Dungeon23 Take Two: Introduction and Room 1, 2, 3

Hello, and welcome to the current iteration of my Dungeon23 attempt. The basic rules of the challenge can be found here. This challenge assumes a game master will be reading these pages and using them as a framework to challenge a party of four or so player characters. It is minimalist, and the game master may need to interpret or create things, but I won't leave them out to dry like that entirely: after all, why read a blog that makes you do all the work you're hoping to avoid by reading something pre-made anyway?

To play this mega dungeon, you could use the Fifth Edition of The World's Favorite Roleplaying Game. A bit coy, yes, but you know how it is. You can actually use anything you'd like, to be honest. I'm writing this game with "standard fantasy", such as it is, in mind. And I'll be making references to suggested checks and challenges in general terms. For example, an "easy History check" could mean trying to roll equal to or over a 10 on a twenty-sided die for a low-level character, or the number could be 14 or 16 for a higher-level or more competent character. 

The difficulties are, in ascending order: easy, average, challenging, hard, impossible.

Without further ado, here we go!

Mega Dungeon Entrance

Before you are the cliffs of the dizzyingly high World's Edge Shear, a section of mountain said to have been ripped out of the earth and dropped onto an ancient monster in the beginning of time. The only indication that there is something else going on is a simple stone door crested with a leering humanoid skull. There is a keyhole in the center of the door, and no obvious handle or markings.

Getting inside is, of course, critical. So let the players attempt any of these below or improvise if something else seems good. At worst, let the highest roller succeed where all others fail, even if it means it's a comedy of errors rather than competence. It happens a lot and can help remind everyone that we're here to have fun!

Hidden Key (easy): The skull atop the archway actually slides up with minimal effort, revealing an iron key that fits the keyhole.

Brute Force (hard): The door can be forced permanently open, the delicate internal mechanisms straining and shattering.

Pick the Lock (average): A satisfying click and sound of mechanisms-in-motion rewards those with a deft hand and analytical brain.

Folklore (challenging): An old riddle about knocking thrice on death's door will encourage players to knock. The first knock does nothing, the second knock earns a foreboding click from within the door, and the third knock sees the door swing open slowly of its own accord.

The Long Hall: A fifty-foot-long hallway choked with ages-old dust awaits you. It is craved from living rock, worn smooth from time and repeated passage over the years. An average awareness check reveals the occasional sound of something dry creaking in the room ahead.

Room 1

This room is forty feet square, tiled with rough stone on the floor but otherwise carved from the living stone. Skeletons, one per party member, lurk in wait just outside of sight in alcoves along the walls. If the party didn't hear the sounds of their occasional creaking, the skeletons ambush the party once they are in the middle of the chamber.

Features: Each alcove has a spot where there used to be a plaque, but they were long removed by looters. In the corner of one alcove, you find a leather pouch caked in dust and cobwebs. Inside is a small quartz worth a little bit of money.

Exit: Simple wooden door has a wooden crossbar that is operated from this side. It is currently set, but easy enough to open. The door is unlocked, if creaky.

Room 2

This is a fresh hallway, forty feet long. About halfway across the stone slab floor has caved in, revealing a three-foot-deep pit that is ten feet across. Inside the pit, hundreds of venomous bugs churn the mealy earth. It's an average long jump for most people, though a creative sort might try to pray some more stones loose (challenging) to drop them on the bugs for makeshift stepping stones. 

Attacking the bugs causes them to swarm violently, and they have a lot of health due to the number of bugs present. They don't inflict a lot of damage on their own, but they can sicken someone they bite from their venom. The same fate awaits any who fall into the pit.

The Far Side: Another simple wooden door awaits, with no obvious lock.

Room 3

In the center of this circular thirty-foot room is a well. The well goes down ten feet and ends in rubble. Amidst the rubble, there is a faint glimmer. It is a golden tooth inside a human skull. It is challenging to get it out without magic or rope, and the tooth is worth a small amount of money, even if it is a bit macabre.

Exit: A locked (average) iron door awaits, and it is inscribed with a representation of a treasure chest.