Dreadrock Dungeon Level 1-1 Download

As promised, here is the first PDF download for Dreadrock Dungeon Level 1-1. This is the first of four planned quadrants that make up the whole of level 1 of the megadungeon. Included in this is a small preview map for easy cross referencing, a dungeon key with all 45 rooms keyed, a wandering monster table, restock table, trap legend, and a high resolution map for printing.

In the future I plan on releasing a full PDF collection on the dungeon, its inhabitants, and some background on the dungeon itself, some of which I've already posted here on the blog. I hope you enjoy the first taste of Dreadrock.

Dreadrock Dungeon Level 1-1 PDF Download

Your Dungeon is ROCK!

Because we need a little positivity here in the OSRsphere. Thanks to Sully over at A Pack of Gnolls for this.


Your Dungeon is ROCK

How Much Time is "Too Much" in Campaign Preparation?

In the current table top campaign I am running, I am using the Cormyr area from Forgotten Realms (circa 1367 before the Spellplague, Shadowvar, and all that other nonsense which destroyed the setting in later editions.)  I initially chose this over homebrewing my own world for a myriad of reasons.  The players are all familiar with the Realms, so I don't have to spend a lot of time on exposition, but the primary reason I chose the setting is because it would be simply easier to use a pre-generated campaign setting rather than make one on my own.  I didn't have to worry about making a pantheon of gods, creating a map, history of the races, etc.  All of that information is available to me through the boxed campaign setting.  On the surface it sounded easy enough, but there was one fatal flaw in my plan; I tend to overprepare.

To some, overpreparation is not a big deal.  For me, spending countless hours pouring over royal lineages, history and current state of the cities in the setting, etc. is a time draining affair, and while I enjoy it, I'm no longer a teenager with limitless time to devote to the hobby.  In getting ready for the first session, I spent a great amount of time mapping out a sewer system for the city of Tilverton, and fleshing out important NPCs and solid adventure hooks within the city, all with the thought that the PCs will be spending a decent amount of time adventuring in or around Tilverton.

If you've read my previous entry on the first session of our game, you already know that most of that preparation was for naught, at least for a little while.  The PC's botched a raid on one of the thieve's guild warehouses, and had to escape under the cover of darkness in the back of a cart.  Hell, one of them actually got caught, and although he doesn't know it yet, he's about to be framed by the guild for the murder of a high ranking Purple Dragon officer in the city.  Needless to say, I don't expect them to return to the city, at least out in the open, any time soon.  Even now, they are out in the Stonelands area searching for a tunnel which links to the sewers of Tilverton, but they are only doing so in hopes of catching a certain shipment of supplies exiting the city rather than using it as a means of going back in unnoticed.

I have no one to blame but myself for this conundrum really.  I knew going in that there was a very high chance that the party would deviate from certain paths, and as a DM who encourages a sandbox style campaign, I was prepared for the consequences, but that doesn't make it any less irritating.  Not because they deviated, but because I can kick myself for pouring so much time into a campaign only to have much of it go completely unknown to the players.  They'll never figure out, for example, that there is a death cult operating from the sealed crypts in the sewers, or that the true leader of the guild is actually a beholder.  Sure, I could throw in some means to force them back into the city because "that's what I prepared them for," but I can't do that as a DM in good conscious.  Actions have consequences and there is a world working around the PCs, whether they exist there or not.  If they chose to never return to Tilverton, I'm not going to railroad them into going back.

A long time ago, I read through dungeonmastering.com's e-book "The Instant DM," and while there is a lot of really great advice in there on how to create a good campaign with minimal effort, they mainly advocate using pre-existing products (free maps, etc.) available on the web.  There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but I've never been a fan of using other people's works in my own campaigns.  Using a published campaign setting is bad enough, much less resorting to using pre-made adventures and maps.  That is not to say there is anything wrong with that, it just always feels as if I'm playing around in someone else's imagination when I center much of my campaign resources on stuff other people made up.  Part of the fun, for me, is crafting a campaign custom suited to the players in my group.  I want them to have a personal investment, and not just crawl through the Caves of Chaos because "that's the adventure we're playing tonight."

So, as has been the case in numerous games I've DM'd over the years, I spent much of the first session of our campaign simply winging it.  Not all of the time spent researching and building plots was lost, however, because it gave me a good base of knowledge from which to draw in order to wing the session.  So, do you tend to overprepare?  Do you often find yourself underprepared?  How do you effectively manage your time as a DM in campaign preparation?  I've found keeping around maps I've drawn which can easily be incorporated into the game as a nifty tool when caught off guard.  At the very least, it allows me to buy some time to think of something directly related to the adventure.  I try to keep a few of these handy with some very brief notes in case things go awry.  In addition I usually have several "regional plots" going on in the background for different areas, in case the PC's manage to find themselves in another part of the realm.

What are some steps you take to maximize the amount of time spent in campaign preparation, and do you, like me, feel that sometimes you spend too much time on it?

Dreadrock Dungeon - A Preview of Level 1-1

Click map to enlarge to high-res image

Here's a quick sneak peek into the first quadrant of Level 1 of Dreadrock. I am in the process of finishing up the key and putting it into a nice little PDF for download here, which I hope to have complete by the middle of the week.

This area is where adventurers will start out in the dungeon. This quadrant is the current home of the orc tribe I described in my previous entry, the Rakshir Orcs. As such, the density of monsters vs empty rooms will be a bit higher for this section. Of course, feel free to use this current map and key it however you like.

Area 1 is the entry point, via a dimension door from the tavern in Dreadrock Bluff. Naturally, you could replace the dimension door with a stairwell from a ruined keep, or a cave, whatever your preference.

**edit**

Note: This is only the first of 4 planned sections that make up the entirety of level 1 of the dungeon.  There will be multiple entrances into the dungeon in the other sections as well as multiple entrances to level 2 in those subsequent quadrants when I map them out.

Dagger Keep Dungeon Map

This is kind of random, but I was sitting around with my sketchbook tonight and just whipped this up while I was bored. Thought I'd share with you all. Feel free to use as you like, if you like. I call it Dagger Keep Dungeon. As you can see, it starts with a ruined keep with a secret trap door which leads to the dungeons underneath the keep itself. If you're looking for an easy way to key it up for a quick adventure, I'd suggest using the AD&D/OSRIC Dungeon Creator tool over at Djeryv's Graveyard. The dungeon itself has 14 rooms.

Dreadrock Dungeon: The Rakshir Orcs

The Rakshir Orc tribe first appeared in the halls of Dreadrock some ten years ago.  They migrated from the deeper levels connecting into the vast of the underdark and slowly made their way to the oldtown area (located in level 1-1 of the dungeon) of the ruins.  The oldtown area was once home to the common dwarven citizens of Karzamir before the fall of the civilization.  Presently, the Rakshirs have managed to fortify this area of oldtown, and it has become their permanent tribal home.  The area is heavily fortified with armed orc soldiers and crude traps constructed throughout the dungeon.  The tribe itself consists of approximately 100-120 orcs, mostly males.  Their chieftain is an Orc named Ghorash who has a guard of 10 orc warriors and at least 1 orc shaman with him at all times.  The Rakshir orcs remain in a constant struggle with the Warghash Goblin tribe, and the two sides are often battling over supplies and control of their areas.  The two sides constantly raid the others's areas scavenging and stealing supplies.  In addition to the Warghash, the Rakshir are constantly working to stave off curious adventurers who frequently make their way into the dungeon, which has proven to be a drastically difficult task.  Recently the humans in Dreadrock Bluff sealed off the main entrance from the mountain in order to secure a more stable entrance they can control (via a dimension door) which is situated near their tribal holdings in the dungeon.

 

The Rakshirs have managed to accumulate a small amount of slaves (mostly kobolds, but some humans as well).  The Rakshirs use these slaves primarily to work on digging out a tunnel which will lead to the surface, allowing them to make raids into Dreadrock Bluff, and the merchants and travelers coming into the town.  The people of Dreadrock Bluff are currently unaware of this activity. 

 

The members of the Rakshir tribe have an interesting method of disposing of captured enemies and prisoners.  Located in a sub-level near their tribal quarters, is a small cavern.  Orcs will often deliver enemies, goblins, kobold slaves, and captured adventurers to this cavern where they must face the wrath of the creature they call Stone-eye.  Stone-eye is a basilisk, and the orcs manage to keep him contained by offering him the carcasses of their enemies to feast upon, as well as the remains of their own dead.  This tactic has worked thus far in keeping Stone-eye in his own lair.

 

 

GM Notes: If any PC's encounter kobolds in the dungeons, they will always be with at least 1 orc warrior (the slave master), and the kobolds will always be unarmed.  If any PC's manage to communicate with kobold slaves, they will offer to help the PC's clear out the orc tribe if they promise them their freedom afterwards.  The PC's would have to raid the orc weapon cache in the dungeon, or find some way to arm the kobolds, before they will agree to fight with the party. 

Dreadrock Dungeon: An Introduction

Dreadrock Dungeon is a massive labyrinth of tunnels with various levels situated under, what has come to be called, Dreadrock Mountain.  The dungeon was first discovered merely 3 decades ago by chance by a party of adventurers who were fleeing a band of mercenaries in the valley.  They stumbled upon the sealed entrance, and seeking to flee and hide from their pursuers, they managed to open the passage into, what they would soon discover to be the ruins of an ancient dwarven civilization.  A millenia ago, the dwarven city of Karzamir was one of the largest dwarven civilazations in the realm.  For reasons still undetermined, the city was virtually wiped out, and the tunnels leading into the city were sealed shut.  Eventually as time passed, Karzamir was forgotten and knowledge of its existence faded in the realms.  A few historians and sages knew of the place, but after centuries it became nothing more than a place of myth and legend.

 

After the discovery of the dungeon by The Company of the Black Rose, who spent quite a few years exploring its depths and exploiting the hidden riches within, word began to spread about the newly found ruins.  People of all races, especially dwarves, came to the mountain looking for opportunities of their own.  Eventually the members of The Company of the Black Rose retired from adventuring, now rich beyond measure.  A few went back to their own homelands, while a few stayed behind, erecting a small settlement near the entrance to the dungeon.  Soon, others followed suit settling in the town now known as Dreadrock Bluff, situated along the side of the mountain.  Dreadrock Bluff is now a small town with approximately 10,000 citizens, most of which make their living by catering to the adventurers who flock to explore the riches of Dreadrock.  There are various inns and taverns in the town, most charge exorbitant prices in comparison to other towns, because of the convenience of location to the dungeon.  Various sundry shops, weapon and armor shops, smiths, sages, and temples can be found within Dreadrock Bluff's walls, all willing to help the curious adventurer, for a price of course.

 

Dreadrock Dungeon is not without its dangers of course, and many adventurers who decide to explore its depths never return.  The locals in the area simply call it "The Rock."

 

Note: Dreadrock Dungeon is a site based dungeon which can easily be incorporated into any campaign setting or world.

New Project: Megadungeon - Dreadrock Dungeon

"Woe to ye who delve into the halls of that forsaken place. Abandon your Gods for even they dare not enter The Rock"

I'm officially announcing my new project here; Dreadrock Dungeon. So what exactly will this entail? A large scale megadungeon spanning at least 3 levels which will keep those greedy players of yours adventuring for months and months.

I'm planning on releasing the megadungeons here on the blog divided into quadrants in PDF form complete with room and area descriptions, random encounter tables, treasure, and of course the ever important monsters, tricks, and traps, along with a brief synopsis on each area, its denizens, and possible adventure hooks. Once the project is complete, which I don't anticipate for quite a while, I would like to collect them all together into one POD book possibly through Lulu.

Over the next few weeks I'll be posting entries here and there with tidbits on the design process, the various factions within the dungeon, etc. I have already mapped out the first quadrant, and plan on keying it up and putting it in an easy to review PDF within the next week or so.

This megadungeon will be compatible with most older editions of AD&D, as well as OSRIC and will be released under the terms of the OGL.

Cormyr Campaign: Session 1

As I have mentioned in previous posts, this past Friday I finally got the chance to sit around the table to play some AD&D with my old gaming buddies for the first time in many years.  We ran 2e, but more or less I run a hybrid of 1e and 2e.  The campaign is set in the Forgotten Realms in the northeastern part of Cormyr in a city called Tilverton.  I chose this spot because it sits along the border of the kingdom and for all intents and purposes is still very much a frontier town in an otherwise stable kingdom.

 

Some Realms purists may note I took a bit of liberty with the NPCs and factions here in order to make things more intriguing for my players.  For example, Tilverton is the only major city in Cormyr with a thieve's guild inside its walls.  The Purple Dragons have a garrison 850 men strong (considerably high for most cities and towns in the kingdom) in order to quell raids by the "border raiders" in the Stonelands region adjacent to the city.  The Stonelands themselves are an area rife with goblins, orcs, ogres, and brigands, not to mention the Zhentarim, so a strong military presence is required in order to keep the peace in the region.  As such, the posting here by a Purple Dragon soldier is a very dangerous one compared to most other postings in the kingdom.  So, I decided to add a bit of a twist here with many of the Purple Dragon soldiers, including the garrison commander, being "on the take" from the thieve's guild, aka the Rogues of Tilverton.  The Rogues provide the soldiers with a little extra money on the side to turn a blind eye to their underground actvities, of which there are many.  The logic behind this being, due to the danger of the posting at this garrison, many of the soldiers feel they deserve a little something "extra" to compensate for putting their necks on the line in a region filled with danger and strife.  Of course, when the game begins, the players don't know this.

 

Cast of characters:

 

Sir Bryndan Lowman of White Forks - Human, Fighter, 1st level.  A hedge knight from the nation of Cormyr.  His family squandered away all of his lands and holdings so all he has left is his title.

Kylar - Elf, Ranger, 1st level

Clangar - Dwarf, Fighter/Cleric, 1st level

Maverick - Half-elf, Thief, 1st level

Solaris - Elf, Thief/Mage, 1st level

Myst - Human female, Mage, 1st level

Sylana - Human, female, Bard, 1st level

 

 

Session 1 Summary:

 

The PC's enter the city, and are directed by the Purple Dragon soldiers at the gate that the best inn in town is Grimwald's Revenge in the oldtown section.  The PC's one by one made their way to the inn.  The patrons in the inn don't look to be travelers at all, and seem to be a bit on the shady side.  They PC's pay for their rooms and sit down to enjoy some dinner when one of the men in the inn approaches them each individually asking them if they want to play in a card game with he and two of his friends.  Solaris, Kylar, and Sylana accepted the offer to play, while the others chose not to.  The other PC's who did not play in the card game, received some free ale courtesy of a strange man in the corner of the inn.  The PC's who were not playing, go over to talk to the gentleman kind enough to buy them a drink. 

 

During the game, Sylana, the bard, attempted to cheat using a sleight of hand cantrip, and was caught, which caused quite a ruckus.  The local and his two friends stood up, along with just about everyone else in the inn, expecting a fight.  They put their hands to their daggers, but the bard, who did not win the game despite cheating, managed to talk her way out of a fight.  After the game, each of the party members ended up sitting together with the strange man in the corner of the inn.

 

The man introduced himself as Lasander Highmoon of Arabel, and owner of the Red Sun Trading Coster.  He tells the party that Grimwald's Revenge is not safe, and that they should seek out another inn in town called the Whispering Witch.  He agrees to meet them there after one hour.  One by one, the PCs slowly filter out of Grimwald's met with stares by the locals in the inn.  After a while, they all meet up at the Whispering Witch where Highmoon tells them Grimwald's Revenge is actually a front, and is in truth the headquarters of the Rogues of Tilverton.  The Rogues pay the Purple Dragons working the gates to send any adventurers and mercenaries they see entering the town to the inn.  This allows the Rogues to measure up any threats, and deal with them if need be.

 

Highmoon goes on to tell the party that he was on a journey from Arabel to the Moonseas with his wares when he was met upon the road by brigands who stole his goods.  These brigands were actually members of the Rogues, he later found out, and after some information gathering, he was able to determine that the Rogues had his wares in an abandoned warehouse in the city.  He is willing to pay the party 1,000 gold pieces (Gold Lions) to retrieve his wares from the warehouse.

 

The party, seeing an opportunity to make a good amount of coin, agree to the mission.  Highmoon takes them into the city and shows them the warehouse, which appears to be completely abandoned and boarded up from the outside.  Some of the party members pay attention to the area trying to spot guards or spotters for the Rogues, of which they find none.  Highmoon tells the party there are three ways into the building; the front door, a sewer access route which the Rogues use to transport their stolen goods and sell them in the sewers in the black market, and a small access door on the roof of the structure.

 

After discreetly casing the warehouse, they all go back to the Whispering Witch Inn to formulate a plan.  Solaris, however, stays behind to further case out and investigate the warehouse.  After deciding on a plan (or not deciding as it were), the party came back to the warehouse.  At this point, Maverick, using his infravision, was able to spot a figure on top of the warehouse, but could not make out any details.  This figure was Solaris, who was now on the roof.  Solaris dropped a rope down the side of the warehouse in an alley so the party could ascend to the roof.  Maverick sees the rope, but no one else in the party was able to notice.  Maverick decided not to pass this information onto the party.  Instead, they go to the front door of the warehouse, and attempt to listen in.  They hear nothing, and after a few moments, Maverick rattles the doors gently and whispers.  He does this several times, until finally he hears footsteps inside the warehouse approaching the door.

 

Kylar, standing back with his bow ready, notices a small slot open in the window adjacent to the door, and after a few seconds it closes again.  In the meantime, Solaris, thinking the rest of the party is coming up the rope to back him up, decides to open the access door on the roof.  In doing so, he is unable to avoid the door squeaking, and he opens it to find 5 men sitting around a table in a room below.  Hearing the door open they look up, but are caught off guard.  Solaris casts a sleep spell knocking out 4 of them.  The other, a mage, attempts to cast a sleep spell on Solaris, not realizing he is an elf.  Solaris resists the sleep spell and tumbles into the room.  The mage wins the initiative, and attempts to cast a spook spell on Solaris, which again fails.  Solaris misses his attacks the next round, and the mage turns to run away.  He manages to get away, and Solaris slits the throats of the other 4 men in the room.

 

Meanwhile, down at the front door, Clangar and Bryndan decide to bash the hinges off the door.  Clangar was successful in doing this, bringing the door halfway from the door frame.  He ripped the rest of the door down, and the group entered a long horizontal hallway.  Back inside the warehouse, Solaris is finishing off the last of the 4 he put to sleep when the mage returns, this time with 2 of his friends armed with crossbows.  Solaris attempts an escape up the ladder to the access door, but the men fire shots from their crossbows.  The bolts are laced with poison, and Solaris fails his saving throw, and falls unconscious.

 

After ripping to door down at the front of the warehouse, the rest of the party suddenly hears a bell ringing within the warehouse, and decide to retreat back to the inn.  They arrive back at the inn to find Highmoon, stunned to see them back so soon, and of course, without his wares in tow.  He tells the party that the Rogues will most certainly be moving the stolen goods in the warehouse through the sewers and into the black market after this botched attempt to raid the place.  The party, fearing to traverse the complex network of tunnels in the sewers instead learn from Highmoon that there is an access tunnel from the Stonelands that leads into the sewers underneath the city.  This tunnel is used to transport stolen goods from the black market by the goblins and border raiders in the Stonelands.  Not knowing where this tunnel is, the party decides to go into the Stonelands to find the tunnel and attempt to take back the wares.

 

Meanwhile, after a bit, Solaris wakes up to find himself bound in a chair with 3 men in the room, one standing directly behind him.  One of the men, apparently senior to the other 2, begins to interrogate Solaris.  Solaris attempts to convince them that he was working alone, and was trying to display his worth in an attempt to join the guild, to which the interrogator scoffs.  He knocks Solaris back out and orders him thrown into a cell.

 

Highmoon sneaks the rest of the party out of the city in the back of a cart, and tells them he will meet them in a small village south of Tilverton in one week.  If they fail to bring the wares in one week, the deal is off, and he will have to move on to other options.  That night, the party entered the Stonelands and set up camp.  The next day after essentially walking aimlessly in the Stonelands for half a day, Kylar scouts ahead and discovers a trail with recent wagon tracks leading west away from the direction of the city.  The party decides to follow this trail for a while with Kylar scouting ahead.  After some time, Kylar discovers a goblin ambush party situated near the road ahead and reports this back to the party.  The party engages the band of 6 goblins and defeats them.  Myst managed to put 3 of the goblins to sleep with a color spray spell, and after the battle, Maverick slits the throats of the 3 remaining goblins.  It was here that we ended our first session.

 

Reflections on the first session:

 

I noticed several things the party did wrong, specifically Maverick, which did not make sense to me.  Upon the initial raid on the warehouse, he saw the rope come down, and chose not to investigate or even tell anyone else in the party.  He was simply metagaming because he knew out of character that it was Solaris that dropped the rope.  Why he chose to ignore this, is beyond me.  The next gaffe came on the goblin ambush in the Stonelands, which was really nothing more than a random encounter.  The party knew that goblins used the tunnel access point to get into the sewers, but they had no idea where the tunnel was or how to find it.  One would think it a good idea to capture and question one of the goblins they had managed to put to sleep.  Instead, Maverick chose to slit their throats.  So, now when we pick back up, they will still be roaming around in the Stonelands, which are vast, looking for a tunnel in which they haven't the slightest clue where it might be and is likely hidden from plain view anyway.

 

It was an odd session to say the least.  I was expecting an extreme manner of caution when approaching the warehouse and they all were fairly careful in how they approached the situation.  I touched upon this in my previous post, Why Not 4th Edition, but a major difference in that game and old school DnD is game balance.  In 4th edition, the players know that whatever challenge they face, they have an opportunity to defeat the enemy, succeed in their skill challenges, and effectively "win" the scenario.  In old school DnD, that is not always the case, and most of my players know this because most of them (with the exception of Maverick, Myst, and Solaris) have been playing old school DnD for years.  In old school DnD, you can't simply bust in the front door and expect to win every fight, because you never know what's on the other side of that door.  After breaking the door down, and hearing the warning bells, one of the veteran players immediately yelled out to run.  Knowing when to run is just as important as knowing when to fight in old school DnD.  After the botched raid, they were all commenting on how epic of a fail it was, while I simply reassured them, no, you're still alive.

 

It was still a lot of fun to sit around the table again. The players were really into it, although they obviously had some tactical issues with raiding the warehouse. Most of all I noticed no one really seemed to want to take charge, and make a decision the party could agree with. Still yet, we are planning on playing again next month, so I look forward to playing and updating on their antics.

Why Not 4th Edition?

This past Friday marked the first time in many years I was actually able to sit around the table and play some good old fashioned AD&D (although that is somewhat subjective considering we played 2e).  I was quite surprised by the turnout as we had seven players in total.  I'll have more on the adventure we ran in a later post here.  Two of the people who joined us are a married couple.  I have played DnD on occasion with the husband, and he was brought up playing 2e even though he is a few years younger than the rest of our group.  He and his wife have recently been playing 4th edition, and they seem to really enjoy the system. 

 

During one of our breaks early in the adventure, his wife, who has recently just started playing the game entirely, and has started with 4th edition, posed the question to me; why are you playing an older edition?  Why not try 4th edition?  I found myself in a somewhat awkward position in trying to answer this question for several reasons.  First of all, I have no experience playing either 3rd, 3.5, or 4th edition.  After seeing how they watered down the rules (even further from 2e) in these later editions, and completely changed most of the system in general in 4th edition, I just felt it was nothing I wanted to try to experience.  Second, how do you explain the problems you have with these editions without insulting the person asking the question?  Again, I have said this before on this blog, but I have no problem with anyone playing these later editions if that's what they enjoy.  Yet here I have a relative newbie to the game in general asking me why I'm not using 4th edition.  What I wanted to tell her was simply, the game that is currently sold as Dungeons and Dragons is DnD in name alone, and nothing more. 

 

I wanted to tread carefully with the question because when you knock the edition they play, especially if it's the only one they are familiar with, they may suddenly feel as if their intelligence has been insulted.  I could rail on for hours about the various reasons I dislike the newer editions (completely changing the rules, making it more suitable for munchkins, the addition of cash grabs like "fortune cards," the fact that their sourcebooks for their settings are some of the worst products for the money I've ever seen in the RPG market, etc.).  And while I could do this, I was talking to a person who actually enjoys the edition.  So, the only thing I really could tell her was, wait and see why I enjoy the older versions so much more.  My reasoning was I'm going to show as a DM, rather than tell, what it is that makes the older editions so much greater.

 

As the game went on, the PC's deviated from the somewhat loosely structured plan I had for the adventure (which is par for the course naturally), and some of the decisions they made along the way weren't helping matters or aiding them in getting anywhere in the quest they'd agreed to partake upon.  As the game ended for the night, however, I felt confident that she and her husband both enjoyed the session, and I expect to see them back when we play next month.  I'm not quite sure if it's really sunk in for her why the older editions are actually better, but I'm hoping that in time, she'll understand what makes them so great.