Imagining a cover for Old-School ’77 Dungeon Stocking Tables, I hit upon the idea to draw a dungeon map with stocking notes, examples from the tables. One thing led to another…

Cover in the Making

To create the adventure locale, I string together a series of five-room dungeons. Among Neagley’s nine forms, a “Moose” makes the tower; a “Cross,” the exploratory tunnels; an “Evil Mule” for the cave network, and a “Paw” looks like the excavation site. For this purpose, I use the forms without necessarily incorporating Johnn Four’s five-room-dungeon story framework.

On my draft, circles are rooms or encounter areas; lines are corridors, tunnels, and stairway connections between. I note the entrance (E) to each as well as its exit (X), which joins the next entrance. This makes a wire frame model. Later, while drawing the thing, other connections between rooms within and without each five-room section—much desired according to Jaquays’ Techniques—may become apparent.

See “Xandering the Dungeon” on the Alexandrian. In five parts and three addenda, Justin Alexander’s treatise exposes the techniques, philosophy, and multiple examples of the cartographic and dungeon design methods of Jennell Jaquays, whose early design credits include “F’Chelrak’s Tomb” (The Dungeoneer No. 1, 1976) and Judges Guild modules Caverns of Thracia (1979) and Dark Tower (1980). Alexander’s series is a must-read for fledgling cartographers and adventure-game designers. Jaquays’ work is a must-study.

Monsters and Treasures

As per guidelines in the 1977 supplements Monster and Treasure Assortments and Dungeon Geomorphs, I chose monsters and treasures according to the scenario in mind. “Specials” are the focus of the dungeon, in this case, the wizard and the object of his search. “Selecteds” are those monsters and treasures that round out the story. For example, apprentices and other monsters the wizard uses as tools—because he’s evil—and wealth and magic items they employ to achieve their goals.

Monsters

To accompany the wizard, I figure he must have apprentices, a charmed monster, and some manual laborers. Periphron is throwing high-level spells in the background story, and the sought artifact has world-changing potential. There happens to be a 13th-level wizard on M&T’s Level 9 monster list. In the same list, I find a blue dragon for the charmed-monster guardian and stone giants to do the heavy lifting.

Special: Periphron (13th-level wizard).

Selected: Apprentices (MU 10-ish), stone giants, blue dragon (charmed monster).

I note that stone giants are neutral in alignment. So, their relationship to the evil wizard is not a simple cooperation, and I’ve already used the charm monster spell. As the scenario develops, we might find an opportunity to embellish the story and explain why the giants do the wizard’s work.

Treasures

The object of Periphron’s search, the Seventh is the primordial wyrm’s last unhatched egg from the Wyrm Dawn campaign. Its discovery and successful use (far from obvious) might create competition for the pretender in Wyrm Dawn’s successor Wyrmwyrd.

See the Legends section of “Myths and Legends” for more on the story.

Special: the Seventh (artifact).

Selected: Periphron’s spellbook, crystal ball, wand of metal detection, helm of read languages and magic, reference books.

In the selected treasure list, I have neglected wealth, which we might think would be necessary to accomplish Periphron’s plans. We’ll be generous with treasure-rolling opportunities in stocking—unless the wizard spent all his money and, so, is now desperate to find the artifact…

Placement and Distribution

I place the special monster (Msp) and treasure (Tsp): Periphron in the tower, the Seventh in the excavation site—yet undiscovered. For contents of other rooms, I roll on one of the tables from the Old-School ’77 Dungeon Stocking Tables. The principle difference between the three tables is the chance for a monster encounter as noted below.

Dungeon Section	Old-School ’77 Table	Chance for Monsters
Tower	By the Bluebook	33%
Exploratory tunnels	Basic and Lower Dungeons	25%
Caves	Caves and Caverns	50%
Excavation site	Basic and Lower Dungeons	25%

The results are noted on the wire-frame model: selected monsters and treasures (Mse, Tse), other monsters with treasures (MT), monsters without treasure (M—), unguarded treasures (uT), traps (an “X” with a half circle above—my rendition of a skull and crossbones), and interesting variations (star). I also note, with an asterisk (*), a few elements from which I might later derive adventure hooks.

In B/X, Moldvay separates OD&D’s “tricks and traps” into traps and “specials” for “anything not exactly a trap, but placed for special reasons” (B52). Meanwhile, in Holmes’s 1977 Basic D&D, the editor refers to these as “interesting variations.”

Now to draw the map and fill in details. I will of course share the finished adventure module.

In the meantime, with this draft document, you might develop your own version of “Periphron’s Tower and Excavation.” All the elements, the artifact for instance, are interchangeable. Should the cartography be an obstacle, you might browse Dyson Logos’s collection of five-room dungeons (tagged 5RD) or search the network for suitable maps to string together.

This 68-day #Dungeon23 veteran is confident that he can draw a 20-room map.

Justin Alexander changed the verb for using Jaquays’ techniques. See his “Historical Note.” Now we “Xander” the dungeon. I changed references and links accordingly. [13:43 27 November 2023 GMT]

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I am an irregular tweeter, but follow me on Mastodon @stephenwendell@chirp.enworld.org for daily #Dungeon23 contributions.

Another fantastic element we don’t see often enough: the magic portal. I imagine Fearthoht, during her reign, had installed a network of magic portals to facilitate communication throughout the underworld empire. This one, broken, presents an unspoken quest.#Dungeon23 #DnD, #map pic.twitter.com/4xn7okKHEW

— Stephen Wendell (@stephenwendell) March 9, 2023