The following ruleset was taken from the How To Host A Dungeon Wiki and was originally created by Dyson Logos over at Dyson's Dodecahedron. I heartily recommend giving his blog a read as it is rather impressive and he draws some wonderful maps.
How To Host a Dungeon
Muck Dwellers are one of many underground humanoid
civilizations that are based around underground waterways, lakes and
oceans such as the chaotic Kuo-Toa. They possess cruel and alien culture
and art, with little science and practically no interest in hedonistic pursuits.
Setup
Draw constructions of the Muck Dwellers in green. Muck Dwellers
prefer round and ovoid shaped rooms and curving passages near
underground water.
If you don’t have an underground river or aquifer, roll on the following table for the appropriate water source to be added:
| Roll
| Water Source
|
|---|
| 1-3
| Open Aquifer: Draw a cave 2 beads vertically in size, half this is taken up by water.
|
| 4-5
| Closed Aquifer: Draw a cave 2 beads in size, filled with water.
|
| 6-7
| Underground River: Create an underground river as per the Primordial Events table.
|
| 8
| Underground Lake / Ocean: One one side of the map draw a cavern
two thumbs in size that extends off the map filled with water and then
continue as per the underground river from the Primordial Events table.
|
Muck Dweller
represent soldiers, nobles and priests, while
represent food, minor treasures (such as beads and pearls), tadpole muck dwellers and artworks. Muck Dwellers require
to support their civilization.
Pick a spot adjacent to a water source for the Muck Dweller city. Draw two living quarters for
and one tadpole pond for
– as many as possible should be in direct contact with the water source. Place 2
and 1
in these chambers. This is the city of the Muck Dwellers – give it an
interesting and hard to pronounce name like “Bloop-dil’ubloong” and
write it on the map in pencil. It is now year zero of the Muck Dweller
civilization.
The Muck Dweller Year
Any time you move beads from the city to a pool, you must leave at least 1
and 1
behind. If you can’t do this, don’t move the beads. If the Muck Dweller
city is depopulated without a civilization-ending calamity, the largest
pool attached to a water source claims one treasure from the ruins (or 1
if the city had no treasures) and becomes the new city.
Spring
In the spring, Muck Dwellers reproduce and care for their tadpoles. If there are at least two more
than
in the city or pool, remove 1
and add 1
.
Summer
In the summer, Muck Dwellers harvest the bounty of the water and raise their tadpoles. Add 1
to the city or pool if it is attached to a source of water. Muck
Dweller cities or pools within one thumb of a source of ore or gems will
dig out a mine the size of one thumb to collect 1
of ore, or collect 1
of gems.
Fall
In the fall, Muck Dwellers travel to spread the word of the fish gods. If the city has 2
and 2
or more, Muck Dwellers work to expand the empire.
If the city is on a river, they travel until they are at least
one finger length down the river from the nearest city or pool and
create a new pool there using 1
and 1
from the city (they may travel further if this gets them to a source of
ore, as no two cities or pools can start within a finger length of each
other).
If the city is not on a river, but there are other sources of
water on the map (such as a river, lake or aquifer), then the Muck
Dwellers dig a tunnel up to one half-finger length towards the water
source.
If the city has the population to expand but is no more room for
expansion on the water and no mining to be found within 1 thumb of any
existing city or pool, the city becomes stagnant and loses 1
.
In either case, if an expansion group of Muck Dwellers passes
within a thumb of gold, mithral or gems, they will stop and immediately
create a dry pool at that location to mine the ore or gems.
Winter
In the winter Muck Dwellers retreat into their cities and build.
Tally the population of the entire Muck Dweller civilization and draw in
any Muck Dweller Constructions marked at that population level that
have not already been built – they can be built at either the city or
the pools, at your discretion.
If there are more
than
in a city or pool during the winter, remove one
.
End of the Muck Dweller Age
If the Muck Dwellers dig a tunnel to the surface, they panic at the
sight of the sun and retreat under the leadership of their priests, abandoning their ‘contaminated’ cities and pools.
If the Muck Dwellers dig a tunnel beyond the bottom of the map,
they discover things that were never meant to be uncovered by such lowly
slime-covered creatures and are destroyed.
When the Muck Dweller Age ends, remove all
Muck Dwellers and
minor treasures and tadpoles from the map. In each city and pool, place 1
(Tadpoles that grew to maturity without the guidance of their culture and religion).
Muck Dweller Construction
| Pop
| Muck Dweller Construction
|
| 3
| Breeding Pond. Draw an ornate room slightly larger than one bead that connects to both a room containing a and a (either directly or through tunnels).
|
| 4
| Tomb with 1 Treasure (1 that does not count in population checks)
|
| 5
| Chamber of Secrets. Create a two or three bead room one thumb
away from the nearest Muck Dweller construction with no linking tunnel
(it’s a secret). It contains essential religious secrets that are
valueless to other civilizations.
|
| 6
| Exploratory tunnel one half-finger long, roll d12 for clockface direction of exploration.
|
| 7
| Temple of Mother Hydra. Create an ornate temple containing 1 (tadpole) and 1 that is a religious artefact and doesn’t count in population checks.
|
| 8
| Dig an exploratory tunnel upwards one finger from the highest point of Muck Dweller constructions.
|
| 9
| Temple of Father Dagon. Create an ornate temple containing 1 (priest) and 1 that is a religious artefact and doesn’t count in population checks.
|
| 10
| Dig a deep shaft well down to the bottom of the page.
|
Revised River table (using d12 instead of D10)
Roll – Underground River
1-3 : The river moves 1 finger horizontally across the page.
4-5 : The river changes angle sloping upwards while continuing across the page.
6-7 : The river changes angle sloping downwards while continuing across the page.
8-10 : The river moves 1 finger horizontally across the page, with a
natural cave 1 bead in diameter in the middle of it. If the river is
within 1 thumb of the surface, draw a sinkhole connecting this cave to
the surface.
11 : Waterfall, dropping 1 half finger straight down.
12 : Underground lake d6+1 beads wide, river continues from other side.
This doesn’t drastically change the table or it’s results, but adds the underground lake.
More of a change comes in the Revised Natural Cavern table using a d8 instead of a d6:
Roll – Natural Cavern
1 : Draw a tunnel 1 finger long that passes through the cave
2 : Plague: Roll a d4. Write “plague” and the number rolled in the cave.
Any group that encounters this cave will lose this number of (B)
3 : Gemstones: Draw a cave 1 bead in size. Roll a d4 and place that many
(W) in the cave
4 : This is an empty cave
5 : Primordial Beasts: Place 1(B) in the cave. This represents primordial beasts that fight just like a wandering monster.
6 : Open Aquifer: Draw a cave 2 beads vertically in size, half this is taken up by water.
7 : Closed Aquifer: Draw a cave 2 beads in size, filled with water.
8 : Fate: Write “fate” in the cave. If any civilization tunnels into
this cavern, the civilization will come to a natural end. If this
occurs, the Fate cavern becomes a normal empty cavern.
For further variants on this and the existing civilisations please go check out Dyson Logos post
here or the How To Host A Dungeon
Wiki.
Curious about How To Host A Dungeon? here is a
link to last month's post.
Need more Civilisations? Here is my very own
Kobold Rules.
The Great Spider Civilisation
Read more »
