Tag: Worldbuilding

[Dungeon Cluster] Halls of the Crackling Pack

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

This is my contribution to the “Dungeon Clustering” presented in the Dungeon Cluster article by Seba from Kritischer Fehlschlag. Go see the article for details, I’ll just summarize it here. As I understand it, the cluster approach to dungeons makes you think of the dungeon as a series of clusters you can mix and match. Within their depth, or dungeon level. Each cluster occupies several rooms and represents a logical unit.

The mix and match possibility is fine for when you need to put together a dungeon in a hurry. You can open your cluster library, pick some, and play. The other benefit is that clusters make you look at your dungeon in terms of larger areas, that make sense internally. The next step is to make them make sense within the dungeon as a whole, and it should be easier when you have the clusters worked out.

The guys at Kritischer Fehlshlag presented a great opportunity to practice creating a dungeon, so naturally I want to take part. Below is a cluster I’ve made for the purpose of this exercise. I wanted to adapt something I’ve already made, but it’s probably better to start anew. Since I am not familiar with Swords & Wizardry, the system preferred in Kritischer Fehlschlag for this exercise, I will write system-neutral.

The Halls of the Crackling Pack

How the pack feels about your party.
Public Domain image by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Cluster Description

The Crackling Pack is a group of gnolls that went exploring the lower levels of the dungeon and never came back up. One or two at a time were recruited by the pack leader, Frath, who has made a pact with a powerful elemental imprisoned below. The pack keeps their presence a secret from those on the upper levels, especially from other gnolls.

How dangerous is this Cluster? (How deep in the Dungeon?)

The Crackling Pack is a formidable group of experienced gnoll warriors and scouts, many of whom are also adept at magic. As foes they would prove quite a challenge. They reside in the mid-level of the dungeon. 

Who lives in this Cluster?

Gnolls, forgotten by the mixed horde of orcs, gnolls, minotaurs, and others, that live in the upper levels. They were the ones who survived the defeat of the horde due to getting lost in the dungeons. When they finally got to the upper levels, they found the remainder of their kin in a desolate state. With mainly the young and wounded among the survivors, the gnoll tribe lost its standing within the remnants of the horde. The Crackling Pack decided to stay in the deeper levels and pull the strings of their brethren above, while maintaining a foothold in the mid-levels.

Who is the leader?

Frath, a cunning and resourceful one-eyed gnoll. He’s one of the initial scouting party that got lost down below, only to have found the prison of the Elemental Lord of Storm. Frath made a pact with the elemental and received powers that enable him to survive and thrive in the dangerous environment of the dungeon. He approaches the scouts from above and recruits them to his cause. To this end he also utilizes a trinket enabling him to contact the leader of the above gnolls. Froth keeps his identity hidden, acting as a mysterious entity.

How many inhabitants are there?

The Crackling Pack counts 15 members, including Frath. All of them are combatants, most with experience as scouts or warriors. Six gnolls other than Frath have magic capabilities.

What does this faction desire (Want)?

Frath wants to build a stronghold in the mid-levels for his gnolls to live in. Eventually he wants to approach those left closer to the surface and offer them to come below. To strenghten their position Frath sends his gnolls to search for potent artifacts in the dungeons.

The members of the Crackling Pack want a place to call their home and rebuild the strength their tribe once posessed. Individually they might desire riches, the thrill of fight and exploration, and even revenge against the ones who doomed their tribe in the war (in my setting the dwarves).

What does the faction guard (Resource)?

The gnolls have taken over an ancient dwarven outpost that provides them with an easily defendable position, as well as access to the lower levels. They guard the crystal containing the Elemental Lord of Storm because of the power it gives them. They also have several magical items found in the dungeon.

What do the inhabitants eat?

There is plenty food to be found roaming the untamed mid levels, and the gnolls have the power to hunt most of the unintelligent (and sometimes even sapient) life of the mid levels for food.

Which rooms do they occupy?

[UPDATE 29/09/2026: Added map of the cluster]

Map of the Halls of the Crackling Pack. Made using Dungeon Scrawl, with some assets by Daniel F. Walthall/ Axebane Games (CC BY NC 4.0).

1. Crinoid Hall

A large hall cut into the natural cavern entered through a large intricately carved stone portal resembling the interwoven arms of a crinoid. The hall is mostly empty except for the everpresent rubble, and several pillars carved out of the bedrock. Another, smaller and less ornate portal leads to the dwarven outpost. It is closed by a sturdy stone gate. Concealed arrowslits from other rooms can be found if the wall is carefully examined.

2. Outpost Bailey

The stone portal opens to a medium-sized rectangular room. Several doors lead from the bailey to parts of the outpost. Low barricades meant to slow attackers are placed strategically. There are alcoves with arrowslits leading to the hall outside. The surrounding walls also feature arrowslits to shoot from the rooms of the outpost.

3. Mess Hall

The door opposite the main gate leads to a hall furnished with stone tables and benches. The gnolls use it as their main meeting area, and any dealings with them will probably take place here. The large crystal containing the Elemental Lord of Storm sits in the middle of the hall, fused to the floor.

4. Froth’s Study

A room behind the mess hall taken by Froth. It lacks any comfort, but is filled with various artifacts and trinkets, inscribed tablets, bones and skulls, and other occult clutter. Many of the items are worthless, or at least damaged or discharged. Froth spends a lot of time in his study, but not exclusively.

5. Sleeping Quarters

The left door from the bailey opens into a dormitory that’s been converted into a gnoll den. There is no furniture, and there are nests of moss, fur, hides, and other soft bedding everywhere.

6. Descending Stairwell

The right bailey door leads to a stairwell leading one level below. In addition to the outer door there is also a metal grate, and another stone door opened from the outpost.

What does the cluster smell like, and what’s the lighting like?

The gnoll enclave smells like wet dog and stale piss. The gnolls are not keen on hygiene, and while they don’t relieve themselves in the the living quarters, they don’t bathe. A heavy smell of ozone lingers in Froth’s quarters and around the elemental.

Without a need for light the majority of the caves is only lit when the gnolls light a campfire, otherwise it’s dark. Froth uses magical light when researching, and the crystal with the Elemental Lord of Storm gives a faint glow, that grows brighter when approached.

Pressing problem of the faction

The mid levels are not without competition, and several other factions keep looking for ways to get into the gnoll compound. There is also a group of scouts missing after being sent to a lower level.

Internal conflict withing the faction

Froth commands respect and loyalty from his pack. Unless he shows weakness (e.g. not finding the missing scouts), no one will challenge him. If there’s any kind of considerable failure on his part, at least one warrior and one magic user will openly challenge his leadership. Gnolls being gnolls, discussion could quicky turn to violence.

Do residents often leave the cluster?

Hunting parties leave daily, and dungeon explorers every now and then. The gnolls take care not to be noticed by the denizens of the upper levels, and prefer to roam the mid and low levels instead, as far as danger permits.

Behaviour towards adventurers outside the cluster

Depending on the perceived power of the party they might attack or avoid them. The gnolls will not initiate non-violent encounters, but might be persuaded to talk, especially with bribery.

Behaviour towards adventurers entering the cluster

The gnolls are territorial, and should a party of adventurers approach from the outside, they would feel the need to protect their den. The guards will be prepared and they will try to ambush the party unless hailed openly. Carefully approached with gifts, the gnolls might be open to discussion.

Froth is reasonable enough for a gnoll, and would use the party for the benefit of the pack. Bargains and temporary alliances might be reached if the party seems capable. Hidden challengers might contact the party should Froth seem too soft in negotiations. They would offer their help if the party agrees to help with leadership exchange.

If the party manages to commune with the Elemental Lord of Storm in private, the elemental might strike bargains of his own, even make a pact and become a patron to a character. His agenda might not be the same as the gnolls’.

Behaviour towards other dungeon inhabitants (humanoid)

The Crackling Pack sees the near-surface gnolls as inferior, but they wish to give them a chance to prove themselves. Those worthy may join their new underground enclave. The other monstrous humanoids are viewed as competition at best, and enemies whenever there’s any hint of conflict. The gnolls of the Crackling Pack don’t suffer witnesses.

Behaviour towards other dungeon inhabitants (monstrous)

If it’s edible, the gnolls hunt it. If it’s dangerous, they usually avoid it, but sometimes the risk is worth it. With how few the pack counts, however, the gnolls had to learn caution.

Conclusion

I’ve made a simple dungeon cluster for middle dungeon levels, that I’ve tried to make setting-neutral. You could probably use it in a dungeon with only small changes, such as providing the stats for the system of your choice. It was a fun exercise, and I might try using this approach on an entire dungeon.

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Dungeons to Dig Up

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

This week’s post will be a short one. Not that I have nothing to write about, but I really want to focus on finishing a few things, while I’m distracting myself with swords.

Digging Better Dungeons

Those who visit this site regularly might have noticed my interest in dungeons. That’s nothing rare among Dungeon Masters, Game Masters, and other suchlike individuals. There are many approaches to creating and playing dungeons, and none of them is wrong, as long as everyone’s having fun. Some people like their dungeons to be challenging first and foremost. Others want an engaging story, brimming with emotions, that somehow takes place in a dungeon. Some want their dungeons to make sense.

You probably already know I belong to the third mentioned group, and I’ve started a series of articles dealing with various aspects of dungeons. There are still topics I want to look at, but I’ve set this series aside to work on other stuff. You can have a look at what I’ve finished so far on the list below:

German Inspiration

Recently I’ve had some contact with tiny fragments of the German role-playing scene. I’ve mentioned Roland several times already, and his feedback is one of the things that make me return to the dungeons. He also gives a lot of thought about the dungeons he’s designing, and it’s very interesting to see the process.

The other German blog I’ve started following is Kritischer Fehlschlag. It’s operated by a group of TTRPG enthusiasts, and there’s a lot of stuff in there. What caught my interest immediately is the Erde & Wasser megadungeon project by Rackhir. My first contact with it was a newsletter email about the second zine being published, so I looked it up, and it’s looking great. Check out the Design Principles and you’ll see why I like it. There’s lot of overlap between our views, mainly in that the dungeon has to make sense. This is definitely something I’ll be watching closely and looking forward to updates.

What to expect?

I’ve already advertised it somewhere, but now it’s official – Digging Better Dungeons is the new name of the series. I’m really bad at giving estimates and promises when it comes to publishing schedule, but there are at least five articles I would like to add to my series. Two of them are in draft stages, the rest is just in side note stage for now. But I will finish them somehow. The first on the list is an elaboration of the Palimpsest Dungeon, a case study.

Video Game Shorts

This will be very short as well, it’s called “video game shorts” for a reason. Anyway, there’s one thing that’s extremely common in one video game genre, and I think underused in TTRPGs. The genre is platformer, and the thing is that enemies often send you towards doom. Without touching your HP, at least not in a significant way. Whether it’s by actually pushing your character off a ledge, or by one-shotting you and the in-game explanation being this.

By having the enemies use the environment in this way you can create danger where there normally would only by little of it. Small goblinoids get trivial at higher levels no matter their numbers. But if they throw you full-plated paladin into a pit, they’re much more dangerous now. Ogres are formidable foes for a low-level party, but later they’re just a large nuisance. Let your ogres fling the high-level party around and suddenly they’re another thing.

As with all things use hero-tossing enemies with moderation. And if your players take a liking to doing this to their enemies, maybe change the scenery a bit. Don’t let your campaign become Jedi Academy with force choke. But that’s another story.

Final Remarks

Once again I have to state that I’m not affiliated with any of the mentioned entities, and I receive no compensation for any promotion.

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Swords everywhere!

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

The title might be an exaggeration, but since it’s #swordtember, there’s bound to be lots of swords in many places. Even here. I promised to post more often, so here’s a summary of the last week.

Cooperative Curiosity

Mentioned last week, the fruits of collaboration between Roland (Dnalor the Troll) and me are finished and published. The whole thing started when Roland felt that I discarded curiosity as a motive for entering a dungeon, and we agreed to both write about our views of curiosity in TTRPGs.

Roland’s article An Ode to Curiosity – what drives us forward in the dungeon? is a fine one, and he makes many strong points. It is indeed an ode, and Roland manages to capture and describe the curiosity that drives both players and their characters forward, onwards to new challenges, secrets, and experiences. You should definitely check out his article, in which he uses many fine examples to prove the necessity and worth of curiosity. And while you’re there, browse through the rest of his blog as well, there’s a lot of interesting stuff in there!

Mine is a bit different approach, though I appreciate curiosity in many forms and in many aspects of a TTRPG game or setting. You can read my thoughts on the matter in the Motivated by Curiosity article. To sum it up, I believe the curiosity we usually see while exploring a dungeon is not sated by simply knowing. There’s always something it’s connected to. The knowledge has to have some use. Or it’s not knowledge the party seeks, but wealth, fame, and powerful artefacts. When they’re curious, it stems from those desires.

#Swordtember

As you might have noticed, I am doing the #swordtember challenge again. As usual there’s the “official” #swordtember prompt list by Faith Shaffer (who originally came up with the challenge), and several alternatives. Last year I combined the original with one of those alternative lists, and tried to come up with swords that combine two prompts. It wasn’t always easy.

This year I’m of course doing the official one, as well as one that’s mostly been made by my four year old daughter. You can see it below, and feel free to use the prompts, if you like them.

I post my rough sketches on my Bluesky account, until I can remake them into usable item sheets for D&D. The plan is to publish all of them, maybe batched together with the last year’s swords, but first they all need have passable illustrations, and descriptions. Below is an example of an extremely rough sketch and a first description draft.

A massive two-handed sword with a broad perforated blade. The perforations lighten the blade while keeping anything sticky from adhering to the sword. Ideally suited for slicing puddings, jellies, and blancmanges. Will also cut nicely through killer tomatoes and other soft murderous berries.

D&D Feat Paths

The new Underdark-themed Unearthed Arcana offers, along with two subclasses, the option to slowly turn into a mindflayer. The Path of Ceremorphosis is a feat path, i.e. a set of feats that are chained and offer additional character development options.

This apparently isn’t a new thing, as The Kind DM kindly pointed out to me (and you can read his review of the UA Underdark Options here). WotC used the same mechanic in the Villainous Options Unearthed Arcana with their Path of the Lich and Path of the Death Knight in. I admit I haven’t been paying attention to those, but it seems this is something that’s been repeatedly done.

Why is this interesting to me? I have several such developments on my table, and so far I’ve played with creating special “technical classes” you would multiclass at the prerequisite level. This is similar to the way feats work, but sacrifices some levels of your main class. And since campaigns don’t always get you all the way to level 20, you could miss out on important stuff.

The feat paths provide a better option, in my opinion. You still get to progress in your class as usual, and you get the benefits (and other, less beneficial effects) of the feats you choose.

Anastasios, aka the Kind DM, also pointed out the feat path option is not ideal either, and I agree. But it’s better than technical classes, and better than just slapping new powers and mechanics onto a character. Things like this are better suited for classless point-buy systems, but then we would be playing a whole different game and blogging about that one, right?

Long story short, I will be working on a few of these feat paths. There are several I have in form of notes, and I’ll have to see if they’ll amount to two paths, or somewhere in the region of five.

Jack Vance & TTRPG

Jack Vance is one of my favourite authors. Even though he’s not in my Top 5, and I have read but a fragment of his body of work, I like the way he wrote. And his ideas are often worth reading even today, after decades of authors being influenced by him.

There’s an article on Jack Vance’s Influence on Dungeons & Dragons by Bill Ward on the Goodman Games site (home of the Dungeon Crawl Classics). It’s a good article summarizing all the stuff D&D owes to the visions of Jack Vance. As expected “Vancian magic” takes the spotlight, but not for the whole time. Bill Ward also focuses on the contribution Vance has (unintentionally) made to the image of the D&D thief class, later replaced by the rogue.

Ward names Cugel the Clever “the original murder hobo”, and I couldn’t agree more. Vance writes him in a way that it feels in character, even though as a DM you would probably hate your players for half of the stuff Cugel does. I bet many never heard of Cugel the Clever, yet they manage to re-enact him very well.

Even though Cugel is the archetypal murder hobo, I don’t remember him murdering that often. Characters in the Dying Earth series often choose other means of defeating their enemies. Disgrace and mockery are regularly viewed as more fitting, and perhaps even worse punishment than death.

There’s of course more to Jack Vance than Dying Earth, even though his other works probably didn’t influence D&D and by extension other TTRPGs as much. If you haven’t read anything by Vance (hard to believe, if you’re my target audience) you should definitely remedy that. The four volumes of the Dying Earth series are obligatory, of course. And I would also recommend one of his later works, the Night Lamp. It’s a bit slow at first, but then gains momentum and finishes with pretty much a Dying Earth vibe.

Last but not least, if you want to play a game in the Dying Earth setting by Jack Vance, you can check out the DCC modules presented at the end of the linked Goodman Games article. You should also check out Pelgrane Press, as they’re dedicated to publishing everything you need to bring Dying Earth to tabletop life. And if you want a really good deal, they have a bundle ending in about three days currently on Humble Bundle. The Dying Earth RPG Collection costs just short of 20 €, so I guess about $23-24.

Video Game Shorts

Every few years I have the urge to replay the Shadowrun games by Harebrained Schemes. I finished the original game a few years back for the third time, and I’ve started my second Dragonfall run recently. Of course I will have little time, so I might finish it somewhere around New Year.

I consider Dragonfall the best of the three, although they are all very good. What I want to focus on today is the way the game(s) build a sense of belonging, both inside the party and towards the broader community you become part of.

There’s a lot of characters, many minor, around your base of operations. It often take s a while until they become relevant, but you slowly become familiar with their stories. And you start to care about them. This is something that games (and to some extent other media, such as TV series) can’t quite pull off. A lot of the newer RPGs manage to do this with one or two characters, but rarely with a whole community.

My advice for DMs therefore is go play the games if you haven’t. You get tens of gameplay hours in great TTRPG video game adaptations, and can get inspired by the way the communities around the PC headquarters are written. Not to mention the rest of the very good writing. Dragonfall is really something.

I actuall never read too much into Shadowrun. There was a Humble Bundle with a complete ruleset for one of the newest editions a few years ago, but I still have to get to reading any of the books. I’m definitely looking forward to, there ought to be lots of inspiration there.

Oh, and for anybody interested, I’m making a chromed-up melee street samurai, after playing a pure mage last time. Glory will sit on the bench most of this run, I’m afraid.

Final Remarks

Once again I have to state that I’m not affiliated with any of the mentioned entities, and I receive no compensation for any promotion.

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Plastic fantastic?

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Semi-commercial_Bakelizer_1935_Bakelite_Review_Silver_Anniversary_p6.tif
The Bakelizer looks like it would fit quite well in an alchemy lab

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

When you imagine a fantasy setting plastic is probably among the least likely things you have in your mind. Often based on Medieval, Ancient or Victorian Earth, fantasy settings tend to keep away from such modern inventions as plastics. On the other hand many authors gladly fill their creations with lots of other anachronisms.

It’s understandable – who would want their their dwarven barbarian to drink ale from a PET bottle? This is disgusting even in real life. Or have their elven warlock wield a molded PVC staff? For many this would break the immersion they seek from a fantasy novel or game, be it tabletop or videogame. Yet there are plastics in our world that can seamlessly enter your fantasy setting. Especially if you avoid calling them “plastics”.

Real world plastics

The beginnings of plastics in our world sound like the exploits of alchemists discovering new formulas in pursuit of superior substances. Early polymers were quite different from the plastics of today, and are coveted as collectibles by some. You can read about the history of plastics in the Sources at the end of the article. To keep it short, chemists strove to create new materials for various reasons, often economical. Many of the early plastics were supposed to substitute expensive and rare resources such as ivory. Some can be made at home using quite basic ingredients and equipment.

Then there are modern plastics we all know. They make up a huge amount of the world we live in. Stuff like PVC and HDPE need no introductions, and it can be guessed that Kevlar also rings a bell. These plastics require a complex understanding of chemistry. They also need access to rather advanced equipment and non-basic resources, and are made in large scale. Many are made of petroleum, another thing not commonly used in fantasy settings.

Fantasy plastics

A monkeyman alchemist heating the mold he’s making his new polymer in!
Oil by Edmund Bristow (1787–1876) via lookandlearn.com (CC BY 4.0)

Now let’s take a look at our fantasy settings. Why would you introduce plastics into a world where there are other interesting materials, often magical? Think about who’s going to be the creator of the newly introduced plastics. Yes, the alchemists! Some will be conservative and stick to a dozen essential creations that they spam all over. But I believe in most settings the alchemists constantly look for new ways to power, knowledge, and destruction. It’s a matter of time before they start stumbling on plastics. It’s also a matter of availability. Sure you can use mammoth ivory, but it would cost you an arm and a leg. Dairying cows are grazing under your window at this very moment, and for a few coppers you can get all the milk you need to make that new component out of casein plastic!

Now you might say that mammoth ivory has certain magical properties that make it not only more valuable but also desirable for certain applications. Why couldn’t your not-Galalith also have properties that would make it stand out in its own way? It could provide different magical advantages, or dampen negative effects. When made from a special milk, let’s say unicorn milk, unique properties could develop. Even with cow milk maybe the new material is the only one that is non-reactive in combination with another. Or perhaps plastics aren’t new but instead old, the remnants of an ancient civilization, and can be found as artifacts from a bygone era. Either these are usable as they are, or the plastics could be only collected and remade into new items. Roman glass was reused in Medieval period in this way, to the extent of scholars writing explicitly that you should dig in old Roman ruins for shards of quality glass to recycle!

Plastics in other settings

It’s not an easy task finding plastics being used in fantasy. Authors or game designers prefer more “fantasy” materials than something that surrounds us everywhere in real life. There are few exceptions I found and would like to introduce shortly.

Dungeons of Dredmor

The light-hearted 2011 rogue-like introduced plastics as “plastic ore” that can be melted into “plastic ingots”. Most of the craftable items like “pleather armor” or “plastic bolts”are near-useless . There are some high-level weapons though that are crafted using plastic ingots. This is something that can be pointed out as rather useful. Plastics in your scenario don’t have to be common or available. There can instead be specific conditions under which they become a valuable resource.

The Elder Scrolls

One of Morrowind’s most iconic materials is bonemold. It is a composite material made from bonemeal (ground bones) and resin. It is similar to real world bakelite, with bonemeal serving as the filling material, and the resin unsurprisingly as the resin. Both components are natural in origin, so easily explained in a fantasy setting. Being used mostly for making armour by the Dunmer armoursmiths, it has nevertheless other uses. In TES: Morrowind we see bonemold longbows, arrows, and crossbow bolts. Later games in the series offer only armour that can be crafted from bonemeal, leather and some iron.

Different sets of bonemold armour from TES: Morrowind. All rights reserved to Bethesda Softworks, UESP and/or other respective owners (CC BY-SA 2.5 DEED)

The use of bonemold in The Elder Scrolls (Morrowind in particular) shows how you can get unique and interesting results if you don’t think only in terms of traditional fantasy options. Bonemold feels anything but immersion-breaking. It’s never called a plastic, and fits the strangeness of the Dunmer culture very well.

Conclusion

Only two examples of plastics in fantasy settings? Well, the reason for this article is the scarcity of plastics in fantasy. So yes, it’s quite hard to find some media where it’s been used. Outside of settings where plastics are by default common, naturally. The examples show two different approaches. One using outright “modern” plastics for comic relief (Dungeons of Dredmor), the other deals with “archaic” plastics in a less conspicuous way (The Elder Scrolls). Both have their pros and cons. It depends on the setting and tone of your game which is better suited. It’s quite possible to use both “modern” and “archaic” plastics in a single setting. Just avoid using real world names and descriptions such as PVC, or plastic.

What are your thoughts on plastics outside modern or sci-fi settings? Hate it or love it? Do you recall seeing any sort of plastic in a fantasy setting? In a video game, a novel, a movie? Please feel free to share your views and experiences in the comments section. As always, thanks for reading and sharing!

Sources