DungeonMorphs Sewer Sample/Preview
Our latest DungeonMorphs Kickstarter wrapped up its pledging earlier this year, but you can still make a late pledge via BackerKit. We’ve been working hard to finish the maps and write-ups about each area. In fact, previews of the blue maps & Dyson’s versions for all of the designs have gone out to backers. Meanwhile, the descriptions of each area give you six ideas for each area of each design!
Below is a sample of one DungeonMorph sewer design. All of these designs are written by the amazing and talented Andrew Shields. Note that each area has three “themed” descriptions as well as three un-themed ideas. You’ll likely want to stick with one theme across designs, but you can always switch things up if you like another idea.
First, here is a short description of the three themes used for all the sewer designs:
- The Understructure. After the city was razed by dragons a decade ago, the survivors fled. Since then, the jungle has reclaimed the surface, but there are still sewers, basements, and underground chambers in the sweltering darkness.
- The Glittering City. Clean pavement, orderly lanes, and fantastic architecture delights residents and tourists. Any blemish on the city is intolerable, reported by spies and removed by the City Watch. The flawed or impoverished residents of the city are forced outside the walls or under the ground.
- Daylight’s Curse. The industrious city razed the druid’s grove to harvest ancient wood for their ships. The surviving druids cursed the city, twisting its people into animal hybrids too sensitive to the sun’s burning touch. The city order disintegrated in a matter of hours. Some survivors banded together to form bestial factions beyond the sun’s reach, in the sewers of their once-great city.
Also note each design is divided into nine sections, 3 across & 3 vertically. Numbers are used to denote an area. For example, “1, 4” refers to the top left and middle left sections of the map. Numbers beside the map illustrate this.
Isolated Suite (1, 4)
Understructure. A blurcat found its way here from the surface, lairing in the wrecked furniture of the chamber in 1. If disturbed, its illusory distortion hums as it flickers and hunts (or flees). The iron door to 4 is locked, and beyond is a store room with five chests, each containing 20 crystalline medallions. Each one glows like a candle for an hour when its command word (inscribed on the casing) is spoken.
Glittering City. The District Lost & Found has an antechamber with two bored city watch guards behind a desk. Visitors describe what they lost, and the guard may let them go in the back to look for it (supervised, of course). The back room in 4 is lined with shelving, piled with all sorts of lost objects turned in to the watch. Guards routinely keep lost objects that catch their fancy, and may look the other way for others to do the same, for a modest fee.
Daylight’s Curse. The Boochoo! (must be spoken with enthusiasm) band of stinkbug people led by Smak! lair here. They release a disorienting musk if threatened, and fight by moshing with their hard and sharp-edged carapaces. They speak with humanoid mouths. They are easily amused, and will stop fighting to laugh at a joke. They can cling to walls and ceilings, incapable of boredom.
1-2. Uneasy Dead. The door to 4 is braced shut with busted furniture, and “Do Not Open” is smeared in blood on the wall. Inside, a party of adventurers succumbed to undeath, staggering to attack if the door is opened. They have 1d6 strange treasures and 1d6 x 100 gp between them.
3-4. Burn Room. The antechamber in 1 is outfitted with benches and a rug, and the locked door has a plaque reading “Do Not”. Opening the door to 4 without speaking the password triggers a burn rune; intruders may glimpse a reading room with magical books and a shelf of papers before magical fire washes the room and destroys everything inside.
5-6. Safe Space. The holy symbol of a protector god is carved on the door to 4. The interior of the door has a slider that can engage “safe space” when the door is closed. This activates a protective field that temporarily dims curses by 1 level, relieves the symptoms of diseases or injuries to allow rest, purifies the air to dampen smells, and radiates relaxing vibes. There are two bunk beds with three levels each, and a box built into the wall that generates up to 6 meals and drinks a day. Each use of the slider requires charging with 3 hours of sincere prayers of gratitude to the protector god while in the room (but this worship can be split between multiple people). This can be done while the field is active. Instructions are on the wall by the door. It can only hold one charge at a time.
Secure Landing and Waterway Hall (2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Understructure. The waterway is filled with mud, which overflowed the banks several times in the recent weeks, so there are many pathways of prints all over the area. The bars in 8 are mounded with the mud, and the water beyond seems much clearer.
Glittering City. Professional exterminators pour experimental surface sealer crystals in the water in 7. Enchanted mist boils up and coats the surface, flowing along the waterway, leaving a membrane on the water surface as it goes. This covers a large area of water, and is done weekly to prevent vermin from spawning out of the water. Those who breathe the mist, or get it on their skin, must resist its effect or grow sick with limb tremors and coughing for 1d6 x 2 days.
Daylight’s Curse. The Jack Knives are a band of rabbit people led by Captain Kick. Their lair connects to 7. They have tried files and saws, but cannot get through the bars in 8. The platforms beyond glow with luminescent moss and clover, and the Knives want easy access.
1-2. So Long, Farewell. The windlass to move the gate in 8 is on the wall in 7. The windlass to raise and lower the drawbridges in 3 and 9 is by the door in 9. An egotistical aristocratic family has a tradition of all the paid staff gathering on the platforms flanking the waterway to “see off” a family member headed out on a journey, respectfully waving as they drift along the waterway towards the dock to board a ship.
3-4. Mist Skiff. Galmar the Seether’s wizard tower is above, and he has a mist skiff berthed in 7 that flickers to incorporeality along with everything on it when the command word is spoken. The wizard can confidently glide through bars and bridges.
5-6. Sewerpig Roundup. An invasive breed of amphibious sewerpigs has been multiplying underground. Cunning and immune to disease, these aggressive pests can clog passages, attack people, break doors, and spread filth. Combat-tested sewerjacks are assigned roundup duty, to force them into the waterway and drive them along through the grating, trapping them at the landing under the slaughterhouse.
Alternate Ideas:
- The secure rear entry to the prison is used for discreet transfers by boat.
- This area hosts the annual amateur mural competition.
