Gorefest Gazette by Richard Sharpe Volume 1, Issue 5 Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017 The fourth-session recap edition of Gorefest Gazette is still at the printers, but I decided to give you players an early preview of what is currently planned to be the next dungeon. The fact that I've started work on the next dungeon is good news; it means that I've either finished or planned so far ahead on the current dungeon that I've started my next project. We actually haven't quite gotten past what I planned for the first session yet, so no telling what month we'll actually start this next dungeon. This next dungeon is a cursed mausoleum designed to open with exploration and easy, "slaughter"-style combat at the very beginning with little chance of the delvers getting "stuck" (or "cowering") right in the entryway. Also, it currently has an open design, so you all (i.e., Luke) might decide to waltz right into the boss' chamber at the very beginning—though there might be a plot coupon added later. I've "only" worked on it for about six hours. The boss was going to be "Carrion," the main level boss of that giant, sprawling multi-level dungeon that I showed everyone—an iteration of the zombie ogre in full heavy plate sub-boss that killed Rasgar, Brandon's minotaur Barbarian PC, last season—but the direction might have changed. I still plan to have GfD be a Metroidvania MLD, but that huge dungeon was too much of a beast for me to wrangle right now. I'll probably come back to it. I'm not too worried about revealing the general layout as it's in such early stages. A whole lot will change. By the time you descend into its fell halls, it will be almost unrecognizable from the below image. It's pretty monochromatic right now because there are only a few floor textures, not to mention almost no lighting, features, furniture or decorations. There will be more colors! The spellwight token is a bit over sized, but not much. Image is 2100x2240. To see full size, right click, "Open image in new tab" As a heads up since I'm still allowing character modification, if you're playing a Cleric or Holy Warrior, brush up on "Curses 101," Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons , p. 9. If none of that looks like something your character can handle, there might be problems. Here's an excerpt: Cleansing: Making a cursed area safe to enter or a cursed altar safe to pillage requires an Exorcism roll by someone with Holy Might. This is a Quick Contest vs. the (possibly high) Will of the evil force possessing the area. A blessed or high holy symbol gives +1 or +2, respectively. This takes three hours, if time matters, and fails automatically if anyone casts any magic within the exorcist’s sight. The exorcist must win to prevail. Otherwise, he can’t retry for a week (others can). If his roll is a critical failure, he suffers the curse. See also Dungeons, p. 12: Special Features A dungeon area might contain all manner of weird and wonderful stuff – most of it bad, some of it good, and all of it entirely up to the GM. Old favorites include: Altars: These might be cursed (see Curses 101, p. 9) or blessed (see Last Ditch, p. 15), or raise effective sanctity for evil clerics in the area. Enchanted Fountains: These affect people who drink from them, those who bathe in them, or items dipped in them, causing corrosion (1d-1 corrosion for a dip, 3d injury if swallowed), poisoning (note damage and the penalty to any HT roll to avoid it), potion effects, and so on. Some have a whole table of random effects – or even separate tables for drinking, bathing, and dipping! So, what kind of monsters can one expect to find? Skeletons and zombies, of my own design of course, as well as corpse-eaters ( DF3: The Next Level , p. 5), dark ones ( The Next Level , p. 6), flaming skulls ( Dungeons , p. 23), foul bats ( Dungeons , p. 23), vampires ( Pyramid #3/72 , p. 25), as wells as giant rats ( Dungeons , p. 23), spiders, snakes, and maggot-monsters. Spellwights will make a return and Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 1 has a lot of offerings to consider: chiefly the draug (p. 12) and the undead slime (p. 32). That's not to mention my special creations such as bone golems, wraith knights, ghosts and living shadows—all sorts of wicked horrors. Okay, that's it for the preview. Hope everyone found it interesting and is looking forward to playing it as much as I am! Thanks for reading! — Richard Sharpe
