[df] the library crawl

muduri · 02-12-2019, 11:36 AM

The dungeon crawl and the hex crawl we're all familiar with, but it seems I may need to try out an unexpected variant - the library crawl. In the closed stacks you may encounter Sean Connery trying to arrange the books properly, Borgesian texts or... well this is the main part I'm looking for suggestions on. What kind of creatures hang out in a library?

The group is pretty much fine with AD&D different-monster-behind-each-door illogic, though if you have suggestions for an ecology for the creatures as well, so much the better. On the preliminary list are various beasties ported over from different systems: AD&D intellect devourers, Talislantan neurovores, Lovecraftian lamp-efts, Fighting Fantasy hamakei. Centipedes, rats, bookworms too one would think. But any other suggested friends or foes much appreciated - especially as our heroes get down to the millennia-old catacombs where librarians fear to tread.

Relatedly, any special challenges or opportunities to consider? At least in theory the adventurers shouldn't be damaging their patrons' books even if the lower reaches are now abandoned, so presumably no fireballs or lightning bolts. But PCs domino-ing shelves onto a kobold sounds very satisfying, as do the hit-and-run tactics of rats who can bite ankles and then scurry two aisles away underneath the shelves.

And maybe I'll need a reference table for a book chosen at random - "Ah! Zaidza's Pillows of the Ancient World. A classic - this will surely help you defeat the psionicist on the level below."

Any and all considerations warmly appreciated.

02-12-2019, 11:36 AM	#1
muduri Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Harlem, New York	[df] the library crawl The dungeon crawl and the hex crawl we're all familiar with, but it seems I may need to try out an unexpected variant - the library crawl. In the closed stacks you may encounter Sean Connery trying to arrange the books properly, Borgesian texts or... well this is the main part I'm looking for suggestions on. What kind of creatures hang out in a library? The group is pretty much fine with AD&D different-monster-behind-each-door illogic, though if you have suggestions for an ecology for the creatures as well, so much the better. On the preliminary list are various beasties ported over from different systems: AD&D intellect devourers, Talislantan neurovores, Lovecraftian lamp-efts, Fighting Fantasy hamakei. Centipedes, rats, bookworms too one would think. But any other suggested friends or foes much appreciated - especially as our heroes get down to the millennia-old catacombs where librarians fear to tread. Relatedly, any special challenges or opportunities to consider? At least in theory the adventurers shouldn't be damaging their patrons' books even if the lower reaches are now abandoned, so presumably no fireballs or lightning bolts. But PCs domino-ing shelves onto a kobold sounds very satisfying, as do the hit-and-run tactics of rats who can bite ankles and then scurry two aisles away underneath the shelves. And maybe I'll need a reference table for a book chosen at random - "Ah! Zaidza's Pillows of the Ancient World. A classic - this will surely help you defeat the psionicist on the level below." Any and all considerations warmly appreciated.