Appendix 2: Equipment
After your first serious haul in a dungeon, equipment becomes a bit of a non-issue. You can afford just about anything you need, and hirelings can carry whatever you decide to bring. A few simple rubrics cover the issue:
- The party should have two or three sources of light. Lanterns are best, but torches have some practical uses, such as for throwing down holes, setting things alight, or leaving in place. Take both.
- Everyone should have a spare knife or hatchet in addition to their regular weapon.
- At least one character should have a ranged weapon. Depending on the realism level of your game, everyone should have both a ranged and melee weapon. Consider javelins or darts (plumbatae) as a backup ranged weapon - they’re more practical than a bow for switching to and from, and the range limitation is hardly an issue in a dungeon.
- Front-line fighters should have the best armour they can afford, and better armour should be a priority for your first big purchase. The drawbacks of heavy armour (reduced agility, more noise) seldom outweigh the benefits.
- Spears can act as poles and also as a weapon, so use those instead. A battle-axe can’t really do the job of a wood axe, but you might get away with it.
- Rope is always handy.
- It’s often very useful to have some ability to engineer the dungeon environment, especially opening locked or stuck doors. Consider a selection of crowbars, chisels, pliers, etc.
- Beyond the above, don’t try to anticipate every eventuality. If you end up needing some particular equipment you can always come back with it later.
You’ve probably seen several lists of “dungeon tricks” which are purported to be sure-fire clever solutions to dungeon problems. Things like dropping marbles to trip enemies, various uses of flammable oil, caltrops, flour for invisible enemies, etc. In general I’m fairly sceptical of these kinds of dungeon tricks. They tend to rely on a kind of looney-tunes logic, and ignore all the impracticalities that would present themselves in real life. I’m by no means against lateral thinking or clever play, but these kinds of tricks tend to become kind of stock tropes rather than genuine solutions.