Dungeon Ecology

We talk about Dungeon Ecology to help us designing dungeons and environments that feel plausible and fit a central theme! We create the Lair of the Wereyak! (check description for the download link)
Twitter: @kylelatino
Check out my mapping project here: fantasyfuncoun...
Wereyak Stats here: Zw...
Download the Lair of the Wereyak here: drive.google.c...
Download isometric grids here:
drive.google.c...
All music from Aufhocker: aufhocker.band...

[@cbpuzzleworm9616]

As both a dungeon master and an ecologist, I felt my eye twitch when you said no one could care about the caloric intake of face worms. I care. haha, this is a great video and I really dig your creative frameworks. I'm getting super inspired watching through your videos

[@dazenith4517]

Just watched this myself and I'm also like. Hey that could be interesting to know. I would say that it should be perfectly fine to go the extra mile and include such details and lore about your world. But the golden rule should be. Don't say anything unless the players ask. Hell it actually would be useful on the off-chance the players want to do a Nature knowledge check.

[@benjaminholcomb9478]

@@dazenith4517 player: * rolls a nature check* *nat 20* DM: so, face worms have to consume, on average...

[@inknosecat]

it seems ive found my people!

[@djinni2005]

This is one of those comments I instinctively read with a stage play actor doing what I read

[@deamongimli]

The "Dragon in a room without an entrance large enough for a dragon" example actually has a really simple answer. Though in 5e the stat blocks don't usually incorporate it, older editions and the fluff of 5e (I have no clue about pathfinder and other systems/games, but I know this is a relatively common trope) talks about how many dragons possess the capability to shapeshift/polymorph into a humanoid form, which would explain how they got into a room without any large entrances. Only works if the dragon has that capability though.

[@zacharyweaver276]

I was going to say that only certain dragons get that in 5e but yeah it's a good point of having boss monsters trapped in these rooms they couldn't get out of or monsters in some dungeon that they wouldn't be able to survive in without some means of getting outside food

[@andrewvela4920]

oh my answer was they just grew to large to get out

[@zacharyweaver276]

@@andrewvela4920 Then wouldn't they starve to death? Unless they had a good supply of food coming in via adventurers or minions feeding them.

[@TheEepyMagi]

One of my favorite ways to explain this is it was trapped there by another character/group/god, and either it's minions have been bringing it food or in this setting's lore this monster doesn't have to eat. Gets the point across that this monster is so dangerous the only way to kill it was to lock it up and throw away the key.

[@ADT1995]

@@zacharyweaver276 yeah in 5e only metallic dragons and maybe gem dragons (I can't remember) get it.... But in the lore and in old editions all dragons could learn to do it (although not all dragons did learn to do that) For me this is less of a problem because my world tends to incorporate some legacy lore anyways (actually now that Mordenkainens presents is out a lot of legacy lore).... Mostly because I run all my campaigns in the same world, and because if I think something is cool I yoink it. Still, strictly speaking in 5e only metallic dragons can polymorph at will, although chromatic dragons can learn the polymorph spell

[@tarvoc746]

Fun fact: The word Lycanthropy contains the Greek _lykos,_ wolf. A Wereyak's curse should be called something like Tauranthropy from Greek _tauros._

[@lotrfam414]

Further fun fact : stated in the Monster Manual, all were creatures are considered lycanthropes, regardless of what creature is the beast counterpart. But this is just for D&D, and the rules of D&D are meant to be broken however needed for the sake of fun.

[@9Johnny8]

A general term for any werecreature is therianthrope: beast man. It's not used as often though.

[@tarvoc746]

@@9Johnny8 That's a good term, I like that.

[@geofreyshank]

@@9Johnny8 Thanks for this. Good term. Will use.

[@nickdavin903]

Therianthropy is the true term for cursed changer

[@andreabontempo6004]

Fun fact: in Italian (Sardinian) folklore the is a sort of were-ox. It's called Boe Erchitu and it's a man that, with the full moon, becames a white ox with metal/silver horns. If I don't remember wrong it has devils/evil spirits around himself that torment him. To free him from the curse you have to cut away his horns. If he moo/bellows three times in front of your house you will have at maximum one year to live (in other versions I heard it will be a person you love to die; in others he simply brings misfortune)

[@AndyReichert0]

"fearsome minotaur, we humbly beseech thee. you truly are the master of mazes, for no mortal mind could ever solve your labyrinth. we'll relinquish all stolen treasures at once, if you only release us from this dungeon. we beg you, have mercy on us!" wereyak who is also lost: oooh....about that...

[@harperna3938]

One of my ongoing D&D projects has been the development of a massive megadungeon complex that used to be both an enormous, vertically integrated golem factory and a shrine to a fugitive god that gave the factory's creators the secrets of "True" (or "Noble" or "Greater" depending on the translation) Golemancy. It was abandoned eight centuries ago after a steady decline in functionality. Its four tiers ceased were decommissioned one-by-one as the knowledge necessary to maintain this staggering (and highly specialized) industrial marvel was lost, bit by bit, with each passing generation, until the complex outright had been rendered completely non-functional. It's been a really interesting challenge, insofar as each of the four sections of the dungeon (themselves split into four facilities, themselves split into four sub-facilities; the dungeon's creators utilized base four for their mathematics, don't ask) have these complex, interlocking thematic and mechanical functionalities that have also been warped and obscured by centuries of disuse. For instance, a tribe of troglodytes fled through the caves criss-crossing the mountain until they broke into the faunal golemcraft facility on the complex's first level. Over the course of three successive generations, they turned its underground tannery into a shrine for the Otyugh who followed them, proclaiming it their mighty god of Death. They began to pick over the facility's long-dormant workshops, learning primitive necromancy from its morgue and refining their scrimshaw to near-masterwork levels in its ossuary. Its dormitories, safely tucked away in what was, to them, the very back of the facility were converted into nurseries for their young. Its overgrown mushroom farms became an invaluable food source during lean years, and they cultivated a variety of unique hallucinogenic mushroom strains from its magically enhanced soil. Later, the party has the opportunity to visit the faunal resource extraction facility on the second level and see where all of the organic material used to supply the former facility came from: the massive underground livestock pens and their artificial soular (sic) lamps, the prison complex for storing "humanoid material," the sprawling catacombs, etc., and grapple with the actual moral cost entailed by helping reopen what was, essentially, the largest slaughterhouse ever built (in additiona to its many, many other functions).

[@vikingofmars]

This sounds awesome have you published this or are you planning to? I'd love to see the final product.

[@vincentnicosia2315]

I love that example of how did the dragon fit in this dungeon because I came across this same dilemma when I was constructing a dungeon. The lore I came up with I instantly fell in love with. It’s simple but effective to suspend the disbelief and build more lore into it. A specialized faction hunter and seized any dragon wyrmlings they could find and transported them into claustrophobic caves so they could only grow as large as the room could be. This solved the issue of adult dragons causing too much havoc in the civilizations and also gave me an excuse to throw two dragons at my party in a fairly confined space!

[@ascung]

An explanation I thought of for a large creature being inside a room with too small an exit for it to get through could be that it wasn't always this large, but the other creatures inside the dungeon revere this monster as a god, and so they kept feeding this monster offerings of meat. The monster being engorged to such an extent that it can no longer leave the room. This may also mean that this monster being overweight may make it slow, but a heavy hitter when they slam their limbs into the ground, while also having protective fat layers as natural defence. An alternative explanation is that the boss monster in question was never meant to leave the dungeon, let alone this room. The boss is a prisoner of this dungeon, whether this means they have other restraints as well making it possible for the players to see what they're going up against before they free it to fight it for the loot inside it.

[@Xplora213]

I like this explanation but I think you have to engage that story arc to make sure the juice is worth the squeeze!

[@Coyote-oy1oo]

I am ready to run the Lair of the Weryak for my players, as an Intro to the Old Road Zine. You literally came at the most needed point in my GM life, I stand before a fresh campaign start and had absolutely nothing, your map and Zine sparked my thoughts again

[@mapcrow]

Yeah! This is wonderful! If all my maps do for folks is spark some cool ideas of their own, I'm very happy! Cheers!!

[@xaosbob]

And just like that, I think you have solved the eternal difficulty of playing a maze at the table. Your maps are wonderfully tactile play props. I can literally SEE how they would improve player agency by letting them pore over the map and make choices based on what catches their fancy. And a maze? Why not let them see the whole thing? With visible features like the ones you include here, the maze itself is no longer the puzzle--and seriously, after running (and playing!) just a few mazes at the table, I have shied away from using them at all for 20 years because mazes you can't see are simply the worst sort of puzzle--your focus turns to what is IN the maze. Yeah, you are definitely one of very few channels where I have actually "hit the bell icon." Just fantastic stuff.

[@mapcrow]

Aw! Thank you!! Yeah, I wouldn't personally run the maze old school, I'd show the whole dang map. The maze is there for flavor, not as a navigation puzzle, in my head. I might have the headless ghosts muddle the space a bit, maybe a WIS save to go to the correct room until you appease the spirits somehow. Like most good mazes from Lucas Arts games, there should be a trick to it that isn't just brute force. These are some of the things I think about when mapping. Haha

[@Dyundu]

I’ve got no problem doing this Zelda-style-a few good rolls or decisions usually results in them finding some form of map for the dungeon, be it the floorplans of the temple in the remains of the head monk’s quarters, or the hastily scribbled remnants of a long-deceased adventuring party’s attempt at exploration, or whatever else fits the narrative at the time.

[@davidmorgan6896]

I can't say I like the idea of the players having an accurate map. 'Player agency' is one thing, that would just encourage meta-ganing. By all means give them a representation of what they see - a picture avoids a thousand questions - but a map goes too far. An in world map would be fine, though it should be technology appropriate.

[@PlayerZeroStart]

Yes! This is what I've been advocating for for years. So many people just design dungeons as nothing more than a challenge for the player, but forget that in universe, it needs to serve some actual functions and not just be place for adventurers to run in, kill monsters, and collect treasure.

[@Shinkami_Chuu]

Really cool episode! There's a Manga called "Delicious in Dungeon" (dungeon meshi in japanese) that absolutely nails dungeon ecology! Give it a read if you want inspiration for dungeon ecology, surviving in a dungeon and pretty original med-fan!

[@mapcrow]

OH OH! I LOVE THAT MANGA!! It's so wonderful in how it weaving in and out of dark fantasy and adventurous romp! I feel that the ecology is kinda handwaved as, "A wizard did it" which is fine with me, but the characters make a lot of story out of reacting to all the fantasy fun house tropes!! Cheers!!

[@dylans3833]

@@mapcrow Yeah the ecology in that one is less "why are the monsters there" and more "how do they interact with each other/their environment" which is another fun aspect

[@randomsandwichian]

@@dylans3833 I believe later chapters give us some idea why the dungeon became what it was, and yes, hilarity ensues as always. * Cue breakdancing elf*

[@alexschild5389]

Demons in the mortal realm without a reason for them being there is something that always gets me ruffled.

[@pn2294]

Don’t they literally just go there to torture people?

[@MrKoalaburger]

I love incorporating demons and fiends, but they show up because ppl mess around with portals and such they shouldn't be.

[@dragontear1638]

Very belated, that makes me think of a town guard who's more angry and confused about the lack of reason for demons being there, than concerned about said demons being present.

[@alexschild5389]

@@dragontear1638 there's paperwork for proper transit to a new country, why not a new plane of reality?

[@EruditeDM]

Spring Break?

[@CrazyCrethon]

Ben's newsletter is what brought me here!

[@mapcrow]

Howdy! Pleased to meet you!

[@jigurd]

What a perfect video to introduce me to your channel. I've been looking for more d&d content for some time, and now I've found it! We will watch your career with great interest.

[@talleywa5772]

"Oh that's because this place was constructed during a time when magic was stronger and less limited. So one use was transmutation and conjuration magics to basically fold rooms around each other to save physical space." Bing bang boom now roll initiative because you walked into the Beholder harem.

[@sirmadmooman9133]

Can I roll to join the harem?

[@holydoggo4822]

I love your channel man, you are easy to listen to and your art is wonderful. I’m using your knowledge, opinion and skills to inspire and do a tiny bit of thievery with your concepts in your “build a better beast” series. Love

[@The1337Duke]

White dragons are known to make their lair in Ice caverns where the ice will shut them inside during their long naps

[@VictorWyatt]

A warmed over, cold, dead heart is a great thing. Ben's channel is where I found your channel.

[@mapcrow]

Cheers!!

[@EruditeDM]

Ooohhh! A WereYak vs WereLlama throwdown. That’s gold! 😶

[@afreshpepper4266]

I got excited when I noticed the monster sheet was Zwiehander.

[@jannikf2504]

This is nice. I'm the type that creates entire universes and histories to justify a single detail, and yet my dungeons often are just a scrabble of empty rooms desperately looking for purpose. Having that anchor, that guiding star could make it easier to fill those rooms

[@htspencer9084]

Letting the days go by, water flowing under!

[@sirtyz]

This is really high quality content. I can already tell your channel will get some good traction given some time. Lots of fresh ideas being presented here. Very helpful stuff!

[@mapcrow]

Oh! Thank you so much! My hope is to make the design and art process more transparent and accessible while siting my sources of inspiration and theory!

[@TheBloodyMutt]

I always appreciated the idea, though I fail to remember the source I first saw it in, but the idea that a Were-creature while transformed take on said creature alignment... The most recalled relation was calling Smokey the Bear a Werebear because they are "good" aligned thus his fight against forest fires XD

[@TheTriforceDragon]

And now I am just imagining a successful afflicted thief who keeps returning his ill-gotten goods in moments of regret whenever he transforms into a Werebear.

[@TheBloodyMutt]

@@TheTriforceDragon "Didn't we get the diamond we needed to revive Erik from the heist yesterday?!" *internal screaming from the rogue in the corner*

[@mandoje]

"Will the Wereyak ever forgive me..." NEVER!!! :D

[@mapcrow]

"The jig is up! He's onto us, boys!" Cheers, bud!

[@jimhavoc]

I found your channel from the newsletter too! Hope your channel grows. Great content!

[@mapcrow]

Thank you! Glad to see so many fellow Questing Beast viewers!

[@Ubik_Bubik]

Haven't even started the video and the thumbnail has a Talking Heads reference. I like this channel already

[@mapcrow]

"Same as it ever was..." Thank you so much!!

[@valkyriepierce2143]

Love your storytelling!

[@mapcrow]

Thanks!!

[@augustmacdonald9615]

I've enjoyed your videos for a while and this is one of my favorite dungeon topics!! Thanks for bringing it to the table and helping other folks work through an occasionally mystical process. Just to clarify, I SWEAR you said that Jesse Cox designed Trophy Dark, but I looked it up and it was written by Jesse Ross. I don't know if this was a pseudonym or a Freudian slip, but as a JC fan I totally get it

[@garryame4008]

This is really cool. Very well done video! I am glad that I found it.

[@mapcrow]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@PenandBlade]

HahaH so glad to have discovered your channel 👍🤝 love your artwork too btw!

[@samuelbroad11]

another theme is the Moon for lycanthropes, specifically the crescent moon, often pictured horizontally as horns. All sorts of female goddesses are pictured with the moon, for feminine reasons (!) and often the crescent form.

[@deltapi8859]

"Dark Power Curse" there is nothing better for drama than bad character and sins that have created the unique evil or karma that haunts a place.

[@jasonmiller6389]

When talking about Trophy Dark, I assumes you were meaning to mention designer Jesse Ross? Because you did in fact name Video game producer and content creator Jesse Cox. At least that's what it sounded like which made me think the aforementioned Mr. Cox had broken into table top game design. XD

[@howdoeitend]

Woah! I write my A's the same way! Great examples of well thought out 'dungeon ecology' is in darksouls series

[@mapcrow]

I'm playing Elden Ring right now, and I finally get it! HAha. Lots to learn from these games!

[@BreadboxGaming1]

How the hell does this Video only have clos to 7k Views? Feels Like i found a tresure only a few Humans have discovered so far😅. I really like your sense of telling a story combined with the educational aspect of the Video. And as a normi human without Art experience my compliment might not have much weight, but your drawings look increadible!

[@mapcrow]

Wow, thank you!

[@michaellinke6448]

Rather than using ecology to prevent dragons from appearing in cramped dungeons, I like the idea that the DM uses world-building to explain stuff like "how did a red dragon get into this room?" Maybe Dragons can change their shape or size. The Dragon got into this room by turning into a human, and walking in. It turned back into a Dragon perfectly sized to fight in this room just for the occasion of fighting the party. The coolest part about thinking this way is that it actually encourages the players to deal with the dragon right now. If the dragon can end up here, in this dungeon, then the dragon could conceivably turn up ANYWHERE... apparently we find ourselves living in a world where a dragon can walk into a heavily fortified castle, totally undetected, and then transform into a dragon just large enough to fit in the throne room and eat the king. Suddenly dragons are more dangerous, and retreating from this fight becomes a worse long term solution.

[@michaellinke6448]

In other words, the DM invents ecology to explain the wild random dice roll stuff, rather than using ecology to make boring and predictable encounter charts.

[@TheTriforceDragon]

Though as an extension to this idea, any fantasy world which involves copious amounts of size / appearance altering magic / abilities would probably also see King's and other high ranking people employ a lot of magical detection on any would be visitors.

[@michaellinke6448]

@@TheTriforceDragon 1 - How common are dragons? Size change/appearance altering magic isn't "copious" if there are a few dozen dragons in the world. 2 - not all threats are answered. In the real world we have plenty of weapons systems that just have no answer, and the best solution is to be nowhere near them when they're being used. The best response to dragons might not be detection, but appeasment, or hunting their lairs and preventing them from getting strong enough to walk into castles and eat kings. 3 - This draconic tactic will only become well known if the dragon leaves survivors behind.

[@williamozier918]

Yes, realism, immersion, etc, but for me as a DM I firmly believe in dungeon ecology design theory because I find it makes it SOOOOO much easier to populate adventures with good encounters, rather than monster salad dungeons.

[@MrKoalaburger]

"You walk into a room and a succubus is standing in one corner with a wyvern in another, and a dozen goblins in the center" Ummm OK why are these random creatures just hanging out here.

[@williamozier918]

@@MrKoalaburger Um...the wyvern is her paet, the goblins her thralls, and she is here to offer you a deal in exchange for your soul to help you complete the dungeon.

[@geofreyshank]

Love this video. Been getting into your monster design videos too. Very inspired. Also as someone who has a diet consisting of nothing but Faceworms it is annoying that no one knows how many calories they have.

[@randomsandwichian]

For those who follow manga, Dungeon Meshi is a good example of how a dungeon's ecology could be, and the author's art is hilarious.

[@mapcrow]

I adore Dungeon Meshi! It's easily my favorite fantasy manga series!!

[@daklr2501]

Have working toilets and the final boss lives in the dungeon poop room, but before that make a red herring boss that the players think are the real boss, so then they can miss it

[@adammiller4473]

that bit at 9 minutes in is super important to know. DM worldbuilding is done for the DM and really no one else. The players will feel like the world is real if the DM thinks it is real. the worldbuilding help the DM believe in their own world, but so much of that information is functionally useless to the players.

[@All4Tanuki]

In other words, your monsters should ask "Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?"

[@jordanrodriguez5595]

THIS IS GENIUS

[@tech9d]

I hope you were making this reference but it took me seeing the thumbnail for the 3rd time to wanna say this. *Sees thumbnail* "And the days go by, water flowing underground."

[@nooctip]

Theres no need to play. The Wereyak never forgets. The Wereyak never forgives.

[@Coyote-oy1oo]

ICRPG discord got me here, love it, already want to run that adventure

[@mapcrow]

Thanks for watching!! And shout out to whoever is sharing the channel on ICRPG! Cheers!

[@Coyote-oy1oo]

how would you run the maze of the small adventure in the clip

[@mapcrow]

@@Coyote-oy1oo The first time or two going through it, roll for navigation. Show the players the map, have them say where they want to go, then if they roll low for navigation, send them to a different room. After getting to two rooms, don't make them roll for navigation anymore. Roll for ghost encounters tho!

[@annyshkilionok2680]

I'm in love with the presentation and content of your channel. One question I have is, how do you roll a maze in DnD? Isn't it going to be boring for the players to just go "I go left, turn 2 times, walk past the entrance", all that. I'd love to write a maze, but I just can't imagine how to make it interesting

[@mapcrow]

I would have someone lead the group and state where they wanted to go in there maze, then ask for an investigation check or something to get where they wan to go. Low rolls puts them somewhere they didn’t want to be. Ask once or twice, don’t have them roll again.

[@bragunetzki]

Just came across your channel.. Why is everything here so good?

[@rathaventerriniel8162]

I would hate to get bite by a wereyak or a werellama. Loving your art work great vid!

[@mapcrow]

Haha! Thank you!

[@KyleMaxwell]

Trophy is a great game and has lots of useful ideas even if you’re running another game.

[@mapcrow]

Yeah! I'm very impressed with the fantasy horror tone it hits with minimal rules!

[@katking9574]

awnser to 'why is this massive dragon in this room with a single human sized exit?' someone stole dragon egg, hid it here, dragon hatched, ate them, aannnd kinda just eats humans that, like you, wandered in.

[@miabobeea2644]

and you may say to yourself: this is not my beautiful dungeon!

[@nnurk]

Same as it ever was, same as it ever was

[@MySerpentine]

Veins of the Earth is a good book for this kind of thing.

[@mapcrow]

Love that book. Scrap Princess is one of my favorite artists!!

[@note4note804]

While conceptually awesome, so many dungeons(especially in adventure modules) have this frustrating tendency for everything in a dungeon's ecology to be a story the players never learn unless they get literally every single piece of information. Like someone might ask, "Why, if the ecology is causing creatures to turn half human and half yak, would someone need to manually kill both humanoid and yak creatures so they can make yak-headed constructs?" or "Why if they like to draw cool murals of yaks would they kill yaks and desecrate their corpses?" Sure, with all the notes perfectly organized and all the timelines and creature interactions laid out it makes sense, but even with one piece of info unclear you get "The dungeon of someone cursed by a yak skull, so they made more yak skulls so they could give the big yak skull fur because they...love/hate yaks?"

[@Cirkux]

Great video! One question: What are the horned weasels feeding on in this ecology?

[@mapcrow]

They dance in a circle around the key until dead, then the next couple of burrowing critters do the same.

[@Oooze3424]

for some reason this reminds me of pathologic, no idea why

[@tradtke101]

dungeon fun > dungeon ecology Ecology is for worldbuilders, not game-masters. This kind of thinking will paralyze you as a GM. The 2 hours you spend on your dungeon's food chain is 2 hours you didn't spend populating the place with interest things, ensuring there are different choices and routes and agency. If you enjoy this stuff, great, go for it. But do not listen to people in the comments saying this is vitally necessary. If your geologist player is put off by inaccurate mineral content of the cave walls, you aren't ever going to satisfy them no matter how much time you put into. Just say "I don''t know Steve, why doesn't Gorthak tell us about the mineral content of the walls here."

[@mapcrow]

HA! This is my exact opinion. I suspect Dungeon Ecology arose when more folks were reading DnD manuals than were actually playing them, but I couldn't begin to prove it. Haha

[@MrKoalaburger]

This very much depends on your game table. I wouldnt say dungeon ecology cripples a DM (well, worrying about mineral deposits might). If you have a table of intellectual nerds that wanna know the ins and outs of lore, and inevitably draw questions like "why is that there?" then these details are important. Some ppl suspend disbelief better than others.

[@NonApplicable1983]

Read Dungeon Meshi, it’s particularly excellent at this.

[@mapcrow]

I love Dungeon Meshi!!

[@chaosmonkey1595]

Trying to make more plausible dungeons seems to be a weird concept for me to begin with since dungeons themselves are incredibly implausible. I've eliminated them completely for myself in my pen and paper games because I play semi-realistic games and dungeons just make no sense at all. (They can still be very fun if you ignore their absurdity. Trying to make them less absurd is a bit weird though.)

[@mapcrow]

This is the attitude, yes. Play with the plausibility that works for your table! If you don’t want to worry about it, you don’t gotta!!

[@gasterblaster9817]

I suppose it depends on what you define as a "dungeon." Is an abandoned mine repopulated by kobolds or a waystation held by an orc raiding force a dungeon? If so, there are plenty of ways to make a dungeon both realistic and a fun crawl.

[@peterhowell6080]

Most of my "dungions" are just normal areas with tags like "Abandoned, warzone, tainted"

[@coahtemocn.9255]

I just ran this for my friends in DungeonWorld and we had a blast! I took the labyrinth rules done by Dungeon Craft (kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmfTk6mud69kg9k) and some of the behavior for the wereyak (pulling the players apart and through the labyrinth to separate them). Things were looking dire when one player was brought to the Skinless Skull by the wereyak as a new servant and another was being put onto the embalming chamber's table by the horde of skeletons. Our star mage saved saved the shaman player on the table, then they two got in to rescue the paladin set before the Skinless Skull. The shaman entered the astral plane to try to talk to the ancient yak spirit, failed, and then summoned the souls of those who were killed by the Skinless Skull to fight back. Our paladin was keeping the Wereyak busy as his own body was trying to form into another wereyak. Our star mage tried to bend destiny and fate itself to bring the Skinless Skull's spirit back into the proper cycle of life and death, but in doing so tied his own fate to the spirit's. The shaman's spirit army was trying and failing to stop the spirit of the Skinless Skull and the shaman themself was on their last legs. The paladin was consumed by corruption, and became a prisoner in their own body as their flesh twisted into another wereyak. The star mage looked at both of them, and made a black hole in their own heart, sacrificing themself to stop the Skinless Skull. The shaman, still in the astral plane, saw the Skinless Skull's soul sucked through a tear in the plane, their friend, the star mage, beyond it as well. This was meant to be a one-shot but it sounds like they want a go at saving the star mage. Thanks for a wonderful night Kyle!

[@dnkmnk]

HOW do you scan your drawings on grid paper into your computer without the grid?

[@MadSaulot]

Holy Shit! Is that a pencil?? I haven't seen one of them in over a decade! What system are you using? That stat block made no sense to me.

[@scruffles3838]

have you ever heard of dungeon meshi? it's a Manga all about dungeon ecology and cooking

[@grendel8342]

i would have to disagree with 9:07 but thats just because my personal preference is to add set dressing

[@mapcrow]

Nothing wrong with set dressing, describing the sensory experiences in a moody way. What I am talking about here is the expectation that players are treating every fact about monsters as if they are studying for a biology exam. Haha

[@grendel8342]

@@mapcrow yea i'm fine with facts like that because it can be utilized in gameplay if someone know what they are doing and how they would write it. Figuring out the required dietary intake of a monster for example already leads to a fun experience in that if you deprive the monster of its food source by killing off its prey, or using some kind of pesticide to rid the dungeon of said monster you've crafted two possible routs the players can take. Not to mention the possibility of exploiting the monster's natural behaviors in a way you could use to further the campaign, I.E. using a dragon that specifically preys on goblinoids as its main food source to destroy a city of elves by killing goblins and gathering their scent glands to turn into a fine perfume then selling this to the aforementioned elves city. Writing especially from a scientific metta is a very fun and indulgent way to craft worlds and is about the only way i engage unless we start using specific forms of magic that are interesting to play around with. Like voodoo or paganistic magics.

[@grendel8342]

@@mapcrow still a great video dude, keep up the great work can't wait to use what else was said here to craft a more cohesive dungeon and gameplay experience.

[@Halberddent]

How do I work this? This is not my large automobile.

[@DragonKingZero]

Can't D&D dragons take on human form?

[@rexpowercolt5230]

Yes, but if the dm says no, then no.

[@Cityaperture]

I know this is an older video, but the link to the wereyak stats doesnt wor, would anyone have them?

[@mapcrow]

Unfortunately, I linked to a twitter post and it’s been removed since then. So it goes.

[@Cityaperture]

@@mapcrow understandable, i took a screen shot from the video, hopefully I can transcribe it from there. Thanks for the reply (I just bought some of your docs, great stuff, thanks)

[@deltapi8859]

"Dungeon Ecology" the thing "Elder Scrolls II Daggerfall" completely ignored.

[@AngriArtists]

ive never seen a toilet in a battle map. like does no-one go to the toilet in rpg's

[@aggonzalezdc]

For some reason "The Wereyak Maze!" doesn't have the same ring to it as, "The Minotaur's Labrynth!"

[@Ptaku93]

2:15 *their lol

[@Frorten]

*their

[@Serf_King]

This is not my beautiful dungeon

[@marxxplaysgames]

As someone who played "No Heroes Allowed" (or the Badman series), I know the importance of a Dungeon's Ecology

[@DeathEatsCurry]

Oh I thought "Gygaxian Naturalism" referred to his *interesting* views on certain topics.

[@mapcrow]

Nope! Thankfully, I didn’t have to touch on such topics!!