Continuing my series on creating this megadungeon, this is the seventh map I drew during the power outage, which became Level 5. Again, this is because I wanted to keep the "finished" levels and the cavern levels together (with the caves being the lowest levels). The original map feels a little uninspired compared to the others, though it is probably a more "classic" dungeon layout.
I had already connected the staircase up to Level 4, and I lined up the stairs down to an area on the map I was using for Level 6. That map for Level 6 also contained a staircase up in a different location, so I had to figure out that connection as well. The stocking rolls for Level 4 had also indicated two stairs, a pit shaft, and a trap door and ladder leading to this level, but I had already placed those by the time I began work on Level 5. Finally, my stocking rolls for Level 5 included an additional two staircases and a chimney exiting down from here. Once I added those access routes, along with the room key numbers, a title, and shading, the level looks like this:
_251017.jpg)
My content stocking rolls (for a 35-room dungeon level) came up with the following results:
–Empty: 11 (31% / 35%)
–Monster: 4 (11.5% / 20%)
–Monster + Treasure: 11 (31% / 25%)
–Stairs: 3 (9% / 5%)
–Trick/Trap: 5 (14% / 5%)
–Treasure: 1 (3% / 5%)
The
first % number is the percentage of the actual content rolls; the
second % number is the typical expected percentage spread (per OSRIC
guidelines).
The big statistical skew here, and a change from previous levels, is the prevalence of dungeon trick/traps. I've seeded the upper dungeon with a few of my own, but this is the first time the numbers have accommodated me. The results are convenient as the original map for this level was drawn with clearly-marked false door traps, FIVE of them, to be exact. (This would not be the only weird number synchronicity on this level, either.)
For monsters without treasure, I rolled once on the DMG table I (human, characters), once on the Fiend Folio table III (bugbears), once on the Monster Manual II table IV (spectator), and once on MM2 table V (subterranean lizards). For monsters with treasure, I rolled once on DMG table III (violet fungi), three times on DMG table IV (carnivorous apes, hell hounds, giant constrictor snakes), once on DMG table V (doppelgangers), twice on DMG table VI (lammasus, otyugh), once on FF table III (leprechauns), once on MM2 table IV (caterwaul), once on MM2 table V (cave bears), and once on MM2 table VI (grell). I also had a good idea for a specific room, so I added a monster outside the rolls (a sandling from MM2).
Honestly, not an inspiring mix for a mid-dungeon level. The spectators are weird-good, hell hounds are always useful, otyughs and grell are suitably horrific; but carnivorous apes, cave bears, and giant lizards and snakes? Plus lammasus and leprechauns?? These were going to require some finesse to place them (believably) into this dungeon. I feel like I've done a good job at this point of making the dungeon seem like an appropriately lived-in space with multi-level, factional dynamics. I could just hand-wave what these monsters are doing here, but that would be lazy.
One thing I did fairly early was swap out some of the "non-treasure" monsters with treasured creatures, specifically giving the human characters, the bugbears, and the spectators the treasure slots and taking away the treasures from the otyugh, the giant constrictor snakes, and the violet fungi. I did this largely as a result of rolling quite a few magic armor and weapon results, and deciding to arm up the humans and humanoids. The spectator's description explicitly calls out that they are used to guard great treasures, so it seemed logical to put them in charge of one of the more potent magic items I rolled.
As the key developed, a theme emerged of this level being a sort-of "museum" of weird and monstrous things that allowed me to account for the presence of not only the surface-world animals and the aberrations, but also the Lawful Good lammasu, and the incongruous leprechauns. I ended up being able to tweak this seemingly-boring level into a pretty interesting and twisted area, ramping up the weirdness as the party descends deeper into the dungeon.
A couple of the monsters here required some context, though. The animals are kept alive by various means in a suitably Gygaxian-naturalist way, augmented by magic. I made the bugbears a subterranean type with gray and black fur, though I don't establish their exact origin. Because there weren't a lot of rooms on this level, separating each monster into its own room made the level feel really crowded, so I infiltrated a trio of doppelgangers into the bugbear camp, creating a little paranoid backstory a la John Carpenter's The Thing. I also grouped the otyugh and the giant reptiles (lizards and snakes) into the same room (also to ramp up the challenge factor). That there is no treasure in this room is just the bitter icing on a deadly cake.
I feel stupid for only realizing this recently, but the fact that violet fungi (and shriekers) are mobile has made me view them in a whole new light. Suddenly, something that seemed like a bad but manageable threat has become an absolute terror. Now I imagine violet fungi slowly creeping toward a camp of sleeping PCs. *Shudder.* Adding them as wandering encounters on this level should be fun.
I've never (as far as I can recall) used a spectator from the Monster Manual II before. I definitely used one to great effect in 5e, but that version is like a lesser-but-still-potent beholder. The AD&D version is... odd. Explicitly a "guardian of places and treasure...summoned from Nirvana by Monster Summoning V and the sacrifice of 3 small eyes (or more) from a beholder," the spectator is Lawful Neutral and said to protect a specific place or thing. Remarkably, the description even specifies not only the minimum value of the treasure being protected (15,000 gpv), but also a customized Treasure Type range for "incidental treasure." |
| The Droopy Dog of Aberrations |
One of its other eyes creates food and water, noting that "(o)bviously, this is not an attack." Lame! I want my level 5 guardian monsters to be able to pelt the party with an endless barrage of cream pies. Seriously, though, what the hell is the point of this power? What a waste of an eyestalk. I guess its meant to fulfill the Gygaxian naturalism urge by explaining how the spectator sustains itself, but why do it for *this* monster in particular and not the jillion other creatures in the game? One explanation says that, since the creature is "bound" to an area, it can't hunt for food. Maybe, but the description doesn't say that specifically, and its a summoned aberration from an Outer Plane, so not a natural creature (and perhaps not required to eat or drink).
 |
| I'm not a huge fan of most 5e art, but this is a standout piece. I prefer this version. |
The spectator has 5% MR (a long shot, but could prove pivotal at the right moment), and its central eye can reflect spells which is cool. Its true power should lie in a one-two combo of paralyzation and a ranged Cause Serious Wounds spell for 5–19 damage each round from up to 60' away. That's devastating on paper, but then the monster description pours cold water on the poor spectator by stating, "(t)he spectator never attacks a paralyzed character or uses him or her for food. A paralyzed character might be allowed to go its own way if it is willing to leave in peace."
Lame!!
I guess I can't really complain much. It's called a "spectator." It spectates. But why would you pick such a creature — with a default state of "standing by" and an attack state of "hey, get away from there" — to guard something important or valuable? Roger Moore's Ecology of the Spectator in Dragon 139 only make this creature's point even more baffling. Maybe its meant to be used by Good-aligned magic-users who want to protect something without harming potential thieves? I did the best I could with it.
Another point with the caterwaul that's different from most other AD&D monsters is its range of customization surrounding the beast's "uncanny natural agility." Each caterwaul requires the DM to roll percentile dice on a possibly two-part table to determine how agile the specimen is, and from this result determine that particular caterwaul's AC and attacks per round. It's a neat idea, but the explanation is a bit wonky around the number of attacks part.
Not sure how else you could read it, but I do know the caterwaul's description spends a lot of valuable page space to detail a wide range of customization for a "Rare" creature that will only ever be encountered one at a time. Not sure the cost-benefit ratio works in its favor, or that players, in the unlikely event they ever face multiple caterwauls, will pick up on the slight mathematical differences between each individual combat. I do like its area-effect screeching ability, but its only once per combat. I've heard my neighborhood felines caterwauling at all hours; it is a persistent sonic effect. I'd like it better if the caterwaul could use its screech at least a few times.
A single grell is also indicated, both in the stocking table and in its stat block, as being only encountered singly. I decided not to go 3-for-3 in increasing that number for this encounter. One grell is quite deadly enough. (At 5 HD, with 11 attacks each round, all on one target, requiring a paralysis save for each of the 10 tentacles that hits; potential damage range up to 11–46 points... yikes!)
Incorporating the lammasu was tricky. Not only are lammasu Lawful Good, but I rolled TWO of them (which makes sense as they often appear as paired ornaments in Assyrian temple architecture). The lammasu (or lamassu) and the shedu are basically the same mythological creature (and they serve fairly similar purposes in AD&D/OSRIC).
So what the hell are these guys doing down here in an evil dungeon? Imprisoned is a strong possibility, given the other supernatural prisoners found elsewhere in the dungeon (like the afreet on Level 4). Another is that they came here to suppress some great evil, keeping it in check at the cost of their own freedom. Something small in scope but epic-feeling. When writing the key for Level 4, I had set up the idea of an "anomaly" down here being energized by a spell-absorbing iron altar, but I wasn't 100% certain how I was going to pay that off when I wrote it. I decided to link the lamassu and the anomaly somehow, and when I rolled out the treasures, the answer presented itself. More on that later.
That left the leprechauns. All NINE of them! I'm not a huge fan of a type of D&D creature I call "pests," whose sole purpose is to screw with the players, either befuddling them with magic or outright stealing from them. I don't hate them, but it takes a skilled DM to play them with the proper amount of hassle, and a tolerant group of players willing to go along with it. I think the faerie folk work great as instigators of action, or as a faction for the players to curry favor with; less so as wandering encounters who glom onto the party as targets for incessant pranking.
I was struggling with how best to implement them, especially in a setting that is furthest from their natural environment. My girlfriend noticed my scowl and asked what was the matter. I replied, "I don't know what to do with these leprechauns." But I pronounced it lazily, so the word came out as "leper*chaun." Ta-da!! I suddenly had my angle and writing up the encounter became easy (and got fairly dark).
Actually, the leper*chauns weren't the last of my monster issues. I needed to determine who the human characters (NPCs) were. I'd rolled a similar encounter on Level 2, which flowed quite smoothly, but as I worked out the details of this encounter, I wasn't happy with the results. I'm not crazy about the "Character Party" entry on the monster tables, anyway. I get why it's there, relative to D&D's open-world dungeon milieu, but there shouldn't be lots of adventurers tromping around this particular site.
The Level 2 encounter consisted of a 2nd-level cleric and a pair of level 2 fighters, plus six hirelings (two of whom I already killed off-camera). They were rolled as a "Monster Only" result on the stocking table (no treasure), and I rolled to see if they had any magic items, per the encounter tables, which they didn't. That seemed okay and logical for the level. When I rolled an NPC encounter on this level and began to work out the numbers, however, I was left scratching my head a bit.
An encounter with NPCs always involves 2–5 leveled and classed individuals with a high likelihood of having one or more magic items at their disposal. From dungeon levels 1–4, each individual NPC will be of equal level as the one they are on. In addition to the classed individuals, there will be a number of hirelings to make a party equal 9 total people. Why 9? Every time? I don't know. In my 40+ years of gaming, I've been in a few adventuring parties that had 9 or more PCs and NPCs, but not very many. It's how the game used to be played though, with a dozen or more players at the table. Maybe a party of 9 is some sort of holdover benchmark from that era. Maybe its an inflated number to give players pause before murdering their rivals and taking their loot.
After dungeon level 4 is where things get tricky. For one, the levels of the individual NPCs increases dramatically. Instead of a 1:1 basis, from level 5 onward, you roll 1d6+6 to determine their level (7th–12th). AD&D provides a –1 modifier if the NPC level is higher than the dungeon level (or a +1 if lower), but OSRIC does not. There are additional guidelines in both rulesets for dungeon levels higher than 12, but they won't apply here.
A second tricky factor involves the accompanying NPCs to flesh out the party of 9. From levels 1–3, these will be 0-level hirelings (porters, torch bearers, etc.). From level 4 on, however, they are "henchmen," a term-of-art indicating more leveled and classed NPCs (though of a lower level). Their levels are one-third that of their "master," plus an additional level per their master's level divided by 3 if the master is over 8th level (so, two-thirds?) The 8th-level threshold isn't even a requirement in OSRIC. Both rulebooks spend a lot of word-count to just say "two-thirds" and I'm not certain why.
In short, the rules mean that, in OSRIC theory, you could roll up an encounter with FIVE 12th-level classed NPCs on Level 5 of the dungeon, along with FOUR classed henchmen of 8th level each. In AD&D, the numbers would be 11th-level NPCs with 6th-level henches.
So, my first go at this encounter (using OSRIC) resulted in a party of 5 NPCs: a 7th-level cleric, a 9th-level cleric, a 10th-level MU, an 11th-level cleric, and a 12th-level MU. I didn't bother with rolling out the henches. These NPCs represent an overwhelming amount of levels and magic items. Even assuming they are good and would ally themselves with the players, what would be the point?? If they are evil, they will likely curb-stomp any party of PCs who are toiling through Level 5. I know the guidelines are just that, not set in stone. You're supposed to roll until something comes up that you like. But the system as designed leaves a lot to be desired for my tastes.
Despite my displeasure with the first round of results, I was determined to keep the NPC result. One of the cavern level maps I drew featured a huge, ziggurat-like temple edifice carved into the cave wall. I knew I wanted to put an evil cult at the heart of the dungeon, and these NPCs could be the party's introduction to the existence of that group. So, I rerolled, using AD&D's modifier this time, and came up with a more reasonable party of 3 NPCs: A 10th-level cleric, a 7th-level fighter, and a 6th-level assassin. Since the henchmen would be regular cultist "thugs," I made the fighter their "master," meaning the thugs would be 4th-level fighters. Perfect for a group of evil cultists! I rolled the cleric's spells semi-randomly, only re-rolling the results that made no logical sense (such as Lower Water or multiple Divination spells)
My next dilemma with these guys was their treasure/equipment. I'd already rolled several magic item results in the regular stocking rolls, plus my bonus item system (which I was having second thoughts about already). This encounter now potentially represented a whole bunch of new items on top of that. Compounding the challenge, I originally rolled that these NPCs were "Monster" only encounters, meaning they had no inherent loot. I'm not sure what the rules intended when this Schrodinger's Treasure conflict arises: Do the NPCs have items, or don't they. Which takes precedence? Obviously (to me) they would get to roll items, so as to differentiate them further and provide them with appropriate survivability.
I decided to fudge a little and not only swap the NPC encounter out with a "Monster + Treasure" result, but also equip them from the list of bonus items I'd already rolled up. For comparison's sake, I rolled out their items on the OSRIC tables, and came up with mostly a lot of potions and scrolls, plus a few choice weapons and armor. I dropped the potions and scrolls results and slotted the bonus item weapons and armor in with the fighter and assassin. Most of it lined up very well. For the cleric, I rolled a Wand of Negation and a +2 Short Bow on the OSRIC item tables. I swapped out the wand for a Brooch of Shielding from the bonus item list instead, and I gave the cleric a +2 Mace instead of a magic short bow, as it made sense for him to have a magical weapon.
I rolled up the treasures for this level using OSRIC's tables, which I prefer over AD&D's. Of 12 treasures from the stocking rolls, 11 are in combo with a monster meaning I roll twice for each one, and then make one roll for the single treasure with no monster. Thus, of 23 total treasure rolls, I got 3 copper results, 3 silver, 5 electrum, 1 gold, 4 platinum, 3 gem/jewelry, and 3 magic items. Since this is level 5, all quantities are multiplied x5. For gem/jewelry results, I don't make them all one or the other. Instead, I roll one result for each of the multipliers to achieve a mix. Thus, for the 15 gem/jewelry results on this level, I ended up with 9 gem results (1d3 gems for each) and 6 jewelry results (1 each).
For magic items, this means 15 rolls as well, resulting in: a Wand of Enemy Detection, a Scroll of Darkness, 15'r (2/MU), a +2 Longsword, a +1 Longsword, a Helm of Brilliance, +2 Studded Leather, +1 Splint, a Potion of Sweet Water, a Phylactery of Faithfulness, a Special Longsword (a Holy Sword), a Figurine of Wondrous Power (Marble Elephant), a Potion of Longevity, a Roll Twice result (Robe of Useful Items and Brooch of Shielding), a Scroll of Protection from Acid, and a Potion of Undead (Vampire) Control. Otherwise, a fairly good mix of items, many of which were consumables (or at least expendable over time).
Despite my trepidation from last level's abundance of magic items, I went ahead and rolled 10 more items (2 each for 5 levels) to seed as additional treasure: A +1 Shield, a Feather Token (Bird), (14) +1 Arrows, (2) +5 Arrows, a +1 Spear, a Potion of Growth, a Potion of Plant Control, a Scroll of Protection from Devils, a Scroll of Protection from Lycanthropes, and a +2 Broadsword. This is more what I was hoping for when I instituted my change to the methodology.
The two Lawful Good items (the phylactery and holy sword) immediately made connections to the lamassu for me, and I knew what to do. These items would be gatekept by the lamassu, available only to those worthy of them and unable to be sold by the party otherwise. This helps balance their relative value in terms of gp/xp. With the surfeit of magical arms and armor, I placed many of those items with the humans/humanoids on the level, so they can be used against the players prior to acquisition. The wand, helm, and figurine are incorporated into the rooms in which they are found, either concealed or protected by guardians. The magic arrows are part of a puzzle and may be missed completely or destroyed inadvertently by inattentive players. I ended up quite pleased with the mix of items, many of which are consumable or expendable over time.
The way I distribute the various treasures is to roll each treasure result out separately, creating a table/list of all items (quantities of coin types, gems, jewelry, and magic items). Then, for each map location in which I've placed a treasure, I roll 'x' number of times on the treasure list and add each result to the particular spots I am stocking. As I place each one, I cross it off the list until I'm done. Prior to the distribution rolls, my working map looks like this (I already knew where certain items were going, which is why they appear on this map):
_contents_251013.jpg)
While distributing the treasure, another bizarre math/statistical coincidence occurred. The total treasure items rolled for the leper*chauns' room (5.23) included three of the four platinum coin results = 345 pp, 430 pp, and 345 pp (yes, I rolled the exact same amount twice, but that's not the real coincidence). Along with the coins in this room's hoard was a gold ring with gems (700 gpv) and a Wand of Enemy Detection. I like the trope of leprechauns having magic pots of gold they will turn over if you can catch them, in exchange for releasing them.
Ignoring the wand for these purposes, I decided that one of the leprechauns would have the 700 gpv ring for its treasure cache. Since there are nine leprechauns, I converted the platinum pieces to gold pieces and then divvied it up among the remaining 8 as their little pots of treasure. So, converting pp to gp = (345+345+430) = (1,120 pp * 5) = (5,600 gpv / 8) = 700 gp ea. It just happens to work out that all nine leprechauns have a 700 gpv treasure. Numbers are weird, man.
I used my 30/30% rolls to determine whether the treasures were concealed and/or trapped (or neither). Of the 12 treasures on the level, I ended up with 5 concealed, 2 trapped, 2 both concealed and trapped, and 3 neither concealed nor trapped. I'm happy with those numbers.
For the 3 "Stairs" results, I rolled a staircase down 3 levels, a chimney (shaft) down 2 levels, and a stair down 1 level into a chamber. I thought these new routes might complicate my alterations to this map as I had to find suitable spots to connect the multiple maps. I was able to work out all three routes pretty readily, though.
The stocking rolls came up with a record FIVE "Tricks or Traps," which I was excited about. I already knew the central, cross-shaped feature was going to be a moveable trick of some sort, and of course I had the teleport chamber to incorporate as another special room. I also had a third special feature to include related to an as-yet undeveloped "anomaly" which I referenced in the key to Level 4 (and which ended up involving the lamassu and the holy items). Finally, I had an idea to include a wargaming room as a nod to D&D's origins, with a sand table and a mock battle which the PCs could (potentially) join. The risks of actual death are high, but anyone who survives on the victorious side gets a decent little xp reward.
For this room, I developed a mini-game using a battlefield sub-system I've leaned on for decades. Its built on the elegant battle system from Bushido, but the mechanics and core numbers are different due to system compatibility. I'm not a wargamer at all so this may be a terrible adaptation, but I've used it many times in my campaigns with satisfying results. The version in this adventure is stripped down to fundamentals because I want it to play relatively fast at the table. I ran four test battles: One ended in a castle defeat, two ended in decisive castle victories, and a fourth ended in another castle victory after a Morale check rolled "snake-eyes" and the attacking force surrendered despite momentum and superior numbers. The longest battle was 11 rounds and the shortest was 8. I'm happy with that.
Back to the stocking rolls... Since I had five "Traps" marked on the map in the form of false doors, I didn't want to count any of my planned "specials" toward the Trick/Trap total. AD&D provides a sample d20 list of mingled tricks and traps, while OSRIC contains separate d100 lists, one for traps and two for tricks. Neither provides for a random roll to determine the % chance for either a trap or a trick. If we count a "trap" as something that harms a character bodily, then the AD&D table is 40% traps / 60% tricks. I decided to just go with 50/50 since I like include both in my dungeons (and generally enjoy designing them). Of the five Trick/Trap results, four were traps and one was a trick.
For shits-and-giggles, I rolled the five out on the OSRIC tables. The traps were: A ceiling block drop (deadfall) trap; a trap involving "flame jets," an oil-filled pit with a flaming torch dropped into it, and a spring-loaded pile driver disguised as a door. The trick was a "furnishing" that "directs." I had five false doors but only 4 traps, so I decided to make the two false doors in the same room (5.21) trigger the same trap (the flame jets). For the trick, I dedicated a room to a statue which points to a pair of secret doors when its function is puzzled out.
Level 5 contains ~300 HD of monsters (not counting wandering monsters), for an approximate total of 24,155 xp. This is about 3k less than Level 4's total despite the same approximate numbers of HD, but Level 5 has fewer rooms and there are some banger monsters on 4, whereas 5 had more middle-of-the-road encounters.
Monetary treasure comes out to 28,420 xp (not counting individual loots). This seems paltry compared to Level 4's stratospheric gp haul of more than 98k, but a big part of that are the extra monster hoards I included. Still, Level 5's take is only about 5,000 gp/xp more than Level 3's total. I expected a bigger jump in the amount, but this is how the numbers rolled out. Most of the gem results were low value, so this had an impact on the total as well.
Magic item xp is 26,080 for items kept in AD&D, or 25,683 for items kept in OSRIC. Selling the items nets 196,530 xp in AD&D, or 256,830 xp in OSRIC. These numbers are in line with Level 4's magic item xp. Again, without the Level 4 hoards, Level 5's numbers would have been greater in comparison.
Total xp for this level should run around 78,655 (249,105) using AD&D rules, or 78,258 (309,405) using OSRIC.
>>Hurricane Dungeon – Level 5 Key
>>Hurricane Dungeon – Level 5 Map
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