The 'NoDucks' version 3
JimP
🖼️ 280 images Cartographer
Entrance from the side this time. Yes, the background is not stone or water, but I like it. Rather preliminary map. Yes, two chickens. One inside a large cage guarded by skeletons. First two rooms.
900 pixel jog.
Comments
Updated map.
Room 1) chicken in a cage, green glowing chicken. Guarded by 3 skeletons, and an ogre around the corner.
Room 2) a green glowing chicken, in a room with 3 chests. It is mostly hidden behind a broken table. Must be larger than a typical chicken then.
Room 12) treasure chest on a stone pedestal. Something is in the water.
900 pixel jpg. 2000 pixel jpg in gallery.
Okay, I'll bite: Why the chickens? ;-)
My players complained about the same monsters over and over at low levels.
Geese are another good choice for guarding sensitive areas, and they sound more vicious.
Of course, they could be illusions and are actually something else.
Something truly terrifying! Like geese!
I have seen a few videos on youtube of geese attacking.
The obvious answer is to make one or more really a cockatrice:
[Image from this Monster Fandom Wiki page.]
And use the illusion idea to disguise the fact until someone examines the "right" one closely enough - oops...
Well, my remaining players are my sisters. I already know they don't like the cockatrice. So... no go with that. I could make them mimics though. They dislike those, but less.
Dopplegangers are right out.
You could always have the chickens disguised as cockatrices though ?
I can tell none of you have been subjected to my sisters' 'Raised eyebrow and glare of fury'. I have seen big tough guys apologize and run from that.
A good suggestion that I was given a long time ago to spice things up for experienced players with low-level characters was to take a standard critter reference and them a new name and appearance. For example, there might well be a species of largish, bright purple land cephalopods call kyzles that are completely indistinguishable from kobolds as far as combat rules and societal organization goes.
I temporarily changed the background sas i found I had labeled one room as 3 and 5. So I changed the background, and added a few rooms.
Stone golems, or they are illusions. And/or the treasure containers are also illusions, or not. rooms 4 and 18.
The room with a barrels all by itself, number 3. My home players, after one instance, started checking behind barrels for secret doors.
Room 15: Well, they also decided patterns of barrels are suspicious. So the big blank area between the barrels on the right side of this room could mean there is a secret door there. But this time, there isn't. yes, two corridors have numbers as they could have hidden put traps in them.
room 12, a treasure chest, lock turned away from the entering characters, sitting on a stone block, or is it ?
Not finished, but making progress.
900 pixel jpg, 2000 in my gallery.
Jim, why is it called No Duck? (please don't let it be that there are no ducks there ? )
There is a rpg where opposable thumb ducks exist, and they can be player characters.
These dungeons have no ducks.
Oh, and there are 3 of these dungeons. I accidentally left the word dungeon off the subject for this one.
Why not call it the No Chooks Dungeon, or are there chooks there?
I think the ducks you mention are from RuneQuest, and world of Glorantha
Yes, Runequest. No idea what a chook might be.
Oh, that must be an Australianism. Chooks are hens and roosters
Oh, we just called them chickens and roosters, or a flock, when I was growing up. I never heard of Chooks before. Thanks.
Chick = chook, sort of
I think "chook" originated with some dialects of English. "Chuck" is a term of endearment still used in parts of northern England, for instance, which derives from the same source, as a variant on "chick" as an abbreviation for "chicken", or from "chick" as being a young chicken. Online sources seem to cover only the modern Australian option as in-use still, however.
And here was me thinking "duck down" was an urgent warning...
Well, it is.
Here we are back at the Less_kpl background, with size 10, instead of size 7, numbers. Added some secret secret rooms and secret passageways.
Probably just add these three 'No Ducks' dungeons to my web site. And continue on with The Craig dungeons that got their start from these.
900 pixel jpg, 2000 in gallery.
Could this have been a place of royalty at one time ?
No Ducks 3
Room 1) 40' x 60' x 10' + 20' x 20' x 10' chicken in a cage, green glowing chicken. Guarded by 3 skeletons, and an ogre around the corner.
To open the secret door, get the chicken to make a normal chicken sound. Like clucking.
Room 2) 30' x 30' x 30' a green glowing chicken, in a room with 3 chests. It is mostly hidden behind a broken table. Must be larger than a typical chicken then. It attacks if any one goes near it.
One chest has 5 gold, 27 silver, and 5 copper pieces in it. The other two are empty.
3) 60' x 70' x 30'
Two open pits, a cloudy area of smoke, and a barrel.
A slightly magic fountain.
drink 1) nothing
drink 2) character grows a dwarf beard
drink 3) character receives 5 gold pieces
Then the water disappears.
The barrel, contains rotting apples.
4) 30' x 50' x 10' A broken table.
A stone golem guards two chests.
One chest has 275 gold, 23 platinum, and 200 copper pieces.
The square chest has two daggers +1, and a ring of water walking.
5) 30' x 40' x 10' some small pieces of wod debris. Dusty.
6) 30' x 50' x 10' A water well.
Guarded by 3 ogres.
To get into rooms 7 and 8, the characters must search for secret doors. All of them either push on the left side, or push down to open them.
7) 30' x 50' x 15' former treasury
Smoke appears to be coming from a chest, but it is an illusion.
Chest contains: 1,000 silver, 375 gold, and twenty 150 gp gems.
The pit is 10' x 10' x 10' deep. In the south wall is a small compartment with a small box in it. The box is of fine wood, and contains a necklace worth 1500 gp, and a ring of protection +1. The box is worth 25 silver.
Leave the pit quickly after finding the box, as it will close up and the character will be trapped.
8) a flattened Zee shaped room. Dusty and otherwise empty.
9) 40' x 60' x 10' dusty, and empty, but.
Staying here longer than a few minutes, the adventurers will hear warnings of 'His Majesty Approaches !'. The longer they stay, the louder, then they will stop for approximately 10 minutes. Then continue.
10) a former formal room. Two ornate pillars and some wood debris.
Both pillars are hollow with small compartments. There are small broken wood boxes in each one, nothing left of value.
11) 60' x 50' x 10' burial chamber of royalty. Queen in one, and a king in the other. Anything of value has long since been pilfered.
The statue will say 'Beware !' whenever anyone enters the room, but do nothing else.
12) 50' x 60' x 30' treasure chest on a stone pedestal. Something is in the water.
The chest contains 100 platinum, 250 gold, and 23 silver pieces.
The water is 5' deep around the edge, and 30 feet deep otherise.
12A) 10' x 20' x 10' empty of all but dust.
12B) 20' x 20' x 10' 5 skeletal remains.
12C) 20' x 30' x 10' a number of dried blood splotches.
13) 130' x 30' x 30' moss covered floor. the former treasury, additional. There used to be 4 stone golems here. The two piles of rock are all that remain.
2 stone golems.
One chest, pieces of what must have been the crowns. About 150 gp worth of golds and silver left. And gems are gone.
second chest opened. About 100 copper pieces, and two small gems worth about 65 gp each.
The third chest is locked. It has blood splotches on it. whom ever that blood belonged to, must have been trying to open it when they were attacked.
Contains 4 bracelets worth 250 gp each. 55 platinum pieces of unusual look. Might be worth more than face value to a collector.
14) L-shaped room. Moss covered floor. Damp.
15) 50' x 50' x 10' a moss covered floor.
Storage barrels and urns. Nothing of value left.
16) a former throne room. 30' x 50' x 20'
The throne weighs about half a ton. If the characters can get it to town intact, it is worth one thousand platinum pieces. Otherwise, about 200 platinum.
The two wood stools are worth about 2 copper pieces each.
The blue statue is a guard. AC 2, hits for 1d6 per arm. 2 attacks per round. Moves at a 9 inch speed. Has 3 HD and 18 hit points.
17) 60' x 30' x 10' Impossible to tell, but it was the royal bedroom.
A few small gold threads might be found after a game hour of searching. Worth about a gold piece total.
That is all.
When the final boss of this dungeon ( I assume the King) is up to fight, I hope he has a line something along "I have no more DUCKS to give."
They aren't undead. They are just dead.
The stone golems are the toughest monsters in there.
oh.