Help me flesh out my dungeon...

[Gregor]

Hey everyone, its been ages since I have posted here!

I am starting up a new campaign and so I have come to the source for inspiration on everything d&d related. I was hoping I could pick your brains on how I could flesh out a large dungeon I am planning.

Part of my new campaign will have the PCs delve into the ruins of an ancient city buried beneath the earth (in the Northern Sword Coast Area of FR - Mirabar being the closest city) in pursuit of the BBEG who is searching for an ancient artifact that will allow him to summon forth and control a great demon. The BBEG will attempt to use the demon to summon an army of demons onto the material plane and will use them to conquer the North. The summoning probably wont take place in this large dungeon, but the search for the artifact will.

I want to design the ruins and populate them to reflect the fact that countless factions have made attempts to loot or control the ruins over the centuries. As such, it could be populated by denizens of the underdark such as Drow, Duergar et al., other adventurers, undead etc. I want this place to keep them busy for a few levels (i.e. take them from level 5 to 10)

Anyone have any good ideas for factions that would exist in an ancient city that could hinder or help the PCs, could be fighting with other factions etc. I want to bring alive the feeling that the dungeon is a dynamic environment with mixed inhabitants and various goals.

Some factions I have thought of:

Duergar - the deep dwarves hvae ventured into the ruins and have discovered an ancient magical forge. The dwarves are using the forge to craft great weapons with which they will use to fight their wars in the underdark.

Drow - a group of Drow have learned of the ancient magical lore that is present in the ruins and have begun searching for artifacts, books and other items. They have set up a shrine to Lolth somewhere in the ruins and are using it as their base.

Kobolds - a large tribe of kobolds have taken control of the old mines in the ruins. The kobolds worship a young white dragon that has made a lair out the mines (using one of the shafts to access the surface). He orders his worshippers to steal treasure out of the ruins and add it to his horde.

Ooze Cult - a bizarre cult of ooze worshippers, led by a deep druid (vermin keeper) is using a small part of the ruins as a temple. The temple is now covered in various molds, fungi and is populated by various oozes.

Adventurers of Kelemvor (god of the dead) - a group of good-aligned paladins / clerics of Kelemvor are battling the undead in the crpyts of the ruins where they believe a vampire is residing.

Add your own!!!!

 

[birdchili]

Who used to live there? Did they leave? Were they destroyed in the city when it was? Are their bodies in the ruins?

What caused the city to go into ruin, what buried it? Was the artifact involved in some way? If not, why is the artifact in the city? Is it just lying there or is someone in posession of it? If someone is in possesion of it do they know what it is and what it's capable of?

More questions than answers, but this is some of what I'd start with.

 

[Jim Hague]

Have you taken a look at The World's Largest Dungeon? http://www.worldslargestdungeon.com/ Seems pretty much tailor-made for your needs.

 

[Gregor]

Who used to live there? Did they leave? Were they destroyed in the city when it was? Are their bodies in the ruins?

What caused the city to go into ruin, what buried it? Was the artifact involved in some way? If not, why is the artifact in the city? Is it just lying there or is someone in posession of it? If someone is in possesion of it do they know what it is and what it's capable of?

More questions than answers, but this is some of what I'd start with.

Good to see another Torontonian!

Those are some good things to think about ... some things I have not thought about at all really ... and those are fairly fundamental questions.

 

[Imruphel]

Do you have Lost Empires of Faerun? It's a great book (although my copy is currently in another country) that will no doubt provide a lot more ideas for your use.

 

[howandwhy99]

It does sound like you are planning to run a one-massive-dungeon campaign. Check out Rappan Athuk too then. Plus, the Silver Marches book is very nice to flesh out the area you're playing in. That should help ease the filling in of the larger picture, if and when your characters decide to start travelling overland.

 

[Herobizkit]

Never forget that there could be other adventuring parties travelling about. I like your idea with your Kelemvorites, but what about other, regular adventuring comapnies? The Realms is littered with them... there should be a few down there that PCs can interact with.

Especially cool would be an adventuring party composed of humanoids. That'll mess with them.

How about an awakened animal who has taken levels in Druid so s/he can polymorph into a human? S/he has taken the entire city as his/her charge, and recruits members of other factions to try and keep things on the level.

 

[Hussar]

If you do decide to go the World's Largest Dungeon Route, take a look through the site in my siggie and see if you're interested in joining the World's Largest Adventuring Group.

 

[BobROE]

How about a group of Neutral alignment who's just ticked off that all these other people are messing up their homes (gives the PC's someone to ally with or another opponent, depending on how they play it).

Group of something (I want to say orcs, but it's so been done) led by an Orog (or group of Orogs) (see Races of Faerun).

A group of demons/devils who don't want to see this "great demon" be released.

Part of who the other good groups would be depends on who the PCs are working for. I could see a group of harpers being their but if the PCs are working for them, then their probably wouldn't be. Unless a party side goal was to rescue a different sent in by the same people backing the PCs.

A group of doppelgangers led by a mind flayer (or maybe greater doppleganger) who use their shapeshifting abilities to make sure everyone keeps fighting each other so they can get the good loot.

Perhaps someone who's tunneled in and just wants to find a defensible place to live, perhaps deep gnomes.

 

[The Shaman]

I like the ooze cult!

Once upon a time, a party of adventurers entered the dungeon and were killed off - all but one, that is. Since that time (s)he assembled a ragtag faction made up of different humanoids and monsters, the outcasts from the different factions throughout the dungeon, various others who've wandered in over time, and maybe even another adventurer or two, and together they attempt to hold their own against the other groups, defending their turf.

The adventurer is actually under the control of an intelligent magic weapon (sword or whatever) - the magic weapon is also looking for an artifact in the dungeon, which is why it has used the adventurer to assemble the faction in the first place. While most of the humanoids and monsters in this oddball group banded together out of necessity to survive and see themselves as holding their own piece of territory, the magic weapon sees them as expendable chess pieces to gain control of the dungeon and regain the artifact.

This gives you the opportunity to put together some really unusual humanoid/monster combinations that have a reason to be together (even thought it may seem to the players to be an almost random assemblage). They have a reason to negotiate with adventurers - from the magic weapon's perspective, anyone in the dungeon can be used to find its artifact, so adventurers should be befriended as long as they don't pose a threat - so there's a good chance to create several roleplay encounters involving this polyglot faction.

I hope this helps.