Go to Part 1 – Go to Map

AREA 13: Tree roots grow down through the ruined ceiling here, curling through the rubble pile.

AREA 14: This is a false door made of bronze with runes engraved upon it. Beneath the runes there is a pair of crossed hammers. (The door is remarkably clean: Essentially spotless.) The door tingles to the touch.

Norskan Runes: THE PATH OF THE SOUL’S RICHES. (Those familiar with Neo-Norskan mythology will recognize this as part of a quotation ascribed to Illhan: “The path to the soul’s riches shall lie along no path of gaudy promise.”)

Trap: Opening the door triggers a 50’ bolt of lightning (4d6 damage). The door will then snap shut (resetting the trap). There is a circular disc of brass  in the center of the wall behind the door (from which the lightning is emitted).

AREA 15: The two sets of arches down the length of this hall are formed by two ravens with their beaks touching at the capstone. The eyesockets of each raven appears to have once been a gem, but the stones have been pried out.

Raven’s Sight: If a gemstone worth at least 250 gp is placed into the eye-socket of a raven, a character will be gifted with a visitation from Odin as per a commune spell. Removing a gemstone from one of the eye-sockets will result in a powerful curse being placed on the character.

AREA 16 (THE HEAD OF THE HAMMER): A larger chamber angling away in both directions. The archway leading to the stairs leading down is formed by two large hammers. The angled walls are covered in elaborately carved stonework forming intricate, knotted designs.

Secret Door: Twisting one of the knots causes the door to swing aside.

AREA 17:The floor in this hallway is covered in a layer of dirt 2 feet deep.

Pit Traps (30’ deep w/spikes): Covered by badly weathered, graying wood (beneath the dirt) – very weak. 2 in 6 chance that anyone crossing them will break through and fall. 1 in 6 chance that someone crossing will hear the wood creaking under them.

AREA 18: The floor immediately beyond the secret door is of a white tile inlaid with a mosaic of blue depicting a twisted knot (similar to those depicted on the hammered arch in area 16). The statue is of a broad-shouldered man wearing a bearskin with a hammer held in each hand.

Trap: Anyone crossing the mosaic without saying Illhan’s battle prayer (“Let my eyes be washed in the blood of my enemies and my hands kept clean with valiant work”) will activate the statue. Bolts of energy as per magic missile will shoot out from the hammers, striking the nearest character once per round for 10 rounds. After ten rounds, twin bolts of lightning (4d6 damage) will shoot from the statue’s eyes.

AREA 19: The walls of this chamber are clad in white marble. At either end of the hall, in the center of the wall, is a circular depression.

The Map: If the shafts of the silver hammers from area 31 are inserted into the two depressions, lines of blood will exude from the south wall, revealing a blood-etched map leading to the dwarven stronghold described in Hammers of the God. The following passage will also appear in both dwarven and Norskan runes: “THE SECRET OF ALLIANCE SHALL BE KEPT.”

AREA 20: 1 in 6 chance of stepping on one of several pressure plates which will cause the stone block forming the ceiling to fall, crushing those beneath it (4d6 points of damage). Once the block has fallen, it’s possible for a halfling or an unarmored character to squeeze through the gap between the stone block and the ceiling.

The stone block can be reset or released from area 23.

AREA 21: The portcullis in this room is incredibly sturdy and difficult to break or lift. (It’s controlled from area 23.)

AREA 22: This collapse is about 5 feet deep and blocks the width of the passage. The area around the door to area 23 has been excavated out (you can climb up and then drop down into it). Once you’re in that excavated portion, it’s possible to notice that a crawlspace has been cleared at knee-height leading to the stairs.

AREA 23: The far wall of this chamber has a large wheel affixed to the middle of it. There are two levers set into the wall – one to either side of the wheel.

Wheel: Operates the portcullis in area 21.

Levers: The one on the right releases the stone block trap in area 20 (and does nothing if it’s already down). The one on the left resets the trap (and does nothing if it’s already up).

Continued tomorrow…

(Original cartography by Dyson Logos.)

Go to Part 1

(Click for larger map. Original cartography by Dyson Logos.)

Stairs go down about 30 feet.

AREA 1: Thirty foot square. Door in the opposite wall is made of iron. To the left and right are two archways. The archways are formed by two female figures reaching up to touch the hands of the other. The women depicted are slightly different from each other: The ones on the right have shorter hair and are wearing chain shirts with swords strapped to their hips. To the left they have flowing robes with long hair cascading down around their shoulders and wear circlets (with places for gems which have been pried out).

Destroyed Murals: The walls and ceiling here were once covered in brightly painted murals; but the paint has faded and chipped to the point where no recognizable features can be made out.

AREA 2: In the far back corner on the right there is a wooden door. On the left, about midway down the wall, you see what appears to have once been a fireplace. The fireplace is now packed tight with dirt, with a cascade of looser earth spilling out across the floor of the chamber.

Closet: Door to the closet has swelled into the frame and is stuck tight. There’s an empty wooden shelf (swollen and warped). The floor has collected detritus.

AREA 3: This area is a long, narrow hall with an alcove in one wall facing a door. The alcove contains a headless statue of what appears to be a broad-shouldered man wearing a bearskin (the head of the bear hangs down the back). It holds a hammer in each hand. The head of the statue is missing.

Doors: The door from the hall has been smashed in (the lock hangs loosely from splintered wood). If the door leading to area 4 is opened, the hammers on the statues will glow a bright blue and then, a minute later, a strange, high-pitched howl will be emitted by the statue. Both the howling and glow will fade away without any seeming effect a few moments later.

AREA 4: A short hall with iron doors at either end.

Doors: The door to area 3 will trigger a magical effect (see that area). The door to area 5 has been spiked shut from that side.

AREA 5: Three skeletons are laid out on the floor near a collapsed wall. Scraps of leather cling to them.

Doors: The door to area 4 is spiked shut (from this side). The door to the hallway was once spiked shut, but the spikes have been removed (leaving only the holes behind).

AREA 6: A small chamber, twenty foot square. Off to the right there are the shattered remnants of a thin wooden door which seems to have once led to a small closet. There are three broken swords lying on the floor. On the wall opposite the door there are three large indentations, as if someone had taken a great hammer and smashed it into the stone wall.

Broken Swords: Each has caked, blackened blood along one edge of it. The break on each sword looks as if the metal was actually cut.

Indentations: All at the same level. Equidistant along the wall.

AREA 7: The chamber ends in a collapse of rubbled stone.

AREA 8: Reaching this area requires squeezing past the collapsed portion of the hallway. Halflings can squeeze through without problems; others will need to spend some time excavating and probably remove their armor.

AREA 9: Secret door is hidden from this side, but easily detected from the other. It slides to one side, recessing into the wall.

AREA 10: Most of the room beyond has collapsed, sending a cascade of earth against the door (jamming it shut). Due to a confluence of sound, every time someone tries to bash open this door it will echo loudly throughout the complex.

AREA 11: The floor of this chamber curves down to form a pool (now dry and filled with drifts of dust and dirt). The ceiling also curves up. Stairs to the south lead up to the lip of the pool. Archways to the west and east also look out onto the pool. The only way to cross between the archways or the stairs is to climb down into the pool and then climb back up again.

Archways: Formed by two male figures reaching over and touching hands palm-to-palm. The ones to the east are in chain armor; the ones to the west are wearing tunics.

Coins: There are 8 cp mixed into the detritus at the bottom of the pool.

Destroyed Murals: The walls and ceiling surrounding the pool were once covered in murals, but the paint has faded and chipped to the point where they can no longer be identified.

AREA 12: This chamber is empty, but the murals on the wall here are not as badly damaged as those found elsewhere in the complex. On the wall opposite the door, there is a large figure. His face is missing – it appears to have been deliberately defaced; the wall itself has been deeply scratched. The figure wears a bearskin cloak and holds a hammer in each outstretched hand with the heads of the hammers pointed towards each other. Surrounding him are twelve women kneeling and offering various gifts unto him:  Amphora in the hands of one; a large golden sword in the hands of another… The others are too difficult to make out; the paint has been too badly damaged.

Continued tomorrow…

Go to Part 1

When the PCs approached the ruined temple I needed to figure out which god the temple was dedicated to. I knew from my background notes that the Norse pantheon had been worshiped in this area by the Norskans, and I briefly considered re-assigning the temple to Thor. (The image of a hammer stuck in my head. If you take a peek at areas 15 and 16 on the map tomorrow, you should be able to figure out why.) Then, at the last minute, I decided not to change Illhan’s identity… but I also kept the Norskan connection. The result was the Neo-Norska Pantheon.

NEO-NORSKA PANTHEON

When the Nidhogg, the Great Serpent of Shadows, gnawed its way free from the prison which had been formed for it within the roots of Yggdrasil, it passed into the Realm of Midgard and there wrought horrible deeds and raised a mighty legion of darkness. It formed alliance with Surtr and the Muspelheim, the Realm of Fire, and with their aid prepared a great siege to sweep aside the gods.

But the ravens of Odin brought tidings of Nidhogg’s legions. The blind seers of Valhalla foretold that this might prove one of the Ragnaroks. The gods did not believe that any power could stand against the might which Nidhogg had raised, and so they closed the gates of Yggdrasil and cast loose the nine worlds – sealing themselves from the terror.

But not all within the halls of Valhalla believed that the Realm of Midgard should be abandoned. With the aid of Heimdall, the Eight Sons of Thor and the Three Daughters of Hel crossed the Rainbow Bridge, leading the Court of Young Gods to rally the armies of men and oppose the shadows of Nidhogg.

ILLHAN: Thor’s Eldest. He proved himself a great hero during the war and became known as the Bearskin Knight. He wielded a hammer in each hand.

LATER TALES: In the days after the War of the Great Serpent, the Court of Young Gods turned against itself. One of the Daughters of Hel, the Queen of Rivers, was murdered. Her sisters – the Ice Queen and the Fire Queen – accused each other of the crime and the Second War of the Young Gods began.

During the latter days of this second war, Illhan, who had pledged himself to the Ice Queen, saw the Fire Queen from afar and his ancient passion for her was lit afresh.

For more details of the sad tale which follows, see the Pleasure Palace of Izrigul in Nod #6. (Which I’m incorporating into the Neo-Norska myth cycle because it’s too cool not to use. It’s free, so check it out.)

Continued tomorrow…

Recently my open table megadungeon campaign has been expanded into an open table hexcrawl campaign. One of the interesting consequences is that players can become intensely focused on the idea of being “scooped” by other groups: There have been discussions about need to “get back here quick” before someone else can swoop in; there have been a few feelings of friendly acrimony about groups “getting lucky” on the backs of another group clearing out the “tough stuff”; and at some point there is going to be a group that goes delving into a complex that has recently been emptied by someone else.

The adventure I’m about to share is not one of those. But it was designed with that final concern in mind: Knowing that cleared out dungeon complexes were going to crop up eventually, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to key a few in ahead of time. I knew that I was going to be keeping a “restock checklist” as part of my campaign status document for the hexcrawl, and I figured pre-seeding it with a few entries would actually be for the best.

Which brings us to hex K13: The Ruined Temple of Illhan.

I’ve mentioned previously that I drew on the work of Dyson Logos considerably when it came to stocking the hexes for this campaign. The Temple of Illhan was one of those maps, and you can find Dyson’s original maps on his site (along with a lot of other wonderful stuff). In this case, Dyson had posted the map, but not the key. So it was very easy to simply plug in the map; write, “Nothing down here. Currently completely cleaned out.” And then move on to the next hex.

A few days ago, one of my groups stumbled onto the temple while looking for something else entirely. They decided to check it out, quickly concluded that it was not the place they were looking for, and then decided to continue exploring it any way. I found the resulting session (and the need to make an empty complex as entertaining as possible) intensely interesting and it seems like most of the players agreed.

(One of the players, unfortunately, was less than happy with exploring an entire complex that had nothing he could stick a sword in. It clashed hard with his expectation that “if there’s a dungeon, there will be monsters”. But based on the brief discussion I had after the session with him, it seems like the session helped reinforce the idea that, in a sandbox, you don’t have to stick around. Because there are a lot of options to pursue, you don’t have to engage with the options that don’t entertain you. That’s the great thing about them: As a DM I’m there to facilitate your entertainment, but I’m not responsible for it. It takes a lot of pressure out of the prep work.)

What I’ll be presenting over the next few days is the full key for the dungeon as it was developed in play. We’ll start today with the portion of the temple which remains above ground.

Special thanks to Dyson Logos for giving me permission to reproduce his maps and the adventure key as part of this series. (It should be noted, however, that the map of the above ground temple below is not Dyson’s work. His stuff is much, much cooler.)

I’ll also note that Dyson has has posted some session logs of his group playing through the original version of the temple. My version of the temple isn’t based on those logs at all, but it might be interesting to do a side-by-side comparison of the same map being used in two different ways.

THE RUINED TEMPLE

(Map drawn in Dundjinni.)

DOORS: Front doors hang loosely from their hinges. They appear to have been smashed open. The splintered wood is gray and desiccated, however, indicating the damage is well-weathered with age.

TREE: A stunted, twisted growth.

COLLAPSE: Tumbles out across the prairie. Grass is growing up amidst the rubble pile. The pile can be easily climbed over to enter or exit the church.

INTERIOR: Filled with rubble. It appears that the upper floors of the building collapsed at some point. This rubble has been scooped out to the right and the left beyond the door, however, forming a path leading to a stone block in the far end of the building (the altar).

ALTAR: A kind of stone block. On the side of which is a bas relief depicting crossed hammers.

SECRET STAIRS: The stone block has actually been pushed forwards towards the door, partially revealing stairs going down. (Originally it would have cleared the stairs entirely, but it has ground to a halt and is now jammed halfway open, forcing human-sized characters to squeeze through.)

Continued tomorrow…

Go to Part 1

In part 6, we made it easier to run G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief by putting a room key on the map — a sort of cheat sheet for quickly orienting yourself geographically while running the adventure. As part of that discussion, I talked about the dire wolf encounter in area 22 and asked an important question:

“Who might hear this?”

The layout of the complex gives us some clue to this, but wouldn’t it be even easier if we could look on the map and actually see where the monsters are?

To do this, we’ll need a symbol. Let’s try something like this:

Using this symbol we can quickly indicate “Here There Be Monsters!” But let’s say we wanted to include more information than that. It’s pretty easy to numerically key the symbol:

We could use that number to simply indicate the number of monsters present, but I think it would be more useful to use the number as a reference to a roster of monsters. And we can put that on the dungeon map right next to the room key:

(click for a larger version)

For this, I’ve basically just grabbed the info from the module. But it wouldn’t be too hard to tap the Monster Manual and include stat lines.

If we wanted to get a lot fancier, we could also use double-encoding here by preparing a different silhouette for each type of monster. They would let us tell in a glance where, for example, all the goblins are located.

Another option would be to color code the monster symbol to represent factions within a dungeon. (This could be really great for something like the Temple of Elemental Evil, for example.)

In any case, the “life” of the complex almost immediately jumps out at you. You could almost play the adventure from this single sheet alone (although you’d miss out on a lot of the detail to be found in the full key), and it shouldn’t be hard to see how a map like this makes it virtually unnecessary to look at any key except for the room the PCs are currently exploring.

THE GM’S TABLEMAT

I coined the term “GM tablemat” to refer to “roll-on” tables. But for years now I’ve been using dungeon maps as tablemats in combination with monster rosters to run truly living dungeon complexes.

Before explaining what I mean by that, let me back up for a second.

In prepping the monster roster shown above, I simply listed every single creature in the steading. If I were prepping G1 for my home campaign, however, there are several monsters I would have skipped:

• #5: The giantess maids are unlikely to leave their chambers during an assault.
• #6: The pet cave bear isn’t going anywhere unless someone fetches him.
• #14, 15, 16: The cooks and servants in the kitchen are unlikely to go anywhere.
• #17: Iffy. Based on the description in the module, these guys are unlikely to go anywhere. But they might (particularly if loud noises attract their attention from area 22). I’d probably list ’em just to be on the safe side.
• #18: The injured orcs definitely aren’t going anywhere.
• #20: Iffy. The dire wolves won’t go anywhere on their own, but they’re more likely to be fetched to aid in the defense of the steading. Again, I’d probably list ’em.

As you can probably tell, my methodology is simple: If a monster will never be encountered outside of a specific keyed location, I won’t bother including them on the roster. (Like the other details of that keyed location, I’ll notice ’em when the PCs reach that area.)

When I’m prepping my own adventures, I’ll actually go one step further: Monsters that appear on the roster won’t appear in the encounter key at all. That way, if I see a monster in the encounter key I know that it’s definitely there and nowhere else. (Meanwhile, I’m keeping track of the rostered monsters independently.)

At this point, we’ve got the steading down to a fairly manageable 14 roster groups. When it comes time to run the adventure, this is what you want to do:

1. Lay the adventure map out as a tablemat in front of you.
2. Take counters numbered 1-14 and place them on the map in the “starting location” for each roster group.
3. You are now ready to manage your monsters in real time. Just move them around the map as the situation demands.

(Note: Numbered counters are easy to find on the cheap. It’s also pretty easy to make your own by printing out the numbers and then affixing them to washers or quarters or something of the like.)

This is why the monsters in area 11 were broken into several smaller groups: To make them more manageable if the giants need to split up.

The rostered approach also makes it really easy to re-arrange the denizens of a compound on a cycle. For example, you could prep one roster for the day and a different roster for the night.

Personally, however, my limit for this sort of thing is usually around 12-15 roster groups. Larger complexes can sometimes be broken down into smaller sections to make them manageable, but if that doesn’t work then that’s the point where I’ll swap from a “living complex” approach and start using random encounter tables to simulate a compound’s life.

This post is part of the RPG Blog Carnival for Cartography.