The Pit Zine - Building the Adventuring locale

I love the way you can type in a whole map in just 1 or 2 lines. Now I’m thinking of some sort of tunnel generator for a system like this.

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Generator, yes! Maybe you can utilise some of the tables people have been working on?

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I will try my best to combine everything!

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https://perchance.org/6yhy3ifebx

My attempt number one at this. I tested out the generator, works as I intended. Added some random tables from this thread. Maybe I’ll add more features later. Right now I’m too tired. Going to sleep.

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Wrote up a table of names as @KnightOwl suggested; tried my best to make them have a unique style, but I’m not sure if they sound good to everyone else. Here they are:

d20 Typical Names for the Undergrounders

  1. Aldby
  2. Barbad
  3. Barlo
  4. Dagmar
  5. Galdo
  6. Gulla
  7. Kull
  8. Loll
  9. Nothed
  10. Pobry
  11. Raliad
  12. Rened
  13. Rindby
  14. Sester
  15. Silved
  16. Tultha
  17. Wested
  18. Yenged
  19. Yesed
  20. Yish
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That was fast! Awesome!

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D8 Groups and factions

  1. Ruling council

The council makes the laws and pays the town guards to keep them. Tax laws change as quickly as the townsfolk learn to get around them.

It was originally made up of wealthy business leaders and representatives of large land-owning families. The families lost their land when the town sunk and have gradually lost their place on the council. There are now just a few hereditary members left. The trade guilds want seats for their guildmasters, but so far the merchants have blocked them.

Mayor: Barlo Oxford, a grandfatherly but shrewd man who constantly smokes a pipe.

  1. Chandlers and lampmaker’s guild

The chandlers came to prominence in a relatively short time after the town originally sunk below the Earth. They’re now the pre-eminent guild. This gives them a lot of influence with the other guilds and the ruling council.

They actively work to keep power. From the start they agitated for laws against glow beetles and mushrooms. These have passed from legal to illegal and back again more than once in the town’s history. They’ve also sent armed thugs into Undertown to smash the ratpeople’s candleworks. Some of the other guilds are beginning to resent their heavy-handedness.

Guildmaster: Rened Sully, a middle-aged woman with scars from a ratperson’s claws on her cheek. She says little but listens intently.

  1. Druids

The druids’ attunement to nature played a big part in the town learning to survive underground. Their numbers have grown over time and now there’s an internal split. On one side are the spiritual ones who believe in ascetic living and the natural connection. The other side is looking for political influence. The spirituals are advocating for a schism while the politicals want to stay a single group.

Druid chief: Pobry Chertham, a black-haired man who looks a decade younger than his actual age and has an archaeopteryx familiar.

  1. Alchemists

The alchemists produce several dangerous products for the townsfolk, including strong acids and black powder charges for mining. They’ve been agitating for stronger control over how their wares are used. All of them remember a time a generation ago when there was an accident and several alchemists got lynched. The council and guilds have rebuffed them, convinced it’s a ploy to drive prices up.

Head alchemist: Dagmar Rindle, A young woman and three-times winner of the alchemists out-of-the-lab-and-duck-behind-a-thick-wall race.

  1. Sun cult

The sun cult have existed almost as long as the town has been underground. They believe their wicked town has been exiled to a world of stone for its sins, and will be restored when they have paid for them. They run a charity hospital in the centre of town, and a communal garden tended by lobe-eater fungus victims who are still semi-capable of taking directions. The cult has never been political, but there’s a growing fanaticism among its younger members and talk of forced conversions and penances.

The Brightest: Yesed Wandry, a person who conceals their nature inside a loose robe and speaks only in gestures.

  1. The far settlement

A decade ago a faction of disgruntled farmers and tradesmen migrated to a large and far away cavern. As they left, they promised to have nothing more to do with the town and the complacent fools running it. They still have sympathisers in town, unhappy with the way the council treated the separatists.

Things have been difficult for them in the new area. Crops are sickly, it’s hard to protect animals from stonebeast predators and their water sources aren’t reliable. Still refusing to ask the town for help, some of them have taken to sneaking back in small numbers and stealing what they need.

Mayor: Gulla Briggs, a loud bearded man who issues orders while he works as a mason.

  1. Gangs

The gangs prey on the poor with ‘taxes’ and theft, but at the same time they’re the only force of order in the slum district. Guards don’t bother to police that part of the town, so local toughs keep an eye on the streets. They also run a thriving black market with customers in every district.

There’s been a stalemate between the two largest rival gangs for the last several years, which made things quiet. Now both are becoming more active, making alliances and preparing for a turf war.

  1. Ancients cult

This group have been quietly raiding prehuman tombs for magic artefacts and gradually learning to use them. Some of the cave hieroglyphics hint that the creatures who built them had a resurrection technique that works even after many centuries of death. They hope to revive an entombed creature to teach them more of its magic. With a weapon like that, they could take control of the town.

Leader: Tultha Steed, a smiling, wealthy shopkeeper and money lender.

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Damn, that looks amazing! I sure as hell wouldn’t want to run into it. I love the way the hairs seem to stand on end as though they’re already pulling themselves towards water.

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Thanks for the kind words! Yes, pulling towards the moisture in the cave and possibly the water inside an onlooking adventurer… :eyes:

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Are you on the Cryptpad? (password is “O-S-R”). I’d love to see more of your work in the zine.

Those are great! I feel like I definitely get a sense of the culture of the undergrounders with those.

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Yes, I am! I’ll add more stuff once I’m done later today with work. I’m looking to illustrate more of the other plants you listed.

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That’s awesome; do you have an Instagram or anywhere else I can follow your art?

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Very cool! Digging that style.

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I don’t, unfortunately. I’m a designer by trade so I more or less draw for fun. Thank you so much for the kind words, seriously! I’ll add some more drawings tonight.

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How are we getting so lucky with art?

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Been going back and forth on this. We definitely need a deposit for art files but I’m struggling to get Crypt to work as a drive.

I think we should discuss file formats so that we can all be on the same page as far as exports go, will make whoever is handling layout much easier.

Then we can start dumping the art files in one location to be pulled from.

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Is something like Dropbox feasible for folks? I know there was discussion regarding the ethics of Google earlier.

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I suppose for now I’d leave it in the Art thread, which is filling up nicely, now. I love your depiction of cave-nettle as well, but now you’ve got me worrying about how much space there’ll be for one table with two great pieces of art.

I would like to use Crypt. We can upload individual files but I can’t figure out how to actually share the folder where all the files will exist. Perhaps a permissions issue?

@maderschramm is much more familiar with Crypt, perhaps he has some advice.

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