Also now that I have a few dozen sessions under my belt, I have had time to reflect on what I feel would make for a more focused and enjoyable gaming experience. There are things I wish I had done differently and then of course unexpected things that just unexpected emerged through play that I just had to roll with like NPC’s, obstacles, traps, completely new areas like the Dreamlands, and other things that organically just grew out of our sessions. There were quite a few things that occurred that I really want to expand on in my re-works to make the dungeons a bit more interactive.
For example the whole Brass Gods theme. Most of the Brass God stuff I was just improvising on the spot and winging it as the opportunities arose which is why it doesn’t really feel to well though out in my opinion with the Necropolis of the Brass Gods feeling a bit disjointed. Then there is the Wall Of Mortok which I would like to connect to the other dungeons, with each providing a bit of lore and details about the Witches that created it and had a hand in the destruction of the Brass Gods.
In addition to eventually re-creating/drawing all new dungeon maps, I also want to expand on each dungeon with a bunch of bonus material- plus fully stat everything out so they are completely ready to play. Each dungeon would also include brief streamlined rules for getting the dungeon up and running for players and DM.
I am keeping things strictly to the Original 1974 Edition of Dungeons & Dragons & that includes the spell lists which I feel are perfect for the types of games I like to run. By limiting the spells to the 3LBB’s the players really have to think about the utility of each spell and how it may best serve the group and not the individual.
As Gus L. beautifully stated in regards to spell utility on his All Dead Generations blog:
As opposed to combat spells, the sleep spell eliminates basically one encounter, light blinds one boss, fireball is ... well fireball.
The limitations on MUs isn't that they don't have powerful spells it's that the spells they have have very limited uses and if your MU picks "Knock" they can't pick "Invisibility" or "Web"... this is part of why these obstacles work, because:
A) Spells may trivialise an individual obstacle, but the can't run through the number of them that the party should encounter in a session.
B) Obstacles all have pretty easy to figure out physical hacks using equipment (which costs inventory), skills, or things found in the dungeon.
The difference is that these solutions (including just smashing open a door) take turns resulting in supply depletion and random encounter checks in a way the spell doesn't. This is fine the spell has the costs built into its limited uses.
Of course for any of this to work one needs to make sure there are reasons not to just rememorize spells in the dungeon, that wizards can't memorise too many spells (e.g. making light and things like "mage hand" cast on demand cantrips) or come and go from the dungeon without risk. The dungeon crawl is all about risk vs. reward, getting the players to want to push on for a few more rooms even when they are getting low on supplies, spells and HP.
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