Category Archives: RPG

#dungeon23 prologue part 5!

#dungeon23, D&D, megadungeon, RPG

With little gaming going on at the moment. It’s the nature of this time of year and working in retail. All I seem to be writing about is this impending #dungeon23 thing.

I suppose thinking about it I should be doing my usual spoiler alert for my adventurers because for sure ideas from this prep and what I produce will most likely surface in the campaign. But I’m not.

This morning I got to a version of the dungeon hook and the d6 table I’m happy with and commit to ink on paper.

The final adventure hook I came up with for a DM to use is a straight rip off from the Bioshock video games. I like the idea of giving the DM a hook that allows them to explore or play with the same issues, plot hooks raised by the phrase in Bioshock.

You can read more about the use of the “would you kindly” phrase here. It’s in that linked article that I came across the following little factoid:

“Before the phrase “Would You Kindly” was chosen, the developers also considered the word “Excelsior”, a Latin phrase for “Over God”, [3] and the Latin phrase “Cedo Maiori” (I yield to a greater person).”

I like these Latin phrases a lot. I think these can be worked into the megadungeon somehow. They will add to the story and history of the place.

You also might find me breaching song copyright on some of the entries. Specifically on the first few with Guns ‘n Roses Welcome to the Jungle. Although you may spot the odd Status Quo or AC/DC lyric as well down the line.

Before I’ve even really started there is a bit of imposter syndrome kicking in, along side an inferiority complex about my poor artistic skills.

While I’m fighting those feelings I think I’m there ready to jump in creating my magnum opus megadungeon for #dungeon23.

#dungeon23 prologue part 4!

#dungeon23, D&D, megadungeon, RPG

This prologue thing is becoming more of a diary thing. But it’s doing it’s thing showing my prep progress, and capturing ideas.

Ideas such as I want a bag of holding as an item that any party in the dungeon can get. But it wouldn’t be me if there wasn’t a twist. This time the twist would be the same one as I wrote about in my campaign prep. Yep this bag of holding would be a gateway for the Bagman.

Another item I’m going to add for the party to stumble upon is a deck of many things.

I also want to use the idea of dreadful incursions as thought up by and used by Mike Shea (aka Sly Flourish). I’ll most likely use a dreadful incursion as one of the options in an encounter table for the level. I have his Uncovered Secrets Volume 2 that has a page of tables that can be used to create them.

I own the Galeforce Nine Tarokka cards. I’d like to use these somehow in this hashtag but I’m not sure how at the moment. I need to sleep on this one.

As the embedded Instagram image shows a new deck of cards arrived that can be used for this hashtag project and also during a regular session.

I’m pretty sure I ordered the fumbled searches deck too. But I’m not entirely sure about that as I can’t find an email confirming I did.

I have been working on the hook for the megadungeon plus a d6 table that can be used to give adventurers a reason to visit the megadungeon.

I’ll be ready to share this bit of work tomorrow.

#dungeon23 prologue part 3!

#dungeon23, D&D, megadungeon, RPG

As the embedded Instagram post below shows I’ve started to make some markings in the notebook I’m going to be using for this year long challenge.

The stuff so far is prep work, like abbreviations I’m going to use to show where the monster stat blocks can be found. Or a kind of index/contents for the levels. The third and final bit of useful stuff I’ve added for now is a checklist for the random generation method and which level it was used on.

I want a dragon in this megadungeon after all it’s called dungeons and dragons. So one of the later levels will be a dragon liar. But how did it get there? I’m thinking a massive deep hole/cave going from the service straight to the level the dragon is on. It will be too steep and deep for a party to descend.

I want multiple entrances to the levels, especially level 1. So I’ve come up with a way to help me make sure that I can align them between levels.

I forget who shared the following link on Twitter but I’m glad they did. It’s a great tutorial on drawing dungeon maps. Couple this with the Dyson Logos tutorials and any aspiring #dungeon23 participant with a modicum of artistic ability has all they need to draw attractive dungeon maps. Just a pity I don’t have any artistic ability.

I have this memory of reading a Mickey Mouse comic strip in the seventies in which there were giant ants.

It was this memory that came to mind when I saw the acid ant in the Kobold Press Creature Codex.

Now I’m wanting to do one of the levels where giant ants are involved. Maybe an ants nest that connects two differing dungeons into one megadungeon.

I’m also warming to the idea that I need caverns of fungi as well.

All these ideas are popping up.

I’m so glad I’m writing these posts to keep track of my completely random thoughts!

Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen A First Impressions

D&D, Dragonlance, first look, RPG

There is the proverb “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”

Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen very much reminds me of this. Not in a good way.

Fans had been calling on WotC to release a Dragonlance book for 5e for years.

And yes technically that is what WotC have delivered.

But is it the book that fans were asking for?

In my opinion it is not.

With Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen, WotC have decided to give the D&D fans a fish instead of teaching them to fish.

Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen is an adventure set in the Dragonlance world. More on that later.

If we are to compare it with previous WotC publications Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen sits on the shelf along side previous WotC adventures such as The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, etc.

The majority of Dragonlance fans were hoping that WotC would give the setting the same sort of love that Eberron got with the Eberron Rising from the Last War. Whilst avoiding the poorly thought out, content light Spelljammer effort.

Why did I get Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen?

For me Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen will provide me with fifth edition bits such as kender species details for players, classes, monster stats, magic items, etc. that I can then use with another recent arrival.

That recent arrival being the D&D 3.5 Dragonlance Campaign Setting book.

A combination of the two should allow me to run a homebrew Dragonlance campaign with a reduced work load running it in 5e.

Before ordering this edition of Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen I did watch and listen to some previews by those content creators deemed safe hands by WotC.

Yes I’d prefer the Lord Soth store exclusive cover. But not enough to warrant driving to my FLGS and the addition cost to get it.

But the major decision was between the adventure itself or all that comes in the (not cheap) deluxe edition.

Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen can be played in conjunction with the Dragonlance boardgame WotC have released at the same time. In the deluxe edition you get both the adventure (this has a third cover) and the boardgame, plus a DM screen exclusive to the deluxe edition.

At certain points in Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen you have the option to switch to the boardgame to play out the battle instead of taking part in a local level “skirmish” of the bigger battle.

Obviously the opinions about the boardgame were from those more into ttrpgs. However the overall consensus that I saw/listened to was that the boardgame didn’t add much, took too much time, and that the “skirmishes” were lots of fun.

The DM screen didn’t sweeten the deal, or seem attractive enough to tempt me. Hopefully WotC will see sense and release this separately in the future.

The adventure itself (see told you I’d do more later) is set at the start of the War of the Lance, in Solamnia. It will take a party of four to six adventurers from first level to eleventh as they get involved in trying to defeating the invading Dragon Armies of Takhisis the Dragon Queen.

The story/adventure is told over six chapters. Although if you want to get technical it’s really five chapters.

The first chapter is actually a pick and match from three encounters that are designed to introduce characters to the world of Krynn. Which ones you run really depends on the make up of your party playing the game.

I’m not going to describe the plot, I’ll let you discover that if you get the book. However I will tell you about the bits I plan to use in my homebrew stuff, and bits I like the look of.

In the first real chapter of the adventure is a fishing contest. It’s not complicated and something I think I can reuse not only as a competition but also as rules for fishing if a party want to fish for their dinner.

I like the look of the battlefield encounters (also introduced in the same chapter as the fishing contest). I like how the actual battle is abstracted out and the party are thrust into a potentially tide-turning encounter. The edge of the encounter map is called the fray and what happens if a character enters this zone changes depending on the encounter. Entering the fray is not good.

What would be great for this adventure is a map pack of the battle encounters that could be used with the players. The maps in the book are so small.

The regular dungeon maps are fine, and there are a few I can reuse in my own stuff for sure.

I like the hex crawl that’s introduced. It wouldn’t be too much effort to reuse this for my own purposes. Once again though, the map for this could be larger. Even the player friendly one is too small. I think this is going to be a general comment on the included maps. Especially the ones that show a lot of area. I find it hard this wasn’t picked up or commented on by an editor/reviewer.

There are the usual appendices, items, monsters, magic items, and now sidekicks. Plus a page or two of some concept art. Plus a couple of maps, and a pull out map.

Reading the adventure it feels epic in scope. I want to say Rogue One like. Hats off to WotC on trying something different by tying the adventure to the boardgame for that battlefield armies clashing experience. Although I’m disappointed they didn’t do something along the lines of MCDM’s Kingdoms and Warefare rules. Although the battlefield encounters are a nice compromise that give that cinematic feel to the battle where we are focusing on what our heroes are doing.

I hope this first look/initial impressions has helped anyone stumbling upon this post.

#dungeon23 prologue part 2!

#dungeon23, D&D, megadungeon, RPG

This prologue post is going to focus on me recording how I plan to approach the challenge that #dungeon23 is.

Each month I plan to use a different method to randomly generate the rooms for that level.

Currently sources for generating the random levels are:

  • DMG – Appendix A: Random Dungeons
  • Tome of Adventure Design
  • Axebank’s Deck of Many Dungeons
  • Map & Dice Playing Cards
  • D&D Dungeon Geomorphs
  • A random map generator that uses a rubrics cube! (Forget source of this at mo)

So just basic maths dictates that each of the above will be used twice through out the duration of the hashtag.

I also plan to do a similar thing when it comes to populating the megadungeon, swapping between the sources I have (I’m not going to list them all here when they are already listed in a previous post, plus I’ve ordered the kobold press Creature Codex), I’m also going to use the monster generator rules by the Lazy DM.

When I do use the Lazy DM stuff I’m not sure what I’ll come up with. What I do know is that some of the creatures will be unique, some will be dire versions of existing monsters, or even undead/elemental versions. I intend to explore all the Lazy DM ways of creating “new” creatures.

D&D 5e has tiers of play (see below) which I think will impact the creation of the megadungeon.

  • Tier 1 (Levels 1-4): Local Heroes.
  • Tier 2 (Levels 5-10): Heroes of the Realm.
  • Tier 3 (Levels 11-16): Masters of the Realm.
  • Tier 4 (Levels 17-20): Masters of the World.

Four tiers, 12 months. Every three months will cover a tier of play.

Logic dictates that the first three levels will take a party of heroes from level one to level four. And so on.

I’m going to try and stick to tier appropriate creatures to populate the current megadungeon level. But if a more powerful creature makes more sense then I will use it.

When I refer to creatures in the notes for the dungeon I’m going to use creatures name, then in brackets source. I.e. Goblin(PHB) or Fire Ant (CC).

When it comes to the Lazy DM generated monsters I’m not sure how I’ll record the stat blocks. I might use the Arcane Library templates for that. Has the advantage I can easily use them elsewhere, and share them easily with others.

I’m not going to use dates to label rooms to their descriptions. Instead I’m going to use a week/day format. 1/3 would be week one, day three.

In the previous post I said I liked the idea of using supernatural environments from Tasha’s. But the section on Magical Phenomena also inspires me. Particularly the Magic Mushroom, Enchanted springs, and Emotional Echoes sections. Although the Mimic Colony sounds pretty cool to throw in there somewhere.

I think the Tasha’s bits will help tell a story in the dungeon. To impart some of its history.

These are some of the thoughts I have at the moment that I needed to record before I forgot them. As usual none of the above is binding, things change. Or as the Jack Reacher goes “Plans go to hell as soon as the first shot is fired.”

I’m sure there will be a new post pretty soon.

#dungeon23 prologue part 1!

#dungeon23, D&D, megadungeon, RPG

This prologue and it’s follow up parts will look at my prep, thoughts, research, for getting ready to jump in and start creating my contribution to the dungeon23 hashtag.

In this opening post I’m going to look at the Dungeons chapter starting on page 50 of Izirion’s Enchiridion of the West Marches (IEWM). I should point out this will not even be close to the sort of in-depth discussion The Tome Show did on the chapter as part of their look at the book. The focus here is totally different.

Oh and before I start a small disclaimer. Later posts may contradict what I’ve written here. None of what I’m writing is set in stone. These are ideas, and things will change as I read more, and even as the dungeon develops.

In IEWM they say creating dungeons revolves around the following three essential questions, “what’s the hook? Second, how is difficulty telegraphed? And third, what do they learn?” (Page 50)

The Hook

This is probably going to be my hardest bit to come up with.

I want to produce a megadungeon that is setting independent. That could be dropped into any D&D 5e setting.

IEWM defines the hook as “…that which draws the player in; the obvious, noteworthy, easily-visible thing that captures the players’ attention.” (Page 50)

It then goes on to say that the hook should be “… intriguing, noticeable, and mysterious. The hook is to lure players to the dungeon, to tempt them with dangers and riches within, and to keep it on their minds when planning missions.” (Page 50)

It’s a lot of pressure to come up with a hook that lives up to those criteria.

My current thinking is about a mysterious evil force gathering forces into their service, subjugating nearby towns and villages.

How Is Difficulty Telegraphed?

“…it is important that a dungeon telegraph its difficulty, and do it early.”

My early ideas since learning of this hashtag and deciding to participate was to start off with the Prismatic Owl puzzle. Which would effectively lock any party of adventurers in the dungeon until they solve it.

However IEWM says the following about locking players in. “While locking players in dungeons might seem an exciting challenge, it is arguably the most dangerous trap of all, as it means that if they misjudged the dungeon’s overall danger, they are more than likely doomed.”

So although I really want to use this puzzle I think the plans of when to use it need to be reconsidered.

Which leaves me with the question “just what level am I pitching this megadungeon?”

What Do They Learn?

“…dungeons should not only pose challenge and reward loot, but also illuminate secrets”.

This bit is all about using the dungeon to not only tell the story of the dungeon itself, but also to foreshadow or telegraphing using the authors words, threats.

In the book they ask us to “…consider what information is implicit in its physical creation” or that “…many dungeons can provide other, more direct sources of information. Scrolls and writings, reliefs and carvings, prophecies and decrees—all can be found in dungeons, and thus all can provide insight into the world.”

This post about “Megadungeon Lessons from the Pyramids” gives some great ideas.

All the above adds up to making “empty” rooms more interesting and useful.

Types of Dungeon

Next IEWM has us consider the type of dungeon, and provides a table of suggestions,

“Often, the best starting place in designing a dungeon is to consider the dungeon’s original purpose, which may still be its current purpose. This in turn informs how the dungeon itself should be designed.”

“…which your players will be able to narratively access the history and legacy of your setting.”

Obviously the type of dungeon plays a big part in telling the story of the dungeon.

I like the idea starting off with one dungeon type then transitioning into one of the other types. Each new type adding to the narrative that the dungeon itself is telling.

The dungeon type I’m thinking of starting with is a temple or similar that is being used to recruit followers.

The rest of the chapter expands on various elements such as difficulty, tier levels, etc.

Obviously being a megadungeon it will have tiered levels, each being tougher more challenging than the previous.

IEWM sees the dungeon as something a party of adventurers will return to on multiple occasions. Each time getting deeper into it.Having to “deal with the dungeon in chunks.” It also discusses Persistent Dungeons. An idea I like a lot.

Another idea that I’m keen to explore in this hashtag and discussed in IEWM is Treasure Rooms as Narrative. “The best-designed treasure rooms are oddities, exceptions, and anomalies to the normal story of the dungeon. They should be strange, intriguing, unusual, and, above all, tempting.”

The questions IEWM gets you to consider are most definitely ones I need to think about not only before I start but during as well.

In the next post I’ll revisit the hook but in the light of one of my other references.

#dungeon23 Stuff I’m A Usin’

#dungeon23, D&D, megadungeon, RPG

Thought I’d put in one place the stuff I’m planning on using/referring to through out this year long challenge.

  • DMG – Appendix A: Random Dungeons
  • The Dungeon Alphabet by Michael Curtis
  • Tricks, Empty Rooms, & Basic Trap Design by Courtney C. Campbell
  • Wally DM’s Journal of Puzzle Encounters by Dominic L. Wallace – a source of puzzles to inspire and use.
  • Tome of Beasts 2
  • Monster Manual
  • Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse – saves me having to look through two other source books, Volo’s Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes.
  • Izirion’s Enchiridion of the West Marches
  • Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything – I like the idea of using the Supernatural Regions and Magical Phenomena from Chapter 4 for parts of the dungeon.
  • Tome of Adventure Design by Matthew J. Finch
  • Lazy DM’s Workbook by Mike Shae
  • Axebank’s Deck of Many Dungeons
  • Map & Dice Playing Cards by Inked Adventures
  • D&D Dungeon Geomorphs from DM Dungeon Kit

The above list isn’t exhaustive because it does not include stuff ordered Friday that has not arrived that just might be useful in this challenge.

Now for the “practical” bits.

  • Ed Ember let’s Drawing Book Make A World
  • Nicpro 2.0 mm Mechanical Pencil Set
  • APOGO Fineliners Black Pens
  • A5 Moleskine Classic Dotted Paper Notebook, Soft Cover
  • Jakar Metric Templates – Radius Master – basically a stencil for drawing circles!

#dungeon23 – A dungeon room a day for all of 2023

#dungeon23, D&D, megadungeon, RPG

So yesterday on Twitter I saw a new hashtag that caught my interest. Just what was #dungeon23? Was it what I thought it’d be?

Obviously my thoughts were towards the more innocent geeky interpretation that it was to do with D&D somehow, and not some sexual fetish.

I was relieved to find that it was indeed to do with ttrpg (not specifically D&D).

Apparently #dungeon23 came about from a tweet by the designer of the ttrpg Mothership, Sean McCoy (see below).

This tweet was followed by a couple of tweets of advice/information.

This caught the imagination of like minded folks, and “Sala-gadoola-menchicka-boo-la Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo” all of a sudden there is a trending hashtag.

With the growing interest in #dungeon23 Sean wrote a blog post expanding on the idea and giving more pointers.

Luckily I’ve come across this early enough to jump on the bandwagon.

Obviously and luckily for you I’m not going to do a daily post on here.

However I might share a daily photo of my journal on Instagram, with maybe a weekly summary post on here.

I’m not going to use the “fancy” Japanese journal that Sean is using (even if Amazon had one at time of writing).

Instead I’ve ordered a Moleskine Classic Dotted Paper Notebook, Soft Cover and Elastic Closure Journal (it’s just a tad cheaper) and some Black Fineliner Art Pens (to make my art look even crappier).

But I still need to fill it.

Luckily there is plenty of great advice on sources of inspiration.

Then I remembered Kelsey of Arcane Library and one or two of her posts/videos on generating ideas for an adventure.

She used the Tome of Adventure Design. Which I own a copy of.

Plus I wrote a post embedding Kelsey’s videos a while back now. Which you can bet I’m going to go back and rewatch.

Izirion’s Enchiridion of the West Marches has some great advice about dungeon design/creation.

There are definitely tables in the Lazy DM Workbook and Companion that will be of use.

I have the official D&D geomorph tiles that came with the Dungeon DM kit. Plus the two decks of cards for generating random dungeons. So I could use these as the dungeon layout to use, and each day populate a room.

On the way to me are more decks of cards that allow the random generation of bits and pieces that players come across in dungeons. Which can be used to populate the dungeon.

Unlike I think most doing this hashtag I will be aiming to create my megadungeon for D&D 5e. Which means I can also use the recent addition to my DM library Wally DM’s Journal of Puzzle Encounters. Which will most definitely influence some of the design. In fact I suspect my entrance will use the first puzzle from it!

I know some online have started this already but I’m going to start in the New Year, however that may come forward.

But starting in the New Year does allow me time to read a bit, get familiar with Appendix A again, and stuff arrive.

Until the next post…

D&D Grp 2 Session 11 Planning #7

con DM/GM, D&D, D&D Grp2, DM/GM Tips, flgs DM/GM, one shot, RPG, session planning, taster

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one. REMEMBER you have been warned.

Ok technically this isn’t for session 11, but then again the Bagman stuff isn’t possibly either. But these are notes for me to look back on when planning future sessions in the campaign so I don’t forget.

So there I was watching a YouTube about what other DM’s have in their DM kit and I came across the this one by Wally DM.

In it he mentioned that along with the Monster Manual he also includes a copy of his book Wally DM’s Journal of Puzzle Encounters.

“That sounds interesting”, I thought to myself.

So I googled it.

Which lead me to DriveThruRPG (which did not like me trying to log in using my Facebook details, which is how I normally do it!)

After watching the review embedded on the books page I purchased the pdf of the book (I’ll get a printed copy payday).

What sold me was the very first puzzle mentioned in the review using a stone statue of an owl and gems. It reminded me very much of puzzles from an early fps. I wanted to use this.

The Prismatic Owl puzzle (depicted on the cover) as it’s called in the book is one I will be printing out and adding to my folder for new players! It won’t work with Matt Colville’s The Lost Tomb of the Delian Order. But it could work with Frank Mentzer’s Dungeon, or some other maps I have in my DM folder ready to be called upon (you might like this Sly Flourish article on the subject), even maps generated on the fly using the cards/geomorphs I have would work with it.

It’s also something you could use when running a one shot at a con or FLGS.

I will definitely be using it at the first opportunity with my current campaign.

As I work my way through the book I’m pretty sure there will be more than a few puzzles I’ll want to use in the campaign.

D&D Grp 2 Session 11 Planning #6

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one. REMEMBER you have been warned.

Didn’t think I’d be posting about this so soon. But my friend Colin did a blinder.

I thought I’d get the model of the Bagman at the next Fenland Gamers club night in two weeks time. There was no way I thought I’d gave it last night. The same day I asked if Colin could print it. He DID!

Bagman

Looks like the party will be receiving a bag of holding sooner than later.

I am leaning towards the troll stat block. The art of the two looks so similar.

However I could take that stat block and use the Lazy DM Companion to adjust it to something more “challenging” for the party and fitting the Bagman. Could the Bagman be a dire troll?

Or I could use the Monster Generator from the Uncovered Secrets Volume 2 (aka Lazy DM Companion Volume 2) to generate a quick and dirty stat block.

There is a bit of advice that does need baring in mind when coming up with the stat block from a Dragon+ interview with the creator of the Bagman.

“Stephen felt that bagman should be an entity with high Stealth,
because nothing’s more disturbing in a horror movie than when something horrible is in the background and the main characters don’t see it.”Dragon+ issue 37, https://dnd.dragonmag.com/2021/04/21/in-the-works-van-richtens-guide-to-ravenloft-2/content.html[8/19/2022 7:05:37 AM]

That same interview gave an interesting plot hook to explore as well.

“And like an evil parasite, it was committing atrocities while you and the party were asleep in the towns you were visiting? The party might think they’re following a murderer but in reality they’re bringing this killer with them and they’re the problem!
And what if the party becomes paranoid that it’s one of their number who is doing this? Maybe this sneaky, evil being realizes that one of the party members is figuring it out so it decides to try and take them into the bag one night.” Dragon+ issue 37, https://dnd.dragonmag.com/2021/04/21/in-the-works-van-richtens-guide-to-ravenloft-2/content.html[8/19/2022 7:05:37 AM]

In the meantime I feel inspired to paint a mini!