cream-colored mysterious substance (we would recognize it as some sort of acrylic substance). It had a soft glow.

Figure 1

In this area there were six rooms with obelisks. Each obelisk had some small disks similar to the disks the party found on a mysterious pane of found by the party in Session 9. The disks were a form of written message, but so far unreadable. Using the Lens of Melnar, the party was able to determine that each obelisk was a very long distance teleport device. Each contained an immense amount of energy.

Figure 2

Room 7 contained a round raised platform in the middle of the floor with a hatch made of a strange metal. The hatch opened into a descending shaft with a ladder made of the same metal. The party could see liquid of some kind down below. The air coming up from the shaft was bitterly cold. Adzeer remembered a similar cold when he agreed to fulfill a quest for the dead dwarven goddess, Doluth (Session 22). He was to take 30 small glass vials of impossibly cold water and use them to bring back 30 dwarven warriors that she had hidden from destruction thousands of years before. Adzeer emptied the 30 vials down the shaft and into the pool. The party was soon greeted by 30 naked, soaking wet dwarven warriors. The party equipped the dwarves as best they could and the session ended.

Session 34
The party left the weird glowing area (Area 6 on Map A) and found a giant floating eye in Room 5 (just like the one in Room 1 in Session 33). They killed it. They moved on into Room 8, where they encountered a hooded guy with a flaming broadsword, accompanied by 3 armored gaunts. The flaming broad sword guy and his gaunts were overpowered fairly quickly.

Figure 3

As the battle was coming to a close, there was a disturbance in the back of the party. Herodius, Daria's second in command, attacked Daria (Daria was leading a rebellion against Elias the One). After his dagger attack failed, Herodius unleashed a fireball. He reduced himself and 5 dwarves to ashes, but Daria managed to escape with her life albeit grievously burned. The party healed her and moved on, pondering Herodius' treachery but having no answers. They did find a pair of glasses, on the burned remains of Herodius, protected in a scroll case. The glasses were the Spectacles of Zaphoz, granting the ability of the wearer to read ancient magic languages (including the "disk" language on the obelisks).

Figure 5

The party met up with more armored gaunts in Room 9 (Map B above), plus an eyeless human with his hands placed on the top of a weird blog with eye stalks. Three of the eyestalks were empty, with two of the oozing goo as if wounded. Neither the eye stalk blob nor the guy fought back. Every time the eyed blob was hit for damage, the human would bleed from his eye sockets. In the end, it wasn't much of a battle, as the small contingent of armored gaunts guarding the odd pair were easy pickings.

The party continued exploring and then decided to teleport from the pad in Room 10 (Map B above), which led them to Room 11. The party was still turned around and lost, but soon after leaving Room 11, they figured out where they were.

Session 35
After more wandering around, the party stumbled into Room 12 on Level 2 (Map A above). This room was filled with a thick, viscous fog that hampered movement and visibility (breathing was unimpaired). There were large, 9-12' long barracudas swimming in the soupy fog with weird eyes that were similar to the black blobs from another plane (encountered in Session 1 and Session 24). The bite of the barracudas caused a loss of wisdom (which would eventually lead to insanity). Luven was dangerously close to the crazy train by time the battle was over.

Session 36
The party almost gave up the search for the captive gnomes. They had rescued 30 dwarves...an unexpected bonus (although 5 had died at the hands of Herodius). However, Duncan encouraged them to press on.

In Room 13 (Map B above), the party found an ancient gnome queen whose spirit was too strong to be crushed and used by Elias. All that remained was a skeleton, but she was happy to help the party in return for them to release her to a blessed death.

She led them close to Room 15 and the party reluctantly killed her. In Room 15, the party found a novice of Elias and some armored gaunts. In a rare form of humanity, the novice begged for his life and ran away. The party did ask for directions.

In Room 16, the party found Elias the One, a small entourage, that included a cockroach demon and a live gnome strapped to a stone table, ready for sacrifice. Elias unleashed a barrage of magic missiles into Adzeer, almost killing him. Adzeer was forced to heal himself but the rest of the party took the fight to Elias and his minions.

Luven used his spider climb ring to scurry across the ceiling to drop in behind Elias for a backstab while Dante charged the cockroach demon. Luven's ploy was not a success but it did distract Elias enough to force him to waste a round. Dante took a beating but Adzeer was able to heal him and then Adzeer used his demon-slaying sword (Syvyys' Bane) to kill the cockroach demon.

In the meantime, Elias retreated down a small corridor to the north. The party was hesitant to pursue him but the naked dwarven warriors poured into the room, seeking to avenge their family members who died horribly at the hands of Elias' forerunners. Elias was having none of it and shot a fireball into the room, taking out 19 of the dwarves and also the gnome on the sacrificial table.

The party cautiously pursued Elias but did not find him. They did find 7 captive gnomes in four rooms in Area 17 (Map B above). One of the gnomes reported that Elias had come into the room and then vanished into thin air. Elias clothes and personal effects were in a pile in the corner.

Adzeer explored the sacrificial table and found a secret compartment that contained five more magic pains of acrylic material (see Figure 1 above). Adzeer put on the Spectacles of Zaphoz and began to read the disks. As he read about how to split the elements and harvest the incredible magic power stored within them, he began to hear murmuring all around him. The murmuring turned to laughter and the laughter to screams. He could see nothing, but he could see that Luven's eyes had turned completely black. Adzeer and Luven began to circle each other until Adzeer webbed Luven.

The party began to panic, fearing for Adzeer's sanity. Someone cast a phantasmal force to distract Adzeer, which could have made things much worse. However, Adzeer went to fight the illusion and this eliminated the laughter and screams.

The Dungeon So Far

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Montporte Dungeon Campaign Session 32 Notes

The Cast
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the Second Circle (Half Orc, Hunter): Tim (Gothridge Manor)
Dante Rathburn (Human, Warlock): Chris (The Clash of Spear on Shield)
Luven Lightfinger (Human, Thief): Rob (Bat in the Attic)
Duncan Kern (Gnome, Wizard/Thief): Dan
Leif (Half-Elf, Wizard/Cleric):
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, Marksman): NPC
Diana (Human, Torch Bearer, Goat Driver): NPC
Marcus Aurelius (Magic Sword): NPC
Daria (Human, Rebel Leader): NPC
Herodius (Human, Rebel): NPC
Silvaria (Human, Rebel): NPC
Muh ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Zot ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Mechlor (Thuragian, Rebel): NPC
Dwemmon (Gnome): NPC
5 cave goats

Map A (1 square = 5 feet)

The Session
The brave adventurers of Montporte Dungeon found themselves in a temple or sacred space at the end of Session 31 (Room 1 on Map A above). The party explored the room at the beginning of Session 32. They found the remnants of symbols of the four elements on the altar and the walls--consistent with the fact that the Montporte Dungeon started as an elementalist monastery. It was clear that someone had made the effort to remove the symbols and art, perhaps the "breeders" who now inhabited this area of the dungeon.

There was a shallow pool at the southern end of Room 1 with glowing liquid (glowing light blue). Leif had tried to touch it at the end of Session 31 and received a severe jolt of energy. After further examination, the party determined that it was water infused with positive energy. It could cause considerable splash damage to undead (3d8 in a breakable flask hurled at undead). The party gathered up 8 or so flasks of the stuff before leaving the room.

The party exited the room through the north door and found themselves face to face with a statue that resembled Cassius the ghost (an elementalist)--Area 2 on Map A above. A search of the statue turned up no surprises.

The party found a secret door in Area 3. They found a narrow corridor with a descending set of stairs heading south. They followed the corridor, which had a second set of stairs heading back up. This led the party to Area 4, which had a room to the east filled with human bones and lots of dust. A search of the bones turned up nothing useful, but the party discovered that the owners of the bones all died a violent death (e.g. crushing and burning). The party went back north through Room 1 and Area 2.

This time the party continued north through a padlocked door into Area 5. Here they found long narrow corridors that were some sort of catacombs. There were skeleton tracks on the floor. They removed some bricks to check out the dead for treasure but found little of interest, besides piles of bones in tight little crypts.

In Area 6, the party were approached from the east by two petros skeletons. Adzeer, Dante and Little Larry attacked. The next round, the rear of the party was attacked from the west by two more petros skeletons. Adzeer and company found them sprayed with pebbles, but Dante was able to do considerable damage with a flask of positive energy liquid from Room 1. Duncan attempted a similar flask attack at the rear of the party but missed. The narrow corridor made for a slow grinding battle, but the party was successful. Happily, the party discovered that each petros skeleton had a precious gem of considerable value.

The party moved to the far eastern end of the catacombs and found a set of steps heading down (Area 8). They decided to ignore the stairs and went back to the west. The party found more catacombs behind some secret doors (Area 7) but decided to leave that area, as the thick dust on the floor indicated a lack of recent foot traffic.

The party went back to Area 2 and decided to head due east. They went through the padlocked door, which led them into Area 9. The floor in Area 2 had been swept clean of dust and debris, but Area 9 had dust on the floor...dust with lots of footprints heading south.

The party followed the footprints in the dust, which led them into another catacomb area to the south (Area 10). Here they found that the footprints disappeared into bricked up crypt area. They started poking around and found a trap door in the floor inside a small crypt. This led to a ladder, which in turn descended 20' down into a narrow corridor heading east. The party climbed down the ladder and moved east down the corridor (Area 11).

This is where the session ended for the night.

The Dungeon So Far

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Montporte Dungeon Campaign Session 31 Notes

The Cast
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the Second Circle (Half Orc, Hunter): Tim (Gothridge Manor)
Luven Lightfinger (Human, Thief): Rob (Bat in the Attic)
Duncan Kern (Gnome, Wizard/Thief): Dan
Leif (Half-Elf, Wizard/Cleric):
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, Marksman): NPC
Diana (Human, Torch Bearer, Goat Driver): NPC
Marcus Aurelius (Magic Sword): NPC
Daria (Human, Rebel Leader): NPC
Herodius (Human, Rebel): NPC
Silvaria (Human, Rebel): NPC
Muh ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Zot ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Mechlor (Thuragian, Rebel): NPC
Dwemmon (Gnome): NPC
5 cave goats

Map A (1 square = 5 feet)

The Session
We ended Session 30 in the middle of a battle in Area 1 (Map A above), as the party had met up with Elonora and some of her minions. Elonora, the "spider mistress," was one of the leaders of the "Breeders." After casting a rainbow pattern spell (which affected Dante and Luven), Elonora ducked around a corner to east in Area 2.

Just as the battle appeared to be winding down, with the party prevailing, a second wave of thuragians (crab folk) came out of the door leading to Room 3 (Map A above). These were quickly dispatched by the party. This allowed the party to enter Room 3 to explore it.

Elonora and a really big glowing green fuzzy spiders were waiting for the party in Room 3. The party was dazzled by an exchange of magic missiles between Daria and Elonora, but Duncan used a color spray to stun Elonora. Luven then used his backstabbing skills and the ever-complaining Marcus Aurelius to finish her off.

The party moved north to Area 2 and then west to Area 4. The plan was to continue their trek north, but they decided to explore the door to the south at Area 4, which led them into Room 5. The room contained 2 "gaunts" and a breeder acolyte (wearing a white hooded cloak). When the acolyte asked the party who they were, they answered by mortally wounding him. This allowed Daria to take temporary control of the gaunts.

The party, in a generous mood, deciding to heal the poor guy and then interrogate him. They discovered that there was a lot of foot traffic in and out of the door leading north from Area 4. This traffic included some "garnocks" (a termed used for gnomes). This gave the party some confidence that they were on the right path. Learning this, the party was merciful and let the acolyte and his gaunts live.

The party moved north from Area 4 into Room 6 and then on to Room 7. Room 7 contained a number of doors and, following Adzeer's principle of "staying left," the party opened the western door that ultimately led them to Room 8.

Room 8 contained 3 large wooden boxes. Two of the boxes contained clothing and the third box contained bones. The bones appeared to the right size and shape to be gnome bones. The bones did not appear to be fresh, which alleviated fears that the party was too late to save the captive gnomes.

Leif took this opportunity to play a practical joke on Luven. Leif quietly placed some bones in some of the clothing and then used prestidigitation to move the bones around. Luven freaked out and attacked the bones. Leif's laughter ended Luven's assault. Luven was not amused.

The party moved north into Room 9 (Map A above). This room had soft illumination coming from the entire ceiling. It appeared to be a temple or sacred space. There was a pool of glowing liquid (light blue glow) at the southern end of the room. Leif dipped his finger in the pool and took significant damage as he was zapped with some sort of energy blast.

This is where we ended the session for the night.

The Dungeon So Far

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Montporte Dungeon Campaign Session 30 Notes

The Cast
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the Second Circle (Half Orc, Hunter): Tim (Gothridge Manor)
Luven Lightfinger (Human, Thief): Rob (Bat in the Attic)
Dante Rathburn (Human, Warlock): Chris (The Clash of Spear on Shield)
Leif (Half-Elf, Wizard/Cleric):
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, Marksman): NPC
Diana (Human, Torch Bearer, Goat Driver): NPC
Marcus Aurelius (Magic Sword): NPC
Daria (Human, Rebel Leader): NPC
Herodius (Human, Rebel): NPC
Silvaria (Human, Rebel): NPC
Muh ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Zot ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Mechlor (Thuragian, Rebel): NPC
Dwemmon (Gnome): NPC
5 cave goats

Map A (1 square = 5 feet)

The Session
Session 29 ended after a tough battle between the party and 2 hobgoblins plus a boreal troll. Session 30 of the Montporte Dungeon Campaign started in Room 1, the site of that battle. The party decided to do a bit more exploring in the area. They went to Room 2, previously unexplored. They found this room to be very cold and covered in a layer of frost. There was a small pile ice in the corner, which after some heat was applied, revealed itself as a pile of feces (appearing to be from a very very large dog). The party realized that this was probably from the frost wolves they met and killed in Session 28.

The party, on a mission to rescue a group of gnomes reported to be held captive on the northern end of Level 2, moved east. They had decided to go up to Level 1, to avoid trouble, and then descend back down to Level 2, closer to their destination. Daria, the leader of the rebels and a new member of the adventuring party, advised the party to take a previously unexplored path. This led from Area 3 (Map A above) through Rooms 4 and 5 to the stairs in Room 6 that led to Level 1.

Map B (1 square = 5 feet)

The party went up the stairs to Room 7 (Map B above...lower right corner). Except for a brief conversation with Cassius, the ghostly caretaker of the Montporte Dungeon, the brave adventurers were able to traverse Level 1 without incident to arrive in Room 8 (Map B above...upper left corner). Room 8 contained a spiral staircase leading back down to Level 2.

Map C (1 square = 5 feet)

The party descended the stairs to find themselves in Room 9 (Map C above). The party moved east and north into Room 10, a very large and harshly illuminated room. The party had fought a long set of battles in this room back in Session 15.

The party saw a "gaunt" and an initiate (in a white hood & cloak) in Room 10. They cast a sleep spell, searched the sleeping victims, they decided to hurry north after hearing someone call for "Anarsia" from beyond in closed door in Room 11. Daria answered the unknown caller, letting them know that everything was "fine." The party, however, wanted to maintain their stealthy existence on Level 2 so they scurried off.

The party moved north, up the 20' wide corridor, unexplored territory for the party. When they reached area 12, they were meet by 2 thuragians (crab folk) and 2 really big glowing green fuzzy spiders coming from the north. Accompanying them was a woman that Daria identified as Elonora, the Spider Mistress, and a member of the Eternal Council. The party first heard of her in Session 27, when they had discovered that she had been put in charge of destroying the party by Elias the One (the ruler of the "Breeders").

The party was spread out along the corridor and characters in the lead moved to engage the spiders and crabmen. As they did so, 2 more thuragians (crab folk) entered the corridor from a door on the east wall. This effectively cut the adventuring party in two. At the same time, Elonora cast rainbow pattern, which entranced Dante and Luven. This left Adzeer and Little Larry as the only effective fighters in the northern half of the party.

The party was able to hit Elonora with ranged attacks, which led her to take cover around a corner. However, Dante and Luven were drawn north (inside the rainbow pattern), directly in the path of the waiting spiders.

In the middle of the party, the crabmen kept everyone busy. Leif, Zot, and Muh engaged them in melee combat while Daria peppered them with magic missiles. Eventually, the party killed both crabmen, but they had been effective tactical diversions. Eventually, Dante and Luven broke out of the control of the rainbow pattern but not before the spiders had inflicted some damage (fortunately, the spiders are not poisonous).

We had to end the session because it was getting late, leaving the conclusion of the battle to the next session.

The Dungeon So Far

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3