Campaigns

Ground and Figure Scale, Formations, Troop Ratio and Types

“The ratio of figures to men assumed is 1:20, the ground scale is 1″:10 yards, and one turn of play is roughly equivalent to one minute of time in battle. The troop ratio will hold true for 30mm figures, but if a smaller scale is used it should be reduced to 1:10” (Chainmail, 8).

Figure Scale

In the 2000s, I collected an embarrassing number of plastic fantasy figurines. Inexpensive and pre-painted, D&D Miniatures are 30mm scale. Perfect. Except they are mounted on a circular base. A man-sized model takes up a one-inch-diameter space, which fits in the five-foot square occupied by the character on a twenty-first century battle grid.

Wargame miniatures often have rectangular bases, which correspond to the breadth and depth of the unit represented. Transposing its one-inch base to the battlefield, my man-sized figurine represents 20 men milling about in a hundred square yards.

A wave of the hand seems an easy solution. I respect the breadth but ignore the figure’s depth. The 20 men are in formation at the front edge of the space occupied by the figure. In the case where multiple figures make two or more ranks, all troops represented are in ranks, one behind the other, irrespective of the scaled depth.

Archers in Two Ranks
Archers in Two Ranks.
Each figurine represents a number of troops in a rank across the leading edge of the front rank of figures.

Using the larger scale without also using smaller figurines impacts play in two other ways. One, areas of effect, while scaled accordingly, more frequently touch a larger base. A near miss on Gygax’s table is a hit on my table. Two, shorter distances present less spectacle. A giant hurling a rock 20 inches downrange on an eight-foot table looks the same as the scaled ten-inch throw compared to my four-foot table. But, as the giant in both cases is three inches tall, the shorter throw appears less impressive.

To compensate for the former, I might use a longer “variation measure” (Chainmail, 13) for field guns and giant throws. I’m not sure, though, that this won’t have some other unintended impact.

Ground Scale

“The playing area that the battles are fought out upon should be a table rather than the floor. It can be from a minimum of 4′ to a maximum of 7′ wide, and it should be at least 8′ in length” (Chainmail, 5).

Gygax was famous for hosting wargames on a large sand table in his basement. The largest table I have—upon which I must also dine—measures 31″ × 47″. I could run small engagements in the scaled 310-by-470 yards, but Light Horse charge across it in a single turn, and a figure anywhere on the table is a target for Longbowmen stationed in the center.

I stretch the table by doubling the ground scale. At 20 yards to the inch, the battlefield is 620 yards by almost a thousand. It’s similar to playing on a five-by-eight-foot table. But not quite. The figurines remain the same size, so they effectively take up four times the space on my battlefield than they would on Gygax’s basement table. On my table, commanders lack the same room for maneuver.

Figure-to-Troop Ratio

Because a one-inch base now stretches across 20 yards, I up the figure scale as well. At the corresponding figure scale, I could field armies the same size as Gygax, but 1:80 sounds unreasonable.

To approach the calculation another way, I count men in one rank at Bath’s “very close order” (Ancient Wargaming, 20).1 In the closest formation, each man occupies only 18 inches.

At 18″ per, 40 fighters fit in one rank 60 feet (20 yards) wide. Therefore, at 1:40, a rank of figures, bases touching, are in very close order. As per Chainmail, figures up to 1″ apart are in close order, and any farther is open order.2

Scale for the Valormr Campaign

Ground Scale: 1″ to 20 yards*
Figure Scale: 1:40
Time Scale: 1 minute per turn

* To convert, all distances given in Chainmail are halved.

Formations
Formations.
Left to right: a lone figure represents 40 troops in one rank at close order unless otherwise stated; 120 Heavy Spears, one rank, very close order; two ranks of 80 each Armored Foot, close order; two ranks3 of 160 Armored Spears, the first presents a shield wall, very close order.

Troop Types

According to Bath, light foot “wear no armor of any description, either leather or metal. They may carry a light shield and are usually but not always armed with missile weapons” (16). Gygax & Perren imply as much in the missile fire table (Chainmail, 11), where targets are categorized as unarmored, half-armor [another word for Heavy or Medium (Bath, 16)] or shield, and fully armored.

Since most any combat-capable characters in D&D wear some sort of armor, it is the rare figurine in my collection which could be considered Light Foot. I, therefore, adjudicate by case, according to my needs, whether to class a lightly-armored figure as Light or Heavy.

Furthermore, there is a dearth of mounted figures in the D&D Miniatures line. Again, I take the liberty to call any figure mounted, thus turning Foot into Horse as desired.

Light Foot and Peasants
Light Foot and Peasants.
In Champions of Chaos, these figures wearing leather armor (foreground) are classed as Light Foot. They stand in open order. Others (background) are peasants in milling-about formation.

My reading of Chainmail gives Light Foot a sore disadvantage. They move and charge at the same rate as Heavy Foot, get no more attack dice than an equal number of points of Heavy Foot, and suffer weak morale. I suspect this is by design, being historically—and logically—accurate. In historical wargames, as in early fantasy games, a force adhered to percentages of troop types. We see such orders of battle in Bath’s Hyboria, Arneson’s Blackmoor (First Fantasy Campaign), and as recently as the AD&D Monster Manual. I assume a player bought only as many Light Foot as the order of battle required. Though anachronistic, the cliché is apt—cannon fodder.

I haven’t yet worked out the orders of battle for the Valormr Campaign. These Light Foot are a nod in that direction, as are the peasants, who Solon Theros herded from the countryside to fill the ranks.

Notes

1 Bath seems to have invented the term “very close order” to differentiate from close order. Historically, close order is less strictly defined, meaning troops spaced anywhere from 18″ to 36″ apart. Gygax and Perren make no mention of “very close order.” Chainmail gives advantages to pole arms formed in close order, given as figures “1″ or less apart” (Chainmail, 40).

2 Chainmail makes no distinction of, nor has rules for, extended order. We’ll leave it at that for now.

3 Chainmail allows only a formation’s first rank of figures to engage in melee. I am not sure why that is. In the historical phalanx, men armed with spears could engage targets from the second rank and with pikes (up to 20′ long) from as far back as the fifth rank. Maybe Gygax and Perren assume each figure is in multiple ranks, but then the figure’s width cannot accurately depict the formation’s breadth.

Setting Up a Wargames Campaign

I came only recently to Tony Bath. I’d heard vague stories about a game in the misty past set in Conan’s world. Details were murky and scarce. It wasn’t clear if it was D&D or something else, and I couldn’t sort out how the game related to the archetypal barbarian.

In early 2011, while browsing the Hill Cantons, I discovered a four-part series about Bath’s Hyboria wargames campaign (December 2010). Author Chris Kutalik had got hold of a copy of Setting Up a Wargames Campaign by the legendary English wargamer. Kutalik doesn’t so much review the book as proselytize. That day I became an acolyte.

Today, we take for granted the campaign. For modern role-playing gamers, a single adventure is called a “one-shot,” and while the form has its merits, it lacks the scope, continuity, and satisfaction a campaign provides.

The Society of Ancients

Tony Bath founded the Society of Ancients and its journal Slingshot in 1965. Now in its 56th year, the society continues to thrive. It has an active members-only online forum, hosts an annual Battle Day, and still produces Slingshot bi-monthly in full color.

So it was, too, with wargamers in the 1960s. Pushing lead figures across a tabletop gets stale after a number of unrelated battles. The context, coming from historical accounts, is inflexible. The setup and tactics, again historical, are sometimes limited. Battles often ended in a slug-fest, there being no reason a general might conserve troops for the morrow.

Veering from the strictly historical wargame, campaigners step back from the table and consider the larger theater of operations. On large-scale maps showing rivers instead of streams, mountains instead of hilltops, countries instead of towns, opposing generals exercise strategy instead of tactics. They march armies, represented by pins, across the map, each general in secret from the other, until forces meet.

In the ensuing battle, the context, setup, and tactics are all determined by the preceding events and the terrain upon which the two forces find each other. Troops must be used effectively or be withdrawn to fight another day. This is the stuff of the campaign.

In Bath’s Hyboria, King Arthur and his knights waged war on Conan’s Cimmerian hordes.

In those years, Tony Bath devised the quintessential wargames campaign. But he went further, for he set the campaign in a fictitious world. He lifted the map from the end papers of a Robert Howard novel. He cribbed also the setting’s name, and so Hyboria came again to life in the second half of the twentieth century. Bath borrowed real-world cultures, both ancient and medieval, to populate the continent with peoples, whence armies were drawn.

In Bath’s Hyboria, King Arthur and his knights waged war on Conan’s Cimmerian hordes. Carthaginians struggled against Viking raiders. Picts crossed swords with Persians. Aquilonians, allied with Argives and Nemedians, laid siege to a Turanian town occupied by Hyrkanians.

Tony Bath’s Ancient Wargaming including Setting Up a Wargames Campaign

That was only the beginning. Bath describes the process and much more in amicable prose. Setting Up a Wargames Campaign was published in 1973 by Wargames Research Group. It had a second edition (1977) and a revised third edition in 1986. Copies now circulate on various reseller sites for not extraordinary prices. At the time, though, I couldn’t find any such copy.

Instead, I found a reproduction. As part of his History of Wargaming Project, John Curry, with the Society of Ancients, published Tony Bath’s Ancient Wargaming (2009, 2011), which is a reprint collection of three previously published books:

  • Peltast and Pila Ancient Wargaming Rules (Tabletop Warfare, 1976)
  • Setting Up a Wargames Campaign (WRG, 1973)
  • The Legend of Hyboria (Society of Ancients, 2005)

In setting up the Valormr Campaign, I’m using Wargames Campaign’s first three chapters, in which Bath describes the basics:

  • How to Set Up Your Campaign
  • Map Movement
  • Contacts, Battles and After Effects

I’m sure to make use of later chapters in subsequent campaigns. Furthermore, the ancient wargame rules Peltast and Pila will serve in campaigns taking place earlier in the DONJON LANDS time line.

Champions of Chaos

It was yet during Throrgrmir’s Renaissance when rumors spread to the four corners of the world about the wyrmlings which terrorized the dwarves in their dungeon domain.

Anax Archontas Pyrgos Pyrkagias came from lands far south of the World Dragon Mountains, where the red dragon was known as Lord Master of Flame Tower. He brought with him Solon Theros, a superhero with a reputation for ruthlessness, savagery, and cunning in war.

From a temporary lair in the Western Mountains above Darkmeer, Anax Archontas verified the truth of the wyrmling rumors. Then, with Solon Theros he made a plan to conquer the dwarves and thus begin the prophesied Age of Dragons.

Plan made, the dragon hissed at Solon Theros. “First, find champions from among the human rabble below to fight for our purpose.”

Regiments assembled before Solon Theros and Anax Archontas
Regiments from Dracken Deep and Ternemeer assembled before Solon Theros and Anax Archontas.

Wargame Scenario

Champions of Chaos is an introductory wargame scenario, in which Solon Theros chooses champions to fight for Chaos. It exercises four of Chainmail’s rule subsets.1 Thus, the scenario is conducted in four phases.

  1. Skirmish: Regiments from two petty states fight an engagement.
    ▪ Setup: Dracken Deep vs. Ternemeer
    ▪ Narrative: Killing Field at Aldefane
  2. Man-to-Man Combat: Surviving troops of both sides face off against each other—every man for himself.
    ▪ Setup: “Allies You Have None”
    ▪ Narrative: Four Without Country
  3. Jousting: Those who remain standing compete in the lists.
    ▪ Setup: Death Rides to Mortal Combat
    ▪ Extra: Strategy on the Jousting Matrix
    ▪ Narrative: Hargrane Against Nine in the Lists
  4. Fantasy Combat: Winners undergo long and arduous training under the whip of Solon Theros. One year later, the heroes are tested against fantastic creatures.
    ▪ Extra: A Final Test of Courage
    ▪ Setup: Heroes of Chaos

Solon Theros chose warriors from two of Darkmeer’s petty states. Neighbors Dracken Deep and Ternemeer are fierce rivals. Commanders Minke Meine and Annemie Tacx have met before.2

For the venue, Solon Theros chose Aldefane, a structure built by the Greater Ones. Whatever its original purpose, its ruins now serve as an arena.

It’s been a lustrum since I played Chainmail. Before the Valormr Campaign proper, I refamiliarize myself with the rules for medieval miniatures in Champions of Chaos.

Notes

1 Another rule subset describes sieges. Too complex for the simple scenario, those rules may serve later in the Valormr Campaign.

2 Naming: Anax Archontas and Solon Theros, being from south of the World Dragon Mountains, get their names from Ancient Greek. For Darkmeer places and persons, I cull names from Dutch, Frisian, and Old Frankish. In all cases, I take license to suit my own ear, finding justification in the millennia between now and then.

Myths and Legends

Myths

In the dream of the dragon, Earth
Was ruled by the Greater Ones,
Who created magic and with it
Made themselves from Men, the First Race.
From the flesh-blood of Men did make
The Greater Ones they themselves.
For nothing on Earth was beyond
Their power with the magic they created.

—excerpt from Song of the World Dragon

Song of the World Dragon is an ancient text, one of the earliest non-magical written works, which recounts the myths of the world’s origin. Here I summarize three.

Greater Ones

A superintelligent species of beings once lived in a world known as Earth. Called the Greater Ones, its members wielded power as gods. They created magic, and they built the donjons, whose spires, now in ruins, still punctuate the horizon. They also created the demihuman species and monsters. The Greater Ones did not survive the Rending.

The Rending

The Earth of the Greater Ones ended in a cataclysmic apocalypse—an explosion so powerful as to tear the world to pieces and rip a hole in space and time. The perpetrator was the Illmind, a sinister collective of hyperintelligent, extra-dimensional beings.

World Dragon

Through the rent was thrown one part of Earth. The Ershard fell into a void, where there was only a far away light and a cosmic dragon. The dragon knew that the few surviving creatures would not long live in the void so far from any energy source. So, the dragon took the Ershard on its back and carried it toward the light. Now, the Ershard, still on the dragon’s back, orbits the light.

Legends

These legends, known in the north, are told about the Throrgrmir dungeon. The authoritative source for these legends, among many others, is Viggo Eskilsson’s Histories of Throrgrmir From Great Wyrm to Age of Dragons.

Ormr and Wyrmlings

When the Throrgrmir dwarves dug too deep, they awoke a primordial wyrm. She crept from the depths into their underground city and fed on its populace. The dwarves fought the wyrm back to her lair.

But, now nourished, the primordial wyrm descended to the Underside of the Ershard, where she mated with the World Dragon. In her lair below the dwarven city, she laid seven eggs. Six hatched.

Named Ormr by the dwarves, the primordial mother is also know as the Great Wyrm. Her spawn, as wyrmlings.

Six wyrmlings scurried into the dwarven domain. They devoured any dwarves who stood in their way, but what they sought was treasure. They stole the dwarves’ gold, gems, and fine-made works and took them back to the wyrm’s lair.

Since Stardark’s End, naught is known about the Great Wyrm. Perhaps she died in her lair, deep below the surface. But some say she left the dungeon, flying on wings to the cold northern ends of the Ershard. Others say she descended again to the Underside to mate once more with the World Dragon.

The wyrmling clutch was decimated during the Stardark Empire. The last wyrmling, after delivering its touch, was killed by Faerunduine’s claws.

Wyrm-Touched Dragons

During the reign of Dagrun Stardark, the wyrmlings continued their scavenging for treasure. They stole from any creature possessing wealth: ogres, giants, demons, as well as dragons. But a wyrmling’s touch effected dragons. It made them stronger, more intelligent, more ferocious.

Three dragons were so touched:

  • Ixmundyr: Red dragon. Made his lair in a magma chamber. Slain.
  • Gullhringr: Gold dragon. Lair unknown. Disappeared with all the dungeon’s inhabitants at Stardark’s End.
  • Faerunduine: Green dragon. Lairs in the Deepmost Caverns. Recently gained a cult following. A temple at the Throrgardr Gate is dedicated to her.

The Seventh

No one knows whatever happened to the Great Wyrm’s unhatched egg. In antique texts—most by Stardark’s mages and by the fiend Murtax, it is called “the Seventh.”

Wyrmwyrd

The Throrgrmir dwarves made a device called the Wyrmwryd to control dragons. During her reign, Dagrun Stardark used the Wyrmwyrd to subdue the Great Wyrm.

Wyrm-Touched Dragons Ixmundyr Gullhringr and Faerunduine
Wyrm-Touched Dragons: Ixmundyr (deceased), Gullhringr (unknown), and Faerunduine (extant).

Beliefs and Religion

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.”

—Mark Twain1

Beliefs

These are fundamental beliefs widely held among all peoples throughout the known world.

Eternal Recurrence

The world ends; the world begins anew. Time is cyclical. The most recent end of the world was the Rending. Before that, there was Ragnarok, a battle between the giants and the gods. Before that, the Great Deluge, the Ever Winter, and the Time of Fire. The present world will be destroyed following a battle between Law and Chaos. Chaos wins.

Fates and Destiny

In the north, they are the Norns. In the south, the Moirai personify destiny. To the east, one’s destiny is determined by the stars. In all cases, the common term is “the Fates.” The gods obey the Fates. It is part of divine responsibility. Mortal creatures may choose to obey or to resist them. Diverse myths portray a hero’s struggle against the Fates and his or her success or failure.

Religion

Most folk, particularly those north of the World Dragon Mountains,2 are adherents to the Pantheon of gods. Followers revere all the gods, the Allfather chief among them.

The holy symbol is the Ouroboros, a serpent biting its tail. The symbol is presented with the “bite” at the circle’s top. The inverse presentation, considered heresy, signifies rebellion against the Pantheon.3

Rituals, ceremonies, and festivals follow the Ring Cycle, which comprises eight annual cycles of birth, death, and rebirth, and an overall cycle of worldly renewal. The faithful make rituals daily as well as monthly and seasonally.

As such, churches and cathedrals are dedicated to the Pantheon as a whole, yielding a central place to the Allfather. At the same time, temples, dedicated to a particular god, are not rare, while shrines may be either to a single god or to the Pantheon. In no case is devotion to the Allfather ignored.4

A religious edifice of a community is staffed by clerics, who attend to the religious, if not spiritual, needs of the faithful. These clerics may be of the adventuring class or minister clerics. Minister clerics may rise, though slowly, within the church hierarchy to hold upper offices.

Community Size Edifice Office
Village Church (rarely temple) Priest
Small Town Church Curate
Large Town (or City) Church Bishop
Major City Church or Cathedral Matriarch/Patriarch

Each office is appointed by the next higher, usually influenced by its own superiors. For examples, the bishop of Valormr is appointed by the patriarch in the Grand Duchy’s capital city.5 The bishop appoints the curate of Odenwoad as well as that of Fyrir, and each curate appoints priests to surrounding villages.

Development Guidelines

In developing the DONJON LANDS setting, I strive to create only what is necessary for game play. Though I indulge to some degree when an opportunity to explore the world presents itself. In so doing, I follow two guidelines. Here I describe how they relate to the setting’s religions.

Ancient Models

To save myself a tremendous amount of work, I use as models ancient religions of our own world. The religion followed north of the World Dragon Mountains draws from Germanic and Norse mythology. While, south of the range, the inspiration is from Greek mythology, and east of the (unnamed) central sea, Mesopotamian and Ancient Egyptian. Models not copies.

B/X Implied Setting

A goal of the Wyrmwyrd campaign is to develop a setting that corresponds to the rules as written. In B/X, clerics “have dedicated themselves to the service of a god or goddess” (B9). No gods are described. A DM, who so desires, might elaborate on the Pantheon to define a much more detailed and complex religion, while another might use only “the Allfather”6 as a generic god.

Notes

1 The quote is often attributed to Twain. The Quote Investigator debunks the myth.

2 The World Dragon Mountains are far south of the Throrgrmir Valley.

3 A sect or cult of Chaos might use the Ouroboros inverted among its membership—never openly in civilized communities. We may encounter the symbol more frequently in the dungeons.

4 One might imagine the predominant religion as pantheistic merging toward monotheism, as the Church of the Allfather consolidates its power.

5 As folk in Valormr prize their independence, there is some tension between the Lords of Valormr and the Church of the Allfather. The best they can arrange is for the Valormr bishop to be a local native, who then, so hope the Lords, keeps local interests in mind. That is not the situation at present.

6 Of course, one might want to replace the Allfather with the Allmother. I suspect a matriarchal religion—that is, one whose primary god is female—would look much different though, not just a change in gender. Further, it would be interesting to follow the evolution of a religion whose chief god is non-gender or non-binary or simultaneously male and female. I intend to experiment with these in future campaigns. Meanwhile, I would love to see your examples.

Valormr Heralds

From among local aristocracy, the Lords of Valormr appoint several heralds. They are charged with the duty to disseminate information throughout the domain. These tabarded riders can bring the news from the Free City to the domain’s farthest reaches within a day.1

Spring in the Eighth Year of Valormr2

Latest news from the dungeon, the following information is commonly known throughout the Throrgrmir Valley.

  • The Red Ogre, Emperor of the Undersun, has completed construction of a “great wall” within the dungeon. Imperial troops now man fortifications to block key passages in a wide perimeter, which encloses the subterranean empire.
  • The Red Ogre also built a library. Overlooking the Throrgrmir Bridge, the library is filled with ancient and modern texts from eastern lands.
  • The Red Ogre has come to an agreement with Pegasus Manes. The adventurers pay the Emperor’s “tax,” and his troops leave them alone in the dungeon—as long as the adventurers show no signs of aggression.
  • Griffon’s Claws continue to extort Valormr. With monies thus gained, they recently added a stronghold to Isolde’s Tower, which is now a formidable fortress.
  • Formidable though it is, the fortress does not hinder the blink dogs, who harass Griffon’s Claws within it.
  • Pegasus Manes has allied with the blink dogs and recruits a force to fight Griffon’s Claws.
  • While Faerunduine, Wyrm-Touched, sleeps and grows stronger, a previously unknown cult has erected a temple at the old Throrgardr Gate. The cultists built an altar from the petrified bones of the last wyrmling. The object of their adoration is the wyrm-touched dragon herself.
  • To house the tomb of their lost comrade, members of the Ghouling Gauntlet are constructing a shrine. Meanwhile, they look for signs of the vampire’s whereabouts since their first encounter.
  • The Red Ogre propositions Valormr to join the Undersun Empire. The Emperor and the city have made a temporary non-aggression pact. The Emperor now sends an ambassador with full honorary accompaniment—which is to say, an army…

This, I think, is the final installment of the Wyrm Dawn campaign. Play of How to Host a Dungeon created a complex underground environment, a robust history, and details this Dungeon Master would not have discovered without it. Tony Dowler created a truly unique game that deserves more attention and more exploitation. I look forward to using it to create more, bigger, more diverse dungeons as we further explore DONJON LANDS. Now on to Wyrmwyrd.

On to Wyrmwyrd

Notes

1 Departing in the morning, first to Fyrir and crossing the Abrandyr and a tributary at ferry points, a rider gains the village north of Ellriendi by nightfall.

2 While familiar with the calendar used in the Grand Duchy—as it is the primary trading partner, the fierce folk in the Throrgrmir Valley, favoring their independence, have long preferred to reckon years according to their own system. Thus, the local calendar begins from the Free City’s recent founding.

Wilderness Map

Another preliminary map. At such an early stage—that is, before the first door is forced open—it is premature to consider the wilderness outside our immediate adventure area. My purpose, with regards to Wyrmwyrd, is to show the greater area, however generally, in which events play out. Furthermore, the base, modified, serves as the strategic-level map for the Valormr Campaign, which takes place a few thousand years prior to Wyrmwyrd.

Wilderness Map—The Grand Duchy and Western Borderlands
Wilderness Map—The Grand Duchy and Western Borderlands.
Valormr left of center, Darkmeer in the west, the Grand Duchy east. One hex equals six miles.

In my childhood experience with wilderness maps, I first loved to make mountains. Later, I loved to do forests, then hills. Now I love to make rivers!

The north-south river right of center is in fact a canal, built by the Greater Ones, repaired several times since the Rending.

Valormr and Environs

In preliminary form, this pencil sketch serves as the local area map for initial adventures in the Wyrmwyrd campaign. At lower character levels, most of our adventures will be in the dungeons. I save feature names, color, and maybe ink for future work.

As the campaign progresses, I will further elaborate the following text. I expect to borrow from Viggo Eskilsson, who must be writing a geography to accompany his Histories.1 For now I note only key points necessary to get the campaign started.

Valormr and Environs
Valormr and Environs.
At 10 by 16 inches, the map may be printed on Tabloid size or A3 paper.

The scale being one mile to the hex, I use the large icons for map terrain (X62). The pencil’s lightness and my drawing skill render some icons difficult to differentiate. As a guide, the only city is Valormr, the only towns Troelsvollr and Odenwoad. Villages I mark with two dots in the hex. Smaller hamlets and thorps, only one. Castles and ruins are more heavily outlined.

The Valormr-Odenwoad road is shown, as is the road to the Citadel and Mine Head, which is in disrepair. Not shown are cart tracks between villages.

Dungeon Below

Right-angle markers (right and below center) frame a rectangle corresponding to the area above the Throrgrmir dungeon. See the Level 1: Surface map in “Dungeon Overhead by Strata”.

Valormr, Free City

  • Population 12,000.
  • Governed by a council of Lords, which elects each year one of their number to serve as Lord Mayor.
  • Principle holdings include Odenwoad (west) and Fyrir (north).
  • The domain of Valormr serves as a borderland between the Grand Duchy (off map) to the east and the fearsome lands of Darkmeer beyond the Western Mountains.
  • The city trades up and down the river and with the Grand Duchy.

Abrandyr River

  • Navigable south to Arvohne (city, off map).
  • Empties into the Great North Sea at Skullhaven (former pirate hold, off map).

River Travel

From Valormr, riverboats travel upstream to Arvohne in three days and downstream to Skullhaven at the river’s mouth in two days. From Skullhaven east along the coast and up another river to the capital and major trade port of the Grand Duchy, four more days are required. Aboard a mercantile vessel, the journey takes from two to three times longer, allowing for stops at trading ports.

Troelsvollr

  • Small town, population 1,500.
  • Mostly in ruins since Stardark’s End.
  • Hosts the Old City Bazaar.

Old City Bazaar

A frequent trading stop—often a destination—for law-abiding merchants and for those who can temporarily abide the law. Since the Red Ogre opened a tunnel from the dungeon below, monstrous races frequent the bazaar. A special detachment of the Valormr Guard patrols the stands, booths, and tents in force.

Odenwoad

  • Small town, population 4,000.
  • The High Castle of Odenwoad overlooks the town and river.
  • From the High Castle, the Lord of Odenwoad governs the town and surrounding villages.
  • Patrols range from the Shire Hollows to the Western Mountains,2 from Elding Wood to Upper Vale.2

Fyrir

  • This fortress guards the domain against pirates.
  • Also patrols north of the Shire Hollows and, across the river, north of Ellriendi.

Shire Hollows

  • Total population two thousand halflings.3
  • Numerous streams flow from rolling hills, through farms and woodlands.
  • Divided into three shires: Arbenshire (also called North Shire), Black Pine Shire (east), and Gold Hollow (or South Shire).

PC Origins

As the campaign begins in the remote area northwest of Odenwoad, player characters of human classes hail from villages in that region. Demihumans come from one of their respective communities: halflings from the Shire Hollows, dwarves from Nyr Golthur or Forn Fjallaheim, and elves from Ellriendi.

Ellriendi Groennendr

  • Elven population unknown.
  • The elves defend the forest at all costs.
  • Orcs from the mountains are a frequent threat.
  • Only elves and elf friends are allowed to enter their territory.
  • The forest today is a fraction of its size in ancient days.
  • Deep within the forest, the elves guard a secret.

Players, Characters, and the Secret of Ellriendi

While an elven character may know Ellriendi’s secret, the player does not. Bound to silence, the character will not talk about it or answer any questions concerning the secret. The player, though ignorant, may run the elf as evasive, aloof, and enigmatic as desired.

Forn Fjallaheim

  • During Throrgrmir’s decline, four dwarven clans migrated from the dungeon, each on separate occasions.
  • Two clans returned to Fjallaheim, their mountain home.
  • A third clan resettled elsewhere to an as-yet-undetermined location on the map.4
  • From the fourth clan, we have no word since their departure southward.

Nyr Golthur

  • At the fall of the Throrgrmir civilization, the five remaining clans emigrated to the mountains up the Abrandyr.
  • They mine silver and dispute the river valley with giants.
  • Refer to themselves still as Throrgrmir dwarves.

Pale Moor

  • Between the Western Mountains and the Great North Sea, these lowlands are shrouded in mist and legend.
  • Wise folk don’t go there. The foolhardy don’t return.

Notes

1 A geography in the style of Strabo’s Geographica but constrained to the local area.

2 The Western Mountains and Upper Vale are parenthetical names. That is, they are often referred to as such, but they also have proper names I haven’t learned yet.

3 I calculate 2 to 5 villages per shire (average 3.5) times three shires, which makes 10.5 villages. Per village, populations range from 30 to 300 (average 165). I round up from 1,732 (10.5 x 165) to 2,000.

4 We allow campaign events to determine the third dwarven clan’s present location.

The Valormr Campaign

Who says B/X’s 40th anniversary says Chainmail’s 50th. Before there was “the game that started it all,” there was the game that started that. Initiated by wargamer Jeff Perren and further elaborated by Gary Gygax, iterations of the rules for medieval miniatures wargames were published in zines as early as 1970.

Just prior to its 1971 publication by Guidon Games, Gygax added 14 pages of rules inspired by fantasy fiction. The “Fantasy Supplement” opened the gates on tabletop battles with wizards and heroes, elves, trolls, giants, and other fantastic and mythical creatures, including dragons. Chainmail was the steel with which Dave Arneson struck Wesely’s Braunstein flint. The spark was Blackmoor, and it ignited the flame that became DUNGEONS & DRAGONS.

“Valormr: val (war or slain) + ormr (wyrm), pronounced Val-ORM-r. During the Throrgrmir Renaissance, when the new-hatched wyrmlings prowled the dungeon, already dragons came to hasten the prophesied Age of Dragons. The dwarves called to their neighbors, who responded in force. Dragons recruited forces of Chaos to oppose them.”

—from “Empire of the Undersun”

The Valormr Campaign using Chainmail
The Valormr Campaign plays out events leading to the battle and the battle itself, using Chainmail: rules for medieval miniatures by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren (3rd Edition, Lake Geneva, WI: Tactical Studies Rules, 1975).

Notes

For the history of D&D, see Playing at the World (Jon Peterson, San Diego: Unreason, 2012) and Designers & Dragons: The ’70s (Shannon Appelcline, Silver Springs, MD: Evil Hat, 2013).

Dungeon Overhead by Strata

“Though not more than a thousand feet deep, Throrgrmir is a vast underground realm. Its eight major levels split into numerous sub-levels and spread across an area of at least five hundred square miles.1 Civilizations have dawned and died within its depths; empires built and crumbled over the long ages of its existence.”

—Viggo’s Histories

Throrgrmir by Level

Transitioning from How to Host a Dungeon to D&D, strata become dungeon levels and rooms become areas, which are collections of natural caves or dungeon chambers. I placed each area on separate overhead maps by level. The rectangles show the general location of each area, color coded as per the cross-section maps.

Overhead 1 Surface
Level 1:
Surface.
Overhead 2 Dead Caves
Level 2:
Dead Caves.
Overhead 3 Gold Vein
Level 3:
Gold Vein.
Overhead 4 Crystal Caverns
Level 4:
Crystal Caverns.
Overhead 5 Subterranean River
Level 5:
Subterranean River.
Overhead 6 Gem Deposits
Level 6:
Gem Deposits.
Overhead 7 Magma Chamber
Level 7:
Magma Chamber.
Overhead 8 Deepmost Cavern
Level 8:
Deepmost Cavern.

Connecting Corridors

At two miles per inch, each level map covers an area 15 by 23 miles. Even areas in close proximity to each other are separated by a third of a mile or nearly 600 yards. If we allow travel along connecting corridors at the wilderness rate (where movement is measured in yards), metal-armored adventurers traverse the distance in ten turns, which, with rests, is two hours.

Not rare, though, are areas separated by a mile or four. No mere jaunt, a delve into the Throrgrmir dungeon is an expedition.

I’ve never been much for dungeon adventures lasting more than a single day. That adventurers might hunker down in a cold, damp, dangerous place—no matter how empty the room—and get several hours’ sleep to regain spells strains plausibility. That they might “do nothing but rest” (B19) for 24 hours straight to restore hit points even more so.

On the other hand, “Throrgrmir is a vast underground realm,” as Eskilsson writes. Civilizations and empires have spent countless cozy nights within its confines. With a little thought, we ought to be able to accommodate explorers on long underground forays. Furthermore, the constraint may serve to further develop the setting. Following are a few considerations.

Wandering Monsters

The long corridors may be patrolled by local denizens or imperial troops. But, as a general rule, fewer monsters wander in the connecting corridors. We might check for wandering monsters once per hour.2

Movement

Mentioned above, a party may move along connecting corridors at the wilderness rate. Generally straight passages, with few turns and hardly an intersection, give little reason to tarry. Apart from lurkers and well-hidden predators, most encounters will be met from the rear, if some creature overtakes the party, or, more likely, from the front.

Again, infrequent wanderers is a general rule. Particular corridors may break it. A party may chose to move at dungeon or wilderness speed, switching between as deemed necessary.

Dungeon Marks

The dwarf builders carved distance3 and destination in corner stones at the entrances to connecting corridors. Some of these stone blocks have been defaced. Other builders, denizens, and explorers left similar information, sometimes carved in blocks, sometimes with less durable means. Faded chalk marks are not uncommon. Whatever the media, these signs are called “dungeon marks.” Sometimes the information is correct.

Burden of Treasure

If spells and hit points are husbanded, a party may well become loaded with treasure within a score of turns.

“If the DM permits it, mules may be taken into dungeons” (B39).

A pack animal permits the acquisition of 4000 additional coins.

Trading Outposts

Traders (B43) often set up outposts near first level entrances to the lower levels. Treat an outpost as a trader lair. Traders may be accompanied by mules in the dungeon as in the wilderness. In addition to goods needed by dungeon denizens, traders deal in weapons, armor, and adventuring equipment. Outposts are established on high-traffic routes in defensible positions and are appropriately guarded.

Overnight in the Dungeon

Way Stations

Dwarf-built stretches of the connecting corridors are often punctuated with bypasses, alcoves, or the odd room or two. In some of these, the Sadhakarani nomads established way stations. Since the nomads’ recent eradication by the Red Ogre, it remains to be seen whether the stations will be maintained.

“Wandering Monsters… should not be frequent if the party spends a long time in one out-of-the-way place (if they stop in a room for the night, for example)” (B53).

Let’s say, one check per night or three checks per day (one every eight hours) while so resting at a way station or other such place, including in a remote room of a dungeon area.

Throrgrmir Enclave

Dwarves maintain an enclave in an old dormitory on the second level. From this base, they explore the dungeon, searching for Throrgrmir relics. Law-abiding persons are welcome to stay, for a price, in a boarding house, provided they make no trouble and stay out of the dwarves’ way and their business. Here, a party may rest to regain spells and recover hit points with little chance for interruption.

Sixth Cairn Protectorate

The Red Ogre recently established a “protectorate” in the former drinking hall below Troelsvollr. Governed by a Lord Protector and guarded by imperial troops, it aspires to become a city.

Notes

1 Eskilsson overestimates. The dungeon’s footprint covers 345 square miles. On the other hand, if we multiply by eight levels and assume one-fifth of the area is explorable dungeon (as opposed to solid rock), we arrive at a figure not far from the historian’s mark.

2 Within dungeon areas, normal chances for wandering monsters apply.

3 Throrgrmir dwarves measure distance in the length of their standard stone block. A dwarven “standard” is roughly equal to five feet.