Terrors and Tables

Damn it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on this blog. Having just run my first game of Dungeon Crawl Classics (to my players who might be reading this, love you guys), I’ve realized that DCC is in need of more monsters; or rather, it’s in need of monsters repurposed from things I enjoy, including other games. That sent me spiraling down the rabbit hole of reading through the original 1e AD&D Monster Manuals and Fiend Folio, meticulously cataloging the monsters and treasure types, cursing Gary Gygax’s lack of consistency regarding how individual treasure versus “in lair” treasure is formatted, and once more appreciating what the RPG community can do, even forty years in the future, as the Fiend Folio (which is mostly a compiled list of monsters from the UK Magazine “White Dwarf”) is pretty consistently written when it comes to formatting at least.

That then led me to admiring the encounter tables in the DM’s Guide, and the use of overland encounters and treasure maps as a sort of perpetual motion machine for quest generation. Don’t need to have some haggard old man deliver a little monologue and beg for your players to help them when those greedy bastards are looting treasure maps (with more overland encounters between them and the treasure, not to mention whatever monster lair or crypt the treasure is in) and coming across pilgrimages of cultists out in the dangerous wilds.

Which brings me to my final point, that the encounter table format in the back of the 2nd Monster Manual is actually quite nice, and I felt inspired to make one today. The monsters given are for 1st edition D&D, but many of them exist in other editions of D&D, retroclones, and other fantasy games, so it shouldn’t be impossible, or even difficult, to repurpose this for your own use.

To use the following chart, just roll 1d8 and add it to 1d12, creating a large flat spot of probability in the middle of the chart, ensuring those results will be equally common

Caverns, Primeval

Roll Monster

2 Medusa

3 Demon, Type I (Vrock)

4 Ant, Giant

5 Beetle, Giant Fire

6 Norker

7 Grimlock

8 Ochre Jelly

9 Lizard, Minotaur (80%), or Protein Polymorph (20%)

10 Caveman

11 Troglodyte

12 Centipede, Huge

13 Black Pudding or Zombie

14 Gray Ooze

15 Xorn or Centipede, Giant

16 Ghoul

17 Caveman (Hero) 70% or Grimlock (Villain) 30%

18 Slime, Olive

19 White Pudding

20 Dragon, White, AN

The table above is meant for a large system of caves somewhere so remote as to be totally unsettled, and even untouched by time. Where early humankind dwells in caves, dwarves have not expanded into every nook and cranny, and the elves do not tread. Specifics and further detail on each kind of encounter are as follows:

The Medusa, likely just one, though if the caverns are truly huge enough there may be multiple, exists to answer the question of where humans get their primal fear and distrust of serpents from; it is from her, the serpentine witch that turns men to stone with a hiss and a fatal glance. The Medusa would no doubt be a known (or rumored) terror of the caves to those cavemen who live nearby.

The Type 1 Demon (the Vrock) is on the chart solely as a servant of the Grimlocks or Troglodytes detailed below, likely conjured to wage war or to serve as a guardian for something precious or of religious significance. They do not live here naturally, and will never come to such a place of their own accord.

Giant Ants have not yet overtaken the primal caves, but as some of the oldest insects, they’ve certainly gotten a head start; where they are found at all, they are found in tremendous numbers. Similar things may be said of the Giant Fire Beetles, which do not form groups quite so large, but work in natural opposition to the ants. The centipedes, of which there are many in all sorts of sizes, colors, and shapes, are kings of the cavernous arthropods, and will happily eat both.

Norkers are one of the only two humanoid races besides Humans (next to the Troglodytes). As written in the Fiend Folio, they are a primitive relative to the hobgoblin in much the same way Cavemen or Neanderthals are to humankind.

The Grimlocks that appear on this table are not actually their own species, rather they are those cavemen who in desperation, greed, or sheer malice have found acceptance in the waiting arms of Abyssal powers or Chaos lords, and among them can be found more advanced arms (such as swords and axes of strange material) and armor (no heavier than scale mail) as well as Chaotic (or Chaotic Evil) Clerics and Magic Users. “Villains” may occasionally be found, which will have the best arms and armor available to the tribe, 4 hit dice, and the spellcasting abilities of 3rd level Wizards (or Magic-Users, Shamans, or Elves), as well as a 10% chance to have a magical melee weapon (generate as if it were a magic sword, but it may be a sword, axe, mace, or spear).

The Minotaur Lizards on this table are huge, pale, broad headed lizards which creep through the caverns, eating whatever they can fit into their gullets, be it bug or man. They are plentiful enough, however, that the exceptionally brave (such as large groups of cavemen) may hunt them for food.

Perhaps more plentiful are the Protein Polymorphs, Ochre Jellies, Black or White puddings, Olive Slimes, and Gray Oozes, found all throughout the caverns amidst the many puddles of bubbling, gurgling, proto-biological crud, the primordial soup from which life emerged. Because of the frequency of such foul puddles (many of which are not such slimes), any slime encountered doubles any chance for surprise (I.E. it surprises on a 4 in 6 for most parties, 2 in 6 for those with elves, etc.). Protein Polymorphs are an outlier beside the other slimes, being dangerously clever, and capable of changing their shape and dividing their mass to appear as all manner of inanimate objects or even entire groups of creatures.

Cavemen are cavemen, it’s not that complicated. Heroes exist among them, the biggest and strongest, with up to 4+2 hit dice and saving as 6th level Fighters. These will no doubt have cavemen followers, their friends, companions, and caveman groupies.

Troglodytes exist even in ancient caves as these, and any encountered here will be marginally smarter and well equipped, perhaps these haven’t fallen as far as their more mainstream counterparts; they still bear the same stench, but are 10% more likely to possess magic items and may even have works of writing, magic, or textile art, though these will be crafted without any use for human language or aesthetics, and will thus be alien to those who find them.

Xorn, oddly enough, are plentiful compared to other places on the Prime Material. With only the fading Troglodytes as enemies, and no local industry, expansionist dwarves or modern humans, or need for currency, precious metals and gems are incredibly plentiful, so the xorn flock here to swim through stone, gorge themselves, and sometimes give strange wisdom to those who can understand it.

Ghouls and Zombies appear more often in areas controlled by the Grimlocks, as foul energies flood the caverns and animate the dead that lie there, but the ghouls in particular appear in the same way they usually do; as the result of humanoids resorting to cannibalism in the cold and lightless tunnels.

The Ancient White Dragon will always be the only one of its kind; how and when it got there, not even the Troglodytes can guess, but the weirdest and wisest (if they can be called that) of the Grimlocks may know. Regardless, it has slept here for quite a while, slumbering at the heart of a subterranean expanse of ice and stone, with cruel, simple deathtraps to guard its hoard.

Post #1: The Ottoguard