So, I was thinking along the lines of working on a Mega-dungeoneque primary lair for the Spectrals for my Living Steel game, and I was looking for some inspiration. So I ran into a blog post from Cory Doctrow linking to a scientist who had been making plaster molds of the inside of ant colonies.
The link to the actual study is here (http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1672/1536-2442%282004%29004%5B0001%3ATNAOTF%5D2.0.CO%3B2#toclink6) in case you're an entomologist.
But the really, really neat stuff is in their figures, from this part of the site (http://www.bioone.org/action/showFullPopup?doi=10.1672%2F1536-2442%282004%29004%5B0001%3ATNAOTF%5D2.0.CO%3B2&id=i1536-2442-4-21-1-f01)
Which are bloody amazing. One quick example:
(http://www.bioone.org/na101/home/literatum/publisher/bioone/journals/content/insc/2004/15362442-4.21/1536-2442%282004%29004%5B0001%3Atnaotf%5D2.0.co%3B2/production/images/medium/i1536-2442-4-21-1-f01.jpg)
nice find! would go great with the megadungeon concept :)
Yeah, the first time I saw a documentary about that a couple years ago it blew my mind, and my first thought was, "Awesome dungeon concept!"
I'll try to find the image
*Edit*
Ah, yes, here they are (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2095335/Underground-ant-city-Brazil-rivals-Great-Wall-China-labyrinth-highways.html)
Awesome sauce, its got a very HR Giger feel to it. Anyone up for producing the first dungeon map based on them?
A mild tangent, but I was picking through the Xiticix Invasion book that I grabbed off the clearance shelf a ways back, and they just don't seem all that 'bug like' to me. I admit that it really must be hard to envision/imagine a species so alien to us, but surely there are some better examples?
Does anyone have a 'bug culture' that they like?
Aliens?
Quote from: The Traveller;575839Aliens?
Like the Ridley Scott movie?
They don't really tunnel and stuff, do they? I mean, they do remodel a bit, but is there more to it than that?
I thought this would be about a certain rabbit...
-clash
The graphic novels built on the insectoid civilisation aspect of the Aliens, with many references to "ants", and the various castes in their society.
If using this as a D&D setting, just have it be a giant ant colony that has been taken over by other monsters once something took out all the giant ants.
Quote from: jeff37923;575872If using this as a D&D setting, just have it be a giant ant colony that has been taken over by other monsters once something took out all the giant ants.
Oh, I've got my nasties to go in them, the Spectrals are going to have hives based on these carved out of solid rock.
(http://www.ludd.luth.se/~mcgreag/ls/spec_war.jpg)
the warriors and workers take on the vague forms of the bodies that they animate after hatching, using the corpses that the hive drains the life energy force from, so that they can exploit the existing technology on whatever world they're conquering, but their more senior castes remain more insectlike, and they have a hive environment that they base out of. This one's the Major Warrior, who's pretty much one of the worst things a player group can see. They don't feel pain, don't slow down from damage to their torso or limbs that doesn't inhibit the movement of their limbs, and they can sense and assess the general emotional state of all animal life within 1km with 6" accuracy. So they're sort of like fast super zombies that want to drag you back to the hive, drain your life force, then turn your body into a host for their young.
Quote from: flyingmice;575868I thought this would be about a certain rabbit...
-clash
I was thinking Starship Troopers
Quote from: jeff37923;575872something took out all the giant ants.
a dire anteater!
Quote from: beeber;575894a dire anteater!
Or the current residents....
Quote from: jeff37923;575872If using this as a D&D setting, just have it be a giant ant colony that has been taken over by other monsters once something took out all the giant ants.
Nah, fuck it - just use giant ants. They already develop into specific castes to fulfil specific roles within the hive; giant ants would probably have more demanding needs, so you can get away with more.
They're vicious and xenophobic, so would cover your "wandering monsters" well; and their colonies will have abandoned spaces used purely for airflow /cooling, so that gives space for non-ants to live in. There are also other species (http://www.soe-townsville.org/greentreeants/index.html) that live in ant hives, so in a fantasy world, having non-ants living in an ant hive under some sort of illusions spell, or just being covered in "I am an ant!" pheromone, works fine.
Xiticix!
Of course, the RIFTS Xiticix book has some pretty awesome hive-floorplans of its own.
RPGPundit
I've got a giant ant nest floorplan here somewhere (not as fancy as the real thing, mind). Had some peons take it on a few years ago.
If i can scan it and type up the relevant bits, i'll post it in a day ot two.
Quote from: TrueGygaxFan;576366I think it would be pretty scary to have to fight your way through a beehive especially if the bees were dragons!
Specially if they were pseudo!
Quote from: Panzerkraken;575874Oh, I've got my nasties to go in them, the Spectrals are going to have hives based on these carved out of solid rock.
(http://www.ludd.luth.se/~mcgreag/ls/spec_war.jpg)
the warriors and workers take on the vague forms of the bodies that they animate after hatching, using the corpses that the hive drains the life energy force from, so that they can exploit the existing technology on whatever world they're conquering, but their more senior castes remain more insectlike, and they have a hive environment that they base out of. This one's the Major Warrior, who's pretty much one of the worst things a player group can see. They don't feel pain, don't slow down from damage to their torso or limbs that doesn't inhibit the movement of their limbs, and they can sense and assess the general emotional state of all animal life within 1km with 6" accuracy. So they're sort of like fast super zombies that want to drag you back to the hive, drain your life force, then turn your body into a host for their young.
What game is that from?
Quote from: Piestrio;576385What game is that from?
Living Steel
Quote from: One Horse Town;576372Specially if they were pseudo!
TrueGygaxFan is pseudo's sockpuppet?
Quote from: jeff37923;576416TrueGygaxFan is pseudo's sockpuppet?
I very much doubt it. I was talking about pseudo-dragons.
Quote from: One Horse Town;576506I very much doubt it. I was talking about pseudo-dragons.
Suddenly all his posts are deleted, did he turn out to be a sockpuppet anyway?
Quote from: Panzerkraken;576564Suddenly all his posts are deleted, did he turn out to be a sockpuppet anyway?
He was a "Something Awful" plant, which is really fucking ridiculous when you think about it: they create a nonsensical parody of a grognard that they can subsequently quote in order to joke about how stupid grognards are. Its kind of futile.
RPGPundit
threw his lame one-trick-pony ass on my IL right from start. no loss there.
back to bugs, just remembered a cool bit from moldvay basic--didn't giant bees have healing potion-effect honey? love the little things like that.
Quote from: beeber;577455threw his lame one-trick-pony ass on my IL right from start. no loss there.
back to bugs, just remembered a cool bit from moldvay basic--didn't giant bees have healing potion-effect honey? love the little things like that.
Yes they did.
RPGPundit