Exploring Dyson's "Old Fort Ruins & Dungeon"

Well, my brain is still mush with a lot of work demands and long hours. And I've found that I'm putting off a lot of exercise, both physical and creative. So this thing has been floating around in my carry-bag since Dyson first posted it in May. Which shows my productivity...

So here's Dysons "Old Fort Ruins & Dungeon," as interpreted by me... 

Not much to add here - no real deep creative process to unravel. I liked the interconnection of the surface space as an indication to the subsurface terrain (collapsed area) and its implications for exploration and geometry, and worked it into the narrative of the hows and whys of the adventure. Statted using B/X-OSE-adjacent methodologies. Or something like that...

Download me here

I hope to get back to a better flow upcoming - looks like I'm over the hump on the current work project (although there are rumblings that I'm taking on a new task). A few friends are discussing a modest collaborative project, and I have a fistful of other maps scattered about to fill with denizens.

Hope this finds you all healthy and finding your own ways to keep creative and connected.

One Page Dungeon 2020 - Eggs for Breznac

So, the 2020 One Page Dungeon contest. An annual context of creative brevity. And with many things this year, the deadline was postponed (July 15 for your last-minute creativity). It had slipped my mind until I checked the site, and then, as a repeat offender, I got a reminder email from organizer Aaron Frost...

Dammit.

Not going to lie - Like many folks this spring and summer has been highly disruptive and emotionally taxing. I have been fortunate to be working straight through. Although I've been stretched with typically >40 hour weeks (construction-adjacent roles). So my brain is not in a creative space.

But I had a few notes. And a scribble in a notebook. So that's what we are going with this year. 

I swiped a simple graphical map style that I utilized a couple years ago, and tried to work out a somewhat faction-based adventure with multiple pathways. I like the idea of a low-level adventure where the protagonists have no chance against the "big-bad" of the scenario. 

And John Large of Red Dice Diaries recently said something to the tune of  "an adventure isn't old school if there isn't a random fungus table." I can abide with that...

And did I mention that the PCs are goblins?

So have at it. There's eggs to be swiped. 

7/11/20: Entry updated based on some reader comments - thanks for the suggestions, hopefully decreased the suck. I appreciate it!

Checking in at the Ruins of Castle Kazza

Sneaking in one more before the end of the month.

Not much going on here, or is it? The locals report that a band of orcs are squatting in the vacation home of a beloved past king. Might as well go see what sort of mischief they are getting themselves into. 

Or not? 

We visit another one of Daniel Walthall's creations, a small castle in disrepair.

I waffled about how to present this space. It seemed to have a few stories or possibilities to it, similar to my "4 Scenarios" exercises. In the end, instead of changing the occupants and scenario, I kept our somewhat anachronistic band of orcs, and, instead, took inspiration from Daniel's signature random table on each map. So, we have several potential objectives for our orcs, a batch of other NPCs to influence the action, and some random pocket change, as it were....

Download the Ruins of Castle Kazza

 

I hope this inspires some play or threads of other ideas. Enjoy, and stay healthy and safe out there. 

Come on in, the acid's fine...

Ok folks, doing it again - a sit-down straight through populating of another of Jackson's Quarantine Specials. Matt "helped" this time by filling in the hows and whys of the place, along with several suspiciously-named NPCs.

And that evocative pool of acid - no self-respecting evil lair should be without an extremely hazardous room. Written primarily with the OSE pieces-parts and the baddies get a hopefully fun collection of cherry picked spells to assail the hapless with...

Not much more to say but, "watch your step."

What's in The Tombs, Jackson?

Jackson has been busy cobbling together some excellent maps on 'vintage' notebook paper for folks to keep themselves entertained during our communal isolation.

A few days back he posted this bundle of joy:

http://www.msjx.org/2020/04/qa04-tombs.html

with the teaser,

"You traveled the gorge, met Tomlin and he mentioned that farther along the gorge there is rumored to be some tombs. So, being of sound mind, you decide to explore further.
He mentions one tomb is rumored to already be open, inside it is haunted but there is some sort of glowing archway that the old timers say used to whisk you away somewhere. Where? He has no idea, perhaps to a secret tombs locked away in the rock?
Another tomb is rumored to be in the same area, one for the three sister of Agmorda who prayed to the toad god Ptturib. It is said, around the drunken tables at The Dead Rabbit, that the tomb is home to a room littered with gold coins. So many that it would take multiple trips to remove them all. Course, the sisters aren't too keen on all their pretty coinage leaving their tomb, but hey, y'all are adventurers, brave and whatnot, right?"

So - the current ongoing environment is wearing on me. Like most of us. Even though I can get out of the house for work, it's still an isolating world, and I just feel unmotivated and dull. So this morning it was time to bear down and create a bit.

Normally when I write, I'll note/outline each room, maybe use Moldvay's 2d6 random stocking method to suggest some fillings, then backfill the room descriptions, contents, and encounters. Today, I wrote from the empty page, starting at "Room 1" and moving in order through the complex. Matt threw enough seeds in there (Three Sisters, possible teleportation, toad god, and room of gold) that I just allowed myself to point and go.

So here it is - writing in a single sitting (more or less), one draft straight through. Written with the assistance of:

Yeah, it's a potential meatgrinder (besides the (SPOILER) literal meatgrinders)... Written primarily with OSE and a few extra bits and bobs.

Have fun, and...