Dungeons.pdf

A TOME OF ARCANE KNOWLEDGE

CONCERNING THOSE MONSTROUS REALMS

BENEATH THE EARTH

D U N G E O N S

CREDITS

WRITING : NANCY BERMAN , NOAH DUDLEY ,

ERIC STEIGER , SERGE STELMACK , GREG STOLZE , REE IOESBEE ,

AND STEVE WRIGHT

ART DIRECTION : JIM PINTO

COVER DESIGN : STEVE HOUGH AND MARK JELPO

INTERIOR ARTWORK : JULIAN AGUILERA , STORN COOK , LIZ

JAMES , RICHARD POLLARD , AND MIKE SELLERS

MAPS : CRIS DORNAUS

ARTWORK PREPRESS : BRENDON GOODYEAR

EDITING : REE SOESBEE AND ROB VAUX

INTERIOR LAYOUT : STEVE HOUGH AND MARK JELPO

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

Steve Long and Marcia Franklin

EDITOR ' S THANKS :

To all of the writers and artists who

contributed to this project. Friends and

strangers, beginners and veterans, you

all walked on water to help make this

happen. For that, and for everything

else, I cordially thank you.

DEDICATION

To the memory of John Zinser, Sr. (1938 -

2001).

PETER FLANAGAN , MIKE MEARLS , JIM PINTO , JOHN SEAVEY ,

DANFORTH , JONATHAN HUNT , A . BLEYS INGRAM , SCOTT

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

INTRODUCTION

SECTION ONE: TIPS AND TRICKS

BEFORE YOU OPEN THAT DOOR…

…KNOW WHAT'S BEHIND IT

DESIGNING DUNGEONS THAT WORK

GIVING YOUR DUNGEON A PAST

DUNGEON ECOLOGIES AND CULTURES

DUMB ANIMALS

SMART MONSTERS

HAZARDS AND TRAPS

ALL THAT GLITTERS…

SECTION TWO: DUNCEON TYPES

FORTRESSES

MADMAN'S LAIR

MINES

NATURAL CAVERNS

SEWERS

SUBTERRANEAN COMMUNITIES

TEMPLES

TOMBS

SECTION THREE: PLAYER

NEW SKILLS

NEW FEATS

NEW MUNDANE ITEMS

NEW SPELLS

NEW PRESTIGE CLASSES

SECTION FOUR: DUNGEON MASTER

NEW MONSTERS

NEW MAGIC ITEMS

100

NEW TRAPS

103

SAMPLE DUNGEONS

105

D U N G E O N S

INTRODUCTION

What is it about a gaping hole in the ground

that immediately lends itself to fantasy role-

playing? Dungeons have been a hallowed part of

gaming since its early inception, but why do they

continue to hold our attention? Why would a

tyrant king build a dungeon beneath his castle to

hold prisoners? Why do the dwarves carve into

stone and live underground, when there is so

much room on the surface? Why do goblins, rats,

orcs, and a host of other horrors insist on living in

caverns deep beneath the earth?

Most gamers, to some degree, understand the

desire to journey underground and explore the

unknown: the challenge, the excitement, the thrill

of entering perilous locales and returning

successfully. After all, without the unknown,

there is nothing to role-playing but a series of die

rolls and witty movie quotes thrown in between

game mechanics and the historic significance of

the German longspear. Dungeons make a natural

setting for the unknown - dark, abandoned, filled

with the stuff of nightmares. The challenge of

piercing that enigma can be nigh irresistible. But

too often, that challenge becomes commonplace.

The dark corridors and musty caverns of fantasy

dungeons can quickly become repetitive, leading

to boring campaigns and endless bouts of

pointless mapping. How can players feel

challenged if they know what they're in for?

Where's the excitement in braving the unknown if

the dungeon you're about to enter is pretty much

the same as all the other ones you've been through

over the years?

This book is intended to help solve that

problem. It contains tips, tricks, essays, and rules

designed to make dungeons interesting and fun

places to game in. Underground lairs are home to

any variety of monsters, traps, treasure, and story

plots. Why shouldn't they be as clever or as

mindless as the people that made them? A

necromancer, burying himself alive to awaken in

the afterlife is justified in lining his tomb with

deadly traps and several false tombs, while an orc

compound just needs a simple trip wire to alarm

the guards of an intruder. A monster that can see

well in the dark would hide in the shadows and

attack adventures one by one.

A stalker or lurker that kills and eats its prey

leaves behind bones and residue. Details such as

these help flesh out an otherwise mundane

dungeon crawl, turning a tedious adventure into a

fun-filled role-playing session for any party.

Hopefully, the guidelines provided in this book

will help you make the most of that marvelous

potential.

The first part of Dungeons contains a series of

essays on dungeon-building, from ecology and

history to trap design, treasure design, and ways

for players to properly prepare themselves to the

challenges ahead. The second part covers different

types of dungeons, and explains how one should

differentiate between, say, a city sewer crawling

with giant rats and an abandoned temple haunted

by the forces of evil. We've also included an

extensive section containing new rules for players

and DMs alike: new skills, new feats, and new

prestige classes, as well as monsters based

specifically around underground encounters and

some new magic items to reward your character

with. Finally, we've provided a trio of brief

dungeons which demonstrate ways of turning a

normal "hunt the monster" scenario into

something more engaging.

Dungeons form an important part of fantasy

gaming: the dangers they represent are an integral

element to the heroic tales which role-players

thrive on. Canny Dungeon Masters can take these

journeys into the dark, and make them a fulfilling

part of any role-playing campaign. We hope this

book provides you with a few new ideas for your

underground adventures, and helps you enhance

the thrill of opening that creaky door and stepping

into the unknown.

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