06/07/2023

Here is another random encounter created with Chat GPT:
Description: The party enters a dimly lit chamber, filled with a thick layer of dust. Suddenly, ghostly apparitions materialize, haunting the room. They are the spirits of long-dead adventurers who perished in the dungeon. The leader of the spirits, known as the Spectral Warden, seeks to protect the treasures left behind.

Unique Creatures: Spectral Warden

Treasure: If the party manages to defeat the ghosts, they find a hidden compartment in the chamber containing a magical amulet that grants resistance to necrotic damage and a pouch of gold coins.

Sounds like a good start to an encounter. Let’s see what I can do with this information.

I start with my canvas dungeon UDT. I place the corners, walls, pillars, an entrance archway, and a big metal door at the back of the room. To make the room interesting and somewhere my PCs would want to explore, I placed a statue in the middle. That should draw them in to investigate. I would place this to the side behind a screen so the players can’t see it.

I would start the encounter ‘Theater of the Mind’, describing the room behind the screen as they pass the archway traveling down a hallway. I use descriptions that included items from their senses (the dim light emanating from the statue, the smell of stale cool air, their frosty breath, the echoing of their footsteps in the vast chamber, etc)

Once the heroes state they want to enter the room, I would place the UDT on the table and then add the ghosts as I describe the apparitions floating up through the floor before the characters.

One of the ghosts is definitely different from the others (That would be the Spectral Warden). This ghost would be the one to communicate with the heroes. The Spectral Warden would warn the PCs of a curse on the dungeon on any that would plunder its treasures. The Spectral Warden would relay that the ghosts were adventurers like the party that came to the dungeon in search of riches and fell before the BBEG of the dungeon (A little foreshadowing of the bad guy in the dungeon, always a good trick to use especially if they are a powerful enemy).

If the heroes choose to leave the room, the Spectral Warden will dissolve back into the floor. If the heroes continue into the room towards the statue beyond the pillars or make any threats to the ghost, they will attack.

If the heroes defeat the Spectral Warden and his ghost, they can investigate the statue at the center of the room. On the base of the statue is a plaque with a riddle on it.

EASY RIDDLES:

“I cannot talk, but I always reply when spoken to. What am I?” – An echo!

“What has hands but can not clap.” – A clock!

Give the players a few minutes to guess the answer. After that, if they are struggling, I would allow them to roll an INT check with a DC of 20. If any of the players make the check, give them a clue.

Once the party members can figure it out, the plaque will slide down revealing a secret compartment that would hold some riches, a potion or two, and a minor magical item like the amulet mentioned by Chat GPT. All of these items belonged to the previous adventurers.

If the heroes die later in the dungeon, you can have a short cutscene at the end of the session where the Spectral Warden and ghosts are replaced with the spirits of the fallen heroes who have taken their place in the haunted chamber.

So, how do you think I did?

Leave a comment and tell me what you would add or change to the encounter.

Keep on gaming!