Dungeon Room Index: Caverns
"Cavern" is a term that could quite readily be a whole dungeon.
To be fair, that is true of
many of the rooms I've done ("Library" and "Tomb" being perhaps the biggest standouts). But I have to admit it feels
especially true of caverns. Perhaps that's because unlike a "library" or a "tomb", a "cavern" does not have an
inherent purpose. A "cavern" is a lot more generic than a library.
Never fear. Rather than giving up, I have instead chosen to buckle down and try to just give you more. If I have one overriding goal above all else for this entry, it's to feed you well. Perhaps I should have broken up this post into a few...
Anyways, please enjoy each of these "rooms" equally:
"My heart is a cavern of longingness"
Don't you love a good cave? Caves gush adventure. Let's sing the praises of caves for a moment:
- They can be anywhere. Forests? Mountains? Deserts? Plains? The ocean? Ya... if there's bedrock, there can be a cave. (Maybe not a swamp... but that just makes my brain itch to make it work.)
- They can be quite varied! Especially in fantasy! I'm going to go into lean into this particular point, but two caves can be very different.
- They can be all natural, full of construction, or anything in between. Your dungeon can be part natural cavern and part underground temple (or other complex, etc.). Jump between these types of spaces at your pleasure.
Room Notes
Because of how broad the category of "caverns" can be, I'm going to break up the room notes into smaller sub-categories, and intersperse some of the bonus material as well.
General Caverns
Let's start with the features that can go in just about any cave.
Signs of intelligence
Caverns need not always be entirely natural and abandoned places. Arguably they're even a little more interesting
when you can tell someone has been there.
This simple entryway is surrounded by terraces of statues, all of varying shapes and sizes, but depicting eroded, wizened figures in meditation. The atmosphere is deathly quiet.
I've already established (in my previous post about Hallways) that caverns should often have rugged floors. In
this chamber a wooden walkway has been built to make traversing the cavern easier. Another passageway to the
south-west teases further cavern's beyond--but the trek will be rough. (Ratchet up the tension in such places by including cave dwellers well adapted to the terrain.)
Stone bridges cross this tiered cavern. To the south-west, elevated above, is another exit, and in the north-east,
far below, is another.
Small note: bridges are mostly aesthetic unless the gap they cross is far enough to make jumping meaningfully risky. I usually go for at least 15'.
Small note: bridges are mostly aesthetic unless the gap they cross is far enough to make jumping meaningfully risky. I usually go for at least 15'.
Inconsistent elevation
Remember: it's weird for caves to be perfectly level.
A narrow ridge rises gradually from the north side of the chamber to the south. On either side the floor
descends by different degrees to alternate exits.
Each entrance to this room is at a different elevation. The floor rises and falls, deepest in the middle. It's no
trivial task to cross through this room. I certainly hope there isn't anything hanging out on those higher ledges (or
on the ceiling) that would mean us harm.
Ravines and shafts
Less about elevation, and more about danger or teasing hidden areas; less steep, and more vertical.
I mentioned that bridges are purely aesthetic unless they're sufficient long; the same could be said of easily
jumped gaps, but oh what a nice aesthetic it is! I think it reminds us of the dangers and lack of orderliness in this
space.
On pits: I'm of the personal opinion that a huge hole in the
floor should either lead somewhere, or at least (usually) yield something nice at the bottom. Most of the time a deep
pit will be ignored, or at least traversed cautiously--most who see the bottom of the pit would be those who die in
the process. But a special kind of player will want to find a way down to see what might be there; such a person
deserves to be rewarded! And if you can't justify an actual passageway to somewhere, it would at least be nice
to find a previous, unlucky adventurer and whatever loot they had on them when they fell.
Where's the shaft you ask? Why, in the ceiling of course! This chamber eventually opens up to the sky, offering
natural light, even direct light at certain hours of the day. Thus, surface vegetation--trees!--have taken root here.
(I think a cave-dungeon with several chambers like this would be really atmospheric.)
Now, one might worry that open shafts like this are "short-cuts" into the dungeon. I disagree, vehemently. For one, if the shaft is particularly high, then it's most likely only a One-Way Door--easier to get in than out--and that's a great impetus for exploring to find another way out! If it's a way out, it can only be at some cost.
Now, one might worry that open shafts like this are "short-cuts" into the dungeon. I disagree, vehemently. For one, if the shaft is particularly high, then it's most likely only a One-Way Door--easier to get in than out--and that's a great impetus for exploring to find another way out! If it's a way out, it can only be at some cost.
Also, I think alternate dungeon exits should actually be pretty difficult to find. Say you know where the mouth of
some interesting cave is: is it a trivial matter to go hiking and climbing through the surrounding highlands in search
of an alternate entrance? Better that that discovery be a reward for exploring the interior.
It's just a cavern chamber where the floor is sand. I saw a picture of such a cave and thought it
was pretty neat!
This passage runs parallel to an
underground river, and climbs from the north to the south. With the spray from the rapids, the stair is likely to
be slippery.
A waterfall dominates this chamber;
clearly the passage from where the water originates is traversable, but it's a wet, slippery climb to get there.
The only way in is the water. The only way out is the water. This expansive chamber features a
small stone gazebo, left behind for some unknown purpose. It might be a nice place to rest. (As long as nothing
particularly creepy makes it's home here...)
These mushrooms are so large that they
form a natural bridge from one side of the cavern to the other. Of course the lower area is connected at both ends
as well, so this room is a sort of disjoint crossroads.
This chamber is too orderly to be natural; the terraces show evidence of shaping, and each is
neatly filled with mushrooms of limited variety. It appears that something has cultivated these terraces.
Large purple crystals line the walls of this ravine. The only way across is a single, huge crystal that bridges the gap.
This cavern has the appearance of the interior of a giant geode. Except that huge chunks of crystal float through the air. As you step near, you think you feel a little lighter yourself...
I love me a lava pit. When this is water it's just an inconvenience, at worst a bit foreboding. When
it's lava it's a problem up in your face.
Stone bridges again; just like the water cavern. This time, there's a wooden bridge from the
central column to the south-west exit, but it has long since burnt up. Jumping a gap over water might be merely
annoying, but jumping one over lava should be nerve wracking.
In this passage and room, you find a small pool of lava. At various time of day (or after a
"dungeon shift") the lava level rises, rendering these spaces impassable.
Lava cave ideas:
This passage descends steeply as a slippery chute. If you fall, it's random chance which branch you'll end up slipping down. A great way to split up the party!
This time the water is still here, but the ice is broken up in chunks. They're not very big, and
they're not terribly stable for anyone trying to jump across them.
Cavern dwellers
This cavern is so large that perhaps a tribe of Goblins or the like make camp in the center of the room. The
exits are all significantly elevated; the Goblins probably have a ladder of their own, but the only natural ascent
is on the south side of the main chamber. It will be a challenge to sneak past...
Misc.
General cavern tools:
| d6 | Rock Texture | Rock Patterns | Rock Coloration | Floor Structure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Smooth/wavy | Matte | Coal black | Solid stone |
| 2 | Jagged/bladed | Glossy | Marble white | Solid stone |
| 3 | Rippling/dripping/grooved | Swirling | Slate grey | Solid stone |
| 4 | Geometric | Veined | Sandstone tan | Gravel/loose rock |
| 5 | Porous | Layered | Warm | Gravel/loose rock |
| 6 | Layered/stacked | Semi-transparent | Cool | Sand |
Use this table to come up with cave aesthetics.
Remember, contrast is fun! So pick one or two rooms and roll for them separately to create unique spaces.
Also, note that the coloration column has nothing to do with the actual kind of stone; this is a fantasy game,
vibes are king, and we're not bound to real world minerals, so you should feel no hesitation in making your cave
out of nameless chalky blue stone.
General cavern ideas:
- Not every room in a dungeon should be interesting, and that applies to caverns, too. Make the interesting rooms stand out more by scattering some "generic" rooms here and there. That said, an otherwise boring room can be very interesting based solely on what you put in it; spider webs? a goblin camp? Think of what lives here and imagine how they would morph the space to their needs.
- Consider cave ecology to support your interesting cave creatures. Do creatures live their whole lives in here? Or do they go outside to hunt? Living things need nourishment; how does it get in here? Does plant matter or similar seep in through roots or flowing water? Do wasteful predators scatter bones and viscera? Do bats or other creatures leave mounds of droppings?--These sources can feed fungus and other "vegetarian" sources of energy. --Those are then consumed by cave grazers. --The predators feed on those. Think of interesting entities to fill those rolls, and spotlight them to bring your cavern to life (literally).
- Not sure how to add arrange changes in elevation to your caverns? Draw a bland, low-detail topography map, or generate some Perlin noise. Now, draw your cave dungeon over it, adhering loosely to the "height map" underlying. Draw some water paths that follow the flow of the elevation and cut across your cavern chambers.
- Not sure how to incorporate a "constructed" or "travelled" dungeon space with natural caverns? Start with a sort of stretched out "path" or sequence of rooms. Make sure it winds a bit in interesting ways. Now, draw the rest of your cavern rooms around and enveloping those. Make sure that there are "short cuts" or at least alternate paths through much more rugged or dangerous cave rooms.
11 Unexpected things to find in a cavern:
- Bones of large, dangerous creature.
- Isolated shrine
- Enormous stone door; much too big to push open
- Cave painting that depicts simplistic figures eerily similar to the party members, perhaps foreshadowing some threat
- Fresh body of a towns person, rival adventurer, or clearly surface-dwelling large animal
- Perfectly carved shaft, leading straight down, too far to see (circle, octagon, etc.)
- Pulsing egg-sac of some kind, currently unaccompanied
- Body partially embedded within the bedrock wall; as though they teleported into or phased through the wall.
- Pools of deep purple miasma, bubbling and viscous.
- Single iron key... there are no structures anywhere near here.
Water Caverns
Whether the cave is by the sea, or just deep where the ground water flows, water is right at home in a cave.
Running water
Like my Waterfall Entrance, the water crashes down somewhere below. The main path is to cross this river.
Some precaution must be taken to not get swept away in the current.
Waterlogged caverns
But really, if this is a "water cave", put more water in. Like, enough that bringing a canoe is a
good idea.
If you want to get out of the water, you'll have to climb to the southern ledge. Or perhaps that's the way you
came in, and you're mulling over whether you'll be able to get back out again if you proceed into the
water.
(Let's take a moment to acknowledge how not trivial water is. Water can ruin scrolls or spell books or bowstrings. Water can snuff torches and spoil rations. Water may be uncomfortably cold and sap vitality through long exposure. And this is all on top of the possibility of nasties in the water!)
(Let's take a moment to acknowledge how not trivial water is. Water can ruin scrolls or spell books or bowstrings. Water can snuff torches and spoil rations. Water may be uncomfortably cold and sap vitality through long exposure. And this is all on top of the possibility of nasties in the water!)
The water here isn't so much pressing as it is gnawing
at the back of your attention. You enter to raised natural walkways, pocked with gaps over the water below. An
adjacent passage tells you you may encounter this water again elsewhere in the caves.
Less "room" and more Hallway: this passage is completely submerged in places, and has dead end side passages. If
you go down without special light or at least the ability to breathe air, it's a stroke of luck for you to come
out the other side safely.
Jumping gaps becomes much less trivial if the surfaces
are wet (and even if they're not, it would be a great place for the dungeon dwellers to spread some oily substance
to deter intruders). Put some giant leeches in there to make it scarier.
Hidden features
You should just assume that a waterfall has some kind of secret chamber behind it. It's too good a hiding place to pass up!
A thin layer of water coats the floor of this passage.
Unless the water is very clear, no one will notice the sudden depth increase in the middle. Someone heavily
armed will plunge immediately to the bottom; you'll get soaked to the bone no matter who you are.
At first, this appears to be just another submerged
room, but actually there are submerged protrusions that function well as stepping stones. In exceptionally clear
water maybe this is pure aesthetic; in murky water it's a puzzle. Either way, it could be a Soft Lock if there's a reason to not want to disturb this water...
Water cave ideas:
- Play with water level. The water level rises and falls periodically, either to block exits, or reveal new areas (or both!). This is a great dungeon shift.
- That's all I've got! Water is already pretty interesting!
Mushroom Caverns
Where's there's moisture there's mold. You gotta have some mushrooms down there somewhere, right?
Put them everywhere
This chamber is choked with mushrooms. They're
growing on every surface around a central pit of water.
A mushroom forest is a charming locale. The idea
presented here is that the cavern is so large, and the mushrooms so dense, that this one "room" actually breaks
up into several smaller spaces, where the large and thick mushrooms give way to smaller varieties. I would key
this room as several.
Don't forget to fill a space like this with local
fauna! The first that comes to my mind are giant mushroom-eating slugs. Make this place feel like an
ecosystem!
Also, underground mushroom forests have permission to be weird and different; maybe the fungus has evolved to take on shapes remarkably similar to that of surface world plants... just more alien.
Also, underground mushroom forests have permission to be weird and different; maybe the fungus has evolved to take on shapes remarkably similar to that of surface world plants... just more alien.
Make them big
When mushrooms are this large, I have to wonder what might use them for food or for shelter.
Whose mushrooms, exactly?
This maze of passages is lit by a variety of glowing mushrooms. Adjacent passages are completely dark. There is
no apparent reason for why the glowing mushrooms reside in some chambers and not others. In actuality, a
semi-intelligent creature stalks these passages, using the dark passages to sneak up on creatures drawn to the
light.
Mushroom cavern tools:
| d6 | Shape | Decoration | Color | Size | Dimensions | Has Properties? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Horn/shelf | Spots | White/yellow | Tiny | Clustered, squat | |
| 2 | Cap/bulb | Veil | Black/brown | Small | Clustered, thin | |
| 3 | Fingers | Holes | Blue/green | Medium | Solitary, squat | |
| 4 | Feathery/frills | Glowing | Red/orange | Medium | Solitary, thin | |
| 5 | Ridges/plates | Furry | Pink/purple | Large | Scattered, squat | |
| 6 | Carpet | Sticky goo | Translucent (roll again) | Towering | Scattered, thin |
| d6 | Properties | Activation | Expiration | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mental (acuity, hallucination, euphoria, paranoia) | Raw, caps | d20+10 minutes | Worthless |
| 2 | Physical (slimy, invisible, gaseous, glowing, growing, shrinking) | Raw, stalks | d20+2 hours | Low |
| 3 | Energy (drowsy, nourishing, short-term-boost, holdinig breath) | Boiled, roots | d6 days | Low |
| 4 | Sensory (amplify sense, inhibit sense, smelly pheromones) | Boiled, caps | d4 weeks | Moderate |
| 5 | Poison (death, vomiting, paralysis) | Fermented, stalks | d10+1 months | Moderate |
| 6 | Addiction | Fermented, caps | d100 years | High |
Roll 9d6 to generate a crazy mushroom. (Adjust the Value of these mushrooms as you see fit by the power of their effects, and by how difficult they are to gather).
(Expiration refers to how long the mushroom lasts once removed from it's place.)
(Expiration refers to how long the mushroom lasts once removed from it's place.)
Crystal caverns
Crystal's are another great cave fixture, and a ready addition to most caverns.
Put them everywhere
A wooden walkway crosses this crystal lined pit. The crystals form sharp, natural spikes. I wouldn't want to
fall in, but maybe it's a good place to push somebody else...
Transparent white crystals large and small cover every surface of this massive chamber. It is impossible for a normal
bipedal creature to stroll through this cavern, and the crystals reflect and refract light so intensely that the
experience is highly disorienting as well. Without some kind of compass or tether or "trail of breadcrumbs", this
chamber is nearly impossible not to get lost in.
Make them big
Large purple crystals line the walls of this ravine. The only way across is a single, huge crystal that bridges the gap.
Make them weird
This cavern has the appearance of the interior of a giant geode. Except that huge chunks of crystal float through the air. As you step near, you think you feel a little lighter yourself...
Crystal cavern tools:
| d6 | Shape | Transparency | Color | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jagged/sharp | Opaque, glossy | Black/grey | Tiny |
| 2 | Cubic/prism | Opaque, matte | Red/Orange | Small |
| 3 | Geometric spirals | Cloudy | Blue/green | Medium |
| 4 | Fractal/feathery | Rutilated | Purple/pink | Medium |
| 5 | Spheres/bubbles | Transparent, mineral inclusions | White/yellow | Large |
| 6 | Fingers | Fully transparent | Coppery/steely/brassy | Huge |
| d6 | Has Property? | Property | Hardness | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No | Glowing (Black-light/Revealing) | Delicate | Worthless |
| 2 | No | Gravitation, Low (High) | Brittle | Low |
| 3 | No | Heat (Chill) | Sturdy | Low |
| 4 | Yes | Mind, Projection (Inhibition) | Sturdy | Moderate |
| 5 | Yes | Magic, Amplifier (Suppressor) | Hard | Moderate |
| 6 | Yes (alternate) | Electrical, Conductor (Storage) | Unyielding | High |
Roll 8d6 to generate random crystals. "Delicate" or "Unyielding" crystals require special equipment and expertise to collect. This may mean they should be more valuable; feel free to adjust that value as it makes sense (or take it as a creative prompt! Why would such a powerful and difficult to obtain crystal be "worthless"? Perhaps a saturated market, or a superstition or stigma or risk in carrying.)
Lava Caves
We're edging towards the niche now; you can put lava (magma?) in most caves, though the most obvious would be a
cave near a volcano. Or, you know, there could be some fire elementals around, or magic lava crystals, or heck,
just some lava--this doesn't have to be complicated.
Like water, but more danger
Lava flows in from multiple adjoining rooms, meeting in a swirling whirlpool in the middle. Presumably it's
draining somewhere. If it was water you could at least jump in and find out.
Fire Hazards
There's no actual lava in this room. Instead there
are large pools of boiling hot water. And smoke stacks. Y'know, like those things you see in the deep ocean
belching out black smoke? Ya like that. The room is thick with dark, hot smoke, and you can hear the constant
boil of the water.
Natural vents in the floor spew noxious, hot gas (or
flames, or spurts of lava) randomly and erratically. Stepping too heavily seems to make it worse.
Lava cave ideas:
- If it wasn't clear above: almost everything you can do with water you can do with lava instead.
- Since lava is inherently dangerous, make the risk worthwhile with some valuables: rare minerals, or magic fire rubies or whatever. Perhaps there are some miners here for the same reason?
- Of course, a fantasy lava cave environment should include things that find themselves very comfortable surrounded by lava. But it's interesting (and gameable!) to include things that are just as vulnerable to fire as you. How do they survive here? Why are they here? Where's the nearest lava pit I can push them in if needed?
Ice Caves
Maybe the most niche of all are ice caves. I can imagine magma popping up and surprising you in just about any
location, but ice feels a little more strongly tied to frozen climates. (Of course, maybe this place was
created by an ice creature who moved in and froze everything. We're supposed to be creative here!)
Ice caves also don't add much beyond key-level features; most of what we did in the section on Water
Caverns is viable here (just add more cold), but there's a little bit I can add:
On thin ice
A thin sheet of ice stand between you and the other
exits. Perhaps there's ice cold water underneath; falling in is sure to have dire consequences. Or, perhaps the
water that used to be there has drained elsewhere, leaving this thin sheet of fragile ice. Will it bear your
weight?
This passage descends steeply as a slippery chute. If you fall, it's random chance which branch you'll end up slipping down. A great way to split up the party!
Ice cavern ideas:
- Long extinct species are frozen in the transparent icy walls.
- Creatures from another world crashed and froze solid here!
- The walls of these passages are like a disorienting house of mirrors.
- Icicles hang precariously from the ceiling, just waiting for an excuse to fall.
- An ancient structure is completely buried under the ice and snow here.
- A dungeon made of ice could theoretically be melted! With great heat, you could even carve new tunnels! This is probably a slow process though, and the risk of collapse may be greater than deep in the earth.
That's all folks! Thanks for reading.
Comments
Post a Comment