Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Greetings, I'm sure this has been discussed before - so all apologies...How many different versions (more fleshed...
Greetings, I'm sure this has been discussed before - so all apologies...How many different versions (more fleshed out, added to) of Sample dungeon/Tower of Zenopus have been done up and posted or printed in various places. And does anyone have any links...thanks! Was thinking of running such a thing as a one shot over Halloween.
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There's the actual original dungeon on the WotC site: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/Basic_1977.pdf
ReplyDeleteAnd I re-interpreted the map to make it fit on an A4 page: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-s8nqv3IVp_8/U-8cDaUWlPI/AAAAAAAAAxo/2ORk0W3pjWsnLtPVaeWgXkh_UezjsMmNgCL0B/w588-h832-no/Modified%2BTower%2Bof%2BZenopus.jpg
ReplyDeleteDon't say Zenopus three times on Holloween while rolling a natural 20!
ReplyDelete@Chris Holmes, So now everyone is going to try that!
ReplyDeleteCan't say I've seen too many variants of the Zenopus dungeon (compared to, say, B1 where the stock it to taste thing was built in). For me at least, the Zenopus dungeon is pretty good as is - covers most of the swords & sorcery tropes: an evil wizard with minions (including the ape); pirates with a captive; sea monsters (octopus and giant crab, straight out of Ray Harryhausen central casting); and the other couple of weird bits, including the evocative intro and plot seed for Portown as a base for adventurers.
ReplyDeleteMy only issue with it these days is the rooms are huge, and thus very empty in feel. Running it as written, I'd be tempted to change the map scale to one square = 5' instead of 10'.
That said, you could certainly re-skin the adventure in different ways. A few suggestions:
ReplyDelete- Heavy swords & sorcery feel: Portown is a wretched hive of scum and villainy, a Lankhmar / Shadizar in small town form teaming with cults, cutthroats and scheming wizards. The dungeons of Zenopus are one of many such pits of evil dotting the countryside around the town (perhaps also place B1, L1 and N1 nearby) and the players aren't so much heroes looking to clear the place as thugs looking to loot other thugs.
- Go with a High Middle Ages / Renaissance vibe: Zenopus was a John Dee sort of gentleman sorcerer who Raised Up Something That He Could Not Put Down. Sturdy fishermen and townsfolk huddle behind stout doors at night in Portown, and the local vicar implores the PCs to stem the tide of evil that seeps into the streets with the evening fog. Recommended inspiration would be Solomon Kane, the OSR supplements The Rose War plus Cults of Chaos, and the movie Brotherhood of the Wolf.
- Spice it up with some Middle Eastern flair: Portown is a mini-Baghdad (of the 1001 Nights / Tales of the Arabian Nights stories), ruled by a minor satrap of some Sultan; a port for the spice trade, exotic woods and ivories from the steaming jungles of the south and rough merchants from the north. Zenopus was not so much your classic S&S sorcerer as a Middle Eastern magus who trafficked with jinn and other wild spirits, Reskin the pirates from the Caribbean Euro types to Barbary Pirates types, and the magic user with ape pet as an Eastern wizard prone to making pacts with dark powers. Portown itself goes from generic medieval port to one of minarets and bazaars, haunted by ancient demons of Mesopotamia and the Levant.
Andy C that is gorgeous stuff!
ReplyDeleteThe map as drawn certainly does need a lot of columns added in. I actually like the inhuman scale, though, makes the thing feel very cyclopean and mythic. Mythic Underworld and all that, you know.
ReplyDeleteAndy and Zach have some great ideas. I've also heard Port Town has some great local brewers and book stores.
ReplyDeletePowell's Tower of Books has the best selection in the Realm!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great replies. It is mainly his passage at the end that i refer to. As to if anything has been done on this and posted anywhere online or in print somewhere. Just wanted to see what others may have come up with before hopefully finding the time myself to further the dungeon.
ReplyDeletepassage:
"By the time the adventurers have worked their way
through this, the Dungeon Master will probably have
lots clf ideas of his or her own to try out. Design your
own dungeon or dig new passage!; and levels in this
one. What lies in the (undiscovered) deeper levels
where Zenopus met his doom? Do the pirates have
other treasure troves hidden in the sea caves? What
inhuman rites are practiced deep in the ghoul haunted
passages beneath the graveyard? VVhat are the townspeople
going to do when they disccrver that our friends
are tampering with Things Better Left Alone?"
In that case, I would suggest this thread, which includes Zach and M Thomas, in which DH Boggs connects the sample dungeon to the Halls of the Lizard King.
ReplyDeleteodd74.proboards.com - Halls of the Lizard King [dungeon filling] | Original D&D Discussion
Scott Mob Several of the Portown rumors tie directly into those concluding statements. Wayne Rossi has a follow-up "Dungeons of Xenopus" in his zine, Dungeon Crawl, issue 3 : http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/118117/Dungeon-Crawl-3 (I also have an article in that issue with 20 new low-power magic items). I started working on a level 2 for the dungeon years ago, but didn't finish it. Need to dig it up and work on it more.
ReplyDelete