30 Minute Dungeon...Literally

Tower of the Time Lord Halacras

The Bogeyman's Cave had a great idea to write out a dungeon in 30 mins or less. This was the perfect kick in the pants for me to write out my Op Amp Time Dungeon. Thanks Bogey for the inspiration and I hope you like it!

A Hook

Attention all bold folk, adventurers and fortune seekers! Halacras the Time Lord has opened his tower once again to all who might brave the perils within.  Find ancient treasure, magical wonders to astound the mind, and powerful magical lore, in thirty minutes or less, guaranteed!

General Background

This tower is designed by Halacras to harvest time from powerful heroes for his time magic, as such it is designed to waste their time.  Every thirty in-game minutes, the party snaps back to the first room in the tower, in exactly the same shape the walked in (HP, spells, etc.) They retain the knowledge of the tower they have gleaned. That this happens is not obvious on the first time they walk in, but keep them aware of how much time is going by. The rewards are all in the final room, which is technically reachable if the party already knows how everything in the tower works (possible through repeated trials) and books it hard. 

First Room

A super old dude sits lightly dozing near a huge impressive locked door.  This guy is insanely slow and loves to tell long stories about his uninteresting life. He has 1d10 time related riddles and the PCs must answer his riddles before he will unlock the door. He has no special abilities besides being almost unimaginably slow. He is a 1 HD scrub but will complain (slowly) if you steal his key or attack him.

Second Room

Lethal swinging blades cross this long hallway. Instant death on hit. Remember after 30 mins all PCs including dead ones are back at the entrance where they started.   

Third Room

As the PCs enter this room, they have haste or slow cast on them randomly by the door. If they forced their way through the old guy's door it’s always slow and his spectral face appears to castigate their generation. Full of oddly out of place stones, outlines of secret doors, faintly glowing runes and other red herrings. Another door on the opposite wall leads to the Long Hallway.

Long Hallway

Just as it says on the tin, a Long Hallway.  A slow PC could run down in it around 15 mins.  A fast PC could maybe do it in 7. Adjust based on your system but remember that Halacras can make it longer as needed. Every 3 mins a series of force fields activate, separating the Long Hallway into 30 foot cells like in the Phantom Menace when Obi-Wan is fighting Darth Maul. This forces the PCs to wait for 1 min. Then the spiders come.  If the party is more than 10 feet apart then they will be in separate cells and likely be devoured or at least have to fight solo. Once they defeat the spiders once they won’t happen again but don’t tell the PCs that.    

“Final” Room

“Well Done Heroes! You have earned the incredible treasure of the Time Lord!  First, tell me your names that I might record those who have done so well!”

An illusion of Halacras appears and congratulates the heroes.  He tries to keep them talking for as long as possible, asking them to recall their adventures, how they passed through the Time Lord’s trials, what they thought of the old guy etc. etc.  Best case he can keep the Heroes up the 30 min mark and they snap back, or at least he wants to waste as much time as possible.  There is another door on the far wall, but also (illusory) piles of treasure near the “Time Lord”

Dinosaur Room

Filled with Dinosaurs, as well as prehistoric flora and fauna. They are ornery and their nests and eggs are right in front of the next door to the final room.

Final Room

“Well Done Heroes!  You have earned the incredible treasure of the Time Lord!  First, tell me your names that I might record those who have done so well!”

Halacrcas is behind a force field as he knows people will be super pissed by the time they get here. This is the real deal though and he will reward the party with fabulous wealth, potions of blur and haste as well as Soldier of Fortune, a magical weapon that tells true fortunes for its wielder every time it takes the life of a human.

Additional Encounters

To be used anytime:

The party walks into the room just in time to see their previous selves walk out the room

Another group of adventurers walks in at the same time

Instead of being the normal room in the sequence of progression, it's an ancient scene from myth, an 80s style board room, or a futuristic mars scene.  Door still on other side as normal.

The PCs future selves walk in behind them and offer a hint before leaving

Halacras shows up himself and gives super unhelpful advice (used when PCs are close to figuring something out)

Old guy walks in and starts telling a story