Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Gallameed 07-29-05, 10:59 AM	Ok, I'm looking for any information about a place or places in faerun that are typical trap filled dungeons where people ie: criminals, trouble makers, actvists against the goverment, exiles and anyone that needs to be ''taken care of'' are put into the dungeon and locked in, perhaps even the local populace can be spectators some how. I seem to remember an old dragon article, (maybe written by Ed Greenwood and set in Waterdeep) that was like this, the townspeople watched the action from scrying devices, action was in Undermountain maybe?? I dont think it was to the death though and it may have been a kind of capture the flag thing? Also I think the "contestants" were there by choice. Examples of this theme from other sources are: The running man, (the film) Deathtrap dungeon (fighting fantasy book by Ian Livingston) Anyway, I plan on pushing my PC's into a deathtrap dungeon of my own after framing them as criminals or whatever and having the whole thing watched by poncy nobles or "gamesmaster" type evil overseers. Maybe the Red Wizards of Thay would have a set up like this and keep their dungeon arena well stocked with creatures, potions and other things to keep the game entertaining? What got me thinking about this was I recently dug out my old Dwarven forge stuff after realising we never use it anymore and it would be cool to play a campaign like this as "filler" when some of the players cant make it to the session. Thoughts?
Lashan 07-29-05, 11:29 AM	There is that dwarven made stone structure somewhere in the Western Heartlands (not my specialty). Is it called something like "The House of Stone"? It was built by dwarves, but filled with many deadly traps when the orcs made them abandon the place. It could work... Or you can just make something up in Halruaa. They have tons of mages and can have tons of magic scrying devices or such.
Gallameed 07-29-05, 09:01 PM	The house of stone is a big square "block o' death" near the ardeep, but I'm looking for something different as I've used that little gem in a former game. Halruaa might be a good choice, maybe I'll have a poke around the Shining South book and check things out. No one got any ideas about the whole "Undermountain dungeon bowl" thing mentioned in my first post? I'm almost positive I read Waterdeep had something like that as part of a festival or something?
Dielzen 07-29-05, 09:27 PM	Doesn't seem like something a "good" city like Waterdeep would have....seems more like a Thay pasttime. Another source of inspiration for your idea......The Cube, a fun little deathtrap movie, there's a sequel out as well, but I haven't seen that one.
Alac Luin 07-29-05, 10:56 PM	Another source of inspiration for your idea......The Cube, a fun little deathtrap movie, there's a sequel out as well, but I haven't seen that one. It's just as bad as the first one. :) Mabey a little worse, as the "cube" moved in the fourth dimention (time) also. And the people running the cube placed a "spy" into it with the others.
Gallameed 07-30-05, 02:09 AM	It's just as bad as the first one. :) Mabey a little worse, as the "cube" moved in the fourth dimention (time) also. And the people running the cube placed a "spy" into it with the others. Heh, I kind of love both those B-movies, I have already ripped off the first cube movie before; only I made it a demiplane called "Nostrumeers box". I mapped the cube/dungeon out using an old rubix cube with each section on the model numbered, so every time the puzzle "shifted" the players and I could keep track of where abouts they where in relation to the other rooms etc. They had to beat each section and then they could pass into the centre of the box and its guardian to escape. The story surrounding the box was something like this: Nostrumeer was a Halruaan mage who got involved with the daemonic entities of the far realm, after the death of his family he began experimenting more and more with forbibben lore in the hope of somehow finding a way to bring them back and into a private little heaven all of his own, of course this lead to him creating a Clive Barker inspired Hellraiser puzzlebox which when "solved" would transport you to the nightmare demiplane of tricksy puzzles traps and kinky far realm daemons! I used the devils and daemons from the MM but gave them cenobite facelifts and had Nostrumeer be the final guardian. My players managed to escape, except one, who ended up being killed and corrupted by the box and resides there to this day. You should have seen their faces when they opened one of the outer doors of the cube and stared out into a void of darkness only to almost be sucked out into the vacuum of this madmans demiplane! Reflex save! They ended up tying a rope around their waists as they checked out each door! lol. Even better when they later opened another outer-door and the party lockpicker got sucked outside the box, he ended up dangling from a rope in the abyys of darkness with his friends trying to pull him back inside and he caught a glimpse of something... ...ancient and immense that dwelled in the void! Such fear, such beautiful panic! lol, how I love to torture them! Ah, such fun times, not to mention the "barbwire & baby swing" room and the "walking through thorns with no eyelids section". :D
Alac Luin 07-30-05, 10:38 PM	If you've done this, ever think of a 13 Ghosts type game? Trapped in a haunted house, must defeat or lay to rest 11 ghosts, and evil Lich and escape the house that is itself his phylactery. One ghost is a helpful spirit of a loved one.
Alac Luin 07-30-05, 10:45 PM	Oh, and on topic of the original question, there are the "Challenge of Champions" series of adventures that are from Dungeon magazine. There is also another old adventure from Dungeon called "operation manta ray" that had something similar but pirate themed. I also remember one of the Volo's guides, that people in a bar watch adventures that play "hop scotch" to try to open a portal to some place.
Gallameed 07-31-05, 09:40 AM	If you've done this, ever think of a 13 Ghosts type game? Trapped in a haunted house, must defeat or lay to rest 11 ghosts, and evil Lich and escape the house that is itself his phylactery. One ghost is a helpful spirit of a loved one. Yeah, that would make a good mini-adventure, have you tried converting any movie themes into D&D?
Alac Luin 07-31-05, 06:56 PM	Yeah, that would make a good mini-adventure, have you tried converting any movie themes into D&D? Intentionally no. I know I have at least to some point "stolen" from movies and TV to use for my games, but not “wholesale”. Certain elements of something interesting from cinema often find a way into my games. Thing is, I really don't get to run my games that often. So to keep the “feel” going, I concern myself more with advancing the story line of the characters, or I cheat and used pre-made adventures. I do have ideas on what may be neat from time to time. (after I mentioned it, the 13 ghosts idea sounds good to me, but reminds me a lot of a Ravenloft adventure, that was also in an old Dungeon. Rules for “possessions” people and objects are in the Eberron CS)