Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Thayne
So thoughts? When running games with a large hack and slash component, do you prefer dungeons, wilderness adventures, or something else?
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My view a dungeon is a setting that happens to be maze with rooms. As such the blame as to whether it makes sense or not rest solely on the author or referee.
The virtue is that is one easiest form of adventures to describe and teach. Draw a maze, populate it with monsters, treasure, and traps. Leave some of the rooms empty. A downside is that it doesn't correspond to much in reality or fiction (at least prior to 1980).
In general the adventures I create have context, even if it starts as a maze with rooms, it matters when and where it located. I may not go much detail about the history but it shapes how I describe the locale.
A few are clear cut enough that I can take my note and turn them into something that shareable or publishable.
Night's Bride Coven
A three level dungeon built into a side of a cliff that is a lair of a coven of warlocks (evil wizards in my setting). They have lived hundreds of years by using the Magic Jar spell to transfer their souls from young body to young body.
While deep in a forest inhabited by orcs, the last round of kidnappings was executed sloppily leaving a trail for PCs retained by the local nobles to follow. They arrive just as the wizards are having a gathering with the leaders of the local orc tribe to reaffirm their alliance.
The Elf Lord's Temple
The Raw version:
http://www.batintheattic.com/downloa...s%20Temple.pdf
The aforementioned orc inhabited forest was once an Elven kingdom before being wrecked by a Dragon and his forces. Various ruins remained including a temple to the god Silvanus the lord of trees and dream and patron of the elves.
It was built on top of ancient tomb left from the Dawn Wars that was the earthly prison of a Demon Lord captured during the war. Since the destruction of the kingdom, the abandoned complex has been infested by various creatures including undead. Plus various section have now interconnecting passages that didn't exist before.
Recently evil cultists became aware of the temple and are working to desecrate it when the PCs arrive. They are accompanied by their orc allies.
Notes
These are my personal notes and doesn't explain much. For example on the second level #7 the Maze there is a Minotaur. Well the Minotaur was one of the Demon's Lords lieutenants and when the tomb was built, the creature was cursed to live forever as a guardian. Always hungry but never dying.
If I ever write this up more fully, I will explain details like so that the place feels like it could exist if it is fantasy world.