Hexplorations: Tombs Redux

We bring back our Hexplorations series by revisiting our “Tombs” entry made a couple of years ago.  That post had a multi-column chart covering the size, age, & purpose of a tomb.  Here we get into some more detail. Most of the columns of that prior chart could be used with this one, but here we get more information on who/what the tomb is for, why the PCs may be there, and what it is like inside.

As always, if you get a result that doesn’t make sense, throw it out–or see if rationalizing it leads to an interesting secret or fact!  And if you see something in your chart that meshes nicely with other aspects of your campaign or setting then there is no need to roll, just choose it.

Here’s an example using 1-2-3-4-5.  A pharaoh and his top advisers are interred in the tomb. Caves nearby used by the tomb’s builders are now used by monstrous humanoids (say orcs) but they haven’t found the secret door to the tomb.  A demon (perhaps worshiped by the orcs) is influencing the area and hopes to awaken the undead in the tomb.  The PCs stumbled on this situation when they noticed a dead zone without plant or animal life–perhaps a side effect of whatever the demon is doing.

It is also nice to describe the tomb’s interior. Some things may apply to the whole tomb (or a large section of it) and others may vary from room to room. There may also be combinations in a room–a fresco on the ceiling and carved runes in a line along the wall.  For this chart we wanted to give more options for possible Decoration Subjects, so it has two columns and you should pick the result that fits better with your campaign or narrative.

For this chart, we can use 6-5-4-3-2-1.  We need the extra number because the first result of 6 asks us to pick or roll again from 6 options.  So our tomb is made of something special: magically formed stone. It has painted runes (although this may vary from room to room if you wish).  The first room’s runes (or perhaps the dominant theme of the runes of most rooms) are about either how to reach a positive afterlife or a key trial of the subject of the tomb.  I like the “how to reach a positive afterlife” for a later chamber nearer to the actual sarcophagus (as a reminder for the subject of the tomb’s spirit) so I’ll go with the runes describing a key trial.  For this I’d pull in some of my campaign/setting info or think of something on the fly–perhaps this pharaoh before he ascended to the throne starved himself for many days to prove his worth or as civil disobedience. We could keep that theme (overcoming key trials) through most rooms and describe other trials he overcame for each room. Certain rooms (like his actual burial chamber) might have other subjects of the runes or even other types of decorations. In any case, the painted runes are like new, but not unnaturally–perhaps the chamber is airtight and without light which helped preserve the runes.