While the dwarves toiled to rebuild their civilization above, the primordial wyrm lurked below. In deep recesses of her cavern lair, she crept into crevasses and twisting tunnels, which led ever deeper below the sunlit surface.
At length she emerged into the world’s underside, where lived the World Dragon. In the dimness there, with the World Dragon she mated and, thereby, fertilized the eggs that grew in her belly.
Withdrawing, she returned to her lair in the Deepmost Caverns, and laid her eggs one by one. Seven eggs in all she brooded in the nether dark.
Wyrm’s Clutch. Ovoid stones, overlarge, serve as eggs. In the final age of the Throrgrmir civilization, the eggs hatch. Emerging wyrmlings seek treasure.
Tomb built, fallen heroes enshrined, the Throrgrmir dwarves recovered, though their population much reduced by the wyrm’s incursion. They continued their work and became rich beyond imagination. They built a smelter and improved the quality of their bronze tools. With a foundry, they increased metalwork production. To protect Throrgardr against further invasion from the nether reaches, they built a great gate at the city’s entrance above the Deepmost Caverns.
Meanwhile, gold mining continued until the primary vein was exhausted, at which time they turned their efforts to crystal and gem deposits.
They also embarked upon an ambitious project. Desiring to bring water to the upper levels, they planned to construct a canal along the empty vein. They built a simple yet enormous device to bring water up from the subterranean river. They named it “Eitri’s Screw,” after its audacious inventor.1
Applying knowledge of metallurgy and crystallography, they made a weapon. The purpose and use of which would be lost with the civilization that conceived it.2
As wealth increased, society grew self-indulgent. Successive emperors became less attentive to dwarfolk needs. Tension rose between laborers and bureaucrats. Protests turned to revolt. Revolt turned to civil war. Throrgardr burned.
Throrgrmir Civilization Before and After the Civil War. At war’s end, half the remaining dwarven population departed3 with half the treasure, seeking a new home. Five populations, eight treasures, and three epic treasures remain.Throrgrmir Civilization Age of Decadence Overlay and Composite.
Notes
1 In our world, its invention is attributed to Archimedes. The water screw is tilted at a 45-degree angle to hold the load as it screws up. Though it appears vertical on the campaign map, Eitri’s exemplar is tilted north, in our viewing direction.
2 Having no idea what sort of “doom weapon” dwarves might invent, I drew the sort with which my 1980s upbringing is familiar.
3 In the later Wyrmwyrd campaign, dwarves may be from remaining Throrgrmir clans or from clans of this diaspora.
“They Delve too Deep. Draw a shaft off the bottom of the page.” (Dowler)
Dwarves who “delve too deep” is a fantasy staple—maybe a cliché. Whether it’s a balrog from the depths of the earth or an ambiguous nether-dwelling monster, in How to Host a Dungeon’s first edition (2008), the dwarves can hardly avert this end to their civilization. In the second edition, the too-deep delving can be avoided at a simple decision point, but the civilization’s end cannot.
I mentioned earlier that I want to use all the dwarven constructions, and there is still white space on the map. Through some rule-bending, I figured out how to do it. It will become clear later how that is achieved.
First, a fun diversion presents itself: The Throrgrmir dwarves have awakened the primordial wyrm. According to the rules, the civilization ends, and we move on to the Age of Monsters. But, in order to embellish the dungeon history for the subsequent campaign, I have the idea to simulate the battle between the dwarves and the wyrm with a B/X D&D encounter.1
Quick Math Using Mean Numbers
Ten 12th-level dwarves (a dwarven lord to represent each population token) versus a 16th-level dragon (the wyrm).2
Each dwarf has (4.5 x 9 + 9) 49 hit points and armor class 1 (platemail and shield with a +1 magic bonus).
The wyrm has (16 x 4.5) 72 hp and AC -3.3
In the first round of combat, the dwarves close for melee under the dragon’s breath weapon: Two dwarves (20%, they need a 4) fail the save vs. Dragon Breath and do not survive. Eight dwarves take half damage, 36 points, and are reduced to 13 hp.
In the second round, the dwarves attack. Assuming +2 “to hit” and damage for strength and magic weapons, dwarves need a 13 to deal damage. Of eight dwarves, five (65%) hit for (4.5 + 2) 6.5 points of damage each, which is 32 points, reducing the dragon to 40 hp.
The same round, the dragon wounds two more dwarves with its claws, and she bites another in half.
Rolling up dwarven lords for a B/X encounter.
So, the third combat round opens with a 40-hit-point wyrm versus seven dwarves, who could still take a claw to the face and do a collective 30 points of damage.
The scenario doesn’t account for the vagaries of combat, but the odds are close enough. I’m rolling up some dwarven lords. Let’s go wyrm hunting!
Notes
1 My first thought was to run the scenario using the Chainmail miniatures rules (Gygax and Perren, Guidon Games, 1971). As fun as that might be, the combat would be overly complex for the present purpose. Plus, this is a fantastic opportunity to exercise the D&D Expert Rulebook.
2 See the DONJON LANDS Level Tiers table below. Being primordial, the wyrm is mythic. The dwarven lords, from the Age of Civilization, are epic.
3 I considered the possibility that the wyrm could cast spells. In the quick scenario outlined here, however, the dragon’s best first-round action is a 72-point breath weapon [not to mention, in B/X, a dragon always attacks with its breath weapon first (B34)], and after the dwarves close for melee, she couldn’t get off a spell.
Following the primordial earthquake that spawned the wyrm, seasons skipped across years, like stones on the river’s placid surface. Fairies frolicked in the primeval woods, while the river wound its way to the sea. Beneath it, water dripped from ceilings in subterranean caverns. Trickles crept between cold rock into dark flowing streams. Magma bubbled in deep chambers, and so, millennia passed while the wyrm slept, and the land, above and below, was quiet.
Then, wind rattled leaves in the old woods, and dwarves came rambling down from the western mountains. They sought gold, and they found it beneath the limestone hills and established a mine there. The vein was rich, the dwarves prospered, their number increased, and the Throrgrmir civilization, named for a founding father, was thus established.1
A note about the notes: As standard practice, I include the context in each footnote, so the reader may comfortably follow the narrative and read the notes afterward, using—if necessary—the superscript numbers for reference. The notes, while integral to the continuing story, are not essential to the immediate narrative.
As they mined the ore, the dwarves dug tunnels and built dormitories, treasure vaults, and workshops. Soon they caroused in a drinking hall,2 and a citadel3 enclosed the surface entrance to their underground domain.
The Golden Age of Throrgrmir. On the map, I mimic Dowler’s shapes from How to Host a Dungeon, and since I’m learning to draw, I mimic the style as well. In this photo, the tokens obscure the dungeon. See bottom for the civilization’s overlay extracted and a composite of the primordial and civilization ages.
The dwarves built a city in a great cavern, which they excavated from around the subterranean river.4 They erected a colossal statue of the founding father, which straddled the river where it entered the city.5 Throrgrmir flourished in a golden age of growth and prosperity.
From the crystal caverns, they mined gypsum, with which they covered the walls of their dwellings and carved into statues and course glasswork. They built a furnace and melted crystal,6 thus producing fine glassware tinted pink and blue. Over the river, they built a great bridge and, beyond it, a throne room, whence an emperor ruled over a mighty domain.
Led by pride and the search for new wealth, the dwarves dug a shaft below the city. Cutting through the last layer of granite, the miners broke into red limestone. The limestone, more porous and fragile, crumbled beneath them. The miners fell, with a great mass of rock, into the deepest caverns, where slept the wyrm.7
Notes
1 From lists of Norse dwarf names (see below), I derived Throrgrmir: thror (boar) + grmir (mask). I see adventurers finding ancient treasures stamped with a symbol of the masked boar, and three syllables with only two vowels sounds goodly dwarvish to my ear. When my human tongue stumbles over the name, dwarves only grunt their amusement.
In addition to dwarf names, Nordic Names contains many categories, including Old Norse bynames, which will soon be useful.
Wikipedia gives a comprehensive list with each dwarf name’s meaning and source. See also the source material in the References and General References sections.
2 Where the dwarves built inside the Dead Caverns (stratum 2), they used natural pathways between constructions. To guide travelers, they erected cairns along the paths (shown on the map). Counting five of these rock piles from the easternmost vault, one arrives at the drinking hall, known as “Sixth Cairn.”
3 I reserve the citadel’s face for a stylized symbol of the masked boar.
4How to Host a Dungeon makes you think about things you might not otherwise consider. Example: While the dwarves used much of the excavated rock for building, future surface explorers will notice rubble strewn down hillsides and piled in ravines. Though it’s mostly limestone, also present are basalt and granite, the latter sometimes streaked with quartz. By then, the rubble may be covered by a layer of soil or overgrown by vegetation. Still, through close examination, clever delvers might infer, from the rubble, the existence of a nearby dungeon; from the amount, its size; and perhaps from the style of markings on discarded carvings, that dwarves built it. The presence of quartz, which often accompanies gold, might lead the greedy and the foolhardy to make bad decisions.
5 Note the detail inset of the colossal statue: In case of flood or invasion, the axe is lowered to dam the river and block the passage. Meanwhile, a chute opens in the hollow handle, which channels the flow through a tunnel to a point downstream, below the city.
6 Last week it was geology, this week I’m stretching chemistry thin over the fantasy. Some crystal, not selenite, can be melted into glass. In modern civilization, this decreases its value. But since glass is otherwise unknown in this age, Throrgrmir glassware is a valuable commodity in the milieu.
7 The dwarves’ blunder reformed the ceiling of the deepest cavern and deposited a huge pile of rubble into it, possibly creating an island in the lake. The event also rerouted the subterranean river, cutting it short and drying up the eastern loop.
milieunoun pronounced mēl-yü : the physical or social setting in which something occurs or develops : ENVIRONMENT
[Popularized among old-school gamers by Gary Gygax, most notably in his Advanced D&D Dungeon Masters Guide (TSR Games, 1979), a 238-page work, wherein we find 72 instances.]
“These rules include a few symbols you should know… ⛭ Stands for epic treasure. These are optional….” —Tony Dowler, How to Host a Dungeon
In the Supplies section of the rules, Dowler suggests using glass beads, coins, and board game tokens for the four symbols. I don’t have any beads, and I’m away from my games collection. I do have small change, though, and I’m spending the present lock-down near the sea.
I can’t imagine how epic treasure might be optional. I hope I’m playing this game right…
Flat, round, thumb-sized pebbles, fetched from the surf, do for populations. Shiny yellow ten-euro-cent pieces look like treasure. One-cent pieces, copper in color, are special bonuses, and seashells represent epic treasure.
Drawing
“There’s no right or wrong way to draw stuff, but there is a better and a worse way. The better way is one that’s pleasing to you and creates a dungeon you like.”
To draw the features in the age of civilization, Dowler suggests using a particular style to reflect the characteristics of the civilization that emerges following the primordial age. Dwarves, for example, build straight corridors at right angles. In construction, they use geometric shapes, often symmetrical. He also suggests using a different shape for each kind of construction.
To maintain a consistent size, I start with a circle—outline of a ten-cent coin—and draw the shape on and inside the edges. For larger constructions, like the power plant and throne room, I keep outside the circle. The city and battlefield are extra large, made with three circles.
According to my reading of the rules, the dwarves won’t have the opportunity to build all the rooms. But now that I’ve got shapes for them all, I might have to figure something out.
“The same goes for these rules…. You’ll probably get a better result following your instinct than worrying about the rules.”
Using How to Host a Dungeon, the game map is divided into eight “strata” (enumerated on the right, map below). Each game stratum is made up of one or more geologic strata. I use the same term for both, I think without too much confusion. Each enumerated stratum also contains a feature. In Wyrm Dawn’s primordial age, many features are created by two rivers—one surface, another subsurface—and an earthquake.
Wyrm Dawn Campaign Map Cross-Section. We are looking north. To the right is east; left west.
Here I describe each enumerated stratum. A table below summarizes.
1. Surface
A languid river meanders across its floodplain carved in a limestone bed. It deposits rich soil on its banks and seeps through porous rock to form a subterranean stream (stratum 4). From the soil grow lush grasses and primeval woods: deciduous on the flood plain, conifer higher up.
2. Dead Caves
Where the river spares the limestone, hills remain. Beneath them, limestone caverns, formed by river water in an earlier epoch, are now dry.1
3. Gold Vein
The result of an earthquake deep below the surface, the fissure struck through a layer of granite and quartz, forming the gold vein in an instant.2
4. Crystal Caverns
The subterranean stream comes out in this limestone layer to create these caverns. When the river runs nearer the hills, another stream gives into the western cave.3 A previous water line is still visible throughout the complex. Even where the stream doesn’t run, the caverns are still damp, creating selenite crystals.4, 5
5. Subterranean River
This subterranean river etches a course through limestone. It is swift but navigable from the east to where it falls through basalt (stratum 6).
6. Gem Deposits
A stratum of basalt contains gem deposits.
7. Magma Chamber
The earthquake also opened a fissure in this granite stratum from a magma source far below.
8. Mother of Dragons
Earth, shuddering in her labor, opened this large cavern complex to spawn a primordial wyrm. The parthenogenic creature emerged fully grown into the earth. She now seeks nourishment, so to lay her eggs.
Strata Summary
Stratum
Primary rock
Feature
1
Soil
Biomes: deciduous and conifer woods, river, grassland, hills
2
Limestone, green6
Caves: connected caverns
3
Granite, quartz
Ore: gold vein
4
Limestone, blue6
Biome: crystal caverns
5
Limestone, yellow6
Water: river
6
Basalt
Gems: deposits
7
Granite
Magma: chamber
8
Limestone, red6
Nexus: mother of monsters—dragons
The stage now set, the Age of Civilization begins.
Notes
1 A tunnel from the surface leads to the dead caves’ western cavern. 2 It seems our mundane world still wields much magic. A study described in this Nature article proposes that a gold vein can indeed be formed by an earthquake “in an instant.” 3 Like the dead caves above, a tunnel from the surface must lead down to the western cave mouth in the crystal caverns, while a tunnel to the eastern mouth is submerged. I’d look for a whirlpool in the surface river. 4 For the crystal caverns, I’m inspired by the selenite crystals from Mexico’s Naica cave. 5Selenite, a variety of gypsum, is transparent and colorless, but impurities can give it a tinge of color, including blue and magenta, like a certain pair of game boxes—I’m going with that. 6 Who knew limestone comes in different colors? Savvy explorers might know how deep they have ventured by the kind and color of rock.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of my favorite DUNGEONS & DRAGONS edition, I’m starting a new B/X campaign. Wyrmwyrd is a solo campaign, and I’m using Tony Dowler’s How to Host a Dungeon to create some back story. I think of it as a prequel campaign—working title: Wyrm Dawn. I just finished the primordial age. The mother of dragons spawned in the deepest caverns.
Wyrm Dawn Campaign Map with B/X D&D and Host to Host a Dungeon.
