GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons Helps You Recapture the Simplicity of Those Classic Dungeon Crawls for GURPS Fourth Edition, With
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At the dawn of roleplaying, a typical adventure consisted of meeting an old wizard in a tavern and following his dusty map to an underground complex filled with monsters. Running the game was easy, too: roll for monsters, randomly determine treasures, and move on to the next room. GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons helps you recapture the simplicity of those classic dungeon crawls for GURPS Fourth Edition, with: • Quick-and-dirty rules for more than 100 dungeon-specific tasks, covering preparation, exploration, skullduggery, combat, and looting. • Suggestions on planning dungeons; filling them with traps, creatures, and treasures; and getting rumors out to the adventurers. • Notes on balancing encounters so that players are worried but still have a fair chance (unless they deserve to be stomped!). • Monster-design guidelines, with 19 sample creatures from the ever-popular dire wolf to the freakish mindwarper. • Advice on such game-mastering challenges as handling player knowledge, giving out treasure, speeding up combat, keeping everybody involved, and adjudicating divine intervention. Because sometimes you want realism, and sometimes you want to burst into a 10¥10 room, slaughter the orcs, and see what’s in the chest! By Sean Punch Cover Art by Bob Stevlic Illustrations by Thomas Baxa, Kent Burles, Denis Loubet, Ed Northcott, and Dan Smith 1ST EDITION,1ST PRINTING PUBLISHED AUGUST 2008 ISBN 978-1-55634-788-7 9!BMF@JA:RSVWWVoY`Z\Z]ZnZj Printed in $12.95 SJG 01-8972 the USA TM Written by SEAN PUNCH Cover Art by BOB STEVLIC Illustrated by THOMAS BAXA, KENT BURLES, DENIS LOUBET, ED NORTHCOTT, and DAN SMITH STEVE JACKSON GAMES ® Stock #01-8972 Version 1.1 – August 2008 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . 2 Monsters . 9 Tavern Tales and Moldy Books . 17 Combat. 10 Fiendish Traps. 19 CONTENTS . 2 No “I” in “Teamwork” Perilous Encounters . 20 (No Profit Without It) . 11 Monsters and Player Knowledge . 20 1. DUNGEON-CRAWLING . 3 After the Battle . 12 Combat Rules. 27 About GURPS . 3 Loot . 13 Treasure . 28 Getting Ready to Go . 3 Disposing of the Spoils. 14 Beyond the Dungeon . 29 Travel . 5 Last Ditch. 15 Making Everybody Useful . 30 Exploring the Dungeon . 6 Breaking and Entering . 7 2. MASTERING DUNGEONS. 16 INDEX . 31 Traps and Hazards . 8 Dungeon Design . 16 INTRODUCTION The term “dungeon” refers to a simple fantasy adventure. GM what corners to cut and calls to make when his only goal Typically, the PCs wander from room to room, killing monsters is a fast-and-loose dungeon crawl. and grabbing treasure . A “dungeon” can also be a building, The shortcuts and rules of thumb that follow probably battleship, space station, etc. If the adventurers are dropped into aren’t very sensible outside a dungeon crawl. GURPS is gener- a limited area, with little or no goal except to grab what they can ic, but this stuff isn’t – it’s all about adapting generic rules to and get out alive, it’s a “dungeon.” the dungeon fantasy environment. – GURPS Basic Set Dungeon Fantasy: Dungeons is About the Author about what heroes created using Sean “Dr. Kromm” Punch set out to become a Dungeon Fantasy: Adventurers actu- particle physicist and ended up as the GURPS ally do: raid dungeons! For players, it Line Editor. Since 1995, he has compiled the two offers pragmatic advice on how to GURPS Compendium volumes, written GURPS (ab)use advantages and skills from the Wizards and GURPS Undead, edited or revised Basic Set before, during, and after a over 20 other GURPS books, and masterminded dungeon crawl. For the GM, it pro- rules for dozens more. Most recently, he created vides tips on how to keep dungeon the GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition with coau- adventures challenging but fun. thor David Pulver, wrote GURPS Powers with Like all Dungeon Fantasy titles, coauthor Phil Masters, and wrote GURPS this isn’t a self-contained game – it’s a Martial Arts with coauthor Peter V. Dell’Orto. play aid. It gives quick-and-dirty rules Sean has been a fanatical gamer since 1979. His that are (mostly) compatible with the non-gaming interests include cinema, computers, Basic Set but that don’t require and wine. He lives in Montréal, Québec with his gamers to search 576 pages to find wife, Bonnie. They have two cats, Banshee and them. Most important, it shows the Zephyra, and a noisy parrot, Circe. GURPS System Design ❚ STEVE JACKSON Managing Editor ❚ PHILIP REED Marketing Director ❚ PAUL CHAPMAN GURPS Line Editor ❚ SEAN PUNCH Art Director ❚ WILL SCHOONOVER Sales Manager ❚ ROSS JEPSON e23 Manager ❚ PAUL CHAPMAN Production Artists ❚ ALEX FERNANDEZ Errata Coordinator ❚ FADE MANLEY Page Design ❚ PHILIP REED and –––– and PHILIP REED GURPS FAQ Maintainer ❚ JUSTIN DE WITT Indexer ❚ THOMAS WEIGEL VICKY “MOLOKH” KOLENKO Prepress Checker ❚ WILL SCHOONOVER Playtesters: Paul Chapman, Philip Reed, and Thomas Weigel GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Dungeon Fantasy, Pyramid and the names of all products published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are registered trademarks or trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, or used under license. GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons is copyright © 2008 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. All rights reserved. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. 2 CONTENTS Spells like Glow and Sunlight eliminate penalties over EXPLORING THE DUNGEON their entire area of effect. One of the most useful things a cast- Huzzah! The party is now at the gates of the Durance of er can do when combat starts is cast such a spell! Doom or Tunnels of Terror. Time to see lots of monsters and For simplicity’s sake, assume that if the party has any area- kill them and take their treasure! This works best with a little effect source, vision and combat are possible at -3 out to triple forethought. the range of the best source; e.g., 6 yards if a torch, 12 yards if a 4-yard-radius Sunlight spell. After that, the ambient level Mapping applies: -3 for the lamps and candles in an evil temple, -8 for glowing slime, or total darkness for shadowy tunnel. Traditionally, the GM describes what the PCs see and the Other lights throw a beam that eliminates darkness penal- players attempt to map it. Players and GM alike should read ties in a path 1 yard wide, in the direction of the carrier’s Player-Made Maps (p. B491) to understand how this works. choice (pointing it is a free action each turn), out to a fixed For the players to be allowed to make a map in the real range: world, a party member must serve as “mapper” in the game world. He requires ink, paper, and two free hands. He can’t Helmet Lamp*: 5 yards carry a ready torch, shield, weapon, etc. Bull’s-Eye Lantern, Light Jet spell: 10 yards When using the map (e.g., to predict where a tunnel comes out) leads to nonsense results, the players can ask the GM for Marching Order help. He’ll make a secret Cartography roll for the mapper. Success means he explains what’s wrong so that the players The party should establish one marching order for traveling can correct their map. Failure means he smiles smugly. On a single-file down narrow passages, another for moving two critical failure, he pretends it’s a success and lies! Even a good abreast along typical interior corridors, and a third for walking map of a twisted and weird dungeon will seem wrong – the GM three abreast in spacious hallways. Be sure to note gaps should never reveal that. (between, to one side, etc.). It usually makes sense to put peo- ple who know Traps in front, fighters with long weapons behind those with short ones, and delvers with missile weapons where they’ll have a clear shot. Positioning casters demands careful thought. Placing them in front lets them detect supernatural dangers but exposes them to physical ones better faced by nimble thieves and armored knights. Putting them in back lets them cast unmolested . unless attacked from behind. They’re probably safest in the middle and/or protected by a tougher buddy. When it becomes important to know who can see by what light sources, trips a trap, is in front (or back!) when the monsters Light Sources come, etc., the GM will use the current order. If the players In a typical dungeon, the party will be blind without light want to change this, they must tell the GM. Otherwise . too sources. Most lights require a hand, which can’t be used for bad. combat. Those marked * below are hands-free, and the first choice for fighters who must carry their own light. A light usually eliminates darkness penalties to combat and Hidden Doors vision, for everyone, in a semicircle in front of the bearer – Secret Doors: Secret doors are things like pieces of wall that who’s presumably holding it so that he can see: spring open, altars that roll aside, and fireplaces that drop into the floor to reveal hidden portals – but only when some hard- Candle, Continual Light spell (level 1)*, Light spell*: 1 yard to-find control is manipulated. Finding them always requires Continual Light spell (level 2)*, Glow Vial*, Lantern, Torch: an active search; the GM rolls secretly against the highest of 2 yards Vision, Observation, or Per-based Traps for each searcher.