Why Holmes' Sample Dungeon?

For those of you keeping up here at the Home Brew, you will have noticed that for the past forty-two odd campaign sessions have revolved around Holmes' sample dungeon from basic D&D rule book.

You may have also remember that that same dungeon was the inspiration for the Beneath the Ruined Tower of Zenopus radio play that we produced last year.

And now I begin work on an animated version of that same radio play which of course has the sample dungeon as the main setting.

Why has the Holmes' sample dungeon, a tiny thirty-five year old creation, been such a mainstay of my FRPG revival these recent years?

Perhaps it's because when I first opened the Holmes' basic set and flipped through the pages of the rules for the first time and I came across that crude dungeon map, my imagination and wonder and curiosity was forever sparked.

My basic set came with the module B: In Search Of The Unknown and we played the hell out of that one as I'm sure many of you have as well.  A great starter dungeon and learning tool without a doubt.

But the Sample Dungeon was a deadly maze, fully stocked with monsters, treasures, pirates, wizards tricks and traps and intersecting corridors to challenge even experienced characters and players as soon as they pass through that first four-way intersection.  It was and still is the best example of what Dungeons & Dragons was/is/could be.  It was a complete work and adventure that came in a set of rules. It has never been topped since.  The 'sample' dungeon in the DM Guide is incomplete as is the sample Haunted Keep in the Moldvay rules.

Holmes' threw everything at you to make a fun and exciting dungeon experience.  His brief and colorful portrait of the history of the tower of Zenopus and Portown with it's Green Dragon Inn and the author's permission for expansion has always made this the crossroads of that moment when the game was presented as just sit down and jump right in to one that become monetized over time.

That aside, when I was looking to get a campaign started I knew I'd be running an early adventure of come sort.  I figured B1 (ISOTU) and B2 (Keep on the Borderlands) were both probably all overplayed but Holmes' sample dungeon was just obscure enough to give folks a taste of a fun old school dungeon adventure.  I figured we'd play it out in a couple of sessions and then move on.  Little did I realize that this little sample dungeon would become the hub of a campaign that has been going on for forty-two plus sessions.  Of course I changed Portown to Caladan from Holmes' Maze of Peril, his prose story based on his own campaigns within his world where the sample dungeon comes from.

I have to say it IS my favorite dungeon.

That is why I have chosen to pay homage to it over and over again, in our campaign, in the radio play and now in the animation project because it really is that great.  It speaks volumes to what Holmes added to this hobby.

The Warlock Moving Ahead...

As  you know here at the Home Brew I've dabbled in quite a few media projects related to fantasy adventure all for your enjoyment.  From RPG aids and modules, to illustrations, to comics, pulp magazines to radio plays my interests vary widely and I like to explore them and make them available here that hopefully some of you enjoy.

One of my early loves besides comics and movies was animation. At the age of five I would draw slightly changing pictures in the corners of books to make flip-book animations.  With the release of Star Wars (episode Star Wars) and a few too many Ray Harryhausen flicks, I was inspired even more into animation first exploring animating Star War Figures for my version of Star Wars 2 and later into claymation. 

I still have these many original super-8 films stored away (I've never transferred them to video or anything though I still have a super-8 movie projector) and soon after went on to study film and animation in college.

But film and animation gave way to the bass guitar and I moved on to becoming a professional musician for 13 years and eventually found my way into graphic design.

I've always tried to keep connected to my first true loves mentioned above - a great trait that I have which I am grateful for!  So now I'm dabbling back into the long hours of animation.

So, what am I animating?  We'll for my first project I'll be animating a good ol' Dungeons and Dragons inspired cartoon based on the Beneath the Ruined Tower of Zenopus radio play we did last year.

As I work on this project over the next year or so I'll be posting sketches, stills and clips to keep you all informed on the progress of my little undertaking. I've already begun some work on it so you'll be seeing it soon.

Zenopus Tower Cut-away

Even though our Swords & Wizardry campaign has been on hold for quite a while while we delve into some other games (plus giving the trusty GM, me, a break) I thought I'd share this with the Warlock's loyal readers.

Note to players....Stop reading NOW! The wrathful campaign gods will not take kindly to mortals prying into their dark mysteries!

Since I love side-view maps of dungeons I created this map of the Tower of Zenopus levels a while ago and just ran across it today. I've altered the dungeon to make it a mega-dungeon campaign. With a few side-quests the campaign had gone on for over two years now.

Click to enlarge

I started with Holmes' original dungeon as a starting point and added deeper levels to it, some being borrowed and some being created by yours truly. I've highlighted the explored areas in purple so you can see that they players have fought their way quite deep into the Underworld but there's still much more to explore.

Zenopus' mega-dungeon was created using the following:

1. Graveyard & Crypt (created 1 page dungeon)
2. Main dungeon level Holmes blue book
3. Rat tunnels (made up on the fly)
4. Tomb Level (forgotten tomb of the warrior King 1 page dungeon)
5. Crotch-goblin and Mushroom-men level (created 1 page dungeon)
6. Purple worm level (1st level of R. C. Pinnell's Holmes' dungeon sequel In Search of the Forgotten City)
7. Weird giant eye-ball sub-level (Forgotten Chambers by Ramsey Dow which exited into the level 1 of The Darkness Beneath mega-dungeon from Fight On! magazine)
8. Lowest Levels (R. C. Pinnell's Holmes' dungeon sequel)

As you can see, this mishmash of dungeon adventures has served quite well. The players still haven't gotten to Zenopus' lair though they have rebuilt and claimed the tower for themselves. We'll get back to this campaign probably sometime this summer and see what happens.

Updated with In Search of the Forgotten City module links.

Tower Of Zenopus Radio Play Chapters 1-3

If you remember this past summer the Warlocks Home Brew released its radio play; Beneath The Ruined Tower Of Zenopus! in three chapters.

We'll the original concept was that these three chapters actually made up the first chapter of the story. So here is the original three chapters together in their 34 minute entirety for your listening enjoyment!




Download and listen at your leisure.

Tune in to the theater of your mind with Tales of High Adventure!

THE RUINED TOWER OF ZENOPUS

Written and Produced by Paul Fini

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Performed by the Warlock's Home Brewed Role-players:

Corey Bishop…..Arvin Ardmore, priest of Mithra
Brain Dunkle…..Tibag Backstabber, rogue
Paul Fini…..Announcer, Father Halford, Sorcerer
Zachariah Hoffman…..Skwanky Furrytoe, halfling
Clay Lewis…..Gedleesmote Hammersend the Dwarf
Max Lieberman…..Vincent the Wizard
Mike Moran…..Wolf the Viking
Christy Cameron Smith…..Narrator, Harlot, Morak

Also featuring
Richard Gabriel…..Mithra pirest
Sara Gabriel…..Jesse the bar wench, goblin
Brendan & Adam Gabriel…..Goblins
Michael Griffith.....Pirate Captain

This Pod-play is dedicated to John Eric Holmes



Or Download for your leisure listening!

Beneath The Tower Of Zenopus Radio Play Chapter 2

We continue with the second chapter to our original scripted radio drama Beneath The Ruined Tower Of Zenopus; a pulp fantasy about a group of adventurers exploring the labyrinth beneath a magicians ruined tower!

A bit shorter than last weeks episode but I'll make up for it next week with Chapter 3. If you missed Chapter 1, you can listen to it here.

Tune in to the theater of your mind with Tales of High Adventure!

THE RUINED TOWER OF ZENOPUS
Chapter 2: An Unexpected Alliance

Written and Produced by Paul Fini

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Performed by the Warlock's Home Brewed Role-players:

Corey Bishop…..Arvin Ardmore, priest of Mithra
Brain Dunkle…..Tibag Backstabber, rogue
Paul Fini…..Announcer, Father Halford, Sorcerer
Zachariah Hoffman…..Skwanky Furrytoe, halfling
Clay Lewis…..Gedleesmote Hammersend the Dwarf
Max Lieberman…..Vincent the Wizard
Mike Moran…..Wolf the Viking
Christy Cameron Smith…..Narrator, Harlot

Also featuring
Richard Gabriel…..Mithra pirest
Sara Gabriel…..Jesse the bar wench, goblin
Brendan & Adam Gabriel…..Goblins
Michael Griffith.....Morak

This Pod-play is dedicated to John Eric Holmes

Listen Now (11 minutes)...



Tune in next week for Chapter 3: Dark Sorcery!

Chapter 1: Into the Dark

Session XV: Frog Legs and Mushrooms

Continuing their exploration of the second level beneath the tower of Zenopus, our party came to a narrow natural stone bridge crossing a open chasm in the earth. Being the ever cautious lot (or just suspicious of their DM), they carefully crossed the bridge one by one with rope tied about their waists while Tibag climbed down to chasm to see what was below. Only finding flowing water the thief climbed back up, crossed the bridged and rejoined his companions.

Proceeding through the caves they found an open cavern lined with a phosphorous lichen along the walls and filled with a forest of mushrooms. As they traversed the forest they were attacked by three Mushroom-men! A quick thinking Gnarly Blunderbrush pulled out a potion of Plant Control (recovered in a previous adventure) and brought two of the Mushroom-men under his control. He ordered those two to slay the third which they did. But upon dying, the Mushroom-man sprouted spores which quickly grew into six additional Mushroom-men which Gnarly also brought under his control. The Druid now controlled an eight Mushroom-man army!

Skwanky, not missing any opportunity for a thrilling ride climbed atop the cap of the largest Mushroom-man and rode him through the rest of the caves!

Pressing on they discovered a number of twisting and crossing natural caves and eventually came upon a natural set of steps leading down into a large cavern. Inside the cavern was a large pool of water along the southern wall. Entering the cavern, the party noticed pairs of eyes popping the surface of the black water. Gnarly lined up his Mushroom-men in the front rank. A long tongue burst from the surface of the water and pulled a smaller Mushroom-man into the gapping mouth of a Giant Frog as the other five frogs leaped to attack. Tibag drew his sword (that he looted from the dead Pirate captain waaaay back in session 3) and to his amazement noticed that it was dimly glowing. With this sword he quickly began hacking through the aquatic creatures. Skwanky, atop his fighting Mushroom hacked at the giant frogs as well.

In the end, the frogs were killed with a couple of Mushroom casualties.

Suspicious that there were no additional exits in the room, Geedleesmote decided to have a peek under the surface of the water. Lo' he discovered two cave openings. Returning to the surface, the dwarf and Wolfheir remove their armor, tied ropes about their waists so that the others can quickly pull them out of the underwater caves if need be and proceeded to swim through the first underwater cave.

The cave lead to another cavern and, quietly breaching the surface, Wolfheir (effectively blind in the dark) heard clicking and guttural noises. The dwarf was able to see a number of Crotch-Goblins drinking from the edge of the water. They also saw natural stone steps leading out of the cave. The two adventurers quietly submerged again and swam to the main cavern and headed towards the second underwater cave.

Swimming through this one, they found a smaller cavern. The water was deeper here and Geedlee was able to make out two pairs of eyes starring at them from the depths. Inside the cave the dwarf discovered a small outcropping of rock with a stone statue of some devilish aquatic god, similar to the one discovered earlier in their explorations, with jeweled eyes and a pile of treasure at it's base.

The two headed back to work out a plan to retrieve tall the treasure with the others.

Wolfheir had a fishing net so it was decided to sack all the treasure, place it in the net and then pull it throughout the cave. Gnarly, Geedlee and Tibag would be the the ones to swim back to the statue while Wolf and the rest would pull the net through. And that is what they did.

The druid, the dwarf and the thief swam back throughout the tunnel and filled the sacks with coin and gems. They placed the sacks in the fishing net and the net was pulled back with Gnarly following.

Tibag and Geedleesmote stayed behind and removed the jeweled eyes from the statue with no ill affects (saves were made!). While the dwarf set about to topple the statue, Tibag stepped into the water to swim back to his companions but saw two Giant Frogs swimming through the tunnel in pursuit of Gnarly and the treasure.

The party , with Wolf pulling the treasure out of the water and Gnarly close behind saw the familiar eyes break the surface and the two giant frogs close in. Slick Vinny pulls out his wand of flesh to stone and enchanted one of the frogs which sunk beneath the surface. The other frog is defeated as disappointed Tibag broke the surface of the water with sword in hand.

With the dwarf finally back with the party they decided that it was time to leave the caves. On the way they killed the six Crotch-Goblins, picked up the dwarf's treasure cart and headed back to the surface...

Session XIV: Further Beneath The Tower Of Zenopus

This day found our party debating if they should begin Father Halford's quest (session XIII) or return to the Tower of Zenopus. It was decided that the Priest of Mithra's request can wait another day and the tunnels beneath the tower won, especially after talking with the old blind man Onyx (yes, I finally remembered his name!). Onyx, if you recall, was the previous inhabitant of the old Tower (session I) until his Stygian pupil, Zenopus, betrayed and blinded him, stole his magic and claimed the tower for herself.

So our brave adventurers once again delved beneath the ruined tower.

Retracing their steps to the room where the Giant Spider had killed Slick Vinny (also session XIII) (after which, Father Halford brought him back to life) they found a strange door, different from the others and made of iron. Tibag the Cutpurse made quick work of the locks on the door and opened it. Beyond was a large vaulted chamber with a large blasphemous toad-like statue with jeweled eyes and holding a bowl sitting on a pedestal. Not to miss an opportunity for a thrilling ride, Skwanky Furrytoe, the halfling charges up to the statue and leaps into the bowl as the others cautiously enter the temple. Upon landing in the bowl, the arms of the statue lower and the mouth opens revealing an object within. While the others keep their distance and stand guard, Tibag climbs the statue and finds an odd Mace studded with rotted human teeth in the jaw of the idol. After pilfering the jeweled eyes, Tibag rejoins his companions and they continue their exploration of the tunnels.

Tying up loose ends to their map, the party comes across the large cavern where they had captured Srgt. Morak and where their former companion Arvin Armore fell (session V). They also notice that the dead pirate bodies that were left along the shore of the underground body of water had been dragged beneath the surf.

Continuing through the cavern they come across a cave opening leading to a smaller cavern with a shallow river running through it. As Geedleesmote the dwarf enters the chamber, a Giant Crab rises from the sand and attacks the party who makes quick work of it with a flask of oil and a torch tossed by Gnarly and Wolfheir. Crab legs for everyone!

Continuing their exploration they find a large man-made chamber, empty save for a sundial and a large mask attached to the wall. Below the mask was an inscription which read: "I'll answer a question, one, no more. I cannot speak 'til it be four". After some thought, Tibag triggers the mask to speak by holding his torch to the sundial and casting the shadow on the number IV. The Mask speaks and will answer one question from the party. After much debate it was decided to ask how best to slay Zenopus (assuming that she is alive). The mask replies that Zenopus can only be destroyed by the light of the sun or a wooden stake through the heart. Ahh! So Zenopus has become a vampire!

Deeper into the tunnels they find a chamber with a trap door and stairs leading down to a deeper level. Descending these they find natural tunnels that they follow, thinking that they are nearing the resting place of Zenopus. After some twists and turns they find a large cavern overgrown with mushrooms and phosphorous fungi with a rift in the center. Tibag descends down a rope only to find a channel of running water.

More explorations take them into a small cave where they are attacked by Cave Eels.

Finally they find another cave off a narrow tunnel with the remains of gnawed human bones and a trail of old dried blood.

It was here that the session ended.

John Eric Holmes 1930-2010

Word has been spreading throughout the fantasy role-playing blogosphere about the passing of John Eric Holmes. For those of you that don't know, he was the writer of the infamous 'blue book' rule set of 'Basic' Dungeons & Dragons. It was his rule book that captured my imagination as well as thousands of other youth int he late 1970's and first pulled me into this hobby of Role-playing games over 30 years ago.

I have always returned to his Blue Book over these thirty plus years. It was my opinion that his rules, though eventually amended with the term 'Basic', was a very gritty, adult version of the game before the it was filtered down to a more acceptable version marketed towards a larger mainstream audience of families and children. And it was all packed into just 48 pages. This was even before Advanced Dungeons & Dragons came out set the bar for hundreds of pages of detailed hard-bound rules.

And let's not forget his infamous Zenopus' Tower complete sample dungeon adventure which were part of his rules. It is truly a classic and still stands up after all these years as my players can attest to!

Though Gygax and Arneson will forever always be the pillars of the hobby, it was John Eric Holmes that was the gateway for many.

Dr. John Eric Holmes passed away on March 20, 2010.

Session XII: Rats! Rats!

Rats, rats, rats sound bite Dracula sound bites

Our brave though foolish treasure seekers, after having raided the Sarcophagi of the Ancients beneath the Tower of Zenopus, decide to explore the infamous rat tunnels. Geedleesmote the dwarf lead the way having to just barely hunch over while the rest of the party crawled on their hands and knees through those filthy, stench filled burrows. Skwanky the halfling stayed behind and guarded the dwarf's cart.

Tibag's skillful mapping saved the party from becoming hopelessly lost in the many twisting and turning passages.

Eventually they began to follow a tunnel that spiraled deeper below ground finding a suspicious and ancient gold coin along the way.

The stench in the tunnels became more and more unbearable as the rat urine and feces thickened. Wolfheir sensed that this may be leading to their doom and warned the rest of the party of a possible trap perhaps prepared for unsuspecting visitors. But the party pressed on despite a nervous Viking and, finding a descending side passage, followed it down where the squeaking noise of rats filled the air. Ahead of them the passage opened into a chamber where dozens of red eyes reflected in the lantern light.

Geedleesmote and Tibag burst into the chamber with the rest of the party following behind. Before them lay a sickening site. A cavern filled with giant rats and standing before a roughly carved statue of a blasphemous rat idol ordering the rats to attack was a sickly Man-Rat!

Wolfheir, Geddleesmote, Tibag started hacking into the hoard of vermin while Adara held fast as the rats bit at her flesh fired arrows into the disgusting man-beast. Slick Vinny, while staying behind in the passage opening, tossed surprisingly accurate darts also at the foul creature.

After a blood-bath the rats lay dead and the Man-Rat after having let out a loud screech also had crumpled to the floor. Tibag and Adara are very near death. Geedleesmote and Tibag pry the jeweled eyes from the idol and with the help of the Viking defile the statue and hammer the head off. But it's not long before the screeching of rats is heard once again coming from up the passage! With no other way out the party is trapped!

Vinny decides to lay a fire trap at the entrance of the tunnel. An angry debate ensues between the mage and Tibag and the rest of the party over the wisdom of igniting oil in these stench filled crawlways with no way out. Alas, the debate is quickly ended as the hoard of giant rats fill the passage. Vinny lights the oil and the rats savagely pour into the room bursting through the flames and burning to death. The few that get through are hacked down. More rats continue to charge into the room as the flames die down including a monstrous rat!

Another blood-bath ensues and the party comes out victorious once again!

Having enough of the rats and their stinkin' tunnels the party once again heads for the surface and returns to Caladan.

A very fun evening and good adventure. There was a lot of the usual laughs and some good role-playing and PC conflict when different opinions popped up. These characters have come a long way from their first timid forays into the Underworld!

We're all looking forward to the next session which should be a full table once again.

Session XI: Troubles in Caladan

Having returned to Brakken after defeating the Eater of the Dead, it was determined that the wounds Tibag and Gedleesmote sustained from the giant tic were infected with disease and it was not within Father Harris' abilities to cure. It was decided to leave for Caladan that very night. Gathering some cold weather gear they stopped by the gypsy's shack. She accepts their gift of a pearl neckless for the advice that she gave to them concerning the Tomb of the Iron God. She read their fortunes before they left.

The party safely traveled throughout the snowy night along the Coast Road back to the city of Caladan. They immediately headed towards the Temple of Mithra but upon arriving, they found that the temple is in quite a stir dealing with the refugees from Morganville. Apparently an ancient dragon, Medora had been awakened and battled with Sir Fumark and his band of warriors. Medora was slain but not before the town lay in ruin. Sir Fumark and his men then rode off leaving the the citizens of Morganville in dire need. Rumor has it that he seeks the now unguarded treasure hoard of Medora.

Talking with Father Halford, they learned that to cure the disease would cost 800 gp apiece (a fair price for one's life) and that the priest of Mithra will attend to them the next day. So what does any good band of adventurers facing death at all turns do? Carouse to all hours of the morning leaving Gedleesmote penniless and Slick Vinny with a Venereal Disease!

So the next day, spending all of Wolfheir's gold to cure the dwarf and half-elf (dwelf) they were still short on payment to the Temple of Mithra. Father Halford offered, in return for his skills, a task for the party to fulfill their debt to the church. They accepted and agreed to meet with the priest in two days.

After a day of resting the party looked in on Lord Osric who was all wrapped up in the affairs of state with Morganville. The party also learns that Sgt. Morak had escaped from the Merchant Guild's dungeons by means of an inside accomplice and a lost hidden passage that lead to an underground river and the sea. Our party offered to help track down Morak.

Slick Vinny questioned Sig, a guild guard. Sig shows them around the dungeon and Vinny and Adara looked for clues but find none. It's possible that Morak has taken up with the pirates once again.

The mage and ranger later met up with the rest of the party at Zenopus' Tower. Thinking that Morak may have returned to the ruins beneath the tower our party once again descended into the Underworld.

They made their way to a incredibly large chamber that they were too afraid to explore when they first delved beneath the ground. There they found six stone sarcophagi. Opening the first one released a cloud of noxious gas that knocked out Adara and Wolfheir. While the two adventurers lay slumbering, Gedlee and the rest of the party continued to open each of the coffins finding some treasure and an enchanted dagger that darted around sticking the party. In the final sarcophagus, after fighting off annoying rats, they found an enchanted battle axe which was given to Wolfheir in payment of spending all his gold to heal the party.

Beneath the Tower of Zenopus: Session IV

...of severed heads and carousing and more mysteries beneath the tower.
(quick campaign doodles by Mike Moran)

Session 4 began with the party cleaning up their loot in the ground level of the tower and then heading back to town to sell their gains and recover their wounds. At the main gate, they were stopped by the town watch, who found the party suspicious being bloodied and carrying around two severed heads.

The party mentioned that they found the missing Capt. Conik beneath the tower. The watch guards called over Sgt. Morak accompanied by three other guards. Morak questioned the party but didn't believe their story and thought them vagabonds and highway men robbing and murdering traveling merchants. Gedleesmote recounted their battle with the wizard and ape and told the Sergeant that there would be remains of the the battle back in the tower as proof of their story. Arvin also mentioned that he was a follower of Mithra and that the head priest of Mithra would vouch for the party. One guard was sent to the temple of Mithra to gather the head priest, Father Halford while Sgt. Morak and two guards made their way to the tower to seek out the evidence that would exonerate the party. The other two guards gave the party water but to Skwanky's disappointment, no food. The party also noticed that little Jack, the stableboy, had slipped away.

After a while, Sgt. Morak returned and denied that he saw any evidence of battle or of a ship off shore and ordered the party to drop their weapons to be arrested. The party quickly came to the conclusion that Sgt. Morak was now somehow involved in the disappearance of Lord Osric's daughter but being worn out and wounded were at his mercy. Gedlee and Wolfheir cause a commotion by getting into a scuffle with each other. As the Guards tried to break it up, Tibag made a dash for it but fails to break past the guards and instead climbs up and over the wall into the city. Morak sends two of the watch after Tibag just as the other watchman returns with Father Halford.

The priest questions his follower Arvin and vouches for the character of the party. Father Halford vows to be responsible for them and will answer directly to Lord Osric. Sgt. Morak begrudgingly submits.

Once at the First Temple of Mithra Reform, the party is healed (for a donation) and fills Father Halford in on the events. The priest tells them that Capt. Conik is of good character and couldn't possibly be involved in Osric's daughter's disappearance for he loves dearly the maiden. Father Halford asks Arvin and his companions to find out more about the goings on beneath the ruined tower and to protect the city of Caladan while he goes to speak with Lord Osric.

The party leaves the sanctuary and proceeds to sell their found items at Master Bringham's Curiosities. After dividing up their treasures, the members goes their separate ways. Skwanky heads over the the Black Anvil to purchase some halfling sized plate armor, Arvin heads back to the Rolled Scroll to have a wand identified and meets Aelyina, daughter of Arvik, and Gedleesmote and Wolfheir head over to Willy the Tanner to get some snakeskin boots made from the remains of the giant snake they killed earlier. Drunk Willy, the best boot maker in all of Caladan, offers the adventures a glass of his homemade hooch.

Heading back to the Cloven Hoof, they run into a cloaked Tibag and the three began to spend their gains on wine, women and song and a night of carousing. Skwanky is quite fine with a tasty meal from the inn and polishing his newly acquired armor and Arvin heads back to the Holy Temple of Mithra. Slick Vinny retired up to a room to begin his long studies of the books that he has found in the dungeons.

In the morning, a very hungover Wolfheir the Viking meets up with the rest of the party in the Cloven Hoof. Gedleesmote lost a bundle the night before gambling the night away and is now indebted to some shady characters. Jessi, the barmaid, asks the party if they have seen Jack the stableboy and they say that they haven't. They promise to keep an eye out for him and head out, once again, to the tower ruins.

Back at the ruins they find that there are two city watchmen standing guard. The guards were placed there by Sgt. Marak who went down beneath the tower with a couple of other guardsmen. The two watchmen are having their suspicions of Morak's motives and state that Capt. Conik is a good man and find it hard to believe that he would be tangled up in any schemes against Osric and the city of Caladan. One of the watchmen decide to accompany the party below the tower to see what Morak may be up to.

Entering the ruined tower, the party brings the guard upstairs to see the remains of the battle fought. Sure enough, the bloody evidence is plain as day. Sgt. Morak was indeed lying.

Descending the stairs, the party, along with the watchman Tero, is once again below the tower and in the room with the black alter. Gedleesmote drags down his handcart to load up on loot while Tibag tries to discover the secret door. He is unable to do so and the party leaves through the west door. Coming down the hall towards them is a pirate carrying a sword and candle. After a brief exchange about meeting in a cavern, Tibag fires an arrow, hitting the pirate. The wounded pirate turns and runs for the door, dropping his candle. Gedleesmote, in hot pursuit bursts into the room and sees the pirate desperately trying to feeling up a statue in the center of the room. Gedleesmote swings at the pirate who blocks the attack in a desperate maneuver causing the dwarf to tumble to the ground. Arvin rushes in and splatters the pirate's skull.

Exploring the room they find 4 doors, one on either wall. Tibag discovers that the statue pivots on it's base which unlocks each of the doors. After much debate on which way to proceed, searching for the cavern which the pirate mentioned or avoiding any confrontation and just continue exploring the catacombs, it was decided to head through the south door to seek out the watery entrance to the caves.

Extinguishing their light, Tibag journeys down the hallway, alone. He finds that the passage continues south but to the east is a door. Listening to the door he hears running water. The party opens a door and enters a large chamber with a wide river running through it. Sipping water at the river's edge and now alerted to the party are three cave crawlers, thin grey-skinned, sharp clawed underground dwellers. They rush the party. Arvin and Wolfheir make quick work of the creatures but one leaps onto Tibags shoulders. Skwanky bonks the creature in the head with a stone and Gedleesmote finishes the creature off.

The party begins to explore the room.....

Another enjoyable evening, though Max had to leave early to pick up his wife from the airport. It just gave Slick Vinny a chance to study up on some magic. I felt there was a lot of good role-playing from all the players. Lots of laughs, as to be expected with this group!

Beneath the Tower of Zenopus: Session I

So after a while of of doing a lot of online research and preparing a sandbox style campaign, I was able to gather some players together for a classic dungeon delve. I was hoping to get at least 3 players but that quickly grew into 5. I was a little concerned about managing a game as I haven't DMed in over two and half decades and then some but the 5 players actually opened the game up even more. It went really well so here's a session recap.

The 5 players who were pretty enthusiastic about getting a game on. Though most of the players at least downloaded the S&W book and read over the house-rules, character creation still took about an hour or so. Questions needed to be answered and equipment bought. I think a good idea would be to create a Character Generation sheet that I can hand out to each player to speed the process along. I went with the straight roll of 3d6 right down the line. Everyone had a good time rolling up characters and they all started with a roll off of Jeff Rient's 100 random starting items which everyone loved.

So the party was as follows:

Arvin Ardmore - Acolyte of Mithra
Gedleessmote Hammersend - Vetran Dwarf Warrior
Wolfhere, Viking Vetran from the North
Tibag Backstabber - Elf Rogue
Slick Vinny - Human Medium
and a Mule.

All the players jumped right in with their characters which was a blast and made GMing much easier.

The game began in the port city of Caladan in the tavern of the Cloven Hoof. The PCs have, by one means or another ended up is this port city and have become slightly aquainted with each other while spending their evenings at the tavern. Working odd jobs during their stay just hasn't cut if for them so they decide to spend the day gathering some information around town.

That was pretty much the broad-stroke that I gave the players then let them each pick a rumor out of a hat. I didn't want to railroad any of their actions so the rumors lead to various adventure hooks around Caladan and other near-by towns. They all just so happened to pick rumors about the ruined tower south of town. Then I let them go at it and discuss their rumors with each other. That worked great. It got all the players involved right away and let them make assumptions and decisions all on their own. I really didn't have to participate at all! I just sat back watching the fun.

After a bit of that, they were eventually introduced to an old blind man in the corner who knew much more about the tower so I was able to fill in some of the details about the tower of Zenopus. The old man revealed that he use to occupy the tower and study his arts there when one day a pupil showed up - a beautiful woman named Zenopus. She was a Stygian witch who stole his tower and his magic and explored the secrets below the tower. The old man was blinded by Zenopus and banished from the tower. The tower was destroyed by the town as per the Zenopus tower background story in the back of the Holmes blue book. By the next morning the PCs were on their way.

They worked their way up to the tower but decided to explore the cemetery first. I didn't have anything prepared for the cemetery and to get my feet wet, I decided to just ad-lib that. Note that players have no idea what you have prepared or not prepared. The improvised cemetery flowed smoothly with an exploration of 2 crypts and an encounter with a feral Zombie cat, which seemed to mystify the players. The cleric tried to turn the cat. My house rules don't have the undead automatically 'turn' from the cleric unless the cleric rolls twice the amount needed, otherwise the undead are just kept at bay and won't attack outright. This lead to more of a mystery to the cat. They spent time trying to figure out if it was indeed an undead cat or just a feral animal - after they had killed it, of course. I felt that by just giving them a nugget of information about what they saw or encountered, they tended to draw their own conclusions and let their imaginations run with it. That proved to be quite successful in that everything became a bit mysterious and they didn't have all the answers.

I tried to keep all the characters occupied with doing something at all times to keep all 5 players invested in the exploration.

They eventually found an opening in the base of a sarcophagus within one of the crypts which lead to a pit below. They threw a torch down into the pit to see if anything else could be seen. Secure in the knowledge that the room below was empty, they extinguish the torch, and the elf was sent down to explore. A tunnel was found while the rest of the party descended the rope into the room.

Now the thief took the lead just out of the range of the torchlight exploring with his 10 foot pole. After proceeding down a long natural tunnel they came to a door. After some careful examination of the door they opened it and discovered a man-made corridor beyond. Here they just went crazy examining the stonework and drawing all kinds of conclusions about it. I was caught a bit by surprise by this but I let them run with it and threw them a few nuggets based the conclusions they were making. I was learning to just work with what the players were giving me to flesh out details. In a way that was them letting me know what inspired them about the game and exploration. It really helped everyone help create the mood they expected / wanted. And it seemed to work because the more they explored, the more paranoid they became. They ended up finding another door but by his point, freaked themselves out enough that they were afraid to open the door. They tied one end of the rope to the door they just entered and the other end of the rope to the second door. On the rope they tied a bell to warn them if any of these doors were being messed with. I thought that was great and I loved that. Just keep building up the mood and let the players fill in the details with their own assumptions!

After a few turns down some corridors, they came to another door. This one they opened. Beyond was one of Holmes' very large chambers. When I was younger, I always had trouble working with these large rooms, but now, working with the torchlight, the characters were only able to glimpse some pillars at the edge of the light but no walls or ceiling. That was too much for them. Not seeing the entire room beyond the darkness really threw them. They decided to close that door and continue down the corridors.

Finally finding another door, they entered. Coming out of the darkness into the torchlight, were, of course, the two Ghouls. They threw a flask of oil in between them and the ghouls but missed the oil with the torch. The Elf fired his bow but after the first hit, rolled a 1, thus the string broke on the bow and the Ghouls moved in to attack. A quick battle ended up with two dead ghouls and a paralyzed and slightly wounded dwarf. A search of the room turned up a couple of smashed and open wooden coffins and two that were closed. Not taking any chances, the Magic-user preceded to dump his flasks of oil on the two coffins and lit them.

It was here that the session ended. The whole session, rolling characters and all, lasted about 3 hours. Time went by very fast and there was a lot of laughing and good times. We all were looking forward to the next session (which is planned for the October 19th). Everyone seemed to have a blast and I couldn't remember having a better time DMing! Oh, there is much to improve on my end but I felt really comfortable with just winging things when I had to - rules and situations. That, of course, is due to all the great discussions and knowledge being passed on about the game on various blogs and forums. So a big thanks to all those contributing to the classic gaming community! You've made my game a blast!

Oh, and the Zenopus' Tower adventure in the Holmes Blue Book is still one of my favorites!