I will be starting a new home game this Saturday, and I want to run it where the players begin on the surface and slowly work their way down into the heart of the Darklands. The concept for the game I have is that something is causing the Black Blood of Orv to spread, which is pushing the creatures spreading out to Sekamina, pushing creatures living in Sekamina to the surface, pushing the ones displaced even further, up until creatures such as the Derro are forced out of their homes and begin attacking surface settlements en-mass. The PCs need to find out why.
That said, there are several parts I need some help figuring out.
1) Setting. I've never done an underground campaign before, so I'm exploring new territory here. I've read the section on the Darklands in the ISWG, and I'm looking through the Pathfinder Wiki now, but I would really appreciate recommendations of resources to look at.
2) Rest Stops. I get the impression that the Darklands tend to be overwhelmingly hostile; as such there won't really be any stereotypical 'village with an inn' for the PCs to stop at between adventures. I want some sort of area where the PCs can rest to regain their bearings, purchase supplies & sell loot, or fall back to as a last resort. What should I use for this?
3) Ecology. I know there's a lot of weird, crazy monsters in the Darklands, like the Intellect Devourers and Neolithids, but I'm not exactly certain what fits where.
Thanks in advance for your help!
I've done some more research on the Darklands, and come up with a solid path going from the surface to Orv utilizing the Endless Gulf... so I guess that takes care of #1 and #3.
I still need help with #2 though. There's a couple cities in the Darklands such as Hagegraf, which tend to be trade-focused and thus would allow PCs in, but once you get deeper I'm still at a loss for how to handle this.
You could have them encounter a settlement of Deep Gnomes. The gnomes are initially suspicious, but if the players help them with a quest or two, then the Deep Gnomes could offer a safe haven and be willing to trade a few things, if it was advantageous.
There may be places the group can venture back up to the surface.
Since you've already established there are trade settlements in the darklands, perhaps there are trade ROUTES. Perhaps at the beginning of the quest or at some point along the way, the party can buy, find, or is given a map of trade routes through the darklands. On these maps are not just cities, towns and small settlements, but also areas where natural resources (mines, fungus farms) that dot the expanse, some of which can be traded at. Also here or there will be marked the homes or holdfasts of powerful individuals who give refuge to traders (and likely trade as well) -- whether they be an isolated mage hideout, the isolated castle of some underlord, or even strange encounters like a treasure-filled web of some genius talking-spider, eager to trade all manner of stuff in it's lair for things the players may find. Things like that!
Fire Giant Games (IIRC) has a Kickstarter for a Darklands AP. Might be of interest to you, although it sounds more like sandbox exploration.
Still, conversion is sometimes less work than creating the whole thing, eh?
Of course, I would expect to see the following:
http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Darklands#Inhabitants
To this I would add a few possible encounters: Duskwardens escorting travelers through a truly long secondary route after a cave-in cut them off; rival adventurers going after the same goal as the PCs; a group of Nidalese slavers; an ancient colony of orcs that the dwarves missed in their Quest For Sky, and has never left the Darklands.
For 'pit-stops', you either have to create one, allow one, or introduce one. Maybe the duergar are friendly if you show up with money -- great. Or maybe there are no safe places down there, but they can be earned, such as earning the trust of paranoid but ambivalent svirfneblin by driving off their invaders.
Introducing pit stops is kind of tricky. It's easy enough to give the PCs a room that looks safe to sleep in, but less easy to give them access to refill their rations and buy upgrades to their weapons.
One way could be by disguise -- just trick the hostile natives into thinking you're duergar and run around their shops for a while. Of course, this could complicate your plans if the PCs accomplish all of their plans this way.
Meeting adventuring parties can provide something similar, but they wouldn't logically have -everything- the PCs could want, and wouldn't want to buy -everything- the PCs want to sell. Still, if they have a few run-ins they might get more or less what they want.
Teleportation magic up to the surface could help, but then, it alleviates the stress of being stuck in hostile territory if you can take a few deep breaths, buy more potions, and jump back in after a long nap.
You may consider 'vending machines'. Suppose there are ancient altars, possibly constructed by the descendants of the Azlanti that fled into the Darklands after Earthfall. With nothing to help them survive but the few random treasures they grabbed from their homes before fleeing into the caves, they built these altars to consume magic items and use the power to create different (more useful) enchantments. In game terms, the PCs can sacrifice magic items at half value and get other items enchanted. Not only is it functional for your game, it's also a plot hook! But you might limit the enchantments the altars perform -- Aberration-bane, Seeking, Holy and the like. Otherwise it kiiiinda steps on the toes of item creation feats.
Alright, thanks everyone. I think I have a good idea on how to make this work.