[Dungeon] The Shining Hexahedron

This is a small dungeon mapped to the outer and inner surface of a cube.

I made this for the EXTREMELY BYZANTINE 5-ROOM DUNGEON jam.

Have fun!

Download the whole thing here

(Remember, you MUST perforate the paper with a pen like you are in a sci fi movie explaining wormholes to a dum-dum)

Dirty door tricks

Doors, the lifeblood of the dungeon, or something. They show up all the time in our fantasy dungeon crawling games, yet are often underdescribed. Most of the time, it doesn't matter much. But there are a couple of question that come up during play, and you as the Referee might find yourself stuck. Quick ways to deal with this:

Which way does the door open?

Often, this is not specified neither in the key, nor the map. There are a couple of quick ways to improvize this:

1. Towards the room with the higher number on the map… (e.g., the door between rooms #12 and #14 opens towards #14) [my preferred way]
2. Flip a coin, roll a dice for low/high, even/odd = inward/outward
3. Of course, if you have the time, consider what makes sense: if the dungeon builders/denizens want to barricade the door, then barricades only work in the room the door is swinging towards. If they want to rush out quickly, it's better to have the door swing outward. Etc.

The same can be done for the dreaded “where are the hinges on this door” question.

 And here's a d10 door table:

1-3 door swinging inward

4-6 door swinging outward

7 door sliding left

8 door sliding right

9 door sliding up

10 door sliding down

How hard is it to break down a door?

Breaking down a regular door takes 1 turn, via a non-modified check.

For every extra descriptor in the adventure key, breaking down the door takes +1 turn or there is an increment penalty on the check. “Wooden” does not count towards this.

So, “reinforced wooden door” = “metal door” = 2 turns/-1 on the check. “Reinforced metal door” = 3 turns/-2 on the check.

That's it, just wanted to note this stuff.

PS: a bunch of door-themed random tables over at ktrey's blog

Mask, Number 28: The Dungeon Mask

This shiny black but amply scratched visor-like half-mask covers the eyes, ears and nose.

The Dungeon Mask completely overrides the wearer’s senses. The wearer feels as if they are transported into a stylized dungeon – all magenta, cyan and yellow against a black background. Numbers and icons float in the wearer’s field of view, displaying Lives (3), Ropes (2), Weapons (2), Level (1) and Score (0).

The Game starts here

Follow this algorithm:

1. Enter new Area (roll on the Areas table. If this is the first roll on the Level, roll a d4, d6 next, then a d8 afterwards)

2. Resolve the Area OR Take alternate route (roll again) for the price of Level x 50 from your Score (if this would bring

3. If the Area is Stairs, safely Exit the game OR go to the next Level

4. If Lives are at zero, reset Lives to 3 and bounce back to the previous Level

5. Go to Step 1

Safe Exit: After a game, the high score list is displayed. The delver puts their name (up to 6 characters long) and score on it. The player character (who put on the mask), gains Experience points equal to the Score!

Unsafe Exit: At any point, the player can crash out of the game to escape.

 

Areas:

1             Pit. A wide chasm. Roll d6 over the current Level or discard Rope to pass. Lose 1 Life on failure.

2             Swinging Trap. Roll d6 over the current Level or lose 1 Life.

3-4         Monster! Roll d6 over the current Level. Discarding a Weapon grants +1 (can be done after the roll). Failure: -1 Life and no reward. Success: add Level x 10 to the Score, roll d6 the Treasure table.

5             Ancient Altar. Your next d6 roll is automatically a 6.

6             Boss Monster! Roll d6 over the current Level + 2. Discarding a Weapon grants +1 (can be done after the roll). Failure: -2 Life and no reward. Success: add Level x 50 to the Score, roll d6+2 the Treasure table. The next Area is automatically Stairs.

7             Stairs. You can go to the next Level OR safely Exit the game (tally Score and go to the Hall of Fame).

8             Secret Room! Roll d6+2 on the Treasure table.

 

Treasure table:

1-3         None

4             Add Level x 10 to the Score

5             +1 Weapon

6             +1 Rope

7             Flamethrower (+6 Weapons, knowledge of the location of a magic weapon for the player character in the outside world)

8             The Holy Grail (+6 Lives, knowledge of the location of a healing spring for the player character in the outside world)

 

During the delve, the mask’s facial expression changes from calm to a tortured grin to reflect the number of Lives the delver has left.

 

Hall of Fame:

GOOBER              999999999 (who the hell is this player? Are they stuck in the Dungeon?)

OZZY                     3500

DYSON                 2220

NERD66               1500

GLAXOR              660

BOOBSZ               300

 

Post your score in the comments to be added to the Hall of Fame!!

I was tagged by Jenx; I tag ktrey!

Update: of fuckin course ktrey came through with a full d100 table of magic masks :D

Take-aways from running quick pick-up games

Occasionally, when I have a free-ish evening and the urge to play, I run an impromptu pick-up game over at the OSR discord server. The first time I ran the Secret Hide-Out of Glaxorzis, that Sorcerous Creep! for a party of three players, the second time The Outpost of Stone & Silver for a single player controlling two characters, and the most recent game was a delve into A Single Tomb, Unplundered for three players. UPDATE: one of the players wrote an in-character session report!

The games were all ran on a super short notice – announced circa 30 minutes before starting time (the server has a pick-up-gamer role you can ping).

The setup is quite simple, so that we can get to the good stuff right away:

1. Searchers of the Unknown

a. Again and again, SotU proves to be the best lingua franca minimalist D&D for such quick games. If a person has played any kind of D&D, they are able to pick up right away. Of course, on the DM-side, it requires an experienced judge, who already has a bunch of rulings and tools and procedures memorized.

b. A little extra thing I introduced this time was MAGIC WORD based spellcasting. It worked quite well, although no combination spells were attempted, only single-component magics.

2. Pregens!

a. Pregens are a must for such quick games. I guess you can also do the Flailsnails thing and let the players bring in any character they want (esp. if the “setting” is kitchensink), BUT, and this is my next point:

b. PREGENS ARE THE SETTING! A lot can be conveyed about the game’s broader setting by the roster of pregens. If the pregens are “elf magic-user”, “dwarf fighter” and “human thief”, that’s a vanilla D&D sort of world. SotU doesn’t use classes, so instead I add a randomly generated two-word description to each character: “ruthless hero”, “vampiric acolyte”, “wild nymph”. They confer the vague vibe of the setting, help the players get into it + I also let them use these descriptors for in-game bonuses and in-setting knowledge. The equipment list is another setting-conferring element (“broadsword” and/or “energy rifle”? “chain armor” or “Kevlar vest”?)

c. In case of character death, left-over pregens can be used as backup.

3. Dungeon crawling (using a dungeon I already have), starting at the entrance

a. That’s where it’s at.

b. I use my own dungeons, so prep is minimal.  

4. Short session, aiming for 90 minutes (usually ends up being closer to 100-120)

a. Enough time to crawl through 4-5 rooms, have a fight, screw around with some stuff. You have to run a tight ship, sometimes cut down on random encounters to highlight the keyed stuff, but, overall, a satisfying amount of fun game stuff can happen in this timeframe.

5. Tech: Discord voice chat, tldraw for shared whiteboard 

tldraw has everything you need to quickly map stuff, record marching order, etc. Very handy tool.

Low-level games are fun. But so are mid-level games! This third time around, I went for levels 4-5 and gave the pregens more power and some cool toys. Good change of pace.

Below is how I explain the rules and the list of pregens from the third game:

Twenty-one eldritch dungeons...

I finally updated the list of dungeons I've written over the time. The tally is 21! That includes one-page dungeons, pocketmod-sized dungeons, 8-page booklet dungeons, a "megadungeon" (three levels so far...)... I've ran 10 out of the 21. What makes me particularly glad is that other people have used my dungeons in their games!

All of them are available on the blog as free PDFs.

You can always find the list here.

So, as of March 16, 2026, in chronological order:

• The Belly of Gargantuel (mini-dungeon inside the rotting carcass of a sea monster)
• The Chaldean Archives (30 minute dungeon, set in Assyrian ruins)
• The Golem Master's Workshop (30 minute dungeon, fun "haunted house")
• Temple of the Berserkers (minimalist OD&D fantasy adventure!)
• Outpost of Stone & Silver (OD&D/Delving Deeper science fantasy adventure!)
• Maze of Amazement & Death (minimalist OD&D/Delving Deeper dungeon, 61 rooms!)
• Bloodsoaked Gem Caverns (system-agnostic OSR dungeon, set in an abandoned mine!)
• Cave of Trials (a prehistoric initiatory dungeon for OSR games!)
• Nest of the Circuit Roaches (small system-agnostic OSR sci-fi horror dungeon!)
• Parallel Dungeons (a dimension-shifting OSR adventure, three dungeons in one!)
• Temple of the Forgotten God (16-room OSR dungeon, written as a 1-hour exercise)
• The Bleak Corridors (15-room OSR factory dungeon with a steampunk/victoriana vibe)
• Oracle of the Laughing Prophet (small 6-room lair)
• Delver's Delight (ongoing megadungeon thing, currently 3 levels completed)
• The Red Bastion (15-room OSR dungeon, the map from my GIMP mapping tutorial keyed)
• Hole of the Goblin King (hand-written one-page dungeon, OSR)
• The Dark Keep in the Snow (snowed-in yeti monastery, OSR dungeon)
• Secret Hide-Out of GLAXORZIS, that Sorcerous CREEP! (minimalist 3-level OSR dungeon that fits in a pocketmod)
• Underground Station, Long Abandoned (OSR science fantasy, post-apoc, abandoned subway hub station)
• Wreck Worship (a sea & salt themed cult dungeon, OSR)
• A Single Tomb, Unplundered... (Egyptian-style tomb adventure, for OSRIC)

Have fun! Let me know if you run something.

[Dungeon] A Single Tomb, Unplundered... (Egyptian-style tomb for levels 4-6)

There are many Egyptian-style tomb dungeons like this, but this one is mine... 17 rooms, one level, I think it turned out quite good. 8 pages for the main text, so you can print it as a booklet (but print the cover on a separate sheet).

I wrote the bulk of this back in 2023, but somehow never got around to share it. I used OSRIC for the stocking. And I wanted to do something NOT for levels 1-3.

GRAB THE PDF HERE

What do I love in dungeons?

A classic element or two... Idols with gems for eyes. Secret passage behind a waterfall. Statues coming alive. Torch sconce that opens a secret door. Eyes of a portrait that follow you – animate art object or peepholes for a hidden observer? Okay, so most classic elements are about EYES and SECRETS and STATUES. Crystals, too. Crystals, fungi, tentacles. Classic archetypical dungeon stuff that gives you a buzz when it shows up. We don't get to play often. So don't skimp on the classics.

Variety and reveals. A big change in the dungeon is always cool. Two thirds of the dungeon might be dwarven-engineered corridors. But then you suddenly transition into a large natural cave area. Or maybe a section is flooded. Somehow a flooded area is the biggest fear or many players – it is a gamechanger, your lights and movement are not as you are used to.

ROPE PLAY. A good dungeon always provides opportunity for rope play. And masks! Uh... I mean. Yeah, the dungeon must have places where players can satisfy their urges to fix ropes to each other. Grappling hooks, basic mountaineering.

Verticality. This ties in with the rope play aspect, but not only. I love balconies, overhands, BRIDGES, esp. rope bridges, stairs, ramps. When the way forward is also above or below. And the opportunity to spy a place before reaching it.

Which also leads to cool architecture. You don’t have to make every room special, but rectangular boxes become boring quickly. A couple of pillars, niches, platforms. Think about the ceiling, is it flat, domed, vaulted? Are all doors rectangular slabs of wood? Vault doors. Airlocks. Arched passageways. Dunno, horizontal slits for all those slithering creatures.

 

Anyway, I just wanted to put this in writing quickly.

Obligatory links to the OSR’s classic posts, Goblin Punch’s Dungeon Checklist and Grognardia’s Old School Dungeon Design.

 

don’t forget,

ROLE PLAY IS ROPE PLAY

and the game is the door game

AD&D DMG, p. 68

[Dungeon] Underground Station, Long Abandoned (location from The World of Tomorrow science fantasy campaign)

Sharing one of the dungeons from The World of Tomorrow campaign. 

This is an underground monorail hub. There are some arcane technological treasures and a weird fungal instruction to be found here, but the main “reward” is access to the monorail: if brought online, it can take the party to far-off places on the map.

DOWNLOAD PDF

(or download as a one-page dungeon to print right away here)

Map: North (N) is “up”. One square = 10’. Treasure values: listed in “standard coins” (c).

Vibes: mole people, Escape from New York, Terminator, Planet of the Apes, Fallout 1-2

Entrance: 500’ deep elevator shaft. Architecture: concrete walls & floors. Doors: Code-locked sliding metal doors, numerical panel by side (can be hacked, short-circuited; codes hidden in safe of #7).

Generator in #1 has three modes of operation:

Mode	Light	Elevator	Train
OFF	no	no	no
EMERGENCY	dim red	no	yes
FULL	bright white	yes	yes

Random encounters: 1-in-6 chance every other turn to run into Amyntor. Introduce wandering vermin or lesser mutants as needed.

Amyntor (Halfling 3): The main inhabitant of the station. A cyclopic person of short stature in a ragged vault-suit, exile from a secret high-class bunker (COMPLEX 4000). Has night-vision goggles (single-eyed, 60’) and a Puppet-Master 3000 device to control the Mutants in #3 (it glitches out often, so can only issue commands to 2 random mutants out of the 3 in each round). Shy and paranoid, likely to hide and sneak around (don’t forget to check for surprise and encounter distance – the result might mean he is around the corner). If in danger, flees and activates the Mutants.

AREAS:

1. ENTRANCE HALL. Elevator arrives here. Generator in SW corner, currently OFF.

2. SERVICE HALL. Train car from N tunnel (#3). Three large garage doors, each one has a Bulbous Mutant (as Troll) behind it: they are linked to the walls by feeding tubes, only come to life if controlled by Amyntor.

3. TRAIN CAR. All windows spray-painted black or covered with cardboard. Two rows of seats. Tunnel around car blocked with debris, but there is a small passage through the blockage on the top of the car.

4. TRAIN TURNTABLE. Domed hall, 70’ high. Locomotive (#5-6) in middle.

a. Towards “NUCLEAR FACILITY”       b. Full of graffiti. Secret door to #9 graffiti’d over

c. Towards “EXPERIMENTAL CITY”      d. Dead-end

e. Towards “COMPLEX 4000”           f. Balcony of control room (#7), 40’ above floor

5. LOCOMOTIVE PILOT CABIN. Trash and a bedroll. Controls functional (magnet on/off, speed, open/close doors). Constant white noise with granular speech and music fragments emanates from a small speaker.

6. LOCOMOTIVE MAGNETIC ENGINE. Hermetically sealed door. If open, all metal objects in the door’s vicinity are attracted to the giant magnetic coil in the middle.

7. CONTROL ROOM. Control panels to bring the monorail network online. Computer logs show last activity was “9999 years ago”. Large safe built into the N wall: holds blueprints, instruction manuals, 6 platinum bars (3000 c total).

8. LONG CORRIDOR. “Danger” signs at both ends. TRAP: 1-in-8 chance of collapse into tunnels underneath in the middle section (20’ fall).

9. DANK CAVE. Metal footlocker: spare vault-suit and Pupper-Master 3000 device (fully functional, but with battery drained).

10. STORAGE ROOM. Dozens of crates stacked high: some tools and parts can be salvaged (500 c total). Sensitive characters feel tentative probing: one of the crates holds a plastiglass formicarium of psionic ants. The hive mind is ready to trade services for food.

11. COLLAPSED AREA. Fungal smell from N.

12. SHRINE OF SHROOM CONSCIOUSNESS. Save vs. Poison; on failure, commune with the the world-encompassing mycorrhizal network) – treat as a Contact Higher Plains spell, followed by 1d6 days of unconsciousness.

Two of my dungeons in action

It always makes me happy when other people play the dungeons I share here. I want to highlight the play-reports and versions made by A Level 3 Dork. They repurposed two of my dungeons for their OD&D campaign. My Maze of Amazement & Death became their Lair of the Serpent Men. And my Temple of the Berserkers was transformed into, well, another Temple of the Berserkers, only these Berserkers are UNDEAD, HELL YEAH

They are good examples of how far simple reskinning can go. Reskinning is an easy and fun way of integrating a dungeon into your campaign's setting. For example, my Temple of the Berserkers has remnants of modern technology - a CCTV security camera and a television screen. In A Level 3 Dork's version, the television screen became a scrying pool. My "14 Spiders" are transformed into "14 Child-Faced Spiders", yikes! In my version, I already had "Pale Children (as Goblins)" to make low level monsters more interesting, so such palette-swapping is part of the DNA of the adventures. 

A Level 3 Dork also writes that 

"Its really quite funny how two simple dungeons have led to nearly 10 sessions worth of play so far. Our next session will see an Undead Army of Berserkers (controlled by the PC’s, or so they think) going toe-to-toe with a small army of Gnolls."

So, let us all wish luck to the party on their path to becoming the baddies as leaders of an undead army!

"Comus" by Arthur Rackham

Monster generator spark cards

I made a small 12-card deck monster generator today. Draw two and combine!

The contents as a d12 table:

1.     Ooze	acid, rust, pseudopod, subdividing, natural, lab-grown, medicinal, (a)morphing, mutating
2.     Skeleton	mausoleum, holding shit, bone weapons, femur, teeth, display, pirate, giant, monster, necromancy, skeleton key, grave robbing, tomb
3.     Fungus/Plant	flowers, seeds, pods, tendrils, roots, crawling, stationary, fluorescent, growth, poison, psychoactive
4.     Robot	laser, prosthetic, tracks, lights, hologram, armor, clockwork, steam, replicant, android, mecha, production
5.     Lizard	scales, amphibious, rainbow, reptiloid, swamp gas, thunder, toad, prehistoric, conspiracy, rending claws, running
6.     Ghost	immaterial, haunting, fear, hunger, bound, eerie, screams, want, swamp, chains, murder, fog, treasure
7.     Parasyte	symbiotic, infectious, mind control, autonomous, slow transformation
8.     Octopus	tentacles, floating, sepia, ink cloud, grabbing, reef, alien, weird, unsettling, slimy, suckered, jelly, genius, mastermind
9.     Elemental	air, fire, earth, water, outer planes, transformation, void, harmony, balance, alchemy, philosophy
10. Avian	wing, shriek, egg, flock, claw, migration, dive, beak, nest, sky, plumage, navigation
11. Beast	tail, sentient, cub, mythical, bipedal, fangs, armored, quadraped, uplifted, horns, tribal, magical, camouflage, mutated, hoofs, armed, nocturnal, centaur, cryptid
12. Psychic	mind blast, oracle, clairvoyance, hypnosis, telekinesis, voice, illusion, pyrokinesis, vision

 

Quick examples:

BEAST + ELEMENTAL = a tribe of fire-worshipping pigmen

PSYCHIC + AVIAN = giant bats that navigate using telepathy

OOZE + PARASYTE = jelly that replaces a humanoid’s brain and spinal fluid

FUNGUS/PLANT + OCTOPUS = a tree with lots of grabby roots

GHOST + ROBOT = a malevolent gremlin that possesses machinery

SKELETON + LIZARD = dinosaur on display in museum reanimated

And a drawing by my wife, a PLANT + SKELETON combo which she interpreted as a dried husk of a plant with teeth:

Piles of Downloaded Files... #3: more treasures from the Unsorted folder

I’m reviving my old series, Piles of Downloaded Files, in which I delve into the bottomless Unsorted folder of RPG-related PDFs. See the previous installments under this tag. 

 

Micromaiden Spirit Grid by Evlyn Moreau

It is a two-sided pamphlet dungeon, with Evlyn’s trademark art. One side has the map of the dungeon, which is a complex semi-anthropomorphic computer circuit. Each node gets a title and one or two keywords (for function/condition), e.g. Cyber Maintenance Unit [In Use] [Possessed] or Sensation Module [Patched] [Cyber Fauna].

It is evocative, but definitely a toolbox. I feel you need to get into a specific mindset to be able to fit all this together – but then it can provide a super interesting game world. I’d love it if someone made a computer game with the art from this pamphlet. A top-down dungeon crawler of some sorts.

Link: https://evlyn.itch.io/micromaiden-spirit-grid

 

Salo’s Glory by Glynn Owen Barrass

I used to subscribe to the Stygian Fox Patreon. This was one of their monthly adventures, back in 2020. It’s a Call of Cthulhu 7e scenario… IN SPACE! A megacorp sends an exploratory vessel outside the Solar System. The scenario goes for that sci-fi horror vibe that you get in the Alien franchise, like in the comics. Hell, it has stats for power loader exoskeletons! It also comes with quite good floorplans for the space ships and shuttles – definitely a reusable resource for any sci-fi game.

The adventure is written in the usual CoC style: lots of text, not skimming-friendly. But overall, it feels like a solid offering for CoC/Mothership/Alien RPGs.

Link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/309908/salo-s-glory-a-sci-fi-call-of-cthulhu-scenario-set-in-interstellar-space

 

Bonus mystery entry!

“original-colony.pdf” is a single-page file. It’s labeled “Original Drawing of the Ant Colony”. And it has a side-view section map of an ant colony. Pretty good map, I gotta say!

Reverse image search leads to a Something Awful topic I cannot access.

However, next to this file in my folder, I have:

Percent in Lair: Ant, giant by Justine Rogers / Angrymog Games

Turns out, the colony map was made for this project. This is a 10-page-long brainstorm on Giant ant colonies in fantasy adventure games. It contains the aforementioned map. Adventure hooks – why are we delving into an ant colony? And all kinds of Giant ant variants. Weird ecosystems, fungi, psychic ants, gem-encrusted ants… This is actually not bad!

Link: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/150281/percent-in-lair-ant-giant

How I prep

Joining Weird Writer’s blog challenge.

So, how do I prep?

First, I stock up on weapons, ammo, first aid essentials, canned and dry goods. Next, I transport it all into my rural fenced-off compound and store it in my underground vault. Then I post a shelfie on the survivalist forums…

What?

Oh, this is about RPG referee prep.



Sure, here are a couple of disjointed ideas. I don’t have a system and, well, just don’t run games regularly enough nowadays, but when I do, I like to do as many of these as possible.

I’m only covering pre-session prep here, not campaign prep.

• I write a lot of random game content, adventures, random tables, etc. So before a session, I check back to see if there is anything useful or relevant or something I just want to try in my archive.

• I run 75% homebrew stuff, 25% published modules.

Notetaking, general:

• I often make flowcharts and relationship matrices. I write out important factions, NPCs, locations, McGuffins and draw lines and arrows between them, note their relationships or connections. To me, this is the best way to organize info.
• If the adventure has a monster summary, I print that out. If it doesn’t, I try to make one. Stats & special abilities on one page, so it’s all in one place, no need to look it up in the module or the bestiary.
• I might do a condensed key for dungeons. But that’s pretty time consuming.
• Print out the map separately! It also helps to annotate the map, add notes about room contents, etc.
• I like re-drawing maps. Esp. for bigger dungeons. You memorize the layout and note interesting things for yourself, AND if you run an online game, this can double as preparing a VTT version of the map.

Pre-session prep for ongoing games:

• Check notes, curse yourself for not taking better notes.
• Any dangling threads or cliffhangers that require resolution or extra thought? E.g. a character was bit by a werewolf, how do we handle this, setting-wise and also rules-wise (see next section)? An enemy ran away, are there consequences? Any restocking needed Is there anything that might come back and bite the players’ ass?
• Rules-wise, are there any complex situations that might come up? E.g. aerial combat, underwater adventuring, chases, mass combat, anything that I need to look up the rules for or make rulings on.

Pondering the moldy tomes

Searchers of the Unknown - pocketmod version

I really like Searchers of the Unknown, the super-minimal D&D by Nicolas Dessaux, where you just use the standard monster statline to represent any character. It's a one-page ruleset. So I converted it into a pocketmod.

Searcher of the Unknown pocketmod PDF for printing

I edited it a little bit to make it fit better. Then to PAD IT OUT, I added Monsters of the Unknown by Brent P. Newhall and a quick equipment list by me.

(Turns out, there is another pocketmod version out there, but I prefer my formatting)

Fight on!

[Solo] The Prussian Infantry Marches to Carcosa, Turn 3: Dinner Invitation

Continuing the adventures of the Prussians on Carcosa. See Turn 1, Turn 2.

The Detachment:

• Captain Friederike “Freddy” Krüger, a woman who entered service disguised as a man, but is by now accepted as she is
• Brother Paul, Augustine monk and scholar
• Dr. Krowitz, field surgeon
• 20 disciplined Infantrymen with muskets

Turn 3

Day 2, dawn

Location: Hex 0410, Forest

Weather: 7, Neutral

Encounter: 1, Daytime: 58, 3 Mummies. Party surprise: 1, yes. Encounter surprise: 1, yes. Encounter distance: 100’. Encounter reaction: 7, Neutral

                    Soundtrack: "Mummified Fragment of Everyday" by Zofie Siege

With sunrise, the blackness of night first shifts into an indescribable blue iridescence, then into a purple haze. Light filters through the black leaves. The infantrymen lay wrapped in their cloaks, huddled together for warmth.

Four sentries sit, leaning on their rifles. The last shift was trying, the alien forest full off invisible insects and bizarre whispers. But they persevered – driven by discipline… or fear? 

///

But something else stirs in the forest.

Three dark, gaunt, sickly thin figures stalk between the trees. Their joints seem bloated, yet their movements are fluid. Ribbons and thin veils float behind them. Their gazes are trained downwards. From time to time they examine the leaves of certain trees.

[Solo] The Prussian Infantry Marches to Carcosa, Turn 2: Prussians in the Mist

Continuing the adventures of the Prussian on Carcosa. See Turn 1 here.

The Detachment:

• Captain Friederike “Freddy” Krüger, a woman who entered service disguised as a man, but is by now accepted as she is
• Brother Paul, Augustine monk and scholar
• Dr. Krowitz, field surgeon
• 20 disciplined Infantrymen with muskets

© Helene Schmitz. Alabama Fields. Digigraphie, 108 x 134 cm

Turn 2

Day 1, dusk to night

Location: entering Hex 0410, Forest

Weather: 7, Neutral

Encounter: 11, None

                    Soundtrack: "Aqua" by Edgar Froese 

Time seems to move in an unnatural way. The march towards the forest takes much longer than anticipated, the dark mass of vegetation seems just a few steps away, then snaps back into the unreachable distance the next heartbeat. Strange mirages flicker and the air vibrates around the Detachment. Perhaps a trick of the uncanny light emanated by the multitude of celestial spheres that chase each other through the sky.

Finally, the violet sun sets. The skyline lights up with an orange glow, then goes black. One of the twin moons rapidly wanes into just a narrow segment. The air grows colder and moist.

It is under the cover of this sudden darkness that the Detachment reaches the forest.

But what a strange forest it is. Lush, dense. Roots, branches, vines. The abundance of growth doesn’t feel healthy and natural: it’s a forest choking under its own weight. And this is only the edge of it; it seems to get denser in the deeper parts, but it is hard to make it out in the darkness.

Friederike leads the way, slashing at vines with her sabre. Her blade gets stuck. When she grabs the branch to pull back the weapon, the bark feels spongy and rugose.

However unlikely that seems, they eventually reach a clearing. For some reason, the trees don’t grow in this depression, just crowd around it somberly like mourners around the uncovered grave.

A fine white mist covers the ground.

“Careful, men. Probe ahead of you with your rifles,” Friederike warns her troops.

But it’s too late. The silence is broken by a scream as one soldier slips and disappears. There is an audible crack of bone breaking… Then the screams resume, coming from deep down.

[Solo] The Prussian Infantry Marches to Carcosa, Turn 1

I played a solo session today. A Prussian infantry detachment is somehow transported to Carcosa circa 1810. I was very much inspired by this cool session report by Underground Adventures: an Into the Odd one-shot for a single player, about a group of Napoleonic soldiers on Carcosa.

The Detachment:

• Captain Friederike “Freddy” Krüger, a woman who entered service disguised as a man, but is by now accepted as she is
• Brother Paul, Augustine monk and scholar
• Dr. Krowitz, field surgeon
• 20 disciplined Infantrymen with muskets

(Carcosa art by Rich Longmore)

How I play:

I rolled a random starting hex (0311).

Procedure: 1 Turn = 1 Day

For weather: 2d6 Reaction roll

Wandering encounter: 2-in-12 chance, 1 is daytime, 2 is nighttime

Turn 1

Location: Hex 0311, Wasteland

Weather: 7, Neutral

Encounter: 11, None

...Once the electrified mist disperses, the Detachment finds itself in a strange landscape, a purple wasteland. A violet-crowned sun hangs menacingly above and twin moons race through the light blue sky. The soldiers are nearly blinded by the alien hues.

Friederike checks her compass. The needle whirls around like a madman. It’s useless. So Friederike tries to get her bearings by the strange celestial objects.