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Marquant Volker
Learned Scribe
Greece
273 Posts |
 Posted - 31 Dec 2010 : 04:09:54
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I was wondering if anyone else have used a city-based dungeon crawl for their campaigns and how well it worked. You know abandoned roads, ruins ready to collapse, some indoor fighting , parks that had become little less than arenas and such.
For all i know there was a Games Workshop game called Mordheim, (of course that was a strategy game) with some pretty good ideas of how it worked.
I plan to do this on my next session, my players seems more or less excited by it so here is how the story goes: (not in much detail)
There is a powerfull artifact (sword) that is linked for a long time with my players, its a powerfull sword, but in truth its the key for a greater weapon. Last time the players stole it from a temple of an extremist paladin order of Lathander, and gave it to a powerfull wizzard, to keep it safe.
However the players are asked later to help the wizzard travel all the way to the House of Triad, home of the God Helm and presend him the sword, asking him to guard it for eternity. (yes it sounds crazy but it's an epic campaign,and even so it still sounds kinda crazy)
Everyone's happy, sword is secure, Helm is guarding.
However i decited to have Helm's death happen in my campaign, so his ever-floating castle (i presented it more like a floating city with the tower inside it) collapses someplace in the multiverse. All the artifacts and treasures Helm was guarding lay unguarded including the sword.
For the city i intend to use the Tradeway map (a small Star shaped city) from the Wizzard's page.
There will be a lot of fractions scavenging the city for artifacts, providing colourful and interesting encounters (3 or even 4 way battles?), in addition i want to present a lot of different places for my players to explore.
This will be a pure action adventure, not only hack and slash thought, more like an movie you know - forming or breaking alliances with other parties, hiding from really powerfull individuals, exploring halls and places that once belonged to a God and his retinue- the usual stuff :-)
I am worried a bit, this turns out to be a BIG project, designing the locales of Everwatch isnt the easiest thing, i want to give the PCs the freedom to move around and explore but that means i have to design whole parts of the town, and they have to be interesing too, no just blocks on the paper. And what locales could a city of Angels have? apart from the obvious library - temple/House of Helm or somesort of townhall where the angels gather for some...reason.
Do Angels need houses at all?
Any information or idea would be more than welcome! even if you come with the idea of a locale or an encounter feel free to contribute there is a lot of space to fill! (more than enough)
Thanks in advance!
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Edited by - Marquant Volker on 31 Dec 2010 04:27:40
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Rhewtani
Senior Scribe
USA
508 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jan 2011 : 17:40:58
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I always get disheartned when it's been nearly a week and no one's responded to my thread, so while I might not have great ideas for this one, I'm gonna give what I got. :)
1) The Enduring Crucible
Filled with dozens of mechanized forging tools and half-constructed suits of plate armor, here the armaments of Helm's chosen servants and even those of his avatar are brought into existence.
2) Hall of the Steadfast
Statues line either side of this huge chamber. Depicted are the servants of Helm who have fallen in battle fulfilling theirs oaths of protection. Lining the ebon stone walls are the chiseled names of both the lives saved by Helmites in an ivory hued ink, and the names of those who perished under a Helmite's protection in a deep scarlet ink.
3) I would also throw a shrine of Mystra somewhere, perhaps with base carved with the lives of those who perished as the unfortunate consequence of Helmite actions (i.e. half the population of Neverwinter, and well ... you know ... Mystra). Sort of a shrine to his regrets.
I'm wondering how epic this campaign is. If the PC's are let's say ... under 15th, they need to arrive AFTER a lot of the fighting has taken place, I would think. Leaving aside the Red Wizards, Host Tower, Zhents, and Shades, you'd also have hordes of dragons looking for hoard-pieces in this sort of thing. I guess that's what you're going for - it's just hard to picture PCs not just being killed in collateral damage.
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Matthus
Senior Scribe
Germany
393 Posts |
Posted - 07 Jan 2011 : 09:55:48
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Have you ever used the AD&D adventure “Pool of radiance” (not the computer game)? I borrowed the structure of the maps, meaning that every action encounter played in its own “quarter”. I could prepare the settings with detailed overviews of the surrounding buildings. The gaps between the prepared encounters were used when the pc’s got “their own ideas” (as they always do  ), but I filled them only when needed. I used a list of possible encounters, research-, auxiliary- and logistic-points which I placed in a mastermap. The pc’s got a blank version, where they could flag what was important to them. It worked well for us and we had a lot of fun exploring a city.
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Alisttair
Great Reader
Canada
3054 Posts |
Posted - 07 Jan 2011 : 11:56:22
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quote:
Originally posted by Matthus
Have you ever used the AD&D adventure “Pool of radiance” (not the computer game)? I borrowed the structure of the maps, meaning that every action encounter played in its own “quarter”. I could prepare the settings with detailed overviews of the surrounding buildings. The gaps between the prepared encounters were used when the pc’s got “their own ideas” (as they always do ), but I filled them only when needed. I used a list of possible encounters, research-, auxiliary- and logistic-points which I placed in a mastermap. The pc’s got a blank version, where they could flag what was important to them. It worked well for us and we had a lot of fun exploring a city.
The exact name of the adventure book is "Ruins of Adventure" |
Karsite Arcanar (Most Holy Servant of Karsus)
Anauria - Survivor State of Netheril as penned by me:
http://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/172023 |
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Rhewtani
Senior Scribe
USA
508 Posts |
Posted - 08 Jan 2011 : 18:50:00
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The Vault of Moments
A room filled with huge glass mirrors that instead of reflecting they show scenes of the heroic last stands of helmites. However, one of the mirrors is cracked and as the PCs enter the final moment of a helmite being thrown back against the other side of the mirror actually shatters it and the helmite is sent tumbling through.
His opponent jumps down into the room as well, and immediately engages the party in combat. Does the Helmite live? Is he a real soul or just some sort of after-image imprint of a being? |
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City/Dungeon Encounters
