D&D General #Dungeon23

Another week, another 7 horrible rooms. If/when I revise all this, I want to add some tone changes and more opportunities for social play. Not too much obviously, because despair and ruination is apparently core to my conception of a dungeon. But, making this journalling exercise actually work as a tool for play is a whole other can of worms!


8: Fisher’s Grotto

• A little room in the rock, connected to the boardwalk.
• A hoarder’s room, filled with weird detritus & crude fishing rods. If you need something, it might be here.
• (!) Lair of the Fisher, an antisocial mutant. Likes to trick intruders into upsetting the Judge. Might be persuaded to trade.

Region: Ordered Halls
The cleaning demon makes its home here, ordering the filth of the midden.

9: Hall of Leavings

• Ascends from the wound in the earth.
• A rough tunnel, like a mineshaft. The floor is covered with crunching layers of worthless human possessions – dice, wretched clothing, clay amulets, fractured lamps, knucklebones, soiled ragdolls.
• (!) DIfficult terrain due to the detritus. Movement makes noise.

10: Hall of Swords

• A vaulted gallery, its sides piled with weapons and armour of all kinds, broken, corroded, chipped, and ruined.
• (??) Whichever weapon or piece of armour you want, a successful search will reveal a crappy but usable version.

11: Cleaning Demon’s Lair

• (!) Lair of the shaggy, many-jointed nightmare beast that tends the midden. Intruders are to be placed in the Hall of Hooks until it can sort them out.
• An immaculate stone room that smells like death. The reek is overpowering.

14: Hall of the Left

• An ossuary made entirely of left arms and legs.

M_Natas said:

Day 104 - Empty cell without window
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Day 105 - empty room

Argh. Attempt to scan pencil-drawn shaded maps at Staples for cheap resulted in 1980's-mimeograph-level fail...

Photographing with cell phone is dark. Spent two hours in GIMP to get a passable map.
Still unsatisfied, may need to wait until I can get a cable and hook up my printer to scan them.
Grr.

Mad_Jack said:

Argh. Attempt to scan pencil-drawn shaded maps at Staples for cheap resulted in 1980's-mimeograph-level fail...

Photographing with cell phone is dark. Spent two hours in GIMP to get a passable map.
Still unsatisfied, may need to wait until I can get a cable and hook up my printer to scan them.
Grr.

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I kind of want to see the '80s mimeograph!

Week 15 (Hex 12) The Thirteen Hills of Orrun

A single hex with 2 branches coming from it (detailed in the next two weeks). Urban, but also tropical forest, in hill terrain. And incessant rain. So the outcome is… A jungle hex, with thirteen hills.

The jungle is populated by Firbolg druids - the Enclave of the Green Mantle. They are split into clans with fluid membership focused on various aspects of jungle health - the canopy, the hydrology, the soil, etc. If any of the clans get into conflict, there is a synod called, where the clans each state their case in front of the Tribune council of 5 elder Firbolgs, The 3 Treant lords, and the animal leaders: The Toad Titan, the Great Forest Sloth, the Queen of the Marching Ants, and the Emu. (yes, just “The Emu”, no other title - and sometimes the leader of the bird folk is not an emu )

Then 13 hills, each covered in a temple-city dedicated to a pantheon of 13 gods populated by many many humans. The central city is the capital city, and dedicated to the Favored Emperor, lord of the gods. Other gods include the Brother of Thunder, the Favoured Sister, the All-ruling All-Seeing One, the Invincible Teacher of the Spirit, The Night is Dark and Never Far Away (God of graveyards), etc etc In the central city is the up-gate, whose guardian is a Storm Titan. Note, the Storm Titan is not one of the 13 gods - and yet of course they have a secret cult built up around them…

Finally, there is a population of were-cats (and “now-cats”, ie regular cats). The were-cats are the only beings in this tower who can teleport within the tower confines. Yes - they can teleport throughout the tower (if they’ve been to the location before), without using the gates. This could be huge! In addition, the Marq of Cats generations ago built a city suspended from the top of the hex ceiling. Think of a huge cat condo but roughly 230 sq miles, with the various platforms, swings, etc connected by “bridges” the width of two balance beams side by side. There are a many areas that are habitable by were-cats in human or human/cat hybrid forms; as well as many now-cats. The city can be seen up there very rarely, when the cloud cover breaks up every week or so for the 4-5 hours of sunshine that hits the hex. But it’s so high up, and folks basically ignore it on the surface below. The way up to the city is via again a giant cat condo (but this time vertical) going up the 2 miles up to the ceiling along the wall in the west and eastern corner of the hex.

Questions about this hex:

1. What does the Marq of Cats know about the Tower? And what is their goal?
2. Does the Storm Titan know of the cult who worships them? And how do the worshippers of the 13 Gods feel about them?
3. What are the relationships between the adherents of this faith? Are there conflicts?
4. What does the Enclave of the Green Mantle want? Why?

gorice said:

I kind of want to see the '80s mimeograph!

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Lol - open a random Wikipedia page, stand back ten feet from your monitor and squint real hard - that's about what it looked like...
Literally everything but the darkest lines were either just gone or looked like they'd been intentionally erased but still barely visible. Like someone had drawn a really nice picture on a chalkboard, then smeared it repeatedly with their hand till it was just one giant smudge.

M_Natas said:

Day 105 - empty room
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Day 106 - Classroom

M_Natas said:

Day 106 - Classroom
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Oh! That's unexpected. Nice

Eyes of Nine said:

Oh! That's unexpected. Nice

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In the city of Kyrthar Tahlketh, sealed for a thousand years and ruled by the two factions of demons and devils, there is a small enclave of survivors, protected by the city's ancient magical defences, who live in their small sanctuary. They cannot really leave it without risking being caught by the devils, demons and other dangers of the city, so they have to develop strict social rules with harsh punishments. And they also need to teach these rules to the new generation in order to survive. Hence is a classroom.

You must obey the rules or there will be corporate punishment and in the worst case ... banishment.

Day 107 - office

M_Natas said:

In the city of Kyrthar Tahlketh, sealed for a thousand years and ruled by the two factions of demons and devils, there is a small enclave of survivors, protected by the city's ancient magical defences, who live in their small sanctuary. They cannot really leave it without risking being caught by the devils, demons and other dangers of the city, so they have to develop strict social rules with harsh punishments. And they also need to teach these rules to the new generation in order to survive. Hence is a classroom.

You must obey the rules or there will be corporate punishment and in the worst case ... banishment.

Day 107 - office

View attachment 282152

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Day 108 - Master bedroom