by Mick McAllister
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Dungeons & Dragons	-	Dragon magazine	-	The Dragon #18

The five adventurers entered a sparsely furnished room deep in the
dungeon of Hazard Keep. A table, a few chairs, diffused light without
a source, no other exits. The door shuts behind them and locks, even
though they had both spiked it and secured it with a formidable Hold
spell.

On the table is a scroll and a set of 4 DG. Kendrick the Wizard examines
the scroll, then reads it aloud. The message, in common tongue,
is simple, direct, unnerving:

“You have entered the Chamber of the Godgame. Welcome.

“There is only one way out, a test of courage and self-sacrifice.
One among you must voluntarily risk his life to save the others.

“Before you are four dice. If you break one, you will observe that
it contains a cyanide syrup which kills painlessly and instantaneously.
You must select a die and roll it. If you roll a “one, “place the die in
your mouth; when you bite down, death will come swiftly.

“The door will open the moment the terms of the Hazard are fulfilled.‘”
Vainly the company attempted to escape. Kendrik employed
his many resources — A Knock spell, a Dispell Magic, a Dimension
Door, a Pass- Wall — without effect. Desperately, he tried to Teleport:
nothing. Trembling with mental exhaustion, he tried Contact Higher
Plane, but the only reply he heard was a bland voice which repeated,
“There is only one way out.” Giblet, a dwarf with the brains of a turkey
but the muscles of a steroid-fed Mumakil, bashed himself insensible,
meanwhile, trying to knock the door down. Nervously, the others
discussed their plight, each reluctant to make the sacrifice. At last a
cleric named Malcolm strode to the table, hestitated, then seized a die.
The others watched as he rolled — a “one.” Commending himself to
his god, he placed the die in his mouth. An instant after the crunch of
candy breaking, he fell to the floor; an instant later, the door opened
silently and Malcolm‘s body disappeared.

Grieving for their gallant comrade, the three conscious adventurers
dragged Giblet off down the halls, making their way out of the
dungeon. Great was their grief, but encounters were few, and none of
them suffered further injuries (except Kendrik, who sprained a wrist
hauling Giblet for three turns). At the mouth of Hazard Keep they
came upon Malcolm sitting on a rock, well and whole, his eyes touched
with the calm power and reserve of one who has met death and returned.

Some D&Ders will recognize “The Godgame” from a scene in
John Fowles’ grand metaphysical dungeon novel, The Magus. In D&D
the game offers many variations, depending on the alignment of “The
Godgame Master,” a god or unchallengeable Wizard, and posited on
the probability that the scroll contains one or more falsehoods.

In The Magus, the dice are loaded, but not poisoned. The hero is
rewarded for refusing to fulfill the terms of the game after he rolls a
“one;” refusing, in effect, to throw away his life for an abstract principle
of honor. This could be used in the dungeon, but the circumstances
are tremendously altered if the lives of all the party are in the balance,
or appear to be.

The variations can range from benign, as in the example, to
malicious. An evil magician would simply honor his agreement, accepting
one life as ransom of the others. More evil yet, he might not require
the voluntary agreement of the victim, but let the party “select” someone
themselves. Be warned, through — a party agreeing to coerce a
weaker member into submitting may be dealing with a benign or neutral
Power who will punish them for their inhumanity.

The benign variants require white lies. The simplest is the one in
the example: put the volunteer in suspended animation and teleport
him outside the dungeon to wait for his fellows. He should be rewarded
for his self-sacrifice, of course, with both experience and treasure —
since he believed when he bit the die that he had given up both. A suitable
recompense would be a treasure equal to 2x a share of whatever the
rest of the party brings out and experience points equal to 2 or 3x those
accumulated by the others (for example, the four come out with 4,000
GP & 1,500 Ex. pts. Each of them gets 1,000 GP and 375 ep; and Malcolm
is given 2,000 GP & 1,125 ep by the Godgame Master).

There are other possibilities. Simply have the die not poisoned
after all, for instance. Or a secret door might reveal a treasure to a
worthy party. Or the shortest path to the surface might be cleared and
lighted for them.

My own preference is the Neutral Godgame Master, however. He
might, like an evil GM, not specify that the tester must volunteer of his
own free will, and then anyone coercing anyone else into taking the poison
would die in the victim’s place at the fulfillment of Hazard. Or, if
the victim is no better than his fellows, as willing as they to force someone
else to bite the die and only the goat because he is the weakest
among them, the Neutral GM might slay them all or — worse, perhaps
— set them all free (the die is not poisoned) to finish their adventure in
mutual distrust.

If a character ends up alone in the chamber, this variant can be
used: there are four dice on the table, and a device which automatically
crushes one to release the odor of bitter almonds. The scroll specifies
that only one other die is poisoned and the adventurer must select one
and eat it if he rolls a “one.”

If the loaded dice option is to be used, the DM can fake it by rolling
secretly for the character, or an enterprising DM can simply buy
loaded dice at a novelty shop.

The variants can be selected by the DM as he creates the chamber
(be sure to include an alternate scroll in case a solitary character wanders
in) either according to his personal whim or by a series of die rolls.