Roleplay opportunities in a mine (level 2)

[jayoungr]

So I need to have an adventure ready to run at a birthday party in a couple of weeks. The PCs are level 2 and will be exploring a long-disused mine. I want to have opportunities for combat, exploration, and roleplay in the adventure. Combat and exploration seem easy in this case--I'll toss in a few hazards or puzzle rooms, and maybe some rust monsters. But roleplay is going to be trickier, so I thought I'd turn to the community here and see if you have any ideas.

The obvious solution is for someone to have gotten into the mine from the Underdark, but I have a couple of caveats about that. First, the players will be mostly 13-year-old girls, so I don't want to get too graphic or edgy. Second, this is a follow-up to a session I ran last spring, and the "birthday girl" is probably the only returning player. She is running a drow rogue, who will be the only drow PC, so anything involving drow is going to affect that character disproportionately.

Oh, and I gave her brother a copy of the Starter Set for his birthday last spring; it's safe to guess that the whole family has probably looked at Lost Mine of Phandelver, so I can't really borrow anything from that adventure.

So, can anyone suggest roleplay scenarios, or do you know of any other mine-related adventures I could borrow from?

 

[robus]

Well the obvious answer is the mine connects to some Dwarven community (disused because the ore is tapped out - so now it's a home to nasties that have started harassing the Dwarves?) - perhaps they encounter a raiding party that's trying to deal with the same problem they are? Perhaps there's some argument over who wants to get the glory?

Drow vs Dwarf might be an interesting dynamic? (and if there's another Dwarf in the party, perhaps they're some cousin to one of the raiders?)

 

[MarkB]

One suggestion: The ghosts (or at least spirits - actual Monster Manual ghosts might be a little tough at 2nd level) of two miners are still inhabiting the mine. Each claims to have useful information for the party in return for helping them move on to the afterlife - but each one claims that the other is lying, and is actually the spirit of one of the invaders who killed the miners. By questioning both spirits and investigating the mine, the PCs must deduce which of them is telling the truth.

 

[iserith]

A social interaction challenge (because combat and exploration are roleplay!) might be the ghost of a miner who died in a cave-in who isn't aware of it. If the PCs can figure out what happened and explain it to the ghost, he or she can move on to the afterlife. If the PCs are successful, the miner shares with them a tunnel that serves as a useful shortcut around a dangerous area (perhaps a cave filled with odorless, explosive gas) and/or leads to a cave that contains a treasure.

Edit: Dang! [MENTION=40176]MarkB[/MENTION] upstaged me!

 

[toucanbuzz]

1. Dungeon Magazine #134, "Home Under the Range." Was running Age of Worms and this was in the magazine. Fun adventure. Even if you can't find a copy, could homebrew your own. Premise:[sblock] it's a cowboy/cowgirl herding session. Dwarves are excavating to the site of a fallen hero to recover her artifact hammer and bury her bones with her ancestors, but they can't because tieflings, using magical darkness, keep ambushing them. Unknown to the dwarves, when the dwarf hero collapsed a cavern upon her and a demon, the demon survived, albeit trapped. The demon sent a magical servant for help, and it gathered the demon's progeny. The dwarf's first caravan of these beetles was ambushed, so they are forced to get outside help to aid the excavation site. If you can find it, probably fairly easy to convert. If not, could make up your own herding rules, unique encounters that aren't all necessarily hack n slash such as mushroom grove that distracts them (and some sentient mushrooms that try to eat beetles only), and so on.[/sblock]

2. Some brainstorming non-combat ideas off another forum.

 

[Sadras]

Whenever I think of low-level and mines I think of the Nashkel mines in the Baldur's Gate I PC game.

Good times.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

For RP in that sort of situation (i.e., not one I can easily drop an NPC into), I will often bounce that ball into the court of the PCs. I might start with them setting up camp next time they take a long rest and ask them questions like “what to do you do before you rest?” or “what do you talk about?” If I need to lead them, I might say something like “You notice an old, broken statuette and it reminds you of something in your past. What is it?”

I find that all it takes is one person to really get into it to pull the rest of the group into some good RP.

 

[S'mon]

A friendly but eccentric ghost? A dead miner?

Running Stonehell Dungeon - the Cursed Mine area recently, there was a helpful dwarf ghost miner who was a cool NPC.

Edit: I see most of the thread has the same idea LOL

 

[MarkB]

Whenever I think of low-level and mines I think of the Nashkel mines in the Baldur's Gate I PC game.

Good times.

So many kobolds. So much yipping.

 

[Quickleaf]

The obvious solution is for someone to have gotten into the mine from the Underdark, but I have a couple of caveats about that. First, the players will be mostly 13-year-old girls, so I don't want to get too graphic or edgy. Second, this is a follow-up to a session I ran last spring, and the "birthday girl" is probably the only returning player. She is running a drow rogue, who will be the only drow PC, so anything involving drow is going to affect that character disproportionately.

There’s a knocking sound coming from the walls. At first it’s faint but gradually the rogue realizes its a type of Thieves’ Cant used by prisoners to communicate without their captors realizing it. Who is the originator of this knocking sound, and are they indeed held captive? A down-on-her-luck kobold who picked up some Thieves’ Cant And wants the PCs to aid her on a quest? A lost elven mage-thief hiding from monsters who occasionally weaves in a minor illusion or prestidigitation into her knocking to make it seem spooky? Is it actually a ghost? Are they telling the truth about who they are? Maybe the “knocker” can provide the PCs with clues when they’re stumped, play on their heart strings, or provide comic relief?