Not sure if this has been done before, but seems like a fun idea.
:: Musedusa ::
Stats As per Medusa but with different abilities.
Description A Musedusa is a gorgon type which is related to the Medusa.
A Musedusa’s lair is a riot of colour; graffiti-like overlapping images of people with grotesque facial expressions are plastered over every surface.
Unlike a Medusa, the Musedusa’s stare does not turn their victim into a three dimensional stone facsimile. Instead, any sentient being that comes between a Musedusa stare and a planer surface like a wall, is forced into that surface and so trapped and frozen there like a full colour fresco or mosaic. If a victim’s image is fully overlaid, destroyed or overpainted, they cannot be recovered.
Appearance A Musedusa’s hair is a mass of large slug-like segmented worms that writhe, wobble and oscillate like jellied tongues. Their blood is viscous, multicoloured and pyrophoric.
Update: When this blog was young, the below was posted as a blog ‘page’ and not as a blog ‘post’. I’ve deleted the ‘page’ and prefer to keep it on my blog as a blog post.
This template is designed as a ‘point crawl’. The chambers and passages can be any shape or size, may go up, down or undulate. The map can be imagined as seen from above (e.g. Example 1) or from the side, in profile (e.g. Example 2).
Method:
It should be fairly self explanatory from the template alone, but just for completeness:
(i) Template Start with the template below (i.e. the colony has an entrance level + 4 Zones)
(ii) No. Chambers Roll number of chambers in each Zone. The idea being that the monsters get tougher in the later zones.
(iii) No. Passages Roll number of passages connecting the chambers, i.e. = No. of chambers + D5
(iv) No. Concealed Entrances Roll number passageway entrances which are concealed (D12-10, i.e. uncommon)
(v) Join up the Dots Join up the chambers using the number of passages
Colony Template
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Example 1 – Riverbank Giant Ant Colony (above view):
The ‘faded’ circles are chamber not used from the template (e.g. Zone 2 only has 3 out the possible 5 chambers). These could be Tippexed out, or ignored. Please also ignore the L and N, these are artefacts left over from another project! If you must know, these are where the colony connected to other systems.
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Example 2 – Mound Giant Ant Colony (side view) Note – This is the same as Example 1, but showing a different arranging of passages
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Example 3 – Giant clay wasp nest clinging high up on a cave wall (side view) Note – This example generated fewer chambers and one concealed entrance (shown in green)
Suggestions
:: Don’t get too hung up on the procedural ‘rules’, nothing will get broken :: Start by making a path from the entrance to the Queen :: Don’t make a path to the Queen that is a straight line (… boring!) :: Don’t make it necessary to pass through every room to get to the Queen (… a drag) :: Ensure there is more than one path that leads to the Queen (… more interesting) :: Ensure the shortest path to the queen is not too long or too short – aim for 5 to 7 chambers
Random Encounters
The above is an off-shoot from a more complicated (probably a too complicated) project. If people are interested, then I’ll add some random tables!
Edit: For now you could use this Excel sheet to generate random encounters: Link Preview:
Background – following on from my last monster post. This is something I submitted to ‘& Magazine‘ back in October 2016. It had also been slated to be published in Issue 15, but ‘& Magazine’ is no more. So, I’ve given it a re-edit and posted it here.
:: Drachomeleon ::
Frequency: Rare (uncommon in dragon lairs) No. Appearing: 1-8 Armour Class: 7 Move: 6″; 1” when climbing Hit Dice: 3 % in Lair: 85% Treasure Type: C (in dragon lairs none) No. of Attacks: 3 Damage/Attack: 1-4/1-4/2-8 Special Attacks: See below; grasping tongue; surprise Special Defenses: See below; adaptive camouflage Magic Resistance: Standard Intelligence: Animal Alignment: Neutral Size: L (15 to 25 feet long) Psionic Ability: Nil Level/XP Value: 170 +3/HP (Stats for AD&D)
Drachomeleons are a giant form of chameleon that resemble and live alongside dragons. Drachomeleons are tolerated by dragons because they make useful ‘guards’, eating any unwelcome visitors, including the numerous parasites attracted to the dragon’s lair. Drachomeleons will normally use their adaptive camouflage to blend into their surrounds. However, when the host dragon is in their lair, especially when moving, Drachomeleons match the colour of the dragon to prevent the dragon from accidentally crushing or harming them. Drachomeleons like to bask with warm dragon eggs (where they might be mistaken for a dragon hatchling), or lurk in ambush near the lair’s entrance hoping to get an easy meal.
Special abilities:
:: Eyes – move independently seeing 360 degrees around them, making them very difficult to surprise. The lenses of their eyes are highly valued by scholars.
:: Adaptive camouflage – makes them hard to see (surprise on 1-5 on D6); also coldblooded and so tend to be the same temperature as their surrounds. Treated correctly theirs skins make useful cloaks.
:: Intimidation – creatures of less than 3HD must take a morale check or fear the ‘dragon’. Their weird eyes, funny feet and lack of true wings, are their least dragon looking attributes and if spotted can nullify the need for a save.
:: Grasping tongue attack – 30 foot projectile grasping tongue; +5 to hit surprised prey. Grasped prey suffers automatic chewing damage 2-8HPs per round. Breaking free requires a roll under twice the PC’s Bend-bars/Lift-gates score.
:: Scent – they contain a substance very unpalatable to dragons, discouraging dragons from snacking on them.
:: Musedusa :: 
Me on DriveThru; at the moment I’m mainly pimping my procedural:
Goblin's Henchman 