My first take on Dunnsmouth [!SPOILERS!]

A work in progress is a work progress because your progress often means that you have to do your work twice. The earlier one understands that this is a simple truth, the less time is wasted with being frustrated. The realization just has hit me this very morning after I noted that the sawmill in my first take on Dunnsmouth was meant to be by the river Dunn, which was not part of my project yet.

Sadly, that meant that I would need to label all of the locations anew. I decided not to do so but to wait for this till I am sure that I don´t want to add anything new to the map anymore. And while I was at it, I added some more “swampy areas” and some abandoned ruins, just to make the community feel more derelict. In addition, dear fellow forum users, this provides you with a map to use for your own devices

Of course, everything in Dunnsmouth is supposed to be swampy, the module states somewhere that aside form the rare dry patch of land, the water goes from “ankle deep” to “up to your hip”. The later are the areas I marked here, and intent to have more than one swamp hole here and a lot of places where the water is actually so deep that one must swim.

I will roll a d8 for every “deep swamp hex” the PC try to cross

“1” means one of them gets into a swamp hole while wading through hip high water.
“2-4” means the swamp becomes so deep that they must swim  at times or turn around

In short, this sections are meant to encourage my players to get themselves a skiff, and thereby interact with the villagers. As an added plus, it keeps them away from the sawmill (the location of the original spider) and from the Time Cube, at least at first.

Herman van Kaus will not to be helpful.

Samuel Dunlop will be “to busy”, but does not want to have the characters around as he fears that they want to steal -his- treasure. If they either offer good money (3 cp) or show up a second time pleading him for help he will agree to fairy them with his skiff. After he brought them somewhere, he will proclaim that he will leave. If the characters want him to stay and wait to take them back, he will demand more money (5 cp) “if ya steal my time, better make it worthwhile!”.

Obediah Duncaster will be more helpful and even offer to help them to get around in Dunnsmouth while they stay, but only if they did not turned down his hospitality (which means drinking moon shine and a Saving Throw vs. Poison (-1 due to intoxication if failed).

Edwin Dunlop will not be inclined to help at all, and especially not if he is offered money for it. In fact, he will react ill to be “mistaken for a lackey”.

Pearce Dunlop will ask while they even insist on wasting their time with (whatever the characters claimed what they want to do), but if they keep polite and endure some more exclaims about how bothersome this all is, Pearce will order his worker, Tommy Samson, to take them to one destination and back (unless it is the old sawmill).

Dunc Samson will have better things to do than to guide “damnstrangers” around Dunnsmouth. This will change if he is offered 5sp, in which case he fetches his skiff to fairy them around Dunnsmouth and the surrounding swamp for all day (or so he claims). He will not bring them to the sawmill and if trouble arises he will either leave them alone or attack them from behind with the staff he uses to move the skiff (if they act against infected people).

Magda will not be rude, but will make it clear that she does not see why she should help the PC. If the characters make her a good offer, she will be willing to drive them to a location and even to wait in order to fairy them back. BUT, she is not interested in coin. The players will have to come up with something else and either will have to give away some of their equipment or will need to offer a service that Magda might have use for.

Of course, the characters can always steal what is denied to them. This is a surefire way to get them into trouble with each and every inhabitant of Dunnsmouth, as all of them know the skiffs of their neighbors and will stand up as one against looters (after going from house to house to rally an old-fashioned mob). The only exception to this is the skiff o Magda: they don´t know her well enough, and even if they would most of them simply would not care.