Looking
through my book the other day it hit me that I had seen almost every section of
this book rewritten in some manner or another. Except this section of the book.
Of course it could just be that I’ve missed something, which is quite likely,
but I thought it would be fun and interesting to try and turn the Dungeon
Generator in the Moldvay book into an Adventure Generator. One that could be
used to spawn short little adventures that do not necessarily take place in a
dungeon, but could have a short dungeon crawl component to them. I decided to
incorporate the Wandering Monster tables into as well in order to generate some
protagonists in addition to the Scenario and Settings table already provided.
The only addition I have made at this point was to expand the Settings table to
include two additional results. 7 – Wilderness, 8 – Island. I suppose that both
tables could be extensively reworked, and I may do so in the future. For now I
will stick to what I have as it seems to produce quick low level adventures
fairly well.
Main Protagonist: Roll on the Level
3 Wandering Monster chart (B54). This is the main villain of our little story.
The confrontation with this “monster” is not optional and destroying them or
their plans is the finale of the story.
Scenario Table: (B51) roll a d10.
Setting Table: (B51) roll a d6,
or a d8 with the changes above. This is where your PC’s will find the main
protagonist.
Secondary Actors: Roll twice on
Wandering Monster Level 1 table (B53), and then roll once on the Wandering Monster
Level 2 table. One of these creatures may be an ally to the PC’s. They should
all figure into the story in some manner. Maybe they caused the trouble, were
pushed out of their territory by the main protagonist, or maybe they work for
him. Each should play a role in the adventure whether friend or foe, but they
may not always be necessary to complete the adventure, and may only be a
diversion. One set of creatures may also use the in lair numbers, instead of just the number from the wandering
monster tables.
If
you get a roll for a creature that just doesn’t seem to fit the story, ask
yourself, would a trap work better? If
so use a trap. If not reroll or just pick what you think works best.
Personally, I try to work whatever I get into the story, but sometimes you gotta
cut something loose if it just doesn’t work.
Strangeness: Add something
unique to you adventure to help make it memorable.
The
work here is tying it all together in a way that makes sense, or best makes
sense to you.
Adventure
1
Main Protagonist: Mediums (4) (3, 1st
level MU and 1, 3rd level MU)
Scenario: Using a magic portal
Setting: Ancient temple
Secondary Actors: Goblins (6),
Traders (4), Neanderthals (1 warrior, 24 tribespeople)
Strangeness: Magic Portal, tentacled
beast from a far realm.
The
mediums and their leader are looking for the sacrifices they need to perform a
summoning ritual. They hired the task out to a local trader who secretly works
with a band of goblins that kidnap people that he then sells into slavery in
the land to the south. The trader and his goblins had a hard time finding the
required number of people for the mediums. This was largely due to the fact
that the goblins went a little crazy raiding a local thorp and killed most of
the peasants. So they ended up running across a tribe of Neanderthals and decided,
they were close enough. Three Neanderthal warriors gave pursuit to the slavers
and ended up getting, killed, captured, or fleeing into the woods. The
remaining Neanderthal is still shadowing the slavers waiting for an opportunity
to free his friends.
The
mediums were not so happy with the sacrificial victims, apparently they decided
that “close” wouldn’t do and so they charmed the goblins and captured the
trader and his human companions and plan to sacrifice them instead.
The
PC’s should stumble upon the burned thorp, the dead and remaining villagers and
get involved in this way, tracking the slavers across the mountains and possibly
befriending the lone Neanderthal. Helping to rescue his tribesmen by fighting
the goblins at the base of the temple, and rescuing the local peasants by
fighting the mediums who are at the top of the temple and in the middle of
summoning ritual. If there are too many mediums for the party to handle, the
portal is partially open and a tentacle can snatch one of them away into the
portal.
Adventure
2
Main Protagonist: Thoul
Scenario: Chaotic Outpost
Setting: Caves
Secondary Actors: Goblins (12),
Kobolds (10), Driver Ants (16)
Strangeness: Kobold goo that
makes a driver ants blind to their presence.
The
Thoul is the sole survivor of a hobgoblin band that was wiped out by
adventurers. He stumbled across the goblins and quickly became their leader.
Months later they came across the koblods who were living in the driver ant
cave. The kobold learned to make and are using a concoction that when applied to
the body makes the driver ants “blind” to their presence. The thoul has taken
the kobolds lair as his own, relying on the ants to serve as guards the
goblins, and kobold to serve as raiders to fatten his belly and his purse.
The
kobolds are bullied by the goblins and the thoul and have lost numerous tribal
members. They came up with a plan to raid and attack as many humans along the
main road in order to attract attention. The last time they attacked merchant
caravans on the road, adventurers showed up and they were forced to flee
temporarily. They are hoping to attract a band of adventurers to take out the
thoul and the goblins. They will avoid any fights unless cornered.
Rumor: Kobolds and some
say goblins have been raiding caravans along the western road again.
Adventure
3
Main Protagonist: Tiger Beetles (4)
Scenario: Rescue
Setting: Wilderness
Secondary Actors: Trader (1), Sprites
(5), Draco Lizard (1)
Strangeness:
PC’s
come around the bend in a road to find a massive blood splatter on the road.
Whatever was killed lost a lot of blood. Investigation reveals that it looks to
have been a horse and rider. There are human tracks that head off to the left
of the road, while the horse seems to have been dragged off the road to the
right.
A
local trader was travelling on the mountain road just a little ahead of the
PC’s. He was spotted by a band of Pixies who decided it would be great fun to
mess with him. They spooked his horse and he was thrown, he managed to get up
and flee off to the left of the road hoping to get away from the faeries but he
wasn’t watching where he was going and fell down a steep narrow ravine. He
broke his leg in the fall and landed near a tiger beetle lair, but is high
enough up on a terrace that the creatures can only approach one at a time up
the steep incline that he can push them backwards with a branch, toppling them
down the rise. Though each time he manages to push one away it takes a bite or
two from his branch. His time and branch grow shorter every time the tiger
beetles come at him.
His
horse stayed near the edge of the road after his master had been chased into
the woods on the left of the road. Unfortunately for the horse, the spot he was
grazing is below the entrance of a Draco Lizard lair. The Draco Lizard found
the horse to be to irresistible a temptation and flew down and attacked the
horse. After killing it he dragged it off the road into the underbrush to dine
in peace. He is still dining and will continue to do so unless attacked.
The
pixies feel bad about causing injury to the trader and will seek out the help
of the PC’s to help rescue him. They will assist in any way possible, that is
of course unless the PC’s are rude or mean to them. In which case they will use
their powers on the PC’s, promptly forgetting about the trader.
Adventure
4
Main Protagonist: Driver Ants (6)
Scenario: Chaotic Outpost
Setting: Stronghold or Town
Secondary Actors: Gnomes (8/12),
Bandits (4), Black Widow Spider (1)
Strangeness: Regenerating Driver
Ants.
The
driver ants cleaned up their lair after the PC’s killed the goblin and the
thoul. Bits of each fed to the queen and there was a strange reaction in the
new ants that were hatched. The thouls heritage, being part troll, resulted in
the new driver ants gaining regenerative powers.
Weeks
or months later a group of bandits came across the lair of the Driver Ants that
the PC’s had cleared of the thoul and the goblins. After a bit of searching
they found several vents and built bonfires over them in order to smoke them
out. It worked and the ants were forced out of their lair along with any
kobolds that remained. The bandits and the kobolds got into a bit of a scape
and most of the kobolds were killed along with several of the bandits. The
bandits quickly fortified their new stronghold with a palisade and a sturdy
door.
After
a few attempts to get back into their lair the ants moved on to try and find a new
lair. The ants came across a small mining operation in another part of the
valley. It was ran by two gnome brothers and their employees. The ants managed
to split the gnomes into two groups. They drove one group out of the mine,
while the other group retreated further into the mine. Normally the driver ants
wouldn’t pose a problem for so many able bodied gnome miners, but the brother claims
that each time they killed an ant and hacked it to pieces it grew it’s limbs
back and got back up. As fate would have it, the brothers were leading both groups
of gnomes. The older brother who is on the outside is desperately attempting to
recruit people to go back into the mine and help him rescue or find his younger
brother.
The
black widow spider has lived in the mine for some time. Her lair is high up in crevasse
above one of the main chambers. She is a smart and cunning old spider and knows
to space her kills out and to only attack when there is a lone gnome. So far
the gnomes are unaware of her presence just chalking up the missing miners, to
them getting lost in the maze of tunnels. The old spider has caught several
ants already and has discovered their ability to regenerate. She has them
securely wrapped in webs and feasts upon them regularly, when they regenerate
she feasts upon them again. This has the potential to be an endless food supply
for her, so she is is actively searching the caves for more ants. She may
attack the PC’s by surprise (3 in 6) while they are attacking any ants in the
cave as she wishes to take them alive. Though she will quickly retreat if
wounded.
The
second group of gnomes is deeper in the mine. They are still alive, though they
have casualties and are running out of food and water.
Adventure
5
Main Protagonist: Zombies (18)
Scenario: Visit a lost shrine
Setting: Ancient temple
Secondary Actors: Dwarves (5),
Acolyte (6), Living Statue (1)
Strangeness: Interference by the
Gods and a super living statue.
A
group of Acolytes have discovered the location of a lost shrine dedicated to an
ancient hero of the land. The wish to travel to the shrine and reclaim it from
the wilderness and restore it to its former glory. To accomplish their mission
they have hired a band of dwarven mercenaries to guard them on their travels
through the wilderness. They went out a week ago but came back after getting
lost, they wish to hire the PC’s as guides and extra body guards. All of the Acolytes
are 1st level and have no spells but will fight if they must, though
they armed only with staffs and clubs.
The
dwarves are not actually mercenaries. They are the descendants of a dwarven
weapon-smith who forged the hero’s sword. Their great-grandfather literally put
his soul into the sword. Working on the blade for weeks on end without
stopping, he became obsessed with it the story goes, refusing to leave the
forge until it was perfect. Suddenly the ringing from the forge stopped, and
the smith was nowhere to be found, but lo and behold the sword was setting on
the forge, a masterwork beyond compare. Years later the smith’s son lost the
sword while gambling with the hero, and it has always been a sore topic with
the family, as he had no right to gamble it away. Now, years later few remember
these old stories, so they when the Acolytes announced finding the location of
the ancient temple the dwarves heard about it and decided to recover what is,
they believe, to be rightly theirs, and anything else of value the might find. They
will loot the crypt of the warrior king and take the sword with them unless
stopped. The acolytes have no idea about the dwarves and their connection to
the hero’s sword.
The
temple is built into the wall of a cliff, the entrance is a giant statue of the
warrior king carved into the side of the cliff sitting on his throne. His hands
resting on the hilt of his sword which is between his legs. The stair lead up
to the statues feet and the tip of the sword, the bottom portion of which is a
secret door. The zombies are raised by the God of the dead, Stygia, who does
not care for adventurers and in this case the dwarves who are out to spoil the
tomb and disturb the slumber of the dead. He raises the dead hero’s most loyal
knights to stop the greedy dwarves when they enter the temple. If that fails he
will breathe life into the living statue to stop the dwarves when they try to
leave the temple. The statue is 18’ tall and has 4+12 HD. The acolytes will not
be harmed by the minions of stygia, the dwarves will notice this at some point
and may attempt to take advantage of this fact and use them as hostages.
