Old School Role Playing

Lots of nasty creatures lurk in the dark corners of dungeons, tombs and ruined temples. Sooner or later the delvers are going to meet one. And it will not be on the terms that they expect. For monsters in the dungeon do not sit idly in their rooms waiting for adventurers to come kick in the doors, kill them and then steal all their treasure. Sometimes they are out collecting their treasures. Sometimes they may be out foraging for food. Or sometimes they might even be out…..looking for adventurers who are trespassing on their turf. Random encounters are essential in Dungeons and Dragons. 

Random Encounters Should Be Random

I am certainly in favor of rolling frequently when adventurers choose to do stupid things. See my previous article about sleeping in the dungeon for my views on that. But I do believe in keeping the regular random encounter checks to certain intervals of time. Dice should be used. And if the dice indicate an encounter then one should occur.

Not Every Encounter is Hostile

Sometimes the explorers may encounter creatures that are not inherently hostile to themselves. These creatures might even be potential allies in a hostile place. Whether they are friendly or hostile to the adventurers is going to depend upon their actions and perhaps reaction tables should you wish to use them.

Some Encounters Will Be Hostile

Some creatures met in the dungeon are just plain mean. They will always be unfriendly to just about anyone that they meet. Some are not even that friendly to others of their own species.

Using Tables

I believe that a dungeon master would be best served by making their own random encounter tables for their dungeons. It makes little sense for the delvers to bump into an owlbear in a tomb filled with undead. But if you rely upon the DMG random encounter tables something like that might happen. It makes far more sense to pick monsters that are currently set encounters in your adventure and make your table from these residents of the dungeon. Those are far more likely to be met as wandering monsters. And you can place some other creatures that are unlikely to have a real home in the dungeon but often lurk there anyway. Gelatinous cubes, green slimes, black puddings and the like might be found in the hallways or other corners. These might not otherwise have a set location in the dungeon.

Surprise!

Surprise will be covered in more detail in a later article. But obviously surprise is an important part of random encounters. It is easily possible for either party to be surprised in such an encounter. And it is also possible for both parties to be surprised. And this, of course, can change the dynamics entirely. One party that might be weaker might gain a significant advantage by being more aware than the other. 

The Effects of Wandering Monsters

Random encounters contribute to the depletion of resources that the delvers are depending upon to survive in this hostile environment. And this is a good thing. Because once your adventurers begin to feel safe in the dungeon the game itself begins to have less attraction. Keeping the adventurers on their toes keeps a certain level of suspense going which is essential to keeping a happy dungeons and dragons group.

Reckless adventurers love to kick in doors in the dungeon. Sooner or later it is bound to come up in one of your games. And it is the perfect opportunity for you to demonstrate how unsafe a practice that kicking in doors in the dungeon can be for an explorer in a hostile place.

Techniques in Training Your Delvers

Since we know that is inevitable that at some point a delver is going to believe him or herself stronger than the denizens of the dungeon it is up to us to teach them differently. Some methods that I might suggest are as follows

• The balsa wood door – it looks like a normal door but when kicked it just shatters. And what is behind that door is something that the delvers do not want to meet. Level draining undead work perfectly for this. A nice pack of wights. But other nasty creatures can do just as well. A pack of rust monsters might discourage your fighters from this practice. A hungry band of trolls might also do the trick.
• The door filled with poison gas – this also looks like a normal door. But when kicked it also shatters and releases gas that was inside of the hollow door. This gas could be poison. Or it could be corrosive and might eat away at armor or weapons worn or held by the adventurer.
• Trapped doors – there are lots of nasty traps you can use to discourage this behavior. My buddy Grimtooth has lots of traps for this purpose which you can borrow. I mentioned him in a previous article. 
• A kicked door makes a loud sound that echoes through the hallways of the dungeon. And this should certainly bring a random encounter check.
• And what about the dangers of kicking the door itself? Splinters in the eye. Pieces of wood everywhere. And no way to close this door again. This could turn out to be quite perilous if the adventurers need to hole up somewhere for safety and find that they can no longer close and bar the door.

Listening at Doors is a Wise Precaution

 It would be wise to listen at doorways before forcing them. And it would be wiser still not to force a door unless the delver must. Many doors in a dungeon may be stuck. Many more will not be. There is no reason to kick the door open if it is not locked and is not stuck. Yet for many adventurers kicking the door is their first choice! By listening at the door one might discover that there are many voices coming from the room in which they are about to enter. But many adventurers do not bother with this either.

Mechanics of Kicking in Doors in the Dungeon 

In 1st Edition the door kick is pretty simple. It is based upon strength. The table on page 9 of the Players Handbook explains this in detail. A six sided dice is used and the results are compared to the table to determine success. The adventurer can make as many attempts as desired but each makes noise and may draw the interest from wandering monsters. In 5th Edition the dungeon master will assign a DC and the player will roll a strength check to determine success as per DMG page 103-104.

In Conclusion

There are obviously times when the delvers will have to kick in a door. A failed lock pick check. A door which is barred from the inside. A door which is stuck from age and disuse. These things happen in the dungeon. But kicking in every door must be discouraged. Because it leads the adventurers to feel that they are the most powerful creature in the dungeon. And this leads to bad things. Delvers should always be afraid that creatures lurk nearby that might be more powerful than they are. Without this fear the suspense of the game fades quickly. 

Sooner or later the dungeon master will hear this from their players. “We want to sleep in the dungeon and recover health and spells.” Or something along those lines. Now clearly this is a reckless and dangerous thing to do. And if it isn’t reckless and dangerous in your dungeons then it probably should be. It would not take the denizens of the underground labyrinth long to find out that someone new has moved into the neighborhood. And naturally….they would all want to welcome the newcomers….

Random encounter checks. The Dungeon Master’s Guide from 1st edition is silent on the subject of how often these should occur. But let’s be realistic. How long is going to take for the orcs that live two doors down from the room the adventurers are camped in to discover them and come visit? Probably not very long. The Dungeon Master Guide from 5E gives several alternate suggestions. Every hour, once every four to eight hours, once daily and once during a long rest. The 5E DMG suggests that you check by rolling a D20 and a roll of 18-20 indicates an encounter.

My personal advice is this. If someone is sleeping in the dungeon I would go with the check every hour approach. Because this is realistic. Every hour there should be a chance for someone to stumble into the delver’s camp. And with eight chances for a random encounter in a sleep period of eight hours this will effectively eliminate such efforts. 

The purpose for such harshness, other than personal enjoyment of the player’s torment, is that the delvers must conserve their resources to succeed in the dark catacombs that you have created for them. They cannot have the wizard blast every goblin with a fireball if they do not wish to run out of spells before completing their expedition. They cannot fight every creature that they meet if the adventurers are taking wounds. Sure spells and healing potions may prolong this but even those run out eventually. 

The idea is this. Unless you want these meddling delvers to steam roll everything in your well designed tomb then you need to force them to play the game right. When they make an expedition to some ruined castle, ancient tomb, limestone caverns or dark crypt then you want them to take risks. Allowing the adventurers to rest after a few fights allows them to be at virtually full strength every time they meet a monster. And that just isn’t the way the game should be played. Of course….that is the way that the players wish to have it…..but you run the game. Not them. So make sleeping in the dungeon a very dangerous thing to do. And you will maintain control.

Granted. Sometimes a dungeon is a long way from the nearest town. But the adventurers could make camp in a forest nearby and reduce their risk of an unhealthy visit from wandering monsters. This is why the adventurers make maps (assuming that yours do). So that they know how to return to the surface safely with their ill gotten gains. It is quite easy for them just to follow their map even from the deepest depths of the dungeon and then return again once rested. Of course….this also has a risk. Monsters may be wandering or lurking in the hallways. 

In conclusion….keep control of your games. Stamp out this nonsense of sleeping in the dungeon. Use random encounters until your adventurers begin to understand that the dungeon is not a safe place. 

Castles. In the medieval world knights and kings alike thought that their walls were impregnable. They falsely believed that they were safe behind these walls. But of course….this was a lie. Sieges in Dungeons and Dragons can quickly dispel the illusion of safety. And storming a castle or two now and then is just plain fun.

Siege of the City of Onm

As the foremost villain in Zanzian history I am probably less known for my betrayal of the king than I am for sacking the capital city of Onm. Onm was once a beautiful and prosperous walled city. It was really one gigantic castle. Those foolish mortals thought that they were safe from me and my friends inside their stone walls. Even the king of Zanzia himself hid behind those walls.

Now it is true….that eventually my army was broken and chased off from this siege. But not before we broke through those walls and killed everyone inside. And looted the place….of course…..

Important Siege Tools

Sieges in Dungeons and Dragons require the proper tools. Without these tools it becomes so much more difficult. By tools I mean siege engines. There are lots of available options but these are my favorites. I think that you might like them too.

Ballista

This is basically a huge crossbow which can fire humongous arrows or sometimes other things. They are great for punching holes in those impregnable walls and for knocking down towers. They are also wonderful just for shock and awe value. 

Gotta love those roman guys in the picture above right? Those guys sure know how to party. 

Battering Ram

Sometimes castle gates are weak enough just to kick in the door. But unless you have some fire giants with you to kick those gates in you may have to rely on other methods. A battering ram works nicely for this.

These guys are a little exposed. But I like their spirit anyway. If they died for me I would just reanimate them into zombies or skeletons for my army anyway. 

Catapult

Sometimes the enemy is just a bit too frisky to have your troops exposed using a battering ram. Sometimes you just need to soften them up a bit. These babies are wonderful for doing just that.

This thing can throw boulders from a long way away. Direct hits can topple towers and walls. But the real fun is in throwing them over the walls and letting the land randomly within the castle or city. And when used with fire…..they can really cause some terror inside those walls.

Moving Towers

Sometimes sieges do get a bit boring and you just want to immediately storm the walls and get things over with. For those times it can be advantageous to use one of these.

These things give your troops cover while they approach the walls. I am not sure why anyone wants to give their troops cover. I certainly don’t. But in case you do….this should do the trick nicely. Or perhaps this one.

The Big Guns

Ok so maybe the guys inside the castle are being stubborn. They just do not seem to get the point. Sometimes you just gotta let them know who is really the boss. And that is when you bring out the big guns. Well. Guns might not be the appropriate word. Unless you allow guns in your campaign. But this thing is the next best thing. 

Ok. So maybe the French did do something right. They invented this nasty beast. It can fling boulders with much more power than the catapult. And much higher. Unless you have those giants with you that I mentioned earlier…..flinging boulders is going to require something like this instead. I highly recommend these devices. There is nothing quite as satisfying as seeing castle walls and towers shatter from the impact of the massive boulders thrown by these devices.

Conclusion

Sieges in Dungeons and Dragons require the best tools for the job. It is your job to make sure that your villains have the tools that they need to succeed. 

Tax. What an ugly word right? Everyone hates them. Except the tax man. But even in medieval times taxes were an issue for the common man and noble alike. But without them the king could not build castles, raise armies or increase his coffers.

Types of taxes your players might be subject to

Adventurers in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign might encounter many types of taxes. Taxes could be a very important part of this game if you think about it. These players are out seeking wealth and taking it from other creatures. This tends to make them the richest people around. It would only be natural for the local king, baron, prince or whatever to want a piece of it. And why wouldn’t they expect it? Their other subjects pay them like clockwork.

And from the dungeon master’s perspective taxes help remove some of that massive wealth from their players. Money starts to have real value to the adventurers when someone else starts taking it from them again.

Some possible ways to tax the delvers comes to mind:

• Tolls
• Gate tax to enter the city
• Church tithes
• Import and export taxes
• Money changers and tax
• Road taxes for anyone travelling when the collector meets them on the road
• Duties paid to bring goods from other places into the city
• Tariffs on goods from hostile nations
• Excise taxes for being a member of specific professions
• Property taxes for owning land and estates

Separating adventurers from their money is an important activity. When players gain massive wealth they want to do several things with the money:

• Buy magical items and spells
• Buy castles and keeps
• Buy upgrades to their statistics
• Use their money to establish power of the common folks

I personally do not have shops that sell magic items or spells in my campaigns. I believe that this cheapens the value of magic when the player can just buy it. If they want magical items they must find them and separate them from their owners. If they want to learn new spells then they must go out and take spell books and scrolls from powerful wizards or find them in dungeons or tombs. 

Tolls

Tolls were a common thing in the middle ages. If you crossed a bridge or took a ferry then you paid a tax. Such taxes were often hit the peasant both coming and going to a major town or city. Evasion of such tolls by use of alternate routes could be risky as confiscation of all wealth or goods was often the punishment if caught. Taxes just for being on the road itself were not uncommon.

Gate Tax

A fee to enter the city was also common. This is especially true for walled cities with limited entry points that could be guarded by men at arms. Typically such a tax was small but it gives the guards an opportunity to inspect what else the adventurers might be bringing into the city. Such things might be subject to some other tax which could also be collected at this time. A single copper or silver might be appropriate for a gate tax.

Tithes

Virtually every church or temple will expect it’s members to cough up money for it’s benefit. Tithes exist still in this day and age and are often a percentage of the person’s income. In a fantasy setting such a tax should be imposed on clerics and paladins and perhaps any others who require deities for their spells. And of course…it could be very steep. Paladins, of course, are expected to give up most of their wealth to the church anyway in 1st Edition AD&D. 

Money Changers

Money changers are a wonderful tool for separating wealth from the delvers that have it. Coins found in the dungeon are typically old. It is doubtful that they are going to continually find coins that are accepted as legal tender by the realm that they live in. If they want to spend their money…..they need to convert it to coin that is legal tender. And this is where the money changer comes in.  The money changer might charge a significant percentage to convert money to the accepted type of currency. The player’s handbook suggests 3%. Perhaps 10-20% of the total changed might be more appropriate in your cities…..

And…it is also likely that the tax collector will be informed shortly afterwards so that the king can have his cut….

Property Taxes

Nobles often found property taxes to be the most damaging for them. As a condition of nobility the noble was expected to contribute money to the king for the mutual protection of all. Having this nice big castle and the small villages around it for income had a price. That price was paying the king his cut. Adventurers are kind of in the same boat. If they want to build castles, keeps and estates….they will have to pay the king for the privilege. And keep paying for it.

Duties, Tariffs and Excise Taxes

Commerce in the big cities involves a great deal of money changing hands. It is only natural that local authorities and the king himself will all want a piece of the action. A 1 or 2 % tax on goods brought into the city would not be unusual. A bigger tax might be imposed on goods brought in from certain hostile and semi hostile nations. Say 5% to 10% might be appropriate. A sales tax on normal transactions in the market might also be levied. Say 5% to 10% might be the norm. And being a professional has it’s own costs. Excise taxes might be levied for those practicing certain professions such as wizards, alchemists, illusionists or perhaps even warriors. Thieves of course have their guilds taxing them for membership. As do assassins. 

Special Occasion Taxes

And of course….if something breaks and must be fixed….emergency taxes may be imposed. Street repairs, castle repairs, repairs to the city wall, taxes to raise an army to fend off an impending invasion……and the list goes on. 

Conclusion

Taxes are an essential part of life in a fantasy campaign. And of course it provides some possibilities for interesting role play. Because your players are going to get annoyed quickly by the tax man. The tax man will quickly become the primary villain in any city visit by the adventurers. And he is untouchable. Killing him might be easy. But it will have major consequences for the adventurers that do so. For all the kings men will be after them if they do kill him.

But you can add some interesting twists to your campaign with a tax collector. He might be crooked and looking for bribes. He might appear suddenly every time the adventurers come into money. He might be ruthless and greedy or lawful and benevolent. It is all up to you as the dungeon master.

And do not forget…..but if the players wealth increases the taxes of the king may need to increase as well.

Psionics. The mere word mentioned at a gaming table will cause people to choke to death on their Dr. Pepper. This subject has been discussed, debated and heatedly fought over on forums all over the internet. No one seems to like AD&D 1st Edition Psionics. No one except this guy who wrote this fine article I am about to link. This article describes in great detail about the process of using psionics by the book. By the book presumably means interpreting the Dungeon Master Guide and Player’s Handbook and their seemingly contradictory explanations of this part of the game. 

Psionics By the Book

There is another short article on determining if your player has psionics. The process for testing which is detailed in the Player’s Handbook is explained in this article.

Testing for Psionics

Joe Mohr even wrote two adventures published on Dragonsfoot involving psionics. You can find these free adventures with the following links.

Flayers of the mind

Temple of the Ice Gods

Whether you choose to allow psionics in your game is up to you as dungeon master. As an ancient Lich I can tell you that such psionic creatures do exist in Zanzia and elsewhere. But it also existed in the original form of Dungeons and Dragons. It was introduced to the game in the third book called Eldritch Wizardry. But my suggestion is to learn all that you can about this subject from the links above and then make your own decision. 

Hello readers. It’s Malcon the Firebringer again. This time I am going to talk about a subject that many dungeon masters complain about. Metagaming. Metagaming is a new concept for me. As I am an all knowing and omnipotent Lich it is rare for the adventurers to be aware of anything that I am not. But I am going to allow Joe Mohr to tell you some more about this subject.

“Thanks Malcon. Joe Mohr here. Malcon is kindly allowing me to guest post on my own blog. Very kind of him. Anyway, I was recently at a small gaming convention in Missouri this fall, where I saw a perfect example of this phenomenon. 

To my left at the gaming table was a young man who spent the entire game looking up monsters on his cell phone and telling everyone at the table their attributes and how to defeat them. To my right at the gaming table was an older gentleman who was greatly offended by this and who repeatedly advised the young man to stop metagaming. The Dungeon Master seemed oblivious to all of it. I kept silent. It was a Sunday afternoon gaming session. If I left early I was going to just have to begin my drive home to Arkansas early.  There was little chance of that happening. 

So now back to Malcon for some tips on how to handle this situation in your own campaigns. He tells me that he has some wonderful ideas.”

Ok so how do we deal with such behavior at the gaming table? I have some suggestions for you. Now obviously you could just kill the young man’s character off immediately so that he leaves the gaming table early. That is one possibility. But I have some other suggestions that might prove more amusing.

• Reverse all your spell effects and change all of your monster attack attributes. The young punk with the cell phone will not know what hit them.
• Add in lots of new features and attributes to your creatures. Your trolls don’t drain levels when they touch? Mine would. 
• Use monsters from sources outside of the core books. I wrote a wonderful article (all my articles are wonderful of course) about some fine books called the Tome of Horrors which adds many new species of monster to your game. There are many other such tomes out there if you look for them.
• Have one of your other player characters at the table turn out to be an assassin hired to kill that talkative metagaming kid with the cellphone!

There is an interesting article about this subject that I found on the web. It was posted by someone calling themselves “The Angry DM.” Now personally, I believe, that all DMs should play angry. After all….these adventurers are vermin that are invading your dungeons. You should be angry. But anyway he says that Metagaming is the fault of the dungeon master who allows it to happen. I agree. You can find this article at the following link:

Dear GMs: Metagaming is Your Fault

The article is rather long. But then again…I am a Lich….and I have all the time in the world to read such things. The gist of it is that Metagaming is only a problem if you let it become one.

On a side note there is also a fine gaming shop called Metagames in the same town here this convention took place, Springfield, Missouri. One day I should like to visit this land called Missouri. Perhaps after I finish taking over Zanzia I will conquer it next……

According to Joe Mohr this shop has an extensive community that plays Dungeons and Dragons there nightly along with other games. And it also sells used Advanced Dungeons and Dragons books and other out of print role playing material.

Until next time….kill some adventurers for me….please….

Two of my favorite subjects. Traps and Treachery. I love both of these subjects with a passion. And I have studied both of these a great deal over the century since I became a Lich. Fortunately there are two great tomes which are available even to you lowly mortals on this subject. 

Both of these volumes are filled with wonderful ideas on new traps, tricks, puzzles and other things to confuse and kill your meddling adventurers. Even my good friend Grimtooth would approve of these librams. And he is kind of picky about such things. 

Both are created for Legends and Lairs. I have no idea what that might be. Perhaps it is some kind of game system other than Dungeons and Dragons. As if…. But anyway these books are are filled with ideas easily enough converted to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons  or to Dungeons and Dragons 5E.

The two tomes also have some interesting discussions about puzzles in role playing games. I will be discussing that subject again in a later article.

These books can be found and browsed on Drive Thru RPG. This is a wonderful web site filled with electronic tomes about all of the subjects that I love. With a library like that imagine what I could do in my research! But anyway here are two links for you to go look at these:

Traps and Treachery Volume One

Traps and Treachery Volume Two – this one does not appear to be available yet on Drive Thru RPG. Some devilry must be behind this. I will investigate.

Hi! Malcon again. I decided to do a little research on illusions on this wonderful magic called the world wide web. There are people out there with some great ideas on illusions that I personally had never considered. And given the time that a Lich as to consider things that is really rather amazing don’t you think?

Now…..on to these new ideas.

• An area of your dungeon filled with illusionary traps and a few real ones. When they try to disbelieve these traps they are going to be in for a surprise won’t they?
• A doorway only visible in a mirror
• Illusions in the same room with invisible monsters
• A maze with some illusionary walls that do not exist
• Illusions that give your players extra options than just the safe path to travel
• Illusions of alert and active guards when the real ones are drunk or sleeping down the hall
• Illusions of some large nasty beast like a dragon that can eat up all of the delvers damage while the real threats fire away at the adventurers with impunity.

Illusionary Traps

Traps that are just illusions tends to distract your adventurers from the real threats in the room. While your adventurers are worrying about these traps the monsters or real traps in the room may be killing them.

Hiding a Doorway in an Illusion

Secret doors are one thing. But a door hidden by an illusion might never be found. And that is the point isn’t it?

Illusions in the Same Room With Monsters

Want to distract the adventurers from the creatures doing them the most damage? Put illusions in the room of something more threatening. Do your adventurers love to target the enemy spell casters first? Make some of the zombies in the room appear as if they are wearing robes and holding wands. And then watch your adventurers spend all their efforts killing those “wizards” first.

Mazes With Illusionary Walls

This is almost unfair. Which makes it even more fun. The maze will appear to have no possible exit. And this will infuriate your delvers. 

Making the Players Choose the Unsafe Path

Are there multiple ways to get to the adventurer’s ultimate destination? Would you like them to take the more dangerous and risky path? I know that I would. And illusions can make one path seem unsafe when it is. And another path look quite safe when it is extremely dangerous. Got a nice steep cliff the adventurers could fall off? Make it look like a well worn trail. 

Make Your Guards Look Alert Even If They Are Not

Are some of your minions slackers? That is a problem that all evil geniuses like us have. It is just so difficult to get good help. But illusions can make your guards look dangerous even if they are really sleeping off last nights Dwarven Mead. 

Illusions of Monsters to Go With the Real Ones in the Room

Sometimes it is useful to give your delvers something meaty and dangerous looking to fight when the real threat in the room is just a bunch of kobolds. If they think there is a dragon with them the delvers are going to spend all of their spells and damage on that dragon before worrying about those pesky kobolds. And that gives your kobolds a chance to do some damage while the delvers are busy.

I will discuss this subject some more with my good friend Prince Al Kazam. Al Kazam is an ancient Rakshasha who has recently moved into the city of Barrowmar. He has a wonderful palace there. You should visit it sometime. Until then…..I bid you adieu. 

Illusions are your friends. As as a dungeon master Illusions give you the opportunity to do many things with your players just to torment them. And tormenting them is the point….isn’t it? At least it is for me…..

Simply killing the adventurers is certainly fun and enjoyable. After all…they are trespassing in my home. But it is far more enjoyable to make them believe that they have a chance to survive and then snatch it away from them at the last second.

So. On to Illusions. Let’s talk about three of my favorites. There are so many options it would be nearly impossible to discuss all of them. So let’s focus on three. 

The Illusion of a Floor

This is one of my all time favorites. The delvers are walking down the hallway or into a large chamber and suddenly discover that the solid stone floor that they were walking on is not really there at all. Now, obviously some of the adventurers may disbelieve this illusion of a floor in time to save themselves. So much the better.

For when they do disbelieve this illusion they will separate themselves from the rest of the party which will just have fallen into a pit of nasties waiting for them. Hungry wolves are nice. Level draining wraiths….however….are even better….

With the adventurer party split (by their own choice) they will be substantially weakened. And then the fun begins. But not before they each take falling damage from landing in the pit or room below the nonexistent floor.

The Illusion of a wall

Sometimes it is fun to let the adventurers walk into an area where they think that they are totally safe. A room with normal looking walls or a mirror or something will probably not concern them too much. But if you give them a reason to disbelieve that the wall or mirror is present….say by letting them put a hand through it while searching for secret rooms……they will choose to disbelieve that the wall is real. And then the fun begins….. For behind that illusionary wall is this lovely lady.

And it is going to be hard to convince the dungeon master that the adventurer was not looking at her. Yes. It is a mean thing to do. But then again. I am an evil Lich.

The Illusion of Magic Being Used Against Them

Ok. I am going to make an admission to you. Some of my minions are just not all that. Some of them are…..well….mindless. You know? So in order to boost their effectiveness in guarding my tombs and dungeons I tend to compensate for their inadequacies through the use of magic. Illusions can work wonders for improving the power of such weaklings. For example say the adventurers wander into a room guarded by a zombie. But he does not look like a mere zombie. He looks like a powerful Lich like me! And he begins casting a spell. A fireball!

If the adventurers do not disbelieve this illusion then the effects of the spell will cause them to believe that they have been damaged. Some of the adventurers may fall to the floor believing themselves dead. The zombie (and any other zombies nearby) can then deal with the other adventurers without the aid of those believing themselves injured or dead. It’s a win win situation right?

In conclusion

There are so many things you can do with illusions in this game. Yet the illusionist is one of the least chosen classes by adventuring types. But as the dungeon master there is no reason for you not to use them to your own advantage. I will be talking more on this subject in later articles. For now…go slay some delvers for me will you?