Slug Caverns of Deceit part 1: Rolling Up A Random Dungeon

 

I have been playing lots of turned based wargames of late (250 hours on warlords three) as you can do this and watch tv and interact with ppl wanting attention. Have been playing my post apoc game and using Mutant Epoc adventures which are going OK - still finding the choose your own adventure approach a bit broken but maps and references to page and entry numbers helps a bit. In the Mall of Doom players suitably suspicious of the cult and gaining more and more guns and ammo.

Projects in works:
Slug Caverns of Deceit - giving me some ideas for more stuff
Strange Shops of Shadelport (paragraph entry each) 30%
Second-Hand Sex Androids and Robots 60% slow going
Supervillain bosses for espionage/modern/superheroes 76% slow going
The Orc Prince Module 
A-Z desert ruin - sitting a few years
Some huge thinkpiece thing on card mechanics  - sitting a few years
D100 minor mythos museum fillers  - sitting a few years
Meat Elementalism of Xow meat spells of 4 meat elements - sitting a few years

So If I get a youtube thing going one thing I thought about was to show me using random stuff to build settings on the fly. Basically, grab some Dyson and other maps and thematic tables and go.... No time frames as I'm not wanting to give me deadlines right now. Actually, I'm struggling with deadlines and motivation. Some post 51st birthday funk.

Ok so today I'm gonna use my Redbrick Dungeon Zone Book

1st will get Dungeon basics and then will grab some free map or maybe doodle one if I'm bothered. My last few dungeons were overblown in size and I need to get back to small things. 

Random dungeon name bits to something like
"Slug Caverns of the Deceit"
this might not survive but will see

Who built the dungeon?
Prehuman Slugfolk burrowed this rock with their own stomach acid long ago

Who are the Dungeon Lords Now?
A decadent sorcerer Yoric Strangeplough rules this private pleasure pit for followers and rich weirdos, refitted and modified the dungeon with furnishings and murals. Having been driven out of the land the sorcerer works with plotters and traitors against the king to weaken the kingdom.

Dungeon Missions?
A creepy apprentice gives adventurers a list of exotic organs the master wants for spells including unicorn eyes and blink dog tails. Mentions after any drugs available also just bring it all to the master's dungeon. He seems to assume the party are evil mercenaries. The party are given a map to the dungeon a day away with a few weak wild encounters on the way.

Subplots?
Various monsters working for Yoric dress as undead and pretend their master is a lich. A new ambitious sub boss has sent blackmail letters to village leaders demanding protection from undead fees of 200gp a year

A scrap of an adventurers journal, was fighting slug demon here long ago with great power 

Dungeon Persona
Chaotic Evil. Tainted by aeons of slub demon magic then cultists lived here and now the sorcerer is the apparent leader of the first level. Chaotic phenomena and evil hauntings taint the cave, some areas have doppelganger spirits. An ancient slug demon spirit craves release and a new body. The Sorcerer has been having dreams instructing him to bring in sacrifices to revive the slug demon spirit and believes he will receive wishes. The spirit is trapped in an idol on the second level temple. It draws through things from the eternal dungeons of the slug demon dimension to torment humans with the lure of forbidden vice. It is cooly calculating but limited at the moment. The demon can see through any keyhole in the dungeon. It wants intruders to break the seals yet not kill it in its weakened flesh form when released before its petty god abilities return and it can release slug monsters from the dark dimension. It grew from an egg laid in the darkness before the first sunrise. The demons old body has a head in a jar hidden that if wielded protects the user from the demon's powers or gaze. The dungeon can manifest cold viscous disgusting slug slime ectoplasm when it pleases and if displeases it will form over every surface. Any treasure from the dungeon can be made to weigh ten times more inside the dungeon if the dungeon pleases, usually when adventurers try to leave. 

Local bandit gangs have been working with the dungeon especially providing sacrifices and vice, the leader Basil Abbott has been receiving dreams and has become second in the vice and pleasure cult. A bard Minion acts as a spy for the cult in town and to spread lies about the dungeon to attract adventurers. She might even come with adventurers. The dungeon will leave out some easy treasure to tempt adventurers inside. 

Rumours:
Great secrets of personal power and profit await the worthy within!
-promises of vice and pleasure among some 
-promises of magic treasure for special adventurers
Deliberately spread with maps and journal entries
A few zero or 1st lv folk are looking to form a party to investigate
One of the sorcerer's apprentices might give a note
The bard might sing a song about easy pickings from the slug cult

Entrance:
The threshold is actually a gate - the levels partially exist on another plane the lower one moreso. There is a secret passage in nearby rocks used by the cult to avoid setting off traps.

The front door is a bronze gate emblazoned with salamanders but here by dwarves to seal the place long ago. The doors and locks melted away from a magic fire trap set off.

The sorcerer gets a strange pang when adventurers enter sent by the demon slug spirit
 
Entry Area: 
Past upper floors have collapsed destroying what finery was here, water and slimey muck have trickled in and fungus and toadstools have sprouted. Pools in the rubble and huge slugs as big as an arm crawl on every surface. Giant frogs lurk in the pools near the most obvious path ready to ambush. The path reaches several entrances into 

Levels
Non cult areas have become slime encrusted with filth and have puddles of water on the floor, slugs are common and the areas are dark and cool. They smell like an uncleaned subway toilet.

The cult areas are warmer, dry and slime free with carpets and artworks and candlholders everywhere and feels cosy (this is partially an illusion that ends when the demon is free).

2m wide cramped circular stairways from Lv 1 to 2 concealed by secret doors

1st Level is grey fired bricks
-ruined areas
-cult sanctum
2nd Level is smooth carved from rock aeons ago 

Traps
Use bound prisoners (preferably sobbing ones) as bait
Illusions protect cult areas
Giant slug ambush in lower areas

d12 Lv 1 Ruined Area Encounters
1 Bandit gang members 3d4
2 Sorcerer cultist lost
3 Apprentice sorcerers d4+1
4 Giant leeches d3  
5 Cries of bound gagged prisoner chained to wall (trapped)
6 Giant frogs d4+1
7 Slugfolk abhuman berserker warriors d4+2
8 Slugfolk priest Lv 4 and d4 1st lv priests
9 Poltergiest spirit
10 Rat or bat swarm
11 Flail snail
12 Inept 1st lv adventurer party d4+2

d12 Lv 1 Cult Areas
1 Lone initiate sorcerer having bad trip
2 Initiate sorcerers kissing d2+1
3 Initiate sorcerers on way somewhere d4+2
4 Known townsfolk visiting for some vice d6
5 Doppelganger in disguise has been eating cultists
6 Bandits visiting 2d4
7 Cloud of narcotic vapour save or need a nap for d4 turns
8 Brainwashed servant cult member doing chores
8 Brainwashed cultists in dancing costumes d6
9 Brainwashed servants bringing food to cultists 
10 Gigantic slugs squeezing in through a crack or vent
11 Bandit leader and 2d4 bandits
12 Yoric the sorcerer with a d3 Initiates

d12 Lv 2 Slug Caves Areas
1 Giant hungry slug
2 Slugfolk abhuman berserker d4
3 Slugfolk priest Lv 4 and d4 human 1st lv priests
4 Poltergiest spirit
5 Spectral minions of slugfolk cultists d6
6 Ochre jelly
7 Gelatinous cube
8 Flail snail
9 Cave clam
10 Green slime
11 Carrion worm
12 Giant carnivorous beetles d4

So next to find some maps for these and randomly fill them based on this framework using the rest of the book. Also boss stuff. This worked out pretty well and it was easy to connect some threads in tables. Also will clean up the background stuff but overall turned out ok.