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Adventure, Basic, Dungeons & Dragons, Fantasy, Labyrinth Lord, Maps, RPG
Goblin Gully - Side View
Just because it is in a level one module doesn’t mean you can deal with it.
That is the theme of Goblin Gully. This level 1 quick dungeon crawl should either leave the player characters running scared, dead, or cleverly locking the door behind them and trying to figure out how to make sure no one else opens the door once they’ve left.
This is the first time I’ve done a full dungeon using only a side-view map. I love side-view maps partially because they remind me of the old days of D&D – you don’t see a lot of these maps in modern modules. However, normally you take the side view map and use it to illustrate how the top view maps link together. In this case, I didn’t even bother with a standard top view at all. Everything you need is nicely shown on the side view.
The one page dungeon PDF can be downloaded here. It was written for a level 1-2 B/X or Labyrinth Lord party, typically to be used as a first or second adventure. The final “encounter” in the dungeon is something way out of the starting party’s league – but they should be able to escape it without too much danger (except to the town if they fail to confine the creature as they escape).
And of course, here’s the map on it’s own in case you don’t want to use the module.
Goblin Gully - Side View Map (right click to download the PDF)
Love it! I reckon it would be a blast in 4e D&D too. Might just have to try that………
It’s been statted out /basically/ system neutral. Just names of the critters, treasure on hand, and one reference to a special ability that would have to be reworked to whatever edition you are playing.
I actually ran this in a 3.5 game as the intro adventure.
I couldn’t resist it… I went ahead and read the one-page-adventure. Wish I hadn’t. Now I guess I will have to find a group to run it with. Would have rather been a player in this one.
I must admit that I have a penchant for dungeons with a monster theme, and this one fits the bill. What I mean by this is that others might have put six or more different monsters in this. I never understood this philosophy. Why would they ‘live’ together? I think your monster selection makes the final Big-Bad, that much more dramatic! Awesome work.
I also like that it isn’t necessarily level appropriate for the group at the end. Figuring out that you SHOULD run, for me, is as much fun as fighting and winning. Perhaps a smart group could figure out how to defeat it. Wonder if anyone has any ideas on that? I also like the treasure for said Big-Bad! (Didn’t want to spoil that)
In-short, I love it. Once again, a great job!
Best and happy gaming,
The Bane
I was reading over this one last night with the idea of using it as a FIRST adventure for a small group of experienced players with shiney new, not even kit’d out level 1 characters and I was considering dropping the storage room gaurdian and Big Bad, but from the perspective of “sometimes, the right way to handle a monster is to run away…” I think I’ll leave them in…
I’ve never gamed with my intended victims, I mean players, and I plan to run it as a terrain heavy miniatures game, so I hope it works out…
If nothing else, I’ll have made a spiffy diorama!
Hmm. Why hasn’t the Big Bad already escaped?
Because the door is barred and made of a material big bad can’t eat through.
I love the fear effect created by the churning, putrid mass. It will be a great challenge for the PCs at higher levels.
This is great! Thank you for a very cool dungeon. Like The Bane I wish I had played it, rather than read it, but maybe ‘ll get to run it soon.
Cheers!
I used this map last week during our session and it worked great! Thanks for making it available.
holly shit! this is exactly what i was looking for, even the tree is in the place I imagined i want the enterance to be!!! SOOO GOOD!
btw. is there anyway to follow your blog from my blogger account?
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Thanks for this. Just repurposed this for a RuneQuest campaign I’m running in Glorantha. It became an abandoned First Aid temple to Nysalor that had recently been home to a God Learned exploration party and now is the lair for scorpion men. The ooze became some primal chaos. Great fun for all.
This is perfect. Just what I was looking for.
While I am pretty sure this comment will not be read, I thought I’d let you know I used this with some minor modifications last night. The party was a 1st level dwarf, a 1st level fighter, a second level thief and a second level cleric. This was their third session, and they had previously encounter evidence that minions of the god of rot and slime had made some headway into their town, and I changed the big bad to fit this, and added a third level cleric as the leader of the goblins and dredgers (sort of cromagnon goblins that are fervent followers of the rot and slime god).
The party did well, including accidentally fighting the crystal statue while ambushed from behind by the cleric and shockingly won… and then they freed the slime, left the doors open and now have escaped back to the small village they call their home base and aren’t sure what to do now that they seem to have released a gigantic rotting slime that seems to be a part of a horrible ritual gone wrong upon the unsuspecting populace, and the session ended with them trying to explain to the town sheriff that perhaps there might be a problem.
A good time was had by all!
Thanks again for making such quality material available!
Awesome! I’m glad it worked out. We turned the escaped slime into a story arc with the local seers telling the party where to get the three items needed to blow it up. Actually, it made an item that produced a single shot 8d6 damage fireball, but it was a good start and gave them the edge they needed to beat the monster – and the adventures to get the items got them to level 5 so they were in better shape to kill the beast.
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I just recently discovered the OSR and decided to run a Labyrinth Lord game (using the AEC). I had three PCs, each of whom independently decided to be a dwarf (fighter, fighter, cleric). I added a gnome thief DM NPC and ran them through Goblin Gully last night as an introductory adventure. It was a blast! Thanks for sharing!
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Going to run next week with Dungeon World, statting the creatures here: http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=2441.0