• Dungeon,  Dungeon23,  Maps,  Megadungeon

    Week 7 & 8 of Dungeon23

    I didn’t do too bad these 2 weeks. For week 7, I completed all the remaining tables. For week 8, I worked on room descriptions, completed the map and started inking it. I didn’t finish inking it because I kind of want to draw items in the rooms but it makes my hands hurt drawing so small. Hopefully I will decide by the end of the month what I plan to do.

    Temple of Al’githaaz – 1st Floor
    Temple of Al’githaaz – 2nd Floor
  • Dungeon,  Dungeon23,  Maps,  Megadungeon

    Week 5 & 6 of Dungeon23

    Unfortunately these 2 weeks I haven’t gotten much done because of headaches, then getting the flu and a sinus infection. I’m still not feeling well. So this is just a quick update.

    Level 2 is The Temple of Al’githaaz which is below the basement of the manor. I decided that several of the tables or some parts of some of the tables from level 1 will be reused. It made sense that some of the monsters and things from that level would also be seen in this level.

    For week 5, I was only able to get some tables done. I finished the vermin, minion, quest and special features tables. I was unable to do any mapping. For week 6, I didn’t get anything done as I spent it resting and trying to get better.

    Hopefully I will feel much better this coming week and will be able to be more productive.

  • Dungeon,  Dungeon23,  Maps,  Megadungeon

    Week 4 of Dungeon23

    I didn’t get as much as I wanted done this week. I’ve been busy and have also been dealing with headaches which have made it a little hard to concentrate. I did get the last of the tables finished; which included the boss, weird monster, magic weapons, epic rewards and quest tables. The only table not completed is the special wandering monsters which can’t be completed until the megadungeon is done or almost done as it will include monsters from the other levels. I’m still not close to finishing the clues, secrets, journal pieces and boss fight sections. I don’t think I will be able to complete all that in the few days left of the month but that’s ok. I will just keep working on them into February.

    Below are the completed maps for the 3rd floor and attic. I also completed the basement. This way all the mapping is done and I can work on the few things I have left for this level.

    3rd Floor of Blackwood Manor
    Attic of Blackwood Manor
    Basement of Blackwood Manor
  • Dungeon,  Dungeon23,  Maps,  Megadungeon

    Week 2 & 3 of Dungeon23

    Well I forgot to post week 2 and it was almost time to post week 3 so I decided to just combine the posts. For week 2, I finished the last rooms on the 1st floor of the Manor and several rooms on the 2nd floor. I was able to complete the following tables, special events, empty room search, hidden treasure complication, treasure and scrolls. For week 3 I finished the second floor and did several rooms on the 3rd floor. I also finished the traps, magic treasure, special features and minions tables.

    Below is the complete 1st floor, complete 2nd floor and some from the 3rd floor. I still haven’t inked them and probably won’t until the end of the month or beginning of next month.

    1st Floor of Blackwood Manor
    2nd Floor of Blackwood Manor
    3rd Floor of Blackwood Manor
  • Dungeon,  Dungeon23,  Maps,  Megadungeon

    Week 1 of Dungeon23

    For this week, I worked on some of the rooms on the first floor of Blackwood Manor. I also worked on a few of the tables for this months level. I was able to complete the room contents, vermin and wandering monsters tables. I also put a good dent into the special events table. As I mentioned in my previous Dungeon23 post, I made the tables with 12 things instead of the usual 6 as I didn’t want it to get boring and I decided to make the room contents table have 18. Only exception currently is the wandering monster table which I kept at 6.

    I have not inked my rooms yet, as I still have two more rooms I want to include on the first floor of the manor. Once I am done with them I will start inking. Below are the first 7 rooms.

  • Dungeon,  Dungeon23,  Maps,  Megadungeon

    Dungeon23

    For 2023, I had originally planned on creating a dungeon a day but then I came across Dungeon23 created by Sean McCoy. For dungeon23 you create a megadungeon which includes 12 levels and 365 rooms. Each month is a level and you create a room a day. This seems much more doable than my original plan, so I have decided to participate in it.

    I was going to create the dungeon for D&D but I’ve never played it as I only play solo games. Though I’m hoping to play it solo sometime next year. So I’ve decided to create my dungeon for Four Against Darkness.

    For Four Against Darkness you usually roll on a room contents table to determine what’s in a room, such as treasure, special features or the monster type you find there. So I will be creating that table but I plan to also have some rooms with more specific information which won’t require rolling on the room content table. I will also be creating the various monster tables. Usually the tables only have 6 monsters each. I plan to create monster tables with at least 12 monsters each, that way it doesn’t get repetitive. I plan to avoid using the typical dungeon monsters like, orcs, goblins, trolls, etc. I will also be creating treasure, trap, special features, events and quest tables. Each level will have its own set of tables.

    I’m calling my dungeon, “The Twisted Depths of Blackwood Manor”. Below is a brief introduction to the dungeon.

    Rumors say, the Blackwoods were a wealthy family who worshiped a demon by the name of Al'githaaz. One night, one of their rituals went awry and the manor, surrounding area, people and animals were sucked into a portal and vanished. Now every year on the anniversary of its disappearance, the manor returns near a random town. It lures adventurers, thieves and curious folk to it. Then it disappears. Sometimes in a day, a week or even months after appearing. Those who enter the manor are never seen again. 
    
    Can your characters survive the twisted depths of Blackwood Manor or will they be trapped forever? 

    I will be using some Mead Quad/College Ruled composition notebooks that I bought for my husband for D&D a few years back. Half the page is a grid and the other half is ruled. I will use it for creating a quick sketch of the room, creating the tables and a brief description if needed. I will also be using a Mead Cambridge Quad Ruled Pad to draw all the rooms together. I will ink the dungeon using Sakura Micron Pens.

    I plan to post weekly on Instagram & Twitter. I will also do monthly posts of the completed level on here.

  • Artifact,  Pen & Paper Games,  Solo Games,  Solo RPG,  This Person Should Not Exist

    This Person Should Not Exist

    This Person Should Not Exist is a solo artifact making game of surveillance weird horror by Speak the Sky. It can be found on itch.io. For this game you need a Where’s Waldo/Where’s Wally book from the main series that has 12 2-page spreads that contain all the nine “Entities of Power” which are people and objects you have to search for, sticky notes, a marker like a sharpie and a pen. A quick note, the book should be one published in 1997 or later, as earlier editions don’t have all the things you need to find.

    You work as an analyst for a secret organization which deals with occult threats to humanity and are assigned the case of the Man Who Should Not Exist, who is a dangerous supernatural entity. Your job is to look at photographs and video stills from before a calamity happened which were caused by rituals the Man Who Should Not Exist did for an even greater being of power.

    There are twelve cases and in each you find the Man Who Should Not be Named, circle him, cross out his eyes and write a different short prayer around the circle each time in the hope to stay safe. You then have to find the Entities of Power. For every three Entities of Power you locate, you draw lines between them to form a triangle. Once you find all the Entities of Power, you should have three triangles. In each triangle you will find a person of interest for the case you are currently working on and add a sticky note with a codename, answer that case’s question and include at least one Entity of Power from that triangle in the answer. The last thing is to find objects and people that the Man Who Should Not Exist has contaminated and mark them either by blotting out their face or drawing a rectangle around the objects to identify them as kill zones. Contamination can be identified by the red and white stripes that have spread throughout the area.

    I really enjoyed this game. It was different from any other solo game I have played so far. I’ve actually never done a Where’s Waldo Book until this game. I used the first Where’s Waldo book. I used kraken post it notes from Muze Lab to write the case file notes. Since they had a kraken on them I decided my secret organization was called The Order of the Kraken and their prayers are always to the kraken god. I messed up while playing my game. I forgot to use codenames and I didn’t always include an entity of power when answering the questions. 

    My book had some spreads that had duplicate entities of power. I marked them with a question mark and wrote that maybe they were using it as a decoy or a duplicate to make sure their ritual succeeded. My book also had an extra scene on the inner back cover. It was part of the background from the first spread in the book and then people and characters from various spreads in the book. So I created my own question.

    Case File #13: Has He Returned?
    It seems the MWSNE may have already returned. (What did our agents observe to make them believe he has returned?)

    I do think the game can be replayed a few times as long as a different Where’s Waldo/Where’s Wally book is used. Since the scenes would be different, you’d create different answers to the questions. I hope the creator will someday come out with an expansion with different cases and questions.

    Below are a couple of spreads from my book. You can click on them to view a larger image.

    Case File #3 – Ritual Observations #1
    Case File #13 – Has He Returned?
  • Dwarf Mine,  Map Drawing Games,  Pen & Paper Games,  Solo Games,  Solo RPG

    Dwarf Mine: Barrier Mountains

    Dwarf Mine: Barrier Mountains is a sci-fi expansion to Dwarf Mine, which is a solo map making adventure game created by James Hron of Paper Dice Games. I was given this expansion and the main game for free in exchange for an honest review.

    “The Barrier Mountains are the site of a strange falling star from years ago! Your mine will strike the earth at the Barrier Mountains, and uncover the secrets of an ancient artifact buried deep below. Will you discover its secrets? Or will your mine fall to the odd creatures that inhabit these mountains? Play to find out, as your mine tells its story!”

    Barrier Mountains requires Dwarf Mine to play and includes a few new rules and rooms. Just like Dwarf Mine, the rules in this expansion are easy to learn. The core game play is the same as Dwarf Mine; play happens in three phases: your turn, treasure and combat, and persistent events. The game ends when all your dwarves are dead.

    There is a new mountainscape and, in the center of the mountain, is a ship which includes 4 of the new rooms. The rooms are crew quarters, med bay, security armory, and the ship’s bridge. To access the rooms on the ship, you will need to build a hallway or ladder to the rooms’ doors and you will need keys in the colors of the rooms. Once you have the key for a room, either through research or being found, you will then have access to its benefit. The benefits include rolling for more gold per turn, increasing your laser attack, rolling to regain some population during combat, or rolling an additional die when using any of the ship’s room benefits. The research lab is the last new room. It allows you to research a key once per turn.

    The new mountainscape has numbers along the x and y axes. These numbers are for when you use grid dice. You roll grid dice to determine where a plantoid will grow. Plantoids are an enemy that, when you encounter them, you roll a d20 for the x-axis and a d20 for the y-axis to see where it will grow in the mountain. If it grows in a room, you will lose that room’s benefit until the plantoid is destroyed. If they grow in an area not built on yet, you will not be able to build there until you destroy it. In order to destroy the plantoid, you must have or build a room, ladder, or hallway adjacent to it.

    You also get a new attack die which fits into the sci-fi theme as well; the laser attack die. If you find a laser pistol, laser rifle, or gain access to the security room, you gain the laser attack die. During combat, you can then roll both the attack die and the laser attack die, adding the results of both to get the total damage you will inflict on your enemy. The laser attack die has its own dice chain. The dice chain is as follows: 0 – d8 – d10 – d12 – d20 – 2d10 – 2d12 – 2d20 – 3d20 – 4d20. You go up the dice chain as you find laser pistols, laser rifles and orange keys. The laser attack die is very useful, since quite a few of the enemies have a lot of health.

    There are also ignition codes. If you find an ignition code and all of the ship’s rooms can be used, you may use the code to fire up the ship’s engines and ignore the result of one combat roll. Ignition codes can only be used once but you can find multiple ignition codes to use.

    Besides the regular enemies like dire wolves and cave bears, there are also sci-fi themed enemies like metal men, aliens, plantoids, and plantoid vines.There are four Barrier Mountain bosses which you roll a d4 to determine which one you will face. There is a Frogling Supreme Commander who has a 4d20 attack. The Ship’s A.I. which does not attack but, if not defeated, you will lose access to all of the ship’s rooms and their benefits. A Seed that doesn’t attack but all plantoids will move towards it and, if they reach the room the Seed is in or are all killed the Seed, becomes a mega-plantoid. The last boss is a Xenolien which you can choose to fight or try to hide. If you hide, you roll the Xenolien’s attack die to see how many dwarves it targets. Then for each dwarf you roll a d6. On a 4 or higher the dwarf was able to hide and, on a 3 or less, they were found and eaten.

    I enjoyed this expansion. I like the sci-fi theme and the new game mechanics. Especially the laser die and the ship’s benefits. You do have to be strategic when placing buildings since the ship is part of the mountain so there is less building space. Unlike the main game, the Barrier Mountains expansion does not have achievements. I think it would be nice to include some achievements specific to this expansion, like ones for each of the bosses, maybe one for having a lot of plantoids or destroying a lot of plantoids. For all of my playthroughs, I also used the Bloodlines and More Rooms expansions found in the main game.

    In one of my playthroughs, I was able to finally beat my first Dwarf Mine boss, the Frogling Supreme Commander. In my next playthrough, I lost all the ship’s benefits because the A.I. survived and then my dwarves were decimated by the Frogling Supreme Commander. I’m looking forward to playing again and hoping my dwarves can go up against the Xenolien. For the mine where I killed my first boss, I lasted 15 years with 306 prestige. For my last playthrough, I lasted 22 years with 207 prestige.

    Below is the brief history of the last mine I played:

    Thinher Bolhak the Glorious had heard of the stories of the falling star at Barrier Mountains. He had always been curious about it and decided to build his mine, Xulboram there in the hopes of learning more about this fallen star. As they delved further in the mountain they discovered the fallen star was a ship and he immediately had his people build a research lab to find a way into the ship. Eventually they had access to the whole ship and reveled in its benefits. As they delved deeper they encountered plantoids, a synthetic plant like organism. They were able to destroy several. They also encountered metal men and frogling aliens. But then the ship came alive. They tried to defeat the A.I. but unfortunately were unable to and lost access to all the ships benefits. Before they could get over their defeat, they were attacked by the Frogling Supreme Commander and were slaughtered.
    Map of Xulboram.
  • Dwarf Mine,  Map Drawing Games,  Pen & Paper Games,  Solo Games,  Solo RPG

    Dwarf Mine

    Dwarf Mine is a solo map making adventure game created by James Hron of Paper Dice Games. I was given the game and its expansion Barrier Mountains for free in exchange for an honest review. The review for Barrier Mountains will go up sometime next week.

    “Dwarf Mine is a game about drawing and designing a mine, uncovering treasure, and surviving the dangers of the mountain.

    In Dwarf Mine, you will draw your mine on graph paper, roll dice to determine what gold, gems, or other treasure you’ve discovered, and (hopefully) defeat monsters in combat, keeping your mine alive and thriving!

    By the end of your game, you’ll have created a rich and unique history for your mine – no two games are the same!”

    Besides the main rules, Dwarf Mine also comes with four mini expansions:

    • “Mountain Creation” which allows you to customize the mountain by creating inaccessible caves and adding treasure to the last level. 
    • “More than a Dragon” gives you different enemies to fight at the end. Besides the dragon, you could fight the First of the Stone Folk, the Mother Root or a Goblin Invasion. 
    • “Bloodlines” helps you create your dwarf leader and gives you a random unique ability. 
    • “More Rooms” can help your mine quite a bit but can also make your mine a little challenging to design.

    To play the game you need the mine sheet and Mountainscape grid, which can be found on the Paper Dice Games website, writing/drawing tool and several dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 and d20) or a dice app.

    The rules are easy to learn so you can start playing within minutes. The game is played in three phases; your turn, treasure and combat, and persistent events. During your turn you add a year to the age of your mine, build halls and ladders, build as many rooms as you can afford, and use the benefits of any rooms. Some rooms have one time use benefits and others have benefits you can use each turn. Rooms must be connected to a built section of your mine by a hall or a ladder. 

    In the treasure and combat phase, you can roll for treasure as long as you have built at least one hall, ladder or room. To determine your treasure you roll a d8 and add your mine’s age. You then look at the table for the mine level you are in to see what treasure you receive. Once that is done you roll for combat. The combat roll is made in the same way as the treasure roll; roll a d8 and add your mine’s age and then look at the table for the mine level you are in. You will then enter into combat. Combat is simultaneous; which means your mine attacks the enemy and the enemy attacks your mine at the same time. You roll your current attack die and add any modifiers to determine the damage dealt to your enemy. Then you roll the enemy’s attack die, plus any abilities they have, to determine the damage your mine receives. For any damage received, you lose an equal amount of population. You continue with simultaneous attacks until the enemy has no health (you win) or your mine’s population is zero (your mine is lost.) 

    In the persistent phase, certain enemies will continue to impact your mine until they are defeated or leave your mine. Persistent enemies only attack once in normal combat. There are specific rules for each persistent enemy that you follow during the persistent phase. You can attack them as many times as you want during this phase and, if you defeat them, you earn prestige equal to their original health. Your mine level increases by one if they leave or you kill them.

    The game inevitably ends when your entire population is dead. Once this happens, you add up your prestige and mine age to use as a final score. Then you can compare it to previous games or to your friends’ games.

    I had a lot of fun playing the game despite my mines and dwarves not surviving for many years. During my first couple of playthroughs, I just played the game without the expansions; that way I could get a hang of the base game. All the other playthroughs included some or all of the expansions. I liked how the mine could only be so many levels, which meant as you designed it, you had to try to plan well since eventually you would run out of space. Though I wouldn’t mind an expansion that allowed for a few more levels. I also liked the dice attack chain which went from a d4 to a d20. As you build barracks your attack die moves up the chain or, if you get a specific ability in the Bloodlines expansion, you can start higher in the chain. Some enemies can also have their attack die go up the dice chain as well. 

    I liked all the mini expansions, especially Bloodlines for the special ability it gave my dwarf leaders, and More Rooms for the benefits the extra rooms could give. I also appreciated the dwarf leader name table included in Bloodlines. I am terrible at naming things so this made it easy. There is also a room name table on Appendix 2 if you don’t want to always name your barracks “barracks” or hovels “hovel”.

    Finally, there are also achievements that you can earn during multiple plays. Achievements give all your future dwarf leaders a title they can use. I like the idea of achievements, however I wish some of them had a benefit to using them. For example, if you completed the Kill the Dragon achievement, when you use the title Dragonslayer on one of your dwarf leaders, you’d get 10 more gold at the start of your mine creation or an advantage against any future dragons fought. I don’t think all of them should have a benefit but it would be nice with the bigger achievements.

    I definitely plan to play this game more. I want to last more than 17 years and really would like to finally defeat an end game enemy. Dragons are mean and the First of the Stone Folk is even worse. If you’ve played Dwarf Mine, what was your best playthrough? If you haven’t, let me know if you beat my current best of 17 years with 133 prestige!

    Below is the brief history of the last mine I played:

    King of the Mountain, Gimhar Bulheft, built Karak Darum in the hopes of giving his people a prosperous place to live. He did not fear battle and his bravery gave his people strength and courage. The early years went smoothly. The mine prospered and, though they fought many enemies, they easily defeated them. But then things changed; their luck seemed to run out. Several stone folk broods dwindled their population and, on the final day of Karak Darum, they encountered the First of the Stone Folk. Having no room to imprison the enemy, they decided to bravely charge the First of the Stone Folk, knowing they would not survive.
    My map for Karak Darom.
    Note: The Darom Military Academy is not drawn correctly. Its the right length but the smaller sections should be shorter in height.

  • Alone Against Fear,  Pen & Paper Games,  Solo Games,  Solo RPG,  The Coming of the Dark Templars

    The Coming of the Dark Templars: An Adventure for Alone Against Fear

    The Coming of the Dark Templars is an adventure for Alone Against Fear by Andrea Sfiligoi. In this adventure the Dark Templars, who were demon worshipping knights have come back to life due to the events that occurred in Alone Against Fear. They have come back to punish the descendants of those that tortured and killed them. This adventure comes with a map of the town where the dark templars are located. There are also new skills like lockpicking and medieval swords.

    In this adventure you start at a random numbered location and move from numbered location to numbered location. Each time you stop at a location you read the entry for it and some locations have tables you have to roll on as well. You can also travel between towns. The first time you won’t have to roll to see if you encounter something but all other travels between the towns you will have to roll on a couple of tables in the core book.

    Some of the knights are blind but possess supernatural senses that help them find their victims by sound and hear their heart beat. So if you decide to sneak by one you will first have to do a will roll. If successful your heart beat remains steady and you can then do a stealth roll. If unsuccessful then your heart beat will let the knight know you are there and you can’t perform a stealth roll. There are also knights that are immune to bullets and ranged weapons. In my game however I allowed ray guns. I understand why arrows, bolts and bullets might not work on the knights armor but I felt that an alien ray gun wouldn’t have a problem.

    I enjoyed the adventure. However The Village of the Living Dolls is still my favorite. I wish there had been more info on the dark templars. One of the things I liked in The Village of the Living Dolls was that as you searched the town you found more info on the history of the town. In The Coming of the Dark Templars there really wasn’t much of that. Though it could be possible that there is some info but I just didn’t come across it during my play through. This adventure was also a lot shorter than both the core game and The Village of the Living Dolls.

    My character, Sam encountered various knights, saved 2 citizens, learned how to lockpick, convinced a priest to bless the water tower though she never got to use it and then found out how to defeat the knights and was successful.