Dungeon Dressing: Random Encounters
Use these random encounters to add spice and interest to your dungeon. The encounters are designed to be relatively generic and should be easy to insert into almost any dungeon. As always, change or ignore any details that do not work for your setup.
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Doppelgänger
Derval (N doppelgänger) doesn’t care about the characters, and wants to get away from them as quickly as possible. Derval has other business—with the dungeon’s organised denizens.
This scrawny humanoid wears dirty, ragged leathers and carries a dagger in its left hand.
For several days now, Derval has been masquerading as a normal member of the dungeon’s dominant denizens. It has heard rumours of a great treasure hidden in the denizen’s territory and greatly desires the treasure for itself. Thus the characters are of no interest to Derval, unless it can use them to further its aims.
Derval either immediately flees the characters or surrenders to them, telling them of a great treasure hidden in the dungeon in exchange for its life. Of course, Derval hopes the characters kill the dungeon’s denizens (or vice versa) which will allow it to continue its search unimpeded.
Personality: Cunning, amoral and patient, Derval is also an excellent actor. It plays its part carefully and only uses its mind-reading powers if it must. To Derval, the characters are nothing and of no consequence.
Mannerisms: Derval has a tell; when listening, it often cocks its head to one side. Derval does this in whatever form it takes.
Hook: If Derval fools the characters, it makes a note of their names—after all, a doppelgänger is always after fools and idiots to serve as its pawns.
Gelatinous Cube
Silent, remorseless and never sleeping, this gelatinous cube cruises the dungeon searching for prey. A few months ago, the cube slew a thief, Lempo Himottu, making a solo exploration of the dungeon. Sadly for the gelatinous cube, the thief carried with him an enchanted +1 dagger which had been treated with a continual flame spell.
A glowing dagger floats in the air in front of you. Some kind of haze seems to hang in the air between you and the weapon.
Because of the light blazing forth from within its body, the cube has not fed since it consumed the thief months ago. While it is essentially mindless, it hungers.
Personality: The cube has no personality; it lives to feed.
Mannerisms: The cube blazes with light, which creates a haze or shimmer outlining its body. This effect wobbles as the cube moves about.
Hook: The magical dagger consumed by the gelatinous cube has a distinctive sigil—a gloved six-fingered hand—carved into its pommel. This is the personal sign of Lempo Himottu—an infamous thief known to operate in the nearest large town or city. Enquiries reveal he has not been seen in a couple of months. Lempo was a successful (and wealthy) thief; perhaps the dagger’s pommel holds a tiny treasure map to one of his treasure caches.
Intellect Devourer
Intixival (CE intellect devourer) is a cunning predator who greatly desires to secure itself a plentiful source of ripe, succulent brains. It wants to escape the dungeon and reach the largest nearby settlement. Thus, it does not have immediate designs upon the characters’ grey matter.
When the characters encounter Intixival he pretends to be unable to see in the dark and is slowly groping his way along a passageway toward them.
Dried blood cakes the left ear and cheek of this battered and bruised human warrior. He wears dirty leather armour, has a longsword at his belt and carries a spear.
Intixival currently inhabits the body of Saku Vasara—a man-at-arms (LN male human)—seemingly separated from his adventurous employers.
Personality: Intixival is a psychopath only out for himself. However, as Saku Vasara he pretends to be a friendly man who has realised he is horribly out of his depth and who just wants to escape the dungeon.
Mannerisms: Intixival effects a stammer and slight concussion to better throw off any suspicions—adventurers are a suspicious lot, after all. If he develops an obsession with one of the characters (see “Hook” below), he begins to stare thoughtfully at the object of his interest when he thinks no one is watching.
Hook: Intixival works hard to ingratiate itself with the party. As it does so, however, it begins to become obsessed with a random character. It doesn’t want to eat the character’s brain, but does want to get to know them better. If the characters help it get to civilisation, it tries to ingratiate itself further with the party—moving from host to host in search of the perfect vehicle.
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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