Area 1. Entrance Chamber (30 ft. square)
Stone steps lead down from the ruins above to this chamber. An iron door, scratched and dented, stands in the middle of the opposite wall. The floor is likewise scratched and scored, and dried blood covers a lot of it. In the corners of the room, broken crossbow bolts and bits of metal rust away.
The gnomes and goblins who are the main inhabitants of this level (gnomes to the west, goblins to the east) often fight in this chamber. Examination of the bolts by a skilled artificer determines that they are of both goblin and gnomish manufacture; a less-skilled eye can tell that some are more crudely made than the others.
Two sets of bloody footprints lead out – one set heading east, the other west. The footprints heading east are unshod and of a small size. A skilled tracker who succeeds at a DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check can determine they are goblin footprints. The set heading west are shod – metal-studded leather – and a similar success determines they are gnome footprints.
The furnishings of this area have long been lost.
The northern door is unlocked, but stuck. (A DC 15 Strength check is required to open it; can be retried).
Design Notes:
I fully expect to abandon this task somewhere through it, like on Day 2, but Sean McCoy’s idea of getting into the habit of doing a little design every day is a very good one. So, here’s my entry for January 1st, 2023.
What we have here is the beginning of a dungeon for low-level characters. Eagle-eyed readers may notice that the initial dungeon layout is one from the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide. I am dreadful at mapping, so generating a random map amuses me greatly. I’m using Hexographer to draw it – it’ll give me a little more experience with that program, which I’ve found awesome for overland maps.
Something I’m trying to do is give a better indication to players of what they might expect when they choose to go in a particular direction. The underlying conflict on this level is between tribes of gnomes and goblins, so just in the opening chamber, attentive players can determine that both goblins and gnomes are present, and they’ve been fighting here.
What’s a “skilled tracker”? In previous editions, it meant a ranger. In 5E, it probably means someone trained in Survival who succeeds at the requisite skill check. DC 15 might be a bit too high when I add in the “must be trained in Survival” proviso. I am a firm believer in rewarding people who actually train in skills rather than just relying on good stats and rolls. Perhaps DC 10 or 12 would be better; it is something I’d adjust based on actual play.
Some DMs pay a lot of attention to the past of their dungeons. I’m terrible at that. I have a vague idea of this once being a shadow elf research outpost during the days of the Fey-Vecna war. What’s the Fey-Vecna war? Haven’t you heard of it? Well, just shows you haven’t got ranks in History!
More seriously, my campaigns take place in the World of Greyhawk. In the area I’m currently concentrating on (western Veluna and south of there) once the great arch-lich Vecna ruled an empire until he was overthrown. I like throwing elements of that old conflict to provide flavour to some of the ruins and items the players find. This is going to be one of those places, and when I get more into describing architecture and old artefacts, I’ll draw upon it for inspiration.
What’s a “skilled artificer”? I have no idea. Is there any way in 5E that you can have training as a weaponsmith? Possibly as a background. (Yes, of course you could also be an Artificer). Mostly, I enjoy 5E not pinning everything down and requiring game mechanics for something to exist. On occasion, it’s a bother, because I wanted to know something about a character that is no longer on the character sheet.
The nature of how I’m approaching this design likely means things will end up being very chaotic. If I were preparing it for publication, it’d need a lot of editing and shifting things around. As it stands, it probably won’t end up making sense.
But we’ll see. Let’s have fun!