07-09-2019, 09:29 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA
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Delver-proofing lairs and dungeons
There's an arms race between monsters and delvers, and since so many monsters lose their lives to delvers, the smart ones should be on-guard. What defenses should monsters set up against delvers? About which spells need they worry most? What kinds of environmental hazards are especially handy for changing the landscape in favor of the monsters that intelligent monsters will work to exploit (like Amphibious monsters forcing the fight underwater)?
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07-10-2019, 07:01 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: traveller
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Re: Delver-proofing lairs and dungeons
Tucker's Kobolds is the classic approach. I also recommend The Tunnels of Cu Chi for inspiration.
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07-10-2019, 07:22 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Re: Delver-proofing lairs and dungeons
In practice, this isn't an ecology or society, it's a fairy tale. Everyone, including the monsters, follows a predetermined role rather than behaving sensibly.
If you want to break with the convention, the monsters should send representatives to town to hang out in inns and give quests to retrieve the holy relic ... from the temple. Or stop the evil ... Baron ... from raising a terrifying army. In most dungeon-centric games the PC types are the most dangerous weapon - just get them pointed at someone else. |
07-10-2019, 09:16 AM | #4 |
Join Date: May 2010
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Re: Delver-proofing lairs and dungeons
The number one thing monsters can do to avoid being killed by delvers is work together to prevent delvers from using divide and conquer tactics. Don't separate rooms with needlessly winding tunnels, shout "we're under attack!" when you are, and respond to such shouts when you hear them.
It doesn't hurt to build your dungeon like a proper medieval castle with murder holes, arrow slits, and so on, but honestly I think just having the monsters be coordinated at all is the most important thing. |
07-10-2019, 01:11 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Sep 2018
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Re: Delver-proofing lairs and dungeons
I read a comic recently where adventurers climb the stairs of a ruin and there's a goblin standing at the doors to welcome them, telling them that they've reached the temple of ultimate evil, former home of Necrothon the Lich, now under Goblin Management with thrilling new traps and hidden passages for them to navigate and hordes of goblins to fight, suitable for levels 1-2. The adventurers ride off and the next panel is the Goblin playing scrabble and talking about how effective the new marketting campaign is.
It's a bit gamey but making a dungeon look like it's more trouble than treasure would be a great defense. Just cast the cave entrance with the cracked eggshells and molting/skin castings of some nasty beast. Chances are a few adventurers would see that and decide there's not enough loot to make it worthwhile. Short of that a trap that scares the **** out of someone at the front door would be smart. Your party opens the door in and the first two people in line catch a 3d flame jet from nowhere. If they work up the courage to examine the trap it's a magic box with "Defense 3 of 31" printed on it's plaque. There aren't any other traps that expensive in the dungeon but the adventurers don't know that. |
07-10-2019, 01:57 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Delver-proofing lairs and dungeons
A few random ideas related to the environment:
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07-10-2019, 03:41 PM | #7 |
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: Delver-proofing lairs and dungeons
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07-10-2019, 04:15 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: New Zealand.
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Re: Delver-proofing lairs and dungeons
Put a large sign out front mentioning that all valuables have been sold and the money has been spent on traps?
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Waiting for inspiration to strike...... And spending too much time thinking about farming for RPGs Contributor to Citadel at Nordvörn |
07-10-2019, 04:42 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Delver-proofing lairs and dungeons
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07-10-2019, 05:32 PM | #10 |
Join Date: May 2010
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Re: Delver-proofing lairs and dungeons
Another option would be to fling open the dungeon gates and station a single goblin armed only with a lute in the doorway.
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Tags |
defenses, delver, dfrpg, dungeon, lair |
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