The Story So Far

It  never fails - no plan survives first contact with the enemy adulting. 

I was doing fairly well keeping up with the Dungeon Year first month until last week. Layoffs at work, rush jobs and a whole lot of unplanned work made a ruin of my schedule and left me no energy for this project. 

But that is okay! Because I knew things like this happen in life and I had allotted some slack in the design for "blank space". In addition, the design of the Capricorn half of January was meant to be more of a sandbox. 

The game is meant to open with the PCs 'awakening' to a strange twilight realm of tinkling glass and gloaming, directionless light. There they quickly discover themselves to be silvery, glass-like simulacra with incomplete memories. They will immediately get a brief lore dump from an NPC, setting the stage for them and setting a few imperative goals: 

1. Collect something called "living shards" (hereafter just "shards"), which they will use to reassemble themselves. 
2. The longer it takes to collect the shards, the more likely your shards will be taken from you by monsters. 
3. Also, after some time the PC will start to transform into one of the local monsters of this quasi-world, forever. 
4. Once each person has "enough" shards, they may transit through the Gates of Janus (1-19) to exit the dungeon, a complete person. 

The party will have three days (or Long Rests) to collect all the shards they can, usually by harvesting them from local monsters, all of whom need these shards to survive. In the meantime, the monsters will also be attempting to take THEIR shards, and after each period of rest the PC will begin to feel "less attached". 

In order to keep the players moving and seeking out shards, they will have to roam throughout this twilit realm and collect shards (I'm thinking 6-8 per character; this is a minigame which I will detail below). Thus many areas are simply open, and the players will be sweeping each area for shards. As far as unique locations, I have front-loaded them into the early days (except for 1-19: The Temple of Janus). The Lens of Oroboros(1-1), the goblin hunting den (1-3), the Onion Fort (1-11), the Silver Lake (1-6), the New Moon area (1-18) and the Shrine to Hecate. 

I will probably redistribute these features to other areas. I don't want to have set-piece areas clustered too closely together.... but maybe I'll add another goblin hunting den. I haven't decided yet. But the empty spaces between them will be key for random encounters which will provide those precious shards. 

Anyway, I will need to get a wiggle on to catch up with January. Fingers crossed - things seem to be normalizing at work! 

1-12: Treacherous Roads

 1-12: This area has more traffic than some of the other empty quarters, primarily because of its location between the Onion Fort and the Temple of Janus. You are far more likely to encounter Janussaries here than other regions, and as a result, oddly less likely to encounter goblins, who avoid the Janussaries like the plague. 

Janussaries will absolutely stop to investigate any activity they see or hear, unless they are on some urgent task (like returning to the Temple with more "recruits"). 

1-12 accesses the four surrounding territories; 1-5, 1-11, 1-13 and 1-19. 

1-11: The Onion Fort

 1-11: The Onion Fort. 

Standing alone on this broad plane of glass dunes, an enormous, onion-shaped edifice, with slits and cracks and firing ports, and a single, always-closed gate. This is the town of the goblins, where they bring all their loot. 

Within the fort, goblin town is 'organized' by competing gangs, ruled by goblin thugs and bosses, with King Boss at the center. The goblin leaders are stronger, each with individual “mutations” they’ve gained from consuming shards. But none are so mighty as King Boss Goblin. Outside of the High Priest of Janus, King Boss is the most individually powerful creature in the Mirrorverse.

The goblins make maximum use of death architecture; traps, pits, murder holes, imprisoned creatures let loose into controlled locations. The town is separated into individual, fortified complexes shaped from the glass-goo. They are as fearful of each other as they are of outsiders. 

King Boss Goblin is crafty and wise, there’s no point in letting people wander in and risk his personal safety when he could throw many goblins at the problem and escape in the chaos. 

1-10: Southern Bank of the Great Plateau

 1-10: Southern Bank of the Great Plateau

The three southern tunnels from 1-3 exit here along a long smooth slope. A faint road or path crossing this territory seems to get more use on the eastern side of the territory (the route most goblins take to get to their town and their Boss. Another path leads due south, but it seems less used as well. 

This area accesses 1-3 via the tunnels, or areas 1-9, 1-11 and 1-17 via roads. 

1-9: More Open territory

 1-9: More Open Ground

Much like area 1-7, the only features here of note are the roads which cross the territory in each cardinal direction. Random encounters! 

The road extends north to 1-2, east to 1-10, south to 1-16 and west to 1-8. 

Note that the northern and easter routes take you back to areas that can access the goblin hunting den and/or the vast plateau, area 1-3, depending on whether one takes toe overland or underground route. 

1-8: Goddess of the Crossroads

 1-8: The Crossroads

Much like 1-7 and 1-9, there is little of note in this broad expanse of glass dunes besides a road that runs East-West. Another road extends from the north to the south. Where the two meet is a shrine; a three headed goddess whose faces point in each cardinal direction except north. 

This statue represents the Threefold Goddess Hecate, goddess of magic, travelers, the Moon, and the crossroads. Since most travelers here are either devotees of Janus or insensate creatures, there's very little need for Hecate to have an active presence here, but given that *some* travelers are like you, the party, and may have incomplete personas, it is possible to gain some small boon here. It may be a point in the right direction, a cryptic clue, or possibly even a shard, but it will be granted only once. 

Random encounters do not occur near the shrine; it is a safe place to camp... assuming you have the time. 

The roads extend north to 1-1, south to 1-15, west to 1-7 and east to 1-9. 

1-7: Open Road

 1-7: The Open Road

A worn path snakes its way across this expanse of glass dunes, extending from relative east to west. Towards the middle of this stretch there is a fork in the path leading south (to 1-14). 

Other than random encounters, there is nothing of interest in this area.

1-6: The Quicksilver Lake

Note: Things got busy this week, and I did not get terribly far with this project beyond a few doodles and workshopping encounter lists and creature abilities. I confess to a bit of writer's block, but I need to give myself a break, because every single "room" can't be an entire adventure unto itself. In keeping with this truth, I will ad some more "open road" areas. 

1-6: The Quicksilver Lake

As the party descends into this area, the glass ground takes on a sodden feel, implying the presence of liquid. But the center of this area, a low point for this region of the map, is filled not with water but quicksilver. Or something like it. Over the ages, weird magical energies rendered from shards have coalesced into a thick, inert liquid, like mercury but without the, you know, brain damage and death and stuff. 

The good news is that this liquid is very dense, so it is quite easy to float or swim across it. The bad news is that it is occupied by oozes, who have no problem disguising themselves against the silvery backdrop. Among these one will find crystal oozes, oblexes, gray ooze, metallic ooze and slithering trackers. These creatures typically lurk near the shore, waiting for the approach of a living creature such as an amalgam, striking out and dragging them into the lake where they have the advantage. And if a large meal attempts to wade in or cross, well! So much the better. 

Even creatures  made entirely of glass will float, so it's feasible that even a large amalgam would chase a tasty morsel out onto the lake. Note that all lake movement is difficult terrain, unless you somehow managed to rig up an oared vehicle of some kind.

Area 1-6 borders on 1-5, 1-7, and 1-13. 

Sidebar: The Deck of Many (Other) Things

 During my group's last session, I wanted to reward some exceptional playing with something special, but not game-breakingly good. On the fly, I came up with the idea of a "Deck of Many Other Things", much like the legendary Deck of Many Things but mostly loaded up with plot fuel. It follows the same model as the standard deck, but the cards are more phenomenon based than mechanical. 

But how, you ask, did you generate a list of novel cards like this on the fly? This is where the dreaded, all-consuming behemoth that is AI comes into play. I simply a prompt (much like what I wrote above) into ChatGPT, and out came this card list. Well, mostly. I changed a few things. I don't know where the seed material was sourced from, but whomever it may be, if not the bot itself, I thank you. 

If you like it, feel free to use it. 

The Deck of Many Other Things

(Draw at your own risk. Or delight.)

1. The Fool (Upright Only)

You immediately gain an unexpected opportunity. It’s real, but you won’t recognize it until you almost miss it.

2. The Magician

One mundane object you own becomes slightly magical for a week. It works… just not how you expect.

3. The High Priestess

You learn a secret. Unfortunately, you don’t yet know what it’s useful for.

4. The Empress

Something you’ve been nurturing (a project, idea, friendship) grows faster than planned.

5. The Emperor

You are placed in charge of a situation you did not ask for. Authority is real; respect is negotiable.

6. The Hierophant

An old rule suddenly applies to you again. Breaking it has consequences you forgot existed.

7. The Lovers

You must make a choice between two equally appealing options. The unchosen path becomes… weird.

8. The Chariot

For the next day, momentum favors you. If you hesitate, the effect ends immediately.

9. Strength

You succeed at something through patience instead of force, even if force would’ve been easier.

10. The Hermit

You disappear from everyone’s notice for a short time. You still exist. Mostly.

11. Justice

A past action—good or bad—comes back balanced. Not punished. Not rewarded. Balanced.

12. The Hanged One

You must do something the hard way to gain a shortcut later.

13. Death

A chapter ends cleanly. No tragedy—just finality. You cannot go back.

14. Temperance

Two opposing things in your life suddenly work together. You don’t know how long it’ll last.

15. The Devil

You gain exactly what you want… but also exactly what comes with it.

16. The Tower

A false belief collapses dramatically. You’re safer afterward, even if it doesn’t feel like it.

17. The Star

Hope becomes tangible. Once, you may reroll, retry, or reconsider a failed outcome.

18. The Moon

Things are confusing, but your instincts are sharper than usual. Trust vibes over facts.

19. The Sun

Something hidden is revealed in the best possible light. Confidence becomes contagious.

20. Judgement

You are called to account for who you’ve become—not who you were.

21. The World

A long arc completes. You gain closure and a new beginning at the same time.

22. The Other Thing

The deck refuses to explain itself. Something strange happens later. The card vanishes.

Now the fun part of this is that none of these things are as mundane as "+2 to a stat" or "you get sucked into a black hole and die." Each draw provides an interesting tag to the player's story (or backstory if they bothered to create one) in media res, and when they draw multiple cards it's even better. 

Case in point: the party's Archfey Warlock, let's call him Archie, who was starting to feel the constraints of his class at level 7 (2 spells per encounter is pretty restrictive) and asked if we might convert it over to D&D '24. Now I'd rather not shift the whole game over from '14 to '24 because I'm lazy and concerned about balance. Plus, a few players are brand new to the hobby, so there's heavy lifting on both sides of the screen. 

But Archie declared he was going to draw 3 cards, and got the The World, Death, and Justice. 

A long arc completes. You gain closure and a new beginning at the same time.

A chapter ends cleanly. No tragedy—just finality. You cannot go back.

A past action—good or bad—comes back balanced. Not punished. Not rewarded. Balanced.

When you put all these together, it kind of looks a bit like a career change, dunnit? Maybe Archie is a hot ticket in the lands of the Fey now that he's leveled up a bit and other members of the Summer Court desire him? Or maybe even members of the Unseelie Court? or the Nag Lord himself, Atanuwe? 

I could imagine a fairy conclave of some sort, with various members of the Courts rubbing elbows and (predictably) gambling with the lives of mortals. I can imagine a card game in which Archie's patron wagers their contract. That's exciting! In fact, I'm thinking of having the players act out a card game of some sort, with several different factions present, and to the victor belongs the spoils! 

In any event Archie may come away with a new patron and new powers, bestowed by a patron now glowing with joy over their victory. Of course, the fey are notorious for losing interest quickly... 

The rest of the party received similar results, and I've had a blast trying to interpret what their new "dooms" might mean in the current setting. 

NOTE: I'm really on the fence about AI in general, and I try not to rely on AI art at all. If I was to ever publish something, I would only use it as a mock-up to share with any potential illustrator. And it's pants at many things, such as maps. And I've tried using it as a "virtual DM" but it's not so good at that either. So while I may use it as a crutch at the table, I don't intend to go full cyborg. 

1-5 The Glass Dunes

 1-5 The Glass Dunes

An expanse of gently rolling glass dunes. Not much to look at, but this area will have a few hazards and a random encounter table. This area provides access to 1-6, 1-12 and, of course 1-5. 

While not exactly "trackless" this area is dull, inhabited by the meekest fauna of the mirrorverse - the lesser amalgams. Whether this is because they tend to originate here or because viable shards are few and far between, no one  knows. Or cares. Basically a desert here. 

Encounters, while rare, are possible. And given that this is an area where glassfalls tend to occur, you can find some weird stuff. I'll figure out the chance of encounters later. Whatever the average is, it's lower here. When they do occur, roll a d8: 

1. Medusa - miffed at being caught out by her own gaze attack, she is highly defensive and vulnerable. She has already figured out that her gaze doesn't work here. 
2. Wind chimes. Someone assembled a mobile or large set of wind chimes out of a 10 foot pole and some string. Weird but innocuous, might draw monsters. Occurs once then treat as 4
3. 1 medium amalgam
4. d2 lesser amalgams
5. Quickglass - looks just like the glass grit/gravel everywhere else but it's liquified. Slows the party down one way or the other. 
6. 1d3 basilisks - incredibly hungry and not smart enough to realize their gazes don't work here.

Not every area was going to be exciting! 

1-4 Goblin Warrens

I'm busy today, so I'm pre-posting this area. 

    

On Logistics, and Organic Development

    So far, so good. We have a theme, several thematic monsters of the initial area, and even a hook into the end stage of the dungeon itself (the Amalgams fascination with the Eye of Oroboros). 

    The plan is to proceed day by day, room by room, and fill out the first 19 days of January. Day 19 and 20 will be the Temple of Janus so really there are only about 15 more "rooms" to fill out. There are three things I need to keep in mind: 

1. Shard Collection. The mechanic of collecting shards to fill out each character needs to be both urgent and rewarding. Giving away too many shards too fast devalues this first, ultra-weird level of the dungeon. On the flip side, though, there needs to be a pressure for the party to press on, so I'm thinking of imposing a 3-day (3 long rest) time limit. Each time the party takes a LR, they feel a little bit more detached from that urge to reassemble themselves. Balancing urgency vs risk is key to this portion of level one. Given that a party of four will need 24+ shards (undetermined yet but probably 6 to 8), that's a lot of farming! And that doesn't include potential losses from penumbrae or glass goblins.  
2. Room Logistics. Each room-day will be connected to one another sequentially (making it possible to travel through all 365 rooms or regions), but also laterally through the day of the week (Monday to Monday, etc). With a few exceptions (where months connect, and the future "gap rooms"), this means that there should be at least 3 different directions of travel for players to move through (4 for most mid-month days). 
3. Overcomplicating things. I've already introduced multiple groups or factions and it's only day 3. Penumbrae (the undead shadows of the mirror realm), the glass goblins and the Amalgams form the main three threats of the Capricorn section. I plan to include more on the goblins. The Amalgams and penumbrae are non-directed threats, wandering monsters that endanger all. I will probably add a few more random encounters - other beings trapped here, perhaps another party of NPCs. 

    I plan to include more geophysical threats in this section - yawning gulfs, teetering piles of loose glass shards, quickglass, other navigable hazards as they occur to me. I am considering making the environment itself more dangerous as the PCs collect their shards, indicating they have become less the stuff of the mirrorverse and more tactile. I haven't decided on how to manifest that mechanically yet. Difficult terrain everywhere? Spike Stones-like damage for moving at full speed? I do know that they will become more "delicious" to the locals as they grow. 

    In addition, the glass goblin faction needs some develoment. I have an idea of what the Goblin Boss will be like, but will need more time to reflect (chortle) on that. 

    Eventually I will introduce the Janussaries. While they are not interested in collecting shards, they actively recruit (aka kidnap) new members for their master - another existential threat. However, once a character has a full set of shards, the Janussaries lose interest. At that point they may pass freely through the Gate at the Janus temple. 

    As far as the characters themselves go, they will enter the game as bland ciphers - a 10 in each ability score, a +2 proficiency bonus but no race or class (thus no skill modifiers), an average amount of hit points for their level but with monster rather than class hit points (I'm thinking 3rd level so ~14hp). This can be a mini-game in its own right; picking and choosing which elements of your character to fill out with your precious shards. Maybe I'll wait to fill out my low scores last? 

    More anon, but I'm pretty happy with how things are developing! 

1-3 The Goblin Hunting Warrens and Wolf Supermoon

    The tunnels from 1-2 (and 1-4 and 1-10) lead into a tangle of glass goblin hunting warrens. Here the goblins wait and hunt the minor amalgams, watch for new shardfalls, and otherwise pass the time in relative safety. Two rooms serve as storage and dormitory. When the goblins decide they have enough material, they set out for their lair to make offerings to the Goblin Boss. 

    The goblins have learned the trick of extracting a gum-like substance from living amalgams and using it to craft wicked traps. The floors and walls of the tunnels are unusually smooth compared to the terrain outside. Some sections of the tunnels have pits covered by a thin layer of glass, which the oblivious may blunder into. Some have cunningly inlaid glass covers to "sneek toobs" or small rooms the goblins may flee into. Collapsing ceilings and walls are also common, but require a lot more work. 

    Within the tunnels, there are 2d6 glass goblins. If less than 4 are present, the rest (1d8) are away on a hunting/scavenging patrol and will return within an hour, as they dislike wandering out of sight of the warren entrances. 

    At any given time, The goblins will have collected 1d6 shards (to be returned to the Boss). 

    The warren has 3 exits leading to 1-4 and 1-10. 

1-2 The Sinkhole and Glass Warrens

 A wide, shallow depression in the floor, around and across which scuttle smaller Amalgams, hunting for shards, chasing off competitors and milling about. Beyond, you see the slope of what appears to be a high  ridge or mesa of piled glass gravel. Several openings pierce the bank and appear to recede deeper into the mountain. 

The Sinkhole

The shallow depression is a semi-stable formation covering a sinkhole. The smaller amalgams may walk across it with  impunity, but the larger amalgams, such as those from 1-1, would trigger an avalanche of glass. The small amalgams know this and so tend to linger in the area, as they can run across the sinkhole and hopefully lead the larger Amalgams to their doom. 

Each lesser Amalgam yields 1 shard if harvested correctly. 

The glass bluff extends into 1-3. It is a warren carefully dug by the glass goblins as a camp. The entrances are arched; meticulously balanced shards of glass braced against one another to stay open. The interior of the tunnels are similarly shored up. These entrances are fragile, susceptible to physical shocks, causing a landslide if significantly disturbed. 

There will be 1 or 2 goblins within the recesses of the entrances, watching out for large Amalgams and waiting for the smaller ones to let their guard down. The rest of the goblins are in 1-3, resting and preparing for the next raid. Then the goblin raiding party will attempt to capture as many of the small Amalgams as possible for harvesting. It's not an easy job. 

Each goblin will yield 1 shard. This goblin raiding party has collected 1d6 shards. 

Ascending the glass bluff will yield a long-distance view of 1-1, 1-8, 1-9, and the surface expanse of 1-3, though it increases the likelihood of drawing attention from the penumbrae...

1-1 The Eye of Oroboros

 Orologium of the Ormenians. 

1-1. The Eye. 

An enormous lens with a dark, slitted iris like that of a predator stares blankly from the slope of a hill of broken glass. It stands unnaturally erect, not fully supported by the heaps of glass shards which surround it. Beyond this lens and this hill, there is a gulf, loose shards of broken glass sliding and tumbling toward the edge, falling off into nothing. The eerie half-light of this level reveals nothing in the empty air beyond this point. 

The largest of the Amalgams on this level linger here, gibbering, moaning and digging among the glass scraps. There are 1d3 here at all times. They will attack anyone they see, though they are cautious of their kinfolk. 

The Amalgams know the Eye is a gate, but they must be of sufficient power to pass through it. Thus they scour the floor for any shard-bearing creatures and gobble them up, returning to the Eye to attempt entry. 

The Eye is a one way gate to 12-31, but it only allows passage to sufficiently powerful creatures, say CR12 at least. 

Dungeon Year 2026 - Orologium of the Omenians

    In two days, I will start my Dungeon Year '26 project, and that is exciting! For the last five years or so I've been focused on my Angard campaign, which is nearing its climax, probably within the next four of five sessions. While it is not winding up at that point, probably, I can't take that campaign development farther until the players decide what they want to do after. 

I missed out on #Dungeon23 somehow, but I'm captivated by the idea. Slowly, day by day, working your way through a custom megadungeon, dredging up ideas and inspiration. The excellent Blades of Gixa (backed and bought) is exactly the sort of thing I would love to make, even though I don't have nearly the artistic skill of Paradiso... 

Even though the intent of Dungeon23 was to improvise daily on a dungeon, I wanted to have a theme for this project. As this will be my first run on such a project, I settled on the (not terribly exciting) idea of a calendar dungeon; a dungeon whose structure emulates that of the calendar year. Each floor would have as its theme the nature of the deity or myth surrounding its name. 

Thus January would reflect the nature of Janus, March - Mars, May - Maia and so on. 

And everything was going swimmingly until I hit July. The months of July and August were inserted in honor of two Roman Caesars. Hmmm. My difficulties only increased moving into September, as the last four months of the year are based on numbers rather than mythical persona. 

To break up the potential monotony of THIRTY DAYS OF <GOD NAME HERE> I decided that I would incorporate aspects of the zodiac into the dungeon design. Thus, Janus' realm would be divided in two; a Capricorn half and an Aquarius half. 

note: I'm sticking with the January to December calendar, even though I'm told the zodiac calendar starts at midsummer. F that. I already have a notebook planner. 

This addition gave me the inspirational kick I needed. All of a sudden, instead of a dungeon level populated by ettins, death dogs and other two-headed things, there was a metaphysical schism within the realm of Janus (apropo, no?) which could be expanded on and exploited by players. 

On top of this, Aquarius domain would spread to the second level! Hmmm, how would that work? I guess I'll figure it out in February!  

___________________________

January

    I've had an idea for an adventure for ten years or more, a one-shot that involves the players' final goal to be to... complete their characters. Essentially, the party awakens to consciousness with only a dim knowledge of who they are, inchoate and confused by disjointed half-memories of a time before now. 

Furthermore, their bodies are but ciphers of their original selves. They discover themselves to be assembled of small pieces of reflective glass pressed into a humanoid mosaic. All their ability scores are tens, they have an average number of hit points and lack even basic class features. And the world around them is much the same; they seem to have appeared in an enormous, dimly lit chasm or landscape made entirely of broken, mirrored glass. 

The goal of this adventure would be to rebuild their characters to their original state. A narrative NPC will describe what they must do; find special shards of glass with which to complete themselves so that they may escape through one of a number of special mirror portals. 

Well, I have decided to make this the first half of level one. The party arrives, and must negotiate a meandering hallways and chambers walled by huge, teetering mountains of broken glass, seeking enough fragments of self to grant them passage through... what? AH, the mirror at the heart of the level, within the Temple of Janus. 

    This setting suggests things about the occupants - there are the discarded souls of those who fell through magic mirrors (mirrors of life trapping, for example) or arrived by other means like sticking a rod of absorption into a sphere of annihilation or sundering a Staff of the Magi. 

Given that all dungeons are clocks irrespective of the calendarial theme here, there should be danger. Hazards. What happens to those who never escape? Do they disintegrate? Devolve into monsters? 

I have several ideas. First I would say there is a time limit that drives the party forward. Say, on your third long rest in this area (since we are using 5E), you become part of the local fauna. The PC can feel what vestiges of identity that remain fading away, worsening after sleep. 

The party will realize quickly that they need to get as many shards as they can, as fast as they can. But surely they can't be the only inhabitants of this strange non-space who seek out shards. No. There are in fact several varieties of strange creatures occupying this region. 

First, there are the shard thieves, the glass goblins. These creatures collect shards to bring back to their lairs. The goblins are individually weak but hoard shards for the power they possess. Leaders of the goblins accrue power through the shards and use them to - you guessed it! - bully the other goblins to collect more shards! The goblins have the ability to pluck shards from your body, whereupon they flee back to their lairs as quickly as possible! 

Next are the penumbrae, the shadows. Some prisoners of this place lose their sense of self before escaping and become the drifting penumbrae. They also covet shards, but for a different reason - it is food for them. Absent of their old identities but containing enough shard material for them to persist in a sort of half-alive state, these tragic creatures hunger for the temporary comfort of shard material. These creatures have a touch attack that destroys shards within a victim. Yow! 

Finally there are the amalgams. Occasionally, two shards land against one another, fusing, and creating an amalgam. These are simple, crab like creatures who scuttle about searching for shard material. Composed of collected glass shards, they are well-camouflaged and able to disappear into the scenery. They are not strong, nor brave, about the size of a mid-sized dog or a small child, and they will flee at the first sign of danger, fading into the walls, floor and hummocks of the maze.  

If an amalgam is successful in its hunting, it will eventually grow in size. When they are the size of a human being, they become more directed in their actions. They continue to seek shards and gravitate towards an odd feature of the dungeon, a huge lens in room 1, through which the very largest amalgams may pass to... somewhere else! Some of these creatures are immense, and very intelligent and dangerous. The largest are best avoided. 

___________________________

    So, what about Janus? As a two-faced god who faces both the future and the past, I've placed his temple in the center of the level, at the "cusp" of Capricorn and Aquarius. The temple is tended by the high priest of Janus, a former mortal once named Divultuus. Divultuus sits atop a throne-like bench, staring simultaneously northward into the mirrored lands (representing the past, reflection) and southward into the Aquarian zone 

The old temples of Janus were neat structures, built like rectangular gatehouses and clad in bronze, with two sets of doors, one at each end, which had a ritual significance - when Rome went to war, the doors were kept open, but during peace time they were closed. 

Somehow I like the idea of a gatehouse separating these two halves of the dungeon, with Divultuus and his minions overseeing the passageway. The passageway itself ending at a mirror of self-realization or what-not, through which only complete souls can pass. And what lies on the other side? ... I don't have to figure that out until January 20th. 

___________________________

Wow, all of a sudden I have all this content... 

My Firearms Rules

 While expanding on the new rules for my modified Inquisitor class, I'm also building out a structure and rule set that will make the Inquisitor a feared and hated adversary. 

One of those rule sets revolves around firearms. Now, contrary to the standard Pathfinder rules, which allow you to turn any character concept into a superhero, I want firearms to represent a sort of existential threat to the players. In this case, gunpowder is a problem that arises when magic becomes rare or weak, a Great Equalizer much like... well, gunpowder actually was in history. 

I've pretty much scrapped the ridiculously OP gun rules from Pathfinder. Even though the gunslinger class has been modified and toned down since its initial release, I don't wish to change my game into a wild west analog. I want guns to be introduced slowly, to be powerful in numbers but unappealing to work with as an individual player. 

In place of the standard rules I've started with adopting the firearms rules from Lamentations of the Flame Princess, which sets itself right around the mid 1600s. Matchlock pistols and muskets and blunderbusses (blunderbussi? blunderbuses?) are expensive, finicky and powerful, requiring special training and resources. I've locked down gunpowder in the campaign by making it require a special low-magic method to manufacture, while the guns and ammo themselves are still non-magical. 

Most guns are "flat" - meaning uniform in effect. Guns usually do a d8, and take a substantial amount of time to reload. Some basic mechanical innovations allow a somewhat faster reload but again require time and training to handle properly. They are also prone to malfunction. Tuns in general will have the following traits: 

• most of them do around 1d6 to 1d8 damage 
• range is generally shorter than a crossbow (range increment of 25 for pistols, 50 for muskets)
• Ignore up to 5 points of armor bonus
• Automatically critical on 20s (thus the low damage relative to Pathfinder rules)
• Automatically break on 1s (broken condition and if another 1 is rolled, explode)
• Take 5 rounds to reload

So far I've prepared two different versions of the gun; the pistol and the musket. 

Pistols do a d6 damage, have a range increment of 25 feet (meaning every increment of 25 feet you are from the target, reduce your attack roll by -2), do a d8 damage, and ignore 5 points of armor if within short range (first range increment). 

Muskets are similar, do 1d8 damage, have a longer range increment (50 feet), and retain their armor penetration beyond the first range increment. 

I haven't worked out what I want to do with blunderbusses yet. 

Those who use firearms may in addition take "apostle rounds", which are an early form of pre-loading device that allow the firer to quickly set the charging powder, wad and ball round, reducing reload times to 2 rounds. 

With new weapons come new tactics. My gun troops will make use of cover and screening allies whenever possible. It was common for early troops to travel in high-sided, heavy wagons with firing loopholes in the sides, allowing them to shoot from a defensive position. I wonder what other innovations I will come up with along the way? 

I think these rules will provide a substantial threat to players without seeming overpowered in the hands of individuals. After the first time they experience a critical hit from one, they will have to respect them. Especially since they run around in troop-sized allotments. 

Inquisitors Are Hot Garbage and Here Is How I'm Going to Fix Them*

 *or at least try to. 

In pushing our current campaign into its new phase, I want to bring a little of that Old Tyme Religion to bear. That is no easy feat in Pathfinder, as the system relies heavily on magic across nearly every class. Even the allegedly magic-hating Barbarian has a host of supernatural abilities they can call upon. So how do we grim-dark this up and establish the theme of anti-magical zealotry in this set of rules? 

Let's start with the Inquisitor class. Nigh unplayable as a player class (in my opinion), it's completely unmanageable from the DM standpoint. Tons of fiddly abilities, scores of ridiculously intricate Teamwork Feats that require a constant micromanagement of battlefield position, range and attack modes and types, and a weak spell list all add up to a headache for me and a lackluster villain for my players. So lets tackle these one at a time. 

Spells, Orisons and Domains

The Inquisitorial spell list is ho-hum at best, mimicking that of a Cleric, but with reduced casting capacity and a limited tableau of spells to pull from, much like the Sorcerer. Also, there's a lot of humbug chicanery in the Domains list which doesn't jive with an anti-magical standpoint, so let's chuck it. ALL of it. No spells, no domains. 

Teamwork Feats

As much as I love the idea of feats that work for the whole group, I consider their implementation in Pathfinder to be a failure overall. There's just so much overhead to managing them that I don't think they are worth the +1 or +2 conditional bonuses you get from them. Solo Tactics gives the Inquisitor a nice party-wide buff smorgasbord they can share with others, but I still find them unmanageable. 

How about we make it simple? Instead of messing with bonus feats, let's just give the Inquisitor and his henchmen a nice, flat +2 buff that emulates a lot of what these teamwork feats do? Inquisitors are going to have a cohort or retinue following them about, so why not make it useful for their lower level followers to stay within his protective/augmentative bubble? Give them +2 to initiative, CMB and CMD while in his radius, as well as all three types of AC? I'm tempted to give them a +4 bonus on attacks of opportunity and flanking attacks as well, given the tight-knit fighting tactics they would employ. 

Class Abilities

Like most Pathfinder classes, the Inquisitor has a gob full of abilities based on level (oh remember when dead levels were a bad thing?). Many of these are Supernatural Abilities, and I want to get rid of those, so I will. Ditch them all. These guys hate magic, remember? We'll find something to replace them with later on. 

First let's get rid of all their Supernatural (Su) and Spell-like (Sp) abilities. That leaves behind a whole bunch of dead levels for us to fill in. 

Let's change Judgement, shall we? The Inquisitor is supposed to be a scary, tough-as-nails opponent, even though their most impressive feature is their scary and indomitable personality. I'm thinking replace the fiddly Judgements list with the Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic from 5th Edition D&D. Instead of wondering where to apply this or that +1 or -1 from round to round, the Inquisitor gets 1 re-roll per round of a d20 roll (attack, save, ability or skill) or damage roll during combat, representing their ability to wade through battle in only the armor of their faith, knocking aside opponents and deflecting arrows. Then Second Judgement lets them reroll 2 rolls per round! ...I may have to soften this,  but we'll see how it goes. 

Keeping things in the antimagic vein, what about adding a wide area effect of magic suppression? Something like an area Spell Resistance, based on the size of his horde? Or ego? Let's call it the Chorus. The Chorus I think would operate something like this: Any magic acting at up to Medium Range would have to overcome a caster level check equal to 10 plus the Inquisitor's Charisma bonus (or Wisdom?), with numbers of followers adding to the difficulty. 

What do we have so far? A fighting cleric with no spells but a resilience that belies his otherwise humble combat abilities due to the modified Judgement ability, a hefty buff and protective aura for all his followers, a wide variety of skills with which to supplement his forces, and lots of attitude. 

Add in things like special materials for weapons, tanglefoot bags, thunderstones, fireworks and intelligent massed attacks. 

The Bleak Theater

 As I predicted in my last article, we had quite a bit of down-time between games. We started off with a bang, however, as the party finally entered the Bleak Theater. 

The initial entry was fairly routine. The party did attempt stealth, but the invisible thief still triggered the silent Alarm spell set by the duergar wizard posted at the back door of the Bleak Theater. Note: There is really only one approach to the Theater from the surface, so the party had few options in that regard. 

As scripted, the wizard alerted the other guards and began buffing, while the two duergar with tower shields set up a front line facing the stairs and the 3 duergar "ushers" (reskinned as fighter/rogues) became invisible and positioned themselves to make maximum use of their nets and saps. Yes, SAPS! 

It was all for naught, though. The party blasted through this encounter, with only a single invisible usher at 1 hp slipping through the smaller door next to the larger entrance and alerting the rest of the complex. 

The party opted to kick open the bigger doors and found themselves facing a bunch of maddened animals. Initially brought in as fighting animals for the Theater, the advance warning of the mephit Grime, allowed them to prepare another surprise for the party. Several invisible duergar stagehands (who had been tormenting the animals to "get their blood up") began releasing the animals caged in this staging area. 

The party found themselves confronted by enraged rhinos, tigers, smallish dragons, and a pair of owlbears, but wound up getting the initiative and slamming the doors closed again before more than a single rhinoceros could get through the entrance. Bear's wild empathy ability managed to calm the creature down with a few incredible rolls, but after a few rounds, the animals within the room had begun picking each other off. The party re-entered the room and mopped up the remaining animals. 

But before they could finish off the remaining creatures, the double doors to the left of the entry burst open, almost knocked off their hinges by an enormous (fifteen feet long) boar, which charged through the room, trampling everyone and smashing the wizard and cleric against the far wall. This took a few more rounds to clean up, with a few serious wounds being distributed before dropping the giant pig. Nobody had their head lopped off by its vorpal tusks. Sigh. 

What followed was some frenetic searching as the party tried to figure out where they were in the Theater complex and what was going on. Jonas used his Locate Creature ability to help them find their way to his nephew, but while attempting to release him from his cell, the hobbit thief accidentally freed the bodak from the cell next door. At the same time, farther down the hall in the darkness (remember, duergar can see in the dark just fine, better than stinky humans), the remaining stagehands and their human ranger leader had set up a picket of chained up slaves to use as a shield, and were about to unleash a withering storm of arrows and crossbow bolts on the party. But Gektas went first and neutralized the ranger with a Baleful Polymorph, turning her into a cockroach and stealing her buffing abilities from the duergar. Boo! 

Also, the bodak's lethal attacks against the group failed and they killed the beast, finally getting the nephew free of his cell. 

At this point, Jonas implores the party to leave. They got what they (he) came for, and sticking around in a fortress of evil dwarves was not wise. But the party wanted to stay and find out what happened to the rest of Jonas' nephew's group - it's what they were hired for, after all. Jonas disagreed, paralyzed (hold monster) his nephew, threw him in some sort of bag, then disappeared, bidding them farewell and good luck. 

At about the same time, the dreaded hobgoblin Gora-Khan appeared and began fighting Bear. Simultaneously, a reddish, lizard-and-bug like creature with four arms suddenly appeared and began attacking the group from the other side. Bear managed to take the vampire down, forcing him into gaseous form before losing any energy levels. The bug-like creature was beaten back, but disappeared again to lick its wounds.

After this the party cast about, trying to find their bearings and looking for traces of the other missing adventurers. They wound up fighting more monsters on a wide stairecase going up; ettins and blind, barbarous caveman-like creatures called grimlocks, behind which were more duergar, but a quick, invisible scouting mission by Paco revealed that the duergar were set up to bait the party in and expose their flank to an enormous, bus-sized rust monster. Paco warned the group and the party chose the better part of valor. 

At some point, Bear observed "You know, aside from those duergar at the front (sic) door, we haven't killed anything that looks important" i.e., no more duergar had been killed beyond the first combat, just successive waves of animals, beasts, undead and servitor monsters. 

Returning to Pelltar's Redoubt, they collected Chauntessa and returned to the Inn of the Slumbering Drake to recover and consider what they had learned. 

• The party received their award from Chauntessa as agreed, for locating the latter party's ultimate fate. 
• They also received a mysterious delivery that turned out to be from Jonas, who paid them a hefty sum in the form of diamonds and adamantine bars. He also exhorted the group to get as far away from the area as quickly and quietly as possible, as he feared the retaliation of Thane Vejik. 
• Chauntessa did not find what she was looking for in Pelltar's massive library, "But" she added cryptically, "I now know what it isn't! And that is a good deal further than I have gone in quite a long time." 
• The party rescued one slave from the Theater, Brandis the Bard, who knows a bit about the Theater and is oh so grateful. I look forward to annoying the group with songs about their adventures for years to come. 
• The Inquisitors of Nuln have taken up residence in Cillimar, under the auspices of "keeping the peace" and quashing any unauthorized use of magic. It's a problem. 
• Aside from some uncomfortable rumors from Kemp's extraplanar experience regarding the actions of Lomri and his ilk and how "they are changing everything, how the world works", the group hasn't really addressed what to do about it. 

The party needs to decide what they wish to do next; run, stay in place and build up some stable infrastructure nearby, or what? They are 9th level, after all. 

And as Kemp said, the world is changing...

They Finally Did It!

Well, despite the COVID lock-down, my group managed to get together digitally via Zoom and have several productive sessions in Castle Whiterock! One of my players even designed his own shared online grid that we used for miniatures (because I am as yet too cheap to shell out for Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds). 

Much progress within the campaign has been made by the players. First, the party overcame the aboleth Acanthus after their first attempt faltered. They didn't kill him, of course, but forced him to surrender and give up the lair. There is now a very dangerous aboleth with a lot of slaves and a bruised ego wandering the Underdark, but I'm sure nothing bad will come of that... 

Next, the party managed to pick up and follow the hanging thread of Pelltar's Boot, using magic to locate its partner in Pelltar's Redoubt (level 12A in Castle Whiterock), and exploring said redoubt. They even managed to get access to his spellbooks and ingredient cabinet. The party wizard won out on that deal, as (unsurprisingly) most of the loot on this level is oriented towards wizards - grey robes of the archmagi, a staff of conjuration and the motherlode - 12 spellbooks with every spell of levels 0 through 5, as well as a strong collection of spells in the 6th to 9th level range.*

Now, safely ensconced in their new 9th level class duds, with not one but TWO secret lairs at their command within the dungeon, and not-quite-unlimited travel due to having both the teleport spell and the reunited boots of teleportation, the party proceeded into dungeon level 9, the Immense Cavern. 

Having visited these caves a few times before, they stopped by to visit their "friend" Gar & Nar. Luckily, Gar was in ascendance and was feeling chatty, as he had been alone for quite some time; since the party first met him and plied him with food and companionship. They learned a bit more about the denizens of the cave and of the hazards ahead of them, as well as a few behind them which they had managed to miss. 

Departing the abandoned ettin village, they made their way - forewarned - the bridge across the river that divided the chasm and met with "Goldy" the kobold knight. It was apparent that something was off about the kobold, who conducted itself within the utmost standards of chivalry, and a knightly(ish) duel to first blood ensued, which the party's knight (samurai) easily won. 

Upon further conversation with the kobold they determined that it must have been the target of a curse or perhaps a baleful polymorph, and they expended every resource they could muster to break it... but all to no avail. Their highest level magical resources spent, they decided to spend the night there inside the wizard's Secure Shelter. Not much rest was to be had, though, as the first night's watch was disrupted by a large, gelatinous ooze squeezing its way through the cracks of the cabin. The party quickly existed the cabin to deal with the threat - perhaps a bit cavalierly - and found themselves facing the granddaddy (mommy?) of all gelatinous cubes, one big enough to engulf the entire house with room to spare. The party managed to dispatch it, but not without some effort and cost. Another few watches went by with nothing but irritating bats to keep them from sleeping. 

The next day they tried again to break "Goldy's" curse, and finally met with success! The kobold was revealed to be a semi-angelic being who had been cursed decades ago. Backstory to be filled in later, there was at first a notion to bring the being, named Galdiera, with them, but it soon became apparent that she was in no condition to be more than a hindrance. 

So, it was off to the other secret lair where the angelic creature could recuperate and gather her wits while the party made their way to the cave entrance which, according to Gar, would lead to the Bleak Theater...

Upon entry to that cave and a climb up a steep staircase, they found themselves in a rather nasty trap. A modestly sized, smooth floored stone chamber with a solitary stalagmite in the center of the room. A dead roper decomposing along the right wall. 

Once the party worked up their courage to enter the room, one of them triggered the trap; both exits were blocked by enormous slabs of stone which slid seamlessly into place, and an Incendiary Cloud spell was set off. 

To make matters worse, the party had all but hung billboards out on the road announcing their presence, like a band promoting its concert tour for the summer, so I added a little something special into the mix: Two mercenary zealots of the orcish Bloodfire tribe, a sorcerer and a warpriest, who had been hired to obstruct the path of the party, and had been tipped off by Alarm spells and the devious mephit, Grime. 

The two casters, fully prepared for what was about to transpire, leveled their worst attacks at the party. Trapped, unable to escape the room, unable to dispel the Incendiary Cloud, had no choice but to deal with the most immediate threat. They  made short work of the warpriest once they found him, but had more trouble with the sorcerer, who was lurking near the top of the ceiling with a Fly spell, concealed by the incessant smoke of the Cloud. Casting fireballs every round, he was making a bad situation worse until the cleric rose up on her boots of levitation and bumped right into him. Firing off her last Dispel Magic, he plummeted to the ground and was quickly ended by the rest of the group. 

Luckily, the wizard (with some prompting by the DM) remembered he'd brought Communal Protection from Energy, and bought the party several rounds, which they spent searching fruitlessly for a hidden release which would allow them to exit the room. There was none to be found; the trap was set to be released from the outside only. 

Eventually, the cleric used stone shape to make a slim exit for the party to escape. Beyond, a pitch black corridor leading down, ostensibly to the Bleak Theater. 

And the Theater knows they are coming... 

It looks like this group probably won't meet again until August, so I will be taking my time getting things ready. Hopefully this game will be in person, and I'm planning to get a bunch of minis painted and built for that eventuality. I also need to make sure my dungeon tiles are sufficient to the task. I may have to skim the Youtube channels of Wyloch, DM Scotty and Black Magic Craft for terrain ideas. 

This is why we can't have nice things. 

However, one conclusion I've arrived at after last night's game is that I need to find a way to make combat more manageable. Pathfinder is a very crunchy, statistical game, and every die roll devolves into a 20 minute discussion of every possible modifier and permutation of cause and effect. There's too much going on for my old brain to allow for in-game naval-gazing.

I'm going to institute a timer for our games. It's one I've seen used to great effect in-game before, and it's one I use as a scrum master at work also. When we are in combat, and I go through the initiative order and get to you, you have 6 seconds to say what you are doing. Think about what you want to do on your own time when I am dealing with the other PCs and NPCs. 

The other thing I need to do is find a more compressed and DM-friendly way of managing monsters. All the aforementioned crunch just taxes my brain, so I will likely be boiling things down a bit. What do I really need to know about that NPC fighter beyond his basic stats; AC, hp, hits/damage and saves? Need to work on that... 

*I decided to temper that down a bit, restricting "every spell" to mean "every spell published in the core rulebook" which is still sufficient to keep the wizard busy decoding and learning spells for the next TWO YEARS of game time. Really. I did the math!