#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 2, Room 1

Welcome to Level 2!

In the original citadel, this level was used as their prison and dungeon. After it was abandoned for several years, the Vampire Queen moved in.  She kept it as a prison, but a temporary one, favoring the lower levels for her truly depraved dungeons.

There is an eldritch glow that seems to affix to the walls for one second and then move on.  The whole effect is harmless but very eerie.

Doors to rooms on this level are all locked shut and will slam shut behind the players unless they are held or propped open.  Each time a thief can open a door, it is worth 5 xp. If the door is forced open (they all open to the outside), it is worth 1 xp.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 1, Room 31

At the end of this hallway to the left is a flight of stairs that go down, there is a flight of stairs across from these also going down from the hallway with rooms #18 to #24.  These stairs meet at a landing and then turn left (or right if taken from room #24) to another flight of stairs going down to the second level.

On the landing are the statues of two demonic-looking creatures.

Free Art Assets - Grey Gnome Games - Jason Glover

These statues are not statues, but Gargoyles. These creatures have 2* HD (10, 12 hp) and attack via a claw/claw/bite (1d4/1d4/1d6+1). They can only be hit by magic or magic weapons.  If any characters allowed their weapons to touch the lights in Room 25 and they are still glowing they will count as magical "+0" weapons.

The gargoyles will not follow the characters back up the stairs to level 1; they are only here to prevent them from going down to level 2, or once they are on level 2, prevent them from going up to the landing.

--

The characters have survived Level 1!

Monstrous Mondays: The Future (???) of my Monster Projects

Wow. The OGL drama has been enough to give you whiplash. 

Where are we today? Have to ask because the situation has changed so much and so rapidly. While I have been following this on all sorts of social media outlets, I have to shout out to Robert Conley over at Bat in the Attic for constantly updating his blog with the details and expert commentary.  I like to be able to read what is going on, follow the links, and not have to wade through a ton of videos.

In fact, to get the latest run-down of what is (or at least was as of Saturday, January 28, 2023) going on, I am not going to repost it, I am just going to have you read his breakdown.  Go there. Come back here.

Back? Good! Let's talk Monsters. Or, more to the point, how these new revelations will affect me and my various monster projects for this year.

Here are my three current projects.

• Monster Mash. This one was released last week and the reactions have been great. It is getting downloaded at a steady rate and I'll have the hardcover version proof in my hands soon.  I have two others all mapped out with a lot of material ready to go for them. I am slowing down the process for now since the OGL 1.0a seems safe for the time being. 


• Basic Bestiary. This one was the biggest causality of the OGL change back at the start of the year. Now with the OGL 1.0a a little safer I want to get this one back on.  I have spent way too much time on it to let it languish on my hard drive any longer.


• Monstrous Maleficarum. Ah. I was so looking forward to this one too. While the newly uploaded 5.1 SRD to Creative Commons means I have even MORE freedom to do this one, my motivation for it is not really there anymore. Maybe I'll come back to this one. But for now a lot of my art for this one will be going to the other two projects.

There are also lots of new opportunities with the other licenses coming out.  There is the Paizo-led Open RPG Content License (ORC), there is Kobold Press and Black Flag, and the Creative Commons is now an option, not to mention whatever Troll Lords does with Castles & Crusades, what will happen with Labyrinth Lord 2, and what Bill Barsh does with his BX RPG (just three on my mind this week).

I will freely admit this latest change has reduced my ire against Hasbro/WotC. I will still play D&D5, but I am less enthusiastic about supporting it with my time and intellectual capital. Plus I have seen what happens when people start to support more 3rd party publishers and independent publishers. I'd like to see that continue.

So this week we have more options than we did last week and even more than last month. Let's use those options to make better games.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 1, Room 30

Moving down to Room 30, the PCs smell it before they can see it.

This room is currently occupied by a group (2d8) Cat Ghouls. 

These are cats infected with the ghoul's undead curse. They have 1 HD. They have a claw/claw/bite attack that causes 1d6+1/1d6+1/1d4+1 hp of damage.  They can not cause paralysis as other ghouls. They are turned as Zombies.

They are currently eating a couple of corpses of humans. These victims have a total of 155 gp, 49 sp, and 22 cp. One has a ruby worth 500 gp.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 1, Room 29

Heat and light come from this room.

Inside are 8 Fire Beetles. These fire beetles are different and the glowing glands on their carapace also cause 1d4 hp of fire damage.  Treat as 2+HD creatures for attacks, hp, and XP.

While they do not collect treasure on their own, there is a pile of 300 GP here from a previous group of adventurers. No one else enters this room and the beetles seem (seemed) content not to leave.

--

Depending on your party size you may want to increase the number of monsters encountered.  I have been sticking close to the recommended amount for a 1st level dungeon.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 1, Room 28

This room comes up (on the left) after Room 27.

Much like the portal on the other side of this level, this one has Kobolds pouring out of it. 

To begin with there are 2d6 Kobolds, armed with spears.  They will add to their numbers every other round by 1d4 for the next 6 rounds.  There will be a total of 20 kobolds in all.

They carry spears. Two of the three chieftains (with 4hp each) have Potions of Healing. The other chieftain has a magical sling +1 that he uses in combat.

They carry some copper (300 cp total), some silver (50 sp total), and some gold (32 gp total). 

The chieftains all have a ruby they wear on their helmets (50 gp, 50 gp, and 75 gp).

Like the portal before, this one is one way. Something the kobolds will discover to their dismay once combat goes against them and they try to retreat.

Kickstart Your Weekend: Coven & Crucible

I have not done one of these in a while. My efforts this year are going to be to support smaller publishers. This seems like a good one.

Coven & Crucible: a game of magic and witchcraft

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/113795344/coven-and-crucible-a-game-of-magic-and-witchcraft?ref=theotherside

You know I love witches, and this game is all about them!  It is also a d12-based system, so you know I love that.  Plus it is set in an alternate version of Chicago where witches hang out in coffee shops! So how can I really say no?

You can read all about on their Kickstarter page. The important details for me though are the game is written and playtested, it just needs to go to layout and printing.

I would love to learn more about the publisher, Thirteenth Moon Games, but they do not seem to have a social media presence and their website is not up.

Still, though, it looks rather fun.