First Adventures in Dungeoneering: 1976 Gygax article

Gary Gygax Day by Jim Wampler

For Gary Gygax Day 2020, I'd like to share "First Adventures in Dungeoneering", a heretofore mostly forgotten article that Gygax wrote for the Europa zine, issue #12-13 (Feb/Mar 1976). This was one of his follow-ups to his now fairly well known 1975 article to the same zine called "How To Set Up Your Dungeons & Dragons Campaign" (issue #6-8), which you can find a link to here on Grognardia. Many thanks to Allan Grohe of From Kuroth's Quill and Black Blade Publishing for discovering this article and making a transcript that he posted here in a thread over at the OD&D Discussion forum last year.

Being published in early 1976, this article is still firmly in the era of OD&D; the AD&D Players Handbook was still about two years off. This was during the era when Gygax was promoting/explaining D&D through articles & letters sent to various gaming publications. Allan has a list of many of these on his website here. Since the field of role-playing games was still in its infancy, many these publications were related to wargaming or Diplomacy, including Europa (published in Europe as suggested by the name) as seen the description in issue #6-8: 

The article is a gem because it contains an otherwise unpublished "Example of Play" for OD&D, written up in part as a dialogue between the DM and players in a manner similar to the original one in OD&D, Vol 3 and the later examples in the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide. I've always greatly enjoyed Gygax's play examples not only for their entertainment value but also for insight into how he ran games and for the bits of his designs that are shown. Holmes and Moldvay continued this tradition by writing new Examples of Play for their respective Basic rulebooks.

The bolded, bracketed numbers below correspond to notes I've added following the article. I've grouped them at the end of the relevant paragraphs to make them less distracting.

FIRST ADVENTURES IN DUNGEONEERING (by Gary Gygax, USA) 

You have been thoroughly hooked on Dungeons & Dragon (D&D), and during the last few days every spare moment has been spent happily preparing several dungeon levels. Great care and thought have been employed to do things just so - and of course you have spent a bit of time laughing fiendishly at the thought of what the hapless dungeoneers will encounter in choice areas! Actually, you certainly don't want your players to get killed, for then they'd miss seeing just how cleverly you've set them up! They don't want to buy the farm either (unless the dice were unkind indeed). Think about that. 

A good referee does not wish to deliberately set his players up for certain death in the game - although there are sometimes one or two players who... Anyway, by the same token you should not set out to aid them either. The whole purpose of the game is for the players THEMSELVES to face the challenge presented by the dungeonmaster's maze, to defeat it, or be defeated by it without help or hindrance. If they are clever they should survive and gain great rewards, and if they are stupid they should finish themselves off rapidly. This implies that you have located and numbered monsters carefully, so that the players can usually fight them on even terms, outwit them, or run like hell, i.e., one doesn't put invisible stalkers on the first level. If there are errors they will quickly be spotted on the first adventure, and they should be corrected before the next! In fact that is why I urge that a separate key listing monsters and treasure be kept for each level, rather than writing the information right on the map. With all this in mind, let's move on to the actual game. 

Several players are gathered in some secluded place, and you have a good spot set up where they cannot see your dice rolls or map. It is a good plan to give them at least a half an hour to get everything together. Magic-Users will have to decide what spell they are going to take. Everyone will be selecting basic equipment, figuring costs and encumbrance. Although spell selection always takes a bit of time, we have pretty much settled upon the following as 'standard equipment':

dagger, 50' rope, 10' pole, 12 iron spike, small sack, leather back pack, water/wine skin, lantern, 3 flasks oil, holy water/vial, quart wine, iron rations. [1] 

Your players can simply compute the price of what they set out as standard and save much time and effort. Additional items and encumbrances can then be noted aside as additions to the standard. 

Your players will also have to appoint their leader and mapper. At this point everything is all ready for the first descent into the deepest dungeon! So let us move on to a typical account of a first trip, assuming that the players have moved outdoors to a ruined city which is reputed to have dungeons beneath it. The ‘dungeonmaster’ will be indicated as ‘D’, the party of the players as ‘P’. 

D: “You have found the ruins of the deserted city of Detresed. You can see that there are streets going northeast, northwest, and north. Most of the ruins are nondescripts, but due north you note that there are several larger structures, one or two of which are in less disrepair than the others.” [2]

After going northwards a few hundred feet, and getting complete descriptions of the ruined edifices visible to them, the party selects a ruined structure which appears to have been a temple, and they enter cautiously. After thorough exploration they decide to ignore a set of steps they have located, for a vast stone idol hid a narrow shaft penetrating very deep beneath the temple. The latter would not normally have been located, but careful checking and perseverance found a secret door in the idol’s back. The party descends some 40’ into a large, circular arched chamber. It is 30’ in diameter and has eight doors. [3-5] 

P: “There is no sense debating, let’s take the door to the west, for it seemed that there were more ruins above in that direction than in any other direction. One member of the party will carefully try the door to see if it will open normally. All others will have their weapons drawn and ready in case there is someone or something behind it!” 

D: “Door opens normally (without ANY sound, in fact), and beyond you see a 10’ wide corridor going north.” 

P: “The door didn’t make ANY noise when we opened it?! Hmmmm. Examine the hinges.” 

D: “They were oiled – greased lock.” [6] 

P: “Oh, oh! Watch out! These doors are USED. Helmets off, everyone. Listen at all of the other doors.” [7] 

After some time spent so listening, noise is detected behind the door to the east and that to the southeast. And meanwhile the dungeonmaster has checked, but the party is lucky and no wandering monster has happened along during the interim. The brave adventurers ready themselves, creep close to the eastern door, and ready an attack. Two of the six will watch the southeast, one will open the east door, and the three with bows will have their weapons ready as the door is flung wide. 

P: “We are set. Open the door!” 

D: “You see, ahh ((die roll)) 4 hobgoblins attending some sort of cleric. They are dressed in black and blood red garments. Now, did you surprise them? ((die roll of 3)) NO! Initiative check – you are at plus 1 because you prepared. ((The check shows that the party is able to attack before the cleric and his servitors will be able to react at all.)) The enemy is approximately 15’ away, by the by.” [8-10]

P: “Loose arrows, drop bows, draw swords, and charge. If I can manage to cast a Sleep Spell during all this I’ll do so, but I will be careful not to cast it so as to include our men in its effect. The two watching the other door will maintain position.” 

The dungeonmaster now checks to see which arrows score hits, whom the hits are scored upon, and how much damage is done. Simultaneously, he determines if the magic-user who opened the door will be able to get a spell prepared and cast – about equal odd for and against due to preparation and positioning. It is successful, and 4 of the hobgoblins fall to the floor snoring. The cleric was not named as a specific target, and as he is a 4th level (Evil Priest)  the general area spell doesn’t affect him. He shouts loudly, points, and an attacker is struck by a Light Wound Spell. Undaunted they press on, eager to close with the cleric and slay him. The next melee turn is spent by the party closing, with the cleric backing and raising his finger to deliver another Light Wound. Just as the party is about to hack and slew this evil opponent they hear shouts from the chamber without: “Beware! HOBGOBLINS! There are more who serve this priest…” [11-13]

P: “Two of the fighters will finish the cleric off as quickly as possible. I will go to the door we just entered, with the other fighter, to help the rest of the party, but while he goes directly to aid them, I’ll stop and kill the sleeping hobgoblins here.” 

A general melee now ensues in the chamber and in the room where the cleric fights on. Seeing that the party’s two fighters and cleric are seemingly holding their own against 6 hobgoblins, the magic-user creeps up behind the badly wounded Evil Priest and delivers the ‘Coup de grâce’. This frees them all for immediate attack upon the remaining hobgoblins. Good thing, too! One fighter and the cleric are down, and there are three hobgoblins attacking the remaining man. After a long round of attacks and counters the party finally wins, although only three remain alive – the magic-user leading it, an elven fighter, and a fighting man. 

P: “Well, let’s quickly check the bodies and the rooms for any treasure. The priest’s quarters will be searched especially well by the elf.” 

D: “You find some silver pieces in the pockets of the hobgoblins ((a dice roll determines how many for each)), and in the robes of the cleric you find a pouch with 100 gold pieces. Nothing else is found.” 

P: “Let’s all go check out that room some more… I am not satisfied that we’ve located everything. But to be on the safe side, let’s spike the door shut good and tight, and the fighter will keep an eye on it also just in case.” 

Several turns are spent in this manner, and finally a small trap door in the floor is discovered. It is lifted to reveal a hidden trove – an alabaster idol worth not less than 500 gold pieces. As the party is in bad shape, they elect to return immediately to the surface. Their comrades are buried, their own wound treated, and before passing on the idol to some merchant, they minutely examine it. It too reveals a small magical compartment, and after several days the magic-user manages to open it. Therein lies a map to a temple on the 4th level – a place veritably stuffed with treasure, but strongly guarded by many hobgoblins and powerful men and monsters. Better still, there are some very valuable gems hidden in the compartment too! When the survivors share the wealth and experience, they are all well-pleased and rewarded, all going up a level. Time now for them to seek some powerful allies and many met-at-arms for a special expedition to that temple… [14-15]

The above may not be exactly typical, for many first adventures are spent trying to figure out where the party is, for mapping CAN be a difficult task until you get the hang of it. Also, many first-timers take on monsters too powerful for them, or don’t use ‘hit-and-run’ tactics as they should. Again, I have had first time parties who had adventures just about like the one above. 

This should enable you to ready your dungeons. How about a questions and comments section from all of you next time? And I’ll try to answer in the next…

Notes

1. Gygax's "Standard Equipment" could serve as an "Equipment Pack" for OD&D, with a price of 70 gold pieces for the twelve items: dagger (3) + 50' rope (1) + 10' pole (1) + 12 spikes (1) + small sack (1) + backpack (5) + water/wine skin (1) + lantern (10) + 3 flasks of oil (6) + holy water/vial (25) + wine/quart (1) + iron rations (15). Characters rolling 30-60 gold won't be able to afford this, but dropping the holy water would bring it down to 45. Clerics could switch out the dagger for a mace, for a total of 72 gp. Notably, this pack doesn't include other armor/weapons. Since Holmes uses the same costs, we could also use this in Holmes without change, except perhaps adding a Tinderbox (3) --- the only "new" equipment in the Holmes price list. OD&D encumbrance would be dagger (20) + "Miscellaneous Equipment (rope, spikes, bags, etc)" (80) = 100, plus armor and any additional weapons.
2. Allan notes that the name of the ruin "Detresed" is "deserted" spelled backwards, a trademark Gygax name-pun. 
3. The ruined city brings to mind the never released Outdoor Geomorphs Set Three: Ruin. And the "lost, ruined city of the Old Suloise" that "is said to be hidden somewhere in the Suss forest..." (World of Greyhawk folio, pg 26), the same forest where, in the novel Artifact of Evil, Gord & company explore a "three-tiered structure ... a large building, probably a temple of some sort".
4. The vast stone idol naturally recalls the cover of the AD&D Players Handbook.
5. The circular 8-door room is a bit like the octagonal entrance room in the Delving Deeper level from Hall of Many Panes, but with twice as many exits. He used a similar shaped room in Castle Greyhawk and in the Dungeon Geomorphs (where the room is circular); see the linked post for images.
6. Here it is interesting to see an example of an OD&D dungeon door that is *not* stuck because it is in regular use. This edges away from the OD&D idea that all dungeon doors open for monsters but not players.
7. The rules for listening at doors in OD&D Vol 3 do not specifically require that helmets are taken off, but this does appear later in the Dungeon Masters Guide.
8. Gygax also used an evil cleric (3rd level) plus hobgoblins in the DMG Sample Dungeon (in areas 35-37, but only mentioned in the Wandering Monster table for the Crypt Areas). There's also the evil Adept (2nd level) with a Gnoll guard on the first level of the Greyhawk dungeon, who has one spell: Cause Light Wounds, much like the priest here. And in the Moathouse dungeon in T1 The Village of Hommlet module, there is Lareth (a 5th level cleric) with his Gnolls, Bugbears and Ogre.
9. Allan notes that "the hobgoblins wear red and black, which corresponds with their description in the MM---"Hobgoblins favor bright, bloody colors and black leather"; this also matches the red shields of the Hobgoblins of the Pomarj heraldy from the Greyhawk folio and boxed set". I add that the Evil Priest in B2 has his room decorated in the same colors: "a red carpet, furniture of black wood with velvet upholstery of scarlet, and a large bed covered with silken covers of black and red cushions and pillows".
10. The +1 to initiative for "being prepared" given here is an interesting addition. The OD&D FAQ in Strategic Review #2 (Summer 1975) that first describes initiative mentions giving a bonus for dexterity, but not for preparation.
11. The note "4th level (Evil Priest)" is consistent with the level titles for Anti-Clerics in OD&D Vol 1, either page 34 or 35 depending on the printing.
12. The priest's method of casting the "Light Wound Spell" from a distance is very interesting & quite different than Cause Light Wounds in AD&D, which requires touch. The pointing is reminiscent of "Finger of Death", making the spells seem like low/high level versions of the same power. It should be noted that "Cure Light Wounds" in OD&D Vol 1 doesn't include any mention of requiring touch, so it is possible at this point that neither Cure nor Cause Light Wounds required touch. The "Light Wound Spell" spell also doesn't require the "course of one full turn" listed for Cure Light Wounds in OD&D Vol 1, although that reference is possibly just be inconsistent terminology for "one full round".
13. The "enemy" is only 15' away, but the party has to spend a "melee turn" (presumably meaning melee round) closing with the priest, who is "backing" and casting.
14. B2 The Keep on the Borderlands also has two alabaster statues. One of alabaster & gold (3000 gp) in the Loan Bank in the Keep, and a 30 lb one of alabaster & ivory (200 gp) in the Bugbear Chieftain's Room. This later one is also hidden (in a chest on a hidden high ledge), but lacks any secret magical compartments.
15. The "map to a temple on the 4th level – a place veritably stuffed with treasure, but strongly guarded by many hobgoblins and powerful men and monsters" is a good example of OD&D Treasure Map.

Holmes Ref: Dungeoneering Reference Sheet

Screenshot (click on image for a larger view)

Another week, another Holmes Ref sheet!

This one is a true DM's aid for dungeon exploration using the Holmes ruleset, covering Time, Movement, Light, Surprise, Wandering Monsters, Reaction Rolls etc.

DUNGEONEERING REFERENCE SHEET (click here to download)

A few notes:

---The 1/12 movement rate for combat rounds comes from two sources:

(a) the rates given by Holmes in the section "Combat Rounds, Time and Movement in Melee" on page 20, where indicates that movement in melee "is usually at a sprint; an unarmored man can move 20 feet per melee round, a fully armored man only 10 feet".

(b) the extension of the above rules on page 3 of the first printing of B2 Keep on the Borderlands, which repeats the above rates, plus give 5 feet per round for Armored & Encumbered, and states that a monster's melee move can be determined by dividing the monster's move by 12 (although this really should be 6, see below).

---Monster Movement. The column for "Monsters" on the Time & Movement table doubles the movement rate for monsters. This corrects a problem I noticed a number of years ago regarding the relative movement rates of characters as compared to monsters, as explained in this thread on ODD74.

To reiterate: OD&D had movement rates of 12" (120' in the dungeon) for light foot, 6" (60') for heavy foot, and 3" (30') for encumbered heavy foot. These are given in the Encumbrance Table on page 15 of OD&D Vol 1. 

But OD&D Vol 3 further explains that characters get two moves in a 10 minute turn, and thus gives a movement rate of 120' for a fully armored character (which is equivalent to heavy foot). Thus, the 60' rate for heavy foot (fully armored) is actually 120' in the dungeon.

Holmes, when making the Movement table for Basic, incorporated this double move into the listed rates, and thus giving an Exploring rate of 240' feet for unarmored (i.e. light foot), 120' for metal armor or encumbered (i.e., heavy foot) and 60' for metal armor & encumbered (i.e., encumbered heavy foot). 

However, the Movement table in Holmes does not include monsters, and the Monster List in Holmes does not incorporate this same double move per turn, and instead simply gives a Move stat for each monster that is as exactly given in the list in OD&D Vol 2. 

Without giving monsters these two moves, characters are going to be moving twice as fast relative to monsters. You can see this if you scan a list of monster movements (for example, in my Monster Reference Table), and note that the 240 feet/turn Exploration rate for an Unarmored men given in the Movement table is faster than any monster Move stat on the list other than Horses and some flying beasts. If you further compare the 240 feet/turn Exploration to the humans in the monster lists in Holmes, which including Bandits and Berserkers (each in leather armor), you will see that they have a move of 120 feet/turn, half of that of characters.

So to correct this, I've included a Monsters column, where it is noted that the movement for a monster in a turn should be double their Move stat from the Monster List. This doubling applies to ally of the movement rates: Exploring, Walking Normally, Running and Combat.

---The Phosphorescent Fungus is from the Sample Dungeon, Room L. Holmes also used this in the Maze of Peril. Real world fungal bioluminescene is known as foxfire. As I've written previously, "Margaret St Clair's The Shadow People, an Appendix N book that I read and enjoyed, has an extensive worldwide underworld lit by foxfire, but I don't know whether Holmes was familiar with this book."

---The Swimming rules are from the Sample Dungeon, Rooms H and M.

As usual, please let me know if you spot any typos & ask questions about anything unclear.

Gygaxian Two-Way Secret Doors

Gygaxian Two-Way Secret Door from the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide (1979)

Over on Facebook, in the Sages of Greyhawk group, James Ward (author of Metamorphosis Alpha and co-author of Gamma World) has been sharing anecdotes about his early games with Gary Gygax. In the first of these he mentioned:

"It wasn't until years later that I found out that sometimes Gary had two chambers connected to one secret door. Depending on if you pressed the right or left side of the door was the chamber you were allowed to enter."

Like many of Gary's favorite dungeon tricks, we were actually warned about these all the way back in 1974 in the original Dungeons & Dragons rules. Specifically, one appears as Area H on the "SAMPLE LEVEL" map in Vol 3, The Underworld and Wilderness Adventures. The corresponding key in the upper right corner of the map shows that the standard secret door symbol with a "V" above it refers to a "secret door with two possible ways to open":

The descriptive text for the dungeon level further explains that:

"Point "H" is a two-way secret door. On a die roll of odd, let us suppose, it opens on a room to the west. Otherwise it opens on a passage south."

So this example differs slightly from the version described by Ward in that it opens randomly in two directions, versus opening in two different directions depending on how it is manipulated.

At least two other variations on these doors appear in the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide (1979). The first is in the Sample Dungeon (pages 95-96), which describes one where the alternate opening is accessed through use of a key hidden in Room 2:

"Clutched in the bony fingers is the special key which will allow the secret door at location 28. to open to the treasury room (29.) rather than to the steps which lead down to the caverns (steps down at 30.)."

In this situation, if the characters don't find the key they are much more likely to end up in the (presumably) more dangerous second level caverns rather than finding the abbey treasury containing the rumored fire opal.

This secret door is shown in the excerpt of the dungeon map included at the top of this page. There, the secret door is indicated by a standard "S" with a line drawn through it indicating the wall between the two different passages it opens onto.

The second example is in APPENDIX H: TRICKS:

"DOOR, SECRET: This pivoting stone portal will always swing open to the left, giving egress to an area guarded by a basilisk. However, if a second hidden stud is found (1% chance), then it will pivot to the right and allow entry to a chamber containing a magical fountain."

It's a bit unclear here if the DM is simply supposed to roll for the 1% chance when the party is making its first secret door check or whether that is the chance if continued searching is made.

Offhand, I can't think of any others, and a quick search of the Gygax modules didn't turn up anything else. Let me know if you come across any other examples.

See also:
Gygax's Dungeon Delving Level from the Hall of Many Panes, where I look at a number of his other early dungeon traps and tricks.