Dungeon Bash turned on its head

Ah, its feels good to be back in the P&P driving seat after a couple of random posts about MMOs.

So without further ado...

Dungeons.

You gotta love 'em.  

Though, that said, the tired old dungeon bash (or Dungeon Crawl as they are oft called) has really had its day for anything but the most rudimentary of games run for the most novice of players.  And even then I'd say you could do something more interesting with it.

Award-winning P&P game designer John Wick, whom I have referenced numerous times in prior posts, has a pretty interesting concept with his Dirty Dungeon.  Which he describes here on You Tube.

As with most of Wicky's ideas, they certainly give you food for thought, but I tend not to take them up wholesale, rather pick bits out of them, mush them up a little and turn them into something else.  Which is precisely what I intend to do with his Dirty Dungeon concept - and make it more of a collaboration rather than something almost purely player prescribed, which whilst an interesting idea - goes a little too against the grain of roleplaying for my delicate palate.  What I'd like to see players do, is actually roleplay the gathering of the information.  And so you as the GM come to the table with a rough background for why the dungeon is there.  And a modular design for the architecture, and as the players do their research in libraries, talking to old adventurers, and generally listening to rumour and gossip about the place, you think on your feet and use their discussion and the ideas that emerge to build your dungeon on the fly.

Anyway, that's not what I came here to talk about.  That's all intro.

The following idea is something I developed a few years ago, inspired by the Bulldog Productions game Dungeon Keeper. I started it once with a group of players but never got to finish it due to the encroachment of RL into the fantasy world I prefer to inhabit.  It might be interesting now to redevelop it in conjunction with the Dirty Dungeon idea above.

The idea is fairly straightforward but ultimately turns the classic notion of the Dungeon Bash on its head.

In a distant region of the world, a little off the beaten track, a town has been periodically besieged by the denizens of a nearby dungeon.  And periodically the town strikes back by sending off the odd group of heroes and adventurers to seal the dungeon, and its fate, once and for all.  Obviously this hasn't worked, and none of them have ever been seen or heard of again.

The PCs are hired by notables in the town, or the local Venturers' Guild, or just because they want to make a name for themselves.  Whatever reason, some townsfolk tell them about the dungeon, and they stride off (after researching the legends and making suitable preparations one hopes) to go bash it.

But this is an 'evilpilch' game, and they don't call me that for nothing.

The dungeon is in fact the lair of an ancient and potent Lich, far more powerful than the combined forces of the party.  And this is important.  Because at some stage (not prescribed, we allow the players to penetrate the dungeon to a degree) but one by one, they come a cropper and fall foul of the dungeon's traps and undead denizens.  

But this is not the end of the game.  Far from it.  The players, after their demise are reawakened en masse, on a series of cold dark slabs of stone, much like sarcophagi.  And on a shelf before them they see what they suspect are their own hearts in dangling from a chain within glass jars.  A corresponding crudely stitched wound down their breastbones.  They have been reanimated as Wights.  Undead that retain the memories of their former lives, and their skills, but are at the behest of their reanimator.

On so begins the game proper.  With the Lich tasking the players to defend its lair against intruders.

The Lich also has a series of special tasks for them, kidnapping virgins from the town.  Bringing in children to sacrifice at the Lich's altar.  All manner of gruesome and unsavoury assignments.  There may even be a way for the players to turn against their master, or otherwise indirectly orchestrate the Lich's demise so they are freed from bondage.

But in short, this is how a regular dungeon bash can be turned on its head.

Architecture Scrolls & The Oneironautic Pendant

Okay, so I really should start with an explanation of how I handle magic in my P&P games.  But I'm not going to.  That's for another post in its own right.  But just so as you know, it isn't your standard fare.

Two magic items that I have featured in numerous games, but which have never been used (much to my frustration) by any of my players are Architecture Scrolls, and The Oneironautic Pendant.

Architecture Scrolls are a very basic idea, but with a potentially very interesting application.  Basically, Architecture Scrolls allow the user to create passageways, rooms, chambers, traps, stairways, essentially all the features of dungeons (and some special features too, like subterranean forests and the like). This provides players with the opportunity to effectively magically and pretty much instantly create their own dungeon environment (a la Dungeon Keeper classic video game, which I belief inspired me, though its hard to recall precisely that far back.  But there is some bleed over the other way, video to P&P, credit where credit's due).

My original intention was to enable players to create their own subterranean lair, and provide for a kind of reversal of fortunes, having NPCs try to invade their dungeon, rather than the other way around.  When I get around to posting more of my P&P ideas, you'll notice I have a predeliction for turning standard concepts on their heads, because in my experience, such simple notions can indeed create the framework for some great situations and some highly enjoyable games.

But as I thought more upon these scrolls I realised also that a canny player might use them to break into an existing dungeon and circumnavigate certain elements or features.

So you can imagine my disappointment that, despite having included these items in at least half a dozen of my games over the last decade, not one player or party has yet to make use of them.  Partly my fault I suppose for not setting the right conditions.  But partly theirs for being pack rats and hanging on to every single one-shot item in case they can find a more appropriate use for it at some undisclosed event in the future.

The next item is far more subtle, and also dates back about a decade or more.  I considered a pendant (it has always appeared as pendant in my games, though its form is largely irrelevant).  I considered a pendant bestowed upon its wearer the ability to appear as a character in a target's dream.  The limitations on what a target was (had to be known to the wearer, or had to been previously touched, blah, whatever) varied from game to game, but the essentials remained the same.  Many of my magic items develop in power, so what players believe they do in the firstplace, may not, and generally isn't, the full extent of their power.

Oneironaut, by the way, comes from the Greek, and means Dream Voyager, so quite fitting, though to imbed the item firmly in the mileau of my gameworld (I've been developing the same one since I was about 17) I tend not to call in that in the actual game, but make up a name from a fantasy language that translated means roughly the same.

So this pendant to begin with bestows the power to enter another's dream.  This in itself is an interesting concept I think.  And could be used in all sorts of ways:  i.e. to give someone nightmares, to prior influence someone's reaction to you, either favourably or otherwise.  To appear as an omen to someone, only to rock up in the flesh a day or week or month later.  All sorts of cool shit.

But as the Oneironaut uses the item more and more, they begin to realise that they can control and modify more and more aspects of another's dream, until they become dream architects, constructing the entire dream reality for the target.

What I like about this concept is that it temporarily turns the table on the usual player-GM dynamic.  Enabling players the chance to, for a facet of the game at least, create a situation - and have me as the GM, playing an NPC (that's Non Player Character for you non P&Pers... though why the hell you would have read this far if you need NPC explaining is beyond me) forced to react to that situation, essentially turning the dynamic on its head.  Trend as previously mentioned.

This concept has always enthralled me.  But again, I'll be buggered if any player has ever done anything with it!

Anyway, posts to come, just to whet (as in sharpen) your appetites:  How I handle magic, and a brief history of magic in my games.

pilch out (and off to bed, after I've had a slug of celebratory calvados).  Yeehar!