“Onwards, friends, to more and bigger loot!” – Dungeons & Dragons Book 3, The Underworld and Wilderness Adventures, 1974

One of the first things I did when I became enamoured of Savage Worlds was a dungeon crawl campaign for my son and daughter, using the adventure book from Heroquest for the scenarios. Good times.

This showed me that Warhammer Fantasy and other games from the Games Workshop stable were remarkably easy to convert for Savage Worlds.

History

Over the years, GW produced several different dungeon crawlers, which over time drew closer and closer to their Warhammer Fantasy Battle universe. Each of them had a number of supplements, and each still has a thriving fan community playing and modding it.

Heroquest (1989) is mechanically very simple, and well-suited to the children of six or eight years old I played it with in the early 1990s. The scenarios still make a decent story arc, especially those from the core game and the first supplement.

Advanced Heroquest (1989) is mechanically more like an early edition of WHFB, and has a random generator for the dungeon rather than the preset game boards of Heroquest. However the scenarios in the core rulebook are less inspiring, and focus heavily on skaven as opponents. I’d say this one has the best dungeon generator of the three, though.

Warhammer Quest (1995) is still much like WHFB in terms of rules, with a greatly simplified dungeon generator, basic adventures in towns between dungeons, and a range of scenarios. To my mind, this one has the best scenarios.

Savagery

Where are you going with this, you ask. Gold & Glory, I reply. I want to do some solitaire dungeon crawling with that, but without spoilers for people venturing into the Seven Deadly Dungeons or other places of mystery.

So, one option would be to borrow the adventures and other elements from these games to create custom tables of Hazards, Treasures, and Special Features; in each case, the entries corresponding to card draws of 2-9 are standard, those matching a 10 are unique to the specific quest concerned – the boss monsters and unique treasures.

The solitaire version of G&G subsumes the Rumours and Books and Chronicles tables into simple die modifiers, so there’s no need to create those unless I start running the game for other players.

The Hazards, Treasures and Special Features might look something like this…

Hazards (Card)

The Quest games have an enormous array of monsters and traps, so this would be easy to expand or update between adventures.

Swarm of (1d4): [1] Bats [2] Rats [3] Scorpions [4] Spiders. Use the normal Swarm statblock. 2d6 Goblins, 50% with bows and 50% with spears 2d6 Orcs, 1/3 with bows and the rest with sword and shield 2d6 Skaven with swords and shields (use Goblin stats) 1d3 Minotaurs (1d6) [1-3] Cave-In or falling blocks, block way forward [4-6] Portcullis or falling blocks, block way back Dead body concealing (1d6): [1] Blast trap with fire or poison gas trapping [2-3] Spear trap, Fighting d6, 2d6 damage [4] Key to open the Portcullis [5-6] 1d3 Loot Tokens Trap (1d6): [1-3] Pit trap; Notice (-2) to avoid; fall 2d6+2 damage, Athletics roll to halve. [4-6] Spike trap, Fighting d6, 2d6 damage. Unique to specific dungeon

Treasures (Card)

One Loot Token Potion, salve or incense imbued with the healing Power Mundane item; draw one card on the Extra Gear tables, G&G pp 16-17. (In WHQ these are all armour or weapons, but I think a random gear item is more fun.) Enchanted weapon or armour of the player’s choice, imbued with the armour, deflection or smite Power as appropriate, with 10 Power Points. It is an Arcane Device (SWADE p. 153). (In WHQ there are only a few of these, I think it’s more fun if the player chooses the item.) Enchanted weapon/armour, as [5]. Enchanted item; draw one card and use the Arcane Backgrounds Starting Powers table, G&G p. 18. Decide what sort of item would have has that Power; it has 10 Power Points, and is an Arcane Device (SWADE p. 153). Enchanted item, as [7]. Enchanted item, as [7]. (What can I tell you, all the Quest games are bulging with minor magic items.) Unique to specific dungeon.

Special Features (d12, or d12 plus d20)

Dark, dank walls that disappear into the gloom Walls covered in moss Slimy stone stairs descending into darkness Stairs up and out of the dungeon Collapsed ceiling – party may only pick their way through in single file A small shrine of multi-coloured flames A narrow bridge across a deep chasm Grate or trapdoor, leading down to another area with no exits. Skull with a baneful gaze Floor mosaic between four pillars A campsite, with bedding, supplies and a fire Shards of flickering green light from a circle of power on the floor pierce the darkness Deep blue floor which seems to absorb light, and manacles on the walls Floor covered in a checkerboard pattern Monster’s lair, with discarded human bones Rough-hewn walls and implements of torture Stench of decay emanating from a bottomless shaft in the centre of the area Spellcaster’s lair or study, with evidence of disturbing experiments Area is full of bones and reeks of terror, decay and death. Unique objective area (1d6 or as specified for dungeon): [1] Fighting pit illuminated by a single dim lamp, [2] Fiery chasm with an idol on the far side, [3] Fountain, with running water and faint yellow lighting, [4] Cold stone walls and a hideous idol, [5] Tomb, with a sarcophagus resting on a stone slab, [6] Boss monster’s throne room, with a throne on a dais.

Conclusions

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I think boardgames from the 1980s and 1990s make really good mini-settings for RPGs. It’s not just the GW “Quest” series; GDW’s Imperium and Dark Nebula or SPI’s Demons and War in the Ice are also good examples. So many games, so little time…