Add some flavor to a mushroom-rich adventure

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hiding in plain sight amongst the other fungi is an actual faerie circle- anyone stepping into it is transported to Underhill (or another mystical location).

 

[Nutation]

One side makes you larger, and the other side makes you small. (I am the first to reference Alice in Wonderland?)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

One side makes you larger, and the other side makes you small. (I am the first to reference Alice in Wonderland?)

Ask Alice.

 

[Tonguez]

One side makes you larger, and the other side makes you small. (I am the first to reference Alice in Wonderland?)

Indeed it appears that You are

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

My player characters will be encountering a dungeon complex partially overgrown with mushroom and fungi. Shriekers and violet fungi are fine, I guess, but they're pretty much old hat at this point.

Help me put the "fun" in "fungi" for this low level party.

Generally the umami of the mushroom goes well with chicken. Perhaps a lightly sauteed cockatrice. I found crocodile has a similar flavor too. Don't forget a little garlic and salt to taste!

 

[BookTenTiger]

Floating Fungus: These man-sized mushrooms slowly fill with a very light gas. Eventually they lift whatever they are rooted to into the air. Small creatures could ride on top of the fungi, pushing them through the air with fans or the Gust spell. A number of Floating Fungi could be grown on a boat to make it float in the air.

Fire Fungus: The spores of this large mushroom are flammable; when exposed to fire it explodes!

Red Cage Fungus: This large mushroom looks like an unassuming stone, but when a creature disturbs it, it erupts into a huge red cage that traps and slowly digests its prey. (This one is real!)

 

[BookTenTiger]

Oh, you could do a variation of how actual fungi facilitate the movement of vital nutrition to tree roots... But make it big and nasty!

How about a treant (or other plant monster) covered in life-draining fungus? When the fungus comes into contact with a living thing, it drains its HP and heals the treant!

 

[BookTenTiger]

Another idea: mushroom leather:

Californian firm touts ‘mushroom leather’ as sustainability gamechanger

There are folks who are developing techniques to make fake leather out of mushrooms. What if there is a mushroom that can be made into magic leather armor?

You could have lizardfolk harvesting special mushrooms that can be formed into regenerative armor, or fireproof armor, or special spiked armor. It would give the characters something interesting to search out for and harvest from the dungeon!

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Oh, and also:

Fungi of the Far Realms by Melsonian Arts Council

A fictional fungal field guide for your RPG group

melsonian-arts-council.itch.io

I have this book in hardcopy, and it really is fun.

Oh yeah, forgot about that one somehow. It's one of those RPG books that feels like it's an in-world book that somehow fell into the real world. Light on mechanics, but full of ideas.

 

[Tonguez]

Oh, you could do a variation of how actual fungi facilitate the movement of vital nutrition to tree roots... But make it big and nasty!

How about a treant (or other plant monster) covered in life-draining fungus? When the fungus comes into contact with a living thing, it drains its HP and heals the treant!

Heh a vampiric treant with tendrils that extend out in a 5 mile radius and are able to puppet fungal zombies

Another idea: mushroom leather:

Californian firm touts ‘mushroom leather’ as sustainability gamechanger

There are folks who are developing techniques to make fake leather out of mushrooms. What if there is a mushroom that can be made into magic leather armor?

You could have lizardfolk harvesting special mushrooms that can be formed into regenerative armor, or fireproof armor, or special spiked armor. It would give the characters something interesting to search out for and harvest from the dungeon!

in his last adventure (3 years ago real time) my PC Orbril the Gnome alchemist was working on developing a Mushroom-based leather that was flexible, fireproof and self repairing (via the mycellium matrix) and could thus be used to make fireproof clothing.