Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Ru--the City of Fear + Chambers of the Dark Suffering

( I make a lot of things for my campaign which will never be for sale, because they're made out of online OSR resources. This one was constructed without moving from my couch with maps from Donjon (sorry Dave's Mapper, Donjon has room numbers) and stocked using only the Dungeon Dozen, AbulafiaTarsos Theorem and this. Hyperlinks just go to the source generators.)


A Clever Philosopher Seeks The Ring of Night. Unfortunately, it is in the possession of his  mysterious former mistress. Whoever would acquire it must brave an abandoned city rumored to be home to scorpions, poisonous snakes, a sandman, and the Seeker of The Unshriven Light. 

Random Encounters on the Way (roll every 2 hours traveling, every 10 mins in the city):

1-15 = That # of Maggotmen. Most of these maggotmen are emaciated and carry a club of some kind. They are ruled by the whisperings of a bizarre idol and go into battle with 1-2 gigantic monsters ( trolls, etc.). They are headquartered in a cathedral.
16-17 The Unfathomable Minstrels
18 The Overlord of Thirst
19-21 The Changeling of The Desert Waste
22-25 The Knightly Parliament of the Chalices
26-27 A dwarven sorcerer (-Lvl 6-)
28-29 A doctor
30 A female halfling barbarian (-Lvl 5-), ex-lover of an NPC known to the players
31-00 No encounter
An ancient decaying seaside town, where fiendish mutant octopi dwell in the sewers, waiting to pull down anyone who walks too close to the storm drains


A. Ancient army of a forgotten culture frozen in its tracks while on the march (trajectory points to ruined city)

B. Iron Mountain: massive meteorite, possible trigger of ancient apocalypse, sole source of heavy metals, riddled with mines, source of perpetual conflict between power

C. Giant fire god dying of old age: immobilized by the ravages of eons, willing to whisper secrets to the reverent

D. Tundolu Two-heads: first head wears wizard hat, second head gagged and blindfolded, if blindfold removed issues bolts of reality-tearing energy that rapidly tunnel through to adjacent dimensions, if un-gagged hollers obscenity-laden revelations re: the true nature of the universe. You find this individual performing an autopsy on a dead eldritch horror. They are  annoying. They have the ability to selectively shrink or enlarge small parts of things.



F. Network of impressive stone watchtowers. Nesting site for flock of undead vultures, hunker down during daylight, search for carrion by night guided by red searchlight beams from empty eye sockets



1. Dead end stair leading down, terminates in illusion-concealed pit filled with green slime

2. Rival party of adventurers hiding from you.

3. Howling chasm houses large hive of chaos flies, rapidly multiplying and growing more bold in their choice of prey

4. Ugos Cleaverhand, Bastard Son of the Axe God. You find this individual digging a hole in an innocuous location. They are laughing. They have the ability to bisect things into perfect halves by pointing at them. Once, long ago, they replaced their head with a constantly shifting puzzle-cube. They currently have a living tattoo that makes scintillating conversation.

5. Study:

-One potion erases all spells from memory, follow-up potion contains liquefied memorizations of alternate spell set, saving throw vs. involuntary 8 hour nap required

-Semi-animate shrunken head of(wizard's) former  mentor for consultation

-Caltrops, fecund: once placed, double in number every ten minutes for one hour.

6. Traps around perimeter: tripwire activated catapults loaded w/nails and glass

7. Casks and kegs filled with ichors, blood, bile, and other assorted body fluids

8-9.  Helmets conceal Portuguese Man-o-war-like gasbag heads, robes obscure hundreds of black tendrils that paralyze, poison, and sting like hell

10. Box full of recently forbidden books earmarked for burning but nobody's gotten around to it yet.

11. Evil hobbits hired to assassinate necromancer try to remain unseen while attempting to flee the dungeon.

12. Vast upthrust inhuman fist of polished marble clutching countless tiny humans, surrounded by heaps of tiny humans in various states of brokenness, a real bummer. Fog of Amnesia: renders those within its influence utterly clueless until they escape, wizards lose random spells

13. Heap of funerary ashes w/unidentifiable bone fragments

14. d100 Swords of Damocles, tapestry of webs depicting events in spider history

15. Scything blade trap just inside the doorway, rusted in sprung position

16. Tall, imposing robed figures with impala heads, flaming eyes, practitioners of obscure magics but more than capable with signature glowing shamshirs, never condescend to actually speak to humans, communicate via nods, looks, posture and/or lengthy written correspondence, pursue their own inscrutable aims that at times run parallel to those of parties of dungeoneers

17.  Walls composed of stone with dimly luminous veins of an unknown compound

18. (As 8-9) + Metal-eater bomb: explosion sends scintillant powder into air, destroys metal weapons, armor and implements at the molecular level

19. Subtle shifting causes doors to jam, must be smashed but doing so results in possibly injurious door jamb collapse

20. Warpack of puny humanoids, armed to teeth, search for rumored evil hobbit assassins but minimally enthusiastic due to crappy pay, poor benefits package. Door trap-- Idiocy bomb: goes off with a resounding howl of mocking laughter, forces w/in range reduced to sub-moronic gibbering, yet retain full measure of self-confidence

21.  Retriever: seeks and fetches specific magic items required by dark master, specializes in live capture of sought individuals, noted for minimally damaging soft bite.

22.  Moebius pit: opens on floor and ceiling, equal chance of falling in either direction, fall indefinitely, passing through pit room from opposite trap door, damaging collisions possible w/party members falling in other direction. Ceiling-crawling dungeon leeches as long as your arm, several bloated w/caustic troll blood

23. Giant amoeboid in state as close to ecstasy as it can achieve, positively stuffed with entire clan of puny humanoids, partially digested, tiny armaments, loincloths, coins excreted continuously, couldn't possibly pass another thing through semi-permeable cell wall

24. Large transparent ooze w/two struggling humans inside busy looking for private spot to digest cult warriors that took wrong turn

25. A half-melted sword.

26. Purple baptismal pond of indelible staining

27. Door made entirely of doorknobs: must turn correct knobs in succession for entry

28. Trap glyphs on doors: Whosoever touches the glyph becomes a monster: mouth transmutes into that of great white shark, eyes become lifeless, like a doll's eyes, singular urge: bite everyone to death

29. Black pudding w/ossified exterior, apparently some kind of defense mechanism, slowly cracks open to resume oozing about once danger has passed

Level 2:
1.Deformed skull with magic mouth spell welcomes visitors.

2. Three trolls eating each other

3. Black crystal statue (valuable?) causes horrid hallucinations.

4. This room is ON FIRE because salamander.

5. Shield wall. This wall is made of shields.

6. Morose lizardmen, craving leadership milk.

7. Gelatinous pits: cubes mined from here.

8. Needle trap on locked doors.

9. Room swaps brains, removes memories, till you leave.

10. Illusionary spike trap hides real trapdoor to pit. Pit has treasure.

11. Giant crystal, mostly shattered. Recently.

12. Oubliette. Skeletal prisoners, signs of furious, futile scrabbling.

13. Magical mirror shows past adventuring groups passing through.

14. Four casks full of salted eel.

15. Shrine: Statue of a headless goblin.

16. 4 champions of chaos, preparing for war

17. Several empty animal cages with doors ripped off

18. Floating giant heart, beating above stained marble tile.

19. Remains of a burned library

20. Black lotus in shadows. Releases spores when illuminated.

21.  Rune that paralyzes with a staggering, true revelation.

22. Corpse in crypt not Withered King, despite tombstone.
23. Fountain provides highly mutagenic "water".

24. Library of lost books. Research anything (1d100 days).

25. Library, intact, being browsed by dark creeper.

26. Battle Princess wrestling six-armed abomination for silver treasure.

27. Scattered remains of statue, put together is PC.

28. Marble Sphinx will answer three questions, painfully truthful.
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3 comments:

Osskorrei said...

I just checked out that Donjon site and i'm pretty sure I just permanently lost 1d4 hours from my life because I failed my save against awesome random coolness.

Matt H said...

Where'd the city map come from?

Zak Sabbath said...

@matt

Donjon