Adventuring within the body of a dead god...

[Wycen]

In an early 3E planescape campaign we ventured into a dead god that resembled a baby curled up in the fetal position, which also happened to be on fire. Inside were various chambers that were connected via teleportation or stepping stones, my memory might be failing me. It certainly didn't have 5 ft corridors between each encounter zone.

Another dead god was a huge lobster headed body (Blibdoolpoop or whatever her name is) and our DM inserted one of the Shackled City adventures into her body. The one with kuotoa and a hydra. And to get there you had to find a crazy guy and fight a red dragon.

 

[Nepenthe]

Well, in Pools of Darkness (one of the early 90s Forgotten Realms computer games), there was the body of a dead god floating in the astral. The body had different "wounds" that the character could use to enter it, with the main adventure locale being through heart and into the circulatory system. There the PCs played basically hide and seek with a pit fiend (or was it tanar'ri, the novelisation is getting to me) while the supposedly dead god's heart jumped every now and then, propelling the characters through the circulatory system (moving the along the arteries for some, probably random, distance).

That's all I can remember off the top of my head, but just looking at Pools of Darkness resources (I know there still are some) will probably get you more info, like maybe a picture of Moander's rotting vegetal body (I know it was used in a lot of promotional material at the time, like the box back cover)

 

[Baron Opal]

Hmm-

The first thing that comes to mind are the macrophages. These are the white blood cells that slither and creep through as well as outside of your blood vessles looking for bacteria and other foreigners. Mast cells that rupture when they contact allergens spraying chemical messengers that agitate the local tissues and call other white blood cells. Compliment, which sticks to bacteria, viruses and other foreign things. The bacteria become immobilized or stick to each other, making it easier for the white blood cells to find.

Macrophages - ochre jellies and other oozes.
Mast cells - chemical alarms.
Compliment - Living Spells: web and/or slow. Perhaps both, there are many types of compliment.

What fantastic organs would a god have? Assuming for the moment that the deific cadaver is and ideal frozen in death, mimicing the living beings around it in shape and composition, each of the organ systems would either support or promote the ideal in question.

Osteoblasts would be dangerous. Quadinucleated cells that could petrify adventurers crawling through the cancellous tunnels of godsbone.

Parasites would be interesting. I could see aboleth harvesting brain matter to incorporate vast and ancient wisdom into their racial memories. Carrion crawlers or even purple worms burrowing through the godsflesh before pupating to transform into ... what?

There's a start. I could dig up some textbooks if that's useful for you.

 

[Jhaelen]

That's all I can remember off the top of my head, but just looking at Pools of Darkness resources (I know there still are some) will probably get you more info, like maybe a picture of Moander's rotting vegetal body (I know it was used in a lot of promotional material at the time, like the box back cover)

Hah! That game's what I thought of immediately after reading the thread's title. IIRC, most encounters consisted of advanced 'templated' shambling mounds.

Hyperconscious also features a dreamscape that represents the digestive system of a body. There's one encounter with a white (!) black pudding, and several phtithcs (or whatever those psionic nightmare thingies are called...).

 

[Nepenthe]

Hah! That game's what I thought of immediately after reading the thread's title. IIRC, most encounters consisted of advanced 'templated' shambling mounds.

Mmh, the "bits o' moander". Because Moander (the semi-dead god) was essentially a very large shambling mound himself

 

[DrNilesCrane]

Tons of good ideas here, everyone - thank you! Definitely a lot here to look through: once I do, I'll post some ideas for general feedback.