Today we’re looking at Flameless Forge of the Dverg by Pakkanen. It’s a 23-room dungeon in an abandoned (OR IS IT?) dwarven forge for levels 1-3. It was originally written for the setting of Cursed Scroll #3 but could be dropped into just about anywhere.
The setup is that, long ago, a community of dwarves forged mystical weapons of cold iron using their “flameless” natural gas-powered forge. After creating the Axe of Mortality, a weapon capable of slaying gods, they realized how dangerous it was, locked up the master smith and shut the whole thing down. Now, years later, the Dverg have reclaimed the forge and are using it to forge weapons to help them battle an army of invading trolls. Unbeknownst to them, their leader has been murdered and replaced by a shapeshifting sea hag.
Layout is simple and clean. Room descriptions lack the de rigueur bolded words but otherwise, key interactive elements are followed up with a bullet point. Monster stats are relegated to the back of the book and I’d rather have them somewhere close to the room key where they appear. The artwork is drawn by the author and is absolutely charming. Does it maybe look like something from Napoleon Dynamite’s sketchbook? Yes. Does it look rad as hell? Also yes. It’s absolutely the kind of artwork I would share with my players. The map is equally rad, being a hand-drawn, isometric piece also by the author.
Besides the dverg there are a couple of other factions looking for the legendary weapons rumored to be in the forge – a group of berserkers and a rival party. The latter only shows up as a random encounter and the former have been trapped in the dining hall. Both are perfect for either throwing a wrench in the party’s plans or giving them a shaky ally, depending on how things play out. Always good to have a few wildcards in your adventure.
I think I’ve talked about conceptual density before. The dverg are a good example of how it can elevate your writing. On the one hand, they are a lot like traditional dwarves and the old dwarven forge idea has been done to death. But they have just enough novel ideas to create a unique flavor and offer the GM something they probably wouldn’t have come up with on their own. Yeah, they’re short guys with beards that like smithing. But they can shapeshift into magpies or squirrels, they sprinkle opal powder on their food for spice, they use griffons as beasts of burden. They’re familiar but they will surprise you. It has a has a few twists on the mythology.
The themes of the dungeon are very strong and many of the interactions manage to play on the tropes of nordic myth while still being creative and unexpected. We’ve got a shrine where the god of forging might enhance your weapon or might break it and mock its weak steel. A set of cursed hammers that will afflict weapons with effects like randomly setting them on fire or melting them into aggressive gray ooze. And a giant, disabled automaton that might be brought back to life with the application of some gems, and might also be reprogrammed by clever players.
There is also a very active automaton called the Dvergish Sentinel that the PCs will have to reckon with. It’s level 8, has an AC of 19 and can only be harmed by magic weapons or cold iron. So it might best be viewed as a non-combat, moving hazard. Which is actually a much more interesting problem to deal with. It has some limitations and weaknesses that will make evading and eventually defeating it very fun and satisfying for the players. Or the party might decide to try and fight it head on, which should be very fun and satisfying for the GM. Either way it’s a great example of how to include a high-level, seemingly undefeatable enemy in a lower level adventure.
Everything is likely to come to a head in the forge itself and the adventure provides a number of ways for the PCs to use it. One of the most interesting of which is that the cursed master smith is still trapped in the dungeon, and he offers to “awaken” the Axe of Mortality in exchange for his freedom. The rest of the dverg are probably not going to be chill with this arrangement, so that presents a nice dilemma for the players.
But that also reveals my biggest issue with this adventure: there are 5 hooks presented. Two involve stealing the magic Axe of Mortality, one involves looting the place, one involves using the forge and one is to simply do some recon. So four out of five will put you at odds with the lawful dverg, who “have been instructed to bar anyone from accessing the forge.” And the adventure doesn’t really provide any means of dealing with the dverg or achieving these goals except through violence. For some tables, that’s probably just fine. Getting loot and partying is a totally valid motivation. But others might seek a path that doesn’t involve the slaughter of innocents and the GM isn’t given much support for that. The adventure has a fun, wonderful characterization for the dverg but doesn’t facilitate much interaction with them. Some framework for bargaining with them would be welcome.
There’s also the problem of the hag. The concept of having the leader of the Dverg being replaced by a shapeshifting hag is a good one, but there’s not a lot of ways for the PCs to interact with that. If there was a way to find her out, they might be able to leverage that into some kind of a deal with the dverg. But the only clue is the remains of a shapeshifting ritual locked behind a DC 15 INT check. Even if they succeed it’s a long, winding road to get from “someone conducted a shapeshifting ritual” to “the leader of the Dverg is a hag in disguise!” The idea feels wasted, and were I to run this, the first thing I would do is provide a path for scrupulous PCs to discover the truth before they start stacking bodies. You might even create a hook where the PCs know there’s a shapeshifting hag in the dungeon, and need to determine who it is.
And finally, the overall stakes of the adventure might merit a higher level range than 1-3. We are dealing with a godslaying weapon, after all. Not to mention the presence of some legendary NPCs and a brace of decently high-level monsters. I would probably peg this as a level 3 adventure, although less violence-prone parties might be able to achieve their goals at levels 1 or 2.
But none of those things is a deal-breaker. Once the PCs work out a reasonable motivation for delving into the forge, this is a great dungeon with interesting NPCs to engage with and lots of things to experiment with, poke at and potentially be smashed to bits by. The vibes are strong and unique enough to stand apart from the slew of norse/viking-themed content out there.
On a scale of 2-12, Flameless Forge of the Dverg gets 9 stingbats.
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