Spes Magna Games

Well, so much for my plan to post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The middle of the week arrived, and I got some stuff done, but obviously none of that was typing up and posting more Wednesday Lore about the goblin-spider’s lair. So, how about this:

I’ve been running Castles & Crusades for a while now. I have a weekend C&C game, and I have three groups of students in grades 5 through 7 for whom I run C&C, each group getting lunch/recess time on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays to assemble in my classroom for heroic fantasy adventures. This summer, I’ll be running two one-week long C&C game camps as well.

The more I play C&C, the more I like it. I’ve pulled several of my AD&D books from the shelves to use with C&C. With my students, I’m running a series of old Dungeon adventures. One of my students groups segued from a Dungeon adventure into Day of Al’Akbar. This week, the PCs in that group navigated the checkerboard riddle room, albeit not without suffering some damage from electricity arcs.

In my weekend game, we’ve acquired two new players, the middle-school-age nephews of one of my regulars. With the addition of two new players, we firmly established a second group of six PCs operating out Elmelynn, a small town about a week north-by-northwest of the campaign’s original group of four PCs who operate out Sisak, a frontier farming village. The new group has helped a lost modron escape to a friendlier reality. In the process, the new group learned that a modron army has invaded their campaign world in order to “restore the balance” (as the modron explained). The group’s rogue also learned that their town’s criminal kingpin has demon or devil blood flowing in his veins. (Aside: I really wish C&C called rogues thieves and wizards magic-users.)

Shortly after the modron adventure, the PCs signed on to escort of new tax assessor to Sisak. (Nota Bene: This tax assessor is the replacement of the assessor who was killed by monsters which were defeated by the Sisak group of PCs.) Group two also heard that a special shipment of dwarven ale had gone missing en route from Hol Lodur in the Shadowed Vale to Elmelynn. Since the tax assessor isn’t leaving for a few days, the players decided to track down the missing ale and collect the reward offered for its return.

Group two’s first day on the trail of the ale was eventful. Hol Lodur in the Shadowed Vale is not far from Elmelynn. The PCs tracked the missing shipment to where it had been stolen by a group of humanoids, whose trail led to an abandoned dwarven hold in the wooded highlands of the Vale. Cautious investigation learned that the ale was in the hold, and that there were bugbears and goblins there as well. The PCs withdrew to camp, sending back one of the dwarf NPCs recruited from Hol Lodur, the ale’s point of origin.

Since I’d been using random encounters (something I tend to shy away from), I figured it was sensible to see if this dwarf NPC encountered anything on his way back to Hol Lodur. A few dice rolls later (using the random wilderness encounter tables in the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide) revealed that the paths of the dwarf and a hill giant intersected.

Many hours passed, and the NPC dwarf had not returned. The PCs followed the NPC dwarf’s tracks to where the hill giant attacked and captured the dwarf. The PCs then tracked the hill giant back to its lair. One PC, the fastest on horseback, raced back to Hol Lodur to get reinforcements. The rest of the party faced the hill giant. After a fierce battle in which the PC dwarf’s giant-fighting AC bonus did some heavy lifting, the PCs defeated the hill giant and its mate, rescued the dwarf from being roasted on a spit, and discovered a hoard of treasure. Also, three adolescent hill giants escaped by fleeing into tunnels leading deeper underground from the giants’ cave lair.

By the end of the session, the PCs were trying to figure out what to do with a bit more than a half-ton of coins and other treasure, gradually realizing that a simple find-and-retrieve mission has become quite complicated indeed.

Tags: C&C, game play

As mentioned last week, Bosukumo’s lair consists of four levels connected via strong teleportational magic. This magic is subtle because it is blended into the very structure of the interconnecting passageways that run between the levels.

Whenever the players’ characters enter a level, roll 4d10 to determine what passages lead away from each of the outer archways. Orient the passages so that they best connect each archway. Roll 1d4 to determine to which level each passage leads. A second 1d4 determines to which outer archway the passage connects.

1 = Entry Level
2 = Eight-Pointed Star Level
3 = Halls and Rooms Level
4 = Water Pit Level

1 = North
2 = East
3 = South
4 = West

Don’t worry about repeats or strange results. For example, it is possible that the northern outer archway leading away from the Water Pit Level leads to the norther outer archway of the Water Pit Level.

Tags: Goblin Spider Lair, maps, Monday Map

Bosukumo is not an average goblin-spider. It has 6.5 hit points per HD (26 hit points), and it enjoys a +2 bonus on saving throws against magical effects that affect the mind or emotions. Bosukumo’s gaze poses a threat. Once per day each, Bosukumo can inflict charm monster or hold monster on a human, demi-humanoid, humanoid, or giant that meets its gaze. This ability works in any of Bosukumo’s forms. Because of these additional abilities, Bosukumo is worth 294 XP. What’s more, Bosukumo’s treasure type is 4 (Hoard).

In other respects, Bosukumo is a typical goblin-spider, the stats of which follow.

Goblin-Spider
Number: 1-2, 2-5
Size: Small to Medium
HD: 4 (d8)
AC: 14 or 15
Move: 30 ft., 20 ft. (climb)
Attacks: Bite (1d3 or 1d8) or by weapon
Special: Darkvision 90 ft., Poison, Shapeshift, Twilight Vision, Web
Saves: M, P
INT: High
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Type: Shapechanger
Treasure: 4
XP: 130+4

The goblin-spider is a yokai, a type of supernatural creature that most often has an evil disposition. In its natural form, the goblin-spider appears much like a man-sized spider, but its eyes are those of a mammal rather than an arachnid. The goblin-spider is a shapeshifter as well. Intelligent, malicious, and aggressive, the goblin-spider poses a serious risk to the humans and demi-humans upon which it prefers to prey.

Poison: A victim bitten by a goblin-spider must make a constitution save to prevent the immediate affects of the venom taking place. A successful save halves the poison’s initial effects and negates the second round’s effects.

A goblin-spider’s poison on the first round causes 1d10 points of damage. On the second round, it causes a further 1d8 points of damage plus paralyzation for 3d6 hours.

Shapeshifting: During the day, a goblin-spider is about the size of a goblin, and it cannot use its shapeshifting ability. When in small form, it is AC 14 and its bite inflicts 1d3 points of damage. Once the sun sets, a goblin-spider grows to size medium, and it can shapeshift into any small or medium animal, human, demi-human, or humanoid.

In animal form, it gains the appropriate movement, AC, and attacks. If that form has a bite attack, the goblin-spider’s bite remains poisonous. In human, demi-human, or humanoid form, the goblin-spider loses its poisonous bite, but it can wield weapons, wear armor, et cetera.

A goblin-spider speaks the language of arachnids and the Common Tongue regardless of form. In animal form, it speaks with animals at will. In human, demi-human, or humanoid form, it speaks the appropriate racial language.

Web: In either small or medium goblin-spider form, this monster spins webs. A single strand of its silk is strong enough to support the goblin-spider and one creature four times as large. Eight times per day, a goblin spider can throw a web (as the wizard spell). To protect its lair, a goblin-spider creates sheets of sticky webbing from 5 to 60 feet square. It usually positions these sheets to snare flying creatures as well as to trap prey on the ground. A goblin-spider can move across its own web at its climb speed and can pinpoint the location of any creature touching its web.

Tags: C&C, Friday Foe, Goblin Spider Lair

The rubble from a long destroyed tower helps conceal the narrow flight of descending stairs that are the entrance to Bosukumo the goblin spider’s lair. Bosukumo’s vicious humanoid servants creep forth on the darkest nights to do their master’s bidding.

The Entry Level

The aforementioned stairs lead down to a chamber shaped somewhat like half an octagon. The stench and smoke makes breathing difficult. Most of Bosukumo’s followers are goblins, and this level is overcrowded with those squabbling, cowardly, vile humanoids. There are two exits from this chamber.

The exit closest to the stairs’ terminus opens to a columned bridge leading to a second half-octagon room. The bridge is 20 feet higher than the floor below, which is where most of Bosukumo’s goblin followers lair. The stench and smoke from the wafts up from the lower floor.

The goblin rank-and-file set up their beds of dirt and rags along the walls, leaving the floor open for fighting, cooking, et cetera. There is little airflow through Busokumo’s lair. Smoke and stink hang in the air, and the floor and lower walls are smeared with filth.

Thirty feet to either side of the bridge, there are two steep stone staircases leading up from the lower floor to square rooms. Under the bridge, the goblins store a half dozen crudely fashioned ladders long enough to reach up to the bridge.

The Outer Archways

All four geomorphs have archways on their outer walls. Each archway leads to a twisting tunnel carved through stone. Those who constructed these tunnels and the four levels of Bosukumo’s lair imbued their work with strong teleportational magic. Consequently, to where each tunnel leads is determined randomly. The specifics of how this magic works will be detailed next Wednesday.

The Eight-Pointed Star Level

This level is dark and cold, and an oppressive, sub-audible quavering tone hums ceaselessly. The original architects built this level as a storehouse for otherwordly trophies. The L-shaped halls in each corner of the level have bizarre artifacts displayed in cases arranged along the outer walls. The square chamber in the center of the level has shelves holding books and scrolls collected from numerous non-good planes of existence.

All of the doors on this level are magically locked. Attempts to force the doors open may trigger wards designed to rout, disable, or kill would-be robbers.

Halls and Rooms Level

The air quality here is bad, but not as bad as the entry level. Tougher humanoids in Bosukumo’s service lair here, so adventurers will encounter boss goblins, some orcs, and shamans who believe/claim they gain their spells from Bosukumo itself. The humanoids in this area are tougher and more disciplined than the rank-and-file goblins in the Entry Level.

The Water Pit Level

Bosukumo lairs here. This level is divided into four separate sets of rooms around a center square pit that drops down to well of cold water. Bosukumo can scurry along walls and across ceilings, so its movement here is not hindered by either the central pit or the thick webs that line the floor, walls, and ceilings. In one of the chamber is a secret door in the floor. If found and opened, a shaft descending into darkness is revealed. This shaft leads down to another set of magically connected geomorphs.

Tags: Goblin Spider Lair, Wednesday Lore

Well, it’s been a bit since I’ve posted anything here. So, let’s see if some structure can help. On Mondays, I’ll post a map. On Wednesday, I’ll post about what can be found in the areas mapped. On Friday, I’ll post a monster. That might work.

Today, I present four artisanal dungeon geomorphs. Each geomorph has been loving crafted by hand, drawn first with a freshly sharpened Dixon Ticonderoga soft HB 2 pencil and then carefully inked with both a black TUL Fine Liner and a black Paper Mate Flair M felt tip pen. The final step involved using an eraser to remove stray pencil lines while at the same time avoiding as much as possible smearing the ink. I’ve used this method to produce maps for nigh on four-and-a-half decades. The results speak for themselves.

N.B. One square equals 10 feet.

Tags: Goblin Spider Lair, maps, Monday Map