Scenario #1 Introduction: The Other Foot

[GreyWolfVT]

Welcome to Reverse Dungeon! This is the adventure where everything is backward. Instead of playing bold adventurers who journey into monsters’ lairs to wipe them out and loot their stuff, the players take the role of the monsters, determined to stop pesky heroes from invading their homes. Instead of being “the good guys,” the players get the chance to be “the bad guys.” This module is also unusual in that it’s not one adventure but a sequence of three, unfolding like a reverse campaign. Players do not necessarily keep the same monster characters throughout; in fact, they can switch to different characters between each scenario, and sometimes in the middle of a given scenario (a monster’s life is often nasty, brutish, and short).

Plot Synopsis
The scenarios of Reverse Dungeon focus on the dungeon complex below a large hill, as shown in the “Reverse Dungeon Cross Section Map.” Natural geological processes formed a series of limestone caverns hundreds of thousands of years in the past. An ancient culture subsequently expanded the caverns through mining. These mines later served as home for several demi-human races, until the hill and caverns were claimed by a wizard named Blaise some 600 years ago. Blaise expanded the mines and caverns into a true dungeon complex, and he capped the hillock with the traditional wizard’s tower. Today, the tower stands in ruins, goblins have re-inhabited the upper caverns, and most outsiders assume that Blaise is long gone. This assumption is false. Blaise, now a lich, resides in the third level of the dungeon (labeled “Lichland” on the Cross Section Map). The wizard allows the goblins to inhabit the uppermost level of the dungeon (Goblintown), since he has no use for the level and finds the goblins a convenient cover. In fact, the current generation of goblins are not even aware of what the lower levels hold (though they suspect the tunnels exist). As the adventure opens, the goblins have led an entirely autonomous existence. However, frequent raids into nearby human civilizations have drawn unwanted attention, and adventurers are about to begin to invading Goblintown. The PC goblins have the opportunity to defend their lair and possibly take the battle to the nearest NPC adventurer marshalling point: the village of Ardeche. If Ardeche falls, the goblins are victorious. The second section, The Vault Level, physically lies directly below Goblintown. Appreciative of “wizardly tradition,” Blaise created this trap-and-monster-filled level to guard magical curiosities accumulated by the wizard over the years. The scenarios in this section deal with various threats to the security of the vault, allowing the PC monsters to defend the dungeon with their native wit and monstrous attributes. The final section, Lichland, is the bottommost artificial level of Blaise’s dungeon (though a cavernous area called the Hellspike Grotto lies directly below Lichland). Here, Blaise and his undead servants plot monstrous evil and attempt to bind demons to their service. PCs have the opportunity to play powerful undead creatures. The scenarios in this section are fairly straightforward: The demon-binding has gone awry and must be dealt with, but worse, clerics of a local monastery have begun to infiltrate the dungeon and, if not repulsed or destroyed, could prove the undoing of Blaise and the PC undead. A final preemptive strike on the monastery by the undead could cement their hold on the region and ensure the dungeon’s continued existence. If the threat of the monastery and its holy power is not eliminated, the dungeon eventually falls, with the monsters destroyed or scattered.

Consequences
The AD&D game rewards normal PCs who successfully complete adventures by providing level advancement. Rewards (and consequences) are handled a bit differently in The Reverse Dungeon. In Goblintown, rules are provided to allow PC goblin characters to advance to higher HD creatures as they survive the depredations of dungeon-looting adventurers. Likewise, possibilities for advancement, or at least powering-up, are given in the second two sections, as the PC monsters fight off threats to their areas. Even though the product is presented in three sections for ease of use, the DM should remember that the dungeon is a single entity. Thus, how well the PC monsters do in the initial level will have some effect on the scenarios of the subsequent levels. Such effects include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. PC monsters of the previous level may be available as henchmen of the PC monsters of the next lower level if the previous levels’ scenarios played out to the advantage of the monsters.
2. If the PC monsters of the previous section fail or die, the DM should complement the current sections’ scenarios with the threats noted for the previous section, if applicable.

DM Difficulties
Just as the players may have some difficulty fitting into their new roles, Dungeon Masters used to traditional adventures may have a little trouble adjusting to the Reverse Dungeon. Usually, the D>l has a keyed map and reads out descriptions of new- areas as the player characters explore them. Here, in five out of the six adventures, the players are familiar with the layout of the dungeons-as familiar as w-e are with the rooms in our own homes-and it’s the NPCs who don’t know the floor plan. This means, of course, that the DM has to master the trick of masking DM knowledge. Just as in normal adventures, when the monsters under the DM’s control do not always know the locations or plans of the PC heroes, the NPC adventurers exploring those areas should fall into traps, make wrong turns, and miss a few secret doors. The NPCs may be smart, experienced, and tough (especially in Lichland, the last section), but they’re not omniscient. Don’t deny your players the thrill of seeing an intruder \\*alk right smack into some horrible trap or ambush their PCs have labored to set up. By the same token, though, don’t eliminate the occasional “aarrgh!” when the pesky NPC adventurers sidestep disaster at the last second (either through skill or sheer dumb luck).

A Final Note
Reverse Dungeon is all about taking roleplaying one step further to see what the view looks like from the perspective of the folks who normally exist only to provide challenges to the heroes. With luck, players will not only have a blast seeing how the other half lives (so to speak) but may come away from this adventure with a new appreciation of their foes and, thus, of their heroes as well.

[GreyWolfVT]

Currently I'm shooting for an actual game play start date of 4/2/2018 provided we all are ready to run at that point.