To avoid exploration being just the same old tunnels I thought of some ideas that a DM could use to spice things up: Mushroom Forests Bioluminescent Lush Caverns with flowers and plants Inverted Volcanoe Biome, good for going deeper into the Underdark Ice Caves Ancient Abandoned Cities, potentially overgrown by Mushrooms depending on the surroundings, could make for a Myconid City! Abandoned Dwarven Mine-shafts Port Towns / Cities Next to underground Oceans and lakes Settlements of Runaway Drow Abandoned Mind Flayer Colonies Regular Dwarven Cities near the exits of the Underdark Overworld Ecosystem from a sinkhole
I had a cult brainwashed by a blind Beholder inches underdark. Unable to use any of his rays or anti magic cone it relied on psionics and its vast number of minions. It made for a great and very creepy session. Whe my low level party saw the back of the Beholder they were sitting themselves until about mid through the combat when they realized that this Beholder wasn't normal and they may actually be able to take it on
I've been hosting a 2 year long campaign in the underdark with all character players being underdark races. It's been so engaging and fun, I love the idea that it's not just a 'bad' place because its dark. I also set the tone that they don't believe themselves to be 'evil' as they're all from here
Very late response: I'm in a campaign where we're all playing traditionally 'evil' races against traditionally 'good' races- it's really interesting playing from the other side, in what amounts to essentially a war for resources, and where your motivations aren't necessarily bad, just morally ambiguous due to the war-setting. Characters finding out that family and friends were set to the torch because they were an 'evil' village really sets the tone to why war has been as traditionally ugly as it has been- it fosters revenge and "eye for an eye" or 'tit for tat.' Except for my gnoll cleric- she's just bad. A Hyena can't change it's spots, after all. But she does try.
I hope our campaign takes a visit to the underdark. 2 of our PCs have called it home for most of their lives. A young male exiled (well run away) from his house, Drow, after he caused the family to fall out of favor with Lolth for the second time since his birth. As well as a high elf who had fallen down there as an infant and was raised amungst the fungus people that call that place home.
This is absolutely tremendous content. I went from being on the fence about starting a campaign underground to feverishly scribbling notes of ideas and details. Definitely subscribing to your channel!
I will be starting a campaign with my friends. Steeping I to the shoes of a DM. I’m excited to run out of the abyss. The characters will start out in lost mines of Phendelver and obviously meet all the classics. Enough time for us to get acquainted with our roles.
my setting i've been brewing is basically Darksun but Faerun, and instead of the sun dying, the sun is completely dead, so its permanent winter/night. Arx Fatalis but the Underdark, so all the surface races live underground now. My group is rolling up characters without this knowledge, and im very excited. Someone is even talking about making a Drow 👀
This video was very helpful! But one thing that I sadly didn’t get from this video was examples of Quests in the Underdark, mainly talking about side missions. In the Overworld it‘s easy to find Side Missions since most civilized races are good. But in the Underdark most civilized races are evil. So how can my players get side missions and what kind of missions would that be?
@@SkullSplitter What I‘ve been planning is a normal good/heroes campaign. The main missions will be about the players exploring the Underdark to find artifacts to stop the Drow from completing a ritual that will help them conquer the Overworld.
@MrsNegative1 don't know if this will still help but have you considered gem dragons as quest givers? Gem dragons are neutral by default so their goals may align with the party's morals, plus amethyst and saphire dragons hate aberrations so they could give quests to hunt down beholders, aboliths and mindflayers
@@SkullSplitter thank you, I am a newbie DM and it is my first campaign ever, I am looking for something easy to run with least preparation possible. What does massaging mean?
To avoid exploration being just the same old tunnels I thought of some ideas that a DM could use to spice things up:
Mushroom Forests
Bioluminescent Lush Caverns with flowers and plants
Inverted Volcanoe Biome, good for going deeper into the Underdark
Ice Caves
Ancient Abandoned Cities, potentially overgrown by Mushrooms depending on the surroundings, could make for a Myconid City!
Abandoned Dwarven Mine-shafts
Port Towns / Cities Next to underground Oceans and lakes
Settlements of Runaway Drow
Abandoned Mind Flayer Colonies
Regular Dwarven Cities near the exits of the Underdark
Overworld Ecosystem from a sinkhole
I had a cult brainwashed by a blind Beholder inches underdark. Unable to use any of his rays or anti magic cone it relied on psionics and its vast number of minions. It made for a great and very creepy session. Whe my low level party saw the back of the Beholder they were sitting themselves until about mid through the combat when they realized that this Beholder wasn't normal and they may actually be able to take it on
I've been hosting a 2 year long campaign in the underdark with all character players being underdark races. It's been so engaging and fun, I love the idea that it's not just a 'bad' place because its dark. I also set the tone that they don't believe themselves to be 'evil' as they're all from here
Stealing this idea for the next time players want to play an evil campaign. Thanks for sharing your campaign concept.
Very late response:
I'm in a campaign where we're all playing traditionally 'evil' races against traditionally 'good' races- it's really interesting playing from the other side, in what amounts to essentially a war for resources, and where your motivations aren't necessarily bad, just morally ambiguous due to the war-setting. Characters finding out that family and friends were set to the torch because they were an 'evil' village really sets the tone to why war has been as traditionally ugly as it has been- it fosters revenge and "eye for an eye" or 'tit for tat.'
Except for my gnoll cleric- she's just bad. A Hyena can't change it's spots, after all. But she does try.
i'm running a full campaign set in the underdark, partially inspired by fear and hunger. this helped a lot! thanks!
I hope our campaign takes a visit to the underdark. 2 of our PCs have called it home for most of their lives. A young male exiled (well run away) from his house, Drow, after he caused the family to fall out of favor with Lolth for the second time since his birth. As well as a high elf who had fallen down there as an infant and was raised amungst the fungus people that call that place home.
This is absolutely tremendous content. I went from being on the fence about starting a campaign underground to feverishly scribbling notes of ideas and details. Definitely subscribing to your channel!
Glad it was helpful! Let your friends know!
Well rounded description of my home. I see you’ve spent a great deal of time there.
Yes indeed. What's your favorite part of it?
I will be starting a campaign with my friends. Steeping I to the shoes of a DM. I’m excited to run out of the abyss. The characters will start out in lost mines of Phendelver and obviously meet all the classics. Enough time for us to get acquainted with our roles.
I have just started Out of the Abyss last week, this was very helpful
I never think of underdark weather! Thanks
Outro is too loud.
great basic rundown! thank you
my setting i've been brewing is basically Darksun but Faerun, and instead of the sun dying, the sun is completely dead, so its permanent winter/night. Arx Fatalis but the Underdark, so all the surface races live underground now. My group is rolling up characters without this knowledge, and im very excited. Someone is even talking about making a Drow 👀
I really like the aesthetic of your video 💜
This video was very helpful. My party will go into the Underdark to save someone out of Drow Slavery.
Great ideas thank you!!!
This video was very helpful! But one thing that I sadly didn’t get from this video was examples of Quests in the Underdark, mainly talking about side missions. In the Overworld it‘s easy to find Side Missions since most civilized races are good. But in the Underdark most civilized races are evil. So how can my players get side missions and what kind of missions would that be?
Sidequests for lawful evil teams may work well here, especially if that causes complications later as they've been working for the bad folks....
@@SkullSplitter What I‘ve been planning is a normal good/heroes campaign.
The main missions will be about the players exploring the Underdark to find artifacts to stop the Drow from completing a ritual that will help them conquer the Overworld.
@MrsNegative1 don't know if this will still help but have you considered gem dragons as quest givers?
Gem dragons are neutral by default so their goals may align with the party's morals, plus amethyst and saphire dragons hate aberrations so they could give quests to hunt down beholders, aboliths and mindflayers
What campaign or adventure would be a good one to get to the underdark quests?
Out if the abyss is a campaign setting for the underdark; it may need some work by the dm to make it workable though.
Thank you! Are there any good ready pre-made adventures that you recommend in the Underdark?
Good? Well, “out of the abyss” is OK, but the DM will need to do some massaging
@@SkullSplitter thank you, I am a newbie DM and it is my first campaign ever, I am looking for something easy to run with least preparation possible. What does massaging mean?
It requires pruning; we'd recommend the starter set if you want something easy to run.
@@SkullSplitter okay thank you, I want to run a Underdark campaign so I guess I will just do my own research
Heck yeah