TEXT: Beneath the Canals
  Art by Jay Labelle
  Written by Mike Lombardi
  
  GENERATE A CATACOMB SHARD (3D12)
  D12
  FORM
  DETAIL
  ABILITY
  1
  6-fingered
  hands with
  palm-mouths
  Flesh melting
  slowly
  Step through
  shadows
  2
  Prehensile tail
  in place of head
  Endlessly
  sloughing skin
  Cut light into
  splinters
  3
  Chest gapes
  open, spewing
  embers
  Slowly crying
  lava
  Eat dweomers
  4
  Arms split &
  branch into
  clawed wings
  Visibly trailing
  shadow
  Vomit aerosol
  blood
  5
  Distended &
  rotund, dragging
  self along
  Dweomer-
  scribed flesh
  Chew through
  stone
  6
  Broken antlers
  grow from every
  joint
  Face stretches
  out of stomach
  Catch and
  spread fire
  7
  Two-
  Dimensional
  Ears have teeth
  Walk on water
  8
  Split in half
  tenuously
  Steam bubbles
  under skin
  Rot organic
  materials
  9
  Arms grow from
  hips
  Sweating acid
  Ignite liquids
  10
  Crumpled &
  unsteady
  Lips are flappy
  and pale
  Reshape flesh
  11
  Long fingers
  drag on the floor
  Joints are all
  backwards
  Liquify stone
  12
  Lamprey maw
  in forehead
  Teeth
  continuously
  falling out
  Inhale light and
  flames
  CATACOMB ENCOUNTERS
  1
  Ominous Sound, d8: (1) Hear an alien whisper, (2) Taste blood in
  the air, (3) Smell sulfur, (4) Get the shivers, (5) Feel a touch on the
  back of the neck, (6) See a shadow shift, (7) Hear a giggle from
  your own belly, (8) All light sources flicker.
  2
  Unsavory Sneaker, d6: (1) See someone slip out the next exit, (2)
  See 1d3 folk counting treasure, (3) A drunk stumbles in, (4) Con-
  artist approaches the party, (5) 1d4+1 Bruisers approach, (6) 1d3
  corpsethieves butchering fresh human corpse.
  3
  Mercantile, d4: (1) Merchant & 1d4-1 mercs returning with
  goods, (2) Merchant approaches party seeking a lost item, (3)
  Merchant & 1d3 each living/dead guards defend vs 1d4
  Corpseants, (4) stumble across rival guild merchants meeting.
  4
  Corpseants, d6: (1) 1d4+1 soldiers file in, (2) soldier breaks
  through the wall, (3) Spot 1d3 soldiers feeding a honeypot, (4) A
  pair of soldiers spring an ambush, (5) a honeypot
  slain by
  blindserpent, (6) d3 soldiers fighting a blindserpent.
  5
  1d4 Adventurers, d6 (goal): (1) recover treasure, (2) acquire
  alchemical reagents, (3) capture a bonedrake, (4) destroy rogue
  bonegolem, (5) catch a thief, (6) find a Shard; d4 (mood): (1)
  friendly, (2) frustrated, (3) suspicious, (4) mischievous.
  6
  Corpse, d4 (cause): (1) starved, (2) partially eaten, (3) crushed, (4)
  blasted apart; d6 (item): (1) pair of copper rings, (2) half-slagged
  iron charm, (3) faintly glowing khopesh, (4) scorched feather, (5)
  shattered gem, (6) hobnailed boots.
  7
  Bonedrake, d4: (1) one erupts from the shadows, hurtling away
  from the party, (2) 1d3 juveniles are eating the remains of
  a
  human, (3) one is stalking another adventurer in the next room, (4)
  2d4-1 are engaged in a territorial fight.
  8
  Ambling Beast, d6 (beast): (1) Carbuncle, (2) Bandersnatch, (3)
  Catacomb Spinner, (4) Gryph, (5) Undercity Rat, (6) Blindserpent;
  d8 (mood): (1) Surprised, (2) Scared, (3) Hungry, (4) Curious, (5)
  Territorial, (6) Shy, (7) Friendly, (8) Aggressive.
  9
  Bone Golem, d4: (1) a large golem is cleaning the area slowly,
  gathering debris into itself, (2) a pair of golems are fighting off 2d3
  corpseants, (3) a golem is standing motionless, (4) a golem is
  partially destroyed, dragging itself along the floor.
  10
  Spot a Shard, d8: (1) slinking away, (2) devouring a beast, (3)
  shuddering in place, (4) chewing on its own arm, (5) looking at the
  wall fixedly, (6) mumbling dark secrets, (7) blowing slobber
  bubbles, (8) painting with blood
  11
  Blunder into Shard, d6 (state): (1) eating a corpse, (2) wandering,
  (3) hunting, (4) dancing in someone's skin, (5) applying a
  dweomer, (6) sleeping on ceiling; d8 (response): (1) scream, (2)
  charge, (3) retreat, (4) berserk, (5) whisper, (6) stalk, (7) vomit, (8)
  defecate.
  12
  Shard Ambush, d6 (method): (1) Leap from ceiling, (2) grab from
  crevasse, (3) appear in midst of group, (4) erupt from doorway, (5)
  charge head on, (6) trigger dweomer; d4 (tactic): (1) hit-and-run,
  (2) mage-eater, (3) prey on weak, (4) kill biggest threat.
  ‡
  CATEGORY (D4)
  ROOM (D6)
  FEATURE (D10) §
  1
  1 Stairs (-2)§
  1 Water on the surfaces
  2 Thick mold & fungus
  2 Passage (-1)§
  3 Crumbling surfaces
  2
  4 Ambient colored glow
  3 Grotto (+0)§
  5 Blood stains
  6 Hot air from crevasses
  3
  4 Chamber (+1)§ 7 Partially melted walls
  8 Corpseant tunnel
  5 Vault (+2)§
  9 Ossuary
  4
  10 Beast den
  6 Tomb (+3)§
  11 Hideout
  12 Sarcophagus
  Undercity
  (d4)‡
  Ancient
  (d6)‡
  Opulent
  (d8)‡
  Volcanic
  (d12)‡
  PERIOD (d6)
  TIME OF DAY DESCRIPTION
  1
  Bakerslight
  First period of daylight with no visible moon,
  during which bakers begin their work and the
  canals are mostly empty as the world wakes.
  (+0)
  2
  Tabledark
  First sunless period with slowly rising moon,
  during which Pentolans typically eat & spend
  time together before starting their full day.
  (+1)
  3
  Hopelight
  Middle period of daylight with moon rising to
  its zenith, during which most folks work and
  Spiredwellers attend parties and functions.
  (+2)
  4
  Quietdark
  Middle sunless period with moon falling from
  its zenith, when magic is most powerful, and
  the canals and the Undercity are best avoided.
  (+4)
  5
  Lastlight
  Final daylight period with setting moon and
  waning magic, during which folks eat their
  supper before heading to bed or out carousing.
  (+2)
  6
  Slumberdark Final sunless, moonless period, during which
  folks slumber, carouse til they drop, or make
  their living when the moon can’t see them.
  (+1)
  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License: You are free to share and adapt this material
  for any purpose, including commercially, as long as you give attribution.
  Beneath the canals and spires of Pentola lies a sprawling and interconnected honeycomb of tunnels and
  chambers used by Those Who Came Before for commerce, civil infrastructure, storage, and - most importantly
  - as catacombs to store the dead.
  The deeper you travel beneath the surface the more opulent and desperate the decor becomes as later
  peoples invested more and more of their money and skill into resting places for their dead. Go deep enough
  and you'll find yourselves in tunnels hot with the breath of the earth and slick with black mageglass.
  Beware traveling beneath the surface, for though there are riches to plunder and forgotten places to explore
  there are creatures native and strange - and, if luck isn't with you, Shards, the humanoid magic-stuffed
  horrors of Those Who Came Before.
  For this reason it is useful to be able to randomly and procedurally layout dungeons either one room at a time
  or in advance using the table below.
  Categories:
  The typology of catacomb rooms is broadly ordered
  by depth, with Volcanic and Opulent rooms being
  generally the deepest.
  However, Pentola sits above a partially-collapsed
  caldera,
  &
  the
  tunnels
  beneath
  have
  shifted
  drastically. It is expected that any room can lead to
  any other level.
  Table Symbols:
  Several of the tables will have symbols in the
  headers or after values in parentheses. If the value
  is a die size, that’s what should be rolled for the
  column with that symbol - if it’s a bonus, it should
  be added to any rolls for that column instead.
  Rooms:
  It’s helpful when laying out your catacomb map to
  place the d6 for a room on the table to keep the
  layout visualized.
  To determine the number of exits to a room you can
  roll randomly or choose a number that seems
  reasonable.
  Roll a D4&6&10 to determine the next Catacomb room you explore
  Roll a D6 to determine the Time of Day if You Don’t Know It
  Time in the Pentolan Catacombs:
  Pentola is a Toroidal world (think donut-shaped)
  with a Moon bobbing up and down through its
  center. Because of this shape it rotates much faster
  than Earth and actually sees three periods of
  day/night in 24 hours.
  The moon goes through a full circuit - from zenith
  to zenith and back - every other day, alternating
  between North and South horizons.
  Each day starts with the moon hidden inside the
  ring of the world, “noon” is when the moon is at a
  Zenith, and day ends again with the moon hidden.
  During that time the sun will rise and set three
  separate times.
  Roll For an Encounter every 15
  Minutes, 3rd room explored, group
  makes loud sound, or group draws
  attention to themselves
  Every time you encounter a
  Shard, roll 3d12 to generate a
  new one.
  ▶
  Add the parenthetical bonus to your encounter roll
  ▶
  Roll the die in parentheses on the encounter table
  ‡
  ‡
  ‡
  ‡
  ‡
  ‡
  ▶
  See Item Generation tables on back cover
  
  CARD
  ITEM TYPE
  2
  Weapon
  3
  Armor
  4
  Shield
  5
  Jewelry
  6
  Tablet
  7
  Art
  8
  Tool
  9
  Clothing
  10
  Pottery
  J
  Ritual Sacrifice
  Q
  Humanoid Statue
  K
  Beast Statue
  A
  Building Statue
  D20
  ITEM EFFECT
  1
  Gravity
  2
  Lust
  3
  Anger
  4
  Age
  5
  Sight
  6
  Light / Darkness
  7
  Greed
  8
  Fire
  9
  Ice
  10
  Lightning
  11
  Stone
  12
  Speed
  13
  Mind
  14
  Hearing
  15
  Taste
  16
  Health
  17
  Beasts
  18
  Size
  19
  Plants
  20
  Metamagic
  D8 DECORATIVE MATERIAL
  1
  Bronze
  5
  Ironoak
  2
  Iron
  6
  Mageglass
  3 Pentolan Marble 7
  Precious Metal
  4
  Porcelain
  8
  Precious Gem
  D6 THEME
  1
  War
  2
  Love
  3
  Prosperity
  4
  Nature
  5
  Fire
  6
  Moon
  D12 DETAIL
  1 Dusty with a bloody smudge
  7
  Always causes static shock
  2
  Polished smooth & soft
  8
  Growing strange mold
  3
  Partially wrapped in silk
  9
  Hums softly in the dark
  4 Marked with a strange rune
  10 Makes light flicker nearby
  5 Intricate opaline scrollwork
  11
  Smells like cinnamon
  6
  Tiny iron charms attached
  12
  Always slightly damp
  Draw a Card from a Standard 52-Card Deck and Roll a D6&8&12&20
  ♦ Diamonds: Positive effect on self
  ♥ Hearts: Positive effect on others
  ♠ Spades: Negative effect on self
  ♣ Clubs: Negative effect on others
  Suits
  The method for generating items in
  the catacombs listed here is best
  done prior to a session to seed 3-4
  interesting items for players to come
  across - it’s a little complex but is
  designed to scaffold out something
  usable fairly quickly.
  For quick generation at the table, try
  using these guidelines instead:
  1. Draw a card, roll 1d20. The
  card will tell you the type of item
  and whether or not the effect is
  positive or negative. The d20 tells
  you the general effect.
  2. Use
  the
  first
  mechanical
  implementation
  of
  that
  effect
  that comes to mind - a ray of fire,
  making the bearer angry, keeping
  them young, slowing them down,
  whatever - just go with the first
  thing you think of.
  If you’d like to generate non-magical
  items, forego the d20 roll.
  On Generating Items
  Thumb’s Down (J ♣, 3, 5, 5, 10)
  This beautifully polished ironoak box is
  lined with opaline scrollwork in the
  shape of tiny lightning bolts chasing a
  stylized wagon. Inside the box is the
  desiccated left thumb of a merchant.
  Pressing
  this
  thumb
  into
  someone’s
  property ensures that it will be struck by
  lightning 1d6 days later.
  Moonmoth (K ♦, 6, 4, 5, 16)
  This vibrant, brightly enameled porcelain
  figurine of a small butterfly is delicately
  patterned with inlaid opaline images of
  the moon’s cycle on its wings. While
  carrying this figurine the bearer heals
  +1HP per day naturally.
  Stoneaxe Cloak (9 ♥, 1, 3, 7, 13)
  This bright yellow cloak has beads of
  beautiful
  blue-gray
  Pentolan
  marble
  lining the hem, and the tiniest slivers of
  the same are sewn into the center in the
  shape of a hand gripping a short-handled
  ax. Whenever it is first picked up, the
  energy within causes a slight shock.
  Anyone seeing this cloak finds initiative
  tests one step easier.
  Example Items
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Goblin Laws of Gaming (GLOG) (osr)/Dungeons _ Modules/beneath-the-canals-half-digital.pdf