Need cool Underdark locations

[Mycanid]

I object!

Everyone always leaves out the poor Myconid.

Anywho ... I am working on a large adventure that will later on dovetail into some "Underdarking", so I can tell a few of the things I have been thinking of:

1. An underground, long abandoned "tower shrine" dedicated to The Patient One (see Vile Darkness book) inhabited by cloakers long ago ... still a few of them floating around - incomprehensible nasties I'll warrant, love 'em.

2. A shrine to the Tanarii Lord Juiblex at the bottom of a huge underground lake (a 'la the one Gandalf and the Balrog fell into in the LOTR movie) that was set up originally by an Aboleth Mage.

3. A tremendously huge Svirfneblin city that experienced a cultural renaissance of sorts before being annihilated ... although this was actually deep near the roots of a mountain.

And on, and on, and on ....

Maybe this will give a few ideas?

 

[Wik]

Everyone always leaves out the poor Myconid.

Not I, my mushroom-loving friend. In fact, I once played a Myconid Psion (we gave him an amulet that let him communicate telepathically with the other PCs). Man, that was a cool PC.

Alright, so some cool adventure locales....

Rappel down a huge pit. If the pit goes up to the surface, you can even populate this pit with flights of bats and have rain fall. Lots of fun.

Boat down an underground tunnel, almost completely filled with water. You canspeed the pace up and have the group dodge stalacites.

Long, long tunnels that have dwarven cities or something on either end. The communities communicate by making loud drum noises combined with a rhytmic chanting that reverbates down the hallways. The whole city could be filled with these "Dwarfsongs" (or whatever race you want to insert) and every inhabitant would know the current status of the city. This song could constantly play, broadcasting the time of day and current events ("Huffle just met his quota. It is three P.M. The third mining shift of the day has ended. All praise king nob!")

An Ancient, Lovecraftian city that has been swallowed up by the earth due to the incredible amount of time that has passed since it was on the surface, over a million years ago.

***

In other news, check out the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide. It's the definative book on the underdark. It's a 1e book, so it might be hard to find. I found mine at a used book store for ten bucks (cdn). It's excellent, especially when it comes to information on real-world caves.

 

[Azalnubizar]

I allways loved the underdark trader caravan.
First you have to "convince" them, that it's not a good idea to take you as prisoners and sell you as slaves... once fighting has stopped, they ask you if you want to buy anything.
You can make them any underdark-type race.

Next if you r playing in the underdark they just have to meet drow! It doesn't have to be a drow city, but maybe an outpost, a foraging-party, a raiding party, maybe even the traders above r drow. But make sure to place a female priestress as their leader - I love to tread players as inferior just because they r male

As allready stated above, there r a bunch of interesting ideas in FR Underdark book.

As for creatures... main antagonists in the underdark should be drow, aboleth, kua-toa, mind flayer, Duergar and beholders. Did I miss anything?

There r supposed to be a few stinger-colonies around the underdark in FR... or anywhere else, if you like. Other races include Grimlocks, Minotaurs, Phaerimm (FR), Gold & Shield Dwarves, Deep Gnomes (Svirfneblin), Chitines, Orcs (FR + Orogs), Goblins, Quaggoth, Stone Giants, Troglodytes, Kobolds, Myconids, Grell.

Some Underdark Monsters I allways liked where Hook Horrors, Cave Fishers, Deep/Shadow/Sapphire Dragons (and nearly any other type of dragon can dwell in the underdark), Cloakers, all type of worms (like purpleworm etc)...

as about sites... there r many possibilities... gigantic open cave systems, lakes, rivers, small labyrinth-like caves, artificial caves, volcanic caves etc etc.

I allways liked some stuff, like the fungus that is so huge it fills whole areas of the underdark - you have to slice yourself through it or go round, but if you slice through it, it closes again behind you and (if it is considered sentient) it might even move you somewhere else without your knowledge (being inside you don't have any leads)...

"little river styx" - an underdark river crossing - complete with skeletal ferryman and everything... might be a deranged wizard who got a bit confused after getting back from the abyss... might be a deranged lich or some guy who is just trying to make a "living"...

you could also have a look at the weather above... if you are still in the upperdark, days of raining might lead to whole caves filling up with water for a time. Creatures like Mykonids or other fungy might live in these caves... these caves might even be a small "garden eden" because of the regular filling and therefore have many plants and animals (quite uncommon in the underdark). But this will also bring predators... and the chance to drown if you aren't that much into swimming, diving & water-breathing...

...there is allways the old Jules Verne "Forgotten World" in a huge cave in "the Middle of the Earth"... filled with Dinosaur-kind-of-types...

well, just a few thoughts...

 

[Land Outcast]

A lush -extremly humid- pale jungle (with plants and everything). Add whatever you'd like to add to a normal jungle, just twist it a little to have fun.
There is a light paler than moonlight atop the mamooth cavern... what is it?

A inclined tunnel covered with cavern moss... which is very slippery.

An empty destroyed city... Obviously fell from an upper level cavern, as some buildings are plainly pulverized. With giant-sized buildings.