Picture a suffocating darkness, deeper than thought, stretching endlessly above. No stars pierce the inky void, only a gnawing emptiness that follows you. A horrifying truth dawns: this boundless night isn't a sky, but a colossal cave. This is the lot of the Underdark, and you, playing 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons, must now attempt to eke out an existence for your 🍨character beneath it.

In a realm where the terri🍬fying is mundane and horror is a way of life, the land of the drow may seem daunting to run on your own. This article will guide you through basic lore, geography, and mechanics to help you put your players through the enigmatic Underdark.

What Is The Underdark?

Think of the world as yꦬou know it. Think of the people, the buildings, and the streets. Think of the wilderness and the mountains. Now go far, far beneath that.

The Underdark is a massive series of subterranean caverns that house civilizations, lakes, and fungal forests. The people who live in the Underdark learned to adapt to its unforgiving nature, becoming unforgiving themselves in a bid to survive the perils of the area. You could almost think of the Underdark as the ultimate dungeon, except to do so would be di❀minishing the sheer size of the caverns.

The Underdark's caves can be as small as a coffin or🦹 feel as large and endless as standing in an empty field. It's a world just beneath the Overland, so vast that some Dungeon Masters have made it a completely different plane to make up for its s✱heer size.

Survival And Fear

One of the most important aspects of running the Underdark as a setting is emphasizing how terrifying it can be. Run your players ragged and168澳洲幸运5开奖网: play with resource scarcity. If your players are relying on a torch to light their way, consider having dangerous monsters drawn to it.

Keep them on their feet for🌺 a few session𓂃s, letting them get a taste of the hostility of the inhabitants and unwillingness to help.

The Underdark is brutal, and so the people who live within it have to be brutal in turn. The Underdark is kind to no one. Consider showcasing this when you can, and create encounters that accentuate how this viciousness keeps the denizens alive by pushing your players to act in similar ways.

What Are The Domains?

The domains of the Underdark function the same way they do in the Overland—certain topographical areas group to form separate regions. These domai🐼ns are: Old Shanatar, the Earthroot, the Glimmersea, the Darklands, Great Bhaerynden, the Northdark, the Deep Wastes, and the Buried Realms.

To run the Underdark, you may need to decide where your players have entered and what domain they'll be in. This will largely determine the creatures and folk they'll encounter while exploring. It will also help you run environmental encounters, which, even u𓄧ndജerground, will be important and diverse!

There are three levels of the Underdark: The Upperdark, Middle Dark, and Lowerdark. Think of these like the sea’s depths. The further down you go, the more frightening and unknowable everything gets. Most living creatures will avoid the Lowerdark, even those tඣhat have spent their lives within the Underdark. Be sure to fill these areas with monsters appropriately.

What Are The Creatures Of The Underdark?

Many creatures call this intolerant landscape their home, and to run the Underdark, you'll need to familiarize yourself with its denizens. These will be your NPCs, from fish-person to elf. The cultures of the Underdark are diverse as they are unfamiliar to many surface-dwellers, and you can certainly play with their ♏unfamiliarity as the Dungeon Master.

Drow

The drow are perhaps the most popular inhabitants of the Underdark. Grey-skinned elves and frequently portrayed as red-eyed, these elves live in an oppressive, matriarchal society dominated by the worship of the Spider Queen, Lolth.

They might be described as cruel and xenophobic, believing themselves to be violently superior to their surface elven counterparts. Though this is their traditional portrayal (save for Drizzt and Jarlaxle), Wizards of the Coast has recently taken steps to make them more diverse outside their original 'inherently evil' model.

Drow can now be three different subraces of drow (aevendrow, lorendrow, and udadrow) but are more often than not grouped by those that are sworn to Lolth (udadrow) and tho🥂se that follow the Seldarine.

Duergar

Duergar, or the 'grey dwarves' were once the victims of mindflayer domination. They grew immune to many psionic effects, even learning to manipulate similar magics for their benefit. Now, many describe them as embittered and resentful, believing life would be toil until they died. Greed is said to dominate throughout duergar culture, but whether your duergar NPC reacts or behaves this way is entirely up to you.

Insular to a fault, duergar are not💫 likely to accept outside help or assistan๊ce and are far happier to mind their own.

Deep Gnomes

Following the trend, deep gnomes (also known as svirfneblin) contrast their surface-dwelling counterparts by trading enthusiasm and love for life with the opposite. The deep gnomes maintain a sullen and pessimistic demeanor as a defense against thꦫe horrors committed by the surrounding civilizations.

M♈etalworking is their trade, and, assuming they venture far enough to barter, it fetches an impressive price.

Myconids

The peaceful fungus folk of the Underdark reside in colonies that focus on the here and now, rather than the past and what will be. While they may not be very worldly, they do use spores liberally and invite outsiders into the circle to 'meld,' a psychedelic mind-melding ritual.

Piercers, Bulettes, And Aboleths, Oh My!

Before playing in the Underdark, review all the monsters within the area you're playing in. While the 'civ🌠ilized' species are fun, nothing compares to putting your players෴ through the equivalent of a Dark Souls fight.

The Underdark tends to make creatures rely on stealth, and Piercers really emphasize this with their ability to appear like a stalactite before catching their prey when they drop. In contrast to the small Piercer, the Bulette is a creature you can use burrow mechanics w😼ith, springing the large beast upon a hapless adventurer from ben💦eath their feet.

Aboleths can use similar tactics, lurking in the deep cold of the lakes, reaching out tel♔epathically to lure its prey to it.

Darkvision mechanics are often misunderstood. With Darkvision, a creature with darkvision will see in dim light as if it were bright light and within darkness as if it were a dim light. Dim light means that your players will roll disadvantage on perception, 🐠so

How To Handle Travel

So, you've learned what you can about the Underdark, and it's time to lure your players through it. The first thing to note is that there are no maps of the Underdark that are accurate enough to be trustworthy. The tunnels and caves are far too vast, and the twisting passages are often too dangerous for the intrepid mapmaker to sketch down before they're devoured by something unsavory.

So, try running the Underdark with a fast and loose style. You don't need to come up with a meticulously designed map to pass out. You can make it up as you go, or use generators online to help you out. Early game encounters should likely be in the Upperdark caverns.

If you love maps, then consider giving them a guide. Using any of the species you think would be friendly or opportunistic enough to offer aid, a guide is a great way to create an adventure hook and give the players an NPC to interact with rather than wait for them to stumble into encounters. Further, you can 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:murder the NPC at an opportune time, leaving the players with a🐠 new p🔥roblem.

Read up on official sources before running the Underdark. Out of The Abyss has some great resources on premade dungeons and NPCs, as well as small quests you can incorporate if you aren𓃲't playing the actual module.