The Forgotten Smugglers' Cave #3: Grotto with Rocky Beach

This is an installment of a new dungeon adventure set in the Portown milieu, which I'm writing for Holmes Basic D&D. You can find the Introduction to the dungeon here: Area 1.

Each entry includes part of a "pointcrawl" map showing the area & any exits, which include links allowing you to navigate the dungeon:

	Area 5   ||
Area 2 ===	3. GROTTO WITH      ROCKY BEACH	=== Area 4
	||   Area 8

3. GROTTO WITH ROCKY BEACH: The east end of the sea cave tunnel (Area 2) opens into a large natural cave, roughly circular with a 50 ft. diameter. During the day, the area is very dimly lit by natural light from the north. When the first character enters, check to see if they are attacked by a carrion crawler that lairs here (see below). 

From the entrance, it can be seen that the sea water ends in the grotto in a semi-circular pool, which at low tide is 10 feet in radius and 3 feet deep (20 feet in radius and 13 feet deep at high tide). Beyond the water is a pebble and stone-covered beach that covers the floor of the remainder of the grotto. Stalactites hang overhead, and there are some stalagmites near the walls. In the northeast portion of the cave, well past the high tide line, is an old turned-over rowboat.

Exits. There are three other exits: north, east and south. If investigated, the one to the north is a natural passage that goes 60 feet before opening up (Area 5). To the east, a rusted pair of cart rails start about 10 feet before the exit, and then extend into the tunnel for as far as can be seen (the tunnel and rails go 150 feet before ending at a collapse, which is Area 4). There is no cart present. To the south, another natural passage goes 140 feet before opening up (Area 8). 

Inhabitant. During low tide, which is the most likely time that the party will be entering, there is a 2 in 6 chance that the carrion crawler will be fishing from the wall above the pool (3 in 6 at medium tide, 4 in 6 a high tide). If so, there is then a 2 in 6 chance that it will attack each character as they enter (check for each person), surprising them on 1-4 in 6.  

Carrion Crawler: DX 12, AC 7, HD 3+1, hp 14, AT 8, D 0 + paralysis.

If the carrion crawler is not fishing, it will either be on a wall of the grotto (3 on the initial die roll), or under the old rowboat (4-6 on the roll)

Carrion Crawler by Lore Suto

Rocky Beach. This was once the unloading area for the smugglers. An inspection of the rocks of the beach will turn up numerous bones, mostly of fish, but several that are human, evidently those of previous explorers who became victims of the carrion crawler, and possibly some agates.

Agates. For each turn spent searching the rocks, there is a 1 in 6 chance of finding a beach agate, up to a maximum of 1d10 agates. The base value of each is 10 g.p., with a chance of being worth more per the rules of the Gems table (i.e., a 1 in 6 chance of being worth 50 g.p., and if so there is a 1 in 6 chance of being worth 100 g.p., etc.). As agates are reputed to improve sleep (AD&D DMG, pg 26), optionally allow a character who keeps one of 100 g.p. or greater on their person at all times to gain 1 extra hit point per night of rest.

The Old Rowboat by Lore Suto

Old Rowboat.  The carrion crawler nests here when not elsewhere in the area, although it has no treasure. If the boat is examined, it will be noted that its wood is remarkably well-preserved for its age due to waterproofing with pine pitch, and that it can hold 4 people. It is too large to fit through the entrance to the sea cave (Area 1). A pitted iron anchor weighing 10 lbs rests against the grotto wall behind the rowboat, but there are no oars present.

Optional: The rowboat will leak unless re-waterproofed using fresh pine pitch (some of which can be found in Area 7). Omit this in a game with limited time, such as at a convention.

The adventure continues in several directions from here; follow the links on the above map. Chronologically on this blog, the next posted installment was Area 4.

A hearty thanks to Lore Suto for kindly contributing the original art featured above!

The Maze of Peril video review by captcorajus

The Maze of Peril (1986), cover art by Dan Day

Space and Time Books continues to restock copies of the original 1986 printing of The Maze of Peril in their Amazon store, as I previously reported. 

Click here or on the cover image in the right side bar to get a copy 

(the link includes my Amazon affiliate number)

Over on Youtube, captcorajus has a new video review of the book, titled "OSR Musings: Maze of Peril". captcorajus is a Holmes fan; I've featured two of his RPG Retro Reviews before, one of the Holmes Basic Set as a whole and the other of the Tower of Zenopus Dungeon. And this past February (just before coronavirus shut everything down), I had the pleasure of meeting and having him play Bardan the Dwarf in my game at Scrum Con!

I will note as a warning that if you haven't read the book yet, this review does include a significant number of spoilers regarding the plot.

OSR Musings: Maze of Peril

Stepping away from game and module reviews this week, I take a look at the Dungeons & Dragons inspired adventure by the author of the D&D Basic Set, John Eri...

The Forgotten Smugglers' Cave #1-2 & Intro

This is the start of The Forgotten Smugglers' Cave, a new adventure that I am posting on the blog as I write it. Below are the Background, Location, Area 1 and Area 2. Subsequent posts are limited to a single area. The dungeon can be navigated using the links surrounding each map. Note that the posts in this series are subject to revision as it progresses.

The coda to the Sample Dungeon (aka the Ruined Tower of Zenopus) poses several unanswered questions that are meant to inspire avenues for the new DM to expand the adventure. One of these asks, "Do the pirates have other treasure troves hidden in the sea caves?", referring to the group in Room M. I used this as the basis of Rumor #13 in the d20 Portown Rumors (also included in the Ruined Tower of Zenopus conversion). Below is one sea cave system that can be used for such a sea cave.

THE FORGOTTEN SMUGGLERS' CAVE

BACKGROUND: Years ago, this natural cave system was the preferred route for smuggling goods into Portown, because it leads from the sea all the way into the town proper. This changed on the night of magical destruction of the Tower of Zenopus, an event which shook the land enough to collapse both the cliff face over the entrance to the smugglers' cave and a section of the main passage through the tunnel. This rendered it unsuitable for smuggling, although it is still possible to traverse the system with some difficulty. After the town knocked down the remains of the tower of Zenopus, the smugglers eventually began using the caves there instead.

LOCATION: This sea cave is located at the base of the sea cliff to the west of Portown, to the south of the Zenopus dungeon.

ENCOUNTER AREAS:

	1. SEA CAVE MOUTH	=== Area 2

1. SEA CAVE MOUTH: What remains of the opening is barely visible at the top of a pile of boulders, coated in barnacles and seaweed, that rises from the water line. At low tide, 10 feet of rock is exposed, at mid-tide, 5 feet, and at high tide, the entrance is just below the surface. 

A boat can be rowed alongside the slippery pile without too much difficulty, but climbing up it will require some dexterity, with a slip dropping a character into 5 (low tide) to 10 feet (mid-tide) of choppy seawater. One person at a time can fit through the narrow entrance by scooting sideways while on their belly.

Once inside, there is a less slippery scramble down to the seawater covering the floor of the cave tunnel, which is of similar depth to the water on the outside, depending on the tide.

On the inside the walls can be seen to be prominently covered with etched drawings of skulls and written warnings such as "KEEP OUT", "DEATH AHEAD", and "DANGER" (as described by Fenza in Setting Up the Adventure). These were placed here long ago by the smugglers to warn off intruders into the cave.

Area 1 ===	2. SEA CAVE TUNNEL	=== Area 3

2. SEA CAVE TUNNEL: The cave tunnel is about 10 feet wide, and runs east-west 1,000 feet, with the eastern end leading into the water in a grotto (Area 3). The tunnel slopes up about two feet along the length of the tunnel. The water of the tunnel is filled with numerous large (2' long), trapped fish. These will bump into anyone walking through the water in an alarming but harmless manner. 

This adventure continues in Area 3.

Grognardia interviews Chris Holmes

If you missed it, the newly resurrected Grognardia blog posted a new interview with Chris Holmes this past Friday. Chris answers ten questions, with lots of stories about discovering D&D in the mid-'70s.

Chris also recently guested on the Save for Half podcast, Episode 26.5: North Texas RPG Con, and back in the spring was on the Appendix N Book Club podcast, Episode 67 Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan At the Earth's Core. 

Interview: Chris Holmes

Today's interview was a real treat for me. Chris Holmes, son of Dr J. Eric Holmes, kindly agreed to answer my questions about his own experiences with roleplaying, as well as the life and works of his father, whose Basic Set was the very first RPG I ever owned. 1.

Holmes Basic in Sunny Rolls the Dice

Sunny Rolls the Dice (2019) is the third in a series of graphic novels about Sunny, a teen growing up in suburban Pennsylvania in the 1970s. It is co-created by Jennifer L. Holm, a Newberry Honor author, and her brother Matthew Holm, an illustrator, and is semi-autobiographical, inspired by the Holms' own childhood, particularly Jennifer's.

The first two books in the series are Sunny Side Up (2015) and Swing It Sunny (2017), and a fourth, Sunny Makes a Splash, is in production. I've currently read the first and third ones and greatly enjoyed both of them, but Sunny Rolls the Dice is a particular favorite for its loving treatment of Dungeons & Dragons in the 1970s. The series starts in 1976 and proceeds chronologically, so with the third book starting in mid-1977, it's the right time for Holmes Basic, and sure enough that's what Sunny encounters when she first plays D&D with kids in her neighborhood, appropriately in her family's newly finished basement rec room:

The Holms take pains to include details faithful to the era in which the series is set, and I'm impressed that here they appropriately show an early edition of the Holmes set that includes a Monster & Treasure Assortment Set 1: Levels 1-3 and a set of five polyhedral dice. In a minor nitpick that only an early D&D fan will notice, the colors of the accessories are off (the M&T Set 1 should be yellow - Set 3 was blue - and the dice are the wrong colors), but the illustrations are spot on, including a d20 showing a "0" instead of a "10" or "20".

The story also heavily features the original Monster Manual, and the back of the book includes a photo of a young Holm with her own copy. I get this; learning about monsters was what originally attracted me to D&D.

The appearance of D&D in this story is not just period window-dressing; the game is a pivotal part of the plot, as you may have guessed from the title of the book.

To hear the author herself talking about this book and her experiences with D&D growing up, listen to this recent Save or Die interview with Jennifer Holm. A big thank you to DM Carl at Save or Die for letting me know that Holmes Basic was featured in this book.

You can preview the first section of the book, up to the beginning of Sunny's first D&D game, over at Amazon:

(All product links include Amazon or DMsGuild/DrivthruRPG affiliate #s) 

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Sea-Changed (New Monster)

Ariel's Song from the Tempest as illustrated by Virgil Finlay

A new monster for your Portown, Saltmarsh or other coastal D&D campaign, inspired by this thread on ODD74, which shows a photo of a skull undergoing a "sea change". As a bit of further explanation, the modern expression "sea change" originates in Shakespeare's The Tempest (click on the image above to enlarge it so you can read the full quote), which was memorably referenced by Gary Gygax in the Example of Play in the original AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide. I've taken it one step further by using it as the basis for a monster.

The Sea-changed

Move: 60 feet/turn
Hit Dice: 1 + 1
Armor Class: 5
Treasure Type: special

Alignment: lawful evil
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d6

Sailors whisper that a corpse that comes to rest in the brine may undergo a mysterious and sinister transformation, rising again in a calcified skeletal form known as "the sea-changed". 

The sea-changed seek to spread their animating force to the living by touch of calciferous claws or an equally mineralized weapon or tool used during life such as a cutlass, harpoon or even anchor.

A hit with such will, in addition to inflicting damage, encrust the area of the wound with the sea-change unless a successful saving throw versus poison is made. Failure results results in the loss of one point of dexterity per day as the calcification spreads. Once dexterity reaches zero, the victim will be transformed into one of the sea-changed.

The spread can be kept at bay, but not cured, through daily application of vinegar. It is rumored among sailors that the merfolk know the secret of how to reverse the sea-change.

Each sea-changed has a 1 in 10 chance of having pearlescent eyes (roll on the gem table for value).

The sea-changed are subject to turning as zombies.

9/24 Update: Added an alignment, which I had inadvertently left out: Lawful Evil like mummies, wights, wraiths & spectres in Holmes. Thanks to Lore Suto on Twitter for pointing this out to me.

Original Printing of The Maze of Peril on Amazon

The cover of The Maze of Peril (1986)

The Maze of Peril, J. Eric Holmes' 1986 fantasy novel, can now be ordered via Amazon from the original publisher, Space & Time Books. Follow this link to find it: 

The Maze of Peril (1986) on Amazon

For the uninitiated, this novel details the meeting of Boinger the Halfling and Zereth the Elf and their first grand adventure. The two characters had previously appeared in three short stories in Dragon magazine, and before that in several campaign stories in the Alarums & Excursions D&D APAzine. The adventures in the Maze of Peril are based on some of the characters and events from the original D&D campaign that Holmes ran for his sons and their friends in the mid-1970s. Here's the Amazon product teaser, which is straight from the back cover and highlights the OD&D megadungeon influence on the setting:

What race or races built the maze, no one knew. In the opinion of the sages of Caladan, many layers of dungeons and underworld were laid down, one atop the other, as the world crust was formed, so that now no one knew or even guessed how many levels extended below the surface. Corridors of wealth, they were also tunnels of deadly peril, for many of the rash adventurers and soldiers of fortune who set forth for the secret entrances were never heard from again. To those with the courage and ability to survive the challenges, however, the maze had always paid equal tribute with its fabulous mysteries and treasures from countless civilizations.

Now the Dagonites--creatures part human, part frog--seek to keep these riches for themselves and extend their domain to the surface. It falls to Boinger the halfling and his companions, in the midst of their quest for personal glory and wealth, to discover the Dagonite stronghold, challenge their warriors and wizards, rescue a kidnapped friend, preserve the waterways of Amazonia, and...perhaps...save the world!

This new retail outlet was brought to my attention via a thread on Dragonsfoot, and a commenter there that purchased the book confirmed with photos that this is remaining stock from the original 1986 printing. Tavis of the Mule Abides reported back in 2008 that 1,000 copies were originally printed and about half had been sold at the time.

This is much more convenient than the previous method of ordering directly from the publisher; when I ordered it more than twenty years ago I had to send in a check to the address listed on their website. 

As of February 2024, the book is still in stock at Amazon, with a cost of $17.95, which is $11 more than the original cover price of $6.95. 

The novel was later compiled in Tales of Peril by Black Blade Publishing, along with the short stories and other writings of J. Eric Holmes, although that is now out of print, with a second edition still in planning stages.

Despite the reprint, I  have a fondness for the original printing. Reading this book kickstarted my interest in the work of Holmes which eventually led to this blog. 

The original printing is zine-sized, with shiny cardstock covers and 147 pages plus endpapers. It has a few features not found in the reprint, including the pastel blue cover art by Dan Day (echoing the Holmes Basic rulebook color?) and a frontispiece illustration by Gregario Montejo. There are two excerpts from the story before the frontispiece, and another on the back cover (which you can see in the Dragonsfoot thread linked above). There is also an author bio for Holmes along with each of the artists.

Several reviews of the book:

Dragonsfoot review (2006) - by myself, points out the many similarities with Holmes Basic

OD&D Discussion thread (2008)

Grognardia Pulp Fantasy Library review (2010)

Carjacked Seraphim review (2010)
Delta's D&D Hotspot review (2011)

And a few years ago I began a Tales of Peril Book Club and made it through most of the first chapter of the Maze of Peril (warning, spoilers abound). I hope to return to this series eventually.