Dungeon Rules: Holmes Dungeons & Dragons + GURPS Dungeon Fantasy

I am a big fan of GURPS DF. I also have very special place in my heart for the Holmes D&D Boxed Set. My original experience with D&D back in 1977 was with the first printing* of the Holmes boxed set. My little thought experiment today is mashing these two together, using the race and class configuration of Holmes D&D to create the list of GURPS DF templates.

My boxed set of Holmes D&D goodness did not contain an adventure module. Instead, it came with dungeon geomorphs and monster/treasure lists. The two lasting effects of this were: (1) Each person in my original group created a dungeon to use when it was their turn to DM...my first year of D&D was homemade megadungeon only; and (2) We never used adventure modules (it is only in the last 10 years that I have even owned an adventure module).

GURPS Templates
Here is what I think a Holmes-inspired GURPS D&D game would look like in terms of templates:

• Dwarf Templates: Dwarf Cleric, Dwarf Fighter, Dwarf Fighter/Cleric.
• Elf Templates: Elf Fighter, Elf Fighter/Magic-User, Elf Magic-User.
• Halfling Templates: Halfling Fighter, Halfling Fighter/Thief, Halfling Thief.
• Human Templates: Human Cleric, Human Fighter, Human Magic-User, Human Thief.

If my math is correct, that is 13 different templates, which I think still gives players a fair amount of choice. The beauty of GURPS DF is that the template for an Elf Fighter can be very different from a Dwarf Fighter.

Points
A key part of GURPS is determining the starting points players receive to create their characters:

• 250 Points: This is the default number of points for character creation in GURPS DF. There are some good reasons for it as 250 points provides more options in character building and more tactical options in play. Characters are tough but still vulnerable.
• 200 Points: Characters are still hardy but would have fewer options and more vulnerability.
• 150 Points: This would more closely mimic the experience of low level Holmes D&D but GURPS doesn't have the same kind of power curve, meaning more experienced GURPS characters are left in the dust by their D&D counterparts. The dual class character templates could be particularly anemic at 150 points.

Eric Smith has some additional thoughts on what GURPS DF character templates could look like at different point levels.

Conclusion
Right now, my schedule is not allowing me to do much gaming. Weekend evenings are filled with music performances and weekday nights are spent on other things. It is fun, however, to do some thought experiments and blogging as a substitute.

*I wish I still had my copy of the Holmes rule book as it was the first printing. "Hobbits" were one of the four races and this was later changed to "Halflings" in later printings.

Related Posts
Comparing GURPS and D&D on Dungeon Design
Systems Matter: Exploration, Encounters and Intent in the Megadungeon

Design It To Run: How I Am Designing & Running the Montporte Dungeon

We are closing in on Session 30 of the Montporte Dungeon Campaign and I feel like I can now speak with a bit of experience about designing and running a megadungeon. Back in the 1970s, I started with a dungeon-only campaign as my Holmes D&D set came with dungeon geomorphs, rather than a module. None of my fellow gamers owned modules, just lots of graph paper. So running a dungeon was our default. But that was a long time ago and I hadn't really attempted to run a megadungeon since.

What follows is descriptive, not prescriptive. I am attempting to describe how I am designing and running a dungeon, not how you should do it. Most weeks, I am scrambling to get ready for game night in between family, work, and my music obligations. So with those caveats, here is my approach:

Campaign Mindset: From the start, my mindset has been to run it as a campaign setting and not an adventure module on steroids (which is how most published megadungeons appear to me). Rather than focus on rooms, I focus on areas, peoples, etc and then fill in the details as needed (or as I have time), just as if I were running a typical non-dungeon campaign.

My Dungeon: The Montporte Megadungeon is designed by me for me to run. And I run it with people I know. I am not creating something for publication or something to even post on my blog for others. It is very specific to me and our Monday Night Gaming Group. I don't feel like I have an audience of gamers/consumers to please, just a group of friends to entertain.

As Needed: I only create the dungeon a little in advance of where the players might go. At the beginning, this meant a fair amount of mapping. But now, not so much. There are several reasons I do this: (1) I don't have the time or energy to create a 20 level dungeon all at once; (2) I don't always know what will catch the players' interest and I would rather have things be more open-ended and flexible; and (3) Inspiration comes to me slowly and if I try to do too much at once, the dungeon turns out bland. I need to give myself time to let ideas germinate.

Mapping Part 1: Fortunately, I love to draw dungeon maps. Unfortunately, we are playing online with a VTT (our group uses either Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds, depending on the GM...I opted to use Roll20). This means that I could either draw maps by hand, scan them, and upload them...or create maps digitally. I opted to create them digital in AutoREALM, which is a slower process for me, but it cuts out the conversion process.

Mapping Part 2: I usually start my mapping process of a level by creating a 5x5 grid in Publisher. Each square in the grid is 10", which means I use the custom setting to create a 52" x 52" page (allowing for 1" margins). I then place a text box in each grid, describing in as little detail as I can, what is in each square. In dungeon terms, each square represents 300" x 300", the same sized used in Stonehell. I then, as I need to, create the detailed 300' x 300' maps in AutoREALM, with a 5'/square scale. I convert it a JPEG and--Presto!--I have my map for Roll20. I can also drop the JPEG file into my Publisher grid and create level map, which can also easily be converted to JPEGs. By using blackened rectangles to cover unexplored areas, I can create overview maps for the players like the one below (it takes about 15 minutes):

Level 1, From the Players' Perspective

Seeds: I try to drop adventure or plot seeds into the campaign as we play (from this blog post by Michael Curtis {The Society of Torch, Pole, and Rope}). It is up to the players to decide what to do with them. This only works for me if I do not plan details too far ahead. I have had to let go of my inner-world builder's conceit of "this place exists whether or not a PC ever sees it." It should feel that way to the players, but that is not how I am operating behind the scenes.

Tropes Part 1 ("the lack thereof"): For the most part, I have avoided the OSR cliches and tropes--random tables, lots of slash and grab sessions, and traps for the purposes of having traps. It is not that I have a philosophical or ideological reason to avoid them. My reasoning is more pragmatic: It takes a surprising amount of time to create a random encounter table that might only be used 1 or 2 times. It is easier to just create the encounter than to create the table to generate it.

Tropes Part 2 (my trope): My one conceptual trope has been the computer game, Myst. I am not trying to recreate Myst as we play, but I like the idea of using interlocking clues and details so that the players gradually piece together the multiple back stories of the dungeon. There are a few chatty NPCs in the dungeon, plus lots of scrolls and documents. In fact, every encounter is a clue to the dungeon. Not all clues are earth shattering, but they all pile on one another to paint a picture and tell the story of the dungeon.

Improvisation and Planning: I only occasionally use set-piece encounters that are tied to specific physical locations within the dungeon. They are there, but there are not a lot of them. I do, however, improvise a lot. For a lot of people, improvisation implies a lack of planning or forethought, kind of like "winging it." As a musician, improvisation means something different to me. Improvisation means creating responding to others as you play, but it still requires as much planning, forethought, etc. I spend a considerable about of time planning for each session, but I look at options the players have in front of them and how they might respond, rather than planning specific encounters ahead of time. I am not sure if this makes sense to you, the reader, but I have found it to be my style of GMing...at least most of the time.

Rationalization and Logic: The Montporte Dungeon has a series of backstories that provide an inner logic for myself and the players. However, it only works when we (our group) let go of (1) the question of why a big multi-layer hole in the ground would be there in the first place; and (2) previous preconceptions about megadungeon play (this has been a bit of a struggle as the cliches of dungeon play haunted us when we started).

Inspiration: I read a lot--close to a book a week--and while I do not plan my reading around gaming, I often read things that end up in the dungeon. A recent example are the small bottles of impossibly cold water (why did it not turn to ice?) found in Session 22. These were inspired by So Cold the River, a novel by Michael Koryta. My days with the Appendix N types of literature are mostly in the past, but I am finding inspiration in unlikely sources. This has proven to be a benefit as some of the guys in our gaming group have way more gaming stuff than me. I have thus far avoided the dreaded "You pulled this from B1, didn't you?" or "Hey, this sounds like Dragon #135."

Further Reading: John Arendt (Dreams in the Lich House) recently published two posts on megadungeons that present an interesting point and counterpoint: You Will Never Finish That Dungeon and From an Alternate Universe. I found them interesting and helpful. For me, Michael Curtis' (The Society of Torch, Pole, and Rope) post, With New Old Eyes, is my "go to" reading for running a megadungeon. Peter D (Dungeon Fantastic) wrote an excellent post, Megadungeon Play Reflections-The Immediate and the Cumulative, that lives up to "Fantastic" moniker. I have previously tried to capture a bit of my own thinking on designing and running megadungeons: Five Paths For Dungeon Design and Creating Meaningful Choices in a Dungeon-Centered Campaign.

Montporte Maps--After 10 Sessions

Back in April, I posted the Montporte Dungeon player map after five sessions of play. Our sessions are typically 2-3 hours, so exploration can be a rather slow process. In today's post, I am posting the Montporte Dungeon player maps after ten sessions of play. Here is the key to the maps in today's post:

• A = Ladder from Level 1 to a sub-level
• B = Ladder from Level 1 to a sub-level
• C = Unexplored corridors and rooms
• D = Unopened doors with unexplored area beyond
• E = Exit to surface
• P = Current location of the Player Characters

Level 1 (1 square = 5 feet)

Level 1 Sub-Level

Level 2?? (1 square = 5 feet)

Megadungeon Hall of Fame Post: "The Megadungeon and the Horror"

There are a few books that are so good and so important to me that I find myself reading them more than once. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, Plimpton's The Bogey Man, and Keegan's The Second World War are all on that very short list.

The same is true with blog posts. There are a few blog posts that I find myself going back to in order to read again and think about contents. Beedo's (Dreams in the Lich House) post, The Megadungeon and the Horror, is one such post. Beedo compares and contrasts the typical characteristics of a megadungeon (large areas, multilevel, factions, sparse details) with the typical characteristics of a horror scenario (atmosphere, detail, a careful buildup of tension).

Given the challenges of creating a horror-based megadungeon, Beedo suggests incorporating small, detailed, set-piece areas with weird, powerful, horrifying monsters to create a sense of horror. While that doesn't create a horror-based dungeon, it can create some horror-based sessions within the larger megadungeon campaign. From my perspective, it also creates some additional variety and contrast for the GM and players.

Montporte Dungeon Campaign Session 8 Notes

Map A (1 square = 5 feet)

The Cast
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the First Circle (Half Orc, 2 Lvl Hunter): Tim (Gothridge Manor)
Duncan Kern (Gnome, 1 Lvl Wizard/Thief): Dan
Dante Rathburn (Human, 1 Lvl Warlock): Bard (The Clash of Spear on Shield)
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, 1 lvl Marksman): NPC
Diana (Human, Torch Bearer, Goat Driver): NPC
3 cave goats

The Session
Session 8 began with the brave adventurers in Room 1 (Map A above). They had just killed two tall scary humanoids, both armed with halberds, and their hooded companion at the end of Session 7. There were also four cowering naked humanoids, chained together and cowering in the corner.

The party tried to converse with the chained up group but it only frightened them further, leading to lots of babbling and squealing. The party discussed whether or not they should lead these pathetic creatures to the surface and let them go, but then decided that they would die for sure. In the end, the party unchained the four, left them with some food and water, and headed out of the room.

They went across the hall and explored Room 2 (Map A above) and found a few small treasure items buried in the debris on the floor. Then they went west to Area 3 on the map. There was a portcullis in the corridor but it was raised so they were able to head north. The corridor sloped downward and a curious wide shallow groove had been worn in the floor. There was some concern that this was the sign of a trap but Duncan was able to discern that it looked like an area where barrels were rolled along the floor.

As they turned the corner into Area 4 (Map A above), they heard a metallic thud behind them and concluded (correctly) that the portcullis had dropped. And, more importantly, they were face to face with 3 ghouls. A Web spell, lots of oil, and a torch made for quick work with the ghouls. The party also found a lever in the wall in Area 4 that raised and lowered the two nearby portcullises (Areas 3 and 5 on Map A above). One portcullis is raised while the other is lowered.

The party moved on and explored a few small unexplored corridors, which eventually led them to Room 6 (Map A above). The room had a pool in the middle, with a thick column at each corner of the pool to support the ceiling. The water looked to be about 10 feet deep and was crystal clear. At the bottom, the group could see a shiny object. The temptation was apparently too much for Duncan and he did a little gnome cannonball into the pool. At this point, the group remember Duncan's affinity for jumping into things (in Session 1 he famously stated "I'm a gnome, I wanna go in the hole"). Lots of laughs all around.

As soon as he jumped into the pool, three water elementals formed on the pool's surface and the party's laughter was cut short. Dante was able to fish Duncan out of the pool before the elementals fully formed. There were three water elementals...two small ones and one that was a little bigger. A fierce battle ensued and, after a fair amount of swinging and missing (plus some poorly tossed daggers), the party finally prevailed. Duncan, on hunch, decided to inspect the columns and was rewarded for his efforts. He found a small compartment in one of the columns. There was a some gold and silver tucked away, along with a Cloak of Protection.

Duncan dove into the pool once again and was rewarded with a shiny key. Using the key, the adventurers unlocked the iron-bound door on the west wall of the room. Heading west from there through a narrow corridor (Area 7 on Map A above), the party found a secret door that provided access into a large cavern (Area 8 on Map A above). There they encountered four giant ants (3 workers and 1 warrior). The workers were stacking some sort of cube-shaped stuff into piles. The party didn't have much time to take it in as the ants were intent on defending their territory.

The ensuing melee saw Little Larry going down for the count. Dante and Adzeer also critically failed and each of them had their weapons slip from their hands in mid-swing. Adzeer's mace sailed off towards Area 9 (on the above map) and Dante's battleaxe spun off into Area 10. Once the battle started to turn in the party's favor,* Adzeer rushed over to Little Larry and poured a healing draught down his throat. Duncan and Dante finished off the four ants.

Adzeer walked a bit west to get his mace while Dante went north to get his battleaxe. They were set upon by more ants. Dante went down but Little Larry rushed to his aid to keep the two worker ants off him. Duncan cast a Color Spray on the three ants that attacked Adzeer, knocking out two (workers) and blinding the third (a warrior). Duncan and Adzeer quickly finished them off then went over to rescue Dante. They made quick work of the two ants and used one of their last healing draughts on Dante.

They explored the room a bit further and found that there were piles of cubed material all around the room. The cubes were about 1' on a side and turned out to be pieces of giant mushrooms. We ended the session at this point. The map below (Map B) displays the area explored so far.

Map B (1 square = 5 feet)

Montporte Dungeon Campaign Session 7 Notes

The Cast
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the First Circle (Half Orc, 1 Lvl Hunter): Tim (Gothridge Manor)
Duncan Kern (Gnome 1 lvl Wizard/Thief): Dan
Leif (Half-Elf, 1 Lvl Mage/Cleric/Trickster): Josh
Luven Lightfingers (Human, 1 Lvl Thief): Rob (Bat in the Attic)
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, 1 lvl Marksman): NPC
Diana (Human, Torch Bearer, Goat Driver): NPC
3 cave goats

The Session
The last session, Session 6, ended with the party climbing out of a narrow tunnel into Room 1 (above on map) via a trap door in the floor. The adventurers, battered from their encounter with the gibbering mouther, decided to spike the door shut, lay out some caltrops, and take some time to rest and heal up. Their rest was briefly interrupted by some scratching at the door, but otherwise their time in the room was quiet.

The party moved south out of the room and found themselves in an east-west corridor. They opened the door on the south wall and found a room with the rotted remnants of some wood crates, three much newer barrels, and four giant centipedes (Room 2 on the above map). The centipedes were quickly dispatched with flaming arrows and a few arrows. The party suffered a serious mishap when Little Larry accidentally shot an arrow into the middle of Adzeer's back, but the centipedes themselves did no damage. Adzeer healed himself after the battle.

The three barrels bore the marks of the Montporte trading guild. One was still sealed...it contained an odd mix of salted meat (still quite edible) and rough cloth. The other two barrels had been opened, with the lids just laying on them. One contained an assortment of rotted kobold body parts. The other contained a collection of peasant clothing.

The adventurers moved back into the corridor, headed west, and found an orc corpse (Area 3 on the map above). The body was badly decomposed but the rib cage and skull looked like they had exploded outward. The floor, wall and ceiling were stained by an enormous amount of blood...far more than should have come from one orc.

While part of the group was looking at the orc body, Luven went further west and found that the corridor turned north. He found a portcullis similar to the one that had blocked the party at the beginning of Session 6, only this one had already been raised (Area 4 on the above map). Luven could see that the corridor sloped downward as it headed off to the north (Area 5 on the above map).

After finishing their examination of the dead orc, the party attempted to go into the door on the south wall (Room 6 above). Duncan found and disarmed a trap on the door. He then listened at the door, but heard nothing. When Adzeer tried the door, he found that it wouldn't budge. The door didn't open, even with a fair amount of banging and shoving. They decided to dismantle the door hinges, which allowed them to break loose the door from where it was spiked to the frame.

Room 6 contained two large human-like guys, each about seven feet tall, armed with halberds. Behind them stood a slightly smaller guy in a black robe and hood. There were also four naked humans, chained together and cowering n the corner.

The guy in the black hood shouted, "Did the elf send you to get us?" The two brutes with the halberds then attacked. Duncan had the jump on everyone and cast a Color Spray, knocking out the two guys with halberds and blinding the hoodie guy. As he staggered back, the rest Adzeer and Luven attacked him. Leif slit the throats of the two unconscious guys. Little Larry and Duncan slid to the west in order to shoot arrows from the flank. Blind and overwhelmed, the hooded guy never had a chance. As he fell to the ground, mortally wounded, his hood fell back and the party was able to see his bug-eyed but otherwise human-like visage.

In searching the bodies, the party found some gold and silver. More importantly, they found a magic dagger and a magic ring. The dagger, the Blade of Ung, is a +1 dagger that can also do an additional 1d6 of electrical damage (once per day). Using the Lens of Melnar, the group discovered that the ring had an evil aura. It also has the ability to create an incredible amount of water inside a living being...typically causing that creature to explode outward from the pressure. This explained the orc corpse in the hallway.

This is where the session ended for the night.

The Montporte Dungeon (so far)
The "U" symbols represent corridors and doors leading to unexplored areas.

Montporte Dungeon Campaign Session 6 Notes

I haven't had much of a chance to blog...work has been crazy (we are rolling out a merger which, thankfully, doesn't involve job losses but it involves job changes plus working with hundreds of staff, clients, and thousands of donors, but I digress). I have 4 sessions of gaming to blog about--3 Majestic Wilderlands GURPS sessions and 1 Montporte Dungeon session. Today's post will cover the short Montporte Dungeon session we had on Monday night (using Blood & Treasure).

Cast of Characters
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the First Circle (Half Orc, 1 Lvl Hunter): Tim (Gothridge Manor)
Duncan Kern (Gnome 1 lvl Wizard/Thief): Dan
Leif (Half-Elf, 1 Lvl Mage/Cleric/Trickster): Josh
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, 1 lvl Marksman): NPC
Diana (Human, Torch Bearer, Goat Driver): NPC
3 cave goats

Map A (1 square = 5 feet)

The Session
At the end of Session 5, the brave adventurers had just finished off a group of giant rats (Room 1 on Map A above). The room looked like a kitchen. The corridor heading south out of the westernmost part of the south wall sloped downward, possibly promising access to a lower level. Unfortunately, the way was blocked by a very heavy portcullis. They continued to search for a way to open the portcullis, a search that had started in the previous session. Not finding a mechanism, they opted for brute strength, using a crowbar as a lever under the lowest portcullis crossbar. The portcullis budged but then stopped, as if it were locked in place or stuck.

Just as the party was giving up on the portcullis, two skeletons wandered into the room from the east. Little Larry and Adzeer quickly dispatched them. Adzeer then went east himself to make sure there was nothing else more dangerous behind them.

The party decided to move north out of the room. Duncan checked for traps on the door and, detecting nothing, moved aside so that Adzeer could open the door. A heavy stone swung from the ceiling on the other side of the door, but the rope snapped before the stone could do any damage. Based on the condition of the rope, the trap had been placed there quite a while ago.

Adzeer and Duncan moved north into the room (Room 2 on Map A above). There was a large sudsy puddle on the floor and Adzeer and Duncan were both overwhelmed with the stench of stale beer. Both became nauseous and struggled to draw their weapons. Adzeer noticed that the puddle was moving and rolled the large stone (from the door trap) into the room and through the puddle.

The puddle struck back at the stone and the party was confronted by two beer oozes. Adzeer and Duncan attacked but were hindered by nausea and weakness. Despite their condition, they were able to overcome the beer oozes, thanks in part to the initial damage done by Adzeer's bowling with the stone.

The room was filled with barrels, many of them rotted and broken. They did find a small bar of silver (worth 50 silver pieces) in one of the intact barrels. The barrels were otherwise empty. Of more interest was the door in the floor in the northeast corner of the room.

Adzeer lifted the door and could see a small 3' wide shaft descending down about 25 feet. Small metal rungs had been installed, which beckoned the party to descend. At the bottom of the shaft, the party found themselves at the north end of a narrow passage that headed due south (Area 3 on Map B below). The group discovered just how dexterous cave goats can be, as they descended down the rungs with no difficulty.

Map B (1 square = 5 feet)

The party moved south, noticing that the floor was slimy and covered with all sorts of rotting refuse and bones. As they continued south, the slime on the floor turned to mud then muck then a putrid pool. Duncan opted to take the lead by riding a goat into the water. The floor had a very shallow slope, creating a very shallow pool as a result.

As Duncan led the party south, he noticed a slimy brown pile of refuse about 3' tall, almost completely blocking their path (Area 4 on Map B above). He decided to shoot an arrow at it. The arrow glanced off the pile, doing no apparent harm. The pile, however, was not happy. Opening its many eyes and many mouths, it let loose with horrible gibbering sounds. Yikes! A gibbering mouther!

The gibbering din left Duncan and Little Larry confused and standing in a daze. Worse, Duncan's goat was also affected and, becoming enraged, started bucking to throw Duncan off. Adzeer rushed forward to attack. By the end of second round of combat, Adzeer had done no damage and had three mouths attached to him. The gibbering mouther was about to pull Adzeer down into the water when Duncan and Little Larry snapped out of their stupor.

Duncan let loose with a Color Spray. The spell left the gibbering mouther blind and stunned. Diana rushed forward with oil and a torch. The resultant fire severely damaged the creature and snapping it out of its stunned state. The gibbering mouther began to move north up the corridor, still blind but very much alive. A well-placed arrow by Little Larry and a Magic Missile from Lief finished off the scorched monster.

The Color Spray left Adzeer unconscious. After recovering his wits, Adzeer searched the muck around the corpse of the gibbering mouther. He stirred the water and mud with a spear butt and turned up a ring (still on the finger bone) and something that looked like a pane of glass. A Detect Magic and the Lens of Melnar identified the ring as the Ring of Elsot, a +1 protectiveness ring (+2 versus elementals) that also gives the bearer the ability to see up to 40' in total darkness (including darkness spells).

The mysterious "pane of glass."

The "pane of glass" was another story. A Detect Magic revealed only that the object possessed a very bizarre form of magic and the Lens of Melnar gave no additional information. The object looked like it was made of glass, as it was transparent, but it was lighter in weight. It felt like a small piece of wood (it was about 3" x 5" in size). It had three silvery disks embedded in it. On closer examination, each disk looked like it had considerable depth to it, despite being embedded in a 1/4" thick object.

Not finding a quick answer to the problem of the mysterious object, the party opted to move south and found themselves on dry land at the south end of the corridor (Area 5 on Map B above). There, they found another set of rungs and a shaft leading upward to another door. This door was on the floor of another room (Room 6 on Map C below).

Map C (1 square = 5 feet)

Conclusion
We ended the session at this point, with the adventurers entering the room via a door in its floor. The map below (Map D) shows the the starting point for the session (Room 1) and where it ended (Room 6).

Map D (1 square = 5 feet)

Megadungeon Hall of Fame: "The Dungeon as a Mythic Underworld"

The Dungeon as a Mythic Underworld is a classic megadungeon blog post. You can find plenty of comments and references to it, which speaks to its influential place among many gamers. Alas, the post itself is no longer available, with the demise of the blog Philotomy's Musings. However, the content is still available online with only the slightest bit of work. Pages 22-24 of Philotomy's Dungeons & Dragons Musings (free PDF) preserves the content of the original blog post, The Dungeon as a Mythic Underworld. Be sure to follow the link and check it out.

Musings on Playing in the Dungeon

Like a lot of gamers, I am intrigued by a dungeon-centered campaign. And like a lot of gamers, I get stuck on things like realism (as in simulation, not the philosophical school), logic, etc. But my main stumbling block is simply keeping it fun and interesting. For me, this means finding ways to infuse dungeon-based gaming with some other concepts that add to or expand on the fundamentals of good dungeon play (exploration, encounters, and extractions). For example, what do you think of these ideas as a way to play out a dungeon-based campaign. I am just throwing these out there...I haven't worked through any of these ideas myself in any detail:

• The Lewis & Clark Expedition: This expands upon the exploration theme. The idea is to equip a party for a long long unsupported adventure for the purpose of exploration. Of course, there would be encounters and extraction along the way. I like this in the abstract, but how would it work in actual game play.
• Mt. Everest: Similar to the Lewis & Clark idea, but instead of a well-equipped party moving along as a unit, the party establishes a long-term base camp within the dungeon to use as a jump off point to explore and adventure.
• Silk Road: The dungeon adventurers somehow get involved in economic trade that involves moving valuable goods from Point A to Point B through dangerous territory. 
• British Colonization of India: The dungeon adventurers set themselves up as rulers, creating a mini-realm within the dungeon.
• British Settlement of North America: The dungeon adventurers (and maybe their families, friends, and underlings) all move into the dungeon.

I am not sure if any of these ideas have merit or if they even make sense. I am curious to hear what you have to say about it.

Five for Friday 18: Dungeoneer's Library

I don't have a huge amount of gaming books. I have even less after selling a big pile of D&D 3.x e on eBay a few years ago, although my new-found love of GURPS is filling up the shelves again. Anyway, I tend to only buy stuff that I am going to play. One exception is dungeon-related books. Here are some of my favorite dungeon reference books (excluding actually published dungeons). These are in alphabetical order:

• Central Casting: Dungeons--Robert Sassone's masterpiece--if we can use that word here--presents 180 pages of dungeon-creating tables. There are lots of dungeon room ideas, as well as a lot of detain, even if you don't use the random-generation approach. This is the one dungeon book I would take with me on a spaceflight, lifeboat, or desert isle.Engineering Dungeons is similar and more recent, but also drier and lighter on content.
• Dungeon Builder's Guidebook--This little volume--from the AD&D 2e era--is a nice companion to Central Casting: Dungeons. It is not as comprehensive or detailed, but it includes some weirder dungeon variations (e.g. underwater, aerial, and interdimensional).
• Dungeoncraft-- A D&D 3.x e product from Fantasy Flight Games (part of their Legends & Lairs series). I nice collection of dungeon ideas, mixed in with the obligatory prestige classes.
• Dungeonscape--This Wizards of the Coast publication was intended for D&D 3.5e. The content is uneven and a bit thin but it does have some groovy ideas and interesting magic items. If you combine this with the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, you end up with something kind of decent.
• Tome of Adventure Design--This Frog God Games product is still in print and is a go-to book for me. Lots and lots of excellent tables. They are not all dungeon-related but there is enough dungeon goodies to put this on the list (I use this book a lot...more often than any other book on the list). Kellri's Encounter Reference, available for free as a PDF and is excellent. Michael Curtis' The Dungeon Alphabet is a fun book with some great off-the-wall creative and useful ideas, but is lighter on content. If you are looking for dungeon tables, check out The Dungeon Dozen (blog) and also my own blog page, Megadungeon Links II: Maps, Tables, Generators.

I should also mention GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, as I have been working my way through the various PDFs.

What books or blogs have been helpful for you in designing dungeons and in creating adventures?

Montporte Dungeon Exploration: Player Options

The map below displays the progress of the player characters after five sessions of play in the Montporte Dungeon. Here is the key to the map:

• A=The current location of the player characters
• B=A large kobold clan is known to live north of here and have archer guards posted at B
• C=Unexplored corridors and rooms
• D=Unopened doors
• E=Entrance/exit to the dungeon

A couple of observations, based on the map:

• The players have a lot of options. There are 12 unexplored corridors/rooms and 7 unopened doors for a total of 19 options for exploration. 
• The players have done a good job of discovery in the center of the map, a result of sessions 1-4 focus on rescuing human hostages from a band of orcs. There appear to be nothing unexplored in the middle of the map.
• The players have not found any additional levels.
• The players have not discovered any additional entrances to the dungeon, although they have been told of a sinkhole that allows the kobold contingent (north of B on the map) access to the dungeon.

If you were the player characters, what would be your next move?

Montporte Dungeon Exploration: A Story Told in Maps (Sessions 1-5)

I have a few week break before I GM again, so I have been working on maps for the Montporte Dungeon. Maps are the biggest time suck for me, particularly as they have to be in jpeg format for the virtual table top. I wanted to do a color-coded map that showed the first five sessions, using shading for areas explored during different sessions. I might have a chance to do it, but for now I thought I would display maps after each session. I don't see any ontological profundity in the maps, but they are kind of cool to look at (at least for me...and that is who I am trying to entertain with my blog).

End of Session 1

End of Session 2

End of Session 3

End of Session 4

End of Session 5

Monteporte Dungeon Campaign Session 5 Notes

Montporte Dungeon: 1 square = 5 feet

The Cast
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the First Circle (Half Orc, 1 Lvl Hunter): Tim (Gothridge Manor)
Dante Rathburn (Human, 1 Lvl Warlock): Bard (The Clash of Spear on Shield)
Duncan Kern (Gnome 1 lvl Wizard/Thief): Dan
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, 1 lvl Marksman): NPC
Ardaemmore (kobold prince, hostage): NPC
3 cave goats

The Session
At the end of Session 4, the player characters were able to leave the Montporte Dungeon with their henchmen, rescued prisoners, captive kobold prince, cave goats, and boat. They dropped off their rescued captives and most of their henchmen and returned to the dungeon with the intent of ransoming their kobold captive, Ardaemmore, back to the kobolds. This meant that they had to find the kobolds.

Little Larry had explained to the adventurers that the kobolds were holed up in a stronghold on the far side of a deep sinkhole, access to which required either (a) crossing the sinkhole via a rope, which is how the kobolds accessed the Montporte Dungeon, or (b) dropping down into the sinkhole from above ground, which is how the kobolds accessed the world above ground. Little Larry knew that the kobolds had posted guards in the main section of the dungeon to keep an eye on the orcs. So the party decided to find the kobold guards.

Once the party entered the dungeon (Area 1 on the above map), they quickly moved north through Area 2, Area 3 (where the continual light chandeliers turned on automatically), and then into Area 4. Area 4 was new to the party and before they had a chance to explore the room, they were set upon by 4 very weird creatures. They were cubic lizardy things, about 3’ x 3’, with a lizard head and neck coming out of one cube face and a human face on each of the two “flanks.” The cubic lizardy things had no legs or tail. They floated through the air towards the party and attacked.

Little Larry's sketch of the cubic lizardy things

The party made fairly quick work of the lizards, with only Dante suffering significant injuries. It took 2 healing draughts to take care of most of Dante's wounds. In turn, he had reduced his tormentor to mincemeat by means of his battleaxe. The party noticed that the cubic lizardy things had fine blue-green iridescent skin that could be worth a pretty gold piece. They were able to salvage the skins of three creatures as Dante had done too much damage to the skin of the fourth.

Having slain and skinned the weird cubic lizardy things, the party then explored the room (Area 4 on the map). The room was filled with long wooden tables and benches, all quite old. There was a raised area (like a stage) at the north end of the room with a table on it. There was also a dinner prayer to the Four Elements of Power on the southern portion of the east wall.

Dante poked around stage and discovered a secret compartment in the northeast pillar (Area 5 on the map). Duncan was able to open it, disarm a needle trap, and bring out the contents: 4 gold bars (worth 50 g.p. each); 12 silver bars (worth 50 s.p. each); 2 vials, and a dagger. Using the Lens of Melnar, Duncan was able to identify the two potions: A healing draught and an invisibility potion. He was also able to determine that the dagger was magic. Duncan also took the needle mechanism for later use.

The party left the room through the door in the east wall (leading into Area 6 on the map). Duncan’s check for traps turned out to be unsuccessful and Adzeer took a spear in the chest. Little Larry examined the trap and identified it as a kobold-made trap—a very well made one at that. Adzeer drank a healing draught and the party moved into Area 6.

As soon as the party moved into Area 6, two small kobold arrows narrowly missed them and clanked against the south wall of the corridor. The party took cover at the east and west ends of the corridor (Area 6). The archers were somewhere up to the north, in the corridor that headed north, but they couldn’t see their tormentors.

The party decided to head east into the very big room where they had rescued a comatose Diana from the black blob in Session 1. From there, they continued north through the door (Area 7 on the map). Duncan was able to find the spear trap in this door and they triggered it without harm.

The party moved west along the 5’ wide corridor and stopped at Area 8. Here they found a sturdy barricade built from wood (from the tables in Area 4). Little Larry explained that the orcs had built it and posted sentries, to keep the kobolds from coming south. He found this type of tactical thinking to be very unusual for orcs.

The party made verbal contact with the kobold archers, who were hidden somewhere north of the barricade. The adventurers displayed Ardaemmore on top of the barricade and the kobolds to the north responded that they pass the news on to the clan chief, Degmar (Ardaemmore’s father and Little Larry’s uncle).

After waiting around a bit, a larger contingent of kobolds appeared to the north with torches. A price of 1000 g.p. was quickly agreed upon and the exchange was made with one very reluctant kobold sentry forced to carry the bag of gold to the party (he had a rope tied to him by the kobolds, for emergency retrieval).

Once they were rid of their captive kobold, the party decided that moving north was a bad idea and headed back through Area 4. From there they went west into Area 9. They were confronted with 7 giant rats, all very hungry, and a nasty little battle ensued. Duncan drew the magic dagger, of unknown properties (from the column in Area 5) and was pleased to discover it was a Dagger of Dancing. In fact, turned out to be Ommar’s Dancing Dagger (a +1 Dancing Dagger; +3 against humans). Thus armed, Duncan was did most of the damage against the rats and he killed the last two when they tried to flee out of the room.

The room turned out to be a kitchen, thus explaining the rats. There were two large rusted cauldrons, a table, and a fireplace. The room had been stripped of other kitchen utensils. Adzeer checked out the fireplace and discovered that the chimney only went up about 6’ before it stopped. At the upper end of the chimney, he discovered a portable hole (which he found to be filled with smoky air).

The party found a corridor in the westernmost section of the south wall (Area 10 on the map) that was barred by a heavy iron portcullis. They could see that the corridor beyond sloped downward as it headed south then west (the purple arrows on the map indicate the downward slope). They were unable to find a mechanism that opened the portcullis.

This is where the session ended.

The Montporte Dungeon Player Map After 5 Sessions

Montporte Dungeon Campaign Session 4 Notes

Montporte Dungeon: 1 square = 5 feet

The Cast
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the First Circle (Half Orc, 1 Lvl Hunter): Tim
Dante Rathburn (Human, 1 Lvl Warlock): Bard
Duncan Kern (Gnome 1 lvl Wizard/Thief): Dan
Spensol (Human, Soldier 1 Lvl Fighter): NPC
Ian (Human, Soldier 1 Lvl Fighter): NPC
Diana (Human, Torch Bearer, Goat Driver): NPC
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, 1 lvl Marksman): NPC

The Session

The party had just finished taking care of a few giant spiders (Area 1 on the map above) at the end of Session 3. As they looked to the east, they could see the tunnel filled almost to the ceiling by a pile of rocks. By looking at the ceiling, they could tell that there had been no cave in. Judging by the scuffing on the floor, it looked like the rock pile was a recent addition.

The party decided to move some of the rocks to bring the goats and the boat through. Once past the rocks, they debated the next course of action. Should they go north-then-west or straight west. Little Larry’s map showed the orcs lying to the southwest, so they decided to head straight west and headed towards the room where they had killed a sleeping orc earlier (Area 2 on the map).

The party carefully entered Area 2 to avoided a possible ambush. The room was empty, save for the dead orc on a cot. The adventurers realized that they had left a door unopened when they passed this way previously. Duncan checked for traps, found one, and carefully disarmed it (a weighed swinging arm with some knives and a dagger strapped to it). Behind the door was yet another potty room (Area 3 on the map). The trap was protecting a small cache of 2 gold bars (50 g.p. each) and a vial, contained in two small sacks. Using the Lens of Melnar, Dante determined that the vial was a healing draught.

The party moved from Area 2 to Area 4 and came upon two live orcs inspecting the bodies of two dead orcs (killed by the party in Session 1). Little Larry and Adzeer Mattiu quickly dispatched the orcs before they had a chance to runaway, which was their likely intent. Dante did a quick Detect Magic and discovered that one of the weapons wielded by the orcs, a spear, was magic.

From Area 4, the adventurers moved into the entry room of the dungeon (Area 5 on the map). There were still two dead orcs lying on the floor. There was a quick discussion of whether it would be best to head out of the room via the single door to the west or go north through the double doors. Without much information to go on, the party opted for the double doors, which turned out to be the better option for finding the remaining orcs and their human captives.

Duncan checked for traps on the door and discovered an crude alarm system tied to the other side of the door, using tin pots and scrap metal for noisemakers. Duncan was unable to disarm it but cast an Audible Glamor as they opened the door to mask the clanking of the metal.

The party cautiously moved into Area 6, not knowing if they had warned anyone of their arrival. The room was empty. The party again had to decide which way to go—east, north, or west. They opted to open the door on the east wall.

The door was locked but Duncan was able to pick the lock. The door didn’t appear to be trapped. When the party opened the door, they found a 20’ by 20’ room with table against the south wall, a few simple sturdy chairs next to the table, and bookshelves against the east and north walls. Little was left in the way of books or scrolls. There were three giant slugs in the room, one on the table and two on the floor, each about 3 feet long with bright orange slimy skin covered in purple spots. [It was at this point that Dan asked, “Do we have to roll for initiative against slugs?” The answer, after the laughter died down, was “no.”]

Little Larry, Duncan and Dante each killed a slug. Duncan and Dante were horrified at the destruction to the books and scrolls. Nothing remained except a small pulpy pile and lots of slug droppings. The table had a small drawer, which contained some ink wells (dried ink), a strange feather quill, and a perfectly preserved piece of paper. The paper had writing on it, in a very archaic form of Common.

The paper turned out to be a journal describing the happenings of some sort of religious community…daily trade and gossipy sorts of things. The adventurers were shocked that the dates on the journal entries indicated that this sheet of paper was over 2,000 years old, yet it was perfectly preserved.

The answer to this riddle came when they moistened the ink and tested the quill. It turned out to be magic: The Magic Quill of Oncoris. The pen can take verbal dictation for up to an hour each day, understanding Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, and Common (and able to translate from one to another). The quill creates a minor magic shield that eternally preserves both paper and ink.

Once they had figured all this out, the party left the room (Area 7 on the map) and went to the west door leading out of Area 6. Duncan checked for traps and found yet another alarm, using pots and pans. He was able to disarm this one and the party moved through the door into Area 8.

As they moved into Room 8, they were shouted at by orcs who were off to the west, beyond the party’s vision range. The orcs rushed the party, weapons drawn, only to be knocked unconscious by Duncan’s Color Spray. Two orcs were killed and two orcs were tied up to be questioned when they regained consciousness.The orcs revealed that they were following a new god..the black god (which the players believed they killed at the end of Session 1). They also told the party that the rest of humans were being held beyond the door just to the west. These two orcs were then killed.

When the party reached Area 9, they heard a cry for help through the door on the north wall of the corridor. They entered the door into a room filled with cots (Area 10 on the map). The room also contained 4 humans, bound with ropes and gagged, but very alive (2 adult males, 2 adult females). One of the human males had been able to work himself free of the gag in his mouth. More surprisingly, there was also a kobold in the room, bound and gagged. Little Larry immediately identified him as Ardaemmore, Larry’s cousin and the son of chief of the kobold clan, a valuable captive who could be ransomed later on.

The adventurers untied the humans and inquired as to the disposition of the remaining orcs. They learned that there were more orcs beyond the north and east doors. The captives told the adventurers that orcs were able to go out the east door and quickly come back through the north door and vice versa. The captives thought that maybe there was a half dozen orcs remaining.

The party decided to move out of the room through the door in the north wall, which led into another corridor (Area 11 on the map). There were another four orcs right outside the door. A melee ensued, with Adzeer Mattui and Spensol fighting two orcs in the corridor. Dante, Duncan and Little Larry took on the orcs that moved into the room.

It was a short, but hard-fought battle. Little Larry used the furniture to his advantage, dodging a short sword, rolling under a cot, popping up the other side and putting an arrow through eye of the orc. The rest of the party mowed through the orcs, leaving a trailing of corpses in their wake.

Having rescued the human captives, which was the party’s goal at the start commencement of Session 1, the party checked the nearby corridors for orcs and prepared to head out of the dungeon. As they checked passageways, they noticed a body lying on the floor to the east. They moved towards it, which took them into a large room (Area 12 on the map). As they entered the room, there was sudden illumination from four chandeliers handing from the ceiling. The light revealed the dead body to be Angus, who had fled the battle at the end of Session 1. The party secured his body onto a cave goat. Duncan tried to figure out how to cut down the chandeliers, but the ceiling was over 20’ high and the chandeliers were suspended about 12’ above the floors. Someone suggested gnome tossing, but Duncan was not interested.

With this, the party decided to head back with their rescued captives. They made the stairs and left the dungeon.

This is where Session 4 ended.

A Few Montporte Magic Items

I have decided to make each magic item in the Montporte Dungeon unique, with the exceptions of scrolls and potions. I am not worrying about back story, since the players won't be concerned either. While I actually need to spend some time doing this (maybe with random tables), I have created some items and the players have found a few. Here is what they have found so far:

Lens of Melnar: A convex glass lens with a brass frame and handle (betraying its Gnomic origins). The Lens of Melnar can perform a Detect Magic spell twice per day. It can also identify potions at will. This second ability is successful when the user rolls below his/her intelligence on a d20. Wizards gain a +3 bonus on the roll; Sorcerers, illusionists and druids, a +2 bonus; Clerics and thieves gain a +1 bonus.

Mace of Curm: This mace is +1 to attack and damage against all foes except elves and kobolds, against whom it provides a +2 bonus to attack and damage. The Mace of Curm also allows the wielder to Detect Undead three times per day.

Montporte Dungeon Session 3: Player Posts

I haven't had a chance to write up my session notes from our Monday Night in the Montporte Dungeon, but Bard (The Clash of Spear on Shield) and Tim (Gothridge Manor) have each written some hilarious recaps. Here are the links to their posts:

• Headline News (Bard)
• Three Goats, a Boat and Kobold named Larry Walk into a Mega-Dungeon (Tim)

Megadungeon Hall of Fame Post: "With New Old Eyes"

One of the down sides to living in the digital age is being inundated with information--information that is sort by what is newest, not by what is best. Social media (including blogging) presents us with lots of trivial ephemeral stuff (including nonsense random tables featuring elf farts), while good stuff gets buried.

Michael (The Society of Torch, Pole, and Rope) posted With New Old Eyes back on December 5, 2008. It remains to this day the single best post or article that I have seen on creating and running a megadungeon. Instead of giving yet more guidelines and principles, Michael encourages to jettison anything that isn't helpful to actual play and having fun in the megadungeon. He does this by offering up these five points:

• "Stop worrying and love the dungeon"
• “Balance Realism and Fun, but when in doubt, Fun always trumps Realism”
• “The Fantastic, when cranked up to eleven, somehow equals the Realistic”
• “Never be afraid to say ‘no’ to the dice, but also never be afraid to say ‘yes’”
• “Plant many seeds, but only tend the ones that grow”

I really like #1 and #5--running a dungeon should be fun. Those two points really help the GM/DM/LL/TK/CK/Ref remain focused on the fun and what is working. Point #3 is the point that I need to remind myself of...I forget how cool fantastic and weird are. If a dungeon must pass a realism test to be played, then playing in a dungeon is not the correct option for the GM or players.

What online posts or articles have you read that made a difference in the way you play? Are there dungeon/megadungeon posts or articles that I should add to my Megadungeon Links Page?

Good Things in the Mail

I don't purchase a lot of gaming stuff, at least not compared to most tabletop gamers blogger types. So when I do open up my wallet, I like to make it count. Today, I was very excited to get Patrick Wetmore's ASE2-3: Anomalous Subsurface Environment in the mail.

I do purchase a lot of books from Amazon, including a lot of used books from third party venders. All of my purchases are sent to my workplace. My coworkers are used to lots of little packages showing up...plus the occasional big package from Musicians Friend or Carvin. However, they always give me a hard time when it says "LuLu" on the box. Little do they know what sort of goodness is waiting for me inside.

Of course, I scurried away to my office for a quick scan of ASE2-3. My first reaction was not "I want to run this dungeon." It was "I want to roll out a character and be a player."  

Megadungeon Links

I have added a Megadungeon Links page to my blog. It is the sort of thing that will never be complete, but it appeals to the obsessive compulsive part of my personality. It has also been interesting to actually read the articles.

I could use your help. I want to either expand or add the following sections:

• GURPS Dungeon Fantasy: Key blog posts on design and play.
• Random Generators and Tables
• The Underdark
• Published Megadungeons: I have ASE, Barrowmaze, Rappan Athuk, and Stonehell. Any others? I am trying to limit myself to big dungeons (as in really big).
• Thread Posts: I generally don't read threads so if anyone knows of some good dungeon threads, let me know.

Feel free to suggest any additions to the Megadungeon Links page. Thanks!

Montporte Dungeon Session 2 Notes (Blood & Treasure)

Introduction
So we made the switch from AD&D 1e to Blood & Treasure after deciding to add a once-a-month dungeon delve to our Monday Night Gaming Group, with me as GM/DM/TK/LL/CK/Ref. You can read my notes from the first session here. If we were playing every week, I might have been tempted to try GURPS Dungeon Fantasy but that seemed like a lot of work for 3 hours/month of playing (as I am a GURPS newbie, which would mean lots of additional prep). Anyway, I digress.

The Cast
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the First Circle (Half Orc, 1 Lvl Hunter): Tim
Duncan Kern (Gnome, 1 Lvl Illusionist/Thief): Dan
Leif (Half-Elf, 1 Lvl Mage/Cleric/Trickster): Josh
Spensol (Human, Soldier 1 Lvl Fighter): NPC
Ian (Human, Soldier 1 Lvl Fighter): NPC
Diana (Human): NPC

The Session
The brave adventurers had just finished killing a black floating amoeba type creature plus three orcs. They found a young woman, about 20 years old, lying on the floor in a catatonic state (Room #1 on the map above). After several unsuccessful attempts to revive the woman, Leif scooped up some of the cytoplasmic goo from the floating amoeba and wiped it on the woman. Much to the surprise of everyone (including me), the woman stirred and then slowly came to her senses (I gave this a 1 in 6 chance of working and then rolled a "1").

The woman's name turned out to be Diana. She remembered very little of her ordeal, only that she and some others were taken captive by a band of orcs. She had no recollection of being brought underground and had no useful knowledge regarding the orcs or the rest of the human captives. The player characters tried in vain to convince Diana to return to the surface, where she could wait with a few members of the adventuring party who were guarding the horses. She was unwilling to wander the dungeon alone so she the group assigned her the role of torch bearer.

The party then left Room #1, passed through Room #2, and encountered two orcs standing guard near the east end of #3. The orcs charged and were quickly dispatched. Leif discovered a trap attached to the door to the east--he was able to disarm a weighted axe designed to chop into the chest of the unwary.

After disarming the trap, the party continued east through the door to the statue in area #4. They checked the approach to the statue for traps and found a trigger in the floor. Upon closer examination, they discovered that the statue (made of bronze) had a lot of discoloration around the nose and the nostrils were actually openings of some kind. They guessed that the statue discharged acid or gas and that it was connected to the trigger in the floor.

The party moved north into Room #5 and surprised a group of giant rats who were feeding on the almost skeletal remains of two kobolds. The rats were put to sleep, dispatched to Cheese Factory in the Sky, and the kobold remains were searched.

The group continued north into an east-west corridor (area #8). They first opened the door into a small 10' x 10' room with two stone chairs against the far wall. Each chair had a hole in the seat with a ceramic bowl on the floor below it. They had little chance to ponder the potty chairs as there were two animated skeletons in the room.

The fight with the skeletons turned out to be the party's toughest encounter so far on this adventure. Rather than attempt to turn the skeletons, the party figured that they would make quick work of two skeletons. Because of the small space, the party couldn't go "all in" and so it was an even match. While the skeleton attacks were non-lethal, the party had no luck even striking the skeletons. Leif was able to toss a net over one of the skeletons, giving the party tactical advantage (-2 to the skeleton's armor class and attack role). The skeletons were finally dispatched.

The party then turned their attention to the door on the north wall. No traps were discovered and Adzeer opened the door, only to have a bolt zip by him and stick into the door on the south wall. A close call, meriting quick glare from Adzeer towards Leif and Duncan, the trap removal guys.

The room (Room #7) had a remnants of wooden barrels and crates, plus a small iron chest. Leif checked for traps and found a trap trigger but was unable to disarm it. He picked the lock and carefully opening the trap. His caution rewarded him with a near miss from a small dart. The box contained 5 rolls of silk. The bottom and top roll had some rust damage, but were partially salvaged. The middle three rolls were in great shape.

While searching for a false bottom in the box, a group of jinomes entered the room and surprised the characters. Jinomes are undead gnomes, with the ability to weaken their opponents through hideous songs and crazy laughter. Immediately, they got the jump on the party, paying particular attention to Duncan (the party's gnome). Recognizing the peril and fighting back his desire to destroy the jinomes in combat, Adzeer opted to turn the jinomes. His supplications were answered and the jinomes scurried from the room.

Leif went back to the iron chest, found a false bottom, and uncovered 10 silver bars. The party then prepared for the jinomes return, with Leif littering the floor in corridor (area #8) with caltrops.

Sure enough, as predicted, the jinomes returned and failed to notice the caltrops. The caltrops took their tool, which allowed the party to make quick work of them. This is where the session ended for the evening.

We had a late start and an early finish, but the party was able to do a bit of exploration this session. They only discovered two orcs and they failed to find any more humans, so they have a lot of work left to do.

Check out Tim's post on this session.