Contest Entry: Gadwick's Tribute (by John Nash)

The contest's second entry is another well designed dungeon, including many rooms without feeling the least bit rushed or compressed. It straddles the line between a "pure dungeon" and a naturalistic place, I am reminded of Stonehell. As a larger piece, and somewhat sparse in characterization of both place and people, the dungeon master would use it best by flavoring it to their setting, or creating more ties between the dungeon and the outside world. It is a level 5 dungeon (as in 5th level party?) and the distribution of treasure and danger would allow for several sessions of trepidatious exploration, or a half-session precision strike on the well guarded main treasury!

Download it here!

What follows is the review according to the strictures of the competition. There are a total of 6 entries submitted so far, I plan to review them continuously before the final selection and vote.

Does it qualify?

Yes.

The pdf is exactly 2, the generously sized map and natural language text read perfectly on a printed page, it includes several hidden treasures, a hook, treasure amount, names etc. are all provided by the author. It is written for use with A B/X and trivial to convert to a similar system.

What is my judgement?

As a DM, does it respect my time, intelligence, and taste?

Yes! The introduction is short and to the point, a famous smith disappeared trying to cross giant infested mountains to deliver a tribute of masterworks to the king. Now the giants are gone, and you find a journal and a map, telling of how the giants enslaved Gadwick and stole his treasures. While the hook could have used more specificity to draw the players in you can quickly establish that by finding the relevant room entry and tailoring your bait to your players. There is no complicated order of battle here, what exists (sounds drawing wandering monsters or monsters interacting intelligently with known traps) are noted in their respective rooms. Each room is simple, but the whole of the dungeon creates some more complexity, it is large enough to offer the players strategic choices in exploration, most notably the portcullis barring the way to the treasury is either circumvented to reach the winch opening it, or forced somehow. The milieu here is not spelled out, but the implication becomes clear to any explorer: the giants have been slain, probably by the trolls now lairing here. Shadows infest the dungeon, perhaps the spirits of those enslaved by the giants. 

Does it offer a good challenge and proportional reward for the players?

The designer helpfully spells out the treasure total (32,253gp) at the beginning, if we assume a party of 5 that would take a 5th level fighter a third of the way to 6th level, this seems reasonable for an adventure of this size and danger. The most significant treasure is guarded by 6(!) trolls, blundering into those makes for a tough fight and considering their speed a potential wipe for an unprepared party. The other deadly challenges include a medusa surgically creating cockatrices from chickens and (her own?) snakes, a sustantial ambush by shadows. There are no significant challenges in the form of physical obstacles, traps, riddles, or situations requiring out of the box thinking. The traps gain most of their danger as alarms drawing wandering monsters.

Does it offer shortcuts and treasure for the brave and clever player?

There are plenty of secret doors hiding either treasure or purely optional shortcuts. The secret doors are in many cases telegraphed through the pattern of the dungeon layout itself letting perceptive players assume their presence. There is one example of an exit (and entry if the dungeon master would prepare it) guarded by a hidden but well telegraphed monster. There is a temple Gor the Embiggener (the creator God of the giants?) which you can intereact with (how? specificity would heighten (heh) inclusion without necessarily costing many words) for a boon, bane, or nasty surprise.

Does it punish the cowardly and stupid player with loss of life, resources, or opportunity?

Yes! The hidden vault means foolish players miss out on the main treasure after a monster of a fight. The traps and hidden dangers are hinted so that those who fall for them will smack their own foreheads and not the head of the dungeonn master should they blunder into them.

In conclusion

This is a no frills vanilla dungeon which I suspect is a lot more engaging to play than to read. The situations presented are fantastical and imaginative, but you get no help in establishing the mood of the place. The main challenge is fighting, and while the support of thieves and spells would help in clearing the dungeon there is no place where they'd shine (other than lobbing a fireball into the huddle of knife-game playing trolls, an example of an imaginative situation which would have been elevated by mentioning something along the lines of them laughing at their own twitching fingers as they fail at the knife game etc) and nothing that really says "mid level challenge" beyond the power of the monsters. It can slot into almost any fantasy campaign and would be a useful addition to any library of dungeons. Compared to the previous entry this one grabbed me less, but I suspect I would get better use out of it in practice. Judging is going to be harder than I thought!