Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 malphaeus Feb 04, 2011 13:53:36	I'm running a 4E game, and in an upcoming session my players will be attempting to escape a moderately sized city by way of its sewers. What are some interesting places, encounters, or challenges that you might employ in a sewer adventure for your players? All input welcome. Cheers!
#2 GEBELL Feb 05, 2011 0:47:36	The first thing that jumps to mind for me is being chased by rising water levels.  Or needing to open valves to drain water levels in one area of the sewer in order to pass.   In my own game design I'm on a kick of unbeatable enemies.  Maybe a big sewer tentacled sewer monster that can't be killed, but it can be driven away.  It could be a re-occuring baddie throughout the escape, and you could have it pull an NPC or two under the water to set-up the appropriate fear.  It could also be a third force in a showdown with some enemies, and smart players could figure out how to 'feed' their enemies to the sewer monster, thereby using it to their advantage.   I don't know what lvl your game is, but I actually think that rat swarms are an interesting enemy in 4e.  They have interesting gameplay dynamics, and several rat swarms fleeing past characters could be both dangerous, and different (as they monsters wouldn't technically be attacking).    Those are some thoughts.
#3 pruano Feb 07, 2011 14:55:32	Aligators and oozes work very well.
#4 calm Feb 08, 2011 18:50:46	Have a chute open under them, dropping them slide-style into a large cavern that is a mini ecosystem with some weird subterranean creatures, at least one of which is not evil. Killing those other creatures dooms it to die of starvation. Or have them drop into a large cavern run by a mad scientist type who runs its experiments there. Maybe a crazed gnome arcanist with the googley-eyed goggles.  Face his constructs built to look like underdark creatures. They aren't as tough, sometimes breaking down on their own or exploding, and the heroes will hear the gnome cursing the substandard materials he has to work with. They won't encounter the gnome until the end (he is either inviso or watching remotely via his inventions).
#5 outside_the_asylum Feb 09, 2011 7:50:54	The party encounters a small pack of Wererats out on the prowl. The party accidentally stumbles upon the ruins of the Old City, where a group of necromancers has been planning a coupe. The party is alarmed when they pass through a sphere of magical darkness. The party finds out why the noble family's crypt is kept locked. It appears the nasty little beasties have made their way into the sewer system.
#6 undergroundplayer Feb 14, 2011 13:42:48	Sewer settings can have fun creature highlites such as - wererats - oozes - trolls - kobalds/troglodytes - random gangs - cults Skill challenges become much more interesting - swimming is a staple - hidden doors - wall scalling - diplomacy with any sewer dwellers With everything that is in sewers and a nice way to add another level of urgency would be to add in the disease factor.
#7 yellowdingo Feb 14, 2011 16:41:38	Aligators and oozes work very well. yellow mould...
#8 VoyRager Feb 15, 2011 3:16:26	I'm working on a Dragon Below campaign as a continuous for a new version of the Mark Of The Prophecy Campaign in whch I called Aric and the Prophecy. I was looking for ideas to built as changes for the encounters' maps with the Dragon Below caverns when I came up with an unrelate idea for one of the maps I was considering. I even made a list of ideas to use this map with and the strongest was using an aquatic shapechanging 8 feet tall female NPC that I couldn't find the stats for. (I think it was in the 3.5 literatures I last seen her stats and isn't sure about this either)  The part underground, part underwater base of operations where adventurers have to travel thru tunnels under a city to find it contains great hidden entrance with a hazard trap (Unsure on what level to place this on either) I saw this thread and thought maybe if I show you guys Area 8 you guys would take my suggestions on aquatic creatures and submerged passages serious. (Area 8 has the sector number of the city's waterworks where the group of water nymphs has rebuilt into a more accommodating secured environment from losing those who looking for their secret places.) Since I dont see in the near future using any variables of this hazard trap which can suit land-dwellers as well as amphibians NPCs and PCs under a city I thought sharing it on this thread with the others who are looking for new directions to use for sewer encounters. Maybe it isnt a good idea to post my scan drafts but until I find out how to make RPG (maps) those other cool trick that is done online to present and play DnD in forums and on websites. (I am clueless on how to effortlessly super-impose on photos to DM online. Some of the stuff online DM must do daily are major production with my inexperience. The drafts below has links above them that with show you a blown up version of the setting's and the trap's desciptions. Take your time reading the blown up version, its may be written in the rough and unedited yet its easy to figure out.  Area 8 Settings doc-0s-as-docs.googleusercontent.com/doc... docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7U2akmlLtI6NTU... docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7U2akmlLtI6MWI...
#9 ordrus Feb 17, 2011 17:28:28	I had an idea to throw an encounter at my players in a cross road piece of sewer. Undead or some random sewer dwellers would come at them from every entrance and they would have to deal with an otyugh in the middle section of water. I'm pretty sure otyughs have water breathing, reach attacks and some nasty grab attacks. They'd have to deal with waves of minions, water as difficult terrain, and a big nasty monster throwing them around. Hope this helps.
#10 jack_of_all_trades_02 Feb 20, 2011 1:14:05	I know its silly, but I've seen it at countless games. Feature the poop. It provides fun moments of levity and it's always a big hit. People try to pretend like they're too good for such debase humor but they have just as much fun as everybody else. Give a player a pair of wavestrider boots or the body equilibrium cantrip and let him frolic across the liquidy death that your other players are falling directly into. Minor scenes like these will keep your players in good spirits and ready them for more action.
#11 malphaeus Mar 02, 2011 11:40:47	Thank you all for your ideas and suggestions! My player's ended up tromping about the sewers through 1.5 skill challenged (the .5 is from one half of the first skill challenge to locate their quarry in the sewers, the other one to find a way  out of the city through the sewers). They faced- -Fleurs des Visage (the flower of faces): An large aberrant creature, standing about eight feet tall. It's rubbery flesh gray and brown, it's powerful legs inverted (like a goat), six fingered clawed hands...and where a head would be on a normal creature was a mass of ropey tentacles. Generating an aura of psychic interference (3 damage to any creature starting it's turn in the aura) the creature would delve into the minds of its victims, and finding the images of people close to the PCs, would render a distorted replica of the visage by morphing one of its tentacles into a grotesque face.  -A cadre of conspirators who were holding a sage (whom they needed to decipher a coded manuscript, why they went into the sewers in the first place) captive. -Modified Murklord Toads. The horrors of poop and waste paled slightly in comparison to the Flower of Faces, and the intestines of their other foes as they romped and stomped their way to freedom... Thanks again, all!
#12 buchatar Mar 04, 2011 19:04:01	Sounds like you had a blast! Also, mind if I steal / copy a stat block of the "Fleurs des Visage"? Sounds like quite an amazing creature!