I mentioned that I still have all my old maps, drawings and character sheets back from 1981.
My first map was a large manor house built into the side of a cliff. Lots of corridors, rooms and caves.
I drew in the details like the type of material the doors, walls and floors were made of and I marked in all the killing arcs of the traps and even the reach of the chained up monsters.
I then filled it with every creature from the RQII core book. It was deadly as the PCs were killed in the first corridor by a repeating ballista trap. The players didn't want to visit it again with new characters either!
That map is buried under tons of junk at the moment but I have found some from 1982 that I drew.
I used A5 graph paper and coloured pencils, each type of stone or wood used in the flooring had a different colour and texture. Unfortunately the browns seem to have faded into greys.
The map of 'Dead Lock Forest' showing the location of Greyhelm House.
The ground floor of Greyhelm House. Note the main hall is built leaning out over the cliff.
The first floor of Greyhelm House.
The underground chambers of Greyhelm House.
I have been also reading the adventure I wrote to go with this, written on A5 paper and filed in a folder. I would write the sections I would read to the players in red ink, the secrets I would write in blue ink and the GM bits and stats I would write in black ink. Very colourful!
The adventure was very deadly still, even though I had toned it down, but this time the players were able to loot the traps, the treasure, even the armour and weapons off the denizens of the house. They made enough to retire!
Room 1. The Hallway
When the thick, wooden double doors are opened the Hallway goes northward for eleven metres. At the end of the passage there is a one metre wide stairway leading to a door two metres up. There is a pit, one metre in diameter, to the right of the stairs. There is a eastward door seven metres away from the entrance.
When the characters go to either door a ghoul climbs out of the pit howling.
Ghoul Stats snipped
When the ghoul is dead nothing else will happen. There is no Treasure in the hallway. The door in the wall leads to Room 2 and the one at the top of the stairs leads to Room 3.
There is a ladder going down the pit into Room 38 four metres down.
When any character steps on the top stair, the wall springs out knocking the character down the pit doing 2D6 damage. There is a 10% chance of missing the pit but doing 1D4 damage.
Room 1a. Eastward Hallway
This is a one metre wide passage going Eastward for eleven metres. At the end of the passage there is a door (leading to Room 18) and another door two and a half metres away from the entrance (leading to Room 17).
Room 2. The Tomb
The door from the Hallway is locked but a successful picklock will open it. The door has a bar but it isn't drawn. The door leading from the South (Room 17) is bared and locked. There is a dryed up well in the Southeast corner one metre in diameter with a half metre wall around it. There isn't a bucket or rope about.
If a Spot-Hidden is done there is a ladder joined to the wall of the well, one and a half metres from the top of the wall. This leads down twenty metres down to the bottom of the well.
If more than SIZ 25 in total is on the ladder at once, the ladder will shatter with everybody falling down to the bottom doing 12D6 damage for the character at the top of the ladder. For every character blow the one at the top take 2D6, of the 12D6, for each one. Armour will protect as normal.
At the bottom of the well are four weapon snakes.
Weapon Snakes Stats snipped
There is a dead body at the bottom of the well with a broken sword. (This is the main Quest Item of the adventure)
Halfway up the well (ten metres) there is a bronze ring in the wall with a metre of rope connected to it. The brick which the ring is in is loose and if any character over SIZ 10 hangs on falls doing 8D6 damage. Behind the brick there is a Weapon Snake.
There is a large space behind the brick in which there is 2 Wheels (Gold Coins) and an Iron Death Rune.
The tomb is two metres by five metres. In the tomb there is a sarcophagus two metres long in the Northeast corner. It is intact but the side is chipped as if someone tried to open it and succeeded. It has been resealed with three locks (-10% off lock picking). There is writing on a bronze plate which is in Old Pavic.
'Here lies the body of GreyHelm Tarper, Hero of Sartar. He died with treasures untold.' Painted in a corner is 'Do Not Open' (-20% as it is untidy).
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