Let's Write a Bad Module

[Thornir Alekeg]

Encounter 18.

Beyond the solid iron door is a circular room 30 feet in diameter. In the center of the room is a large pile of treasure, otherwise the room is empty. There is a single door on the opposite side of the room.

Once the party enters the room, the door slams shut behind them and the room begins to spin rapidly. After one round all characters are pinned to the walls, unable to move. The following round the pile of treasure, full of sharp weapons and coins with sharpened edges is also spun towards the walls striking each character for 4d6 points worth of piercing and slashing damage. On the third round the room stops spinning and all treasure from the room falls to the floor.

Treasure: 120 rusty daggers, 32 morningstars, 7180 copper pieces (with sharpened edges), one Tooth of Dahlvar'Nar.

The door on the opposite side of the room now leads back to the Long Hallway (encounter #18). The door the party entered opens to area #19. When the party exits the room, the door closes behind them and the spinning trap resets.

 

[dougmander]

Encounter 19

Concession Stand

After defeating the dorm giants in Encounter 16 and passing through the door that provides egress from the cavernous chamber, the PCs will find a 10' passageway impregnated with the smell of some kind of tasty food. On a roll of 1-2 on a d6, sizzling noises and a faint orange glow shall be noticed by the PCs.

Thirty feet along the passageway, on the left as you face north, is a window cut into the stone that reveals a small area expressly designed for the preparation and serving of food. Behind the window are 4d100+1 kobolds (double this number for adventuring parties above 1st level). The small goblinoids are cooking and selling hamburgers for 10 gp each. Although tempting, these small round patties of meat placed between two half-oblate spheroids of ground wheat flour are actually a trap.

An enterprising troll has quaffed a protection from fire potion and hurled itself into a meat grinder after hiring the kobolds to cook its flesh and sell it to passing adventurers. 1d2 half-hours after ingesting a hamburger, a PC will begin to feel abdominal pain as the troll regenerates inside his stomach and bursts out through his chest 2d6 rounds later, inflicting 1d6 damage. The troll then steals a random magic item and 200 gp from the PC and returns to the meat grinder by the shortest route.

Troll 3 HD, 28 hp AC 6, 1-4/1-4/2-8 damage
Kobolds 1/16 HD, 0.5 hp, AC 10, 1 damage

 

[StupidSmurf]

Encounter 19

Concession Stand

After defeating the dorm giants in Encounter 16 and passing through the door that provides egress from the cavernous chamber, the PCs will find a 10' passageway impregnated with the smell of some kind of tasty food. On a roll of 1-2 on a d6, sizzling noises and a faint orange glow shall be noticed by the PCs.

Thirty feet along the passageway, on the left as you face north, is a window cut into the stone that reveals a small area expressly designed for the preparation and serving of food. Behind the window are 4d100+1 kobolds (double this number for adventuring parties above 1st level). The small goblinoids are cooking and selling hamburgers for 10 gp each. Although tempting, these small round patties of meat placed between two half-oblate spheroids of ground wheat flour are actually a trap.

An enterprising troll has quaffed a protection from fire potion and hurled itself into a meat grinder after hiring the kobolds to cook its flesh and sell it to passing adventurers. 1d2 half-hours after ingesting a hamburger, a PC will begin to feel abdominal pain as the troll regenerates inside his stomach and bursts out through his chest 2d6 rounds later, inflicting 1d6 damage. The troll then steals a random magic item and 200 gp from the PC and returns to the meat grinder by the shortest route.

Troll 3 HD, 28 hp AC 6, 1-4/1-4/2-8 damage
Kobolds 1/16 HD, 0.5 hp, AC 10, 1 damage

This is without question one of the freakin' coolest encounters in this "bad dungeon."

 

[Wystan]

Encounter 20 - Hall of rooms

read the following to the players

[Text Box]
You see before you a 50 foot long hall, on each wall there are 5 doors, they start at 3 1/2 feet from you and are 3 feet wide as follows

___-DDD_______DDD_______DDD_______DDD_______DDD-___


___-DDD_______DDD_______DDD_______DDD_______DDD-___

[Text Box]

None of the doors are locked, and behind each door is a 10'x10' room. In each of these rooms is an orc sitting on a cot picking his toes with a dagger. None of them are armored and they are all dressed exactly the same.

All of them except door #2 on the right are illusion copies of the orc behind door #2 on the right. He is actually a shapeshifted Mature Red Dragon.

R ___-D1D_______D2D_______D3D_______D4D_______D5D-___


L ___-D1D_______D2D_______D3D_______D4D_______D5D-___

Orcs: Hp 8, AC 14, Treasure Dagger
Dragon: See Monster Manual

There is also a door at the end of the hall, but it is not important until the dragon is found. Then it is locked and the thief/rogue needs to pick it or a fighter/barbarian to smash it. Pick DC 20, Smash DC 15

Errata:
This is the exact requirements, the character must have trained as a thief and then a rogue to pick the lock, or as a fighter and then a barbarian to smash it.

There is one other option. A gnome can open the door just by turning the handle. But since no-one ever plays gnomes this is a useless option.

 

[kenobi65]

This is without question one of the freakin' coolest encounters in this "bad dungeon."

Absolutely. Might even be too cool to leave in here.

 

[Samuel Leming]

Map?

You know, a module such as this isn't complete until somebody maps it.



Sam

 

[Henry]

You know, a module such as this isn't complete until somebody maps it.

And the map should be mirror-imaged, as if it the plate was accidentally reversed during the print run.

 

[VirgilCaine]

Then it is locked and the thief/rogue needs to pick it or a fighter/barbarian to smash it. Pick DC 20, Smash DC 15

Is the determination of the first class made by number of class levels or order of training? I.E. is a Bbn1/Ftr5/Bbn2/Ftr2 a Barbarian/Fighter or a Fighter/Barbarian?

Could I subsitute rouge levels for the rogue level requirement or must the character be a thief/rogue and not a thief/rouge?

 

[Wystan]

Is the determination of the first class made by number of class levels or order of training? I.E. is a Bbn1/Ftr5/Bbn2/Ftr2 a Barbarian/Fighter or a Fighter/Barbarian?

Could I subsitute rouge levels for the rogue level requirement or must the character be a thief/rogue and not a thief/rouge?

This is the exact requirements, the character must have trained as a thief and then a rogue to pick the lock, or as a fighter and then a barbarian to smash it.

I have added this as errata and another option that was found on the floor.

 

[dougmander]

This is without question one of the freakin' coolest encounters in this "bad dungeon."

Thanks! I'm home this week recovering from pericarditis and my baby girl was throwing up all night (now sleeping comfortably). This thread has been a real tonic for me; I've been laughing (painfully) all afternoon. And now, back to the task at hand:

Encounter 21

Enter the Dragon

Characters with an INT score of 16 or higher will notice an iron collar around the neck of the dragon from Encounter 20. Pendant from the collar is a small container, shaped roughly like a loaf of bread, but nothing like bread in taste, texture, Mohs scale, or carb points. A small red metal flag is attached to the side of this metal container; the flag can be placed in a vertical or horizontal position. Currently it is set to the vertical position. The DM should ask all players if their PCs speak Gnomish; those who can will be able to read the handpainted letters on the side of the container. If no PCs can read Gnomish, tell them you were just curious, pretend to write down each person's answer, then say, "Who's up for pizza?" (See Appendix G).
The letters on the container seem to spell out a gnomish name: S. E. Timbers. Inside the container, accessed by a gate at one of the flat ends of the container, are one or more pieces of correspondance. Roll 1d6, 1d3 times.

1 = Complimentary cure light wounds scroll from Church of Pelor
2 = Hant's secret plans for world domination, which he mailed to himself for copyright reasons but have been misdelivered
3 = "You have won second prize in a beauty contest. Collect 100 gp"
4 = Junk mail (equivalent to –1 chainmail)
5 = Issue of Size S: the Magazine for Small Humanoids
6 = note from dragon addressed to "Super", concerning "blocked sinus"

In case the same result is obtained twice, reveal nothing. This is essential for maintaining the level of verisimilitude crucial to a successful adventure.

Characters who roll a 1-2 on a d6 will smell pipe smoke emanating from the dragon's nostrils. Looking closer, they will see a tiny porch rocker in the right nostril, still swinging as if it had been recently vacated!. Characters of Small size may choose to explore either nostril. It is highly recommended that players keep a map from this point on.

Each nostril leads independently along a parallel course to the anterior sinus of the dragon's skull. An exit at the back of the sinus is blocked by an invasive species of ochre jelly. A rapidly closing outline of a small figure in a peaked cap is visible in the jelly. PCs can either plunge through the ochre jelly, receiving 1d8 damage, or fight the jelly fair and square.

OCHRE JELLY 6 HD, 28 hp, AC 9, 1-6 damage

Beyond the jelly is the posterior sinus. Read the following description to the players: "You enter a comfortably appointed body cavity, with a handwoven rug upon the floor, a hookah, an ottoman, a divan, a samovar, a portmanteau, a bidet, and a papasan. Perched upon one of these items (roll randomly) is a pale gnome with a proud white beard. 'I am Smirk E. Timbers,' he intones. "And I'm dying... ...to tell you anything you'd like to know about this area.'"

If questioned, Smirk (gnome cleric lvl 7) will inform the party that he has been in the dragon's employ for many years as a custodian, battling various parasites and generally keeping the great beast in working condition. He knows the dragon literally inside and out; but he won't tell the party that the major arteries of the dragon have been infested with kuo-toa, and have stolen most of the treasure items that the dragon had given Smirk in payment over the years.

PCs will notice a trap door in the floor of the sinus that, if opened, leads directly into the dragon's arterial system. See Encounter 22 for more details.