Writing an introductory dungeon adventure - need more ideas!

[Moleculo]

This and the last post were actually by Iced Tea so send it to him.

 

[Ed Cha]

First some background information; a guy named Mikael Börjesson began some time ago to translate the SRD's of D20 DnD into swedish, which will hopefully result in a free downloadable, swedish OGL D20-based RPG before the end of this year (you can download what he's finished from his website, if you understand swedish). Liking the idea of the project, i want to contribute in some way, and what i have in mind is a free, introductory dungeon adventure, in which i will try to capture the feeling of the old school adventures (especially the Bx-series for OD&D), aimed mostly at newcomers (in regards to DnD as well as roleplaying in general).

Kudos to you! I always appreciate people who make the effort to bring new players into the hobby. I think it's great that you're doing something specifically for your home country and hopefully your work will help get more players into the game! Let's see if I can help a little bit since I am a big fan of "old school adventures".

I've made some sketches on the first dungeon level (i've decided to have three dungeon levels in this particular adventure), as well as written down some notes on certain ideas i have for it. It will not be the most original level 1-3 adventure you've seen, but that's not the point either. I have some cool ideas though, but not enough, i feel. I would dearly appreciate even the smallest ideas, so if you guys could post some, i'd be very thankful . It doesn't have to be anything big, just an interesting encounter, some plot idea, some nasty trap or whatever. Of course, i will mention your name(s) in the "credits" section in large, friendly letters .

You may want to consider doing a tribute to "B1 In Search of the Unknown". It sounds like you're just looking to write a fun dungeon adventure. In B1, there were a bunch of rooms described and a list of encounters and treasures which were randomly assigned to each room. So even if the same group of players played this adventure again, they would not know what to expect.

You could also try to explain this by saying that this is some sort of a magical dungeon where each time the party enters, the rooms shift around. Or you could keep the unexplained randomness of B1 intact. Anyhow, you need encounter ideas so let's work on that.

What i've come up with so far for this three-level dungeon is this; it will be the home of an old, gnome wizard (not evil, more like true neutral), located under the two-story house of said person. Rumours says that lately, the old wizard has been reported missing, and the adventurers are, of course, not late to "investigate" the matter. The truth is that age finally has taken it's right on the wizard, and upon visiting an old friend, the man had a stroke (or something like that), and was forced to be taken into care by a local temple. Very ill, and somewhat demented, the gnome has got no ways of returning to his home (at least not in the near future).

Okay, let me ask you a question. Are you concerned with realism at all or do you just want to make a fun adventure? If it's the former, then I have to tell you that a three-level dungeon beneath a house is unlikely. Maybe you can find a three-level dungeon under a three-level tower, but even then each level would be relatively small.

Perhaps you could make the gnome's home more like a large estate house and explain that he loved to dig (gnomes like burrowing animals, right?) and constructed a surprisingly expansive dungeon. Okay, but who built this dungeon? It couldn't be just the gnome. This thing is huge.

So, maybe this would help explain some encounters in the dungeon. Is he an evil gnome? I'm assuming yes, since the adventurers are usually good and they wouldn't go into someone's home to rob them unless they were evil, right? Well, the gnome could have enslaved some grimlocks or maybe he's a necromancer and he has an army of skeletons working for him? Undead are always good low-level encounters. Perhaps these could be the dead corpses of his servants who he forced to build the dungeon and then when they died of exhaustion he animated them as undead?

Maybe the gnome became demented and retreated into the deepest part of his dungeon to get to his laboratory where he wants to brew a potion to cure his illness. In his state of dementia, he started setting up traps along the way, but because he's deranged, he forgot how to disable the traps and now he's trapped in the dungeon!

While the party is traveling through the dungeon, they could find clues of the gnome's madness: psychotic notes shredded up in his madness (and left for the rogue in the party to piece together with Decipher Script). So, if the party figures out the gnome has gone mad, they may decide to help him when they find him.

You could pose a moral dilemma by having the gnome still deranged because he left behind a key ingredient for his cure in one of the rooms. He can't get to it now, but if the party finds it they can help cure him. If they don't find it, they'll just discover a mad and violent gnome who attacks them and they may decide to kill him instead of saving him. You could call the adventure something like "Descent into the Dungeon of Madness".

In the dungeon, the wizard's familiarus Trotch is still following the last orders that his master gave him, to protect the place (and especially the gnome's collection of rare, old tomes) from intruders. Because of the strong link between the minds of the wizard and the familiarus, though, the illness and dementia of his master has made Trotch mad and very paranoid. He is defending the household with monsters that he has summoned, traps that he's made etc.

You could use Trotch as the scape goat here. He's the one creating a lot of trouble for the party in the dungeon. However, killing Trotch would cause pain to the gnome. Again moral dilemma.

The adventurers are not the first ones who tries to conquer the dungeons, a large band of halfling rogues has recently arrived and are currently trying to fight of some monstrous spiders on the first level. The band was hired by another wizard to steal one of the rare, magical books from the gnome's collection, and will, at least at first, be hostile to the adventurers, presuming they are servants of the gnome wizard, but they could also be talked into "cease fire", or even some kind of alliance (why go down into the dark themselves when they can let the PC's do the dirty work and then steal all the goodies from them when they get back up?).

This is a good idea, but maybe you could make it that while the party of PCs is there to help the gnome (they were sent by the gnome's friend at the temple), these halflings are pure thieves. They have no interest in helping the gnome and just want his riches. What they find out later is that most of the treasure is fake and they're just trying to survive the dungeon. So, they may decide to group with the adventurers. Or the adventurers save their asses in a pickle while they were caught up in the webs of the pet spiders that the gnome had. So, they decide to help the PCs.

On first floor, i've made two of the main corridors "sloping floors", which will fool the players into thinking that they has descended or ascended one level when, in truth, they are on the same level. I love doing stuff like that to my players .

This is a good idea and sounds very "gnomish".

Another "cool idea" i have in mind is a small zoo/botanical garden on the second dungeon level containing all sorts of plants (of which some, of course, are in fact monsterous plants that loves the taste of adventurers) as well as a small cave with a family of yellow apes (from one of the wizard's experiments). Gardening and zoology was two of the wizard's greatest hobbies, and he loved using his magic to "play around" with mother nature.

Another great idea! Gnomes love animals. Perhaps these are animals that must be kept underground and that's why the gnome built such a large dungeon. In reality he was an animal lover and kind-hearted person, but he became mad trying to create an underground world where plants could survive without sunlight. The potion had some kind of plant poison that destroyed his mind. Now the plants rule the garden and the animals have become mad, too. Some of the animals are not insane though and they are being chased and hunted by the crazy animals to be eaten alive! The party must rescue the animals! You could use a lot of bizarre monsters here like dire badgers, gorillons, and disenchanters. They could roam around in each room providing the "random" encounters you need.

The third level will contain a series of traps as well as some tougher monsters.

So, dear folks at Necromancer Games forums, do you have any more "cool ideas" for me to use in this adventure?

Oh yes, i almost forgot, simple b/w illustrations are also very appreciated as i plan to pay large attention to the "nice look" aspect in this module [/B]

You've got some great ideas and I'd love to see the end results.

If you're looking for illustrations, you may want to post here or at RPG.net for artists but state clearly your rates and what you're looking for. DO NOT ask for free art! At the very least offer to pay something if not very much. Even if it's $5 or $10 per piece, you may just get some people helping you out and it shows that you respect the artist's time and effort though you may not necessarily have the means to truly compensate them for their talents. Many people are understanding when you explain it like this and may decide to help you out.

Please keep us posted!

 

[Ed Cha]

Ack, all that work and not a single comment? I thought my ideas weren't so bad.

 

[Moleculo]

i thought they were good, boggit is on and off with replies i believe (maybe in the process of making it or already made it). posting replies can often be a thankless job but we dont do it for the publicity, we do it for the common good

 

[Iced Tea]

That last post was supposed to be by me sorry for the confusion. my interne has finally been restored so now i can use my own computer

 

[BoGGiT]

Ed Cha: Thanks for your great ideas!

I'm very busy right now since i'm moving to another town. i haven't started writing the actual adventure yet, just writing down ideas and sketching out maps. i can't give you any promises whatsoever on when it will be finished etc.

thanks for your patience!

 

[Iced Tea]

thats cool, i just ran an adventure that brought out the "best" in my little pawns (the PCs). the adventure i ran went pretty well. good luck with your move.

 

[Ed Cha]

Ed Cha: Thanks for your great ideas!

I'm very busy right now since i'm moving to another town. i haven't started writing the actual adventure yet, just writing down ideas and sketching out maps. i can't give you any promises whatsoever on when it will be finished etc.

thanks for your patience!

I just noticed this thread again while skimming through threads I've missed since the blackout here in New York City.

Anyhow, you're welcome! I'm glad to help out with ideas and this adventure sounds really interesting. Hey, if you don't write it, maybe I will and publish it and make MILLIONS! Muahahahaha.

Let us know how it goes and please send me a copy when it's done! Also, don't forget the royalty checks!