gdiddy
2009-09-27, 01:16 AM
A while back, I saw an article online about the process an aspiring young BBEG goes through when starting his dungeon.
I just tried to find it again, but it's gone, along with the geocities pages that hosted it.
So I'm going to write my own.
Will edit in more as time goes on.
Part One:
So your genetics have lined up with the universe itself and it sings to you, inviting you to manipulate it with your twisted mind. You are a magus. Because of your slight shape in a medieval society and the megalomania that will soon consume the person you were before discovering the arcane, you are probably fairly maladjusted. You probably want to jump right in and show them. Show them all. But HOW?! This guide is meant for a beginning sorcerer, ideally one looking to take over the world, overthrow the gods, or call forth the horrors that live in the very earth!
Let’s worry about your needs first! You need some place safe for at least 8 hours a night, unless you have bargained for your powers, you filthy warlock. Finding an abandoned farm house and repairing it over the course of several days with cantrips is an admirable choice. If locals over to help you or house you in exchange for your protection, all the better! They will only be the first to know the beneficence of your reign. However, this is only temporary, and doesn’t feed you. You’ll need to research a spell or attempt to recruit a priest into your service, because you need food and water. This will be a major hurdle later. So get this out of the way early and get used to the metallic taste of conjured food.
Honestly, a hut in a wood near a civilized area is all the space you need when starting your journey to end all life. If you are blessed with Draconic blood, well, you’re magic will develop over time naturally. Simply defending your home against local animals and children will keep your powers growing. However, if you are a student of the arcane arts, you will need a resource of expensive books, treatises, and research materials. A wizard’s path is harder, surely, but at the end of the day, you actually have the needed spells, while other magic users must default to *snicker* fireball.
Once you begin to get any kind of power, you will have a tendency to act on it. This may manifest with a curse on a nearby town that causes its citizens to froth at the mouth when ill is spoke of you, or the disappearance of tax assessors near your home. Occasionally, beasts of the wood will be drawn to your service. Sometimes tribes of kobolds will seek out powerful casters, for if they cannot serve a dragon, they at least recognize the dragon’s blood. If the earlier two happen, you may be able to write them off as coincidence. When the final occurs, it is time to leave the comforts of civilization’s fringe. Your cover will not last long when your new servants begin sacrificing villagers in your name.
As an aspiring mage with a lot to prove, you’ve probably at least considered the beginnings of a fortified research center. Occasionally, these are high towers that can be used to dominate the landscape. However, if you are just starting out, this will likely result in the local baron taking umbrage. Your limited mastery of reality does not interrupt the great chain of being or the divine right of the nobility. This guide is not necessarily written with evil magus’ with established histories, but rather for those unsure of their future. If you must have a tower starting out, do so at your own risk.
Underground is much more sensible for a number of reasons. The primary is because the first 2,000 ft. beneath sea level is a contested no man’s land. The Underdark wars with the surface constantly, Kobold Empire mines rise and fall. The area immediately beneath the surface holds entire civilizations. Goblinoids, Lizardmen, Deep Orcs, rebel Drow, Troglodytes, Gnolls, all make their home in this rich subterranean world, not to mention larger beasts like Trolls, Ogres, and the occasional Minotaur. Unlike the humans that merely tolerated you, these creatures will celebrate your power.
It is imperative that you find a good location for your base of operations. Ideally, this should be away from any heavily populated area. This doesn’t mean away from just humans. When your new servants begin digging pathways into the earth, you may not be able to deal with the defenses of a hill dwarf fortress that has suddenly had its main hall breached. Likewise, Kobolds of the same color will refuse to fight each other. So if a green dragon and his minions have hollowed out a stony hill, your servants may quickly become conscientious objectors. If you stumble into a Drow or Illithid surface tunnel, collapse it and leave the area as quickly as possible.
Labor is an important part of any fortress. You should always have the right monster for the right job. Kobolds should be digging, expanding, and mining, as is their nature. Likewise, Goblinoids are best used as guards and just that.
Making sure your servants get along is always important. Many disparate sentients will be sharing very little space. If you have any aberrant beasts in your service, definitely keep them away from natural or thinking creatures. Likewise, any demons and devils that you shackle to the mortal world should be separated by at least 60 ft of solid rock. Otherwise, they will sense each others’ presence and possibly cause conflict. Elemental beasts should likewise be kept far away from their polar opposite. Clever enemies will exploit this weakness.
On the subject of creature relations, “themes” will occasionally come up. Jyrunax the Unnatural famously had 40 levels of assorted undead monsters guarding his Dread Towar. It took one priest of Pelor a total of 60 hours to kill shattered and destroy Jyrunax. If you do not want to be so vulnerable, do not bind yourself to a single concept. Your research may focus on conjuring demons, but only offering positions in your service to demons is folly. Demons, powerful as they are, still have weaknesses. Instead, always ask yourself “How would I deal with this obstacle?” Remember, to think your enemies are less smart and resourceful that you is your first step to being destroyed.
If you receive guests, stop. Any contact with the outside world, except through spellwork or your employed beasts, is a threat. You honestly don’t even need an entrance to your tower. You are a magus that can teleport, and your employees would never want to leave. However, if someone is trying to stop your plans and they do not have an easy point of entry, they will break in at random, possibly causing irreparable damage. This is why you will have a front door. Do not put any guards there, merely fill the entrance way with so many traps that the meddlers will go home and give up after they lose half their men. If you must have guards, I recommend golems, or failing that, lizardmen and troglodytes. These are all smart creatures that are hard to kill. They also are reptiles and as such, have no feelings and could not be persuaded into letting anyone in. Garmor Goblinfriend spent six years in a prison and was then executed for trusting goblinoids with his front entrance. It took one Bard to convince his entire garrison of Bugbears that Garmor needed to come outside and speak to the arresting Duke.
Once you have a plan and a location, set tunnelers to work. Kobolds are traditionally the ideal excavators. Their wiry bodies are exceptionally skilled in tiny areas. They also have the side habit of laying traps simply everywhere. The drawback is like all dragonkin, they are prone to magic, and if any of their number gain magic power, the kobolds will rally around this magus. Their rebellion could result in the loss of much of your fortress. Conversely, Deep Dwarves are often used in the Drow slave trade because of their skill and ability mining beneath the surface. Duergar are also excellent servants in this regard. In either case, always be wary of dwarven allies, as they will often refuse to shed the blood of dwarves. This can lead to defense issues. Especially if they mistakenly mine into an unmapped dwarven settlement. Avoid using Destrachans. It has been done before and resulted in the death of many brilliant magi.
Now, you probably have many brilliant ideas on how to decorate this hole you now call home. These are all brilliant. However, it is vitally important that you trap everything. Don’t hesitate to hang tapestries, but animate them and have them straddle any intruders. Electrum wall sconces are beautiful, but not so beautiful as an enemy melting from the 30 gallons of acid that the sconces spray.
Day to day living once you have the place running is fairly easy. However, expect any given day to cast 5 or so Prestidigitations, at least 4 castings of Create Food and Water for your servants, and 2 Fabricate. Of course, you’ll eat using Mage’s Magnificent Mansion.
If you do become lonely, an apprentice may be useful, but we’ll deal with that in Section 2.
I just tried to find it again, but it's gone, along with the geocities pages that hosted it.
So I'm going to write my own.
Will edit in more as time goes on.
Part One:
So your genetics have lined up with the universe itself and it sings to you, inviting you to manipulate it with your twisted mind. You are a magus. Because of your slight shape in a medieval society and the megalomania that will soon consume the person you were before discovering the arcane, you are probably fairly maladjusted. You probably want to jump right in and show them. Show them all. But HOW?! This guide is meant for a beginning sorcerer, ideally one looking to take over the world, overthrow the gods, or call forth the horrors that live in the very earth!
Let’s worry about your needs first! You need some place safe for at least 8 hours a night, unless you have bargained for your powers, you filthy warlock. Finding an abandoned farm house and repairing it over the course of several days with cantrips is an admirable choice. If locals over to help you or house you in exchange for your protection, all the better! They will only be the first to know the beneficence of your reign. However, this is only temporary, and doesn’t feed you. You’ll need to research a spell or attempt to recruit a priest into your service, because you need food and water. This will be a major hurdle later. So get this out of the way early and get used to the metallic taste of conjured food.
Honestly, a hut in a wood near a civilized area is all the space you need when starting your journey to end all life. If you are blessed with Draconic blood, well, you’re magic will develop over time naturally. Simply defending your home against local animals and children will keep your powers growing. However, if you are a student of the arcane arts, you will need a resource of expensive books, treatises, and research materials. A wizard’s path is harder, surely, but at the end of the day, you actually have the needed spells, while other magic users must default to *snicker* fireball.
Once you begin to get any kind of power, you will have a tendency to act on it. This may manifest with a curse on a nearby town that causes its citizens to froth at the mouth when ill is spoke of you, or the disappearance of tax assessors near your home. Occasionally, beasts of the wood will be drawn to your service. Sometimes tribes of kobolds will seek out powerful casters, for if they cannot serve a dragon, they at least recognize the dragon’s blood. If the earlier two happen, you may be able to write them off as coincidence. When the final occurs, it is time to leave the comforts of civilization’s fringe. Your cover will not last long when your new servants begin sacrificing villagers in your name.
As an aspiring mage with a lot to prove, you’ve probably at least considered the beginnings of a fortified research center. Occasionally, these are high towers that can be used to dominate the landscape. However, if you are just starting out, this will likely result in the local baron taking umbrage. Your limited mastery of reality does not interrupt the great chain of being or the divine right of the nobility. This guide is not necessarily written with evil magus’ with established histories, but rather for those unsure of their future. If you must have a tower starting out, do so at your own risk.
Underground is much more sensible for a number of reasons. The primary is because the first 2,000 ft. beneath sea level is a contested no man’s land. The Underdark wars with the surface constantly, Kobold Empire mines rise and fall. The area immediately beneath the surface holds entire civilizations. Goblinoids, Lizardmen, Deep Orcs, rebel Drow, Troglodytes, Gnolls, all make their home in this rich subterranean world, not to mention larger beasts like Trolls, Ogres, and the occasional Minotaur. Unlike the humans that merely tolerated you, these creatures will celebrate your power.
It is imperative that you find a good location for your base of operations. Ideally, this should be away from any heavily populated area. This doesn’t mean away from just humans. When your new servants begin digging pathways into the earth, you may not be able to deal with the defenses of a hill dwarf fortress that has suddenly had its main hall breached. Likewise, Kobolds of the same color will refuse to fight each other. So if a green dragon and his minions have hollowed out a stony hill, your servants may quickly become conscientious objectors. If you stumble into a Drow or Illithid surface tunnel, collapse it and leave the area as quickly as possible.
Labor is an important part of any fortress. You should always have the right monster for the right job. Kobolds should be digging, expanding, and mining, as is their nature. Likewise, Goblinoids are best used as guards and just that.
Making sure your servants get along is always important. Many disparate sentients will be sharing very little space. If you have any aberrant beasts in your service, definitely keep them away from natural or thinking creatures. Likewise, any demons and devils that you shackle to the mortal world should be separated by at least 60 ft of solid rock. Otherwise, they will sense each others’ presence and possibly cause conflict. Elemental beasts should likewise be kept far away from their polar opposite. Clever enemies will exploit this weakness.
On the subject of creature relations, “themes” will occasionally come up. Jyrunax the Unnatural famously had 40 levels of assorted undead monsters guarding his Dread Towar. It took one priest of Pelor a total of 60 hours to kill shattered and destroy Jyrunax. If you do not want to be so vulnerable, do not bind yourself to a single concept. Your research may focus on conjuring demons, but only offering positions in your service to demons is folly. Demons, powerful as they are, still have weaknesses. Instead, always ask yourself “How would I deal with this obstacle?” Remember, to think your enemies are less smart and resourceful that you is your first step to being destroyed.
If you receive guests, stop. Any contact with the outside world, except through spellwork or your employed beasts, is a threat. You honestly don’t even need an entrance to your tower. You are a magus that can teleport, and your employees would never want to leave. However, if someone is trying to stop your plans and they do not have an easy point of entry, they will break in at random, possibly causing irreparable damage. This is why you will have a front door. Do not put any guards there, merely fill the entrance way with so many traps that the meddlers will go home and give up after they lose half their men. If you must have guards, I recommend golems, or failing that, lizardmen and troglodytes. These are all smart creatures that are hard to kill. They also are reptiles and as such, have no feelings and could not be persuaded into letting anyone in. Garmor Goblinfriend spent six years in a prison and was then executed for trusting goblinoids with his front entrance. It took one Bard to convince his entire garrison of Bugbears that Garmor needed to come outside and speak to the arresting Duke.
Once you have a plan and a location, set tunnelers to work. Kobolds are traditionally the ideal excavators. Their wiry bodies are exceptionally skilled in tiny areas. They also have the side habit of laying traps simply everywhere. The drawback is like all dragonkin, they are prone to magic, and if any of their number gain magic power, the kobolds will rally around this magus. Their rebellion could result in the loss of much of your fortress. Conversely, Deep Dwarves are often used in the Drow slave trade because of their skill and ability mining beneath the surface. Duergar are also excellent servants in this regard. In either case, always be wary of dwarven allies, as they will often refuse to shed the blood of dwarves. This can lead to defense issues. Especially if they mistakenly mine into an unmapped dwarven settlement. Avoid using Destrachans. It has been done before and resulted in the death of many brilliant magi.
Now, you probably have many brilliant ideas on how to decorate this hole you now call home. These are all brilliant. However, it is vitally important that you trap everything. Don’t hesitate to hang tapestries, but animate them and have them straddle any intruders. Electrum wall sconces are beautiful, but not so beautiful as an enemy melting from the 30 gallons of acid that the sconces spray.
Day to day living once you have the place running is fairly easy. However, expect any given day to cast 5 or so Prestidigitations, at least 4 castings of Create Food and Water for your servants, and 2 Fabricate. Of course, you’ll eat using Mage’s Magnificent Mansion.
If you do become lonely, an apprentice may be useful, but we’ll deal with that in Section 2.