Level 3 was the third map I drew during the power outage. The direct correlation between creation date and level number ends with this one, however. The level has a few unique features to the other maps I'd drawn so far. For one: It has an entrance portico and an exterior area (bottom); two: It contains no routes (stairs, etc.) to other levels; and three: It has a teleporting passage similar to Level 1, but its destination is "off-screen."
Not the greatest solution, but it works. Especially because shifting the dungeon would have complicated some of the level connections that I still needed to add to the map. There were already two stairs and an elevator to be added from Level 2, and my stocking rolls added another two stairs down to Level 4. Counting the main entrance and teleporting passage as additional routes, Level 3 has seven points of access – not bad at all. (I added an eighth access point in the stirges' room, and the dungeon's ventilation system adds even more, unquantified access points, but both require miniaturization of some sort so I'm not counting them in the total.)
After placing all the new stairs and marking the destination point of the elevator, and then adding a title and key, wall shading, and some incidental details (such as blockages and a pit trap), the map came out like this:
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My content stocking rolls (for a 37-room dungeon level) came up with the following results:
–Empty: 16 (43% / 35%)
–Monster: 3 (8% / 20%)
–Monster + Treasure: 14 (38% / 25%)
–Stairs: 2 (5% / 5%)
–Trick/Trap: 0 (0% / 5%)
–Treasure: 2 (5% / 5%)
The first % number is the percentage of the actual content rolls; the second % number is the typical expected percentage spread (per OSRIC guidelines).
To determine the monsters with no treasure, I rolled twice on DMG table I (fire beetles and shriekers) and once on Monster Manual 2 table I (skeletons). For monsters with treasure, I rolled three times on DMG table I (zombies, halflings, and giant rats), twice on DMG table II (rot grubs and stirges), once on DMG table III (ogres), once on DMG table IV (werewolf), once on Fiend Folio table I (xvarts), once on FF table III (giant boring beetles), three times on MM2 table I (skeletons, hobgoblins, and nupperibo devils), once on MM2 table III (shockers), and once on MM2 table IV (gargoyle). An interesting mix with few obvious relationships.
Keep in mind that, before I began writing any of the keys, I had already rolled the first four or so levels (not counting the surface level yet). At this point, I had lists of monsters and treasures with rough outlines of how all the pieces would fit together in the context of the dungeon at large. Knowing how some monsters related to others on different levels helped me considerably when developing the finished keys.
Fire beetles, shriekers, skeletons, and giant rats have already been encountered on the upper levels, as have skeletons and zombies. These are regular dungeon features at this point and require no deep explanation of purpose or point. Hobgoblins are obviously connected to the ones found on Levels 1 and 2. Rot grubs and stirges, and even giant boring beetles, are also not difficult to place as they can basically be anywhere. Also, despite the overall lack of variety, many of these rolls were made on the level I tables in the books, meaning the population sizes of these previously-encountered monsters are tripled on Level 3. Quantity becomes its own quality down here.
That left me with figuring out what to do with halflings, ogres, a werewolf, xvarts, nupperibo devils, shockers, and a gargoyle. Like the gnomes on Level 1, halflings shouldn't be found anywhere near a place like this, so why would they plausibly be down here? One of my favorite comic strips from Dragon Magazine way back in the day was Finieous Fingers, the adventures of a hapless human thief and his comrades. One of his perennial foes was a guild of evil halfling thieves that ran his home-base city. That is the vibe I'm shooting for with this encounter group.
I also had in mind the very first character I ever rolled up for a multiplayer, long-term AD&D campaign: A Chaotic Neutral halfling fighter-thief named Brennendil Brownfoot. I played him as a shady guy of questionable loyalties and dubious moral character (an anti-Frodo). I was never edge-lordy about it, despite being a brooding, awkward 16-year old at the time. Brennendil was more of an unrepentant scalawag. Finally, I was thinking about the halfling cannibals from the Dark Sun campaign setting (one of the few interesting ideas that TSR attempted ... but ultimately failed at ... in the post-Gary years). I've always loved the idea of feral halflings because, once you strip the race of its inherent decency, a group of them can be quite dangerous.
For these specific halflings, I didn't go full feral (or evil), instead making them culturally devolved and slightly insane from fear. They are paranoid and have learned to deal with their dungeon neighbors by reacting aggressively. They have barricaded themselves into one section of dungeon and work in unison to repel anyone trying to get inside their lair. Why are they here? Perhaps they are the descendants of former prisoners or slaves of the Empress? The halflings don't remember so the answer is lost to time. They can be reasoned with, however, and could possibly cooperate with characters willing to rid them of all these monsters. They have absolutely no desire to leave their home and would freak out if they went outdoors. (None of this is in the key, just subtext in my brain to explain their presence and inform the encounter.)
A pair of ogres is easy enough to place and there are plenty of big rooms near the entrance. Being Chaotic Evil, the ogres would be more likely to align with the orcs on Level 1, but there are no orcs down here, only hobgoblins. The Lawful Evil hobgobs are clever, however, so their leader has dispatched a group of his men to present a tribute to the ogres. He hopes to appeal to the ogres' greed by paying them to join the counterattack against the orcs. Negotiations continue, but in the meantime, I've placed these creatures near each other, with an empty room between them serving as the meeting ground.
I wasn't sure what to do with the werewolf in my outline, but as I wrote out the key to Level 1, a wolf motif emerged that included a background figure known as Crastus, Lord Wolf (and his suit of magic leather armor). By the time I got to writing the Level 3 key, I had already linked the werewolf (as well as two other werewolves rolled up on Level 4) to this person.
I had also already established in the Level 1 key that a band of jermlaines was forced out of their lair on Level 2 by a group of invading xvarts. Those xvarts originated on this level, and I determined that the rest of the tribe remains here on Level 3. I tagged the arrival of the ogres as the reason for some of the xvarts making an exodus to Level 2. The remaining xvart are plotting to get rid of the ogres, somehow. I don't care much for xvart, a Fiend Folio addition to the canon of AD&D humanoids. They are supposed to be intermediary opponents between kobolds and goblins, but that window of leveling time is so tiny that they're really unnecessary. Regardless, they are poorly thought out and boring monsters, but I'm keeping them as rolled. I linked them with the jermlaine as obvious rivals, since both groups live among giant rats and would naturally vie for control over their population. It would be easy to link the xvart to the halflings as natural dungeon enemies, as well.
The nupperibo devils and shockers lend themselves well to singular, trap-type rooms, so I came up with ideas for using them to guard important dungeon features: A treasure hoard in the nupperibos' case, and a secret exit/entrance teleportal in the case of the shockers. The gargoyle seemed perfect as a guard for the main entrance hall (with skeletal archers manning the arrow loops I'd drawn on the original map). A 1st-level party could attempt this route as an entrance into the dungeon instead of going to the ruins at the top of the bluff, but they would regret it. Conversely, a higher-level party could use this route later as a quick way down into the middle levels of the dungeon.
I rolled up the treasures, which resulted in a lot of coinage (including loads of copper pieces, but also a fair amount of gold and platinum), two gem results, no jewelry, and ZERO magic items. This was actually the point where I instituted extra magic items to my stocking methodology. I couldn't fathom my players being on the third level of a megadungeon, where the party is encountering monsters that require magic weapons to hit as a matter of course, having only rolled up a small number of magic items over four levels of stocking (with NO magic weapons so far).
After rolling up the bonus magic items for Level 3, I ended up with an Amulet of Natural Armor (+1), a Figurine of Wondrous Power (Ebony Fly), a Scroll of Cure Disease (3/Cl), a Glove of Storing, a Scroll of Change Self (1/Ill), a +3 Dagger, a +1 Flail, a +1 Javelin, and a suit of +3 Chain Mail. The amulet and glove are not AD&D but come out of OSRIC's treasure tables. In my actual campaign, some of these items might be rerolled or scaled down a skooch as being too powerful for Dungeon Level 3, but for this exercise I'm letting the dice results stand.
I didn't roll any Tricks or Traps on the stocking tables, but I placed a few of my own ideas in the key and continued the Teleport Chamber thread from Level 1. Lots of treasures down here were also trapped though I later scaled that down as well and removed a few of the traps from the writeup.
Level 3 contains ~225 HD of monsters (not counting wandering monsters), for an approximate total of 4,600 xp. Monetary treasure comes out to 23,015 xp (not counting individual loot for enemies like hobgoblins). Magic item xp is 5,350 for items kept in AD&D, or 5,570 for items kept in OSRIC. Selling the items nets 34,200 xp in AD&D, or 55,700 xp in OSRIC. Total xp for this level should run around 32,965 (61,815) using AD&D rules, or 33,185 (83,315) using OSRIC.
>>Hurricane Dungeon – Level 3 Key
>>Hurricane Dungeon – Level 3 Map
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>>Dungeon Level 4>>
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