Cellars
Cellars are underground rooms generally used for storage and may hold wine, beer, roots, vegetables, cheese, or other items. Fictional cellars may be hidden rooms, accessed only by a hidden trapdoor. They may have ladders or stairways leading down to them from the kitchens. They may have doors that also lead to the backyard or gardens. They may access underground cave systems. Cellars may have been converted from their primary purpose to another, such as a laboratory, or cult chamber. They may be infested with rats.
| Synonyms: basements, storerooms |
| Example Mythonyms: the Hidden Cellar, the Cellar of Bogsmead Tavern |
Designing Fictional Cellars
Overview
Fictional cellars are are equally capable of housing a cozy collection of wine, vegetables, and grains as they are a mob of monsters, rats, and ancient horrors. Typically filled with crates, barrels, and shelves, these cellars often contain unusual items as well. Especially in the case of cellars that serve as hidden rooms, elements like sacrificial altars, portals to different dimensions, and access points to caves, sewers, and underground tunnels may be present.
Fictional cellars often have peepholes in the floorboards, allowing characters within the cellar to observe what is occuring on the floor above them.
