D&D General #Dungeon23

[gorice]

1/21 — Glowing Chamber (map)

Description: This area continues to require most delvers to stoop beneath a 4-foot ceiling. The southeast end of the central column has pinkish striations that glow dimly in the darkness. (These are actually a type of tiny fungus rather than a mineral.)
Vision: -7 (dimly glowing striations)
Hearing: Normal
Exits: Tunnel northeast to 1/20 — Dauðagrip Back Stoop; tunnel west to 1/18 — Dauðagrip Front Porch; tunnel east (9-foot ceiling) leading further into the caves.

Hazards
Low clearance: See 1/17 — Antechamber for the effects of a 4 foot ceiling.

View attachment 273423

I really like your pragmatic approach to presenting information. I've been trying something similar with my dungeon, and it's interesting to see someone else's attempt at a similar problem. Also, using yards! Do you have a particular system in mind?

 

[gorice]

A bit late to the party here, but I actually started on Jan 1. I haven't posted anything here, and have struggled to keep up due to life stuff, but now that things are a bit more stable, I want to be more consistent, and share some of my work now and then.

I don't use a notebook, but I do have an old blog I've been using. The basic dungeon idea is an ancient city/fortress with multiple tiers or terraces that make up most of the levels. The base level is an open ruin, while the higher ones are more like traditional dungeon levels.

Here's my most recent:

Fortress of Decay, Ring Road

Themes: ghoul lair


R1: Midden

(o) An indescribable smell. A wound in the earth, 30 foot across at the mouth and 90 down to its gloomy end. The lip, bottom and sides are heaped with sun-dried bodies, broken paving stones, and rubbish.

(?) Can be climbed, with danger of falls, snagging, or an avalanche of rocks and bodies.

(?) Leads down to demon lair in L2: Necropolis.

(??) The gleam of a golden helmet, halfway down the midden.


R2: Watch Tower

(o) A stone tower in the shape of colossal entwined bodies. Great bronze doors below; a ring of gaping inhuman mouths above.

(!) Lair of a group of ghoul soldiers with hatchets and crossbows, eager for prey. What they don't eat, they throw in the midden.

(?) Door is barred on the inside.

(?) Mouths are firing ports and lookouts. Give a good view of the city.


R3: 1st Water Mouth

(o) White marble pond with dregs with algal water. A great, open-mouthed stone face looms in the wall, 30 feet above.

(?) A tiny trickle of water stains the wall, running down from the lips of the mouth.

(!) Algal water is sickening to drink.

(??) The irrigation channel inside the mouth is closed by a sluice. Breaking or prying it open releases a flood of water and leads to the 1st Sluice in L4: Forest Garden.

 

[Reynard]

Better late than never.
----------
01.23: Kinder Rooms

These three chambers served as bedrooms for the younger generations of the Alastairn family throughout the history of Parenix Manor. The state each remains in is based on the generation at the time of the family’s fall.

23a: Mithwell’s Room

Access: The door connecting to the hallway and privy (01.21) is locked.

Description: A century ago this room belonged to Mithwell Alastairn, fop and voidmage dilettante. It is decorated in fine lace, silk and brass, interspersed with the strange and compelling baubles pulled from deep below Mornrax Hill. The room is in surprisingly good shape: Mithwell was more than a little fastidious and expended a great deal of time and magic to keep the room clean. The magic has waned over the century, but enough remains to keep out the mold and pests.

Broken hearted Banshee: Mithwell is here still. Their mournful spirit is trapped in their room, crying over the cruelty of their parents and their fate. It was Mithwell who the coachman Arthur desired, and Mithwell loved him in return.
Mithwell is a wailing geist. If mortals enter the room, Mithwell waits until the interlopers feel secure then slams the door closed and manifests: nake save for a diamond necklace, beautiful, androgynous and wrathful, they induce fear for a moment before unleashing their deadly howl. If the characters are able to present the love letters from the coachman’s house (01.06) Mithwell does not wail. Instead, they break down into tears and ca
n be bound to the letters with seance. If so bound, Mithwell can then be sold the Mobulexon in the Chapel (01.17).
Alternatively, the characters can give the letters freely to Mithwell, who will dissipate in sorrow and leave behind the diamond necklace they were wearing.

Treasure: In addition to the necklace, this room contains double the usual number of artifacts/baubles.

23b and 23c: Kinder Rooms

These rooms are similar in size and function to 23a, but do not possess Mithwell’s sense of style nor magic to keep them free from water and pest damage. 23b was clearly a young woman’s room and contains a beautiful silver music box along. 23c belonged last to a cruel young man and in addition to the usual furnishings, it contains a hat box full of cat and bird skulls.

 

[Bill Zebub]

@M_Natas I really like your spider webs. Something else I'm going to have to try to emulate.

 

[M_Natas]

@M_Natas I really like your spider webs. Something else I'm going to have to try to emulate.

The Spiderwebs are pretty simple.
So, I draw first the main threads that anchor the Web to the wall with the 0,05 pen, then I draw the intermefiate threads in between also with 0,05 pen. Then I went over the main lines with the 0,5 pen.
The intermediate threads should bend slightly towards the middle so it looks like that the center of the web is a little lower.
Three to for anchor Lines should be fine.

And today the 0,03 pens arrived. Now I can go more into detail work .

My scales is pretty small. 0,5 cm is supposed to be 5 feet. I saw other who draw at 1cm for 5 feet. But on that scales I would need a full Page for a map and double the time.

 

[uzirath]

I really like your pragmatic approach to presenting information.

Thank you!

Also, using yards! Do you have a particular system in mind?

I’m writing for my main D&D adjacent system, the Dungeon Fantasy RPG. (It’s a genre treatment of GURPS.)

 

[Hriston]

24. This 40’ x 60’ chamber is empty.

 

[Reynard]

01.24: Study

Access: The study can be accessed by doors in the east, south and west walls. A broad set of stairs lead up to the attic cells. (01.29).

Description: With walls dominated by bookshelves weighted down by esoteric tomes and scrolls and multiple eldritch circles engraved in the floor, there is no doubt that this room served as the center of the Alastairn family studies into the occult. In addition, artifacts and baubles from the depths of Mornrax Hill sit on shelves and tables and hang from the walls. Water damage here is minimal and the twisted, broken and burnt remains of smalls pests litter the room.

There’s Magic in the Air: The strange forces harnessed by the lastairn family remain strong in this room. When anyone enters the study, they feel the air crackly with magical power and find themselves compelled to swear fealty to “the master of Parenix Manor.” Any creature that does not or can not is struck with magic bolts originating from the magic circles every minute. This is the source of the dead pests, for even simple animals are affected. Swearing fealty to stop the attack works, but from thence forth the character is vulnerable to attacks and effects created by the spirits of the manor. Should the manor be freed from the posthumous grip of the Alastairn family (see area 02.xx) the vulnerability ends.

Treasure: The study provides a wealth of valuables. First, there are 2d6+6f artifacts and baubles in this chamber. Second, the books on the shelves are a complete library of occult philosophy: a character seeking to use an exoteric knowledge skill may consult the books for one hour and be considered to have mastery for that single knowledge check. Finally, there are 2d4+1 randomly determined magical scrolls among the books. These spells may be cast from the scrolls or copied into a prayer or spell book (destroying the scroll in either case).

 

[Cadence]

Room 69 - Picus Rubro's Workshop

This most-of-a 15'x15' room is usually entered through the ceiling of room 68, and then down the very nice ladder.

All of the woodwork in the room is equisitely crafted. The canopy bad has forest scenes for the post, and the chest at the end has ample storage as well as a slide out chamber pot, and the lid of the rest lifts straight up so that anything on it doesn't spill. There is a large work bench with fine woodworking tools of all sorts hanging from the sides. The wood racks contain both wood obviously scavenged from other furniture and doors, and also some fresh wood that must be able to be found elsewhere in the vault.

Current furniture projects in various stages of finish include a three story palace doll house filled with miniature furniture, an aquarium, two comfortable chairs, a table with four stools, and a guillotine.

Light is provided by ten permanent flames that are in wooden cases that can be shut (one in each corner of the room and two above the work bench).

The craftsman appears to be a redcap spliced with the soul of a really anal gnomish woodworker (maybe sprouted from the blood of a really unfortunate cabinet making accident?). Instead of needing to soak his hat in the blood of victims, he can instead persist by pursuing his craft until his own fingers bleed. He has found that luring or guiding people to the nearby tesseract (see room 70 for the start of it) is often effective at giving him plenty of time to work in peace (it worked with those pesky Derro). Barring that he will happily sell furniture for either more raw supplies, things he can trade for raw supplies, or blood. And if that fails he will either fight or escape through the masterfully constructed emergency exit near the south wall that goes to room 67 (DC 22 to spot visually, DC 18 if searching by hand) and then wreak vengeance later. This door is also how he gets his larger finished works out and larger raw materials in.

Picus Rubro is as a Redcap, but with AC 15 and Perception +4 (due to 15 DEX and 14 WIS), instead of a sickle he uses a hammer and chisel (damage as wicked sickle except the hammer is bludgeoning and the chisel is piercing - he takes two attacks with one and one attack with the other), and he knows the mending cantrip. His most treasured possession is a +1 All-Purpose Tool and he also currently has two doses of Dust of Sneezing and Choking (of which he can make more).

View attachment 273536

Room 67 - Tum-Tum's Guest Room

This very inviting and regularly cleaned 15'x15' room has an unlocked door in the east wall (that can be barred from the inside, STR 18 roll to open). The furniture is all of the highest quality - including the full length mirror of glass over silver, pair of desks and chairs (the north with writing supplies, the south with eating utensils, napkin, and placement), bed with rose colored full canopy, armoire (empty but spacious), and small cabinet to hide the chamber pot and with a porcelain wash basin and pitcher on top. The canopy and matching rose colored rug are nice, but not as nice quality as the wooden furniture. Each of the desks and the small cabinet has a small wooden cup with a handle and removable cover that holds a crystal with continual flame on it.

Anyone carefully examining the canopy will find that there is a 3'x3' empty wooden square made of sticks (like a picture frame with no back) lying on the middle of the top of it. It is decidedly not finely crafted. The Boggle Tum Tum (see 65) has positioned a similar wooden square in each of 65 and 66 that are close enough to use each other, the square on the canopy, the mirror in here, or the picture at the end of the hallway (63) for it's dimensional rift. For pranks, the canopy on the bed can be easily caused to fall or could have liquids dropped through it, and Tum Tum would certainly enjoy waking up anyone sleeping half-way through the night.

The secret door behind the mirror is used by the Redcap Picus Rubro in 69 and is a true masterpiece of construction (unspottable without either going behind the mirror or moving; DC 22 to spot visually, DC 18 if searching by hand). Tum Tum knows better than to let anyone know where the Redcap is, and is very careful what pranks he plays on him - because Redcaps are stabby. He also tries to clean up his own messes in this room - which is decidedly not much fun but helps avoid being stabbed or pounded.

The next room created (#66) is in post #403 D&D General - #Dungeon23 .

 

[uzirath]

First time I’ve tried crosshatching.