Random Dungeon:Machine (5e Environment)

Machine Dungeons

Some adventures may take place inside a giant machine: an infernal mill, a colossal mechanical legged vehicle, a sprawling gnomish computer or an automated manufactory.

Examples from fiction include The Asylum (Shadowman),.

Use this section in conjunction with DMG Chapter 5 (Building a Dungeon).

Roll once on the Power Source table to determine the type of power source and engine. If you have not yet decided what the machine does you can also roll on the Machine Purpose table; this will also tell you what to place in the "output" chambers.

Power Source and Engine d10 Power source Engine 1-3 Coal or timber stored in bunkers Steam 4 Elemental fire Steam 5-6 Electric cells comprising of vats of acid and metal rods Electric 7 Wind, captured from huge sails Wind shaft 8 Blood, stored in vats or living creatures Lifeforce 9 Souls trapped in soul gems Infernal 10 Rare crystals Arcane Machine Purpose Output furnishings should be huge, filling the entire chamber. d10 Machine Purpose Output 1 Chronology Orrery, planetarium, calender, clock or other horological or astronomical instrument 2 Weapon Roll d6. 1-2: Mechanical (catapult, cannon, ballista) 3-4: Arcane (beams of energy) 5-6: Divine (idols, radiant/necromatic auras) 3 Calculator Arrays of numbered wheels and gauges, or rolls of ticker tape 4 Manufactory Roll d6 1: Forge 2: Loom 3: Constructs 4: Living creatures 5: Refinery (food/drink, chemicals) 6: Exotic (puzzle boxes, weird dolls) 5 Sacrificial/Executorial Roll d6 1: Guillotines 2: Grinders 3: Gas chamber 4: Crematorium 5: Acid or lava 6: Beasts or swarms 6 Transport What does it move? Roll d6 1-2: Freight 3-4: Passenger 5-6: Military How does it move? Roll d6: 1: Ornithopter (air) 2: Propeller (air) 3: Wheels (land) 4: Legs (land) 5: Oars (sea) 6: Propeller (sea) 7 Portal Roll d6 1: An arcane pentagram 2: A vertical ring of marble or obsidian 3: Huge brass doors 4: A black or mirrored sphere 5: A tesseract pit 6: A rapidly spinning drum Where does it go? Roll d6 1: Material plane 2: Elemental plane 3: Outer plane 4: Through time 5: Far Ream 6: Into someone's mind 8 Artistic The machine is constructing an epic piece of art, which may take tens or hundreds of years. Roll d6 1-2: Statue 3-4: Painting 5: Tapestry 6: Mosaic 9 Excavator Bucket wheels, drills, abrasive discs or caustic jets; automated minecarts for moving rubble 10 Weather Control Emitters, aerials, smokestacks or pylons used to change the climate on a continental or global scale. Roll d6 1: Heatwaves 2: Rainmaker 3: Iceage 4: Darkness 5: Exotic (hot hail, hypnotic rainbows, rain of frogs 6: Variable (free alteration of humidity and temperature)

(Source: shipscompass on Flickr)

Chamber Purpose

Use this section in conjunction with DMG Appendix A (Random Dungeons)

Chamber Purpose

d20 Purpose 1-3 Storage for power source (see above) 4-5 Conduits for delivering power source to engine 6 Room containing heavy, spinning, flywheels 7-9 Part of the engine. Hazards might include deafening noise; blasts of steam, fire or electricity; moving parts 10-12 Linkage for managing force and movement. There might be giant cranks, cams, gears and other dangerous mechanisms; the whole chamber itself might move or rotate 13 Workshop for repairing damaged machine parts 14 Storage for replacement machine parts 15 Living quarters (usually quite cramped) for on-site engineers and loaders 16-17 Control room, filled with levers, dials, chains and buttons 18 Observation deck, overlooking an important section of machinery 19-20 An "output" area for whatever the machine does (see above)

http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/vicindonblog/Millmachinery.JPG Huge cogs! (Source)

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