Campaign Concept and Introduction

Along the eastern shore of the Pagan Coast floating placidly in the Winedark Sea is the small island of Croy. Its most significant settlement, named for the island upon which it lies, is a haven for sea-fairing men of ill repute. This harbor town hosts many sea raiders from the north, as seasonal citizens, from which the village produces great warrior stock and surprising wealth.

The island isn't just a pirate hideout. It is also the home of an ancient temple complex thought to have once engulfed the entire island. Though those days have been long lost, the temple entrance remains, belching out wicked creatures and dark spirits onto the island surface.

The buried complex is known as the Lorn Labyrinth of Tsathoggus. Little is known about its genesis, purpose, or interior. Only rumors are known as to the origins of its name and what lies within. Some say its an ancient sacred site for worship of the elder god Tsathoggus. Rumors circulate about a horrific sickness that afflict those who stay too long beneath the surface. Tales of horrors and creatures unknown to the light of day are whispered in Crojan taverns on cold nights.

Many who have attempted to explore the labyrinth have failed, never returning to the surface of Croy. Despite these challenges,there are some who plunge into the inky void of the labyrinth and return having drawn out vast quantities of glittering wealth.

the game

This campaign is being run on the OD&D Discussion Board Discord server. As the server name suggests it will be using the OD&D 3 Little Brown Books with a rules supplement of my own creation for clarification rules as well as adding the thief class.

The game will be open table, always on, and run using 1:1 timekeeping as per the rules in OD&D Book III.

This is a megadungeon campaign, so wilderness adventures will be sparse which is supported by the small size of the island of Croy. If the campaign sustains until late stages of gameplay, the scope may widen but most efforts early on will be spent on exploring the limits of a megadungeon-centered game.

why a megadungeon

It is no surprise to most, that online play can be difficult in its consistency of players and playtimes. The megadungeon will be a centered location preventing multiple sessions of players from scattering themselves wide apart from one another. In a game with potentially dozens of players all of which may only play every 3rd or 4th session, it will be much simpler to know every character is either in the dungeon or in the town of Croy. Strict time keeping will be used but location tracking won't be needed initially.

potential problems

Many have accurately pointed out that a dungeon-centric campaign can become boring or too repetitive. To combat this, I have devised a system to keep the dungeon fresh. In the spirit of the "mythical underworld" as described in the 3LBBs, the dungeon will be always shifting and changing, never once being the same between two delves.

This may sound like a lot of work, but I will be utilizing a strategy inspired by rogue-like video games. The dungeon will be constructed with "tiles" which can be placed in any orientation and connect smoothly. These tiles will be stocked then added to a deck. Each deck will contain tiles for a particular dungeon level. As players adventure they will "unlock" more tiles to be added to the deck. New decks will be added as they go deeper.

This should prevent the need for constant editing of the dungeon but still provide a different and interesting experience each time a player enters the dungeon. This will also prevent players from mapping the dungeon so thoroughly that they can pass off all the secrets to any group who wishes to explore its halls.

Mapping will still be crucially important for the session at hand and well done maps can be retained and may come in handy in the future in part, but attempting to map the entire level will be impossible.

keeping it fresh

Dungeon restocking procedures will be used at certain intervals after a tile is cleared to ensure that there are always interesting elements of the dungeon at each level.

These restocked tiles will contain monsters and treasure which may or may not be related to previous expeditions into the dungeon.

Lower levels of the dungeon will be added as players discover stairs down into the depths, potentially leading on endlessly.

strategic play

Of course the lack of accurate mapping will be a large hindrance to the players. To help deal with this problem, the players will be able to upgrade surface shrines which will provide interesting abilities controlling the contents, layout, and predictability of the dungeon.

play reports

Going forward play reports of each session will be posted here. You will be able to find them with the tag Lorn Labyrinth below. Anyone interested in joining the game may contact @ozarker on Discord.

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