Example of the Referee Moderating a Dungeon Expedition
The players, equipped and ready, are assumed to have located a set of stairs descending to the first level
beneath the ground. The Referee's part will be indicated REF, that of the "Caller" for the players being
REF: Steps down to the east.
CAL: We're going down.
REF: 10', 20', 30' - a 10' square landing - steps down to the north and curving down southeast.
CAL: Take those to the southeast.
REF: 10', and the steps curve more to the south; 20'. Steps end, and you are on a 10' wide passage which
runs east, southeast, and west. There is a door to your left across the passage on a northwest wall.
CAL: Listen at the door - three of us.
REF: (After rolling three dice) You hear nothing. (At this time a check for wandering monsters is also
CAL: Ignore the door and proceed along the corridor south-eastwards.
REF: 10', 20', 30', 40', 50'. "Four way": Northwest, northeast, south and southwest - the south passage is
CAL: Go south.
REF: 10'-70': passage continues, doors east and west.
CAL: Listen at the east door.
REF: (After appropriate check) You hear shuffling.
CAL: Two of us (specifying which two) will throw our weight against the door to open it. All will be ready
for combat.
REF: (After rolling two dice
The door opens! You can't be surprised, but the monsters - you see half-a-
dozen Gnolls - can be (Here a check for surprise is made, melee conducted, and so on.)
CAL: Okay, what does the room look like - we're examining the walls, ceiling, floor, and contents of the
room itself.
REF: (After checking to see if Dwarves and/or Elves are in the party.) The room is a truncated pyramid.
The east wall is the truncated part, directly opposite the door you entered. It is 10' long with another door in
it. The walls connecting it to the west wall, the place you entered, are each about 35' long. The west wall,
which is where you entered is 30' long with a door in the middle of the wall. The Elf has noted that there
seems to be a hollow spot near the east end of the southeast wall. The floor and ceiling seem to have nothing
unusual. The room contains the bodies of the Gnolls, a pile of refuse in the north corner of the west wall,
and two trunks along the wall opposite the one which sounds hollow.
CAL: The Elf will check out the hollow sound, one of us will sort through the refuse, each trunk will be
opened by one of us, and the remaining two (naming exactly who this is) will each guard a door, listening to
get an advance warning if anything approaches.
REF: Another check on the hollow sound reveals a secret door which opens onto a flight of stairs down to
the south. The refuse is nothing but sticks, bones, offal and old clothes. One chest is empty; the other had a
poison needle on the lock. (Here a check to see if the character opening it makes his saving throw for
poison.) The chest with the poison needle is full of copper pieces — appears to be about 2,000 of them.
CAL: Empty out all of the copper pieces and check the trunk for secret drawers or a false bottom, and do
the same with the empty one. Also, do there seem to be any old boots or cloaks among the old clothes in the
REF: (Cursing the thoroughness of the Caller!) The seemingly empty trunk has a false bottom ... in it you
have found an onyx case with a jeweled necklace therein. The case appears to be worth about 1,000, and the
necklace 5,000 Gold Pieces. Amidst the litter the searcher has located a pair of old boots, but there is
nothing like a cloak there
CAL: The boots will be tried on now to see if they allow silent movement - we can use a set of Elven
Boots! I will secure the case and necklace in my back pack, while the others will, by turn, fill their packs
REF: This will require; four turns. (Ho checks for monsters wandering in, and on the forth try one is
indicated. However, as there was a listener at the door it is approaching, he also checks to see if it is
detected, allowing a good probability that it will be heard.) As you complete your loading the Dwarf at the
50
west door detects heavy footsteps approaching. The boots, by the way, are Elven-type...
CAL: EXCELLENT! Our Magic-User will cast a Hold Portal on the west door while the Elf opens the
secret one. We will then all beat a hasty retreat down the stairs to the south. Onward, friends, to more and
With appropriate variations for ability to detect and/or see what is around them, the adventure will continue
in this manner until the party leaves the dungeons or, are killed therein.
