Draconic Dungeons

[Sanctaphrax]

I've said before that DFRPG is a good system for a dungeon crawl. But nobody seems to have tried to use it that way.

So I'm taking a shot at a pre-written adventure. It's Chest Deep, uses the RAW, and is supposed to be as dungeon-crawly as possible. I read the Tomb Of Horrors for inspiration.

First up, sample PCs. All Chest Deep, all fairly powerful, all suited to this sort of adventure.

I haven't written backstories for them yet, but I'm pretty sure I know where I'm going to go for each's life story.

I wrote a lot of these, because I wanted to show off DFRPG's flexibility and the great number of viable combat builds in it.

Questions, comments, suggestions, and random insults are all welcome.

Ian Redding (Chest Deep)

High Concept: Tomb Robber
Trouble Aspect: A Bit Of A Coward
Other Aspects: Pragmatic To A Fault, Danger Sense
Skills:
Superb: Alertness, Guns
Great: Stealth, Athletics
Good: Burglary, Endurance
Fair: Deceit, Discipline
Average: Conviction, Fists
Stunts:
Trapfinder (Alertness): Use Alertness to search for traps and secret doors.
Trap Sense (Alertness): May "search" for traps and secret doors just by walking by them.
On My Toes (Alertness): +2 to initiative.
Hide In Plain Sight (Stealth): +2 to Stealth when maneuvering to create an Aspect based on being hidden in combat.
Sneak Attack (Guns): +2 stress when ambushing or invoking an Aspect created with Ninja Style.
Total Refresh Cost:
-3 (Pure Mortal)
Refresh Total:
5

Asim Mifsud (Chest Deep)

High Concept: Warrior-Runesmith
Trouble Aspect: Inconvenient Moral Principles
Other Aspects: Raised By Dwarves, Melee Fighter
Skills:
Superb: Weapons, Lore
Great: Craftsmanship, Might
Good: Endurance, Alertness
Fair: Athletics, Discipline
Average: Conviction, Fists
Stunts:
Power Attack (Weapons): Take -1 to hit in order to increase weapon rating by 3.
Powers:
Ritual (Crafting) [-2]
Refinement [-4]
Magic:
Foci: Anvil (+3 crafting strength), Hammer (+1 crafting frequency)
Enchanted Items: Sword (weapon 3 normally, weapon 8 4x/session), Plate Armour (armor 2 normally, armor 5 twice/session), Shield (block 8 4x/session), Ring Of Trap Detection (8 Investigation to find traps twice/session), Winged Boots (8 Athletics to jump or sprint twice/session), 3 "potion" slots (strength 8, two uses each)
Total Refresh Cost:
-7
Refresh Total:
1

Chadwick Merriweather (Chest Deep)

High Concept: Adventurer
Trouble Aspect: Risk Junkie
Other Aspects: The Devil's Own Luck, On My Own
Skills:
Superb: Burglary, Athletics
Great: Stealth, Bows
Good: Investigation, Alertness
Fair: Discipline, Survival
Average: Conviction, Endurance
Stunts:
Evasion (Athletics): +2 to dodge area attacks.
Disable Device (Burglary): Use Burglary to disable traps.
Total Refresh Cost:
0 (Pure Mortal)
Refresh Total:
8

Firdoos Rahal (Chest Deep)

High Concept: Warrior
Trouble Aspect: In Debt To A Dragon
Other Aspects: I Don't Need Magic, In The Family Business
Skills:
Superb: Weapons, Might
Great: Athletics, Endurance
Good: Conviction, Alertness
Fair: Discipline, Intimidation
Average: Fists, Presence
Stunts:
Weapon Focus (Weapons): +1 to hit with trusty bastard sword.
Weapon Specialization (Weapons): +2 stress with trusty bastard sword.
Shield Expertise (Weapons): +2 to defend with Weapons using shield.
Block Everything (Weapons): Use Weapons to defend against ranged attacks.
Second Skin (Endurance): +1 physical armor while wearing full plate.
Kick The Door Down (Might): +2 to break things.
Total Refresh Cost:
-4 (Pure Mortal)
Refresh Total:
4

Jane (Chest Deep)

High Concept: Wandering Holy Warrior
Trouble Aspect: I'll Go Wherever God Sends Me
Other Aspects: Happy-Go-Lucky, Always At The Last Second
Skills:
Superb: Conviction, Guns
Great: Athletics, Alertness
Good: Endurance, Discipline
Fair: Rapport, Empathy
Average: Survival, Presence
Stunts:
Righteous (Conviction): +2 to Conviction when using it with Righteousness.
Closely Guided (Conviction): +2 to Conviction when using it with Guide My Hand.
Powers:
Righteousness [-2]
Guide My Hand [-1]
Total Refresh Cost:
-5
Refresh Total:
3

Grbas Htxzew (Chest Deep)

High Concept: Chaos Imp
Trouble Aspect: Free Will?
Other Aspects: Little Clown, More Dangerous Than He Looks
Skills:
Superb: Deceit, Athletics
Great: Alertness, Stealth
Good: Burglary, Conviction
Fair: Investigation, Discipline
Average: Rapport, Presence
Stunts:
Make You See A Thousand Of Me (Athletics): +2 to dodge that attacks of opponents with Aspects from Incite Confusion on them.
Powers:
Incite Potent Confusion At Range [-4]
Diminutive Size [-1]
Wings [-1]
Total Refresh Cost:
-7
Refresh Total:
1

Mike Ellsmere (Chest Deep)

High Concept: Gruff Changeling
Trouble Aspect: Way Too Loyal
Other Aspects: Not Subtle, Hugs For Everyone!
Skills:
Superb: Might, Endurance
Great: Fists, Athletics
Good: Conviction, Alertness
Fair: Discipline, Empathy
Average: Rapport, Presence
Stunts:
Wrestler (Might): +1 to maintain grapples.
Powers:
Supernatural Strength [-4]
Supernatural Toughness [-4]
The Catch (Cold Iron) [+3]
Total Refresh Cost:
-6
Refresh Total:
2

Mikhail Raskolnikov (Chest Deep)

High Concept: Pyromancer
Trouble Aspect: I Really Like Blowing Stuff Up
Other Aspects: Atrophied Wizardry, Very Very Old
Skills:
Superb: Conviction, Lore
Great: Discipline, Investigation
Good: Alertness, Athletics
Fair: Stealth, Craftsmanship
Average: Endurance, Deceit
Powers:
Channeling (Fire) [-2]
Refinement [-4]
The Sight [-1]
Soulgaze [-0]
Wizard's Constitution [-0]
Magic:
Foci: Right-Hand Staff (+4 offensive fire power), Left-Hand Staff (+5 offensive fire control), Belt (+1 defensive fire power)
Total Refresh Cost:
-7
Refresh Total:
1

Liliana Lambert (Chest Deep)

High Concept: Outsider Scion
Trouble Aspect: In Search Of Worth
Other Aspects: Pretty Big Freak, The Right Form For The Job
Skills:
Superb: Fists, Athletics
Great: Alertness, Might
Good: Endurance, Investigation
Fair: Discipline, Intimidation
Average: Conviction, Stealth
Powers:
Modular Abilities [-7]
Total Refresh Cost:
-7
Refresh Total:
1

Hikaru Kato (Chest Deep)

High Concept: Last Scion Of An Ancient Ninja Clan
Trouble Aspect: The Clan Is Broke
Other Aspects: As Fast As A Shadow, By The (Ninja) Book
Skills:
Superb: Weapons, Athletics
Great: Stealth, Alertness
Good: Endurance, Fists
Fair: Discipline, Investigation
Average: Burglary, Conviction
Stunts:
Too Fast To Hit (Athletics): +2 to dodge after moving at least two zones with last action.
Powers:
Cloak Of Shadows [-1]
Spider Climb [-1]
Supernatural Speed [-4]
Total Refresh Cost:
-7
Refresh Total:
1

Sarah Brown (Chest Deep)

High Concept: Werebeast
Trouble Aspect: I Just Want To Be A Watchmaker
Other Aspects: Methodical And Precise, Bestial Rage
Skills:
Superb: Craftsmanship, Investigation
Great: Burglary, Discipline
Good: Conviction, Alertness
Fair: Athletics, Empathy
Average: Endurance, Presence
Skills (Beast Form):
Superb: Fists, Athletics
Great: Might, Alertness
Good: Endurance, Conviction
Fair: Investigation, Discipline
Average: Empathy, Presence
Powers:
Beast Change [-1]
Human Form [+1] affecting:
Claws [-1]
Inhuman Strength [-2]
Inhuman Speed [-2]
Inhuman Toughness [-2]
Inhuman Recovery [-2]
The Catch (Silver) [+2]
Total Refresh Cost:
-7
Refresh Total:
1

Jasjot Malhotra (Chest Deep)

High Concept: The Person Who Carries John The Scythe
Trouble Aspect: Slowly Turning Into A Bloodthirsty Maniac
Other Aspects: Iron Self-Control, Inhuman Eyeballs
Skills:
Superb: Weapons, Discipline
Great: Investigation, Alertness
Good: Endurance, Conviction
Fair: Intimidation, Lore
Average: Presence, Athletics
Stunts:
Footwork (Weapons): Use Weapons to defend against all physical attacks.
Demonic Skill (Weapons): Additional +1 to hit when using Demonic Co-Pilot to benefit an attack.
Demonic Strength (Weapons): +2 stress when using Demonic Co-Pilot to benefit an attack.
Demonic Speed (Weapons): Additional +2 to defend when using Demonic Co-Pilot to benefit a defense roll.
Powers:
Item Of Power (John Evans) [+2] granting:
Demonic Co-Pilot [-1]
True Aim [-1]
Blood Drinker [-1]
Feeding Dependency (Blood) [+1] affecting:
Supernatural Recovery [-4]
The Catch (Holy Stuff) [+2]
Total Refresh Cost:
-7
Refresh Total:
1

Juan Cinqo (Chest Deep)

High Concept: Shield-o-mancer
Trouble Aspect: Much Too Nice
Other Aspects: Protector Of Mexico City, Catholic Monk
Skills:
Superb: Conviction, Discipline
Great: Lore, Alertness
Good: Endurance, Investigation
Fair: Rapport, Empathy
Average: Athletics, Presence
Stunts:
Reflexive Shield (Discipline): When attacked, may sacrifice next action to cast defensive Evocation.
Powers:
Channeling (Spirit) [-2]
Refinement [-2]
Magic:
Foci: Left Bracer (+3 defensive spirit control), Right Bracer (+3 defensive spirit power)
Total Refresh Cost:
-5
Refresh Total:
3

[tuttman1234]

Would this be a play by post? Don't have the capability to Skype or anything like that, but if that's not an issue, I'd be down for it. If you don't mind bringing along a DFRPG newb. I'm fairly well versed in role playing in general, but I've never used this system before. If that's cool, count me in for Asim.

[Sanctaphrax]

I do intend to run this as a play by post game once it's done. Not sure how long finishing it is going to take, though.

Regardless, I have no problem with bringing along a new player.

I'll contact you when the game's ready.

[tuttman1234]

Awesome. Haven't done a good crawl in a while. Should be fun.

[citadel97501]

I really like your shield-o-mancer, his powers and stunts could be a lot of fun, and frankly that stunt seems more balanced than the usual enchanted item user. 

With your permission, I would like to yoink him...

[tuttman1234]

Yeah, I liked him too, but I've always had a thing for playing characters with a dwarven background. Hence, Asim.

[Sanctaphrax]

Go ahead, yoink freely.

[Sanctaphrax]

And now, some backstory.

General:

The Nevernever is a strange place. It does not operate along the strict logic of the real world. Buildings can exist in the Nevernever without having been built by anyone, and ruins in the Nevernever may have come into existence already ruined. Pretty much anything imagined by humans can exist, simply because it was imagined by humans.

So it should surprise nobody that if you look around the Nevernever long enough, you'll find dark dungeons filled with monsters and treasure. The monsters and the treasure arise from the dungeons themselves, and when nobody is trying to rob the dungeons that they come from they don't exist completely.

For the most part, these dungeons are ignored by everyone except for a few determined treasure-seekers who live to raid them. But recently, one such dungeon became the centre of something rather important.

You see, the Dragon called Crysophylax died two weeks ago. But he didn't stop moving. In his desperate desire to continue existing, he turned to something that all proper Dragons find abhorrent: necromancy. Crysophylax reanimated himself, becoming something called a dracolich.

Unfortunately for him, he lost more than ninety-nine percent of his power in the process. And the rest of the world's Dragons think he should have stayed dead. They've put a billion-dollar bounty on his head, and if any of them catch sight of him they'll destroy him personally.

So now Crysophylax has been reduced to cowering beneath one of the Nevernever's dungeons, desperately trying to develop a necromantic ritual that would make him as strong as he used to be. Those familiar with the Darkhallow will notice a number of similarities between it and Crysophylax's spell.

Somebody needs to destroy Crysophylax now, if not sooner.

And as it happens, you know where he is. Maybe you can be a hero, and a wealthy one at that.

Ian Redding

Raiding the dungeons of the Nevernever is not an easy way to make a living. But if you have the skills, it can be a very profitable one. And Ian Redding has the skills. He's a mortal, he's been robbing dungeons for three decades, and he's not dead yet. His excellent instincts and his unfailing pragmatism have kept him alive where dozens of his peers have died.

Asim Mifsud

Asim Mifsud's mother was a Wizard, and a really bad parent. She knew how bad a parent she was, though, so she had the good sense to leave Asim with some dwarf friends of hers. Said dwarf friends raised Asim as one of their own, and in time his magical heritage helped him become a great runesmith. If Asim was willing to sit back and ignore evil, he could live an easy and well-compensated life as a master craftsman. But he isn't, so he frequently finds himself killing monsters in faraway corners of the Nevernever.

Chadwick Merriweather

Chadwick Merriweather was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. But the easy life held no appeal for him; he dropped out of university and abandoned his family to become a gentleman thief. He stole great works of art and left mocking notes for the police. When that got boring, he went out looking for adventure elsewhere. One thing led to another, and somehow Chadwick found himself in the Nevernever. There he discovered that the thrill of dungeon delving eclipsed anything else he'd tried, so he picked up a crossbow and became an adventurer.

Firdoos Rahal

Adventurers tend not to marry non-adventurers, and as such they tend to form adventuring families. Sometimes, adventuring families last for generations and become adventuring dynasties. Firdoos Rahal comes from one of those dynasties. The Rahal dynasty is a family of sorcerers that adventures in order to pay off a debt to the dragon Ferrovax, which has been passed down from generation to generation along with magical power and combat training. Unlike the rest of her family she isn't a spellcaster, but if you look down on her because of it you can expect a beating. Her strength, toughness, and combat skill are all incredible, but there's nothing magical about her. She's just that good. In fact, she might be good enough to pay off the family debt.

Jane

Jane isn't interested in talking about her past, or her future. She describes herself as a humble servant of god, an ambulatory extension of His will. This seems to suit her fine, given how incredibly cheerful she is. No matter how bad things get, by the grace of god she always saves the day in the end...so why worry?

Grbas Htxzew

A chaos imp is an incarnation of the world's fundamental randomness. It has no mind and no free will, and it exists only to act randomly. Unless it's named Grbas Htxzew. Grbas has a soul. Perhaps he's actually a human who was transformed into a chaos imp, or perhaps something stranger is going on. Regardless, Grbas is alone in the world and needs to find something to do with himself.

Mike Ellsmere

Changelings usually have pretty crappy lives. But Mike Ellsmere is an exception. His gruff father and mortal mother are very much in love, and they raised him very well. They never pressured him to make his Choice, and they did their best to teach him morals. As a result, Mike is an extremely friendly person. He's fond of hugs and cute things, and because he's seven feet tall nobody gives him any trouble about it. Left to his own devices Mike would probably just live an ordinary life, but his friends keep getting into trouble. And Mike would follow a friend to the gates of hell.

[Sanctaphrax]

Whoops, left out an important part of Firdoos's backstory. Editing...

Meanwhile, enjoy the rest of the backstories.

Mikhail Raskolnikov

If a Wizard doesn't practice, their powers can fade away. This is rarely a problem, since Wizards tend to cast spells all the time. But some rare Wizards, like Mikhail Raskolnikov, grow so obsessed with one type of magic that they become unable to cast spells outside that type. In Mikhail's case, the relevant type of magic was pyromancy. Mikhail's incredible enthusiasm for fiery destruction has turned him into a Focused Practitioner, incapable of slow and subtle spells. This is in some ways unfortunate, but it does have the advantage of making Mikhail much more dangerous than most 135-year-olds.

Liliana Lambert

When the nun Patricia Lambert became pregnant, some thought that the Virgin Birth of Jesus was being repeated. After all, Patricia was definitely a virgin. But when the child was born, it became obvious that it was nothing holy. Some of the convent's members wanted to kill the baby, but more merciful voices prevailed and young Liliana just had to grow up knowing that she was a monster in the eyes of God. Understandably, Liliana really wants to redeem her existence somehow.

Hikaru Kato

You know those crazy ninjas you see in pop culture? They really exist. They're as fast as shadows, as invisible as bullets, and as deadly as lightning. Unfortunately, they don't have very much money. Modern ninjas are too moral to kill for money, too secretive to reveal their powers in sporting events, and too specialized to get decent jobs. So Hikaru Kato, heir to the Kato Clan and a ninjutsu genius, has made it her life's work to bring wealth to her clan. She's having trouble, though, because she knows nothing at all about anything other than ninjutsu.

Sarah Brown

Generally, when a family receives the curse of the loup-garou, the curse travels down from parent to child in an orderly manner. But when a loup-garou has twins, things get a bit weird. Which is why Sarah Brown can turn into an enormous wolf-beast whenever she pleases. Some might be happy to have such an ability. Sarah is not. She just wants to make watches. Turning into a two-hundred-kilo rage-monster isn't part of her life plan. She's willing to do almost anything to gain the favour of a being powerful enough to turn her into a normal human.

Jasjot Malhotra

John Evans was a colonial British official, assigned to keep the peace in India. Like most such officials, he treated the natives badly. Unlike most such officials, he was prone to butchering his subjects with an eight-foot scythe. Eventually the locals began to hate him more than they feared the empire that backed him, so they dragged him out of bed in the middle of the night and killed him with his own scythe. Which was all well and good, until young Jasjot found the scythe in a riverbed. The soul of John Evans, which was inside the scythe, tried to dominate the child. But the child proved stubborn, and so John's bloodlust was directed against monsters and villains. Jasjot might have an extremely scary-looking and oddly effective set of eyes, but the corruption is mostly cosmetic. Jasjot is still mostly sane, even after carrying John for 12 years.

Juan Cinqo

Every city needs heroes. Mexico City has Juan Cinqo. Juan is a catholic monk and a very capable kinetomancer. Everyone respects him, since his power is backed with unwavering kindness. He does his best to prevent the local gangs from killing each other, and to keep the innocent citizens of his city safe. Sometimes he even travels beyond his city to combat evils too great to ignore. All this is wonderful, of course, but sadly Juan is much less effective than he ought to be. He's simply too nice, too eager to resolve situations peacefully. He lacks the will to kill.

PS: Do you think it'd be worthwhile including descriptions of what the various characters here are capable of mechanically? I'm not sure whether people can be trusted to work it out for themselves.

[Sanctaphrax]

Now, a couple of notes on rules for dungeons. Please comment.

TRAPS:

Each trap has a Trigger, a Notice DC, a Disable DC, and an Effect. Some traps also have an Avoidance Method. A trap's Trigger is the event or class of events that activates the trap. A trap's Notice DC is the difficulty of the Investigation roll needed to find the trap when searching. (If a trap has a second number in brackets after its Notice DC, then that number is the difficulty of the Awareness roll needed to find the trap without searching.) A trap's Disable DC is the difficulty of the Craftsmanship roll needed to safely dispose of the trap. A trap's effect is what it does when activated. A trap's Avoidance Method is a way to prevent the trap from activating when the Trigger occurs.

Examples:

Spiked Pit Trap
Trigger: Someone enters the trapped zone or fails to find the trap, or fails to disable the trap.
Notice DC: 2
Disable DC: 7
Effect: The character that triggered the trap falls into the zone beneath the trapped zone and suffers an accuracy 6 weapon 2 physical attack. The trap becomes clearly visible to everyone.
Avoidance Method: A character who is aware of the trap's presence may move through the zone without triggering it by making a difficulty 4 Athletics roll. Flying characters never trigger the trap.

Door Bomb
Trigger: Someone breaks down the trapped door, fails to pick the lock on the trapped door, fails to find the trap, or fails to disable the trap.
Notice DC: 4
Disable DC: 4
Effect: Everyone in the zone in front of the trapped door suffers an accuracy 5 weapon 4 attack. Each targeted character must make a difficulty 3 Alertness roll, or else the attack is unexpected and no skill may be used to defend against it. The trap and the door are destroyed.

Motion Detector
Trigger: Something moves in or through the trapped zone, or someone attempts to disable the trap.
Notice DC: 1 (5)
Disable DC: 2
Effect: A loud alarm sounds, alerting everyone to the presence of the moving thing.
Avoidance Method: Characters who are aware of the trap's presence may satisfy the trap's Trigger without triggering the trap by making a difficulty 3 Stealth roll.

RANDOM ENCOUNTERS:

Sometimes stuff shows up to kill you for no clear reason. Sucks, eh?

Scenes in dungeons last until the player characters decide to rest for a moment and catch their breaths. When they do that, roll 4 fudge dice and add 3. Look up the result on the random encounter table for the dungeon, and do what the table says. If something happens, then the scene doesn't actually end until that thing is dealt with.

Some areas are Safe. In a Safe area, player characters can end a scene without a random encounter roll.

Whenever a character fails a roll and decides to compensate for their failure by taking extra time, roll 4 fudge dice and add the number of shifts added through extra time. Look up the result on the random encounter table for the dungeon, and do what the table says.

[Sanctaphrax]

And now, a map. I might need to revise it as I write up encounters, but it's a good start.

Don't look if you intend to play.

Grey lines are zone borders, green lines are doors, black lines are walls.

(click to show/hide)

[Centarion]

I think this is really cool thanks for doing it. I think it would be cool to have the description of what the characters can do mechanically. I think I have a good handle on most of them, but some of them are fairly vague, especially the modular abilities character 9I can think of tons of ways to spend 5 modular points, but how did you intend her to play).

Also I am really excited for the random encounter table.

[Sanctaphrax]

New map, now with room numbers.

(click to show/hide)

I'll toss a couple sentences of description on each character sometime over the next few days.

Random encounter table (tables actually, there will be two) will go up around the same time.

[Ricky]

Love the map, for some reason any time I try to make a map it turns out horrible so I am always looking fo good maps.

[CottbusFiles]

How will you deal with Declarations and Fate Point Invoke for Effect?