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View Full Version : Help with some dungeon themes.



The_JJ
2009-06-07, 10:00 PM
Hokay so... first off it's a homebrewed system that I very much doubt any of you know. So don't throw D&D spells/traps/terminology at me. It is generica fantasy land though, unless stated other wise.

So anyway... in the system there is elemental magic (fire, earth, air, water, etc.) and there are 'essences,' Life, Time, Chaos, Dream, and Void. They're more important because they get capitialized.

So the dungeon is going to be one designed as a test of initiation or right of passage type thing for a culture with whom the PC's are making first contact with, and I want one test for each of the essences. Combat is good, but it should really revolve around some kind of puzzle/riddle/secret test built around the theme of the essence. Each puzzle should offer an opportunity for a small permanent boost to the charactor.

What I have so far are the Dream and Chaos tests.
I'll give you an idea of what I want...
For Dream I figured I would throw each PC up against their 'worst nightmare' opponent. For instance, I'd seperate the big barbarian from the group (Creepy statue says 'One of you must step forward. etc. etc.') Throw him in the ring against a monk type opponent who's first action is a crippling strike that kills his strength stat equivelent and so eliminates most of his better barbarian powers. (All the better from a metagame standpoint because that move isn't in any rulebooks.) Anyway, relitive strength of each opponent will be tied to the mental stats, so the better 'will save' (or equivelent) a PC has, the weaker the monster. Once defeated, the PC moves on, out of sight of the others, to a waiting area.
Also, should any PC be unable to defeat their opponent, the opponent picks them up, gets ready to do all sorts of unhealable damage to the charactor, and askes them the yield three times. If they don't, they are, from the PC's POV, killed, and tossed into a Dream pocket beyond the help of any magic ressurection. 'He has been judged' sayeth the nightmare. If they yield, they are, 'found wanting' and tossed backwards, to try again. Only their foe gets even stronger. The trick is, refusing to yield and being 'killed' is the best way out of the puzzle, as it is all about bravery, see? The 'dead' PC's turn up with those who pass with a permanent booth to their 'will save.'

For Chaos, they're told to 'embrace chaos.' And then presented with, say, rooms full of doors, or a 'platforming' sequece with platforms that move without pattern, form and reform endlesssly, something like that. The goal is to just open up doors/jump around at random, with out planning at all, and they'll 'luck through.' Planning nets them punishment. The moral is something like, well, 'embrace chaos' accept random events, good or ill, as part of life. I think the rollplayers and the roleplayers will appreciate that. Successful compleation net's some Luck.

So... yeah, if you've got any ideas about cool puzzles for Life, Time or Void, that'd be good.

shadzar
2009-06-07, 10:17 PM
Not sure I fully understand but giving this a stab....

For the test of life they must offer their life to pass.

While this test may seem harsh and some may ee it as "Well we just need to end our life to continue somehow....", well that would end up with dead characters and be funny, but not very helpful.

What they must do is give a part of their life over to the test. Blood, etc will do. Something that shows they are each alive. (Hope you don't have any undead players. :smallconfused:) Things that wouldn't work are hair, teeth, etc that remain after death.

Maybe a bit too corny, or the wrong thing you were looking for, but it just came to mind....maybe you can modify it to work better than it is presented.

The_JJ
2009-06-07, 10:49 PM
Nah. nah, it's a good idea.

Prove that you're alive... that's got potencial.

I could force them to roleplay like real people.:smalltongue:

Knaight
2009-06-07, 11:50 PM
Maybe prove that they have a will to save? They get stuck in some sort of room that locks behind them. They then have visions in their dreams that are terrible, terrible things, that seem to eliminate every reason they have to live. If you have too many "I live for vengeance" types this is difficult, although one or two is possible (for instance they have a vision of whoever needs to be killed does terrible things, and somebody else successfully avenges said deed. While still a child. And dies in the process.).

If their characters demonstrate that they still have reason to live(have somebody them all meet in the dreams after the terrible visions, and have somebody else materialize, and ask them why they need to live). If they pass the test, they continue on. This one seems like a good last room though.

Time and Void are trickier.

Prock
2009-06-08, 12:13 AM
Is this system by any chance factory?
It sounds alot like it.

shadzar
2009-06-08, 12:18 AM
Time. The room has in it a water source and a pile of sand, other than the ordinary.

Dumping sand in the water would make the water rise and show time as sea-levels rise and more land is formed in them.

OR

Pouring water over some piled up sand shows erosion which again displays time.

:smallconfused:

TheThan
2009-06-08, 12:50 AM
I see two interesting ideas for Life.

The first is simple, the pcs walk into a room, there is a bed in the center of the room. On the bed there is a pregnant woman who is about to give birth. The PCs must help the woman give birth. Not sure how to employment it in a win/loose way. Though watching the PCs squirm may prove entertaining.

The second one is also simple. It’s a combat encounter with a deadly foe. When the PCs defeat their foe, he asks for his life to be spared. If the PCs agree and they don’t kill him, they pass, if they kill him before giving him the chance, or not agreeing to his surrender, then they fail the test.


Lets see for time, you could do something with time fields. There are two doors at either end of a long hall. The first one third of the hall time is slowed, the second third time is normal, and time is sped up in the last section. The PCS have to get to the other side of the hall before the far door closes.

I would also put a pedestal in close side of a large room or hallway. Sitting on the pedestal there is a large hourglass. On the far side of the room there is a heavy door that is descending from the ceiling (closing) rapidly. Flipping the hourglass resets the door, when it runs out, the door will be fully closed. The catch is that there is not enough time for the PCs to make the mad dash to the other side of the room. So they have to figure out how to flip it and get everyone through the door.

Shular
2009-06-08, 12:51 AM
Nothing specific here, but for the elements perhaps give them some kind of small flame, or burning ember, that they need to carry through three rooms to get to a fourth, where they use the flame to light a candle, starting a chain reaction of fire that spreads and illuminates a large chamber.

The problem is, the three rooms are, in order, earth (the room is actually filled with loose earth, digging is nearly impossible as the soil is so loose that any tunnel wuill quickly collapse, air (high gusty winds that make it difficult to even walk, and that blows out any flame, including the ember that must be carried), and water (most of the room is filled with water, must swim to underwater passage that leads to above-water door. The swim itself is not that difficult, of course, but how to keep the spark lit?

But keep it lit, as only that spark will light the final candle, no other flame (magical or otherwise) will have any effect.

brujon
2009-06-08, 01:04 AM
Well, for the test of life, you could throw them into a room where's an dying elderly man, a woman giving birth, and a sick child. They have the option of saving one of them, but not 2, not all. If they assist the woman giving birth, they'll show an understanding of the natural order of life, older people die, and sickness is natural, and there's always new life to be found, even in death. If they try and save them all, all of them die, and they'll have to answer if they think what they did was right and why. Depending on the answer, they pass the test, if not, present them with similar situations until the point gets through. Something like a snake going into a nest of bunny's or something and a child screaming "Save the bunnies, please!".


For the test of time, you could describe to them the lives of different animals, For example, the fruit fly only lives for 24 hours after birth. Turtles live up to 200 years, humans live... etc... And then ask them if they could choose whose lifespan they'd choose, what would be it. The goal is for them to answer "None of them, time is relative to each of them, you have to live the most out of it." It's subjective and not a particular good idea, but it gets a point. Maybe someone can throw in a better idea.

As for the void, a similar idea. Ask them one simple question: Why there's the void? the answer: For there to be space to fill. Also gets to a point.

There's my 2 CP ^^ hope u like it