We didn't get very far, but then again we haven't seen each other for almost a month, so the mouths were flapping! It was also that stupid daylights savings-time, so we had to quit early, however the main part of the game was to test out miniature play, so we did accomplish this goal.

We didn't get very far at all, only 2 rooms, and nobody moved more then a couple of yards. They had decided to set up a base camp within the dungeon itself, but before they could rest and reclaim spells, they first had to take over that section of the dungeon.

They had a skeletal gnoll which one of the clerics had stolen, they had him guard the main door; which kept all of the badies the heck away from that door, but it did stir up some curiosity on the part of the Ogre chief across the hall. He was too much of a coward to investigate it himself, or even send his own people over to see what was going on, so he sent a hobgoblin thief to sneak around back, and pop out of the secret door in the room the PCs were camped out in.

The hobgoblin wasn't a good thief, he got caught and got everybody in the secret chamber killed. Kim's character had heard the door opening, and Shannon ran both of his fighters over to defend the door. That poor thief didn't know what hit him! A huge battle ensued and we spent all of our gametime trying to figure out mini rules and deciding if we liked playing with them or not.

Here is the board that we used. I put a large piece of vinyl over the grid that I had made. Now it isn't perfect, but it worked better then if I had laminated the board. I marked out the rooms with colored dry erase markers, and instead of erasing and redrawing the rooms again, when the Players were ready to move. We just had to slide the vinyl over to the center of the map, or higher if we knew that we wanted to head in a specific direction.

Now, I don't have any monsters, but my wife picked me up a bunch of little cowboys and indians. They represent the monsters, but I'm going to have to glue pennies on the bottoms of all of them because they don't weigh enough, and the vinyl doesn't sit perfectly flat so they tend to fall over.

Prep took a lot longer, and we all were struggling with the rules; I myself have never played with miniatures. I also screwed up with my handout count, I forgot to print off a quick cheat list form myself and only had the bulky mini-handbook which I had posted to this blog to work off of. I assume that the more we use them, then the faster that we'll become at taking our turns.

Everybody was pleased with them! They had an easier time seeing what was around them, and for me, it just seemed more fair because I didn't have to pick who what getting attacked at random, which one has to do when playing with just one's imagination. It also aided in strategy.

While the game was very short, and we didn't get much done, I think that we all had a good time (which is most important to me), and everybody seems to be pleased with the new way of playing.

I love weird weapons, the stuff that NPCs use but players would find worthless. I find that it gives the game a good appeal to add stuff off of the cuff. One of my favorite odd weapons is the bola. Now these things have made a comeback in recent years, but more as an outdoor toy called Ladderball. The toy ones are made of plastic, and the players compete against one another to see how many points they can make by wrapping the bolas around rungs of a short ladder. IT’S FUN! And very challenging, and the great thing about it is that it is a level playing field; kids have a good chance at beating an adult, it doesn’t rely on strength or intelligence but finesse and dexterity.

Bolas were ancient weapons, two or more hard balls tied to a rope, but instead of dishing out damage like a regular weapon, these things provide other nasty functions, namely hampering an enemies movement.

To use the bola, one simply twirls it over their head until they are ready to let go. The balls do the rest! These things are dangerous, the balls are much heavier then the toy ones that we use today. Typically the weapon used against man-sized targets are made of leather, the strap is about 56 inches, on the ends are 4 inch pockets for rocks or metal balls.

A simple weapon, but effective when working together as a team with spearmen. On a regular attack, a hit holds the victim fast, and they must spend a round trying to get out by making a successful STR check, else stay immobile.

Of course in the hands of an expert, these things have many other uses. Called shots against a targets legs not only prevents movement, but the target must make a DEX check (if they are moving at the time of the hit, there is a -3 penalty to the check) else fall prone.

Called shots against the arms causes the bolas to entangle either the enemies weapon hand or shield hand (attackers option), this stops either all attacks or removes the AC bonus for the shield until a successful STR check is made with a -2 penalty for the lack of leverage.

A successful Called Shot to the victim’s head can cause a knock-out, the victim must make a Saving Throw vs. Paralysis or be knocked unconscious for 1d4 rounds, plus additional rounds due to DEX bonuses of the attacker.

THE CRUNCH!

Bola cost 5sp to make, weigh 2lbs. Are M size weapons of the B type. They have a speed factor of 8. If you are a stickler, and the proper save is made by the victim, you can still have it inflict damage (though I never do) it can do 1d3 to Small or Medium targets, and 1d2 to large foes.

Bola has a rate of fire of 1/1. Short range is 6, Medium range of 12, and a long range of 18.

Strategy

Weapon grade bolas require room to get the thing going, almost 5 feet of room (an entire square), thus this is primarily an outdoor weapon. Individually, the weapon is practically worthless, but working with a team the bola can give spearmen an opportunity to attack targets without fear of being counterattacked, or at least giving them an edge. A good mixture of 20% proficient bola fighters, 5% bola specialists, and 60% spearmen could easily be a formidable lot!

Because this is such a simple weapon to construct, humanoids would have access to it. The bola can also be thrown while running, a typical bola fighter would have at least 3 bolas on his person, throw them and then leave the field while the spearmen or melee fighters do their jobs. Bolas must be retrieved before they can be used a second time, if this is possible, the bola fighters may stop and pick them up to continue fighting.

Alternatively, the bolas can be used by the fighters themselves as they rush an enemy and close for melee combat. In cases like this, they would typically all have 1 or 2 bolas, throw them, and then draw their primary weapons.

These weapons are non-lethal, a successful hit on a lone target would be in a heap of trouble as a full company of spearmen could have him surrounded in moments. Monsters could use this to slow down the retreats of pesky humans who are faster then they are. These are just some ideas on how to utilize these simple weapons, and while wizards may take a fancy to using them, the other classes would probably consider them worthless, relying on more traditional weapons.

Dungeons are definitely the fun part of the game for everyone. The DM usually enjoys it because it makes prep work a cinch! Players love it because the action is more fluid and they make for lots of opportunities for decisions to be made.

With mapping software available for free all over the web, constructing maps is much easier today then it was back when I first started. We did have some tricks to doing it, besides the good ol’ fashioned graph paper. Namely this was stealing maps from published modules and re-keying the things. You could make them new or old, wealthy or deserted for eons, the possibilities are near infinite!

Today, people kind of tend to go crazy. You can, literally drive yourself cross-eyed considering all of the dungeon logic. Many Dungeon Masters keep a set pull-list of monsters for different areas, while others ponder the very deep workings of the dungeon world itself. Me personally could give a rats tail about it. The most important thing that I consider is always what works fast and easy. I do have my own tricks though.

DUNGEON LIFE

The first question that I ask myself when starting is what lives here? If I have an idea, or I already told the players what they are supposed to be looking for, then I don’t have a problem, but if I’m in a saucy mood and want to keep things random, then I’ll roll a monster at random from my notes. This is easier for me since I play in the World of Greyhawk, and the random encounter lists are complete. If this isn’t the case for you, the Monstrous Compendium Volume 2 has a complete listing of Random Encounters for a veriety of settings.

The monster that I roll is the dominate monster in this dungeon. It has conquered this place and lives in it, at least for the time being. Its laws are the way, naturally with wild animals also living in the place, some areas will be too dangerous for the humanoids to live (if it is a humanoid), these areas will probably be avoided, and may incorporate a trap of some kind as it is considered a natural hazard. A simple lure to trick others who aren’t so savvy as them, to wander into the hazard and get themselves killed.

DUNGEON SIZE

We also have to figure out how big we want the thing to be. Many random dungeon generators, such as the one which I sometimes use from the first edition DMG, will go on for days with no end in sight. We have to figure out how deep we want to go with this, and how big of an area that we want to take up. This is best figured out before we even put the digital pencil to paper. A large dungeon will support more life then a small one, and there may be more dominate creatures down there fighting it out about who is in control. If you want to make a rivalry, then simply roll another random encounter check and find out what the second most dangerous thing down there is.

FOOD & PROPERTY

Now we start moving into some headache area here. This is where some DMs like to give themselves trouble, but they are on the right track! Food is a basic need that our monsters can’t live without! Depending on the monster, and their ability to adapt their environments around them, offers us different questions and problems. The simplest answer is looking at the definition in the Monster Manual, the MM will tell you their basic life strategies. Most monsters steal for a living, they find weaker beings who are good at raising their own food, and they take it.

It is rare to find monsters who keep their own stock of underground meat, they just don’t know how to feed and maintain animals like that. Hell, they don’t wash themselves and rely on inhuman constitution to survive. The dungeon world is one filled with disease and rotten icky things because of our next consideration.

WASTE MANAGEMENT

What does the monster do with its waste? The answer is usually that this is somebody else’s problem. A monster will move in and use up every available resource that it can, and then it will move on to a new hovel. Of course, this sets the scene for a new monster to take over the dungeon, and brand new dangers. A fun dungeon can be one that has been abandoned. Not only will they leave their mess behind, which will cause the place to be a haven for new nastiness that lives off of stuff like that, but they will also leave their sick, injured, and weak behind as well. These things will be extremely dangerous, as they are starving and terrified, perhaps even mad from loneliness and confinement.

WATER

Part of my Quick & Easy mentality dictates that, for the most part, monsters are like pirates. They are typically as drunk and as lazy as possible, of course I mix it up so that nobody can tell what I’m doing. I’ll give some monsters a need or an industry of some kind, this way it is harder to tell what I’m doing behind the screen.

Water is a basic necessity for us, and for lots of creatures, however for the most part, a bunch of stinky monsters would turn their nose up at it. They would rather have booze and only bathe by happenstance. If there is a water supply, some monsters would love to just sit there and throw stuff in it for entertainment, same thing with really deep holes. If a monster is really destructive, such as the Troll, then after the creature leaves the water will be no good, and this could effect the upper world if we want it to.

A monster who depends on water would treat a water-source like gold, and defend it to the death unless another source was known. Water is a good place for natural hazards, the monsters who depend upon it will keep the ones who don’t out of that area, and use them to keep intruders out. Most humanoids will leave aquatic nightmares completely alone! This logic keeps our water supplies untainted unless it serves us to do otherwise.

WHY AIN’T THIS HOLE INFESTED WITH DWARFS?

Another thing to consider, before putting the pen to paper and drawing out your map, is to figure out what this hole is for. Who built it? Is it natural or was it constructed by someone or something?

The word Dungeon, as we use it, is a very confusing thing if you think about it. Rarely do we ever create dungeons that are really dungeons! For the most part, we could care less who made it, but sometimes it can be fun to figure it out. Was it an ancient culture? Even this question can bring some different answers, what with all of the demi-humans running around. Why did they move out, or abandon it? It could be a mystery as we all have similar problems here on this planet. This also can be used to figure out what the holes original purpose was. Was it a mine? A basement to some long forgotten and quite absent castle? Was it a secret church? A tomb? Perhaps remnants of ancient astronauts; with fantasy, anything is possible. A look into our own history gives us many of factual reasons why a large underground superstructure would be made.

While we must know who is the current holders of the dungeon, it can also be beneficial to know who, or what held it before they did; and how long ago had it been sitting. Has it been looted? If it’s got monsters, then the answer is probably yes. The questions are endless, but there is just something about building our own dungeon that lends to these creative decisions.

We can create mystery with open-ended scenarios and rooms which don’t belong, so just because something doesn’t make sense on the outside, we can hint at things which may or may not be. We must try to do our best NOT to over think the fun out of these things. We don’t want to know everything, but we should know just enough to make it look like we do.