Oh Whoa, What's This? - Warlock of Firetop Mountain - Encounter Analysis Round 1

Here comes some content I guess. So do you remember the old Fighting Fantasy books that were first published in the 1980s? Me neither, but I had some of the books as a kid, and a while ago bought a set of the first 10 books. I ended up thinking that they could serve pretty well for a role-playing game, so I started adapting the first book, "The Warlock of Firetop Mountain" to fit D&D 5e, in the hopes of playing it with my friends. I'm currently thinking that the entire dungeon could last about 2 sessions, and the dungeon map is pretty cleanly split into two parts. In this post I'm gonna be looking at the first main section, comprising the entrance to the mountain and the dungeon areas. The first main task is looking at the encounters in the book and adapting them to fit nicely into D&D where necessary.

Encounters

The Pit Room 

Summary: A corridor ends at a stuck door, which the player may attempt to charge down. If they are successful, they fall several feet into the room below, which is at a lower elevation than the corridor.

Okay I'm gonna be totally honest, I love the core idea of this encounter, and I think it adapts really nicely as possibly the first thing the players meet in the dungeon. It has the potential to really gear the party into a wary stance right from the onset from a lighthearted, comedic angle. However, this sort of trap is a tool that must be used with caution. Hitting the players with too much damage early on could really dampen the mood for the oncoming adventure, and it's definitely important not to punish them too much too early. With this in mind, I think I'm gonna limit the damage dealt by this fall, perhaps by adding something into the room which could break the player's fall. This will hopefully also help to add some more stuff into the room, which is really only described in the book as a "pit" without any other features, which sounds really plain to me.

The Sentry

Summary: At the bend of a corridor, a goblin sentry sleeps in a small alcove, giving the players an opportunity to sneak past.

This is a pretty nice mini-encounter to start the dungeon off with, and helpfully allows the DM to get a read of their players by how they approach the issue, allowing more tailored experiences in the future. Additionally even if a fight breaks out the players shouldn't get too fatigued by a single Goblin (MM page 166, CR 1/4). The main danger here is the sentry letting off some sort of alarm and drawing more enemies out.

The Sleeping Room

Summary: The first real room the players can enter, with an orc sleeping in the corner and a chest under the desk containing one gold piece and a mouse.

This room is pretty bland to be totally honest. There's a single sleeping enemy, and not much else. There's even the lure of a chest in the room that contains nothing of particular note. I do like the mouse though, which can add a little cute moment to the adventure and potentially brings up some questions about how evil the creatures in the mountain are. If I were to implement this room into a D&D dungeon, I think I would use it as a storytelling opportunity, including ways for players to learn a little more of the lore surrounding the mountain or perhaps using specific room description to ramp up the flavour of the dungeon. Again, I would replace the Orc (MM page 246) with a Goblin (MM page 166, CR 1/4), just to keep the enemies in the dungeon consistent.

The Snake Box Room

Summary: There's basically nothing in this room, apart from a table with a chest beneath it. Inside the chest is a poisonous snake, that's gonna try biting anyone that opens the box. Inside the box there is also a key with the number 99 engraved on it.

Okay, general crappiness of this room in general aside, I really like the snake-in-a-box trap that's included here. A single Poisonous Snake (MM page 334) won't exactly provide a challenging enemy, but letting it get off a single attack with surprise acts as a decent trap. It's a kinda unusual trap that totally works, and so many people won't see it coming. Love it. However, it would be really easy just to put this trap in another room, and get rid of this totally empty room, which sounds like a vastly superior option to keeping all this dead space in the dungeon, especially considering that we've already got a fairly featureless room. This encounter is also the first appearance of a key! The keys are used to unlock the treasure at the end of the dungeon, so collecting them is fairly important.

The Drunks Room

Summary: A room containing two singing, drunk orcs. Since they're drunk and startled by you're entrance, they aren't much of a combat threat. Under the table is a chest containing the Dragonfire spell, which is incredibly important for a much later encounter in the final section of the dungeon (read: you're more or less fucked if you don't get it now). Basically, one of the last encounters in the book is a full blown fucking dragon, but if the player has this spell, they can use it to pretty much instantly beat it. If they don't have it, they have to fight.

Despite the implementation, I really like the idea behind the Dragonfire spell in the book, cause it allows the player to fight and win against what is clearly a vastly superior foe, giving a huge sense of achievement without much. However, it really, really has its issues in the book, considering players are so much more likely to survive and win based on just if they find this spell now. With this in mind, I would be wary about implementing this in a D&D game, and would certainly give the players multiple opportunities to find the spell in different locations if they miss this chance. 

As to the drunk orcs, I like the flavour this adds to the dungeon, and properly roleplayed could even lead to a funny social encounter with the players. Again, I would replace the Orcs (MM page 246) with a Goblins (MM page 166, CR 1/4) for a 1st level party.

Okay, that's all for this post, be sure to read the next in which I'll go through the next five-ish encounter in the book!