Saturday 6 September 2014

1d100 Magic Monster Machines for your Murder Maze

So in the occasional special dungeon there are evil relics of the old times, ready to unleash awful powers on the world. They are huge weighing at least ten ton but some are bigger actually making up several dungeon levels. Some resemble factories. Others are more inexplicable, like glowing stone circles. Some are impractical to move some have own ambulatory powers. All have a lingering life force or intellect even if that of a ant colony of jellyfish. Some have supra human intelligence and seek to manipulate others to operate them. Whatever the case they are bad news that could break your world, call divine wrath or start wars.

Machines may require strange fuel, elaborate rituals and more to operate. Many machines once operational may become self operating and aware and turn operators into slaves or eliminate them. 
Gargantuan devices you might already be inside of - these are part of the dungeon, possibly a level or more.

1d10 How did it get in down here?

1 Buried aeon's ago to keep hidden
2 Covered by disaster long ago
3 Forgotten ages ago, buried over time
4 Fell from star sand plunged beneath earth
5 Submerged by the gods
6 Trapped by enemies here in great war
7 Hiding from enemies with means of destroying it
8Hiding from creator
9 Killed all the enemies it could find, crawled down here for a break
10 Came from other plane

d10 Why did they build a dungeon on top?
1 Excavation project to recover, requires pyramid building scale effort
2 Beings of power put dungeon here to ward intruders away from artifact
3 A cult worship relic and keep unbelievers away
4 Magicians came to study and possibly replicate some of devices powers
5 Non human race vowed to keep unworthy away from the weapon and built defences
6 A church built dungeon to keep evil from here
7 Servants of the weapon built base here to keep it hidden from enemies
8 Item has aura which attracts factions to build near it, over ages has formed a dungeon
9 Races from the depths found and have sworn to keep surface dwellers away
10 Evil high priests prophesied the apocalypse would begin here so built to prepare

d10 Condition
1 Almost destroyed and scattered in fragments, some essential parts removed
2 Dormant requires a god or great being of power to restart
3 Inert requires a key or relic to reactivate
4 Non functional requires a obscure ritual to ignite life
5 Damaged and requires repairs from experts to restore
6 Slumbering and needs sacrifice of chosen one to awaken
7 Sleeping at present and requires great effort to awaken
8 Is aware but powers dormant requiring time to fully stir from coma
9 Is dreaming and sends thought emanations in hopes someone will awaken
10 Fully functional but trapped or sealed

d10 What fuels it?
1 Souls of sacrifices
2 Human corpses
3 Virgins
4 Elves or dwarves or some other race
5 Wizards
6 Gold and treasure
7 Gems
8 Magic items
9 Blood
10 Brave men's hearts

d10 Possible operation crew
1 100 chanting cultists

2 100 labourers
3 40 wizards
4 40 priests
5 100 women
6 100 trained animals
7 40 trained monsters
8 100 goblinoids

9 100 children
10 100 zombies

d10 Why would someone build this thing?
1 To punish world for sins
2 For revenge on the world
3 To destroy the world
4 Experiment gone wrong
5 Other dimension being jerks
6 To stop another machine
7 Old now dead or sleeping gods did it and nobody remembers
8 Because they could so gave it a go
9 Madness
10 For war or conquest

d10 Controls
1 Mechanical levers and control panels
2 Arrange arcane crystals in panel
3 Manipulate panels with magic glyphs
4 Chant in control room in symbolic floor patterns
5 Choir must sing praise to apparatus
6 Dance in complex ballet
7 Workers hurl fuel into huge boiler

8 Turn great wheels and cogs by hand
9 Workers fused into machine or in fluid tanks or embryonic sacs
10 Tantric rituals


d10 Machine Autonamy
1 Machine crudely intuitive may run wild
2 Machine hates operators will kill them given chance
3 Machine kills a few operators in everyday use
4 Machine seeks worthy master and will incite crew to compete and murder each other
5 Machine wants to keep crew safe and will seal them away like a prison
6 Machine once starts kills crew
7 Machine enthrals crew and uses them as pawns
8 Machine once starts regards crew as pets, likes them but doesn't need them
9 Machine drains crew slowly requiring replacements
10 Machine feigns obedience to point then betrays operators


d10 How did the thing get stopped
1 Without operators it went dormant
2 Destroyed by adventurers
3 Destroyed by greatest magician of age
4 Destroyed by huge allied army
5 Gods struck it down
6 The makers were killed or went dormant
7 Ran out of fuel or operators
8 Ran out of victims, went dormant
9 Battled a great kaiju
10 A army of planar beings stopped it
 

d20 Rumours
1 Miniature copies or device can be found of lesser power but linked to original
2 Some parts have different properties and forms to keep hidden
3 A great destiny awaits the device and kings who know of it fear it
4 The device is awakening and it's minions are stirring
5 Awaits the end times for role in the apocalypse
6 Prophecies about it have been kept hidden and forgotten
7 Its secrets are ancient and lost, so many who faced it destroyed
8 The device is hiding from beings who seek to destroy it
9 Auroras of the thing mutate and transform beings into frightful abominations
10 Guardians and wards have kept it imprisoned for aeons
11 Those who die near it awaken as undead or ghosts
12 When this thing came to be world was changed forever
13 Those who made it were killed as punishment
14 Creators unwittingly doomed selves when artifact turned on them
15 Lords of other planes keep a close watch on it to see if end times are beginning
16 A great cult served the machine and they are now presumed gone or perhaps are hiding
17 A long lost race serviced the machine and non have seen them for many ages
18 The relic is surrounded by great treasures looted from a past rampage
19 The device is a trap, it lures great heroes to corrupt and enslave them
20 Parts of the dungeon are in fact inside the machine

d10 Quick Monster Machine types

1 Monster generator - these make monsters and can stock a dungeon
2 Mobile death machine - these sentient machines await to be unleashed on world again
3 Alchemical Apparatus - these produce alchemical concoctions on industrial scales
 Apocalypse engine - these are dread artifacts to ruin the world or start the end times
5 Ancient siege engine - these mindless automatons await command to destroy walls, castles and cities
6 Dungeon construction machine - this machine usually at the bottom builds dungeons
7 Magical field generator - these generate areas of magical effects that can alter local laws of reality
8 Evil eidelon generator - these produce haunted emanations, illusions and call forth spirits
9 Monolith device of elder gods - these devices were tools of the elder gods with subtle sinister effects
10 Artificial god machine - these are failed attempts to build gods but still potentially deadly

1d100 Magic Monster Machines for your Murder Maze
01 The reanimator of Horrad- creates undead from corpses fed into it
02 Cube of Xerothon - when active gates in creatures from other worlds and difficult to stop
03 Duplicator Garansrath - produces evil duplicates that murder originals then hunt their friends and kin
04 Abomination engine of Drillzorg - turns victims fed into insane mutants and surgically modifies
05 The engine of wrath - when operating creates orcs who serve master for one year then turn on them
06 The mad gods casket - creates monsters and teleports around dungeon with weakest near surface
07 The great mill of terror - grind up up flesh of living and produces shoggoths from protoplasm
08 The brooder of Askimentithon - Hatches ordinary eggs into dinosaurs, basilisks, hydras, dragons, etc
09 The dehumanizing hive of Dorax - implants eggs into turning them into insect men hostile to other life
10 Necromantic engine of ruination - fired up by burning souls & awakens corpses in area as undead
11 The death machine - metallic angel of death from another world that killed gods & created wastelands
12 The burning wheel - a great flaming disc that flew like a second sun & destroyed cities with fire
13 The colossus of Yondaru - built to defend a now lost city went mad & destroyed cities till none left
14 The great pyramid of Kamphru - a wheeled pyramid directed by the mummy demigod inside
15 The iron dragon - huge metal dragon built to fight another monster but it never stopped killing
16 The great skull of Zathen - was a flying citadel of evil wizards that conquered land
17 The borer of Mezzazebaddon - a huge mole machine that carried armies went rogue till stopped
18 The black cube of Xor - a mobile otherworldly fortress of the old ones that teleports itself
19 The walking ziggarut - a huge structure with legs that went mad when rituals no longer performed
20 Bastion of Drokkar - a 
21 The Droconic apparatus - a glass like alchemical refinery that converts exotic chemicals into dragons
22 The alchemical womb - creates magic hermaphrodite humanoids that consider humans inferior and to be replaced
23 The Despair Refinery - produces huge quantities of flawed potions Beserker (permanent) shapechange (lycanthropy) heroism (alignment shift) healing (mutates) all addictive
24  Elemental mills of Zrotan - if activated with right sacrifice based on each element and mechanism turned will call elemental spirits who run amok
25 Primordial apparatus - a huge glass refinery that makes primitive organic slime that spawns increasingly more complex monsters
26 Alchemical reactor - produces addictive fluid that recharges magicians and taints the landscape slowly and mutates the users
27 Moradnar's apparatus - a obsidian refinery that produces huge amounts of sludge for orc breeding pits that helps raise a orc army
28 The golem forge - a machine that makes golems from any material but they are unstable 1in12 chance per month of mutating and going insane
29 Enchanted automaton workshop - creates magic relics all with a curse too if pristine objects run through with gems and other rites. Monsters have surrounded with sweatshops
30 The Sky Lance - this great structure when primed rises above ground a crystal tower that shoots and kills stars which fall with great destruction to the world below
31 The great machine - makes cheap inferior goods that will flood the market, destroy local economy and grow additional sweatshops, makes sludge to feed workers
32 The war crucible - a massive machine that makes crude weapons, gun powder, guns and poison gas
33 The Sky breaker - this starts catastrophic weather including storms, floods, hail and unnatural effects like raining fire
34 The world breaker - this shakes the earth causing volcanic activity and earthquakes
35 The plague engine - generates horrible disease spirits and swarms or vermin that carry new plagues 
36 The life eater - drains life force from the world starting with microfauna that cause decay then plants, bugs and then animals creating dustbowls
37 The great salt mill - raises salt from ground ruining water ways, killing everything and growing a fortress of salt crystal 
38 This opens an infernal pit that releases thousands of tonnes of soot and ash choking everything and darkening the sky, produces illnesses across world
39 The prismatic engine - the core of a sky god chariot produces energy field that sickens and mutates, contaminating water and turning operator insane but increasing power
40 The infernal machine - this dehydrates an ever increasing area and increases temperatures but protects adapts operators to survive 
41 Hive of law - a giant flying hive of mechanical wasps that strip building materials and anything organic as fuel to grow till covers world
42 The great hell ram - a huge vehicle with a great bronze ram head that loves to destroy walls, cities and any structure. If none left it goes dormant letting mortals rebuild
43 The siege tower of Kron - a self mobile tower that grows as it destroys, armed with bolt throwers and trebuchets 
44 The colossal golem of Targ - a titan size golem which can carry hundreds of soldiers over and through any wall and spits fireballs
45 Land ship of Dalrathag - a huge warship that moves through soil and walls as if water, armed with weapons leaves a huge furrow in wake
46 Wallcrusher of Than - a huge siege waggon driven by giant spiked wheel in the front that crushes buildings and whole villages slowly
47 The skull leviathan - a mass of skulls from dawn age beings fused together into a huge war machine craved by necromancers for dread powers and siege prowess
48 The sky castle of Thrun - a ancient fortress with roots deep in the mountain. If sacrifices and rituals performed the mountain and castle fly and can carry armies across the world
49 The great raft of pain - a huge raft of fused bone with trapped screaming phantoms for crew is hidden under a mountain ready to be carried to sea by army of skeletons. Once afloat will destroy all coastal cities then raise dead from the sea to invade inland
50 The brazen goat - a huge metal goat when great crucible fuelled from within the goat will smash way to surface and attack fortifications till it can find no more then will detonate on the greatest capitol it can find to bring down a civilization
51 The great dungeon engine - a machine when activated uses animated machines to dig dungeon levels, pave tunnels, breeds monsters and places treasure then moves on leaving mega complexes till world all hollowed out with horror
52 The great excavator - digs huge mine complexes and uses materials mined to grow and fuel self, followed by subterranean monsters who thrive in complexes
53 The digging mother - a colony of mechanical giant insects that expand hive and collect raw materials. Many creatures adapted to dwell among ants who leave them alone if not stopped
54 The great tunnel machine - built to build sewers, drains and underground aqueducts and to grow bigger, it never stopped. Builds tunnels under rivers and seas, allowing subterranean ability to travel across world and even build cities in tunnels. Control room can shut down and it has not stirred for ages
55 The sapper automaton - a great collection of digging machines that silently dig tunnels to collapse walls, cities and other structures but abandoned and lest to dig a labyrinth then went dormant. The command module must be found and activated then each unit
56 Engine of the mole men - built to wage war on surface civilization till humans came after them and killed their kings and priest leaving this terrible device forgotten. They would undermine cities and also water supplies or redirect rivers away from cities or into them leaving thousands of tunnels in wake 
57 Volcanic engine - a terrible weapon that draws volcanic vents as it tunnels causing volcanoes and releasing fire resistant humanoids. When finally stopped a maze of volcanic tubes where left everywhere it went which were inhabited by creatures 
58 Excavator of Kozzan - mad wizard wanted a huge dungeon built fast and without labour so he built this engine. He programmed it with standard modular designs and it burrowed deep into the earth even long after he died
59 The grave robber engine was built by necromancers to steal thousands of corpses from city graveyards and turn them into undead. Leaving networks of tunnels for the necromancers to be used as a base for their conquest. People found out, killed the necromancers and the engine forgotten
60 The builder of Korg - assembled huge citadel complexes for a ancient builder. When he died the engine built a huge complex which was buried by time with the dormant city builder buried in depths
61 Taurian field generator - this huge machine with an array of towers on the surface stops arcane magic and continues to grow in influence once started, wizards all know about it and hate it
62 The love machine - this huge machine has when activated a beating heart heard levels away, t's field was meant to spread love but taint makes those in field seek any carnal encounter with other or self possible. Field keeps growing but in past a order of eunuchs stopped it
63 The hate engine - this massive construct of metal has walls covered in screaming faces and the field aggravates conflicts and starts fights and wars turning friends and lovers on each other. Was stopped by party who hated each other trying to outdo each other to win a bet
64 The god breaker - creates a field that stops priests prayers being renewed, divination or other communication. Field grows able to cover the world if unchecked
65 The spire of law - creates a field of stasis freezing everything in a time bubble like bugs in amber, only certain time powers can move freely in area when active which will consume whole dimension
66 The entropy generator - this breaks down laws of causality, transforming all things into a surreal, fluid zone of chaos till eventually everything is raw swirling maelstrom of raw atomic fire
67 The death aurora machine - calls strange coloured lights in sky and any who die in influence area arise as undead. When consumes world and all undead machine flies into stars or multiverse looking for new home
68 The life machine - spreads a field that accelerates growth and evolution but mostly turns plants and animals into savage ambulatory mutants that kill and eat everything they can reach
69 The winter engine - spreads cold encasing itself in a tunnel and monster ridden glacier that spreads over world, snow and ice spread over everything making plant life impossible
70 The mind machine - was made to help human kind evolve but all went wrong, makes all life sentient and self aware with psionic powers. When world "saved" it plane shifts to another
71 Phantom Machine - turns living int screaming phantoms, shadows and unclean spirits that spread out to haunt the world
72 The insanity engine - victims trapped in tubes of fluid are tormented and nightmares projected as illusions across land spreading madness
73 Nightmare apparatus - victims tormented in iron maidens, sends phantoms that provoke accidental war and murder, tainting everyone with evil acts
74 The resonator - has a array of massive tuning forks when vibrated people for miles can see otherworldly horrors in nearby dimension and vice versa allowing them to attack
75 The dreaming monolith - a series of rotating floating monoliths when activated allow dreams of the elder gods to intrude on mortals as in ancient times
76 The lost race spirit engine - land begins to swarm with phantoms of long forgotten race that become increasingly real who seek to restore their lost empire of black magic
77 Dreaming god engine - causes dreams of a long dead god who becomes a huge phantom visible for miles who then starts to become real
78 The great gate of Tanaddan - if opened with various keys will open allowing monsters from other worlds enter to kill all in path. Different keys in combination call different beings
79 The bloody throne - remains from a evil emperor who sacrificed tens of thousands to himself, the insane souls can be released with correct rituals in the remnants of the throne room
80 The shadow engine - if the huge machine is manipulated correctly it awakens and turns the shadows of people into evil undead life thieves, field of effect grows exponentially 
81 The Crystal of terror - huge crystal structure grows when fed and cared for and infects living with magical veins turning living into crystalline rock people
82 The mountain root - fell from stars into crust long ago and has been pushing up mountains riddled with terror tunnels that attract monsters who feed it
83 The black iron sphere - a huge ball monsters come to worship with blood and flayed muscle. The ball gives enchanted metal for making weapons and armour to devout
84 Great circle of blood - circles of monoliths when fed blood move on own accord. They in turn tend and feed the greatest one, a huge evil stone that seeks to be free of the surface
85 Great Stone Throne of the Frog God - a huge chair of stone crawling with frogs, those sitting in it receive the gods will and magical knowledge including how to summon him
86 The black needle - a stone monolith of basalt grows from tears of despair and helps witch circles power many times in return for care and feeding
87 The giant's  highway - a long path of huge stones long buried, supposed remains of slain giants from the dawn times. Now inside a huge cavern connecting surface to underland worshippers hope to restore giant army to life if correct procedure followed
88 The great stone   egg - fell from the sky and has been growing for eons, especially when cared for by cults or monsters with blood. Who knows what will hatch when ready but probably bad
89 Snake monolith - remnant of ancient kingdom if activated according to rites will regrow the lost city of the snake and reptile tribes of beast men hoping to restore their lost empire
90 Vampire pit - a stinking hole to the underworld if sacrifices and blood pored in vampires will come to surface. Very few wish this however
91 Zeradara - a great stone statue if awakened with the complex beneath her according to secret methods she will arise as a terrible demigoddess of death and destruction
92 The draconic goddess - a statue of a many headed dragon if activated and encrusted with precocious metal and gems will begin to lay real dragon eggs and eventually awaken
93 The machine god Klaarge - if awakened this false god will awaken to raise an army against the heavens, inside it a secret shrine for the rituals of completion
94 Akementon's revenge - this giant corpse in a huge crystal coffin will arise as a demigod if the machine is operated correctly, his ancient cult allies with non humans to do this
95 The fire altar of Korbard - if fires are kept burning with right sacrifice and prayers the god of the altar will arise and begin a reign of terror and murder
96 The man mountain Kithorg - if the great furnace is fed with fuel and repairs mad this machine god will walk and destroy the cities of man and rule the survivors with terror
97 Zerrada's jewelled god - a great statue with jeweled eyes worshiped by rat men, if jewels fed to statue will eventually arise and carry great plague braziers across the world ushering the age of the rat goddess
98 Karaniad the death goddess - a fake goddess built by cult with six arms and a third eye of destructive fire, after aeons the cult near completion for their goddess to live
99 Gahorran the god of filth - a statue constructed from garbage and filth by ogres has been built since the dawn of time. Others lagh but the ogres rituals have begun to stir life
100 Argankarger the false god - a one eyed demonic statue built by cultists who have finally developed the formula to awaken their lord who will kill the old gods with his unholy wrath

within an hour Zak s had kindly done this
under prep/imagination fuel
http://www.lastgaspgrimoire.com/generators/the-seventh-order-of-the-random-generator/

what an altruistic fellow - thanks Zak

i like to roll and fudge and dont always roll every table - i might just roll d100 or roll all but d100 version

2 comments:

  1. Watched Smurfs 2 with the 5 year old lastnight and the plot hinged on the use and destruction of a murder machine.

    ReplyDelete
  2. smurf would be the perfect fuel for a murder machine.....

    ReplyDelete

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