Dungeon23 - Week 3 - The Sun King's Palace

I continue to the northern part of the old fort. Here, we start a larger complex - the remains of the old palace. The design is starting to come together for me. The palace resembles more of a traditional dungeon. Here's my default layout for each level - how the four weeks relate to each other spatially:

W4 | W3

W2 | W1

I've been using this article on empty rooms, from I Cast Light, to give my empty rooms some more flavor as well as Tricks, Empty Rooms, and Basic Trap Design for additional inspiration and help with furniture and traps. I'm pretty happy with this week's designs compared to last week. The buildings feel more connected and 'alive' - every room had a past function as well as a present function by its new inhabitants. This provides multiple angles for the PCs to interact with each room. This week, there's a lot of Corvold and Goblin areas. I might reconsider their placements, as there are several rooms where they are adjacent to one another (and I already like the idea of them being warring factions of the dungeon). I might move the Goblins from 1-19 to 1-21. I'm also not sure how I feel about 1-22 being controlled by the Corvolds, but I like my use for the room. Honestly, there's no reason to change it until I actually run it with some friends, but these are the things I'm thinking typing it up.

Nightwick Abbey - Session 42 - Objection!

Previously in Nightwick...

Session 42 - 12th of January, 1391

This week's adventurers:

Sotar (Cleric 4)

Mayfly (Magic-User 3)

Blossom (Rogue 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 2)

Mechtild (Fighter 1)

Anston (Fighter 2)

Hirelings: Gerung Floating Disk (MU 1), Ticze (Changeling 1), Heyno, Elger

 

The party leaves Nightwick in an orderly manner after tonight's delving.

Downtime in the Village

Sotar was absent from the previous delve down into Nightwick Abbey, but at the Medusa's Head tavern, he was regaled with the tale of the grisly death of Grolmes, Mayfly's longtime faithful hired help. Alas, his magic sword Dhinron, a gift from Father Winter, was left behind in the abbey along with his corpse. Sotar proposes returning to level 2 in an attempt to retrieve the powerful sword (and Grolmes's body).

Dungeon23 - Week 2 - The Excavation Continued

I continue with the above ground ruins on the island of Kamunn-Targ. I'm not entirely happy with the layout - I feel like the buildings don't flow together in the same way dungeon rooms would. I think I'd like them to be more spread out, but the limits of my notebook size prevent that. I'll probably redraw level 1 after this month to give the buildings more room to breathe.

Dungeon23 - Week 1

On the isle of Kamunn-Targ, the easternmost point of the kingdom, sit the ruins of an old fort. By legend, this is the location of the coronation of the first king of the current dynasty. Her Holiness the Queen has decided to sponsor an expedition to the island to learn more about the noble history of her dynasty. 

Quickly, progress stopped on the dig. A mixture of bandits, the bird-like corvolds, and diseased goblins made the site of the dig too dangerous for the archaeologists. Back on the mainland, the call went out for hired adventurers to come to the island and help make safe the area around the site. The promise of payment and the presence of danger was enough to draw some foolhardy adventurers in.

"Kick a Devilman in the Balls" - Nightwick Abbey - Session 40

The Devil's Playground by A.W.B. Lincoln

Last week in Nightwick Abbey...

Session 40 - 15th of December 1391

This week's adventurers:

Sotar (Cleric 4)

Mayfly (Magic-User 3) Grolmes (Fighter 1)

Anston (Fighter 2)

Verinka (Changeling 1)

Maelwyn (Cleric 1)

Liminal Space (Changeling 2)

Mechtild (Fighter 1) 

Blossom (Rogue 4)

Hirelings: Ticze (Changeling 1), Gerung (Magic-User 1)

Downtime in the Village

Over the past weeks, Mayfly bought a house in town. With a surplus of coin and an increasing number of valuables, it seemed prudent to get a place to store things away from the inn, the Medusa's Head. He celebrated the purchase by going out drinking - the night before our delve. He woke up with a nasty hangover and opted to stay in the village, recovering (we use rules for carousing between sessions to spend silver to gain XP - this was the result of Mayfly's roll). In his stead, Mayfly's faithful hireling Grolmes has been promoted and will venture into Nightwick. We gave him an extra set of chain and the magic sword we received from Father Winter, Dhinron. The idol we received from Father Winter, we gave to the woodsman instead of selling it to gain favor with the group. Sotar buys a silver mace and some of the others buy silver polearms to increase our capabilities, and we decide to explore more of level 2 this week.

My Dungeon23 Plans - Excavation of the Old Fort

I'm planning to do the Dungeon23 project in 2023. If you don't know, it's an idea to design a megadungeon, one room a day for a whole year, divided up into one floor for each month. For more details, you can read Sean McCoy's post about it here. As I was thinking of what I wanted the dungeon to look like, I found these tweets by Iko of the Lost Bay.

 

I don't trust Twitter to stay up through the weekend so here's a screenshot.

 

I was inspired by this. I love a good mixing of sci-fi and fantasy, and it's been a staple of role-playing games since pretty much the beginning.

 

Lost in the Abbey - Nightwick Abbey - Session 39

Illustration by Edward Coley Burne-Jones

 Previously, in the world of Nightwick...

Session 39 - 8th of December 1391

This week's adventurers:

Sotar (Cleric 4)

Blossom (Rogue 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 2)

Mechtild (Fighter 1)

Yevegniy the Coward (Cleric 1)

Anston (Fighter 2)

Hirelings:

Ticze (Changeling 1), Gerung (Magic-User 1), Heyno, Ditl 

Downtime in the Village

The party returns from Father Winter's tomb and rests. Verinka wakes up from his vision/dream and appears otherwise unharmed. Mayfly identifies the sword Father Winter gave us. It is named Dhinron and it is truely a mighty sword - it is sentient, offers the powers of Detect Magic, Detect Metals, See Invisible Object, and Extra Damage Enhancement. Additionally, it has a special purpose: to slay undead. This would be a truly helpful sword for surviving Nightwick Abbey. Unfortunately, it has a mind of its own (Int 12, Ego 12) and anyone wielding it would be at risk of having the sword take them over to further its own agenda. This level of power discourages any of the eligible party members from picking it up this week. Several adventurers are missing this week, but nonetheless, we decide to return to Level 3 of Nightwick to explore some more.