Temple of Zaphron, Goddess of Frogs

Encounter Table d6

1-3    Kobolds      1d6

4-5    Skeletons    2d6

6       Merak

Merak the Unexpected

MU4 AC9 MV9

Sleep

Polymorph

Lightning

Phantasmal Forces

Kobolds

HD1/2 AC7 MV6

Formation: Shields, Spears, Darts

Skeletons

HD1/2 AC7 MV6

Shields, helmets, spears

Reassemble unless burned / crushed

1 Treasure Chamber

Pit trap, 10' immediately before the door

Treasury

Chest, Treasure, Small, poison-needle on latch

1,500gp steel ring with adamant stone; weight 100pcs

2 Medium Diamonds 100 each (200 total); 4 Small Diamonds 50 each (200 total); 6 Small Rubies 50 each (300 total); 2 Small Pearls 50 each (100 total); 4 Small Sapphires 50 each (200 total); 2 Small Opals 50 each (100 total); gems total value 1Kgp; weight 200pcs

300gp; 400sp; total pcs value 500gp; weight 700pcs

Total value: 3Kgp

Total weight: 1Kpcs

Armory

Shield +1

Chainmail +1

Helmet +1

Sword +1: Windbiter (Common)

    Lawful

    Int: 8 Ego: 3, Empathy

    Detect Magic

    Detect Metal & What Kind

Dagger +1

Bow +1

Potion of Heroism

Potion of Invisibility

Scroll Protection Undead

2 Trick Exit Room

Two levers to left of large locked double doors

Lever Left Up: Green

Lever Right Up: Blue

Left  Down / Right Up: Green Lightning bolt

Left up / Right Down: Door open + Green Lightning bolt

Left Down / Right Down: Door open (no lightning)

3 Hidden Treasure Vault

Bucket, Acid, above secret door: avoidable if look up before entry

Chest, Treasure, Locked, Large

5K Brass Urn Studded with Tiger’s Eyes; weight 100pcs

Large Emerald 500gp; 4 Medium Diamonds 100each (400gp total); 2 Medium Topaz 50each (100gp total); total gems value: 1Kgp; weight 70pcs

1Kgp; 2Ksp; 4Kcp; total pcs value: 3Kgp; weight 7Kpcs

Total value: 9Kgp

Total weight: 7,170pcs

4 Connection

Empty: straw, mud

Merak flees through this room, gone by the time PCs unstick the door.

5 Tapestry Hall

Tapestry of Frog God Zaphron shooting green lightning bolts.

Unknown language says poem about Zaphron.

6 Merak’s Study

Merak (see above) attacks (if party noisy, Protection, from scroll, before arrival):

Sleep; Polymorph; Lightning; Phantasmal Forces

Leaves immediately upon taking damage: skips to phantasmal force as distraction; door stuck behind him.

Desk, chair, chez lounge, ash tray with cigar, side table with brandy snifter and glass; on Desk:

Parchment, ink-well, quill

lvl1 spell book, complete

Scroll Protection Magic

Scroll, Arcane: Detect Evil, Wizard Lock, Dispell Magic

Books, 3: Astrologous Minor, Herbiary Infernum, Amphibicon

Map to treasure: 3. Hidden Vault

7 Sanctuary of Zaphron

Door behind idol, stuck

Idol of hollow clay painted gold with two emerald eyes:

1K; 1K “The Eyes of Zaphron;” Magnetically attracted to one another; weight 100pcs each, 200pcs total

Pedestal triggers successive portcullises if treasure disturbed

Treasure chest with giant emerald latch serves as contribution basin

1K emerald latch (part of cask)

3K Frog Crown: Green Gold with Aquamarines; weight 100pcs

300gp; 300sp; 300cp; total pcs value: 525gp; weight 900pcs

Total value: 6,525gp

Total weight: 1,200pcs

Brazier of green fire

Doors, double, stuck

Portcullises left and right, two

Top left: empty; Bottom left: kobolds; Top right: skeletons; bottom right: empty

Note:

Just ran this for a middle school D&D club. I started them off in the main sanctuary, having already triggered the trap with kobolds bearing down. Instant combat. Had their attention! We rolled character information as we needed it! (I'll post how I did that in next post.) Next session: they explored and found the treasures / tricks. Final session: extraction with encumbrance issues (lucky kids had no random encounters!) Then we discussed character creation.

So, I went "backwards," and now they are hooked!

Next up: referees Workshop: Part I. Presenting; Part II. Preparing.

Fight on!

House Rules Summary page

Hey, folks. I just put together a new "page" on my web log:

House Rules

Wherein I summarize my house rules for table play.

This house rules summary compresses into brief form the house rules I suggest in my Perilous Realms supplement.

NOTE: I freely utilize DELTA's "Target 20" approach. Thank you, Delta and your D&D Hot Spot!

I look forward to any comments.

Fight on!

Treasure Focused Dungeon Stocking

Scott Anderson has been engaging me over at ODD74 on stocking dungeons based upon treasure, first, rather than monsters; seeing as how that is the goal of the game - it is what gets you "points."

I have lots of people around the table when I play and we cannot play that frequently so I have altered the stocking tables. I multiplied all pieces ten-fold and I doubled the chances of gems, jewelry and magic items per level.

Treasure by Dungeon Level

 

·      Always copper

·      2:3 silver

·      If silver, 2:3 gold

 

Level treasure table

Dungeon Level	Copper* & Silver	Gold Pieces	% Gems & Jewelry	% Magic Items
1	1K	100	10	5
2-3	2K	1K	20	10
4-5	10K	2K	40	20
6-7	20K	5K	60	30
8-9	50K	10K	80*	40
10-12	50K	20K	100*	50
13+	100K	50K	100*	60*

*Multiply by 2d6, all else by 1d6

Over at the Ruins of Murkhill, I shared the way I describe gems and jewelry based upon the tables for determining them. Later, I added them together for convenience.

Determine and Describe Gems

 

First, determine the chance that the gem is precious or semiprecious by basic gem gp value:

d%	gp Value	Size	Precious on d6
01-10	10	Tiny	1
11-25	50	Small	1-2
26-75	100	Medium	1-3
76-90	500	Large	1-4
91-00	1K	Huge	1-5
1:6*	>1K	Giant	Precious

*5K; 10K; 25K; 50K; 100K; 500K; etc.

 

Precious by type:

d6	Type
1	Diamond
2	Emerald
3	Opal
4	Pearl
5	Ruby
6	Sapphire

 

Semiprecious by type:

d20	Type	d20	Type
1	Amber	11	Jasper
2	Coral	12	Lapis Lazuli
3	Ivory	13	Moon/Sunstone
4	Jet	14	Obsidian
5	Amethyst	15	Onyx
6	Agate	16	Paridot
7	Beryl	17	Quartz
8	Carnelian	18	Tiger's Eye
9	Garnet	19	Topaz
10	Jade	20	Turquoise

 

If >1K gp value, the gem is always named, famous with backstory, and perhaps enchanted, cursed, charming, geased or any combination of the above. "Enchanted," indicates some magical affect for beautification and value, it does not perform any functional magic, e.g., glowing or sparkling on its own, humming, etc. 

Determine and Describe Jewelry

 

Jewelry combines metals with gems. Determine whether its setting is precious or base metal:

D%	gp Value Range	Chance Precious
01-20	300-1800	Never Precious
21-80	1K-6K	50%
81-00	1K-10K	Always Precious

 

Determine metal type:

d4	Precious Metal	d6	Base Metal
1	Colored Gold	1	Brass
2	Electrum	2	Bronze
3	Gold	3	Copper
4	Silver	4	Pewter
-	-	5	Steel
-	-	6	Tin

 

Precious gems are never set in base metal. If metal is precious, there is a 50% chance it is inset with precious stones. Jewelry of 7k+ gp value will always be inset with precious stones. Role for stones using the tables for gems, above.

 

Determine type of jewelry item:

d20	Type	d20	Type
1	Anklet	11	Greaves
2	Buckle	12	Medallion
3	Bracelet	13	Necklace
4	Bracer	14	Pendant
5	Brooch	15	Ring, ear
6	Chain, belly	16	Ring, finger
7	Circlet	17	Ring, nose
8	Clip, hair	18	Scabbard
9	Codpiece	19	Tiara
10	Crown	20	Trophy

 

Any jewelry of 7K+ gp value is named and famous with backstory and perhaps enchanted, cursed, charmed, geased, or any combination of the above. "Enchanted," indicates some magical affect of no practical magical merit that adds value and beauty, e.g., a precious stone set in a silver flower that opens and closes over the course of some meaningful time period, etc.

So, first come up with an amazing focal treasure for your level or lair. I think a level or lair cannot be less than 6 rooms, not counting connections. I think more than about 36 rooms becomes too difficult for both players and the referee. I would come up with some kind of key item of treasure for about every 12 rooms. So, a lair of 6 would have one key item. A level of 36 rooms would have three -- scattered about. In all these cases these items would not have any strategically useful magic (although they might have gonzo or beautifying magic - or a charm or geas that makes them difficult), but they would be culturally important and either famous or forgotten (and important once remembered).

So, flip a coin whether it is going to be a gem or an item of jewelry. If it is a gem make sure it is at least 1Kgp in value. If it is an item of jewelry, at least 7Kgp in value. Imagine it's background, fame, name and if it has some enchantment on it.

Next, determine what kind of monster is its guardian. Is the monster aware that it is guarding this treasure, or not? Is it literally guarding it, or is it wandering around madly, trying to find away to get past the same trap that your character is going to have to deal with as well? Etc.?

In future, I will come up with some way of matching monsters to treasures. This is a kind of reversal of monster lists with treasure types. I will probably largely base this upon the color of the gem (either alone or set in an item of jewelry)! Red dragons will obviously have some kind of giant red ruby or a golden crown set with rubies, etc. The adventurers will get hooks and clues about the treasure long before they can guess what monster may be that is guarding it.

I am working on scaling by dungeon level / party level / monster level. That will help me to determine the treasure to creature table. So, more on that to come.

Now that you have a treasure and a guardian you should have all the inspiration you need for a theme for that level or lair. Now (and only now) start drawing the map. Once the map is drawn, if you know the obvious place for the lair treasure to be guarded, trapped, tricked or hidden - go for it. I you know the obvious best place for (one of the key) guardians, again, go for it. For the rest of the rooms it goes like this: Take a six-sider for each room:

• 2:3 hold treasure. Of those with treasure:
• 2:3 have a guardian or monster. Of those without treasure:
• 1:6 have a monster. Of those with treasure without a monster: 
• 2:3 are trapped
• The rest are hidden or tricked in some way, TBD by the ref

When rolling for the rooms with monsters:

• 1:2 it is the main level/lair guardian (or type, or minion, whatever)
• 1:3 it is a random monster (no relationship needed. The dungeon is a mythic underworld)
• 1:6 it is a unique random one-off monstrosity

I've also worked up my own underworld stocking tables that actually allow every kind of creature listed or mentioned in the LBB possibly to show up, but this post is already long, so I will stop here.

Comment. Let me know what you think. Fight on!

A Dungeon a Day Challenge

I found these great composition notebooks. They have graph paper on the top half of each page and lines on the bottom half. These beg to be used for dungeons, levels and lairs: map on top, key on bottom!

I've stalled out on my mini module project to do the paralysis that goes with perfectionism.

So I've decided to challenge myself. I am going to draw and key a dungeon (level or lair) a day! I already did yesterday and it was a lot of fun.

I really do not enjoy mapping (I do love keying, though!). So this is a challenge to build my chops and perhaps break through a barrier that is keeping me from enjoying something fairly essential to the game. Again, I think it is my perfectionism that keeps me from just doodling at maps. 200 sheets of paper in a cheap composition notebook should help!

I will share what I want to, when I want to, without any blog performance pressure! But I will update every now and then to let you know I am still going on this.

Perhaps this will get me closer to what I meant by the mini modules. And it may help me get back to that project.

Anyone care to join me?

Questions for Generating a Dungeon of the Mythic Underworld

Inspired by Jeff's Gameblog's list of twenty quick questions for your campaign setting, here are some sets of questions for generating a dungeon of the mythic underworld. Should contribute to generating some find "funhouse" dungeons:

Questions for Generating a Dungeon of the Mythic Underworld

What is the treasure it hides? Is it named? Famous? Backstory? Will any of the above give the characters any clues as to how to find and recover it? How do the characters find out?

Why did chaos want to swallow the treasure in its mythic belly? How did chaos swallow it up? Was it done through chaos’ own occult magics, or were chaotic creatures or characters involved? Has law even become aware? Does neutrality find the capture to bring balance or imbalance to the state of things?

What tricks, monsters and traps did chaos manifest to hold its treasure tight? What wonders, magic-items or clues has law provided as an immune-response to chaos? Are there any pockets of neutral homeostasis, providing brief oases of respite for weary characters?

Is there a single main monster, type or kind? Do the monsters know or understand their role at all? Do they also want the treasure? Do they fear it and would love to rid themselves of it? How can the characters find out?

Is there a single trick or a series of related or random tricks? Are some random tricks simply kooky manifestation of chaos? Does the trick conceal, mislead, harm? Can it reveal, inform or aid if understood and used well? Is the trick a giddy or cruel irruption of chaos? Is the trick actually a miraculous manifestation of an immune-system response from law? Is the trick indifferent to characters, maintaining an odd but neutral balance? What kind of clues are there for the characters to figure these things out?

Are the traps ubiquitous or rare? Obvious or hidden with scattered clues? Have the monsters devised the traps? Or did chaos herself devise them from her own insanities? Has neutrality closed the loop, leaving behind the carnage of those who previously tripped the trap? Has law provided helpful clues and means to disarm the traps?

How many ways in are there? Are there ways in at different levels? How many connections are there between levels? How many open and closed loops of passage does a level have?

How do the characters find out?