PDA

View Full Version : DM Help Making a Dungeon Feel Alive (Literally)



Kadzar
2015-10-29, 10:43 PM
So I have an idea for an upcoming game of a dungeon that was originally a magical research facility (running various experiments) controlled by a magic AI. And I want to convey the fact that there's some sort of intelligent presence to the players subtly, at least at first, so I'm looking for ideas about how to present that. So far, I've just come up with doors opening and closing themselves and lights turning themselves on and off.

Hazrond
2015-10-29, 10:57 PM
So I have an idea for an upcoming game of a dungeon that was originally a magical research facility (running various experiments) controlled by a magic AI. And I want to convey the fact that there's some sort of intelligent presence to the players subtly, at least at first, so I'm looking for ideas about how to present that. So far, I've just come up with doors opening and closing themselves and lights turning themselves on and off.

well, i don't know what system you are playing in but

You could steal some ideas from the book Lords of Rust from the Iron Gods adventure path, which features a mad AI who controls the dungeon the party is delving into

Kadzar
2015-10-30, 10:46 AM
It's actually 5e, but I figure system doesn't matter too much in this case. If someone comes up with something that somehow doesn't fit the rules, I can probably homebrew it to fit.

Traab
2015-10-30, 10:55 AM
A subtle pulsing sound through the walls. Almost a heartbeat rhythm that takes a high listen check to even notice. If environmental damage happens, have the effects seem to last a little longer than they should, like the floor is shaking just a little more than it normally would when someone smashes a crater in it, or something burns. Even more subtly, defenses get activated shortly after that happens, like an immune system response to an attack. So they infiltrate this living dungeon, find the first target and destroy it, but the damage sets off internal defenses, so now they have to deal with random attacks as well. Perhaps even random attacks that slowly are adjusting themselves to the attack styles of the players. Like, if you have a fireball tossing wizard, the enemies start becoming more and more fire resistant. Not one fireball and they are immune, but a gradual evolution in the defenses.

Regitnui
2015-10-30, 10:56 AM
The corridors move. Not obviously, but the players' map isn't accurate. Depending on their behaviour, the corridors either lead to safe places or monster lairs and trap rooms. Animated armours try to communicate with the players, most often through mysterious gestures, but might eventually start repeating their words in different ways as it learns to talk. If it thinks they're harmless and their objective isn't essential to the place, it might even give it to them as a 'gift'. The players might even be able to make it friendly enough to act as a home base.

sakuuya
2015-10-30, 04:03 PM
The dungeon could use noncombatant creatures as "cameras" to monitor the PCs. Just mention every so often that rats are watching the PCs go, staying unusually still but not doing anything hostile. You could also use something more obviously camera-like--eyes in the walls, maybe, though that's a less-subtle hint of a controlling intelligence.

Jelly d6
2015-10-30, 04:34 PM
Well, a magical research facility must be an unusual and intriguing place by itself. As for subtle AI introduction, I'd make it look like it's being quite in use, the order being thoroughly maintained but without a single trace of any living creature who could manage it. You can hint at certain clues, like abscence of food and water, lack of typical furniture and so on.

Maybe even more mysterious would be to make large parts of the facility look abandoned a long time ago while certain random isolated areas here and there (which AI somehow considers important) would be kept in a perfect order.

sktarq
2015-10-31, 12:23 AM
Have the stones of the floor be sensors of a sorts-ones that wiegh and test the PC's over time. Probably most notable while they sleep-imagine waking up to find that the grain of the stones forms a magnetic field pattern around where you slept. Look back a minute later and it is sujestive and ten minutes later there is no sign at all.

Also describe creaking at pebble slides. At first randomly but then to lure or distract PC's but keep it random for the first couple of times.

Have things - particularly biological material disappear far too soon after it was left (food waste, empty toilets etc)

Have any dwarf have issues being able to note depth, slant, etc.

Florian
2015-10-31, 12:53 AM
I second Lords of Rust and add in some Divinity Drive.

The later is very good, as the resident AI actually wants to get in touch with the PCs and uses every opportunity to talk to them. Add in some turret-style defenses and hologram and let hilarity happen.

Jay R
2015-10-31, 03:42 PM
"You should trust the Dungeon. The Dungeon is your friend."

I'm actually about half-way serious. Read about how the computer acts in the game Paranoia.

Grek
2015-11-01, 03:42 AM
Step one should very obviously be to have the dungeon be intelligent. That sounds like a tautology, but it actually isn't. The dungeon should have goals and preferences and interests. And it should use whatever parts of the dungeon it has control over to try to accomplish its goals, satisfy its preferences and explore its interests. Is the dungeon like conversation? Art? Solitude? Does it like news out the outside world? Stories? How does it feel about truth vs lies vs fiction? Does it have any moral intuitions? Does damaging the dungeon walls hurt it? Or is it independent of the structure and merely housed within?

Basically, what does the dungeon want out of its life? What can the dungeon do to get that? And what will the dungeon do that the PCs would notice?