The Pit of Tortured Souls - Introduction

Var-Zenoth, called by Men the Pit of Tortured Souls, was of old the province of Sidra, the Ghoul-Queen, beautiful and ghastly Harlot of Death. In millenia past, the troll hosts of dark Sidra fell upon the Gnomes of Vertaven, bearing them away to the Pit where they dwelt in servitude and dolor beneath her lash. As the years marched on, Sidra turned her will to debasing the enslaved Gnomes, causing their line to become commingled and tainted with the blood of unclean things. And so it was that the Pit of Tortured Souls -- and, with the tide of centuries, the lands of Men -- came to seeth with the Gnolls in their ravening packs. In time, the rise of the Gnolls would have terrible consequences for the Realm of Men, and the ill-bred fiends threatened to make all the world their hunting grounds. By dint of steel and blood, Man prevailed over Gnoll, and Sidra's abominable progeny were driven to the dark places of the Earth. As the years turned from hundreds to thousands, the Ghoul-Queen fell quiescent in the depths of Var-Zenoth. Notwithstanding the torpor of its monarch, however, that shunned province remains the haunt of loathsome creatures and the hateful descendents of the honorable Gnomes, irrevocably corrupted by millenia of thralldom.

- Posted with permission...I know Scott recently posted that all of his stuff is available for free use but I feel better asking first.

Scott is a much better writer than I am so I left a bunch of his prose as is. I changed the names and locations and a few very minor details.

Two more thoughts about what I am going to do:
1. I am likely going to use a bunch of maps from Paratime Design (http://paratime.ca/cartography) that are available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License, either straight from their website or as inspiration for some hand drawn maps.
2. I am thinking of making some posts using the process described in Part 8: Dungeon Master Information beginning on page B51 in the Moldvay Basic rulebook and using the format given "An Example of Dungeon Design: The Haunted Keep (1st Level)" on pages B55 to B57.