Canonfire!

Sun Dec 23, 2012 10:57 am Fungi of Greyhawk

Just wanting to get a take on how you use fungi in your game. When my character or my players are heading down into the dark cave's, I think of the cover B1 In Search of the Unknown. We all know about Zuggtmoy demon queen of fungi, but is their any other god or goddess of good fungi?

Do your fungus move around after the players have passed by? So when the players make their way back out, the rooms are different? If you step or cut them, do they expel hallucinogenic effects? Do they sing when the players approach?

Here is a list of fungi:
Phosphorescent Fungus
Violet Fungi
Shriekers
Molds, Yellow and Brown
Ascomoid
Basidirond
Myconid
Obliviax (Memory Moss)
Phycomid
Zygom
Phantom Fungus
Fey Ring

Sun Dec 23, 2012 11:10 am

'Zemo, tis been a while since we last saw your textmanship in these parts. Welcome back! I am surprised this isn't a poll. Happy

To reply to your question, my involvement with all things fungal has been very limited. Most of my adventures are outdoors, but I have run a few subterranean campaigns, most notably and recently, The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, as well as a quasi-dungeon crawl below the ruins of the Mistmarsh (mentioned in one of the OJ's).

Thusly, I daresay that my experience with the fungi you have listed is a bit scant. Embarassed

Perhaps this is something I should rectify in the future.

As for a 'goodly' Power of fungi, I cannot think of any offhand.

Good to see you typing again,

-Lanthorn

Sun Dec 23, 2012 4:05 pm

Don't forget Xagevoxhab, the Scarlet Lord (DNG # 85 "Lord of the Scarlet Tide") Lots of fungoid goodness in there including Scarlet Rust and Scarlet Children.
The Demonomicon article on Zuggtmoy in DRG # 337 has some great stuff in it also. I used that as the basis for an adventure in a seaside town that had been secretly taken over by Zuggtmoy cultists. I particularly liked the method of sacrifice her cults use -- Zuggtmoys Cradle -- where they bury a victim who has been fed various poisonous fungi by the cult but did not die, binding them with their own hair (or stitching their limbs together). They leave a mask with a tube that projects out of the grave, so the victim can breath and be fed fungi laden gruel that causes mold to grow inside them until they die. I expanded this by making some of those victims rise from the dead as fungus-covered zombies that sprayed out poison spores when they were struck. There was also the creepy ghost of a little girl who had been killed by Cradling who helped the party by warning them of an ambush by cultists and led them to a secret entrance into the tunnels beneath the town where the cult was headquartered. I managed to really creep out the entire party with that one.

Mon Dec 24, 2012 6:40 am

Did we somehow forget vegepygmies and their origin, russet mold?

And Psilofyr is the neutral-aligned god of fungi. As a god of healing, community, and philosophy, he'd be the go-to deity for good-aligned fungus-worshipers.

Mon Dec 24, 2012 9:38 am

I had totally forgotten about vegepygmies given their relative obscurity. I didn't think they were of fungal origin. This must've been a change from their original entry in Monster Manual 2 which defines them as "vegetable creatures" (hence, their name) BUT it does later mention they reproduce by "russet mold or by propagating buds from their bodies." Very odd, and seemingly contradictory (plants and fungi are in totally separate Kingdoms!).

As for Psilofry...great reference, Rasgon! This is why you are the GreySage. Wink

His (Its) complete portfolio is outlined on page 69 of Monster Mythology for those of you who have this book.

-Lanthorn, Sage Hopeful

Mon Dec 24, 2012 1:27 pm

Mon Dec 24, 2012 1:32 pm

Tue Dec 25, 2012 9:31 am

1- forgot about Russet Mold
2- also thought the Vegepygmies were plant creatures
3- Did not know anything about Psilofyr
Thanks rasgon

P.S. Years ago I had my players come across some Jalapeno Vegepygmy with a breath weaopn a.k.a. pepper spray HeHe.

Tue Dec 25, 2012 8:18 pm

Wed Dec 26, 2012 10:15 am

Wed Dec 26, 2012 1:20 pm

Food for thought. We know from the Lost Passage of the Suloise hook in the boxed set that the Lerara worship the "Mother" which is a great cavern sized ooze. However, as the bit says the Lerara subsist on fungi for food and use weapons coated in a paralytic fungi poison. So, it wouldn't be a great stretch of plot to say the Mother is a collosal sentient fungi. In fact it'd make more sense!

Thu Dec 27, 2012 3:50 am

Very possible, Mort, though I prefer to think of the Mother as a Lovecraftian spawn-of-the-outer-gods-type. That doesn't preclude it being a fungus, of course.

There are also sporebats.

Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:17 am

I just noticed this thread, and had to pipe up. I am 1/2 Bohemian, 1/2 Polish, so fungi are my heritage! We even have a Houby Day parade in Berwyn, IL, near where I grew up. We hunted mushrooms every Fall, and there were stories of how certain Old Country folks would try to mislead and misdirect their rivals when en route to the best mushroom grounds! And in my younger days, I sampled everything from Amanita muscaria to the Psilocibin sp.
I have used Myconids in several adventures, as well as most of the fungi creatures mentioned, as I love to DM the UnderOerth, the Vault, etc. The timid Myconid have helped out desperate parties more than once. It really adds to the flavor of a good UnderOerth game, I think.
My current character in Ragnar's PbP campaign is a Halfling thief who was recently stranded, alone in the UnderOerth, with two broken legs. He survived by eating mushrooms, about half of which were hallucinogenic. His personality, it is safe to say, will have been slightly altered by this experience.

Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:57 am

Haha you're halfling sounds interesting Bugsy. I've been running ToEE too so I've been following Ragnar's session summaries with interest!

I just remembered that there was an article in Dragon; Fungi of the Underdark by Chris Perry. I have a photocopy of the article but I'm not sure which number issue it came from. I can tell you it was the November 1994 issue though!

The fungi he describes are;

Trillimac ("Corpse Cap") - the cap can be used as a parchment substitute or headwear(!). The stalk can be soaked and dried to make a bread like food.

Nimergan - used to make a potent and mildly toxic alcoholic drink also called Nimergan favoured by duergar.

Ormu - a flourescent green moss that is used as fabric dye and ink and retains its phosphoresence. Drow women also use it for makeup (possibly making Erelhei-Cinlu look like a dreadful rave).

Askume - a lichen that can be crushed and powdered to make a poison that causes the windpipe and tongue to swell up choking the victim.

Timmask - used in summoning magic to entice creatures of the Lower Planes or as an additional component to enhance necromantic spells.

If anyone wants the full descriptions / rules let me know.

Mon Feb 25, 2013 2:03 am

Also, in the July 2000 issue of Dragon there was an article called Van Richten's Legacy: Wicked Garden by Owen Stephens. I think it was themed for Ravenloft but also lists a number of types of fungi and mosses;

Midnight Lace
Red Cap
Scarab Cap
Willow Wisps

Wed Feb 27, 2013 8:37 pm

Don't forget Russell Bird's fungi cult from OJ#14, in "Erelhei-Cinlu, Drow City of Pleasure" :D
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