The Dungeon Under the Mountain—Rooms & Encounters: The Hall of Bedlam (OGL) PDF

Despite the passage of untold centuries, the chamber beyond has lost little of its grandeur and awe. Tucked neatly in the chamber’s perimeter alcoves are six black marble statues of great warriors armed with swords and shields. Gold and silver necklaces hang from the necks of each statue, and an illuminated torch is tightly wedged between an outstretched arm and torso. A tile mosaic of a man wearing a crown dominates the center of the white marble floor, although it appears that there was an unsuccessful attempt to alter the subject’s appearance to that of a pale-skinned dwarf-human hybrid with gray hair. Three stone slabs, apparently fashioned into the likeness of crude, fur-covered beds, fill the semicircular area at the far end of the chamber.

The large, rectangular room is nearly spotless, thanks to the tireless efforts of four emaciated human males armed with brooms, mops and feather dusters. A small, stocky dwarflike creature with pale blue-white skin, bulbous white eyes, coarse white hair and a long droopy moustache directs their activities with animated gestures and nodding disapproval. He is armed with a repeating light crossbow and a wand, which he wields as if conducting an orchestra. Accompanying him are two similar creatures armed and attired in a similar fashion. Upon meeting your gaze, a maniacal look comes upon them. The trio briefly mutters inanely amongst themselves before directing their attention towards you.

Discover the Hall of Bedlam! (Room 16, Level 1)

The Dungeon Under the Mountain is a massive dungeon complex extending endlessly below the ground. In a remote past, ancient evil beings dwelled in the area. Now, the remaining mysterious evil beings have seized the dungeons and filled it with deadly traps and monsters. Also, many known villains have established their strongholds in the depths of the Dungeon Under the Mountain. Nobody knows why this dungeon is filled with danger, but nobody cares, since this dungeon is the most prized adventure ground of the world. However, be warned, adventurers: your life will be not easy here and dozens of self-appointed heroes have never returned from the Dungeon Under the Mountain! You Have Been Warned!

This is part of a series of products detailing the rooms in the massive Dungeon Under the Mountain environment; it can be adapted without effort to any existing dungeon. It includes miniatures-scale maps where appropriate.

This product has been designed to help busy referees in preparing dungeon adventures and encounters. Instead of wasting time scaling encounters and adapting them to your party, here you will find an encounter pre-scaled to three different levels of play (low, mid and high levels). At the beginning of the encounter text, you will find a big button. This button allows you to select the level you want to play, and changes the relevant portions of the text accordingly. Monsters will scale, DCs will change, traps and villain behaviors will change.

Beside each paragraph you will find a smaller button that allows you to change only the selected paragraph. Therefore, if you need stronger monsters in your low-level encounter, you can adjust them, leaving other sections configured for low levels. Likewise, if you want traps tougher, just click on the paragraph button and change the level of the trap paragraph. Blank spaces caused by differing text lengths will be filled with placeholder artwork, so the pages will still look good.

The smaller maps feature the "Rule the Dungeon" button. By clicking it, you can customize the map by opening or closing the doors, removing the furniture or removing the fill in the walls and more, depending on the room's layout.

This product takes advantage of PDF technology, joining old-fashioned style with the most advanced electronic features. In order to use this product you must use Adobe Reader 6 or later.

Written by Thomas Knauss.