Dwimmermount is released!

Well it been a journey but thanks to the hardworking folks at Autarch, the Dwimmerount megadungeon is finally released for Labyrinth Lord. The ACKS version is being worked on and will be released later this year.

A couple of notes.

• I drew some of the overland maps, and the map of Muntberg
• The overload map was inspired by the map for Outdoor Survival by Avalon Hill
• The wilderness map dovetails with Blackmarsh to the north. Forming an alternative "Southland" for those with Blackmarsh
• Muntberg is based on Rhuddlan Castle in Wales
• This is because the original Muntberg used by James was the Keep on the Borderlands. And the Keep was based on a real world castle. So I figured what good for Gygax is good for Dwimmermount.
• The text and maps of Dwimmermount are all open content. So those who have a better way of presenting the place or problems with specific can share their fixes. 

My only major criticism of Autarch's work is that when they split the maps for the map booklet they didn't overlap them by 5% or so. They tried for a perfect splits which doesn't work in practice. This is the same flaw the afflicts the maps for The Castle of the Mad Archmage. In both there is plenty of white space on the outer edge to allow room for extra overlap.

Dwimmermount
Dwimmermount Maps
Dwimmermount Illustrations

Dwimmermount News and open gaming

Tenkar has the latest details here. I am involved in a peripheral way drawing up a map of Muntberg and adapting my take on the old Outdoor Survival Map to the details of James campaign. Tavis was in contact with me and the other Dwimmermount artists when he was trying to handle James silence.

During this I was one of the persons who suggested that the original draft of Dwimmermount be made open content in the same way that Blackmarsh is.  While the project was stalled people been crafting their own version and that got me to think why not just give formal permission in the form of an open license.

One of the main reasons that I opened Blackmarsh was to serve as an easily accessible and modifiable example of a hexcrawl formatted setting. An open Dwimmermount can do the same for Megadungeons. The fact that James grounded Dwimmermount tightly to the roots of D&D and classic fantasy makes it  ideal for this.

While Blackmarsh was used as the foundation of Hexmoor and a setting for Heroes and other worlds,  what I encounter the most is people cherry picking selected elements for their own campaign. I think that how people will use an open Dwimmermount.

So I am glad this is getting resolved and looking forward to what Tavis and the Autarch team come up with.

Taking a stroll outside of Dwimmermount

James Maliszewski of Grognardia ordered a Judges Guild style version of his Dwimmermount outdoor map from me a couple of weeks ago. Since he used the Outdoor Survival gameboard as his template and I done some work recreating the gameboard as a RPG map, it was a pretty straight forward project to do. I played around with some of the textures, finally getting around to recreating a scrubland fill to use for plains and other open terrain along with selecting a badlands fill.

 I enjoyed doing this and helping to get Dwimmermount closer to completion.

I reworked the northeast corner to fit the southwest edge of my Blackmarsh setting. If you like the tv show Fringe and parallel worlds then use the following table whenever the players try to leave Blackmarsh by land on the southern edge. Chalk it up to a weird by-product from the Mountain That Fell.

Roll a d10 (or a d12 if you are Jeff Rients or a fan of his)
1-5 they arrive in the Dwimmermount Wilderness
6-10 they arrive in Southland
11 they don't know where they wound up and it isn't good. 
12 Walternate greets the party and escorts them back to the Fringe Division where they are brainwashed into thinking they just came from having a really intense boffer LARP weekend.

Heading back north takes them back into Blackmarsh.

Into the Dwimmermount

This Friday I was able to join the Dwimmermount campaign run by James Maliszewski of Grognardia. I was originally exposed to the dungeons several years ago in a short play by post game run over on the OD&D Discussion Forums. For this session I recycled Argyll the highland magic user I played in the play by post. Can't throw away that 18 Intelligence!

The game was organized on Google+. I almost missed it because I didn't figure out where the notification appeared until nearly the last minute. I will get back to the technical stuff in another post.

I gamed with Jason Azze, Ryan Browning and Michael Curtis; two fighters and an elf. We jelled pretty solidly as a group. Mostly because we were all a mellow bunch of gamers who had a healthy respect for the deadliness of low level OD&D. The experience of the Jason, Ryan, and Michael really helped to keep everybody hide intact and yet not bog down the exploration.

You can see some of that on my sheet with all the stuff I packed on Mirk Plook "Dark Spots", my mule. Over the game I found myself wondering at why I omitted things like rope and oil. I think that was an artifact of the setup for the play by post game. James' post over at Grognardia goes into the details.

I will add that I was playing Argyll as a bit reckless. Argyll has a 18 intelligence but a 6 wisdom. For example normally folks would avoid the Room of Masks as it was obviously trapped. But Argyll had to poke around so he got out his 10 foot pole and poke around eventually figuring out that knocking the masks off triggered the trap, which was a deadly poison gas.

The Dwimmermount was as evocative as I remembered it from the play by post game. A little better because we playing a normal sessions rather than the long dragged out process of play by post. I also just signed for the $40 hardcover level of the kickstarter project.  Earlier today I looked at the one preview level that has been released. I have to say Dwimmermount is shaping up to be a stellar book.

I think also due to the fact that James uses bog standard older D&D as the base that it should be readily adaptable to most campaigns. For example not everybody has a Turms Turmax or a Tyche but many campaign have gods with similar roles and could be adapted into their roles.

Due to time constraints I won't be able to make this a regular game but I do hope to pop in every once in a while as long as James keeps running it.

And thanks to Michael for suggesting that we try to be the first into the Depths of the Dwimmermount (hear those capitals slamming into place.).

Into Dwimmermount

James Maliszewski's Play by Post Dwimmermount campaign has started!

You set at from Muntburg shortly before dusk, hoping to arrive at the Red Gate shortly before Areon reaches its zenith in the evening sky. The journey is uneventful, for the wilderness surrounding Dwimmermount is seemingly devoid of animal life. Indeed, the lack of the usual nighttime sounds is mildly unnerving. The terrain itself is rocky and dry, with strange shrubs and twisted trees spread across the northern slopes of the mountain, as you trudge on toward the Gate.

In time, you come across the Stairs of Mavors -- the Path of War -- carved by the Thulians centuries ago and leading up to the Red Gate. Your trek becomes much easier, although the purple-tinged air that surrounds you, often illuminated by dim purple sparks, does little to ease your minds.

The Red Gate itself is an impressive bit of handiwork, a huge metal portal carved from the metal sages call areonite, for it is closely associated with the Red Planet. Standing taller than a Man and strangely absent any markings except the shield and spear of Mavors, it gleams in the moonlight -- a sight unlike any you expected to see on this lonely mountainside.

When at last Areon rises in the sky, you are momentarily worried, for nothing seems to happen. Then the Red Gate does more than reflect the dim light of the far-off Red Planet; it magnifies it. Soon, a red glow grows and seemingly consumes the Gate itself, which fades away, leaving behind an open portal and a set of stairs descending downwards.

If the legends are true, the Red Gate will remain open till sunrise tomorrow. You have that much time either to enter and escape or find another means to do so, lest you be trapped inside for three months -- assuming you survive at all.


This initial post really grabbed my attention. It is very evocative and words like Areon, the Red Gate, the Stairs of Mavros - Path of War appealed to the Tolkien geek in me. Gives the right hint to the history of the place. It needed a little editing but then so do my posts. Looking forward to seeing what other mysteries are found here.

You can catch all the action here.