Dungeon Magazine 1 - Part 1

Spoilers for the adventures within…

The first issue of Dungeon appeared in 1986. I find it really fascinating to examine and see elements that are still part of publications of the past several years and even now in En5ider. This magazine, unlike its elder sister publication, Dragon, is noted to be providing adventure modules. This is principally the reason that I am most interested in examining this publication throughout its history and recording my thoughts; after all, modules are the easiest content to use in any edition or even other fantasy RPG. It’s important to note that I’ll be spoiling most of these adventures. So if you plan to ever play any, then maybe duck out.

The idea behind the magazine too is interesting—encouraging readers playing the game to submit their own adventures for publication. Of course, it’s noted that they become property of TSR once submitted—hence why we still see Dungeon modules crop up in official D&D products from WOTC. It’s also noted that the magazine will be bimonthly at this time.

I love the cover art by Keith Parkinson, which references one of the adventures within. This is what I imagine when I think of a dragon hoard. Indeed, one so large that it is essentially impossible to carry all of it at once.

The letters to the editor are also fun. They are very reminiscent of social media comments. It’s interesting to see how the more some things change, the more others remain the same.

The first adventure of the new publication is The Dark Tower of Cabilar, by Michael Ashton and Lee Sperry. It’s noted that these two are college students in a brief biographical paragraph—I don’t know that many modern, even amateur, designers fall into that demographic now—would be cool to see again. The module is quite substantial too, taking up fourteen pages of the publication. It is designed for 4-8 AD&D characters of 4-7th level.

The adventure set up is rather elaborate in backstory, but gameplay starts with a hard cut to the dungeon. I like the backstory though, as it’s a generic enough story to adapt to any setting. Briefly, a city’s king and city council were assassinated by an evil spellcaster, but the prince was saved along with the crown. The crown was stolen by a vampire who happens to live in the evil spellcaster villain’s former lair. The adventurers are tasked to retrieve the crown to establish the prince’s legitimate claim. 

Some odd bits of design include making saving throws for wooden ledges with modifiers based on adventurers’ encumbrance. Another is a d10 roll to determine how many firedrakes are in an area of effect spell—an interesting idea for randomizing theater of the mind combat. I’m not a hundred percent on board with the dungeon design. Entering involves climbing or flying up to the top and then going down, with the main chambers under the town in a three level dungeon. While reminiscent of the Tower of the Elephant, this design feels a bit contrived. There’s also odd omissions—like a door in room nine, described in the read aloud text, which doesn’t seem to lead anywhere or be referenced any further in the room description. Finally, it’s interesting how the HP for every single monster is individually specified. Even the weapons load outs for a band of orcs is laid out in a table.

It is certainly an example of a fun house dungeon, with touches like exploding books with no save for the damage, and more. It would be fairly easy to run using 5e, and probably even easier with Shadowdark. I don’t know if the dungeon is to my taste in some aspects, but I like the overall framing for the story.

The next adventure is Assault on Eddistone Point, by Patricia Nead Elrod, designed for 3 to 5 adventurers of 1st to 3rd level. The introduction and adventure set up is pretty involved (holy one and a half pages of exposition Batman!) It sets up a mystery, basically with a trade network that is crucial to the peace between two previously warring cities. A system of signaling towers connects the cities for communication and to guarantee each abides by the rules of their trade and peace treaty. The cities are now making the signaling towers capable of functioning at night through magic, and a magic user accompanied by a group (all fully described by the way) are traveling to each tower—but wait! They’ve gone missing! 

It’s a fairly simple exploration of a linear watchtower, and the antagonists are a group of bandits, but it’s good to see these tropes appear in the work of years gone by. The level of effort put into the cartography and three art spots for this article is fascinating, and the maps provide some good references for inspiration. But all in all, a middling adventure too, but more usable for me personally than the Dark Tower.

Part 2

Barrow Mounds of the Valeran Elves - A Reflection

Cartography by Dysonlogos

The Barrows of the Valeran Elves are a location that interested my players on my hex map of the Southwestern Marches of the Blood Kingdom. They only elected to explore the large mound in the bottom, center of the map above.

The mound's ancient stone doorway is marked by a large visible cleft or divot in the ground, perhaps left when erosion caused the earth over and around the door to fill the space. It requires several hours of digging to unearth the door, which however opens with a DC15 Strength check.

I had a nasty Neophron demon named Gnasher, acting as a scout for the Band of the Twice Damned circling over the party ominously throughout this time outside.

Within, as it's a simple dungeon, I had the characters pass stacked bones of servitor halflings, as the nobles of the elven empire possessed in ancient times in the Midgard setting. Inside the first of the tomb's rooms was a peacefully resting champion of Valeresh who possessed a magical lance that the cleric took. The largest room held a banshee, who was a minor elven noble, killed by dwarven reavers as they came South, eventually to settle in the Ironcrags and create the modern dwarven cantons. 

Ptolus: The Lord of Flies - A Reflection

Mild spoilers from the Ptolus sourcebook and Doctrine of Ghul adventure. Content warning for insects and bodily functions.

Sometimes the funnest games happen when the session comes totally off the rails and your players give you ideas you would have never created yourself. Such was the case in my Ptolus campaign the other night. The characters had traveled to the city Necropolis, a relatively benign location by day, but haunted by packs of undead and the occasional fiend in the night. 

The adventurers were looking for an individual who understood Abyssal, the language of demons. There was added urgency because Vesper, the Wild Magic Sorcerer, had only two more days until she disappeared into the mystical Utterdark due to a curse placed upon her when she read the "Doctine of Ghul."

Through a series of encounters, the adventurers found their way to a lair of a hermit, who consorts with the demons of the Necropolis. His name was Igor. Both a drunk, and a visionary man, Igor is also accompanied by a horde of flies, which I described him as being covered in when he emerged from his dwelling in a crypt. One of my players immediately provided me the funniest idea I could have never come up with myself: 

"I wonder if he has clothes on under those flies?"

I mean, come on? Who am I to leave that on the table? So the character—while we used player safety tools—added this quirk to the existing character. Having him live in relative filth and excrement seemed like a natural progression.

For weeks after, my players enjoyed a good laugh when returning to the Necropolis and considering whether or not to once again visit Igor. 

Review: Anatomy of an Adventure

Anatomy of an Adventure is the first book I've encountered by a TTRPG designer for other designers. Written by M.T. Black, a prolific writer of 5e D&D material, I found it to be an extremely enjoyable and inspiring read. 

Written in a conversational voice, Black's work is enhanced by his own analysis of his earliest works, identifying strengths and areas he'd do things differently given the chance. It certainly leans towards the art side of the craft of adventure design rather than the science. 

Most work in this very niche subject area is actually advice written for GMs, who act essentially as their own independent adventure designers routinely. Instead Black approaches the subject as an introduction to the industry and aid for aspiring designers to create their own first adventures.

Some nuggets that I took away:

• Emulate (i.e. copy) those adventures and elements of stories that you love. Adding enough things together and doing it you way will make it your own.
• Other adventures, or old issues of Dragon or Dungeon magazine provide great inspiration and examples of things to try.
• This journey takes practice, repetition, and failures. Working through these and learning from them is valuable.
• Random tables can provide inspiration and break up stale thinking.

This was an extremely interesting and engaging read for me. In parallel I took a look at some of Black's adventures to see other examples of his thoughts. I think this is a great resource and motivator to try designing their own original material.

Lore Book: The Edict of Deviltry

The lore book below was created to facilitate a church trial in my Ptolus campaign on the fate of the Ghostly Minstrel of the famous inn named after the spirit…

BE IT PUBLISHED THAT THE SECOND COUNCIL OF DOCTRINE DOTH DECLARE THE

EDICT OF DEVILTRY

The corruption of the arcane knows no bounds. Thus the Council of the High Priests of the Nine issues this CONDEMNATION. The believers must eschew and destroy the worshipers of fiends, hiding amongst us. They must cast down the arcane, removing that which the wizard, warlock, and occultist have profaned by their touch. The faithful must DESTROY the undead in all their forms, and loath the worshippers of the restless dead.

The rest of the document expounds on the theological grounds for the edict, and explains the doctrines of the gods.

The Book of Iron

Lore book for my Ptolus campaign...

This book is made of forged iron plates, joined by rings into a spined book. Its symbols glow with a mysterious white light, similar to the light of the moon. It is the writings of a monk named Sister Ilathira. She writes the tragic story of Mima Goldentongue, and of how her husband, Kedar Goldentongue fought the Disciples of Karcius to attempt to save her. The dark cultists kidnapped her from their inn—the Golden Boar. They sought to sacrifice her to summon their dark lord Karcius from the beyond.

Kedar Goldentongue died defending his inn from the cultists, but was unable to save his wife. However, the ritual failed, and Lord Karcius remains in the Hells. Sister Ilathira speculates that the sacrifice of the husband and wife compelled the gods to prevent the return of dread Karcius. She further notes that the cultists of Karcius are pursuing her, and seek to prevent her from recording this history.

This particular lore book was a crucial clue in an arc involving the party preventing an an over zealous order and inquisitor from exorcising the titular Ghostly Minstrel from the inn of the same name in Monte Cook’s Ptolus setting.

En5ider Issue 5 Release!

En5ider Magazine, Issue 5, image by EN Publishing

I had another awesome experience recently working on Draconic Finds, a collection of original 5e dragon-themed magic items that you can check out from EN Publishing. Researching when coming up with the concept for this piece I realized how few items in 5e across many sources are only tangentially related to dragons and the lack of both draconic motifs or items crafted from dragons. It was also a great opportunity to practice my design skills and once again getting to work with veteran editor Mike Myler. 

There’s also some amazing work from the other authors here including a villain, dragonettes, and more for your 5e game!