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The Bandicoot
2016-09-07, 09:00 PM
So I'm running a dungeon soon that is heavily based (almost completely ripped from) the infamous Dorf Fortress story of Boatmurdered.

For those of you that don't feel like googling and reading the short version is this...

A dwarven colony, after being attacked mercilessly for years, creates a device that floods the planes outside the mountain with magma. After increasingly liberal use of this device and a series of increasingly incompetent rulers that focus solely on creating their own increasingly luxurious tombs, one of the rulers finally snaps and uses the device on a human caravan. This causes a former ruler to also snap and after catching on fire he proceeds to wrestle with, and strangle to death, numerous people. This in turn causes the entire colony to descend into madness and chaos with dorf killing dorf indiscriminately.

So far I've got a few tracks lined up for ambient sounds, I plan on lighting a match every now and then for the smell of sulfur. The party is going to have brief flashes of what the colony was like before it descended into chaos. For example, they'll see the drinking hall full of people having a great time and then they'll snap out of it and see tables overturned and skeletons with weapons still grasped. I also have a dwarven mining chant I intend to have faintly playing when they walk through the mines. Also, the burning dwarf will be attacking them hit-and-run style and not letting them sleep at all.


Any other ideas for how to make this dungeon as creepy as possible? The main themes I'm going for here is fire and undeath.

Strigon
2016-09-07, 09:38 PM
Hmm...
All right, so we start off with the party not knowing it's been abandoned. They go in expecting a warm welcome, but then they realize it isn't a mine - it's a tomb.
Bam! The door shuts behind them, locking them in on a several day journey to the other side. Naturally, your party Wizard will light up his staff... Sorry. But you had to expect it.

Seriously, though, what do the players know? Because the tips for making an unknown Dwarven Ruin creepy are very different from the tips for making it creepy if they know the backstory.

The Bandicoot
2016-09-08, 12:32 AM
They know absolutely nothing and don't even know they're walking into ruins. They got randomly teleported to some caves in the underdark and are searching for a way out.

Bulhakov
2016-09-08, 04:31 AM
Well the creepiest thing I've used in a similar setting were burning undead crawling dwarf babies. Not much of a threat, but the image sticks in your head (two of my players had nightmares of the scene).

I would suggest the players keep discovering an underground dwarf city with more and more clues pointing to how it was destroyed, i.e. a zombie-like plague.
Suggestions for clues:
- decapitated bodies
- burned bodies
- bones with dwarf teeth marks
- barricaded rooms/houses (filled with undead)
- a diary of survivors hiding out in an attic (until they ran out of food, and you know how that ends...)

Any loud noises will wake the currently dormant zombies and attract them from the whole city.

Telonius
2016-09-08, 09:11 AM
Find the body of a Forgotten Beast. Just google search for the creepiest auto-gen monster you can find.

On opening the door of a prison cell (clearly locked and had not been disturbed): Most of the skeleton of a dwarf is directly behind the door (which shows signs of having been battered from the inside). The bones of the dwarf's hand are next to the chains in the corner.

gweams
2016-09-08, 10:18 AM
Well the creepiest thing I've used in a similar setting were burning undead crawling dwarf babies. Not much of a threat, but the image sticks in your head (two of my players had nightmares of the scene).


This will definitely make for visceral imagery! I think I'd use this^ or the forgotten beast as the kicker.

Too many REALLY SCARY encounters might push the dungeon to the point of ridiculousness for your PC's. There has to be a high ratio of atmosphere-building to frightening encounters in order to keep players on their toes so that they won't just be expecting large frights around every corner. I love the idea of lighting matches and stuff like that.

This really makes me think of the Mines of Moria in LOTR (a bit that really impressed itself on me because of the atmosphere). The part that really got me when my dad read me this chapter was reading the old tome and the passage in which it says something like "they are coming.... drums in the deep" & then the characters hearing the drums actually sound. I think adding faraway but unidentifiable noises as the characters enter & explore goes a long way to make the characters cautious. There could also be a record/journal that they find, or something, which reflects the writer's descent into madness along with the rest of the fortress while giving the players some history or way to figure out what happened.

Segev
2016-09-08, 10:34 AM
Have them enter the dwarven ruins through an ascending, smooth, cylindrical shaft that almost seems to have the texture of extremely hard wax. The room they first enter should also be partially melted.

Have some loot scattered in a few places, but fused together, and even fused to the floor and walls.

Rooms with lower ceilings - too low for normal-size Medium creatures to walk comfortably - should be littered with fine bones. A suitable skill check will recognize them as housecats. Thousands of them.

Have a hellcat (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/devil.htm#hellcatBezekira) or few stalk any well-lit room (whether from light overhead or the lava machine).

In the room with a mysterious lever, a badly-charred dwarven skeleton reaches desperately for said lever, but doesn't seem to have reached it in time. If the party pulls the lever, it starts up the magma machine flooding the ruins once more - the vizier had tried to stop it, but died before he could; after it exhausted its supply, the lever reset. It's had centuries to refill from the natural volcanic reservoir below, however...

GungHo
2016-09-09, 10:44 AM
If you're dealing with lava flows, you can always have some Pompeii-esque pyroclastic remains where initially it looks like the dwarves were holding each other in comfort but, upon further examination, were actually locked in an insane tooth-and-nail melee. Any undead might not just be attacking the party, but also fiercely (and futilely) trying to kill each other. Even intelligent undead are likely to be be preoccupied with destroying another, internal faction over destroying outsiders, and might try to manipulate the party into accomplishing the one thing that they cannot do. You can even have the crazy king be the linchpin to everything and make his release/destruction/redemption be the thing that allows the entire city to rest.

JAL_1138
2016-09-09, 12:13 PM
Since it's based on Koganusān, a pile of rotting elephant corpses.

Engravings upon the walls that show the illustrator had lost touch with sanity quite some time ago but was allowed to continue.

Cooled magma. Lots of. A few dorfs cast in obsidian, perhaps, their faces screaming.

Drawbridges with bone splinters and mangled flesh stuck to the bottom.

Charred, gutted cat corpses littering the floors of a few rooms.

The sound of a young child giggling, echoing through the empty halls.

TeChameleon
2016-09-09, 08:04 PM
*snerk*

My first thought when I saw the title was 'have the players find some glyphs that translate as 'Boatmurdered'.

You've apparently got that covered, though. :smalltongue:

If any of your players are Whovians, the 'enemies that only move when you're not looking and are innocuous to the point of invisibility otherwise' bit is always fun for ratcheting up the tension. Lots of spot checks that leave them with the uneasy feeling that something has changed but they're not sure what. For added fun, mix in some undead that are very nearly literally rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic- I don't remember off the top of my head if Boatmurdered specifically had one of the residents of the looney bin rearranging the furniture, but it's something that would fit just fine, I think- just fast-moving zombies that are zipping around barricading one area by taking everything out of a different area, or knocking stuff over, or even just redecorating.

Weeping Angels and decorator zombies :smallamused:

LibraryOgre
2016-09-09, 09:11 PM
The occasional dwarf ghoul, locked into a room with the parts of a bunch of bodies. Like, a family decided to try to hide out from the craziness, but went mad and turned to cannibalism, so the only thing left is one dwarven ghoul, mad with hunger.

The Bandicoot
2016-09-09, 09:19 PM
Ah I can see it now....
Me:You walk into a room and are once again flashed with an image of the past. You see a half dozen female dwarves doting over cribs....
Party :NOPE WE ARE LEAVING.

NRSASD
2016-09-10, 01:12 AM
The maniacal laughter of Sankist, last dwarven king, the one who punched his subjects to death while on fire.

Elephant bone ballistas.

The amulet recording that darkest of hours, when the gates were sabotaged by a traitor from within and the elephants were allowed to run freely through the halls. That amulet which depicts that most vile of traitors in his full glory: the monarch butterfly.

Artwork displaying dwarves curled in the fetal position and lying dead in mounds surrounded by laughing elephants.

Pictures of that poor wardog. The one which had all of its legs broken by the elephants in sight of the defenses, so that the dwarves had to listen to its whimpers and watch it slowly starve to death.

Various magma creatures, inhabitants of the channels that comprised the "**** the world cannon".

Desiccated and scorched dwarven corpses: those who escaped the lava flow directly but died from the intense heat.

Blackened and scorched lines running the lengths of the halls... reminiscent of high water marks.

JAL_1138
2016-09-10, 08:13 AM
While not part of the history of Boatmurdered, these ideas on Dwarven child-care are kind of horrifyingly hilarious (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=91093.0). (Dwarven child care: "it's like regular childcare, but with more dogs and less care").

Essentially, they build tiny cages and lock the children in there with a few huge war dogs to toughen them up (and weed out the weaklings)...for twelve years straight. The result should be legendarily combat-skilled, absurdly tough dorfs when they reach adulthood...the survivors who stay usably "sane," anyway.

It wouldn't be hard at all to play this sort of thing for pure horror, leaving off the black-comedy of it. Of course, since the fort is a ruin, you'd only have archeological information. Bones in the cages, obsidian castings or scorched remnants of any that were in the magma's path, progress notes from the supervisors, and whatnot.

Inevitability
2016-09-10, 11:26 AM
The wildlife around Boatmurdered was pure evil to begin with, and spending a few centuries near a site of pure betrayal and corruption can't have done them much good either.

At first, only a few things can be noticed. Birds suddenly stop singing, or sing in distorted tones. A glimpse of a mandril or elephant reveals its bloodshot red eyes. Uneaten corpses torn apart by teeth and claws can be found in the bushes.

As they get closer to the fortress, the evil becomes more pronounced. Small animals, even flying ones, jump from trees and splatter at the PC's feet. The dissonant cries of apes make sleep difficult, and when the PC's finally manage to close their eyes they wake up surrounded by thousands of dead grayish butterflies.

Somewhere around then, they should find a skeletal dwarf carrying a map that supposedly points towards a prosperous and happy fortress. It's name? Boatmurdered.

Then, as they're within a day's travel of the place, go all out. Elephants charge from the bushes wildly swinging their tusks. Jaguars stalk the party, their red eyes glowing in the dark. Even the plants seem hostile: piles of rotten fruit occasionally come crashing down upon the PC's heads.

Just when it seems like the players will die here, have them stumble upon the lava plain. Emphasize that, yes, Boatmurdered should be straight ahead, and that the animals don't follow but stare from the edge of the forest.

And then, when they arrive at the fortress bloodied, weakened, and half-mad, you start springing the real challenges on them.

Hopeless
2016-09-10, 02:09 PM
They wander through a lush jungle, it looks like its been here a very long time you don't think much about that considering that old tome that spoke of a very wealthy dwarven kingdom said to have delved the very depths of the earth and used the molten magma to perfect their stonemasonry granting them an obsidian finish that over the years has become extraordinarily valuable.
However all contact was lost some 60 years ago the last reports stated the nearest port had been buried beneath a molten river of magma released as part of some contract to increase the size of the coast allowing them to increase the size of the port but something had gone wrong, it wasn't known if it had been a pirate attack or some mistake on behalf of either the dwarves or the residents of the port but because the area was still covered in a foul smelling fog that nothing could penetrate it was decided to find another way to the dwarven city.
The jungle edge looked quite sudden as on the far horizon the same fog that covered the coast could be smelt even this far away inland but the jungle ahead glittered with the numerous jagged edges of sparkling obsidian that looked like it was quickly replacing the jungle itself as it became apparent as they drew closer that the jungle edge greeted them with a literal forest of obsidian the foul scent became more obvious even as far ahead the ramparts of what could only be the dwarven citadel became visible... was that charred corpses hanging in obsidian cages some of which as you got closer gingerly trying to avoid cutting yourselves on the sharpened edges of the terrain that some were burnt to cinder and others... look a lot more recently added to the collection...

JAL_1138
2016-09-10, 05:08 PM
The wildlife around Boatmurdered was pure evil to begin with, and spending a few centuries near a site of pure betrayal and corruption can't have done them much good either.

At first, only a few things can be noticed. Birds suddenly stop singing, or sing in distorted tones. A glimpse of a mandril or elephant reveals its bloodshot red eyes. Uneaten corpses torn apart by teeth and claws can be found in the bushes.

As they get closer to the fortress, the evil becomes more pronounced. Small animals, even flying ones, jump from trees and splatter at the PC's feet. The dissonant cries of apes make sleep difficult, and when the PC's finally manage to close their eyes they wake up surrounded by thousands of dead grayish butterflies.

Somewhere around then, they should find a skeletal dwarf carrying a map that supposedly points towards a prosperous and happy fortress. It's name? Boatmurdered.

Then, as they're within a day's travel of the place, go all out. Elephants charge from the bushes wildly swinging their tusks. Jaguars stalk the party, their red eyes glowing in the dark. Even the plants seem hostile: piles of rotten fruit occasionally come crashing down upon the PC's heads.

Just when it seems like the players will die here, have them stumble upon the lava plain. Emphasize that, yes, Boatmurdered should be straight ahead, and that the animals don't follow but stare from the edge of the forest.

And then, when they arrive at the fortress bloodied, weakened, and half-mad, you start springing the real challenges on them.

I love that this is also pretty much the experience every migrant group or trade caravan heading to Boatmurdered would've had while it was still active. With slightly fewer animal attacks.

comk59
2016-09-10, 10:45 PM
Don't forget about the young girl playing happily atop the pile of bones and debris! Have her give a trinket to a PC if they get close, wave goodbye, and disappear.

Inevitability
2016-09-11, 06:31 AM
Don't forget about the young girl playing happily atop the pile of bones and debris! Have her give a trinket to a PC if they get close, wave goodbye, and disappear.

Don't forget a tiny bone crown. She is the last heir to Boatmurdered's throne, after all.

The Bandicoot
2016-09-13, 11:10 PM
Any other ideas? I run the game this Sunday at which point I'll update the thread with how it went

Mutazoia
2016-09-14, 02:55 AM
Listen to this, either while planning the dungen, or just before starting the session and use it as the theme song.... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRU-c0SBbyU) or The song with out the prelude.... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WE1cCgdi6g)

JAL_1138
2016-09-15, 10:14 AM
Listen to this, either while planning the dungen, or just before starting the session and use it as the theme song.... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRU-c0SBbyU) or The song with out the prelude.... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WE1cCgdi6g)

Or the Song of Boatmurdered, Koganusān. (https://m.soundcloud.com/simonswerwer/koganusan)

Or, to get you in the same mindset of the creators of that pit of horror and madness, the background music from the game (http://youtu.be/vQNtTW2sIqE) (written and performed by Toady himself). It doesn't sound creepy, until you've watched your fortress spiral into madness and blood and death. It's...also very, very strange, even if it doesn't seem so at first. It wanders, meanders, and has a tendency to get stuck in your head like an ear-worm, but it's hard to say exactly how it goes at the same time--you might get a few sections, a few notes, but not the whole of it. So it's almost there in your head, tugging at your recollection, fleeing back into the mists of the mind as soon as you get close to it. It can drive a man mad, chasing the ghost of a song through the maze of his own memory.

The Bandicoot
2016-09-15, 01:38 PM
I plan in playing the song of Boatmurdered faintly as they walk through the mines. A little creepy mining chant to start off the game.