Welcome to the Deathtrap: Accelerated Adventure Planning (Using Emoji)

This is a primer on a method I used to cut way back on time spent planning adventures using a few established tools and a journaling method that makes writing out an adventure on a tablet or phone quick and efficient. By the time you have finished running through this method, you should have a relatively sophisticated adventure that feels like it has taken a lot more prep time than it actually has.

Not all of these ideas are mine! I owe a lot of my planning strategy to the GMing tools presented in Tracy Hickman’s XDM: eXtreme Dungeon Mastery, and the peerless GMing section of Hankerin Furnale’s Index Card RPG. I have systematized applying them in a system-neutral way. Likeise, I draw a lot of inspiration from the “Five-Room Dungeon” and “One Page Dungeon” styles of adventure planning. And an article entitled “Writing Your First D&D Adventure” by Wolfgang Bauer published by Wizards of the Coast in 2006.

The system you use will have an effect on the results you get with this tool, as well. I developed this tool as a part of a push to make sure I spent less time on prep, rules-wrangling, and note-making as a part of a push to get more gaming in while life has provided me less time to do it in. I personally prefer a relatively light and quick OSR or rules-light game for using this system. I use Dungeon Crawl Classics and Index Card RPG as my go-to games, because they are light, easy to plan for, and easy to create content for,

STEP 1: Steal a Map

While I sketch rough maps, I just as often run a search on Pinterest or Google for a Map that will serve my purpose. There is an amazing variety of beautiful, evocative fantasy maps to be had on the Internet. Wizards of the Coast used to offer a “Map a Week” during the early days of D&D 3rd Edition that were excellent. If you are not planning on publishing the adventure, grab or recycle any map that will fit your purposes.

STEP 2: Set Aside your Essential Encounters

When I plan an adventure there are a few encounters that I consider essential to making every player feel like they have had a part to play in the adventure. To represent this, I put a few emoji at the top of my document:

They each indicate a type of encounter or event that will make for a satisfying adventure.

💥💥🗝😈⚰🤝💢

Each of these symbols represents something I want to include in my adventure. They need not be the entire encounter, and they can be combined into a single encounter as well.

💥 Skill Encounter: This is an encounter that requires a character to use skills to either bypass or overcome. It is the encounter that makes a player playing a Thief or Rogue character feel like they have had a role to play in the adventure. These often include stealth challenges to get arounds something the PCs could not defeat, an opportunity to defeat a foe by surprise, a trap to bypass, etc.; I try to include at least two of these in every adventure.

🗝 Entrance with Guardian: No adventure should be easy to get into. Players should need to bypass guards or traps, or overcome a hostile environment early on in the adventure to feel like they are after something worth defending.

😈 Climactic Battle: A fight with minions, something big and scary, and preferably a dangerous environment. It doesn’t have to be the last encounter in the adventure, but it should not be a skippable one.

⚰ The Bigger Fish: Not every encounter should feel safe, easy, or balanced. At least one encounter in every adventure should be potentially deadly, but avoidable so that the PCs learn the value of caution and exercising the better part of valor. These encounters should reward cunning, unusual tactics, and using the environment if the players decide to get into trouble here. This helps the world feel more “real” as well: not everything is custom tailored to the PCs.

🤝 The Polder: At least one encounter in every dungeon ought to be with an NPC, creature, artifact, or location with which the PCs can interact without danger, and possibly come out of the encounter with a lead, intelligence, some healing, or a boost for the final encounter.

💢 The Setback: This encounter sends the PCs back to the beginning, costs them some big resources, alerts the enemies of their presence, gets them stabbed in the back, or forces them to deal with one or more otherwise skippable encounters.

As I plan the adventure, I delete one of these symbols from the top each time I put an encounter in that meets that description. When I have done planning the adventure, if any of these emoji are left, I go back and find a way to include them by modifying the encounters I have planned.

STEP 3: Build and Fill Out Your Form

Next, each room on your map needs a number and, if you can manage, a name that suggests what it is going to be used for. Once you have that figured out, you are going to create a customized form to fill out with a space for each room. It will have an emoji placeholder for several things each room should have. I always start by copy/pasting this section into my notes:

1. The Unfriendly Room

🔮 Description

⏳ Timer

👹 Monster / 💀 Threat

🃏 Notes

👿 Treat

☄ Reward

You can figure out almost everything you need to fill these out by asking yourself the following questions:

What are the things I want the PCs to notice or explore I here?
What is dangerous in here?
What will happen if the PCs don't handle the danger is a quick or quiet manner?
What is something cool, useful, or fun in here?
How can a PC look like a badass here?

I will go over how I use each of these spaces:

🔮 Description: A run-down of the important ideas and items I want to describe about the room in question. If you like to create read-aloud text, this is where you put it, but I find that a few words are enough to help me improv. If there is a need to describe something else in the room as players explore, I might put another one here.

⏳ Timer: One of the “Three Ts” of exciting encounter design, a Timer is a countdown until something happens that makes the danger of the encounter even worse. This can be automatic once the PCs enter the room, or started at a certain trigger. It can be a number of actions an enemy has to make to have something new happen, or it can be a problem that will just ratchet up the danger with distractions and penalties.

The point of any timer is to force PCs to use their resources to end an encounter as quickly as possible to avoid putting themselves at risk. This keeps PCs from holding back, conserving disposable resources, and toying with enemies, and forces a little realism in PC behaviour.

Here, I describe as quickly as I can when a timer starts, how long it lasts, and what happens when it runs out.

👹 Monster: / 💀 Threat: “Threat” is one of the “Three Ts” of exciting encounter design. Most rooms in a dungeon need to have some sort of danger… except possibly the “Polder” encounter. I use the Monster (👹) icon to indicate a living creature that needs statistics, or the Skull (💀) icon to indicate a trap, illusion, hazard, or curse that might harm the PCs.

With monsters, I list the name of the monster and the number. If they are a monster out of a book, I put a page reference down. If not, I put an indented stat block underneath.

Other kinds of threat may need to be fleshed out into a sentence or two. The trick is to keep it as brief as possible.

🃏 Notes: The Joker “wild card” indicates unfolding events, interesting details, or special mechanics for the room. The Joker can be almost anything I need it to be about the room. If I don’t have at least something to say here, I make sure that I revisit the encounter at the end of the design.

👿 Treat: The last of the “Three Ts” of exciting encounter design. A Treat should be something that either A) Makes the PCs look awesome and competent during the encounter or B) makes them feel like the encounter was worth it. I like to put in an environmental object that the PCs can use to get an advantage, a long-lasting boost to their performance, a clue about the rest of the dungeon, a valuable piece of lore, a dirty trick the PCs can pull off, or a way the results of this encounter can change other encounters.

☄ Reward: I make note of the experience rewards, good luck, and blessings a PC might receive from the encounters in this room, and how they receive them here.

Example: Lair of the Ice Imps

Let’s create a small dungeon as an example of how this notation works to help with design. Namely, I will create a lair for a clan of Ice Imps and their allies here in six rooms. And explain how I set it up to check off my design.

[Note: I am using Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG stat blocks and notations, but this tool is pretty system agnostic and easily adapted.]

The first order of business is to take care of a guarded entrance (🗝). In this case a guard. Naturally, guards are there to raise alarms, so I am giving the PCs a very limited time once the guard notices them to take him out before the whole dungeon gets a lot harder, including reinforcements. Giving him cover to make him hard to hit makes this timer a real pressure. Obviously, taking out the guard without raising the alarm takes skill or magic, so I can count it as a skill challenge, too (💥).

1. The Guard Post

🔮 An icebound cave entrance on a rimey pebble beach. A sentinel is hidden in a lookout post on a ledge above packed with ice and snow.

⏳ The Ice Imp can put the cave on alert in three actions once it notices the PCs:

Observe the PCs in detail
Ready its horn
Play the alarm call

⏳ If the PCs trigger an alarm, then 1d3 Ice Imps arrive in 3 rounds.

👹 Ice Imp

Ice Imp (1 or 1d3+1): Init: +2; Atk: +3 slingshot (1d4, ranged 60’) or +0 knife (1d3); AC 12; HD 1d6; 3hp ea.; MV: 40’; Act: 1d20; SP: frostbite, immune to cold, sneak silently +5, hide in shadows +3; SV Fort +1 Ref +3 Will +0

Ice Imps are hideous child-sized creatures with blue skin and crystal growths resembling ice in place of hair, teeth, and fingernails. They possess an ability to blast a foe with supernatural cold once per day. This Frostbite power can hit any foe the Imp can see within 60’. The target must make a DC 12 Fort save. If they fail the save they take 1d4 damage, 1 Agility drain, and suffer a -1d penalty on action dice for one turn. The die penalty may be removed if the PC receives 2 dice of healing.

🃏 The Ice Imp lookout has ½ cover to protect itself (+4 AC from attacks at ground level). It may not immediately notice the PCs, giving them a chance to kill the guard before it can raise the alarm. PCs climbing the cliffside or tree can shoot around the cover.

👿 If the alarm is not raised, PCs have a much greater chance of getting through the trap at area 2.

☄ Slaying the sentry before he raises the alarm 2XP, +1 Luck

Slaying the sentry and the reinforcements 2XP

Room 2 is a dangerous trap that forces the PCs to find another way in if they are reckless or foolish, making it a perfect setback (💢). It takes alertness and swift action to get around, and so can definitely be considered a second skill challenge (💥).

2. The Icy Tunnel

🔮 Tall ceiling. Glitters with ice. Snow packs everywhere. Piles of stolen junk.

⏳ If the alarm has not been raised, an ice imp will wander into the room to Point A in 1d6 rounds, and will be surprised by the PCs. If PCs don’t catch in by the time it leaves the room, add reinforcements to the Imps in room 3.

👹 Ice imp (see Area 1)

💀 The Ice Imps have set up the hall to collapse in an Ice Quake.If the alarm has been raised, the Imps will arm the tap, and post a sentry to trigger it if the PCs don’t. Once triggered, Anyone in the highlighted area of the map makes a DC 13 Ref save. Fail: 5d6 damage and buried alive. Success: half damage.

👹 An Ice imp (see Area 1) sentry will be here if the alarm is raised. Make Hide in Shadows test. If failed, PC with highest luck sees the Imp before entering the area. Imp will use its slingshot to fire off trap when PCs enter target area.

🃏 Once the PCs trigger off the trap, this area will be impassable, they will have to find the hidden back entrance (Area 6).

👿 Getting past this trap greatly eases the PCs adventure, leaving the Imps unready and distracted.

☄ Avoiding the trap and killing the Ice Imp: 2 XP, +1 Luck

While potentially a tough fight, the PCs actions can even the odds. There are multiple timers here that have different triggers. I designed an environmental hazard the PCs can weaponize for a treat here. I also put a captive here that can give the PCs some support and intelligence if they free him as the Polder (🤝) encounter for this dungeon.

3. The Communal Cave

🔮 Huge stone cavern littered with piles of junk. Cubbies curtained with painted hides in both stone and ice. Three precarious towers of junk near low ice walls in artistic -and dangerous - arrangements. Cages hanging over a pit in the centre.

⏳ If the Alarm was not raised: if PCs act in here without Sneaking Silently or otherwise hiding, The PCs have 2d3 rounds before they are spotted and the Ice imps begin attacking from all over.

⏳ If the Alarm was raised: 4 Imps will be here. The other 8 Imps will be in area 6. If the PCs came in from Area 2, then the remaining imps will call for help as soon as the PCs act without stealth, The imps in area 6 will arrive in 4 rounds.

⏳ If the wolf was tamed and released: it automatically kills an imp every 1d3 rounds, and then runs off when all imps in the room are dead.

👹 Ice Imps x12 (If alarm was not raised) or Ice Imps x4 (if alarm was raised)

🃏 If the PCs arrived without raising the alarm, the Imps are scattered and disorganized. They will be easy to demoralize, and will flee if the PCs use destructive magic, set the wolf from area 6 on them, or kill more than 4 of them they will scatter, hide, and not interfere with the PCs.

👹 Geb Hardbottle (in cage at Point F)

Geb is a halfling captive of the Imps. A shaman, Geb can Lay on Hands with a +3 bonus once he is freed, but thanks to his deity’s displeasure, cannot cast any other spells. He has observed the Imps and can warn the PCs about the Ape-god in Area 5. He will also alert them to the impending sacrifice in Area 4.

👿 Large amounts of random junk to explore, throw, detonate, etc. Be creative! Using ranged attacks, towers of rubbish at Points C, D, and E all can be turned into Junkslides that do 3d6 damage to everything within 10’; Reflex save for half.

☄ Breaking Imp Morale or clearing the room of Imps 3 XP

Area 4 contains our classic evil sorcerer and shield of minions: a traditional "boss" battle for a climax. (😈)

4. The Ice Imp Shrine

🔮 Description

⏳ When the PCs arrive, the Ice Imp Warlock is in full swing of a ritual that he cannot stop just yet. He has a human victim for sacrifice bound on the Altar, and now that he is rushed, will hurry to the part where he kills the victim in 1d4+1 rounds if the rite is not disrupted.

👹 Ice Imp Warlock, Ice Imps x3

Ice Imp Warlock: Init: +2; Atk: +2 knife (1d3); AC 14; HD 6d6; 22hp.; MV: 40’; Act: 1d20; SP: frostbite, immune to cold, sneak silently +7, hide in shadows +5, Spellcasting (+5); SV Fort +2 Ref +4 Will +3

Leader of the Ice Imp Clan, the Ice Imp Warlock controls the Four-Armed Ape Man they worship as a god through a powerful charm person spell whose duration he extends through regular sacrifice. His Frostbite power is particularly strong: it can hit any foe the Imp can see within 60’. The target must make a DC 14 Fort save. If they fail the save they take 1d6 damage, 2 Agility drain, and suffer a -1d penalty on action dice for one hour. The die penalty may be removed if the PC receives 2 dice of healing.

The Warlock can cast the following spells: Level 1: Charm Person, Enlarge, Magic Shield, Ropework, Spider Climb; Level 2: Monster Summoning, Ray of Enfeeblement .He has a pool of up to 19 points that he might use for Spellburn. Each time he casts Monster Summoning, a member of the Clan dies.

His Grimoire is a painted skull that whispers his magic to those willing to listen.

🃏 The Warlock's acolytes will fight fiercely to hold off the PCs. Once ritual is complete, the Warlock will aid by casting a Spellburn-enhanced Enlarge to make them credible threats, before barraging the PCs with Ray of Enfeeblement, then enlarging himself.

👿 Destroying his ritual devices causes an automatic generic spell mishap as if the Warlock was the caster (DCC RPG p.120)

☄ Save the sacrifice +1 Luck

Defeat the Warlock 3XP

This room is as simple a room design as possible to show what a minimalistic version of these notes should look like. The Ape-God is a terrifyingly powerful monster, perfectly capable of killing low level characters in DCC. The Polder even warns them not to attack it. This is a classic example of a bigger fish (⚰).

5. Fane of the Ape-God

🔮 Black frozen bloody heaps. Ornaments of bone embedded in walls. Piles of Offerings in dented metal vessels. Heavy, pounding footsteps.

⏳ This Ape Man is prone to berserk rages. Every round make a Luck Check against the party member with the Highest Luck. If it is a fail, the Ape Man goes into a rage, gaining +4 to attack & damage rolls.

👹 Four-Armed Ape Man (DCC RPG p.395)

💀 Slippery Floors: A PC who tries to charge or run in this area makes a DC 8 Agility check or fall prone.

🃏 Snowy Camouflage: The Ape Man is painted white over much of his body, and has several snowy hiding places. The PCs will be surprised on the first round unless they detect the Ape Man with magic.

👿 The Cages in Area 3 can be dropped on the Ape Man if he can be lured under them for 5d6 damage, if the PC can either shoot the release or someone is above to operate them,

☄ Slay the Ape Man (?!) 4 XP

The Back Entrance can be a bane or a boon to the PCs. If they are forced to find it, it will be a brutal fight. If, on the other hand, they find it because they observed the cave and searched, it could allow them to attack the Imps unawares. This area is highly dynamic based on the PCs’ actions. In this case I’ve used the Emoji icons repeatedly to mark the outcomes of PC actions.

6. The Back Entrance

🔮 Well-hidden cave entrance on top of a cliff. Slippery, rime-coated stone. Sounds and smell of wolf before the Pcs can see it.

⏳ If the PCs have not raised the alarm, the Wolf is the only thing that is preventing them from entering this way stealthily. If any PC enters the area and is not sneaking silently or has fallen on the icy slope, then they have 2 rounds before the Wolf alerts the Ice Imps to the PCs presence. Killing or calming the wolf freezes the timer. Upsetting it restarts it.

💀 The floors here are steep and slippery. PCs must make a DC 12 Agility check to avoid slipping into the trap at Point B. If the PCs use rope, +1d. Additional climbing gear might add an additional +1d.

💀 The Ice Imps have set up a set of razor sharp chunks of flint in the ice at the bottom of the Icy slope. A PC that falls takes 1d6 falling damage, and must make a DC 13 Reflex save as they slide into Point B, or take an additional 2d6 damage from these spikes.

👹 Wolf (DCC RPG p.431)

🃏 The Wolf is on a long chain and cannot move more than 30’ from its starting positon. If the PCs feed, release it, it or otherwise charm or calm it, it can be released into Area 3 to cause mayhem.

🃏 If the PCs triggered the trap in Area 2, there will be 8 Ice Imps waiting behind piles of ice and junk (+2 AC against ranged attacks) just beyond Point B.

👹 Ice Imps x8 (see Area 1)

👿 Turning the Wolf on the Imps.

☄ Entering by the back entrance quietly 3XP

Defeating the 8 Ice Imps 3XP

Befriedning the Wolf +1 Luck

Step 4: Enrich Your Notes

Once you've filled put your form, you have enough to run a dungeon with just a little improv skill. However, this is pretty bare-bones. I will often enrich rooms by adding a few more categories of information. I paste these emoji in, followed with a few short notes to give information that is useful to running the adventure.

💥 Skill Roll: Note down a difficulty target and skill that a Specialist / Thief character is likely to roll here. And what happens if they fail the roll. For example:

💥 DC 12 Sneak Silently to creep up on guard. Fail: start alarm countdown.

🎭 I note any NPCs that are not likely to use special powers or fight using this icon. I provide a name, race, sex, most pressing motive, and a few words of description, and a habit. For example:

🎭 Niccolo, human merchant, male. Wants to ingratiate himself to the PCs to hire them as cheaply as possible. Overweight, Frog-mouthed, Covered in pouches. Always wears a fake smile and squints

💎 Treasure: Riches, magic items, and useful objects get noted here. For example:

💎 150gp worth of random trade goods, coin purse with 380gp, fine lantern done with stain glass (21gp), Wedding Band (50gp), loaded dice, identical regular dice, braid of hair in silver bands, rabbit's foot, The Jewel of Denial

📖 Background: Background on the adventure, hooks to get the character involved, or information they may find useful or valuable gets marked with this icon. Example:

📖 The desk contains the witch's journal, including notes on a lost shrine, and a riteto call upon something called "Goron, Lord of Doors."

🗨 Talking Point: If an NPC has something to say, I might note the topic or a slice of dialogue here. If it takes more than three lines, it is too long. Example:

🗨 Niccolo: "My friends, have I got an opportunity for you…" (offer hook.)

🔱 Adventure Hooks: I try to put a clue, a rumour, a treasure map, or a loose end in every adventure. Ideally several. I mark them here. Example:

🔱 The wall has a mural with a map of these lands when the Xonn Empire still stood. It shows forts and towns that are long forgotten… probably unexplored ruins today.

🦑 Silliness: I like to run a mildly gonzo style of adventure, and occasionally include something in a location just to give my characters a laugh. This is usually a detail discovered as they explore an area.

🦑 The room was clearly once a goblin lair, based on the graffiti, totems, and camp items. The carrion crawler is fat from its goblin diet, but even it won't touch the soup congealed in the cauldron.

Example: The Lair of the Ice Imps (Redux)

So, let's see the Ice Imp lair again with enriched notes:

The guard post is an opportunity for a thief character to use stealth to take down the sentry and give the party a distinct advantage. Making sure I know how to handle that mechanically ahead of time seemed important here.

1. The Guard Post

🔮 An icebound cave entrance on a rimey pebble beach. A sentinel is hidden in a lookout post on a ledge above packed with ice and snow.

⏳ The Ice Imp can put the cave on alert in three actions once it notices the PCs:

Observe the PCs in detail
Ready its horn
Play the alarm call

⏳ If the PCs trigger an alarm, then 1d3 Ice Imps arrive in 3 rounds.

👹 Ice Imp

💥 DC 13 to Sneak Silently up beach towards Imp unnoticed. Fail: Start the countdown.

💥 DC 12 to Climb up the rock to the Imp unnoticed. Fail: Imp attacks PC, trying to knock them off the wall (DC 10+damage reflex save), begin countdown.

👿 If the alarm is not raised, PCs have a much greater chance of getting through the trap at area 2.

☄ Slaying the sentry before he raises the alarm 2XP, +1 Luck

Slaying the sentry and the reinforcements 2XP

Giving the party a means of detecting the trap ahead of time is important. A Tunnel with an icy ceiling, with no guards should seem suspect enough to make that a skill check. I also decided to add a snarky item to the junk in this area.

2. The Icy Tunnel

🔮 Tall ceiling. Glitters with ice. Snow packs everywhere. Piles of stolen junk.

💥 Dwarves use underground skills automatically for a chance to detect trap.

💥DC 11 Find Traps if characters actively search to find trap. Fail: PC blunders into trap area while looking, bringing helpers with them.

👹 Ice imp (see Area 1)

💀 The Ice Imps have set up the hall to collapse in an Ice Quake. If the alarm has been raised, the Imps will arm the tap, and post a sentry to trigger it if the PCs don’t. Once triggered, Anyone in the highlighted area of the map makes a DC 13 Ref save. Fail: 5d6 damage and buried alive. Success: half damage.

🃏 Once the PCs trigger off the trap, this area will be impassable, they will have to find the hidden back entrance (Area 6).

🦑 junk includes a manuscript on avalanche survival.

👿 Getting past this trap greatly eases the PCs adventure, leaving the Imps unready and distracted.

☄ Avoiding the trap and killing the Ice Imp: 2 XP, +1 Luck

In my original notes, Geb Hardbottle was underdeveloped as a character. Here we have a better picture of who he is and what he does. And I make sure that if the PCs get him out alive he will have more jobs for them. I also imagined this as a room piled high with trash heaps, so noting that random stuff is everywhere seemed valuable. I also made sure to list some useful junk and a colourful “treasure hoard” for PCs who search.

3. The Communal Cave

⏳ If the Alarm was not raised: if PCs act in here without Sneaking Silently or otherwise hiding, The PCs have 2d3 rounds before they are spotted and the Ice imps begin attacking from all over.

⏳ If the wolf was tamed and released: it automatically kills an imp every 1d3 rounds, and then runs off when all imps in the room are dead.

👹 Ice Imps x12 (If alarm was not raised) or Ice Imps x4 (if alarm was raised)

🎭 Geb Hardbottle: Halfling Shaman Male; Wants to stop the Ice Imps from murdering his people. Scarred, shaggy, brightly painted bones in braided hair, smokes constantly. (In cage at Point F)

Geb is a halfling captive of the Imps. A shaman, Geb can Lay on Hands with a +3 bonus once he is freed, but thanks to his deity’s displeasure, cannot cast any other spells.

🗨 Geb "They keep a huge horror in the lower caves… Stay away from the tunnel marked with the mask!"

🗨 Geb: "I saw these vermin drag a Big girl off a few hours ago to the shrine. The tunnel with the skulls. They've been chanting on and off since. I hope you're not too late!"

🔱 This is an outpost of a tribe warring with Ben's clan… they are hiring.

🦑 use the 200 random items table for Imp slingshot ammo.

🦑 one Imp keeps a shrine of old erotic manuscripts in his bunk.

💎3 sets of skis, 6 hooded lanterns, 47 flasks of oil, 10 foot poles x2, walrus tusks (7gp) x5, stash of hallucinogens (25gp), battered spellbook containing 3 legible random spells,battle axe, barrels of mead (15gp) x3

☄ Breaking Imp Morale or clearing the room of Imps 3 XP

“The Sacrifice” is a vague and uninteresting PC. But creating Laney the seamstress, a possible henchwoman, was far more engaging. I also tossed in a magic ring and a treasure to make this boss battle feel rewarding. Knowing how hard it would be for the rogue to sneak up and slit the Warlock’s throat seemed likely to be useful to know ahead of time.

4. The Ice Imp Shrine

🔮 Description

⏳ When the PCs arrive, the Ice Imp Warlock is in full swing of a ritual that he cannot stop just yet. He has a human victim, Laney, for sacrifice bound on the Altar, and now that he is rushed, will hurry to the part where he kills her in 1d4+1 rounds if the rite is not disrupted.

💥 Sneak Silently DC 10 to creep up on ritual.

👹 Ice Imp Warlock, Ice Imps x3

His Grimoire is a painted skull that whispers his magic to those willing to listen.

🎭 Laney, human female seamstress. Wants to get out of here alive! Big green eyes, Huge forehead, scrawny, laughs hysterically if someone refers to her as a virgin sacrifice.

🃏 Laney is recruitable as a henchman: high Agi and Per, low Str and Int. Levels into a thief after w adventure.

💎 Warlock has, but does not wear the Ring of Gelatinous Form (GFA 2016), wears string of carved onyx skulls (100gp)

👿 Destroying his ritual devices causes an automatic generic spell mishap as if the Warlock was the caster (DCC RPG p.120)

☄ Save Laney +1 Luck

Defeat the Warlock 3XP

There is not much point to overdoing it with a “Bigger Fish” dungeon room. Characters may well not survive to loot it. But, I tossed a small collection of goodies from previous fallen heroes into the pit, just in case.

5. Fane of the Ape-God

🔮 Black frozen bloody heaps. Ornaments of bone embedded in walls. Piles of Offerings in dented metal vessels. Heavy, pounding footsteps.

⏳ This Ape Man is prone to berserk rages. Every round make a Luck Check against the party member with the Highest Luck. If it is a fail, the Ape Man goes into a rage, gaining an additional +4 to attack and damage rolls.

👹 Four-Armed Ape Man (DCC RPG p.395)

💀 Slippery Floors: A PC who tries to charge or run in this area must make a DC 8 Agility check or fall prone.

🃏 Snowy Camouflage: The Ape Man is painted white over much of his body, and has several snowy hiding places. The PCs will be surprised on the first round unless they detect the Ape Man with magic.

👿 The Cages in Area 3 can be dropped on the Ape Man if he can be lured under them for 5d6 damage, if the PC can either shoot the release or someone is above to operate them.

💎 among the bodies: 3 wedding rings (50gp ea.), morning star, shield, crossbow, 3 bolts, 39cp, 309sp, 12gp, gold chain (75gp)

☄ Slay the Ape Man (?!) 4 XP

Knowing mechanically how the players can handle the wolf seems worthwhile, as I wanted to make taming it rewarding. I also tossed in a Gygaxian reference, because I like to.

6. The Back Entrance

🔮 Well-hidden cave entrance on top of a cliff. Slippery, rime-coated stone. Sounds and smell of wolf before the Pcs can see it.

💥DC 13 skil check with an animal training related occupation (hunter, poacher, gameskeeper, outrider) to calm dog without offering food. Fail: Too close, too quickly; the wolf gets a free attack and cannot be tamed.

💥A Turn Unholy check by a Neutral cleric that affects 2HD makes the wolf submit to the Cleric.

👹 Wolf (DCC RPG p.431)

🃏 If the PCs triggered the trap in Area 2, there will be 8 Ice Imps waiting behind piles of ice and junk (+2 AC against ranged attacks) just beyond Point B.

👹 Ice Imps x8 (see Area 1)

🦑 Wolf wears a tag reading "Splott".

👿 Turning the Wolf on the Imps.

☄ Entering by the back entrance quietly 3XP

Defeating the 8 Ice Imps 3XP

Befriedning the Wolf +1 Luck

All told, this dungeon took me a little over two hours to create - and some of that time was because I was annotating it for the example.

Using a checklist-like form system doesn’t seem very exciting, but I have found that asking yourself “How do I fill in this spot?” leads to a surprising amount of innovation as you think it through. And having a shorthand language to make noting things down easier speeds up the writing process significantly. I often use this tool while waiting to pick my children up from school. I often can have a dungeon ready for the family in the evening, if I grab a few minutes here and there over the day.

Was this helpful? Have questions or comments? Drop me a line, I would love to hear from you.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. By Brian C. Rideout

Welcome to the Deathtrap

Monday, April 13, 2020

Accelerated Adventure Planning (Using Emoji)

No comments:

Post a Comment