Let's make a Dungeon /tg/!
First what kind of place will we build it
>1. Forest
>2. Plain
>3. Marsh/Swamp
>4. Mountain
>5. Coastal/Ocean
>6. Snowy/Snowy
Rolled 1 (1d6)
>>46336101
Snowy or snowy?
Rolled 2 (1d6)
>>46336118
Whoops I meant for that to just be Snowy/Snowy Above. Meaning a Snowy Version of the Above.
>>46336118
So you got first, forest dungeons are neat.
>>46336128
Cool, plains are nice because they are out in the open.
Next up!
>1. Above Ground
>2. Below Ground
>3. Both
>4. Neither, because floating dungeon are cool
Rolled 1 (1d4)
>>46336246
Most floating dungeons can also be said to be above the ground, you know.
>>46336286
Don't be a derp.
>>46336286
I can get behind the idea of some kind of ancient moss covered castle or temple hidden deep in a dark and foggy wood.
Next!
Above ground, but what how?
>1. Tall and skinny, Tower-style?
>2. Spread out wide, like a city?
>3. A little of 1 and 2? A healthy middle ground?
Rolled 3 (1d3)
>>46336392
Let's see, I'm hoping for three.
>>46336446
Oooh way to go!
Next!
A decent height and width! But how?
>1. One massive structure filled with rooms large and small?
>2. Segmented into separate interconnection buildings, with tall n low ones, long n wide, and short n narrow?
>3.
>>46336568
Forget that number 3!
>>46336628
Think you messed up there m8!
Rolled 1 (1d2)
>>46336568
this even
>>46336663
Alright one massive structure!
Next!
>1. It is layered, like a cake, with each higher layer beingins smaller than the next?
>2. or is it just one solid mass of building?
Rolled 2 (1d2)
>>46336832
I like the layer
>>46336955
Aww... too bad.
Alright!
>1. Is it pristine and maintained?
>2. Has it seen better days but its still being maintained?
>3. Is it pristine and entwined with nature?
>4. Is it ruined and being reclaimed by nature?
Rolled 1 (1d4)
>>46337041
Rolling
>>46337063
Oooh! I was hoping you'd pick that!
>>46337041
Aw, I was hoping for 4.
>>46337115
Wait, crap, I thought it has landed on 4! Oh... sad... I'm sad too now.
>>46337115
>>46337146Maybe after you beat the dungeon then it will be reclaimed by Nature?
Alright...
What kind of dungeon are we working with?
>1. Is it magical? Was it built on leylines or mana streams to get the most of the ambient magic of the world? Powering the enchantments and constructs within?
>2. Was no magic involved, but instead Technology? Advanced Technology, created by the brightest mind(s)? Filled with Technological Marvels and Restless machines?
>3.Is it perhaps, neither? Is it just a building, made by the blood sweat and tears of its crafters, mortal beings make something grand with just their bear hands?
Rolled 2 (1d3)
>>46337287
>>46337331
Nice! Technological Dungeon! Filled with traps so complicated that only a really bright mind could hope to navigate it.
Alrighty!
We have a Pristine Fantasy-Tech Dungeon, resting in the middle of dense forest, its large width and height maintained by the mechanical marvels within!
Now then...
>1. Is it occupied by its Creators, who live within its walls still creating more fantastical technology?
>2. Abandoned, for reasons that are unknown, but may yet be discovered?
>3. Is it occupied by some other force, monsters or men who have claimed it for their own?
>4. Or perhaps, the crafters grew to arrogant... and their creations have now become the masters of its halls?
Rolled 2 (1d4)
>>46337511
Nice
>>46337538
Abandoned! Neat.
>>46337563
Well, that's it for making the dungeon's exterior and basic story!
Now its time to fill it! Suggestion?
I was thinking of Goblin-Droids, mechanical Goblins that serve both as maintenance workers and cheap basic security.
>>46337678
Ever play The Savage Empire?
There's an underground tech city, partially ruined, that's been abandoned by its sentient lizardmen creators but the automontons and robo dinosaur guardians still protect the abandoned city. Maybe something similar?
>>46337764
No I haven't, but I've been meaning too. That's neat... I really like my Goblin-Droids though...
So How about a smart race/coalition of Orc/Goblins/Etc. This thing could potentially be centuries or even millennia old, so its possible.
>>46337835
I like it.
>>46337835
Sure.
How are they getting money & raw materials to build and support this fortress?
Are we assuming the world at large has a typical WHFB/Forgotten Realms tech level?
What kind of forest?
Savannah thorn forest? Temprate rain forest? Jungle? Taiga?
>>46337920
Automaton workers in underneath the city, kinda like mining worker bees
>>46337920
Well, the "dungeon" itself is on the surface, maybe there could be out lying facilities and stations in the region that this place dungeon is located?
A lost valley kind of thing, the entire area once belonged to the makers, and everything is still working as it was.
The mining facilities in the valley walls are still digging up and producing resources and going deeper into the earth. Their could be massive tunnels deep underground by now. It could be causing stability issues farther out because of it.
>>46337985
Well, I'd like for it to be misty and ancient, concealing the dungeon. So what would be the best for that?
So I was thinking something along the lines of this for the Goblin Droid.
>>46338020
Temperate rain forest would be good for that. Giant trees, 200-400 inches of rain per year so lots of humidity = mist common. Lots of ferns and moss. Think of coastal southern Alaska down to the Olympic Peninsula.
With that much rain there's the possibility that the builders came up with interesting ways to manage and control the run off. Water table would be high so the pumping technology would need to be advanced in the mines or alternatively they had to stop mining when they hit the water table so could only access ore in the upper parts of the valley walls. Once the high ore ran out they had to abandon the valley
>>46338245
Yep, this is going to be used in a scifi campaign of mine at some point
>>46338277
That's perfect!
What about elevated stations on the valley wall, covered entrances into the mines from higher up so that they wouldn't have to worry about the water getting in.
They could also be gathering the water into tanks for hydraulic mining further underground.
>>46338410
Go ahead! I'm still gonna make it better but that was a general idea. The fore arms and hands are basically multi-tool compartments. I'm not sure if I should give them some kind of ranged weapon as a body component yet though.
>>46338475
I'd say one arm has a dedicated to some form of dart gun or internal crossbow, with a "magazine" it can attach to the forearm
Something like this?
>>46338828
Precisely. With the right bolt heads and/or a powerful enough firing mechanism the horrifying little thing won't give a fuck about most forms of armor.
Actually the dungeon probably has a handful of dedicated forges now that I think about it
>>46339072
Oh yeah, repairing and making new Gob-droids all the other mechanicals inside.
>>46339072
>>46338828
>>46338638
I'd say that if we're treating the Gob-droids as worker bees, they should have something akin to a dagger. Leave the crossbows to the warrior class.
>>46339185
That... makes more sense, a worker would have more use for a knife/dagger than a crossbow.
Mostly active defense (the little goblin dudes) or primarily relying on passive defenses (traps, lock etc)?
>>46339227
Both, Goblins and the other mechanicals, locks protecting places that would need them and Security, locks and traps guarding the more crucial and important areas.
>>46339185
In theory the same mechanism can be used for a blade to extend from the palm
>>46339227
Passive would make more sense, with the active force on reserve outside of highly populated/important zones.
>>46339224
>>46339227
>>46339301
I vote for spider style robots with heavier crossbows on the abdomen. Throw in some spinning mouthparts and we've got some serious guards.
>>46339350
Hmm... I like both ideas concerning the weapons... but I'd limit the the Spiderbot to only one, the heavier Crossbow.
We could put the spinning mouth parts on some kind of fast moving pursuit robot. Not sure if we should make it bipedal like a squig or beakdog or have it going on all fours like a hound.
>>46339451
Whatever it is, it needs to be fast. A flyer, maybe? Like a giant, mechanical wasp or the hummingbird from techno hell?
>>46338475
Started drawing a picture then realized I didn't really have a point I was trying to illustrate...
Rainwater isn't what you need to worry about underground, it's the water table. Water table generally follows a subdued version of topography so rises beneath hills and lower/flattens in valleys. Rivers/lakes/swamps are simply where the WT and surface intersect. There's almost always (even in arid climates like Nevada) plenty of water underground, it's when you're below the water table that you start to have problems. For example, IIRC at the Cortez mine in NV, a third of their power went to pumping and they were producing something like 10,000 gallons per minute. Plenty of historic mining districts went bust once they had water like that coming in. The Comstock Lode was saved by driving a 4 mile tunnel beneath the mines to the Carson river so that drainage would improve and pumping distances were shorter (once they mined to below the tunnel level). That tunnel was driven by hand through hard rock so keep in mind the kind of effort they put into developing drainage.
Adits into a valley wall are much easier and cheaper than sinking a shaft - you can use gravity to your advantage to move rock and water plus two parallel adits at different elevations can be connected by a raise which will create natural ventilation due to differences in temperature and air density. So there's pretty much no way that they'd not have multiple tunnels in the sides of the surrounding mountains.
hydraulic mining only works in unconsolidated sediment, not rock.
>>46339729
One more thing, depending on the mineralogy, you can sometimes get what's called supergene enrichment which is where the breakdown of sulfide minerals (mostly pyrite) releases sulfuric acid (FeS2 +H2O -> H2SO4 + FeOX) which dissolves other minerals and carries the dissolved metals downward where they hit a reducing zone (generally the water table) and repercipitate at much higher grade e.g. natural concentration converts rock that's 0.5% Cu to say 3% Cu. So if you find the paleo water table (perhaps from a time in the past when the valley floor was higher or the climate was different) you might find much higher grade ore. This is mostly seen in arid environments
I was thinking something like this for the Ork-Droid. Besides what ever weapon it would wield in its right hand there is also a blade mechanism mounted on the right forearm capable of extending out. That way even if disarmed it would have a weapon and it would also make combat tricky, whats to stop its from extending the blade if you are crossing swords.
As for the left arm, I remember seeing a crossbow-shield somewhere and it would be perfect for this. The entire mechanism in built into the left arm. With twin magazines feeding into it. This sacrifices the use of the left hand but who needs a moving hand when you can just put a hunk of fist on it so beat your opponents with. This would give them defense and ranged capabilities. What do ya think?
>>46339711
I actually just though of the Shrieker from Tremors, something like that would be pretty effective.
>>46339729
>>46339839
Ah, thanks for educating me on that. I understand a bit better now. So how could we potentially get around that? Or would we need to just go further out? It would also explain the need to explore the dungeon if they are leaving the valley and causing panic and alarm.
>>46339839
And people say rocks are boring
>>46339912
I feel like they might have something akin to katars for their left hands so they can stay armed while raining bolts on the enemy
>>46339912
Depends on how realistic you want to get with your fantasy mine engineering. I'm obviously interested but we're in danger of veering way off from abandoned technology fortress on the surface in the woods.
I'd probably either just handwave the details or just keep going out laterally (we'll assume there's ore out there)
Another possible plot/lore point: The did have good pumps and mined deep but for some reason pumps failed, they couldn't repair them and the place flooded. That could open up aquatic monsters of the deep that now live in the flooded workings. Not sure how to explain how they got in there.
Maybe there's an air pocket that's somehow kept fresh and group of the original fort guys trapped long ago now have devekloped into some kind of drow/falmer underground cave creatures. Doesn't really make much sense but it's fantasy
>>46340202
Interesting,I like the sound of that actually
How about the dungeon facility houses a portal to another plane and the central facility takes spirits from that plane and uses them to power and animate magical items, most notably golems. These items/golems did most of the physical labor for the creators, able to ignore the cold humidity of their rainforest home.
Even though the creators are gone the facility still runs, mining ore and creating vessels to be filled. Output of finished vessels is low but while storehouses contain golem vessels ready to be filled. The mining has broken through to the underdark, alerting its denizens and surface explorers have also arrived at the ruins. If one were to succeed at getting access to the control room and edit the enchantment protocols they could restart operations and create an army not seen in 1000 years. But to do so they have to make it past the automated defenses, sentinels, squatters, and competing factions.
Thoughts?
>>46341059
Gives motivation for exploring the place plus an enemy faction beyond just neautral traps is more interesting. Sounds good
