[DF] We can stock your dungeon wholesale?

[Anders]

This post grew from a line from Batman - "where does he get those wonderful toys?"

Specifically - who stocks the dungeons? Shouldn't there be merry bands of adventurers sent out to capture trolls, hydras, dragons and wraiths, capture them (more or less) undamaged and return them to the dungeon of the employer's choice? And what would such a merry band need?

[Phantasm]

Cages. Definitely need lots of cages, preferably portable holes. Magic to teleport the critters directly into their employers' dungeons is even better, but some employers may want to see the creature before setting it loose in the dungeon.

[Varyon]

For a humorous campaign, sure, you might have adventurers going around gathering monsters to stock dungeons. They'd need abilities that would allow them to overcome baddies without seriously injuring them. That's pretty much going to come down to magic. For some, it's sleep/daze/paralysis spells. For others, it will be charms to convince the monsters to come along peacefully. Those with a more martial bent will either have some sort of magical "subdual damage" weapons or use magically-enhanced strength to grapple foes into submission.

In a more serious campaign, the monsters found in dungeons typically either wandered in on their own, or were previously created/summoned/enslaved by whoever used to be in charge (or by others trying to plumb the depths - a stone golem could be a pretty awesome porter).

[Anders]

A sage, to research the whereabouts and defenses of the strange and wonderful creatures to be captured. An artificer to set up traps for beasties immune to magic. Muscle would always be helpful.

[Anthony]

Based on Dungeon Keeper, dungeons are mostly self-stocking; the key is to have the proper bait.

[Kromm]

Someone on the team ought to be a good negotiator, too. I can't see any reason why some smarter monsters wouldn't accept what amounts to "all the loot you can sleep on, room and board in a defensible location steeped in evil sanctity and death mana, and lesser bodyguards and minions between you and the front door." A wraith may well willingly give up a dingy, lonely tomb for a huge complex where he's the boss of hundreds of lesser undead and guaranteed access to evil energies (or tasty adventurer souls) by a necromancer mastermind. But making the deal sound good would require tact and talent, so you'd want a first-rate bard on the squad.

[Anders]

A Scout or Thief would be useful for getting into strange places. In fact, I think you could run a somewhat strange, but nevertheless fully enjoyable campaign with this as a premise. Or someone might pay you to take out the team... take out the guys who transported Voltron the Lich-King to the Temple of Archetypical Evil? Sounds like an adventure!

[Turhan's Bey Company]

There's a monster slaver template in one of the DF-heavy Pyramid issues, the number of which escapes me, who is ideally suited for this kind of work.

[Anaraxes]

A mind mage to make sure all the captured monsters have the proper conditioning to remain loyal to the party. Once the dungeon is stocked, they stage a coup, eliminating the evil wizard lord and presenting the party with a dungeon full of loot. Instant base, plus all the magic items, without all that work of clearing the dungeon.

[Anders]

Given that they've all captured the monster they've already done that work.