Subterranean (range) - Revision history

Bennettj at 18:25, 20 April 2026

2026-04-20T18:25:31Z

Tao alexis: /* Dungeon Creatures */

2026-04-03T20:30:59Z

Dungeon Creatures

Tao alexis at 20:30, 3 April 2026

2026-04-03T20:30:37Z

Tao alexis: /* Dungeon Creatures */

2023-10-05T02:43:27Z

Dungeon Creatures

Tao alexis at 04:33, 23 July 2022

2022-07-23T04:33:03Z

Tao alexis at 04:23, 23 July 2022

2022-07-23T04:23:41Z

Tao alexis at 16:50, 22 June 2022

2022-06-22T16:50:24Z

Tao alexis: /* Common Features */

2022-06-06T03:29:42Z

Common Features

Tao alexis at 03:29, 6 June 2022

2022-06-06T03:29:15Z

Tao alexis at 01:06, 16 April 2022

2022-04-16T01:06:53Z

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 It is in these deeper reaches that may hold the chambers of an ancient cult, still stained by ritual and fear, where passages lead not according to utility but according to religious symbolism or derangement. A subterranean place may conceal the planning halls of a malevolent species preparing incursions against the upper world, their schemes carried on in black galleries where maps, idols, armouries and breeding pits coexist. It may contain old prisons whose locks no longer correspond to any key known above, treasure vaults protected by architecture itself or shrines raised to powers never worshipped in the daylight lands. Such places possess a density of intention. Every chamber suggests either a former purpose or the loss of one.
-A particularly useful form of subterranean environment in campaign design is the hidden understructure beneath an otherwise ordinary or imposing surface site. Beneath a keep, abbey, palace, manor, tower or fortress there may exist an entire lower world unknown in its full extent even to the current owners. A wine cellar leads to a blocked arch. A cistern chamber opens into an older crypt. A stair behind a wall descends to rooms whose doors bear no relation to the building overhead. These spaces may have been added by successive generations, forgotten in civil war, sealed after scandal or simply lost because no one living has had reason to map them. In this way, the subterranean can exist not as a separate location but as the secret underside of civilisation itself. This has excellent AD&D colour because it allows the ordinary and the uncanny to touch directly: a lord may dine above while something impossible waits below, separated only by a few feet of stone and the accident of ignorance.
+A particularly useful form of subterranean environment in campaign design is the hidden understructure beneath an otherwise ordinary or imposing surface site. Beneath a keep, [[Abbey|abbey]], palace, manor, tower or fortress there may exist an entire lower world unknown in its full extent even to the current owners. A wine cellar leads to a blocked arch. A cistern chamber opens into an older crypt. A stair behind a wall descends to rooms whose doors bear no relation to the building overhead. These spaces may have been added by successive generations, forgotten in civil war, sealed after scandal or simply lost because no one living has had reason to map them. In this way, the subterranean can exist not as a separate location but as the secret underside of civilisation itself. This has excellent AD&D colour because it allows the ordinary and the uncanny to touch directly: a lord may dine above while something impossible waits below, separated only by a few feet of stone and the accident of ignorance.
 == Conditions ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:30, 3 April 2026
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	See [[List of Ranges]]		See [[List of Ranges]]
		+
		+	[[Category: Reviewed]]

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 [[File:Subterranean.jpg|right|525px|thumb]]
-'''Subterranean''' environments include underground lairs, [[Cave|cave]] labyrinths and [[Dungeon|dungeons]], where the setting is below the land's surface in a dark and dangerous place.  Some of these places are merely a burrow carved into the earth, which can be explored in a few game minutes and the creatures within met almost at once.  Another form is a humanoid garrison that has been built below the surface to allow raids upon the local area through providing a refuge that is difficult to find.  These can develop into underground villages for races that are comfortable dwelling below ground, where crops and animals bred to the subterranean environment can be raised to provide [[Food|food]].
+'''Subterranean''' environments are those lying wholly beneath the surface of the earth, where the ordinary order of the world gives way to darkness, confinement, damp stone and the perpetual uncertainty of what lies just beyond the edge of a lantern's glow. These  places are not merely "underground" in the physical sense, but are distinguished by a change in conditions that affects movement, visibility, morale, habitation and danger. A party entering a subterranean place does not simply go indoors; it enters a world where direction is uncertain, escape is often difficult and the ground itself seems to conspire against confidence.
-Still other subterranean places are sprawling, multi-layered palaces, protecting ancient cult, humanoids that dwell very deep in the ground or where fiercely malevolent creatures make plans to wreak destruction upon the surface world.  Another form consists of secret rooms and chambers beneath vast citadels and fortresses, where even the owners of such places remain certain of what spaces exist "down there," built by some mad ancestor generations ago.
+The smallest form of subterranean environment is the simple den or burrow: a cavity clawed or dug into the earth by animals, monstrous beasts or solitary intelligent creatures. Such places may consist of only a winding tunnel, a nesting chamber and perhaps one or two side hollows for refuse, food or sleeping. These are often entered and understood in a matter of minutes, but this simplicity does not make them safe. A burrow's narrowness can prevent easy fighting, force adventurers to crawl or stoop, and place them at the mercy of creatures that know every turn and choke point. A single occupant encountered in such a place may be more dangerous than a score of enemies met in the open, because the environment belongs wholly to it.
 == Conditions ==
-Characters moving through this environment must take precautions with regards to [[Illumination|illumination]] and the use of blankets in order to [[Rest (healing)|rest]] properly.  Wet clothes won't dry properly, so that [[Hypothermia|hypothermia]] is a threat if characters get soaked or work too hard.  Temperatures are typically [[Brisk Conditions|brisk]] to [[Cool Conditions|cool]].  Really deep dungeons will require preparations for rest and sleep in dangerous conditions, and depots may need to be set up to permit returns to safe places where food can be gotten.
+Characters moving through a '''subterranean''' environment are conscious first of what the place does to their bodies. Light is never assumed. Even when [[Illumination|illumination]] is available, it is finite, unreliable and always at risk of being extinguished, dropped or consumed. A character who has light feels its value constantly, while one who has lost it is immediately aware of helplessness, hesitation and exposure. The dark below ground is not the same as night on the surface; it is total, enclosing and without horizon, making even a familiar passage feel uncertain after only a few steps.
 == Common Features ==

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 * [[Beholder]]
 * [[Black Pudding]]
 * [[Brown Bear]]
 * [[Bugbear]]

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 * [[Basilisk]]
 * [[Beholder]]
 * [[Brown Bear]]
 * [[Bugbear]]
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 * [[Nalfeshnee]]
 * [[Pit Fiend]]
 * [[Stone Golem]]
 * [[Violet Fungus]]

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 * [[Carrion Crawler]]
 * [[Cave Bear]]
-* [[Giant Centipede|Centipede (giant)]]
+* [[Centipede (giant)]]
 * [[Clay Golem]]
 * [[Cockatrice]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:50, 22 June 2022
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−	[[File:Subterranean.jpg\|right\|~~420px~~]]	+	[[File:Subterranean.jpg\|right\|525px\|thumb]]
	'''Subterranean''' environments include underground lairs, [[Cave\|cave]] labyrinths and [[Dungeon\|dungeons]], where the setting is below the land's surface in a dark and dangerous place. Some of these places are merely a burrow carved into the earth, which can be explored in a few game minutes and the creatures within met almost at once. Another form is a humanoid garrison that has been built below the surface to allow raids upon the local area through providing a refuge that is difficult to find. These can develop into underground villages for races that are comfortable dwelling below ground, where crops and animals bred to the subterranean environment can be raised to provide [[Food\|food]].		'''Subterranean''' environments include underground lairs, [[Cave\|cave]] labyrinths and [[Dungeon\|dungeons]], where the setting is below the land's surface in a dark and dangerous place. Some of these places are merely a burrow carved into the earth, which can be explored in a few game minutes and the creatures within met almost at once. Another form is a humanoid garrison that has been built below the surface to allow raids upon the local area through providing a refuge that is difficult to find. These can develop into underground villages for races that are comfortable dwelling below ground, where crops and animals bred to the subterranean environment can be raised to provide [[Food\|food]].

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 * [[Furnishings]]
 * [[Gaol]]
-* [[Gas]]
+* [[Gas-based Attacks|Gas]]
 * [[Gating & Summoning|Gate]]
 * [[Glyphs & Runes]]

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 * [[Armoury]]
 * [[Barracks]]
-* [[Bench]]
+* [[Bench (landform)]]
 * [[Cave-in]]
 * [[Chamber]]