Temple of the Bat

Scale: 10 ft.
Click HERE for a PDF version of this adventure!

Suitable for 2nd level characters.

•		A little keyhole icon means the door is locked.
•		A little "S" through the door means the door is secret.
•		The other icon - which is supposed to look like a muscly arm - indicates the door is stuck and must be forced open.

A - The Ledge

A1 - Thirsting Effigy

Above a deep defile, a narrow road winds along the mountainside. Flanking the road are steep edges, stone and scree, with the occasional dead or dormant vine: sinking its roots into barren earth. Nestled in the cliff face is a shallow cave - planted in which is a carved statue of a giant fanged bat. Beneath the bat, on the ground - having been cast aside - is a stone bowl. If blood is spilled into the bowl and lifted to the mouth of the statue, the blood will drain, the statue's eyes will flash, and all characters within 20 feet of the statue are transported into B1, by the hanging statue in the south corner.

Two Lizard Men (B38), traveling, have taken refuge in the alcove and are resting.

A2 - Secret Entrance

Dead shrubs cling to the walls of the ravine; anchoring scree and soil. Beneath a thicket here marked is a suspiciously solid slab of stone hidden behind a set of bushes, the stem of which is at its head. The vine is artificial - and if the stem is turned counter-clockwise and then shifted left, it will allow the slab to slide downward into a hidden compartment, opening the secret door.

B - Atrium

B1 - Grand Hall

In the south-east corner, a statue of a bat - identical to the one in A1 - hangs upside down from the ceiling. Characters able to "feed" the bat in the same manner of the statue in A1 will be teleported back to A1. Hanging north-west of the statue, closer to the center of the hall, are three live Giant Bats (B31).

B2 - The Cage

Behind a barred section is a large statue of a bat. Its face has been damaged, one fang is broken and missing, along with half of its face and part of one wing.

B3 - South Entry

An orb sits on a pedestal, half visible, in the center of the room, a slight glow emitting from underneath as though it sits in a concave bowl. If it is turned, the glow increases - and if it is turned quickly, it emits a bright flash. All characters exposed to the flash must Save or be blinded for 1d4 hours.

B4 - North Entry

A faint smell of guano infuses this room. To the north, a hole appears to have been smashed through the wall - leading to B6. The occupants of B6 may notice if a party enters B4 prior to encountering them otherwise.

B5 - Temple

In the center of this room, an eight pointed star is embossed into the floor - forming small rivulets in the floor. The ceiling is taller than in other corridors and rooms - 20 feet - and from it hangs a Gargoyle (B35) - the appearance of which is of a stone bat. In its chest is an eight-sided emerald (worth 300 gp). If the emerald is placed in the center of the star on the floor, the rivulets light up before the center of the star rises from the floor, revealing a strongbox. The strongbox is chained to a peg in its alcove and locked - however inside can be found 3,000 electrum pieces, five rubies worth 30 gp each, and two topaz worth 25 gp each. 

B6 - Cave In

This short tunnel appears to be the result of a collapse of soil, undermining the walls of the northern part of the dungeon. Entrances to this space are gaps in the walls, but care must be taken to get in - as the rubble is treacherous.

Inside the tunnel, 4 Fire Beetles (B31) are munching on three dead adventurers. Among the possessions of the corpses is a satchel containing 700 silver pieces and a diamond necklace worth 900 gp.

C - North Wing

C1 - Oratory

Braced against the south door is a sizable wooden stand, one used for standing and speaking, as at a commencement. Along the north and south walls are brightly colored mosaics depicting the sunset.

C2 - Treasure Table

Nine Skeletons (B42) guard 12 brass figurines (10 gp value each) and a jade bat (100 gp) placed on an eight-sided table.

C3 - Freeze Dried

This hallway is oddly cold. If the characters proceed all the way through to the other end, depending on which way they entered, they will emerge with frost on their hair - and any rations on their person will have transmuted to iron rations, instead.

C4 - Dry Fountain

A dry fountain sits in the corner, a grotesque facing both south and west. Their mouths are open, large enough to fit a hand into. A character reaching into the west mouth will find a rotating handle; which, if turned clockwise, will unlock the base of the fountain. When unlocked, the fountain - also - can be turned clockwise, causing the bottom to fall out and reveal a small horde:

•  1,000 sp
• 300 gp
• 1 Topaz (50 gp value)
• 1 Diamond (500 gp value)
  

Turning the handle counter-clockwise will cause the mouth to shriek - a metal on metal noise - prompting an immediate wandering monster.

In the south facing mouth, a similar lever. It will not turn clockwise, but if turned counter clockwise, will also produce the same metal shriek: also prompting a wandering monster.

C5 - Statuary

Statues depicting robed figures - some with the faces of bats - line the east and west walls. On the north side, the wall has caved in. The room is otherwise empty.

C6 - Feeding Room

The walls are lined with aging but still luxuriant velvet. Books, shredded, line the floor and a lone Ghoul (B35) feeds on a dead Elf. The Elf is carrying 900 sp, wearing a pair of bejeweled bracers worth 400 gp total, and possesses magical Chainmail. The armor is cursed - providing AC 9 and refusing to be removed from a new wearer without a Remove Curse spell or similar magic.

D - South Wing

D1 - Ruined Sanctum

As the party enters, a spectral procession is moving to the north west: acolytes behind and a leader in the front. They are incorporeal and unaware of the world around them: if interrupted by magical means, they will disappear; if allowed to proceed, they will complete a short sacrament where fruit is placed in a bowl. Shortly after the sacrament completes, the procession disappears.

The bowl and altar remain, but the room is full of broken furniture, otherwise. If the party leaves an offering in it, the Gargoyle in B5 will not attack them if they enter - instead clinging to the ceiling, motionless. It will defend itself if attacked, however.

D2 - Bat Tunnel

The secret doors into and out of this space are obvious and easy to open from within this space. Two Giant Bats (B31) have made it their roost.

D3 - Abandoned Confessional

Four boxes - man sized - line the south wall. One conceals the secret door to D5. North, there are instruments of penance - long unused - and some broken wood furnishings.

D4 - Pit Trap

The hallway at this point conceals a 20 foot pit trap. At the bottom of the trap are three skeletons - victims of a fall. Between them, they have 1,100 silver pieces, 400 gold pieces, and a single magical Sword (+1).

D5 - Spider Tunnel

Doors to this room are obvious and accessible from this side. At the point in this narrow escape tunnel where it widens from 5 feet to 10 feet, a lonely Rhagodessa (X38) lurks in wait, hiding on the ceiling in the corner.

Public domain artwork retrieved from OldBookIllustrations.com and the National Gallery of Art and adapted for thematic use. Attribution in alt text.

Being Creative During the Holidays

A Conversation with the Author

I have a busy life. Folks who have hung around for a bit invariably know that I've got a set of twins - it's in the biopic after all - as well as a full time job and (as of recently) another little guy on the way. December has come - it's almost halfway done, as of when this post should publish - and, this time of year, most of you, dear readers, can identify this problem.

Despite the responsibilities I have - I've still run this blog, posted something every week, started a podcast, and occasionally even found time to run a game or two. Because of that, I've been asked a couple times by friends about what I do differently to manage my time - and I wanted to post the highlights from those conversations here, hoping that maybe - for those of you out there having trouble keeping your game together during the busy holiday season, hopefully this may be a way to keep that creativity flowing and keep the spirit of the game alive for you. 

And for those of you with whom I've had these kind of conversations - if the below article sounds familiar, it should! Thank you for pinging me, for your trust, and thank you for sharing your experiences with me: both so I can incorporate some of your successes into my own process but also to spur me into putting it all into words, for the benefit of the wider internet.

Happy holidays, everybody!

Find Time For Yourself

First and foremost - you have to find time for your creative outlet.

This seems blasé - something you'd see posted in the 00's, white on a black border around some picture of a waterfall or bird; or something you'd see embroidered on a wall hanging next to the equivalent hurl-bait to "Live Laugh Love" - but it doesn't mean (or, isn't intended to mean) what you may think it does on initial impression. Finding time for yourself does not mean prioritizing yourself or your hobby over your obligations - instead, it means literally that: finding the time on the schedule, on the clock, that isn't taken up by other, more important things.

For the first year of my boys' life - or, the year starting after the point where they started sleeping through the night - that time was 8 PM. They would fall asleep around 8, I would have an hour or so of time to myself, and then I would try to go to sleep at 9.

Time Opens the Gates of Dawn

9 PM? Really, grandpa? Yes - because the other "finding time for myself" activity, cardio exercise, can only happen early in the morning, before my wife wakes up. But I digress.

So what did that mean for me - I had to schedule creative time, game time, to hit on or after 8 PM: because that's the point that the twins went down, my wife would try to wind down, and I'd have some time to myself, free time, which I could spend either doing dishes or gaming. And dishes can wait. 

Your time may be different. You may have some time in the afternoon where your distractions sleep; you may have some time in the morning before your obligations start. But that's the name of the game - figure out when that time is going to be and then have the discipline to jump on it. Time-boxing those hours, dog-earing those hours, to try to get your hobby done is the best way to make sure it does.

Break Creative Projects Down

8 to 9 PM is only an hour. Is it possible to run a game in that short a span? It can be - depending on the way you play - but if I am being honest, I don't play that way. The games I have been able to participate in over the last few years have definitely pushed me past my bedtime. To accommodate - I've either gotten up late or doubled down on coffee the next day. But as rough as that sounds - it only applies in certain circumstances - the next huge thing that has kept me going is breaking projects down.

When working on your home setting - you won't be able to draw a hex map and stock a hex map in the same day. This is wisdom outside crunch time - with maps, with dungeons, and with life, it's best to stay one step ahead: prep to about a session and a half out from where the party currently is and play. Knowing that you're going to incrementally prep - apply the same theory to the item under preparation. If you're building a dungeon - for example - break it down into actionable tasks: 

• Draw map
• Determine corridor traps
• Define themed wandering monster list
• Stock section A
• Stock section B
  

...and so on.

These actionable items should be doable, finite tasks with definitive end artifacts. "When I have produced this, I will have completed this corresponding bullet point," so to speak. Once all the bullet points have been put together - you'll have your completed product.

Doesn't that run the risk of feeling tonally different, knowing you're going to be in different mindsets between start and finish? Yes. Look at Watchtower on the Indigo River. There is a palpable difference - in my opinion - between the stocking of the different adventure sites and wilderness. Knowing that, it becomes important to have an editorial read-through: a final task in your task list to come at it, read through it, and ensure tonal consistency. With Watchtower, I expect I'll have to re-do several of the maps - they are slightly different in symbology - and I'll want to re-stock - more emphasis on frog-men and the undead; less "got to include this entry from the Monster Manual!" But that will come with time: and will happen just before a final play-test.

Hopefully.

But when you're working on a smaller project - one which doesn't spread over the course of essentially your blog's entire lifespan - having four or five sections will take four or five sessions to map, stock, and finalize enough for beta: it will be easier to keep tonal consistency - especially if you find some music or other inspiration to consume in the background while working.

Take Notes On the Go

I have a file on my Desktop - "Elf Mansion Dream.txt."

Last May, I had a very gonzo dream - one that dove into my fears and perceptions of my own failings, but transformed into a mostly cohesive narrative about a protagonist (it was originally me, but by the middle, it was a bit disembodied) who had to deal with responsibility, temptation, and then forcible injection into reality after a season-long emotional affair with a strange, supernatural entity: one which faded from him after his attempt to codify the ethereal, to tame the unbreakable wild, germinated the seed buried deep in her consciousness that had always served as a blemish to highlight fundamental incompatibility of the real and the beyond.

Less dramatically, I also have a file on my Desktop - "To Message.txt" - which contains notes on call-ins I want to make to other people's podcasts. The point is, Notepad is your friend: as are other tools that allow you to take notes in the moment when inspiration has hit, but when you have other things you need to do.

Google Keep and voice-to-text - in this sense - is my best friend. I have a Christmas list on it - a list of things I see and the names of people I think would like it; I have a grocery list on it - shared with my wife so she can see what's there, think about adding what she needs, and then write it down on a post it note that she doesn't share while I'm at Publix instead; and I have several RPG-related notes saved. Am I selling you Google Keep? Not intentionally - but it's backed up, I can access it cross-platform, and I have an Android device. The key - if I have a cool idea, or if I want to make a new podcast episode about a subject, I can write it down when I have the idea and then come back to it later for implementation.

To that end - the benefit: you never know when inspiration will strike - and when it does, you can't guarantee you'll be in the middle of doing something from which you can't get away. Having the ability to jot notes down - class lecture notes: not the meat of what you think, but pointers that will activate your brain cells to re-think the same ideas, to remember where you were, mentally, when you came up with them. Sometimes, the notes you jot down in the middle of a workout or on a smoke break at work become the task bullets on your next time-boxed personal time.

And maybe one day you too will write that sappy Harlequin novel that your brain conjured up in unconscious delirium and then, on waking, thought was neat enough to catalog.

Keep a Backlog of Creative Ideas

Related to the above, don't be afraid to keep ideas on the back burner. Recall earlier, I mentioned that the way to make a project come to completion is to break it into doable pieces and then have the discipline to execute on each of the pieces so that you can stitch them together at the end.

One of the things that happens to me - at least - and I've seen it in other people on occasion: if I'm not being productive, or not being as productive as I want to be, or if something I thought was going to be great turns into a flop, I can get discouraged - I can lose the motivation to create. I can lose the interest I had in a project - and I find myself pulling back, pulling out of games I would normally have played in, not committing to projects that I would have normally been gung-ho about. While burnout can be a thing - I'm not saying that you don't need to take a break, play something else on occasion to keep the flame burning, the passion stoked, for your hobbies - but pulling away can be a self-perpetuating cycle. How many blogs have you seen start and then suddenly stop posting? How many YouTube channels have 10 followers, 4 videos, and no updates in 3 years?

Don't let it happen to you.

Keep a backlog of creative ideas - keep a list of things you'd like to do - so when the doldrums come, you can pivot. You can change your focus, stay in the hobby, stay in the swing, but you can take a break from the stuff that's not bringing you joy. As of this writing, I have 15 blog posts in Draft: some of which have nothing in them but the title and maybe a line to clarify what I was thinking when I wrote it. I have 3 podcast subjects I'd like to address and 5 guests I'd like to have appear: one of whom I've talked to about it and am working through scheduling. I have those backlog items because I know a week is going to come when I'm not feeling it and, when that happens, I'll have a list to pick from to keep my mind occupied - and to keep the creativity flowing, keep the motivation fresh, lest the spring run dry. 

Stick With It

For me, at least - and I assume there are others like me - creativity is easier when it's constant. Behaviors are easier when they become habits; if I leave a project, game, or hobby for long enough, the inertia will keep me out of it - and conversely, the more I engage, the more I work on it, the more easy it is for me to keep going, to produce, and to improve. Knowing that - I don't let myself rest: and I would advise you consider the same.

With a backlog of items, per the above advice, you're never at a loss for something to work on - and having small projects can be the difference between feeling dead in the water and feeling like you're smooth sailing. That big project with 30 task points in it got you down after the first 7? That's alright - take a break from that big project: give yourself some little wins and don't let the intimidation of the last 23 items tear down your love of the project.

Keep trying.

Keep playing.

Keep creating.

The enemy is letting life keep you down - and though sometimes life will put you down: childbirth, for example, may from experience put a dent in your gaming schedule - but there is always either a way around or a way through.

And Them's My Two Coppers

Find the time, break and schedule such that it fits into the time you found, find and use tools to help keep you moving, and - most importantly - stick with it.

Delve on, readers - even through this busy season!

Public domain artwork retrieved from OldBookIllustrations.com and adapted for thematic use. Attributions in alt text.

I Hate Health Potions

Anchor.fm/Clerics-Wear-Ringmail:
Episode 12 - I Hate Health Potions

(Or on YouTube!)

Description

I hate health potions and so should you! For the next half an hour, I explain why.

Then some call ins!

Want to join the conversation? Drop me a message: https://anchor.fm/clerics-wear-ringmail !

Theme Music by XTaKeRux, Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/XTaKeRuX

Show Notes

• 00:00 - Intro
  
• 00:27 - Theme
  
• 00:54 - Three Arguments Against Health Potions
  
• 01:43 - Short Circuiting the Full Experience
  
• 06:53 - Bastardizing the Cleric Archetype
  
• 11:14 - You Should Listen to Tale of the Manticore!
  
• 11:49 - Pounding the Point Home
  
• 14:34 - Cleric as Physician and the Loss of Roleplay Opportunity
  
• 18:04 - Implications to the Fiction
  
• 22:28 - Conclusions on the Main Topic
  
• 23:07 - Call In: Joe "Huggsie" Richter!
  
• 28:49 - Call In: Karl Rodriguez!
  
• 34:30 - Call In: Randy of Biggus Geekus!
  
• 36:24 - Outro
  
• 36:40 - Theme and Legalese
  

Links

Karl of The GMOlogist Presents: https://anchor.fm/karl-rodriguez

Joe of Hindsightless: https://anchor.fm/joe-richter9/

Randy of Biggus Geekus: https://anchor.fm/biggusgeekus

    ...or on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyVze8TfIB16j0PdmE4lOJg

Second Grid Initiative

In a recent episode of Nerd's Variety RPG Podcast, the host Jason had called for listeners - on reward of a DriveThru gift card - to call in and speak to their preferred initiative system when playing RPGs. I did not win - congratulations to the winner! - because Jason disqualified everyone of whose rugged and dashing good looks he was envious - but I did call in and I did speak to an initiative system that I used in an old homebrew - one which I called the Second Grid.

While, admittedly, this rule was used for a more action-themed RPG, where combatants in a melee act individually rather than by side, as with most OSR systems: it still may have its place to inspire - see below, an adaptation of the rule from the homebrew that fits within an OSR framework.

See as follows, copied and pasted from that old homebrew, with bits renamed or mildly rejiggered to reflect B/X attributes and terminology:

Action Points

Each character has a number of Action Points equal to 2, modified by the character's Dexterity, to a minimum of 1.

Thus, a character with a Dexterity of 16 would have 4 Action Points where a character with a Dexterity of 5 would instead only have 1.

Order of Action

Order of actions in a Combat are determined by the Second Grid. Each character – on its Initiative – declares an action and spends a number of Action Points proportional to the task being accomplished.

•  If the AP cost of the action is equal to or less than the Action Point pool of the acting character, the action is resolved immediately.
  
  
• If the AP cost of the action is greater than the Action Point pool of the acting character, the action is resolved at the top of the character's next Initiative.
  

Note, a character performing an action that requires more AP than in the pool, thus, may be interrupted or may find their target has moved when the swing falls!

This concluding the action, the referee marks down the number of Action Points spent. Note, the character’s AP pool is not reduced – instead, a running tally of how many each combatant has spent total is maintained. At this junction, the referee checks to see which combatant has the smallest total – thus, has spent the fewest Action Points. That character takes the Initiative – it is that character's turn to act.

Continue in this fashion until combat is concluded.

Ties in Initiative

At the start of a combat, all characters will have 0 AP spent. To break the tie and start the combat, each character should roll 1d6, modified by Dexterity, and the referee should roll 1d6 for all enemy groups - sorted logically. The winner of the roll goes first, then chooses to whom to pass the Initiative after. 

The referee should record names to tally Action Points in this order. 

Subsequently, if two characters have the same total actions spent – the referee is encouraged to go in the same order as had been established at onset.

On Your Initiative

When a character is in the position of having spent the fewest actions (or having been determined as such in the tie-breaker) - they are considered to have the Initiative and may take an action. These actions are, basically, as follow.

Move

A character may move up to their tactical movement; half, if moving over difficult terrain. Moving costs 1 AP. 

If moving in a straight line - the character may declare a Charge. When charging, a character may make an attack as part of the move: combing the two and spending AP proportional to both - thus, moving alone would cost 1 AP, but charging with a sword strike would cost 3 (per the Attack rule below). Likewise, generally speaking, a charge should resolve immediately - not after - representing the momentum of the swing.

Attack

A character may make an attack.

• An unarmed strike costs 1 AP.
  
• A one-handed melee weapon strike costs 2 AP.
  A quick-reload weapon shot, such as a bow or most thrown weapons, also costs 2 AP.
  
• A two-handed melee weapon strike costs 3 AP.
  A slow-reload or wind-up weapon shot, such as a sling or crossbow, also costs 3 AP.

Dropping a weapon - that is, letting it fall to the floor at your feet - is a free (0 Action Point cost) action.

Access Inventory

A character may attempt to access items in their equipment as an action.

• Un-sheathing a weapon costs 1 AP.
  
• Easy-to-access items, such as belt pouches, cost 2 AP.
• Sheathing a weapon costs 3 AP.
  Placing an item in an easy-to-access space likewise costs 3 AP.
  
• Stowed items, such as the backpack, cost 4 AP - both to place and retrieve.
  

Cast a Spell

A character may cast a spell in combat. The AP cost of the spell is 1 plus the spell level: so, Sleep (a level 1 spell) would cost 2 AP where Cure Disease (a 3rd level spell) would cost 4.

Optionally, all spells - regardless of Action Points - manifest at the top of the casting character's next Initiative, allowing for strategic interruption.

Miscellaneous Actions

This action list is by necessity not exclusive - as the creativity of a player out-paces the margins of this text. In the event of a player action not falling into the above categories, the referee is encouraged to make a ruling according to what makes sense.

That said, when in doubt: 3 AP.

Why is this called "The Second Grid"?

The reason this is known as the Second Grid – the referee is encouraged to put graph paper down, writing the names of each combatant on lines. Then, for each action point – put an X or a check through a box to the right of the name. This way, it’s very easy for the referee – visually – to determine who has spent the least and thus has the Initiative. 

Below, provided, an example of play - combat between a warrior and wizard ambushed by a squad of kobolds:

Two adventurers, a Warrior and a Wizard, are delving along a cavern corridor when they come across a group of small, snarling dog-men - Kobolds! Roll for initiative!

Ref: Initiative rolls please? Warrior: 6! Wizard: 3... Ref: Alright - I rolled a 5, Warrior - the initiative is yours.
Warrior: How many do I see? Ref: Five - armed with spears and shields, but wearing no other armor. Warrior: Kobolds are chumps! With my zweihander at the ready, I charge the group! Warrior rolls, hits, and inflicts damage. Ref: One of the kobolds goes down. Who's next, Warrior? Warrior: I'll pass to the Wizard.
Ref: Wizard - you're up. Wizard: Are they carrying ranged weapons that I can see? Ref: No - only flint-headed half-spears. Wizard: Alright. I'm going to move backward - up towards the ledge - get out of the way. Warrior's got this.
Ref: Alright - it's the kobolds' go. Remaining kobolds attack the warrior. Two hit - 6 damage. Warrior: With flint-headed spears? Ref: You're the one who charged in outnumbered!
Ref: Wizard - you're up. Wizard: I'm casting Sleep. Warrior: Don't waste Sleep on these guys! It was lucky rolling. Wizard: There are too many of them. Too many chances for luck to strike again!
Ref: Ok - it's the kobolds again... Warrior: Do I get another turn? Ref: Yes - but because of your charge and the big weapon, they're moving more quickly than you are to react. Warrior: Gotcha. Remaining kobolds attack again. One hit - 2 damage.

Ref: Wizard, you're up again - so your spell goes off.

Wizard rolls for hit dice.
Remaining kobolds all fall into deep slumber.

Wizard: Time for some throat-slitting; grateful for that spell yet?

Warrior: Nope.
 

What do you think? 

Dynamic and intriguing, lending a tactical aspect to otherwise an formulaic combat experience? Or a bad excuse to justify how much money I spent on miniatures back in the day? 

Let me know! 

Delve on, readers!

Public domain artwork retrieved from OldBookIllustrations.com and adapted for thematic use. Attributions in alt text.