Add some flavor to a mushroom-rich adventure

[jdrakeh]

Cultists of Fungar, Fungus God of the Damned.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I built an adventure once around a lizardfolk lair in which they harvested a type of fungus which, when disturbed, produced Strength-draining spores. The lizardfolk, already aware of the effects of the spores, would purposefully disturb them when intruders invaded and then make use of their ability to hold their breath for a long time to make sure they were not affected by the spores, while the intruders invariably were.

I am going to be yoinking that for sure, thanks.

 

[ichabod]

I always find a trip to wikipedia useful:

• "Fungi ... acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment."
• "most fungi are inconspicuous because of the small size of their structures, and their cryptic lifestyles in soil or on dead matter. ... They may become noticeable when fruiting, either as mushrooms or as molds."
• "Fungi can break down manufactured materials and buildings"
• "Losses of crops due to fungal diseases (e.g., rice blast disease) or food spoilage can have a large impact on human food supplies"
• "A mycorrhizal network (also known as a common mycorrhizal network or CMN) is an underground network found in forests and other plant communities, created by the hyphae of mycorrhizal fungi joining with plant roots."

So, secreting digestive enzymes sounds like an interesting attack. Being inconspicuous could lead to stealth fungi. Breaking down manufactured materials could damage equipment. Impacted food supplies could cause problems. I especially like the last one. As soon as one of them knows you're there, the rest of them do too.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So, secreting digestive enzymes sounds like an interesting attack. Being inconspicuous could lead to stealth fungi. Breaking down manufactured materials could damage equipment. Impacted food supplies could cause problems. I especially like the last one. As soon as one of them knows you're there, the rest of them do too.

If you haven't seen HBO's The Last of Us, that's used to very good effect there.

 

[Richards]

Tonguez mentioned shambling mounds above; as plant creatures, they can sometimes be found with fungal growths in among the rest of their vegetation; imagine a shambler with a patch of waving violet fungus tentacles embedded in its chest.

Johnathan

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Or perhaps the mushroom and fungi aren't the hazards at all. The nearly-sentient insect monsters that tend their fungal garden, however....

I was going to post along those lines, but got beaten to it.

There are several kinds of insects- mostly ants & termites as I recall- that cultivate/collect fungi to eat directly or to convert inedible things into food.

You could expand the list of sentients with a a culture of symbiotically sentient lichens. In one homebrew, I had elves who had used magic to make themselves more like plants, so they were green, photosynthesized, etc. You could do likewise with elves who have fused themselves with lichens.

Slime molds can become immense as they spread subterraneanly. So a sentient one might seem to have a godlike omnipresence in the environment you describe, especially if it can communicate (imperfectly) with other species. “Whispers in the dark”, visual hallucinations, etc. as its mind reaches out to talk to the beings moving nearby.

Perhaps a fungus’ spores can implant themselves in the flesh of the living, growing parasitically and eventually creating little ambulatory, violent “homunculi” that resemble their hosts. One part Evil Dead franchise, one part “Seeds of Doom”, one part Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

 

[Fenris-77]

 

[Hand of Evil]

Ophiocordyceps unilateralis , zombie ant fungus!​

 

[RangerWickett]

A tunnel filled with giant shelf fungus that serves as a combat arena with a platforming challenge involved. Have a large monster who's too heavy, so if it hops on one of the shelves, the thing collapses under it, possibly leaving a PC dangling on the edge.

 

[AnimeSniper]

Amphibia episode with the sentient mushroom that takes control of the host using it to spread more of spores to other creatures. Could have been previous adventurers who succumbed to them. Clumsy or not PC versus NPC's combat at above or below your player groups level.