From Kuroth's Quill -
grodog's AD&D blog

"From Kuroth’s Quill" is grodog's regular design column covering the elements of adventure design (and more-specifically dungeon design, given my interest in that topic). I will also wander through the design of spells and magic items; monsters, traps, tricks, and treasures; PC and NPC classes; planes and pantheons; and likely other topics as well. In the blog, I hope to provide practical examples that will be useful in campaign play, to show theory in action.

Showing posts with label novice. Show all posts

15 October 2018

Kellri's 18 Module Challenge - Day 14: Starstone by Paul Vernon Lydiate

Day 14 - A Module I Would Run for First-Time Players: Starstone by Paul Vernon Lydiate

Starstone by Paul vernon Lydiate (Northern Sages, 1982)

My first-impressions/gut-reactions in response to today's topic are that I would prefer to run "Castle Greyhawk" or the DMG Monastery dungeon for first-timer players, but since I've already covered the latter, and ruled out the former, I've dug around for some high-quality alternates, and Starstone landed on top.

Paul Vernon's Starstone was published by Northern Sages out of the UK in 1982. If you're not already familiar with Starstone, Matthew Pook's retrospective review can get you up-to-speed. Vernon also wrote several good articles in both White Dwarf---"Designing a Quasi-Medieval Society" (2 parts) and "Town Planner" (3 parts)---and Dragon Magazine---"First, Spread the Faith" and "Travel Works Both Ways"---that are worth looking up.

Disclaimer: I haven't played or run Starstone, so read my thoughts with a healthy critical eye. Using Starstone, I'd like to build a small, local-focus campaign where Starstone's NPCs can shine, and where the players and their PCs know the names of the random citizen they're salvation for, and why they're worth saving.

Why I Like Starstone

Starstone is a well-designed sandbox campaign setting that Vernon brings alive through:

The County of Starstone's Northern Region, a small and localized wilderness environment spanning 10 miles N-S by 11 miles E-W (in 1/2 mile hexes), containing a fair number of homesteads, monster lairs, and other features of note
Nine small settlements; for the larger ones, Vernon employs a series of tables similar to those in Midkemia Press' Cities supplement, but without as much detail

Branstead, a deserted hamlet
Cragley, a hamlet (37)
Dolgold Village and Castle, with nearby dwarven mines
Ganby, village (128)
Longbottom Down, village
Sardkirk, a gnomish village
Spoylesham, a hamlet (87)
Starston Bridge
Verbury, village (206)

Two dungeons:

The Broch Caverns, a three-level dungeon with 133 keyed encounters, inhabited by ~500 goblins and their allies
Dolgar's Hold, a two-level dungeon with 45 keyed encounters, inhabited by trollings and morlocks

A broad tapestry of inter-related NPCs who are all-too-human in their ambitions, petty squabbles, and other relationships: this is where Starstone really shines (and could, in fact, use a matrix of NPCs that would help make the interconnections more manageable)

Ristenby Town (population 2000) is the unpublished sequel to Startone, and details the small fishing port town. Embertrees was lightly detailed in White Dwarf #34 (October 1982), along with a small temple dungeon (33 encounter areas).

Three Runners Up

I've also already written about L1 on Day 6, or it would appear in the list below, too:

B4 The Lost City (TSR, 1982) by Tom Moldvay - Another adventure around which you can build an entire campaign
Gary Gygax's B2 Keep on the Borderlands (TSR 1980) and T1 Village of Hommlet (TSR, 1978) are the classic entry points for new players for a reason: they rock, and you can do far-worse than to begin a campaign with them
"The Tower of Zenopus" by John Eric Holmes in the Holmes Basic book (TSR, 1977); see Zach Howard's fabulous Zenopus Archives blog and web site for more research on Holmes' dungeon!

My other posts in Kellri's 18 Day Module Challenge:

04 October 2018

Kellri's 18 Module Challenge - Day 6: DMG Monastery Dungeon by Gary Gygax

Day 6 - A Module You Can Play with Children: DMG Monastery Dungeon by Gary Gygax

The Monastery Dungeon, 1979

Why I Love the Monastery Dungeon

It's iconic design not only represents the one and only map in the Dungeon Masters Guide, but it is also central to the Example of Play
Like all good dungeon designs, the monastery map is extensible, and built-in hooks help to coach a fledgling Dungeon Master how to further refine its contents:
- hints about additional monsters types from the Wandering Monster table: goblins in 7-8, bandits in 4-5, fire beetles in 12-13, ghouls from 24, evil cleric and hobgoblins from 35-37, skeletons from 27
- references from early keys to further ones yet-to-be-designed: the map's description in 2 mentions the secret door 28, the treasury at 29, and the caverns below this level; a secret entrance/exit is also mentioned in passing on page 96, in the description of the DMG's "three" maps (the other two sadly non-existent), and while not identified specifically, the stairs at 39 are suggestive of such a portal
Despite being a pretty small dungeon (although it's still bigger than some levels of Rappan Athuk...), the map design offers a variety of challenges and tactical options for players (and monsters!) to leverage in play, including looping corridors, several secret and concealed doors, and a number of potentially-deadly dead-ends.

If you're looking for some additional inspiration, you should check out Timrod's excellent and intertwined blog pieces on the relationships between the DMG Monastery Dungeon, T1's Moathouse dungeon level, and the wilderness environs of B2 Keep on the Borderlands. Jonathan Tweet also wrote the ready-made "Dungeon of the Fire Opal" adventure for this dungeon map in Dungeon Magazine #84 (Jan/Feb 2001; you will, however, need to convert it from 3.0 back to AD&D....).

I have in fact followed-up on the suggestions to expand the monastery dungeon with my own second level caverns map, as well as modifications and expansion to the first level map, and the keying of both. More will follow on that front, later!

Three Runners Up

There are many good candidates here to choose from, but I've focused on rookie/neophyte players as my target audience for the child players for today's challenge. Gygax's B2 Keep on the Borderlands and T1 Village of Hommlet are fan-favorite campaign starters for a reason, but they're also not good modules for novice players, since both require levels of both strategic and tactical acumen lacking in most children.

I'm limiting myself to three, otherwise I'll just end up recreating my favorites list each day:

B1 In Search of the Unknown by Mike Carr (TSR, 1978): more forgiving that B2 or T1, the first level's design in particular does an excellent job of teaching new players how to play the game
L1 The Secret of Bone Hill by Lenard Lakofka (TSR, 1981): an excellent bridging scenario that teaches new players the ropes of the first wilderness explorations (B10 Night's Dark Terror also does this well), and also details the Bone Hill ruined castle and dungeon, the town and inhabitants of Restenford, and outlying locations in the surrounding wilds
"Trouble at Grog's" by Grant and David Boucher (TSR, March/April 1987 in Dungeon Magazine #4): a good introductory scenario for players with a more dramatic bent, perhaps: the PCs must solve the mystery of who's framing the local half-ogre tavern owner for a local crime spree