The One Page Dungeon Contest PDFs

ChattyDM and I would like to present the One Page Dungeon Codex 2009 (the Hobbyist version) and the One Page Dungeon Compendium.

You can get them here:

• One Page Dungeon Codex 2009
• One Page Dungeon Compendium

The Codex is a compilation of the winning entries, runner ups and honorable mentions. It features a color cover by the awesome Mark Allen, the winner of the Color category in the Erol Otus/Fight On/Otherworld Miniatures art contest. It also has commentary from myself and ChattyDM and blog posts that trace the genesis of the OPD and give some tips on it's usage.

The Compendium simply contains all of the contest entries - it's a whopping 28MB of one page dungeon awesomeness. You asked for all the entries, and now you have them. There's years of dungeon delving in that collection.

Why did we name it the "Hobbyist" version? Well, that's because in September, we'll have a "Professional" version that has been professionally laid out, has additional content and has the artwork provided by Avatar Art (one of our sponsors) for the top 3 winners. We didn't want to wait until then to release the Codex (we did promise end of July...) so we're providing it now.

So there you have it! Enjoy!

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Voting for the ENnies is from Jul 24th to Aug 1st. Please vote for Swords & Wizardry for Best Free Product - vote Truly Free!

Why skills checks?

That's a genuine question, not a rant or a flame or an invitation to beat up on any version.

Why do we have skills checks in RPGs?

This occurred to me as I was reading the new version of the Mechwarrior RPG, and as I perused a prototype AD&D skills system from the Knights & Knave board. In reading and considering an AD&D skill system, and how it would fit into my game, I had to ask "why"?

In game systems I've played since: microlite74, Swords & Wizardy and OSRIC/AD&D - there is no "skill system". That's left up to the Game Referee to houserule.

I can't think of a single time I thought "I wish I had a skill system". Rather, I've looked at situations and used a combination of attribute checks (roll under your attribute and I've assigned modifiers) or simple "x in 6 odds" checks - all of which I've considered including the proverbial +1 or +2/-1 or -2 if applicable. Most of the time, I've used simple logic - Aeli is from noble birth and would most likely know about XYZ legend, so I'll say "yes" and play on. When the situation is truly random, or failure is interesting, I use attribute checks with modifiers based on past play and character development.

Now, admittedly, I use the thief systems "by the book" for AD&D/OSRIC, and I do allow specific checks as called by the rules/mechanics. (e.g. listen, open doors, ranger track) Perhaps they're so ingrained into my game DNA that I don't really think of them as a "system" as much as exceptions to the general rules?

When I read RPG Theory sites like Whitehall Paraindustries, and they talk about skill systems, I tend to ... zzzzz... mainly because I have a mental block on the applicability. There's a lot of time and thought given to them - but there must be something that I missing, because my disinterest must be just me?

To be honest, the only skill system that felt simple and right enough to me was the microlite20 skill mechanic which worked as thus:

There are just 4 skills : Physical, Subterfuge, Knowledge and Communication. Roll higher than the given Difficulty Class to succeed.

• Skill rank = your level + any bonus due to your class or race.
• Skill roll = d20 + skill rank + whatever stat bonus is most applicable to the use + situation modifiers

For example, Climbing would use Physical + STR bonus. Dodging a falling rock is Physical + DEX bonus. Finding a trap is Subterfuge + MIND bonus. Disabling a trap is Subterfuge + DEX bonus.

(It should be noted that m20 has 3 attributes: STR, DEX and MIND (think combo of INT and WIS)

I also found that I conceptually the Mechwarrior RPG mechanic of combining two relevant attributes for a check (so climbing would be STR+DEX, dodging a rock would be DEX+WIS, finding a trap would be INT+WIS and disabling it would be DEX+INT, for example.) I have no idea how I'd adjudicate this with the d20 or 3d6 roll system - I'm sure I could munge something up, but at the end of the day, the power/simplicity of the d6 (or d10) appeals to me.

Is this just me not seeing something that I'm missing?

Announcing the Swords & Wizardry Quick Start module

I'd like to announce, in cooperation with Three-Headed Monster Games, the release of the Swords & Wizardry Quick Start module (download PDF here).

The Swords & Wizardry Quick Start is an introduction to the world of Swords & Wizardry(tm), the popular recreation of the original 1974 edition of Dungeons & Dragons(tm). It contains everything you need to play:

• Character creation
• Play and combat rules
• Game Referee Guidance
• A complete adventure – The Dungeon of Akban

It's audience is for new players and new Game Referees of Swords & Wizardry. With extensive help, suggestions and examples laid throughout the simple rules and adventure, novices can quickly immerse themselves into a fantastic world of adventure and danger. Upon completing this Quick Start, players and Game Referees will be able to easily master the full Swords & Wizardry Core Rules.

The front cover of the Quick Start is by Mark Allen of Marjasall Productions. Mark is the first place (Color) winner of the 2009 Erol Otus Art Challenge by Fight On! magazine and Otherworld Miniatures. Mark is also known for his work with Troll Lords Games LLC. (http://portfolio.marjasall.com)

The rear cover was done by Paul (bliss_infinite) Fini. (http://www.indieonlycomics.com) The interior art is from Brave Halfling Publishing.


The Swords & Wizardry Quick Start Rules is produced in cooperation with the members of Three Headed Monster Games: a collective of creative individuals offering support to one another to improve, review, and edit their work into the best form possible with the tools and talents available within that network. The Quick Start is the first release done in cooperation with THM Games - more is on the way! For more information on THM Games, check out http://thmgames.blogspot.com

"Swords & Wizardry" is a trademark of Matthew J. Finch
"Dungeons & Dragons" is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Unrequited love

I'm going to take a break from OED&D for a minute and wax fondly about another old school love of mine, a love that has never quite been fulfilled - Battletech and Mechwarrior. With the recent announcement (and video) from IGN about the Mechwarrior video game reboot, I found myself in complete glee over how amazingly cool it all looked. It brought back a lot of memories for me.

Battletech and I go back to the mid80s, when I was deployed to Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. There was a comic/game store just outside the base gates and I stumbled onto these really neat plastic models and boxed game. At the time, I was still deep in AD&D gaming, and this game about 30 ton human-driven warmachines was quite a tonic. I managed to persuade (with beer) a few fellow airmen to play the game, and we had a blast. Battletech quickly replaced AD&D as the game of choice, but I missed role-playing. I was completely overjoyed when I found that FASA (then the publishers of Battletech) had released a Mechwarrior RPG supplement.

The sad part is that I never got a chance to combine the two! The guys I played with didn't want to roleplay in the Battletech universe, they wanted to smash 'Mechs or go explore dungeons in AD&D. I had scoped out a little "sandbox" for a mercenary company, almost in Traveller-like fashion. Nobody wanted to do it. I never got to do the campaign I wanted - roleplay in the Inner Sphere and then have Battletech "map" combat when we had to get down to business. To me, that just seemed like the Reeses Cup of gaming!

As things go, my interest in Battletech waxed and waned. As I moved about, got married, had kids, I found myself playing it less and less. I did make it to the Battletech Center VR simulators in Chicago in the early 1990s. I played the "Crescent Hawks Inception" video game with much enjoyment, but I never got into the sequel, nor did I play any of the Mechwarrior games so much. When the Battletech world was shocked with the introduction of the Clans, I found myself buying the novels and sourcebooks, but I never played. Eventually, I sold all of my Battletech stuff, with the possible exception of the

At Winterwar this year, I picked up a fairly good copy of the first edition Mechwarrior rules. And just at lunch today, I found myself playing the "Green" scenario from the ClassicBattletech Quick Start rules. The defending Hunchback ravaged the attacking Enforcer with a hard, long range Autocannon hit, and the ENF 'Mech never really recovered and withdrew, rather than be destroyed. That was 30 minutes that passed by way too quickly.

I also find myself looking at both the Classic Battletech RPG book, and the Classic Battletech Introduction Box set and thinking: what if... some people would be tempted to play RPGs and wargaming like games like a BT/MW combo...

For your enjoyment, if you'd like to see what has reignited my long unrequited love for Battletech and Mechwarrior, watch the video below...

OD&D Solo game w/wife - quick bits

Last night, we continued our "quick sessions" style to conclude my wife's investigations of the ancient tower and underground areas that she's been exploring for awhile. Last night was one of those "all role playing information dump" kind of games.

I will not love my NPC or plots

From day 1, I've been very leery of how much to involve my NPC. I've treated him like another character in terms of advancement and opportunities, and I've tried to always play him second fiddle to my wife's character, Aeli. He gets spells as he finds them - he doesn't even have Detect Magic and wants to find more spells to trade with. He tries to help but not be overbearing. I've come to like this mage though - and although I find it easy to keep him hamstrung because I don't want to make a mistake and create a "DM's favorite" - I find I am developing a bit of emotional investment to him. Probably time to kill him off. :D I don't want to fall into that trap.

I have, however, gotten over my reluctance to suggest directions and point out things that the NPC knows and would want Aeli to know, and last night, my NPC semi-lectured/chided Aeli for some things. It was a moment where the NPC showed Aeli that he really is fond of her and is now involved in her goals and priorities, and was able to deliver his thoughts and suggestions without me feeling like I was railroading her.

I think that the solo game has a slightly different danger than I had first supposed - the DM becoming emotionally involved in the goals of the player to the point where it could have the DM railroading for success. It's harder when you're dealing with just one person - especially since this is my wife and I am having fun as she's having fun. It occurs to me that the danger of "falling in love" with her plot is real - and that I have to remain as impartial as possible.

I realized this because of the NPC talking to Aeli about his thoughts on her actions and possible things he's seeing from her. I realized what a slippery slope I'm on - and that I have to let her develop her own story without railroads. Gah, I think I'm never going to be truly comfortable with this edge - and maybe that's a good thing. It keeps me honest so that I don't abandon her to no help at all - in a group setting, she'd get it; at the same time, I don't railroad her.

Identifying Magic without Identify

I am playing D&D without the Identify spell and it's making it interesting as Aeli puzzles over the items she's found in the ancient mage's library/tower.

Potions can be sipped and at least hints of the effects can be noted - Cure Light Wounds is an obvious one that Aeli knows full well now. Aeli's strange sword (inscribed with script that reads "Covet Me") has given her some interesting moments, but she's not too concerned about it.

For the ring that Aeli just found, she's had to jump through some hoops. Since the NPC mage doesn't have Detect Magic, he was limited in what he could do. Through Detect Evil, they found that the ring doesn't have an evil enchantment. So they went to see if someone else in the farm town could help them. The Detect Magic that the Patriarch cast shows that the ring is magical in nature, but it will require a sage to study the ring to discern its properties - in the meantime, she's wearing it to see what happens.

I like this "figure it out" approach - it just feels right. I'm sure she's curious and now I have the fun of making some sort of effect happen when the ring does what its going to do.

I also got to plant some "magic can be nasty" seeds in her head - the NPC mage did not just want to cast Read Magic on ancient mage robes with runes - some of them may explode when read and he didn't know if they were enchanted or not.

Another Just In Time sandbox prep - combined with published modules

My sandbox is based in large part on the old late-2E Fast Play rules (1998 Fast Play and "Crypt of the Smoke Dragon" Fast Play) and setting, as well as the . I've now started incorporating both of the follow-on modules Wrath of the Minotaur and Eye of the Wyvern.

One of main points to "Wrath" is the ancient mage Alaxus, and that this dungeon is related to him. Now the trick was how to integrate Alaxus to the sandbox and campaign.

- In the module, he was an evil mage in control of the area called "the Vale". OK, no problem, we'll keep that.

- How does he relate to the history of my campaign? Aside from controlling the Vale, he was also one of the founding members of Um-Loran - the black school of magic. That was a spur of the moment decision, and since I have broad brush strokes on what Um-Loran is all about (except that they're hunting Aeli), this was an easy detail to fill in.

- How does he fit into the "overall timeline and events of the world"? Oh, I can't reveal that just yet, but Aeli has to do some digging and exploring (not to mention, face an actual Dragon) to see if he does fit in - this was thought up as I was just mentally exploring how Alaxus fit into things.

- Can the campaign continue if she decides to not explore further? Yup, it can and will. She's got the freedom to do what she wants.
- Can I tie in the monsters to other things going on? Yup, already made changes.

All in all, the changes to the module and the details took me about 15 minutes. I have some notes to make now after the game, but it was the play that really pushed how he integrated.

The really neat thing is that I can also include "Wyvern" into this as well, as I've planted the hook in front of Aeli - if she takes it, then I can run that module - if not - then she doesn't and it's doesn't mean the campaign collapses. It'll be interesting to see if she does.

Announcing ... the winners of the One Page Dungeon Contest

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a ChattyDM approached a skeptical Chgowiz... no wait, that's not it...

Ah, yes, here we go!

Two wild and crazy guys, Chatty and Chgowiz, mustering an army of Chatty-wizzzzessss... no, no, that won't do...

Oh the heck with it, I'll just get on with it!

The judging for the One Page Dungeon Contest has concluded and we have chosen our winners. It was a tough contest to judge - we had 112 entries which far exceeded our expectations. Some of us had a lot of things going on in June, but we managed to get through it and we now have the list of winners in hand.

Before we announce the winners, I'd like to give a big sincere Thank You to our sponsors, who we will rename at the end of this post. Without them, we would not have the fantastic prizes that we're about to hand out. Please be sure to thank them yourselves, and make sure that you consider them all for future purchases.

So ... without further ado, here are the winners of the first ever One Page Dungeon Contest:

Honorable Mentions - these dungeons will not receive a prize, but they are extremely worthy of note and made it into the final Judges Picks before we had to whittle the list down to the last winners. These dungeons will be included in the Winners publication. The category listed was the decision of the judge who selected these honorable mentions.

Best Aquatic Entry: The Barnacle Caves - Sam Kisko

Best Classic: Ruffthroat's Rathskeller - Lee Barber
Best Dungeon Circa 1974: The Crumbling Dungeon - Lord Kilgore
Best Dungeon Crawl: Shrine of the Savage Jungle - John Laviolette

Most Elegant: Clockwork Crypt - Gary S. Watkins
Funniest: The Vareh'gra Depths - Gary McCammon
Best Geometry: Halls of the Mad Mage - Justin Alexander

Best Homage: The Omenous Portent of the Highlands Meteor - Tim Hensley
Best Introductory One-Shot: The Tomb of Durhan Oakenshield - Dyson Logos
Best Non-Dungeon: The Great Cloud Caper - Jonathan Lee
Best Unconventional: Traps-R-Us - Chris Torrence
Best Use of Tables: Mountain Lair of the Misanthropic Magus - Sean Wills

Runner Ups - these dungeons were the top of the Judges Picks, after we had picked the top 3 winners. Each of these represents an outstanding dungeon, certain to appeal to most everyone. These dungeons will be awarded prizes as noted. The category is as the Judge picked it:

Best Hack-n-Slash: The Gray Goblin Warrens - Christopher Brackett
Prize: Random Esoteric Creature Generator

Best Non-Fantasy Entry: The Horror of Leatherbury House - Michael Wolf
Prize: Bundle of Goblinoid Games products

Best Pub: Arendt's Old Peculiar- Antti Hulkkonen
Prize: Tabletop Adventures bundle: Bits of Darkness, Deck O'Names

Best Replayable Entry: The Infinite Tower - James E. Raggi IV
Prize: Otherworld Minatures - Pig Faced Orcs box set

Best Retro Use of 30x30 Space: Megadungeon of the Mad Archmage Gary Stu - Adam Thornton
Prize: Bundle of Knockspell and City Encounter PDFs

Best Silly Dungeon: Maze of NAMCAP - Patrick Riley
Prize: Bundle of Wizards of the Coast 4e Adventure Modules

Wow - those were fantastic dungeons, but the best is yet to come...

These top 3 dungeons represent a lot of hard work, imagination and a very interesting situation from a judging perspective - these 3 were the easiest to agree up on as nearly all of us had them at the top of our lists. So, here are the Best of Old School and Best of New School entries:

Best New School Dungeon: Cry of the Gravegod by Heron Prior
Prizes: Bundle of Necromancer games product, Fantasy Grounds II License, Wizards of the Coast - Dungeon Delve book and Adventurer's Vault book, 6 month membership to Obsidian Portal, AvatarArt free artwork, Quarterly membership to Monte Cook’s DungeonADay.com

Best Old School Dungeon: Valley of the Necromancer Kings by Andrew Gale
Prizes: Bundle of Brave Halfling Production products, Demon Idol Miniature, 6 month membership Obsidian Portal, Fantasy Grounds II License, AvatarArt free artwork, Bundles of Fight On and Knockspell issues

And finally... the best of the best. This dungeon was highly favored by almost all of the judges for various reasons and after much screaming and ranting and throwing of keyboards...er... after reasoned and balanced discussion, we came to the conclusion that this entry was the winner of the One Page Dungeon Contest...

Best Overall One Page Dungeon: Secrets of the Old City by Simon Bull
Prizes: Patron membership of Wolfgang Baur’s Open Design, Kobold's Guide to Game Design by Kobold Quarterly, Quarterly membership to Monte Cook’s DungeonADay.com, A full License for Smitework’s Fantasy Grounds II, 1 year membership to Obsidian Portal, 50$ Gift Certificate from One-Bookshelf, Bundles of Fight On and Knockspell issues

Also, please note that we will also be offering passes for the Las Vegas NeonCon gaming convention to any of the honorary mention, Runner ups and Best of winners, that would like to attend. Vegas, baybee!

Wow! There you have it... the top entries and the prizes! We want to congratulate all the winners for their efforts and their achievement and thank all of YOU for entering, participating, asking questions, being flexible and understanding when we had issues and snafus and for being patient while the judges read and enjoyed each and every entry.

What are we going to do about releasing all of these entries? Chatty and I have batted this around a bit and this is what we've come up with:

The winners and honorable mentions will be placed in a PDF with a color cover to be created by the recent winner of the Erol Otus/Fight On!/Otherworld art contest: Mark Allen! The cover will feature a scene from the Secrets of the Old City winning dungeon. The PDF will also have some reprints of the One Page dungeon posts, the posts Chatty and I did on how to make a one page dungeon key, as well as a copy of the template itself for your use. This PDF will be distributed by Tabletop Adventure on most of the RPG PDF outlets - and it will be FREE.

We are going to make a second PDF which will feature the winners and runner ups, but will not feature the color cover and additional freebies. This PDF will be placed into an archive (ZIP) file which will also have all the entries for you to download. Yes, if you want to see all 112 entries, you will be able to do so. We'll work out where that will be hosted, but be warned, it's a large 68 MB file. The PDF will be for you to use if you wish to see/feature the winners.

I want to thank our hardworking judges -Sham from Sham's Grog n Blog (http://shamsgrog.blogspot.com/), Amityville Mike from Society of Torch, Pole and Rope (http://poleandrope.blogspot.com/), Dave from Critical-Hits.com (http://www.critical-hits.com/) and Alex from Alex's Diary/Wiki (http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/RPG). I'd also like to thank Graham from Critical Ankle Bites (http://criticalanklebites.com/) - Life prevented him from serving as a judge, but we thank him for his input and comments.

So, how did we judge this contest? How did we come up with old school/new school? From day 1, when we started trying to decide how to judge entries, we agreed that the "old school" and "new school" attributes would be strictly subjective to each judge and that we would go by majority votes, otherwise we would have quickly bogged down into the same issues we were trying to avoid. Alex/Kensata has written an awesome summary on how the judging was accomplished once we got OS/NS out of the way, so I'll let him tell the story.

At the end of the day, we felt that this process was subjective, but the ones we picked were usually fairly high in everyone's list, so we had a general consensus. We all felt good about how we went thru the process, and we hope you enjoyed the results. I know I'll discuss the entries and my thoughts later on, and perhaps the other judges will as well.

So... that's it! Congrats again to the winners! I personally am truly humbled by the amount of fun, joy and creativity that went into these things - no matter what game you play, these dungeons represented a place you wanted to take us. Some of them left us laughing, some of them left us wanting to twist our head into strange shapes due to font sizes and creative artistry, but they all were really cool to see.

And before you ask - I need METRIC LITERS of beer before I even think about 1PDC 2010. :)

Our sponsors!
The prizes awarded were generously donated by our sponsors - they were key to getting this thing rolling and we hope you appreciate their support as much as well do. Please be sure to show them your support as well.



Brave Halfling Publishing




Fight On Magazine

Goodman Games


Malhavoc Press/DungeonADay

Mythmere Games
Necromancer Games
Obsidian Portal
Open Designs


Otherworld Miniatures

Smiteworks
Tabletop Adventure