Enormous burrowing insects have exposed the entrance to an ancient tomb. Only a greedy fool would descend into the bug infested hole to pillage the treasure therein.
In rooms 5, 6, 9, 10, or 14, D6 GIANT ANTS move through the chamber every minute. On an even number they move from the Ant Hole to the surface and attack un-disguised intruders. On an odd number they return with food in their mandibles and ignore intruders.
If the players dawdle in any other room too long, roll a D6 for a Random Encounter.
1: A single GIANT ANT, actually an ASSASSIN BUG in expert disguise.
2: That many COLLABORATORs disguised as a Giant Ant, hunting.
3-4: That many TICKS in search of mammalian prey.
5-6: That many GIANT ANTS moving earth or trash.
1: THE CHAPEL
This vaulted chamber is lit by a hole in the ceiling. A faded carving on the wall depicts an insect knelt in prayer. Water and debris have fallen in from the hole in the ceiling.
After thirty seconds the BUTTERFLY arrives through the hole in the roof. She's here to meet the Tarantula. The players can converse with her for a moment before the spider invites her in and strongly hints they should leave.
2: THE TAXIDERMY
Your light illuminates numerous butterflies pinned to the wall, ragged articles of clothing dangling from their corpses. The wings alone are perfectly preserved.
There are seven butterflies on the wall. The wings of each are worth a single gold piece, though they have to be carried in the hands since there's no way to fold them for storage. If the players come back after leaving the Tarantula alone with the Butterfly, he's in here preparing her remains for display.
3: THE PARLOUR
This clean, well lit place is at odds with the bug infested crypt you just pushed through to get here. Wine and cheese are set on a low table. An enormous spider regards you from its seat in an armchair.
Adventurers who used the door knocker are invited to eat and drink. The spider's wine and cheese count as Provisions. After a couple minutes of conversation or if the scene drags, a knock comes from the door to the north. The Tarantula informs his guests that he is expecting company and, regrettably, they will have to leave. The door west is locked. It leads to the taxidermy at 3 and the Tarantula carries the key. The hatch east is a garbage chute that leads to the drain at 4. The door north leads to the chapel at 1.
4: THE DRAIN
Water swirls down a hole in the floor of this natural cave into the unknown depths below. A trash chute extends from the wall above the pit.
The trash chute leads to the Tarantula's parlour at 3. Anyone in the water can test Luck to grab onto the edge. On a failure they fall down the drain and die.
5: THE ANT HOLE
This rough passage leads down into a narrow hole. Tracks lead from the hole to the bridge in the adjacent cave. A sturdy door set in the wall stands out as the only hand crafted thing in this insect-carved tunnel.
This room is subject to wandering ant encounters. The door north leads into the spider parlor at 3. It's locked but the spider silhouette is actually a door knocker. If used the TARANTULA lets the players in. The hole east leads down to the next floor at 16.
6: THE BRIDGE
Water rushes into this flooded chamber from a pipe in the wall, flowing out through a crack at the opposite side. Giant ants form a living bridge suspended over the underground river.
This room is subject to wandering ant encounters. The ants who make up the narrow bridge are dead but if live ants arrive while the players are crossing they are in trouble. Only one player can fight at a time while all ants can attack the player by crawling on the sides of the bridge. If successfully hit by two or more ants the victim falls into the water and is swept away into 7 unless they successfully test Luck.
7: THE MIDDEN
Water flows into this chamber from an underground sump, swirls around a heap of loot in the center and drains out through a crevice in the wall. Rough hewn steps on a narrow ledge lead up to a doorway over the pool.
It's easy to reach the midden with a running jump from the ledge. The following treasures can be found amid the trash.
- Glittering rapier (grants +2 Skill)
- Jeweled goblet (worth 4 gold pieces)
- Coffin holding corpse and cuirass (+2 max Stamina)
The midden is a heap of items attached to the sticky carapace of an enormous caddisfly larva. The giant bug is too large and tough for the players' weapons to harm, but has no interest in hunting them. It simply rolls over when annoyed. After you list the items available the brave adventurer has ten seconds to pick something before the larva rolls over. Describe the platform beneath them rumbling. If they do not immediately narrate their escape they fall in the water and are sucked through the fissure to 4.
8: THE LADDER
This small, domed room has a ladder down to the level below. You can see a flame below.
If the players are being sneaky they can look down the hole and see three COLLABORATORS by the fire below. If the adventurers made noise, they're hidden. Players must ascend or descend the ladder one at a time.
9: THE ASSASSIN BUG
This tomb has been broken into from the north, exposing a flooded cave beyond. Tracks in the floor lead from the cave to the central corridor of the mausoleum. A huge beetle covered in ant parts and old bones crouches motionless against the wall.
The ASSASSIN BUG sits motionless until someone moves withgoin range to attack it or tries to pass through the broken wall, then it gets a free attack. If ants pass through the room it grabs one, jabs its rostrum into the skull, slurps the innards out and adds the exoskeleton to its panoply. While feeding it can be bypassed or attacked without consequence. The bug has four gold coins stuck to its shell.
10: THE MAUSOLEUM
This central passage has four connecting doors. The southeast door is choked with rubble. Tracks lead from the northwest door to the surface shaft. A huge cockroach freezes in the light of your lantern, staring at you with its human face.
This room is subject to wandering ant encounters. The roach is WHALEFALL. If the players parlay with her she offers to sell them items. If they have no gold or offer her violence she retreats into the rubble pile at 13.
11: THE WARRIOR
A hole in the back wall of this grave leads into a flooded cave beyond. A stone warrior wielding a shield and sword stands watch.
The warrior is a sculpture created as a decoy by the CYCLOSA SPIDER. If the players attack the warrior it gets a free hit on the first attacker.
The sword carried by the decoy is no different mechanically than the ones carried by the players. The shield lets the user deny one enemy attack per battle. The coffin holds a corpse with two gold pieces over the eyes.
12: THE SLUG
The only thing in this slime covered room is a giant slug.
The slug has five gold pieces in its primitive digestive tract.
13: THE RUBBLE
This room is filled with stone and junk up to the ceiling. A handful of objects are stuffed in the back.
Whalefall retreats into the rubble pile from 10 if antagonized. She hides in an unreachable spot below the heaped debris. The treasure at the back of the crawlspace can be got by crawling into the room but the roach repeatedly stabs anyone who tries to rob her stash, poking her dagger up through holes. It's impossible to fight back in such a confined space. They take one damage per second until they retreat.
At the end of the crawlspace are all the items from WHALEFALL'S SHOP plus six gold pieces.
14: THE SHAFT
This circular shaft leads to the surface, where your rope ladder dangles. A stone passage leads into a mausoleum beyond. Tracks lead out of the mausoleum and up the wall to the hole in the ceiling.
This room is subject to wandering ant encounters. The image over the door shows a skeleton knelt in prayer before the sun. If the players need to leave in a hurry only one of them can go up the rope ladder each round. The others have to take their lumps in combat with whatever is chasing them.
LOWER LEVEL
In rooms 15 or 16, D6 GIANT ANTS
move through the chamber every minute. Down here they attack anyone who isn't disguised.
15: THE TREASURY?
Enormous ants dangle from the ceiling, overstuffed abdomens glistening like transparent amber.
Drinking the contents of a honeypot ant restores all stats to their maximum. Doing so summons 2D6 GIANT ANTS to assault the hive robber.
16: THE TICKS
This room is studded with large ticks, clinging to the floor and walls in anticipation of prey to parasitize. A large passage and an out-of-place door promise entry into further chambers, but the tunnels dotting the walls are too small for humans to crawl deeper into the nest.
This room is subject to wandering ant encounters. There are four TICKS in the room. They leap and attach themselves to adventurers who move unstealthily. The door east leads to room 17, the passage west to 15. The tunnels are too small to enter and lead into the ant colony proper.
17: THE TRIBE
This room is lit by a fire. Three humans, naked except for bits of ant exoskeleton, squint at you and fondle their salvaged weapons. Corpses and severed limbs dangle from the ceiling, left out to smoke.
There are no ant encounters in this room. Three human COLLABORATORS live here. Unless the first adventurer to come down the ladder beings the parlay with a strong opening pitch the collaborators attack. They want to kill the first character before the others can get down the ladder and make it a fair fight.
Amid the hive dwellers' personal effects are eleven gold pieces taken from victims. There are Provisions aplenty if the players aren't bothered by cannibalism.
MEN AND MONSTERS
ASSASSIN BUG
Assassin Bugs mimic their prey until it gets close enough to grapple and envenomate with their long, pointy rostrum. Some are better mimics than others.
5 Skill, 5 Stamina, 1 Attack
The Assassin Bug's bite paralyzes the victim for one minute. It feeds on the paralyzed victim, dealing damage on subsequent rounds, rolling dice only to generate a defense value against the target's comrades.
BUTTERFLY
The Butterfly is here to visit the tarantula. He's a handsome, cultivated guy and grubby adventurers don't hold her interest unless they flatter her. Short of showing her the trophy room full of dead butterflies nothing convinces her he's out to get her. She will fight alongside the Tarantula if he is assaulted in her presence. Otherwise she flies away from combat.
3 Skill, 5 Stamina, 1 Attack
COLLABORATOR
The Collaborators are humans who live in the nest disguised as ants. They've gone native, they kill and eat other humans whenever they get the chance because it breaks up the monotony of slurping ant nectar. They can be bribed with surface provisions or with gold, which can be spent at Whalefall's store.
6 Skill, 6 Stamina, 1 Attack
- One Collaborator has a spear, letting her get a free hit in before combat begins.
- One has a shield, letting him negate one attack per combat.
- The last is an ASSASSIN BUG disguised as a man with a sword. When he "dies" the bug bursts forth.
The Collaborators flee if a fight turns against them. They lure adventurers into ant attacks and try to sneak around to Room 15 to restore their HP.
CYCLOSA SPIDER
Cyclosa Spiders build webs with built in decoys, distracting predators and prey alike. This one built its decoy in the shape of a man, complete with weapon and shield pillaged from a grave.
5 Skill, 5 Stamina, 1 Attack
The spider's bite inflicts nausea. Those injured cannot eat Provisions for the rest of the adventure unless somehow cured.
GIANT ANT
The Giant Ants can't use language or be negotiated with, though they can be distracted with food. They fight as a team and never test morale. They won't attack adventurers (or Collaborators, or Assassin Bugs) who wear ant exoskeletons as disguises.
5 Skill, 3 Stamina, 1 Attack
Successful ant bites lash the target with formic acid, reducing their Skill by a single point.
SLUG
The slug is a scavenger that eats decaying organic matter. It was chased into a side room of the mausoleum by the ants, whose acid bites dissolve its mucous membrane. It crawls around in circles in the tomb unless lured out with tasty treats.
5 Skill, 12 Stamina, 1 Attack
Striking the slug with a hand weapon, such as a sword, causes the weapon to get stuck. The weapon cannot be retrieved until the beast is slain. Striking it without a sword sticks the attacker to the slug on a failed test of Luck.
TARANTULA
The Tarantula is a giant talking spider. He's a serial killer with a collection of wings from butterflies. He isn't interested in greasy human skins and entertains them with food and conversation. If they get in his way or alert the BUTTERFLY he attacks them.
8 Skill, 7 Stamina, 3 Attacks
The Tarantula opens battle by spraying urticating hairs at everyone in the room. Test Luck to avoid blindness. Blinded characters may attack as normal, but if they fail to beat the spider's roll they hit and damage an ally. They also cannot defend themselves, they take damage from the spider's attacks even if they beat his roll. Flushing the eyes with water cures the effect.
TICK
The huge ticks are shepherded by the ants, who place them in sensitive areas of the hive to deter mammalian robbers.3 Skill, 3 Stamina, 1 Attack
When a tick deals damage, it gains Stamina equal to damage dealt.
WHALEFALL
Whalefall is a roach with a human face and the power of speech. She is skittish but runs a store selling dungeon items. Nobody knows why she wants gold or what she does with it.
5 Skill, 3 Stamina, 1 Attack
Whalefall doesn't take damage when she retreats from combat. She only fights if totally cornered or if she can strike the target while they're helpless. Her dagger Nocticola's Mercy has the same striking power as a sword but is small and easy to conceal.
WHALEFALL'S STORE
BOW AND ARROWS
5 GP
Lets the user attack from a distance.
MYSTERIOUS TOME
5 GP
A book of blood magic. Teaches two spells.
Hurting Spell: The caster must bleed themselves for D6 Stamina, but the target takes the same damage. In combat this takes a turn instead of attacking.Withering Spell: The caster must bleed themselves for D6 Stamina, but the target's Skill is set to 0. In combat this takes a turn instead of attacking.
2 GP
Restores Skill to its initial level.
ROPE
1 GP
Useful for traversal, fall protection and setting traps.
SPEAR
3 GP
Lets the user initiate battle with a free hit.
THE MAKING OF
I found a copy of this game for babies in a Little Free Library and decided to make a dungeon for it. I used the example set by the book.
- The rules say to show the players the pictures of the sample dungeons, so I drew pictures for my dungeon.
- The core system is very simple, complexity is added on a case by case basis with handcrafted mechanics for individual monsters or dungeon rooms.
- I used the example random encounter table to calibrate the power level of my monsters. I gave them special abilities based on the ones in the example dungeons.
- Everything is timed based on real life seconds or minutes elapsing at the table. Random encounters, status effect duration and special room effects all use a stopwatch or sand timer.
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