The theme for the first week is Ancient. I decided this would be a long barrow, as I was going to default to “temple” (which this still sort-of is). This uses the OSE entries for monsters (& treasure).

Outside: A barrow, a long mound of grass rising to head height. It is aligned East-West with the sun. There is an entrance leading into the barrow. It has a gravel floor, bracketed by old standing stones.

Inside rooms:

  1. Cat, Mountain Lion lair, strewn with bones and shredded clothes. It smells of blood and wet fur. The walls are stone, covered with grime. Wiping them off show symbols and hieroglypics. There are sloping passsages away to the North and South. To the East is a carved double door.
  2. A cloakroom of robes and cloaks. The clothes are moth-eaten, despite the smell of moth balls. A large wardrobe is against the east wall. Within is a false back. Behind that is a corridor, but a hidden pit trap drops the unwary down 20 ft toward room 3.
  3. Large religious room with dressed-stone carved walls. There is a plinth to the north covered with Snakes and treasure. Far too many snakes. Four Acolytes are handling the snakes with glazed eyes. A Cleric called Remus is leading them. They want the sanctity of the snake altar preserved.
  4. Antechamber. A dead acolyte lies here, barricaded from room 2. He has several snake bites on him.
  5. Lifting the largest candlestick on the altar in room 3 will open a panel revealing this room. There is a set of fancy robes with ornate trim.

I think of room 5 as having the MacGuffin or magic item worth robbing the dungeon for.

The cover is a worked-up version in Dungeon Scrawl (large version).

Notes

Picture of a notebook with text like the post on the left, rough map on the right
Paper version

After saying I wouldn’t get carried away, I’ve typed this up and redrawn in Dungeon Scrawl, what gives? Well, for a start, I’ve cheated and started slightly early, this is late December and I’ve got much more free time. Secondly, I wanted to see how long it takes to write up and redraw. I definitely will not do this for all posts!

I’ve discovered the problem with a small dungeon instead of a big one is that in some way’s it’s harder. Now each room needs to be interesting. Maybe I’ll change to larger ones and generate relatively simple stuff and then spend a few days’ worth of thinking on linking it all together?

  • week1_ancient.ds (17 KB)