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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jdrake3" data-source="post: 1221750" data-attributes="member: 12366">1) It's dug into the side of a mountain. As the mine has dug out more and more of the mountain, the city has grown to fill the cleared areas. I would have the mine open into some natural caverns.  Some of these can be quite impresive.  Underground lakes.  Enormous stalagtites, boulders, etc.2) It's mined by slaves, the majority of which are criminals from the city. Are there gaurd posts setup at the main entrance?  Throught the mine?  How often is the prision moved?  Assuming that the jail must be moved deeper and deeper into the mine.3) The main product is iron ore. I don't know if iron mines would supply any other products or not; i.e. would you come across copper or minerals while digging for iron?The stalagtites could have salts or other minerals in them.  You could have other viens of metals, etc. that begin in the walls of the newly opened cavern.4) Deep in the mines there's a section in which the pain and suffering from the deepest miners have tainted the iron, producing what's known as "black iron", which has special properties depending on how the iron is forged. In this section, slaves are deliberately exposed to torture and suffering in order to "season" the ore, and the ghosts of slaves who've died linger there.Nice.[5] Other than slaves and guards, what encounters can the players find in a mine? I imagine that something could have moved into abandoned sections, and pockets of escaped slaves could have set up societies in there, perhaps. If you are playing in the Realms, or have the equivalent of the Underdark you can have some of it's denziens wandering into the area.  You can also flip through the Monster Manual and pick out creatures that have the terrain tyoe underground.  Further there could be Dwarves in the area. Possibly a competing city mining from the other side of the mountain.  To go along with your suffering from before, maybe some agents of the God of Death are in the area, possibly allying with the party, allowing you to throw in monsters above the party's level.[6] What sorts of features would I find there? I imagine there needs to be water sources, sleeping areas, guard quarters, and methods for carting ore and tools about. Yes, and the underground lakes and rivers etc, could provide water, and flavor, like having a bridge at some point in the mine shaft.[7] Any pointers? Tell me about any mines you may have created.Definetly make up a random encounter list from the Monsters manual, that way you'll have it if the PCs ever head back this way.  Do not forget the trip to the city itself.Under 2nd Edition I had a Dwarven stronghold above a sealed mine that the PCs had to enter to recover a magical substance.  In the mines they encountered an Umber Hulk (random encounter), a group of renegade Male drow, and an ancient Deep Dragon.  Of course they were a high-level party, in a high-magic world.  They barely made it out however, and I think they had a good time.</blockquote>

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