Dragons for My Current Game: Korgathix of the North

A few weeks ago I posted my adaptation notes (part 1 and part 2) to run Tomb of the Serpent Kings with Old-School Essentials.

My players have started delving the tomb despite one player was missing (and that means he'll roll on Mysteriously Missing & Merrily Met!). The've explored most of the false tomb and upper tomb, with a lot of luck and careful exploration, but not so much treasure so far... 

So, the first of those two posts included a simple hex map I made so as to have a minimal "backdrop world" with the starting town of Fortana.

Of course one thing leads to another so I quickly added the modules I hope to run after the Tomb: Brandonsford, renamed as Brandonia, and a village for Ominous Crypt of the Blood Moss.

And after that I added two dragons on the map... because why not? The implied setting in BX dungeons & dragons and Old-School Essentials clearly has lots of them. And people in Fortana probably know about the two closest dragons.

So now? Time to roll their details with the tables in Deadly Dragons Dire & Daunting, the set of tables included in the Axian Library book to create unique dragons with their environment and context.

Here's what I got for the dragon in the mountains north of Fortana, and something you may find useful as a "dragon situation" for your games

Korgathix "Hellmouth", "The Swallower of Giants"

Red Dragon, Adult, Male

Armour Class     –1 [20]

Hit Dice                 10** (45hp)

Attacks [2 × claw (1d8), 1 × bite (4d8)] or breath

THAC0                 11 [+8]

Movement             90’ (30’) / 240’ (80’) flying

Saving Throws D6 W7 P8 B8 S10 (10)

Morale                 10

Alignment Chaotic

XP             2,300

Breath weapon: 90’ long cone of fire. Strong Breath: Can use his breath attack up to four times per day.

Secret weakness: Sleeps a lot. +20% chance of sleeping (included below).

Language and spells: Intelligent (INT 12). Speaks Draconic, Common, and Dwarvish. Spells: 3 × 1st level, 3 × 2nd level, 3 × 3rd level.

Spells: 

• Level 1: Hold Portal, Magic Missile, Floating Disc
• Level 2: Invisibility, Mirror Image, Web
• Level 3: Protection from Evil 10’ Radius (MU), Dispel Magic, Fire Ball

Sleeping: 30%.

Large Maw: The dragon’s maw is larger than usual. and capable of swallowing a human-sized victim. An attack roll of 19 or 20 with its bite attack indicates a victim is swallowed. Inside the dragon’s belly: suffer damage equal to its bite per round (until the dragon dies); may attack with sharp weapons at –4 to hit; body digested in 6 turns after death. If the dragon uses its breath attack, the swallowed victim is expelled.

Motivations and Desires: Survival, greed, pride, spleen. Current desire: craves fame.

Treasure

• A giant-sized golden crown with a hundred diamonds, worth 20,000gp
• A giant-sized golden necklace worth 5,000gp, usually worn by the dragon
• 10,000gp
• 1,000pp
• 1 potion of healing

Origin of the treasure: It was a giant king’s treasure. 

Allies, Enemies, Adventure

Allies: 20 Troglodytes

They live in a cave complex below the entrance of the dragon's lair, and act as guards, but are not allowed to enter his lair.

Their treasure:

• 5,000sp
• 3,000ep
• Sword +1 (+3 vs Enchanted Creatures)
• Spell scroll (hold person, cure disease (cause disease), detect evil, speak with animals, resist cold)
• Wand of Negation

Enemies: 3 Treants

These are the few treants that survived the dragon's fire, and of course they hate him. They live in a small ancient wood south of the dragon's lair.

Their treasure as rolled with the online generator:

• 4,000sp
• 4,000ep
• 2 × gems (100gp)

But I don't like it. Why would treants have coins? So I change it with a single jewel of equivalent value:

• A large (3') silver and gold tray with small emeralds, a gift from the elves of Elvenil, worth 2,600gp.

Adventure Hooks:

• According to rumors the dragon has become decrepit, or is currently weak, or diseased. A few aspiring dragonslayers, especially of the opposite alignment, have already attempted to find the dragon’s lair. The rumors may of course be false, or even created by the dragon to lure fools.

• Korgathix is currently obsessed with fame, so he will always
• let at least one enemy escape
• accept surrender
• fall for flattery regarding his well-known might, riches, etc

Lair: A natural cave that is hard to reach without flying, or good climbing tools (4d6 falling damage). Whenever Korgathix sleeps or leaves the lair, he

• "locks" his treasure inside an alcove closed with a large stone slab and the Hold Portal spell cast on it.
• seals the entrance with the Web spell (which he can easily remove with his flames).

....

So here's the updated map, expanded with a few more details as I slowly build the region. I've added "rumors" of more monsters around, and an elven community west of Fortana, just so we know where elf PCs come from.