The Prison of the Hated Pretender from the Dungeon of Signs: A Few Dungeon World Conversion Notes

The Prison of the Hated Pretender 

from the Dungeon of Signs blog 

(http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/)

Download this free module at: 

(https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_4yfZaJH0e5UXBlMXlrN2hDMjg/edit)

A Few, Brief Dungeon World Conversion Notes by Mark Tygart

General Rule

All types of metal coins (gp, cp, sp, etc.)= Same number of Dungeon World coins. All values are now in Dungeon World coins.

Questions

What treasure do you hope to find in the Prison of the Hated Pretender?

What do you plan to do with this treasure?

What stories have you heard about his crimes? His terrible fate?

What rumors have you heard about the crusaders who built the tower?

What do you think lurks within the tower?

What have you heard about the worship of "The Iron God"?

Items

I would replace silvered scale mail +1  in Crypt Area 10 with the following:

Prisoner's Ring

0 Weight

A simple silver ring set with a strange smoky blue stone. The owner of the ring may not be bound or confined by any locks, ropes, etc. on his person but may open these by pure mental will alone whenever desired. 

Note that the bindings must apply to the owner's physical person for the ring's magic to apply. Written in runic letters is a message inside the ring: "Happy Holidays Mouser! S."

I would also make each of the “small rubies” act as a potion of healing as opposed to just healing one point.

I would add as items of treasure at various locations:

Hecate’s Ghostly Dagger

1 Use, 0 Weight

A dagger, silvery and bright, but strangely lighter than one would expect. If you stab yourself and sacrifice half your hit points you will be immune to attacks from the undead for the rest of this adventure, but during that time your hit points may not be regained. After one use the dagger vanishes.

Wand of Bone

1 Use, 0 Weight

If this wand of bone touches any undead creature in the tower then that creature and the wand will both crumble into dust.

LORE

I made the crusaders and their leader followers of the Iron God from Matt Finch’s excellent Tomb of the Iron God module. The Iron God is a largely forgotten deity of the Underworld that guards the spirits and bodies of the dead. He is neither evil nor good but highly lawful and very vengeful towards oath breakers and traitors to his order. I also dissolved the Phantasms if the Hated Pretender was freed from his anguish and awarded extra XP for the deed to good or neutral players. The Iron God is also the patron of  "Tannoch: Rest of Kings" in my Dungeon World conversion:   (http://www.trilemma.com/blog/adventures/06%20Tannoch.pdf ).

Monsters

Hated Pretender	Solitary
Skeleton Claws (w[2d4] damage)	12 HP	0 armor
Close
Special Qualities: Undead, Regenerates

Whatever the Hated Pretender did he's likely been punished for it long since. He was converted into an undead and undying parody of himself by a sect of fanatically lawful warrior priests and placed in the prison to be tormented by Phantasms of Vengeance trapped with him. The Pretender can be destroyed by normal means, but his battered limbs will reform and his unlife will return the night after he is 'killed' unless his body is burnt and the ashes scattered or purified with unholy water. The Hated Pretender is a pitiful undead wretch, who despite retaining a normal intelligence, has been driven several varieties of insane and barely remembers his previous life as some sort of monarch. The Pretender's torturers were successful in tormenting him to madness and the thing lives in constant, overpowering fear of being burned and shredded by the Phantasms (having had this happen to him numerous times). He appears as an obviously unwell man: skeletal, stooped, with wild hair and beard, parched crackling skin, open wounds that ooze only crusted brown ichor and huge bright green eyes. He wears the cast off remnants of peasants' clothing (from a more recent victim) and a comical "crown" constructed of small animal bones, bird feathers, twigs and bits of thread. He is not actually aggressive, but the Phantasms require light to manifest he is equally afraid of light as he is in phantasms. The Pretender becomes agitated in the presence of light, fleeing to a dark area if possible and launching a furious attack with his claw like hands and unholy strength on anyone carrying a light if trapped. This monster was adapted from the famous and free mini OSR module "Prison of the Hated Pretender". 

Instinct: Light Panics

• Suffers
• Regenerates
• Hates Light

Phantasm of Vengeance	Group, Construct, Amorphous
Spectral Strike (d4 damage)	3 HP	0 armor
Close, Ignores Armor, Near
Special Qualities: Vengeful lawful manifestation, Undead, Noncorporeal, Regenerates

A nasty species of vengeful lawful manifestation, each of these entities is the distilled desire for just and holy revenge of any number of lawful victims who died of violence. They are not complete spirits themselves, just a collection of the departed souls' earthly disbelief, rage and sadness at their slaughter. Phantasms are not very intelligent and seek vengeance on anyone they can reach that isn't a cleric or anointed follower of a specific lawful religion or cult. The phantasms can't really be destroyed; except by a proper exorcism (or similar ritual), but can be forced to dissipate and reform hours or days late by attacking them with normal weapons. Phantasms of Vengeance are nyctophobic and cannot abide darkness, even the darkness of normal night. Torchlight or magical light is sufficient for them to manifest. Each individual Phantasm's appearance varies; examples include: a fiery warrior, a ball of blue fire or a female ghostly figure wrapped in spectral chains. This monster was adapted from the famous and free mini OSR module "Prison of the Hated Pretender". 

Instinct: Vengeance on the unlawful!

• Haunts
• Inflicts Terror
• Strikes