| Mark Hoover 330 |
So I'm reading through my AAW Games' Mini Dungeon Tome - got it through a kickstarter, VERY happy with it. I started to notice though in some of the small dungeons: foods contained in storerooms, ostensibly to feed the intelligent monsters therein.
So where would they get them?
I mean the obvious would be that they knocked over a merchant's wagon or a village barn or something, but that'd leave a trail right?. What are some other more subtle ways that monsters could stock their larders without alerting the local authorities? I'm only asking because I'd like to be able to explain to my PCs when they find a modest farmer's market worth of food in the dungeon pantry.
| VoodistMonk |
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Put a farm in the dungeon. Problem solved.
A collapsed part of the cavern lets in a single ray of sunshine, illuminating an area of about 20x20 feet. In this solitary spot of natural illumination, you see a variety of generic vegetables, a couple fruit trees, and a sundial in the midst of the ragtag garden. You smell the pig manure they use for fertilizer, and you hear the pigs in a pen on the far side of the garden. It's almost serene, almost beautiful, almost reminds of you of your childhood back on the farm, except for the scattered skeletons littering every inch of the cavern floor, each one meticulously picked clean of its flesh.
| Dave Justus |
Generally for that kind of dungeon it is assumed that the denizens do leave the dungeon to raid villiages, passing caravans, etc. It is often because the creatures are a danger to the surrounding area that people want heroes to go clear it out. If the monsters just stayed inside, no one would really care.
As for that activity leaving a trail, it would. Depending on how frequently given routes were used, the terrain, and how long it had been since a given route was last used it could be quite difficult to spot. A few days after a wagon was taken off the main road and brought (perhaps many miles) to the lair it might well take an extremely skilled tracker to even realize that that had happened, let alone be able to follow the trail. And if the monsters are scared enough of being followed, they could take active steps to obscure it as well.
Beyond raiders, some intelligent species could have their own food production. This is more typical in 'underdark' type dungeons but even a group of orcs could have farming or hunter-gathering going in near their lairs.
If the monsters are working for someone (probably as a covert strike in conjunction with a larger plan) the food could have been brought there specifically to support them. A one time trip, especially since no one would be looking for missing wagons, would be unlikely to leave a noticeable trail. Or the trail might be relatively easy to follow but since no one knows to look for it, it doesn't really matter.
Lastly of course, you could just tell the player characters that they don't know.
Really the best way is to figure out why the monsters are here and what they do when their aren't PCs knocking down their doors and putting them to the sword. That will probably tell you how they get the goods and supplies that they need.
| Meirril |
Every dungeon should have a plot hook that leads the players there. Missing travelers, bandit attacks, raided farms and villages are all great plot hooks to get your adventurers from a tavern to a dark hole in the ground or some half forgotten ruin.
Also where is this dungeon? The inhabitants could easily forage or force other creatures to gather food for them. If they do force others to work for them, are they allies of the monsters? Or are they going to ask the adventurers for help?
A large number of monsters hunt humans. As such they need to be somewhat close to human lands to satisfy their needs. Maybe they work with bandits? Maybe they work with a hidden cult? Or they disguise themselves as merchants...or run a tavern?
You don't really need to spend a lot of effort figuring this stuff out. Just a little is usually enough to satisfy the players curiosity. If you tell them "you find a small pile of ruined hides and bones of local creatures near some decaying meat on a wooded cutting board" they probably won't wonder why the monsters don't have more preserved food.
Val'bryn2
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It isn't the sausage. It's the pudding.
Actually, at one point I was dming for a group including my younger brother, who was playing an elf. Sunless Citadel, where the goblins have crates of Elf Pudding. I think the entire party and I had to jump in before there was some accidental, VERY non-Tolkien approved, Elvish cannibalism.
| Mark Hoover 330 |
Ok yes, there's a larder of former adventurers becoming all sorts of unsavory things from crackers to sausage to pudding and so on. But I think what's throwing me is... "barrels and crates." Every dungeon DOES have an adventure hook but not all of them are "monsters have raided in the area." Sometimes the adventure takes place far from civilization, other times the monsters are not at all stealthy ambush types, and sometimes there's some Divine/Profane reason the PCs are there that has nothing to do with anything as mundane as monster footprints.
So how does civilization get to the uncivilized? I figured an obvious answer was the Craft skill.
Craft can be used untrained. Even a couple trolls can weave a simple basket. Change "crate of foodstuffs" to "BASKET of foodstuffs" and that could at least explain the containers. As for the actual food inside:
1. Dungeon farm
2. Former trespassers/enemies
3. The spoils of raids/ambushes
4. Hunting/fishing the local area/underground
| Cydeth RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 |
As someone who uses a fair amount of mapmaking software.
Barrels and crates don't require you to decide on the contents, and are usually readily available in most map styles I've encountered. It's far easier to use, from a mapmaking perspective, than baskets or the like.
From a more immersive point of view, a barrel or crate can be used for years if it isn't damaged. All you need is to capture a handful over the course of years and you have containers that you may not know how to make, but which work well for their purpose... even if they aren't necessarily hygienic.