WarbossD – Dungeon Saga – First home brew dungeon

The first thing was to decide how to tie the adventures together. Having come up with an idea I wrote a brief introduction to frame the background for the players and to lead them into the adventure proper.

The Tar Sannak and the Well Of Souls

Your journeys to the City of the Golden Horn have been long but comfortable. The private dwelling you are in is well-appointed and the balcony of the dining room looks out onto the bustling harbour of the city below. As you pick at the refreshments laid out on the long table in the centre of the room your host stokes the fire and throws on another log, to stave off the nights chill. Each of you is enrolled in a secret organisation called the Tar Sannak and it is this group that has brought you to this place.

“I hope you will be comfortable here tonight my friends for tomorrow your work begins.”

Sallander takes his seat at the head of the table and pours himself another goblet of the red wine that he is clearly partial to.

“Your ship sails at dawn. Your destination is the isle of Keretia just off the coast here. We have information that indicates efforts will be made to open a gateway to the abyssal realms, potentially releasing untold horrors into our world.

Unfortunately what we know is incomplete but we do know that the portal was guarded by an ancient order that has since faded from this world. We can put you ashore on Keretia about half a mile from a ruined monastery fort that we believe once housed these guardians, the Order of Mendes.

What we ask is simple. Identify the portal and make sure it stays sealed.”

Sallander drains his goblet and stands once again.

“I bid you good night and wish you well for your mission friends.”

With that he slips out the room leaving you to finish your dining to the accompaniment of the dockyard noise outside.

You drag the small boat up the shingle, bringing it to rest well above the high water mark.

The merchantman that brought you here bobs gently in the surf behind you, angelic with it’s pearl white sails and halo of gulls and terns.

With a quiet calm you reclaim your weapons and equipment from the boat and form up into single file to begin the ascent of the weather worn and overgrown pathway cut into the cliff that faces onto the beach.

Topping the cliff you spy the ruined monastery a short way off, in a sea of windswept grass.

Significant portions of the ground floor of the monastery still stand against the elements. All of the taller structures have collapsed in on the ground floor leaving a scree of rubble and roof slate, in places many feet thick. The growth of plants is minimal due to the lack of light in the monastery ruins interior.

After only a brief search you find what you are looking for.

Towards the back of what appears to have been a residential wing of the main building there are signs of recent excavation. A carpet of ruined stone is laid before a relatively intact door that you can see is still ajar.

With weapons drawn you push at the door to reveal a rotten wooden landing. The darkness that swallows the mouldering wooden stairs leading down is total.

Turning your back on the light you push through into the damp blackness ahead.

Knowing where I was going with the theme I started thinking about Dungeon layout and encounters.

Having purchased the Dungeon terrain bundle by Battlesystems at UK Games Expo this year I wanted to try it out so I made my initial Dungeon layout using this instead of the Dungeon Saga tiles.

Below is the layout I went with.

I decided to go with the Necromancer overlord cards as I was planning to use a mixture of undead and abyssals in the encounters.

I was unsure during the planning of the actual number of players that would be joining the game.

As soon as the opportunity presents itself the Necromancer will move through the exit door and seal it with a magical ward.

The players can spend an activation to search the barrels.

If they do search roll a d6. On a 6 the player discovers a minor potion item.

Use the Basliean Man at arms profile for the necromancer’s guards.

This location contains many bone piles which can be activated using the Necromancer overlord cards.

Each tomb can be searched for an activation. If it is searched an armoured zombie appears and is placed adjacent to the searching hero and can attack as if an interrupt had been played.

The treasure chests contain suitable treasure items.

This room is brightly lit by wall mounted torches. The necromancer is seated in a stone throne on a balcony at the end of the room.

Beneath the balcony a well can be seen pouring forth a thick sinister mist.

From out of this mist emerges a group of twisted demons.

The well can generate additional demons (use the abyssal guard combat stats) in the same way bone piles can be raised as skeletons.

If the necromancer is engaged in combat he stops chanting and his control over the well is lost. He cannot summon further demons until he is no longer in close combat.

The book cases and armour rack can be searched for a single activation. Appropriate treasure items can be found in the terrain items.

Thankfully the adventure was fairly well received and the players seemed to enjoy it.

We tend to play Dungeon Saga in a relaxed RPG style. The overlord turn number is open ended and the game does not end when the first player is taken out of action.

With three level 1 characters the balance was pretty close to what we needed. One party member was taken out of action but the necromancer was defeated in the end without me needing to ‘pull my punches’ as the overlord.

I loved the blending of the Dungeon Saga and the Battlesystems terrain and I will definitely try to come up with other ways to blend the DS tiles with the Battlesystems terrain in future.