More Sewer Adventure Ideas

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Since an inquiry from Sjeng and few posts from Fenryz and Guzzi rekindled interest in old thread where I had uploaded a few old Quest notes for an adventure set in the sewers, there has been quite a bit of talk about sewer adventures around here. I think it was Guzzi who a little while back asked for more ideas for Skaven adventures and then Sjeng who started compiling a mini-campaign booklet of Sewer adventures - having just finished my full finished and polished PDF of the original adventure that started it all, I will now put forward a few more ideas for Sewer based adventurers for your consideration.

I will begin my ramblings with the following statement and go from there …

Skaven arn't the only thing you'll find in the sewers
All the sewer based adventure ideas we've discussed so far have all been Skaven based – and it's understandable why Skaven are the obvious choice of enemy for an adventure set in the sewers below a unsuspecting Empire Town or City, after all they are rat-men and sewers tend to have rats living in them. The Skaven practically lend themselves to the sewer environment – they breed Giant Rats, they're sneaky and born tunnel fighters, adapted to climb walls, see in the gloom, leap over (or even swim through) channels of effluent and squeeze into the narrow spaces of the sewer tunnels.

But if you're looking to get more use out of the Sewer map that has become so popular recently you can't keep writing Skaven adventures – so what are the alternatives?

The Undead 
Murderers, gangs of thugs and the like might use the old sewer tunnels as a convenient way to dispose of the bodies of their victims, after all no one ever goes down there. Their fates unknown and their killers still at large the restless spirits of these countless victims might rise up as Spectres, Banshees, Wraiths or other forms of undead creatures – imagine a small army of Skeletons and Zombies controlled by a tormented but powerful spirit, roaming the sewers seeking vengeance on the world above that has forgotten them. Can your Heroes lay the vengeful spirits to rest?

Ghouls
Maybe a group of Ghouls live in the sewers, feeding off the vile meat of the giant rats, but still hungering after human flesh – a group of adventurers who enter the sewers on a quest would make a fine feast for a starving band of Ghouls, so they wait laying traps and lurking in the shadows … waiting for fresh meat to come along

Greenskins
A Greenskin warband might be using the sewers as a way into the city. Goblins and Snotlings can slip easily through drain grills and pipes, and they probably wouldn't mind the smell too much either. Perhaps they are just the spearhead of a much larger force, their cowardly nature and poor fighting skills limiting them to minor raids on the city above until an army of Orcs arrives at the city and the Goblins sneak out of the sewers to hurl open the city gates to let in their larger kin. The first signs of such an invasion might be the sewers smelling even more foul than usual due to a swarm of Snotlings setting up camp in a drain – it's time some one sent some adventurers in to investigate!

Chaos
Sorcerer-priests and cultists of the dark Chaos Gods may be using the sewers as a place to perform their vile rituals and hold secret meetings hidden from the city above. The might have summoned Demons to guard their layer or be corrupting the creatures that already lived in the sewers to their own ends. Imagine strange chanting echoing through the pipes and tunnels as an unholy rite reaches it's climax in the forgotten chambers below the streets while nightmarish creatures wait to rise up and attack the unsuspecting Empire citizens who go about their lives overhead. Can your Heroes stop the cultists in time?

Criminals   
Smugglers, Pirates and Criminal Gangs might also make use of the sewers. The the sewer tunnels could provide hidden access to any part of the city, even otherwise restricted areas making sewers excellent smuggling routes and great hiding places too. While some cities might have members of The Watch patrolling the sewers they can't search every tunnel. Maybe The City Watch are making a larger effort to clear out a Criminal Gang from the sewers resulting in a battle beneath the streets and your Heroes are hired as expert tunnel fighters to advise and aid The Watch in their endeavour.

Monsters
Of course sewers could provide a plentiful (if disgusting) source of food and water for all kinds of creatures. Rat and other vermin are common sewer dwellers but an area devoid of such creatures, might indicate something much more deadly is living there.
Alligators/crocodiles living in the sewers is a modern urban myth that could easily be applied to the Warhammer setting. Maybe an Ogre or a River Troll lives in the sewers living on a diet of rats and lone people who wander into the sewers.
A Fenbeast or Bog-octopus would feel right at home in the effluent channels and the warm moist environment makes a ideal breeding ground for all kinds of amoebas (slimes), deadly fungus and even Squigs. Creatures such as these might have found the sewers by chance and decided they were a good place to live or they might have been deliberately introduced as a way of keeping intruders out or controlling the vermin population (maybe your Heroes have been sent into the sewers to deal with a monster that is doing it's job too well).
2 Classic D&D monsters Carrion Crawlers and Otyughs make for great sewer monsters as does the Slime Eater from Fighting Fantasy.

Tricks and Traps
The sewers also provide an ideal place for certain kinds of traps and puzzles - depending on how sophisticated the sewer system is it might contain sluice gates, pipes and valves to re-direct the flow of effluent. This sort of thing can open up access to some areas while closing off others, sluice gates  can act like Locked Doors and Portcullises, changing the flow of channel can make it easier to cross (or harder).
The old D&D classic 'room filling with water' trap works rather well in a sewer setting and is a lot more convincing too … and disgusting, can you imagine being trapped in a chamber filling up with sewage?!    
Pockets of methane might have built up in some areas of a sewer, not only are these areas 'natural' Poisoned Gas Traps, but a spark, naked flame or fire ball type spell could ignite the gas and cause an explosion! The wizard will need to be careful with which spells to cast and torches must be dropped in favour of enclosed lanterns. Players may even ask about having a canary in a cage to detect these gas pockets!    

A reason to be there
But why go into the sewers in the first place? Rescue/retrieval missions and monster hunts are the usual reasons but try thinking up a few others. A mentioned before sewer tunnels can provide routes in and out of otherwise inaccessible places – it seems every other cheesy old 'swords and sorcery' film you watch has the heroes break into a castle or palace via the sewers, so maybe your Heroes only need to find a rout through the sewers as a way to access another Dungeon.

... and finally
Get your head out of the sewers! As with all adventure ideas don't over use the sewer setting – just as with any other setting your players will become bored of it, try to use a different setting for your adventures as often as you can

[uncle phil]

Toxic Waste  All those Alchemists, Wizards, Clerics and potion makers must make the occassional mistake, and with no adequate COSHH regulations on the Warhammer world they probably do throw them down the drains. Who knows what effects such things will have on the inhabitants of the sewers or what partially successful attempts to create magical life or familiars might be found down there.

What the Fimir? Fimir like dark and damp environments so it may occur to a Fimir raiding party that sewers are a great way to enter a city and steal women. Loot women from a village and everyone notices, possies are formed and so forth. In a big city no one really notices if a barmaid or seamstress disappears.
Fimir raiding parties always include at least one Dirach so some rules for Dirach magic will be needed (Remember, Fimir are Evil, not Chaotic). Fimir are strong swimmers so will be able to cross bodies of water or hide beneath them.

[Sjeng]

Awesome! lots of ideas here! If I ever have the time to make some new quests, I will certainly make a nice sewers adventure. Perhaps even some mixed HQ board / sewers map quests. Or some new tiles for the HQ board with sewage.

[Nuadha]

You can  have the heroes enter the usual Heroquest board via a door on the side of the board instead of the stairway, have them find a stairway that leads down to the sewers.    

I ran this scenario once in WHQ, but it works just as well in HQ: A delivery of Bugman's Brew has been stolen and the Dwarves in the area are getting really cranky.   It is up to the heroes to save the greatest Ale known to the old world from the Skaven/Orcs/Chaos Cultists/Fimir who stole it and hid it in their sewer hideout.   (Pick a race and go.)    Much like in Magnus's Gold, the heroes can only move one red dice when carrying a barrel of it.   Now for the tricky part: A group of Dwarves come in to the dungeon after the heroes find the brew and it looks like they are the thieves!