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In a dungeon that once served as a mine or other work site, the original occupants may have built a series of tracks on which they ran wheeled carts to carry heavy items, stones, and ore from the lower portions of the mine to the upper levels. While a bit of an anachronism compared to the technology level in most cam- paigns, mine carts provide for fast, frenetic encounters and can also help move the charac- ters from one end of the dungeon to the other in a minimal amount of time.

To add mine carts to your dungeon, you must first decide where their tracks lead. The carts normally should follow tracks similar to a train’s, though you can also apply the

rules and guidelines here to wheeled vehicles used to move around a dungeon area. After adding the tracks to an area (or deciding on a cart’s path), you should also note any slopes and inclines that mark its path. Obviously, the cart moves fast when it rolls down a slope and slows down, or perhaps stops, when it reaches an upward incline.

There are two basic carts presented here. One type is simply a container on wheels usually pushed or pulled by workers. This cart is craft- ed from wood or metal and can hold up to six Medium-size creatures, though some carts may be smaller. Use the standard d20 System rules for dragging items to determine how far a char- acter can push a loaded cart. Double the weight a character can handle in this manner since the tracks and cart count as a favorable condition. The second type is a pump cart with a seesaw handle that, when pumped, causes pistons and gears within the cart to turn and propel the cart forward. Two characters can work the pump, with one character making a Strength check and the second one aiding his attempt. The cart moves forward at a speed in feet equal to 10 times the result of the Strength check each round.

The slope or incline of the rails determines a cart’s speed. A normal cart moving downhill increases its speed while it is on the slope by 20 ft. each round. A cart moving up reduces its speed by 20 ft. each round it spends moving on the upward slope. A cart whose speed is reduced to 0 or less is considered to have stopped. A stopped cart on a downward slope rolls backward, as its speed increases by 20 ft. each round. A cart moving on a flat section of track reduces its speed by 10 feet per round. Apply any modifiers to speed before the cart moves. Think of a slope as forcing a cart to move 20 ft. downward before the cart moves. For example, a normal cart with a speed of 60 ft. approaches an upward slope. The first round, it shoots 40 ft. up the slope. The second round, it moves 20 ft. On the third round, its speed is 0 ft. If it is still on the slope, it rolls 20 ft. downward.

Since a pump cart has a source of power, it works a bit differently. The pump cart moves as described above on level sections of track, but it ignores the speed penalty for moving along a level section of track. Furthermore, as long as the characters work the pump, halve the

movement penalty for moving up a slope and do not stack it from round to round. For exam- ple, a pump cart approaches an upward slope. The characters aboard make their Strength checks and get a result of 6, for a total of 60 ft. of movement. Since the cart is on a slope, this speed is reduced to 50 ft. The next round, the characters’ check results in 80 ft. of movement. The cart moves 70 ft. this round. The penalties do not add up because the characters work to maintain the cart’s speed.

Both types of carts feature brakes that a char- acter may activate as a standard action. The brakes reduce a cart’s speed by 30 ft. once per round that a character activates them. Only one character may work the brakes each round. Mine carts can either be a container or a flat platform on wheels. Container carts provide half cover to Medium-size creatures, one-quar- ter cover to Large ones, and full cover to Small creatures. Open carts provide no cover and may send characters flying off them as they move around tight corners and gain speed. Each time an open cart makes a 90 degree or tighter cor- ner or moves at a speed of greater than 100 ft. per round, all characters aboard must make Balance checks (DC 15) or be thrown from the cart. Characters tossed from a cart land prone 2d6 feet away and take damage as if they fell a distance equal to the cart’s current speed. These rules also apply to characters and monsters pushed out of a cart.

Fighting on a mine cart is a dicey proposition. All melee and missile attacks suffer a –2 cir- cumstance penalty due to the cart’s jostling. This includes both attacks directed at creatures in the same cart as the attacker and those out- side of it. Spellcasters must make Concentration checks (DC 15) in order to focus on their spells and properly complete them. Fast creatures, those that can fly, and those that can use teleport and similar magic to keep pace with a hurtling mine cart work well against characters in a cart. The best opponents, though, are other humanoids and monsters chasing the characters in a cart of their own. Such a chase makes for a memorable and fun encounter as the PCs hurtle along the tracks with a gang of monsters close behind. Creatures can lie in wait along the tracks, ready to leap into a passing cart and attack the PCs. Archers and spellcasters line up in chambers

CHAPTER FIVE: Encounters

CHAPTER FIVE: Encounters

next to the tracks, holding their actions to rid- dle the PCs’ cart with arrows and spells.

Development: When using mine carts in play,

it is easiest to use a sheet of graph paper or to increase the scale of your battlemat to fit the entire encounter on one map without constant- ly erasing things. If there are plenty of slopes for the carts to acquire velocity, the carts can quickly move through the area normally cov- ered by your mat. The cart tracks can run through a wide variety of terrain, from stone corridors to bridges running above subter- ranean rivers and bubbling pools of lava. Remember that while the carts may work well to get the characters from point A to point B, the reverse is not necessarily true. The carts can be a convenient method to strand foolish char- acters deep within the dungeon. On the other hand, they can also be the best option for a party that needs to escape from an onrushing horde of monsters. In this case, keep in mind the ideas given above and never be afraid to pull out all the stops.