#Dungeon23 — Session 0

 It's as D&D as I could make it...

#Dungeon23 — Tunnels Beneath the Earth

I've never been much of a "joiner," but I like a collective mental exercise now and then. It's what motivated me recently to enter my adventure, Bergummo's Tower, in Prince of Nothing's back-to-basics "No Artpunk 2" contest. With both my current campaigns running along on content I've already baked, I need a new outlet for some non-work-related creative energy (which has accumulated as a result of being cooped up inside with no yard projects to do and caring for a very sick dog).

Like a lot of DMs, I came across Sean McCoy's recent tweet about Dungeon 23, announcing a personal goal of writing one room a day over the course of a year in order to create a 12-level, 365-room megadungeon. The spark for doing this sort of thing had already been fired by Zenopus Archive's superlative expansion of the sample dungeon from the Holmes Basic rulebook, and I've been mulling doing a similar thing with several of my longtime dungeons-in-progress that I can never seem to complete.

My campaign world already contains a megadungeon environment—a series of ever-changing catacombs beneath the capital city of the land of Remedios. I've only fleshed out the top two levels, however, and my players have only visited the first level. I've considered developing a campaign around the catacombs, but on the players' few excursions there, they never seemed to bite down on the concept and I never did much else with it. I love the idea, though.

A formal effort like this—and one that seems to be attracting a lot of participants—is the perfect thing I need to roll into the long winter months until spring. I'm curious if I have the stamina to do it. I write for a living, but do I have the juice to take a massive concept and flesh it out in a way that is cogent and feels satisfying? A little bit each day sounds easy, until you hit Day-160 and realize you're out of ideas and aren't even at the halfway point yet. I have a feeling this is going to be way harder than I think, and I'm already a pessimist.

I will say that I completely disagree with this guideline from Sean on his Dungeon23 substack: "If you can’t think of what to write that day just write “Empty Room,” see how easy that is?"

I'm of the opinion that if you're going to write a room, then write a room. My dungeon levels will have plenty of empty rooms, but the rooms I'm writing will have something interesting in them to see/do/fight/take. That definitely ramps up the difficulty level of this project, so it will be interesting to see what techniques I can develop to stick to this commitment.

I'm also wondering if I can make something interesting to other DMs out there. I ended up in the middle of the pack in Prince's contest, but I like to believe that was more a function of scope than content (some of the winning entries were just really cool concept pieces, whereas mine was a starter dungeon for newbie players and sort of vanilla). I know what flavors I like, and everything I make is some combination of those flavors, but how strong is my palate?

I'm not on Twitter or any other social media, so I'll post everything to my blog. I'm abiding by the guideline to write the rooms in a physical journal, which I think is a neat limitation. Committing ink to paper takes a leap of faith that your hand can keep up with your brain. It's a skill that has atrophied for me in favor of keyboards and typing. I'm not sure I can post every day, though, so I'm shooting for a once-per-week post of the previous week's work. I'll see how it goes.

I feel like I'm off to a good start. I've cracked what I want to do thematically, and I have an initial bubble sketch of the first month's work. I've also outlined the rest of the dungeon levels all the way to the bottom. Now I just need to start writing the rooms on Sunday. My goal is to pay homage to the foundational works of the game, but I intend to get weird as we go down. 

I'll be following the OSRIC system as the overall ruleset for this dungeon, and I'm limiting myself to monsters from the AD&D trilogy (MM, MMII, FF), Chasoium's All the World's Monsters I-III, and some home-brewed but thematic creatures. As much as possible, I want to pick monsters I've rarely/never used before, but I definitely want some classic creatures in there as well. Also a dragon. In 40 years of gaming, I've only had ONE dragon fight with my players.

I've named my megadungeon "Tunnels Beneath the Earth" (TuBE for short). The first level (January) I am calling "The Upper Works" as a shout-out to Castle Greyhawk. 

Level 1 consists of the surface ruins (which will be detailed in Week 1). The ruins lead to three sub-surface "mini-dungeons" (Weeks 2-4). Each of those areas will have seven detailed areas (one per day). From the surface level and the mini-dungeons, various tunnels lead down to the first proper megadungeon level (February)—and some tunnels descend even deeper.

I've purchased a simple graph-ruled composition notebook to record everything, so here's to a new year of D&D and, hopefully, this time next year I'll have filled this bad boy up with lots of good stuff. Fingers crossed...

Law and Chaos in the Badlands — Part 3

Part 1 | Part 2

The perpetual religious warfare between the Khossites and the Lahrists has been a primary driver of a string of human civilizations throughout history, but other faiths also came and went over the centuries. These "pagan" religions were mostly regional and much smaller in scope, and none of them ever approached the scale or relevance of the Khoss/Lahr dichotomy in human affairs.

This state of affairs existed until a little more than three centuries ago, when the establishment of the merchant empire of Meridia heralded the dawn of the Fifth Era. With it came a new polytheistic religion—an amalgam of popular pagan religions that emerged during the previous period of tumult. This new religion was devoted to a sun god called Solis and a pantheon of lesser gods representing other elemental and divine forces. Like the order of Lahr, the Solists were civilized and believed in an orderly society, but a radical philosophical divide separated the two religions. 

Whereas the tenets of Lahr centered on duty, self-sacrifice, and blind obeisance to lawful authority in order to further their goal of destroying Khoss, the Solis faith embraced a new view of good societal behavior. It introduced revolutionary ideas of earthly conduct—concepts such as "honor," "redemption," "chivalry," and "mercy"—and made them essential to truly defeating darkness and evil. These ideas seemed alien to devoted Lahrists, who rejected the new "cult of Solis" as heretical.

As the merchant empire expanded, however, its trade caravans and ships began to spread the word of Solis around the world, and the new religion was quickly adopted in lands conquered by the imperial legions. The faith appealed to so many because it was better suited to a more-agreeable world, in which prosperity and trade were the primary goals instead of constant, existential war. In a short period of time, the influence of the Lahr faith waned as the glory of Solis waxed.

The current "civilized world"—and particularly the land of Remedios, my primary campaign setting within it—is human-centric. Dwarves, elves, and other fantasy races live beyond the borders of human civilization and are uncommon visitors within human realms. Most non-human player-characters are foreigners to Remedios, and even unwelcome in certain places. Each race has its own spiritual faith and divinity, but those religions are largely inconsequential to (and unconcerned with) the greater world dominated by human beings.

The following section details the religion of the sun-god, Solis—the Lord of Light. Followers of Solis occupy Irongate Keep and represent the forces of goodness and Law that the cultists of Khoss want to drive out of the Badlands.

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The Solis faith is predominant throughout the empire of Meridia, the Freehold Kingdoms, and the land of Remedios. Temples to the sun-god are found across the known world, and many communities also build shrines to the faith’s pantheon of lesser gods, who are depicted as Solis’ heavenly family. Clerics and paladins of the faith worship all seven gods of the pantheon, but the order of Solis is supreme and only a member of a Solis order can become a high-priest. Religious orders dedicated to the other gods in the pantheon are not considered “lesser” in a negative sense; rather, those orders are recognized as attendant to the order of Solis.

Temples are found in larger towns and cities, and are always dedicated to Solis, with the other six divine aspects represented within. Such temples are dedicated structures on consecrated ground and maintained by the priests and officials of the faith who live there. These holy places can be relatively simple affairs or architectural wonders, such as the Grand Temple of Solis in the merchant capital.

Smaller shrines dedicated to an individual god or goddess of the faith are typically located in villages, in roadside shelters and caves, or in chapels within a larger structure like a keep or noble’s residence. Shrines are consecrated, but usually have no priests in attendance. Some shrines are quite large and elaborate, however, most often serving a specific religious function (e.g., library, tomb, vault, abbey, etc.) related to the god or goddess to whom it is dedicated.

THE SOLIS PANTHEON 

SOLIS – The Lord of Light
Spheres of Influence: sun / goodness / purity
Divine Domain: Light

Solis (SOLE-iss) is the patriarchal head of the pantheon, representing the purity of the sun’s illuminating rays which bathe the earth in light and dispel darkness from men's hearts. He is all-powerful, yet benevolent and generous to his faithful. To the wantonly sinful and unrepentant, he offers redemption or divine retribution. He is typically depicted as a golden-crowned king in golden robes, seated on a golden throne surrounded by the sun's nimbus. He has flowing white hair and beard, and holds a fiery scepter in his right hand. His sigil is a golden disc with seven rays, on a white or sky-blue background.

THERA – Goddess of the Earth
Spheres of Influence: elemental earth / nature / home and hearth / maternity
Divine Domain: Nature

Thera (THAIR-uh) is Solis' wife. She is the womb from which men sprung forth. She represents the nurturing aspect of nature, but also its violent and destructive aspects when riled. She is most often depicted as a stoic matron in simple robes, with a coronet of holly adorning her brow. She is also the goddess of autumn and the harvest, particularly in her earlier, paganistic aspects. In some images, she holds a child at her breast and/or brandishes a reaping sickle. Her sigil is a seedling, with its leaf above and roots below a horizontal line indicating the border between earth and sky. Seen another way, the sigil depicts a woman's form, with her head and arms culminating in the "chalice of the womb." 

FLAMMA – God of Fire
Spheres of Influence: elemental fire / war / diplomacy / change (negative)
Divine Domain: War

The eldest son of Solis and Thera, Flamma (FLAM-uh) represents both the constructive and destructive properties of fire, as well as the fiery passions which often lead humans toward conflict. He is depicted as a black bearded knight in red armor, wielding a flaming greatsword and surrounded by a cloud of black smoke. He is often portrayed as an advocate of action and an instigator of turmoil, but is also frequently credited with peace-making—usually after a terrible but unavoidable conflict. In images, he is often seen devouring his enemies and trailing a curtain of fire behind him, from which fertile fields and forests begin to bloom. He is also the god of summer and the patron of tournament season. His sigil is a flaming red greatsword, on a field of soot-grey or black.

LUVIA – Goddess of Water
Spheres of Influence: elemental water / sea / purity
Divine Domain: Life

The daughter of Solis and Thera, and sister to Flamma and Zefir, Luvia (LOO-vee-uh) represents the life-sustaining nature of water, as well as the risk and reward of a life on the rivers, lakes, and seas. She is depicted as a chaste maiden with alabaster skin and long, flowing white hair. She wears shimmering robes of aquamarine and coral, and is most often depicted either cradling a plump fish in one slender arm, or pouring water from a tall ewer. She is the matron of sailors and also the goddess of winter (in the northern latitudes, she is called the Frost-queen). Luvia is portrayed as pure and generous, but sometimes moody and temperamental. She gives, but she often takes, and she can be coldly indifferent to men's fates. She speaks to sailors, however, and they know how to read her moods and take heed. Those who don't are soon drawn beneath the waves and escorted by the goddess to meet her uncle, Mortis. Her sigil consists of three wavy white lines stacked on a field of blue.

ZEFIR – God of Air
Spheres of Influence: elemental air / luck / storm / change (positive)
Divine Domain: Tempest

The younger son of Solis and Thera, Zefir (ZEPH-eer) represents the ephemeral winds of fortune and the dynamic personalities of weather. He is depicted as a nimble, wingéd deva with curly golden hair and beard. He wears a flowing white and grey tunic, and wields a slender bow from which he shoots arrows of lightning, rain, and wind. He is the god of springtime, when warmer winds blow away the chill of winter and signal the planting season. Many merchants hold him as their patron because they believe he brings good fortune in business as well as safe, speedy travel along the roads that crisscross the dangerous land. His sigil is a golden, winged lightning bolt on a field of stormcloud grey.

ARS – God of Lore
Spheres of Influence: art / craftsmanship / lore / wisdom
Divine Domain: Knowledge

Solis' brother, Ars (AHRZ), represents mankind's desire to learn and master the world's secrets, and to achieve the light of personal "illumination" through the gathering of knowledge and wisdom. He is depicted as an elderly philosopher in scholarly robes, holding a lit lamplighter's pole. He is typically reading a book or scroll, or otherwise immersed in deep thought. Various tools of artifice are sometimes seen tucked into his belt. He is the patron of scholars, librarians, scientists, alchemists, clerks, scribes, and cartographers. His sigil is a scroll with a broken seal.

MORTIS – God of the Dead
Spheres of Influence: death and dying
Divine Domain: Grave

Mortis (MORE-tiss) is Thera's father. He serves as the spiritual guide for the dead, shepherding the newly-deceased into their heavenly afterlife beyond the grave. He is depicted as a pale, sad-eyed man wearing deep white robes and cowl. He is emaciated, his skin is almost mummified, and he has dark circles under his hollow eyes. His visage is calm, however, almost reassuring. A simple silver circlet rests on his bald head, and he wears silver rings on each slender finger and thumb of both hands. He typically carries a thick staff of blackened wood. He is the patron of physicians and undertakers. His sigil is a silver circle, representing the unbroken cycle of life and death.

PART 4: The Order of Lahr

Law and Chaos in the Badlands — Part 2

In Part 1, I defined the central conflict in my Badlands campaign as a struggle between the forces of Law—represented by the Keep's residents, who are faithful followers of the sun-god, Solis—and the minions of Chaos—represented by the evil Cult of Khoss. This basic plot is lifted straight from the original module, B2 Keep on the Borderlands. The next few posts will detail both these religions, along with a third religion called the Order of Lahr, all of which comprise my world's major human faiths. I'll provide a little context first, but I don't intend to get into the weeds of my world's history (which isn't terribly original and consists mostly of sketched-out notes).

Briefly, previous historical eras in my world are defined by the rise of a particular civilization, which then expands and thrives over many centuries, before ultimately collapsing as the result of some sudden, cataclysmic event. After each civilization's fall, a new one eventually emerges from its ruins and establishes its own era of history. Between periods of civilization stretch long centuries of darkness and chaos, when brutality and ignorance prevails. The knowledge and technologies of preceding civilizations are lost with each fall, and layer of forgotten history piles upon layer. Each time, this knowledge must be rediscovered before a new civilization can rise.

The Fall of the Rebel Angels - Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Out of this cycle of birth-destruction-rebirth, a perpetual conflict came into being—a spiritual battle between those who desire orderly societies built upon laws and justice (but not necessarily goodness), and those who want to rule the ignorant masses through violence, corruption, and fear. This conflict became enshrined in the ancient religions of Lahr and Khoss. Many forgotten gods have come and gone across thousands of years of human history—through periods of civilization and darkness alike—but the faiths of Lahr and Khoss have endured, locked in an eternal fight for dominion.

Lahr and Khoss are not religions that entail deities to be worshiped, however; rather, they are moral and philosophical creeds to be studied and obeyed. In the distant past, one followed either the way of Lahr or the way of Khoss, or tried to walk a third, ethically-questionable path of true neutrality. Across the ages, priests of Lahr and Khoss have advised kings and emperors, fomented crusades and revolutions, and manipulated world events to control the frontiers of civilization.

The faith of Solis is much newer—only a few centuries old. In Part 3, I'll discuss that religion's pagan origins and how it intersects with the battle between Lahr and Khoss. In Part 4, I'll discuss the Order of Lahr, now a fading mystery cult of zealous—some say extremist—adherents. 

 

The following section details the ancient religion of Khoss, cultists of which are the primary antagonists in my Badlands campaign.

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The Cult of Khoss is devoted to sowing chaos, anarchy, and evil. Its depraved followers worship the profane, encouraging death and destruction to cleanse the world of the fallacy of civilization. Some cultists act openly, committing sudden sprees of violence until they are finally caught and put down. Others lie in wait, pretending to be upstanding members of society while scheming to undermine its foundations from within. Orgies of blood, sacrifice, and murder are the sacraments of the cult of Khoss.

The Temptation of St. Anthony - Matthias Grünewald

The cult achieves its goals by any means, allying itself with any evil forces powerful enough to serve its interests. Necromancy and demonology form the roots of the cult's magical practices, with some sects even summoning aberrant beings from beyond time and space for sinister purposes. Khossan agents have infiltrated all levels of society, working tirelessly to subvert peace and stability, and cult leaders have a seemingly endless supply of faceless minions willing to die for their evil schemes.

Cultists also operate as arms merchants and traders for the various evil humanoid races (orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, gnolls, etc.) who live outside civilized lands and prey on their vulnerable frontiers. The cult often stages thefts of armaments and other trade supplies—plundering armories and warehouses, even hijacking ships on the open sea—and then sells the stolen goods to the enemies of civilization.

To facilitate these transactions, the cult mints its own currency, called mammon—hexagonal coins  made of red-tinted gold (some say the gold is mixed with sacrificial blood). Each face is embossed with the cult's sigil, pierced through the middle by a diamond-shaped hole. Humanoids are often found wearing strings or necklaces of mammon. Most civilized places (i.e., "decent folk") won’t trade in the currency, but thieves’ guilds and other nefarious organizations usually will.

Unknown

The cult's red gold bears a mild curse that slowly charms anyone who possesses even a few coins. The more coins a person has, the more they desire. As one’s hoard of coins grows, the more susceptible they become to the cult’s machinations, eventually incurring a weakness to cultist spells of subversion and control. Many Khoss cultists are simply ordinary people who are in thrall to this evil money. Foreknowledge of the red gold's curse, however, gives one an advantage in resisting its allure.*

In the current campaign timeline, it has been nearly 40 years since the Cult of Khoss was expelled from its longtime stronghold in the Freehold Kingdoms. Many surviving cultists fled east, to enclaves in the land of Remedios, where they've spent the intervening years rebuilding their forces and organizing their revenge. Recently, the cult began engineering an invasion of Remedios by the orcs and other humanoids of the Badlands, which is the situation when the campaign starts.

PART 3 - The Solis Faith

*Yes, red gold is stolen from David Eddings' The Belgariad series of fantasy novels. There were lots of neat ideas in those books, although I doubt I would enjoy them as much now as I did at 15-16 years old. Someone in the party in the current campaign has already contracted a low-grade obsession with red gold, and is actively seeking more.

Law and Chaos in the Badlands — Part 1

The central conflict in the original module: B2 Keep on the Borderlands is between the ostensibly-good forces of Law—represented by the Castellan and the Keep’s residents—and the shadowy forces of Chaos—embodied by the cultists and their army of evil humanoids gathering at the Caves of Chaos. I wanted to keep the same overarching Law vs. Chaos structure from the original module for my Badlands campaign, with the chief difference being that at the start of the adventure, the forces of Law are mostly unaware of the growing cultist threat, outside of some vague rumors of “...trouble brewing in the south.”

In B2, the religious nature of the fight between Law and Chaos is never specified outside of the existence of generic elements such as priests and curates, temples, altars, etc., and no gods are ever named. This is consistent with Original/Basic D&D’s alignment system—which categorizes people and monsters as lawful, chaotic, or neutral—but I think it’s also left intentionally vague because this module was intended as a template adventure for DMs to dress with their own details. That’s part of the genius of the early adventure modules, and what modern, official campaign-book adventures are mostly (but intentionally) lacking.

Sigil of Solis—Lord of Light

In my campaign world, the dominant human religion is a relatively new one. Only a few centuries old, it is devoted to a sun god called Solis, who is the kingly patriarch of a pantheon of anthropomorphic lesser gods—represented as his divine “family.” The faith positions itself at the Lawful Good end of the alignment spectrum. Solists categorically oppose the forces of darkness, but their creed also incorporates human themes and concepts of “goodness,” “honor,” and “mercy” as part of the eternal fight against evil.

Sigil of the Order of Lahr

A second, much-older human religion—the order of Lahr—is devoted to an absolutist concept of Law as the supreme foundation of civilization and the only answer to primal Chaos. Its philosophy lies at the Lawful Neutral (Good) point on the alignment spectrum. Though the Lahrist creed was once widely practiced in this region, its stern dogma of self-sacrifice and strict obeisance caused it to fall out of favor with many civilized folk. The order of Lahr is now a fading mystery cult worshiped only by a few esoteric orders of zealots.

The main “plotline” of this campaign is lifted straight from B2, with the antagonists being a group of evil cultists. This particular cult is devoted to Khoss, an ancient and fanatical religion dedicated to primal chaos and the destruction of orderly society. A ruined temple of chaos lies hidden deep within the Badlands, and the cultists are trying to restore the complex to past heights of infamy. They are also in the process of assembling an army of evil humanoids from the disparate tribes that dwell in the region. When they are ready, the cultists intend to march their army on the Keep and smash it, opening an invasion route into the fertile southern plains of Remedios.

Unholy Sigil of Khoss

The cult of Khoss occupies the far Chaotic Evil end of the alignment spectrum, and they are the historic enemy of the order of Lahr. The two faiths have been locked in a desperate, back-and-forth battle for supremacy for thousands of years, their only aim being the annihilation of the other. The cult has played a role in several of the individual campaigns I’ve run in Remedios, and have become my world’s version of S.P.E.C.T.R.E.—a sinister cabal of ruthless and powerfully-connected humans devoted to tearing everything down and rebuilding it using fear, violence, and domination as the principal means of control.

The Lahrists would seem the obvious choice to represent the forces of Law in this campaign, but because they are few in number and seen by many as extremists, their political and religious influence in an isolated border fortress like Irongate Keep would be low. I decided that the forces of Law in this campaign—led by the Castellan—would be followers of the Solis faith (like their king and most citizens of Remedios). The Chapel is dedicated to Solis, but the entire pantheon is represented there. The Fountain Square is dedicated to his daughter, the water-goddess, Luvia. The mendicant priest claims to be an adherent of Thera, Solis’ wife and goddess of the earth.

Sigil of Thera
Goddess of the Earth

In addition, in a secondary (but connected) plotline, the Badlands are peppered with sites that reference an ancient people who once inhabited the region and worshiped an earth-mother they also called Thera. Though she is an older, paganistic representation, she is the same matronly goddess of the modern era. A ruined temple to this proto-Thera goddess also lies hidden within the Badlands, and it is a major encounter area tied to the deeper history of the area.

While the Castellan represents Law, the citizens and government of the Keep are not the true protagonists in this adventure—the player characters are. I don’t know if any of the players will decide to be a devout follower of either Solis or Lahr, but the campaign will feature an additional layer of meaning for any players who do, for the secret history of the region involves an ancient battle between powerful religious forces, and an heretical betrayal that transformed this once verdant region into the dangerous wasteland it is today.

PART 2: The Cult of Khoss