Editing The Dungeoneers (A D&D Minisetting)

The dungeoneers is a minisetting for D&D 3.0.  It may be more appropriate however to call it a game model as it can be dropped in almost any setting.  It combines gritty low level play with a structured adventure model. In short, it’s “Regular Joes die their way through horrifying dungeons”.   

Encourage the PCs to pick the class they want to play.  Druids and paladins are usually fairly rare in the dungeoneers, but this doesn’t stop the odd one from joining up.  Fighters and rogues are generally the most numerous, followed by bards, sorcerers and wizards.  In most games, mismatched race-class characters like kobold paladins seem stupid and absurd, but they would be valuable characters in a dungeoneers game.   

I feel it’s generally better to not restrict alignment in a dungeoneers game.  Having wildly conflicting alignments can introduce inter-party tension which can make the game a whole lot more rewarding.  A party of lawful good elves nervously asking for healing from Danita, their chaotic evil cleric of the slaughter god can make for some very interesting games.  Of course, the dungeoneers are not paranoia troubleshooters and the game shouldn’t revolve around the characters trying to kill each other.  You may want to advise evil characters to keep their nefarious deeds in area of cartoonish villainy to reduce the chances that other players will stop the aforementioned characters repugnant behavior once and for all.

• History: What did you do before you became a dungeoneer?

• Motivation: Why did you become a dungeoneer?

History may be as short as a sentence or as long as a paragraph.  All it does it describe what you did before you became a dungeoneer.  “I was an orcish scout for the northern tribes.” or “I was a whore working in a brothel in the big city.” are both good backgrounds.

We have neglected personality so far, but in truth you built the core of your character’s personality with the motivation.  Now just take a look at your attributes, class and race and come up with a fun concept that fits them and your background. Remember that many characters who become dungeoneers are not healthy people.  It is usually not polite to make a really annoying character, but if you really want to, go for it.  Just don’t be too surprised if the party leaves your butt at the bottom of that pit trap.  Here are two example backgrounds and personalities that fit the two examples I made earlier in the section.

Because of the “special circumstances” of most recruits, many dungeoneers start with next to nothing.  Most D&D characters start out with halfway decent weapons, halfway decent armor and enough supplies to make it almost anywhere; most D&D characters yearn for magical items and exotic equipment.  The dungeoneers is different.  By severely restricting the amount of equipment they can have, the PCs will have to make do with what little they can buy and what they can salvage.  In short, D&D characters yearn for material excellence and dungeoneer characters yearn for material competence.

• The clothes on your back and any personal effects

• One canteen full of water or beer

• 25 gold pieces for buying equipment

• A holy symbol (for clerics)

• Spellbook and bag of common spell components (for wizards and sorcerers)

• 1 Gold Medallion of the Queen’s Royal Squad of Dungeoneers (Do not pawn)

Keeps are the base from which the dungeoneers set out to their adventures.  Usually placed in or around a town, the keep serves a place to store equipment, a place to sleep and a place to receive orders from superiors.  Keeps are not always stone fortresses, but can be wooden tree forts, run down villas and even underground fortifications such as a former dungeon.  Have your group of dungeoneers flesh out their place of residence.  The dungeoneer’s commander usually dwells here.

The commander is the dungeoneer team’s superior officer. It is they who describe and order the characters into dungeons.  It is they who give out commendations and censures, as well as perform the inspections. Commanders are often stone hearted bastards, but the players need to suck up to them to get ahead.   

Unsurprisingly, dungeons are the foundation of a dungeoneers adventure.  They need not be underground, but often are. For this game, a dungeon is a confined space where the adventure happens, it could be a cave, a building or even a town.  Some adventures may happen in places that are not confined, such as forests and plains.  These “dungeonless” adventures are rarely handed out to the dungeoneers, but are always a good change of pace.  Much work has been done on the subject of dungeons (as they are so common), the following work was compiled by the Valorous College of Dungeonography (VCD) in Valorium.   

As a gamemaster creates a dungeon for the group to explore, they should remember a few things.  But these things could most likely be summed up as “Create interesting and dangerous dungeons for this dungeon based game.” Here they are in further detail.

Plausibility is something that you can stretch very far in a dungeoneers game, but be careful not to break it entirely.  It’s perfectly alright to have a bunch of weird things in your dungeons, but try and explain why they are there, at least a little bit.

Proper antagonists will make or break a dungeoneers game.  Find a theme and then run with it.  It doesn’t really matter how serious or comical you play this up (within reason), as long as you have a theme and stick with it.  You may want to have a wacky dungeon full of disparate monsters, or you may want just a bunch of sly kobolds or just about anything.  But once you have the sly kobolds, don’t just drop in a beholder without an explanation why it’s there.

The size of the dungeon will largely determine how long it takes to play through.  This is completely up to you.  I find that the smaller kinds (10-20 rooms) are more appropriate to dungeoneer adventures as they are quick to get through and retain more of a “Series of missions” feel to them.  But larger dungeons have more options and feel like more of an accomplishment.  Make dungeons the size you want them to be.

In this stage, the players get their gear and head out to town to buy any supplies they need.  This may include rations, weapons, armor and other tools that may be useful in the dungeon.  Follow the equipment guidelines and the town’s flavor to determine what is available.  This stage is also a good time to get rumors and warnings about the dungeon from the townsfolk.  Although sometimes very correct, these rumors are often as not wrong and even sometimes deliberately misleading.  Some pre-made adventures will have a rumor table on them.

These are the rewards and punishments that commanders dole out to dungeoneer groups based on their performance or behavior.  Since commanders can’t usually spy on dungeoneer groups in the field, most commendations and censures are based acts that the commander can see.  There are both minor and major commendations and censures.  Try not to use these too often, they are ways of pushing the players into doing good things (or not doing bad things).

Like most organizations, the dungeoneers has a number of rules that must be followed by its members.  These rules are in place to ensure the organization works, to give power to the hierarchy, and finally, to protect the reputation of the dungeoneers and the kingdom it works for.  There are many rules, but they can be summed up into three main points.  This gives the GM a lot of freedom to add new rules or define existing ones to complicate the dungeoneer’s lives.

The rule of the dice is an important feature in a dungeoneers game.  GMs should endeavor to follow the lead of the dice most of the time.  The challenge a GM faces is to provide an interesting story around the results of the dice. However, sometimes the dice conspire to completely rob a game of fun. In these situations, the GM should intervene secretly to save the story, just make sure the players don’t find out.