It's done!

It's done! Posting from a public library in the Adirondacks, here's the Red Lotus Caves of the Blind Minotaur, a One-Page dungeon (potentially?) suitable for 5-7th level characters! This is the first dungeon that I've ever made, in ANY game system, so I don't have a whole lot of experience with it, but I hope that my enthusiasm made up for it.

Enjoy!

Words of Wisdom

Enough about which edition is better. Enough about what's what. Let's just fucking game.

That said...

Background: The Red Lotus Caves of the Blind Minotaur are the illusory prison built to hold Korthos, exiled prince of the Minotaur Hills. Once a promising noble, Korthos was slowly driven into madness by secret application of the hallucinogenic red lotus by a sorcerous rival and led to the cave by invisible voices. Though continued exposure to the lotus has rendered him unable to navigate the labyrinth of the caves, his rival has nevertheless constructed a prison designed to keep Korthos docile while disposing of any explorers or adventurers that may stumble upon the site. As far as the surrounding towns or cities know, the Lotus Caves are inhabited by a vicious troll who kills anyone who dares venture to the cave.

Room 1: Cave Entrance - The entrance to the Lotus Caves is guarded by a vicious, great-axe wielding troll who delights in his work. This stalactite-filled antechamber is as far as any previous adventurers have reached. Among the mutilated corpses of the fallen, you can find 65 gold pieces and a set of +1 chainmail, alongside shattered weapons and rended armor.

Map done!

And here it is: The Lotus Caves of the Blind Minotaur, the first dungeon that I have ever mapped out. 12 rooms, with nearly half of them separated or disguised by illusory magic.

I hope this blows your socks off, Ben Laurence.

A strange revelation

I've been working on this weird dungeon/prison/asylum for Zak S's Secret Arneson Gift Exchange and it's much harder than I thought. I have the ideas for some encounters and rooms pieced together, but every time I get the graph paper in front of me, I suddenly freeze up and have no idea what the hell to do.

It took me until today to realize this, but I have never created a dungeon before.

The first RPG that I bought was Shadowrun 2nd edition. I know, I know, probably not the best game for a completely new player. Hell, I don't think I ever played it right. I just looked at the pretty pictures, read the fluff (which I became enamored of) and tried my best to figure out how much a 6L pistol shot really did. I'm not sure I ever figured it out. The first version of D&D that I ever ran/played was 3.5, which involved a group of pardoned prisoners fighting against a necromantic plague controlled by evil wizards; a sort of sword and sorcery Suicide Squad. In all the games I've played since then (which have been relatively few, compared to how many books and Mead notebooks I own, but more on that later) dungeons have never really been a priority.

I am super thankful for ChicagoWiz's One Page Dungeon template, precisely because it's giving me some constraints on how I want to build this sucker. Albeit, I may exceed some of these guidelines, with flavor text and similar wankery, but it feels good to have a goal. Now I just need to figure out how many rooms are a good amount and how to tie the concept of a dungeon meant to keep something in, rather than keep adventurers out together.

Some thoughts I had while riding the Greyhound from New Jersey

- The aforementioned 'blind minotaur' is Karthos, exiled prince of the Minotaur Hills, driven into madness by secret application of the hallucinogenic red lotus by a sorcerous rival and led to the cave by invisible voices. He has not left the caves in almost five years and in that time has grown more and more addicted to the lotus, losing his ability to navigate the illusory maze of the cave. His only companions are three goats and a single black raven, whom he converses with as if they were equals. In truth, all three are transformed imps in the service of his rival, who speak to him in order to further his madness. If confronted by the PCs, Karthos will engage with them bemusedly, having not seen anyone outside of his own hallucinations for some time. If there is any chance that the PCs could convince Karthos to leave the cave, the imps will revert into their natural form and attack. This causes Karthos to fly into a rage and attack anything within range, preferring the imps to PCs.

- The Red Lotus Caves are not only disorienting and hostile, but many sections of the walls are not as they appear to be. Many sections, including the entrance and exit of the caves, have been disguised with illusory cave walls designed to prevent Karthos from ever accidentally leaving the cave.

-This room contains several green luminescent pools, each containing a kelpie that will attempt to entice anyone who gazes too deeply into the depths.