Retrofitting the Hero Snare

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm looking to use Monkey God's The Hero Snare as the lair of the kobolds (the primary antagonists in my campaign), but I need to be able to insert several not entirely allied factions (split along racial lines, with Tiamat, Kurtulmak, Fazalure and possibly others all having their own power groups) in place. Is the dungeon big enough to accommodate one or more power centers?

Beyond the general RBDM qualities of the place, is there anything significant about the layout that I should know? I'm sticking my kobolds' warren in the side of a mountain, but it's supposed to be a lair they made themselves, rather than retrofitting a preexisting structure. (Their green dragon mistress took over the local dwarfhold but didn't trust her servants to live there with her.)

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I dunno, man. I've heard the author of HS is a jerk.

Seriously, let's see what I can do (with the understanding that my memory on this one may be a tad fuzzy ). I'm not 100% certain that the complex would support multiple factions; it's pretty well purpose-built to kill intruders. Only the lowest level is really designed as kobold "living quarters."

That said, you might be able to fit multiple small factions down there. They'd have to have cooperated to build the complex itself, but that cooperation could be breaking down. Since the complex provides ways of getting from place to place that aren't really usable by creatures larger than kobolds, you could potentially have emissaries of one group contact the PCs without the knowledge of the others. What they have to offer, of course, is up to you. I suppose they could warn the PCs about some of the traps, but where's the fun in that?

As far as the layout, the complex is (again, with the exception of the lowest level) pretty obviously artificial. In some cases, they were natural caverns that the kobolds expanded, while in others, they're entirely kobold-made, but in either case, no, they didn't retrofit a preexisting structure.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That works.

And yeah, when the green dragon was around, they all cooperated, even as she broke down the standard kobold societal structure so that she could run things more easily. Now that she's gone, though, the warring factions she set up aren't doing so great.

As for a man on the inside, a very brave/naive gnome is intending to go undercover there. It will be ... interesting. I'm trying to decide which, if any, factions would keep him alive if discovered. It's one thing to stick it to your enemy, after all, it's another to cooperate with a gnome.