My Life As A Gamer: Expeditions, Explorations, Encounters (Part Three)

(Notes: The Player's Handbook (PHB) and Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1st Edition (AD&D1e) cited as needed. First post is here, and yesterday's is here.)

Your man has arrived at the mouth of the Dungeon. Maybe either he, or another, established a nearby base camp to operate from; the wisdom of this will become apparent below. Now it is time to delve into the Dungeon and seek out its treasures.

But is he ready? Again, AD&D1e is a wargame: narrative logic DOES NOT APPLY. A lack of preparation or care can be, and often is, fatal. This is neither complicated nor tedious to do, and they do not depend upon the presence of a specific Class or special ability to execute properly.

A Dungeon is a hostile environment. Visibility is limited. Layout is unknown. Opposition forces are unknown. Intelligence regarding what is within is not reliable, if it is available at all, and often is inaccurate.

A prepared delve into the Dungeon will have resources ready to address visibility issues, take the time to chart out a map as they go, and move with care to minimize unwanted attention from hostiles.

However, the most important thing--the one that separates success from failure--is knowing when to retreat. Your torches will run low, your lantern's oil supples run low, spells expended, wounds to be tended, and so on. Know when its time to go and leave before you're overextended and get cut off. Those that fail this wisdom become the corpses that later parties encounter.

Now we return to that base camp. You did erect one, right? So long as you can be secure there, your time to recover and ready for another delve are significantly shorter than if you did not, especially if the camp has a secure route to Town and a regular resupply schedule in place.

While back in camp, or in Town, you will have the time to reflect on what happened and dealing with the consequences.

Note that the Dungeon Master (DM) is not obligated to do your mapping for you; that's on you. The DM is obligated only to provide you the information that your man would receive, and if that information is ambiguous or incorrect then he is allowed to mislead or outright lie.

While most preparations are akin to hitting up an outfitter on the way out, dealing with the consequences of a delve can take your man out of play for a time.

Specific reasons for being knocked out of play include leveling up, learning/creating spells, recovering from wounds/disease, creating new spells/items, memorizing spells (because it is not the simple process of the later editions), and long-term travel. Each of these are specific enough to merit their own posts in the future.

Therefore, one can expect that any given Dungeon--once its presence and location become known--shall become the attention of multiple parties delving separately, and the slow process of exploring its depths and recovering its treasures becomes a self-reinforcing feedback loop of activity.

The best of them are the largest, the Mega-Dungeons.

The best explorers are the ones that treat this activity as if it were a real expedition. That's those Kriegspiel roots showing again.