THE TROPICS OF CANCER: A Gygax 75 Minute Challenge

Preamble

Recently, I wanted to create a low-prep, dungeon-focused, easy-to-grok campaign to run online with my friends and family who've been asking to play some D&D. This is because my local Nightwick Abbey campaign, Where Hell Comes to Prey, is on hold due to one of the players having a new baby. But also because I've got an itch to play some OD&D versus my normal BX tendencies.

I was bouncing an idea off Gus L. of a strange island with weird dungeon entrances that has an active port ruled by an island lord sending out adventurers (I think in part because I rewatching Duneon Meshi).  I comment that perhaps it would be best for me to build this out by doing a 2025 Gygax 75 Challenge which I did back in 2022 yielding V'COSA. But Gus suggested a good twist: Instead of doing a section in a week, do a section in 1 hour, then revise later.

Why spend weeks doing something when you can do it in minutes? I find this especially attractive because often I've had RPG ideas grind to a halt because too much energy is poured in worrying about details the players might not (ever) see. 

The Gygax 75 (Minute) Challenge: The First 75 Minutes

Obtain a Notebook & Pick a System

I decided to use Google Docs because that would be easiest to share with people. In terms of system, I started to go with Delving Deeper or use some straight OD&D. But I settled for White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game. The simple reason being that if the campaign really got going it would be simple to send to everyone.

Bullet-point Pitch

• Selenia is an island that appeared ages ago on all the maps across the Atlantean Archipelago, regardless of age. This new land caused a rush of settlement from the low ranks of Atlantean nobility and higher ranks of the Atlantean guild class. For 100 years, the island was powerful, but calamity struck and the island was wiped clean by typhoons and earthquakes.

• Galleon is a city built by the descendants of gladiators, oarsmen, artisans, pirates, foreign dignitaries, and slaves who arrived on deserted Selenia not by choice but via a wrecked pleasure ship commissioned for Hecuba, the last citrinic queen. From its battered hull, ruined by a scylla which was defeated, the city of Galleon has arisen. The city has established itself as a distant, but resourceful and lucrative port in the Saphhire Sea through trading, privateering, and fishing

The palace ship of Hecuba

• Galleon is not alone, for another city was founded in the island’s interior from those who sought to escape their lot in life by the freedom the wreck brought- This is the Silent City. They are guided by the Amber Muse, a self-described voice of the island’s former queen Circe who studied the Atlantean ruins that dot the island. While smaller than Galleon, the city is made strong by the sorcery taught to the founders by the Muse. And like Galleon, the Silent City also has its share of distant travelers: lotus-nectared dreamers, traders from Leng, and a colony of cats from Ulthur.

• However, the sea has not remained neutral, and despite Galleon’s fleet and the Silent City’s sorcery, something is slipping forth from the dark waves and oceans of dream to wreak havoc. Bodies are left in displays of public augury, nightmares of a dark, cold, crushing benthic hell roll into Galleon in waves, and rumors speak of strange heirs born to the noble families

• This is an OD&D campaign set in a swords & sorcery realm where player classes are reinterpreted through a Greek-inspired lens in a low-metal, benthic-encoded world: gladiators (fighters), pirates (thieves), sorcerers (magic-users), augurites (clerics) of either the foreign, terrestrial god AZLN (sun, harvest, order, growth) or the cult of Circe (moon, sea, sky, chaos), or washed shore as sea-born (as elf)

 Sources of Inspiration

• In Brief: Clash of the Titans + Tortuga + Dagon
• TV/Film: Clash of the Titans & a little bit of Dungeon Meshi (and a bit of Black Flag)
• Writing: The essay The Putrescent Principle by Jonathan Newell & the Appendix N The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons by Peter Bebergel
• Art: Nicole Duennebier & of the many famous paintings of myth
• Other OD&D Games: Hagfish Hall from Alice of Dungeon Dolls, Through Ultan’s Door by Ben L., Tomb Robbers of The Crystal Frontier by Gus L., "Classic" Nightwick by Miranda Elkins
• Misc: Curiosity Cabinets

Mood Board

Nicole Duennebier

‪

The prophet of Azln the Lion of Light defeats the scylla

Various Arenarii (as Fighter)

Circe, the first after the fall of the Atlaneans

I have completed all 5 parts in the past week so I'll be posting each 75 minute effort in the coming days.

NIGHTWICK ABBEY: The Purple Eater of People Session 112

 

If these horrid halls of Nightwick Abbey call to you, then please join Miranda Elkins' Patreon! 

I am so behind on my posting of Session 112 that my contralateral scribe has already beaten me to posting session 113 -Shame! Shame! Shame!

Blossom (Rogue 6)
Mayfly (Magician 6)
Liminal Space (Changeling 5)
Thekla (Magician 5)
Krupe (Cleric 5)
Poppy (Fighter 5)
Persnickety (Changling 1)
Zintra (Fighter 1)

AT THE MEDUSA'S HEAD...

The party decides that the best course of action this week is to (1) further out attempts to map Level 3, (2) destroy the King of Death, and (3) find more pieces of the gold skull (well at least Mayfly wants to do this).

...DOWN IN THE ABBEY...

• Twister: The party becomes disoriented after the Abbey has mysteriously rearranged itself, however, the stumbling around leads to the discovery of a barrel of sinfully good wine!
• Dubious Consultation: Mayfly pulls out the golden skull kept on his person and asks directions to the rest of its body parts; a direction is set, but the party decides to face off against Great Kind Death first
• A Will Not of His Own: This refusal to prioritize the golden skull's needs results in it possessing Mayfly, who proceeds to take the party on a chase through the dungeon and right across a pit trap! The fall injures Poppy and Liminal. The fall also kills Persnickity (RIP)
• Did I Miss Anything?: The party does recover another piece of the golden skeleton and all of a suddenly Mayfly snaps to... awkward...
• Hail to the King: With the Abbey taken its pound of flesh, the party eventually finds the throne room of Great King Death
• Flatfooted: Two lost initiatives put the party at a disadvantage, but the brave first-rank of Poppy and Liminal hold strong against the rending hands of the Blind Dead!
• FIREBALL x 2!: A third round brings renewed vigor as both magicians are able to cast fireball for a combined 47 points of damage; incinerating the Blind Dead and shattering the King

...RETURN TO TOWN

• Win Prizes: The PC are able to relieve the king of his very magical sword (yikes at almost behind hit by it), magical ring, and ~2000 sp in silver and goods (plus the wine)
• Each party member gains 1118XP each!

GERTRUDE & HER MAN-EATERS: Makings of Another Nightwick Villian

 

Gmork, Herald of the Nothing
But has a nice wolf-head with green cat eyes so this is how I think of the villains below

In a previous post, I discussed how I create variation in groups of cultists, and in another one, villains. Currently, there is one faction the party is most involved with, having unknowingly rescued their leader in a fit of charity. Once in the Abbey, the party realized it might have been better let the law of the land settle out. But at least they have a friend in Gertrude- sorta.

Gertrude & Her Man-Eaters

The party ran into Gertrude as a combination of "encounter: cultist", "surprised", and "reaction: indifferent". In this encounter, the party, perhaps feeling mighty with a new magic sword, told her to step out of the way or risk death. Such a command didn't sit well, so I rolled another reaction check, which came up "extort"- she demanded their gold skull. That started a fight and ended with the party handing over the gold skull and the corpses of two hirelings that were consumed. Yum.

Gertrude...

Here is what the basic cultist stats start as to demonstrate how I am reskinning and modifying this faction:
AC 9 [10], HD 1 (4hp), Att 1 x weapon (1d6 or by weapon), THAC0 19 [0], MV 120’ (40’), SV D13 W14 P15 B16 S17 (NH), ML 9 (12 with leader), AL Chaotic, XP 10, NA 2d6 (3d8), TT U

To the party, I described her as growing physically larger with a too broad grin from ear to ear. At this point, I don't want to quite make her a werewolf, but something that could eat a man. This change has resulted from her time in the Abbey and partaking in profane rites. I want to broadcast her ferocity so here's an opportunity borrow set of abilities from a great, but little used monster... the BX giant shrew.

Gertrude AC 13 (bloody shroud), HD 2+1 (10hp), Att 2x bite (1d6 ea.), THAC0 18[+1], MV 180' 60', SV F2, ML 9, AL Chaotic

• Ferocity: Always win initiative in the round of their first attack. +1 to initiative in the round of their second attack. Roll separate initiative.
• Climbing: Skilled climbers can jump up to 5’.
• Perceptive: Perceive their surroundings up to 60’. Unaffected by lack of light. If unable to hear (e.g. silence, 15’ radius): AC reduced to 8 [11], -4 penalty to attacks.
• Treasure: Bloody shroud (cursed) is a small token of the Baroness' favor +1 AC, but PC will be forced to carouse during downtime to satiate a craving they can't explain; A long necklace strand of gold teeth punctuated by some encrusted with small gems (600sp)

As per a previous post, I also increased the treasure that she carries by simply using the Level 1 Unguarded Treasure table- quick and easy.

...& Her Man-Eaters

1-3 hp Cult Nightkin (range, special) AC 10 cowled in white robes; a swarm of bats cling to their bare chests underneath their robes; they swarm around MU and clerics in particular; otherwise, attack with daggers (1d4 dmg)
4-6 hp Blood Cultists (melee, dmg) AC 10 cowled with blood-streaked white robes; attack with battle axes (1d8 dmg)

7-8 hp "Wolves" (melee, dmg) AC 12 covered in leather of human skin; ferocious attack (+1 to-hit) with a bite (1d6 dmg)

Wants & Gives and use of a faction turn

No NPC or faction is complete without listing what they want and what they will give. I've decided to give Among Cats and Books faction turn a spin with the cult to see if I like it. The "wants" are obvious using this system; the "resources" could also be "gives".

Cult Resources

• Friendly with the Butcher
• Facilitate an audience with the Baroness
• Loan out her Man-Eaters
• [Can teach 1st level spells via skull]

Cult Goals

1. Become the favorite of the Baroness
2. Revenge on the Bogdani village that persecuted her
3. [Find pieces of the gold skeleton]

Cult Missions (currently occupying the cult)

Roll 1d6, 1-3 no advancement; 4-5 one task advancement; 6 two task advancements. If a task stalls twice in a row, a setback has occurred (maybe roll on the regional events table to determine the nature of the setback)

• Goal 1 Mission: Rid the Abbey of Deermen (0000)
• Task A: Scout all Deermen locations (00)
• Task B: Find Deermen Shrine (00)
• Goal 3 Mission: Search for a Piece of the Gold Skeleton (0000)
• Task A: Send a scout party into the gardens (00)
• Task B: Obtain a Lost Soul (00)

PRAISE THE DRAGON OF THE PIT: Building An Encounter On The Fly

The shrine as seen by the players

This past weekend I ran session 27th of Where Hell Comes to Prey, my home campaign set in Miranda Elkin's Nightwick Abbey. This "100-minute megadungeon" session centered on the party attempting to destroy a rumored profane shrine that had appeared in the Fog-bound Forest. I want to talk about building this encounter to cement this procedure in my head, but also because I think there is a paucity of posts demonstrating how to tie it all together when DMing. How does one use all the tips and tricks in concert like a conductor to create an adventure symphony? 

This post covers: (1) random events as a seed, (2A) variation on basic enemies, (2B) set piece and adding a "clock" to a challenge, and (3) shrine as NPC or how to extend utility beyond destroy this "bad thing".

1. RANDOM EVENTS AS A SEED: The Shrine

I've started using a regional events table as method of making the world breathe and walk independently of the players' actions. The big yearly event was "volcano" and for this month it resulted in changes in the Abbey as a new demon emerged (Session 26). For this month "shrine" was rolled.

Aside: At this point, the game is on in 20 minutes and I've gotten little done on the shrine portion after reviewing session 26, generating hirelings, writing down other rumors, and restocking.

Okay, so I've done shrines before, but I wanted not to make this one passive. Let's make it an active threat instead and connect it to the emerging new cult in Nightwick. So "shrine" has become "a shrine to the Dragon of the Pit" with the themes of never-ending hunger, fire, sacrifice, and domination. I wanted the shrine to represent the new cult's rapid reach to the outside world, especially with the still active volcano in the Nameless Mountains. What’s the connection between dragons and hell? From inplacesdeep:

The Infinite Layers of the Pit are made of the different chambers of the Dragon of Hell's infernal gut. Most chambers have their own individual lord of hell, with some chambers or even whole organs belonging to a great prince or president. The chambers tend to be themed, but beyond these broad strokes it is difficult to describe the Pit as it is the essence of chaos contained

2A. VARIATION ON BASIC ENEMIES 

To "active" in this case, means something that is a threat to the players versus a "passive" shrine which would just be offering a sacrifice and gaining a boon/bane. The easiest way to make a shrine "active" might simply be to have it surrounded by crazed cultists. Meh. The PCs certainly encountered that before. The players have seen that before. If there is not a cult to defend the shrine, why has it hung around? Why hasn't the local population of woodsmen not destroyed it yet. 

I decided that was because the shrine itself was alive and could defend itself with the bodies of its sacrificial victims.

Aside: By this time the game was already in motion. Players were starting to focus on the shrine instead of their previous attempt to infiltrate the Abbey and deal with an undead judge.

To make the shrine a "monster" I used a combination of three different previous posts covering reskinning, layering, and "punnett squares". Since the shrine's elements are charred skeletal sacrifices and fire, its easy enough to borrow from Nightwick's Blind Dead and Children of Stone.

The Blind Dead are an average of 5hp, damage as weapon (1d8), and have typical skeletal immunities from slashing and piercing. While the Children of Stone have an interesting breath weapon. Perfect, let's just smush these two together:

Shrine to the Dragon of the Pit: A profane totem carved in the shape of a phallic wurm sitting on top of a pyre and glowing with an internal fire that seemingly causes knots in the wood to blink and flare as if living eyes; around the base are chained 3 charred skeletal figures.

Shrine Sacrifices: Those sacrificed or who die in the presence of the shrine become its guardians; AC 12, HD 1+1, HP 5, Atk 1 breath of embers (15' cone), Dmg 1d6 save for half; Sacrifices must stay within 30ft of the shrine itself.

The shrine as seen by the players

When the party arrived at the shine itself. They spent a couple of turns investigating the shrine leading to the death of a hireling who was supposed to throw some holy water on it, but missed, awoke the shrine, and immediately got a face full of hot embers. But they learned something!

It was after this investigation turn, I decided that the guardians of the shrine were contained to a 30ft radius area around the shrine. Why? (1) Because I didn't want it to feel like a zombie spawn point. And I wanted to potentially be able to convert the shrine into a usable location should PC perhaps want to align with the shrine or use it for some purpose. (2) Related to this is that "Hell Always Wants to Make a Deal" and so has to be present to do so. If the shrine becomes too regionally aggressive it certainly is a target for attack and destruction. We have a set piece with a radius. 

Why don't the players just stand right outside the range and plink away at it? It's a good strategy and exactly what my players decided to do, however, they were slightly under-prepared and tried to throw rocks and use slings to destroy the skeletons. If given infinite time this would be successful. But that is boring.

The coursing fire inside the shrine flares tearing the top off in a gout of flame and smoke, in your ash-stung eyes, visions of thundering hooves of skeletal horses appear, but as you frantically clear your vision no sign of the corpse cavalier appears- yet...

So, I decided to add a "clock" to this encounter. Why? Entering into steady-state situations where success is possible if the party only waits long enough is boring. It is not what characterizes good adventure to me which is more composed of cunning plans, stunning victories, and harrowing escapes. 

The visions of the dire horseman presented a gamble to the players: can your "safe" plan work quick enough before this horseman arrives? The players' answer was "hell no" and they bounced after destroying a few skeletons of risen companions.

3 SHRINE AS NPC OR EXTENDING UTILITY BEYOND DESTROYING THIS "BAD THING"

At one point, the players decided to use an extra PC to try and talk with the shrine. Unfortunately, this PC was killed by the shrine because they had not come with an offering and the 2d6 reaction roll was quite poor. However, this action did make me thing about what is the shrine giving to the people that built it.

I needed a "give" to help the shrine become more like an NPC. Why? If the shrine can be fought, talked to, and plays a continuing role in the region when left alone turns an encounter thrown together in ~20 mins into a potentially long-lived piece of worldbuilding. That is a fantastic creative economy. And its creates a dimensionality to the “thing” and enhances its believability because it doesn’t or no longer exists simply as a PC obstacle. Multidimensional existence is important for creating a realistic, fantastical world instead of a colorful video game setting.

The Give: On first offering, gain 1 "sin" (takes up 1 equipment slot)

• Daily Prayer: Hot Temper as Resist Cold
• Silver Offering (200sp): Eye of Avarice as Locate Object
• Flesh Offering (1 heart): Stomach of Fire as Magic Missle  

So there you have it. How I threw together a set piece encounter in ~20 minutes using existing stat blocks that has expanded to become a notable piece of world-building that ties back to the setting and factions.

HOW MUCH IS TOO LITTLE? Calculating Treasure in Dungeons

A common problem quickly encountered when designing your own dungeon or stocking a map drawn by another is the optimal amount of treasure to add. A cousin to that problem could be the "treasure" restocking, again, how much do you add? More distantly related might be if a particular module you picked up is going to contain enough treasure to level a party or at least make the risk worth it?

But it is difficult to understand at a glance because of the alphabet treasure tables (one of my loathes because of complexity), variation due to lairs, if the treasure is trapped or unguarded in which case you employ a different treasure formula (one of my favorites because of simplicity), and even variations in gem quality or type. It is also sometimes difficult to understand how rolling magic items changes treasure distribution.

If you have one or two years of DMing experience under your belt, you have a feel treasure amounts, but you might be like me and think, "Shouldn't someone have already calculated all of this out?"

Well the OSR blogosphere provides! An author by the name of Lungfungus who blogs at Melancholies and Mirth wrote a document brought to my attention on bluskey by blark about just this topic.

While the document contains a lot of good advice about dungeon design, I was particularly enamored with the section on dungeon stocking which synthesizes a lot of different methods of stocking into one table AND answers the question of "how much is enough" when it comes to treasure.

Summary of Actual Dungeon Mastering: How to Design Dungeons

First, on average, 1-in-5 dungeon rooms contain treasure

Lungfungus begins by examining a variety of random stocking methods spanning known editions of D&D from TSR and several popular retroclones. When it comes to treasure-containing rooms, from a TSR edition perspective, they occur roughly every ~4-in-20 rooms (BX methods 10-in-36 and AD&D roughly 4-in-20). A lot of retro-clones, being derived from these two editions, conform to the same distribution.

Second, the average value of a TSR treasure room on Level 1 is 586.5gp

Using the various treasure tables from Appendix A of the AD&D DMG, Lungfungus calculates the average amount of treasure a treasure room might contain and arrives at an average value of 586.5 gold pieces. Fantastic! Let's just round it off to ~600gp for ease.

But each treasure room could instead have a 1-in-6 change of being a magic item instead of coin/gem/goods-based treasure. We can also convert 1-in-6 to ~3-in-20 to keep all our rolls on a d20.

Third, 2000xp is the average need to advance a PC from level 1 to 2

Lungfungus uses a very familiar method of calculating the average total XP needed to level up by taking the average XP needed by a single PC to advance from level 1 to level 2 which is 2000xp. So, a party of 6 PCs needs on average 12,000xp in total to advance from level 1 to level 2.

Now there are a couple of additional calculations I am leaving out such a reducing treasure given that some XP is awarded for monsters and adding 50% more treasure than the required amount given that PCs will often overlook hidden treasure or not explore every single room in a given dungeon.

In that regard, it might be better to use "magic-user" instead of "fighter" when calculating the XP need to advance above given that a MU requires 2500xp vs a fighter's 2000xp.

Fourth, the total size of the dungeon can be determined from the number of treasure rooms required for a given party size to advance from level 1 to level 2

Therefore, since the average value of a treasure room is 586.5gp and the total amount of XP needed is 12,000, then a level 1 dungeon will need at least 20.4 treasure rooms. And so, since 1-in-5 rooms are treasure rooms in the average dungeon, we do a little algebra and solve for X to get the total size of the dungeon:

Total dungeon rooms: (1/5) = (20/X) 

Total dungeon rooms: 1X = 100

Total dungeon rooms: X = 100

Finally, the Lungfungus synthesized stocking method

Roll 1d20 per room and consult the table below:

1-12        Empty Rooms 13            Room with a Dynamic Element

14            Room that is Trapped

15            Room containing an Obstacle 16-20     Monster Treasure Containing Rooms: For any given room, there is 4-in-20 chance it contains treasure and a 3-in-20 chance that treasure is a magic item (6-in-20 if it is trapped); treasure value is ~600gp x dungeon level

The final thing that might be important to realize is that PC XP requirements increase linearly, so all you need to do is multiply the above amounts by the dungeon level to have everything scale properly. So the treasure room amount for Level 7 of the dungeon is ~600gp x 7 = 4,200gp. This seems like a lot however to get a fighter from level 7 to level 8 it takes 64,000 additional xp.

WHERE HELL COMES TO PREY: Running Nightwick Abbey 06

Spooky...

SUNDAY SERVICE Wow. I’m behind on these because the last time I checked in was around Session 17 and we are now up to Session 26! I won’t recant everything but in the last couple of sessions:

• PC carousing resulted in fashionable villagers adopting dungeon gear as the season’s must-have items- price soar to 10x the amount

• A strange person rides into the village on a shabby horse covered in white power, wearing livery similar to the Sword Brothers;  the rider has bandaged hands and carries a bizarre square sword made of fine wood

• The PCs descend into the dungeon to free Cunneke’s ancestor, but in this quest they are rebuffed repeatedly; first by having a major fighter killed by some sorta strange plant and then a second time they picked a fight with a cult of the Bloody Baroness, barely survived, and lost the gold skull in the process

• While licking their wounds, another misplaced carousing roll resulted in the sun turning a pallid grey and the moon blood red and at the same time a distant rumble in the mountain was heard

• Down again the player went into the Abbey’s maw searching for the way to the second level which they found, but to a different section of the Abbey- one with a garden from which strange herbs were harvested

• In the subsequent days, the PCs plan a 3rd attempt to free Cunneke’s ancestor, this time suffering a beytrals by a hireling woodsman who was working for the forces of the pit and losing a second hireling  to a fit of madness as they threw themselves into a burning pit where a demon was being summoned

• In this last delve, the PC did understand the explosion has hearld changes in the Abbey and they found a route down to the second floor closer to Cunneke’s ancestor’s imprisonment before turning back

TENDING TO THE FLOCK

Adding Regional Events To Show the World Moves in the Absence of the Players: With the most recent sessions, I have incorporated yearly, monthly, and weekly events into the campaign structure. For example, the yearly result I’ve rolled has been “volcano”, a failed magical research carousing roll has provided a monthly event, and recently the weekly roll as produced “stranger”. I’ve used the volcanic activity to change the Abbey and the types of monsters in it. I also might change the cult composition as well. Currently, there are two cults in the Abbey, but perhaps a third emerges based on fire and demons from the pit. As for the change in the sun and moon, this has been blamed on magic users and caused Halfdan to sequester himself in his tower, taking the PC Kingsley with him.

Building Out New Factions In Nightwick Village To Provide PC Opportunities for Connection: A puzzling individual (Ambrose) who has drifted into Nightwick Village with bandaged hands and requested the manufacture of a “square sword” from the village blacksmith. Since rolling “stranger” for a weekly event, I’ve had Ambrose joined by another individual with similarly bandaged hands.

The 100-minute Megadungeon Campaign Format Still Serves Well: I’ve started to allow the sessions to run a little longer past the 2-hour mark. I think aiming toward a tight session that pushes action over long deliberation is good! However, I need to make sure to leave room for players to let their characters breathe, the group to discuss the world, and spontaneous opportunities that make games memorable. Being too strict to format can restrict that.

I Gave My Players A Corrected Map Of Rooms Triversed in the Abbey: I enjoy mapping and do it a lot in the Weeknights in Nightwick game I play in. My players in WHCtP, are mapping as well, but I noticed that in recent games their maps had become more a hindrance. So I gave them a corrected one for Session 26. Things ran more smoothly and they were able to move forward on a goal they’ve been working on the past three sessions. Perfect! The more I slept on it, the more I am happy with that decision.

I Started Experimenting with the Underclock: This is a new invention by Arnold K of Goblin Punch. Basically you start a counter at 20 and each round or when the player do something loud or something that takes time, roll  a 1d6 roll and subtract that from the counter. At 0, you have a random encounter. I thought I would give this a shot because Nightwick Abbey’s haunted house vibe seems to be the correct environment to try out something that will ratchet up the tension. So far it's worked out pretty well.