Old ENWorld Post That Describes A Neat Dungeon

A long while back, I ran a suspenseful little dungeon as a substitute for one of the old Rod of Seven Parts segment quests. It consisted of a largely abandoned crypt wherein there was only one monster (wait for it), and one form of treasure (the third segment of the Rod of Seven parts).

A dungeon with one monster doesn't sound like anything special. Under most circumstances, one might expect the dungeon to be over with very quickly. However, this dungeon was designed in such a way that while they were navigating its difficult-to-transverse passages, which seemed to pay little attention to gravity, they were at various times attacked by tentacles extending from convenient holes set in the wall, confronted with horrifying yet sourceless visions, and otherwise harangued by the single lonely monster as it sat comfortably in the center of the dungeon. With the right monster and the right dungeon, this sort of setup is entirely possible (and I recommend it).

The pcs spent a good three hours picking their way through the dungeon before they finally came to a huge mandala-like rune that was etched into the stone ceiling with gold dust. At the center of the really cool-looking glyph (I drew it), inserted into the ceiling, was the segment of The Rod. After some Knowledge (Arcana) checks, it became abundantly obvious that The Rod was powering an exceptionally powerful containment glyph. When the PCs eventually screwed up their courage and pulled the glyph out, I dropped my 3.0 monstrous manual and revealed the first edition Deities & Demigods, and flashed them the beautiful illustration of Yogsothoth. I guess in subsequent printings the Cthulhu Mythos was removed for legal reasons. At the time of this session, Call of Cthulhu had not yet come out yet, so the PCs were absolutely horrified. The PCs eventually defeated the (heavily modified towards the weak end of the spectrum) creature once they had stopped screaming.

[I love conceptual dungeons, and I love The Big Reveal.]

Base of Operations

I like the idea of a party of adventurers having a base of operations. Players are often reluctant to do so because DM's love blowing that kind of stuff up. So these are some optional rules for 3.5 that give players a reason to buy the stuff. If the DM makes an explicit social contract with the PCs to not mess with it too much, the players might even buy the stuff! It's up to you whether the PCs enjoy these benefits if they're traveling to the other side of the earth or whatever -- a really expensive wagon or ship might boast a limited number of the accessories, at your discretion.

Building

Buying a suitable building costs 1000gp. Additional purchases that have game statistics are as follows:

Accessories

Fancy Samovar (800gp): +1 initiative to entire party.

Laboratory (800gp): +1 damage when using poison, and 10% discount on potions and scrolls.

Sauna (800gp): +1 max HP to entire party.

Trophy Room (1500gp): +3% experience per session.

Library (2000gp): +3% experience per session.

Grindstone (2000gp): +1 melee damage to entire party.

Fine-Tuned Scale (4000gp): +5% value of raw GP treasure found.

Five Cursed Items

An intelligence check, DC 15 must be made when identifying these items, or else the drawbacks of the item will not be apparent or the item will be mis-identified as a beneficial item. None of these items can be destroyed or removed from one's person by conventional means.

The Black Gauntlet

An elbow-length, black leather glove that radiates powerful magic, the black gauntlet was worn by a mad king as he strangled his infant sons. It imparts a +3 bonus to damage dealt with melee weapons, but any time a natural 1 is rolled it instead causes the wearer to make a whirlwind attack against all adjacent allies. If there are no allies adjacent, then the wearer will instead attack himself.

Backbiter

A two-handed spear that often conceals itself by polymorphing into various kinds of pole-arms, the backbiter was used to injure a powerful priest in the early days of a major religion. The backbiter inflicts +10 poison damage per hit, but any time an attack with it misses, it instead causes damage to the wielder as though he were attacking himself.

Petitioner Boots

A pair of man-skin boots that often conceals its appearance via illusions, the petitioner boots are made from the skin of ghosts from the afterlife. Any creature wearing the boots gains +2 speed and +1 AC, but loses all fire resistance and cannot gain or benefit from it while wearing the boots.

Gnome Belt

A belt woven of tanned gnomish scalps that hides its true appearance with illusions, usually appearing as a dwarven belt or something that adventurers will assume is useful. As soon as it is donned, the belt polymorphs the wearer into a gnome. The wearer becomes small, gains -2 Strength and +2 Constitution, and temporarily loses any ability score modifiers from his true race (or loses access to his bonus feat, if human), but because the wearer is not a true gnome, that's as far as it goes. When the belt is finally removed, the wearer reverts to his true form, no worse for the wear.

Ring of Limb Paralysis

A gold ring with some ancient writing on the inside that seems to want to be worn. As soon as one puts it on, the arm on which it is worn becomes paralyzed and useless. It resists magics that cure paralysis until the ring is removed via remove curse, though a particularly desperate adventurer might remove the finger on which the ring resides.