The players will soon be descending into a rat-ruled section of darklands, and I'm looking for ideas.
Now obviously there's:
Ratfolk (and their traps)
Wererats
Dire Rats
Rat Swarms
Ratlings
Natural underground hazards
And of course the occasional non-rat things to keep things fresh.
But what else? This place is one that's fallen into decay, the rats don't have as much power here as they did a couple hundred years back. The PCs should be right around the point of reaching 3rd level by the time they go in. They're going in in the first place to confirm the suspected decline of the rat kingdom, and to find the lost resting place of a group of elven samurai who made their last stand somewhere in the caverns, and deliver the banner of their order to the site to honour them.
And not just monster and danger ideas, but location. What would a rat kingdom look like? I'm drawing blanks trying to picture it.
If you can find it, there's a novel by Fritz Leiber about Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser that has a kingdom of rats under Lankhmar (the city they usually adventure in) with some nice bizarre imagery.
There's also "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH", but they might be a bit too nice for your purposes.
There was a spot in Undermountain that I used as a rat's nest. It was a large natural cavern that humanoids at one point settled in and built some semi-permanent structures. Over the years the humanoids eventually abandoned it and wererats and their associates took over. Trash piled up and disease ran rampant. Most civilized folk (as much as there can be in UM) avoided it at all costs.
The inhabitants were, of course, wererats (several with class levels), giant rats, oozes (in places where water pooled and stagnated), carrion crawlers, giant centipedes, etc. Think vermin swarms as well.
It should be a filthy nest of foul smells and potential traps. You never know when a trash pile might cover up a dangerous pit trap (or worse) or the wererats close off avenues with hidden barricades (behind trash, naturally). Also, any place that has that much trash is going to attract...otyughs! Have fun!
Are you at all familiar with the Skaven from Warhammer?
Depending on what you want the general alignment of your rat kingdom to be they might serve as a nice reference.
Here a short summary:
In the warhammer world the Skaven are a race of rat-like humanoids of mysterious origin, they multiply extremely fast and live underground throughout the entire world.
Their social structure is based around a resource called warp stone; a magical material infused with the unpredictable but highly potent power of chaos. They use it for enhancement of their magical abilities, to fuel their magical machines and to breed and mutate monstrous warbeasts and even livestock as well as currency.
Skaven are organized in clans ruled by warlords which are at constant odds about power within skaven society. Also there is the temple of the horned rat (their deity) which organizes around the one of the only three organizations permitted to practice magic: the grey seers (the other two are the clans Skryre, who use their magic to build warpstone powered weapons and machines; and clan pestilens, a clan of disease ridden monks). The twelve most influential factions get seats in the council of the thirteen (the thirteenth seat is more symbolic and belongs to the horned rat himself)
The most common political methods employed by skaven to gain power are intrigue, treachery and general backstabbing (including both the figurative and literal sense). Their ultimate goal is to take over and rule the world but thanks to their constant infighting and backstabbing they are unable to achieve it.
This is a nice model for an (over the top) evil society to borrow from.
If you want to base it off the real behaviour of rats i would say make them a society based off rather altruistic values (the needs of the many etc.) when it comes to members of their own society while being apathetic to the problems and needs of other societies (even when causing them such)
Creative Director
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We actually have a rat-ruled portion of the Darklands in Tian Xia—it's mentioned a little bit in the Dragon Empires Gazetteer.
I agree with Eric's suggestion though to go track down Fritz Leiber's stories about the rat kingdom, since those stories are pretty much not only where the D&D (and thus Pathfinder and most other modern RPG rat-peoples) wererats come from, but pretty much where the D&D (and descendants) version of a "thieves' guild" comes from...
We actually have a rat-ruled portion of the Darklands in Tian Xia—it's mentioned a little bit in the Dragon Empires Gazetteer.
I agree with Eric's suggestion though to go track down Fritz Leiber's stories about the rat kingdom, since those stories are pretty much not only where the D&D (and thus Pathfinder and most other modern RPG rat-peoples) wererats come from, but pretty much where the D&D (and descendants) version of a "thieves' guild" comes from...
That's actually the bit of darklands I'm using. ^_^ The elven samurai I mentioned are from Jinin.
Looks like I have some books to track down...
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I imagine a large mound (more of a small mountain) similar to a termite mound in an open area. It's made of soft rock and the rats have made a warren of it. Parts of the warren are abandoned and occupied by other creatures. Other parts are ruled by were rats.
The whole thing is made up of tunnels the right size for small creatures so medium need to crouch down. The living areas are larger and often multi tiered as other tunnels enter on different levels. You can enter on the bottom or climb up to the top and use one of the entrances up higher. The higher you are on the mound the nicer the place (crap rolls downhill as it were) and the more powerful the denizens.
The area around it is filled with filth and monsters that like it. Otyughs and the like.
You could try really going against type by having the PC's discover that the city is full of good-aligned Ratfolk. Imagine their confusion when they storm in ready for the hordes of evil only to find themselves facing a bunch of Ratfolk clerics and paladins of Erastil or Abadar.
Are you at all familiar with the Skaven from Warhammer?
Depending on what you want the general alignment of your rat kingdom to be they might serve as a nice reference.
Here a short summary:
In the warhammer world the Skaven are a race of rat-like humanoids of mysterious origin, they multiply extremely fast and live underground throughout the entire world.
Their social structure is based around a resource called warp stone; a magical material infused with the unpredictable but highly potent power of chaos. They use it for enhancement of their magical abilities, to fuel their magical machines and to breed and mutate monstrous warbeasts and even livestock as well as currency.Skaven are organized in clans ruled by warlords which are at constant odds about power within skaven society. Also there is the temple of the horned rat (their deity) which organizes around the one of the only three organizations permitted to practice magic: the grey seers (the other two are the clans Skryre, who use their magic to build warpstone powered weapons and machines; and clan pestilens, a clan of disease ridden monks). The twelve most influential factions get seats in the council of the thirteen (the thirteenth seat is more symbolic and belongs to the horned rat himself)
The most common political methods employed by skaven to gain power are intrigue, treachery and general backstabbing (including both the figurative and literal sense). Their ultimate goal is to take over and rule the world but thanks to their constant infighting and backstabbing they are unable to achieve it.
This is a nice model for an (over the top) evil society to borrow from.
If you want to base it off the real behaviour of rats i would say make them a society based off rather altruistic values (the needs of the many etc.) when it comes to members of their own society while being apathetic to the problems and needs of other societies (even when causing them such)
THIS
Damn double post :(