TEXT: AGENDA 
   
  Make the world fantastic 
   
  Fill the characters’ lives with adventure 
   
  Play to find out what happens 
  QUESTIONS 
   
  Why are you trying to gain a copy of the cursed play 
  The King in Yellow? 
   
  How did you learn of  its location in the Ziggurat of 
  Madness? 
   
  What reason do you have to hate or love the desert? 
   
  What experience do you have as an explorer? 
  IMPRESSIONS 
   
  The sweep of carrion birds above 
   
  The howl of the wind 
   
  The crunch of ochre sand beneath your feet 
   
  The mirage of an oasis in the distance 
   
  The soul sucking heat of the desert 
   
  The dusty, endless corridors of the Ziggurat 
   
  The beauty of the moon and the rivers of stars at night 
   
  The ever present thirst 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  ZIGGURAT OF MADNESS 
  V1.0E 
  A Dungeon Starter by Mark Tygart 
  For Sage LaTorra and Adam Koebel’s 
  Dungeon World 
  www.Dungeon-World.com 
  GOA LS 
   
  Establish details, describe 
   
  Use what they give you 
   
  Ask questions 
   
  Leave blanks 
   
  Look for interesting facts 
   
  Help the players understand the moves 
   
  Give each character a chance to shine 
   
  Introduce NPC’s 
   
  Fill out your worksheet 
  DU NG EON M OVES 
   
  Change the environment 
   
  Point to a looming threat 
   
  Introduce a new faction or type of creature 
   
  Use a threat from an existing faction or type 
  of creature 
   
  Make them backtrack 
   
  Present riches at a price 
   
  Present a challenge to one of the characters 
   
   
  “It is unclear if Hastur is a person, a place, an 
  object (such as the Yellow Sign), or a demon 
  deity… It is perphas better not to know.” 
                                              - The Scholar Hassan 
   
   
   
   
   
  CUSTOM MOVES 
  Ghul Crossbow Trap 
  When you step on a hidden trap trigger, Roll+Dex. On a 
  10+, gain both. On a 7–9, choose 1: 
  • You are able to avoid taking damage (1d6 damage) 
  • You avoid being affected by the quarrel’s paralyzing 
  poison 
  When you meet a Shoggoth,  
  ROLL+WIS. On a 10+, it is simply a disturbing and 
  disgusting thing. On a 7-9, you stay sane but choose 2: 
   You flee from the unspeakable horror. 
  You lose one WIS. 
  You cry until someone helps you come to your senses. 
  On 6- suffer all 3. 
  “…S UGG ES TS THA T A NYONE  WH O P OSS ESS ES,  EV EN B Y 
  ACCID ENT, A  C OP Y OF  TH E  PLAY OR  YELLOW SIG N  IS  
  SUSC EP TIBLE TO S OM E F ORM  OF  I NSIDI OUS MI ND 
  CONTR OL,  OR POSS ESSI ON, B Y TH E KI NG  I N Y ELLOW…  
  THE S TORI ES A LS O S UGG ES T TH AT TH E ORIGI NA L 
  CREA TOR  OF THE SIG N WAS  NOT H UMA N A ND  P O SSIB LY 
  CAM E FR OM  A  STR A NGE A LTER NATE DIM ENSI ON THA T 
  CONTAI NS  A N OMI NOU S A ND  A NCIENT CI TY K NO W N 
  AS CARC OS A…” –Z ENOP US  OF POR TOW N 
   
   
   
  
  THINGS 
   
  Cloak of Ghul Disguise                                                1 Weight 
  A magical item that when worn will convince ghuls that 
  the wearer is secretly a member of their race. 
   
  Scimitar of Ghul Slaying                                              1 Weight 
  Does double damage to ghuls. 
   
  Lens of Ghul Detection                                    
  If worn these will negate a ghul’s disguise 
   
  Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar Elixir 
  Temporarily renders user immune to damage from a 
  shoggoth and slightly tipsy 
   
  The King in Yellow (play) 
  A cursed evil artifact that drives a player insane if read. If 
  the play is performed the players and audience will be 
  transported to Hastur’s hell dimension of Carcosa. 
   
  Services 
  A native guide to take you to the Ziggurat:                              
  300 Coins (Actually a ghul and he will lead the party into 
  an ambush) 
  Consult local scholar about the Ziggurat:                             
  200 coins (Will warn the party about ghuls)    
   Spells 
  Reveal Ghul (Cleric, Rote) 
  Forces a ghul briefly into its true shape. 
   
  Visit the Cats of Tindalos 
  (http://catsoftindalos.blogspot.com/) 
  For more free Dungeon World material 
   
  Inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos, Arabian Nights, Neil 
  Gaiman and HBO’s True Detective (Season One) 
   
  Monsters 
  Ghul                                             Horde, Intelligent, Organized 
  Dagger (d8 damage) 
  Close 
   
            8 HP, 0 Armor 
  Special Qualities: Assume form of its victim   
   
   A ghul is a desert-dwelling demon that has inhabited and 
  transformed a human corpse. It lures unwary people into 
  the desert wastes or abandoned places to slay them. The 
  creature then eats the dead and takes the form of the 
  person that it has most recently consumed. Its true shape 
  is hideous. 
   
  Instinct: Consume the living 
   
  Mythos Sorcerer     Magical, Stealthy, Intelligent, Hoarder 
  Speaking Elder names (d8 damage) 
  Close 
   
        12 HP, 4 Armor 
  Special Qualities:  Ritual Mask, Robe 
   
  A sorcerer who has been driven mad by his knowledge of 
  the mythos and is the current leader of the ghuls. 
   
  Instinct: “Throw all captives into the Shoggoth’s Pit!” 
   
  (No Shoggoths were harmed during the production of this 
  dungeon starter but seven interns were eaten by one)  
  Shoggoth, Unbound  
  Solitary, Large, Devious, Construct, Terrifying  
  Mouths (b[2d10]+1 damage, 1 piercing) 
  Close 
   
        23 HP, 1 Armor 
  Special Qualities:  Amorphous 
   
  There were the realms of a species so old even the 
  dragons don't remember when they fled our world to fight 
  an unheard of war among the stars. They left their 
  servants behind. Incomprehensible things made of jelly 
  with ever appearing and disappearing eyes and mouths.  
   
  • Move out of idleness 
  • Relentlessly flow towards its prey 
  • Surround foes with protoplasm 
  • Create mouths to eat surrounded prey 
  • Drive foe mad with its insane whispers 
   
  Instinct: To attack at first sight 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 
  Attribution 4.0 International License. 
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeon World (PbtA) [multi]/Other Contents/Adventures & Monster Manuals/Dungeon Starters - Tygart/Ziggurat of Madness.pdf