Just finished reading....

This excellent post -

http://initiativeone.blogspot.ca/2013/07/megadungeons-treasure-maps-and.html

Which got me to thinking about my own semi mega dungeon plans, and I'm guessing that I might be over extended myself a bit.  Firstly, I've had a few different ideas on how to get the PC's into the dungeon in the first place, but I can't quite decide on which one.  Maybe I should try and wing them all together.

1 - A Wizard needs the PC's to delve into the underworld to find alchemical ingredients
2 - A ancient civilization has been uncovered, are they up to no good?
3 - There is a war happening between the dwarf's of the deep and the Drow.

What I would like to do is have a series of dungeon levels that extend lower, and in different directions.  I would like to include the following, (this maybe becoming a campaign setting rather than a module).

1 - A Dragon far into the deep, as to wether he is a good guy, a evil guy, or just a sleepy dragon on his treasure has yet to be determined.

2 - A few easier dungeon levels, with kobolds & goblins etc

3 - A Dwarfen & Drow settlement, or at the very least a Dwarfen settlement that can be used as a homebase to explore the rest of the Underworld

4 - A ancient civilization

5 - Possibly tied to #4 ancient ruins of a underground city.

6 - Underground lakes and river systems

So this begs the question is it too much?

I think I was successful

Okay, so drew it on paper with pen.  dumped it into photoshop, redrew all the cavern lines (outside lines) , added a graph paper layer.  (this is going to be hard not to draw with graph paper.  ugh...) then cleaned it up a bit

I think it turned out far better, not perfect mind you but better.

This seems a bit better already.

Just a bit of darkening, I'm going to do a quick test, create something on paper and add the graph paper in after the fact.

Map Help!

I tend to wonder if you guys draw out things on paper, photoshop afterwards and add the grid perhaps? Obviously this is a low quality scan. But I guess if i draw it on graph paper, then add some darker pencil crayon I may get close? 

Challenge Of The Frog Lord

After going thru a list of modules for OD&D etc, that some posted on the OSR forums, I found this gem. http://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/labyrinth-lord-challenge-of-the-frog-idol/

I love how its totally open ended this module is, with lots of room to add your own little spices!

It appears to be a hexcrawl with a few railroad elements which is nice.  I had previously looked at "Black Marsh" but it seemed a bit too big of a world for me (300+ troglodytes! holy crap in one section).  Obviously its built up for larger groups of players with higher levels.

Challenge of the frog lord its a bit more trimmed down, smaller land area etc.  I believe its for levels 3 - 6, so having the adventures do a few little side quests to level them up would be a good idea.  Incorporating a few other elements from some other adventures would make this pretty friggin awesome!  It honestly makes me not want to write anything when there is so much genius material out there! hahaha.

Here's the link to download the module http://rpgcharacters.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/dyson-logos-challenge-of-the-frog-idol.pdf

And here's a cool pic! Evolution and sizing of Kobolds , Lizard men, and troglodytes.

Swords & Wizardry

I absolutely love the cover for Swords & Wizardry!

Here's the obvious download link http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/

And here's the other one, for the core rules.

Magic Kingdom For Sale!

I'm hoping that some of you may have read Terry Brook's series of "Magic Kingdom For Sale! "  I read the first book when I was abotu 16, and absolutely fell in love with it.  He has written a ton of books, including the Shanara series, which are also very good, but HIGH fantasy.  

You can learn more about the book here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Kingdom_for_Sale_—_SOLD!

Plot Summary - 

The novel begins with Ben Holiday, a trial lawyer from Chicago, lamenting the loss of his wife and unborn child in a car accident. He finds an advertisement in an upscale Christmas catalog claiming to offer a magical kingdom for one million dollars by a man named Mr. Meeks. Although skeptical, Ben pursues the offer out of a desperate need to start a new life. Ben receives a magical medallion and is transported through a swirling mist to the kingdom of Landover. He learns that Landover is a world that connects many other worlds such as Earth. It is surrounded by the Fairy Mist wherein reside creatures of Fairy that created Landover and guard the passages to these worlds. Unfortunately, he finds it not exactly as described. He soon finds that Landover has not had a true king in twenty years. The son of the last king did not wish to take up the throne and escaped with the court wizard, Meeks, to Earth. They have been selling the throne to dozens of people in the past two decades, but no one has been able to face the challenge and successfully complete so much as a few months as king. Further, kings of Landover used to be protected by a magical knight called the Paladin, but he has not been seen since the last king's death.

I've been thinking that this book and the world "landover" would be a perfect fit for a D&D campaign, and it maybe something I might consider down the road.  The only thing is that it could be construed as being a bit kid friendly, but that's alright actually.   Of course I'd have to re-read the book! 

Here is a link to the world of landover (what is cool is there is a list of all the characters! so you can easily start creating NPCs like right now)  - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Kingdom_of_Landover

And here is a map of Landover, it just sorta makes you start thinking doesn't it.