Freamon’s Map Room

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This was my submission to the Design a Dungeon Room 2010 Contest. It got second prize, so it has that going for it. It’s released under creative commons, so feel free to mess with it, improve on it, etc. as long as it’s non-commercial, have fun. Please post a link to it if you do.

Freamon is named after Lester Freamon, a character from The Wire.

Freamon’s Map Room

A 25’ by 25’ room with a door on the eastern wall. In the center of the room is a 8’ by 10’ table top on a pedestal. On the table is a model of the dungeon level the party is exploring. It is made of polished wood, with silver, gold and mother-of-pearl trimming. The map model only represents walls, rooms, floors and architectural elements such as columns and stairs. In the miniature room that corresponds to this room are small, antique, hand carved figures. They represent each member of the party, including familiars, retainers, etc.

In each corner of the table is a small box. Each box has a lid on the side that can be lifted open. One box has already been opened and inside is a gem appearing to be worth 50 gold (It is only worth a few coppers, as it is made of glass). If the characters place the gem in the miniature map room, it will disappear. An identical 24-inch gem will suddenly appear in the real map room. In the remaining (closed) boxes are a scorpion, a snake and a rat. If the party opens a lid, one of these animals (determined randomly or by whim) will scamper into the maze and try to avoid capture as it makes its way to the miniature map room (takes 1-2 rounds). If the animal is somehow caught and/or killed before it reaches the miniature map room, nothing further will happen in regards to that animal.

HOWEVER, if the animal makes its way to the miniature map room, it will disappear and a giant version of the animal will enter through the door and attack, fighting to the death.  If the smaller animal is blocked from entering the miniature map room and the players leave through other means, they might run into the larger version of that animal elsewhere in the dungeon.

If a player picks up a figurine and places it in another room on the map, the player matching that figurine is immediately teleported (no save) to that room. The figurine then disappears. If a figurine is damaged in a minor way, the matching PC takes 1d4 damage. If it is destroyed, the player takes 10d10 damage. If the player takes the figurine out of the (real world) map room, the figurine loses all magic power and is simply a finely made piece of art worth 50 gp.

If the players shake the table, the ground will shake as in an earthquake. If the players break a hole in the table or destroy a model wall, thousands of beetles will crawl out of any tears or holes and begin to overrun the table. As soon as they reach the miniature map room, giant beetles will enter through the door, break down the walls, etc. and proceed to attack the players.  This swarm of beetles will have virtually no end. They will not, however, appear outside of this room in giant or normal size should the party escape. If the table is destroyed, the walls and floor of the map room will suffer a similar fate (fire, ice, collapse, etc.).

Giant Beetle (5ft): HD 3; AC 3[16]; Atk 1 bite (3d6); Move 9; Save 14; CL/XP 4/120; Special: None.

Giant Scorpion: HD 6; AC 3[16]; Atk 2 pincers (1d10), sting (1d4 + poison); Move 12; Save 11; CL/XP 8/800; Special: Lethal poison sting.

Deluxe Giant Rat: HD 5; AC 6[13]; Atk 2 claws (1d3), 1 bite (1d6); Move 12; Save 14; CL/XP 3/120; Special: 5% are diseased.

Giant Constrictor: HD 6; AC 5[14]; Atk 1 bite (1d3), 1 constrict (2d4); Move 10; Save 11; CL/XP 7/600; Special: Constrict

Note: If the DM prefers to not give away the map of the dungeon level, a generic maze can be used instead. Players teleported will land in a random room. Monster stats are per S&W Core Rules and come from the S&W Monster Compendium (Giant Rat HD adjusted).

© 2010 Chris Weller. Released for noncommercial use and remix under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ca/