One Page Dungeon Review #1 - The Burial Mound of Gilliard Wolfclan

A review of a legendary classic

This is the first post in a series of reviews on one page dungeons. The intent here is to not only bring attention to certain high quality dungeons and their creators, but to help GMs flesh out their back catalog of “random shit I can use when I need it”, because I know we all need some more of that. There are many sensational one page dungeons, but even more that are complete throw-aways, and not worth spending time on. I hope to speed up that sifting process for you.

The Burial Mound of Gilliard Wolfclan is a classic in the OSR scene. It was written over a decade ago, and constantly comes up as a recommendation for a quick no-prep adventure. Let’s take a quick look and see if you should add it to your repertoire.

B.L.U.F. (Bottom Line Up Front)

• Recommended if:

  • You are running a session for new players

  • You want no-prep, almost-no-treasure filler for a low level sandbox

  • You’re cool with ultra generic

• Not recommended if:

  • Your players are tired of goblins and centipedes

  • Your party is any higher than level 1

Prep Needed (higher is better): 10/10

• Literally just put this anywhere within a day’s walk of a settlement, and spend about 4 minutes looking at it before running.

Formatting: 9/10

• Easy to read, but isometric layout annoys some people (not me)

Setting neutral: 10/10

• This is straight up generic OSR fantasy

Interesting: 4/10

• The premise is generic, the dungeon is generic. That doesn’t stop it from being a solid starter dungeon.

The Dungeon Itself

Premise

So, this dungeon comes with a simple hook that gives exposition, and a goofy old man NPC that is just plain fun. The background of the dungeon is also fun, but generic. A barbarian from long ago went mad with dark magic, and him and his followers were trapped in a burial mound.

Encounters

One detractor here is that there are no random encounters. Now, this is a 9 (8, really) room dungeon, so maybe they aren’t necessary, but I always like the idea of some sort of dynamic event, even if it’s just one wandering monster that could add some surprise to the dungeon.

Rooms

The dungeon is easy to read, with a simple layout and concise descriptions. I will note, room dress descriptions are completely missing except for important items and enemies. In a dungeon this short, that’s fine, because you really will have time to make it up as you go. However, two or three flavor words per room can go a long way for inspiration.

Your players will probably not like this very much if they’ve played a lot of stereotypical 1st level dungeons. We start with fire beetles above ground. Then a pit trap that drops to the next level.

Then drunk goblins, with a boss. The boss is given a fun little hook, he may be willing to help the party because the guy in a later room took his job. These little details add to the game. Now, a careful party can earn the reward of aid from enemies by taking time to listen at the door and hear any complaints, and formulate a plan, instead of just walking in and fighting.

In another room, is an elf who is the new leader of the goblins, and his goblin witch-doctor sidekick. There is less than 70 gp in the entire top level (5 rooms) of this dungeon. If your players are not running brand new, fresh chracters, they will be pissed as hell.

Then… dun, dun, dun! Centipedes. Yeah, not very surprising. Next is a wolf totem that can answer questions for faithful adventurers, and summons a dire wolf to eat the rude ones.

Just before the FINAL BOSS room are some dead goblins in front of a poison-trapped door. Clever players will be suspicious of the door and want to investigate to see what is up here. Unfortunately, there is no information on what to do here. I guess just have a dwarf do it while everyone waits in the next room?

FINAL BOSS time. A ghoul of Gilliard (but not really, he has 10 hp and no special abilities other than his +1 sword) and 6 skeletons. this is fun enough, and will certainly be pretty challenging.

And what do the party find for getting through all of this? 100gp and a silver dagger.

Conclusion

Now, I don’t want to sound too cynical, because this is a great starter adventure. But the truth is, that is the absolute only thing it is good for. The only thing the party will leave with is some money for restocking on supplies and maybe buying better armor, a magic sword, and a silver dagger. For brand new adventurers, this is fine. Otherwise, it’s a no-go.

Overall, I think this is good. It gets the spirit of the one page dungeon. It is truly zero prep, easy to read, completely setting neutral (maybe too setting neutral?), and provides at least one decent role-playing opportunity.

Final Judgement: Decent-ish/10. Only use this for brand new parties of brand new characters. If your players are experienced, even if their characters are brand new, you should probably look elsewhere.