Dungeon sustainability

INTRODUCTION

In the late 2000s and early 2010s, there was a minor obsession in video games with “fully destructible terrain.” Wooden covers would break into pieces Mafia IIthe sides of buildings can be blown by the wind Battlefield 3 and almost anything could be blown up in interesting or beneficial ways in the (still remarkably ambitious) Red faction: GuerrillaSimply put, this shit sucks.

Tabletop games (in my experience) do not share this obsession with this complete destructibility, especially in terms of mechanics, and instead place that responsibility on the GM. While we can (and have) blown down walls in our OSE campaign, there are remarkably few consequences to this other than making some noise. What a few games Doing often mechanize this destruction of the environment in such detail that they become unattainable (with Cyberpunk2020 (following this line has mixed consequences).

I’m quite behind on this book at the moment, so maybe someone else out there is already doing it. But after reading Catching Snakes’ Dungeon Immune Responses, I got to thinking about how I would approach a Space Hulk(*1) and the durability of his dungeon…

THE CORE

The dungeon walls are thick, but not impenetrable. Magic missiles can easily pass through them, and a single false blow from an adventurer’s warhammer can cause a support beam to crumble. Each area of ​​the dungeon has a set durability (say, d6+2 durability for the average catacomb), and every section of dungeon wall, ceiling, and floor can be easily breached by dealing 1HD damage in a single blow.

Each time a section of wall is destroyed, a door is broken down, or a sufficiently large or earth-shaking explosion occurs, that area suffers 1 Durability Damage, and immediately rolls on the Decay Table – See below. ((For those using Hazard Dies or a similar procedure at home, feel free to work the Decay Table into that as well!)) When an area reaches 0 Durability, it begins to collapse (or flood, or lose pressure, etc.). Players have 2d6 Rounds to evacuate before the collapse kills them outright. After a collapse, only a few meager passageways of the area are accessible (usually enough to connect adjacent areas if necessary for game flow), the rest is left in ruins and must be excavated at great expense.

THE EXPIRY TABLE

When rolling the Decay Table, roll 1d12 and add the area’s current Durability. You can customize this table to better reflect the dungeons players are exploring!

1. No Escape – Whatever entrance the party used to enter this area has now completely collapsed. Your only hope is to go deeper…
2. The ground shifts… The floor of this room collapses beneath your feet, you have 1d4 rounds to respond.
3. Breaking support beams… The ceiling in this room is starting to collapse, you have 1d4 rounds to respond!
4. Choked by dust… The air feels much thicker and hazier, dust that was once gray dances between green and black in the torchlight. All actions within this room are thrown at disadvantage. ((After one round, all players must make a saving throw against poison, everyone feels the urge to cough, those that fail begin coughing violently, forcing more “dust” into their lungs. If the players remain in this room for another 2d2 rounds, they expose themselves to deep mold, permanently reducing their maximum HP by 1 for every further round spent in the room.))
5. Nightmares… The dungeon howls in the dark. The next time you sleep it will be 6 hours, nothing can wake you up during this time except losing HP. You will have a nightmare where you are trapped in this area of ​​the dungeon, repeating endlessly. Losing all the benefits of that rest and feeling exhausted when you wake up.
6. Emaciated Predator… A terrifying beast from the deepest dungeon has been driven out by your actions… and it’s now extra hungry.
7. The Water Stream… Some rocks come loose in a nearby wall and are now pouring water (or maybe mud or some other nasty liquid) into this room. ((Flip a coin to see if it’s enough to flood this room. If it is, flip another to see if it’s enough to flood this area.))
8. Chain Reaction… If this decay was rolled due to the destruction of a structure, d8 nearby or adjacent structures also fall apart. If no structure was destroyed, a nearby wall eventually collapses.
9. Chain Reaction… If this decay was rolled due to the destruction of a structure, d8 nearby or adjacent structures also fall apart. If no structure was destroyed, a nearby wall eventually collapses.
10. Something feels different… But you can’t pin down what. ((Swap the locations of two rooms with keys))
11. Neither the sun nor the stars… Without a way to tell the exact time, time seems to fly by. ((Time is advanced by d12 hours without the players realizing it, without regard to the associated encounter rules that arise from the passage of time.))
12. Bad Bones… You can see that the walls of this room are about to collapse at any moment. A single point of damage to a wall will not only collapse the wall, but will also bring down the ceiling in d8 rounds.
13. The dungeon is shaking… Save yourself from being paralyzed or fall to the ground as the dungeon rumbles.
14. The dungeon is shaking… Save yourself from being paralyzed or fall to the ground as the dungeon rumbles.
15. Whispers in the dark… Rescues against spells. If they fail, they whisper a rumor about this area to you.
16. Whispers in the dark… Rescues against spells. If they fail, they whisper a rumor about this area to you.
17. A gust of wind… A shift in the area’s exit causes a gust of wind to blow through. All the torches are blown out.
18. Screaming in the dark… A crumb, a snap, and then a bloodcurdling scream. Who or what could have caused it?
19. Deathly silence… Only your footsteps and heartbeat can be heard in these dilapidated corridors.
20. Deathly silence… Only your footsteps and heartbeat can be heard in these dilapidated corridors.

(*1 : For non-Warhammer nerds, Space Hulks are one of the coolest parts of the 40k settings. Abandoned spaceships lost to the demonic warp. Ships that no longer fit in time and are infected with all sorts of bizarre ailments. Treasure troves waiting to be plundered or purified. They are super cool and the accompanying board game remains the white whale of my collection.)