Frostfire's Demise

Tonight, it was my birthday. Had a great day!

It was also game night, Session 43, and players took on Frost Fire, the white dragon. 

We lost two player characters, a C5 and an M4, but the delvers were victorious!

Nine Months in The Sorcerer's Labyrinth

"Gorefest Dungeon" is just what I call whatever I'm running online at the time, but this year, I began designing a multi-level dungeon called The Sorcerer's Labyrinth. The dungeon shares its name with the first level. 

We just finished Session 36. Virtually all of Level 1 and almost half of Level 2, The Undercrypt, has been explored.

The first-level map has changed a lot over the months. Here are some key versions:

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Version 1.0. Session 1, Feb. 10, 2024 

Session 1 was ran impromptu for an open table on the OSR Pick-Up Games Discord server. After calling for players, I generated a map on donjon, but generated the dungeon's content live by rolling on the Dungeon Stocking Table on page 52 of the 1981 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set.

Room 1 was rolled as "Special, Treasure," so I pulled out my trusty ol' "water weird in a fountain with coins" encounter. I blacked out the door in the top left and bottom left of the Enchanted Fountain room, so that strange downward dead-end passage right after the entrance stairs has always had a secret door there.

The area below it, the Statuary was "Special, No Treasure," and I put a bugbear "assassin" in it that hid on the ceiling and waited for players to pass by before pouncing on the back rank. Players were quick to examine all the statues, but never mentioned looking up. It's the second room of a beginner dungeon, so it's a good time to get this kind of procedural conduct out of the way. It's just a normal bugbear surprise roll if players don't say "I look up." It's good to establish how the table handles these common situations like crab spiders crawling on the ceiling.

The area with the sarcophagus on the dais and the burial niches in the walls would later become the Pyramid. I rolled "Monster, Treasure" on the stocking table and then rolled 12 skeletons. Players rolled their own treasure (Type D) live for the last area of the night—and they rolled a stunning, spectacular 11,800 gp total, a Sword +1, a Scroll of Light and Hold Portal, and a Potion of Healing!!!

Before the game, I made one of the skeletons a wight able to cast Darkness. Not knowing how awesome the player's live treasure roll was going to be, I gave it a Staff of Snakes and a healing potion. I called it a Spellwight.

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Version 2.0. Session 2, Feb. 20

Sessions 2-7 used what's now the odd duck of the map versions. That area with the 70'-wide round pit at the top with the floating platforms was going to be a vertical battle map. Still an idea I want to use. The octagonal room in the center was what it is today—a lever/door puzzle—but for some reason I didn't use gate/portcullis doors. Session 3 used map version 2.1, and it had gates.

Players during these early open-table sessions were much more investigative and experimental. They would always try diplomacy first, or to look for a way to circumvent dangerous encounters. Players of the group that formed from the open-table sessions are much more aggressive.

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Version 3.0. Session 8, April 2

Version 3.1

Version 3.9. Session 26, Sept. 24

Version 3 was a real workhorse for the first half of the campaign. I was never happy with that awkward space on the bottom-right (Area 20/23)—never did figure out exactly how I wanted to use it. It was where I debuted my Pitslither monsters: Sarlacc-like maw-pits with lamprey teeth and a tentacle for a tongue. Players never went back after that, so it never did really matter.

Through 26 sessions of play-testing, it was clear what areas were the most popular, and some of those areas needed more room—a lot more room in the case of the Arcane Library (Area 4) and the so-called "Orc Prison" (Area 29).  

I knew I needed more room, so I increased the size of the map from 390' × 390' to 500' × 500' for Version 4.0 . . . 

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Version 4.0. Session 27, Oct. 1

 Version 4.3. Session 36, Dec. 8

Treasure Map I

Treasure Map I is found in the Arcane Library, just to the west of the Pentagram Dome on Level 1, The Sorcerer's Labyrinth. 

I've play-tested the dungeon's first level all the way through, but as I'm running an open-table game, I've had multiple groups go through parts of it three, if not four times. 

The Arcane Library has what's very likely the first "big score" of treasure players will find in the dungeon. 

So, it's of note that this map is given to players very early in the game—most likely the first session. 

For the first level, I wanted to increase player agency for when they choose their directions at intersections between blind passages—a common occurrence. 

In order to make informed decisions—to have agency—players who enter a new, large, labyrinthian dungeon like The Sorcerer's Labyrinth will need at least some sort of information at nearly every turn. Otherwise, it's just "Left or right? Who cares. Flip a coin." Or, "Left for loot!"

As intended, this is a very maze-like dungeon, and there's only so many "Left or right?" hallways you can add distant torchlight, wall graffiti, foot prints, whispers, chitters, glowing eyes, blood spatters, spider webs, broken daggers, orc dung, etc.

Giving a map straightaway increases player agency giving them points of interest rather like town rumors, a win-win in my book!

Gorefest Dungeon Level 1: The Sorcerer's Labyrinth

Ready for Session 12

1 square = 10'

1. Enchanted Fountain. A water weird (serpentine water elemental) guarded coins in the water basin. (Looted.)

2. Statuary. Monsters and people; realistic statues or victims of petrification? (Empty.) 

3. Summoning Chamber. Pentagram will hold summoned demons. Players have a scroll of "Summon Merchant Demon," and have used one here before. (Empty?)

4. Magic Library. Spell books, scrolls, and treasure maps were found here. (Looted.)

5. The Arena. Orcs and ogres—sometimes with a spell-casting shaman. The players have fought lots of bloody battles here. (Empty.)

6. Ruined Crypts. Skeletons (3d4 of them) will rise if grave goods (e.g., a sparkling ring) are disturbed. (Looted?)

7. Iron Maiden. A rotating gargoyle statue presumably protects an iron maiden behind bars. Black sludge drips from the eye shutter. (Undisturbed.)

* No number (north-west corner): The Minotaur's Maze. A minotaur with a golden axe stalks the maze. Respawns: PCs have killed it three times, but not without taking losses.  

8. Bone Guardian: A bone golem with four magic swords (and attacks per round!) guards a set of stairs to Level 2. (Retreated from guardian.)

9. Dragon's Lair. A dragon guards a magic weapon that if drawn, the dungeon will "reset." First time it was a Flame Sword +1/+3. After players drew it, the weapon is now a crackling, arcing spear.

10. (Not Pictured. Players haven't re-visited this area since the dungeon reset in Session 6.)

11. Empty. 

12. Gargoyle Antechamber. On the west wall, a relief of a gargoyle's face with a hinged jaw. Inside its toothy maw: a pull-ring. Pulling it snaps the mouth closed, but operates the gate to Room 13. (Empty?)

13. Rotating Gargoyle. Inside the rotating gargoyle statue's mouth burns a fiery glow. It will breathe fire on anyone lifting open a gate. (Empty?)

14. (Not pictured. Never visited.)

15. Treasure Chest. A treasure chest sits in the center of the room. (Never visited.)

16., 17. (Not pictured. Never visited.)

18., 19. Empty. 

20. The Ravine. (Changed since dungeon reset.)

21. Empty. 

22. Reflecting Pool. Rumor: There are ghostly fish swimming inside the pool. They say they can be caught using a living pixie as bait. (Changed since dungeon reset.)

23. Spellwight's Crypt. Rumor: A spell-casting wight and six zombies guard the greatest hoard of treasure on Level 1. (Undisturbed.)

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Session Log

Session 1

Went through Enchanted Fountain room with a Water Weird and into crypt with 6 skeletons, one of which cast Darkness on the Fighter. Rolled a lot of treasure.

11,800 gp total,  Magic sword +1, Tome of Light and Hold Portal

+2,950 gp/xp each

Session 2

Players killed an ogre and 7 pig-faced orcs ("The Razorbacks"). Captured one orc who led players to treasure and then was let go. Killed two more ogres and got the treasure, a giant ruby. 

+2,666 gp/xp each

Session 3

Fire Beetles killed three characters—Almec E2, Korlan F2, and Sartath, T2—then they went to the Library where they found scrolls, treasure maps, and grimoires.

Session 4

Players opened a locked and sealed iron coffin so the berserk undead inside—a wight—would attack the 8 orcs that were advancing. They then dropped a gate on the same wight like a Rancor in the pit in Jaba's Palace. They met the orc they spared from death in session 2, who then killed Schnozzwald (M1) before being killed by his own magic axe by Blunder (D2). Earning Blunder the title "Blunder the Avenger!"

+1,250 gp/xp each

Session 5

Summoned the merchant demon Zuul. Defeated 6 "Shadow Warriors" to sanctify a corrupted altar, lifting their curses (afflicted at the end of session 4). As treasure, each statue had a glowing Weapon +1: a sword, a warhammer, a spear, a greatsword, a greataxe, and a halberd.

+834 gp/xp each

Session 6

Killed the minotaur in the maze, slew the dragon, and drew the flame sword! Players learned that drawing the sword resets the dungeon. 

+714 gp/xp each (7 PCs)

Session 7

After tricking the water weird in the enchanted fountain out of some coins, the delvers slew some orcs and an ogre led by a shaman who cast darkness. After Korgul was envenomed by a crab spider in the Arcane Library, the delvers hauled back magic scrolls, maps, and grimoires—the same ones they found in Session 3 before the reset!

+650 gp/xp each

Session 8 

A wandering encounter—a rock python (5 HD)—killed Emgrin (E1) and nearly killed Lokian (C1), but with only 1 hp left, Lokian killed the snake! Later, they recruited three retainers—Finn (T1, crossbow, leather) and the brothers Alistair (M1, Read Languages), and Magnus (M1, Detect Magic). The delvers explored until they reached a cavernous chamber with a mist-covered, muddy floor. They were cautious and retreated from the tentacle monster that attacked from below.

+83 gp; +250 xp each (6 shares; 2 for the 3 retainers.)

Session 9

A short session. Players battled the orcs in the Arena, then found a secret passage (in a wall drain) that led back to the Enchanted Fountain room. 

+108 gp; +250 xp (6 shares)

Session 10

The Minotaur of the maze surprised the party from behind and cut down Lokian (C1). Blunder and Sarath returned to town with Lokian's unconscious body, but Lokian's curse kept him trapped inside the Sorcerer's Labyrinth. Down three comrades, the others pushed forward. They arrived at what was the dragon's lair in Session 6, but in place of the dragon was a four-armed, serpentine Bone Golem (HD 6) guarding a staircase to the second level! After testing how close they could get without triggering it, they decided to retreat once they found out! 

+833 gp/xp each (6 shares; was 7, but Cleric is trapped in the dungeon.)

Session 11

Killed 8 skeletons in the ruined crypts (Room 6). Slew the minotaur and sold its axe for the third time. 

+1,250 gp/xp each (6 shares)

Better Shown Than Told

The OSR is a tiny parasol held aloft by a giant elephant; it's too small of an umbrella term to cover everything. That's been obvious for a long time. 

Members of the OSR are divided between those who most enjoy fantasy role-playing games and those who best like fantasy adventure games—or "classic" adventure games (CAGs) to avoid an unfortunate acronym. 

Whenever a B/X player asks the difference between an RPG and a CAG, I always say the same thing: 

It is better experienced than explained; better shown than told.

I could spend months waxing and waning about all the subtle nuances contrasting the play-styles, but the reader's time would be better spent playing and running games. (Here's a perfect Discord server to do just that: OSR Pick-Up Games.)

That said, there are differences in the play-styles beyond a preference for a rules-light B/X or the more complete rules set of AD&D. 

While the Eight Mantras of OSR Gaming apply to role-playing games, not adventure games, the fourth mantra remains true: 

4. The OSR is a mindset, not a rules set.

The mindset of those at the table is perhaps the most noticeable difference between the RPG and CAG styles. 

More specifically, CAG games are of a mindset where "rulings not rules" isn't safe to assume, and I think that's a core difference any member of the OSR who enjoys RPGs will appreciate knowing ahead of time when playing CAGs.

Both are fun, interesting, and challenging mindsets, so rather than write about games, I prefer to run and play them. However, for more discussion on the topic, try the Classic Adventure Game server: https://discord.gg/xakPP2V8yB

The Life and Reproduction Cycle of the Medusae

Medusas who die of old age regenerate by turning into stone. They are "reborn"  with an infantile body when they crack through their own petrified statue's hollow head like an eggshell. 

Incubation lasts a year and one day, the same to reach full maturity. Infant medusas are called "nagas" because they resemble a tiny human head on a serpentine body. Their face and skull is covered in scales. 

They grow rapidly into "newts," sprouting arms from a human torso at two weeks. Buds form all over the newt's scalp and quickly grow into writhing snake tails. These tails grow eyes and develop the snake heads during as they mature into adolescence. 

An adolescent medusa is called a "snipe." It's important to note that medusas don't develop their petrifying gaze until adulthood, though a snipe's gaze can stun. The last thing it develops before its petrifying vision is the menacing rattle at the end of its tail. Until the medusa becomes an adult, it must feed its ravenous hunger by constantly hunting for fresh meat—which explains a medusa's penchant for archery. Unlike adults, adolescents must sleep.

To "hunt snipe" means to search for an adolescent medusa's den. A dangerous quarry, snipe are cunning and alert. They often set traps and defenses around their lair. With a lethal aim, they attack with envenomed arrows from the shadows. This is origin of the word "sniper"—one who shoots victims from a great distance.

Lair of the Medusa: A Random Level 4 Dungeon Part 2

It's fun to roll a B/X dungeon! It really gets the creative energy flowing. One doesn't even need a map!

Last post, I rolled a 25-room level 4 dungeon on the table in the Basic Set, p. 52. The monsters were rolled using a 20-sided dice on the table in Rules Cyclopedia, p. 94. (I rolled a 12 three times, resulting a lot of medusae!)

The treasure will not be rolled randomly. Instead, the dungeon will be designed to raise six, level-4 characters to level 5 once cleared. Cash and magic items will be designed and placed accordingly.

As for placing cash treasure; six PCs going from level 4 to level 5 require 8,000 xp each or 48,000 xp total. We want them to level about every five sessions, so we want the dungeon to take about five sessions to clear, and 5 rooms a session is a good, general, rough estimate—thus the 25-room dungeon design.

This post, I'll begin writing an outline consisting of one sentence describing the dungeon as a whole, the name of each entry (e.g., "1. Entrance"), and one to three sentences describing every entry other than empty rooms. As I haven't drawn or selected a map yet, I'm going to be very sparse on the physical details of the rooms.

This is not meant to be evocative text! This is just an outline of the most essential information; GM notes. After I finish the outline, I'll re-write all the text to bring it alive in the reader's mind.

Below are the first six entries.

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Lair of the Medusa

Areas 1-6

This maze of stone corridors and chambers lays 100' beneath an ancient ruined temple of toppled columns and smashed statues.

1. Entrance
Trap #1, Treasure #1
At the center of this round pit of stairs, surrounded by skulls and bones, is a bronze statue of a warrior holding a decapitated medusa's head in one hand. [Beneath the bones circular bronze plate. Anything stepping on the plate or touching the statue takes 4d8 electrical damage. Pressing both eyes of the medusa's head will cause the pit to descend 100' into the ground revealing dungeon's the hidden entrance—an impassible stone door. The round elevator will raise in one week. By that time, whatever is on the platform has died, thus all the bones.]
Treasure: a small chest of 8,000 gp hidden beneath a floor tile at the foot of a medusa statue. (Treasure Map I leads to it.)

2. Mirrored Antechamber
Empty #1
Mirrors, mirrors, all around; not what you'd expect in a medusa's lair. [These 7'-tall medusa wear porcelain masks that prevent the living from turning to stone.]

3. Petrified Chimera
Empty #2, Treasure #2
In the center of this opulent mirrored statuary is a roaring chimera standing on its haunches that will come to life if the medusa who petrified it is slain—potentially blocking the exit from escape. 
Treasure: Gold and silver decorations worth 8,000 gp.

4. Pit Trap
Trap #2
An illusionary floor in the center of this round chamber hides a cylindrical abyss 50'-wide and 100' deep. It can be bypassed by walking behind the statues surrounding it.
5. Mirrored Walls and Floor
Empty #3

6. Monster #1 (Medusa × 2)
These two 7'-tall medusae wear white porcelain masks and are extremely narcissistic. Trapped in the labyrinth for ten centuries, these immortal women have writhing serpents for hair and scaly green skin beneath their revealing satin dresses. They constantly preen their snakes and scales and can hardly look away from their own reflection. [The four medusae each have a class; magic user, cleric, fighter with a bow, or thief. Their class reflects the enchantments on their masks, jewelry, and equipment.]

Each is convinced she is more beautiful than the other. They ask the players to be the judge . . . "Who is the more beautiful sister? Surely this is an easy test of your veracity."