What control goo in a dungeon?

[martinl]

Goo is not viable without "underworld" sanctity. (Otherwise it would consume the surface world).

(Most) Goo is unable to maintain said sanctity. So goo that kills off the orcs or undead or evil overlords or whatever gets to run amok for a while but then it slowly starves and withers, leaving the dungeon open for another critter.

Things that have underworld sanctity related powers can buy resistance to and influence over goo as some of those powers.

[Michael Thayne]

Many forms of goo have non-zero Move but zero ST. What's the best way to exploit this? The fact that many can also corrode through and/or seep around barriers makes this non-trivial to exploit, but it might be crucial to preventing the whole world from being converted into ooze.

[evileeyore]

Or, maybe goo takes slow damage from natural, direct sunlight. Say 1 per hour that cannot be healed quickly. So it could take over a dungeon, but then as mention by martinl, slowly die off until the dungeon was safe enough to be inhabited by other creatures.




Personally, if I have a pernicious goo in a dungeon with intelligent monsters, the monsters usually either have a countermeasure to the goo (fire, magic, prayer, etc) or they are immune to it.

[b-dog]

I was thinking about a sort of mosquito or fly with a long proboscis that it uses to feed on the goo. Some how the fly or mosquitos proboscis is unaffected by the goo and it basically is able to eat the goo this way. The fly or mosquito could be any size and maybe even up to a few feet long. They may attack the PCs when they learn that the PCs are harming the goo. They may be farming the goo like ants do with fungus. They may also lay eggs in the goo goo to let their larvae feed on the goo before they become flies or mosquitos.

[martinl]

Scenario - PCs are hired by a mysterious patron to "clear out" a dungeon, only to find it recently evacuated of intelligent monsters and stripped of treasure, but positively infested with multiple types of goo.

After they leave, the monsters who hired them return to their newly cleaned up lair, optionally stiffing the PCs. (If you want the PCs to go back and fight the monsters who hired them, stiff them. If you want the PCs to move on, pay them.)

[b-dog]

One reason I like Elder Things as aliens is because they allow for creepy stuff like goo to have a reason to be in the DF world. Maybe some sort of alien servitor race brought goo to the DF realm ages past and for some reason they do not thrive in the sunlit world above but thrive in the deepest underworld caverns and dungeons. Maybe the aliens also brought other parts of their ecosystem too like the ones that harvest and eat the goo. I really liked the underworld of the Drow series where all sorts of slimy disgusting things lived.

[b-dog]

I am thinking that if Dr. Kromm wants to make a monster book like he did with goo and dragons then what about some sort of creepy crawler book? Centipedes, ants, roaches, wasps, maggots, spiders, worms, slugs, cave crickets, praying mantis, assassin bugs, crayfish, crabs, tick, chigoe flea, bot fly, mantis shrimp, etc. There are tons of really nasty creepy crawlers that would easily live in dungeons. They could be amped up too to make them more challenging. Like maybe a corpse fly that feeds on corpses and even undead but they become infected with the undead type they fed upon and then transmit a wasting illness to the PCs and unless the illness is treated then the PC will waste away and die then rise again as an undead of the type the corpse fly was feeding on.

[Michael Thayne]

As I look at the fine print on how they work, oozes seem really well-optimized to wreck a campaign setting. They can corrode anything except orichalcum, and more often than not multiply rather than dying when taken to multiples of -HP (until you get them to -5xHP, at which point I think they just die). It actually does seem like an important question how you keep them under control without giving them something like Weakness (Sunlight, 1d per hour). Or the dependency on underworld sanctity martini suggested.

[b-dog]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

As I look at the fine print on how they work, oozes seem really well-optimized to wreck a campaign setting. They can corrode anything except orichalcum, and more often than not multiply rather than dying when taken to multiples of -HP (until you get them to -5xHP, at which point I think they just die). It actually does seem like an important question how you keep them under control without giving them something like Weakness (Sunlight, 1d per hour). Or the dependency on underworld sanctity martini suggested.

I agree with what you have said. I just wonder why the DF world wouldn’t just be covered by oozes. Not much can stop them and they can eat just about anything. Demons have the Divine to counter them and they are not native to the mortal realm so they can be banished. Undead are also countered by the Divine and and sunlight so they must live hidden away until it is dark. Oozes really don’t have anything to counter them. It would be nice to have some sort of counter for goo.

[Dalin]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Or, maybe goo takes slow damage from natural, direct sunlight. Say 1 per hour that cannot be healed quickly.

I like this. Goo, therefore, isn't a well-known threat to your average surface dweller. Subterranean civilizations, on the other hand, must invest resources into active goo elimination (or management).

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

On the other hand, I actually kind of like the idea of of goo taking over dungeons.

This reminds me of the Amoeba in the classic video game, Boulder Dash. The amoeba slowly expands, eventually taking over the level, putting pressure on Rockford to get all the gems before it's too late. One might design a dungeon where it's too late to stop the goo, but you need to get the macguffin and get out before the goo obliterates everything.