#Dungeon Crawl

[dailyadventureprompts]

Dungeon: The Seeping Tombs

The learned and pious council of the king's advisors concluded that if sickness was a sign of moral failing, that medicine was a form of ennoblement allowing the sinner to bypass suffering without repentance. By royal decree the healers were thrown in along with their patients, the gates sealed behind them.

Constructed during an age of ignorance, these now innocuous ruins were used as a prison for those who had committed no crime besides falling ill. Pestilence ravaged the land, and after years of failing or outright refusing to control its spread the old king and his pious inner circle began to resent the masses who suffered under under their misrule.

The building that became the tombs was already under construction, intended as the foundations for a great temple dedicated to the king's imperious patron deity. When the work crews grew sick their bodies were passed into the lowest reaches to prevent the spread of miasma, joined soon after by dead from the local villages, and eventually those afflicted but still living.

It was not long after the gates were sealed that something otherworldly come to dwell within the tomb, suborning the natural process of decay causing those interred within to rot into a sickening and malevolent sludge.

Adventure Hook: A new magical malady besets those descended form the king and his pious council, and though some have inherited their forebearers' zeal and callousness many others are quite innocent. When traditional cures fail, The party are hired to seek an answer, and whether through research or the consultation of oracles find themselves pointed towards the seeping tombs. Irony of ironies, this exact sickness was being looked into by talented physician condemned by the king's order, consigned along with her research to a squalid death among those she tried to save.

Whatever the source of the present malady, it has a sense of cruel justice that the party should be wary of.

Challenges & Complications:

Summoned by the prolonged fear, suffering, and affliction of those trapped within the tombs, Juiblex, demon sovereign of ooze, has consecrated the tombs as an altar to despair and wretchedness. The tunnels are overrun with its spawn, along with undead who's spirits cannot rest for all the cruelty that was done to them in life.

The longer and deeper the party explore, the more sick they're likely to get.

Early chambers of this dungeon are a great excuse to use the classic "what looks like a skeletal warrior approaching slowly down a corridor is actually a gelatinous cube & its last meal" encounter, which is a treat in and of itself.

The upper reaches of the tomb are controlled by a nest of ghoulish knights and footmen, who were originally tasked with driving droves of the sick into the dungeon, only to find themselves sealed inside along with the afflicted. As fearful and proud as their departed liege, they play at piety and honour willing to lend aid to the party for a chance to escape the tombs and run rampant on the surface.

The middle reaches of the tomb see the party exploring twisting, sticky corridors, their progress fenced in by portcullises and other defences that need to be opened remotely. These hurdles do not stop the level's guardian, a massive and inexorable ooze that will chase the party with relentless slowness once alerted. Expect an oddly paced chase scene as the party works on opening a path forward while trying not to get trapped in a room by the sludgy green tide.

The cure to the magical malady lays with it's source: the ghost of the masterful physician who's long simmering resentment has manifested as a curse. Having been denied the chance to save her patients, she must be convinced why she should allow her research to be used to save the realm's ungrateful rulers while the victims of their callousness go unmourned. Her counter-offer is as brutal as it is poetic: Let the sickness at the heart of the kingdom devour those who benefit from it, and let the future come as it may.

Art 1

Art 2

[bleakbarrows]

Lost Wanderer in the Beorg

[n64retro]

Gauntlet Legends Atari Games / Midway Nintendo 64 1999

[oldschoolfrp]

Heroquest: Wizards of Morcar (Les Edwards box art, 1993)

[domjordanillustration]

final encounter

[tnperkins]

A commission sketch in a copy of my art book “IF…”!

This manner of work and more can be scored over at thomasperkinsart.com/shop

[goblincow]

The Perilous Pear & Plum Pies of Pudwick | coming soon | read about it at http://tppappop.carrd.co

| 🐛 | 52 page full-colour, fully illustrated creepy-crawly micro-setting for Melsonia written and illustrated by Josh Blincow (@goblincow). Shrink to insectoid size and adventure into the uncanny world that exists inside a sapient pear tree in this system agnostic weird fantasy pointcrawl.

| 🐜 | INSPIRED BY | HOLLOW KNIGHT | BUG FABLES | THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE MINISH CAP | HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS | A BUGS LIFE

| 🐞 | MINIATURE MISADVENTURE | A well-meaning outsider brings reckless magic into a small community on the eve of the local bake off. Hijinks ensue as chitinous consequence follows behind on a thousand scuttling limbs.

Explore the dawn of a new insectoid world ripe for adventure! Shrink down to size and take your first furtive steps into the alien world living inside a sapient pear tree filled to the brim with insect communities, conflicts and (relatively) ancient secrets. Your actions will decide the destiny of a dungeon that was never meant to be delved. Will you find the adventure you were seeking, or discover another path entirely? Unravel the mystery at the heart of the tree, and make your proportionately tiny mark.

| 🐝 | FEATURES | 39 mischievous & menacing tritone illustrastions | vivid writing that animates a rich interconnected world | evocative pointcrawl-&-table adventure design | approachable, colour-coded information design that comfortably facilitates both table reference and playful reading.

| 🦗 | MANAGEABLE MECHANICS | self-contained adventure bookended with a food fight inciting incident and 5 villager NPCs | a perilous ticking clock | carefully interweaved pointcrawl map with 17 locations, 6 d3 vignette tables, 5 d4 rumour tables and 2 d4 encounter tables with location specific encounters | d100 worldly possessions table | d100 random encounters table | d20 bug name generator | 3 unique treasures | 6 page insectuary & 23 minimalist enemy statblocks | faction reference matrix | system agnostic rules for generating bug player characters.

| 🦟 | SYSTEM AGNOSTIC | compatability with old school TTRPGs like CAIRN | LABYRINTH LORD | OSE | KNAVE | DCC | B/X and easily adaptable for other fantasy tabletop roleplaying games like MAUSRITTER | TROIKA! | TUNNEL GOONS | MÖRK BORG and more.

| 🦋 | follow @goblincow for updates | goblincow.carrd.co

[crustmonster]

Dungeons from the original Record of Lodoss War campaign replay from Comptiq magazine 1986-87. Translated by Trotti.

I’d totally play these.

[arecaceae175]

Temple Escape Chapter 1

Summary: The chain is separated in a dungeon.

Warnings: injury, body horror, blood, sensory deprivation

Excerpt:

“I’m okay,” Time said, meeting Hyrule’s gaze. Hyrule nodded, but still didn't respond. Time put his arm over the boy’s shoulders and pulled him to his uninjured side.

“I knew I had one of my strongest potions left, and those always work faster than my magic,” Hyrule explained. “And who knows what else we’ll run into.” His voice trailed off with uncertainty.

Time nodded and squeezed Hyrule’s shoulder. Hyrule’s frown slipped off his face, replaced by a tentative grin.

“What about the others?” Time asked. 

“Don’t know. It’s just the three of us here,” Warriors answered. Time frowned. 

“We’re separated,” Time said, mostly to himself. That didn’t bode well. 

[sarcasticsouthernbookworm]

Can we talk about the fact that there are already 3 songs ready for the Oxventure musical, 4 if you count Vengabus, so really they should just go for it.

(Plus it would give them a chance to re-record Literally Everyone Else in the World with Johnny’s proper pronouns)

[scyanako]

Boyfriends going on an adventure into the labyrinth ✨

(I wish EON had Blot as a party member 🥹 He's gotta experience the labyrinth...like getting cornered by 4 FOE's, or getting items stolen by a squirrel-)

[dailyadventureprompts]

Dungeon: The Fleetbreaker’s Bones

“More than three hundred years dead and rotting and it’s still going to kill us all. That’s dedication right there.”

-Tousu, hapless deckhand moments before a wreck

The remnants of this great kaiju turned fossil-reef has been swallowing up ships for centuries, a habit it’s not managed to break despite a great hero spearing it to a volcanic atoll and founding a prosperous kingdom over the territory it never would have ceded in life. Underwater lava flows create boiling mists and unstable weather patterns making sailing anywhere near the island a gamble. Ships lost in storms throughout the region seem invariably pulled towards the reef, leading many in villages along the coast to speculate that not even death can sate the great beast’s hunger.

In more recent years a ramshackle band of corsairs has decided to make the Reef their home, having suffered a disastrous defeat while raiding the mainland and needing somewhere, no matter how inhospitable, to regroup.  The Fleetbreaker ironically provided the perfect safe harbour, close enough to the trading lanes to raid, far enough out of anyone’s way and into unfriendly waters that reprisal was unlikely. They’ve had such success that they’ve been able to cobble together dwellings and fortifications across the reef, as well as a knocked together shipyard in the sheltered caverns that were one the kaiju’s belly.

Adventure Hooks:

The Fleetbreaker Pirates have managed to chart the rhythm of the atoll’s seemingly unpredictable weather, following in the wake of storms like scavengers after a bloodthirsty predator. With the party’s vessel having barely survived the night battling a sulfurous smelling gale, they’ll have to act quickly as first light and the hope that comes with it is dashed by the appearance of enemy vessels on the horizon.

Captured at sea (or perhaps after having one too many rounds of grog while in port) the party find themselves clapped in irons, stripped of their gear, and locked in a series of muggy stone cells. The Fleetbreakers deal in slaves as well as plundered goods, and it’s only a matter of weeks or maybe even days before their buyer shows up to trade in flesh. They have to escape, but how? Sneak out just their friends and disguise themselves on an enemy ship? Break out the other innocents and risk detection?

There are many sections of the great fossil reef where the pirates do not go, tidal warrens inhabited by skittering things made monstrous by generations of feeding off kaiju flesh, boiling caverns where lava vents glow just beneith the surface of the water and odd shapes move in the mineral vapour, lofty and winding passages leading to the lonlely spinal cliffs where the sound of strange birds causes hallucinations. Somewhere among all of this is the hero’s spear, a divinely invested artifact that has the power to found, and perhaps destroy kingdoms. The party may unwittingly stumble across this artifact while escaping captivity, or find it in a dramatic moment as they pursue the last of the pirate captains into the caverns in their final push to oust the corsairs once and for all. What they do with it after that is all up to them.

[bleakbarrows]

Wither

[tootallfernegames]

Tomorrow!

I have two things coming out tomorrow. The first is a small dungeon adventure I wrote with Jog Brogzin, a phenomenal mapmaker, for D&D5e and Dungeon Crawl Classics. It's a highly lethal adventure for folks that like old school dungeon crawls.

I also wrote a small game called Teenikin. If you've ever read the Borrowers, it's basically that as a game! It has elements of homebuilding, twelve character classes, and a whole lot of fun.

I hope y'all like them!

[oldschoolfrp]

Hero, a game of adventure in the catacombs (John Brenner cover art, Yaquinto, 1980) This was one of Yaquinto's "Album Games" packaged in a folding cardstock slipcase like a double record album with the board printed on the inside, thus the "Game Only" logo in the lower left to avoid confusion.

[domjordanillustration]

stealth check failed