Dungeon Dressing: Miscellaneous Dressings I
As well as including “large” pieces of dungeon dressing—statues, interesting pillars and so on—in your dungeon, smaller pieces of dressing can also tell an interesting story and help bring your creation alive in your players’ imaginations.
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Evidence of Previous Explorers
Several sets of fresh muddy boot tracks lead further into the dungeon.
An arrow sticks into the wall from a sprung trap; fresh blood coats another missile lying nearby.
A rope tied off with masterful knots to hammered stakes spans an open pit.
Broken lock picks lie in front of an open door.
Acid-scarred leather armour and a partially melted axe lie piled in a corner.
A scrawled note lies on the floor; it reads, “Turn left at the next intersection, then right at the unlit torch.”
A copper coin displaying an emperor’s head lies at the centre of this T-junction.
Black ants swarm over chunks of rotting rations.
An empty chest blocks a closed door; something tried to smash through the door from the other side.
A hand-drawn map sits rolled up on the floor; it indicates most of the rooms the party has visited and a couple they have not yet explored.
A discarded pickaxe sits next to a partially carved-out earthen wall.
The obvious impression of a staff bearing someone’s weight decorates the floor.
Several portraits, rugs and pieces of heavy furniture fill this secluded room, as if waiting for someone to return to collect it all.
Four nearly empty potion bottles lie near a cold campfire; enough liquid remains to allow a character to identify them as healing potions of various types.
A piece of parchment has “Days without a dead party member” across the top; the tally went to 11, but someone crossed out the marks.
Tally marks cover the wall next to two letters; “B” has 37, while “Q” has 41.
A torn piece of parchment contains a faraway royal’s signature and mention of a magic amulet.
A burned-out torch lies discarded on the floor.
A makeshift bridge, comprised of lashed-together planks, crosses a gurgling underground stream.
In a maze-like set of passages, chalk arrows point out a path before abruptly ending.
Junk & Rubbish
Dozens of chipped arrowheads lie in a pile; almost all are blood-stained.
The fourth leg belonging to a three-legged table lies ten feet away.
A corroded copper ring, sized for a typical human, holds four empty insets.
Mouldy grain spills from a hole gnawed through a barrel’s bottom.
This pile of furs would be useful (and valuable) were it not for the fleas infesting them.
The clasp on this locket is broken; the picture within has weathered to unrecognizability.
These rusty caltrops look like they would infect someone stepping on them with tetanus.
A pile of seeming gold coins reveals gold paint that has mostly flecked off each coin’s underside.
All the glass panes for this lantern are missing.
An otherwise well-crafted wicker basket has a gaping hole in the bottom.
This iron holy symbol has been altered and is sharp at one end. (It is useable as an improvised weapon that deals piercing damage as a dagger).
A broken hand fan has a sharpened edge allowing for its use as a weapon.
Four leather straps, once used as body restraints, are cracked and partially torn.
Tatters of lace hang off the ribs of this now-useless mud- and blood-stained parasol.
A 50-foot length of rope has frayed severely; it seems like it would bear very little weight.
A black cloth bag holds 20 chipped and cracked clear glass marbles.
The activating agents in this flask of alchemist’s fire is inert; the oil is only useful as a lubricant.
This cheaply painted, filth-encrusted porcelain egg is filled with mould; a tiny emerald (worth 100 gp) is hidden within the mould.
Underneath a layer of filth, these white plates have a blue floral pattern.
This stuffed and mounted black cat has patchy fur and only one of its green glass eyes.
Credit
This is a short system-neutral extract from GM’s Miscellany: Dungeon Dressing. The book is available in 5e, System Neutral and Pathfinder 1 editions. The OSR edition will be available in early 2023.
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