PDA

View Full Version : Fishing For Ideas 3.5 (My Players Should Know By Now)



FerhagoRosewood
2010-01-29, 04:35 AM
So in my little sandbox setting, where the characters have been shrunk down to tiny and thrown into a world to match their size, there is an upcoming area. It's a "Cathedral" to the creator of said world.

The creator of this plane was/is called The Mother. She was/is a mortal being that was afraid of her mortally so much that she vowed to become a Goddess. Through her research she found that perhaps through the collection of followers, one may ascend. So over the years she would capture individuals from all corners of the world and throw them into her own plane. This is her first church and thus, it is of the size that real world Cathedrals are.

So essentially, it is a type of big world to the party. Though it was not long in use before the Mother shrunk everyone down to fit in more followers.

The place has seen a decent sized battle about a century ago, with some of the effects still unseen. And currently there's a tribe of nomad humans (or some other race, undecided) that live just inside the imposing structure.

As a new DM, after designing this place, I am literally stuck as what to do when they get here. The past battle featured undead, so there's maybe a few still there but not a lot, but I've been using them a bit much lately.

So... What would you do with this place?

JeanThine
2010-01-29, 06:07 AM
I would have thought it's obvious. You have Mother, who acts as your semi-benevolent deity for a while, and it's not too clear what exactly happened to make you small or what this place is. Then you get thrown in with a bunch of people who want out, and are trying to find a way to escape. Your group runs a few missions for them, probably pinching stuff directly from the big church, then you come back to find you group of rebels slaughtered/on fire. From there it becomes obvious that the clergy of mother are the ones doing this. You spend a while attacking them, only to find out it's not just them, Mother herself is the big bad. Epic final battle in other dimensional setting with super powered wizard character and hey presto you have a final fantasy.

FerhagoRosewood
2010-01-29, 06:12 AM
I have no problem with the over arcing storyline, just what to do in that building/setting.

Edit:

That is the Cathedral, which is still sized for Medium creatures.

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2010-01-29, 07:06 AM
The cathedral itself is bound to be in poor repair. The roof would have holes in it, and there would probably be grass sprouting up between the stones of the floor. Its stained glass windows would probably be mostly intact, depending on just how small everything became and whether anything would even be capable of damaging them. The main room is probably quite open and well lit during the day, though rain and snow would find their way in. Stone cathedrals were built for acoustics, so loud sounds and voices in this room would rebound throughout the structure. The cathedral was likely still in use up until everyone was shrunk, so the pews would still be in rows. During the battle they would have been used as cover and high positions, and many may have been burned or toppled over if anything was large enough to do that.

Just inside the entrance is a nomadic tribe of humanoids. They probably stop at this location for a few months during this season every year, as usual for a nomadic society. They're probably friendly and the PCs can rest and resupply at their camp.

The main room is probably not a safe place to go. There could be undead, predators, or other monsters hiding among the pews ready to leap upon an unwary explorer. At night it would be similar to traveling through the great hall of Moria, though a bit more open with quite a bit more cover. Put something with personality living under one of the pews, maybe an old hermit or even a troll or an ogre, depending on the size ratio. Whoever it is knows their way around the cathedral better than anyone else, and is capable enough that they do not fear whatever lurks around the corners, but they don't like company and aren't very willing to help anyone.

There would definitely be flying creatures nesting in the rafters. Maybe a flock of birds or a swarm of bats, or even a community of Raptorans or Dragonkin. Whoever it is would likely be unfriendly or even hostile to ground-dwellers if intelligent, or predatory otherwise.

Cathedrals have side rooms and usually some sort of cellar. There could be tribes of humanoids living in some, possibly the typical orcs, (hob)goblins, or kobolds. The cellar is probably home to worse things, such as aberrations, oozes, drow, etc. Cathedrals typically have gold and silver decorations, a room where donations and tithes are kept, and other valuables, which would have been collected and hoarded in one of the rooms by a fairly large (compared to other creatures) dragon, likely the only thing capable of transporting many such objects.

There's a room with only one small window which houses a reclusive dwarven city, with towering structures built up the walls, walkways connecting them, elevators and lifts to reach the upper levels, etc. They've burrowed rooms into the walls and quarried out the floor to build their homes, leaving a dirt floor upon which they grow potatoes and turnips. They've built a system of canals to bring rainwater from the roof in through the window to irrigate it, and the shards from a shattered mirror are hanging from the ceiling at just the right angle so that the sunlight is directed onto the crops, but not toward any of the buildings. The city's main gate has actually been tunneled through the outer wall, and each day herdsmen take goats out to graze. The original doorway that leads out into the hallway and the rest of the cathedral still has an intact door. They're actually able to open and close it using a system of ropes, pulleys, and counterweights, but it's stayed shut for generations. At the bottom of this door is another, smaller gate which serves as a second entrance to the city, which is seldom used but heavily guarded as many enemies dwell within the cathedral.

Demented
2010-01-29, 07:12 AM
So... What would you do with this place?

Biggest. Bonfire. Ever.

FerhagoRosewood
2010-01-30, 02:13 AM
The cathedral itself is bound to be in poor repair. The roof would have holes in it, and there would probably be grass sprouting up between the stones of the floor. Its stained glass windows would probably be mostly intact, depending on just how small everything became and whether anything would even be capable of damaging them. The main room is probably quite open and well lit during the day, though rain and snow would find their way in. Stone cathedrals were built for acoustics, so loud sounds and voices in this room would rebound throughout the structure. The cathedral was likely still in use up until everyone was shrunk, so the pews would still be in rows. During the battle they would have been used as cover and high positions, and many may have been burned or toppled over if anything was large enough to do that.

Just inside the entrance is a nomadic tribe of humanoids. They probably stop at this location for a few months during this season every year, as usual for a nomadic society. They're probably friendly and the PCs can rest and resupply at their camp.

The main room is probably not a safe place to go. There could be undead, predators, or other monsters hiding among the pews ready to leap upon an unwary explorer. At night it would be similar to traveling through the great hall of Moria, though a bit more open with quite a bit more cover. Put something with personality living under one of the pews, maybe an old hermit or even a troll or an ogre, depending on the size ratio. Whoever it is knows their way around the cathedral better than anyone else, and is capable enough that they do not fear whatever lurks around the corners, but they don't like company and aren't very willing to help anyone.

There would definitely be flying creatures nesting in the rafters. Maybe a flock of birds or a swarm of bats, or even a community of Raptorans or Dragonkin. Whoever it is would likely be unfriendly or even hostile to ground-dwellers if intelligent, or predatory otherwise.

Cathedrals have side rooms and usually some sort of cellar. There could be tribes of humanoids living in some, possibly the typical orcs, (hob)goblins, or kobolds. The cellar is probably home to worse things, such as aberrations, oozes, drow, etc. Cathedrals typically have gold and silver decorations, a room where donations and tithes are kept, and other valuables, which would have been collected and hoarded in one of the rooms by a fairly large (compared to other creatures) dragon, likely the only thing capable of transporting many such objects.

There's a room with only one small window which houses a reclusive dwarven city, with towering structures built up the walls, walkways connecting them, elevators and lifts to reach the upper levels, etc. They've burrowed rooms into the walls and quarried out the floor to build their homes, leaving a dirt floor upon which they grow potatoes and turnips. They've built a system of canals to bring rainwater from the roof in through the window to irrigate it, and the shards from a shattered mirror are hanging from the ceiling at just the right angle so that the sunlight is directed onto the crops, but not toward any of the buildings. The city's main gate has actually been tunneled through the outer wall, and each day herdsmen take goats out to graze. The original doorway that leads out into the hallway and the rest of the cathedral still has an intact door. They're actually able to open and close it using a system of ropes, pulleys, and counterweights, but it's stayed shut for generations. At the bottom of this door is another, smaller gate which serves as a second entrance to the city, which is seldom used but heavily guarded as many enemies dwell within the cathedral.

Hmm, interesting and very helpful.

Thanks.

^-^

bosssmiley
2010-01-30, 10:12 AM
So in my little sandbox setting, where the characters have been shrunk down to tiny and thrown into a world to match their size, there is an upcoming area. It's a "Cathedral" to the creator of said world.

The creator of this plane was/is called The Mother. She was/is a mortal being that was afraid of her mortally so much that she vowed to become a Goddess. Through her research she found that perhaps through the collection of followers, one may ascend. So over the years she would capture individuals from all corners of the world and throw them into her own plane.

<trim>

So... What would you do with this place?

Dig out my old copy of Puppetland (http://johntynes.com/revland2000/rl_puppetland_www.html) and run a dystopian pocket world story for all it was worth. :smallcool: