Dungeon Realism

[Hypersmurf]

I'm a logic monkey, if something doesn't make sense it takes a lot of the fun from me
(i.e. I'm walking down a corridor and I see two displacer beasts standing there, most people draw there weaqpons, I ask why are they there)

The problem I've found is - every time I ask displacer beasts why they're there, I get eaten... and my final thoughts are always "If only I'd drawn my weapons!"

Ahem.

One of my favourite dungeon-ecosystems was something I threw at a party in 1E.

They broke into the sealed underground temple, and were greeted by dozens of carrion crawlers.

They eventually beat them down, and proceeded within.

The temple guardians were all undead - naturally enough, in a sealed complex. After all, what else would still be active down there, with no food for centuries?

Which did, of course, lead to the question of 'What did the carrion crawlers eat?'

The question was answered when the PCs tried to leave the underground temple the same way they came in - through the lair of the slaughtered carrion crawlers.

It turned out that generations of carrion crawlers had been feasting on a family of trolls, who were constantly paralyzed (eight tentacles times dozens of carrion crawlers equals plenty of chances to fail a save)... and constantly regenerating. Once the PCs killed all the crawlers, the paralysis finally got a chance to wear off, eventually... and after centuries of being gnawed upon, the trolls were more than a little crazy...

It probably wouldn't work under 3E rules, since regeneration specifically doesn't prevent death from starvation. But at the time, it was a lovely surprise

-Hyp.

 

[Vorput]

The problem I've found is - every time I ask displacer beasts why they're there, I get eaten... and my final thoughts are always "If only I'd drawn my weapons!"

::chuckles:: Well said.

Good points across the board... I think I've realized I might be putting a little too much info in (especially considering how little of it the PCs will notice of it), but too much is probably better than having to field the question of "What the heck is going on here? "when it comes up.

Thx again all.