Battlemaps: Dungeon Rooms Vol.IV

Game: Battlemaps: Dungeon Rooms Vol.IV
Publisher: 0one Roleplaying Games
Series: generic
Reviewer: Wyrdmaster
Review Dated: 15th, January 2005
Reviewer’s Rating: 7/10   [ Good ]
Total Score: 7
Average Score: 7.00

“Get me out of this hell hole!” … ah, the famous quote from Baldur’s Gate. One of my regular gaming groups still uses it and chances to do so spring up all the time in RPGs. The first map in 0one Roleplaying Games’ Dungeon Rooms 4 is one of those occasions. There are those tell-tale coal cart tracks on the grubby ground, the wooden carts themselves and the fire tinted shadows. It’s only on the second glance that you see (or I saw, with my one point in perception) half the room is a stone wall.

The rest of the dungeon room collection is inside the stone building. The first tile casts its influence on to the rest of the 37 paged PDF there’s the suggestion that the entire complex is underground. Yeah; I know, the title of the series is dungeon rooms but this goes to show a picture is worth a thousand words.

These 37 pages of illustration will set you back US $6.50.

After our miners’ tunnel entrance, we enter a small library. Wooden bookcases pepper the walls and there’s a parchment covered table in the middle. Here you have the wizard’s chamber in the dungeon complex.

It’s some dead bloke’s room next. That is to say, a portcullis opens up into a coffin-cum-throne room and there’s a skeleton arranged lazily on the chair.

We go from bare-bones to decedent as we run through the dungeon rooms in order. Alcove is unusual simply because it isn’t rectangular. The room is all curves, plush carpets and plumped pillows.

Right at the start of the PDF 0one illustrates how the Dungeon Rooms IV might be linked together with just simple passageways between the rooms. It’s certainly geographically possible but a GM will have to work hard to conceptualise such an exotic dungeon. Of course, one of the Dungeon Rooms series strength is that there are a few of them and supporting products too. It’s much easier to design a full dungeon with this series than with many others.

The dwarf god temple is rare in that it’s a two-parter. Twin pages should be pushed together to create the full-sized room. The dwarf god is an imposing and well-lit statue. The presence of a dwarf god temple is the first obvious answer to the challenge behind putting all these contrasting rooms together. Dwarfs would have libraries, alcoves and mining areas.

Okay. I confess. The introduction clearly describes the collection as a dwarf temple! I might argue that a truly versatile set of dungeon rooms should be easy to adapt for other situations… and I do actually think this set manages that.

The clerics changing rooms are next. At least, that’s what title on the page says. In reality, it’s a large and almost empty room, some robes and some chests. Unless the dungeon room told you what it was, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find out. The fact that dungeon rooms tell you what they are is in this instance slightly annoying. You might not want your players to know they’re in a dwarf temple. Even when they’re on the map with the dwarf god statue they might really struggle to know what they’re looking at. He’s just a spooky stone guy. Supplements should stop GMs from being evil.

So, I’ve confessed and admitted that Dungeon Rooms IV says it’s a temple. We can expect temple-ish rooms like underground docks. Ha! I know. Dungeon Rooms IV just keeps you guessing. The weird addition of the underground dock actually gives this edition of Dungeon Rooms a second life. If you want, especially if you collect the site, this collection now has two alternative entrances to an underground building; the mine face and the dock.

The weirdness continues with a pair of circular rooms; circles with straight passageways on either side. There’s a “gem room” and this is a yellow and orange glow. There’s a magic tree room. That’s surprise the elves… a leafy magic tree in the dwarf temple.

As is typical for this range of cartography from 0one Roleplaying Games there are three good versions of every map. There’s the full effect and full-colour one. There’s the greyscale version which compromises effect with printer ink. The final version of every map is the line drawing ones. This saves the most ink but is the sketchiest.

This set of battle maps is one to look at if you have got a few already and are looking for interesting bits and pieces to add to your dungeon. At a push, you can use it as an extremely exotic and unusual dwarf temple.