Chordille Keep - The Goblin Lair

The Goblin Lair (areas 13-16)
This series of rooms now hosts a goblin war band led by a goblin brute. All the goblins in the area fear the brute, as his reputation is much greater than his actual fighting prowess. Most of the other races that make up the bestial host leave him alone, as he is particularly difficult to work with. As the characters wander into this area, it is likely to become one large melee as the goblins will join in any fight, as they do not want to face the wrath of the brute. In any combat, after 2 rounds, all the goblins in these rooms will come out to investigate. Once the goblins in the barracks join in any fight, roll once on the random re-enforcement chart to see what additional re-enforcements are available.

13. The Goblin Brute.
This is where the goblin brute can be found with his two body guards. As soon as an intruder enters, the goblin body guards will attack immediately. The goblin brute will attempt to attack the weakest party member, in order to preserve his combat legacy. The goblins in the neighboring rooms will come and investigate in 2 rounds.

1 goblin brute. AC 17, HD3, HP18, Dam 1d6+1 (short sword)
2 goblins. AC 15, HD1, HP5, Dam 1d6 (short sword)
Treasure: 4d6 gold, potion of bull’s strength

Goblin barracks (Area 14 & 15).
Areas 14 and 15 are the goblin barracks. At any given time, there will be 2 goblins in each room, with a 20% chance of additional goblins being in the rooms or close by. Each goblin has 1d4 gold. Once combat is joined, there is a chance that additional goblins join in. Roll once on the chart below to see what re-enforcements are available. The concept is to provide a larger scale battle with random re-enforcements joining in.

Re-enforcement chart (roll once)

Die Roll (1d8) Re-enforcements

1. No further re-enforcements
2. 1 additional goblin joins in 1 round
3. 2 additional goblins join 2 rounds after combat starts
4. 3 additional goblins join 3 rounds after combat starts
5. 1 goblin riding a goblin dog joins in 3 rounds.
6. 1 goblin joins after 1 round, and another goblin joins after 3 rounds.
7. 1 additional goblin joins in 2 rounds
8. No further re-enforcements

14. Goblin barracks
2 goblins. AC 15, HD1, HP3, Dam 1d6 (short sword)

15. Goblin barracks

2 goblins. AC 15, HD1, HP3, Dam 1d6 (short sword)


16. Goblin Kennels
This was once a small guard post, and is now a kennel for goblin dogs. A particularly nasty smell comes from this door, with characters having a 25% chance of noticing it prior going into the room. There is nothing of value in this room, as the goblin dog has made a complete mess of the place.

1 goblin dog. AC 13, HD1, HP8, Dam (bite) +2 1d6+3 plus allergic reaction. (See Pathfinder #1)

.

Revisit.
As long as the goblin brute is still alive, the areas 13-16 will re-populate with additional goblins. Once the goblin brute has been defeated, the remaining goblins will leave the area, and rats will move in.

Chordille Keep - The Grand Entrance

12. Grand entrance to the keep.
Once the grand entrance to the keep, now it lies as a burnt out hulk of what it once was. The main double doors are mostly destroyed and only parts of the doors remain hanging on their hinges. The charred remnants of a red carpet are lie on the ground, as a bitter reminder of what was. The Bestial Host has posted a pair of goblin guards and a goblin dog. If confronted by an opponent stronger than themselves, they will run to the goblin lair that is located in areas 13-16.

2 goblins. AC 15, HD1, HP3, Dam 1d6 (short sword)
1 goblin dog. AC 13, HD1, HP8, Dam (bite) +2 1d6+3 plus allergic reaction. (See Pathfinder #1)
Treasure 1d6 gold

Revisit

On subsequent revisits, if the goblins in areas 13-16 have been defeated, a band of orcs will have moved in, otherwise the goblins post another 2 guards and a goblin dog.

4 Orcs. AC 16, HD1, HP5, Dam 1d8 (long sword)
Treasure: 1d10 gold

Chordille Keep - Inner Keep (area 11)

11. Ruined room
With the razing of the keep, and number of rooms were totally destroyed. In the case of this room, most of the ceiling has collapsed into the room, creating a mess. Most creatures avoid this room, although there is a 10% chance of a vermin crawling in through the hole in the ceiling to come searching for food or to just hide. Other than that, there is nothing of significance in the room.

Chordille Keep - Inner Keep (area 10)

10. Hobgoblin guards
The fire damage to this room makes it impossible to determine what this room was used for prior to the razing of the keep. A small band of hobgoblins have moved into this ruined room, and have staked a claim to it. The sergeant in room 9 is ok with this development as it allows him to keep a close eye on his small band from the bestial host. There is some wreckage that remains in the room, but the hobgoblins have made it a point to remove most of it to make room for their bedrolls and such.
5 hobgoblins. AC 15, HD1, HP6, Dam 1d8 (long sword)
Treasure: 2d10 gold

Revisit
On subsequent revisits, if the hobgoblins have been defeated, a band of orcs will have moved in.

5 Orcs. AC 16, HD1, HP5, Dam 1d8 (long sword)
Treasure: 1d10 gold

Dungeon-a-day - Update

A short note from Monte on his Dungeon-a-Day project:

Remember, the Charter Membership offer ends April 10 (this Friday), so spread the word, post it on your blogs, and tell your friends.

Basically two days left to take advantage of this offer.

Chordille Keep (ruined keep maps)

In Monte’s Dungeon-a-Day, Monte references the ruins of Chordille Keep which sits on top of the dungeon. As of this point, Monte has not provided a map of Chordille Keep. The initial assumption is that it is a series of ruins with nothing significant remaining. However, given that I like castle ruins, and I could not resist drawing something up, which is what I spent a good part of this weekend doing.

Enclosed is the player’s map and along with the GM’s map, which has the room numbers on it. Even through this has been designed with Monte’s dungeon in mind, it is fairly generic and can be used for any dungeon that needs a ruined keep.

Over the next week or so, I will be providing my write ups on the encounter areas.

GM Map














Player's Map

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Permission statement

With this statement, I give permission for folks to use these maps for their own use. If this is going to see publish in another media (blog, electronic publication, fanzine/magazine), please reference this blog site and this particular blog entry.

Review: Dungeon-a-Day.com (Part 2)

Continued from yesterday
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Final thoughts

Dungeon-a-day is a very interesting idea. My overall thought is that the website is very slick, and I suspect that Monte will continue to make improvements over time, which means it will get better. We spend a lot of time debating the merits of one rule set over another, or discussing some optional rule set, and discussing game philosophy. It is good to see someone put all that rhetoric aside and actually start working on an ambitious project, which this is. I have to give kudos to Monte for this.

Now I do recognize that there is a bit of criticism about the subscription model. There is a feeling that what one is really getting is just fancy blog, and with the multitude of blogs out there, why would one want to pay for it. This goes back to my discussion on value, and does one consider this as valuable as a magazine subscription. With any internet subscription model, that is the basic question that one has to answer. If one is not interested in an electronic magazine subscription, then this is not for you.

There has also been a bit of discussion on whether or not this is really an old school mega-dungeon. The level maps are a bit small (38 encounter areas on the first level and 24 on the second) and the room entries are a bit long. So I do agree that the map levels are a bit on the small side, but I am ok with this, as I actually like to see more vertical orientated dungeons with half levels in between the main levels. When I am doing my design work on large dungeons, I try to incorporate as many small side levels, as I find that a bit more interesting than just one large flat dungeon. I do recognize this as my preference, and not everyone would agree with me. I think offering vertical choices are more interesting than just a standard horizontal choice.

With regards to the long room descriptions, I think that is the nature of the subscription model beast. If I am going to pay for content, then I want to see content. To put a number on it, if I am going to subscribe to something that promises daily content, then I want to see ~1K of word content. Now this does not mean that I want to see dungeon rooms come in at 1000 words, but rather I want to see a total of ~1000 words between the different articles. Different folks may have a different number in mind, but that is my threshold. Thus far, Monte’s room write ups range between 300 words to up over 1500 words. I fully agree that he could tighten up the descriptions on some of the rooms. However, he is using a room template that while easy to read and use, and does stretch out the room descriptions a bit. Also, the 3rd ed monster write ups can become very bloated, and thus far, Monte has tried to keep the monster stat blocks to an absolute minimum, which I appreciate.

One of the things I really like is the interconnectedness of the dungeon so far. There is an overall dungeon plot to it, and it is not just a collection of rooms. I think that this is truly the key to making a great mega-dungeon. It is relatively easy to create a series of maps and populate them monsters and such. However, it is quite another thing to create a tight interconnected dungeon plot that links rooms and levels together. As a player, it is more interesting to play through a dungeon, if it has a plot, and there are deeper things to discover. This concept of a dungeon plot turns into a puzzle for the players, and I think that this helps stimulate good game play, and keeps the interest going. Levels which are quite independent and divorced from one another may be interesting at first, but I think greater interest comes from dungeon plot that gets revealed as one travels through the dungeon. This is not to say that dungeon should be an adventure path, but rather the plot should be a bit of a puzzle that the players can figure out, and I believe that this leads to better game play.

The last point I do want to mention is Monte’s use of Dwarven Forge miniature terrain. I really like the pictures of dungeon with the Dwarven Forge terrain. When I first started playing D&D, I always wanted to create a 3D dungeon. I will be the first one to say that Dwarven Forge terrain is very stunning when set up. It definitely gives the game a bit eye candy at the table. I personally do not owe any, but I am giving it considerable thought. To run a mega-dungeon using Dwarven Forge terrain (or something similar) would be really cool.

Overall, I do give this product a thumbs up. I think Monte has made good start, and I am hoping that he continues to improve the site. With that said, I realize that this is not for everyone. The subscription model may not work for everyone’s budget. If one is not planning on playing through it, if may not have a high value proposition. However, if one is creating a mega-dungeon, this site has a number of good ideas that are ripe for using. With each room getting its own detailed description, there are plenty of ideas that can be used in one’s own mega-dungeon.

Rating: 4 Dragons (on a scale of 5)

Review: Dungeon-a-Day.com (Part 1)

Dungeon-a-Day, by designer Monte Cook, has been now live for about three weeks or so, and there has been quite of bit of discussion on it. A number of bloggers have posted their comments, and some of the more commonly known features have been discussed and debated at length. But none the less, I will give my assessment of what has been done so far, and provide some additional insights that have come from what we have seen over the past three weeks, that perhaps were not as well known earlier. This review will be split into two parts, the first one being the more objective overview, and the second part will include more subjective analysis as well as a bit of commentary on mega-dungeons in general

As a disclaimer, I am a fan of Monte’s work. That is not to say that I like everything he has done, but I do think he is a very talented writer, and has a good understanding of the mechanics of the game, that comes from designing games for TSR and for developing the 3rd edition version. His list of published works is impressive, both in terms of quantity and quality. I do not own everything that he has published, but I do own a number of them. In this review, I will try to maintain an objective eye at the whole thing. With that said, let’s get into the actual review

Concept

The overall concept is very straight forward, as it’s a web based subscription model that is based on providing content five days a week. The content comes in terms of a room and usually something else, which has included blog entries, pod casts, maps, handouts, bonus encounters, new monsters, and glossary updates. There are hyperlinks throughout the website that allow quick access to addition information. For visitors to the site that are not members, there are a number of areas that can be accessed to help one determine if this is something that they want to sign up for. Monte has a number of subscription plans available, and signing up for a year subscription is clearly the best dollar value, which equates to about $7/month, or a little more than a subscription to a magazine. I am estimating the current price of a year magazine subscription to be at about $5/month for a year, and this does depend on the magazine as some maybe a bit cheaper than this, but there are some that are more than $7/month. I bring this up, as I think this becomes a good bench mark in determining if this something that one wants to sign up for.

The Good

There are a number of features that I think are very solid:

1. Maps done by Ed Bourelle. Ed is the owner for SkeletonKey Games, which specializes in maps and tiles for gaming. Ed’s cartography is very solid work.

2. The main map now has the function in which one can click on a room and be taken directly to that room.

3. Pictures of the rooms created with Dwarvenforge to give a 3-D feel for what the room looks like, in addition to the standard map. I personally really like this.

4. Interesting room ideas. Monte has clearly put some thought in the room design, and there are plenty of good ideas that have been written into the dungeon.

5. The website is focused on the dungeon, and everything is built around this concept.

6. Monte has an expanding list of sponsors, and I suspect that this will grow over time. Paizo just signed up this past week, with Jason Bulmahn agreeing to write a monthly blog to support Monte. I actually think this is very cool, as Monte was acting as a consultant for Jason for the creation of the Pathfinder rules, and with this move, Jason is returning the favor. Very classy.

7. There is an active forum in which subscribers can provide feedback to Monte, and he has taken action on the suggestions that have been made.

8. An overall dungeon plot, with foreshadowing, hints and clues to what exists below.

The objections

These are some of the items that have thus far received the most criticism:

1. Cost. The cost is more than a magazine subscription.

2. Monte is using the 3rd ed rule set as the basis with which to write this, and some folks may no longer be using this rule set.

3. The content is being provided one room at a time, and there is no updates being made over the weekend.

4. At the moment, there is no compilation as the levels are finished. This may change, but right now there are no plans.

5. I personally do have a minor quibble about the site organization, specifically with regards to the key reference materials. I would like to see the navigation menu beefed up a bit more, but I do suspect that this will be improved. My general thought is that one should be able to get to a key reference page in one click, and it should be very intuitive as to where it is.

For tomorrow, I will post part two, which will include my final thoughts on Dungeon-a-Day.

Dungeon-a-day - First look

This is just a quick post to say that Monte's Dungeon-a-day is up and running, and it is impressive. I encourage everyone to just take a peek at what he has done, regardless of whether one is planning on subscribing or not. It is definitely a one of a kind web site that he has put together. There are a couple of things that I find interesting about what he is doing:

1) He has put together a website that has all sorts of built in links to tie everything together

2) He has multiple sections to page through

3) He has pictures of what the dungeon looks like using Dwarven Forge terrain

4) He has both a blog and a forum

5) Lots of art work

All in all it is very cool. Now some folks may not find it that useful, and that is fine. I am sure that numerous reviews will pop up all over the net over the next week or two. After I have used it for a week or so, I will post more thoughts and a more formal review.

Anyway, take a look, and feel free to post your impressions here. I am curious to see what everyone thinks of it