Purple Worm
Image from Wizards of the Coast and D&D Beyond
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The Hook
The industrial race between the gnomes and dwarves is at its peak and the gnomes are ready to unveil their newest "machine" of industry. Trained Purple Worms. What could possibly go wrong?
Inspiration to Draw on
In this idea I was thinking “What have I never seen Purple Worms used as….“ Excavation machines! BOOM! Wait… there is always that pesky “but why“. Honestly you can change this part up for sure. For instance, you can have them as war machines like in the Peter Jackson’s version of the Battle of Five Armies. Either way I think this is the shock factor but where the awe is, is in the story on how they trained the purple worms.
Did the gnomes uncover a pheromone that attracted the worms? They can’t traditionally train because a 1 intelligence.
SIDE NOTE: That is super duper low, I don’t think I really ever noticed that…
So the gnomes would need to be creative in the training. Maybe a Pavlovian response?
What if the gnomes rode these beasts while excavating? You can draw on how Adventurers League module DDEP06-01 - Relics of Khundrukar written Bill Benham uses the Purple Worm in the vary fun Part 2. It is there that the lore is eluded to that Purple Worm protective plating is so big that one can hide between the gaps if need be and your character is lucky enough.
That is also where a lot of raw jewels would be stuck, so it is fun to imagine gnomes scrubbing down purple worms and finding wealth beyond understanding.
The next thing I would encourage is that you think about how it could go terribly wrong. Who could be affected? How might this disrupt the industrial race completely?
Check out D&D Beyond or your always near to hand copy of Monster Manual for more history on the Purple Worms and remember to have fun with it!
Fair Use
Monster of the Week is a series we put together as a way to help DM’s generate ideas for adventures or campaigns. Please feel free to use these ideas freely. If you do use these ideas for published content, we just ask that you reference DM’s Table and reference https://www.dmstable.com/.