1pagedungeons

This adventure is my submission to the Eternal TTRPG Jam - Blood Worm Moon . This subject evokes something cult-like. Blood and Moon describe the eternal struggle between vampires and werewolves. Apparently, worms wormed their way into that struggle… Conflict worms + werewolves = Weremoles . Acolytes that turn into hideous moles while in moonlight. Cursed by the vampires that they managed to defeat. worms + vampires = Bloodworms . Worms that turned vampiric after eating the corpses of the defeated vampires. Now they thirst for blood. Ironically, everything went downhill when the vampires were defeated. Now the weremoles are plagued by their worm adversaries. Another twist is introducing a descendant from the vampires, set on revenge. He sets up a nice three-way conflict for players to game. Layout Church is a nice contrasting setting. Both vampires and werewolves are associated with unholiness. It’s why the weremoles used to be acolytes. Religion is a nice foil. Ch...

Every Gamemaster will try their hand on dungeon design at least once. With the white paper staring at you, it’s difficult to determine where to start. Combat? Puzzels? Intrigue? Today, I hope to provide a useful tool to help with that. Choices make a Game Having options makes a dungeon interesting. The kind of option can be divided into 5 categories. Gameplay How to reinforce Gameability Combat (see your character sheet) Use monsters with different abilities Factions Managing your relation to different factions Add multiple faction Give each faction (conflicting) goals Let each faction offer something good Resources How en when to use your resources Add (one-time) usable resources Give them diverse purposes Environment How to conquer obstacles or solve problems using the surroundings Create an interesting dungeon ...

Social encounters, players-driven change and diversity in setting all stem from factions. However, the term “faction” is very broad in adventure design. It certainly describes an established group of individuals, but the size of that group varies tremendously. Even individuals could function as a faction. So, what designates one? What Factions have Goals : What does a faction want, and why? Without a goal they’re passive and uninteresting. With one, factions gain direction and a position towards the players. Obstacles : Why hasn’t their goal been reached yet? A faction continuously attempts to overcome these obstacles (one by one). Stopping or helping a faction is the main gameplay loop they provide. Assets : What resources do they have? This describes the faction’s current position. It also determines the reward players get when helping, or the obstacles they face when stopping them. Think locations, treasures, or number of followers. It’s hard to create a variety...

Sessions have time limits. I play D&D with colleagues at our office, which closes at 21:30. After pizza and some chit-chat we start around 18:15. That’s 3 hours of play for a group of chaos monkeys… It’s clutch every time. We play a westmarches-style campaign where they tackle a one-page dungeon each session. Narratively, that’s a day’s work. So what if I use the knowledge that the players play out ~24 hours of game time in ~3 hours of real time? Sectioning the Day Just setting a 180 minute timer is no fun. Multiple timed intervals can help evolve the scenario over time.  The most important change during the day is sunset. Light dies, monsters emerge, tensions rise. The other important milestone is the end of a session (or day); important enough to deserve some kind of set warning. The following procedure is the result: (optional) Everybody describes their downtime activities since last time. Set a timer for 90 minutes. Dawn breaks. The party explores the dungeon’s surrounding...

Encounter tables create dynamic environments, deepen world building and punish time-wasting in many a dungeon. They often require a specific procedure: whenever sufficient time passes or the party behaves recklessly, do an encounter check. Roll a six-sided die; if a 1 is rolled, a random encounter triggers. A second roll determines which table entry is encountered. The third determines the encounter’s reaction (friendly to hostile). These three separate rolls are unlikely to result in a dangerous outcome: 1/36 chance, or lower with forgiving encounter tables. I mostly run one-page dungeons nowadays, where these chances are just too slim. The tension needs to rise. Fast. Tension Pools A tension pool, as introduced by the Angry GM , is designed to rise the stakes. In short: The pool starts with a single six-sided die. Whenever sufficient time passes, add a die to the pool. Whenever the party behaves recklessly, roll all dice in the pool. Whenever a 1 is rolled, a complication happens....