#ad&d

[rampagingpoet]

Arden Vul Homework Part 4: The Forum of Set

Welcome back to the Arden Vul Homework series, covering details within the Halls that you might want to prepare ahead of time.

This time we'll be covering the Forum of Set, another fairly large level. There's a fair number of random elements here, many of which would be very slow to generate at the table. It's also the heaviest on cartography so far, doubling the number of required treasure maps while also including a large number of area maps.

We also run into a new kind of problem: underspecified connections to the rest of the campaign world. For now I'll be mentioning those under Expansion Opportunities because the don't lead to anything that the module actually includes. Which, honestly, fair enough! It's a megadungeon module, not Byzantine Politics Simulator.

(Some general information and/or gold piece values would still have been nice).

Full details under the cut!

TREASURE MAPS IN THIS PART: 7

TREASURE MAPS TO DATE: 14

Honey, I Left The Plane Again

4-121, Page 292: (Possibly). The archway here could lead to the Elemental Plane of Water, though it might lead elsewhere. See Missing Details and Expansion Opportunities for details.

4-152, Page 304: This gate leads to an undetailed "497th Layer of the Abyss".

Preparing the Forum of Set (4-2, Page 245)

The Forum of Set has a large and complicated key with a lot of moving parts, some of which are random. The key pieces beyond the fixed emplacement of Settite guards and administrators are the current visitors, the merchants, and the slave market. Each of these has some random elements.

For the Forum Visitors in particular there are several example groups. You can either use these groups as-is (picking four of them to be present at any one time), or use them as inspiration to flesh out randomly-generated groups you create yourself.

You will need four groups of Forum Visitors:

Roll the nature of the group from the tables on page 246

Roll their motivations - overt and covert - for visiting the Forum

If they are buying or (especially) selling goods, detail their inventory and prices.

Some items on the table are missing key details eg unspecified "exotic poisons". Detail them as they arise.

Some visitors sell treasure maps. Prepare one, or more if you generate this more than once. My accounting above assumes exactly one.

Some of the fixed Merchants have a small selection of random items. Generate their initial stock.

4-2D-1, page 252: Hazlitt One-Eye has several magic weapons totaling 15,000gp of value; generate them randomly or go with the list of weapons in his lockbox at 4-24, page 267.

4-2D-2, page 253: Galadnor Half-Elven may stock "exotic mushrooms and poisons" of unspecified nature and price; fill in those details.

4-2D-2, page 253: Galadnor also stocks a random assortment of scrolls, curios from the Halls, magic rings, and miscellaneous magic items. The stock listed in her lockbox at 4-24 does not match the possible configurations here (no scrolls or rings), so these are on top of the items she has there.

4-2D-5, page 253: Birgir has 1d3 magical "rings, amulets, or necklaces", none of which are detailed. Determine how many he has; add any that aren't kept on his person to his stash in his room at 4-32.

Finally, the Slave Market is one of the major features of the market. If the PCs arrive during the day they will likely encounter both slaves on the block and visitors bidding on them.

4-7, page 256: Determine whether there are any special visitors to Slaver's Square; the PCs might see them, but visitors there won't also be out front at the main auction.

4-3, page 255: Roll for which category of slaves is up for auction and how many are included. Possibly detail them, especially if you roll Special slaves like class-leveled characters.

4-3, page 255: Choose a small number of people bidding from the list based on the kind of slaves on auction that day.

Missing Cartography

4-1A, page 245: One of the busts in this stairwell hides a treasure map. Prepare one.

4-2, page 245: Per advice on populating the forum, prepare a treasure map. They're on the table of goods for sale by visitors.

4-8A, page 258: Guildmaster Resedior has maps of Areas 4-1 through 4-66, Areas 4-105 through 4-156, and a map to the Tomb of Sethu. Create these maps.

4-8C, page 259: Guildmaster Jisko Grey-Eyes has a map of parts of Level 3, south of 3-69. Create the map.

4-19, page 263: One face hides a folded-up piece of parchment with "directions to a great treasure". Determine the start and end points, then write out the directions.

4-23, page 264: The boar's cage has a scrap of a treasure map. Prepare a treasure map, and optionally tear it to pieces to provide only one piece.

4-24, page 265: The vault contains a 6' x 3' map of the route from 6-5 to 6-154. Prepare the map.

4-24, page 265: One lockbox contains information about the alien races and about accessing the Tomb of Marius. Prepare handouts with this information.

4-37, page 269: There are an unspecified number of maps in this ancient Settite chamber. "A number" of maps on each of two large frames, plus 1d8 smaller maps on the tables. Create at least five maps of various areas known to the ancient Archonteans.

4-47, page 272: Belisarius keeps maps of the caves on Level 4 and a second ancient map of the GM's choice. Make both maps.

4-138, page 297: There's a small chance of finding a treasure map in each sarcophagus here; on average players will find at least one. See Pre-Rolling Opportunities below.

4-139, Page 299: There are more sarcophagi with the same procedure here; prepare another treasure map.

4-142, page 300: This tomb contains three copper plaques bearing schematics of parts of the Beacon. Prepare them as maps.

4-177, page 311: The chest in the bottom of the flooded hall has "two ancient maps". Prepare two treasure maps.

Pre-Rolling Opportunities

4-11 through 13, page 260: There are a variable number of slaves in each of the slave pits. Pre-roll them and detail a spokeslave or two for party interaction.

4-13, page 260: 50% of Special slaves have class levels; determine how many and stat them out.

4-18, page 263: There are a variable number of starving slaves in this pit. 25% of them have class levels and will need details and stat blocks.

4-24, page 265: Galadnor Half-Elven's vault contains a rudishva power supply of unknown charge. 75% chance it is empty, otherwise 2d12 charges.

4-30, page 268: Birgir's cache has an unspecified number and value of minor gemstones. Roll for their number and value.

4-55, page 276: The library contains 1d6 scrolls, each of level 1-8, to be selected from the New Spells appendix in the module.

4-105, page 288: Visitors to the forum can be encountered on the stairs about one time in eight. Pre-roll a new group on their way in or out, or tie this to your existing forum visitors prep.

4-125, page 293: There are five dormitories, each with a one-in-three chance of hosting several guests. Determine the number of guests present and their business, flesh out details.

4-138A and C Sarcophagi, page 293: The contents of each of the 40 sarcophagi here are random.

Pre-roll inhabitants.

Pre-roll and detail the Treasures.

40 sarcophagi x 2 Grave Goods each = 80 rolls, but there's only 12 entries on the table. Assume that if all sarcophagi are searched they find 7 copies of every item on the table.

7 sets of scrolls x 10% chance of a treasure map = usually 1-2 maps. (The modal result is zero, but finding at least one is more likely than not). I've counted one treasure map here and one in the other set of sarcophagi at 4-139 in the Missing Cartography secion.

7 sets of 1d4 canopic jars with extras = 17.5 jars, but only four table entries. Round that down to 16 jars with two of each. Determine the nature of the curses in the curse jars.

4-138B Burial Niches, page 297: 252 niches x 1d2 objects per niche = 378 rolls, but only 30 entries on the Burial Niche Objects table. Assume an exhaustive search turns up twelve copies of every entry on the table.

Prepare one valuable share or deed to an enterprise in operation.

Odds of magic weapon: 1-55 none, 56-90 one, 91-99 two, 100 three.

Add a few magic items and specific valuables for the GM's Choice entry. I recommend at least one cursed item because it's a tomb.

4-139, page 299: Repeat the procedures for the sargophagi and the burial niches here. Prepare another treasure map.

4-160, page 306: This busy crossroads has a unique encounter table and high chance of an encounter. Pre-roll for encounters - preferably encounters for two to three visits so you don't have to go scrambling for your DMG if you roll "Level 4 Dungeon Encounter" when the PCs backtrack through the crossroads a few turns later.

Missing Details

4-8B, page 258: Guildmistress Ligarion has "eight doses of a nasty ingested poison". Determine its name and mechanics.

4-17, page 263: Prying out the statue's eyes invokes a "dreadful curse from Set". Determine the nature of the curse.

4-38, page 269: The old spymaster had 3d4 scrolls of "incriminating information". Determine what information they hold and how valuable they are.

4-39, page 270: The hidden cache here contains unspecified documents of "extreme political sensitivity". Determine what that information is and how valuable it is.

4-51, page 273: Stephania keeps an Infernal Effigy of a devil named Trasbellix. Fill in details such as the devil's personality, kind, and pronouns.

4-56, page 276: Second Priest Marius keeps "valuable documents" of unspecified nature and value.

4-115, page 291: The arcanum mist here has GM's Choice on the list of teleport destinations. Choose a consistent location or make your own table.

4-121, page 292: The stone archway at the bottom of the cavern has a fixed destination of the GM's choice. Pick one of the listed destinations or create your own. Note that one of the potential destinations is off-plane

Expansion Opportunities

4-24, page 265: The module names "Thoros the Black" among those renting lock-boxes, but he has no set statblock or location. You can add him somewhere else in the dungeon, or decide that one of the numerous unnamed corpse is Thoros.

4-38 and 39, page 269: The module includes some scaffolding here to meddle in current Archontean politics via ancient blackmail material. If you'd like a more political game driven by treasure and information drawn forth from the dungeon, define more political factions and their wants and resources. Then define what this blackmail material is and how it could impact them.

4-121, page 292: The stone archway could be used for more planar adventures, this time on the Elemental Plane of Water. Or you could add a flooded or semi-flooded sublevel for it to connect to.

4-138A. page 296: The stone golem here has a magic key sequence with most combinations left unkeyed. You can add your own effects to the list with their own unique combinations.

4-152. page 304: This gate leads to an undetailed 497th Layer of the Abyss, creating another opportunity for planar adventurers.

4-155, page 305: This broken idol has some cryptic messaging if players poke around with it, but none of it means anything. This is an opportunity to expand on planar factions such as fiendish princes.

[oldschoolfrp]

"The Sultanate of Zeif is the westernmost state of the Flanaess. The warm currents of the Drawmidj make the land very rich, although the Sultan possesses few mineral resources save a secret source of chrysoberyls and peridots which are so fine as to be sought after as far east as Keoland, Furyondy, and beyond." (Erol Otus, The World of Greyhawk by Gary Gygax, original folio edition, TSR, 1980)

[rampagingpoet]

Preparing for my Arden Vul Homework series just caused me to find an entire table of "just in time" treasure that I forgot to roll just in time.

Result: I had to spend about an hour and a half tonight rolling that treasure and fleshing out details I absolutely would not have had time for at the table. And my players are 64,000 gp and a pile of consumable items richer.

The (rolling things up front) system works?

[rampagingpoet]

Arden Vul Homework Part 3: The Halls of Thoth

Welcome back to Part 3 of the Arden Vul Homework series. This time we'll be tackling Level 3, one of the larger levels of the dungeon. It's not the worst in terms of DM homework, but there's still a fair amount of cartography and a lot of variables that can be pre-rolled.

TREASURE MAPS IN THIS PART: 2

TREASURE MAPS TO DATE: 7

HONEY, I LEFT THE PLANE!

3-49, Page 182: Proper use of the fire pit and elemental here can teleport characters to the City of Brass. The Halls of Arden Vul module is notably silent on the contents of the efreet capital or how one might return from it. You'll have to decide how to handle this portal - whether by removing it, treating it as an off-screen hazard that delays or alters characters, or actually creating some City of Brass content for your players to explore.

MISSING CARTOGRAPHY

3-22, Page 170: The random tables for searching the catacombs here include an unspecified treasure map.

3-116, Page 200: The mummy's treasure includes a map of the route from the Glory of Thoth down to Sethu's Tomb on Level 5 (presumably taking the hidden stairs down at 3-12 and thence across the chasm, but alternatively crossing the chasm near the Hall of Scrutiny and flying or climbing hundreds of feet down would work). Prepare the map.

3-143, Page 210: The Children of Deino have extensive maps of Levels 3 and 4, excluding secret areas. Create this maps and add a few interesting tactical annotations that might draw your players in.

3-150, Page 212: Not strictly cartography, but the planning room contains extensive information about "several areas" of the Halls, with suggestions as to which ones. Prepare these handouts, including maps for anything you think needs a map.

3-154, Page 213: Trisko the Natty likes trading maps with adventurers; prepare 1-2 cut-down versions of the maps from 3-143 that he can trade.

3-170, Page 221: The dead adventurers in this cave had a treasure map on them.

PRE-ROLLING OPPORTUNITIES

3-1, Page 162: 70 ten-foot wall sections x 1d4 pieces of graffiti per wall section = about 175 pieces of graffiti, but the table only contains twenty entries. Pre-roll 1d4 entries as examples, and if your players want to take a turn to read the rest of the graffiti give them all the remaining entries. There's about 9 copies of every single one.

3-13, Page 167: There's a one-in-three chance of an encounter here from a specific set of encounters. Roll or choose whether there's an encounter here, and if so which one.

3-16, Page 168: The module presents an agonizingly slow niche-by-niche search procedure to see if there's anything left in these picked-over tombs. On average there will be two items total found after twelve man-hours of searching; pre-roll those two items.

3-22, Page 170: These burial niches have a higher hit-rate, but still present a horribly slow section-by-section check for each search. The entire complex contains about 200 ten-foot wall sections to search; this works out to 25 total items. Pre-roll those twenty-five and check them off as your players search. (Alternatively assume you roll each result 1-20 once and then make five rolls for the remainder).

3-22, Page 170: The walking dead may interrupt the PCs search. Consider pre-rolling the first batch of undead or two, along with their initial distance from the PCs.

3-24, Page 170: There are two cursed pennies in the initial coin hoard, but cursed pennies come in multiple varieties. Pre-roll which curses these pennies include.

3-24, Page 170: There are 12 masks here, each of which has a 1% chance to include a bound demon (with absolutely zero details of who that demon might be or what, mechanically, that does). Pre-roll or decide whether any of the masks have demons and fill in any pertinent details.

3-24, Page 170: There are two partially-charged rudishva lesser power supplies in the secret hoard. Each has 2d10 charges and can be pre-rolled.

3-37, Page 176: There are a variable number of giant spiders at home in the cobwebs here at any one time; pre-roll the number present the first time this location is encountered.

3-43, Page 179: There's another cursed penny here without any particular curse assigned; roll one.

3-45, Page 180: There are three different mysteries which could play out when the players enter this room. Pre-roll the first mystery and read it thoroughly at prep-time.

3-51, Page 182: Sorting through the bones in this chamber "may" turn up something useful. Pre-roll one or two items from the table that will be found if players sort through the bones.

3-54, Page 184: An encounter with the spiders here is 25% likely to attract attention, making two rolls on the Chasm Encounters table. Pre-roll whether this happens and which encounters appear.

3-90, Page 193: The Temple of Set may have one of three rituals in progress when the PCs arrive. Pre-roll whether there's a ceremony and which one in order to populate the current inhabitants of the temple. The module says the rituals will only be in progress if the players have not alerted the Set cult, but presumably it's possible for them to have interrupted a ritual at which senior members of the cult are present, so this affects which reinforcements are immediately available if the players cut their way in through any of the nearby access points.

3-109, Page 199: 3-30 Set Cultists are waiting to view the Temple of Set; pre-roll how many.

3-163, Page 218: The table for random things found in the mushroom forest includes corpses, some of which are carrying usable loot. Pre-roll a few corpses and their possessions to describe if the players comb through the cavern.

3-172, Page 223: The south side of the Fungal Caverns has a slightly different table, but its procedure for corpses is the same as 3-163. You can save work by keeping a shared corpse list between the two.

3-176, Page 224: The Living Mosaics on the promenade may or may not have active movement; pre-roll encounters for the listed locations.

3-206, Page 234: Up to three pieces of treasure can be found by sifting through the sand on this riverbank. Pre-roll them on the provided table.

MISSING DETAILS

3-53, Page 184: The Lesser Chair of Sight could display a "tantalizing vision of some location in the Halls". Create a small shortlist of potential locations

3-163, Page 219: The table for random mushrooms in the Fungal Caverns includes a new mushroom of the DM's devising. Create your own giant mushroom and its effects.

EXPANSION OPPORTUNITIES

3-49, Page 182: As previously mentioned, the fire pit here can transport characters to the City of Brass. This could be an opportunity to insert a planar adventure, or at least a planar market, along with having to scramble for another way home.

3-105, Page 197: The cells in the Prisons of Set have room for one or two more NPCs if you'd like to add extra hooks or provide specific potential henchmen to parties that rescue them.

[rampagingpoet]

Arden Vul Homework Part 2: The Upper Levels

In this post: module sections UP, TS, Level 1, and Level 2.

A fair amount of homework for these sections is loaded into just a handful of complicated rooms on Level 2. That said, we've got some maps and details to sort out in every one of these sections.

TREASURE MAPS IN THIS PART: 2

TREASURE MAPS TO DATE: 5

GAME DESIGN

2-23, Page 129: The laboratory here contains a magic item that takes unspecified materials of unspecified availability and cost, then outputs unspecified potions. In other words, this room demands that the DM create a crafting system from scratch. One of the most notoriously fiddly and difficult to balance kinds of sub-system in dungeon games.

2-70, Page 149: The library here contains far too many books to list in detail. If your system of choice does not have procedures for referencing a library, you may need to make one.

MISSING CARTOGRAPHY

UP-4, Page 108: The random encounter table for this well-trafficked room includes finding an abandoned treasure map. The treasure map may or may not be real and may or may not be complete, but you should probably have one to hand just in case.

TS-15, Page 114: The floor of the Well of Wraiths has an unspecified treasure map.

1-17, Page 121: The dead adventurer here has a map of several areas near the Glory of Thoth on Level 3 "with obscure annotations". Prepare the map and figure out what those annotations are and mean.

2-56, Page 139: A long-dead priest of Thoth carries a map of Level 5 - presumably excluding the Midnight Road. Prepare this map.

2-72, Page 151: The secret library holds 2-5 maps of other areas of the Halls. Select and map several sections that would have been known to the ancient Archonteans.

Pre-Rolling Opportunities

UP-3, Page 108: The walls of this room have random graffiti. Pre-roll a few responses to give the players the general tenor of the graffiti in the area. Create a handout with all of the graffiti if they decide to take a turn cataloguing it.

UP-4, Page 108: This room has its own specific encounter rate and encounter table. Pre-roll several visits worth of encounters - your players will likely traverse this area several times until they find some of the other surface entrances. (Also important because there's a treasure map on the encounter table).

UP-6, Page 109: This area spawns random undead. The table claims to be for the kind and location of the undead, but no locations are listed. (Possibly you're supposed to cross-reference with the locations of corpses in UP-6 through 11?). Pre-roll the first couple instances of undead and decide where they spawn.

UP-10, Page 111: The pit of bones has a multi-step procedure for digging up lost treasure. You could pre-roll each hour of searching until the entire hoard has been exhausted, and put descriptions to the coins and gems so recovered.

Level 2, Page 123: Several major NPCs on this level such as Gerilad the Grey and the four-armed baboons have random initial positioning. Pre-roll their locations during prep.

2-23. Page 129: On top of asking you to make a crafting system, this room also recommends rolling "up to 100" entries from whatever dungeon dressing tables you have available to properly clutter up the room. I don't recommend literally rolling one hundred objects because that would be a massive pain to track and to convey to your players, but maybe roll up a few things that stand out from the clutter or seem suitably wondrous.

MISSING DETAILS

UP-1, Page 107: A curse of the DM's choosing strikes anyone who survives stealing the massive gemstone eyes of the statue of Thoth. Decide upon the nature of the curse.

UP-11, Page 111: The final teleport location for the Selket statue is up to the DM. Select a location within the Halls. (Or a shortlist, if you want it to change from instance to instance!)

TS-17, Page 115: The busts of the priests here have listed values, but need weights. Their value increases if their names can be learned, so you'll need to establish what those names are and how they can be learned as well.

2-14, Page 127: The text calls out that the elaborate teakwood stalls are "heavy and bulky", but doesn't list an actual weight.

2-31, Page 132: The text calls out that the laboratory equipment and surviving research materials "present difficulties in transportation", but also doesn't list a weight. Or other hazards, if perhaps they are intended to be delicate and/or volatile!

2-72, Page 72: The Secret Library of Thoth contains several unspecified tomes and recommends adding a few of the DM's choice to the pile. Select some interesting tidbits from the Arden Vul Books list and/or write up a couple lorebooks of your own. Assign weights and values to the remaining generic tomes.

EXPANSION OPPORTUNITIES

2-19, Page 128: This room contains a Thothian Teleportation Circle, and is one of the earlier locations where the PCs can find a complete set of tiles all in one place. Brute-forcing the circles to find possible addresses is risky, but possible. This room provides a fine jumping-off point if you intend to add your own sub-levels or otherwise expand the teleportation network.

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

AD&D - Unearthed Arcana Cover Art by Jeff Easley

[rampagingpoet]

Arden Vul Homework Part 1: Burdock's Valley and the Surface

Welcome to the first post of my Arden Vul Homework catalogue, covering sections module sections BV, AK, EX, and AV.

We're not even in the dungeon yet, and there's already homework! A lot of it is extra detail that would be nice to have, but there's a few Do Not Pass Go moments as well. Details under the cut!

TREASURE MAPS IN THIS PART: 3 TREASURE MAPS TO DATE: 3

Missing Cartography

BV General, Page 62: There are four 1-paragraph descriptions of adventure sites around Burdock's Valley that aren't actually in the module. DMs should either prepare these adventures or screen their rumour tables to eliminate references to them. There's nothing like hearing rumours of juicy treasure away from the well-traveled Halls themselves to whet a player's appetite, and it would be a shame to have to cut them off because the module left it all for future expansion.

BV General, Page 62: One of the adventure sites, the Ibis's Roost, contains unspecified information about and maps of portions of the Halls. If you're including this adventure site, you'll need to draw up some additional maps as handouts too. Sections of Levels 2 and 3 would be good starting points, though maps to the now-corrupted temple complex on Level 5 could be an interesting inclusion as well.

AV General, Page 86: The surface ruins have a number of tables for what might be found scouring unkeyed sections of the ruins. Tables 6 and 7 both include treasure maps, so you should prepare at least two.

AV General, Page 86: Table 9 isn't even a random table - if you are directed to "roll on Table 9" you need to create your own sub-level of the dungeon and connect it to the existing levels and sublevels somehow. Create at least one such sub-level up front; alternatively replace this with a monster lair except when pre-rolling special sites below.

AV 17, Page 91: The old forum has a bespoke table for searching its ruins. That table includes a "badly worn map (GM's choice)". Prepare another treasure map.

[AV 37, Page 101]: Each of these remaining structures has a higher chance of finding two "special" results from the searching the ruins tables, which could include treasure maps. Pre-roll the search results for each structure, and prepare any additional maps required.

Pre-Rolling Opportunities

AK-22, Page 71: The main markets have a random chance of specialty items or magic items available from traveling peddlers. Determine which ones are available up-front.

AK-25, Page 72: Creon's shop has a chance of having a few magic items on hand that he doesn't yet know are magic. Determine whether there are any, and what items they are.

EX General, Page 76: The nighttime encounters list "visitors to the Forum of Set"; pre-roll 1-2 groups of visitors to include in the random table here. (Or as needed if you already pre-roll random encounters).

AV General, Page 87: Every book or scroll has some kind of additional detail needed such as what spell is on the scroll. Pre-roll and detail a few entries from this table.

AV General, Page 87: Treasure caches may have traps or monsters. Pre-roll some number of complete caches - treasure and guardians.

AV-3, Page 88: Each of the towers may or may not be intact, but that should be visible from a distance. Pre-roll all of the towers so you can adequately describe their state from a distance.

AV-22, Page 94: The Sign of the Broken Head may host from 1-3 peddlers, each of which has a chance to carry "something unusual". Pre-roll several merchants and what, if any, unusual goods they carry.

AV-37, Page 101: Each of these remaining structures has a higher chance of finding two "special" results from the searching the ruins tables, which could include treasure maps.

AV-40, Page 103: Craastinistorex has a Beaker of Plentiful Potions. Pre-roll how many potions it will produce, and which ones. (There's also an Alexia's Useful Pole - decide whether it has three lengths or four). EDIT: There's also a Ring of Spell Storing, which in AD&D stores specific spells. Pre-roll the class of the ring and the specific spells it contains.

Missing Details

AK-3, Page 66: There are fifty unnamed NPCs in the bathhouse. You won't need to name all of them, but it would be good to have a few from each general category (servants, visitors, prostitutes) if you plan to use the bathhouse much.

AK-6, Page 67: The Hill of the Gods may or may not have visiting priests of gods without major temples in Gosterwick. Draw up a small roster of priests to rotate through.

AK-11, Page 68: This residence has a "large collection of loose gems" present; decide how many and how valuable they are if your PCs are looking for a heist.

AK-16, Page 69: "Verr's Plums" are apparently excellent courtesans, but none of them are named or detailed. If they're that famous they at least deserve names!

As an aside something like 2% of this town's population are sex workers, but none of them are detailed in any way.

AV General, Page 85: Table 4 for Searching the Ruins could include a tiny petrified adventurer. Create an NPC stat block, and decide whether they were shrunk with shrink item or with a Rudishva Useful Palm.

AV General, Page 86: Table 6 may include "GM's Choice" of key; choose what it unlocks. It may also have a scrap of parchment with a code on it, choose what that ties into. (The rumour tables, or failing that tombs and captives, can provide some options).

AV-7, Page 89: No weight is listed for the massive hand of Arden from the statue by the bridge. Figure out how much the complete statue weighs and fill for each piece.

AV-22, Page 93: No weight is listed for the massive head of Arden used as the inn's sign.

AV-35, Page 101: The barge contains "1-4 more keys", decide how many and what they unlock.

AV-40, 42, and 43: Similarly the statue of Vul is also missing its weight, though it's in fewer pieces. Sort out what each of these pieces weighs.

Expansion Opportunities

EX-7 Page 78: "If the GM desires a wizard's laboratory might be located behind the colossus of Vul".

AV-27, Page 98: "If desired, the GM could draw up detailed maps of the donjon, adding new threats, treasures, and potential connections to the Halls below."

[rampagingpoet]

Arden Vul Homework Part 0: Explanation and Ground Rules

The Halls of Arden Vul is an excellent adventure overall, but sometimes it gives the DM homework. Missing details, unexpected props, or large random tables too detailed to use at run-time.

My goal with this series is to catalogue the majority of these areas, roughly ranked by how much work they need to fill. Sections will include missing cartography, large tables (or similar), and minor details like names and weights. My thoroughness in preparing each section will also be roughly proportional to its difficulty: I don't intend to catch every instance of a treasure missing its weight or an "adventurer corpse" without a physical description. I do, however, plan to note each and every location with maps or other major missing pieces that would be unwieldy to improvise.

To avoid reprinting or quoting more of the module than necessary I will not be providing answers to these questions. Owning the module will probably be necessary to follow the details. Still, I hope this can be a useful resource for anyone considering The Halls of Arden Vul, and that it can make other DM's lives easier by highlighting some potential pain points up-front.

Each post in the series will be tagged "arden vul homework". I may create a masterlist post once the catalogue becomes large enough.

I have no particular update schedule planned; new parts will be ready as time permits.