All of the DFRPG Monsters Adventure Seeds

Here are all of the Monsters adventure seeds so far, linked and excerpted:



as-Sharak Adventure Seeds (by Matt Riggsby, for a monster created by Sean Punch for DF2)

Fire With Fire. As-Sharak are cursed to kill those among the living who share their lust for power. While they are ruthless in their violent pursuits, there are those who perceive some morality in it, viewing the demons' victims as getting their just desserts. A quintet of as-Sharak – one of each type – have become proactive, venturing from their lair to destroy not only those who come to loot it but also those who might plan to do so. This category includes the heroes, certainly, but also many wannabe Dark Lords – and the as-Sharak have been killing a lot of them. If the delvers move against the as-Sharak, then along with facing monsters, they will be up against an order of holy warriors who see the fiends as useful scourges against other evils.

Look Who's Back. Fires are burning down houses belonging to Wizards' Guild members around town. Signs point to a powerful demon lurking underground. How long before it becomes apparent that the monster is an as-Sharak who used to be master of the Guild, who blames his former associates for the curse that befell him and is seeking revenge?

Additional as-Sharak seed from Matt Riggsby.

Bronze Spider Adventure Seeds (by Peter Dell'Orto, for a monster created by Sean Punch for DFM1)

Dungeon Repairachnids. Bronze spiders make great additions to megadungeons or other locations adventurers will visit repeatedly. Their presence can explain knocked-down doors being repaired, traps being reset, new passages appearing (or blockages closing passages), scratches and chalk marks being removed, and so on. Delvers hate anything that resets traps and fixes doors, so they’ll probably try to exterminate the spiders. Such actions are likely to attract the attention of whoever – or whatever – set the monsters their task in the first place.

Secret Of The Clockwork Spiders. Finding the clockwork world where bronze spiders originated could be the culmination of a series of delves deep into the Earth. The secret to their construction would be extremely valuable. So would much of the techno-magical gear certain to be found there. Such a realm would have more than just bronze spiders – golems of bronze, metallic animals, and ornithopter-like bronze insects would guard their clockwork god and its worshippers.

Crushroom Adventure Spores (by Peter Dell'Orto, for a monster created by Sean Punch for DF2)

King Of The Crushrooms. Legends persist of sapient crushrooms. Mycologists, alchemists, druids, and wizards speak of the fabled Crushroom King, who leads a colony of “civilized” crushrooms. Making contact with the Crushroom King could bring fame and fortune. But the supposed location of the colony is deep within a huge series of caverns, past forests of fungi, spore clouds, and ordinary (nonsapient) crushrooms. Even if the Crushroom King exists, it’s unclear how to communicate with it or what such a being would want. Still, legends portray it as having great wealth, magical mushrooms, and spells for affecting fungi.

Capturing A Crushroom. The secrets of ambulatory fungus hold a lot of promise for magical research by local alchemists. Druids might also covet a captured crushroom, as a natural guard for a grove. Capturing a live, healthy crushroom (no nearly dead specimens wanted, please) would bring at least $3,000 from either group. The obstacles are steep: Crushrooms are neither small, nor easy to capture, nor rational beings delvers can bargain with – and they’re strong. Still, it is a big reward.

Demon from Between the Stars Adventure Seeds (by Matt Riggsby, for a monster created by Sean Punch for DFM1)

Between Stars. The stars are not right; the past few nights, they’ve been downright wrong. Cracks are opening into the Deep Night Between the Stars from which the Demons come. If the heroes don’t want to face ever-increasing waves of Demons and even worse Elder Things, they must step through a gap in the darkness and into a realm where the stars are only distant silver motes. The places between the stars are silent, very cold (Exploits, p. 70), and full of danger, but the adventurers have to find a way to ignite a new star, pushing back the darkness for a while.

Lords Of Night. Refugees are fleeing their villages. The night, they say, is taking their livestock, their families, and everything else. And there’s a pattern. Vicious shadows are clearing a ring around a remote-but-legendary shrine, cutting it off from the outside world. A number of highly intelligent Demons from Between the Stars are preparing to assault the temple and destroy a center of power that can be used against them. The only path to beating them is through them.

Doomchild Adventure Seeds (by Peter Dell'Orto, for a monster created by Sean Punch for DF2)

Doomchildren Gate. Shockingly small bands of doomchildren have launched suicidal raids on the border fort near an old dungeon. The doomchildren have been destroyed each time, but where are they coming from? The local ruler wants that question answered and the doomchildren plague ended. Deep within the dungeon, perhaps a megadungeon, is a long-sealed gate to the realm of the demons (Hell?). It’s leaking – slightly – allowing doomchildren through a handful at a time, and must be resealed. If the delvers aren’t careful, attempts to close the gate could actually open it wide, allowing a larger force of demons to pass through. Alternatively, the gate might need closing from the other side, allowing bold heroes to travel to the demon realm itself for some real adventure.

Children Of The Doomed. The presence of doomchildren usually means the presence of demons, demon-worshippers, or foolish wizards who dared too much (and died in the process). This time it means all three. A wizard friendly to the PCs accidentally summoned a pack of doomchildren along with the peshkali she intended to conjure. The peshkali and doomchildren killed her and are loose. Only the heroes can clear her house of demons. Plot twist: The peshkali is downright maternal toward “her” doomchildren.

Draug Adventure Seeds (by Peter Dell'Orto, for a monster written up by Peter Dell'Orto for DFM1)

The Lord’s Bodyguards. Buried within a local dungeon is a dead lord and his bodyguards, all equipped with excellent armor and weapons, all with rich grave goods – and all victims of a great curse that has made them draugr. One was the beloved ancestor of a powerful and wealthy family; they’d like him laid to rest (read: destroyed) and his grave goods retrieved, and they’re willing pay triple the value for them, intact. What should be a simple kill-and-loot mission has three complications: First, there are 33 draugr, all used to fighting cooperatively. Second, the grave goods are the bodyguards’ delicate gold jewelry, which is vulnerable to fire. And third (which the family doesn’t know), thanks to the curse, Turning doesn’t work within the confines of their hall of crypts. Delvers will need to be very tough – or very clever – to succeed.

Draug Challenge. A draug haunting a barrow nearby is known for challenging warriors to single combat. A group of delvers could defeat it, but a local lord has put up his magic sword as a reward to any warrior who can destroy the thing single-handed.

Gargoyle Adventure Seeds (by Matt Riggsby, for a monster created by Sean Punch for DFRPG Monsters)

Getting The Words Right. Architects will tell you that gargoyles should be called “grotesques,” as proper gargoyles are defined by the presence of a spout. Architects should shut up. Someone is responsible for new strains of gargoyles: Some can spray a strong jet of water; treat as the Water Jet spell (Spells, p. 71) at an effective skill 15, along with Innate Attack (Breath)-15; others spit acid, doing 1d-3 corrosion damage (see Exploits, p. 65, for further effects) per die of knockback. Surely alkahest-spitting gargoyles are not far behind! Are gargoyles selectively breeding themselves to acquire greater powers? Have they appealed to a gargoyle god for blessings? Is a wizard doing it?

Undercover Gargoyle. Gargoyles can’t convincingly disguise themselves as flesh-and-blood mortals, but some bright ones have figured out how to conceal themselves as statues, pillars, and so on. In fancier rooms, including temples and palaces, they can hide in plain sight (Quick Contest of Vision vs. Camouflage-12 to spot) to strike when least expected. But don’t smash the Grand Temple’s new statue of the Great God Zorg!

Lich Adventure Seeds (by Peter Dell'Orto, for a monster created by Sean Punch for DFM1)

The Lich’s Bargain. No lich is truly good, but they aren’t all inherently hostile to all delvers. The typical lich desires magical power and knowledge, and some will trade riches, knowledge, or even assistance to get it. Approaching such a lich is tricky – liches rarely lack lethal defenses – but potentially rewarding.

The Master Of Lost Lore. The Wizards’ Guild needs the details of a particularly important magical ritual, which are in a unique book possessed by an especially evil and powerful lich. The monster is protected by veritable army of skeletons, zombies, demons, and spheres of madness, and a pack of hellhounds – all deep within a trap-filled dungeon. The Guild is offering a rich reward to delvers who return the book, and a bonus if they destroy the lich; what they neglect to mention is that the lich is actually the Guild’s former leader. The lore sought is that of how to become a lich . . . and the current guildmaster is getting on in years. If the PCs are bold enough to talk to the lich first and discuss their mission, it will counteroffer a reward for the assassination of the master of the Wizards’ Guild!

Rock Mite Adventure Seeds (by Matt Riggsby, for a monster created by Peter Dell'Orto for DFM1)

The Underminer! Rock mites are said to be living tools, drones used by a hidden civilization. Many tools can be weaponized. Properly organized, rock mites constitute a strategic threat, and someone may have figured out how to control them. Like an army of sappers, they can undermine not just the walls of settlements on the surface, but entire towns. When bits and pieces of the heroes’ town start falling into holes in the ground, they need to stop the whole thing from going under. The PCs must work to bring back not a key hostage or two, but an entire temple that has sunk beneath the earth.

Mine Tailings. Rumor has it there’s a population of rock mites that doesn’t just eat rock, but leaves behind metal. A scholar wants the heroes to track down colonies of rock mites and confirm the report. They’ll have to get up close to a lot of rock mites, gather samples of their bodies and the rubble they leave behind, and hope that the ones they’re looking for don’t leave behind toxic wastes.

Spirit Guardian Adventure Seeds (by Matt Riggsby for a monster created by Sean Punch for DFRPG Monsters)

The Spirit Moves. Spirit guardians can be formidable, but at least they’re limited to one place. Usually. A spirit guardian attached to a forest may find its domain expanding when the forest grows. And when the forest is controlled by a mad druid with the power to make the trees march, the spirit guardian goes with them. If a group of delvers could just get to the druid, they could stop the moving forest’s weird rampage, but every step of the way, the quest is complicated by a spirit trying to push them out. And things could get really bad when the forest rolls up the slopes of an extinct volcano and the spirit’s attempts to pummel them start to do cutting damage (from the jagged shards of obsidian whipped up from the ground) rather than crushing.

Troll Adventure Seeds (by Peter Dell'Orto, for a monster written up by Peter Dell'Orto for DFM1)

The Troll Wizard. Delvers attempting to exterminate a local troll infestation have come back from the fens reporting a fireproof troll that tossed around spells when attacked! A troll wizard holds great potential as a source of both danger and reward – trolls like loot, and a troll wizard would certainly have some in its lair. Of course, the troll might not be an actual wizard, but a cleric of some unusual trollish god (or even a friendly god). Worse, a troll druid would be very difficult to deal with in a wilderness setting. A spellcasting troll might make a good noncombat encounter, if it isn’t hungry and the adventurers are brave enough to speak instead of attack.

The Giant Troll. A rare few trolls grow to giant size – start with the stats for a giant and add a troll’s traits. Such a monster makes a great guardian for a MacGuffin, a powerful magical weapon, or a rare bit of treasure. And it’s certain to have at least a couple dozen normal-sized trolls nearby as flunkies!

Werewolf Adventure Seeds (by Matt Riggsby, for a monster written by Sean Punch for DFRPG Monsters)

Pack Hunting. The cunning of werewolves isn’t limited to moderately intelligent hunting tactics. A particularly clever pack are moving in the direction of becoming super-predators, taking over and cultivating the upper levels of a dungeon in order to draw in wealthy and powerful delvers. In human form, they’re spreading word that there’s a lot of treasure to be found, and salting the neighborhood with a bit of recovered loot. In wolf form, they lurk throughout the dungeon’s upper levels, keeping an eye on anyone who enters and sometimes rounding up herds of the less-intelligent monsters found there, hoping to overwhelm adventurers without exposing themselves to danger. They’ll try to push particularly tough treasure-hunters to deeper levels. If the delvers and more formidable monsters found on ever-deeper levels don’t kill one another, the pack can move in to finish off the weakened survivors and take both sides’ loot!

These are all in support of the DFRPG Monsters 2 Kickstarter.

I'll update this post as more are posted up, so eventually when the Kickstarter is all funded up and the books are out, we don't need to look all over the place for those posted adventure seeds. All of these were work for hire by SJG, and belong to them.