The Old School Dungeon – By Hand

July 14, 2025 GregMacKenzie

G. Bruce MacKenzie

It occurs to me that rather than repeating myself by simply providing adventure texts and maps it might be more interesting to the reader were I to pass on a few pearls from my own experience with the bestest old game. So this will be the first of a series of articles which, in one way or another are an homage to the articles of Richard Tongue of OD&Dities, and demonstrate how to go about having fun from my purely subjective point of view. I will make no claims as to the universality of this information but there might be a nugget or two in here for everyone.

What is our perspective? As BX style rules are the principle focus of Breeyark I will draw on my old school sensibilities regarding spirited dungeon and wilderness adventures. I won’t cleave too closely to any one particular OGL version of the rules in order to make this as universally useful as possible. I may quote from various rules from time to time so refer to whatever you are using for a definitive interpretation.

How to Begin?

Lets talk about starting up a game. The question goes in two directions because if you are the person leading the game, the Ref, Dungeon Master, Game Master, Ref., etc., there is more ahead of you to be done than if you are a player. This article will concentrate on the underworld preparation that the Ref has to perform.

You’ll note that there is a little bit of a difference in mindset regarding whether or not the person leading the game is the “master” or a “referee.” Obviously “Dungeon Master” is by far the preferred term, well, it is catchy. It isn’t what you think it is. The person leading the game isn’t quite in control of it though, not exactly. They must have read the rules and be prepared to interpret them. That is they will need some idea of how the game is meant to be played and this is where the mastery comes in. Within the scope of the games rules almost anything can happen once it gets going! It is far more free wheeling than typical board games and the players will dream up some pretty creative solutions to the problems they run into.

Lets say I was the person leading the game, the Ref. How would I start? The first get together doesn’t have to be ambitious. In fact too much ambition is overwhelming. I would intend to start with a simple dungeon adventure; for the players the game will begin at the dungeon entrance. So, there’s no wilderness, nothing beyond entering the dungeon for the players to do. The dungeon adventure is the essence of the old game. There’s no theme or overarching story other than that of the underworld adventure itself.

Note – When the players exit the dungeon, the session is over, they are safe and awards can be presented. There is no home town to return to; we’ll look at that in a later article.

Preparing the Dungeon\Underworld

The way to do this, and this is “old school”, is to get some graph paper and draw.

Let’s get something out of the way, we have the advantage of being able to look back at the previous iterations of the rules. Chances are that you are using one of the later OGL interpretations of the rules which in one way or another put their stamp on the creation of the underworld. It is definitely worth reading previous original rules if you can because it’s helpful in ferreting out the ancient secrets of underworld creation. I started out with volume three of the original game, Underworld and Wilderness Adventures, and the text has both the advantage of simplicity as well as direct language, while BX refines and expands upon the scope of this original OD&D text, its little brown book supplements, and undoubtedly Holmes Basic.

Three Levels

Our underworld map should have at least three levels arranged one below the other. The idea is that the deeper player characters venture below the more difficult the game becomes. The levels have to be connected in one way or another by ladders, stairs, teleportation, chutes, shafts, etc. Stairs are the most convenient way of connecting the levels and provide the most useful entry and egress. The sketch below shows a shaft from level 1 to level 3.

The underworld is a changeable thing and the Ref can modify the map (preferably between game sessions) adding or deleting details, new levels and sub-levels, etc., as they see fit. The idea is to keep the adventure fresh from game session to game session. One idea that is popular is to create the dungeon in blocks of 10 x 10 with universal connections so that it is possible to drop in a new block at any time. I’m jumping ahead here in mentioning this but it is something to bear in mind. In contrast to this your first underworld need only be hand drawn, have one to three levels, and the scope need not be particularly ambitious. The idea is that you only need to entertain the players for a few sessions at most before either amending the underworld or beginning a new one with a pronounced theme; more on that later.

For our introductory underworld adventure we will use only a few common map symbols which both the Ref and the players can easily understand and draw. When the players explore they will want to record the map so they understand where they are and it is better if they can easily render the map as you the Ref describe it to them.

The following are commonly understood symbols. For connections between levels:

steps up and down,
trap doors (over shafts),
sloping tunnels,
open shafts, and
teleportals.

The following are barriers:

real and fake doors,
secret doors, and
movable blocking stones.

The following are hazards:

pits, and
traps

Equipped with the above the Ref can easily draw a map on graph paper. In the early days of yore there weren’t a plethora of symbols to express our ideas, and with BX there are many more, however at this point there is no need to overwhelm ourselves. We are currently looking for directness and simplicity.

Proceed as follows:

You will need three sheets of graph paper, possibly one for each level, a pencil, and an eraser.

As you begin to draw the most common scale of the map is 10 feet per square. The game originated in a non-metric country using imperial measurements so for the rest of us and just for international reference that is 3.048 meters.

Mark north on the map, that is the top, and Write level 1 on the first sheet, Level 2 on the second sheet, and Level 3 on the third sheet.

Draw the entrance, this can be a stair down, or a sloping tunnel, somewhere on Level 1 of the first sheet. This can be in the middle of the page somewhere, or at an edge. For our first dungeon we don’t want it to be difficult for the players to get in. The stairway or sloping tunnel should descend at least 50 feet downward, ending at the first cave, room, or intersection, to which the rest of the underworld will connect. We will annotate the entrance with the number “1” and provide a description, the first entry of our map key:

The Map Key is just text you write about the underworld. You write something about every numbered area on the map. There is a public part you read to the players and a secret part just for you. The following entry, 1., is public text you can read from or improvise from when you describe it to the players.

Map Key:

1. Enter. Large moss covered fallen stones reveal that there once was ancient building here. All that remains is an outline where walls once stood. Within the jumbled stones a weather-worn wood trap door lies broken and open revealing a dark entry into the ground. When you look closer you can see that a dank tunnel slopes downward; light shines into the first 30’ of the tunnel before shadows and the dark conceal whatever it is that lies below. It doesn’t smell very nice.

At this point you can use your imagination and draw tunnels and rooms wherever you like and in whatever shapes you like. The following is an example of a basic map. It is not the only way you can draw your map but it is what I do. We do not have to be ambitious and fill the page, a half page will give you quite a few rooms and space to expand. I have put in some entrances to the next levels below. From level 1 you can put in connections to both level two and three! The distances downward should be sufficient to allow for large vaulted ceilings between the levels.

As you draw use the symbols to mark where doors are, real, fake, and secret. Add pits and traps. Add stairs, shafts, sloping passages and chutes to other levels. You can write down and up on the map where the entrances to other levels are and use arrows.

You can create levels two and three by adding the connectors where required on each of their sheets, Overlap the layered papers over a glass window pane, allowing daylight to show through, so you can mark the correct squares.

The map needs annotations. For each level, each room must be identified with a unique number. You can also number tunnels or other features when you think you will have something special to say about them. You will write a Map Key which explains what these numbered areas contain. Also be sure to uniquely number the connectors between levels. Mark each connection between maps with the text Down (or Up) and to what Level and circle the numbered annotation for the level above or below. In the above example the preceding map (level 1) has been numbered beginning with 1. You can number anything that you think will be of interest.

The following are examples of hand drawn maps, there are three levels.

Level 1

The chute from room 3 goes to Level 2 room 10. The stair 8 goes down to Level 2 corridor 1. The shaft covered with a trap door in room 20 goes down to Level 3 cave 7. There is a teleportal at the end of corridor 21 which goes to Level 3 cave 9. The sloping passage 24 goes down to Level 2 room 5. Oops! There are two rooms numbered 3, the room by 19 we will renumber to 22.

Level 2

Level 2 connects to the level above and below. The shaft from level 1 room 20 to level 3 cave 7 passes through level 2 without connecting to it.

Level 3

Level 3 has mainly squiggly lines to show that it is a rough mined, or natural, cave. You don’t have to do it this way. The stair 15, and rooms 16 and 17 are dressed stonework, hence the straight lines. Note that I did not add hatching or shading around the room shapes on any of the maps; while the technique might look pretty and provide visual contrast it interferes with ongoing revisions to the map.

Designed Treasure Hoards

The next task is to determine what is in each room. The later iterations of the rules, and variants, differ quite a bit on filling the room content. In the main, the idea is to first place the most important treasures you would like the players to find somewhere on each level.

Note – You will have to decide at some point if these are Unguarded Treasure or if they are in a Monster’s Lair Treasure, as part of its Treasure Type.

Your designed treasure hoards can contain armor, coins, equipment, gems, jewelry, maps, scrolls weapons, etc. Beginning with Level 1, find something in the list of treasures that you think the players would like to have. You can award at least one useful magical item to each class of character or those usable by any class of character. These should be magical items but can be treasure, etc. At first these need not be soul drinking swords but single use items. The big prizes can be found on the levels below! The players can decide who gets what when they divide the treasure between their characters. Whatever you decide the treasure should be plentiful enough that everyone gets an equitable share. Whether or not these treasures are guarded by a monster, trick, or trap, is up to you and for monsters you can also pick from the list appropriate for the level. These are found in the tables of Wandering Monsters. (refer to similar topics in your rules.)

When our party of adventurers has a Fighter, Magic-User, Cleric, Thief, Dwarf, Halfling, and Elf consider placing at least one useful magical treasure for each character per level. You, the Ref, decide if these treasures are Hidden, protected by a Monster, protected by a Trap, or obfuscated by some sort of Trick also known as a Special.

Note – Special is a term that seems to originate with BX and has its origin in the Trick of the OD&D rules. Tricks and Specials seem to class together elements of underworld design, puzzles, the supernatural, and the just plain weird. In a kitchen sink approach there are sliding stairs, chutes, illusions, ghostly moaning, chains rattling, teleportation, endless corridors, elevator rooms that descend to levels below, etc. Some of these, particularly the chutes, elevator rooms, and stairs, can force you to redraw part of your map.

Specials, as a BX canon, don’t include an Unguarded Treasure. As the Ref is intended to pick Specials, or use their imagination to design them, it’s more fun for players when there is a reward for solving the Special/Trick at least 1-in-6 of the time. How Specials are used is up to you.

Room Examples – The Hidden, Monsters, Traps and Specials

The following examples contain a single magical treasure but there is no reason why a more varied hoard could not have been included were that so desired. For our purposes one item is sufficient to illustrate what we need to do:

Hidden – Consulting your rules, find a suitable treasure for a character, let us pick a Potion of Healing, which is always very useful! We could have other things as well but one item will do for the purposes of demonstration. We decide that the potion will be hidden behind a loose stone in the wall of a room. So for our key to the underworld we pick a room, number 3, and using a little imagination, write down a discretion for the players as follows:

3. This room appears to be empty, dusty cobwebs hang in the corners. It doesn’t look like anyone has entered this room in a very long time.

Secret Ref Info: In one corner, behind the cobwebs, a loose stone in the wall conceals a cavity and within is a dusty bottle, with an intact stopper, containing a mysterious liquid. There are also two small leather pouches tied shut containing 43 Silver and 50 Gold coins. Players have to search the room to have a chance of finding this secret treasure. Most rules allow any character a 1-in-6 chance of finding hidden things and that means they roll a d6 and on a roll of 1 the loose stone in the wall is found.

Note – The spell Detect Magic makes magical objects glow and the Ref may allow this to be seen through the cracks around the loose stone. When hiding treasure think about how players might use their characters abilities to locate it.

Monster – Let us assume the treasure is the same magic potion above however it is now protected by a Monster.

Evaluating BX Rules. Had we used the Contents table and determined that this was a room containing a Monster and a Treasure the BX text would direct us to replace the Unguarded Treasure with the Monster’s Treasure Type, thus in effect changing the room into a lair.

…If treasure is in a room with a monster, use the Treasure Type for that monster (given in the monster description) to find the treasure in the room. If treasure is in a room without a monster, use the Unguarded Treasure table…

Soapbox Warning – I have something of a problem with this. I would not designate just any room with a monster and treasure a lair. In OD&D the Monsters & Treasure booklet gives a % chance that a given monster is in its lair and one would have used d100 to determine when a given room was the monster’s lair. In this regard it is not dissimilar to the later 1E AD&D. However, in Holmes Basic and in later BX, this information is not provided in the monster descriptions and as you can see from the quote above it wasn’t left for the Ref to decide. Earlier in the BX text the rules provide some guidance:

In general, treasure is usually found in a monster’s lair (home). Wandering monsters are therefore less likely to be carrying treasure than monsters which have homes in the dungeon.

Considered together, the above quotes collude and conflict with each other in an unhelpful manner. In BX the OD&D Treasure Table has been subsumed into a table of Unguarded Treasure, an editorial change I do not find favour with. The text of OD&D tells us to refer to the table of treasure and it is only after this table has been provided that we find we have a paragraph regarding unguarded treasure which we are instructed to conceal or hide. In OD&D when we are rolling the dice to populate the rooms of our underworld with Monsters and Treasure we are met with the following text:

Roll again for every room and space. A roll of 1–3 in those rooms or spaces with monsters in them indicates some form of treasure is present.

To determine the kind of treasure use the following table…

I cannot guess what was in the mind of the editors of BX but the treasure we are currently placing I would consider it, in “BX terms”, Unguarded Treasure unless I wanted to establish a Monster’s lair. Only when I want a lair would I use the monster’s lair Treasure type.

Some monsters do carry treasure when they are outside their lair. In the statistical information for Goblins the Treasure Type is both R and (C). The letter in brackets is the Treasure Type found only in the lair. R is the carried treasure and there is a note:

Treasure type C is only found in the goblin lair.

From the above we may deduce that only when you see a pair of Treasure Types, as in “Treasure Type: R (C)” is a Wandering Monster actually carrying treasure; single Treasure Types typically mean the treasure is only found in a lair.

There are exceptions, for example a Gelatinous cube carries its treasure with it wherever it goes, it’s Treasure Type is V, and no lair treasure is indicated in brackets. The text for the monster’s description contains the following:

…they may pick up items they can’t dissolve (such as gold pieces and gems).

Designing the Room with the Monster. Let us decide that this room is not a lair and that therefore the potion is part of what BX terms an Unguarded Treasure, which is a bit of a misnomer given the presence of the monster. Find a suitable Monster by consulting your rules and looking at the Wandering Monsters for level 1.

Inspired by our cobwebs from the previous description we can choose Crab Spiders from the list of Wandering Monsters for level 1. As this is not a lair we will not be adding Treasure Type U. We read the description for the Crab Spider to see how many might be present and how these creatures act to get a sense of how tough they are. While the armor class of the monster is quite low, 7, it has 2 six sided Hit Dice. These monsters we learn from the description have a 1-in-4 chance of surprising prey (the characters) due to their ability to camouflage themselves. There could be 1-4 of them but we decide to have only one because their poison is fatal and a character who fails to save vs. poison (even though they get a +2 to their saving throw dice roll) dies in 1-4 turns. That is pretty horrible and game ending because for the first three character levels there are no spells to save a character!

In your key to the map you will include the statistical information for the monster and any notes about it. So for our key to the underworld we will create an alternative text for room number 3, and write down a description for the players as follows:

3. This room appears to be empty, dusty cobwebs hang in the corners. It doesn’t look like anyone has entered this room in a long time.

Secret Ref Info: In one corner, behind the cobwebs, a cavity in the wall contains a dusty bottle, with an intact stopper, containing a mysterious liquid. There are also two small leather pouches tied shut containing 43 Silver and 50 Gold coins. On the nearby west wall a Crab Spider, concealed by its chameleon like camouflage, has changed its colour to match the wall and lurks waiting to attack any prey that approaches the corner. Crab Spider, Armor Class 7, 2 Hit Dice, 7 Hit Points, Move 120/40, Bite 1-8 damage +poison (+2 Saving Throw, fail and character dies in 1d4 turns), Save F:1, M7, Alignment Neutral.

Note – Save or Die results from poison are very harsh and can end the game pretty quickly for a player. You can customize the rules! You can house rule to avoid a game-ending-death:

The poison of the Crab Spider is causes additional damage, Save vs. Poison, 1d8, a successful save causes only 1/2 damage, or nothing.
The bite of the Crab Spider causes 1-4 turns of paralysation, Save vs. Paralysation;
The bite of the Crab Spider causes Sleep, like the spell of the same name.

Trap – These nasty things are why they invented the 10 foot pole for poking things. There is no seeming limit to the imagination with regard to fiendish invention. Generally, Traps are stabby things that cause injury or death when an attempt is made to remove the treasure. We revise the map key text as follows:

3. This room appears to be mostly empty, dusty cobwebs hang in the entrance. It doesn’t look like anyone has entered this room in a long time. In one corner a cavity in the wall contains a dusty bottle, with an intact stopper, containing a mysterious liquid.

Secret Ref Info: In one corner, behind the cobwebs, a cavity in the wall contains a dusty bottle, with an intact stopper, containing a mysterious liquid. There are also two small leather pouches tied shut containing 43 Silver and 50 Gold coins. On the floor in the northwest corner of the room, marked with an inverted triangle symbol on the map, is a stone which triggers a Trap. A searching character has a 1-in-6 chance of spotting the trigger stone otherwise it is assumed that any character entering the square steps on it risks setting off the trap, 2-in-6. This shoots a dart and the character suffers both 1-4 points of damage and must make a Saving Throw vs. Paralysation. Failing the Saving Throw means the character is paralysed for 1-4 turns. When the dart is shot a loud gong sounds which would, in the ancient past, have drawn guards but now may attract Wandering Monsters and the Ref should make a 1-in-6 check roll. The Trap resets immediately after shooting the dart, there are 5 darts in total. Poking the floor with a 10’ pole may, 1-in-6, set off the trap launching a dart which is harmless unless a character is directly in line with the cavity as indicated by the dashed line. The first character positioned on that line is struck by the dart when the trap is triggered.

Special – Specials aren’t supposed to have any treasure but I would house rule, deviate from the rules, and 1-in-6 assign an Unguarded Treasure. In my estimation, the purpose of the Special/Trick is to protect a treasure in order to keep it from being taken by anyone other than the depositor. A Special shouldn’t cause injury or it would be, by definition, a Trap. There is no need to injure a character when a re-direction will suffice.

In the following example the treasure is easily visible but the Special is concealed. There is a 1-in-6 chance of searchers discovering the switch and being able to temporarily turn off the Special:

Secret Ref Info: In one corner, behind the cobwebs, a cavity in the wall contains a dusty bottle, with an intact stopper, containing a mysterious liquid. There are also two small leather pouches tied shut containing 43 Silver and 50 Gold coins. A character stepping on the northwest corner of the room, marked with an asterisk “*”, triggers a floor Special. The floor splits open in the middle dropping all characters within the room into a chute that takes them to Level 2 Map Key 6. The players are not injured. Once triggered the trap closes 1 Turn later and is reset. There is a concealed switch inside the left entrance to this room, refer to map annotation (a), a stone, which when pushed in temporarily disables the Special for 1 Turn. Note that the chute does not injure the characters as it is on an angle. The danger is that they are now on Level 2. The chute is too slippery to be climbed back up to Level 1 and even were this possible the floor cannot be opened from below.

The players will invent their own solution to the problem. Even if they discover the switch they will not necessarily comprehend what it does.

When All Important Treasures Have Been Placed

It is a good idea to thoughtfully place several of the most important treasures, with or without monstrous guardians, and then switch to a random determination for the balance of the level.

When all of the main treasures have been placed with emphasis on the decisions and creativity of the Ref. that leaves much of the underworld as yet unpopulated and this is when random determination can be used to supply what is missing.

Stocking the Remainder of the Dungeon/Underworld

If you still have ideas by all means continue to use your own judgment placing Treasure etc. but at some point you may find yourself searching for inspiration. The tables, such as the Contents and Treasure tables as found in the BX topic Stocking the Dungeon, are used to help fill out the remainder of the underworld. With these sorts of tables six sided dice are used to first determine if the room is empty or if there is a Monster, Trap or Special present and secondly to determine if there is Treasure. I should point out that there is an interesting contrast with the OD&D rules which preceded BX.

Consider the following, in the BX rules:

2-in-6 of all rooms have a monster with a 4-in-6 chance of a Treasure.
2-in-6 of all rooms are empty, 33.33% of the underworld; with a 1-in-6 chance of a hidden Treasure therein.
1-in-6 rooms have Traps with a 2-in-6 chance that it protects a treasure.
1-in-6 rooms have a Special with no chance that it protects a treasure. There is no column for Special in Unguarded Treasure.

In the original OD&D rules:

2-in-6 of all rooms have a Monster with a 3-in-6 chance of a Treasure.
4-in-6 of all rooms are empty, 66% of the underworld; with a 1-in-6 chance of hidden Treasure therein protected by a Trap or Trick.

Note – Empty rooms appear more often in the original OD&D rules.

The BX rules, in placing Specials in the Contents table gets the Ref to think about them. Specials are in essence the Tricks of the original rules. Specials collate the concepts of map design, obstacles, puzzles, the atmospheric and the supernatural, albeit without the small chance of reward of treasure as found in the original rules. It is my belief however that the Specials are best used to provide obstacles or challenges to the obtainment of Treasure, even when such a reward is not immediately present. In my opinion, Specials ought to be associated in some way with Treasure to make overcoming them worthwhile.

I prefer deliberate placement and design as a rule of thumb and the main thrust of my own approach is to use the BX random tables as inspiration. Admittedly in the very early days I did rely heavily on the dice until I got a feel for what was intended and that is exactly what new Refs need. Be aware though that the main problem with random anything is the curious juxtaposition of things that are jarring. Therefore, if you do get a result that doesn’t make sense or feel right to you, choose something else more appropriate or move the table result it to somewhere else in your underworld where it works best, you have three map levels!

So, at this juncture we have a map with rooms in which we placed things deliberately and for the rest of the map we can assign content randomly using the BX tables; exercising judgment over the random results.

Consult the Contents table for each empty room in the underworld. This process should be repeated for every unassigned room on the map. If you want a room to be completely empty you can skip the process.

When the Result is Monster

Consulting your Contents table roll the dice, usually 1d6, and see what you get. If our result is a 1 or 2, assuming we are looking at a BX table, going down the numbered Die Roll column for the dice result and moving right in the Result Column we find a Monster is present. Your rules may vary but the concept is the same, OSE assigns a result of 3-4 to Monster, while Labyrinth Lord uses d100 and requires a result of 31-60 to result in a Monster.

Monsters. When a Monster is present you will need to determine what it is by consulting the Wandering Monster table for the Level. So for Level 1 in BX consult Wandering Monsters: Level 1 and roll 1d20. OSE refers to these as Dungeon Encounter tables.

Some rules readily provide the information you need while others require you to consult the textual listing for the Monster:

In the BX Wandering Monsters tables a Monster’s statistical information is fully provided; going down the Die Roll column find the result matching your roll, 15 is a Snake, Cobra, and moving right under the No. Column we find there are 1-6 snakes. What this means is that you need to roll 1d6 to find out how many snakes there are. More information is provided in the topic Monsters; No. Appearing provides the statistics showing 1d6 (1d6), with the number in parenthesis meaning that is the number found in a lair or in the wilderness.
In OSE the Dungeon Encounter table gives you the number appearing beside the monster’s name (1d6) and little else. You must consult the Monster Descriptions for the rest of the information you will need. The statistics are presented as a list with NA 1d6(1d6) meaning number appearing; with the number in parenthesis meaning that is the number found in a lair or in the wilderness.
In Labyrinth Lord a d20 dice result of 14 indicates that the Monster is a Cobra but no statistical information is provided; for that you must refer to the topic describing the Monsters. No. Enc. presents 1d6 (1d6), with the number in parenthesis meaning that is the number found in a lair or in the wilderness.

Note – Per the previous decision we will decide that even though BX indicates in the text of its rules that the treasure should be replaced with the Treasure Type we decide that lairs won’t be used unless we want one; there is no Treasure Type required.

So, we will roll 1d6 to find out how many Cobras there are and the result of the roll is 4. In our description for the room we will need to write down the monster name, number, basic statistical information, the hit points for each, and how they behave. As these monsters have 1 Hit Dice that means you roll 1d6 to find out the number of their hit points. You can also write down the page number where their description is found in your rules!

6. Room Description: Slithering on the floor of this room are four snakes! They rise up and hiss when they see you!

Secret Ref Info: 4 Snakes, Cobras, Armor Class 7, 1 Hit Dice, 1, 3, 6, 2 Hit Points, Move 90/30, Bite or spit 1-3 +poison (spit blinds, poison causes death 1d10 turns), Snake Saving Throw F1, M7, Alignment Neutral, description page B42. These snakes do not go out of their way to attack, unless they feel threatened, which happens if player characters enter the room where the snakes are; they will feel cornered. If threatened they attempt to flee and if this is not possible (the entrance is blocked) they attack.

Note – Per the suggestion in the description, because blindness cannot be cured without an appropriate Cure Blindness spell from the Expert Rules, we decide that eating a portion of a Shrieker cures blindness so we will add a Shrieker or two somewhere in the dungeon; definitely on Level 1. We will also need to give the players a hint somewhere that this is possible in the form of a clue. Shriekers are not found in the Wandering Monster tables, they are a 3 Hit Dice (HD) monster which means that as such they should be found on the third level of a dungeon.

Note – If you noticed the use of the term “poison” vs. “venom” it’s a quirk of the rules; there’s no character saving throw vs. venom!

Treasure. We need to determine if this room also has an Unguarded Treasure. The second part of the Contents table tells us if there is treasure. Roll 1d6, there is a 4-in-6 chance that a room with a Monster has an Unguarded Treasure. We roll a six sided dice and get a result of 3, going down the Die Roll column find the result matching the roll, 3, and moving right under the Monster. column we find the result Yes, so there is an Unguarded Treasure.

We now need to consult the Unguarded Treasure table. This table may go by other names in your rules.

In Labyrinth Lord it is called the Unprotected Treasure table.
In OSE Unguarded Treasure is identified by the para title Treasure in Empty / Trapped Rooms and a list is provided.

In the BX Unguarded Treasure table we find the current level of the Dungeon in the Dungeon Level column, 1, moving right in this row we must roll the dice for each columns treasure; the first treasure column is Silver Pieces, there are 1d6 x 100, we roll a six sided dice, 5 x 100 = 500 silver pieces.

The second column is Gold Pieces, there is a 50% chance there are 1d6 x 10, what this means is that we must roll ten sided dice, d100. The first dice is the 10s, the second dice is the 1s, so if we roll a 5 and then a 1 this is 53. As we had to roll 50 or less there are no gold pieces.

The next column is Gems, there is a 5% chance there are 1d6 Gems, we use d100 again, so if we roll 0 and 3 this is 3%, as we had to roll 5 or less we must now roll 1d6 to determine how many there are, we roll 5, there are 5 Gems. We have to determine the value of each Gem. The value of Gems may be found in the table Gems on page B42 of the BX rules. Roll d100, 1, 32, 67, 93, 22, consult the Die Roll column, moving right in the Value of Gem column find the value of each Gem 50 gp, 50 gp, 100 gp, 500 gp, and 50 gp.

In the next column, Jewelry, we have a 2% chance, roll d100, a result of 43 means we have no Jewelry. We would have to determine its value, were there any, by consulting the text on page B42, which says Jewelry is worth 3d6 x 100 gp.

The last column is Magic Items, roll d100, there is a 2% chance there will be 1 magic item, we roll 01, meaning there is one magic item. In order to find out what it is in BX refer to the table General Magic Items on page B46, roll d100, 18, consult the Die Roll column, moving right in the Magic Sub-table column we find Sword. This means we must consult the Sword table. For this table we roll 1d8, the result is a 6; in the Die Roll column we find the value 6 and move right in the Type of Sword column to find that the sword is a +1 Magic Sword that can cast light in a 30’ radius on command, very handy!

This is a very nice stash of treasure and we will cleverly hide it because leaving it out in the open wouldn’t be much fun. We amend the text for room 6 as follows:

6. Room Description: There is a large wooden chest in this room. It is locked, wrapped in chains, and chained to the floor. Slithering on the floor of this room are four snakes! They rise up and hiss when they see you!

In order to get into the chest the player characters will have to break the chains and open the lock. Within the chest are 500 silver coins. The chest has a false bottom. There is a 1-in-6 chance that anyone searching the chest will discover the false bottom. The false bottom conceals the following treasure; 5 Gems worth 50 gp, 50 gp, 100 gp, 500 gp, and 50 gp, and a +1 Magic Sword that can cast light in a 30’ radius on command.

Most rules allow any searching character a 1-in-6 chance of finding hidden things and that means you the Ref roll a d6 and on a roll of 1 they discover the false bottom.

House-Rule – Player characters can make a Strength attribute roll to break the chains or bend bars open.

Make note that we have a little housekeeping from room 6. Remember our blindness cure? We need to put a clue somewhere and a Shrieker. That is a big mushroom monster which can move around. It’s also noisy and attracts Wandering Monsters when disturbed.

When the Result is Trap

Consulting your Contents table roll the dice, usually 1d6, and see what you get. If our result is a 3, assuming we are looking at a BX table, going down the numbered Die Roll column for the dice result and moving right in the Result Column we find a Trap is present. Your rules may vary but the concept is the same. There is a 3-in-6 chance of an Unguarded Treasure. Roll 1d6, 5, going down the numbered Die Roll column for the dice result and moving right in the Trap column we find the result No; an Unguarded Treasure is not present.

There are many kinds of traps and the rules expect the Ref to choose or design them.

Any searching character can 1-in-6 find a trap. This does not imply they may identify, bypass, or disarm the trap only that they know a trap of some kind is present. The Thief character adds capability beyond the mere finding of a trap that the others do not have.

I am not a fan of Save or Die traps because that ends the game for the player right there on the spot if they fail their saving throw. However, cumulative injury is a risk the players can assume as a decision. When a character perishes as a result of their cumulative injury assumed as a risk that is a different matter; you may have a different opinion.

You don’t have to have an elaborate explanation of how a trap works. You do need to know what triggers a trap and what it does. Entering a particular square, performing some action like opening a chest, or disturbing treasure in some way are typical conditions for setting off a trap. Traps should have an on/off switch of some kind, a way of temporarily disabling a trap, as the owner of the treasure obviously wouldn’t want to be injured by their own trap. This on/off switch doesn’t have to be in the same room.

You can make your own list of traps. The following house-rule Trap table provides list of some simple good traps that either may be picked from or randomly rolled for; you may consult your rules as appropriate:

Die Roll	Trap Without Treasure	Trap With Treasure
1	Arrows or Darts, 1d6 Arrows or Darts shoot from the walls or ceiling, they cause 1d6 Damage, 1-in-6 is poisoned causing Death in 1d10 Turns or 1d6 damage.	Darts: when the treasure is disturbed 1d6 Darts are loosed either from a container or from a nearby location, each dart causes 1d4 points of damage, 1-in-6 are poisoned causing Death in 1d10 Turns or 1d6 damage.
2	Fog, this is harmless but fogs cannot be seen through meaning characters are effectively blind while in fog, 1-in-12 fogs are poisonous causing 1d6 damage when breathed in, or cause Death in 1d10 Turns, or are Paralyzing for 1d6 Turns, or have the same effect as a Sleep spell. Saving throws half damage or negate the effect.	Blinding Flash, when the treasure is disturbed or a container opened a bright and blinding flash of light is emitted, Save vs. Spells or be blinded for 1d6 Turns.
3	10’ concealed Pit, there is a 3-in-6 chance the pit will open when its cover is stepped on, there is a 1-in-2 chance that falling causes 1d6 points of damage. The pit can be deeper, up to 30’ and/or have spikes which cause additional damage, 1-in-12 spikes are poisoned causing Death in 1d10 Turns or 1d6 damage	Venomous Creature, when the treasure is disturbed or a container opened, a monster emerges and strikes, the monster is an insect, or small reptile, and always poisonous; refer to the list of monsters and pick something suitable.
4	Crushing Block, there is a 3-in-6 chance the crushing block, which can be in the floor, walls, or ceiling, will strike when a square is stepped on, causing 1d6 points of damage. A character is not pinned by the block but struck, the block therefore does not prevent movement through the square because it does not fully block the passage. The trap resets in 1d6 turns and the block is withdrawn.	Poison Pin, pins are mixed in with the treasure or is part of a mechanism that strikes when the treasure or container it is in are moved/opened etc., Save vs. Poison, 1d6 Turns, poison causes Death in 1d10 Turns or 1d6 damage.
5	Blades, there is a 3-in-6 chance the blades, which are concealed in the walls floors and ceiling, will strike when the square is stepped on causing 1d6 damage. The trap resets in 1d6 turns and the blades are withdrawn.	Alarm, when the treasure is disturbed or a container opened a loud gong, loud shriek, or silent whistle sounds which permits the Ref to check twice as often for Wandering Monsters for 1d6 Turns.
6	Gas, there is a 3-in-6 chance jets of gas emit from walls, ceilings, or floors when a square is stepped on, the gas can be Poisonous causing death in 1d10 Turns or 1d6 damage, Paralysing 1d6 Turns, or Blinding 1d6 Turns.	Gas, when the treasure is disturbed or a container opened gas is released, the gas can be Poisonous causing death in 1d10 Turns or 1d6 damage, Paralysing 1d6 Turns, or Blinding 1d6 Turns.
7	Acid, there is a 3-in-6 chance acid sprays from walls, ceilings, or floors when a square is stepped on, the acid causes 1d6 injury to flesh and/or dissolves weapons and armor if these items fail a F0 Saving Throw vs. Death.	Acid, when the treasure is disturbed acid sprays either from a container or from a nearby object or other location , the acid causes 1d6 injury to flesh and/or dissolves weapons and armor if these items fail a F0 Saving Throw vs. Death.
8	Chute, there is a 3-in-6 chance the chute will open when its cover is stepped on, the character then falls into the chute, they are not harmed, but involuntarily descend to the level below, chutes cannot be climbed. This table result will cause a map redraw.	Magic Spell, when the treasure is disturbed or a container opened a magical spell of levels 1-3 is released; suggestions for spells are: Cause Light Wounds, Magic Missile, Sleep, Phantasmal Force, Web, Wizard Lock, Silence 15’ Radius, Fireball.

For our description we write the following:

9. This room is empty. It doesn’t look like anyone has been here in a long time.

Secret Ref Info: This room contains a 10’ deep pit that is concealed where the map is marked with a triangle. There is a false door in the west wall. There is a secret door in the east wall but the trap prevents easy access to it. When a character steps in the square with the triangle there is a 3-in-6 chance the pit will open, there is a 1-in-2 chance that falling causes 1d6 points of damage.

When the Result is Special

Specials are simply the most fun ever. These are often strongly connected to a theme which can be almost anything from the supernatural to the ordinary work of those seeking to prevent their treasure from being plundered, from suspicious Dwarves to scheming Wizards, etc.

Consulting your Contents table roll the dice, usually 1d6, and see what you get. If our result is a 4, assuming we are looking at a BX table, going down the numbered Die Roll column for the dice result and moving right in the Result Column we find a Special is present. Your rules may vary but the concept is the same. There is no chance of an Unguarded Treasure. In my opinion Specials ought to have a 1-in-6 chance of Unguarded Treasure.

There is no table for Specials because, like traps, you are meant to either choose from the suggestions in the text or invent your own. The following table is my own invention, provided as a sampling of some unusual but purposeful Specials. Rolling 1d8, moving down the die roll column we find 7 and move right to the description, Magic Door. We can choose from one of the options.

Die Roll	Special
1	A sliding block which closes off a passage, it does not open for 1d6 Turns unless it is forced open. These blocks often move randomly roll 1d4, 1. North, 2. South, 3. West, 4. East.
2	A ghostly lantern floats in the air and leads in the direction of a nearby treasure for 1d12 Turns. It moves 60’ per Turn. The lantern will advance ahead of the player characters if they move in the correct direction and stop when the room containing the treasure is reached; it will vanish when the time limit expires.
3	Ghastly Fog, when a character enters the ghastly fog they hear whispers and moans; it switches the minds of characters for 1d12 Turns, players make saving throws vs. Spells in pairs of characters, when one of the two players fails their character’s saving throw they temporarily switch player characters. Fogs cannot be seen through meaning characters are effectively blind while in fog.
4	A magic door appears for 1d6 Turns in a nearby wall which 3-in-6 leads to another room one level below or above the current one.
5	Ghostly Effect, one of the following; a door opens and closes by itself, a moan is heard, chains rattle, a shriek (check for wandering monsters), an item moves by itself, footsteps are heard nearby, a lantern light is seen in the distance for 1d6 rounds before extinguishing, a ball of light enters the room or corridor passing from one wall to the other, a message is drawn in dripping poisonous ichor on the wall, causing death in 1d10 Turns or 1d6 damage.
6	Statue, one of the following; the statue speaks revealing information which may be true or false, the statue points towards: the nearest monster, treasure, trap, or the nearest exit to the level above or below, the statue casts a magic spell once per day, the statue emits a gas, the statue sprays a liquid, passing the statue sounds a gong which attracts wandering monsters, when a part of the statue is moved it opens a secret or locked door.
7	Magic Door, the door is Wizard Locked but can be opened when one of the following conditions is met; it will open for a particular character class, it will open for a particular alignment, it will open only for monsters, it can be opened at a certain time of day for 1d6 Turns, it will open when a password is spoken, it will open when a special key is used or an item is presented.
8	Chute, there is a 3-in-6 chance the chute will open when its cover is stepped on, the character then falls into the chute, they are not harmed, but involuntarily descend to the level below, chutes cannot be climbed. This table result will cause a map redraw.

For our description we write the following:

16. This room contains shelves of preserves contained in sealed jars and pots which are now spoiled and unfit to eat. It doesn’t look like anyone has been here in a very long time as all the jars and pots are covered in dust. There are three boxes as well which are stacked in the southwest corner. On top of the boxes is a book.

Although there is no treasure indicated for a Special we can either roll randomly with a 1-in-6 indicating there is an Unguarded Treasure or simply decide to place something here. In the description which follows we can allow ourselves a little imagination, suggesting a story, or theme. It shouldn’t be too specific though so as not to paint ourselves into a corner.

Secret Ref Info: The secret door which permits entry to this room can only be opened by a Cleric, it is otherwise Wizard Locked. The book is actually a Magic User spell book containing the spells Invisibility, Knock, and Wizard Lock. There is a note tucked into the first page on a bit of parchment which says;

“While lost and running from that thing which hunts us I found this room by chance; a fortunate refuge indeed for it cannot enter. I hear it outside clawing at the door. I will wait for it to lose interest and then I will depart this underworld. I do not know where you are or where you went so I will wait for you at the entrance. I am leaving here what I cannot take with me as it will not do to be slowed from carrying overmuch.”

The three boxes are filled with straw which protects glass bottles containing unspoiled root beer and magical potions; two of Healing, one each of Invisibility, and Growth.

Stocking the Dungeon/Underworld

Broadly, the use of the Contents and Treasure tables in BX, or your rules, are intended to be repeated for every underworld room that is empty but you are not compelled to do so when you want a room to be empty. You have the power to choose and to place, or not place, monsters and treasures.

Themes

In BX it is suggested that you pick a theme for your underworld location well before beginning any of the above. Most of the BX suggested themes are a bit vague, intentionally so, but they are all built around the idea of exploring the underworld, fighting monsters, solving puzzles, and retrieving treasure in order to gain experience points which then permits the players to improve their characters.

If one of the stock themes is useful to the imagination by all means do so. However, what I am attempting to point out is that this is not strictly necessary, not at first. The risk is always that the players are not sympathetic to the theme, are not interested, or are not motivated by it. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big proponent of the background story but if you are just starting out and interested in the most fundamental part of the game, it is the dungeon adventure, and that story writes itself as it is played. You don’t have to commit to a campaign theme, not at first. You only really need a one level dungeon.

In Conclusion

It is my greatest hope that the above example is worthy of emulation. In the next article I’ll build on this further, providing full content for level 1, until next time!

Next Article Populating Level 1

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The Old School Dungeon – By Hand