D8 OSR/D&Dable things inspired by Brogue

Brogue is an excellent roguelike game created by Brian Walker. It was created after Brian's copy of the original Rogue, which he had been hacking, was stolen and thus feels very similar to the original game but with one main twist that makes it very unique. The premise is the same as Rogue as you attempt to descend to the 26th depth of the Dungeons of Doom, collect the Amulet of Yendor and escape. However, you don't gain experience points or levels and thus need to gather equipment to augment your characters abilities as well as use potions, charms and staves/wands very strategically.

The game has wonderful visual effects with the ASCII art, a very accessible interface and an elegant design and I would highly recommend it to both veterans of the genre and newcomers alike. The game can be downloaded for free from this link: https://sites.google.com/site/broguegame/home

The game is a unique, elegantly designed and interesting dungeon crawl experience and it is easy to see how the deadly dungeon's denizens and the magical items you can plunder could easily serve as inspiration for your D&D/OSR game of choice. Here are some examples:

1. Goblins have warriors, scouts (thieves), conjurers (magic-users) and Mystics (clerics). Weirdly, with enough research, you can notice that their society and culture is run in a manner very similar to ancient human civilisations. This is because goblins are actually highly mutated humans that were forced long ago to work in caverns deep below the earth by wizards/inhuman ancient beings/snake men. They eventually broke free as the power of their masters waned. Some people know this. All of them don't want you to know or spread this knowledge.

2. Dungeon monkeys are wily bastards that will steal the party's belongings and run like hell. There are no wolves in dungeons, only vicious cave jackals that hunt in packs. Large mutant centipedes (or centipede men/robot centipedes that inject poison/etc.) exist with a poisonous bite that reduces a character's strength score by 1 (or 1HP per HD if an NPC) for 1D6+6 turns. Also having Drow swordsmen/swordswomen that can "blink" around adventurers is an awesome idea and could make encounters with them much more interesting.

3. For some strange reason, the only perfectly normal fruit that you can find growing in a dungeon environment are mangos. Devout followers of the deity of agriculture and fruit suggest that this is a sign of their god supporting those brave enough to venture into the dungeon and fight evil. Others suggest that it is because dungeons are fucking weird as shit underworld anomalies.

Bloats are like these dudes but much more chromatic.

4. Bloats: Odd, floating bladder looking creatures containing deadly gases. Bursts at the slightest contact or pressure. Comes in 1D4 awful varieties:
1. Caustic Gas: Pink, releases a cloud of caustic gas that will spread to fill an entire room. Killing it with fire stops it from releasing the gas.
2. Pit Bloat: Blue, creates a 10 foot long and wide pit to the next floor when burst.
3. Explosive Bloat: Orange, creates an explosion and lights everything on fire upon bursting.

4. Clone Bloat: Looks like a human head. Actually releases spores instead of gas. If inhaled, the victim will find themselves in the next hour vomiting up a pod person style clone of themselves that will attempt to kill the original and take their place. [1]

Been looking for an excuse to use this image...

5. 1D10 Runic Weaponry [2]:
1. Weapon of Confusion: Confuses struck opponent, can save but at -1 per +1 of weapon.
2. Weapon of Force: Target must save or be knocked flying backwards 5 per +1 feet.
3. Weapon of Mercy (Cursed): 50% chance to heal enemy instead of wounding them!
4. Weapon of Multiplicity: 30% chance per strike of summoning a spectral blade to assist in combat. Can summon a number of blades up to the + value of the weapon at any one time. They vanish after combat and can be "slain" (1 HD per +1 of weapon, AC 7).
5. Weapon of Paralysis: Paralyses struck opponent if they fail their save.
6. Weapon of Plenty (Cursed): Has a 50% chance to clone struck opponent. The clones are permanent and hostile.
7. Weapon of Slaying: Double + to hit and double damage to a specific class of monster.
8. Weapon of Slowing: Hit opponent must save or be slowed down as per reverse of Haste.
9. Weapon of Speed: When an opponent is hit, there is a 10% chance per +1 of gaining an extra attack as time freezes briefly.
10. Weapon of Quietus: Rolls of natural 20 instantly kill with this weapon, each +1 increases the crit/death range (so +1 would be 19-20, +2 18-20, etc.). Alternatively, the weapon can simply force a save versus death with a -1 penalty per +1.

6. 1D10 Armour Runes:
1. Armour of Absorption: Absorbs damage when hit equal to each +1 the armour has.
2. Armour of Burden (Cursed): When struck, the armour becomes heavier and will eventually render the wearer defenseless due to being over encumbered.
3. Armour of Dampening: Protects you from damage from explosions and reduces the damage of fire per die by each +1.
4. Armour of Immolation (Cursed): 10% chance when struck of bursting into flames as if you threw a lit flask of oil. The armour is immune to any fire damage, you are not.
5. Armour of Immunity: Makes you immune to a single type of monster. For a less powerful but still effective version, double the + armour bonus when struck by a certain type of monster instead.
6. Armour of Multiplicity: 30% chance of creating a spectral clone of the enemy when struck that will fight for you for 1+armour's plus rounds. Up to the + value in clones can be created.
7. Armour of Mutuality: When facing multiple foes, the physical damage dealt to you will be split evenly among yourself and adjacent foes.
8. Armour of Reflection: 10% per +1 chance of reflecting magic in a random direction.
9. Armour of Respiration: Renders wearer immune to all dangerous gases. [3]
10. Armour of Vulnerability (Cursed): Takes double damage from physical attacks.

7. A dungeon room containing a captive (roll a random monster from the wandering monster table) being tortured by a group of (roll again on the wandering monster table, don't reroll similar results). If freed and not treated in a murderhobo fashion, the party can gain a new ally.

8. Getting the macguffin from the deepest depths of the dungeon summons an invulnerable, powerful and persistent guardian. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop ever, until the party are dead! [4]

[1] Doing an impression of this is mandatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEStsLJZhzo

[2] For both the runic armours and weaponry I assume a +1 to +3 range like in B/X/Labyrinth Lord so the effects may require tweaking to accommodate magic equipment higher than +3.

[3] I never found anything better than leather armour with this runic enchantment. I personally imagine the armour resembling the still suits from Dune: http://img01.deviantart.net/e0cf/i/2016/181/4/0/dune_stillsuit_concept_by_nikolayasparuhov-da87xwa.jpg

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVTAe6bDCks