Knight [In the House of the High King]

I watched Princess Arete and it got my brain going.

What's the right word for this genre? I hesitate to say "Ghibli-esque" because it's so overused as to almost be meaningless, even as (especially as) a marketing term. Fairytale fantasy? French vanilla fantasy?

It gave me the idea of a project, though. It's something like this setting by my friend Tom of the End of All Things / Houseless Hills blog.

Here is a taste. I might theorypost later, but maybe it's apparent from the design? This is longer than the core OSE class, but I also think it's more honest. It talks about the intended play in a way that I hope is enlightening.

Anyway, check it out.

Knight

Before the coming of the High King, the knights of the Stone Isles waged endless petty wars on their neighbors during the summer and autumn months.

Before the failing of the High King, all knights were commanded to seek the lost Runes of Rule and preserve the king's peace. Thus began the Great Quest of the Runes. With their martial puissance thus more-worthily invested, war in the Stone Isles all but stopped (except against the pernicious pirates), and the sea-roads became widely traversable by the common folk.

You were born to continue this quest by the strength of your arms and your iron.

By Oscar Westberg

Level	XP	Title	HD	To-hit	Faith	Wit	Grit	Quick	Counter-spell
1	0	Belted Knight	8 hp	+1	12	13	14	15	16
2	2,000	Knight Bachelor	2d8	+2	12	13	14	15	16
3	4,000	Knight Errant	3d8	+3	12	13	14	15	16
4	8,000	Knight Cavalier	4d8	+4	10	11	12	13	14
5	16,000	Knight Companion	5d8	+5	10	11	12	13	14
6	32,000	Knight Banneret	6d8	+6	10	11	12	13	14
7	64,000	Knight Commander	7d8	+7	8	9	10	10	12
8	120,000	Knight Lord	8d8	+8	8	9	10	10	12
9	240,000	Baronet	9d8	+9	8	9	10	10	12
10	360,000	Baron	10d8	+10	6	7	8	8	10

Adventures as a knight

Seek the runes

You are tasked with entering the ruins of the ancient sorceresses of Stone in search of the lost and broken Runes of Rule. While on this quest, seek items of wonderment for your liege lord, so your lands may be enriched.

It is said if all the Runes of Rule are reunited, the High King will return.

Claiming a rune. If you ever manage to claim (even a partial) Rune of Rule, you may establish your own petty kingdom, a king under the High King. You will no longer be a vassal to your lord, but their peer. You swear allegiance to the High King (may he return) in his Empty Throneroom, witnessed by the Keymaster of Serd.

Serve the realm

First and foremost, a knight must abide by the Oaths of Chivalry.
Serve loyally. Obey your liege lord in all matters. Pay the tributes of conquest and taxation dutifully.
Protect the weak. Defend the health and happiness of the king's subjects.
Keep the peace. Suffer none to break the king's peace. Dispatch pirates, thieves, and monsters.
Act honorably. Keep thy oaths. Fight manfully and without deceit. Give difference to sorceresses.

Those who uphold the Oaths of Chivalry are given the Rights of the Iron Law. (Each oath is conceptually bound to an associated right.)
Right of Iron. You may wear iron armor. You may carry a shield. This right is conferred exclusively to knights and clerics.
Right of the Blade. You may carry a sword as a symbol of your temporary authority. No one else in the Isles may. As part of the Right of the Blade, you may extend knighthood to those you deem worthy, raising a level 0 commoner to a level 1 knight.
Right of Judgment. You have de facto legal authority over the common folk. You may be called upon to sit in judgment, hear complaints, oversee criminal trials, and dispense justice.

• Anybody—especially commoners!—may complain to a local lord to complain about your behavior. The local lord can exercise the Right of Judgment over you.

Right of Challenge. You may demand a trial by combat to settle any matter of legality or honor. The Right of Challenge allows for a myriad variations: jousts, melee, to first blood, to yielding, to the death, etc.

Serve your lord

Most knights are born to nobility: the sons of a king or their vassal knights. However, any knight may make anyone they judge worthy into a knight. Knights raised from the common folk are called "hedge knights" (a quality, not a title). Though not noble born, they are peers with noble-born knights (in theory). Baseborn or noble, each knight serves a liege lord.

Find treasures for your lord. In your quest for the runes, you will find gold, plunder, and items of wonder—enchanted treasures made by the ancient Sorceresses of Stone. Everything you find is, by law, due your liege lord. Based on how much treasure you win for them, you will be granted different titles (see table, above).

Judicious lords give gifts back to their knights; both the treasures they find and other things from their treasury. Gifts are often doled out on St. Mickelmas's Day.

Note: The noble classes (knights and sorceresses) deal in gold as a way to pay commoners. For nobles, it is considered dishonorable to accept gold as payment. Commerce is conducted between nobles via gifts of enchanted items, land, or betrothals.

Claim a magic sword. The one treasure that your liege lord has no claim to is a magic sword. You may claim and hold any magic blade you find.

- Make a coat of arms. Knights who have found at least one magic sword have the right to create personal heraldry for themselves.

• Draw your sigil.
• When you accomplish great deeds, update your sigil to reflect these accomplishments.
• Give yourself a moniker, e.g., Knight of Thistles, the Mirror Knight, the Knight Ill-Made.

Knights who have not yet found a magic sword wear either a blank shield or use their liege lord's arms. They are called "crestfallen knights."

Before the adventure

Background

1. Hedge knight. You are commonborn, but raised to knighthood by your liege lord when you saved him during a sea dragon's attack on his ship. You have a son who is 1d12 years old.
2. Illegitimate. You are the liege lord's child, but your mother is not his lady consort. You were raised as a knight due to this unacknowledged parentage. You have a son who is 2d4 years old.
3. Fostered. You are a second cousin to the family of your liege lord; your parents live on another isle. You served as a squire to your older cousins throughout your teenage years and have just been belted as a knight.
4. Second born. Your liege lord is your father. You squired for your older brother, who is a stick-in-the-mud. Your days have been mostly carefree.
5. Heir apparent. Your liege lord is your father. You squired for your older brother, who was beloved by everyone. He died, drowned in a storm at sea. You are suddenly thrust into the position of heir.
6. First born. You are the first-born child of your father, the liege lord. You have been raised with the expectation that one day you will take over his position. It has weighed on you.

Bonds

If you are going through the Call to Adventure as a group during a session 0, roll or choose one bond to have with them based on their class.

If you are creating a new character to join an existing party, roll once per level on the 1d100 Backstory table instead.

Raised together (Knight)
You were raised in the yard together. You sat vigil, took the oaths, and were dubbed at the same time. Are you the better fighter, are they, or are you evenly matched? (You should both take this bond.) Gain the knack: Shield Wall - When fighting side-by-side with someone with this talent (within 5' of each other), you both gain +2 AC.
Your companion gains the Shield Wall knack, too.

Tourney rivals (Knight)
You first met this companion at the wrong end of the lance during your first tourney. You were evenly matched, but one of you won the joust by a single point. Who was it? You gain the skill: Riding and a random loyal steed.
Your companion gains +4 hp.

Stolen kiss (Sorceress)
You met this companion at a feast held in your liege lord's castle. At the end of the night, you stole a kiss from them. You gain +1 Charisma.
Ask them: How do they feel about you now?
If they want to court you, your companion gains +1 Charisma.
If they reject your advances, your companion gains +1 Wisdom.

Siblings (Sorceress)
This companion is your sibling. They inherited the mystic nature of the Sorceresses of Stone, and you inherited the bravery of your father. Who's older, you or her? You gain the skill: Ancient History.
Your companion gains proficiency in any martial weapon of their choice.

Tattletale (Cleric)
When you were younger, you skipped mass to nurse a hangover. This companion tattled on you and you were forced to muck out the stables. Have you forgiven them? You gain +1 Constitution.
Your companion gains +1 Wisdom.

Friend of the feast (Cleric)
When you were younger, you and this companion secretly tapped a cask of an elder friar's barleywine during a feast. You shared secrets while getting uproariously drunk. What did you tell each other? You gain +1 Constitution.
Your companion gains +1 Constitution.

Cast pirates back into the sea (Guilder)
When the pirates landed on your island, this companion raised the alarm and rushed with you to the shore to repel the invaders. Together, you threw them back into the sea. You gain +1 Strength.
Your companion gains +1 Wisdom.

Saved your life (Guilder)
Three years ago, both you and this companion campaigned with your lord against the Raiders of the White Land in the North. You were almost slain by one of these barbarians, but they rescued you—and took a grievous wound in the process. You owe this companion your life. You gain +1 Dexterity.
Your companion gains +4 hp.

Negotiator (Elf)
Three years ago, you squired during your lord's campaign against the Raiders of the White Land in the North. This companion rode under the banner of truce to negotiate the end of the war. Both you and the barbarians were impressed with their negotiations. You gain the skill: Diplomacy.
Your companion gains the skill: Diplomacy, as they instructed you in the craft.

Councilor (Elf)
When pirates landed on your island, you drew your first blood. Afterwards, it felt as if a ghost was following you. This companion gave you counsel that helped you and gave you a new perspective on the subject of war. You gain +1 Wisdom.
Your companion gains +1 Charisma.

Mentor (Dwarf)
This companion has long labored for your liege lord. You have sat by their forge fires and carefully watched the subtleties of the craft that they could not express in words. You gain the skill: Smithing.
Your companion gains +1 Intelligence.

Dentist (Dwarf)
When folk of the castle would complain of a sore tooth, your liege lord would call on this companion to come and yank the tooth out with a pair of tongs. You suffered this ministration at least once. You gain +1 Constitution.
Your companion gains the skill: Healing.

Chess player (Gnome)
When exploring the abandoned sections of the castle, you found an empty room with only a chess board and this companion, waiting patiently. You played many games together. They usually won, but taught you a lot. You gain +1 Intelligence.
Your companion gains +1 Intelligence.

Practical joker (Gnome)
You used to wake up with your clean small clothes knotted together, your fingernails painted ludicrous colors, and a grease-paint mustache painted on your teenage upper lip. You could never prove it, but you suspect this companion was behind all these enormities. You gain 10' of movement from constantly running into the empty corridor to look for the absent prankster.
Ask them: Were they the true culprit?
If they were the prankster, they gain +1 Dexterity.
If they weren't the prankster, they gain +1 Wisdom.

Gear

In addition to the equipment gained during your Call to Adventure, you begin the game with:

Armor. Roll 1d6.
1. Armor claimed from your first true battle against pirates:
gambeson, pirate's chain hauberk (1 round to remove in water), pirate's helm
2. Armor gifted your lord from raiders of the White Land as part of a truce:
raider's chain shirt, raider's masked helm, raider's round shield (repainted to colors of your choice)
3-4. Armor of your kingdom, once worn by the knight you squired for, fitted for you:
chain hauberk, chain coif, heavy shield*
5. Armor of your kingdom forged for you:
gambeson, plate cuirass, full helm*
6. Armor loaned to you by a mentor:
gambeson, tourney breastplate, tourney gorget, tourney helm, tourney crest & plume

Weapons. Roll 1d6 twice.
1. iron dagger
2. pirate's boarding axe
3. boar hunting spear
4. bronze warmaul
5. short sword*
6. lance*

* Results from your kingdom's set

Rumor

Your liege lord will tell you one true, actionable rumor regarding the location of an unclaimed magic sword. (This might be your party's first adventure.)

Between adventures

Build a tower

Knights may request a tract of land to develop from their lord. The total value of all treasure yielded to your lord may be used to build a castle, tower, or stronghold on this land. Draw it on a piece of grid paper: you're the master of this donjon.

References to help:

• Rules Sketch: Strongholds by Idle Cartulary of the Playful Void
• What if stronghold construction *is* the adventure? by Kind of Old Games
• Stranding the Wilderness by Sandro of Fail Forward
• Developing the Sandbox: Strongholds by Blog of Forlorn Encystment
• On Stronghold Clearing & Reclamation by Seed of Worlds
• d100 – Stronghold Struggles & Castle Hassles by d4caltrops

Join a knightly order

Knightly orders unite crusaders towards a common purpose. To join an order, you must take the order's oath and undertake its quest during downtime. At this point, you are pledged to the order but not a full member. Once that quest is fulfilled through adventuring, you become a member and gain its knack during your next downtime phase.

A knight may only ever join a single knightly order.

The Dragon-Lords, or the Red Knights
If the story of the Isles is one of invasions, then all humans are invaders against the original inhabitants: the dragons. The Dragon-Lords pursue the Quest for the Runes by cultivating a relationship with dragons. The secrets they discover are written in the Dragon-Book and kept by the head of this order.
Oath: To learn a secret through speech with a dragon
Knack: Steadfast Shield - Once per round, you may redirect an attack against an adjacent ally against yourself, forcing the opponent to target your AC instead. You must declare this before the referee makes the attack roll.

The Faith Militant, or the White Knights
A religious order, allied with clerics and the Church. They strengthen their resolve through participation in daily religious life: the recitation of the Hagiography, the singing of the Low and High Canticles, and contemplation of the Mystery.
Oath: To help a ghost pass on into the cycle of reincarnation
Knack: Exorcist - You deal +1 damage to the undead. Your attacks always harm undead monsters, even those that can normally only be harmed by magical or silver weapons.

The Wayfinders, or the Green Knights
This confraternity dedicates itself to keeping the roads and trade routes clear, and often accompany pilgrims to keep them safe. They maintain a set of wayside shrines throughout the Isles.
Oath: To defeat or banish a monster of the waves or wilds, making the path clear
Knack: Fleet - Your side wins ties in initiative. +10 movement speed.

By Oscar Westberg

Get married (level 3)

At level 3, your liege lord may propose a marriage for you from another noble house. The referee may wish to use established NPCs for this or randomly generate them.

One important attribute of a spouse is their dowry. Roll 1d6 to determine this:

1. None, a younger daughter of a large and cash-poor house
2. 2,000 gp
3. 4,000 gp
4. 8,000 gp
5. 16,000 gp
6. 32,000 gp

The dowry is added to your household income. Wealth accumulated from household income may only be spent on building and improving your tower stronghold. It does not count towards treasure given to your lord or experience points.

Once married, your spouse manages your estate in your absence. You collect your level x 250 gp each month in household incomes.

Once married, check for children once a year. Roll a d20:
1-13. No children.
14. Twins born
15+. Child born
Randomly determine the sex of the child.

Alternatively, you may request your lord's permission to marry for love if you have courted someone who is willing to marry you.

Foster a squire (level 3)

At level 3, you are expected to foster and train a squire (level 0), who will accompany you on your adventures. You must pay upkeep for your squire; this is equivalent to a henchman's salary. Once your squire has accumulated enough experience to gain a level in knight, you have the responsibility of dubbing them. At this point, they may continue to follow you as a henchman in your service.

End of the adventure

Death

When you reach 0 hp, you may choose to die or roll on the following table.

1. Dismemberment. You take a grievous wound and fall unconscious. After a turn, you awake with 1 hp and learn that you've lost your 1. eye, 2. hand, 3. leg below the knee. You must retreat from the dungeon as soon as possible. You must rest for a week before adventuring again.
2. Taken. The monsters [take you prisoner/swallow you] and retreat. You may be [rescued/regurgitated] and restored to 1 hp.
3. Wounded. You take a wound and fall unconscious. After a turn, you awake with 1 hp. You must retreat from the dungeon as soon as possible. You must rest for a week before adventuring again.
4. Sacrifice. Your squire/henchman steps in front of the last blow and falls to 0 hp instead of you. They are taken out of the fight, and must recover in a stronghold before adventuring again.
   1. If no squire/henchman, you will die in 1 turn if you receive no healing.
5. Weak. You are conscious, but weak. You can crawl and whisper, but not perform any tasks that require a roll. At the end of the combat, you regain 1 hp.
6. Last chance. You are conscious, but weak. If you lay still, you regain 1 hp at the end of combat. If you take any actions, treat them as having rolled a natural 20, but you will die at the end of the round.

Bequeath your sword

When you die, you may declare that you have bequeathed your magic sword to your squire or a family member. The next knight character you play starts at level 1 and begins play with your magic sword.

Retirement

Knights can retire from adventuring to focus on estate management and training younger knights. Retired knights are controlled by the referee, with input from the player.

When you retire a knight, your next character will begin play with an equal number of experience points.

Local lord or king

A knight who has reached level 8+ or who has claimed a Rune of Rule becomes a local lord or king upon retirement. The lands and castles governed by them become wholly theirs. They establish a new dynastic house with the heraldry of their personal crest. Newly-created characters may be vassals of this lord.

A player who retires a knight of this level does not gain experience to put forward to their new character: they must start a character at level 1.

However, on St. Mickelmas's Day, the former player of this lord may gift each active character a magical treasure from their previous character's hoard.

Microblog: The Elf's Detect Secret Doors

OD&D elves have the ability to automatically Detect Secret Doors. 

I do not like hidden information rolls and prefer my rule systems that do away with them. I would also prefer for the referee to not have to make a Detect Secret Door roll every room for every elf in the party--this also seems like needless overhead and extra rolling to keep the game going.

Instead, I propose the elf's automatic chance to Detect Secret Doors be built into the backend. Put it into the tables, mechanics, and procedures of generating a dungeon instead of the act of exploring a dungeon. Then, the referee can remember the elf's special ability and key the dungeon appropriately. 

Every secret door placed has a 2-in-6 chance of being of elf-make. It was either placed there during the long ages where elves ruled the world or placed by a previous elf ranger exploring the dungeon for the convenience of elven folk who came after them.

Note elf-made secret doors in your dungeon keying. When an elf enters a room with an elf-made secret door, they automatically notice it. They seem to glow with starlight, to their eyes. Non-elves can detect the secret door using the normal procedure.

Beholders are intellectual property, eh?

No matter what you call them, Beholders are vile servants of the coastal wizards. 

But worry not. They have monstrous cousins that can be used to populate (monsterate?) your dungeons. Less common and less popular, perhaps, but not less worthy.

Mumblers

Also called: Omniphagists, Gabblegob, Chew-Orbs

Art by Felipe Faria

This spherical monster levitates through gaseous sacs in its body. Its central cavity is a gnawing mouth of yellow teeth which leads into an extradimensional space (similar to a bag of holding). Eight tentacle protuberances each end in smaller mouths. All of the mouths can speak: each voice is lustrous and rich. The central mouth is always the voice of authority, but any mouth may offer suggestions, warning, quips, witticisms, or retorts. As it floats through dungeon corridors, you can almost always hear the mouth-stalks talking to itself; it never provokes surprise.

The mumbler's chief pleasure is in taste. It wants strange delicacies, obscure drinks, unusual taste combinations, or varieties of mouthfeel and texture. In a pinch, "raw flesh" (especially that of humans) is always welcome. 

AC 2 [17], HD 13 (58hp), Att 1 x bite (2d8) and magic mouths, THAC0 10 [+9], MV 90′ (30′), SV D4 W5 P6 B5 S8, ML 12, AL Chaotic 

Swallow whole: An attack roll of 19 or 20 on a bite attack indicates a human-sized (or smaller) victim is swallowed. Swallowed creatures are banished to an airless extradimensional space and suffer 1d6 damage per round (until the mumbler is destroyed).

Magic mouths: Each mouth-stalk has an AC of 5 [14]. A mouth-stalk can withstand 6 points of damage before it is severed. This damage is not applied to the main hit point total of the mumbler itself.

The more mouth-stalks that exist, the better spells the mumbler can cast: see table below. Each spell can be used three times per day.

1 mouth-stalk: charm person

2 mouth-stalks: sleep

3 mouth-stalks: phantasmal force

4 mouth-stalks: dispel magic

5 mouth-stalks: lightning bolt, protection from normal missiles, 

6 mouth-stalks: confusion, hallucinatory terrain

7 mouth-stalks: charm monster, feeblemind

8 mouth-stalks: cloud kill

Hearkeners

Also known as: Audio Enslavers, Omniaudient, the Listening Ones, Earbs

A giant, distinctly human ear attached to a hairy orb that moves through levitation. The long hairs covering its spherical body and growing within the ear cavity are prehensile. It has no other visible organs. It communicates through telepathy within 1000'--it sounds like it's whispering directly into your ear.

The hearing of a hearkener is obviously incredibly sensitive. It can perceive, with almost total clarity, anything that is happening on its own dungeon level. It also has excellent control over its audial processing; it is never disturbed by loud sounds. A hearkener, while not a huge threat in combat, can coordinate the defenses of monsters throughout a dungeon incredibly effectively. 

Music is the heartkener's main motivation. It despises the clumsy sounds of human and demi-human peoples. It tolerates extraplanar music, and enjoys angelic music (although angels loathe hearkeners). There is a sub-genre of efreet music that is like a narcotic to them. In a pinch, the wailing of the enslaved will suffice.

AC 1 [18], HD 5 (22 hp), Att 3 × grasping hairs (1d8) or cone of vertigo, THAC0 15 [+4], MV  90′ (30′), SV D12 W13 P14 B15 S16, ML 12, AL Chaotic

All-hearing: A hearkerner is immune to surprise.

Blind: Hearkeners are blind, but use their hearing to perceive the world. A silence spell blinds them.

Cone of vertigo: 3/day: 30 ft. long x 30 ft. wide cone, must save vs. paralysis or suffer vertigo. While under effects of vertigo, suffer -4 to hit and -2 AC. In addition, each time the victim moves, they roll a 1d12, treating results as a clock hand, and move in that direction. Victims of vertigo can reroll this save at the end of each turn to remove the effects.

ESP: The hearkener benefits from ESP at will, as it can hear even the thoughts of those within 1000'. 

Spell immunity: Unaffected by charm and sleep spells.

Ventriloquism: At will. Can make an audial illusion seeming to originate from anywhere within range 1000 ft.

Snuffler

Also known as: Sternutacion, Sphere of Many Smellers

Snufflers look like giant, spherical dog noses with tiny black beady eyes and wide mouths. They float using a gaseous sac a few inches above the ground. Sensitive hair-like antennae cover their orb-like bodies. 

A snuffler's world is that of smells. They perceive olfactory subtleties that paint vivid pictures of the present and the past. They tend to lead packs of weaker monsters (kobolds and goblinoids, mostly) to through secret doors towards hidden treasure caches, which they horde. Fortunately for civilization, they tend to be plagued with perpetual hay fever. They sneeze, wheeze, and sniff constantly. These humorous fluids have alchemical effects.

AC 2 [17], HD 11 (49 hp), Att 1x bite (1d8), 2 x acid snot (1d6) or alchemical snot, THAC0 11 [+8], MV 90 (30), SV D6 W7 P8 B8 S10, ML 10, AL Chaotic

Acid snot: Two globs of acid snorted within 30'. On a hit, acid deals 1d6 damage each round until the snot is washed off.

Alchemical snot: Snufflers can extrude or benefit from the following potions 2x/day. 

• Control Animal
• Control Dragon
• Control Giant
• Delusion
• Gaseous Form
• Healing
• Poison
• Treasure Finding

All-smelling: A snuffler can perfectly perceive hidden and invisible creatures.

Immunities: Unharmed by gas and poison.

Magic resistance: +2 to all saving throws versus magic effects.

Graspers

Also known as: Crawling Hands, Severed Hecatoncheires

A floating spherical orb with a single eye and wide mouth. Protruding from the sphere are five giant human-like fingers, giving the appearance of a hand with a round palm. Although the orb naturally levitates, graspers walk on their fingers like Cousin It. Graspers can walk on walls and ceilings.

Although less magically inclined then some of its cousins, graspers are as strong as giants and as fast as a horse.

AC 3 [16], HD 9 (40 hp), Att 3x flick (1d10) or grab (3d6), THAC0 12 [+7], MV 240’ (80’), SV D 8 W 9 P10 B10 S12, ML 10, AL Chaotic

Grab: A grabbed creature suffers 3d6 damage per round; a successful save vs. paralysis allows escape on subsequent rounds.

Kingdom of the Tooth Fairies - A Dungeon Patch

Here is a modular dungeon node to connect to others, with potential connectors left exposed for the GM. Since I showed my brainstorming process before, I'll skip doing it for this week and get right to the good stuff. 

This next dungeon patch is set in the dungeon seed called the Spires, which is basically like this level from Dungeon Meshi. Each area is a Ewok treehouse-like platform connected by rope bridge hallways. The skeletal trees glow with ghostly mushrooms.

1. Fairy Toll

A crossroads between two bridges. Nailed into the tree is a sign post carved like two fingers pointing: one west and one east. Each finger is marked with Cant sign. Empty lanterns hang on the branches of the trees: [0-3] tooth fairies nest in the lanterns, waiting to demand a toll from passersby.

• Tooth fairies: Tooth fairies look like the kind from Victorian children's books, but wear arms and armor made from milk teeth. Each tooth fairy present demands 20g to put under children's pillows. They'll waive the fee for gnomes, who they see as children.
• Those who fail to pay the toll have 1-14 extra teeth magically grown into their mouth. There is no test to avoid this.
• Sign post: The Cant reads: (West) Down Staircase | (East) Monsters

2. Shrine

Tucked into the hollow of the giant, desiccated tree is a small wayside shrine. On a cairn of stones sits a wide, shallow brass bowl with a few teeth (various kinds) in it. A tiny bell hangs above the bowl. Behind the bowl is an empty pedestal. The trunk of the tree bulges out to offer a semicircular bench near the shrine.

• Bowl: A place where offerings of teeth can be made. Already present is an orc's tusk, a pig's tooth, and a handful of bat teeth.
• Bell: If the bell is rung, in a couple of minutes a tooth fairy will zip in from area 3 to inspect the offering. 
• If there is no new offering, the tooth fairy will pull a tooth (painlessly) from whoever rang the bell and put it in the bowl. 
• If there is a new tooth in the bowl, the tooth fairy will bless the character. They can draw 1 minor arcana card and use it instead of drawing a card (for either a test or Challenge) at any time until the end of the next City Phase.
• Empty pedestal: Obviously, something important is missing here. A statue or idol?

Potential connection: Put a statue in another dungeon patch. Hauling it back here and installing it will improve the shrine, win favor from the tooth fairies, or unlock a hidden treasure in this location.

3. Northern Ruined Spire

One of the towers of the Castle of Crossed Destiny stabs upthrust like a skeletal finger here. Inside the tower is a winding staircase down to another level.

This area key is intentionally left mostly blank to be used in service of a connecting dungeon patch. Fill it with a quest item, key, treasure, gate, rumor, lore, or other item needed to make a connect patch work.

4. Kingdom of Teeth

The rotting trunk of this colossal tree is patched and held together with a gigantic papery nest, like that of a paper wasp: where it bulges from the top of the tree, it is shaped like an extracted human tooth. Tooth fairies buzz hither and thither from the nest. 

• Papery nest: This is the castle of the tooth fairies. They have bored countless hexagonal chambers into the tree and reinforced it from the outside with chewed pulp and calcium-rich spit.  It is home to Dentania the Queen of the Kingdom of Teeth. It is too small for adventurers to enter.
• Tooth fairies: The tooth fairies will challenge anyone approaching the castle or crossing through the area. Tooth fairies have the logic of toddlers playing make believe. Each time the guild crosses through this area, generate a random disposition (core book, p. 100). 
• If the tooth fairies ever feel intensely surprised or frightened, they will summon Queen Dentania to handle the situation.

Queen Dentania

Likes: Milk, Small Dogs 

Hates: Candy, Tooth-worms, Cold

Fairy queens are the most intelligent of fairies, but still have a simplistic view of the world. Roleplay them like the Ghost of Christmas Present from The Muppets Christmas Carol. 

Queen Dentania, like all tooth fairies, can grow and remove bones (especially teeth) painlessly. If her subjects have inconvenienced an adventurer with an abnormal amount of teeth, she'll usually fix the problem.

Potential connection: Queen Dentania could have a bounty for guilds who meet with her based on the rest of your dungeon: forge an alliance with another dungeon faction, retrieve a stolen artifact, defeat a bothersome monster and bring back its teeth. In exchange, she will exempt the guild from the fairy toll (area 1). 

5. Wood of Webs

These wooden walkways, supporting towers, and branches of colossal trees are all covered in the ghosts of cobwebs, covering everything like Spanish moss.

Refer to the top card of the discard pile for a special encounter in this area:

• Swords: Four sword spiders descend from above, ambushing the guild unless they specifically mention looking up. They weave webs as their initial attack.
• Pentacles: Attached to the side of the stone tower, about 12' high, is a bulging bundle of webs around an adventurer's backpack. It potentially contains loot, but how will the guild approach the task?
• Careful inspection reveals almost invisible gossamer tripwires attached to the backpack. 
• If the tripwires are severed (by pulling the backpack down, etc.), a web trap is activated: a web net falls, automatically capturing any adventurers in the area, then is pulled into 25' into the air. 
• Four sword spiders will return within a watch to inspect their captured prey.
• The backpack is full of 100g.
• Cups: An adventurer with a Cups 4 will notice that there are 3 webbed bodies hanging under the wooden walkways. These are the mummified remains of adventurers. They potentially contain loot, but how will the guild approach the task?
• If successfully looted, each body has 40g on their person, as well as the starting equipment  package of a random adventurer.
• Wands: The first adventurer in the marching order walks through a web (unless probing the area with a 10' pole, or similar). It is gross, but not harmful.

The Theater of Tragedy - A Dungeon Patch

This post delivers on the promise of our last brainstorming post. Go and read that one (and the definition of a dungeon patch) first, if you haven't.

Here is a dungeon patch called the Theater of Tragedy: a 6 room segment of a larger dungeon to be mixed and remixed with other dungeon patches to create a much larger configuration for your players. Rules are for His Majesty the Worm, but adaptable to your OSRish system of choice.

1. Theater

A lavish indoor theater lit by six chandeliers hanging from the wooden crossbeams. The stage (1a) rises five feet from the rush-strewn auditorium. Surrounding the stage are two levels of galleries (1b), which provide seating. 

1a. Stage

A wooden stage extending out into the auditorium. Three curtained doors at the back of the stage allow actors to enter and exeunt.* There is a rotten smell nearby.

• Walking on stage: Any character heavier than a gnome or halfling triggers a trap door when they cross center stage. They must test Pentacles or fall 10' into the stage mechanisms (area 2).
• Smell: The stink of the zombie in area 2.

1b. Galleries

The galleries surround the stage on three sides, providing simple bench seating. The upper gallery directly across from the stage is lavish, with boxed seats and three high-backed thrones.

• Investigating the thrones: There is a hidden button in the arm rest of each throne that allows the platform on which they are set to pivot, so that the thrones swing away from the wall. Behind the thrones is obscured a small, secret door.
• Small, secret door: Like what Alice had to go through in Wonderland. A Shrink spell is required to use it. The door leads to area XX (a connection to another dungeon level). 

* Pursued by stats-as-bear.

2. Stage Mechanisms

Under the stage is an access hatch filled with interlocking gears that power machines used during productions. A dead wood elf lies facedown beneath the trap door of area 1a.

• Dead wood elf: A former adventurer (named Ducat Dangerous-Game) wearing a badgerskin hood. If disturbed, he raises as a zombie (core book, p. 286). Its legs are broken; it Moves by dragging itself along the ground. The zombie carries a purse with 55g and a smoke-bomb mushroom. 
• Machines: The machines under the stage perform a variety of simple functions. Each machine is man-powered through cranks and bellows.
• Raise and lower a platform through the trap door.
• Raise and lower a variety of backdrops on stage (a cityscape, a wilderness, a wedding, a night sky). 
• Cause a rumble like thunder.
• Play a merry melody.
• Latching the trap door: The trap door on the stage may set into a locked position from the access hatch. The "trap" of the trap door on the stage is essentially an OSHA violation.

3. Backstage

The backstage is an unlit storage area. There are several pieces of stage scenery stored here. There are two life-sized wooden mannequins, a king and a queen; both have completely blank faces. 

• Scenery: A variety of simple, wooden props to be placed on the stage to add color or set a scene; each stands on its own and is light enough to be moved by two people. There's a tree, a wall, a box, a (fake) chest, a lamppost, and a cloud-throne. None have any value.
• Mannequins: Life-sized puppets. Inanimate. Their faces are blank and unpainted, but have fastenings as if a theatrical mask could be placed on them.

Potential connection:

Elsewhere in the dungeon, there can be masks that animate these two mannequins. Perhaps they want to perform a play? This could be like the opera scene from Final Fantasy 6, where the players are given a brief amount of time to memorize some lines and then need to regurgitate them at the appropriate times. Perhaps they have six lines and can write down a number of them equal to their Cups score and remember the rest? 

Or, more simply, the would-be actor will have to play the Listener Limerick Challenge from Wait Wait! Don't Tell Me. 

4. Tiring House

An unlit dressing room filled with tables and chairs. A variety of costumes hang from a rack. There are character masks hanging from pegs on the wall. Props spill from a wooden box. In the corner, there is a humanoid figure draped with a cloth.

• Costumes: A collection of costumes depicting: 
• A particular commoner's profession (weaver, tinker, tailor, actor, etc.)
• Noble's clothes (fake, but convincing)
• God's robes (obviously fake)
• A monster (convincing in low light)
• The Lavritic (the geas-bound servants of the Castle of Crossed Destinies) will treat anyone wearing a costume of any kind as a person of that rank or profession (a potential connection).
• Masks: There are ten masks here, each portraying some stock character: a villager who pretends be rich, a foolish senator, a mean-but-not-evil braggart, a cunning clown, etc. 
• When appearing in a play (a potential connection), a mask must be worn to define the role. 
• Props: There's an array of props; all fake but rather convincing: jewelry, two swords, crown, fairy wings, fireworks, wizard's wand, military banner, and six potions of various colors.
• Humanoid figure: A life-sized, inanimate puppet. It is dressed and painted to look like a sun god (a sort of stock character). 

5. Puppeteer's Workshop

A wood wright's shop: a workbench, pile of lumber, and specialized carving tools. A variety of life-sized puppet parts litter the area, unfinished: an arm joint, a lower jaw, a roughly-carven head. Elaborate cuckoo clocks hang on the walls. It is dimly lit with a single candle.

This is the lair of the Rude Mechanical.

• Rude Mechanical: The Rude Mechanical is an animate life-sized mannequin. It is a blank slate: unpolished, unpainted, unfinished. Because of this, it has a personality crisis and pretends to be the puppet maker (it isn't), kidnapping adventurers to turn into its puppet children. It current is holding a halfling named Tom Joiner captive.
• If the Rude Mechanical was "finished" by given a painting, a costume, and a purpose, it would change its personality to match.
• Tom Joiner: A halfling adventurer. Ambushed and enslaved by the Rude Mechanical, he is currently dressed up like a Punch puppet, and is bound at the wrists and ankles by fishing wire attached to a cross (like a marionette). He is starving and weak.
• Cuckoo clocks: Each cuckoo clock is a work of intricate art. There are 12 total. Each is worth 100g in the City. Each is fragile.

New keyword: Fragile

A fragile item breaks if the adventure carrying it suffers any Wounds. A fragile item can be bundled with cloth to make it an oversized item, but reduces the chance for it to break to 1-in-4.

Art by Felipe Faria

6. Storage Room

This room is intentionally left blank to be used in service of a connecting dungeon patch. Fill it with a quest item, key, treasure, gate, rumor, lore, or other item needed to make a connect patch work.

Here is a simple map of the area. Hand drawn and looks like shit, but this is what my players get from me!

Note: I have failed my own challenge of doing one of these a week because of Real Life Stuff (TM). But I hope--like my brainstorming blog post before this one--it is helpful to show how the actual sausage is made. Sometimes you miss deadlines! That doesn't mean you stop working on the project if you're still having fun with it. You keep trucking forward because making stuff is fun! Excelsior! 

Making a Dungeon Patch - Sausage Making

Per this post last week, I have issued a challenge to start writing chunks of a dungeon as a creative exercise. The Worm community is calling this elemental, nodal building block a dungeon patch. 

This post is a stream of consciousness description of how I'm going to start putting together my first patch. I'll clean it up for publication (on the blog) in a future post.

To recap, I've argued that a dungeon patch should have five things:

1. Something that advances your dungeon checklist

2. 3-6 keyed rooms

3. An intentionally blank room that can hold a key for a lock in another section of the Underworld. I should call these spaces potential connections.

4. A gate that connects to a different section of the Underworld.

5. An evocative name

Basic brainstorming

My patch will start with just the germ of an interesting idea: "An animate wooden golem ventriloquist dummy torturing a dressed up halfling."

I want to write patches for His Majesty the Worm, so I'm going to ground my writing in one of the dungeon seeds that are included in the game. I flip through those for a little while until I find one where it seems to fit: The Castle of Crossed Destinies. One of the most vanilla dungeon seeds. 

Warren's position in the Designing Dungeons Course is that making a 30-room dungeon is essentially the act of using the elements of the B/X stocking procedure to make six-room nodes five times:

1-2: Monster (50% chance of guarded treasure)

3: Trap (~30% chance of trapped treasure)

4-5: Empty Room (~15% chance of hidden treasure)

6: Special (which are unique rooms)

I'm not writing towards this stocking procedure, but having prompts (2 monsters [1 with treasure], a trap, 2 empty/lore rooms, 1 special) is helpful for any exercise. I'll keep this ratio in the back of my mind.

Sketching out the core concept

This dungeon patch will be centered around a monster: a human-sized wooden doll controlling (horribly) a halfling as a living puppet.

This is a related concept, but not quite right

We Need to Talk About Kevin Pinocchio

I'm picturing the wood golem to look like those mannequins used for drawing references

The idea of a ventriloquist's dummy feels very modern to me, but a Punch and Judy puppet feels perfectly cromulent for a dungeon game. So the wooden golem will be a mannequin--an uncarven, unpainted blank slate--but its prisoner will be forcibly dressed like Punch, and tied up like a marionette. 

I always thought Lady Elaine from Mr. Roger's looked upsetting. Maybe this is how the halfling is dressed up.

Perhaps self evidently, Googling pictures for inspiration is part of my creative process.

The wood golem puppet a living creature both as revenge (maybe?) but also to express itself in a way that it cannot without being completed. A believable need to be understood, but escalated to an upsetting extreme. Also, perhaps the wood golem could be completed as a matter of negotiation. Perhaps an enemy-to-friend scenario? And if the players don't do a good job, the golem goes berserk?

What sort of room does this duo call their lair in the Castle of Crossed Destinies? I assume a theater? In a makeshift puppet's theater in a courtyard? In a woodcarver's workshop?

I'm inclined to say all three might exist. The empty puppet's theater in a courtyard will point towards the more adult theater inside the castle. Backstage of the theater will be the woodcarver's workshop. Perhaps the woodcarver's workshop is the wood golem's main lair.

Finalizing the stats will be come later. This idea will give me enough to flesh out a room description.

Brainstorming additional rooms

Since I want to focus my energy on a single node--a cluster of rooms--I'd tuck "outdoor puppet theater" away for later development if I was building out an entire dungeon level.

Right now I have two rooms: woodcarver's workshop and an adjoining theater.

Aiming for ~6 rooms, let me just write out some other ideas. I'll select the ones that are most compelling for development.

Box office. I know that the term "box office" comes from Shakespearean times where patrons' money was collected and kept in an office in a strong lock box. Players love picking locked boxes! Maybe a box office. [Trap + Treasure?] Although, on second thought, if this stage is part of a castle, would there be paying patrons? Perhaps not.

Backstage. If there's a theater, there should be a backstage. The empty room would have unused scenery, prop weapons, costumes, wigs, etc. ["Empty" room?]

In Disney's Pinocchio, Geppetto had lots of cuckoo clocks. Should those feature somehow? [Trap? Treasures in their own right?] 

This reminds me of the terrifying clockwork music box doll from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Can that complement the idea of cuckoo clocks? Is a finished full-sized doll what the wood golem was supposed to be, but it is still unfinished? [Special?]

Puppets were a plot point in Being John Malkovich. Maybe I should put a tiny door somewhere in here because that's just a nice dungeon feature to have. Perhaps that's the gate that connects to another dungeon level. Maybe the door is very small and requires the players to cast Shrink before using it.

Hang on. What sort of things would an olde timey theater have in them anyway? Well, wait, let's look up Renaissance theaters. The most famous one I know: The Globe.

OK cool, I found this map online.

At first glance, I thought 12 keyed locations would almost be enough to make several patches out of a theatrical section of a castle, but on closer reading, many of these would be a single room key. I think the only meaningful ideas from reading this pamphlet was that calling the dressing room "Tiring House" would be flavorful and that the stage itself should have a trap door. There's a trap for us! [Trap]

Where did the marionette-ified halfling come from? An adventurer, I assume. Perhaps some of his old companions are still lurking here as undead. [Another monster]

Final rooms to be keyed 

OK, that's enough brainstorming. Let's actually conceptualize what rooms I want to write.

This dungeon patch is part of the Castle of Crossed Destinies.

1. Theater. The stage of the theater has a trap door. Under the gallery, there is a curiously small door that leads to another section of the Underworld. [Trap, Gate]

2. Under the stage. Mechanisms that power the trap door. An undead adventurer (fallen victim to the trap) has some loot. [Monster with Treasure]

3. Backstage. Storage for stage props, including other blank but inanimate mannequins. [Empty]

4. Tiring house. The dressing room for would-be actors, filled with different stage costumes. This will be a type of treasure. [Treasure]

5. Puppeteer's workshop. The workshop of an artisan who created the puppets, the sets, and other objects of the theater--now haunted by the Rude Mechanical, an unfinished wooden golem, who puts on performances with Tom Joiner, a captive halfling dressed up as a marionette. Valuable cuckoo clocks hang on the walls. [Monster, Treasure]

6. Storage room. A storage room near the puppeteer's workshop. This room's key will be intentionally left  (mostly) blank to form a potential connection with another patch. [Potential Connection]

This area will be called the Theater of Tragedy. Because of har har, stupid joke. It contains a reason to fight, a reason to talk, and a reason to explore.

Saved ideas: I liked the idea of a cuckoo clock/music box room and an outdoor puppet theater that would connect conceptually to this patch, but don't want to lose focus. These ideas will be saved for later development.

Further reading from other big brains about this subject

Murkdice had the idea of "Patchwork Megadungeons" a while back as a way to chunk the work. Great minds!

Aryxmaraki reminds us that patches (and hexes, and points) are all just a type of node. 

The first to heed the challenge of the dungeon patch for Worm

Lusunati of the Worm Discord was the first person to accept the challenge and show off a dungeon patch for Worm. They've created a couple others in the past as well!

By the by

If you're interested in reading my process for building dungeons, I've written a course on the subject. It's free! It won a golden ENNIE this year.

The play's the thing

For people who get upset about reviews of modules unplayed

Would you get mad at playwrights giving feedback after reading a script on a play not yet produced?

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