Really hard one... [Archive] - Wizards Community

Really hard one... [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Alyss
05-27-07, 10:03 PM So, I saw the film of Silent Hill last night, and was bowled over. The thing that really got me was the way that, at random intervals, the whole place went pitch black, and nasty monsters popped up all over the place.

Basically, I want to do the same thing with my campaign, but am having problems sorting out how the hell it's going to work. My campaing is city based, and I've put a lot of time into building the city, setting up power centres and contacsts etc. I want that all to go to waste, but the darkness idea doesn't seem to work with it.

What should I do? How does a city function when monster-filled darkness keeps randomly washing over it?
Araes
05-27-07, 10:53 PM Well, how would a regular city deal with it in our own world?

There would probably be heavy hysteria at first, and quite a few people would flee their homes
Some people would refuse to give into the threat even if it was rather widespread in and frequently occuring. These are the same people that stay in their homes in the face of Class 5 hurricanes.
The city council would very quickly start trying to figure out ways to get rid of it or contain it. Off the top of my head they might:

Put out a call to wizards, religious types, warriors, anybody who they thought might have the skills necessary to counteract this evil.
Station guards around the town so that they could quickly respond to the darkness when it did appear.
Try to find a pattern to the darkness, so that they could keep as many people safe as possible, and maybe warn them before it was going to appear.
Take the money and run...

If it was unsolvable with those steps, it might make the attention of somebody even more powerful like the ruling political body for the region.
They might send aid in terms of people, supplies, ect... This could very similar to the Van Helsing type of scenario where the really high level adventurers come into the city of people that constantly live in fear, but refuse to give up.
Alyss
05-27-07, 11:20 PM Well, the thing is that the Darkness can't be got rid of. I want it to be an integral part of the campaign. It just pops up randomly, and while it's up there are monsters. When it goes, again randomly, so do the monsters. There's no logic to it, it just appears, kills, and goes.

My main problem with it is, I'm not sure how powerful to make it. For example, is it blocked by Hallow spells? Or can it not enter buildings that are owned and lived in? I'm not too happy with either of those ideas, as I ant the Darkness to be very powerful. The players do to have nowhere to run when the Darkness appears. But if I do that, then logically the same would be the case for the other city folk, which would mean they would just end up killed and there wouldn't be a city anymore.

Thank you for your thoughts so far, I'll use what I can
Araes
05-27-07, 11:28 PM Not done yet.

I think that the idea of hiding in a home that you personally own has promise, and perhaps only the people that actually own the home are safe. If you try and hide in someone elses house, the darkness can still get you. Its only when you are within your own residence that you are safe. This would make it so that adventurers out on the town would always be in danger, and normal townfolk would have some measure of safety. In addition, it would tend to support the Helsing style of play, where all of the visitors are fearful to even open their shutters and talk to outsiders for fear of being attacked or giving the monster an opening.

In my opinion, the hallow would be a bad move, as you could accomplish the same thing by having priests be safe because their residence is the church. However, allowing them to protect other people effectively would eventually keep the monsters totally at bay if people were smart.
Alyss
05-28-07, 12:08 AM Yeah, that's what I thought. Cool, I'll go with people being safe in their houses then. Thanks for your help!
GoriceXII
05-28-07, 02:12 AM If no one minds I have a slightly better idea--perhaps there is a certain LEVEL of consecration that is required, perhaps a spell or scroll or something that would need to be researched, so that no one knows at first why some areas are safe and some are not.
Araes
05-28-07, 09:08 PM I'm not sure if that would necessarily be better, given the restriction posed by Alyss that the darkness should be impossible to totally eliminate or protect from. If a certain level is required, no matter how high it is, clever PCs will find a way to reach said level and then concecrate everything in sight to make themselves permanently safe.
Alyss
05-28-07, 09:40 PM I had another idea myself, and works on the following logic:

In Africa, people die all the time.
The population of Africa is not going down, it is growing.
Thus, it is possible for a continent to sustain a heavy mortaluty rate and still function.

So: perhaps my idea of the Darkness just being able to get absolutely anywhere and kill as it please will work after all. It doesn't kill enough people to destroy the population, but does kill many. Society will drastically change, but will not be eliminated.
dogolopee
05-28-07, 10:05 PM Well it could be that better maintained buildings, or those with special runes and so forth carved into them can prevent the darkness from creeping in, while the rundown sections and homes without the special runes are up for grabs by the darkness.

There could even be a whole set of protection rackets and so forth set around groups that can make the runes to protect people and groups that are willing to destroy the symbols on a building.

The poor and homeless are the ones at greatest risk from the shadow, and often it is the adventurer that must save them as the poor often live in broken down buildings without the runes. This cna also lead to people killing and dumping bodies in the poor sections following the darkness so it looks as if it were the monsters that did it. That can give a good investigative scenario or two. Maybe once iti s a normal person killing out of revenge or jelousy, then another time it is organized crime hits and disposal.

Then later down the line if the party is so bold they could perhaps find a way to travel with the darkness and see where it is the monsters go, or perhaps that is something a bad guy or patron will do after hiring the PCs to get him all the required things he needs for the ritual.

Just some thoughts.
Alyss
05-29-07, 07:16 AM Interesting ideas. I might use a few

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Alyss 05-27-07, 10:03 PM	So, I saw the film of Silent Hill last night, and was bowled over. The thing that really got me was the way that, at random intervals, the whole place went pitch black, and nasty monsters popped up all over the place. Basically, I want to do the same thing with my campaign, but am having problems sorting out how the hell it's going to work. My campaing is city based, and I've put a lot of time into building the city, setting up power centres and contacsts etc. I want that all to go to waste, but the darkness idea doesn't seem to work with it. What should I do? How does a city function when monster-filled darkness keeps randomly washing over it?
Araes 05-27-07, 10:53 PM	Well, how would a regular city deal with it in our own world? There would probably be heavy hysteria at first, and quite a few people would flee their homes Some people would refuse to give into the threat even if it was rather widespread in and frequently occuring. These are the same people that stay in their homes in the face of Class 5 hurricanes. The city council would very quickly start trying to figure out ways to get rid of it or contain it. Off the top of my head they might: Put out a call to wizards, religious types, warriors, anybody who they thought might have the skills necessary to counteract this evil. Station guards around the town so that they could quickly respond to the darkness when it did appear. Try to find a pattern to the darkness, so that they could keep as many people safe as possible, and maybe warn them before it was going to appear. Take the money and run... If it was unsolvable with those steps, it might make the attention of somebody even more powerful like the ruling political body for the region. They might send aid in terms of people, supplies, ect... This could very similar to the Van Helsing type of scenario where the really high level adventurers come into the city of people that constantly live in fear, but refuse to give up.
Alyss 05-27-07, 11:20 PM	Well, the thing is that the Darkness can't be got rid of. I want it to be an integral part of the campaign. It just pops up randomly, and while it's up there are monsters. When it goes, again randomly, so do the monsters. There's no logic to it, it just appears, kills, and goes. My main problem with it is, I'm not sure how powerful to make it. For example, is it blocked by Hallow spells? Or can it not enter buildings that are owned and lived in? I'm not too happy with either of those ideas, as I ant the Darkness to be very powerful. The players do to have nowhere to run when the Darkness appears. But if I do that, then logically the same would be the case for the other city folk, which would mean they would just end up killed and there wouldn't be a city anymore. Thank you for your thoughts so far, I'll use what I can
Araes 05-27-07, 11:28 PM	Not done yet. I think that the idea of hiding in a home that you personally own has promise, and perhaps only the people that actually own the home are safe. If you try and hide in someone elses house, the darkness can still get you. Its only when you are within your own residence that you are safe. This would make it so that adventurers out on the town would always be in danger, and normal townfolk would have some measure of safety. In addition, it would tend to support the Helsing style of play, where all of the visitors are fearful to even open their shutters and talk to outsiders for fear of being attacked or giving the monster an opening. In my opinion, the hallow would be a bad move, as you could accomplish the same thing by having priests be safe because their residence is the church. However, allowing them to protect other people effectively would eventually keep the monsters totally at bay if people were smart.
Alyss 05-28-07, 12:08 AM	Yeah, that's what I thought. Cool, I'll go with people being safe in their houses then. Thanks for your help!
GoriceXII 05-28-07, 02:12 AM	If no one minds I have a slightly better idea--perhaps there is a certain LEVEL of consecration that is required, perhaps a spell or scroll or something that would need to be researched, so that no one knows at first why some areas are safe and some are not.
Araes 05-28-07, 09:08 PM	I'm not sure if that would necessarily be better, given the restriction posed by Alyss that the darkness should be impossible to totally eliminate or protect from. If a certain level is required, no matter how high it is, clever PCs will find a way to reach said level and then concecrate everything in sight to make themselves permanently safe.
Alyss 05-28-07, 09:40 PM	I had another idea myself, and works on the following logic: In Africa, people die all the time. The population of Africa is not going down, it is growing. Thus, it is possible for a continent to sustain a heavy mortaluty rate and still function. So: perhaps my idea of the Darkness just being able to get absolutely anywhere and kill as it please will work after all. It doesn't kill enough people to destroy the population, but does kill many. Society will drastically change, but will not be eliminated.
dogolopee 05-28-07, 10:05 PM	Well it could be that better maintained buildings, or those with special runes and so forth carved into them can prevent the darkness from creeping in, while the rundown sections and homes without the special runes are up for grabs by the darkness. There could even be a whole set of protection rackets and so forth set around groups that can make the runes to protect people and groups that are willing to destroy the symbols on a building. The poor and homeless are the ones at greatest risk from the shadow, and often it is the adventurer that must save them as the poor often live in broken down buildings without the runes. This cna also lead to people killing and dumping bodies in the poor sections following the darkness so it looks as if it were the monsters that did it. That can give a good investigative scenario or two. Maybe once iti s a normal person killing out of revenge or jelousy, then another time it is organized crime hits and disposal. Then later down the line if the party is so bold they could perhaps find a way to travel with the darkness and see where it is the monsters go, or perhaps that is something a bad guy or patron will do after hiring the PCs to get him all the required things he needs for the ritual. Just some thoughts.
Alyss 05-29-07, 07:16 AM	Interesting ideas. I might use a few