Introduction to an Underdark Campaign Setting

Introduction to an Underdark Campaign Setting

Even though it has been several decades, I can still remember playing the G series “Against the Giants”, D series “Decent into the Depths of the earth”, “Shrine of Kou-Toa” and “Vault of the Drow”.  It was just the gritty feeling of those adventures as the party continues downward into the underdark leaving the sun lit world behind for what seemed like forever.  That moment the seed was planted that one day I wanted to create an entire campaign setting where it completely existed underground.  If you just sit back and consider for a moment how harsh the environment is to survive every day, the basics such as breathing air and being able to see become obstacles.  As challenging as a mile can be above ground, underground in the depth could easily be impossible because of the overwhelming number of physical barriers and nothing is just straight ahead.  After considering all this, know that the brave adventuring party has yet to even encounter a single creature yet.

The key thing for any dungeon master is to not be tempted to hand wave things, make the adventures feel how hard just the base necessities are to acquire and maintain.  Let’s not forget this is a fantasy game so odds are there will be the need for spell components, try finding a small silver sword in a cave full of giant spiders.  The idea to remember is the party needs are also your opportunity to offer a different kind of reward for accomplishing tasks and that reward doesn’t have to be the actual item, it can be just the hint of how or where to find it.  It is easy to see how a dungeon master can add a depth to the game with very little effort.    The underdark is not meant to be an amusement park.

The next important key to remember is travel; everyone uses the same passage ways.  Above ground there could be thousands if not tens of thousands of ways to get from one point to another but in the underdark there could easily exist only one way.  Everyone and everything uses them, so encounters can range from insects, orcs, drow, dwarves, etc.  I am sure you get the point, getting rest and re-learning spells could be a challenging task in itself.

Every dungeon master should make their players feel as if adventuring is a dangerous profession otherwise you would see every farmer doing it.  Heroes are those that face daunting challenges such as travelling deep underground to the realm of the underdark and survive.  So don’t be afraid to let your group know that the 100 feet of rope they have won’t quite cover the distance and see how they rise above the challenge.  The underdark is full of places and things just waiting to kill them but for those that can overcome, there are great riches.

Written by David Jones Friday, 06 January 2012 11:34