Expanding HeroQuest: Searching the Furniture

Since our very first HeroQuest games, my 7yo son always moved his hero next to any furniture piece in the room before declaring he was searching for treasure. Because it makes a lot of sense, after all!

So I had to explain that the rules say you mustn't move, and that you can search a room even if there is no furniture. But oh, boy, is this really cool?

So here's my rules for actually searching those interesting furniture pieces, each with different results. Wanna taste the potions on the alchemist's bench? See who's hiding inside the cupboard? Do you dare disturb the tomb? Are you sure you want to be scrutinized by the evil man in the portrait above the fireplace? What grim findings await you in the torture rack?

Here's the answers. After all, I love writing random tables. 

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Into HeroQuest? Check out my other HeroQuest Posts!

About The Frozen Temple of Glacier Peak

 The Frozen Temple of Glacier Peak is a 24 page OSR adventure by Robin Fjärem, for a party of level 1-3 adventurers, designed for Knave, and easily convertible to other OSR games.

I got the PDF and printed it at home as an A5, stapled zine of sort (no POD option is available).

Mr Fjärem has done a very good job at designing a module that in 24 pages describes 32 rooms full of adventure.

What's it about? The adventure offers 3 levels, each with a distinctive theme and flavor. The first is the titular frozen temple with 11 rooms, the second is a a single large cave with an underground lake with 6 areas, and the last is "the spirit realm", a large underground complex with 15 rooms.

Before the dungeon proper, we have the description of a mountain camp, 6 different hooks, and 6 rumors.

The first level is long lost temple. The glacier has melt a bit, and it is now possible to enter the temple again. The contents of the temple fit the theme perfectly, its all abandoned and icy, close to no encounters except a frost centipede and, from the random encounters table, rival adventuring parties and a frost smilodon who has just ventured inside the temple looking for prey.

The second level is fairly linear, with a sequence of islets scattered through the lake. But has a snorting troll sleeping in the farthest islet, and the lake is the portal to the spirit realm, if the group figures out how (and there's plenty of ways to understand how the lake is magical), while possibly avoid waking up the mysterious source of the snorting. 

The last level, the spirit realm, is in fact a perfect adventure in the mythical underworld, with more than a hint at fairy tales and norse mythology. This level is full of fun, interconnected encounters with NPCs, including a Lindwurm (a flightless dragon) and its magnificent hoard.

So how is it? It's a great little adventure, with a distinct pacing and a strong theme. The writing is short and clear, exactly how I like it. You read it once, you're ready to run it.

Is it perfect? No, but close. I didn't like that some secret passages in level 1 don't include in their description an obvious way to suspect they are there. I didn't like that the "spirit realm" level is too small. It feels like it should have been vast, too vast to explore in its entirety (there's world in mythical underworld). And it feels so because there's a lot going on with the fairy creatures and peculiar places described, and also because of the very good random tables included (mushrooms, treasure, NPC motivations, events). At your own risk, you may attempt connecting this to other adventures such as The Incandescent Grottoes, or simply expand the map, adding rooms and paths between the keyed ones, to increase the feel of an underground world. Those tables should make it relatively easy.

All in all: It's a good one, definitely recommended if your campaign has snowy mountains and you like the fairy/norse(ish) themes, and worth the effort of conversion to your favorite OSR system.

About Wyvern Songs

 Wyvern Songs is a collection of four adventures for Old-School Essentials, authored by Brad Kerr. If you like your OSE game with just a pinch of weird and whimsy, and you are looking for GREAT adventures, Wyvern Songs is a must-buy.

Brad is the author of the widely acclaimed, best-selling OSE adventures Hideous Daylight and Temple of 1000 Swords (I've reviewed it here), and of Demon Driven to the Maw (written for Cairn RPG).

In short, Brad had dropped an outstanding series of adventures, so as soon as this new book was available, I ordered the hardcover version, which is a nice full color,  A5 book (hardcover A5 is, in my opinion, the best print-on-demand format from DriveThru, and the one I've chosen for my OSE-licensed Axian Library book too).

What's inside

The book features four adventures: The Sinister Secret of Peacock Point, Fabien's Atelier, The Singing Stones, and The Dreaming Caldera, plus an impressive appendix of bonus material.

Each adventure has a different color used for text headings and as the background of the maps, making browsing the volume very easy.

All the adventures are location-based, with multiple hooks, and no preset outcome. All offer non-linear problems and things to play with, and ideas on how to further develop the place or the events that the players may trigger. The text is short and sweet, with clever use of bolded text and bullet points, making preparation super easy.

The table of contents, with a summary of the adventures.
It also introduces the color-code used throughout the book. 

The Sinister Secret of Peacock Point is a dungeon crawl adventure for first level characters. The dungeon (25 rooms) is the guildhall of a gang of thieves, who've just been slaughtered by a demonic insect lord they've unwittingly released from its prison inside a locked music box.

So the place has a story, and it shows in every room. And it's got the traps the thieves had set to stop intruders, and they are reasonably telegraphed, empowering player agency; and an overarching "puzzle" that develops along with the random encounters and exploration of the place.

Fabien's Atelier is a dead wizard's flying palace. It is a puzzle-heavy dungeon for characters level 2-4 (19 rooms), and can be played as a followup to Hideous Daylight or on its own. Fabien the wizard has died, and its flying abode has a lot of things going on.

The core piece of the dungeon is a magic cabinet that makes you change size, allowing the players to explore a series of small tunnels inside the walls (among other things). Also of notes are puzzles featuring keys which are not keys, a miniaturized dragon living inside a doll house, and a mass battle between dream gremlins and undead rats. The adventure is open-ended and the players may cause a lot of trouble freeing a djinn, or crashing the flying palace on the duke's beloved garden.

The Singing Stones is a point-crawl adventure for characters level 3-5, set in a rocky valley of enchanted stones that's 6 square miles and features 20 different points of interest to explore. The valley has a lot going on. The main hook is to find the disappeared prince (who got poisoned by a wyvern, and also petrified by a medusa before the venom could kill him!), but other hooks are provided: finding a great bard's burial place and treasure; stopping the mysterious beast eating the singing stones; investigating the ghost of a young bride; visiting a commune of dwarven artists who are unwittingly creating a summoning device for an ancient vampire... and more.

This adventure is probably the best of the group. Even more open-ended, with each location point offering enough elements to investigate, explore and interact with, to fuel hours and hours of play time.

The Dreaming Caldera is another "traditional" dungeon, designed for characters level 5-6. It features 27 rooms divided in 2 levels, and includes areas specifically designed to expand the dungeon, if you want. The content is a bit of a funhouse dungeon, with a great variety of monsters. What makes it a cool scenario is the strong theme the connects everything: all the monsters inside the dungeon are busy trying to shape a body for a chaos godling that is about to be born. 

All in all: the book is just great. From overall structure, to layout, use of of colors, and text organization of each room, everything is just perfect to make it easy to run. You read it and you are ready to run the game. And the content is top notch. If you like your fantasy game with just a pinch of weird (of the imaginative -not dumb, not gonzo- kind), this book has four scenarios you want to have and will enjoy running, as players will find plenty to do, figure out, interact with, and decide on their own terms.

And I haven't even mentioned the bonus materials at the end of the book: a new class, a starting village, and even a regional hex map with the locations for the four scenarios in the book AND a score of other published adventures, both from Necrotic Gnome and from other authors, as The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford and The Seers Sanctum.

About the New HeroQuest, or The Sublime Horror

 So I three weeks ago I received the new HeroQuest as a birthday present. The joy!

For those who missed it, Hasbro relaunched the much beloved '90s board game (and gateway to fantasy gaming for thousands of kids) in 2021, with a crowdfunding campaign on Pules, Hasbro's own crowdfunding platform. So how is it?

I'll talk about how it is from my point of view: a gamer in my 40s, who had the original game back then, and with a 7yo kid.

The rules: They are the same, including the original quest book. The rules are the same as the US version, not the European one. where all monsters had 1 Body Point (which was a very bad idea as it made the game too easy).

Components: This is where the game has changed the most. 

• The board is the same, just slightly bigger. It's still that very same board, with the same graphic, the same room arrangement.
• All the furniture is pretty much identical in design, except all pieces are made of plastic, doors included. In the old version all furniture pieces where a mix of plastic and cardboard.
• All the minis have been redesigned! They are slightly bigger, more detailed, and made of a soft plastic, which makes snapping almost impossible, but frequently comes with bended pieces (swords, staffs, spears, leg or ankle joints, etc).
• There are LESS minis! In the old game you got a lot of goblins and skeletons. In this new version you get less of each monster type except for the "Dread Warrior" (the new Chaos Warriors). It turns out I was completely wrong about this: you get the same amount of minis! My memory tricked me, I should have checked before posting!
• The cards (monsters, spells, equipment, etc) have grown bigger (standard MTG-size), with a mix of old and new designs.

I appreciate the change of plastic type, as I think these soft models will be more durable. On the other hand, all the cardboard pieces (box, board, tiles, and cards) feel very much thinner and less resistant. Must be the global paper crisis, I guess.

Another big change is that all references to the Warhammer world are gone: Chaos Warriors now are "Dread Warriors" (just a name change), and Fimirs have been replaced with "Abominations", i.e. hulking fish-men, which look cool but feel definitely out of place inside a dungeon.

Oh, and the game as changed from "Age 9 - Adult" to "14+", for reasons I can't fathom.

I won't discuss price vs quality, as price varies wildly depending on where you buy it. Amazon has it.

The old box...

...and the new one

My Personal Take: The Sublime Horror

Let's be frank: if you look at the rules and mechanics from the point of view of a frequent, refined gamer, HeroQuest is a horrible game, for a series of reasons. Players have too few occasions to make meaningful choices. Most of the time, they open doors without a clue, and combat is just rolling dice with almost no chance for any kind of strategy. The only big exception is the mage hero who has to manage their nine single-use spell cards through every game.

The quests in the book are balanced against a full party of four heroes, so with less than five players (or four + the official gm-less app), all quests become quite hard.

But at the same time HeroQuest offers, in my opinion, a sublime experience with regards to immersion. The furniture, the cards art, the minis, the board, all enforce immersion in a way more refined games fail to convey. Perhaps it is the very lack of a cumbersome rule system that makes everything else shine, as the rules leave the spotlight to components, and to the story that unfolds through the quests.

So all in all it is a super bad game for experienced gamers, and an excellent game for experienced gamers who want an introductory game for non-gamers and kids. My son is enjoying it A LOT, and I'm enjoying it through his eyes. He can't wait to invite his friends to play. Damn, I can't wait to invite his friends to play!

If you don't plan to play it with kids or non-gamers, the only other reason to get it is to change, expand, substitute the rules with a deeper system (like an rpg's), and just save the components. It's still a decent deal for those alone, probably.

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Into HeroQuest? Check out my other HeroQuest Posts!

Talk Like a Pirate Day: d20 Seas Encounters & Events!

 So hey today it's Talk Like a Pirate Day, so here's 20 sea-themed encounters and events for your OSR campaign, straight from Lands of Legends Grim and Lands of Legends Mundane!

click on the flag for DTRPG pirate-themed bundle sale (today only!)

Roll a d20.

1. The Lost Merchant. A middle-aged man floats on the waves, clinging to a splintered mast. He screams for assistance as soon as he sees the heroes' ship. Hailing from some distant land, he may or may not speak any of the languages known by the group, but his fine jewels and his patronizing attitude speak for some wealthy origin, and a possible reward for bringing him back home.
2. Message in a Bottle. Heroes spot a corked bottle floating on the waves. It contains (roll a d6): 1: a pirate’s last will and treasure map; 2: a nautical chart; 3: a love letter; 4: a madman’s ravings, 5: a shipwrecked or slave’s plea for rescue; 6: a spell or cursed scroll. Roll another Sea Encounter or Area for further details, if needed.
3. Floating Coffer. This damaged wooden coffer floating on the waters contains (roll a d6): 1: d6 bottles of excellent wine; 2: some minor treasure; 3: common tools; 4: a partially deteriorated spellbook; 4: a collection of bizarre trinkets; 5: a set of medial tools; 6: whatever comes to your mind, as long as it’s lighter than the box.
4. Dolphins. A school of dolphins or narwhals approaches the ship and follows it for d6 days.
5. Sea Giants. Large fins and flat tails can be seen emerging from the waves: 2d6 huge cetaceans (whales, narwhals or blackfish) seem to have gathered here, or are migrating together (roll for a random direction). Sailing away from these behemoths might be a smart move, but trying to fish some might be more rewarding.
6. Ships! Two ships appear on the horizon. They are very close to each other and smoke rises from one: it’s a pirate attack. Will the heroes rush to help the assailed sailors or mind their own business?
7. Broken Ship. A partially destroyed merchant ship is carried by the waves. Its passengers (2d12 survivors) scream for help as soon as the heroes’ vessel comes into view. The ship might have been damaged by monsters, a fire or a storm.
8. The Mighty Remora. Suddenly the ship on which the heroes travel becomes much slower and difficult to maneuver. A huge fish called Remora has attached itself to the keel with its strong suction cup. Its presence can be hinted by the risen waterline on the ship sides, as if an extra weight were on the ship. If the Remora is not removed, navigation will proceed at half speed. If they decide to get rid of the monster, the heroes will have to face a sort of large whale-shark.
9. Wood Limpets. The hull of the ship is attacked by a swarm of wood-eating limpets. If the sailors do not remove and kill them one by one in 24 hours, the ship will be “holed” in a hundred different places and begin to sink.
10. The Lost Hideout. This uncharted minuscule islet features a small rocky hill rising over the lush vegetation. The hill has a small, partially hidden cave, where a long dead pirate’s 2d4 trapped treasure chests can still be found.
11. The Oldest Ship. A bizarre ship appears, crafted in a very exotic fashion. It seems to have been mended and repaired endless times and to be now a mosaic of different parts, from all the seas and all the times. The crew is dressed in rags, and also seems to come from every age and place. The crew is cursed by the Sea Gods for being the first people challenging the sea, in the dawn of navigation. They can never disembark and the ship is constantly repaired and the crew kept fed with offerings made by other seafarers. Denying something to the crew unleashes a curse: the captain (or those who refuse to help) is forced to embark on the ship forever (all sailors have a chance of having heard the legend of this ship and might recognize it).
12. Murders on Board. A ship appears on the horizon. Its crew has been killed and dismembered. Blood is everywhere and there are signs of claws on the wood. The murderer is still hiding on board: it is the figurehead! This is a species of marine gargoyle, wingless, with wooden-looking skin and capable of swimming and crawling from ship to ship. Variant: the gargoyle is on the heroes' ship and the murders take place one by one during the night. Its presence on a ship can be the result of a curse, or the gargoyle might have taken the place of the original figurehead without the crew noticing.
13. The Wrong Timber. This ship is cursed: strange accidents occur to the sailors, wood seems to moan and blood drips from the masts. A recent repair to the ship has been made with the remains of a Treant (or a tree inhabited by a Dryad) and now the restless spirit will not subside until those who have committed this sacrilege are punished.
14. The Rainbow Swarm. A bright-colored cloud is transported by the wind. Examination might reveal its true nature: it is a swarm of flying jellyfish about to attack. Probably the best way to avoid their attack is to find a shelter and wait for the swarm to pass, as it lands and takes off again with a popping sound. Those who can’t find a shelter and fail a Save are hit by d6 jellyfish, each inflicting 1d4 acid damage, before jumping off again and continuing their mindless journey.
15. Dragoning Ship. A sailing vessel covered with horn spikes, with scales along the bulkhead and the head of a bronze dragon as figurehead appears at the horizon. The ship is armed for the hunting of sea serpents, with harpoons, tools for skinning, and a crew of the roughest sailors of the seas. The Captain asks if anyone has seen a great white sea serpent, but the monster actually follows the trail of the ship and attacks all those who come in contact with it.
16. Those are Pearls that Were His Eyes. A derelict man emerges on the waters. He floats on a tortoise shell decorated with coins, his horribly skinny body is encrusted with corals, jewels and gems. As he approaches, he asks “please, an offer for the treasury of the sea”. If refused, he will just spit and sink back underwater. But those who don’t give him at least a coin, will suffer his same fate: their body will start to wither and turn into coral, starting from a random hand or feet. The metamorphosis will be complete in a lunar month and the character will have to leave the earth and join the cursed man in his wanderings, unless he can find him again and give him his due.
17. Boon from the Dead. A small wooden coffer floats on the waters. It contains a random magic (but alas cursed) item.
18. Marauders! A fleet of 2d6 warships appears on the horizon and approaches quickly. Each is manned with a crew of twenty warriors and twenty slaves at the oars. Unless the heroes manage to outmaneuver them, the marauders (vikings, savages or pirates) will be on them and their fierce captain will decide to confiscate their ship, rob them of everything, capture them as oars slaves or enlist them as fellow marauders under his orders depending on their numbers, reaction and type of vessel, as their plan is to ravage and pillow the closest villages and then return home.
19. Triton Patrol. A squad of 5d6 tritons riding giant seahorses approaches the group’s ship. Their leader, a proud knight in seashell armor, politely but firmly asks for a tribute to the Sea King: 100 gold pieces per voyager.
20. The Sargasso Ogre. The waves have accumulated hundreds of tons of fibrous seaweeds, on which explorers can walk. This place is inhabited by birds and other harmless animals. But also by a terrible Sea-Ogre (or a similar monster, like a troll or a scrag)! The Ogre attacks anyone who walks on “his island”. Or worse, it can try to sneak into the ship while the crew is distracted, and butcher all the sailors one by one.

Axian Library is available! And Falkrest Abbey Is Coming! And More!

 Five months after a stunning Kickstarter, the Axian Library zine collection PDF has been sent to backers and is available for everyone at DriveThruRPG. 

I've got to say I'm very happy with the result, and hope all the backers will enjoy it.

Next step is preparing the file for the print version and getting the print proof from DTRPG. Once the proof is ok, all print level backers will receive their vouchers for the printed book, and the print version will become available for everyone too.

New Projects!

In the meantime, I've already started working on new projects! I've teamed up with Andrea Mollica to design a bunch (2? 3? 4?) of new dungeon adventures for Old-School Essentials.

The first one is Falkrest Abbey and the text is already pretty much finalized. If you're in the Old-School Essentials Facebook group you might have had a chance to grab an early playtest PDF.

Falkrest Abbey is an Old-School Essentials dungeon adventure for characters level 1-3, and features about 20 rooms with non linear exploration, puzzles, decision making & problem solving, a bit of faction play, and a bunch of new monsters and magic items.

For Falkrest Abbey I've decided to ask my friend Zaira Diana to draw the cover and interior art. Zaira, Andrea and I have already worked together on Guardians of Sol-Tau, and I'm very happy to have her again with us.

This is the cover art she's concocted for us: meet Grusom the cursed abbot. I love this piece!

And since the Abbey is already written and playtested, Andrea and I are already at work on another adventure: The Mouth, based on the ideas from this post.

We're in the middle of fine-tuning everything, but most of what's in that post has found a place in the adventure, and can't wait to begin internal playtest!

We'll also probably offer a public playtest version in the next weeks on the official Old-School Essentials facebook group...

Morrigan for the Frost Spire adventure

 Last week I reviewed the very very good adventure The Frost Spire by Jacob Hurst.

As pointed out in the review, for some reason the module doesn't include statistics for the final encounter, so I thought, why not make them?

As I wrote in the review, the quickest way is to generate a high level elf with the official OSE online tools, so let's start with that.  Considering all there is to the scenario (which is for a level 3 group), I have no problem shooting for a level 10 elf. Of course a less powerful version might be viable as well, but I really would not go below level 6. 

Here's what I got:

Level 10 Elf (NPC)

Armour Class 2 [17] (plate mail + ring)

Hit Points 36

Attacks 1 × crossbow (1d6) or 1 × spell

THAC0 12 [+7]

Movement Rate 60' (20')

Saves D6 W7 P8 B8 S8

Alignment Lawful

STR 16 INT 9 WIS 10

DEX 10 CON 7 CHA 10

Spells

read magic, shield, floating disc, mirror image, esp, mirror image, fly, protection from evil 10’ radius (mu), invisibility 10’ radius, dimension door, growth of plants, wall of fire, wall of stone, transmute rock to mud (transmute mud to rock)

Items

Broom of Flying, Potion of Heroism, Ring of Protection +1, Spell scroll (protection from evil 10’ radius (c), cure disease (cause disease), find traps, growth of animal, create water) , Crossbow bolts +1 (9)

Is that ok? Well I guess it could work if in a hurry, but this is not the case here, so I'll try and make it more in tune with the scenario.

That STR 16 doesn't really seem to match with the art in the adventure; and Morrigan's job makes me want to change the Alignment to Neutral.

I don't like the magic items I got, so I'll try and put some more frost-themed stuff here and there. Ok I like the flying broom, as it is a very convenient means of traveling to and from the spire, and offers a great option for retreat in case of hostile adventurers, so I'll leave it there.

A quick search on the OSE SRD for "cold", "ice" and "frost" gives me two things worth adding: a wand of cold and the wall of ice spell.

Some other cold-themed items? I have a bunch in this post with Diablo-inspired magic items: the Ravenfrost ring seems the right fix, as well as the Skin of the Viper Magi armor.

So here's the edited girl:

Morrigan - Level 10 Elf 

Armour Class 5 [14] (leather armour +2)

Hit Points 34

Attacks 1 × short sword (1d6+2, +1 from STR) or 1 × spell

Base THAC0 12 [+7], 9 [+10] with short sword +2 and +1 from STR

Movement Rate 60' (20')

Saves D6 W7 P8 B8 S8 (+2 to all from armour; +1 vs spells from WIS)

Alignment Neutral

STR 13 INT 9 WIS 14

DEX 10 CON 7 CHA 16

Spells

read magic, shield, floating disc, mirror image, esp, mirror image, fly, protection from evil 10’ radius (mu), invisibility 10’ radius, dimension door, growth of plants, wall of ice, wall of stone, transmute rock to mud (transmute mud to rock)

Magic Items

• Broom of Flying
• Short sword +2, Charm Person 3 times a week
• Wand of cold (7 charges left)
• Skin of the Viper Magi (leather armour +2, +2 to saves vs spells)
• Ravenfrost ring (Cold damage heals the wearer by the same amount, instead of harming them. Cold spells and effects never affect the wearer in any negative way)

Strategy

Well the first thing to do to run the encounter decently is to carefully read the page about Morrigan and prepare to defend her position and her job with discussion. If conversation fails to end the encounter, it's time smash the PCs.

With this set up, I can see Morrigan attempting various strategies if conversation with the PCs turns to violence. She can Charm with her sword; turn invisible; dimension door to safety; or fly out of the room and lock the party inside inside with a wall spell, then gather reinforcements such as the harpies or the bear. Or she could just mirror image and then hack at the group with her sword or freeze them to death with the wand.

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Into OSR? Check my other OSR posts and reviews!

About The Frost Spire

 The Frost Spire is one of the adventures that resulted from the Wavestone Keep adventure design contest at Bryce's blog.

It is a 16 pages black and white pdf, written by Jacob Hurst, with real nice art (see pics) by Joshua Alvarado and maps by Dyson Logos.

I've grabbed the PDF and had it printed locally.

The adventure is listed as 3rd level, and has generic OSR game statistics (with ascending AC) which make it pretty much ready or almost ready to use with the usual od&d, bx and becmi d&d rulesets and their retroclones. Treasure values seem appropriate for a third level adventure for such games.

The titular Frost Spire is a floating iceberg that occasionally comes near coastal villages, magically freezing seawater around it and making it reachable from the shore. In order to run it you'll need your group to be near a coast.

Killer art piece and opening text

Avoiding spoilers, the adventure is definitely on the grim-fairy-folk side of fantasy, with children being kidnapped by ancient elves. Theme and flavor are nicely and consistently carried on in the background, hooks, events and dungeon itself.

The first 2 pages feature the background of the Spire, both as a false legend and the actual facts going on; a timeline of events which can be used as a "before" to the adventure or as events that gradually unfold before direct players involvement; a series of 5 hooks; and 4 different encounters that can be played on the magically frozen sea as the group approaches the spire.

All of these are well written and intriguing. My only quibble is with the hooks, which set up an interesting mystery but might require some adjustment or expansion for groups where some reward or perspective of treasure is the only working motivation. For my group, I would probably make the initial legend known to the party, adding some legendary treasure in it, to give them some extra reason to go.

The adventure itself is a 10 page dungeon (with 3 pages of art and 7 of actual text): it's a short scenario that's quick to prepare.

The dungeon is 9 rooms inside the iceberg, with two different entrances, both of which are not immediately accessible and will require some problem solving by the group.

What's cool

What is immediately cool about this dungeon is that nothing is immediately, necessarily hostile. It basically starts as a mystery: what is this place? and, depending on the hook(s) you've used, where are the missing children? What is going on here?

While the inhabitants include harpies, a gelatinous cube, and a polar bear, they are are not immediately hostile (the cube only being released if the PCs upset one of the NPCs). There are several treasures the group can loot, including original and well-themed magic items, and the set-up of each encounter and situation is clear and well-thought, with the players often facing interesting decisions.

Everything contributes to creating the specific atmosphere of "enchanted dangerous fairy/icy place", reinforcing the theme of a journey in fae territory.

And ultimately, the dungeon is a path to the final encounter and the conundrum it poses. The NPCs in the throne room is responsible for the missing children, but her reasons are worth pondering.

Moreover, the adventure states that inside the dungeon time flows differently, and makes it clear that you can use it to shift the PCs forward into the future, as hours inside the spire may correspond to years in the outside world.

What's not cool

Two NPCs don't have game statistics. While it's evident they are "not meant" to be fought, I would still prefer to have game statistics for them just in case.

EDIT: The adventure is so good I've created Morrigan's statistics for Old-School Essentials.

All in all

The scenario is frankly cool, atmospheric and well-thought, with interesting situations, interactive encounters, unusual dangers and rewards. Like Ominous Crypt of the Blood Moss, it's a great short dungeon with a lot going on and with possible meaningful consequences.

And it is also deep, with a final encounter which may become a moral debate, and one which is not obvious. It really is nuanced, and the scenario gives clear instructions on how to play it. The only thing missing is game statistics in case the group's choice is "die you witch!". Based on the scenario, the minimum effort solution for the lack of statistics can be a level 9 elf from your favorite online character generator, but of course I would have preferred the author's view. Still, a very minor flaw in my view.

Into OSR? Check my other OSR posts and reviews!

About Old School & Cool Vol. 3

Old School & Cool Volume 3 is the third installment of Knight Owl Publishing's zine series dedicated to OSR games.

It was crowdfunded last February during Zine Month. I backed the project and the printed zine has just landed here at my place, all the way from Portland, US to Pisa, Italy!

It came in a simple letter envelope, plus a protective plastic wrap. It came in good condition (except for a corner on the cover).

The zine is one of those US formats I can't fathom, similar to A5 but slightly narrower. It looks beautiful. Color cover, b/w interior, good staple binding and print quality, 40 pages of goodness, with clear layout and nice art. I especially like the full wrap-around cover art.

So what's inside?

The objective of this zine is to give options and content for b/x d&d and its simulacra, Old-School Essentials included, to go beyond the 14th level limit.

This is achieved in the various sections of the zines: new options for classes, high level spells, immortal artifacts, monsters, gods who used to be adventurers, and the adventure "Don't Lose Your Head".

First of all, the zine introduces the concept of "level x": instead of coming up with tables upon tables of new level progression beyond level 14 (or lower, depending on class limits), the zine presents the idea that once a character has reached their class' maximum level, plus another xp threshold listed in the zine, they can reach "level x" if they defeat ("though not necessarily kill") a level x character.

Defeating another character is a very interesting concept (yes I know druids already had that) and one that makes progression more interesting than just an abstract, arbitrary xp goal.

Once both conditions are met (xp and victory over a level x character), the new level x hero must choose one of two paths: Ascended or Descended. These two may sound a bit like "good" and "evil" (which in turn is quite close to how the law/chaos opposition seems to map in b/x d&d), but it's not necessarily so. The two paths available to clerics are pretty much so, with one being the angelic healer, and the other an aspiring demigod of undeath. Things are definitely more nuanced for the two paths available to dwarves: the runesmith and the grudge keeper. I like that, as per the rules presented in the zine, the choice is free and not tied to alignment in any way, and that there is no neutral choice between, say, the path of the vigilante and the path of the crime lord for thieves, forcing players to an interesting ethical choice beyond their alignment. . This section, with two paths for each of the seven bx classes, is 10 pages.

Each level x path offers a packet of new class abilities (in most cases 4 or 5), plus of course access level x spells for spell caster classes.

The zine lists 8 arcane level x spells and 6 divine level x spells, described in 4 pages. These are of course very powerful (the arcane list includes a wish spell, for example).

What I like about both the new class abilities and the new spells is that yes of course they are powerful (often extremely powerful), but also that they are not just and not only numerical bonuses, but often give new capabilities. Examples: an elf who's picked the path of the unseely fey can "command any animal, beast, or monster with 10 or fewer HD, so long as they are within a forest". That's one hell of a special skill, and the type of ability that truly changes the game, which is good, in my opinion. Another example: one of the level x divine spells completely restores an undead creature to life, as if death and undeath never happened to them. This, in a domain level play, can have a lot of consequences which can be interesting to explore and definitely may go beyond mere combat.

I like that these new powers, abilities and spells are clearly not mere conversions of stuff from other editions.

I don't like that here and there some rules are not 100% crystal clear in their meaning, or so they appear to me.

I can't be sure these powers and skills can work or will ruin the game with their immense power, but one thing is sure: before players gain those skills, they must defeat an NPC who possesses them, and it will definitely require some very clever planning and group work. Think for example of a grudge keeper dwarf: one their abilities says once they lose half their hp they "lose track of their dwarfmanity" (LOL) and until all enemies are dead they attack at -2 but roll 1d100 for damage! Go kill that guy, I dare you, this is what the zine says, and I like it.

The "Immortal Artifacts" sections presents 22 (again, very powerful) magic items. These are cool and detailed with backstory, powers, and also a corrupting trait and some way to neutralize them. These are very cool and can definitely be introduced as treasure (and game changers, and of course as part of the arsenal of villainous NPCs,) into a high level campaign wether you choose to use the "level x" rules or not.

The monsters section includes ten creatures, such as Apocalypse Dragons, Devil Wyverns, Kaijus, Shoggots, and Ghost Cataphracts (a Ghost Rider inspired undead, complete with a "hellfire flail" that extends to 15'). They range from 12 to 33 HD and of course have very nasty special abilities. These are solid and interesting and, like the previous section, can surely be introduced as mega enemies for level 10+ parties.

The "Gods who used to be adventurers" section (2 pages) briefly describes four godly NPCs, with brief background, game statistics, holy symbol, unique special abilities, and individual art pieces. These are frankly cool, and are connected with the other contents of the zine such as the artifact, but on the whole I'm not sure what's the deal here. Even though they have the six abilities scores listed, based on their statistics they don't seem to be level x characters, but their own thing, so what are they here for? Possible adversaries or allies, I suppose, but the intended purpose is not perfectly clear as it is not stated.

The final 4 pages feature a scenario for characters who "have enough experience to reach level x but need to defeat a level x champion. Characters of less power but great cunning could perhaps survive, but it would not be an easy task".

This is a short open scenario with a city threatened by an evil level x magic user, but also protected by a good level x fighter. It also features several creatures from the monsters section and a couple of items from the Immortal Artifacts section. It could have benefited from having one or two extra pages to make a few details clearer, but overall it seems to me a good example of high level play scenario, which is quite rare. It is an open scenario where clever thinking, diplomacy and political decisions may have a large impact and, while the default approach is to stop the evil magic user, the scenario will still work if the group decides to challenge the good fighter instead.

Overall

Overall the zine is very good, with lots of things that can be dropped into high level campaigns (10+), all together or in selected bits, and I'm glad I backed it! If it's ok to have ogres and trolls in scenarios for level 1-3 characters, then you can definitely put some of those mega monsters (and magic items, and spells) in a level 10-14 scenario.

Print version?

The print version (I suppose the same as mine), alone or with the PDF, is available at the Knight Owl Publishing store, while the pdf alone is up at DriveThruRPG.

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Into OSR? Check my other OSR posts and reviews!

About Cliché Dungeon Design

 I've recently watched a video by a friend and rpg designer who advised GMs to avoid trite cliché dungeons such as the goblin lair cave, the undead crypt, the vermin-infested sewer, and so on.

That surely is sound advice, in general, unless your players are complete RPG beginners. But I feel there's more to be said about those cliché, and more than a little something that's worth saving about them.

I think those cliché, with their list of obvious places and situations, are actually very good, if you don't stop at that when designing your dungeon.

Why are they good? Because they empower player agency by allowing players to have solid expectations of what can be found. If the environment fits a logical scheme, you can make predictions and take meaningful decisions while exploring the place.

This can, of course, become very bad, if all there is to your dungeon is the cliché place and situation. A dungeon adventure should be a foray into the unknown, and the trite goblin cave won't take you there at all, if all you put in it is the same old barracks, kitchen, prisoners room, wolves pen, throne room, and hidden treasure. Such places will make the dungeon easy to understand and navigate, which is good, but you'll need some extra work if you also want your dungeon to be more entertaining, challenging, and engaging.

One way to do that little extra work is to take time to come up with the dungeon backstory. That can be as simple as a three step timeline:

1. Origins: Who built the place? What was the purpose? What's left of the original construction?

2. Distant Past: Who occupied the place in the past? For what purpose? Did they modify it? What is left of their passage? Have they really left? Why? Also: Natural events such as cave-ins and floods? These can create new, unintended paths through the dungeon and have other consequences.

3: Recent Past: Have the current dungeon denizens altered the environment for their purposes?

Let's put this to work with the boring goblin lair cave concept.

1. It was a natural cave. Ok. Vast, with all the usual cool places of natural caves: crystal cave, pools, fungi, chasm. A waterfall too! Or it could be lava... but for this example I'll keep lava out of it.

2. Stone giants settled in! BAM. These 14' tall chaps smoothed and decorated a dozen rooms and of course left a stone throne, five huge stone beds, and clubs made from stalactites. What else? They may have carved the entrance as a huge giant face, or something more subtle, but definitely something goblins wouldn't be able to create. They might have buried their dead in deeper, hidden caves, perhaps protected by magic, and definitely with some big ass treasure. They might have had some stone elemental device/totem/altar, still working now, or needing repair or reactivation.

Why did they leave? Let's say they left because they were attacked. Two of their 14' tall stone skeletons are still in there.

3. Of course goblins changed the environment. They've brought in their stuff and the stuff they've pillaged from farmsteads or robbed from travelers, and set their little traps and alarms, and so on. A mushroom orchard, henhouse, pigsty?

This was literally written in 2 minutes, but now I have enough stuff to make this goblin lair a little bit more unique. They may have found a giant-sized ring which their leader uses as a crown; they may have gathered some cool crystals from the deeper caves; they may have used the stalactite clubs or giant bones as part of their wire traps. They definitely haven't been able to open the sealed, 16' tall stone door to the giant king's sanctum, of course.

Is this enough? If you want. But of course you can go on and make another round at the dungeon backstory, now filling it with details and events you can use to make the dungeon cooler. Some of these I've already come up with above. But what about the goblins? 

This is where you take time to consider the activities of current denizens. Ok they are goblins so yeah they raid farmsteads and/or assault and rob travelers or small merchant caravans. Fine. But also boring! One way to make a better dungeon out of it is to think of specific, special incidents that have happened during such activities and that have consequences on the dungeon.

They might have stolen something unique which, while valuable, may also be dangerous. How about a caged cockatrice? Is it still in the cage, or of course they accidentally freed it and had to barricade a section of the caves? Or... a trunk of alchemical components? Sure they've been messing with it, which may have resulted in some mutated goblins, a proliferation of slimes, or a cauldron full of their "magic potion".

Is this enough? If you want. But of course you can go on. You know what's also missing to shake up the cliché? Some good old conflict for faction play! The goblins must have made enemies, and the mountains are full of dangerous beasts and monsters...

Ideas off the top of my head:

The deeper caves have been invaded by caecilias or frigging purple worms! Those stone giants' totems the goblins have been defacing? I guess their function was to keep those away deep down into the earth! Some still stand, but the goblins haven't figured out why the monsters stop pursuing beyond a certain cave. They've just carved a warning on the wall, like a crude drawing of a stickman (stickgoblin) sitting at the top of a tree, or falling headfirst inside a pipe, or is it a tornado with teeth?

The goblins have messed with the wrong guy(s). They always do. Here's a faction that wants revenge, or their stuff back. You can pick the sentient creature(s) you like from your bestiary, and this is the enemy that is stalking the area, looking for the lair, or waiting for the good moment to attack. Depending on what you pick, lots of different interactions with the party, the goblins and the dungeon may result. This can be a single, powerful individual patiently stalking the cave and killing the goblins one by one predator-style (and it goes straight into the random encounter table); or a group of lesser powerful creatures who were just waiting for a bunch of adventurers to get in and distract the goblins. Very different scenarios here if you go with, let's say, kobolds, neanderthals, or pixies.

Again, whatever you add, take time to consider the impact it may have on the dungeon. The goblins pissed off the pixies, ok, why exactly? Is there something they've taken from them, which can be found inside the dungeon, like a jewel, a prisoner, a magic bough?

Are the goblins aware of the threat? If so, they may have set up specific countermeasures and traps. And signs and consequences of previous battles should be there, including trophies, captured armament, warning posts. Their leader might offer a reward to the party if they can destroy their enemies.

Is this enough? Ok, it really is enough when you think it is. For such a dungeon scenario, you may really want to outline at least two personalities, with their goals, wants and needs. The cliché here would have a presumptuous but kinda dumb goblin king, and a devious, cunning advisor or shaman. You know what? Invert those, then put in a goblin princess who wants to escape and live her life. Or become queen. Or join the avenging pixies. Spend 5 minutes to give at least 2 goblins some extra reason beside survival to tell the party "hey don't kill me, let's work together", or "hey don't kill me, I have something for you", such information or actual help.

This can really be enough now. BUT! One more way to play on the cliché is to work on the reason(s) to go into this dungeon. The complete cliché scenario is the goblins have treasure because they stole stuff, kill them and it is yours. Coming up with something different adds a very impactful layer on the dungeon and how it plays out.

Three off the top of my head:

The group is hired to extract that rebellious goblin princess. Depending on who's commissioning the extraction, and for what purpose, she might be happy to come along, or be part of the problem. It might even be her own machination all along!

One of the stone giants' ancient devices must be repaired in order to stop the swarm of earthquakes that's been going on in the region. Hey, the goblins might actually want to help, if convinced (that's why you also want those caecilias or killer pixies in the picture).

Sometime after the giants' demise and before the goblins' arrival, the legendary bandit king hid one of his seven treasure trunks inside one of the pools of the deeper caves, and the party has found a partial map to it. Now the goblins become a completely accidental problem.

Ok, NOW I think there's enough meat to make a nice goblin lair cave that doesn't suck, while still be made out of a pretty cliché scenario idea.

One last consideration: Prison of the Hated Pretender, Tomb of the Serpent Kings and Ominous Crypt of the Blood Moss are cool dungeon adventures that closely fit the train of thought of this post, as they both start from a cliché scenario type (actually: the SAME cliché scenario type!), but feel very unique and are absolutely cool!

Into OSR? Check my other OSR posts and reviews!

About Prison of the Hated Pretender

 Prison of the Hated Pretender is great short dungeon written and illustrated by Gus L.

It is available as pay-what-you-want on drivethrurpg, and you really have no excuse not to grab it now, because it's a very good one!

I grabbed the PDF and printed and stapled it at home.

The Basics

The 20-page pdf includes a backdrop village for the adventure, rumors and hooks, and the description of the dungeon itself, which has 10 keyed locations. It is "for 4-6 characters level 0-1", so basically a starting adventure.

It includes "universal" old-school statistics which are perfectly compatible with OD&D/BX/BECMI and their clones and pseudoclones. Treasure seems set to values that are appropriate for xp-for-gold systems, too.

It also includes an appendix with 5e statistics which, frankly, I didn't even bother to read.

Art is nicely evocative and the map is really good and included in three versions.

Same goes for the writing style, reasonably compact but very evocative.

The Dungeon Adventure

The Prison is not a dungeon proper, as it is above ground. It's a head-shaped, three-story tower of sorts, with an underground crypt. It's the crowned head on the cover.

Despite the small area, the prison definitely allows for multiple expeditions, because the place is full of interesting stuff to investigate and interact with, AND there's a faction of creatures that just keep coming on and on, until the players figure out what makes them return and how to prevent that, which means a typical group of the suggested level will be forced to leave fairly often, and plan to visit again.

In the 10 rooms of the Prison, there's pretty much everything a good dungeon adventure should have: faction play, possible non-violent interaction with creatures, mysteries to unravel, traps and hazards that are well described in their functioning and trigger and with ways to figure they are there, and treasure that is interesting.

Extra Feature: An OSR Essay on Dungeon Design AND Refereeing

PotHP also shines as an excellent guide of sorts for GMs who want to familiarize with the old-school style of play and adventure design, as each page has a box of text explaining the design approach of the adventure, the reasons behind it, and how to best run it.

The combination of "theory" and playable example truly is gold, and puts PotHP in the same category as Tomb of the Serpent Kings as great "educational" modules (and great modules on their own right).

May D&D Sale 2022: My OSE Recommendations

 DriveThruRPG is having a HUGE sale on thousands of titles with the May D&D Sale, with everything Dungeons & Dragons, from Original to Fifth Edition!

And when I say thousands, I mean almost seventeen thousand. Good luck browsing those! Only considering the titles tagged as OSR, you get the incredible amount of 1980 titles on sale to check!

And to those, we must also add 107 official OD&D/BECMI titles, and 134 AD&D1stEd titles! 

The sheer amount of titles available makes it hard to create a list of OSR recommendations, so this time I'll focus on Old-School Essentials as it is my current go-to ruleset.

OSE Rulebooks

Of course the list begins with the core OSE books, both the Classic Rules Tome and the Advanced rules. If you're reading this, you're probably already a fan (like me), but don't forget sales are a great occasion to spread the word. Tell your friends!

Adventures

Well, the whole Old-School Essentials line is part of the sale, which means you can get some great adventures too, like Incandescent Grottoes or the Ennie award winning Halls of the Blood King, and also the Dolmenwood setting line!

Ominous Crypt of the Blood Moss - A very good 10 room dungeon. I've reviewed it here.

The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford - An exquisite, sandboxy point-crawl adventure for characters level 1-3, very easy to run, with lots of interaction between locations, that I can't wait to run. Just reviewed it!

Puzzle Dungeon: The Seers Sanctum - Another very good 10 room dungeon with, well, a lot of well conceived puzzles. I've reviewed it here, and if this dungeon is a great opportunity to connect your existing campaign to the setting outlined in the best seller Planar Compass zine series which is on sale too!

Hideous Daylight and Temple of 1000 Swords - Two third-party Old-School Essentials adventures by Swordlords Publishing with awesome reviews.

Xanadu - Another acclaimed third-party Old-School Essentials dungeon adventure, by Singing Flame.

Bottomless Pit of Zorth - Another acclaimed adventure, with a slime theme and insane art, for  characters level 3-5, which is a less frequent level bracket in comparison to level 1-4, and makes it definitely worth checking.

Tannic - A just released level 1-3 adventure set in a haunted forest, by Amanda Pratt, that looks pretty cool (seriously, check the preview).

Sourcebooks, Supplements & Zines

The whole Third Kingdom line of hexcrawl supplements is out there, including the great Filling in the Blanks guide.

The unusual A Groats-worth of Grotesques bestiary, which I've reviewed here.

The Delver Magazine zine series, full of awesome random tables, along with its Tavern spin-off.

My very own Lands of Legends zine series, learn more about it here.

The Old School & Cool zine series by Knight Owl Publishing.

Bonus Offerings

For those who feel like reading thousands of pages, the Castle Oldskull Megabundle is definitely worth a look (includes guides, classes, bestiaries and even novels), and price-wise it is the sale with the largest discount.

And if all those sales don't whet your appetite, you can check some free or PWYW titles, such as my own Old-School Essentials e-zines, or the stunning Black Pudding zines by James West!

Axian Library Preview: A new d20 Table of Magical Mishaps

  Here's a d20 table with twenty new Magical Mishaps for your OSR game of choice, wether is Old-School Essentials, Labyrinth Lord, Sword & Wizardry, or any other clone of OE, B/X, or BECMI Dungeons and Dragons.

This is the second preview from the new, alternate Magical Mishaps table that will be included Axian Library. The first preview can be found here.

The full table will include 100 results, to complement the original table from Wondrous Weavings Warped and Weird, totaling 200 different effects!

They are, in turn, a functional part of the whole alternate arcane magic system detailed in Wondrous Weavings Warped and Weird, which empowers the the players of magic users to break the rules of magic, if they are willing to take some risk....

These mishaps have effects that are not "Spell range is reduced by 10%". Who needs these? I don't. I want  actual consequences and the possibility to create fun, interesting, challenging situations that push the game and the story on.

Hope you'll like them!

d20 Magical Mishaps

Roll a d20. If the listed effect affects the target, and the intended spell didn't target a creature, the effect is applied to the caster.

1. A decorated stone fountain appears next to the target, with brilliant water spouting. A character drinking from the fountain rerolls their ability scores. The fountain has a 2-in-6 chance of disappearing after use.
2. The spell creates a magic mouth on the nearest wall. It can identify magic item properties by tasting them, but wants to be fed fresh fruit for its services.
3. An earthquake shakes the ground in a 1d6 mile radius. Unstable buildings and structures (including dungeon sections) have a 3-in-6 chance of collapsing; mechanical room traps hidden in walls, floors etc. have a 3-in-6 chance of getting damaged and stop working.
4. A black disk covers the sun for 2d6 days. For the duration, chaotic monsters gain +1 attack rolls and saves.
5. A tombstone appears next to the caster and to each of their allies, with their names on it. They suffer -2 to all their saves while in sight of their tombstone.
6. The caster vomits a stream of 1d4 x 5,000 copper pieces, equivalent to a breath attack (a cone, 30’ long, 1’ wide at the mouth, 30’ wide at the far end). All caught in the area suffer 1d8 damage (save versus breath for half). The caster may target the breath in the direction they prefer.
7. All creatures capable of speech within 10’ of the target reveal their best kept secret.
8. The spell summons a tyrannosaurus rex 2d6’ from the target. Roll for random reaction.
9. A 1’ long, spiraling horn grows on the target’s forehead. It has a continual light spell on it, which the target can switch on and off.
10. The spell creates 1d4+1 killer bees telepathically linked to the caster and obeying their mental commands.
11. The caster’s eyes become mirrors. They are now immune to all gaze effects and abilities.
12. Stone statues appear next to every creature within 50’ of the target, duplicating their aspect.
13. The spell summons 2d6+20 goats 1d6’ from the target (herd animal, small; 1 HD). Roll 1d4 every round. 1: flee immediately. 2-4: stampede in a random direction (roll 1d12 and read it like a clock).
14. All metal weapons and shields within 50’ of the caster are pulled into a magic vortex, forming an anthropomorphic iron living statue which obeys the caster’s orders. After 2d4 rounds, or if killed, the statue crumbles in a pile of all the weapons that made it (intact).
15. The caster’s INT and STR scores are swapped for 1d6 days.
16. The caster and all creatures within 100’ float 3’ up into the air for 1d6 turns as per the levitate spell, except they can’t mentally direct vertical movement.
17. All creatures of comparable size within 100’ of the target become illusory copies of the target.
18. All footwear within 10’ of the target are magically glued to the ground for 24 hours.
19. All the caster’s prepared spells leave their mind and transfer their energy into the nearest non-magic sword, turning it into a sentient sword. The sword’s INT is equal to 6 + the number of spells drained from the caster’s mind (up to 12).
20. All non-magic melee weapons within 100’ of the target become succulent roasted gigots, with the same size of the original item.

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About Artifices, Deceptions and Dilemmas

 Artifices, Deceptions and Dilemmas is a book by Courtney C. Campbell, of Hack & Slash blog fame.

In short: this book collects guidelines and ideas for old-school games DMs to both create and adjudicate fairly a variety of "unusual circumstances, hazards, benefits, and puzzles, and creating interesting encounters". It is designed to create better dungeons, and to become better at running them at the table.

Is this for you? You may check some portions of the content at Campbell's blog.

The print-on-demand version, which I've grabbed a couple months ago, is a 162 page, A5 b&w book. It is available both as soft- and hardcover, and I've picked the latter as I strongly prefer a solid book. It is one of the few OSR titles that are currently part of the global Best of Print sale on drivethru (and for some strange reason the hardcover costs less than the softcover version).

Esthetically, AD&D (see what he did there?) is a spartan book with a super-simple, one-column layout.

It sports an amazing wrap-around cover art by Karl Stjemberg (aka skullfungus), and a LOT of functional art by Campbell in the Rooms section of the book (more on that later), plus a bunch of illustrations by James Shields.

Skullfungus' incredible wrap-around cover

What game is this for? Despite the acronym, AD&D is a book for DMs/GMs/Referees running any old-school or OSR-adjacent game. Game rules and statistics are barely present, if at all, as the focus of the book is on dungeon design and adjudication. I think it can be of interest to GMs of any edition of Dungeons & Dragons or other fantasy games, if they feel traps-as-hp-tax and perception checks are boring.

So...

Let's break down the content. We have four main sections: Rooms, Agency, Traps, Tricks.

The first section has a set of tables to randomly determine the specific nature of a room. Each of the results of such tables is described in the following pages, where you find more than 100 room types in alphabetical order, from Amphitheater to Zoo. Each room is described in objective terms, with its necessary, functional features, plus a list of possible additional elements, objects that can reasonably be found in that type of room, plus an illustration for each. This section is definitely useful if you like your dungeon rooms to make sense! See the images below for some nice examples.

The second section, Agency, describes the mechanical or magical functioning of a variety of triggers such as pressure plates, switches, latches, levers, and so on. More important, and the reason why the title of the section is Agency, this section describes how to run them in game: what to describe, how to give clues, how to give a reason to players to investigate and interact with them.

The third section, Traps, describes what's at the other end of the trigger, detailing more than 30 literal traps and environmental hazards, from arrow trap to vents & sprays. For each, examples are given to make them unique, and turn them from a boring hp-tax into an interesting encounter.

Where the Rooms and Traps sections deal with physical elements of a dungeon, the last section of the book, Tricks, tackles situations. It describes 17 categories of them, form bait to weirdness, each with examples, plus a two-page guide on how to design them for your games.

AD&D together with its companion book OD&D, and the Italian version of Old-School Essentials 

All in all

Like the immensely popular The Dungeon Alphabet, this is a great book if you want more creative fuel when designing your dungeon. What's more: it gives a lot solid advice on how to design environments and situations that create challenging gameplay in the OSR sense: challenging player skill to investigate and interact with the environment in a meaningful way.

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Into OSR? Check my other OSR posts, reviews and games!