Saturday, April 23, 2022

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!

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Dragons for My Current Game: Xagoranth of the South

 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.

The first post 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 hoped 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 is 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.

The first dragon I detailed in this post.


I've also added The Seers Sanctum, putting it on a not-so-pleasant islet in the middle of a lake.


Here's what I got for the dragon in the swamps south of Fortana:

Xagoranth

Black Dragon, Old, Male


Armour Class     2 [17]

Hit Dice                 8** (36hp)

Attacks [2 × claw (1d4 + 1), 1 × bite (2d10), sharp horns (2d10)] or breath

THAC0                 13 [+6]

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

Saving Throws D8 W9 P10 B10 S12 (8)

Morale                 8

Alignment Chaotic

XP                    1,750

Breath weapon: 60’ long line of acid.

Secret weakness: Music scares, irritates or disgusts the dragon, who must make a Morale check if confronted with it.

Language and spells: Intelligent (INT 10). Speaks Draconic, Common, and 1 more language. Spells: 3 × 1st level.

Spells: 

  • Level 1: Floating Disc, Charm Person, Read Languages

Sleeping: 20%. 


Motivations and Desires: Survival, greed, pride, paranoia (Halved chance of sleeping; -1 to THAC0 due to tiredness; both included above). Current desire: Wants another dragon dead. Of course, why not Korgathix?

Treasure

  • total value 120,000gp
  • 60,000gp
  • 30,000pp
  • Sword +1
  • Sword +1, +2 vs spell users
  • Plate mail + 1
  • Shield + 2
  • Potion of Healing
  • Potion of Delusion (seems a Potion of Giant Strength)
  • Spell scroll (esp, web, wall of ice, floating disc, feeblemind)
  • Spell scroll (speak with animals, continual light (continual darkness), cure disease (cause disease), sticks to snakes, purify food and water)
Origin of the treasure: It is the accumulation of tributes of enslaved or defeated humanoid tribes. Obviously the dragon stole better part of Frindil's family treasure (see below).

Allies, Enemies, Adventure


Allies:  1 Cyclops, Oggamar
Ok this guy probably lives with the dragon.
Their treasure:
  • 4,000ep
  • 5,000gp

Allies:  30 Brigands, with their leader Fargan (level 2 fighter with plate mail, sword, lance).
Their camp is in the same hex as the dragon's lair. Fair weather friends.
Their treasure:
  • 6,000cp
  • 1,000sp
  • 10,000gp

Enemies: 21 Dwarves, with their leader Frindil
They live in a mine in the hills north of the swamp. They moved to their current home about two years ago, and were attacked by the dragon who took a lot of their heirloom and slay half of their group. Of course they hate him and would gladly join an expedition to kill him (or at least recover their enchanted swords and armor).
I'll also consider these to be the cousins of the three dwarves in the Brandonsford scenario, because connections are good.
Their treasure:
  • 40,000gp
  • gem (50gp)
  • 7 × gems (100gp)
  • gem (500gp)
Frindil, level 3 dwarf leader:
Armour Class 2 [17] (plate mail + shield)
Hit Points 14
Attacks 1 × hand axe (1d6)
THAC0 19 [0]
Movement Rate 60' (20')
Saves D8 W9 P10 B13 S12
Alignment Lawful
STR 9 INT 7 WIS 10
DEX 9 CON 9 CHA 10

Adventure Hooks:
  • The dragon’s enemies are willing to pay 4,000gp to have it baited out of its lair for one hour. I swear I rolled this one. It's perfect with Frindil's dwarves!
  • Xagoranth wants Korgathix dead.
    • He may trade information about his lair, allies and enemies in order to save his life.
    • Xagorath may send his brigand allies to hire dragon-slayers.
  • A local noble is looking for “trusted helpers” to join his dragon slaying expedition, but actually wants them to defeat the dragon for him, while he waits outside the lair and subsequently takes all the glory and fame for himself.

Lair: A ruined temple in the swamp.

I'll set this as serpent-themed, to continue the theme of the Tomb of the Serpent Kings. Ah, I might as well add a map to the temple among the treasures of the tomb, with a secret passage by-passing the magic ward (see below). 

  • The temple is on an islet in the middle of a mire about 4' deep.
  • Entrance is magically warded and requires the magic word "Saranta", only known to the dragon and the silly cyclops Oggamar.



Wednesday, April 13, 2022

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.



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