Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 woodstock142 Feb 05, 2012 23:30:48	Alright i wanna start out by sayin that i am an original 3rd edition player. i started out here and have stayed here over the last 8 yrs. I love the dynamics and the mechanics that go along with it. Its a long running tradition that the characters that my group make have their own personal quarters or town that they founder after 5th level. and with this comes the grusome task of producing the towns setup and clearin the land, this would usually take place during our off time when were not in our campiagn. But we first set up the plans for the town on graph paper and have a full out blue print and economic plan to gain an income. So thats where this idea came into play. Alright so i had an idea for a chess set with magical properties that lead to the creation of a kingdom. with my idea the group would come across the set in a campaign challenge at a tavern or a library. After beating the NPC/ Chess player in real life they would win the set. after closer investigation you find that a total of 13 pieces of the set have magic markings on them. these pieces being the King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Rook/Castle, and 4 Pawns. After a deep lore check they discover that the pieces were made as a last ditch haven for a dying kingdom that was ravaged by a contagious disease. These pieces were suppose to be a transportable version of their kingdoms most important establishments. The special properties of these pieces can only be realized with a extensive background throught the campaign. They hold the same ability as wonderous figurines like the portable tower x2 scale. Also able to meld into stone such as a mountain face for extra durability. Each piece is designated for a certain reason. Each of the Pawns when commanded becomes a standing guard tower 3 levels high with an inate ability when lined up correctly on a carved grid system within the first tower placed to build walls 2 levels high interconnected with the other remaining towers and other establishments. The Rook/Castle is the Nature tower 4 levels high that houses a herbology lab and observation room of 6 diffrent climate sets in order to study the plants in their home habitat. These rooms are magically created and kept for the sole purpose of observation and growth of plants, herbs and small trees. The Nature tower also houses the message via bird post and tactical flight/combat flight room for birds. Next is the knight which when commanded melds into the ground 2 levels down and only 1 level above ground level with a total of 4 levels. bottom level is the vault that houses all the the precious metals and minerals alond with a set of forging hammers made of mithrael, cold iron, and adamantium. Next level up is the furnace and forgery with every possible tool used for forging everything from horshshoes to full suites of armor. ground level is the shop with presentation cases and weapons racks for sale or trade of items forged. Top level is owners personal housing and living quarters with the only entrance to the vault below via a spiral staircase hidden from public eye. The Bishop transformes into the Arcane tower 4 levels high with an exstensive library of arcane history, biblographys and memoirs of past arcane casters. It also houses an alchemist fire stillery which produces quanitites from a flask up to a 5 gallon barrel. This is all done using every precaution though possible and magical barriers keeping the explosion from exiting a given area if something were to go wrong. topfloor of this tower is personal quarters for the owner of this establishment. The queen is the Divine tower 4 levels high with a full santuary built to hold over 2 hundred towns people. 1 level below ground level is the crypt for the towns clerics and paladines. 1 level above ground level is the divine hall where the wons divine leaders meet to discuss important matters. and the top floor of this tower is living quarters and divine libraries, it holds an exstensive showcase of all the known dieties for study. It holds 5 living quarters for the towns High Cleric, his apprentice, the High Paladine and his second in command and the towns best healer. Each room contains its own personal alter. next is the King its 5 levels high and 2 levels below ground keep. Its front gate is made of iron steel and re-inforced by magical protection. the very entrance is a great hall big enough to fit 1000 towns people. it houses 5 thrones at the very end of the great hall. One for each key person of the town. (King, High Cleric, High Wizard, Nature Protector, and the Head of the Watch "Military Advisor") It houses over 30 rooms, one of which is the towns vault with all the towns income. There is a spiral stair case leading from the bottom level up the 7 levels with each floor you go up from the very bottom there are 4 doors on each level up that must be opened by a a riddle specific for the four core abilities of each seperate character. Strength for the fighter, Arcane knowledge/spellcast for the Wizard, Divine knowledge/might for the Cleric, and dexeritity and reflexes for the ranger/Rogue. Each level of the staircase is set to a certain charcter level (DM's choice) and within the room contains item(s) for that set charcter class (DM's Choice) all the way to the top of the staircase. Also within the keep is fighter training quarters for the towns guard. And an archery range spanning some what of 250Ft. The great dining hall can house up to 50 quests. There are rooms for servants and an armory for over 200 men fully suited and enough for 300 archers. As you can see i have put quite a bit of thought into these pieces and have also though of a back story as to how these pieces actually came to be but that isn't ready for readers due to its lack of research and ending. Any feedback qould be much appreciated.
#2 cha-ika Feb 22, 2012 17:42:49	I think you have a good idea going here. It's interesting, well though out, and clever. Bravo on putting this together. I worry about the ability to abuse this but that's more of a DM issue than their actually being anything wrong.
#3 w00f Mar 06, 2012 11:43:56	You say that this was a last resort of a kingdom dying to plague. In that case, why did they just protect their buildings and (presumably) let all the people die (since if they were still alive they should have the pieces, right?) Something that might make this a bit more interesting is if the pieces didn't just make buildings spring up, but also had some of the kingdom's residents in them. Depending on how you want to play it, you could have the residents be sickly and still needing a cure to their disease (a quest for the PCs perhaps) or you could have them be slavering disease ridden lunatics, or even zombies or some other form of undead, as a result of the illness, forcing the PCs to clear out the structures of enemies before being able to use them (and giving them a nasty surprise if they don't think to explore the buildings after placing them).