DM's Workshop: On the Level

 I have been sitting on top of this hastily-scribbled map-with-some-barely-legible-notes for the better part of.... too many years that I care to admit.

 

It depicts a certain castle, on a cliff overlooking a certain misty mere. The ground level, and two levels beneath have already been mapped, stocked, and story-fied, once in prose form, and again as a full on adventure module (both complete with typos and even a missing room!)

 

But this map depicts what lies deeper still, from the age before that wizard-king created his fortress. The levels and treasures therein were actually what prompted the wizard to build his fortress atop the outcripping of the Black Peaks. 

Things too dangerous for others to find, lest they be misused.

 

In other words, just the sort of places you don't want Bargle poking around.

Mentzer suggests that Bargle may be in league with a dragon, who might have a lair in the deeper levels beneath Castle Mistamere. If there was a dragon lairing beneath the castle in Gygar’s time, at present day, it would be well aged out of the “wyrmling” category, being closer to Basic’s “Medium” or 5e’s “Adult” age category.

So, somewhat reluctantly, I set aside the notion of a dragon still inhabiting the caves. (Did it leave, having outgrown its lair? Was it challenged by another dragon? Was it slain by adventurers in the past? I left this up in the air, for the time being)

Six-ish chambers were hastily scribbled for my map, and dice were rolled, to see what the Gods of Chance (or is it Lady Luck?) had to offer up as challenges for the PCs daring to explore the (ex)Wyrmling’s Lair. Since I had the Basic and Expert sets handy, I first rolled on those charts, resulting as follows:

1. Monster, Treasure
2. Trap
3. Monster, Treasure
4. Monster, no treasure
5. Empty
6. Special (map change/movement)

Rolling on the 4th level Wandering Monster table got me the following results: 6 trolls, 1 cave bear, 3 tuatara lizards.

6 trolls…. I think I know what happened to that wyrmling dragon.

I ran these results through the “Balancing Encounters” optional rule from the Master Set/RC. Six trolls vs. five 4th level PCs? Off the chart. The top end of the chart, at 300%. Two would be at the “Risky” level. The single cave bear is at the bottom end of the “Good Fight” range. If the PCs stumble upon the bear after the troll-fight, it may well count as the next category up. Likewise, the lizards could be either “Major” or “Risky” depending on how things go with the other two monster encounters.

The trap indicated isn’t a mechanical or magical in nature. Rather, its a fungus growing around the stalactite column, that, if disturbed, releases a 40’40’ spore cloud. A Save vs. Paralysis is needed to avoid falling into a deep slumber for 4d4 turns. Those who make their save still feel dizzy and sluggish for the same amount of time, automatically losing initiative.

The troll lair would yield a treasure of ~1000 gp, a medallion of ESP (30’), a staff of healing, and a potion of longevity. Either the bear or the lizards would have amassed 82 gp and a rare book (107cn in weight, worth 460gp to the right buyer)

The map change/movement is an unstable section of sloping passage, which shifts beneath the PCs weight as they cross it, and then collapses behind them.

 

 
Rolling through the “Random Dungeon Generation” charts in the 5e DMG gave me very similar results:

1. Monster
2. Empty, with treasure
3. Trap (dangerous)
4. Empty, with hazard
5. Empty
6 Monster

 

Interestingly, a red dragon wyrmling is a CR 4 critter — which would fit a “medium” fight for a party of five 4th-level PCs. A pair of cave bears would also rank between “Easy” and “Medium.” Sticking with the “dragon would be too old” mentality above and looking at XP budgeting, I decided to replace the idea of the wyrmling with a small band of orcs and their pet worg (XPV600). They are trapped in the interior caverns by the cave bears and a collapsed passageway. Several of their number have already fallen victim to the cave bears, their remains scattered about the bears’ lair.

The PCs could fight them, but the orcs are hungry, and will parlay for food. They would be willing to team up with the PCs to fight the bears… but then would undoubtedly turn on the PCs once the battle swung in their favor.

If the PCs should ask, the orcs tell them they collapsed the passage behind them, to keep what forced them here trapped below.

The dangerous trap is an unstable crag by the first waterfall indicator, which collapses, dropping the PCs 20 feet amidst the broken and jagged rocks.

The hazard is a cavern full of webbing, an indication of creatures found lurking further in the deeps.

 

 

So.... two runs, one through the (almost) oldest version and another through the newest version of the game. Each tell an interesting story, neither of which really contradict much of what I'd initially planned for the level, before I set anything to paper (or... word processor).

 

Which do you think works better? I'd love to see your opinions!