Monsters

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Monstrous Denizens of the Pale Moor

Reading Map

This is the fifth article of a short series outlining a B/X D&D campaign.

After determining human-controlled areas, it may seem little space remains for monsters. But the interior is wild and infested with ferocious beasts, walking dead, and tribes of chaotic humanoids. Surrounding the Thirteen Graves are the sea and three territories. Being borderlands, these last are wilderness areas, whose inhabitants may encroach upon civilized lands.

Secrets and Names

I debate with myself about disclosing the secrets I come up with or letting the DM make his own secrets. On the one hand, publishing them here gives them away should players become overly curious. On the other, I’m likely to build on some of the secrets in later articles. The reader must be in the know. Of course, the DM may change the secrets or devise others. I have added one secret each to “A Forsaken Peninsula” and “Thirteen Graves.” The debate continues.

I have also resisted putting names on the map, thinking to leave that to the DM as well. But place names are useful in writing as references. “The county that claims the Pale Moor” is wordy as well as awkward. I’ve written on the map a few names used in the text.

E. PLACE AREAS UNDER NON-HUMAN CONTROL.

I mention PC races at the end. Otherwise, monsters are divided by geography:

Not all monsters described are shown on the map.

Monstrous Denizens of the Pale Moor

Pale Moor

Troglodytes (not shown on map): Native inhabitants of the peninsula, the troglodytes were pushed out by human settlers. Remnants of their caves, found throughout the region, testify to their former territory. Restricted now to the interior, they often raid human settlements out of necessity if not revenge.

Kobolds (not shown): The dog-men infest the Pale Moor. They shelter in any dense thicket or tangled copse of trees.

Goblins (not shown): Goblins seek uninhabited troglodyte caves in which to make their lairs. They may be encountered most anywhere on the Pale Moor.

Hobgoblins: Inhabiting the Pale Moor’s southeast, hobgoblins frequently raid the southern graves all the way to the Gruttemar, the lake shown on the moor’s western border. To augment its army, Valhallan enlists hobgoblins, goblins, and bugbears. Parties crossing the grave’s perimeter are likely to encounter these goblinoids in border patrols.

Moor Wraiths: The result of the Pale Moor curse, these undead creatures plague the interior. Their appearance is much like a zombie: bloodless corpse, pallid complexion. Despite a vacant stare, they seem to act in concert and with a will.

Pale Moor Curse

Any creature that dies within the confines of the Pale Moor becomes a moor wraith within one day. Denizens adapt to this situation by burning their dead in impromptu ceremonies.

Secret #5: When the Battle of Throrgrmir was lost, remnants of the Chaos Armies disbanded. The Wraithwright, having arrived at the head of his undead legion near the battle’s end, still commanded the entire force. He withdrew into the Pale Moor. It is the Wraithwright who laid the curse upon the land. And it is the Wraithwright to whom the animated dead are enthralled.

New Monster: Moor Wraith

The Pale Moor curse acts as an animate dead spell, except a moor wraith has two more hit dice than the original creature. Rumors imply a moor wraith may gain additional hit dice.

Skeletal moor wraiths also exist, though they are less common. A so called “bone wraith” is created when a skeleton is brought into the moor or when the flesh of the recent dead is boiled. Bone wraiths have one more hit dice than the original creature.

Whether skeletal or fleshed, both are wraith-like in that they can only be hit with silvered or magical weapons. Moor wraiths do not drain energy levels.

Clerics turn a moor wraith as a wight or the undead creature with equivalent hit dice. A moor wraith may be dispelled. For purposes of spell failure, treat the curse as a 12th-level magic-user.

All moor wraiths act according to the desires of the Wraithwright.

Infernal Hordes: Though infrequent, demons and devils may be encountered on the Pale Moor. Hordes of these infernal creatures sometimes ravage the land, crossing into the graves to wreak havoc among the mortals.

Demons and Devils and Alignments

By adding demons and devils to a B/X game, we’re creating work for the DM. We can rob from AD&D, which is what I did in the ’80s. The biggest question lies in alignments. For me, demons and devils are distinguished by their cultures, which are tied to their alignments: havoc-wreaking demons versus Machiavellian devils. The one chaotic, the other lawful, both evil.

In a three-point, single-axis system, demons are aligned with chaos, clearly. But devils with law? Do we call them chaotic with their organized society? Or should we introduce a dual-axis alignment system?

Holmes’s five alignments are enough. DMs may decide for themselves. If incorporating more alignments, we might throw out alignment languages or restrict them to the three original alignments of the first axis. I’m thinking to experiment with only two languages: Law and Chaos.

Surrounding Lands

Lizard Men: Prowling the swamps east of the Jade Bight, the lizard men cross the bay on dark nights to raid coastal villages. They also harass shipping in and out of Port-of-Sands.

Orcs: Broeckemeer incites the orcs of the Dragons Watch Mountains to raid the southern graves. Because the orcs are unruly, the raids are infrequent, untimely, and therefore ineffective.

Gnolls: Several bands of gnolls range south along the west flank of the Dragons Watch. Broeckemeer is in contact with the gnolls, hoping to recruit them into an army when diplomatic contention comes to military conflict with the duchy. For the time being, though, the gnolls want nothing to do with the Pale Moor and its curse.

Secret #6: Broeckemeer, whose ruling family is made up of witches and warlocks (secret #4), endeavors to call upon the demon lord of gnolls to bring the rapacious bands under their dominion.

Nomads (not shown): While avoiding the Pale Moor, the Sadhakarani [introduced in Wyrm Dawn] wander throughout the peninsula and beyond, trading goods from remote lands. Also called Runefolk, they have an innate ability for magic-use.

Dragons

The Wyrm Prophecy yet unfulfilled, any number of dragons might lair on the peninsula, keeping watch over events in Throrgrmir. The most powerful among them are a black and a green (not shown). The black dragon lairs on the Moor. The green, at the edge of the Elding.

Northern Sea

Mermen: This submarine folk inhabits the deeper waters off the north coasts of the island chain. They keep to themselves and are rarely seen by fishermen and sailors.

Storm Giants: A clan of storm giants resides in a submarine castle, built from coral and giant mollusk shells. They are potential allies of law.

Secret #7: The cause of the Atlantean flood was not divine but giant. The storm giants and the knightly order were working together against chaos. I don’t know yet what was the transgression, but the order’s hierarchy crossed the storm giants in some manner. The giants’ retribution was swift, and the knightly order all but washed away.

Buccaneers and Pirates (not shown): There is a long tradition of piracy in the Northern Sea. From bases along the Fear Coast, pirates ply the channels that give access to ports in the bays either side of the peninsula. Though it is no longer a pirate holding, when referring to Thror’s Gate (off map, east, see Valormr: Pre-War Disposition of Forces), the pirates still call it Skullhaven. Broeckemeer is a reputed sponsor of pirate activity.

PC Races

Halflings: The Forsaken Peninsula is no place for such gentle people. The few haffolk who dwell here migrated with the humans from the Shire Hollows in the Throrgrmir Valley. They settle in small shires near human settlements in the lawful lands.

Elves: Any elves are from the Ellriendi Forest (Elding, Grunnthraesir, or Groennendr) also in the Throrgrmir Valley.

Dwarves: Dwarves come from either of two clans of Forn Fjallaheim in the Dragons Watch Mountains a few days march south. One clan is the Galti-Gler, the other not yet named.

Wyrmlings

Throrgrmir’s golden age ended when the dwarves woke the primordial wyrm. After the wyrm’s incursion, they rebuilt their civilization in a decadent age, which ended in civil war.

Meanwhile, the wyrm laid eggs. During Throrgrmir’s final era, the eggs hatch. While the dwarves struggle in the war’s aftermath, they must defend themselves against treasure-seeking wyrmlings.

Tinker & Tack

What’s fun about tinkering with rules in your own instance of a game is that they don’t have to work in every case. They only have to fulfill your present purpose. I tacked these additions on to the Age of Civilization. I present them here as an example of what you might do with your own game of How to Host a Dungeon.

Dwarves

When expanding and exploiting, dwarves prefer to move into dormitories and store treasures in vaults as far as possible from any active wyrmlings. They build, however, where they find space.

Wyrmlings

I name wyrmlings after the order in which they hatch, using the greek alphabet. From seven eggs, the wyrmlings are called Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta.

Following the dwarves’ building phase, the wyrmlings—all together—take their turn in phases as follows.

Incubation

Roll a d6 for each unhatched egg. For each 1 or 2, one egg hatches. Emerging wyrmlings immediately search for treasure.

Once hatched, a wyrmling may wake or search. Each of these actions may lead to subsequent actions, which are handled in the appropriate phase.

Wake

Roll a d6 for each sleeping wyrmling. The wyrmling wakes on a result of 1 to 4. Upon waking, it immediately searches for treasure.

Search

Wyrmlings seek gold and gems. As the offspring of primordial and cosmic parents, they have no affinity for epic treasures.

The wyrmling moves one finger toward the nearest dwarven treasure, excluding epic treasures. A wyrmling may move along waterways as well as tunnels.

If the wyrmling encounters a dwarven population, the conflict is resolved in the CONFLICT phase.

If the wyrmling encounters treasure, it returns immediately to the lair with the treasure, and its turn ends.

Conflict

When a wyrmling encounters a dwarven population, the conflict is resolved according to the rules for CONFLICTS AND ATTACKS in the Age of Monsters section, How to Host a Dungeon.

If multiple wyrmlings are in conflict with a population, they join forces and get a +1 bonus per additional wyrmling on the conflict roll.

The wyrmlings are young and, when outmatched, retreat back to the lair. Therefore, dwarves win all ties.

If the wyrmling wins the conflict, remove the dwarven population. The wyrmling’s turn ends.

If the dwarves win, the wyrmling retreats immediately back to the lair and sleeps.

The Wyrmling “She”

I don’t know yet if the offspring of the primordial wyrm and the World Dragon have a gender. Until we discover otherwise, I use feminine pronouns for the wyrmlings.

At the Gate

The dwarf gate blocks the tunnel from the Deepmost Caverns to the city of Throrgardr. Although no dwarven population is present, the dwarf gate is considered to be defended, unless occupied by wyrmlings. Defenders get the appropriate fortification bonus against attacks. From the gate, the dwarves also observe the waterway entrance.

A wyrmling at the gate may either attack the gate or sneak by it, swimming up the waterway. If more than one wyrmlings are present, they split into two even groups: some attack, others sneak. An odd wyrmling joins the attackers.

Multiple wyrmlings at the gate gain a +1 bonus for each additional wyrmling to the conflict roll if attacking, or if sneaking, gain a -1 bonus for each additional wyrmling at the gate. The bonuses apply to all wyrmlings, no matter in which activity they are engaged. One roll is made for each activity (attacking or sneaking) no matter how many wyrmlings are present. An example follows.

While a victorious wyrmling is at the gate, it is not defended. Dwarven defenders reinvest the gate at the beginning of their turn in which a wyrmling does not occupy the gate.

Attack

Attacking the gate is handled as a conflict, see CONFLICT above.

Sneak

Wyrmlings may attempt to get past the gate by swimming up the river. A 1 or 2 on a d6 indicates the dwarves do not detect the wyrmling. She immediately continues movement up the river. If the dwarves detect the wyrmling, she is repulsed and returns to the lair.

Example

Three wyrmlings are at the gate. Two attack, while the third attempts to sneak by. The two attackers get a roll with a +2 bonus, while the sneaker gets a roll with a -2 bonus.

The dwarves roll a 3. A +1 for fortification gives them 4 against the wyrmling attackers roll of 2, +2 for numbers, which is a 4. Dwarves win the tie. The defeated wyrmlings return to the lair and sleep.

The sneaker rolled a 3, which, with a -2 for numbers, is a 1—a success. The wyrmling continues her movement, following the river.

Sibling Conflict

When more than one wyrmlings find a treasure, they fight over it. Roll a d6 for each wyrmling. If the optional Wyrmling Hierarchy rule (below) is used, add a bonus according to the wrymling’s rank, if any. The elder (or ranking) wyrmling wins ties. Winner takes the treasure back to the lair. Loosers remain; their turn ends.

Wyrmling Hierarchy (optional)

I have the idea that it will be important to know the wyrmlings’ hierarchy in later ages of the How to Host a Dungeon campaign. I found it not too onerous to keep track of wins and loses between the wyrmlings in the manner described below.

It does, however, prove difficult to detail how it works. Feel free to fill in holes or come up with your own system. If you don’t use the wyrmling hierarchy, assume the wyrmlings are ranked in order from eldest to youngest, i.e., as they hatch.

When any number of wyrmlings fight, the winner, if she doesn’t have one already, earns a ranking. If she is lower ranked than an opponent, she may move up in the ranking.

In all cases, a loss is recorded for each looser.

No rank: If the winner has no rank and she has an equal or fewer number of loses than her highest ranking opponent, she assumes the rank of that opponent.

Higher rank: If the winner is ranked higher than her opponents, she maintains her current rank.

Lower rank: If the winner is ranked lower than her highest ranking opponent and she has fewer loses than that opponent, she assumes that rank. Otherwise, she climbs in rank until she has fewer loses than the wyrmling whose rank she assumes.

Slipping rank: When a wyrmling’s rank is assumed by another, she slips down in the ranking. Compare the loses with the next lower ranked wyrmling. The wyrmling with fewer loses gets the higher ranking.

Empty Nest

If all the eggs hatch during this age, the primordial wyrm sleeps. Beginning on the next turn, she might wake up. In the WAKE phase, roll a d6. She wakes on a 1, and attacks the dwarf gate (with any wyrmlings present) in the CONFLICT phase, adding 1 to the conflict roll for each of her populations. She begins with 3 populations.

If the attack is unsuccessful, any wyrmlings return to the lair, and the primordial wyrm loses 1 population (return 1 token to the Deepmost Caverns). The primordial wyrm remains to press the attack in the next turn.

She continues the attack until she is successful or all her population tokens are returned to the Deepmost Caverns, at which time, she returns to the lair and sleeps. Check each turn for waking.

If the attack is successful, she occupies the gate, and her turn ends. The next turn, she moves into the city and makes a new lair there. While the primordial wyrm lairs in the city, dwarves may not reinvest the gate.

The wyrm sleeps and does not wake unless disturbed. Returning wyrmlings deposit their treasures and sleep in this new lair.

Unhatched Eggs

At the end of the Throrgrmir civilization, any unhatched eggs become epic treasures. In a later age, or in the later campaign, a wyrmling might be coaxed from an egg through an arcane ritual.

Civilization Ends

If civilization ends by industrial accident or other catastrophe, roll a d6 for any wyrmling above the dwarf gate and not in the lair—the primordial wyrm is impervious to the damage, and she protects her young. On a 1 the wyrmling does not survive the catastrophe.

If the dwarven population is reduced to five or fewer populations, the remaining dwarves depart, taking treasure (but not epic treasure) with them, and the Throrgrmir civilization ends. If she isn’t there already, the primordial wyrm moves, with her hoard and any unhatched eggs, into the city.

Active wyrmlings return to the current lair and sleep. Otherwise, follow the rules for the dwarven End of Civilization, How to Host a Dungeon.

Wyrmlings at the Gate
Wyrmlings at the Gate.
At the gate (center), Alpha attacks, while Gamma attempts to sneak up the river. Having previously penetrated the gate, Beta (background) engages a dwarven population. Four eggs remain in incubation (right).

How to Host a Dungeon is a tinker-friendly solo game of dungeon creation by Tony Dowler. In Wyrm Dawn, I’m using it to create back story for an upcoming B/X campaign. The game is available on DriveThruRPG, and you can support Tony Dowler’s work on his Patreon.

Wyrm’s Clutch

While the dwarves toiled to rebuild their civilization above, the primordial wyrm lurked below. In deep recesses of her cavern lair, she crept into crevasses and twisting tunnels, which led ever deeper below the sunlit surface.

At length she emerged into the world’s underside, where lived the World Dragon. In the dimness there, with the World Dragon she mated and, thereby, fertilized the eggs that grew in her belly.

Withdrawing, she returned to her lair in the Deepmost Caverns, and laid her eggs one by one. Seven eggs in all she brooded in the nether dark.

Wyrm’s Clutch
Wyrm’s Clutch.
Ovoid stones, overlarge, serve as eggs. In the final age of the Throrgrmir civilization, the eggs hatch. Emerging wyrmlings seek treasure.

The Wyrm Awakens

“They Delve too Deep. Draw a shaft off the bottom of the page.” (Dowler)

Dwarves who “delve too deep” is a fantasy staple—maybe a cliché. Whether it’s a balrog from the depths of the earth or an ambiguous nether-dwelling monster, in How to Host a Dungeon’s first edition (2008), the dwarves can hardly avert this end to their civilization. In the second edition, the too-deep delving can be avoided at a simple decision point, but the civilization’s end cannot.

I mentioned earlier that I want to use all the dwarven constructions, and there is still white space on the map. Through some rule-bending, I figured out how to do it. It will become clear later how that is achieved.

First, a fun diversion presents itself: The Throrgrmir dwarves have awakened the primordial wyrm. According to the rules, the civilization ends, and we move on to the Age of Monsters. But, in order to embellish the dungeon history for the subsequent campaign, I have the idea to simulate the battle between the dwarves and the wyrm with a B/X D&D encounter.1

Quick Math Using Mean Numbers

  • Ten 12th-level dwarves (a dwarven lord to represent each population token) versus a 16th-level dragon (the wyrm).2
  • Each dwarf has (4.5 x 9 + 9) 49 hit points and armor class 1 (platemail and shield with a +1 magic bonus).
  • The wyrm has (16 x 4.5) 72 hp and AC -3.3
  • In the first round of combat, the dwarves close for melee under the dragon’s breath weapon: Two dwarves (20%, they need a 4) fail the save vs. Dragon Breath and do not survive. Eight dwarves take half damage, 36 points, and are reduced to 13 hp.
  • In the second round, the dwarves attack. Assuming +2 “to hit” and damage for strength and magic weapons, dwarves need a 13 to deal damage. Of eight dwarves, five (65%) hit for (4.5 + 2) 6.5 points of damage each, which is 32 points, reducing the dragon to 40 hp.
  • The same round, the dragon wounds two more dwarves with its claws, and she bites another in half.
Rolling up dwarven lords
Rolling up dwarven lords for a B/X encounter.

So, the third combat round opens with a 40-hit-point wyrm versus seven dwarves, who could still take a claw to the face and do a collective 30 points of damage.

The scenario doesn’t account for the vagaries of combat, but the odds are close enough. I’m rolling up some dwarven lords. Let’s go wyrm hunting!

Notes

1 My first thought was to run the scenario using the Chainmail miniatures rules (Gygax and Perren, Guidon Games, 1971). As fun as that might be, the combat would be overly complex for the present purpose. Plus, this is a fantastic opportunity to exercise the D&D Expert Rulebook.

2 See the DONJON LANDS Level Tiers table below. Being primordial, the wyrm is mythic. The dwarven lords, from the Age of Civilization, are epic.

3 I considered the possibility that the wyrm could cast spells. In the quick scenario outlined here, however, the dragon’s best first-round action is a 72-point breath weapon [not to mention, in B/X, a dragon always attacks with its breath weapon first (B34)], and after the dwarves close for melee, she couldn’t get off a spell.

DONJON LANDS Level Tiers

Tier Character Levels Period Historical Age Dungeon Age*
Heroic 1-4 Medieval (Dark) Villainy
Legendary 5-8 Ancient Iron Monsters
Epic 9-12 Ancient Bronze Civilization
Mythic 13-16 Prehistoric Stone Primordial

*Ages from How to Host a Dungeon.

Primordial Wyrm

Using How to Host a Dungeon, the game map is divided into eight “strata” (enumerated on the right, map below). Each game stratum is made up of one or more geologic strata. I use the same term for both, I think without too much confusion. Each enumerated stratum also contains a feature. In Wyrm Dawn’s primordial age, many features are created by two rivers—one surface, another subsurface—and an earthquake.

Primordial Wyrm
Wyrm Dawn Campaign Map Cross-Section.
We are looking north. To the right is east; left west.

Here I describe each enumerated stratum. A table below summarizes.

1. Surface

A languid river meanders across its floodplain carved in a limestone bed. It deposits rich soil on its banks and seeps through porous rock to form a subterranean stream (stratum 4). From the soil grow lush grasses and primeval woods: deciduous on the flood plain, conifer higher up.

2. Dead Caves

Where the river spares the limestone, hills remain. Beneath them, limestone caverns, formed by river water in an earlier epoch, are now dry.1

3. Gold Vein

The result of an earthquake deep below the surface, the fissure struck through a layer of granite and quartz, forming the gold vein in an instant.2

4. Crystal Caverns

The subterranean stream comes out in this limestone layer to create these caverns. When the river runs nearer the hills, another stream gives into the western cave.3 A previous water line is still visible throughout the complex. Even where the stream doesn’t run, the caverns are still damp, creating selenite crystals.4, 5

5. Subterranean River

This subterranean river etches a course through limestone. It is swift but navigable from the east to where it falls through basalt (stratum 6).

6. Gem Deposits

A stratum of basalt contains gem deposits.

7. Magma Chamber

The earthquake also opened a fissure in this granite stratum from a magma source far below.

8. Mother of Dragons

Earth, shuddering in her labor, opened this large cavern complex to spawn a primordial wyrm. The parthenogenic creature emerged fully grown into the earth. She now seeks nourishment, so to lay her eggs.

Strata Summary

Stratum Primary rock Feature
1 Soil Biomes: deciduous and conifer woods, river, grassland, hills
2 Limestone, green6 Caves: connected caverns
3 Granite, quartz Ore: gold vein
4 Limestone, blue6 Biome: crystal caverns
5 Limestone, yellow6 Water: river
6 Basalt Gems: deposits
7 Granite Magma: chamber
8 Limestone, red6 Nexus: mother of monsters—dragons

 

The stage now set, the Age of Civilization begins.

Notes

1 A tunnel from the surface leads to the dead caves’ western cavern.
2 It seems our mundane world still wields much magic. A study described in this Nature article proposes that a gold vein can indeed be formed by an earthquake “in an instant.”
3 Like the dead caves above, a tunnel from the surface must lead down to the western cave mouth in the crystal caverns, while a tunnel to the eastern mouth is submerged. I’d look for a whirlpool in the surface river.
4 For the crystal caverns, I’m inspired by the selenite crystals from Mexico’s Naica cave.
5 Selenite, a variety of gypsum, is transparent and colorless, but impurities can give it a tinge of color, including blue and magenta, like a certain pair of game boxes—I’m going with that.
6 Who knew limestone comes in different colors? Savvy explorers might know how deep they have ventured by the kind and color of rock.