Need a Dungeon Idea

[BRC]

So I'm running a game tonight, and I need an idea for a dungeon.
Well, it's not quite a dungeon.

The adventure is the PC's teaming up with a group of soldiers (A Hobgoblin leading a group of Lizardfolk) to help take down a group of deserters(Hobgoblins and Minotaurs, led by a Minotaur Half-Dragon).

I'm just not quite sure what type of place to have the deserters hold up in.This is all happening deep underground, in Dwarven territory.I would like some place with multiple entrances, so the PC's can pick a strategy besides "Charge teh front door". I just cant decide what this place was used for before the Deserters set up camp there.

[Yora]

Easiest solution would be an abandoned outpost. Having just one entrance and exit means that anyone could simply trap you by stationing a single ogre with heavy armor at the door, so there have to be alternative ways for the guards to escape, send runners and sentries out, and to get resupplied. Or just have a cave in that blocks the door.

In that case, one of the PCs allies could know about the place and inform them about a side entrance the deserters might not have yet discovered.

[BRC]

That was my initial thought, but I have nowhere to start on the layout of such a place.

[Trufflehound]

It could have been a trapping outpost, for a zoo, museum, or for spell components and poison. It would have many entrances, most of which would lead into some type of trap. The traps could be baited with things (ooh, a gold piece!) which attract PCs as well as monsters. As you get further into the dungeon, you start finding containment cages and pits, many of which could still have monsters in them. The passageways would have many security measures in case the monsters would get loose, such as narrow bridges, tripwires, portcullises, and pitfalls. Add the animal preservation/animal dismemberment room. The inner rooms would have crossbow turrets, traps, doors, anything to keep the monsters at bay, if worse comes to worse.

Eventually the party picks their way through and gets the deserters.

And then they find the true monster; the horror that destroyed the original trappers.

They could also find the original trappers intact... preserved in oil.

[zorba1994]

If you make it so that it used to be occupied before the deserters moved in, that's a free excuse to sneak in non-deserter enemy types :smallwink:

[Kol Korran]

hmmm... this might be a bit of an "out there" idea, but perhaps it could work- why not build on the minotaur's keen sense of "not getting lost"?

what do i mean? well, in my campaigns Minotaurs have the ability to craft their homes/ abodes/ roaming grounds/ tunnels in order to fit their acute sense of navigation. they can build amazingly complex (you don't need to build such a complex thing, just read on). system of tunnels, which only they are able to navigate successfully. Minotaurs use these for 4 main things: trapping food (once you're in, it's hard to get out), entertainment (what? we're here AGAIN?) defense (mostly narrow spaces, and the invading force keep getting lost) and commerce- ( there are many entances, but you may need a minotaur guide to get through. that comes at a price).

the dwarves conquered the place but left it as it is, deserted, not willing to try and "fix" the tunnels.

the idea is that the minotaur deserter knew of this (now deserted) labyrinth, and chose it to hide in it (some knowledge checks might be used to find out the basics of the layout i'll detail). how is the place organized however, from a DM's point of view?

- the main thing is to grant a sense of confusion, and to draw creative ideas with dealing with a REAL maze. i suggest that you inforce a heavy penalty on perception to show the slightly magical effect of the tunnels.

- you describe out several "purposeful rooms", not many, 5-6 should be enough. (battle arena, lodgings, food, raising of fungus and animals, creative cave, major gathering halls) and so on. you make a random navigation table from each cavern to other caverns (i suggest using 2d4, with 2 and 8 being the hardest to find). make a smaller compound of 2-4 rooms (the ex Minotaur's chief throne rooms?) where the party might get to by going through some more difficult rooms.

- have a small random table of what might be in the random rooms (empty, statues, some monster the minotaurs raised, a patrol of the deserters and so on)

- the challenges of the party: navigating the caves- you can use dungeoneering, survival, maybe intelligence checks for when trying to transverse the tunnels. (affecting the random dice roll or perhaps getting back to known locations) the general idea is that there is quite a lot of confusion.
- the random monsters and traps may take their toll on the party's resources, and finding a safe place to rest can be mighty tricky (though you might set a place that is especially abhorrent to minotaurs, or their sense of smell which they avoid. that is IF you want to give the party that option.
- the party may face ambushes by the deserters, that flee quickly into the tunnels, disappearing (the party may give chase, for which you throw opposing skills and so on)

- if you have the time, i'd suggest to make some symbols the minotaurs use to help other races navigate the caves, which the minotaur deserter teaches the hobgoblins, but that clever character mind find and use too (i used about 12 signs. it was interesting to see how people try and figure them out.) might not be for all parties, this sort of puzzle.

just my idea.

[Talyn]

Make it an abandoned brewery! Dwarves love their ale, right?

Need a big open room? Warehouse full of rotted hops and sacks of grain.

Need an exciting fight? The deserters accidentally turn the piping system on, awaking a bound Water Elemental and the rusted pipes start spraying boiling foul water at random intervals around the room.

Need a good room-to-room fight? Interconnected dormitories and dining halls around the edge which the deserters have fortified with scraps of metal and old dining tables.

And, for the boss encounter, narrow catwalks above enormous cauldrons of superheated sludge, where the half-dragon can fly about and harass the party while minions try to swarm up the rickety staircases to get to the party!

[Kol Korran]

forget my idea, go with Talyn's! :smallbiggrin:

[grimbold]

i think that a sewer might be fun
a sewer that is in use!

this adds a disgust feature and your sewer system can have all sorts of rooms large and small as well as various entries

[Grug16]

Abandoned Formorian Hive. Plenty of twist tunnels and unique geometry.