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Challenge: The Tower

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
meeker7
Jun 09, 2010 19:14:20 So I'm building a tower IG for my characters, or I guess someone is building it! Thats the Challenge anyway. I need someone who loves building dungeons and D&D structures, who also has a great knowledge of the game to create for me a 30 story tower! 20 above ground and 10 under. This tower needs to have blocked passages and relics guarded by terrible nasty.

The Tower will be used over the course of a character's full career so floor 1 should be non-hostal, second floor with 2nd level traps, mazes and monsters, and so on. Dissensionshould be much harder, starting at around level 21 difficulty.

A Very Breif History:

Three mad men built the tower who were all interested in traversing the planes, collecting oddities, and keeping deadly monsters as living trophies. Thats it! Thats all you get for back story! Keep in mind that my game takes place in a no boundaries, classic, generic D&D realm.

GOOD LUCK!!!
#2
Hocus-Smokus
Jun 09, 2010 19:25:23 Really?
Shouldn't this be in the Homebrew section, or maybe even the What's a DM to Do section?
#3
Duke5150
Jun 09, 2010 20:03:32 Dude, seriously, a 30 story tower could be an entire adventure. Best of luck. Try whats a player/DM to do or another forum. This will take time to do and my schedule is more than full.
#4
m4kitsu
Jun 10, 2010 3:12:41 Yeah... wrong forum, and this sounds like you trying to get other people to do your work for you, so you can be lazy. Lazy DMs do not, in my findings, remain DMs for long.

Reported for review by ORCs for potential move to Homebrew.
#5
Bandikoot
Jun 10, 2010 13:17:09 Did I miss something about homebrew that M4kitsu and Hocus-Smokus know about Homebrew and I don't? I'd think a 1-30 level tower would be under campaign and adventure workshop as it is both your campaign and your adventure.

Anyway... as to the OP, if you are really feeling as lazy as you sound, just purchase something like Undermountain and convert what you need.
#6
meeker7
Jun 10, 2010 14:49:43
This is the Homebrew Forum...

The tower is not a campaign, but I did not make it clear that the tower itself is an ongoing tool for the adventurers to use. Each floor is a dungeon of its own, not ment to give any levels. Perioticly the adventurers will be able to return to their tower and flesh out a few floor betwean Campaign Chapters.

My knowlage of 4.0 is limited but I'm working on getting more familiar. So, if anyone has good knowlage of the game, it'ed be cool if I could get some ideas, or floor layouts. thanks!
#7
Johnathan_Vagabond
Jun 10, 2010 14:55:45 I'l confirm that this is indeed the homebrew forum (House rules & Homebrew). That said, you'll get a lot more input if you put some effort into constructing your tower. Asking someone to help with some of the work will get better results than asking someone to do all the work.
#8
ifritus
Jun 10, 2010 15:26:07
I suppose I could make a little contribution...

So Level 1 is non-hostile... what about a wee plot twist where your guys are heading to the tower for the first time, with the knowledge that the first level of this weird place is watched over by a band of highly trained guards and a wizard...

only to find out a band of "somethings" from the 2nd level have blown a hole through the steel reinforced door (that is constantly assaulted by "things" that want out....

and your guys have to work to make sure that level 1 stays non-hostile by saving the under seige guards.

Okay, lets see, a huge 30ft dwarven stone wall is around the land side perimiter of the tower, and a steel reinforced gate with guards is on one side.


Then 10 ft in, there is a 20ft wide, 60ft deep moat of acid, with a 15 ft drawbridge.

and thus, looms the tower, a 10x15 ft steel gate is the entrance
====

and thats your surroundings, to my version of the 1st level.

inside we can have a main hall type thing, two guard rooms to each side, and a door on the far side, to a roo, with a door on each side, the left hand side leading to the hallway for UP and the rght hand side leads to DOWN

The left hand side door, gives way to stairs that get you 10 feet higher, along a 15 ft hall to a right right hand turn of 10 feet, where it is
-----v
        i
<----i

kind of stairs to the platform with the steel door for the second level.
the right hand door gives way the reverse, 10 feet lower to a 15 ft hall turning level with those
stairs going downwards.

A crappy typing of the main hall

each [ is a square in length as is _ with I being the gate/doors

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[          |               |         ]
[          |               |         I
[          |               |         ]
[__    _|               |         ]
I                          |       ]
I                          I         ]
I                          |        ]
I__    _                |         ]
[          |               |         ]
[          |              |         ]
[          |               |         I
[_ _ _ | _ _ _ _ _| _ _ _]

This help much??

there is your starting place for the tower

I wonder if this is actually any good, as I only do Hb classes.
#9
urpriest
Jun 10, 2010 19:24:11 Meeker, Homebrew is about designing your own rules elements. Unless you're proposing something beyond normal monsters/traps/walls/etc. for your tower, it's not homebrew, it's just a dungeon (if a humongous one).
#10
meeker7
Jun 11, 2010 1:20:52 Awsome Ifritus!

I hadent even thought about the entrance having its own hazards like the acid mote! I'm working on sketching the thing out, will post a pic asap. I also like the inital idea of having the doors already blown open. I'll compile these elements with what I have. I think we're off to a good start here.

Please keep in mind that I would like this tower to be ultra custom, as manny strange traps, and monsters as you can think of, remember, the ones who built this thing are madmen who once traversed the furthest reaches of unknown planes of existance!
#11
ifritus
Jun 12, 2010 11:33:08 I had'nt really aligned the outer tower defesnes as PC hazards, more wihin the lines as the final precaution to keep the things in it, IN.. oh aye, maybe put like a magical electric barrier up the wall to the tip of the tower, in case anything that flies wants out.

I was ofc undr the impression that the PCs would be "allies" of the guards defending the first floor, or that you originally had it deserted and with magically sealed doors.
a

anyhow..

How about splitting the floors into themes within themes, such that the 3 madmen who build it, gave their own personal touches to certain floors.

Say, Floors 1-15 are 1 guy, 16-30 are another, with floors 1- (-10) are the third

Have you got names for them? "classes"/"races" ?

possibly the guy who overseered the building of floors 2-15 is a maze/trap fanatic, who employs powerful traps and a confusing maze to hinder the PCs where they can be overrun by enemies that they could nornally trample with one hand behind their backs!

So, posssibly it could be like this for the first guy:

FLOORS 2-15
Enemy Level on Selected Floor
Floors 2-5: FLOOR LEVEL -1
Floors 6-10: FLOOR LEVEL -2
Floors 11-15: FLOOR LEVEL -2
(the actual level of the enemies, and whether or not they are of standard numbers, more than usual or less)

Trap Level on Selected Floor
Floors 2-5: FLOOR LEVEL +2
Floors 6-10: FLOOR LEVEL +4
Floors 11-15: FLOOR LEVEL +5
(simply the level of the traps the PCs will be victims of)

Passage Traversion Difficulty on Selected Floor:
Floors 2-5: Easy (some difficult terrain and a few dead ends, not a lot of sidepassages)
Floors 6-10: Medium (lots of difficult terrain, more numerous dead ends, and some interconnecting passages to confuse Pc's)
Floord 11-15: Hard (just go nuts with mazes, terrain dangers and stuff)
(basically how hard it is to walk from point A to B in the sense of how many passages there are)

And then, you theme say each section with different monsters that are good with traps, or synergise with what traps are where, and try ambush tactics to punish the PC's for going into a dead end: the go to the dead end, trigger a nice trap or two/three to severly hamper their combat abilities and then fling waiting monsters at em.

or attack them for visiting an already discovered passage where they've backtracked, unknowingly activiting a few traps that alert som monsters to their presence.

I suppose the descent might be more fun to create.

maybe have that the third guy liked the dark (darkvision? vampire?) and thus doesnt give any light whatsoever.

10 levels of trekking through the dark with nothing but an everburning torch or magical fire could be very unnerving.

hope that helps more.
#12
ifritus
Jun 13, 2010 13:27:04 Haha, for mazes, how about the floor layouts are the letters of the alphabet, doesnt need to be english(common) could be the dwarven/elven alphabets (can you acutally get them? where?)
#13
Namagem
Jun 15, 2010 19:31:41
Haha, for mazes, how about the floor layouts are the letters of the alphabet, doesnt need to be english(common) could be the dwarven/elven alphabets (can you acutally get them? where?)

Dwarven and elven scripts are in either the PHB or the DMG, if I remember right.
#14
Jharii
Jun 16, 2010 2:50:37
Really?
Shouldn't this be in the Homebrew section, or maybe even the What's a DM to Do section?

He has 6 posts. I would not expect him to know every nuance of where to post what. Maybe show a little tolerance?

Maybe someone can help out with the title on this... but there was a Ruins of Greyhawk or Castle Greyhawk module out some 15-20 years ago, I believe. It may be en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyhawk_Ruins, but I could have sworn that the cover was white. It contained tons of perforated maps of all of the levels of Greyhawk along with its contents.

Anyhow, if you can track that down, it may be exactly what you need. Also, I would imagine there is just tons of material readily available across the web rather than requesting a 30-level tower to be created on your request. I mean, you're not simply asking for assistance on an encounter or two.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 meeker7 Jun 09, 2010 19:14:20	So I'm building a tower IG for my characters, or I guess someone is building it! Thats the Challenge anyway. I need someone who loves building dungeons and D&D structures, who also has a great knowledge of the game to create for me a 30 story tower! 20 above ground and 10 under. This tower needs to have blocked passages and relics guarded by terrible nasty. The Tower will be used over the course of a character's full career so floor 1 should be non-hostal, second floor with 2nd level traps, mazes and monsters, and so on. Dissensionshould be much harder, starting at around level 21 difficulty. A Very Breif History: Three mad men built the tower who were all interested in traversing the planes, collecting oddities, and keeping deadly monsters as living trophies. Thats it! Thats all you get for back story! Keep in mind that my game takes place in a no boundaries, classic, generic D&D realm. GOOD LUCK!!!
#2 Hocus-Smokus Jun 09, 2010 19:25:23	Really? Shouldn't this be in the Homebrew section, or maybe even the What's a DM to Do section?
#3 Duke5150 Jun 09, 2010 20:03:32	Dude, seriously, a 30 story tower could be an entire adventure. Best of luck. Try whats a player/DM to do or another forum. This will take time to do and my schedule is more than full.
#4 m4kitsu Jun 10, 2010 3:12:41	Yeah... wrong forum, and this sounds like you trying to get other people to do your work for you, so you can be lazy. Lazy DMs do not, in my findings, remain DMs for long. Reported for review by ORCs for potential move to Homebrew.
#5 Bandikoot Jun 10, 2010 13:17:09	Did I miss something about homebrew that M4kitsu and Hocus-Smokus know about Homebrew and I don't? I'd think a 1-30 level tower would be under campaign and adventure workshop as it is both your campaign and your adventure. Anyway... as to the OP, if you are really feeling as lazy as you sound, just purchase something like Undermountain and convert what you need.
#6 meeker7 Jun 10, 2010 14:49:43	This is the Homebrew Forum... The tower is not a campaign, but I did not make it clear that the tower itself is an ongoing tool for the adventurers to use. Each floor is a dungeon of its own, not ment to give any levels. Perioticly the adventurers will be able to return to their tower and flesh out a few floor betwean Campaign Chapters. My knowlage of 4.0 is limited but I'm working on getting more familiar. So, if anyone has good knowlage of the game, it'ed be cool if I could get some ideas, or floor layouts. thanks!
#7 Johnathan_Vagabond Jun 10, 2010 14:55:45	I'l confirm that this is indeed the homebrew forum (House rules & Homebrew). That said, you'll get a lot more input if you put some effort into constructing your tower. Asking someone to help with some of the work will get better results than asking someone to do all the work.
#8 ifritus Jun 10, 2010 15:26:07	I suppose I could make a little contribution... So Level 1 is non-hostile... what about a wee plot twist where your guys are heading to the tower for the first time, with the knowledge that the first level of this weird place is watched over by a band of highly trained guards and a wizard... only to find out a band of "somethings" from the 2nd level have blown a hole through the steel reinforced door (that is constantly assaulted by "things" that want out.... and your guys have to work to make sure that level 1 stays non-hostile by saving the under seige guards. Okay, lets see, a huge 30ft dwarven stone wall is around the land side perimiter of the tower, and a steel reinforced gate with guards is on one side. Then 10 ft in, there is a 20ft wide, 60ft deep moat of acid, with a 15 ft drawbridge. and thus, looms the tower, a 10x15 ft steel gate is the entrance ==== and thats your surroundings, to my version of the 1st level. inside we can have a main hall type thing, two guard rooms to each side, and a door on the far side, to a roo, with a door on each side, the left hand side leading to the hallway for UP and the rght hand side leads to DOWN The left hand side door, gives way to stairs that get you 10 feet higher, along a 15 ft hall to a right right hand turn of 10 feet, where it is -----v i <----i kind of stairs to the platform with the steel door for the second level. the right hand door gives way the reverse, 10 feet lower to a 15 ft hall turning level with those stairs going downwards. A crappy typing of the main hall each [ is a square in length as is _ with I being the gate/doors _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [ \| \| ] [ \| \| I [ \| \| ] [__ _\| \| ] I \| ] I I ] I \| ] I__ _ \| ] [ \| \| ] [ \| \| ] [ \| \| I [_ _ _ \| _ _ _ _ _\| _ _ _] This help much?? there is your starting place for the tower I wonder if this is actually any good, as I only do Hb classes.
#9 urpriest Jun 10, 2010 19:24:11	Meeker, Homebrew is about designing your own rules elements. Unless you're proposing something beyond normal monsters/traps/walls/etc. for your tower, it's not homebrew, it's just a dungeon (if a humongous one).
#10 meeker7 Jun 11, 2010 1:20:52	Awsome Ifritus! I hadent even thought about the entrance having its own hazards like the acid mote! I'm working on sketching the thing out, will post a pic asap. I also like the inital idea of having the doors already blown open. I'll compile these elements with what I have. I think we're off to a good start here. Please keep in mind that I would like this tower to be ultra custom, as manny strange traps, and monsters as you can think of, remember, the ones who built this thing are madmen who once traversed the furthest reaches of unknown planes of existance!
#11 ifritus Jun 12, 2010 11:33:08	I had'nt really aligned the outer tower defesnes as PC hazards, more wihin the lines as the final precaution to keep the things in it, IN.. oh aye, maybe put like a magical electric barrier up the wall to the tip of the tower, in case anything that flies wants out. I was ofc undr the impression that the PCs would be "allies" of the guards defending the first floor, or that you originally had it deserted and with magically sealed doors. a anyhow.. How about splitting the floors into themes within themes, such that the 3 madmen who build it, gave their own personal touches to certain floors. Say, Floors 1-15 are 1 guy, 16-30 are another, with floors 1- (-10) are the third Have you got names for them? "classes"/"races" ? possibly the guy who overseered the building of floors 2-15 is a maze/trap fanatic, who employs powerful traps and a confusing maze to hinder the PCs where they can be overrun by enemies that they could nornally trample with one hand behind their backs! So, posssibly it could be like this for the first guy: FLOORS 2-15 Enemy Level on Selected Floor Floors 2-5: FLOOR LEVEL -1 Floors 6-10: FLOOR LEVEL -2 Floors 11-15: FLOOR LEVEL -2 (the actual level of the enemies, and whether or not they are of standard numbers, more than usual or less) Trap Level on Selected Floor Floors 2-5: FLOOR LEVEL +2 Floors 6-10: FLOOR LEVEL +4 Floors 11-15: FLOOR LEVEL +5 (simply the level of the traps the PCs will be victims of) Passage Traversion Difficulty on Selected Floor: Floors 2-5: Easy (some difficult terrain and a few dead ends, not a lot of sidepassages) Floors 6-10: Medium (lots of difficult terrain, more numerous dead ends, and some interconnecting passages to confuse Pc's) Floord 11-15: Hard (just go nuts with mazes, terrain dangers and stuff) (basically how hard it is to walk from point A to B in the sense of how many passages there are) And then, you theme say each section with different monsters that are good with traps, or synergise with what traps are where, and try ambush tactics to punish the PC's for going into a dead end: the go to the dead end, trigger a nice trap or two/three to severly hamper their combat abilities and then fling waiting monsters at em. or attack them for visiting an already discovered passage where they've backtracked, unknowingly activiting a few traps that alert som monsters to their presence. I suppose the descent might be more fun to create. maybe have that the third guy liked the dark (darkvision? vampire?) and thus doesnt give any light whatsoever. 10 levels of trekking through the dark with nothing but an everburning torch or magical fire could be very unnerving. hope that helps more.
#12 ifritus Jun 13, 2010 13:27:04	Haha, for mazes, how about the floor layouts are the letters of the alphabet, doesnt need to be english(common) could be the dwarven/elven alphabets (can you acutally get them? where?)
#13 Namagem Jun 15, 2010 19:31:41	Haha, for mazes, how about the floor layouts are the letters of the alphabet, doesnt need to be english(common) could be the dwarven/elven alphabets (can you acutally get them? where?) Dwarven and elven scripts are in either the PHB or the DMG, if I remember right.
#14 Jharii Jun 16, 2010 2:50:37	Really? Shouldn't this be in the Homebrew section, or maybe even the What's a DM to Do section? He has 6 posts. I would not expect him to know every nuance of where to post what. Maybe show a little tolerance? Maybe someone can help out with the title on this... but there was a Ruins of Greyhawk or Castle Greyhawk module out some 15-20 years ago, I believe. It may be en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyhawk_Ruins, but I could have sworn that the cover was white. It contained tons of perforated maps of all of the levels of Greyhawk along with its contents. Anyhow, if you can track that down, it may be exactly what you need. Also, I would imagine there is just tons of material readily available across the web rather than requesting a 30-level tower to be created on your request. I mean, you're not simply asking for assistance on an encounter or two.