IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 15C: THE TAINT OF GHUL

January 12th, 2008
The 6th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

MORNING SICKNESS

The next morning, Tee woke up early and was struck almost instantly by a wave of dizziness and nausea. She felt sick in both body and soul.

She woke Dominic, but he wasn’t able to find anything wrong with her. So she decided to cross Delver’s Square to St. Gustav’s Chapel and speak with Brother Fabitor. But, like Dominic, he wasn’t able to find anything wrong with her. She seemed perfectly healthy.

Frustrated and confused, Tee returned to the Ghostly Minstrel in time to join the others for breakfast. When she described what she was feeling, however, Ranthir suddenly spoke up: “Actually, now that you mention it, I haven’t been feeling well since we were exploring that strange temple yesterday.”

“And you didn’t say anything?” Tee was aghast.

“I didn’t think it was of import.”

Now they were all worried. Was the temple the ultimate source of Tee’s illness, as well? And, if so, would they all succumb to it eventually? And how bad would it get?

“It’s not a physical illness and it’s associated with Ghul’s Labyrinth,” Tee said. “Maybe somebody else has run into this before.”

“I could check at the Delver’s Guild Library,” Ranthir suggested.

“Good idea,” Tee said. “I’m supposed to be meeting with Mand Scheben at the Temple of Asche this morning. So I’ll meet up with you here for lunch? See what you’ve found?”

A CONVERSATION WITH MAND

When Tee reached the Temple of Asche, the priests took her directly to Mand’s office.

Tee had thought it was going to be difficult to explain what was troubling her, but she quickly found that she was gushing information: She told him all about the deal she had made with Malkeen (a detail that not even her comrades knew about) and then went on to describe her encounter with Malkeen the previous morning. This led her into an explanation of who Dullin was and how she had ended up sending him a note (although here, at least, she curtailed the explanation in much the same way she had with Malkeen himself).

Mand was concerned. Malkeen was dangerous, and he was certain that Lord Zavere had never meant for them to attract that kind of attention. He promised Tee that he would bring the matter up with Zavere as soon as possible.

After leaving Mand’s office, Tee felt twisted up inside: She wasn’t sure if she’d done the right thing. She certainly wasn’t happy with all the information that had spilled out of her. But it was what it was. She’d have to live with it.

THE SHADOW OF TAINT

Tee returned to the Ghostly Minstrel. About an hour later, Ranthir came back, as well.

The news wasn’t good: Based on the description of their symptoms and the events surrounding it, Ranthir suspected that they were suffering from a phenomenon known as “taint”. Taint was a perversion of the natural order – a corruption so profound it warped the very nature of reality. It was a manifestation of extreme evil or chaos concentrated into a single creature, artifact, ritual, location, or act.

Ranthir suspected that the temple they had explored was a tainted place. It was also possible that some of the items they had taken from the Labyrinth were tainted themselves (which would explain why Tee didn’t begin manifesting symptoms until hours later).

“How can we know for sure?” Tee asked.

“Certain divination spells – particularly those which can detect the presence evil or chaos – can detect the taint,” Ranthir said.

Dominic said that he would be able to pray for such divinations in the morning, but Tee wasn’t willing to wait. She marched them all straight back to the Temple of Asche.

Mand was surprised to see that Tee had come back so quickly, but when he heard the situation he quickly summoned in one of the other priests and had him perform the appropriate rites.

These confirmed their fears: Tee and Ranthir had been touched by the taint, which clung to them like a miasma. In addition, several of the objects that Tee carried proved to be tainted themselves – specifically the two cube-like hunks of metal; the small box of metallic discs (specifically the discs themselves); the glass sphere filled with blackish liquid; and the twenty arrows of milky-white glass.

Mand Scheben knew that there were holy rites that could cleanse the taint out of them, but they would be expensive – even with the favored status in which the Temple of Asche held them. (There were lesser rites that wouldn’t be so expensive – but they would leave some residue of the taint behind.)

In fact, the only way they could afford the more expensive rituals would be with the money they were going to get for the gemstones Tee had consigned to Edarth’s the day before. They hadn’t been paid for that consignment yet, but they would be soon enough. Tee asked Mand if the proper rites could be prepared for the next day. Mand agreed.

Tee also asked him if the church would be willing to take the tainted objects from them. But at this Mand balked: He would have to consult with the elders of the church before agreeing to such a thing. Tee was frustrated by this – “You’re a church! That’s what you’re supposed to do!” – but really had no choice in the matter.

NEXT CAMPAIGN JOURNAL

Go to Part 1

Magic Swords are, universally, intelligent creatures. Possible explanations (some, all, or none of which might be true):

• Prisons for higher-dimensional beings.
• The matrix through which higher-dimensional beings communicate with the material world, and enact their will through mortal wielders.
• The personality storage devices which preserve the personalities of the Ancients; or perhaps the crew of some interdimensional / interplanetary vessel.
• Ancient artificial intelligence processing cores.

Arneson describes them as both the “Magic Swords of Mythology” and as “an entire family of magic swords”. The Swords comprised “most of the early magical artifacts,” with Arneson placing the statistics for each on an individual card.

Side: d8: Good 1-4, Neutral 5-6, or Evil 7-8

• Sword will refuse to use its abilities for those on a different side.
• Inflicts 2d6 damage on those serving the opposing side.

Intelligence: 1d12 + double the sword’s Intelligence modifier

• Can be used for intelligence tests.
• Swords will generally respect those with Intelligence equal to or greater than their own, but will tend to consider themselves in charge when wielded by lesser intellects.
• Communication: No Communication 1-3, Pass on Gross Emotions 4-7, Speak 8-10, Telepathy 11+

Egotism: 1d12

• Reflects the sword’s self-interest.
• Make Egotism checks for things like: Leading wielder past better weapons, into greater dangers, demanding a share of the loot, payments made towards its interests (nicer scabbard, etc.), being captured by a character more likely to let it achieve its aims.

Powers:

• Magical Bonus: To attack and damage rolls.
• Damage Multiplier: Versus one or more monster types.
• Ability Bonus: Applies to wielder’s Strength and/or Intelligence scores.
• Special Values: Generally spell-like abilities, except for those listed below.
• Magic Spells: A list of spells the sword can cast. This requires the wielder to use their action. They can cast a number of spells per day as indicated.

Special Values

• Puissance: All enemies must make morale check when sword is drawn.
• Morale: Morale bonus equal to magical bonus to morale checks for those on wielder’s side; twice that to the wielder.

RANDOM SWORD TABLE

DESIGN NOTES

Simply waving away Arneson’s lengthy treatment of magical swords would have certainly been the easiest approach here. But it was also clear to me that magic swords WERE a central element of Blackmoor, particularly in its earliest days. (Where, as Arneson wrote, they were most of the magical artifacts to be found.)

The treatment of magical swords in the First Fantasy Campaign, however, is a confusing one. Much of the material clearly dates to the earliest days of Blackmoor when Arneson was using a system derived from Chainmail and amalgamated with any number of now unknown other mechanics. There are also clear indications that this material has been very lightly revised to make it superficially “compatible” with the published version of D&D. (One location where the terms “Intelligence” and “Brains”, the latter the original Blackmoor character stat, is the most significant giveaway of this incomplete revision.)  There are also any number of typographical errors, most likely introduced when Arneson’s handwritten notes were set to print by Judges Guild.

In order to render this material usable in my Blackmoor game, therefore, I needed to (a) figure out at least roughly how these mechanics had originally been used; (b) interpret the written descriptions of the swords accordingly; and (c) convert the swords to a format that could be used in OD&D. In this work, I have to thank DH Boggs, whose analysis of the swords helped me figure out how the mechanics would have originally worked in Arneson’s game.

In terms of adapting the swords: I chose to halve the original bonuses to Strength, Intelligence, and Combat and to implement “Double Value” as a doubling of damage against certain targets. I also randomly generated OD&D spells where the original sword descriptions simply indicated, for example, “6 spells”. (I first determined the maximum level of spell the sword was capable of casting using a table from the FFC, then simply randomly rolled from there.) I have also reverted the “Law vs. Chaos” elements of the magic swords to “Good vs. Evil”, for reasons that I’ll explain at a later date.

SWORD MATRIX

A +3 sword of detect evil/magic, puissance

x2 Damage: Dragons, Balrogs, Ghosts, Elementals

Ability Bonus: Strength +1, Intelligence +1

B +2 sword of detect invisibility, charm dragons

x2 Damage: Trolls

Ability Bonus: Strength +2, Intelligence +1

C +2 sword of invisibility

x2 Damage: Werewolves

Ability Bonus: Strength +2, Intelligence +1

D +2 sword of detect evil/invisibility, invisibility

x2 Damage: Dragons, Goblins

x3 Damage: Ghosts

Ability Bonus: Strength +1, Intelligence +2

E +2 sword of invisibility

x2 Damage: Giants, Orcs, Werewolves

Ability Bonus: Strength +1, Intelligence +1

F +1 sword of paralysis

x2 Damage: Giants, Werewolves, Wizards, Wraiths

x3 Damage: Dragons

Ability Bonus: Strength +2, Intelligence +2

G +1 sword of detect magic, invisibility, paralysis, see in darkness

x2 Damage: Elementals, Ghosts, Goblins

Ability Bonus: Strength +2, Intelligence +2

H +1 sword of puissance

x2 Damage: Dragons, Ghouls, Wraiths

Ability Bonus: Strength +1, Intelligence +2

I +1 sword of puissance

x2 Damage: Elementals, Humans

x3 Damage: Pudding

Ability Bonus: Strength +2

J +2 sword of invisibility detection

x2 Damage: Goblins, Ogres, Orcs, Pudding

x3 Damage: Balrogs

Ability Bonus: Strength +2, Intelligence +1

K +1 sword of detect magic, paralysis, puissance, see in darkness

x2 Damage: Ents

Ability Bonus: Strength +2, Intelligence +1

L +2 sword of detect magic, paralysis, puissance

x2 Damage: Balrogs, Giants, Ghouls, Mortals, Ogre

x3 Damage: Humans

M +2 sword of detect evil, puissance, see in darkness

x2 Damage: Ghouls, Humans, Orcs

Ability Bonus: Strength +2, Intelligence +1

N +1 sword of detect magic

x2 Damage: Werewolves

Ability Bonus: Strength +1

O +1 sword of detect magic, paralysis, morale (x2)

x2 Damage: Balrogs, Giants, Orcs, Trolls

Ability Bonus: Strength +1, Intelligence +1

P +1 sword of detect invisibility, see in darkness

x2 Damage: Mortals, Orcs, Werewolves

x3 Damage: Humans

Ability Bonus: Strength +2

Q +1 sword of detect magic, paralysis

x2 Damage: Ghosts, Goblins

Ability Bonus: Strength +1, Intelligence +1

R +2 sword of detect evil

x2 Damage: Elemental, Giants, Ogres, Werewolves

Ability Bonus: Strength +1, Intelligence +1

Magic Spells (2/day): charm person, light, read magic

RED +1 sword of detect invisibility/magic, morale, paralysis, puissance

x2 Damage: Elementals, Ghouls, Orcs, Trolls

Ability Bonus: Strength +3, Intelligence +2

Magic Spells (10/day): detect magic, hold portal, read magic, read languages, protection from evil, light, charm person, sleep

Note: Last owner was the Baron Wesley

WHITE (SILVER) +2 sword of detect invisibility/magic, puissance

x2 Damage: Mortals, Ogres, Orcs, Wraiths

x3 Damage: Dragons, Goblins

Ability Bonus: Strength +3, Intelligence +3

Magic Spells (11/day): continual light, detect invisible, detect magic, light, protection from evil, sleep

BLUE +3 sword of detect invisibility, invisibility, paralysis, puissance

x2 Damage: Balrogs, Ents, Ghouls, Giants, Goblins, Orcs

x3 Damage: Elementals, Wizards

Ability Bonus: Strength +2, Intelligence +3

Magic Spells (4/day): continual light, haste, hold portal, locate object, protection from evil, protection from normal missiles

PURPLE +2 sword of detect evil/magic, paralysis, see in darkness

x2 Damage: Balrogs, Ents, Giants

x3 Damage: Werebears

Ability Bonus: Strength +2, Intelligence +3

Magic Spells (5/day): detect evil, invisibility, knock, locate object, protection from evil, read languages

GREEN +3 sword of detect invisibility/magic, puissance

x2 Damage: Balrogs, Elementals, Goblins, Ogres, Orcs, Werebears, Werewolves

x3 Damage: Trolls

Ability Bonus: Strength +2, Intelligence +1

GOLD +1 sword of detect magic

x2 Damage: Elementals, Ents, Ghosts, Orcs

x3 Damage: Goblins

Ability Bonus: Strength +3, Intelligence +3

Magic Spells (6/day): Any 1^st level spell

GREY +4 sword of morale, paralysis, see in darkness

x2 Damage: Balrogs, Ghouls, Giants, Goblins, Mortals, Pudding, Wraiths

Ability Bonus: Strength +3, Intelligence +3

BLACK +2 sword of detect invisibility, paralysis, puissance, see in darkness

x2 Damage: Ghosts, Ghouls, Ogres, Mortals

x3 Damage: Balrogs

Ability Bonus: Strength +5, Intelligence +3

MAROON +1 sword of detect invisibility, see in darkness

x2 Damage: Dragons, Ghosts, Giants, Goblins, Trolls

x3 Damage: Balrogs, Humans

Ability Bonus: Strength +3, Intelligence +3

Magic Spells (9/day): continual light, ESP, infravision, invisibility (10’), protection from evil (10’), read languages

PINK +2 sword of detect magic, morale, puissance, see in darkness

x2 Damage: Elementals, Ents, Ghosts, Giants, Ghouls, Trolls, Werebears, Werewolves, Wraiths

Ability Bonus: Strenght +2, Intelligence +2

Magic Spells (2/day): conjure elemental, hold person, fly, phantasmal forces, protection from normal missiles, teleport

YELLOW +2 sword of detect invisibility

x2 Damage: Elementals, Ogres, Wraiths

x3 Damage: Dragons, Giants

Ability Bonus: Strength +2, Intelligence +2

Magic Spells (8/day): detect evil, ESP, fly, locate object, phantasmal forces, read languages, sleep, slow

Next: Castle Background & Features

Go to Part 1

See Part 1 to determine if a room has treasure and what type of treasure it contains, then roll on these tables.

GOLD

POTIONS & AMULETS

(1d6: Potion 1-5, Amulet 6)

Potions: Alchemical, liquid transmuted by technomantic process, or nano-particles in a liquid suspension.

Amulets: Amulets either harness and imprison minor demons, feyish spirits, or some other powerful entity. Or they are ancient technomantic artifacts; the enduring technology which serves as a template for the cheap, modern “spell eggs” (see below). 1d50 charges. The former either expend or release their trapped spirit; the latter can be recharged with battery power.

SPECIFIC ENTRIES

Heroism: 10% chance the effect of the potion is permanent, but works by replacing the current version of the character with one from an alternate future/dimension. Amulet’s effect lasts for as long as it is worn, expending 1 charge per day.

Sustenance: Drinking the potion renders it unnecessary for the drinker to imbibe food or water for a month and a day. The amulet works like a create food spell.

ARMS & ARMOR

Blue Armor: This armor is formed from an extraordinarily light blue metal. The greaves each have a panel of multi-colored buttons, but these only work when the armor is fully assembled (as per a lightning bolt thrower, a fireball thrower, and 1d3 random pieces of Equipment.) When generated, determine which piece is present randomly:

Each additional piece of armor adds a +1 bonus to AC. (Thus a complete suit is +5 armor.) However, when a complete suit is worn the onboard AI activates and takes control of the suit. (Those wearing the suit can sometimes be heard screaming, “Let me out! No! Stop!”)

Fireball Thrower: 1d100 charges. 6^th level fireball.

Lightning Bolt Thrower (Laser): 1d100 charges. 6^th level lightning bolt.

EQUIPMENT

Battery Power: A battery of the ancients. They can be used to recharge technological items of the ancients.

• Generator: Generators are large, generally immovable facilities that create energy. This energy may be harvested from the environment by comprehensible means (geothermic, solar, etc.); or it may be based on incomprehensible technology (space-time crystals, etheric harvesting, etc.). Generators can be used to recharge batteries. 10% of generators can also create one dose of mercurial water per week.

Borer: 1d100 charges, 1 charge per hour of use. Can dig through ten yards of any material every hour. Makes a hole 10’ x 10’ as it goes. It has no weight but can only move about 1 mph.

Communicator: 10% chance it is found with a paired device.

Crystal Ball: Per OD&D. Images displayed looking like they’re composed from “ragged lines” (like a holographic CRT display).

Flyer: A lightweight vehicle of the ancients that can be folded up to relatively compact dimensions. As per broom of flying (50%), flying carpet (40%), or a flying carpet that can carry up to 12 people (10%).

Illusion Projector: 1d100 charges. Can create the 3D image of anything and animate that image. Range is line of sight, no limit, and image must be less than 100 yards on a side.

Medical Unit: Coffin-sized unit. Will heal all wounds in 24 hours, but there’s no way to get out early. 1% chance per person healed that the unit loses power.

Mercurial Water: Silvery liquid. Can be used to refuel robots, skimmers, time machines, and other vehicles of the ancients.

Screener: 1d100 charges. Creates spherical sphere of energy. Cuts out all outside light, magic, etc. Those within the barrier are behind the equivalent of +5 Armor. Magic cannot pass the barrier. Lasts 10 minutes per charge. 5% chance it malfunctions and cannot be lowered manually (staying up until the current charge runs out).

Skimmer: A lightweight vehicle of the ancients that can be folded up to relatively compact dimensions. Can cross stretches of water at great speed, 50 mph and greater, as well as marsh and short (10 yards) stretches of low unobstructed land. Hitting a snag will wreck the Skimmer and cause the occupant one Hit Die in damage per 5 mph of speed. Chance of hitting a snag is about 1% per 100 miles of water, 5% in marsh, and 5% everytime any land is crossed. All encounter chances can be ignored due to its speed.

Spell Egg: Technomantic, clockwork devices. Modern spell-eggs are inferior to those of the ancients (which are classified as amulets), and are one-use only items.

Note: Ancient manufacturing facilities known as Laboratories crank out spell eggs (the Egg of Coot controls one). Newer facilities, seeking to reverse engineer the Laboratories, are known as Workshops (the Ran of Ah Fooh has created one).

Spell Formula: These are plans which allow one to make spell eggs. The arcane arts are based on figuring out how to adapt the details of these plans (most of which are reverse-engineered from amulets) so that they can be performed as magic rites (i.e., spells). So one trained in the arcane arts can also use these formula to either make spell eggs (the equivalent of scrolls) or learn the spells (customizing rites into their spellbooks).

Time Machine: See Robots.

Transporter: These are large, generally immovable facilities, similar to a Star Trek transporter pad. One can use the equipment to transport somewhere else. If one has access to a crystal ball or similar distance viewer, they might also be able to transport people to the pad. 1% chance per person transported that the facility loses power.

• Dimensional Transporter: Dimensional transporters work the same, but can also access locations in other dimensions. Each dimensional transporter generally only has 1d6 such dimensions currently accessible, although it may be possible to load additional dimensional tables into them.

Tricorder: 1d100 charges. Will give the operator complete physical information about any item it is pointed at. Has a range of 100 yards, only metal will block its effect. Will only give out information that it is specifically asked for. When asked general questions, there is a 25% chance it can be found in its limited databanks.

ANCIENT BOOKS, MANUSCRIPTS,  AND MAPS

Educator: Teaches you how to use the mechanical marvels of the ancients. One tape in the machine, other tapes can be used as treasure finds, etc.

Entertainer: Any jolly you ever wanted, and some that might kill you. User loses track of time and is open to attack. Roll 1d10 for hours of use. Cures all fatigue and raises fighting level by one for the rest of the day.

Technical Manual: Describes the function and use of Ancient technology.

ROBOTS

• Base Stats: 1d6 AC, 1d6 HD; there is a 10% chance that any robot is a lightning thrower (20 bolts, 6d6 damage).
• Controllers: Allows players to get Robots to do what the player wants. Otherwise, there is only a 20% chance you can use the Robot, 20% chance it is defective, 60% that it is hostile.
• Size (1d6): Small 1-3, Medium 4-5, Large 6
  • Small: Autonomous unit. Roughly human in size.
  • Medium: Capable of being piloted (requires training/educator) by a single passenger.
  • Large: Capable of carrying 3-18 passengers.
  • The fact the larger sizes can operate as vehicles is not immediately apparent.

Fighting Machine: A tripod combat platform. +2 HD.

Flying Machine: A hovering droplet of liquid silver metal with a rippling, ridged, perfectly reflective surface.

Humaniform: A humanoid robot or android. Some are quite lifelike in their simulation of humanity (or other species).

Teleportation Machine: Generally tripod robots, although humaniform variants have been reported. These entities can, upon request, teleport you and/or themselves to a location of your desire. (Or use the same function as a devastating offensive capability and/or means of flight.)

Time Machine: Roll a d6 to determine the type of temporal manipulation the machine is capable of. The machine’s power requirements are quite severe, however, requiring mercurial fluid for each temporal manipulation.

• 1, 2, 3: Stopping time for 1d6 rounds, during which time it can take actions.
• 4, 5: Travel forward through time, reappearing in the same spot at a later time of their choosing.
• 6: A true time machine, a la H.G. Wells. Its incredibly convoluted control schema, however, requires a save vs. spells. On a failure, the character has inadvertently (and irrevocably) shunted themselves into an alternate timeline.

Water Machine: Amphibious robots that operate freely in water. Some take the form of articulated, modular robotic sea serpents.

DESIGN NOTES

As far as treasure generation is concerned, there is some evidence that Arneson originally used a point budget to stock treasure, too. Or, at least, magical treasure. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, no details of this system are available. The method developed here is based on the basic methodology found in Volume 3 of OD&D, using additional methodology inspired from the incomplete Loch Gloomen and Bleakwood stocking tables, and original magic tables stocked with Arneson’s science fantasy items and his magic swords.

Most of the items found here originate specifically from Arneson (with a few exceptions, such as mercurial water). I have made a number of entries much more specific in their description, however, reflecting my personal creative impulse. (For one example of this in practice, see Arneson’s Machines.) I have also added a number of specific mechanics for items, perhaps the trickiest of which was the Time Machine (which I thought about eliminating entirely due to the self-evident difficulties such a device would create in actual play… before deciding, “Fuck it, let’s go for it and see what might happen.”)

What I consider the most important thing to grok about the Blackmoor setting is that it is post-apocalyptic and much of its “magic” is actually super-science technology. You can see that reflected in the treasure tables here and, if anything, I’ve leaned even more heavily into this concept. I find it interesting, but also perhaps unfortunate, that every iteration of Blackmoor seems to have stripped away more and more of this unique character, leaving behind an increasingly generic D&D milieu.

My personal vision is that there is a source or cache of ancient technology deep beneath Castle Blackmoor. There is also, as established by Arneson, a “gate to Hades”. (These may be one and the same thing, but, at least for myself, I think not.) As the forces of Evil migrate up through the dungeon, they bring the Ancient technology with them, making its secrets available to the world above. It also means the further down you go into the dungeons, the more they become a technomantic, super-science complex.

The other thing I love about Arneson’s items list is how many of them unlock new game play (rather than just enhancing the existing cycle of play). When you get a dimensional transporter, the game is going some place it hasn’t before. If you get your hands on a borer, your whole relationship to the campaign changes. (I’m assuming that’s how the original Blackmoor players ended up constructing the Orcian Way, a tunnel straight from the first level of the dungeon the tenth.)

Other notes…

What about silver pieces and copper pieces? I found no evidence in the First Fantasy Campaign that Arneson was using either prior to D&D.

My vision of amulets and spell eggs is an example of leaning into Arneson’s science fantasy. When Arneson spoke of “manufacturing spells”, he was almost certainly just talking about “formula scrolls”, but I follow my inspiration here. Same thing with the nano-particle potions.

Next: Magic Swords

Go to Part 1

Basilisk: Has 4-24,000 GP in its lair.

Giant Animal: Each of these giant animals claim a demesne within the dungeon. And are named. (See Supplement II: Blackmoor for additional Giant Animal stats, but increase their HD.)

• Giant Worm: Sinak
• Giant Insect: Siliar

Robot: Roll on the Robots treasure table. If generated here, they are not quiescent.

Man-Eating Seaweed: Infests an entire section of the dungeon. It fights like a multitude of entities (purchase with its point total), but can only be permanently destroyed by finding and burning out its roots.

Living Statue: Each has the likeness of a Greek God. Only Poseidon does not appear; he was defeated and left broken somewhere in the dungeon.

Ghost: Roll on sub-table.

Normal Monster With a Special Power: Roll on appropriate Group table, then roll on the Potion/Amulet treasure table to determine the creature’s innate power.

GHOSTS

Ghosts of the Black Hall: 40 years ago Ben-Hassock barbarians invaded. A diplomatic delegation was conducted to the Reception Hall. The barbarians had a wizard disguised in their ranks, who released a spell through the ten enemy representatives, transforming them into abominations. 10% chance this encounter is actually with the 10^th enemy abomination (who was never found; use stats of Type II demon from Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry). Otherwise it’s with a ghost from those slain in the Black Hall.

Ghosts of the Library: These are the spirits of the noblemen who were slain by the Weasel when he sought to betray Blackmoor to the Egg of Coot. Only glimpses are seen, for it is said they are still bound to the Library in some strange way. They cry out for release.

The Dog Duke: Seeks to augment his horror with blood-letting and death. (His body is interred in the Tombs.)

Marcellius: A hero buried in the Tombs. This ghost will come to the aid of those in the dungeon, quenching its thirst for blood on evil heads.

The Wizard’s Howl: A Wizard who, due to his black arts, was walled up within his laboratory beneath the Castle and left to die. His ghost is, at any time, obsessed upon the casting of a single spell.

The Forgotten Maiden: A Duke who feared the Castle would fall during a siege walled up his wife within the dungeon along with a plethora of his other treasures. He died in the siege and no one knew where he had hidden her. Her screams echoed up into the Castle for weeks before she died (and still do upon occasion). If someone reminds her of her husband (90% if male, 25% if female), she will lead them into deadly danger. Otherwise, she will seek to lead them to her body (and the treasure she lies upon).

Headless Baron: The headless ghost of Baron Alveraz, who was killed in a surprise barbarian attack some years ago and whose supposed appearance foretells doom.

Lady of Lust: Her fate for being an uncooperative wife is to take any man into her grasp, leaving their face horribly transformed into a gray rictus.

Lord Calvin: Fell victim to the Lady of Lust and killed himself in despair at the fate that had befallen him. Since that time, he rather graphically takes out his anguish on whomever is in the room when he appears.

The Jungle Beast: A Baron kept this beast as a pet. The Beast eventually had enough of him and put an end to the Baron. It vanished with the Baron’s remains.

The Child’s Room*: A somewhat dirty child’s room. It will appear randomly in various rooms of the dungeon; if you leave and return, it will be gone. Sometimes it becomes seemingly attracted to particular people, seeming to “follow” them around. Sometimes you leave the room and you’re in a completely different section of the dungeon. The child itself is never seen, but the rocking horse in the corner will gentle creak back and forth.

The Ghost Rats*: A carpet of surging, ectoplasmic rats. They don’t attack, but their passage can drain the life from those who can’t get up off the floor.

Tortured Soul: One of many slain in the Torture Chamber beneath the Castle. Their spiritual forms show the wrack wrought upon their bodies in their death.

Soul from the Black Pit: This scorched and blackened spirit escaped (or was released) from Hades through the portal somewhere deep within the depths of the dungeon.

Dead Delver: So many have died exploring the dungeons beneath the Castle. Here’s another one.

The Lords’ Council: The other apparitions of past rulers are, for the most part, scary but harmless apparitions who do quite a bit of horsing-around (and sometimes wander down into the dungeons). It seems as if any who rule from Blackmoor’s throne and is buried within or beneath its walls is cursed (or blessed?) to wander its halls and catacombs as a restless spirit.

OTHER GHOSTS OF BLACKMOOR

Lord Alfred and His Wife: Lord Alfred was caught by his wife with one of the serving wenches. The resulting foray by his wife and her battle axe made a permanent impression upon her husband and the servant. The gory act is recreated upon occasion within the room where it happened. The room has been sealed up in response. Years later a lord locked his wife and wealth and children in the room during a siege (not realizing what room it was), and they were killed by Lord Alfred’s wife, too. The room was sealed again; the cursed treasure not removed.

DESIGN NOTES

The special monsters listed here are all inspired by the original Blackmoor keys or other accounts of play with Arneson. A few are a bit more of a stretch than others, however: Robots appear only in the treasure tables, not any of Arneson’s keys (but having autonomous robots running around down here feels right). The “Man-Eating Seaweed” appears only as that name and I’ve creatively expanded upon it. Normal Monster With A Special Power is based on “Air Elemental W.A.S.P.” from the original key (for which testimony exists that W.A.S.P. stands for With A Special Power); it follows logically that other special monsters might receive special powers. Living Statues are perhaps the largest reach, being based entirely upon the description of a broken statue of Poseidon found within the original dungeon.

Among the Ghosts, most are drawn directly from Arneson’s notes on the haunted halls of the Castle. (It might be interesting to run a session set within the Haunted Castle during an epoch when it’s been sacked or otherwise abandoned.) The exceptions are the Child’s Room and the Ghost Rats, both of which I created from wholecloth. A few other details have also been added as they struck my fancy (such as the idea of the heroic Marcellius being a helpful ghost to be feared by the Bad Guys.)

The original Vampire — literally the first vampire in all of D&D! — was the player character Sir Fang. (Who, in turn, prompted the creation of the Cleric class to oppose him.) In the epoch at which I’ve chosen to diverge from established, the Baron Fant is not yet wandering these halls as Sir Fang. But vampires are cool.

Next: Treasure Stocking

October 1st is Dave Arneson Day, a celebration of the Father of Roleplaying Games on the day of his birth. After writing up Reactions to OD&D: The Arnesonian Dungeon, I decided that I wanted to celebrate Dave Arneson Day this year by running Castle Blackmoor. And I specifically wanted to do so in a way which would closely emulate the feel of that very first session when Arneson’s players walked into the basement, discovered Castle Blackmoor, and ventured down the stairs into the dungeons beneath it.

I relatively quickly decided on a few mission parameters for this endeavor.

First, I wasn’t interested in trying to re-engineer the original rules Arneson used, if for no other reason than that this is, in fact, flatly impossible. Arneson kept no records of those rules, he never shared them with anyone (including the players), he redesigned them so often that I doubt even he remembered what the original rules were by 1973, and I’ve already done the “explore mysterious ur-text mechanics and cobble a game out of them” thing (see Reactions to OD&D).

Second, my specific point of interest was the way in which Arneson organically created the dungeon; i.e., the game structures he used for stocking and re-stocking the dungeon. As described in The Arnesonian Dungeon this is something that we’re able to tease out of the surviving record with a fair amount of detail (if not necessarily the specific charts and so forth).

Third, my interest in exploring the established canon of Blackmoor was fairly minimal. This can be a fascinating topic (although frustratingly scant; so many players, but very few memories, and the memories that have been recorded often contradict each other and the written records), but Blackmoor was (and arguably is) a living campaign with 40+ years of history which has been inconsistently reflected in disparate printed sources. Rather than enmeshing myself in that sort of Byzantine continuity, what I was interested in was creatively positioning myself in the same place Dave Arneson creatively positioned himself on Day 1 of the Blackmoor Dungeons and then moving forward from there.

What did this approach mean in practice?

• Take the original maps of the dungeon as presented in the First Fantasy Campaign.
• Recreate the original monster and treasure stocking tables to the best of our ability, then use them to stock the maps.
• Establish a minimal baseline of “established lore”, largely based on the material in the First Fantasy Campaign.
• Set up a scenario reminiscent of Greg Svenson’s recollection of The First Dungeon Adventure.
• Run the game using just the original three OD&D booklets.

I want to be quite clear here and reiterate that my goal is not to perfectly recreate Arneson’s original dungeon key. Or even to take the limited information we know about that dungeon key and then fill in the holes around those fragments. For example, the fact that I haven’t put 2 Lycanthropes in Area 18 of the 8th Level (as found in the FFC key) is not a mistake; that’s simply not what I’m trying to do here.

I was rather hoping to have all of this prepared for public presentation several weeks ago so that others could also use it for Dave Arneson Day this year. Unfortunately, I ended up going down a few too many rabbit holes with my research. (And, as I write this, I’m still trying to figure out to exactly what degree I want to rely strictly on the maps from the First Fantasy Campaign and to what degree I want to avail myself of other efforts to correct shortcomings and inaccuracies in those maps.) Hopefully you will still find it of interest, and perhaps some of you will find some other occasion for using this material.

If nothing else, there’s always next year, right?

STOCKING THE DUNGEON

STEP 1: CHECK FOR INHABITED ROOMS

• 1^st Level: 1 in 6
• 2^nd Level: 2 in 6
• 3^rd+ Level: 3 in 6

STEP 2: DETERMINE PROTECTION POINTS

• Roll 1d10 and multiply by the level’s protection factor.

STEP 3: ROLL ON MONSTER LEVEL TABLES

Simple Option: Once a creature type is determined, purchase the maximum number of creatures allowed by your protection point budget (minimum 1).

Complex Option: Roll Number Appearing on the OD&D monster tables. (This is indicated on the monster level tables for ease of reference.)

• Purchase as many monsters of that type as your protection point budget allows up to the Number Appearing generated (minimum 1).
• If you run out of Protection Points before hitting the Number Appearing and have points left over, purchase a weak version of the same creature (baby, etc.).
• If you purchase the full Number Appearing and have Protection Points left over, roll again on the monster level table to create a mixed encounter.

STEP 4: GENERATE TREASURE

Determine Presence of Treasure: 3 in 6 chance for occupied rooms; 1 in 6 chance in unoccupied rooms.

Determine Treasure Type

MONSTER LEVEL TABLES

Use:

• Group I for 1st and 2nd dungeon level
• Group II for 3rd and 4th dungeon level
• Group III for 5th+ dungeon level

GROUP I

GROUP II

GROUP III

* 2 in 6 chance the Balrog is guarding something (60% magical, 40% wealth).

Hobbit: Use kobold stats.

Giant Spider: Use Ogre stats, with a poison that deals full damage a second time on failed save.

DESIGN NOTES

Castle Blackmoor’s dungeons descend to Level 10 in the printed maps. (Reputedly only one expedition ever discovered the 11th Level, but the dungeons were said by Arneson to go as far down as the lava pits on the 25th level.) Despite this, the Protection Factor table ends at 7th Level because that’s as far as Arneson provided information. Beyond 7th level the value would have either capped or continued to increase. (But you run into additional problems in any case in the lack of Group IV monsters.)

I’ve used the OD&D # appearing entries here out of a sense of purity, although due to the “generate a tribe” mentality of those numbers they largely negate the point for the Group I creatures. You might consider ripping them out and replacing them with more dungeon-appropriate numbers (perhaps sourced from a later edition). The complex method utilizing the # Appearing entry is not strictly Arnesonian in any case. Use to taste..

Next: Special Monsters

RUNNING CASTLE BLACKMOOR
Part 2: Special Monsters
Part 3: Treasure Stocking
Part 4: Magic Swords
Part 5: Castle Background & Features
Part 6: The Dungeon Key
Part 7: Restocking the Dungeon
Part 8: Special Interest Experience
Part 9: Special Interests
Part 10: Blackmoor Village Map
Part 11: Blackmoor Player’s Reference
Part 12: Lessons Learned in Blackmoor

Reactions to OD&D: The Arnesonian Dungeon
Reactions to OD&D: Arneson’s Machines

The Blackmoor Cruxes