Catalog of Clockwork Creations: Dwarven Tomb Guardian

Like James M, I have returned from the beach bearing gifts! Most of these bits I've been working on will be put up tomorrow, as driving 9 hours with a vicious sunburn on your back does little to encourage anything but unconsciousness, but here's a little taste before bedtime.

Dwarven Tomb Guardian

As a culture, dwarves have an unhealthy obsession with death. Not the concept, mind you, but the preparation. When a dwarf dies, the funeral preparation can take anywhere from a month to several years, depending on age, importance, success and piety. The greatest dwarves of a generation are entombed in massive mausoleums that resemble castles more than coffins, a symbol of their accomplishments and a guarantee of that consuming dwarven desire: to be remembered.

Usually, these tombs contain a fair share of the inhabitant's accumulated wealth and possessions. To ensure that they remain in their master's house, dwarven mausoleums are often booby-trapped in ingenious ways: swinging hammers, collapsing floors and the like. For those who hold particular reverence to dwarven culture, a magical guardian is carved of the same stone and iron from which the tomb was made. At the center of each newly created tomb guardian is a piece of its master, usually a fingerbone or tooth, but on some ocassions, an entire hand or skull could be embedded into the guardian. This relic attunes the golem-like creature to its duty; the larger the piece, the more stoic and cunning the construct becomes.

Dwarven tomb guardian: HD 6; AC 1 [18]; Atk 1 Fist (1d12); Move 6; Save 11; CL/XP 7/600; Special: Immune to non-magical weapons

Catalog of Clockwork Creations: The Arbalester

Arbalester

The arbalester is a magically animated siege weapon, designed to attack, reload and maneuver all without the aid of human operators. Originally conceived by Dwarven siege-priests and enchanted through ritual construction, arbalesters were used as mobile artillery in mass combat as well as ever-vigilant guardians for important locations and perimeters. Like all good ideas, it soon had its imitators, mainly from the alchemists of Shrapnel. Their boiler-driven facsimiles were never as sturdy or reliable as their magically-constructed counterparts, but made up for that seeming lack of durability with a faster firing mechanism and the tendency to explode when jostled.

Dwarven arbalester: HD 5; AC 5 [14]; Atk 1 ballista bolt (1d10); Move 9; Save 12; CL/XP 5/240; Special: immune to Sleep, Charm, Hold and non-magical piercing weapons
Shrapnel arbalester: HD 4; AC 6 [13]; Atk 2 crossbow bolts (1d6+1); Move 9; Save 13; CL/XP 5/240; Special: immune to Sleep, Charm, Hold and non-magical piercing weapons, explodes when destroyed (1d8 damage, 15 ft. radius, save takes half)

Inspired by the Arbalester from Monster Manual 2. Picture by Wayne England.

Library D&D Update!

Just finished our last Teen program today at the library and I have 5 kids potentially interested in the Dungeons and Dragons game for next semester! Looks like it's probably going to be run Wednesday afternoons. I am super pumped for this whole thing!

The question is now: how do I start? I've been thinking about what kind of adventure will represent (?) what a typical session of D&D is. My idea is that the PCs are a group of treasure hunters and adventurers who are currently employed by Morgrave University,the artifact-focused magical university of dubious quality in the Eberron campaign. With a framework like that, I can get them involved in everything from wilderness survival to political intrigue, all connected back to looted antiquities or the discovery of long-buried magic and mystery.

Regardless, I can't wait!

My return to civilization, scenery included

Back to sweet home Pittsburgh after a week in the Adirondacks on vacation with my family, armed with a handful of Discworld books, a bunch of New York Times crosswords and the 1st and 4th edition Dungeon Master's Guides and Monster Manuals.

It'd been about 6 years since I last read any Terry Pratchett, but the City Watch books that I brought sparked a series of wonderful ideas in my head about a potential B/X-type D&D campaign, which percolated alongside Jeff Rients' Cinder campaign and the fantastic Sharn: City of Towers for Eberron and fired out something kind of remarkable. I have no idea what it's going to be called, but I really like where it's going. Tidbits include:

• Playable goblin, ogre and potentially doppleganger races.
• Losing halflings, gnomes (maybe) and orcs
  
• My first entries in a Rientsian Deck of Stuff, including a Dwarven Battle Stein.
• Shrapnel, where the guilds think they rule the city, the rich think they own the guilds and everybody else knows better.
• The City of the Cathedral, a walled city built around a massive cyclopean cathedral whose ancient origins remain unknown, even to its many occupants.
• A Catalog of Clockwork Creations, showcasing everything from alchemically-powered goblin robots to dwarven tomb guardians with intricately carved metal beards.

Once again, more to come...

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.