Lunch break! I went for a walk with some bread and cheese and took pictures of magnolias and cherry trees in bloom.
I’m running *Stonehell* in a two-referee but soon-to-be three-referee game called The Monday Games, these days. We’re all using Halberds & Helmets. I’ve been wondering about the dungeon stocking or restocking rules. I like them, that’s for sure. They’re quick and easy to use.
Then I pulled out Moldvay Basic Dungeon Stocking table (Michael Curtis at one point discussed its genius) and had my wife roll like crazy. As she called out “Empty! No treasure. Monster! Treasure!” I scribbled like crazy. – 2013-08-21 Moldvay Dungeon Stocking vs. Seclusium
When I stocked my dungeon yesterday, I used the Moldvay Dungeon Stocking procedure. To be honest, my wife used it. The two tables are somewhat confusing. – 2013-08-21 One Roll Dungeon Stocking
2013-08-21 Moldvay Dungeon Stocking vs. Seclusium
2013-08-21 One Roll Dungeon Stocking
This is the restocking table I use:
+-------+-----------------------------+ | d20 | Content | +-------+-----------------------------+ | 1–5 | Empty | | 6 | Unguarded Treasure | | 7 | Trap and unguarded treasure | | 8–9 | Trap | | 10–12 | Monster | | 13–15 | Monster and treasure | | 16–20 | Special | +-------+-----------------------------+
Except for the “special” result. What the hell does that mean?
Based on some recent decisions, I decided to add a second table.
+----+--------------------------+ | d6 | Special | +----+--------------------------+ | 1 | extra boss monster | | 2 | temple of a god or demon | | 3 | bomb production | | 4 | pets being trained | | 5 | fortifications and traps | | 6 | a new sub-level | +----+--------------------------+
As I can think of more entries, I’ll expand on it. 😁
Actually, why create a new table?
+-------+--------------------------------+ | d20 | Content | +-------+--------------------------------+ | 1–5 | Empty | | 6 | Unguarded Treasure | | 7 | Trap and unguarded treasure | | 8–9 | Trap | | 10–12 | Monster | | 13–14 | Monster and treasure | | 15 | Monster with extra big boss, | | | and treasure | | 16 | Monsters with an altar to a | | | demon, and treasure | | 17 | Monsters producing bombs, and | | | treasure | | 18 | Monsters training pets, and | | | treasure | | 19 | Monster with fortifications, | | | traps, and treasure | | 20 | Entrance to a new sub-level | +-------+--------------------------------+
An altar or temple to a demon always offers the opportunity to offer new powers to player characters in exchange for evil missions, the loss of their soul. Think “No more resurrection!” Or alternatively, desecration of the altar or temple means new enmity gained, a reason for supernatural enemies to take note and send their goons to harass the party.
The production of bombs means the farming of poisonous spiders to create stinking cloud grenades, poisoned arrows, yellow musk or green slime petards, flaming oil cocktails, and so on. If not stopped, monsters will start using these against the party.
#RPG
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An interesting breakdown by Yora:
The GM guidelines for making a dungeon in the Basic Rules recommend about 1/3 of rooms to have creatures, 1/2 of which possess treasure; 1/6 of rooms to have a trap, 1/3 of which are guarding a treasure; 1/6 of rooms with a special feature like magical effects or weird machines; and 1/3 of rooms being empty, 1/6 of which have a hidden treasure. For simplicity, lets assume here reaction rolls are made with no Charisma modifier, so half of all creatures encountered will be hostile. In practice, it’s can be considerably less.
In an 18 room dungeon, these fractions come out as nice even numbers, and it’s also a good scale for a mid-sized dungeon or level of a larger dungeon. This gives us the following lineup of rooms.
3× monster with treasure
3× monster
1× trap with treasure
2× trap
3× special
1× hidden treasure
5× empty
– Monsters and Treasures in the B/X Dungeon
Monsters and Treasures in the B/X Dungeon
In my case:
I’d say, similar enough!
Now all I have to do is compare the line-up with actual dungeons I’m writing.
– Alex 2022-05-21 20:06 UTC
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After looking at my Stonehell game again, I think a difference must be made between stocking and restocking. The restocking table should generate a lot more empty results otherwise the dungeon will never get calmer. I don’t want to say “cleared” because I don’t expect the dungeon to be cleared, but if it remains as densely populated as before, then players will never get far beyond the first five or ten rooms.
Stonehell recommends the following table:
+-----+--------------------------------+ | 1d6 | Result | +-----+--------------------------------+ | 1 | Monster | | 2 | Monster & Treasure | | 3–6 | Empty with a 1-in-6 chance of | | | unguarded treasure | +-----+--------------------------------+
I mean it’s cool if new monsters come up, new sublevels are discovered, bomb factories open and need to be dismantled... but at the same time you’ll never leave the first quadrant of the first level if that’s how you do it.
– Alex 2022-07-01 22:40 UTC
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The Stonehell d6 one looks like a d6 version of the DMG random tables - which is 60% empty rooms - this would be a touch higher.
– bluetyson 2023-01-26 04:21 UTC