Level 9 - Lair of the Mad Mage - Discussion

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Wow!

That's a fantastic map! Tell us more about it, please!

[Algolei]

More about it? It's Level 5 of my major dungeon, which I've been working on since around 1983 I suppose.

Parts of it have been flooded from something on Level 4. Flooded areas are represented by blue -- light blue for shallower areas players can wade through, darker areas where the water would be over their heads. One purple section shows where the floor has collapsed into a lower area.

The dungeon itself has a history going back at least 2500 years. This particular level was supposed to be for storing food for the inhabitants on all the other levels. The huge round rooms were meant to be granaries. The large hallway-style rooms were for growing mushrooms, and later for growing plants (someone had to invent artificial suns first).

The designers left areas (I think they look like runways) which could be expanded outward if it was necessary, but they never did.

Right in the middle is Room #1. It's full of coloured bits which were meant to represent a column of stone formed by the water constantly seeping in from Level 4. To the north and south of it are two "lakes," formed when the floors and walls collapsed due to water damage. The purple section shows a channel underneath which connects the two "lakes" to the flooded area on Level 6, beneath.

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Is it just me, or did I just hear Algolei agree to submit this as Level 4: The Farm Levels, for RoUII?

[Doirche]

If I could find the time I would convert your map into vector graphics using Illustrator as I think it would be kick ass to zoom in and explore it.

Job well done my man.

Any chance of us seeing the other levels?

[Algolei]

Yes.

Here's a direct link to where I'm storing it online at keepandshare: http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/view.php?u=573455

It would require clicking a couple of buttons and downloading it, though.

Edit: Oops I forgot, it's incomplete. The lower levels weren't available on that computer when I put the pdf together.

Also, some of the maps were old versions with errors on them. I had to recreate the correct maps recently to line everything up again. Very annoying to learn I had deleted the correct versions and saved the old ones instead!

[Algolei]

Is it just me, or did I just hear Algolei agree to submit this as Level 4: The Farm Levels, for RoUII?

It ain't copyrighted, if that's what you mean!

(Just don't used Level 6 -- I stole parts of that level from other sources, like Dungeon Magazine and the 1E DMG.)

[Doirche]

Yes.

Here's a direct link to where I'm storing it online at keepandshare: http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/view.php?u=573455

It would require clicking a couple of buttons and downloading it, though.

Edit: Oops I forgot, it's incomplete. The lower levels weren't available on that computer when I put the pdf together.

Also, some of the maps were old versions with errors on them. I had to recreate the correct maps recently to line everything up again. Very annoying to learn I had deleted the correct versions and saved the old ones instead!

VERY IMPRESSIVE

A "megadungeon" in every sense of the word. That must have taken you months to create.

Again, good job.

[Sir Clarence]

Yes, that looks very nice Algolei! Very cool maps! How much of this dungeon have you actually fleshed out?

[Algolei]

I'm unhappy with the silly "maze" level that was meant to separate the castle from the dungeon. It was one of the last maps I drew; up until then I just described it as a confusing maze that required a guide to lead the PCs safelyl through. I know one day I would have to supply an actual map, though, because my players are such cheapskates that they don't even want to pay 1 gp to have someone from the castle take them down to the dungeon.

Cheap bastards....

That must have taken you months to create.

Years. Yearrrrrs! It started with 1st edition, moved to 2nd edition, and now I'm trying to run a 3.5E campaign with it (which sucks massive donut holes -- had a TPK last night, and they friggin' deserved it they were so dumb).

Yes, that looks very nice Algolei! Very cool maps! How much of this dungeon have you actually fleshed out?

I had every room described with at least one word ("empty") at the very minimum, but I when my hard drive filled up, I accidentally erased my full document and saved an older copy instead -- this was way way back before 3E came out, and my "enormous" hard drive was only 30 meg. There are huge patches of blank entries in my existing document, and it sucks; I remember so many snippets of what I had but I never like writing the same thing twice.

The big map I posted above (Level 6) is the home of bugbears, myconids, and many other humanoids. I had each bugbear written up individually, named, equipped, the whole shebang. I only remember it now because I still have dreams about them -- I made their personalities a little too special. Ah, if only I cared enough to rewrite them all.

Does anyone remember an old tv cartoon about some characters from a type of cereal or something? They were bears, and when they drank their magic potion, they bounced around like they were made of rubber? The bad guys include a bunch of ogres, with one shrimpy little ogre named Toady or something like that -- I made him into a bugbear.

[Algolei]

...it was the Gummi Bears. The little ogre's name was Toadwort, or Toady for short.

In case you've forgotten who the Gummi Bears were: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eni0LHAS464

(The series ran from '85 to '90.)

[McDeath]

I wanted to Duke to kick butt on those bears and the empire. Too bad he was such an idiot (kinda like Gargamel).

The maps are pretty damn awesome. I'd love to see them redrawn on a different mapping system (similar to what Doriche uses). Some of those levels are pretty bit and I noticed you had to put sectors of them on many pages. Too bad about losing a lot of the writeup. I think it would make a nice DL here at BIP (assuming you used 2nd edition).

[Algolei]

Welllll, it was partly 2E, but remember -- 2E had a lot of optional rules!

Parts of it were simple 1E write-ups, so it required fewer stats. Some was simple 2E, so slightly more stats. And some of it was as friggin' complicated as you could get with 2E!

And I also had many houserules. My game incorporated things from 0E, 1E, 2E, 3E, as well as GURPS, Shadowrun, and Rolemaster. Mostly I called it "1E + 2E + 3E = 6E" -- Sixth Edition D&D. Of course, by the time the actual 6E comes out (I'd give it at least, say, six months from now), their game will be so far removed from mine it'll be ridiculous!

Here's a randomly chosen room:

Room 11, Level 3: This appears to be an ancient library or archive of some kind. Scroll-filled shelves rise twelve feet high on each interior wall of this room (North, West, and South). This room is the lair of the three tribal shamans of Maglubiyet. They wear splint mail and wield battle axes. The head priest has three ioun stones (a scarlet & blue sphere [+1 Int], an incandescent blue sphere [+1 Wis], and a dusty rose prism [+1 protection]). The second priest has 2 potions of extra-healing and a +1 ring of protection. The third priest has a potion of healing and a wand of fear (2 charges).

All of the scrolls are written in Ancient Greek, naturally. They are very old, but have withstood the passing of time extremely well. One set of 31 scrolls is a work entitled "The Art of Clear Thought,"which can teach the reader the proficiency of Intelligence. Another is entitled "The Way of Understanding;" it teaches the proficiency of Wisdom. These two works are used identical to the tome of clear thought and tome of understanding, except that the gains are not magical but rather come from hard work and are considered proficiencies.

There are also several ancient scrolls detailing some (relatively) low-level spells which might interest PC and/or NPC mages. These include the spells darkness, detect poison, enlarge, fortune, shocking grasp (M1), blindness, shapechange to cat, stinking cloud (M2), infravision, shapechange to wolf, werewolf (M3), enchanted weapon (M4), summon shadow (M5), speak with dead (M6).

Unfortunately for looters, there are also three scrolls upon which the head shaman has cast glyphs of warding.

Goblin priests (3: levels 1, 3, and 5): INT Low to Average (5-10); AC 4; MV 6; HD 1d4, 3d4, 5d4; THAC0 20, 19, 18; #AT 1; Dmg 1d8+1 (battle axe used two-handed), Spd 5 (two-handed weapon specialization); SZ S; ML 9; AL le; XP 19, 57, 270; hp 4 7 13

AB Str 13, Cha 10; AL le; WP any; AR any; SP all, charm*, combat, creation*, divination, guardian*, healing, necromantic (reversed for 4th-level and higher), protection*, summoning*, sun (reversed), war, wards*; PW 1) charm person, 5) strength, affects 1d4 targets by touch; 10) touch 1d6 weapons to cause double damage for 1 turn; TU command at -2 levels.

As you can see, there's plenty in there that's unusual.

Here's another randomly chosen room:

Room 1, Level 6: Stairs down from the level above. They once had scything blade traps, but all have been set off in the distant past. Thieves can still detect the ten traps, but they are not dangerous. All of the remaining blades have been damaged beyond repair, and three of them even been removed entirely. None of these traps are able to be reset.

At the end of the long spiralling hallway which leads east from this point is a set of four stone golems carved to resemble huge ogres. These golems activate if the door down the hall from them is opened. The golem at the end turns a crank which raises the portcullis in front of the first one; this takes one round. Due to previous incursions into this area, the front golem has sustained some damage and is easiest to disable.

The golems are too wide to fight side-by-side, so they patiently wait in line for their turn to fight when the golems in front of them have been destroyed.

Stone golems (4): INT non- (--); AC 5; MV 6; HD 14; THAC0 8; #AT 2; Dmg 3d8; SA casts a slow spell every second round with a 10' range; SD +2 or better weapon to hit it; SZ L; ML 20; AL n; XP 10,000 (9,000 for the damaged one); hp 14 60 60 60

Much more standard fare, there. These stone golems are the first line of defense, guarding the ridiculously enormous treasure in Room 30:

Room 30, Level 6: Treasure Room #3. None have ever left this room alive. There are 5 iron golems which kill every living thing that enters the room; they can detect invisible and detect life, and are repaired to full every time this room becomes vacant of all life forms. Bloodstains cover most of the floor.

Iron golems (5): INT non- (--); AC 3; MV 6; HD 18; THAC0 5; #AT 2; Dmg 4d10; SA breathe poison gas every 7 rounds (this gas does not dissipate easily because the room is sealed); SD +3 weapon required to hit; immune to most spells; electrical attacks slow it for 3 rounds; magical fire repairs 1 hp/hit die of spell damage; permanent resist corrosion; SZ L (12'); ML 20; AL N; XP 16,000; hp 80 80 80 80 80

There is also a pile of treasure in chests and bags, and many coins lying scattered about the floor. Several large chests have been bashed open/stepped on by iron golems. The treasure listed below also includes the items found on the 12 dead bodies in this room.

21 chests (8 are trapped), 3 broken chests, 2 locked trunks (both trapped), 28 sacks, containing: 30,000 cp, 96,000 sp, 34,000 ep, 56,000 gp, 38,000 pp, 80 gems, 71 art objects, 14 shortbow arrows +2, bracers of defense AC 4, longsword +1/+3 vs. evil creatures, 2 golden lion figurines of wondrous power, rod of cancellation, banded mail +3/+4 on saving throws, dagger +1/+2 vs. small creatures/+4 vs. flying creatures, ring of feather falling, ring of protection +1, ring of water walking, ring of invisibility, rod of lordly might, staff of curing, wand of metal & mineral detection, censer of controlling air elementals, javelin of lightning, net of entrapment, banded mail +1 (human, 5'6", Str 15), scale mail +2 (human, 5'8", Str 12), medium shield +4, cursed shortsword +1, longsword +1/-3 vs. sentient creatures, Flame Tongue shortsword +1/+2 vs. regenerating creatures/+3 vs. cold- using/flammable/avian creatures/+4 vs. undead, warhammer +1, dagger +1/+2 vs. small creatures/-3 vs. creatures larger than Man-sized, morningstar +1, bracers of defense AC 5, Ares clerical scroll of dissension's feast (2), cloak of fear (4), mage scroll of protection from evil (1), suggestion (3)(Elvish), mage scroll of death spell (sanskrit), mage scroll of clairaudience (3), tongues (3), remove curse (4), massmorph (4), cone of cold (5) (Elvish), mage scroll of hold monster (5), transmute water to dust (6) (hieroglyphics), mage scroll of erase (1), magic mouth (2), rainbow pattern (4) (sanskrit), mage scroll of ray of enfeeblement (2) (hieroglyphics), potions of undead (spectre) control, invisibility, oil of etherealness, polymorph self, speed, healing, delusion (polymorph self), plant control, animal (avian) control, heroism.

The command word to teleport back to area 29. is "Rosie." This command word is only to be found in this dungeon on the 7th floor, room 76. (Rosie was the name of Timothy's little sister.)

By the time a party should be able to take this treasure, they should be powerful enough to use it!

In my campaign, I had named three old languages "magical languages": ancient Elvish, Sanskrit, and Egyptian hieroglyphics. Each Mage scroll is written in one of these languages.

Also, I had decided that Priest scrolls were written by specific priesthoods, so a cure light wounds written by a priest of Ares would obviously contain words of praise to Ares. Each religion would do this, so every Priest scroll is identifiable by its religious terms.

There are a few other houserules evident in that treasure list, I'm sure.