In viridian bogs throughout the Swamp of Monsters, venus fly traps, named after the planetary appelation of Va Hosta, mother of the world but transformed through the grace of her first son Belm into Abjecta, Queen of Maggots, are cultivated by the eelmen. During the third week of each rainy season, which alternate with the foggy seasons in periods of five to six weeks, swarms of large eye-less and leg-less flies hatch from the toxic mud and blacken the skies, cover houses, weigh down the cypress and lotus blossom, and suffocate unguarded children in their molded beds. But the eelmen have an understanding of the toxic mud, which is thick with oil, froth, and unknown colors, which stinks and coagulates, and causes rampant growth, cancer, and sterile reproduction. Their understanding is that the toxic muds are the vaginal secretions of Zuggtmoy, Queen of Putrescence, who was slain and lies buried in the Temple of Elemental Evil near Quallmar, City of Thieves.
The eelmen bury sacrifices to Zuggtmoy neck deep in the viridian bogs and sew the seeds of the venus fly traps in their mouths, noses, and eyes, so that the fly traps emerge from their flesh, and as the pods feast on the masses of toxic flies, they grow to such a size that they surmount the owner's original head. For the Living Feast of Our Dreaming Mother, the eelmen unearth the sacrifices and eat their flesh, in which the toxins of the swamp have been deposited, and thereby gain powers over lust, growth, and disease, immunity to poisons and to the toxins, and the secret knowledge of the white lotus. The pods of the venus fly traps are dried and the seeds saved, though many break open in the course of their growth, and the seeds travel by air and by water and infect entire villages, so that the venus fly trap men of the Swamp of Monsters are ubiquitous, and widely feared.
As for the white lotus, which grow only in pure, slowly flowing, shallow water. The heavenly blossom of the white lotus is regarded as the radial eye of Her Putridity. The eelmen steal virgin maidens and youths of other gods - Lazareth the Unattainable, Stone Belm, Izorides the First Witch - and teach them the ways of Zuggtmoy, and cultivate the white lotus in their pure flesh. The mark of the white lotus growing from the eyes of these children are the sign of Zuggtmoy's blessing, and the sign that the eelmen may use them as indulgent sacrifices in their own place when they would otherwise be required to harm themselves, or each other, in the course of service to the dead Demon Lords.
The white lotus powder, as is commonly known, transports those who inhale it to a mindless stupor, and causes them to become zombie slaves to the first to issue command. Though the secrets of its cultivation are concealed, the white lotus powder is used by necromancers, alchemists, witches, pimps, and thieves, and the common people live in dread of its power.
Saturday, January 11, 2014
overnight spells, part 3 in a series
Here I am again bathing in the fluorescent lights, hours from bedtime. The person who said goodnight to me six hours ago will say good morning six hours from now. Perfect time to think about SPELLS
Targets blasts off upward (the like overall direction of their upward stance) 1d4x10' per caster level. So a person can aim themselves or if you cast it on an unwilling target they get a save.
Target discharges 1d6 random spells they have at their disposal as random monsters with HD equal to the level of the spell times 2. These monsters have their own disposition and may be hostile to the caster or the target or both, depending. They last for 1 round per caster level and cannot stray more than 100 yards from the caster. If slain, the spell is lost.
Caster exhales a poisonous vapor, but it doesn't trail more than a finger's breadth from their lips. If they exhale into a person's mouth for a full round, they must save or die. Spell lasts 1 round per level, ends on discharge.
Caster melds target weapon into target's body. Target becomes proficient with that particular weapon. Spell is permanent. (tigers with axes??)
Touch a pregnant lady with the enchanted rusty, bloody nail (has to be at least like an inch long per month of pregnant she is) and she immediately goes into labor
Cast this spell and as long as you're grabbing a person by the throat, they have to recount every detail of their day from the moment they woke up until the present, and they can't do anything else until they're done. Lasts 1 turn per level or until a person finishes talking
Target becomes unable to dream. A permanent spell.
Prepare a bath of fresh ram's milk, mixed with two pints of toads' blood, barrow dirt, stirred with a board from a gibbet where a king was hung. Drown a cat in the mixture. Bathe in the mixture. Pour the mixture onto the ground and bury the cat in a shallow grave. Within the week the cat will emerge from the ground and speak to you in its own secret language the location of your sworn enemy and the way to travel there. The only sentence it will ever speak. Cat will stay close at hand for the rest of its days (unnumbered), or until it sees that enemy slain.
Caster can transfer STR points from one side of the body to the other, so if a caster has for instance a strength of 11, they can make it so now the left side (arm, leg, face) is 2 and the right side (arm, legs, neck, pecs) is 20. 1 round/level
Caster can take off their own face as a mask. Face underneath is soft and dough-like, takes d4+3 days to solidify into a new, permanent face. Old face sticks around as a mask with toughness like iron.
An evil tree 40 feet high immediately grows from the ground where you throw the dagger. Grows into walls, ceilings. Roots and branches spread out in a 40 foot radius at the crown. Black bark, seeps poison sap (save or hallucinations for d4 hours if touched), if allowed to speak only screams (it does have a face but it's a plant so it can't usually talk), attacks all who come near if any of its limbs arent embedded in stone. Dies in 1 round per three levels. AC 16, hp = caster level x 7, attack = caster level + 6, damage as a giant club, or if it bites then as a greatsword and automatic subsequent damage due to being in an evil tree's chomping mouth.
Targets blasts off upward (the like overall direction of their upward stance) 1d4x10' per caster level. So a person can aim themselves or if you cast it on an unwilling target they get a save.
Target discharges 1d6 random spells they have at their disposal as random monsters with HD equal to the level of the spell times 2. These monsters have their own disposition and may be hostile to the caster or the target or both, depending. They last for 1 round per caster level and cannot stray more than 100 yards from the caster. If slain, the spell is lost.
Caster exhales a poisonous vapor, but it doesn't trail more than a finger's breadth from their lips. If they exhale into a person's mouth for a full round, they must save or die. Spell lasts 1 round per level, ends on discharge.
Caster melds target weapon into target's body. Target becomes proficient with that particular weapon. Spell is permanent. (tigers with axes??)
Touch a pregnant lady with the enchanted rusty, bloody nail (has to be at least like an inch long per month of pregnant she is) and she immediately goes into labor
Cast this spell and as long as you're grabbing a person by the throat, they have to recount every detail of their day from the moment they woke up until the present, and they can't do anything else until they're done. Lasts 1 turn per level or until a person finishes talking
Target becomes unable to dream. A permanent spell.
Prepare a bath of fresh ram's milk, mixed with two pints of toads' blood, barrow dirt, stirred with a board from a gibbet where a king was hung. Drown a cat in the mixture. Bathe in the mixture. Pour the mixture onto the ground and bury the cat in a shallow grave. Within the week the cat will emerge from the ground and speak to you in its own secret language the location of your sworn enemy and the way to travel there. The only sentence it will ever speak. Cat will stay close at hand for the rest of its days (unnumbered), or until it sees that enemy slain.
Caster can transfer STR points from one side of the body to the other, so if a caster has for instance a strength of 11, they can make it so now the left side (arm, leg, face) is 2 and the right side (arm, legs, neck, pecs) is 20. 1 round/level
Caster can take off their own face as a mask. Face underneath is soft and dough-like, takes d4+3 days to solidify into a new, permanent face. Old face sticks around as a mask with toughness like iron.
An evil tree 40 feet high immediately grows from the ground where you throw the dagger. Grows into walls, ceilings. Roots and branches spread out in a 40 foot radius at the crown. Black bark, seeps poison sap (save or hallucinations for d4 hours if touched), if allowed to speak only screams (it does have a face but it's a plant so it can't usually talk), attacks all who come near if any of its limbs arent embedded in stone. Dies in 1 round per three levels. AC 16, hp = caster level x 7, attack = caster level + 6, damage as a giant club, or if it bites then as a greatsword and automatic subsequent damage due to being in an evil tree's chomping mouth.
Friday, January 3, 2014
SOME MORE OVERNIGHT SPELLS
I'm not sleeping tonight so let's have at it
Target legs and feet turn into arms and hands respectively, touch only, save to resist if unwilling
Causes 1d4 targets per 3 levels to treat the surface of liquids as an impermeable border, 10' per level range, save to resist if unwilling
Shoot lasers from your eyes. Touch attack 1d8 damage per level, 100' + 25/level range, melts metals, catches flammable objects, save to resist or you're on fire. HIGHER LEVEL OPTION: Lasts for a full round, you get to strafe everything you can direct your eyes at
Take a seventy-seven year-old fish skeleton, coat it in pine tar, gold nugget teeth of the drowned, let it harden and then rot upon the greenwood plate of a malicious tree for eight days at the edge of a swiftly flowing and deep river. At the end of the eight days the fish will leap into the river and Asmar the Bone Eel will chase it, eat it, and return to perform a single task that can take up to a week and a day to accomplish. For Asmar, unbound by the laws of the living, unbreathing, seeker of the hidden canals, may pass through waterways unknown and come into aqueducts, bounded and stagnant lakes, pipes and sewer systems, or wheresoever he desires.
Your fingers turn into needles which can claw for 1d6 damage, but there are also now bulbous blisters at the end of your fingers which accept liquids and store them and can inject them on a successful attack. Lasts 1/turn per three levels, each hand only gets one liquid, don't let some jackanape break your needle-fingers
Pull out your beard hairs and throw them to the ground and each hair turns into an unnaturally elongated and incredibly tough strand that seeks out and bores into the flesh of nearby creatures (attack = caster level+Int) and connects them together. Causes 1d6 damage to each creature in a 10 foot diameter and they can't move more than 10 feet from each other but they can shuffle together at half speed or rip out the strands for another 1d6 damage
Target's arm falls onto the ground, it's a clean bloodless cut. Save to resist
Target's arm tries to attack the target! Strangle, stab, let go of ladder, whatever. Save each round to resist
Your arms turn into long poisonous suckered tentacles. Range 10', Strength = Int+4, 2 attacks per round at 1d8 + Str and save to resist paralyzation for 1d3 rounds (doesn't stack). They're kind of clumsy, you can't wield weapons or manipulate delicate tools. 1 round per level
3 crystal versions of yourself step out of your body, so you're all split up. Your armor is increased by 4, and your HP is split between each version. If a copy dies, you lose all that HP when they recombine. If a copy is afflicted with an effect, that effect afflicts you when you recombine. The emerald copy may cast spells, is immune to poison, blindness, and mind-affecting abilities, gains +4 to Wisdom, and moves at half speed. The ruby copy deals 2d6 fire damage with a touch attack, causes water to boil and steam away, is immune to disease and fear, may see in the dark, gains +4 to Intelligence, and moves at normal speed. The diamond copy gains damage reduction 10, 50% resistance to divine magic, always knows its next attack roll, +4 to Strength, may shine a brilliant light (like a flood-light in every direction), and moves at one and half times normal speed. The copies must meet and recombine after 1d4 rounds per level, else the copy left behind turns to permanent stone, thus depriving the caster of one-third of their levels per statue left behind.
Target legs and feet turn into arms and hands respectively, touch only, save to resist if unwilling
Causes 1d4 targets per 3 levels to treat the surface of liquids as an impermeable border, 10' per level range, save to resist if unwilling
Shoot lasers from your eyes. Touch attack 1d8 damage per level, 100' + 25/level range, melts metals, catches flammable objects, save to resist or you're on fire. HIGHER LEVEL OPTION: Lasts for a full round, you get to strafe everything you can direct your eyes at
Take a seventy-seven year-old fish skeleton, coat it in pine tar, gold nugget teeth of the drowned, let it harden and then rot upon the greenwood plate of a malicious tree for eight days at the edge of a swiftly flowing and deep river. At the end of the eight days the fish will leap into the river and Asmar the Bone Eel will chase it, eat it, and return to perform a single task that can take up to a week and a day to accomplish. For Asmar, unbound by the laws of the living, unbreathing, seeker of the hidden canals, may pass through waterways unknown and come into aqueducts, bounded and stagnant lakes, pipes and sewer systems, or wheresoever he desires.
Your fingers turn into needles which can claw for 1d6 damage, but there are also now bulbous blisters at the end of your fingers which accept liquids and store them and can inject them on a successful attack. Lasts 1/turn per three levels, each hand only gets one liquid, don't let some jackanape break your needle-fingers
Pull out your beard hairs and throw them to the ground and each hair turns into an unnaturally elongated and incredibly tough strand that seeks out and bores into the flesh of nearby creatures (attack = caster level+Int) and connects them together. Causes 1d6 damage to each creature in a 10 foot diameter and they can't move more than 10 feet from each other but they can shuffle together at half speed or rip out the strands for another 1d6 damage
Target's arm falls onto the ground, it's a clean bloodless cut. Save to resist
Target's arm tries to attack the target! Strangle, stab, let go of ladder, whatever. Save each round to resist
Your arms turn into long poisonous suckered tentacles. Range 10', Strength = Int+4, 2 attacks per round at 1d8 + Str and save to resist paralyzation for 1d3 rounds (doesn't stack). They're kind of clumsy, you can't wield weapons or manipulate delicate tools. 1 round per level
3 crystal versions of yourself step out of your body, so you're all split up. Your armor is increased by 4, and your HP is split between each version. If a copy dies, you lose all that HP when they recombine. If a copy is afflicted with an effect, that effect afflicts you when you recombine. The emerald copy may cast spells, is immune to poison, blindness, and mind-affecting abilities, gains +4 to Wisdom, and moves at half speed. The ruby copy deals 2d6 fire damage with a touch attack, causes water to boil and steam away, is immune to disease and fear, may see in the dark, gains +4 to Intelligence, and moves at normal speed. The diamond copy gains damage reduction 10, 50% resistance to divine magic, always knows its next attack roll, +4 to Strength, may shine a brilliant light (like a flood-light in every direction), and moves at one and half times normal speed. The copies must meet and recombine after 1d4 rounds per level, else the copy left behind turns to permanent stone, thus depriving the caster of one-third of their levels per statue left behind.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Overnight Spells
My new job involves staying up all night. I wrote these on the BART back to Oakland after 13 hours of sleeplessness. Not sure what level to make these so suggestions are appreciated.
A random d20 number, which the target rolls, is infected with the next spell cast on them. The first casting does not take effect, but will repeat every time they roll that number a number of times equal to the caster's level divided by three.
Turns one of caster's arms into a crocodile head that bites for d8+Str and allows for automatic grab, with a grapple check equal to caster level, dealing automatic bite damage on subsequent rounds.
Turns target's hair into a mass of angry and venomous snakes. They attack the target and all adjacent for level/3 rounds. v target : attack +caster level d8 damage and 1d8 STR and CON damage for two rounds; v. adjacent targets: +caster level d3 damage and 1d3 STR and CON. Short range.
Transforms a chosen word into a random animal that lasts for 1/turn per level. (you have a random animal table right?) Character may no longer speak or hear that word as long as the spell lasts. If the animal is slain, the word is lost forever. Short range.
Causes a touched weapon to instantly shrink and multiply into a swarm of gnat-sized versions of itself, which suspend in the air, attacking all in 5x5x5 area for weapon damage (no STR bonus, magical effects apply), halving movement speed, and providing concealment. Lasts 1 round/level, after which the weapons drop harmlessly to the ground.
Willing target vomits a complicit grey ooze. Target must succeed on a saving throw to quickly vomit or takes damage as it comes up. Lasts 1 round/level after which the ooze becomes free willed.
Causes 1' squared per level of thin glass (windows, panes, potion bottles) to silently disappear. If cast upon a glass creature, deals 1d8 damage/level and suffer normal consequences of having a section of your body vanish.
Causes a lightsource to stop producing light, and instead produce invisibility in its normal radius. Blocking the 'light' causes the invisibility to be blocked, can be refracted, reflected, etc. 1 round/level
Causes a reflective surface to allow objects, creatures, and magical effects to pass back through it into the same world. Entities thus passed maintain the same velocity, angle, and effect after passage, but are physically reversed. Level/3 rounds.
A random d20 number, which the target rolls, is infected with the next spell cast on them. The first casting does not take effect, but will repeat every time they roll that number a number of times equal to the caster's level divided by three.
Turns one of caster's arms into a crocodile head that bites for d8+Str and allows for automatic grab, with a grapple check equal to caster level, dealing automatic bite damage on subsequent rounds.
Turns target's hair into a mass of angry and venomous snakes. They attack the target and all adjacent for level/3 rounds. v target : attack +caster level d8 damage and 1d8 STR and CON damage for two rounds; v. adjacent targets: +caster level d3 damage and 1d3 STR and CON. Short range.
Transforms a chosen word into a random animal that lasts for 1/turn per level. (you have a random animal table right?) Character may no longer speak or hear that word as long as the spell lasts. If the animal is slain, the word is lost forever. Short range.
Causes a touched weapon to instantly shrink and multiply into a swarm of gnat-sized versions of itself, which suspend in the air, attacking all in 5x5x5 area for weapon damage (no STR bonus, magical effects apply), halving movement speed, and providing concealment. Lasts 1 round/level, after which the weapons drop harmlessly to the ground.
Willing target vomits a complicit grey ooze. Target must succeed on a saving throw to quickly vomit or takes damage as it comes up. Lasts 1 round/level after which the ooze becomes free willed.
Causes 1' squared per level of thin glass (windows, panes, potion bottles) to silently disappear. If cast upon a glass creature, deals 1d8 damage/level and suffer normal consequences of having a section of your body vanish.
Causes a lightsource to stop producing light, and instead produce invisibility in its normal radius. Blocking the 'light' causes the invisibility to be blocked, can be refracted, reflected, etc. 1 round/level
Causes a reflective surface to allow objects, creatures, and magical effects to pass back through it into the same world. Entities thus passed maintain the same velocity, angle, and effect after passage, but are physically reversed. Level/3 rounds.
The Swamp of Monsters
A great swamp filled with ruined cities, mutant monsters, the mindflayer empire Zin, the Temple of Elemental Evil (where is entombed Zuggtmoy, Queen of Putrescence), Quallmar the Sunken City, and the Gorge, the great seeping crater at the border of Black Abazidun where resides the red dragon Xal-zax Thruul, the Blighted Malice.
Think Fritz Lieber, crossed by canals of toxic mud, interspersed with Labyrinth type environments, Cthulhu star creatures, The Village of Hommlet and other Greyhawk places, and Demon Souls' Valley of Defilement swamp / Tower of Latria.
Monsters
Eelmen
Venus fly trap men
Swamp witches
Hyenamen
Red elves
Mutant dwarves
Toxic people
Traveling merchants
Fungal druids
Panthermen
Frog abominations
Slaad
Mindflayers
Goblins
Shriekers
Shriekers that cast spells
Flying manta rays
T-rex
Yeth hounds (and pits thereof)
Naga
Unicorn head demon
Harpies
Demon with alligators for hands
Black panthers
Crocodiles
Three-headed wolves
Giant frogs
Giant crayfish
Two-headed crows
Cat lizards
Giant snapping turtles
Basilisk lizards
Canal squid
Snakes snakes snakes snakes snakes
Panthersnakes
Giant leeches
Singing swamp slugs
Mud skeletons
Soul vendors on rafts
Tree wights
Rune-mapped royal mummies
Sheliches
Swamp ooze
Black ooze
Red ooze
Green ooze
The amniotic sacs which the abominable children of Xal-zax Thruul birth into the swamp, which in turn incubate a random monster, or suck you up, or both
The Thing-type doppelgangers
Pillars of emerald slime
Trees of ruby slime
Places
Quallmar
Zin
The Vaults of Zin
The Thieves Guild
The Party Barge of Archduke Labriselsis
The Stronghold of Ningauble of the Eyeless Face
The Sin Vats
Swan farms
Hydra factories
Halfling villages build of woodplaster, like wasp hives atop trees
The Palace of Stars, whose powers and disposition shift according to the malicious star in rule
The Fissured Palace of Xal-zax Thruul, The Blighted Malice
Beldr Yeth, the Inverted City of Goblins, and the Labyrinth around it
Hazards
Geneseeking viral spells
Toxic rivers
Cancer sand
The twice-cursed obelisks of Zin
Swamp hexes
Powers in the Swamp of Monsters
Loriana, Vampire Queen of Quallmar
Ningauble of the Eyeless Face
Sheelba of the Seven Eyes
Zuggtmoy, Demon Queen of Putrescence
Pope Verelith IX, Keeper of the Six Elemental Archbishops
The Red Dragon Xal-zax Thruul, the Blighted Malice
Wodney Weck, the Red Star, High Guildmaster of the Thieves' Guild in Quallmar
The Warbands of the Seven Dead Stars
Tujak Z t Od, Mindflayer Priest-King of Zin
Think Fritz Lieber, crossed by canals of toxic mud, interspersed with Labyrinth type environments, Cthulhu star creatures, The Village of Hommlet and other Greyhawk places, and Demon Souls' Valley of Defilement swamp / Tower of Latria.
Monsters
Eelmen
Venus fly trap men
Swamp witches
Hyenamen
Red elves
Mutant dwarves
Toxic people
Traveling merchants
Fungal druids
Panthermen
Frog abominations
Slaad
Mindflayers
Goblins
Shriekers
Shriekers that cast spells
Flying manta rays
T-rex
Yeth hounds (and pits thereof)
Naga
Unicorn head demon
Harpies
Demon with alligators for hands
Black panthers
Crocodiles
Three-headed wolves
Giant frogs
Giant crayfish
Two-headed crows
Cat lizards
Giant snapping turtles
Basilisk lizards
Canal squid
Snakes snakes snakes snakes snakes
Panthersnakes
Giant leeches
Singing swamp slugs
Mud skeletons
Soul vendors on rafts
Tree wights
Rune-mapped royal mummies
Sheliches
Swamp ooze
Black ooze
Red ooze
Green ooze
The amniotic sacs which the abominable children of Xal-zax Thruul birth into the swamp, which in turn incubate a random monster, or suck you up, or both
The Thing-type doppelgangers
Pillars of emerald slime
Trees of ruby slime
Places
Quallmar
Zin
The Vaults of Zin
The Thieves Guild
The Party Barge of Archduke Labriselsis
The Stronghold of Ningauble of the Eyeless Face
The Sin Vats
Swan farms
Hydra factories
Halfling villages build of woodplaster, like wasp hives atop trees
The Palace of Stars, whose powers and disposition shift according to the malicious star in rule
The Fissured Palace of Xal-zax Thruul, The Blighted Malice
Beldr Yeth, the Inverted City of Goblins, and the Labyrinth around it
Hazards
Geneseeking viral spells
Toxic rivers
Cancer sand
The twice-cursed obelisks of Zin
Swamp hexes
Powers in the Swamp of Monsters
Loriana, Vampire Queen of Quallmar
Ningauble of the Eyeless Face
Sheelba of the Seven Eyes
Zuggtmoy, Demon Queen of Putrescence
Pope Verelith IX, Keeper of the Six Elemental Archbishops
The Red Dragon Xal-zax Thruul, the Blighted Malice
Wodney Weck, the Red Star, High Guildmaster of the Thieves' Guild in Quallmar
The Warbands of the Seven Dead Stars
Tujak Z t Od, Mindflayer Priest-King of Zin
Sunday, October 20, 2013
A Battle Rages!
An army of white elves from Velenheim have descended upon the castle! Their mages prepare great spells to bring the skeleton army besieging the castle under their thrall! But the skeleton army has completed their terrible Spider Skull Walker Golems and have fought their way into the castle! The courtyard is a battlefield! Enter and face:
d50, roll two or three times depending on how far away from you your goal is
1. d4+3 white elf soldiers
2. d4+4 castle soldiers
3. d8+2 skeleton spikers and d4+1 skeleton archers
4. d4+3 white elf soldiers and 1 wizard
5. 1 white elf wizard and d6+6 zombies
6. d8+2 skeleton spikers and d4+1 death knights
7. d4+1 death knights
8. d4+1 death knights and d8+2 skeleton spikers and d4 blood hogs
9. a giant skeleton
10. a giant skeleton with d6+1 archers riding in its chest
11. an eye of fear and flame casts fireball
12. Belaeg the Destroyer, a white elf sorcerer, casts Nassim's Skull Ocean
13. a white elf wizard casts summon monster
14. d6+6 white elf zombies and a giant zombie
15. d4+2 white elf knights riding on white raptors
16. d4+2 raptor knights and 2d6 white elf polar she-barbarians
17. 2d20 lunatic party guests
18. 2d20 lunatic party guests and 1 centipede demon
19. d3+1 centipede demons
20. d4+1 white elf wizards borne on a palanquin by 12 ghouls
21. a giant dinosaur bearing a Priest of Lazareth the Unattainable and 2d4+4 archers
22. an archbishop of Belm protected by three assassin nuns
23. the captain of the guard and 2d6+4 soldiers
24. a white elf wizard casts ice storm
25. a frost giant
26. d4+1 white elf priests of Lazareth the Unattainable, d4+1 white elf paladins, and 2d12 skeletons under their thrall
27. Belaeg the Destroyer casts earthquake
28. Yavandir the Moon Prince and his retinue
29. a flailceratops
30. d4+1 skeleton pipers and d4+1 spelletons and d4+4 regenerating skeletons
31. 2d12 regenerating skeletons
32. d4+3 death knights and 1 eye of fear and flame
33. Belaeg the Destroyer and his retinue
34. Ionor and Valkanen, Heralds of Lazareth, and their retinue
35. 2d12 regenerating skeletons and 1 eye of fear and flame
36. a Skull Spider Walker Golem
37. a Skull Spider Walker Golem and d4+1 death knights
38. a giant dinosaur bearing d4+1 white elf wizards, accompanied by d4+2 raptor knights
39. a white elf necromancer and d6+2 ghouls and d4+2 giant ghouls
40. a frost giant accompanied by d8+4 raptor knights
41. 2d6+2 skeleton spikers and d4+1 skeleton pipers
42. a skeleton plague caller
43. a disintegrate ray strafes d6+1 targets
44. d4+3 white elf soldiers and 1 priest of Lazareth the Unattainable
45. d6+7 ghouls
46. 1 white elf wizard and 2d12 skeletons in his thrall
47. 2d6 bone brides
48. The Maneaters
49. a white elf wizard casts acid fog
50. a vampire and 6 vampire monkeys
-----------------------
There is a complicated set-up.
So Nick as Dirtface the Barbarian, Shayne as Ignacio the Druid, Thomson as Sad Ed the Bard in the body of the Damnation Prophet, and Henry as Johann the Jotund the Paladin of Belm leave the dungeon to get some magic items identified without realizing that their time is up, and battle is upon them. They look down on the field of battle from the windows of the tower they've been exploring.
"This is fucked up," says Thomson, as Sad Ed. They page Ningauble of the Eyeless Face on their holographic projector ring and his flickering torso impatiently tells them that he's in the royal palace, barricaded in a room. He's like, "Dudes, we have got to get out of here. I will teleport you away to my stronghold in Quallmar at the center of the Swamp of Monsters if you swear to serve me for a year and a day. But I still want the Impenetrable Emerald, which the King in Green wears upon his chest."
They are like, "Don't worry Ningauble, we've got this."
They wade into battle, heading toward the royal palace where the lord of the castle is chained up by their nemesis, the witch Dread. She wants to summon Namtar the Incomprehensible, Demon of Centipedes, into his body. They want to kill her. They want to kill the lord of the castle, who killed Shayne's parents. They want to kill the King in Green, who gains his power by communing with the slab where Namtar is imprisoned. They want to kill the skeleton army.
And they are wily and powerful. They rescue the archbishop of Belm from being run down by ten raptor knights. They cleave their way through white elves and skeletons. They fight the Maneaters, two grotesque scorpion tailed gargoyles which serve the resident archlich, and defeat one by feeding it a potion of shrink and then a potion of opposition which causes it to vomit a friendly, female maneater with pendulous tits. They save the cathedral of Belm from a Spider Skull Walker Golem. They say, "We have to kill that damn witch," and begin to fight their way to the royal palace.
We have been playing for eight hours. I am leaving in two days. Everything feels very surreal and we are all giddy. All the monsters are making bad jokes and talking in stoner voices.
Then Belaeg the Destroyer casts Nassim's skull ocean, causing an ocean of skulls to pour through the courtyard. Skulls swallow everyone. All sounds are overwhelmed by the clattering of skulls. White elves and skeletons alike are crushed. Silence.
They start to run across the ocean to the palace. And through the skulls come bursting the flailceratops.
I say, 'Damn, where are the stats for that thing?' Oh yeah, Vornheim. Flip flip. 16 HD, 3d12 damage to everyone in front of it, holy shit. Roll, roll. "Okay, the flailceratops charges and swings its flail head, you all take 26 damage."
Thomson: "I have 6 hitpoints." Henry: "I have 12."
So Shayne casts a spell which makes the flailceratops move through air as if its in water. It's doggy-paddling in the air. Nick and Thomson drink a potion which allows them to eat metal. They bite the chain off. The flail head goes floating slowly toward the battlements. The flailceratops rolls 1s. It begins to float away, helplessly. They gut it and it thuds onto the skull ocean and its blood goes seeping down into the skulls.
Okay. So they make it into the palace. Everyone is feeling very desperate. It's almost 2 am.
They get to Ningauble and finally their items are identified. They have:
a scroll of 1000 hogs, which is beyond their level to cast
a magic ring containing an imprisoned demon, which will perform one task and then disappear; it's a random demon - when it's summoned you roll on this table
a smoking, twisted, and blackened magic dagger, which can be used to incarnate Namtar into the lord's body
an assortment of magic weapons - a mallet, a sword, something else
a handful of hps between them
I roll to see how the battle is going. "Looks like the skeleton army is fighting off the white elves, you guys."
"We got this," they say.
So holy shit. Get this. This is what happened:
They go to the Chapel of Scorn where the witch Dread has Lord Unwerth chained up, naked, covered in magic sigils, ready to receive the spirit of Namtar. They say, "Hey, we got you this dagger, just like we said we would."
Dread: "Indeed you are mighty warriors. Thank you for your service."
So she plunges the dagger into Unwerth's chest. He swells to eight times his normal size and his flesh splits apart and out comes pouring the centipede demon, which has five featureless human heads which begin to speak the sins of everyone present. Dread crows in triumph, and Nick twists his ring and says the magic word.
So we roll on the Demon Attribute Table. Hmmmmmmmm, okay, so, it has, uh . . . it's in the shape of a head, and it has, uhhhh . . . roll, roll . . . eight extra eyes, and its body is composed of, hmm, moths, and its job is to spread disease . . .
Shayne: "How is it supposed to do that?"
It has one power . . .
Nick: "Shit."
Which is that if anyone inflicts damage on an innocent within 30', the demon is healed and must serve the inflicter of that damage . . .
"This is the worst demon. Hey demon, kill that guy."
So this giant blue head with ten eyes composed of moths goes flapping at Namtar's body, harmlessly. And then Ningauble of the Eyeless Face steps out from behind the door and casts 1000 hogs. A distant rumbling. Cracks form. A hog bursts through the flagstones. Dread goes, "What?" And so then the thousand hogs come pouring through the floor. Dread goes down. More hogs come. They try to trample Namtar but he is immune to normal attacks. He is surrounded by blue demon moths. He screams, and a wave of bloodied, shrieking hogs goes flying at the wall. Hogs are impaled on the swords which hang from the ceiling by chains. I remember that both these demons cause insanity and fear on sight. The hogs go insane. Nick and Thomson go insane. Namtar bursts through the wall, surrounded by wave upon wave of lunatic hogs moving in inscrutable patterns containing unknown meaning, and the entire battle looks upon him. Roll, roll. The white elves go insane. The skeletons begin to slaughter the now shrieking, cowering white elves.
Collectively: "What have we done we have to get out of here."
So Shayne turns into a giant bat and flies them all to safety. They camp in a sewage pipe that protrudes from the cliff beneath the castle, and in the morning find that (roll, roll) the white elves lost the battle. All the white elves have been slain. Everyone in the castle has been slain. No one has a spell to cure Nick and Thomson of their insanity. The King in Green has been divested of his power. The skeleton army, victorious, has moved on. And Belm, God of Snow and Stone, has forsaken Johann the Jotund, who helped to summon not one but two demons.
"Belm sucks anyway," says Henry.
Two days later I hop on the plane. I don't live in Philadelphia anymore. As a parting gift, Nick gives me a laptop he had lying around. "I'll mail you a webcam when you get to California," he says. My players are the best players.
-------------
Here are the stats for the skeletons.
The Spider Skull Walker Golems
HP 100
AC 14
Move 25', Climb 25'
2 claws +10 1d10+2 and grab
Mounted in its forehead are the skulls of four powerful sorcerers, which power the golem and shoot 4 lasers per round from their mouths as a free action
1. Fire Laser, 2d6 damage
2. Telekinesis Laser, as grapple Strength 22
3. Repulsion Laser, knocks back opponent 2d10x5 feet
4. Disintegrate Laser, 3d8 damage
The spider skull walker golems always contain d4+1 spelletons and 2d4 archers.
Spelletons: HD 4, ac 12 or 8. Has 1d4 random spells: 1. Soul Arrow 2d4+3 damage to 1d6 targets; 2. Dance! 1d6 targets for d4 rounds; 3. Shriek Uncontrollably, causing d10 damage to all within 20 feet and pushing them back d4x5 feet; 4. Set Aflame - 2d6 damage and you're on fire
Frost giants are sixty feet tall, 15 HD, and wield giant 3-headed flails spouting poisoned incense which leave a stinking cloud.
White elf wizards wear white robes, their hair is elaborately coiffed and piled, their lips and fingers are dyed blue. White elf priests wield singing longswords, wear their filthy hair in braids, their teeth are cracked, and their hands must be bloodied.
Belaeg the Destroyer is a ninth level wizard atop a dead triceratops accompanied by 6 archers and 2d6+6 zombies.
Ionor and Valkonen, The Heralds of Lazareth, are a ninth level cleric and paladin, mounted on white horses, protected by 6 knights.
Yavandir the Moon Prince is a twelfth level fighter atop a white horse, protected by 4 paladins, a fifth level wizard, and two giant undead trolls.
d50, roll two or three times depending on how far away from you your goal is
1. d4+3 white elf soldiers
2. d4+4 castle soldiers
3. d8+2 skeleton spikers and d4+1 skeleton archers
4. d4+3 white elf soldiers and 1 wizard
5. 1 white elf wizard and d6+6 zombies
6. d8+2 skeleton spikers and d4+1 death knights
7. d4+1 death knights
8. d4+1 death knights and d8+2 skeleton spikers and d4 blood hogs
9. a giant skeleton
10. a giant skeleton with d6+1 archers riding in its chest
11. an eye of fear and flame casts fireball
12. Belaeg the Destroyer, a white elf sorcerer, casts Nassim's Skull Ocean
13. a white elf wizard casts summon monster
14. d6+6 white elf zombies and a giant zombie
15. d4+2 white elf knights riding on white raptors
16. d4+2 raptor knights and 2d6 white elf polar she-barbarians
17. 2d20 lunatic party guests
18. 2d20 lunatic party guests and 1 centipede demon
19. d3+1 centipede demons
20. d4+1 white elf wizards borne on a palanquin by 12 ghouls
21. a giant dinosaur bearing a Priest of Lazareth the Unattainable and 2d4+4 archers
22. an archbishop of Belm protected by three assassin nuns
23. the captain of the guard and 2d6+4 soldiers
24. a white elf wizard casts ice storm
25. a frost giant
26. d4+1 white elf priests of Lazareth the Unattainable, d4+1 white elf paladins, and 2d12 skeletons under their thrall
27. Belaeg the Destroyer casts earthquake
28. Yavandir the Moon Prince and his retinue
29. a flailceratops
30. d4+1 skeleton pipers and d4+1 spelletons and d4+4 regenerating skeletons
31. 2d12 regenerating skeletons
32. d4+3 death knights and 1 eye of fear and flame
33. Belaeg the Destroyer and his retinue
34. Ionor and Valkanen, Heralds of Lazareth, and their retinue
35. 2d12 regenerating skeletons and 1 eye of fear and flame
36. a Skull Spider Walker Golem
37. a Skull Spider Walker Golem and d4+1 death knights
38. a giant dinosaur bearing d4+1 white elf wizards, accompanied by d4+2 raptor knights
39. a white elf necromancer and d6+2 ghouls and d4+2 giant ghouls
40. a frost giant accompanied by d8+4 raptor knights
41. 2d6+2 skeleton spikers and d4+1 skeleton pipers
42. a skeleton plague caller
43. a disintegrate ray strafes d6+1 targets
44. d4+3 white elf soldiers and 1 priest of Lazareth the Unattainable
45. d6+7 ghouls
46. 1 white elf wizard and 2d12 skeletons in his thrall
47. 2d6 bone brides
48. The Maneaters
49. a white elf wizard casts acid fog
50. a vampire and 6 vampire monkeys
-----------------------
There is a complicated set-up.
So Nick as Dirtface the Barbarian, Shayne as Ignacio the Druid, Thomson as Sad Ed the Bard in the body of the Damnation Prophet, and Henry as Johann the Jotund the Paladin of Belm leave the dungeon to get some magic items identified without realizing that their time is up, and battle is upon them. They look down on the field of battle from the windows of the tower they've been exploring.
"This is fucked up," says Thomson, as Sad Ed. They page Ningauble of the Eyeless Face on their holographic projector ring and his flickering torso impatiently tells them that he's in the royal palace, barricaded in a room. He's like, "Dudes, we have got to get out of here. I will teleport you away to my stronghold in Quallmar at the center of the Swamp of Monsters if you swear to serve me for a year and a day. But I still want the Impenetrable Emerald, which the King in Green wears upon his chest."
They are like, "Don't worry Ningauble, we've got this."
They wade into battle, heading toward the royal palace where the lord of the castle is chained up by their nemesis, the witch Dread. She wants to summon Namtar the Incomprehensible, Demon of Centipedes, into his body. They want to kill her. They want to kill the lord of the castle, who killed Shayne's parents. They want to kill the King in Green, who gains his power by communing with the slab where Namtar is imprisoned. They want to kill the skeleton army.
And they are wily and powerful. They rescue the archbishop of Belm from being run down by ten raptor knights. They cleave their way through white elves and skeletons. They fight the Maneaters, two grotesque scorpion tailed gargoyles which serve the resident archlich, and defeat one by feeding it a potion of shrink and then a potion of opposition which causes it to vomit a friendly, female maneater with pendulous tits. They save the cathedral of Belm from a Spider Skull Walker Golem. They say, "We have to kill that damn witch," and begin to fight their way to the royal palace.
We have been playing for eight hours. I am leaving in two days. Everything feels very surreal and we are all giddy. All the monsters are making bad jokes and talking in stoner voices.
Then Belaeg the Destroyer casts Nassim's skull ocean, causing an ocean of skulls to pour through the courtyard. Skulls swallow everyone. All sounds are overwhelmed by the clattering of skulls. White elves and skeletons alike are crushed. Silence.
They start to run across the ocean to the palace. And through the skulls come bursting the flailceratops.
I say, 'Damn, where are the stats for that thing?' Oh yeah, Vornheim. Flip flip. 16 HD, 3d12 damage to everyone in front of it, holy shit. Roll, roll. "Okay, the flailceratops charges and swings its flail head, you all take 26 damage."
Thomson: "I have 6 hitpoints." Henry: "I have 12."
So Shayne casts a spell which makes the flailceratops move through air as if its in water. It's doggy-paddling in the air. Nick and Thomson drink a potion which allows them to eat metal. They bite the chain off. The flail head goes floating slowly toward the battlements. The flailceratops rolls 1s. It begins to float away, helplessly. They gut it and it thuds onto the skull ocean and its blood goes seeping down into the skulls.
Okay. So they make it into the palace. Everyone is feeling very desperate. It's almost 2 am.
They get to Ningauble and finally their items are identified. They have:
a scroll of 1000 hogs, which is beyond their level to cast
a magic ring containing an imprisoned demon, which will perform one task and then disappear; it's a random demon - when it's summoned you roll on this table
a smoking, twisted, and blackened magic dagger, which can be used to incarnate Namtar into the lord's body
an assortment of magic weapons - a mallet, a sword, something else
a handful of hps between them
I roll to see how the battle is going. "Looks like the skeleton army is fighting off the white elves, you guys."
"We got this," they say.
So holy shit. Get this. This is what happened:
They go to the Chapel of Scorn where the witch Dread has Lord Unwerth chained up, naked, covered in magic sigils, ready to receive the spirit of Namtar. They say, "Hey, we got you this dagger, just like we said we would."
Dread: "Indeed you are mighty warriors. Thank you for your service."
So she plunges the dagger into Unwerth's chest. He swells to eight times his normal size and his flesh splits apart and out comes pouring the centipede demon, which has five featureless human heads which begin to speak the sins of everyone present. Dread crows in triumph, and Nick twists his ring and says the magic word.
So we roll on the Demon Attribute Table. Hmmmmmmmm, okay, so, it has, uh . . . it's in the shape of a head, and it has, uhhhh . . . roll, roll . . . eight extra eyes, and its body is composed of, hmm, moths, and its job is to spread disease . . .
Shayne: "How is it supposed to do that?"
It has one power . . .
Nick: "Shit."
Which is that if anyone inflicts damage on an innocent within 30', the demon is healed and must serve the inflicter of that damage . . .
"This is the worst demon. Hey demon, kill that guy."
So this giant blue head with ten eyes composed of moths goes flapping at Namtar's body, harmlessly. And then Ningauble of the Eyeless Face steps out from behind the door and casts 1000 hogs. A distant rumbling. Cracks form. A hog bursts through the flagstones. Dread goes, "What?" And so then the thousand hogs come pouring through the floor. Dread goes down. More hogs come. They try to trample Namtar but he is immune to normal attacks. He is surrounded by blue demon moths. He screams, and a wave of bloodied, shrieking hogs goes flying at the wall. Hogs are impaled on the swords which hang from the ceiling by chains. I remember that both these demons cause insanity and fear on sight. The hogs go insane. Nick and Thomson go insane. Namtar bursts through the wall, surrounded by wave upon wave of lunatic hogs moving in inscrutable patterns containing unknown meaning, and the entire battle looks upon him. Roll, roll. The white elves go insane. The skeletons begin to slaughter the now shrieking, cowering white elves.
Collectively: "What have we done we have to get out of here."
So Shayne turns into a giant bat and flies them all to safety. They camp in a sewage pipe that protrudes from the cliff beneath the castle, and in the morning find that (roll, roll) the white elves lost the battle. All the white elves have been slain. Everyone in the castle has been slain. No one has a spell to cure Nick and Thomson of their insanity. The King in Green has been divested of his power. The skeleton army, victorious, has moved on. And Belm, God of Snow and Stone, has forsaken Johann the Jotund, who helped to summon not one but two demons.
"Belm sucks anyway," says Henry.
Two days later I hop on the plane. I don't live in Philadelphia anymore. As a parting gift, Nick gives me a laptop he had lying around. "I'll mail you a webcam when you get to California," he says. My players are the best players.
-------------
Here are the stats for the skeletons.
The Spider Skull Walker Golems
HP 100
AC 14
Move 25', Climb 25'
2 claws +10 1d10+2 and grab
Mounted in its forehead are the skulls of four powerful sorcerers, which power the golem and shoot 4 lasers per round from their mouths as a free action
1. Fire Laser, 2d6 damage
2. Telekinesis Laser, as grapple Strength 22
3. Repulsion Laser, knocks back opponent 2d10x5 feet
4. Disintegrate Laser, 3d8 damage
The spider skull walker golems always contain d4+1 spelletons and 2d4 archers.
Spelletons: HD 4, ac 12 or 8. Has 1d4 random spells: 1. Soul Arrow 2d4+3 damage to 1d6 targets; 2. Dance! 1d6 targets for d4 rounds; 3. Shriek Uncontrollably, causing d10 damage to all within 20 feet and pushing them back d4x5 feet; 4. Set Aflame - 2d6 damage and you're on fire
Frost giants are sixty feet tall, 15 HD, and wield giant 3-headed flails spouting poisoned incense which leave a stinking cloud.
White elf wizards wear white robes, their hair is elaborately coiffed and piled, their lips and fingers are dyed blue. White elf priests wield singing longswords, wear their filthy hair in braids, their teeth are cracked, and their hands must be bloodied.
Belaeg the Destroyer is a ninth level wizard atop a dead triceratops accompanied by 6 archers and 2d6+6 zombies.
Ionor and Valkonen, The Heralds of Lazareth, are a ninth level cleric and paladin, mounted on white horses, protected by 6 knights.
Yavandir the Moon Prince is a twelfth level fighter atop a white horse, protected by 4 paladins, a fifth level wizard, and two giant undead trolls.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
The Galleries of the Nyctites - played, reviewed, and expanded
I was writing the contents of the secret underground chapel of Izorides the Goddess of Witchess and statting up Velrathi the 8735 God of Wind when Michael Tom popped up on gchat. 'I heard an internet rumor that you were in New York last night.' 'Yeah, I was at the Westgay until 4 a.m., we spent seventy-six bucks on Stella Artois," and then I reached for my coffee and knocked water onto my laptop, which froze and died.
I went to South Philly to hang with my pals, despondent, exhausted, and without any notes to play from. We moped together, drank Budweiser Lime-a-Ritas (gross, don't do it), talked about the merits of gay bars over straight ones, and finally I said, 'Fuck it, let's play a one shot. Here's a dungeon a bunch of guys on the internet wrote. There was an earthquake and the lizardmen are paying you to map the new rooms which have just opened up beneath their camp.'
Nick: 'Oh yeah? What can they give us to sweeten the deal?'
'Fuck off, this is what we're playing tonight.'
So we scratched the surface of the Galleries of the Nyctites, a crowdsourced dungeon that can be found here.
Some thoughts:
There is an impressive organization of theme: otherworldly painters compelled to create their own existence through strange art-works, which seem to act as portals to another dimension. There's a lot of dimension hopping and unexplained creatures. However, because the dungeon WAS crowdsourced, there is a lack of over-arching direction. The dungeon /feels/ like it was created piece-meal, even though the different rooms and characters reference each other in multiple places. The Nyctites are meant to be a group that work together, but because of the nature of crowdsourcing, there was no way to describe how they do that.
These days when I write a dungeon for myself, I usually include a heading that describes the complete forces available in a given wing, their leader, their powers, and how they react to intruders of friendly and unfriendly varieties. In the Galleries of the Nyctites, there was no reference point to give me that information at a glance, which I needed when running it at a moment's notice off my iPhone. I ended up sort of floundering.
The other thing that made this dungeon difficult to run was the lack of essential information on creature abilities, powers, and character. What is the name of the Nyctite master? How long have they been down here? What exactly is an arachnorooster? What are the capabilities of a shoggoth, Catalytic Plasm, psychic Aether Slime, and giant wailing toddler? Do the Nyctites have powers that distinguish them from each other? Basic statistics (hd, ac, hp, damage, etc) are not a problem to make up on the spot, but creating powers and motivations for each monster room by room is difficult, and more importantly makes the game feel less like a GAME and more like a STORY that we're making up as we go along.
These are probably not problems for crowd-sourced hex-crawls, since a degree of preparation is necessarily implied for wilderness exploration games. And this would not be a problem for the gallery if I decided to run this a week in advance, since this is an excellent draft with a lot of atmosphere and great ideas. But since I have a regular game, and would always rather play that, a crowd-sourced dungeon is necessarily a dungeon I would want to pick up and play. With that in mind, I hope that writers of dungeon rooms in the future do their best to provide a greater degree of specificity.
The goods news is that specificity is good advice for any kind of writing at all.
But hey! It was free and I got the describe the way the arachnorooster cried as Nick poked it to death through its food slot with a sharpened stick. It was horrible.
So here are some details:
Nyctites are sallow-skinned five-foot tall cyclops with three arms - their third arm is on the left side and made of ivory, and every round they grab you, you hemorrhage from the eyes and nose for 1d12 damage, plus they can stab with their free hands.
(When I described them Maddy said, 'Okay they're off balance and have bad depth perception. I shoot an arrow in its eye.' Roll roll. Success. 'Great, I loop my rope around its feet to trip it.' Roll roll. Success. 'Nick, kill it please?')
Powerful Nyctites are able to speak words of power. The Nyctites in room 13 can speak each a word of Insanity, Blindness, Paralyzation, and Fear. The Master of the Nyctites, Jareth Orbis (thanks Henry) is able to speak a word of Pain. The Master's Paramour is able to speak a word of Transformation, which turns the target of the word into a hybrid of its previous race and a random animal (you should have a random animal list), either the top half or the bottom half at random. The Nyctite prophetess can speak a word which forces the targets to immediately witness all possible futures of their next ten rounds, overwhelming them with Confusion.
In addition to the powerful Nyctites, there is a rotating guard of 15 nyctites armed with hooked nets, 2 poisoned daggers each (one causes excruciating pain and paralyzation for ten minutes, the other causes hallucinations to emerge from the shadows and hover about all moving forms, granting them +4 to armor for ten minutes), hooked cross-bow bolts attached to strong cords which they use to manipulate attackers from a distance, and a belt of three muted bells which they ring to sound the alarm. The first bell indicates hostile forces, the second bell indicates an overwhelming force, and the third bell indicates an all clear. 5 of the Nyctite guards know a second level spell, and have a 30% chance of knowing a third level spell. They travel in groups of 3-6 (d4+2), sometimes accompanied by d4 ghouls.
If faced by intruders, they go ahead and release the arachno-rooster and aether plasm to roam the complex. They probably also have the ghouls lie in wait, or even better roam the complex as well.
The non-monster painters and artists dwelling in the gallery all have HD equal to the level of the average party member +2.
The arachnooster has six wings and 27 eyes and a poisoned bite that deals d3 damage and 2d6 Con damage as it liquifies your insides. It can fly 50' and make a bite attack.
The catalytic plasm deals 3d8 damage per round that you're immersed in it, or d8 damage if it just splashed you, and if you take 6 7 or 8 damage you have to make a Fort save or gain a random mutation.
The aether plasm has an extraordinarily complex crystalline structure. Gazing into it causes it to take your form, though its features are blurred. Touching it causes 1d6 Cha damage per turn as it devours your features. It can also extend a threadlike tendril to attack. When it absorbs 10 Cha damage, it gives birth to a doppelganger, which attempts to escape the dungeon complex.
The Corpulence is HD 8 + party level, ac 8 or 12, move 20', can grab at Strength 20 and automatically crush for d12+7 damage, or can eat a grabbed creature for d8+5 damage and try to crush another at the same time. Normal weapons are useless against the Corpulence, as his layers of fat simply heal themselves as fast as they are wounded. When he takes damage, his hot liquid fat splashes on a random adjacent target, dealing damage equal to the amount of damage he would have taken if he weren't so fat.
------
That should do it. We didn't get very far. They made friends with Jin Jubboflex the mouse-man, tortured some Nyctite guards, and threatened to push the canvas stretcher into the God room until they decided to push him into the room with the Corpulence. Then I looked at the room with the Corpulence and saw there wasn't enough information to run it on three hours of sleep and said, 'Zzzzzzzzzz.'
I wanted to get to the part where they explore the alternate dimensions but that would take a few sessions. More than anything though, I want to see my players get skewered by the razor sharp bill of a giant heron god.
-----
Oh and yeah I'm a gay role player and I play with a lot of gay guys, or maybe they're bi or queer or something, but I don't think any of them are straight, except for maybe Thomson and Nick. I've never asked because it doesn't seem important. Henry and his boyfriend Josh sometimes play together. Shayne and I get messaged by the same guys on cruising apps during play. Shayne works at a gay bookstore and while I was trying to figure out the name of the Nyctite master he said something like, 'Some guy came in and asked me if I knew a place where they give blowjobs. What the fuck?' We make a lot of dick jokes (who doesn't?) and when Nick says something like, 'The Nyctites eat ass,' I get to say, 'Is that a bad thing? You take 9 damage as you bleed from the eyes.'
I went to South Philly to hang with my pals, despondent, exhausted, and without any notes to play from. We moped together, drank Budweiser Lime-a-Ritas (gross, don't do it), talked about the merits of gay bars over straight ones, and finally I said, 'Fuck it, let's play a one shot. Here's a dungeon a bunch of guys on the internet wrote. There was an earthquake and the lizardmen are paying you to map the new rooms which have just opened up beneath their camp.'
Nick: 'Oh yeah? What can they give us to sweeten the deal?'
'Fuck off, this is what we're playing tonight.'
So we scratched the surface of the Galleries of the Nyctites, a crowdsourced dungeon that can be found here.
Some thoughts:
There is an impressive organization of theme: otherworldly painters compelled to create their own existence through strange art-works, which seem to act as portals to another dimension. There's a lot of dimension hopping and unexplained creatures. However, because the dungeon WAS crowdsourced, there is a lack of over-arching direction. The dungeon /feels/ like it was created piece-meal, even though the different rooms and characters reference each other in multiple places. The Nyctites are meant to be a group that work together, but because of the nature of crowdsourcing, there was no way to describe how they do that.
These days when I write a dungeon for myself, I usually include a heading that describes the complete forces available in a given wing, their leader, their powers, and how they react to intruders of friendly and unfriendly varieties. In the Galleries of the Nyctites, there was no reference point to give me that information at a glance, which I needed when running it at a moment's notice off my iPhone. I ended up sort of floundering.
The other thing that made this dungeon difficult to run was the lack of essential information on creature abilities, powers, and character. What is the name of the Nyctite master? How long have they been down here? What exactly is an arachnorooster? What are the capabilities of a shoggoth, Catalytic Plasm, psychic Aether Slime, and giant wailing toddler? Do the Nyctites have powers that distinguish them from each other? Basic statistics (hd, ac, hp, damage, etc) are not a problem to make up on the spot, but creating powers and motivations for each monster room by room is difficult, and more importantly makes the game feel less like a GAME and more like a STORY that we're making up as we go along.
These are probably not problems for crowd-sourced hex-crawls, since a degree of preparation is necessarily implied for wilderness exploration games. And this would not be a problem for the gallery if I decided to run this a week in advance, since this is an excellent draft with a lot of atmosphere and great ideas. But since I have a regular game, and would always rather play that, a crowd-sourced dungeon is necessarily a dungeon I would want to pick up and play. With that in mind, I hope that writers of dungeon rooms in the future do their best to provide a greater degree of specificity.
The goods news is that specificity is good advice for any kind of writing at all.
But hey! It was free and I got the describe the way the arachnorooster cried as Nick poked it to death through its food slot with a sharpened stick. It was horrible.
So here are some details:
Nyctites are sallow-skinned five-foot tall cyclops with three arms - their third arm is on the left side and made of ivory, and every round they grab you, you hemorrhage from the eyes and nose for 1d12 damage, plus they can stab with their free hands.
(When I described them Maddy said, 'Okay they're off balance and have bad depth perception. I shoot an arrow in its eye.' Roll roll. Success. 'Great, I loop my rope around its feet to trip it.' Roll roll. Success. 'Nick, kill it please?')
Powerful Nyctites are able to speak words of power. The Nyctites in room 13 can speak each a word of Insanity, Blindness, Paralyzation, and Fear. The Master of the Nyctites, Jareth Orbis (thanks Henry) is able to speak a word of Pain. The Master's Paramour is able to speak a word of Transformation, which turns the target of the word into a hybrid of its previous race and a random animal (you should have a random animal list), either the top half or the bottom half at random. The Nyctite prophetess can speak a word which forces the targets to immediately witness all possible futures of their next ten rounds, overwhelming them with Confusion.
In addition to the powerful Nyctites, there is a rotating guard of 15 nyctites armed with hooked nets, 2 poisoned daggers each (one causes excruciating pain and paralyzation for ten minutes, the other causes hallucinations to emerge from the shadows and hover about all moving forms, granting them +4 to armor for ten minutes), hooked cross-bow bolts attached to strong cords which they use to manipulate attackers from a distance, and a belt of three muted bells which they ring to sound the alarm. The first bell indicates hostile forces, the second bell indicates an overwhelming force, and the third bell indicates an all clear. 5 of the Nyctite guards know a second level spell, and have a 30% chance of knowing a third level spell. They travel in groups of 3-6 (d4+2), sometimes accompanied by d4 ghouls.
If faced by intruders, they go ahead and release the arachno-rooster and aether plasm to roam the complex. They probably also have the ghouls lie in wait, or even better roam the complex as well.
The non-monster painters and artists dwelling in the gallery all have HD equal to the level of the average party member +2.
The arachnooster has six wings and 27 eyes and a poisoned bite that deals d3 damage and 2d6 Con damage as it liquifies your insides. It can fly 50' and make a bite attack.
The catalytic plasm deals 3d8 damage per round that you're immersed in it, or d8 damage if it just splashed you, and if you take 6 7 or 8 damage you have to make a Fort save or gain a random mutation.
The aether plasm has an extraordinarily complex crystalline structure. Gazing into it causes it to take your form, though its features are blurred. Touching it causes 1d6 Cha damage per turn as it devours your features. It can also extend a threadlike tendril to attack. When it absorbs 10 Cha damage, it gives birth to a doppelganger, which attempts to escape the dungeon complex.
The Corpulence is HD 8 + party level, ac 8 or 12, move 20', can grab at Strength 20 and automatically crush for d12+7 damage, or can eat a grabbed creature for d8+5 damage and try to crush another at the same time. Normal weapons are useless against the Corpulence, as his layers of fat simply heal themselves as fast as they are wounded. When he takes damage, his hot liquid fat splashes on a random adjacent target, dealing damage equal to the amount of damage he would have taken if he weren't so fat.
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That should do it. We didn't get very far. They made friends with Jin Jubboflex the mouse-man, tortured some Nyctite guards, and threatened to push the canvas stretcher into the God room until they decided to push him into the room with the Corpulence. Then I looked at the room with the Corpulence and saw there wasn't enough information to run it on three hours of sleep and said, 'Zzzzzzzzzz.'
I wanted to get to the part where they explore the alternate dimensions but that would take a few sessions. More than anything though, I want to see my players get skewered by the razor sharp bill of a giant heron god.
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Oh and yeah I'm a gay role player and I play with a lot of gay guys, or maybe they're bi or queer or something, but I don't think any of them are straight, except for maybe Thomson and Nick. I've never asked because it doesn't seem important. Henry and his boyfriend Josh sometimes play together. Shayne and I get messaged by the same guys on cruising apps during play. Shayne works at a gay bookstore and while I was trying to figure out the name of the Nyctite master he said something like, 'Some guy came in and asked me if I knew a place where they give blowjobs. What the fuck?' We make a lot of dick jokes (who doesn't?) and when Nick says something like, 'The Nyctites eat ass,' I get to say, 'Is that a bad thing? You take 9 damage as you bleed from the eyes.'
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