Here's a quick "breakdown" of what happens to a human body in 100 years.
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-long-it-takes-human-body-decompose-grave-coffin-2019-8

Here's more with pics!
https://www.aftermath.com/content/human-decomposition/
https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/science/stages-of-decomposition/

This one is GM NIGHTMARE FUEL and utterly NSFW. You have been warned.
https://www.cvltnation.com/fucking-gross-stages-human-decomposition/


Why am I posting this here?

Because I wish swift death upon the entire human race? Sure, but I also have a RPG specific reason.

Here's the deal. In video games, you kill something and it vanishes. That doesn't make a shred of sense in 99.99% of RPG settings. It doesn't even make sense to remove dead foes from a battlemat during a fight. They are obstacles, especially beasts of large size and beyond.  

And that's just the freshly dead.

It's notable how quickly dead meat begins to break down, especially in certain climates. In the early stages of decomposition, corpses reek in the extreme. Imagine that reek in confined spaces without significant ventilation! AKA, that lovely dungeon aroma of death!

However, equally interesting are the later stages of decomposition. In a few decades, little is left of the dead and their clothes, or other belongings made of renewable materials. In a century, its mostly teeth and bone dust.  

Things to think about when you design your next horror scenario or dungeon.

What say you?

Quote from: Spinachcat;1101969Here's a quick "breakdown" of what happens to a human body in 100 years.
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-long-it-takes-human-body-decompose-grave-coffin-2019-8

Here's more with pics!
https://www.aftermath.com/content/human-decomposition/
https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/science/stages-of-decomposition/

This one is GM NIGHTMARE FUEL and utterly NSFW. You have been warned.
https://www.cvltnation.com/fucking-gross-stages-human-decomposition/


Why am I posting this here?

Because I wish swift death upon the entire human race? Sure, but I also have a RPG specific reason.

Here's the deal. In video games, you kill something and it vanishes. That doesn't make a shred of sense in 99.99% of RPG settings. It doesn't even make sense to remove dead foes from a battlemat during a fight. They are obstacles, especially beasts of large size and beyond.  

And that's just the freshly dead.

It's notable how quickly dead meat begins to break down, especially in certain climates. In the early stages of decomposition, corpses reek in the extreme. Imagine that reek in confined spaces without significant ventilation! AKA, that lovely dungeon aroma of death!

However, equally interesting are the later stages of decomposition. In a few decades, little is left of the dead and their clothes, or other belongings made of renewable materials. In a century, its mostly teeth and bone dust.  

Things to think about when you design your next horror scenario or dungeon.

What say you?

I'm all for the charnell smell wafting through the dungeon and attracting all kinds of nasties.

Thanks a lot Spinachcat. Now how is my PC supposed to get that stink out of his Elven Cloak and Boots?

QuoteThe gelatinous cube is one of the scavengers not uncommon in dungeons. Its cubic form is ideal for cleaning all living organisms, as well as carrion, from the floor and walls of underground passageways...[Monster Manual, p. 43]

There also black puddings, carrion crawlers, gray oozes,  green slimes, ochre jellies, and otyughs.

Also in folklore one of the primary reasons for undead to pop up is not recieving a proper burial. If you kill people and just leave their bodies lying around for scavengers to eat you're gonna get undead.

Nice trade-off too, do you spend your precious time burying dead foes or just leave them there.

Quote from: Bren;1101985Thanks a lot Spinachcat. Now how is my PC supposed to get that stink out of his Elven Cloak and Boots?

With the Febreze spell, duh!

This is why Zombie Apocalypse doesn't worry me.  In a couple months, the Zombies are just puddles of goop on the ground, maybe some twitching muscle here and there.  Of course, the response is, "Well the zombie pathogen slows decay."

On Sunday when my PCs killed a dragon, I certainly made its body Difficult Terrain. I can see a pile of human corpses being DT too, but a single body in a 5x5 space should be pretty easy to step over.

In a typical dungeon environment most corpses are fresh meat and quickly consumed by the ubiquitous scavengers. I have seen PCs return to the site of a recent big kill and run into a pack of Carrion Crawlers & Oozes.

Corpses keep moving for up to 18 months...
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2019/09/corpses-keep-moving-up-to-18-months-after-death-study.html

Quote from: S'mon;1102013I can see a pile of human corpses being DT too, but a single body in a 5x5 space should be pretty easy to step over.

Perhaps, but it might not be so easy when you're trying to melee with an opponent.

On a side note, I've been in a small room responding to a cardiac arrest and seen someone trip over the victim (who was on the ground) when trying to clear for a defibrillation, and it was only one body.

A lot of corpses would be scavenged, if other creatures live nearby. Intelligent creatures would be dragged off for burial and so on.

If you are in a dungeon that is sealed, or in a place where nobody visits, then the corpse would decay, rot or mummify over time.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1101969Here's the deal. In video games, you kill something and it vanishes. That doesn't make a shred of sense in 99.99% of RPG settings. It doesn't even make sense to remove dead foes from a battlemat during a fight. They are obstacles, especially beasts of large size and beyond.

Video games are not RPGs. Video games oft have some form of processor limit such that leaving bodies around will start to impact performance. Some PC and console games though do leave bodies around.

Also in games using minis it depends on the DM. Why stupidly assume every DM removes bodies? Or that removing the mini from the field removes the body? Are you related to Chris? No? Stop making narrow-minded assumprions.

Even way back before D&D ever existed some minis makers were putting out "dead" minis. Or there were "dead body here" markers. Etc.

As for dungeons "lacking ventilation"... This tired old fallacy... again?

What the hell?

Quote from: Omega;1109300As for dungeons "lacking ventilation"... This tired old fallacy... again?

If there were any thread in which to beat a dead horse, wouldn't it be this one?

Quote from: HappyDaze;1109281Perhaps, but it might not be so easy when you're trying to melee with an opponent.

On a side note, I've been in a small room responding to a cardiac arrest and seen someone trip over the victim (who was on the ground) when trying to clear for a defibrillation, and it was only one body.

Me too, many times. Buddy of mine stepped on and broke a stiffs hand once, ER doc and cops were wondering about possibly related trauma. A body is a major obstacle certainly.

Amongst my ancestors - this is just meal-prep.