(The "DM Scraps!" series is a collection of assorted notes from my own tabletop adventures. I am sharing them in hopes of providing some inspiration and insight into what goes on behind my DM screen. They are raw and unedited, but I will highlight details that I find interesting to look back on. Enjoy!)
Today's entry is from a Dungeon World adventure I ran in my home setting of The Whisperlands. This dungeon was designed based on an idea from one of the players for an enormous labrynthine library containing copies of every written work from history. Dungeon World and other games benefit greatly from player contributions to the lore and trappings of the game world. Asking the players to describe an important place or person that might exist in the setting is an excellent way to overcome the challenges of writer's block, as it did here.
I decided to run this encounter with a sort of procedural technique. The following table was provided as a handout to the players, and it gave them a new list of move types for use with every one of their ability stats. Based on the results of their roles, they would be able to mark progress toward their goal, strategically spend knowledge points for clues or more progress along the way. In my own notes I made a list of complications and challenges to test the party, as well as a list of room descriptions that I could place in different configurations to map out the floor plan as the game progressed.
"BIBLICA" LIBRARY SCAVENGER HUNT
PROGRESS
Mark 12 progress to find the grimoire (The treasure the players were seeking)
Mark __ progress to find the exit (I left this blank so that I could change it based on how much time we had to play this session. Sometimes it pays to be flexible in this regard.)
KNOWLEDGE
Spend 1 Knowledge to
-Gain a modron helper
-Add +1 to any lore check
-Preview the next two areas on the map
-Ask for different requirements for performing a ritual
-Cast any spell you have not prepared yet
Spend 2 knowledge to
-Gain 1 progress
Move
|
10+
|
7-9
|
Failure=Trap triggered, enemy strikes
|
Navigate Library +WIS
|
1 progress
1 knowledge
|
1 progress
and choose 1
-Get lost (-1 progress)
-Trigger a trap
| |
Read books
+INT
|
2 knowledge
|
1 knowledge and choose one
-You accidentally run into a word of power
-You discover a horrible truth
-You take too long and encounter something dangerous
| |
Push through
+STR
Climb shelf +DEX |
1 progress
|
1 progress+ Complication
| |
Ask the library
+CHA
|
1 progress
|
1 knowledge and the librarians are either annoyed or frightened
| |
Religion
SAINT ROOM PUZZLE (Logic puzzle that I had in some other notes. I cut this one because we were short on time.)
Astronomy
Philosophy
Arts
The music here originates from an orchestra pit filled with unmanned musical instruments belting out an elegant medley of songs from all over the realms.
Childrens
A tapestry of colors adorn the shelves of this section, along with a life-sized cut-out of a happy blue ogre. The area is crowned with paper hangings, depicting cheerful dragons and knights.
Circulation
One of the walls is lined with chutes and tubes, with books fluttering and launching themselves from the desks and shelves, as fast as the magical quills can finish them off. This room is massive, about the size of a football field, and filled with magical books and enchanted writing desks.
Main Hall
A fifteen foot metal statue of Primus serves as the center of this room, its mechanized axes slowly revolving around it.
Reading Rooms
MONSTERS
Here I included a list of monsters and traps that could be contained in the dungeon, like I always recommend keeping in your DM session notes. I also numbered them 1-8 so that I could roll an eight sided die and pick one if I wasn't sure what to send at my players.
1Maze
-To confuse and misdirect travellers
2Bookalanche
-to attack someone who disturbs the shelves
-To bury and disable
3Mad Traveller
-To cause trouble and steal books
-To take secrets and hoard information
4Living Spells
5Runes of Power
-To spread their magic and meaning
6Bookworms
-To attack the smartest people
-To drain information and ideas from their targets
7Modrons (Stats taken from the web site Dungeon World Codex, a site full of homebrewed goodness for that system)
-To call more powerful versions of themselves
Group, Small, Organized, Intelligent, Planar
| ||
Spear or bow (d6 damage)
|
6 HP
|
2 armor
|
Close, Far
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Special Qualities: Immune to mind altering magic
| ||
"Have you seen the modrons walk? Have you heard them talk? If you had, you wouldn't be talking about this trip to Mechanus. Only clueless berks venture in the plane of Law if they can avoid it."Instinct: To bring Order to all things
- Obey orders with clockwork-like efficiency
- Report losses and request replacement modrons
- Surround them with uncanny coordination
8 Inevitables
(See book)
Modrons and Inevitables are mainstays of the classic Dungeons and Dragons Planescape setting, which I decided to theme this magical library after. There are all kinds of cool places to find inspiration in a wide range of books and RPG products. You can always adapt something to the rules of your chosen system while still transplanting the core concept into your own game.
9Ghost Librarian
-To strike at the loudest patrons
-to deafen with a banshee wail
10 Bad Books
- To swarm like a flock of birds
- To keep you from gaining the knowledge they contain
Words of Power
I had the idea that the players might run into magic words that, if accidentally read or perceived, would trigger magical effects. The fake word generator link here would give me access from my phone or laptop to hocus-pocus type syllables. The table below would let me roll randomly to determine what magical effect would occur. More of an idea menu than anything else, I could roll up an effect and then get creative with it. This is a D6 table, but most of the results also include four options that could be determined with a D4.
Random Word Effects
1 Polymorph
-animal
-object
-plant
-person
2 Change Size
Large
Small
Tiny
Huge
3Teleport
Near
Far
Close
Hand
4 Emotional manipulation
Happy
Sad
Angry
Afraid
5 Anti-Magic
6 Grant sentience
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