The initial impetus, to run an impromptu pick-up game or a solo game in The Deep Halls, prompted me to make two conceits: One, we use random methods to stock the dungeon, thereby avoiding any preparation. Two, it is a “closed” dungeon campaign. That is, one in which we haven’t need to explore outside the dungeon, as all the experience points necessary to gain levels and meet the dungeon’s challenges can be found within it.

If awarding four times the treasure or experience points—or a combination thereof, turns your grognard stomach, you may of course abandon the second conceit and open the campaign.

In an open dungeon campaign, we are not obliged to chock The Deep Halls so full of treasure. We can use the default treasure sequence from the Flying Dungeon Stocking Table without fear of falling. Characters lacking XP for the next deeper level can find them in neighboring dungeons or in the surrounding wilderness.

In keeping with the campaign’s first conceit (random generation, minimum preparation), we assemble geomorphs as the party explores these other dungeons, and for the wilderness in which they are set, we use the original map board suggested for “off-hand adventures in the wilderness” (OD&D Vol. 3, 15).

Reading Map

• Focus on The Deep Halls
• Geomorphs
• Outdoor Survival Map Board
• Place the Dungeon and the Base Town

Focus on The Deep Halls

While rumors and legends lead to other dungeons in the wilderness environment, the dreaming priests and their machinations in The Deep Halls remain central to the campaign. To accomplish that, we might adhere, however loosely, to the following guidelines:

• Secondary adventure sites are small. Outside The Deep Halls, the party explores one-, two-, or rarely three-level dungeons. They follow up on the rumor or retrieve the MacGuffin and get back into the primary venue.
• Most secondary adventures are tied to the campaign thread. The party might indulge in occasional adventures outside the focus for any number of reasons, to break the monotony not the least. Most often though, the adventurers achieve some goal related to Amon-Gorloth or fail in the endeavor.
• The surrounding wilderness is not vast. By limiting the area, we keep the party within a few days’ travel back to the primary adventure site.
• There are consequences to neglect. The dreaming priests are relentless in pursuit of their goal. If the player characters ignore them, the priests succeed.

One Deep Dungeon

What attracts me about opening The Halls is that we can stretch them back out to the seven levels as the cartographer conceived. We are, furthermore, not bound to Levels 1 to 7. Depending on party advancement as the campaign unfolds, we might skip levels. Monster & Treasure Assortments provide tables down to Level 9.

Geomorphs

Dungeon Geomorphs

The original “geomorphic dungeon levels,” Holmes notes, “contain many suggestions and will prove very useful” (39). Dungeon Geomorphs Sets One, Two, and Three (TSR Hobbies, 1976-77) provide tiles for Basic and Lower Dungeons as well as Caves & Caverns. Room density and lack of embellishment render the tiles unattractive to my eye. Yet these geomorphs have a particular feel to them¹ unlike anything I myself would come up with and much different from The Deep Halls.

By my rough count of a few tiles, I get the following average numbers of rooms by set.

Using the Flying Table made for Holmes (33% of rooms contain monsters) and the Strict (per the sources) treasure sequence: 2-1-0 (where there is no chance for treasure in an empty room) on a dungeon level of 80 rooms (two Basic Dungeon tiles), the Deadly Dungeon Ratio is exactly 1:1. By “exactly,” I mean only 10 XP more than a 1st-level party of three needs to gain 2nd-level.

In the case where one purpose of a secondary dungeon is to earn experience, we may adjust the number of tiles, keeping in mind 80 rooms per character level.

Other Dungeon Generation Options

Walled City Geomorphs: For town and city adventures, consider also Outdoor Geomorphs Set One: Walled City (TSR Hobbies, 1977).

Dyson’s Geomorphs: The map god himself did a monstrous set of dungeon geomorphs. Available from Dyson’s blog, the PDF contains 102 ten-by-ten-square geomorphs. The size accommodates the smaller secondary dungeons, and the hand-drawn tiles have a delightful old-school feel.

Dave’s Mapper: Other interesting links on Dyson’s page above include Dave Millar’s Morph Mapper. Dungeons, caverns, dungeons and caverns, villages, cities, everything—Dave’s Mapper draws from a selectable database of geomorphs from a diverse array of map artists, including Dyson Logos, to create a whole dungeon level in a couple clicks.

AD&D DMG Appendix A: First published under the title “Solo Dungeon Adventures” in The Strategic Review, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1975), these tables (contemporary with our sources) provide the solo explorer a means to generate a map on the fly. The system involves quite a lot of dice rolling, however—not advised when running a group.

Draw As You Go: This solo explorer has had much success making it up as he goes along. Draw the entrance and the first room, add doors and pose the question: “What do you do?”

Outdoor Survival Map Board

La pièce de résistance—Having a chance to use this old-school icon, one does not hesitate. Outdoor Survival, designed by Jim Dunnigan and published by Avalon Hill for Stockpole Books (1972) included a six-panel board depicting a map of a wilderness area with a hexagon-grid overlay.

In his “Campaign Map Notes,” D&D co-creator Dave Arneson writes that, after the “old bunch” was exiled from Blackmoor, “the game moved south and we then used the Outdoor Survival map for this phase of the campaign…” (First Fantasy Campaign, Judges Guild, 1977). The game’s usefulness warranted its mention under the heading RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT in D&D’s original edition (Vol. 1, 5).

Legend

As per the co-creators’ suggestions, “catch basins are castles, buildings [bases] are towns, and the balance of the terrain is as indicated” (OD&D Vol. 3, 15). I would add that food hexes (animal symbols) are monster lairs.

Scale

While Outdoor Survival’s five basic scenarios specify a scale of five kilometers or three miles, OD&D suggests five miles to the hex. At this scale, which matches OD&D movement rates, bases might be small towns. We have license to play with the scale. An obvious adjustment is to make hexes six miles across if you’re using movement rates in multiples of six, as in B/X.

If you’d like larger towns and a city or two, you might up the scale to 12 miles per hex. Careful that the area doesn’t lose its “wilderness” feel.

At 24 miles per hex the area covered approaches that of the corner of the continent presented in Dungeon Module X1 The Isle of Dread. The bases may well be capital cities. This scale is appropriate if you imagine The Deep Halls as only the beginning of a series of campaigns in the same setting.

At any scale, especially those above six miles, trails (through woods, mountains, and swamps) might be roads, and fords become bridges in various states of repair. We might assume other tracks through clear terrain to connect settlements via the depicted mountain passes, swampland causeways, forest trails, and fords. Note, not all settlements need be connected by a single road network. Further, I see Base No. 5 (center), surrounded by woods, is not accessible by any thoroughfare and, therefore, must be long abandoned…

Portown

Using Holmes Basic, we might imagine the Northern Sea off the board’s upper side and assign Base No. 8 as the “busy city linking the caravan routes from the south…” (41). In that case, the campaign might begin beneath the ruins of Zenopus’s tower. A scale of 12 miles per hex is suggested unless you scale down the settlement to town-size.

The Curious Array of Settlements

It might bother some of us that the towns are arrayed in symmetrical fashion around the map’s center. If so, generate your own version of the map or, more simply, ignore it and assume the settlements are positioned on the map in a schematic relationship to each other. Alternatively, you might create some reason why the settlements are so aligned—best if the reason has to do with Amon-Gorloth.

Place the Dungeon and the Base Town

Between the two options for “the convoluted mausoleums,” I would chose the middle desert for the location where “Amon-Gorloth sleeps and dreams.” Placing The Deep Halls in any hex at the southern edge of the northern mountains puts it within a couple hours walk from Base No. 2, which becomes Base Town.

Notes

¹ Compare a couple tiles from the cover of Set One: Basic Dungeon to a level of Gary Gygax’s Castle Greyhawk.

“Built by priests of Amon-Gorloth, this dungeon was constructed and adapted from existing caverns following their dreams channeled from Amon-Gorloth itself—making them a twisted and nightmarish version of the convoluted mausoleums under the desert sands where Amon-Gorloth sleeps and dreams.”—Dyson Logos on “The Deep Halls”

In 44 words, Dyson Logos describes the backdrop against which our adventures in The Deep Halls play out. While one might use the map and imagine a different scenario, constraint conjures creativity.

Let’s take a close look at what we know about Amon-Gorloth. In this analysis, I point up aspects that seem important. Where I speculate about consequences, a DM may be otherwise inspired.

Horror

Channeled dreams, twisted and nightmarish caverns, convoluted mausoleums—these cues set the tone. We explore a Lovecraftian underworld, where even our dreams may be assaulted.

Its Priests

That “it” has devoted priests implies the being is of a higher supernatural order. No mere demon or devil, whether lesser or greater, its status is divine.

We might take the label in the sense of the worshipers’ rank, but 3rd-level clerics are unlikely to provide adequate challenge even on The Deep Halls Level 3.

Construction

Much of the dungeon is finished in ashlar masonry. Where the walls abut natural stone, the rock may be rough-hewn. Unworked caverns, conforming already to the channeled dream, are no less invested by the priests.

With what labor or magical means did the priests effect the construction? Slaves may yet be chained. Thralls might still do their bidding. Former servants, their usefulness outlived, may now walk the halls as undead.

Halls and Mausoleums

As a general guide, any space two or more squares wide and at least twice as long is a “hall,” used by the priests to some devotional purpose, including entombment. A generous portion of chambers are dressed as mausoleums.

mausoleum noun
: a large tomb
especially : a usually stone building with places for entombment of the dead above ground

—Webster’s

Under Desert Sands

The Deep Halls are a dream-conjured copy of the being’s current abode. Centuries or millennia have passed since it lay to sleep.

Dreams

As does the supernatural being, so do its priests. They channel its dreams through their own. Reverie is a form of worship, through which they acquire daily spells and commune with the god. But to what end…?

In our explorations we compressed The Halls’ seven levels to three, tugged them back out to four, and stretched the first level across colors like the Painted Desert. Then we chocked the rooms full of treasure and adjusted them for party size. All the while, we assumed beginning character levels, and we have yet to consider scale.

Here, I rectify the matter of scale and summarize the dungeon levels by color as well as the treasure sequences. With these, and variations as inspiration hits, we may create unique configurations of these Deep Halls. I present a few examples.

Reading Map

• Scale
• Mapping Colors to Levels
• Treasure Sequences
• Examples

Scale

Like any Dyson Logos map, the cartographer lets us determine scale as we see fit. The scale changes not only the dungeon’s length and breadth but also its depth.

Five-foot squares make The Halls a bit narrow and less deep than the name inspires. Ten-foot squares are an old-school standard, and larger was not uncommon.

At 20 feet per square The Halls gain a more monumental aspect. Instead of 2-8 goblins scampering along the 60-foot wide entry hall, I see hordes of them crowding the stairs and clambering up columns. Perhaps larger scales suit higher-level dungeons. If you are drawn to things cyclopean, try 30 or 40 feet to a square.

When deciding scale, peruse your encounter tables for large monsters. Make sure they have room to maneuver or a reason they do not. The Monster & Treasure Assortments are fond of stone giants.

Mapping Colors to Levels

These are the level configurations mentioned so far and referenced by the examples below. Any combination of colors to levels is possible.

Dungeon Levels

Treasure Sequences

“A treasure sequence consists of the number of rolls on the Monster & Treasure Assortments’ treasure tables for double, single, and half treasures to determine the amount of treasure in an encounter area.”—from “More XP for Treasures”

Also referenced below, these are some possible treasure sequences accompanied by a number of adjustments for party size. A party size adjustment method is chosen independently from a treasure sequence. Parenthetical numbers are the XP award per g.p. where not one for one. See also Notation in “More XP for Treasures.”

Treasure Sequences and Party Size Adjustments

Examples

“…a standard conceit of old-school dungeons: the strength of the average monster encounter on a given dungeon level matches that of a player party of the same experience level.”—from “One Deadly Dungeon”

These examples assume character and dungeon levels are equal, adhering to the standard conceit. I am uncertain whether the assumption holds for deep levels.

Because Level 1’s number of rooms changes with the map configuration, so does the Deadly Dungeon Ratio, which is included in the sequence notation in braces. Where the entrance level is not Level 1, the ratio does not apply and so is omitted.

The Curates’ Halls

Scale: 10′
Dungeon Levels: Three, 1 to 3
Treasure Sequence: Thrilling 9-4-1{2:1}
Character Levels: 1st to 3rd

This is the default upon which are based calculations targeting a 2:1 Deadly Dungeon Ratio. Because Level 1 is noncontiguous, the party may be challenged early in the campaign. If they survive, they can make it up on the extensive Level 2 and be ready to face 2-5 evil curates on M&T’s Level Three monster table.

The Shrine of Evil Chaos

Scale: 10′
Dungeon Levels: Shallow, 1 to 3
Treasure Sequence: Flying 2-1-½{12:10}
Character Levels: 1st to 3rd

As a solution to “The Noncontiguous Problem,” we shifted the dark green level up to Level 1. For the example’s name, I am inspired by The Caves of Chaos from Dungeon Module B2: The Keep on the Borderlands. In that module, the clever party indeed must fight through and find treasures in two-thirds of the encounter areas before earning enough XP to gain 2nd level.

If we choose a more generous treasure sequence, say Thrilling or Monty, we might call it “The Shallow Hauls.”

Bishops of Amon-Gorloth

Scale: 10′
Dungeon Levels: Four, 1 to 4
Treasure Sequence: Shard 4-2-1(2){7:10}
Character Levels: 2nd to 4th

Level 1, spanning only two colors, contains 19 noncontiguous rooms. Its deadliness is reflected in the ratio—less than 1:1. Bumping the deepest color down to Level 4, the priests become bishops, and all bets are off with respect to survivability. Watch out for the stone giants.

Evil High Priests of Amon-Gorloth

Scale: 10′
Dungeon Levels: Deep, 1 to 7
Treasure Sequence: Shard 4-2-1(2)
Character Levels: 4th to 7th

We may yet preserve the true meaning of depth in The “Deep” Halls. At only four rooms on Level 1, the Deadly Dungeon Ratio loses meaning. On the lowest level, the dreaming priests are evil patriarchs. They might be accompanied by hydras and stone giants.

Start characters at 4th level, adding monsters to encounters on the upper levels as per Holmes (22). To Holmes Basic we have to add a supplement to reach levels so high.

The Lower Dungeons

Scale: 20′ if entrance is Level 4 or deeper
Dungeon Levels: Varies
Treasure Sequence: Varies to match existing campaign
Character Levels: Varies

Adapt the dungeon levels to the experience levels of existing characters. Use any configuration above for a three-, four-, or seven-level dungeon, beginning with the appropriate level for the party.

Amon-Gorloth Sleeps and Dreams

Scale: 30′
Dungeon Levels: Three, 7 to 9
Treasure Sequence: Strict 2-1-0
Character Levels: 7th to 9th

For a higher-level campaign, start characters at 7th experience level. At these depths, the dreaming priests employ stone giants to build the mausoleums—or they are themselves stone giants—and we fight demons and dragons and a 13th-level wizard. Mayhap we wake Amon-Gorloth itself.

Spread out over seven different depths, these caves, chambers and twisting passages provide an immense dungeon for exploration. So immense that I haven’t even considered how I would stock it.

Which is why I’m giving it to you.

This massive dungeon level is yours—released under a free commercial use or personal use license. Fill it up, stock it, throw adventurers at it until the floors are littered with their dead. Then do it again.

—Dyson Logos

Providing a 179-room dungeon map and a one-paragraph description of The Deep Halls, Dyson Logos then invites us to stock it. In “Dreaming Amon-Gorloth,” we explore the dungeon to figure out how to determine its contents using a random method.

Notably, the Flying Dungeon Stocking Table is derived from guidelines given in the Holmes edition of Basic D&D with the supplements Monster & Treasure Assortments and Dungeon Geomorphs. Further, in “A ‘Monty Haul’ Dungeon,” we develop various methods to determine treasure size. Each method is abbreviated in a “treasure sequence” and not all are “Monty Haul.” We then expand the treasure sequence under the “Twisted and Nightmarish” umbrella topic, where we adjust for larger and smaller parties, consider awarding more XP for treasure, and examine how to further adjust the treasure sequence to suit different dungeon configurations.

Yet within its “convoluted mausoleums” there remains much room for a DM to make these Deep Halls his or her own. Whether stocking randomly or selecting contents according to strict criteria or a combination of both, the following articles may provide further inspiration.

Reading Map

• Channeling Amon-Gorloth
• Dungeon Levels and Treasures
• Rules and Supplements
• Running the Campaign
• Opening The Deep Halls

Now we’re ready to roll characters and put them in the order of march.

Merging The Deep Halls’ colored layers into a three-level dungeon, we noticed earlier that, because Level 1 is not contiguous, the player party, still 1st-level, is forced to descend to Level 2. One might avoid the problem by grouping the first four colors into Level 1. The dark green level, was 2A, becomes 1C. This adds 44 encounter areas to the first level.

It is perforce less deadly. Still, using the default treasure sequence, The “Shallow” Halls’ Level 1 has a Deadly Dungeon Ratio of 1.24-to-1.

Experience Stocked

Applying the percentages from the Flying Dungeon Stocking Table to 95 encounter areas, Level 1 looks like this.

Room monsters: 2045 XP
Wandering monsters: 790 XP
Treasures: 5,234 XP
Total: 8,069 XP
Deadly Dungeon Ratio: 8,069:6,513 = 12:10

Treasure Sequences

Taking again the treasure sequences, only minor adjustments need be made to accommodate the extra rooms. In most cases the adjustment is a reduction in the XP for gold awards. Note that, because we have nearly twice as many encounter areas, the wealth characters acquire is likewise increased.

Deadly Dungeon Ratio 1:1

For the more harrowing 1:1 ratio, reduce to the standard award one XP for each gold piece. The ratio is slightly higher.

2-1-½^1-0-0{12:10}[1,345 XP, 872 g.p., 1]

Sparse

To reach a Deadly Dungeon Ratio of 2:1 but still keep wealth down, instead of four, award two XP for each g.p.

2-1-½(2)^1-0-0{2:1}[2,217 XP, 872 g.p., 1]

Shard (Between Thrilling and Sparse)

For the middle ground between too-rich and sparse treasure, reduce this sequence, which I call Shard for a reason unknown to me, from two to one XP per g.p.

4-2-1^1-1-0{2:1}[2,217 XP, 1,745 g.p., 3]

Light “Haul”

Likewise, with the Light “Haul” sequence, reduce XP per g.p. to one for one.

5-2-1^1-1-0{22:10}[2,444 XP, 1,971 g.p., 3]

Thrilling

This sequence, already at one for one XP for gold, at 95 encounter areas approaches a Deadly Dungeon Ratio of 4:1.

9-4-1^1-1-0{38:10}[4,074 XP, 3,601 g.p., 5]

Take away my badge, but at such a high ratio, I suspect thrilling becomes boring. I recommend to the DM who chose this sequence for the three-color Deep Halls to go with the Light “Haul” above for much the same results between dungeon configurations.