Go to Part 1

This is the point where we take all of the procedures we’ve discussed up to this point and put them into practice in order to generate a dungeon key.

In order to make full use of this material, you’ll need copies of the Blackmoor Dungeon maps. The maps from the First Fantasy Campaign are ideal, but those from Zeitgeist Games’ Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor are adequate, despite introducing a number of new errors. (The most notable of which was that the cartographer didn’t understand how Arneson indicated secret doors on his maps, so missed several of them and turned the rest into normal doors.) The Zeitgeist Games release does have the advantage of currently being available on DriveThruRPG.

Even without the Blackmoor maps, however, it should be noted that these procedures can be used with any dungeon (particularly those designed along megadungeon lines), even one of your own! So you could grab Undermountain or the Castle of the Mad Archmage or Rappan Athuk and go to town. Or pull out the graph paper and get to work. You wouldn’t be the first, but you would join the same heady tradition as Greg Svenson’s Tonisborg, Richard Snider’s Baronies, and Gygax’s Greyhawk.

There are four versions of the key available for download as Microsoft Word files:

Blank Template – Glendower Template – Seed 1 – Seed 2

COLLECTED ZIP FILE

THE KEYS

BLANK TEMPLATE: This file is a blank template for stocking the dungeons of Castle Blackmoor. It includes the first seven levels, with a table including spots for Protection Points, Creatures, and Treasure/Notes. When I stocked the dungeon, I did three passes:

1. Check each room for habitation and, if so, generate Protection Points.
2. Go back to each room with a Protection Point budget and generate creatures.
3. Make treasure tests for all of the rooms.

It stops at Level 7 because that’s where Arneson’s guidance for protection point budgets stopped. I’m not certain whether it makes more sense to continue increasing the point values at higher levels or allow them to plateau at 50 x 1d10, and I figured putting the current material into play might help elucidate the matter. (So we’ll see where that leads us the in future.)

GLENDOWER TEMPLATE: I’m referring to this format as a Glendower template because it’s modeled after the presentation of the Glendower Dungeon in the First Fantasy Campaign:

As I described in Reactions OD&D: The Arnesonian Dungeon, I found this particular format fascinating because the combination of treasure + protection point budget creates a specific tactical “shape” for the dungeon, but allows the GM to completely reinvent the dungeon on-the-fly each time they run it: This time you spend the protection point budget on goblins and ogres and the Glendower Dungeons are an outpost of the Goblin King. Next time you spend them on Nazgul and it’s a wraith-infested ruin haunted by the ancient nobles who once ruled its halls. The next time it’s infested with giant spiders. And so forth.

A Glendower template can also allow the GM to more precisely indicate what the inhabited areas of “interest” are in a dungeon while still providing an ample opportunity for random generation to create spontaneity in actual play. (That is not the case here; this Glendower template of the Blackmoor dungeons was randomly generated.)

SEED 1: This was the result of me fully stocking the Blackmoor dungeon levels. This is the version of the dungeon that I’ve been running (and which it looks like I’ll be continuing to run for awhile longer as an open table).

SEED 2: To demonstrate the flexibility of the system, I started over and started a second seed of the entire dungeon. (This took about 45 minutes to do all seven levels.) Perhaps the most notable take-away, in my opinion, is how the same stocking procedure can create radically different versions of the same dungeon.

For example, in the Seed 1 version of the dungeon I generated only one encounter (featuring 23 hobbits) on Level 1 and Level 2 was also sparsely inhabited. In Seed 2, however, the upper level is filled with hostile fey (including an attack force in the very first room!) and Level 2 is crawling with bad guys. In play, entering the Seed 1 version of the dungeon was a slow, tense build as empty corridors rolled out behind the party. The Seed 2 dungeon, on the other hand, would be an immediate meatgrinder.

OBSERVATIONS FROM STOCKING

What have I learned from actually putting these stocking procedures into practice?

Primarily that the system starts breaking down for me around Level 5. There are two interlinked problems.

First, it feels weird for most of the Group III creatures to appear in small hordes. Getting results like 6 Balrogs or 5 Dragons feels weird. I’ve decided to roll with it and see how that develops in actual play, but one option to explore in the future would be tweaking the procedures to favor one “Big Boss” with minions generated from the Group I or Group II tables. However…

Second, regardless, the increased point values at the lower levels fund huge numbers of bad guys. Results like “50 Nazguls” or “Giant, Basilisk, 8 Nazguls, 11 Ogres” or “23 Ents” are quite common.

This is inherent to Arneson’s stocking method, but the maps of Castle Blackmoor don’t adjust to reflect the nature of the encounters being generated: The rooms on the lower levels remain tiny and cramped.

Based on Arneson’s surviving key of the lower levels, this doesn’t seem to have bothered him: For example, he keys 250 dwarves into a 10′ x 40′ long space. Or 60 ogres into a 10′ x 10′ room.

For the moment, I’ve decided to play it as it lies, simply letting the keyed results stand as they were generated. If my players manage to delve down to those lower levels, it’s possible that I will discover (or create) some method of play that makes sense of these sorts of encounters. Given my predilection for complex, multi-room tactical scenarios, for example, it probably wouldn’t be difficult to interpret large hordes in one room as actually spilling out into neighboring chambers. Another option would be to interpret such entries as actually suggesting that the keyed room is merely the entrance to some sub-level of the dungeon. You can find a suggestion of that in my Seed 1 notes:

Level 4, Area 13: 56 Elf/Fairy – crystal ball; they must live beyond a magic portal in this dead end

Perhaps I’ll grab a few random Dyson Logos maps and have them on hand and simply use them as necessary. To fit them into the tight geography of the Blackmoor dungeons may be a trifle difficult, but extradimensional portals and long inter-level passages that locate the sub-level somewhere else or drop down/up at steep angles to connect with the wider tunnel systems around Blackmoor can simplify the difficulties.

Upon reflection, I actually quite like this “outpost entrance” model: Use a handful of the indicated creatures as a “door guard” of sorts and then use the remaining creatures indicated to stock the sub-level / micro-dungeon behind the outpost entrance. In this model, the lower levels of the dungeon would fall naturally into armed enclaves linked to the central dungeon topography. (This also feeds well into my personal vision of the dungeon as a place where materiel both Ancient and Evil wells up from the depths. These outposts become literal wells from which strange and eldritch things emerge into the dungeon core.)

But I digress.

More generally, I would note that the problem here is not necessarily with the strength of the encounters generated, but rather with the fact that the maps weren’t drawn to reflect the results the stocking procedure was generating. If you were using these same procedures to stock your own dungeons, the problem can be trivially resolved by mapping accordingly.

USING MINIMALIST KEYS IN PLAY

Running a dungeon using a minimalist key is, of course, an act of improvisation: You take scraps of information, throw them into the cauldron of your imagination, and you see what comes spilling out. As you do this over time, the details you’re creating will begin interacting with each other and creating new details.

In some cases, a story will come spilling out of the key as you’re rolling it up. For example, look at Level 4 of Seed 1:

The dice got in a rut and filled the entire north side of this level with Fighting-Men. This section of the dungeon also features a number of connections to the wider network of tunnels which surrounds the Castle Blackmoor dungeons. These tunnels, in turn, feature a number of exits to the surface. Putting these facts together, it’s easy to “see” that these fighting-men are actually bandits, staging their raids out of this hideout.

Or look at Level 6 in Seed 2: Here the dice pumped out 70+ Nazgul. I don’t know exactly what those Nazgul are doing down there, but the entire level — let’s call it Wraith Hall — will be heavily influenced in terms of visuals and content by their domination here.

More ideas will come into focus once play begins. For example, as I mentioned before, on Level 1 of the dungeon I had only generated a single encounter featuring 23 hobbits in Area 6:

It became clear to me that this must mean that this entire corner of the first level must actually be a hobbit warren! If the PCs ever go over there, they’ll find round doors and curved tunnels that — if they’re human — are rather too small for comfort. What are the hobbits doing down here? Well, they were first met as the result of a random encounter roll, so I decided that they must be patrolling the upper levels of the dungeon for Baron Fant, keeping them clear of dangers. (Which is, of course, why the upper two levels are, in this version of the dungeon, relatively unpopulated.) Which is why the PCs met Sir Alcestis, a brave hobbit knight dressed in blue livery, and his crew of hobbit wardens.

Later the PCs find the secret doors leading to Area 9:

Checking my key I see that this area contains a magic sword (the N Sword), but not creatures. The odd shape of the rooms and the presence of the sword combine to create a creepy chamber with full-length mirrors on each of the three walls: Those looking into one of the mirrors will see themselves holding the sword in their hand.

What’s the sword look like? Well, I check the Sword Matrix and I see that the N Sword is an anti-lycanthropic blade. So I describe it as have a hilt of gray fur with a kind of “tassel” attached to it. (Why? No particular reason. It’s just the image that occurs to me.)

Finding the N Sword is particularly interesting in this specific context, however, because one of the PCs has been bitten by a lycanthrope earlier in the session. In rolling up its variable stats, I discover that it is only intelligent enough to communicate by “passing on gross emotions”, so when the PCs successfully extricate the sword from the puzzle of the three mirrors, I describe the “tassel” as curling up like the tail of an angry cat and pointing directly at the afflicted character. This ability to detect lycanthropes at a short range isn’t listed in the sword’s stat block, but it follows logically (and, more importantly, awesomely) from the creative chain we’ve been following to get to this point.

Next: Restocking the Dungeon

Go to Part 1

The story goes that Dave Arneson’s Napoleonics players showed up for the game one week and discovered that Arneson had set up the model of a medieval castle on his ping-pong table. That evening they went on the first dungeoncrawl in history and the modern roleplaying game was born!

A great deal of confusion existed for a number of decades because Arneson had misremembered what model he had used. Thanks to Jeff Berry, we now know that the model Arneson had was Kibri model No. 37304, an N-Gauge model of Branzoll Castle. (A model which, not coincidentally, precisely matches the maps of Castle Blackmoor in the First Fantasy Campaign.) So not only do we know exactly what Castle Blackmoor looked like, it turns out that Kibri still manufactures this model kit! You can buy your own copy of Castle Blackmoor for $70-80!

CASTLE BLACKMOOR

• The castle was built during the reign of Robert I, but a fortress has stood at this location throughout recorded history and the castle incorporates many of the underground galleries of the older structures. Moat was created 400 years ago by the wizard Pissaic during the great Ben-Hassock invasions.
• The Coot Invasion began when the former Baron Wesley – now known as the Weasel – betrayed the Great Kingdom, lured the other local noblemen into Castle Blackmoor’s library, and slaughtered them. (“All that is really known is that they entered but never left and no trace of them was ever found.”) The Weasel now serves as loyal lieutenant to the Egg of Coot.
• The current ruler of Blackmoor, Baron Fant, rose to that position by virtue of his actions during the Coot Invasion.
• GM Note: See p. 21-23 of the First Fantasy Campaign for additional background material and maps.

EGG OF COOT

• This all consuming personality lives off the egos of others to support his own ego.
• At one time of humanoid appearance (or so historical records say), but his current appearance is uncertain – a huge mass of jointly operating cells, an undulating jelly, a thickly hided egg, pure energy, a lotus-eating man, a mass of living rock, etc.
• Communications with the Egg are through either direct mental transmission or an Old World artifact in his throne room which allows him to transmit from his City-Palace.
• His realm lies northeast of the castle, beyond the Wolf’s Head Pass (see First Fantasy Campaign, p. 18). [I imagine his City-Palace as a sort of cargo cult edifice of the Old World, with its peoples subjugated into a hive mind consciousness on the edge of the Egg’s vast, domineering mentality.]

FIRST SCENARIO

• Soukup, a treacherous agent of the Egg of Coot, placed Baron Fant into a magical sleep and flees into the dungeons below the castle.
• PCs are sent in pursuit.
• GM Note: Baron Fant has actually been infected with vampirism. (Historically, he becomes the infamous Sir Fang.)

DESIGN NOTES

The scenario here is meant to be evocative of, but not a precise duplicate, of the First Dungeon Adventure as described by Greg Svenson. (The enemy agent Soukup is a transparent homage to Jim Soukup, who played the balrog in the original scenario.)

It should be noted that it has become fairly apparent that the scenario described by Svenson is not, in fact, “the first dungeon adventure in history of Dungeons & Dragons.” (Although it is very possible that he’s unintentionally conflating details from different sessions.) I strongly suspect that the scenario hook that Svenson describes — the Bad Guys have done something to Baron Fant and fled into the dungeons — is, in fact, the event in which Fant was transformed into Sir Fang (the first vampire in the history of Dungeons & Dragons), which is why that’s reflected in my selected scenario hook here.

(In the real world, Dave Fant — Baron Fant’s player — had taken a job and needed to withdraw from playing in the campaign, as described in this interview. Arneson apparently came up with the idea of turning him into a vampire.)

DUNGEON FEATURES – ON THE MAP

Stairs: All stairs are circular (though not drawn that way). 20 to 30 feet between levels.

Secret Doors (Thin Wall): Anywhere there is a “thin wall” between areas.

Devil Fountains (Black Dots): Made of black, glass-like material with ruby eyes, gold horns, silver accoutrements. They spew out sulfuric acid. They are highly magical. Attempts to molest them will cause a great howling of sound and earth tremors, followed by the entire area collapsing into ruin.

Fire Pits (Crosshatch): Deep flue-like chimneys that go into the deepest parts of the dungeon to connect with the great lava pit beneath the castle (level 25). There is always a low railing (2 to 3 feet) around them. Often marked with religious images, etc.

Note: The famed Orcian Way does not yet exist. It’s also likely that the tunnels on Level 1 were not yet collapsed.

DUNGEON FEATURES – OTHER FEATURES

Catacombs: Honeycombing the hill that Blackmoor Castle has always stood upon are a series of tunnels and galleries which have been used for a number of purposes throughout history.

The Tombs: Area used for the final resting places of Blackmoor nobility and distinguished warriors. Haunted.

The Gallery of the Undead: Used during the Plague of the Undead as their headquarters and temple to perform their unholy rites.

Dungeons & Torture Chamber: Used by various sadistic Dukes or Barons of the past. Torture chamber is lost; it was sealed up at some point in the past.

Wizard’s Pit: Former ruler of Blackmoor’s Attendant Wizard practiced his arts here. Workshop was destroyed some 500 years ago due to the nature of his research. Wizard was imprisoned here when it was sealed up.

The Black Pit: An area of noxious fumes and bottomless pools caused by some natural phenomena where it is, of course, rumored that a gate to Hades is located.

Sealed Treasure Vaults: Sections filled with treasure and then sealed up (to hide it from those besieging the castle; or, more recently, by delvers hoping to return for it).

DESIGN NOTES

Although it was not my goal to attempt to “recreate” Arneson’s original dungeon key, I did want to tap into his creative palette. So I sucked the material here out of the First Fantasy Campaign to both understand his conception of the sorts of sub-complexes the dungeon would contain (catacombs, tombs, wizard laboratories, etc.). For my own utility, I’m also planning to print out a copy of 101 Curious Items to supplement my description of the dungeon.

Next: The Dungeon Key

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