TABLE OF BURIAL SITE/CRYPT/DUNGEON MOTIFS in DOLMENWOOD
Roll 1d12 and add the dungeon level or number of hexes from a human town/keep/castle.
Alternatively, pick a date, and each dungeon-level deeper represents a 100-year change, but motifs only change when you hit a noteworthy period.
NB: Last thing, in order for a burial site to survive 100s or even 1000s of years, it must be well constructed. So, when I list burial sites below its implied "of surviving/identifiable sites."
- 100y Fall of Abbey, decline of Church
- Church burial sites add this fall motif but smaller to demphsize
- Human & Breggle burial sites increase heraldic symbols of House
- 350y Staint Clewyd dies slaying the Atacorn
- Church burial sites add fall motif as predominant
- Nag-Lord allies will have the Nag-Lord as a motif if allied with the cult
- 400y Nag-Lord arrival; as #4 with Triple Compact burial sites
- Triple Compact motifs are more downplayed
- Nag-Lord motifs are small and emerging if burial site is part of the cult
- 600-850y Triple Compact Banishes Cold Prince; human and breggle burial sites predominate
- Drune, Church, and Crown motifs play up the Triple Compact
- Breggle are a mix of house and Triple Compact
- 900y Cold Prince's Wrath, unnatural winter befalls Domenwood for 150 years; burial sites have
- All burial sites winter/snow/death motifs, also war/battle motifs between human and fay
- 1,000-1,100y Brackwold settles and builds out; breggles and humans co-rule ; deep in the forest,
- Burial sites are human & breggle; sometimes feature alliance motifs
- Drune burial sites can be found remotely
- 1,200y Arrival of Brackenwolders as a second wave of human population
- Human burial sites motifs will feature different symbology than the previous woodcutter/Green Man motifs
- New human motifs will also feature the Pluritine Church;
- Drune sites become obscure
- 1,500y Drune-Breggel war; Longhorn nobility begins as descendants of Hraigl
- Drune depicts Hraigl's work as betrayal
- Breggel motifs show Hraigl as a savior and mother figure to all breggels
- 1,700y Drune powerful and Breggles serve them, so burial places are drune with breggles in secondary positions
- Drune burials feature motifs of power/domination with breggles in servitude
- Breggle burials feature desires for salvation OR acts of Drune service
- Human burials are "woodsman" motifs and might depicts the Drune/Breggles as hostile
- 1,800y Non-Drune human wood cutters who venerate the wood god arrive; burial sites are human but feature wood god/green man-type motifs
- Human burial are "woodsman" motifs and feature forgest gods/Green Man motifs
- 1,900y Drune begin activity, and so have a burial presence
- As #12, but burial sites will now contain Drune
- 2000-2,500y Burial places mostly breggle, but rarely human- cold prince iconography might be featured prominently or at least snow/winter motifs
- Burial places mostly breggle with few human
- Cold Prince is a predominant, almost god-like figure at all burial sites
- Snow & winter motifs also predominate
The Forgotten King (room empty): A finely carved granite stone work table of an age past forms the head of this hall; all four sarcophagus feature a relief of their occupant; the stone table in front features a crown, serpent, and sword with life-like fidelity
This is fine, but it doesn't really ground this burial site into anything connected to Dolmenwood. King of what? When? Is there any motifs linked to anything? What do the crown, serpent, and sword (I like the ring of that triplet) represent in history?
I dunno! So let's use the table above- [grabs 1d12, rolls]- a 5!
5. 900y Cold Prince's Wrath, unnatural winter befalls Domenwood for 150 years; burial sites have winter/snow/death motifs also war/battle motifs
Okay, so now this tomb, which is a part of the larger complex, was built in the years of the Cold Prince's Wrath. We can add some detail to the tomb now:
The Forgotten King of the Long Winter (room empty): A finely carved granite stone work table sits at the head of the room and inlaid with pale mother-of-pearl snowflakes; all four sarcophagi feature a relief of their occupant- all extremities, lips, and noses painted black as if frostbitten; the stone table in front features a crown covered in icecicles, a sword fashions like cold-iron, and a serpent with a snowflake pattern.
Great, so now there is a little bit more character to this empty room (1) its more than just "empty", but (2) it grounds it in some era. As a DM, I'd let the PC puzzle out if this king was for or against the Cold Prince. Maybe it could be an adventure hook carried forward.
Okay, let me wrap this up by presenting how this could inform undead (monsters) and traps, which are other stocking instances that could come up around crypts and burial sites. This is nothing astounding, but helpful in a pinch:
- Undead: If this room did contain skeletons, zombies, or wights, we could use the table above to help decide the aesthetic and concerns of the dead. So for #5, I might say the king and his family were against the Cold Prince, but their undead hate all fay and attack them on sight while ignoring the humans. They might constantly question the intent of would-be intruders, perhaps even offering up cold-iron if the PCs can convince them they are against the Winter Wyrd.
- Traps: Same trick as with monsters, we can theme the traps. Let's say the king was an alley with the Cold Prince; now the traps could be winter-themed. Howling winds that flow out fire. Ice that drops from the ceiling or grows as sudden crystals out of winter motifs. Maybe anyone human who touches snowflaked items suffers "Winter's Bite"- 1d4 damage and numbing pain.
Brilliant! Yoink.
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