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

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.

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

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

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

Actual play report for Parallel Dungeons by Starmonkey

Starmonkey ran my adventure PARALLEL DUNGEONS in Into the Odd (great fit!) and posted a session report. It's great to see other people using (and enjoying!) my work.

Parallel Dungeons, if you haven't seen it, is a free adventure that has three dungeons on a shared map; they exist in parallel realities and the player characters can jump between them using an arcane device. It's fun.

Just a Crab Monster. By Erol Otus, from White Plume Mountain

Parallel Dungeons got a review + a cool new series of dungeon deep cuts

Parallel Dungeons, my dimension shifting adventure, got a small write-up by Rowan over at the Dododecahedron blog! He just started up a pretty cool little series called Dungeon Deep Cuts, where he reviews under-the-radar adventures. Sounds like a good way to learn about small, but interesting projects. He is also taking submissions, so, upcoming authors, take note!

d10 popular posts on this blog...

In March, I blogged a record amount: 13 posts! Wow... As a monthly rate, that's second only to the first and most active month of this blog's life, the 15 post marathon of October 2016. 

In October 2016 I was bed-ridden with pneumonia. In March 2022, I think, I blogged to try and take my mind off the worrying state of the world. Yeah. The state of the world, with the ongoing war, if anything, is only getting more brutal.

Anyway, I wanted to take a retrospective look and check my blog statistics.

I've been blogging for 5 years, 5 months, 28 days (including today). Wrote a total of 202 posts (this is #203). Got 330 comments (after cleaning out the spam messages) - thanks, everybody, I really like getting comments on my posts!

And this is the list of the 10 posts with the most number of views. Of course, many of them have been around for some time, although, as far as I could see, there are big peaks in views at publication, and if it's linked somewhere, but usually it's a small, but steady number of views.

1. [Magic Item] Whistles! - okay, this took me by surprise! I didn't expect it to be the post with the most views on my blog. It got REALLY boosted upon publication and garnered 3700 views. I think I posted it on reddit? But not many views since. Anyway, it's a fun post, I still like these items.
2. Cosmic Crawl - the announcement of the publication of Cosmic Crawl, an awesome Lovecraftian sci-fi community project compiled by Evlyn Moreau. I contributed to it, and I think it's an awesome little book, with lots of fun random encounters and great art. This was the only finished community project I participated in, during the last days of G+...
3. 1d6 robotic carousing mishaps - this is a fun one... Wrote it very quickly, as a reddit comment, but decided to save it, because, well, drunk robots.
4. [Secret Santicorn] All Aboard the Terrible Dogfish! - a weird pirate ship written for the OSR Discord's Secret Santicorn event! Exclamation mark!
5. 36 character types (extracted from Georges Polti's "The Art of Inventing Characters") - an old book turned into a random table... People really liked it!
6. [Adventure] The Tomb of the Daughter - one of the things that came out from my love affair with "talk-to-transformer", the neural network-based text generator. A sort of usable adventure module?
7. [5e] Warlock: The Diamond (D&D meets Steven Universe) - one of my few 5e posts (I do run 5e occasionally, and ran a big campaign for my friends). I still really like this idea - the Diamonds in Steven Universe as a model for portraying Fey ladies and lords in D&D. 
8. Neural Network Generated Hexcrawl - I should really finish this!!!! I have all the hex descriptions, and even some dungeons. A big weird-ass neural network generated science fantasy hexcrawl.
9. [Dungeon] Temple of the Berserkers, one-page OD&D adventure - I'm glad people liked this dungeon, I think it's a solid offering.
10. The best adventures from Footprints --- seven free old-school modules! - And one of my recent posts, listing the best adventures in the Footprints zine. Spread the word!

Party hard.

All hail Lord Mark!

What can I say? After many sleepless nights of deleting comments, I gave in to temptation and contacted Lord Mark.

I was not disappointed!

Lord Mark is a charming, polite gentleman, a vampire lord of the highest standing. In exchange for granting me immortality, prosperity, and mental alertness, he asked me only to spread the word about his greatness and good posture.

Lord Mark

No. Appearing: 1, but under all available channels, posts, forum threads at the same time. Lord Mark is omnipresent

Hit Dice: 1

Armor Class: as Leather

No. of attacks: 1 per opponent

Damage: 1-6

Movement: as Unencumbered

Morale: 12

Lord Mark is one and a legion at the same time. When He appears, he seems to be singular, but in fact everybody present has to face Lord Mark on their own, separately, and only then move on to help others. This is mostly annoying, but if left unchecked, whole towns can be overrun by Lord Mark's avatars.

If somebody willingly accepts Lord Mark's offer, that person becomes infected by the human vampire virus and will be forced to spread Lord Mark's message at every opportunity.