“Brief instructions below the ENCOUNTER KEY EXAMPLE in Set One: Basic Dungeons gives ‘Approximately 25%’ as the monster probability… While the instructions in Set Three: Lower Dungeons are the same, those in Set Two differ in one respect: In Caves and Caverns, we encounter a monster in half the rooms.”—from “Flying Dungeon Stocking Table by the Bluebook”
While sussing the Flying Table, I mentioned my surprise at the discovery that there are more monsters in caves than in dungeons. We know from the Map God’s description that the Deep Halls were “constructed and adapted from existing caverns following their dreams channeled from Amon-Gorloth itself.”
I am, therefore, determined to make the distinction between the Halls’ built dungeons and its existing caves. Below are two tables, one to match instructions from Sets One and Three and another for Set Two.
Holmes gives 33% as the chance a room contains a monster (40). The difference from the Bluebook is made up by reducing the chance for an “interesting variation” to only 3% in caves and increasing the number of empty rooms from 22% to 30% in dungeons. In both cases, the proportion of monsters with versus without treasures is the same, as is the chance for traps, which remains 20%.
The cover fell off last year. Forty years old in January, the rusty staples slipped through the worn crease. The problem is not uncommon.
To Repair for 40th Anniversary Game.
I thought to just lay the detached cover flat face down, stretch a strip of Scotch tape along the spine, and re-staple it to the interior pages. Some advice from fellow B/X D&D fans warned me about a couple pitfalls.
First, use acid-free book tape. This advice came from a librarian, and I’m embarrassed to admit I hadn’t though of it myself. The usual invisible tape won’t last long. It will dry, crack, and fall apart. It also contains acid, which eats the cover over time, turning it yellow to start.
Second, wrap the strip of tape around the spine with the cover closed on the book. Applied flat, the tape won’t stretch around the book when it’s closed. It will rather tend to flip open.
3M also makes a Scotch brand book tape. I couldn’t find it at any of the few local stores that were open. I had to order it from the States. It arrived four months later.
Use Acid-Free Book Tape.
I applied the tape, half on the front cover, while the back cover was folded in the closed position, then wrapped the other half around.
Fold Tape Around Closed Cover.
Tricky enough. But then I realized that, because the sticky side was exposed through the punched holes and the torn crease, I would have to cover it with another strip of tape on the inside.
Furthermore, it became obvious that any staples would need reinforcement, or they would tear right through the two layers of tape.
For this, I cut two rectangles from an index card. I may have shortened the life of the repair with the card as it was not acid-free.
Reinforce Staple Location.
I cut a length of tape and laid it sticky-side up on a table, holding the ends with stones from a dismantled dwarven city terrain model. To align the rectangles to the staple locations, I laid the interior booklet next to the strip and stuck on each pre-folded rectangle. Then it was just a matter of applying the tape to the inside cover and clipping the tape ends flush to the cover with a blade.
Now to staple the cover. I was happy to discover a local print shop which had a saddle stapler. They didn’t have one the width of the original staples, which wasn’t a problem. But the staples weren’t as long either. Through the interior pages, they bent over the inside only about one millimeter.
This wouldn’t have been such a problem if, rather than two staples at the original locations, I had thought to leave the original staples in place, and use three staples, one at each end and in the middle.
Leave the Original Staples.
After only two weeks of use, the first folio already slipped out. I’m on a quest for long staples.
Repair Tips
Should you encounter a similar problem:
Use book tape (acid-free).
Tape the cover folded around the interior pages.
Reinforce the staple area (also acid-free).
Leave the original staples if serviceable.
Thanks to Jamie Blackman, Jerry Eblin, and other members of the Dungeons & Dragons B/X Facebook group for their advice.
We’re almost ready to play. We’ve covered everything that happens in the depths. Left for us now is to consider what happens when our adventurers are outside the dungeon.
I want only to cover aspects critical to the scenario. I intend to run The Deep Halls as a solo game, which also serves as an impromptu pick-up game for friends. In such games, the action is focused within the dungeon’s twisted corridors; “Base Town” is for rest and resupply, sometimes—as dictated by the scenario—with a loose connection between the two, which allows for further development in play.
“It isn’t so much the wealth as what the characters might spend it on that poses a problem. Assuming they invest it to ensure the success of further explorations, the obvious acquisitions are hirelings and spell scrolls.”—from “More XP for Treasures”
One critical aspect, in the case where treasures are generous in the closed dungeon, is that we may desire to minimize the impact of over-wealthy player characters. The following points are intended to accomplish that by extracting some gold and putting pressure on the characters to return to the dungeon.
Even with normal treasure amounts, such as when using the default Flying treasure sequence: 2-1-½, the following points are worth considering, if only to preempt the occasions when the party recovers large and valuable treasures. Such windfalls are not rare in the game, and you don’t want to surprise players with a sudden necessity to convert found coins to the king’s currency at a high rate.
We want to allow magic-users to make scrolls—it’s a special capability of the class and augments the magic-user’s often limited arsenal. But we don’t want them to be too comfortable while they do it.
Likewise, a few non-player characters round out the party’s range of abilities and give the party more tactical options. Not to mention the entourage is part of the old-school experience.
Though the treasures are well hidden and often trapped, adventurers should still find them, and though the gold is reduced by fees and conversion rates, the characters should ofttimes retain great wealth. All the while, there must remain a sense of wonder in its finding and a sense of satisfaction in its judicious spending.
“…augmenting the whole by noting where and how the treasures are protected and/or hidden.”—Monster & Treasure Assortments on the disposition of treasures
Reading “protected” as trapped or guarded by a monster, a complacent DM might be satisfied to hide or trap treasures not in close proximity to an alert monster and leave treasures with monsters otherwise unprotected. This may be a mistake in any adventure and, in a game with extra treasures to be found, is sure to lead to “no challenge, no thrill…”
I have mentioned before that M&T provides tables (reproduced in the AD&D DMG) to assist the DM in this regard. I suggest that most—if not all—treasures should be hidden or trapped and many hidden and trapped, especially those without monsters. Leaning heavy on the tables to begin, the DM will learn, I should think, to invent other interesting containers, insidious traps, and imaginative hiding places before the tables’ options become too commonplace.
Restocking the Dungeon
Monsters reinvest a cleared room in one to four weeks. You might inform the players of this fact or let the characters learn the frequency over the course of a few return forays.
One to four is 2.5 weeks on average. A party might risk one week, maybe two, for magic-users to make scrolls. By the third week, the party is likely to be anxious to get back. To increase this comfort zone, the DM may lengthen the period by rolling more or different dice, say d6 (mean 3.5) or 2d4 (5 weeks).
We might also say that when the party passes through a previously-cleared and still-empty room the period is reset.
Base Town
A brief interlude to discuss the other critical aspect concerning the scenario as a pick-up game, which is the development of the party’s operations base. We assume the adventurers return to a town or city to recuperate between dungeon expeditions. They find there the usual necessities: inn, tavern, markets, church or temple, magic-users and thieves guilds, and a local authority. For our purpose, other than exploiting any obvious connections between town and dungeon, the “Base Town” needn’t be further described.
Organic Base Town
organicadjective
2 c : having the characteristics of an organism : developing in the manner of a living plant or animal
A DM may add details before play begins as he or she sees fit or allow the base town to grow as the campaign progresses. That is, add details to the town only as necessary and only in play or as a direct result thereof.
This latter approach, in addition to reducing preparation time, allows the base town to be different only in ways that relate to the campaign and to the player characters. Moreover, ideas may come from elsewhere in the table’s brain array. The players then feel some agency in the base town’s development, and it becomes as much home as base.
Whether mundane or fantastic, if an element departs from the ordinary for a medieval fantasy town, it is somehow important to the story. This is not a rule but the result of the guideline: add details only as necessary in play.
The Church Connection
An obvious connection between Base Town and The Deep Halls we might make from the beginning is the local religious authority. To allow the seed to grow, we keep this connection loose. Let’s say the local clergy knows only that a sect of priests constructed a dungeon in the wilderness. The clerics do not know the dungeon’s exact location, the nature of the sect, or its goals.
Church or Temple
I use “church” for the local religious authority. In my mind, a church is dedicated to a monotheistic deity—or at least the chief among lesser gods—and a temple is dedicated to a pantheon of gods or a single god among a pantheon. The DM, of course, may use church or temple and define them as desired.
Wealth Extraction
“If the Gentle Reader thinks that the taxation he or she currently undergoes is a trifle strenuous for his or her income, pity the typical European populace of the Middle Ages.”—Gary Gygax, Advanced D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide (TSR Games, 1979)
In the DMG’s chapter on “THE CAMPAIGN,” Gygax devotes a section to the careful extraction of excess wealth from the game. Under the summary heading “DUTIES, EXCISES, FEES, TARIFFS, TAXES, TITHES, AND TOLLS” (90), he covers the diverse taxation practices of medieval Europe and gives examples from a town in “the typical fantasy milieu.” We may apply a few methods to our scenario.
The purpose of the Gygax tax is to remove some wealth—once we’ve got the XP out of it. To avoid tedium, we consider only methods that take large sums. We don’t mess with a few coins here and there or even percentages in the single digits. We target rather the tithe level and above, and we institute the methods from the first town visit. The extraction should seem to the characters normal and become routine. Players may learn to envision 90% of the great mound of treasure as they shovel coins into large sacks.
Parenthetical amounts below are suggestions only.
Magic-users Guild: An annual fee (100 g.p.) gives access to spells when gaining a level as well as access to a research library for free (10 g.p. per visit for non-members). At 9th-level and above, the fee is ten times the base rate (1,000 g.p.) and also grants laboratory space.
Thieves Guild: A thief character is expected to pay the annual fee (100 g.p.). Any who are not aware of the custom are reminded by a group of the guild master’s thugs in ungentle fashion. Among the typical benefits, a member may hire adventuring thieves and inquire about potential buyers for particularly interesting and valuable treasures. All “benefits” come at the price of bribes, payoffs, and kickbacks (100 - 1,000 g.p or from 10 to 50% of the transaction).
The Church: The devout, including most clerics, attend services and rituals, purchase holy water, and regular tithers may consult the small collection of religious texts. Regular tithers, moreover, may receive, at higher levels, special consideration when in need of healing or other forms of clerical aid, such as cures and curse removal, up to restoration of life.
Restorative Spells: The progressive degrees of clerical aid are freely available to all faithful followers of the local religion. This, at the discretion of the clerics, who reserve their daily spells for the devout and hard-working local folk who don’t put themselves in harm’s way in dark places. Those who do not tithe, or who are less than devout, may receive such aid at the cost of a donation (1,000 g.p. × spell level or 1,000 g.p. × caster level or as high as 1,000 g.p. × the square of the spell level; raise dead then requires a 5,000 to 25,000 g.p. donation).
Money Changer: Assume any precious metal pieces hauled out of the dungeon are not “coin of the realm” but foreign and ancient monies. These are not accepted in local shops, for there is a steep fine (50%) for possession of foreign currency. To avoid the fine, holders of such coin, upon entry to the town, must declare the illegal tender at the gate and proceed immediately to the money changer’s office. The two are in close proximity. The money changer takes 10% for the local authority.
Buying and Selling Gems and Jewelry: Gems, jewelry, and other such valuables can be bought and sold at the money changer’s or at the markets. A luxury tax (10%) is exacted.
Robbery: The innkeeper advises against storing wealth in a “secret place” at the inn or elsewhere and declares the establishment free of responsibility. Assume that any treasure so hidden—and unguarded—will be robbed in the character’s absence 20% of the time.
Bank: More secure than under the mattress, renting a coffer at the bank is just as sure to be safe as it is to have a cost (10 g.p. per month for a small coffer—holds up to 300 coins; 30 g.p. per month for a large coffer—1,000 coins; and 200 g.p. for a chest—10,000 coins). The banker assures the characters that the vault, as the property of the local authority, is guarded by men-at-arms and magical wards. Any robbery attempt should prove the vault secure and put the criminals in another dungeon or under the executioner’s axe.
Upkeep: Taking as examples the Travelers Inn and the next-door Tavern from The Keep on the Borderlands, we may fix daily upkeep at one gold piece for lodging, another for food, and a third for drink. We might round that off to 20 g.p. per week, then raise it to 30 g.p. per week per character to include incidentals.
The Complaints Department
If players complain about the dwindling trove, you might simply explain the meta-game rationale: the dungeon is full of treasure to allow a clever party to gain enough experience to be viable opponents against deeper-level denizens; excess wealth is extracted.
If characters complain, you might give a name to the local authority, to whom they may direct their ire.
Hireling Health and Happiness
The number of hirelings is limited to some degree by the characters’ Charisma scores. Still, at five non-players for each character, we have a large troop blundering in the dungeon.
Hiring
“The player wishing to hire a non-player character ‘advertises’ by posting notices at inns and taverns, frequents public places seeking the desired hireling, or sends messengers to whatever place the desired character type would be found (elf-land, dwarf-land, etc.). This costs money and takes time…” (Holmes, 8)
Holmes proposes 100 g.p. × the roll of a six-sided dice for the inquiry alone. I have balked at this figure for going on 40 years. In the case where the player characters are in possession of such wealth, though, it seems not unjustified.
We might say, without getting into great detail, that each class type is found in different venues: fighting men at the inn or tavern, clerics at the church, and magic-users and thieves from the guilds. Further, to enable Holmes’s reference to elf- and dwarf-lands, let’s assume those races are not common in the immediate region and that adventuring hobbits are likewise scarce.
Holmes goes on to suggest 100 g.p. as a minimum incentive to join the party. If we borrow the HOSTILE/FRIENDLY REACTION TABLE (Holmes, 11) for the purpose (as in OD&D but not specified in Holmes), offers of 200 g.p. and higher garner a bonus on the roll, and “uncertain” reactions require the hiring character to “make another [higher] offer” before another roll is made.
Reputation
The party with a reputation for good pay and decent treatment finds hirelings when desired. A generous party or individual characters may find that hirelings seek their employ. Conversely, if the party earns a poor reputation, the hireling pool may run dry—the minimum offer doubles and trebles and penalties on the reaction table accrue.
Pay and Bonuses: In addition to the initial incentive, hirelings should be rewarded with an equal share of treasure. Extra coin and magic items are considered bonuses and increase the employer’s reputation.
Party Success and Hireling Survival Rate: An oft-ignored factor in considering a party’s reputation is their overall success in adventures and how often they return with a lifeless hireling over a shoulder or, worse, without the hireling at all. Adjust enticements and reaction rolls accordingly.
How Many Hirelings Too Many?
As long as everyone is having fun, it isn’t too many. Two points to be aware of are overcrowding and combat encounter length.
If the group enjoys a good long melee, they are well served by a large entourage. There is, however, a point of diminishing returns. As party size grows, so does the number of monsters per encounter. Space, determined by map scale, limits the number of party members that can get in the room. The party that cannot bring its full force to bear against the larger number of monsters loses the melee—though the door is well guarded.
For melee-loving groups, consider a larger map scale. Not by coincidence, at 30 feet per square, the scale becomes ten yards, and The Deep Halls a battlefield. The dreaming priests in their reverie now command an army, and your old copy of Chainmail gains new life.
After figuring the volume required for coins (see Note 2, “Recalculating a Coin’s Weight”), I revised the rents and sizes of bank storage. [17:15 6 February 2022 GMT]
The Flying Dungeon Stocking Table reflects the stocking methods given in the Holmes edition with supplements Monster & Treasure Assortments and Dungeon Geomorphs. The idea that gets me further than the head voice saying, “Bluebook D&D!” is to use M&T for random monsters and treasures.
Basic D&D (1977) only goes to 3rd level though, and you might have another rules preference. These are my notes on using other old-school editions1 with the Flying Table.
The Bluebook for Higher-Level Play
Should your dungeon-level configuration go down to Level 4, rules for 4th-level characters are easily extrapolated from the Holmes edition. For deeper halls, the tunnel branches in multiple directions. One might recreate the experience of playing Holmes through the 3rd- and into 4th-level of play then switching to AD&D, as Holmes suggests, or adding the D&D Expert Rulebook. To ensure continuity with all these options, continue using the Flying Table with M&T.
Another alternative, beginning with the Bluebook, is to extrapolate rules for higher levels oneself. You might draw on OD&D and its Supplements I-IV in addition to your own inspiration. For suggestions and guidelines, if such are necessary, we needn’t look further than the Zenopus Archives. There, we find that many others have explored these tunnels before us. Zenopus links a number of resources on the Rules Expansions page.
Other Editions
Among old-school D&D editions, the rules don’t change so much the nature of The Deep Halls as do the contents-stocking method and the monster encounter tables.
OD&D
“Original” DUNGEONS & DRAGONS (1974) is Holmes’s source for Basic D&D, and the Monster & Treasure Assortments were made for the original edition. Therefore, the Flying Table meshes with OD&D as well as it does Holmes.
AD&D
With the Advanced edition (1977-79) you might use the Flying Table without risk of falling. For to get all the goodness out of those rules, though, consider using the AD&D DMG’s Appendix A, which provides a similar stocking method. Since you have the map already, ignore tables up to TABLE V. F.: CHAMBER OR ROOM CONTENTS (171). Rolling on that table leads you to other tables and other appendices to fill the rooms.
Random Treasure in the DMG
TABLES V. H, I, and J are copied word-for-word from M&T’s TREASURE IS CONTAINED IN, GUARDED BY, AND HIDDEN BY/IN tables. Only the dice roll and chance for each, adapted to a d20, is modified.
When I say “consider” above, I mean “consider carefully.” Where one roll on the Flying Table indicates basic contents, Appendix A requires a short succession of dice rolls.
More importantly, TABLE V. F. produces contents in proportions much different from the Flying Table. Fewer monsters inhabit the dungeon, for example. Furthermore, only 5% of rooms contain a “Special,” likewise for “Trick/Trap,” and fully 60% of rooms are empty. There is an echo in these Deep Halls.
DUNGEON LEVEL X
If you’re tempted by Appendix A, check out the DUNGEON LEVEL X encounter matrix (DMG 179) and consider a deeper configuration for The Halls. What might the priests be doing with demon princes, liches, and elder titans in the halls on the lowest level?
B/X
The Flying Table swoops within a few percentage points of the adored tables in Moldvay’s section E. STOCK THE DUNGEON (B52). Using these rules, either stocking method works with monsters and treasures from M&T.
B/X’s Wandering Monsters tables present different inhabitants, though they are not strangers to each other. It’s in determining treasure where B/X may present a problem. If you’re a DM winging it for a group, all those rolls on the treasure table plus division for smaller encounters can slow the game. On the other hand, if you’re flying solo, generating treasures can be an exciting part of the experience.
Notes
1 I refrain from a recitation of the litany of old-school “retroclones,” available thanks to Wizards of the Coast’s Open Game License. Popular clones include Swords & Wizardry (Frog God Games, 2008—for OD&D), Blueholme (Dreamscape Design, 2014—Basic D&D), OSRIC (Black Blade, 2013—AD&D), and (for B/X) Labyrinth Lord (Goblinoid Games, 2009) and Old-School Essentials (Necrotic Gnome, 2020). To all these, my notes for their source edition apply.
All You Need to Adventure in The Deep Halls: Holmes Basic D&D, Monster and Treasure Assortments, Dice, and the Map by Dyson Logos.
Previous experience-point calculations are based on a party of three. Larger or smaller parties must earn 2,171 XP—more or less—to advance an experience level.
I lead with a summary. Explanation and math follow. After a look at how a clever party of six makes up for fewer stocked XP per character, I close with examples.
Having been warned of the dungeon’s nature, we are not surprised when our Deep Halls explorations stray into uncertainty. “Twisted and nightmarish” as it is, we are thrilled at the risk.
Add one treasure roll for each double and single treasure.
Do not add rolls to “half” treasures—those without monsters.
For each character fewer than three:
Remove a single monster per encounter.
Do not reduce the number of monsters below the given range.
Remove one treasure roll for each double and single treasure.
Do not reduce treasures below the default sequence: 2-1-½.
Larger Parties
For parties over three, we add single monsters and treasure rolls to double and single treasures.
Monsters
According to Holmes (10), we add a single monster (not a roll) for each additional character. The average XP value for M&T’s Level One monsters is 25. Don’t ask.
(22 room + 8.5 wandering) × 25 XP = 762 additional XP from monsters
Thus, 30.5 additional monsters add 762 XP to the count.
Treasures
Subtracting the monsters XP from the total additional XP necessary, we need 1,409 more XP from treasures, which comes to ten treasure rolls.
2,171 − 762 = 1,409 additional XP needed from treasures 1,409 ÷ 143 g.p. = 9.85 rolls
Looking again at the pertinent factors of the familiar equation, no matter which treasure sequence we use, adding one roll to each magnitude—double, single, and half treasures, yields 15.5 additional rolls.
(5 areas × t) + (8 areas × t) + (2.5 areas × t) = 15.5t
In other words, since an average of 15.5 areas on Level 1 contain treasures, one more roll for each treasure adds 15.5 rolls to the total.
We want ten more rolls. We could add one to the single and half treasures for 10.5. It’s awkward, though, since the half treasures are not guarded by monsters, and the double treasures, guarded by double monsters, should be more impressive in comparison.
In these uncertain tunnels, I think it not too generous to add one roll each to double and single treasures for 13 additional treasure rolls. At the risk of having my “badge of honor” revoked, I suggest we leave half treasures unadjusted.
Smaller Parties
Adjusting for smaller parties is much the opposite of that for larger parties with minimum limits.
Monsters
Following Holmes’s “roughly equal numbers” advice for balanced encounters (10), we subtract a single monster from the encounter for parties of two and two monsters for lone adventures. Though Holmes stipulates that the number of monsters “should not be reduced below the lowest number shown” in the range.
Treasures
Reduce by one roll per character, for smaller parties, any treasures to which you would add one for larger parties. Do not reduce the number of rolls below the default sequence: 2-1-½.
A Clever Party of Six is Better Equipped Against the Dungeon’s Challenges.
A Clever Party
We see in the example below of a party of six that more adventurers must earn a higher percentage of the stocked XP to advance. Despite the challenge, larger parties have several advantages over smaller.
Wider range of special capabilities: Of the four classes and three races with special capabilities, a party of three draws on, at most, five types: elf with fighting man and magic-user capabilities plus any two of cleric, thief, dwarf, and hobbit. A party of five can draw on all seven types, and six can double up on one or more.
More tactical options: A larger force, properly maneuvered, presents a wider front and blocks wider corridors. It can flank or surround the enemy, enabling more often a thief’s “deadly blow from behind.” Wounded characters can withdraw from melee, while more healthy companions close the breach. And magic-users are better protected.
More players: As additional party members might be non-player characters, a larger party doesn’t necessarily mean more players. But when more brains surround the table, they tend to generate more—and sometimes better—solutions to problems.
Examples
To give us an idea of how these additional treasure rolls effect survivability, let’s look at two examples, for a party of four and a party of six, each using different treasure sequences.
For example sake, we assume a clever party indeed, who defeats all the monsters and finds all the treasures.
Adding XP for monsters and treasures, dividing among six characters, each earns 3,459 XP.
30.5 monsters × 125 = 3,812 XP for monsters 3,812 + 16,945 = 20,757 XP total 20,757 ÷ 6 characters = 3,459 XP each
While a party of three, using the thrilling sequence, earns 4,297 XP each.
1,525 + 11,368 = 12,893 ÷ 3 characters = 4,297
The results show that, using the default treasure sequence, each member of a party of four earns 300 more XP than members of a party of three. While in a party of six, using the thrilling sequence, each member earns 838 fewer XP than if they were only three. Twisted and nightmarish.
The Bluebook recommends the Dungeon Geomorphs, boxed with early printings of Holmes Basic, to DMs saying they “contain many suggestions and will prove very useful.”
ENCOUNTER KEY EXAMPLE
“5. False door which fires an arrow directly out when it is opened. The arrow is magical (+1), and if it fails to hit it will be usable. After the first magic arrow, it will fire only non-magic ones which will break whether or not they hit.”
Dungeon Geomorphs Set One: Basic Dungeon (TSR Hobbies, 1976). A precedent for the reuse or not of normal and magical arrows.
While the Monster & Treasure Assortment gives us the particulars of the dungeon’s inhabitants and their wealth, it and Holmes Basic provide only guidelines on when to roll for them. To stock as we explore The Deep Halls, we need an easy method to determine room contents.
I am fond of Moldvay’s tables for stocking room contents and treasure. Outside of “special monsters to be used,” I depend on those two tables to determine what’s behind the door and what’s hidden under the loose floor stone. They provide quick answers to the immediate questions, while allowing leeway for creativity to intercede.
For The Deep Halls, though, we’re using Holmes Basic. Nothing stops us from using the B/X tables except a curiosity to play the game as we might have done in the late 70s. So, perusing the Bluebook, I put together the text about stocking a dungeon and compiled a single d100 table.
No B/X!
Keeping with the Holmes spirit, in this article I try to avoid any assumptions based on Moldvay’s tables and, indeed, any B/X-isms whatsoever. If you spot one, call me out. Punishment is to be thrown into the Pit behind the Great Stone Skull.
Flying Dungeon Stocking Table
All table entries—“double” and “single” treasures, the various traps, for examples—are derived from Holmes Basic plus supplements Monster & Treasure Assortments and Dungeon Geomorphs. I discuss below, at some length, how I arrived at the entries and their percentages.
You can use the table to generate general random room contents, either while stocking the dungeon before a session or on the fly. Using it in the later case, I call it “flying.”
d100
Result
1-5
Monsters, double treasures (special)
6-10
Monsters, double treasures (selected)
11-18
Monsters, single treasure (selected)
19-26
Monsters, single treasure (random)
27-33
Monsters, no treasure
34-38
Treasure (hidden, trapped; room appears empty)
39
Trap: transports to deeper level
40-43
Trap: scything melee weapon
44-45
Trap: falling block
46-49
Trap: spring-loaded missile
50-54
Trap: trapdoor in floor, pit “relatively shallow”
55-57
Trap: trapdoor in floor, pit 10’ deep
58
Trap: trapdoor in floor, pit 20’ deep
59-78
Interesting variation
79-100
Appears to be empty…
Sources
Bluebook editor Dr. J. Eric Holmes affords us the bulk of his guidance on stocking dungeons in a half dozen paragraphs on pages 22 and 40. In addition, he recommends guidelines in the Monster & Treasure Assortments. He also mentions the Dungeon Geomorphs. We don’t need geomorphs for The Deep Halls, but some guidance therein helps to resolve a dilemma, which we’ll get to shortly.
Reading Map
Though I refrain from minute detail, this article far exceeds the comfortable reading length of the average reader, old school or otherwise. To guide you, the remainder of the article is divided into the following sections:
In the MONSTERS section of the Bluebook, the editor warns:
“Determination of exactly how much treasure any monster has can be a difficult matter.”
He goes on to explain that too little treasure “dampens enthusiasm,” and the PCs don’t live long enough to gain a level. Too much treasure “turns the game into a give away show.”1 The players don’t learn how to play well, and the lack of challenge reduces interest in play.
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.
“Single” and “Double,” “Special” and “Selected”
Under the heading SAMPLE FLOOR PLAN, PART OF FIRST LEVEL, Holmes advises:
“Place a few special items first, then randomly assign treasure and monsters to the other rooms using the selection provided in the game or appropriate tables.” (40)
Turning to the Monster & Treasure Assortments (hereafter M&T), we see reiterated the suggestion to “prepare several special monsters—along with whatever treasure each such monster guards.” M&T continues:
“Thereafter, … move to the list of randomly generated monsters and select which should be in proximity to the specially placed monsters.”
After this selection, random determination from the enclosed tables is the method advised.
Note that each of the three Monster & Treasure Assortment Sets contain identical instructions for stocking dungeons. But we’ll see below a difference between sets in the Dungeon Geomorphs instructions.
In reference to treasures, M&T urges “that the DM selectively place as many treasures as possible, doubling up in some cases.”
The point of the Flying Table is to make a random determination, and frankly, the listed treasures are not terribly exciting. I avoid having to chose between 300 gold pieces and 500 electrum by rolling for it. Maybe I’ll get a Manual of Puissant Skill of Arms.
However, I retain the notions of “special” and “selected” in the flying table—not “as many as possible” though. I group the treasures with like monsters. And—you start to know me—I keep the idea of “doubling up” treasures.
Treasures, Hidden, Trapped
Whether accompanied by a monster or not, treasures should be hidden and trapped. They are often in some container. This is where M&T shines. Three tables, TREASURE IS CONTAINED IN, GUARDED BY, and HIDDEN BY/IN, improve a treasure’s allure.
Exploring a room, we find a large stone jar. Runes are carved around its neck. It is filled with incense. As we approach we can smell it. Further inspection shows it to be only a thin layer of incense, beneath which we discover a cache of gold coins before the runes explode.
How Often Monsters?
“A roll of 1 or 2 [on a d6] indicates some monster is there.” (Holmes, 40)
Here, in the probability of monsters appearing, we arrive at our dilemma. Where Holmes gives 33% (1 or 2 out of 6, above), M&T states: “a dungeon level should have monsters in only 20% or so of the available rooms and chambers.”
I lean toward 33%, because it’s in OD&D, not to mention B/X. But I want to justify it somehow. I found the justification in the Dungeon Geomorphs.
Brief instructions below the ENCOUNTER KEY EXAMPLE in Set One: Basic Dungeons gives “Approximately 25%” as the monster probability.
Adding a different percentage seems only to aggravate the problem. But, while the instructions in Set Three: Lower Dungeons are the same, those in Set Two differ in one respect: In Caves and Caverns, we encounter a monster in half the rooms.
Implied Setting: More Monsters in Caves
A greater monster probability in natural subterranean environments is news to me. It changes, if only slightly, how I imagine D&D’s implied setting.
The average between the differing probabilities, 25 and 50, is 37.5%, which I’ll take as close enough to 33% and align with Holmes.2
So, we are settled on a 33% monster probability. Now, we discuss some details about monsters and treasures before going on to address, briefly, traps, “interesting variations,” and empty rooms.
“Where Amon-Gorloth sleeps and dreams”
Author-cartographer Dyson Logos tells us the dreaming priests adapted The Deep Halls from existing caverns. Built-out dungeon rooms as well as caves, natural and rough-hewn, are depicted on the map.
To adhere strictly to the differing Dungeon Geomorphs instructions, I’m working out two modified tables, one for each environment: 25% monster probability in dungeon levels and 50% in caves and caverns.
“Twisted and nightmarish,” indeed.
Monsters, No Treasures
M&T adds, “about 20% of the monsters should have no treasure whatsoever.” The rationale for broke monsters, according to the supplement, is that players will not know if treasure is present or not. Whereas, if every monster had treasure, they would search until they found it.
By my reading of Holmes, other than jellies, slimes, and puddings, which are placed randomly in halls between rooms, all monsters have treasure. As he is mute on the wealth wandering monsters might carry, we assume none.3
Treasures, No Monsters
While M&T makes a good case for monsters without treasures, the converse is not mentioned. Nowhere in the cited sources do I find explicit instructions to include treasures where there are no monsters.
The only evidence for this necessary phenomenon, not rare in other editions, is general references to “treasure,” not indicating whether a monster is present.
Why Treasures Without Monsters?
A dungeon without a few treasures not guarded by monsters is a dungeon little explored. In such a world, neophyte adventurers are taught the simple maxim: “No monster, no treasure.”
If the room is empty, which “many” are (Holmes, 40), adventurers move to open the opposite door. Why search a room where, at best, you might find a trap? At worst, you’ll find a trap, and while searching, a monster will wander through the door.
The DM, then, loses a valuable information-delivery platform. All those clues—for example, to the origin of the dungeon, the story of its builder, and how to defeat him or her—go unsought and undiscovered.
In spite of the omission, I add to the table a 5% chance for treasures without monsters.
How many Manuals of Puissant Skill of Arms?
If you get a duplicate result of a magic item, M&T gives you license to replace it with a like item, e.g. a potion for a potion. You can roll for it on the appropriate table. For more excitement, you can roll on the Magic Items table (Holmes, 36), or roll first to see if it’s a map (Maps and Magic Categories, 34), as I do. Careful though, rolling on the Magic Items table opens up the possibility to get a more powerful item than M&T intended. Wear your “Monty Haul” badge with pride.
Traps
This is adorable. Holmes on traps:
“Falling into a relatively shallow pit would do damage only on a roll of 5 or 6 (1-6 hit points at most) but will delay the party while they get the trapped character out.”
Apart from explaining damage for more profound pits and admonishing us against “the ‘Zap! You’re dead!’ variety,” Holmes has no further advice on traps.
Dungeon Geomorphs provides the proportion: “For every five [rooms and large spaces] there should be approximately one trap” or 20%.
Geomorphs goes on to give us the idea to transport explorers to lower levels:
“Slanting passages, teleportation areas, slides, and the like should be added sparingly thereafter—one or two such items per level is a fair guideline.”
By way of a series of thought experiments using the geomorphs and mathematical calculations to take into account the implied number of encounter areas per level, I derived 1% as the “sparing” chance for transportation to deeper levels.
The 39 Steps
It was through mysterious coincidence that the entry for transportation to deeper levels falls at 39 on the table.
Maybe the shadowy organization of Hitchcock’s 1935 film is not involved. It cannot be that within the 39% entry is hidden a coded message, planted by an insidious enemy, giving the time and place for a clandestine rendezvous, as in John Buchan’s 1915 novel. Yet, it may be that both are true, for “The 39 Steps” delivers explorers to deeper levels…
In a Set Three example, Dungeon Geomorphs gives us poison spikes at the bottom of a pit trap. It doesn’t describe damage, but one would assume a minimum d6 from a spike (there are six in the pit) in addition to falling damage, plus at least one save vs. Poison—“Zap! You’re Dead!” Let’s save dripping, sharp objects on pit bottoms for a Lower Dungeons campaign.
For more variety in things that go “Zap!” I add spring-loaded missiles and scything melee weapons, which usually guard treasures in M&T.
“Interesting Variations”
Also present, Holmes notes, are “hidden rooms, movable walls, teleportation devices, illusion rooms, dead ends, etc.,” which he calls “interesting variations” (40). Let’s assume the percentage is equal to that of traps.
This is where the creative DM exercises his or her genius: A lever controls an elevator room. Water from a clear pool, when imbibed, increases an ability score. Crystal spheres hang in the air; when one is broken, treasure or a monster falls out. Walking through an archway, the adventurer is teleported to a dragon’s lair—under the monster’s foot! The rest of us tell stories about them, and these interesting variations become legends.
I generally lack this genius. I depend on the legends to dress up my dungeons with such variations. Thankfully, an old school gamer collected many of the best ones into a book of random tables.
The Dungeon Alphabet
Although it was published three decades after Holmes, I have to recommend The Dungeon Alphabet: An A-to-Z Reference for Classic Dungeon Design by Michael Curtis for devising interesting variations. When it doesn’t add something wild and cool, it adds flavor to the dungeon and its culture.
It has controlling levers, teleportation devices, magic pools, mysterious events, and lots more. Use an entry straight from the book or peruse and be inspired to invent your own.
The earliest publication is 2009, but be sure to get the “Expanded Fourth Printing” of 2018—it has a few additional interesting variations.
The remaining 22% on the table goes to empty rooms, keeping in mind that rooms containing treasures without monsters (5%, above) also appear empty… until we turn up some nice treasures!
Notes
1 “…turns the game into a give away show.” I have to think Holmes here alludes directly to Let’s Make a Deal, the television game show originally hosted by Monty Hall, from which the derogatory “Monty Haul” is derived.
2 For more monsters and more treasures on a single table, align with the 37.5% average of the Dungeon Geomorphs instructions by adjusting the table, adding 4% or 5% to the chance to encounter monsters (for a total of 37% or 38% monster probability). To do so, add 1 to the range for each Monsters entry with treasure (for 37%) and 1 to the Treasures only entry (for 38%). Adjust the table down the line, keeping the same chance for Traps and Interesting variations, and remove 4% or 5%, as appropriate, from the chance for an empty room.
3 Because they carry no treasure, wandering monsters only drain the party’s resources. This heightens the tension during exploration. Aware that the passing of time brings danger without reward, clever adventurers don’t doddle.
If the Monster & Treasure Assortments had got more play…
—“What’s your Hack-9?” —“What’s that?” —“You know, your attack level—what do you need to Hit Armor Class 9?”
“AL = level of attack by monster as expressed by the monster’s base number to score a hit on an unarmored opponent (armor class 9)”—Monster & Treasure Assortments (TSR Hobbies, 1977)
In preparation for the next age in the Wyrm Dawn campaign, I made monster group cards for the primordial wyrm, each wyrmling, and living statues. I also made a cosmetic change to the Kobolds card and added new actions, used by the new monsters.
Guard A guarded treasure or epic treasure cannot be stolen or otherwise removed from its place.
Wake Roll 1d6. On a 6, the active group explores. Otherwise, it stays asleep and prepares.
Touch Handle touch as steal. In addition, no matter the results of the conflict, the target group (in our case, the Dragon) adds the following instructions to the bottom of its card.
Wyrm-touched: The Dragon has the same bonus to dice rolls as the Wyrmling who touched it. A wyrm-touched Dragon cannot be so touched again.1
New and Modified Monster Groups
Symbols:
Population: ● Treasure: ❍ Epic treasure: ⛭ Special bonus: ★
Kobolds (modification)
Remove the draconic tag from the Kobolds card.2
Living Statue
In addition to the three initial monster group cards, the Living Statue card begins the Age of Monsters in play. By default, its type is Magma, but you may decide otherwise or roll for it. Place its counters with 1 ⛭ in the Hall of Living Statues.
The Living Statue guards an enormous stone tablet. This epic treasure is called “The Stone of Living Statues.” Made by the Throrgrmir dwarves in their renaissance, the tablet describes how to create a living statue. It is immovable and, so, cannot be stolen or otherwise removed from the Hall.
If the Wizard or the Blue Wizard finds the tablet unguarded, add the following action to the wizard’s card:
❏ Build Living Statue (req cyrstal, iron, or magma).3
On its turn, the builder—and only the builder—may deactivate a Living Statue. Deactivation is not a separate action. When deactivated, the Living Statue card is removed from play. Given the required materials, a wizard may build multiple Living Statues, but only one at a time may be in play.
Living Statue
Crystal●●● Iron●●●● Magma●●●●● Treasure varies
Construct, Mindless, Magical
Constructed by the Throrgrmir dwarves or a powerful wizard, a living statue is a formidable guard.
LIFECYCLE
AlwaysGuard. IF it has not interacted with any monster group in the last turn, the Living Statue prepares and takes no additional actions.
A Living Statue’s type is determined by the resource of which it is made. It takes its turn immediately after the wizard who created it.
Primordial Wyrm
The Primordial Wyrm begins the Age of Monsters in her lair, which is the ancient city of Throrgardr, now in ruins. Place 6 ●, 6 ❍, and 2 ⛭ in Throrgardr.4
The epic treasures in the hoard are Lyngheid’s Prize and the Seventh. When yielding treasure, whether through theft or otherwise, the Primordial Wyrm gives up normal treasures first. Only when she has no treasures remaining does she sacrifice Lyngheid’s Prize. The Seventh, being her last unhatched egg, cannot be removed from the hoard while the Primordial Wyrm is in play.5
Primordial Wyrm●●●●●●❍❍❍❍❍❍⛭⛭
Unique, Primordial, Aquatic, Draconic, Hoarder
The primordial wyrm sleeps in her lair unless disturbed…
LIFECYCLE
AlwaysFight any group that has made me the target of any action. IF I have not interacted with any group in the last turn, prepare and take no additional actions.
Healing: If the Primordial Wyrm has fewer than 6 ●, roll 1d6 when she prepares. On a 1, add 1 ● to the Primordial Wyrm.
Apathetic: No matter how many ● or ❍ she gains, the Primordial Wyrm never rises to villainy.
Die for the Seventh: The Seventh, being her last unhatched egg, cannot be removed from the hoard while the Primordial Wyrm is in play.
Wyrmlings
There are six unique Wyrmling cards. Wyrmlings are named by order of birth. Fighting over treasure during the Age of Civilization, they now abide by an established hierarchy. Stronger Wyrmling cards, higher in the order, have a bonus to all dice rolls.
Wyrmling, Name●●
Unique, Aquatic, Draconic, Wandering
A wyrmling seeks treasure. She does not know nor care that her touch effects dragons. She just wants the treasure.
LIFECYCLE
IF I am asleep, wake. IF I am near a Dragon and it has treasure, touch it. Otherwise, alwaysexplore.
❏ Steal.
Hoard bound: When she acquires a treasure, a Wrymling returns immediately to the lair, adds the treasure to the primordial wyrm’s hoard, and sleeps.
Wounded: A sleeping Wyrmling with fewer than 2 ● cannot wake. Instead she prepares, adding 1 ● instead of a ★.
Protected: In the lair, a Wyrmling cannot be the target of any action while the Primordial Wyrm is in play.
Wyrmling Hierarchy:
Wyrmling Name
Bonus to Dice Rolls
Delta
+2
Epsilon
+2
Zeta
+1
Alpha
+1
Gamma
+1
Beta
+0
Notes
1 The touch action and the Touched instructions might also be used in a demon-centered campaign—renamed as taint and Tainted.
2Wyrmwyrd, the follow-on campaign, uses the B/X “rules as written.” Though compelling, the kobold association with dragons was introduced in a later edition.
3 Crystal may be exploited from the Crystal Caverns, iron from the dwarven Smelter, Foundry, or Power Plant (considered as biomes), and magma (also a biome) from the magma chamber.
4 During the Age of Civilization, the primordial wyrm acquired (through her treasure-seeking offspring) nine dwarven treasures. Using the average treasure type values, I converted nine dwarven treasures to four dragon treasures. These are in addition to the two treasures the primordial wyrm previously possessed.
5 I don’t see in the rules that the (optional) epic treasures can be stolen at all. I’m making up the “yield normal treasures first” rule.
“These are the rules,” said Garth. “You don’t have to know them, but this’ll give you an idea about the game.”
I had to study the monochrome cover to make out the image. A dragon—fangs bared, wings spread—narrowed its serpentine eyes at an armored bowman and a bearded man in a pointy hat. The man wore a robe with stars, comets, and crescent moons all over it, like the hat. He pointed a magic wand at the dragon. I could tell it was a magic wand, because magic—in the form of glowing blue flame and tiny stars—was shooting out of it. The bowman, who wore a shield slung over a shoulder, aimed an arrow at the dragon. The dragon sat on a mound of coins and jewelry, chests and vases, and swords that stuck out at angles.
Inside the book, the text was small, the pages eggshell colored, edges tinged yellow, which gave the impression of age. Black and white drawings depicted medieval characters, who were armed and fighting mythic creatures or hordes of grotesque humanoid monsters.
Thumbing through its leaves, I read long headings in block capitals: TIME AND MOVEMENT IN THE DUNGEONS and TRAPS, SECRET DOORS, SURPRISES, WANDERING MONSTERS and EXPERIENCE POINTS AND EXPERIENCE LEVELS. There were rules for COMBAT MELEE, MISSILE FIRE, and MAGIC WEAPONS, plus page after page of descriptions of MAGIC SPELLS and MONSTERS.
My thumb stopped. One whole page was delineated in rows and columns—the heading: TREASURE TABLE. Percentages showed the chances for coins of precious metals, including platinum, which I’d heard of, and electrum, which I hadn’t. The coins came by the thousands and were accompanied by gems, jewelry, maps, and magic.
I flipped back to the front to have a closer look. In the FOREWORD FROM THE ORIGINAL EDITION, I read a mysterious fairy tale. It began with “ONCE UPON A TIME, long, long ago…” and turned quickly esoteric. There were castles, crusades, and societies. There was a character named Dave Arneson and a map of a “Great Kingdom” and its “environs.” There was a bog and, in it, a “weird enclave” called “Blackmoor” in “a spot between the ‘Giant Kingdom’ and the fearsome ‘Egg of Coot.’” There were medieval fantasy “campaigns,” which were more than just a game. “Blackmoor” was one, another was “Greyhawk.”
The place names were unfamiliar, as were many of the words. They all came together in my mind like pieces of an insolvable jigsaw puzzle. But each piece glowed in blue flame and tiny stars.
I closed the book and looked again at the cover. “When do we play?”
Preface and FOREWORD FROM THE ORIGINAL EDITION with Illustration by David Sutherland. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: Rules for Fantastic Medieval Role Playing Adventure Game Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures, edited by Eric J. Holmes, Lake Geneva, WI: TSR Hobbies, 1977.
In the years since, I learned all the place names from the mysterious fairy tale and all the words too. I learned about the Castle & Crusade Society and their CHAINMAIL fantasy rules. I learned that Dave Arneson and the FOREWORD’s author Gary Gygax invented the game, of which the “original edition” was published in the previous decade—not so long, long ago. I have adventured in Greyhawk and Blackmoor and set scenarios for my own medieval fantasy campaigns in those worlds. And although now I know its origin and character, in my mind, the “Egg of Coot” remains fearsome.
