Magical Portals - The Leonine

Deciphering this as well as some of my other old runic inscriptions has driven home the idea that runes shifted through time. I'm not sure what version of runic alphabet I originally used, but it seems to be some later Saxon variant. This is an old riddle, but it appears I may have had a Middle English version of it encoded into runes.

Lookest at my face and I'm someone--
Lookest at my back and I'm nought.

Put a mirror up to the lion head and it will roar and open the door.

Qualities of a Great Old School Module

I saw this comment by Guy Fullerton in speaking of the module The Shattered Circle (TSR 11325, from 1998) here and thought it really worthy of note:

"It has a lot of elements that remind me of ~1980 era releases: Ease of dropping this almost anywhere in a campaign, a fairly open dungeon layout, some good traps, player (not character) puzzles, enigmas, potentially unbalanced encounters, places that strongly promote DM improvisation, and plenty of opportunities for the party to make choices between fighting, communication, or something else entirely.

It has a backstory, and although it supports a rather standard altruistic way for the PCs to interact with that backstory, it by no means forces the party to do the altruistic thing."

I would love to explore each of those points a little.

1) Ease of Dropping Into a Campaign

This seems related to my post about Detail being dominant. It seems a hard line to walk, but the module should provide interesting details without pinning me down. Things like very specific gods, historical events, and fleshed out cities and cultures would probably be no-nos. I'll decide if my world has viking-mole-dwarves or not, thank you very much.

2) Open Dungeon Layout

I'm guessing this means the dungeon isn't linear, there are multiple possible paths. Sounds good to me, and relatively easy to take into consideration while designing, except if the location is a tower or something similar.

3) Good Traps

I don't disagree, but I'm not sure what good traps would be. Traps that can be seen by players, strategized against-- not instant, silent killers? Or just interesting, as in not another pit?

4) Player Puzzles

I love these myself, well making them anyway, and realize how difficult it can be to make them challenging without frustrating. If a module had one or two puzzles that managed this successfully, it seems that would be a plus indeed.

5) Enigmas

I like this too. One problem is that players tend to think every detail is significant, so if you mention a lever, it must be important. But why shouldn't there be weird atmospheric effects, or non-threatening oddities every now and then to please the explorers among us?

6) Potentially Unbalanced Encounters

This goes hand in hand with 2). Without this openness is only avoiding the feeling of being railroaded. With this possibility, openness of the dungeon becomes strategically imperative. But make sure to give the players clues to approaching encounter dangers, or the only choice they'll have is whether to run or fight.

7) Promotes DM improvisation

I strongly like this as a suggested feature, but in my inexperience am not sure how I would provide this to DMs in a product of my own design. Present NPC motivations and let encounters work themselves out? Provide clues, but only brief ones, as to what could happen if players take certain actions?

8) Opportunities for Choices Between Combat/Communication/Other

This seems related to 2) and 6) but still worthy of a goal to strive for. Seems like this would weigh against modules with only dumb, hungry jellies or rabidly fanatic cultists. Try for conflicted, intelligent humanoids of some type.

Any other points that Guy hasn't touched upon that you think a great module should have? I'll add my own two cents with:

9) Re-visitability

It should be a location that would be interesting to revisit later. Perhaps there are magical fountains or pools that are permanent features. This doesn't mean a module couldn't be about a collapsing cavern or erupting volcano, but if the DM has to do the work of importing it into the campaign world and learn the details enough to run players through, it would seem like a nice touch to make it a landmark of sorts, a place to come back to.

And . . . I can't think of another to make it a nice round ten. Let me know if you have any more or disagree with any of the nine here. Thanks to Guy Fullerton for the great quote.

Update: Maybe a tenth would be

A Reason to Visit, but Ignorable

The players can be altruistic and helpful, but they can just be looking for gold if they choose. But it requires a certain amount of narrative to provide a problem the players might help with. And it takes some skill to not, then, require PCs to follow some expected course of action.

Magical Portals - The Dwarvish

A brass or bronze door set with small green gemstones. The position of the stones is a simple alphabetical code which spells out . . . I'm not sure. I'm going to have to dig my language binder out of storage, but I believe it means to hold one's beard and knock, and the door will open.

If I can dig out my old language folder I'll update these door posts with exactly what I'd intended them to mean.

Magical Portals - The Wizardly

I believe that this door says, "Danger!" or "Caution!" in Japanese. Please correct any errors. The danger the door warns against is a shock from trying to open it without solving the magic square. Magic squares are probably old hat in dungeon tricks by now, but things like this fascinate me. I believe this was a classic 3x3 Lo Shu square where all the sums should equal 15. Set the dials correctly and the door is unlocked.

DM Levels

This module is intended for a 5th level DM.

I've seen Quick Starts and modules intended for complete newbies, but after their shaky inaugural flight first DM's are treated as identical in gaming products. Aren't they?

I think there's way more granularity possible than just complete newbie and expert, but I'm not sure how that might play out in terms of tools and products. This would depend on understanding how DMs with different levels of experience function differently at the table-- what they need the most help with and what would be a waste for them.

I read Chgowiz, I think, mention that he never rolls up encounter hit points until the creature is actually hit. I think this is elegant in that, if that flock of stirge is dropped with a sleep spell, or the orc party is parlayed with, all the prep time to roll their HP would be extra, unnecessary work. But for myself, not having enough experience to remember, how many hit dice a hill giant has say, and not wanting to have to fumble around during play looking that up and rolling it and recording it, I roll out everything in advance. Here's an example from my last session:

• DM encounter prep example

I tried to make it as simple and clean a layout as possible, but I wanted all the info I might need in play at my fingertips. The big numbers are hit points of the creatures present. These were set encounters, I do something similar for random encounters. I was even thinking of producing a template for that. But I realize this may be considered elementary by more experienced DM's.

So here is my question for you to ponder: As you've grown in experience as a DM what tools or techniques have you grown out of? Or, as you've grown in experience as a DM, what tools did you find yourself inventing because your needs as a DM changed with that experience?