If you’ve missed the previous posts about a snowflake dungeon, you can find them here.
Step 6 in the Snowflake Novel writing method involves expanding the plot even further. Honestly, that is not very useful to us as adventure writers. At this point, it seems we have created most of the ingredients we need and we just need to start putting them together in an intelligible way. Step six onward is going to diverge pretty heavily from the original method, as our goals are quite different.
So my step six is going to be a lot more boring. I’m going to go through everything I’ve written so far and collect it in categories. This also allows me to see what I’ve missed from earlier steps of this that need to be developed further.
I made a few categories to organize my notes. For this inaugural go around, I used the following:
Characters
Factions
Locations
Stats
and finally, tables.
I don’t know if it was reasonable to have characters and stats – those could likely be combined into a single section, but some characters shared stats. Using Obsidian, I have those notes nested inside of each other so that if I changed it for one, it’d be changed for all.
It’s not a very exciting step, but it needed to be done.
I did, however, find a few things I missed. One was treasure. I had mentioned treasures early on but did not place them in specific rooms. I made a list and I think I can integrate them in a future step.
Being as the main dungeon is an abandoned temple, I figure I can also spread minor treasures around it. A gold candlestick here, a religious idol there…
As a DM, I often forget about treasure and XP. It’s an odd weak point. The thing is, players love treasure and xp. Perhaps I’ll make a loot table or two for the adventure as well. 🤔
I do have two treasures that will need stats. Magic items, if you will – the Forever Stone and The Holy Symbol of St. Vaciscous. Those probably should have been done in the step where I stated all the monsters, but that’s okay.
Finally, I came across a character that I didn’t develop. The stats will be easy – it’s just a common monk. I had mentioned that the monastery had a betrayer in it’s midst – Brother Benadrine. I took some time to flesh him out a little further.
Young Monk. Parents lived in Riverbend Mills, died due to plague when he was a child.
Has taken care of the Shrine of the Repented since they took him in 15 years ago. Walks there every day (one hex away).
Was attacked by Lugpopple there in her early days of immortality. Promised he could give her more victims if he was spared. Has been a spy ever since. Lugpopple promised to make him very powerful once all the monks are delivered. The goblin doesn’t have any special ability to do this, as the mutations she grants are random, but she’s not about to tell the monk this.
Standard Monk
Armour Class | 10 [9] |
Hit Dice | 1 (4hp) |
Attacks | 1 × weapon (1d6 or by weapon) |
THAC0 | 19 [0] |
Movement | 120’ (40’) |
Saving Throws | D13 W14 P13 B16 S15 |
Morale | 6 |
Alignment | Lawful |
XP | 10 |
And there we have it. Not a terribly exciting step, but it firmed up the groundwork needed for all the future ones.
Next up, we’ll be going back to the room descriptions and changing them from summary blurbs to their final format. We’re getting close!
One thing I’m stuck on is a name. If anyone has been following this for a while and has thoughts on what I should call it, leave a comment below.
TAGS: Game Theory, GM Tips, Dungeons, Snowflake Dungeon
Hey, wanna catch up on past posts about Fantasy Commander, my attempt at a Blackmoore-esque game with a terrible title? Find them here. Going into this project, I have a few definitive sources that have
Today marks the first email in a series of new design diaries Code named Fantasy Commander, my goal is to make a game reminiscent of Blackmoore with some other influences. Before I start, I
**Carnival Barker’s Voice** Getch yer lil freaks here! This is a short one today, a continuation of my snowflake dungeon. You can find links to all previous emails about it here. In my last email about
Rumor tables have become a familiar adventure stand-by. But what are they for? I recently listened to a discussion about putting false entries on rumor tables. (Sadly, I don’t remember the source). Is there fun
I have been waiting for this moment for months. When I was moving and overwhelmed with all the projects, I was saddest to see this fall by the wayside. My snowflake dungeon. (If you don’t
If you’ve missed the previous posts about a snowflake dungeon, you can find them here. Its been over a month since I did my last Snowflake Email. I swear, I haven’t forgotten it – I’ve
Four new sets of wooden minis are here!
Click below to get to the campaign. We’re giving away a bunch of minis and other things to our backers!
A light-hearted, demonic portal crawl between worlds for low level characters.
Grab the coolest wooden minis, dripping with old school cool. Live on Kickstarter!
Bones. So many bones. How many people have been buried here?
You find a rusty long sword and a small, golden vulture head worth 250 gp.
The sand here on the edge of the sacrificial ground is loose and looks recently churned.
The Vulture Priests are the enemy of knowledge and enlightenment. They seek to bring the eternal silence, the end of all things. Decay and obedience is their only god.
Armor Class 6 [13]
Hit Dice 1 (4hp)
Attacks 1 × Beak (1d4 or by weapon)
THAC0 19 [0]
Movement 120’ (40’)
Saving Throws D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (1)
Morale 8 (11 when at their temple)
Alignment Lawful
XP 10
Number Appearing 2d4 (1d6 × 10)
Treasure Type D
Immune to the Divine: The spells and powers of clerics and paladins have no effect on them.
Weapons: They frequently use wickedly curved daggers, which they use for sacrificial purposes.
Soul Clouders: There is a 10% chance that any Vulture Priest can use the sleep spell once per day. The targets are still awake, but they are beset by such a deep depression that it has the same effect as sleep. They may only watch what unfurls around them.
