CASTLE OLDSKULL – Monsters & Treasures Level 1 is a role playing game supplement written and published by Kent David Kelly. The supplement is generally targeted at OSR and Dungeons & Dragons based games and is covered by the Open Game License with some parts considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
This is a 106 page PDF that is available from DriveThruRPG for $3.99 but was purchased at the reduced price of $0.99 during a sale. It is also available in Kindle format from Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed. One page is the front cover, three pages are the front matter, three pages are the Table of Contents, one page is About the Author, ten pages are ads for other products and three pages are the Open Game License.
The single page Description is essentially an introduction to the book.
Part I: Introduction starts with the Purpose and Use of This Book. It is intended to help GMs rapidly create monster lairs and treasure hoards for megadungeons. This is specifically intended to create challenges for 1st level characters and is intended to stock the first level of a dungeon, which actually tends to be the above ground ruins and wilderness, with monsters and treasure.
Random Number Generation is a brief few paragraphs on generating random number in a spreadsheet program
Questioning Random Results states that any rolls that do not make sense or which the GM doesn’t like should be rerolled.
The Nature of the Upper Ruins discusses the ruins that can be found above some megadungeons (this would rule out cities such as Waterdeep above Undermountain).
For Additional Information references The Classic Dungeon Design Guide and Oldskull Dungeon Bestiary as sources of further information.
Part II: Monsters is the monster encounters that can be found in the dungeon. Monster Types lists the 100 different monster types that are included in this list, although sub-types are not included.
Monster Difficulty explains that the monsters are intended to challenge a party of 1st level adventurers. These challenges range from the trivial to potential Total Party Kills if players do not back off from overwhelming force.
Adventuring Parties and Demi-Human Groups has an overview of adventure parties that can be encountered with tables for rolling race and classes, with different classes depending on the alignment of the group encountered.
Monsters is the largest part of the supplement and is a d1000 table that is split into ten sets of 100 results. The first nine sets have a 900 different monster results. The final set of 100 also has 100 results, but these are classed as Special Encounters. Each has two types of monster and a sentence or two describing what is happening and perhaps the area.
Part III: Treasures starts with the number of treasures that can be found with different monsters or hidden in rooms, whether the latter be empty, trap or trick rooms.
The treasure table is another d100 table that is split into various sections. These are Coinage, Gems, Jewellery, Consumable Magic Items, Enduring Magic Items and Commodities.
Part IV: Treasure Elaboration is a set of 22 d100 tables, although not with 100 results, for providing extra detail on non-magical treasures found.
CASTLE OLDSKULL – Monsters & Treasures Level 1 in Review
The PDF is well bookmarked with all the sections and table sections linked. The Table of Contents is to a similar level of detail and is also hyperlinked. Navigation is very good.
The text maintains a single column format and appeared to be almost error-free. There are a variety of colour and black and white illustrations, both stock and public domain. The layout is generally better than can be seen in most supplements from this publisher, although there are still a few illustrations that have been placed in less than logical places. There were problems with how the font displayed on the Abobe Reader on a Fire tablet; perhaps it wasn’t embedded properly. There were no problems with it on a PC.
Even though the supplement is covered by the OGL, much of the content is actually system neutral, and many monster names would appear to have been altered from the official D&D names, probably to stop infringing copyright originally. Only the magic items have any game stats.
Whether or not this supplement is of any use to a specific GM largely depends on how that GM copes with random tables of this type. if a result such as “11 Brigand Swordsmen (Chainmail, large shield, long sword, dagger)” or “1 Piece of Ivory Jewelry (100 gp value)” is adequate, then it is useful. For a GM who prefers more detail, then another type of supplement should probably be got. The Special Encounters section of Monsters will probably be of the most use to GMs who need a bit more detail. Otherwise, checking out supplements from Raging Swan Press might be more use. Oldskull Dungeon Encounters Book I could be considered to be an example of how to use this supplement.
CASTLE OLDSKULL – Monsters & Treasures Level 1 can be a useful collection of inspirational tables and it can be found by clicking here.
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