Things to Talk To in the Dungeon

[Reynard]

One thing I have had great success with through many adventures is poor familiar -- usually an imp -- of some long dead sorcerer who once used the dungeon as a laboratory. Wicked and a little mad to be sure, but also terribly lonely.

 

[Oryan77]

I once used Myconids to spice up the roleplaying in a dungeon crawl. The players enjoyed it. They are pretty interesting creatures (the players, not the Myconids).

The PCs helped them rescue some other Myconid workers from a Roper. When the PCs were trying to bypass a Drow encounter later in the adventure, I had the Myconids show up and lend the PCs a hand. The Myconids surprise attacked the Drow to help the PCs escape during the chaos.

Speaking of Ropers, I also had a Roper encounter where it negotiated a deal with the PCs to let them pass by unharmed if they brought it back some food. I still think it's weird that a Roper can talk.

 

[Scotley]

Some good suggestions here. I like talking items--the classics like mirrors, doors or swords and well as somewhat stranger fare like a spirit in a pool, a device that allows contact with someone/something outside the dungeon ala the Palantir stones. Spirits of being long dead. Their lingering shades can communicate, but have little influence in the world so they make for natural talkers rather than fighters.

Also, some monsters like to play with their food. If the monster knows the characters are coming it can arrange to speak to them from a position of relative safety.

 

[Celebrim]

1) Intelligent constructs of various sorts: I'm fond of the sort of 'talking door' trope used in Labyrinth, for example. Often these are abandoned by their original creators, and are no more loyal (and no less) to the current inhabitants than the PC's.
2) Non-hostile monsters: Not every monster is spoiling for a fight with a well armed party of humanoids, either out of fear, laziness, boredom, or economic calculation. Many a monster would rather haggle for a bribe to let the party pass, and some - sometimes surprising ones - are simply in the mood to talk. It's fun to have the party run across a talkative troll, ogre, giant, or dragon from time to time especially when the creature reveals surprising depth (the troll is master violinist, for example). It can also include monsters that have evil motives, but want to express that evil in a more subtle manner than immediate assault and battery. For example, a monster that wants to seduce or corrupt the party. These often present themselves as something else on this list entirely. For example, the intelligent construct might actually be a ghost animating an object, which will use a magic jar attack at a later point. Or the prisoner might well be a doppleganger in disguise. The good pixie might turn out to be an evil witch, etc.
3) Freeboarders, hangers-on, and guests: In my game, these are often fairies, but they can include any humanoids that are tolerated by the more power dungeon denizens but which are not in fact very loyal to each other. For example, an evil drawf smith might work for a tribe of goblins. Since the smith has no real loyalty to the goblins, he may be perfectly content to let the party go on its way if they let him go on his. A travelling Derro sage may be the guest of a group of Gnolls, but have little enough affection for his hosts. A sprite may live in little used storeroom or forgotten chamber, and be different than a rat only in that you can more easily role-play with it. A kobold may serve as the pet or syncophant of a much more powerful creature.
4) Prisoners: If the dungeon dwellers are intelligent, they may have prisoners. As Gygax showed, these prisoners can have motives of their own, making the decision to free them not necessarily a given.
5) Fellow Adventurers: I would caution against this one being used too often and without a lot of forethought. Having other adventurers in a dungeon can make the place crowded, and it tends to violate the general rule of not having more than one NPC on stage at for a long period. If their motives are similar to the PC's, you risk making the NPC's the center of attention. If the motives are dissimilar, this probably ends up as a rather hard fight that may distract from the challenges of the dungeon itself. If the NPC's are victims in waiting, the PC's may be annoyed to have to play nurse maid. If you do decide to go this route, make sure you plan for the encounter to be the focus of the dungeon.
6) Friendly Neighbors: By this I mean, friendly to the PC's but not necessarily to the dungeon inhabitants. If the dungeon is large enough, it may be divided amongst several factions, some of which may be friendly to the PC's. Indeed, while this usually means normally 'good' creatures because otherwise the PC's will tend to shoot first and ask questions later, it may well mean simply a faction that thinks it can use the PC's to its advantage. Like a tribe of goblins that wants to wipe out a rival. It can also mean fairly bizarre things, like the spirits of some good folk who would like to assist the PC's in avenging their deaths at the hands of the current dungeon inhabitants.
7) Polymorphed Creatures: I'm fond of fairie tale tropes, so that unusually friendly monster might turn out to be a prince under a curse, or a princess whose been polymorphed into something and forgotten that she is a princess. Yet another reason for not attacking everything ugly you encounter.

 

[Quickleaf]

I think that something that isn't a monster/unable to be attacked (like a magical talking door you have to convince to open, etc) is the most fun, but coming up with things like that aren't as easy.

Heh. If they're true newbies then what about the two talking doors, one a truth teller the other a liar, behind one is a nasty trap, behind the other is treasure/their desired route. That's a staple of classic D&D.

I've also had fun with phantasmagoria, like non-monstrous ghosts replacing scenarios of death or betrayal, or a haunt trying to lead the PCs to the place it died. My favorite is the ghost trying to warn the PCs and getting mis-interpreted.

Are you looking for ideas or specific role-playing encounters?

 

[The Shaman]

Cowardly monsters aren't a bad idea either. In a reactive dungeon, not everything may come running to jump on the PCs' heads - some might high tail it out of there, or try a middle-ground approach like barricading themselves in an area and trying to negotiate through the barricade.

I'm told by players past that one of my more memorable encounters was a pair of goblins, one of whom pissed himself and fainted immediately on seeing the adventurers while the other ran away, straight into a trapped door, and died.

Once they roused the fainted goblin, he became their window into the dungeon level. His information wasn't always reliable, and it became out of date after a couple of forays into the dungeon, but with a few kicks and an offer of food - moldy cheese and alley cats were his favorites - he could be quite voluble and even a little helpful.

 

[Psychotic Jim]

Another idea is to use your fellow scavengers and looters as a resource. Thieves searching for unknown riches might be willing to trade knowledge or resources, and you'll occasionally find the odd mage or alchemist rooting around dungeons for various material components or alchemical reagents and such, or to capture experimental test subjects (once had a member of the Monster Hunter's Association pop up in one of my games and proceeded to hire the PCs to capture a beastie for him).

Also, remember many natural scavengers may not be interested in a fight. You might be able to make alliances of convenience with an otyugh, for example. Although they are ugly and tactless, they eat the stuff nobody else wants to deal with and have been known to act as garbage disposals from time to time. Adventurers have a bad habit of racking up the body count, so sometimes they need to have a way of doing something with all those enemy carcasses, especially when trying to conceal their presences.

In a similar vein, sometimes other creatures met in the dungeon will be raiders with hostile intent to the owners of the dungeon. The Underdark is filled with feuding parties who all hate each other (drow vs. duergar, for example)- so depending on how much the other raiders hate the dungeon owner as compared to the PCs, they may be willing to parlay for a time.

Also, remember many dungeons have a long history, and those who occupy the dungeon now may not be those who originally inhabited it. The displaced spirits of the previous dungeon dwellers may not rest easily, and these ghosts could serve as important sources of information. Similarly, some dungeons themselves may be living- whether it be the tattered AI of a fallen spaceship or an animate genius loci. Sometimes these living dungeons will be able to be negotiated with, and perhaps turned against the "parasites" that infest the living dungeon's body.

Finally, remember depending on your PCs class and level, they can often use magic to communicate with things that are normally not able to. Speak with Animals/Plants should work underground too (bats, rats, underground fungi) and stone tell will let you talk with rocks.

 

[Corathon]

Many good ideas have already been put forward. I'd like to add that even hostile monsters don't necessarily fight to the death. If a group of humanoids is losing a fight to the PCs, and there's no escape route, the remaining creatures may surrender. Then the PCs can talk to the prisoners, possibly learning valuable information about the dungeon.

 

[molepunch]

What I usually do is openly pass hidden information (like in a folded note) gained by a character with a high passive insight or perception score. Then I prompt "hmm it seems Gopkins has noticed something" to the other players.

It usually gets them to start naturally speaking in character to each other.


I've done the prisoner or magic item NPC but it usually just ends up being between the party's Face or Sage and the DM. Everyone tunes out. :/ hope you have better luck!

Happy gaming!

 

[SnowleopardVK]

Heh. If they're true newbies then what about the two talking doors, one a truth teller the other a liar, behind one is a nasty trap, behind the other is treasure/their desired route. That's a staple of classic D&D.

And over there we have the labyrinth guards. One always lies, one always tells the truth, and one stabs people who ask tricky questions.