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."

Lair of the Medusa: A Random Level 4 Dungeon Part 1

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

This 25-room level 4 dungeon was stocked by rolling 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 Medusa!)

However, 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. If we want them to level in three sessions (knowing it will likely take five), that would require 16,000 xp per session, or about 2,700 xp per session individually. Players are unlikely to find it all, and some PCs need more xp to level than others, so we'll add a little.

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Lair of the Medusa

1. Trap #1, Treasure #1 (8,000 gp)

2. Empty #1

3. Empty #2, Treasure #2 (8,000 gp)

4. Trap #2

5. Empty #3

6. Monster #1 (Medusa × 2)

7. Special #1

8. Trap #3

9.  Monster #2 (Medusa × 1), Treasure #3 (8,000 gp)

10. Empty #4

11. Monster #3 (Hell Hound × 1), Treasure #4 (8,000 gp)

12. Empty #5, Treasure #5 (8,000 gp)

13. Empty #6

14. Monster #4 (Medusa × 1)

15. Monster #5 (Troll × 2)

16. Monster #6 (Harpy × 4), Treasure #6 (8,000 gp)

17. Special #2

18. Trap #4

19. Empty #7

20. Monster #7 (Rust Monster × 1)

21. Monster #8 (Gargoyle × 2)

22. Monster #9 (Werewolf × 2)

23. Special #3

24. Special #4

25. Trap #5, Treasure #7 (8,000 gp)

Results: 

Monster: 9 (36%) 

Trap: 5 (20%)

Special: 4 (16%)

Empty: 7 (28%)

Treasure: 7 (28%)

Total Treasure:

56,000 gp

Notes:

The above process, including typing, took 45 minutes (10:30 p.m. to 11:15 p.m.)

To be continued!

Next time, I'll write a sentence describing the dungeon and one sentence describing each room, trap, treasure, and encounter.

 

A trap and treasure in the first room. Ooo, I wonder what it is!

Multiple Medusae in the early rooms, then a Hell Hound guarding a treasure vault. Wonder what's in there . . . 

A Medusa, two trolls, and four harpies are all together in the same region, it would seem. That dynamic should prove interesting to detail. 

In a different area, a rust monster, two gargoyles, and two werewolves all nearby; another interesting combination.

At the exit—or alternate entrance—we have another trap and treasure. Hmm . . . I wonder if it could be similar to Room 1 . . . Maybe to gain entrance, you have to leave the treasure alone? Or, maybe you have to take the treasure, springing the trap, and revealing the entrance . . . 

Tune in next episode! 

On Killing Monsters and Taking Their Stuff

"The OSR" is like a tiny parasol held aloft by an elephant. It's too small of an umbrella to do any good. 

However, it's all I have to work with right now! 

What I consider an "OSR encounter" is one that challenges the player's imagination, creativity, role-playing, and critical thinking skills. The less it has to do with rules in the books and rolls on the table, the more "OSR" I consider the encounter. 

As a B/X player, that's what I'm seeking when the GM introduces an encounter. Yes, sprinkle a few pitched battles in there sparingly, but in a game that's billed as OSR, I don't want to roll a d20 back and forth for an hour of play, let alone two, maybe even three. It's usually boring if not tedious, but it can be grueling when the dice are disagreeable. 

Yes, we want to kill monsters and take their stuff by attacking in combat. Yes, we want to explore a maze of corridors using the procedures detailed in the books. However, if that's all we wanted to do, we would be better served by a more robust rules set such as AD&D or a later edition.

Let's examine a common example of a dungeon encounter that can be fun, but I don't want to dominate my time at the table: 

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There is a platoon of six goblins with shields and spears at the edge of your torchlight in this 10'-wide hall. One shouts, "Death to the day-dwellers!" and readies his javelin. 

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A little "fluff" combat, especially in a level 1 starter adventure, is okay—but just throwing dice at the bad guys until their hit points run out is an insipid grind, especially for the initiated OSR player. Rolling dice can be fun, but isn't intellectually challenging, and that's something I want in a table-top fantasy role-playing game. 

Basically, designing an "OSR encounter" is an exercise in making it not just combat. 

Perhaps the most well known example of an OSR encounter is "There's a moat with crocodiles. How do you cross?" Yes, you can fight the crocs, but it can be more fun to come up with all the different ways to get over the moat other than "I hit them with my sword." 

Part of the fun in the OSR is in thinking of things like, "I hunt for wild boars in the woods to use as bait to lure the crocs out of our way."

In Stonehell Dungeon, one of the first "patrol of humanoids" encountered is a handful of kobolds. They're a great, memorable OSR encounter. 

They have mining equipment like pickaxes and hammers. They have no intensions of attacking the players—they just want to pass. Simple as that.

Sure, the players can attack and kill them all. Or, they can devise countless other ways to have a great deal more fun with them. For example, at the price of a few measly trail rations, they make good guides. Only a fool would make enemies when they could make allies!

As another example—only half as a joke—this one is a great OSR encounter from The Caverns of Steel:

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"Three steel crustaceans challenge the party to a dance off, by pointing at them with a claw and then doing a little dance. If you win, you get a loyal metal-crab follower." 

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It's too silly for my table. I'd never actually use it, but it's great example because it shows how a good OSR encounter relies entirely on the player's imagination, wits, and strength at role playing. 

A bad GM will screw this up by making it a contest of CHA rolls or whatever. Ouch. That's the exact opposite of what I seek in an OSR encounter. 

For B/X players, the OSR is "rulings not rules." We "play worlds not rules," and, "The answer isn't on the character sheet." It's a test of the players' skills and creativity, not of their characters. 

Two Tips for OSR GMs

Though I've been an active game master for more than 30 years, I don't like to give GM advice for several reasons. There's so much of it already out there. Everyone has their own opinions. What works for some tables, doesn't for others. I digress. 

That said, I have two suggestions for experienced OSR game masters of the B/X persuasion . . .

 

1. To become a better game master, play the game. 

Yes, being a good GM takes practice, but playing will increase an experienced GM's skill more than running. You'll find things you like and things dislike about the game you're playing and apply that knowledge to your own. 

A "forever GM's" skill plateaus; often, they don't even realize it. If you've been running games and "almost never get to play" for years now, it's likely that you're a "forever GM." 

Forever GMs usually—but not always—run at least a "pretty good" game. However, they're never "great" and they all judge their own ability as far better than it is in reality. 

Forever GM's are the "only childs" of game masters. Don't be a forever GM.

2. Roll a B/X dungeon straight out of the book. 

If you've never actually went through the whole process from beginning to end of rolling a random dungeon from page 52 of the 1981 Basic Set (or page 47 in 1983's Basic Set), you will learn things and you will be inspired. I promise. 

When I start writing a dungeon, if I don't draw my own, the first thing I do is generate a map, or select a blank one from somewhere like Dyson Logos' blog, or Paratime Design. A dungeon with around 25 rooms should suffice. 

I number the rooms if they're not already, then roll on the chart from page B52 for each one in order. Yes, chances are, 1 in 3 rooms are empty; that's because the game emphasizes exploration. Empty rooms help create a cadence or rhythm to the game that is part of the B/X dungeon crawl experience.  

I then roll for all the monsters and treasures. Here's where I gather all the stat blocks and rules mechanics for my GM's notes. 

After that, I go through and write three sentences or so for each room. I try to describe the various NPCs and treasures with one sentence each, no more. Short, concise, sentences help me to actually finish the process. Once I'm done, then I'll get creative! 

That whole process shouldn't take more than a day or two of casual effort. After that, you have the rough ashlar for a B/X dungeon that you can chisel into your own unique design using your creativity.