Ok, I’m iterating on my supply chip idea for the megadungeon I’m planning on running. Currently I’m thinking I’ll run this in Cairn, mainly because people understand Cairn and it’s easy to onboard people, and it has a hazard dice.

But this got me thinking to how I could reproduce the risk/reward loop of traditional play better while maintaining my rules-light improvisational style. I’m thinking:

• You spend a torch to advance a room, or to search the room.
• Whenever someone spends a torch, there’s a 1-in-6 chance of a wandering monster.
• Three torches fit in a slot, as per standard Cairn rules.

In classic play, it’s not too different: On average, you use a torch every ten in-game minutes, and on average, you spend ten in-game minutes per action in a room. On average, you encounter a wandering monster every 6 rooms (although this can vary). So I can a smush all these conveniently base six facts together to convert the existing economy into a token exchange.

I imagine at the table we’d have a stack of poker chips and cash them in to move deeper into the dungeon. I like the tension that would build, as your parties piles of poker chips grow smaller and you realise you need to figure out how to safely get back.

It does leave a dilemma: If you run out of poker chips, how do you escape the dungeon? The obvious answer is that remaining torches impact your roll to return. So, what would a roll to return look like in Cairn? My gut feeling is it should be a save that doesn’t rely on your stat for success. So:

• A roll to return is a roll to avoid bad outcomes from returning home from the dungeon.
• A representative PC rolls a d20 and compare the results to the total number of torch uses in the party’s possession (including hirelings; for the purpose of this lantern and oil can be used). If they roll equal to or under that number, they pass. Otherwise, they fail.
• A 1 is always a success, and a 20 is always a failure.
• If the return home was dangerous, on a fail, all PCs take 1d6 damage per point over the target.
• If the return home was instead arduous, the party drops 1 slot of inventory per point over the target.
• PCs reduced to 0 HP are left behind but may not be dead, depending on the nature of the danger.

Five Torches Deep inspired the arduous and dangerous distinction. The intent here is that if a dragon was between the party and home it would be dangerous, but usually it would be an arduous journey. I’m not sure if the possibility of taking 19d6 damage is likely, or if I should instead just say 1 damage (which is as deadly as 19 damage at the extreme, but far less a deterrent on a narrow fail).

The main unintended consequence of this rule set is that small parties are at a disadvantage, which is why I added the “including hirelings” parenthesis.

The totality of these rules is clumsy, but I like a lot about how it simplifies the Dungeon Events table. I’m not sure if it’s worth the trade off, though: Is it better to give the players more control over their risk and more understanding of their rewards?

9th September, 2023

Idle Cartulary