Here are some details on the Lost City of D'Abo, setting for our next 5-6 sessions of DF.
Background
The Lost City of D'Abo isn't "lost" in the "Where is it?" sense but in the "We don't have it anymore" sense. It was once the secure capitol of a mid-sized southern theocratic state, before a disaster struck. Those who should have known better convinced themselves they were beyond failure, and tried and failed to do something epic but foolish. Those who survived the disaster fled.
In the centuries that have passed since, the locals have broken up into small clans. They use the "Lost City" as a "Trial by Ordeal" or to prove right of rule in cases of succession, or just as a trip to really impress their friends. Not all make it back. Those that do report that all sorts of unpleasant animals, monsters, and man-like creatures live there.
Legends claim the last princess of the city, Princess Aivilo, didn't die but still lives in some fashion in the city. Others claim she's gone but can be called back to save the city.
Legends also claim there are two golden bells of "inestimable worth" in the city, along with treasures left behind when the population fled.
Game Details
That's the background so far (well, I have a lot more, chunked up into actionable rumors!)
Setting - Looks like "jungle" and "woodlands" are tied, and I'm the deciding vote if there is a tie. As much as I'd love to re-purpose the map I have to be a "cold mist-shrouded woods" from "hot mist-shrouded jungle," the latter is easier than the former.
I told the players "Jungle" meant heavy armor is going to mean much slower travel and more FP loss to heat, but equally enemies are less likely to be armored. "Woodlands" means when it gets cold here it gets cold in game, and they'll need blankets, bedrolls, tents, etc. to stay warm . . . and both they and the bad guys will have more DR from armor and winter clothes. Basically it's dire apes and blowguns and loincloths or trolls and crossbows and scale armor. Whichever.
If it changes, just swap in "dark forest" for "jungle" and I'll set this in the woody, tangled forests near the Cold Fens. Getting home if they stay too long will be easier (they can walk) but more dangerous (many more trolls.)
Caravan - the PCs arrive as part of a semi-sprawling caravan of pilgrims heading to a shrine off to the west. This is part of a once-every-three-years trip to the site of the Third Martyrdom of Saint-in-Waiting Buyya Duad, a truly obscure eventually-to-be-sainted holy man of the Good God. The site is only visited once every three years - pilgrims visit the other two matyrdom sites on the other years. This year is the 100th anniversary of the Third Martyrdom, so a large pilgrimage has been organize to make the dangerous journey down the jungle-choked River Dracon and then overland to the site.
Town will be a temporary trading camp set up by the locals to interact with the traders and pilgrims from the big caravan. A small base camp is set up, complete with a ramshackle palm-frond topped bar, a tinker's, a local wizard who can teach any spells (he's got Teaching and Wild Talent!) and recharge power items and brew up Paut and Minor Healing potions and do some minor healing (Cleric lens) etc. He's greedy, though, so spells cost $80/each! Locals will come and go, providing rumors.
Jungle Love - It will be a 3-day trip to the city across the jungle, assuming the players leave at dawn and aren't too heavily encumbered. If they are, it'll take more days to get there. The jungle will be dangerous but at least for the first trip they'll get guided to the city so getting lost will be less of an issue. The wilderness is basically profitless encounters, although there will be some little benefits they can pick up if they look for them.
Showing the Map - once the players get to the city itself, I have a player handout map for them. No time wasted mapping!
Time Limit - the main body of pilgrims will come back in a couple months, and at the end of session 5 the last of them will leave for the east and then north. The players can stay as late as session 6, but town will have dropped into "rest place only" and "local services only" and they'll need to make a lot of rolls to cut across the dangerous wilderness to catch up with the tail end of the caravan. Otherwise, they'll literally miss the boat and have to stay in the area.
Target-Rich Environment - the Lost City is a target-rich environment. There is much more than can be done than time to do it. That's on purpose so the players don't get stuck in a "let's not play until everyone is here because we need them all for that one thing left" situation. There is always going to be something to do.
Active Environment - there is a fair amount going on in the area. The players can camp out and rest and all of that within the city if they want, but there will be risks (i.e. wandering monsters, active retaliation, hungry critters) to doing so.
I'm hoping the target-rich environment plus the time limit means the players push a little harder to get loot, avoid game-session devouring debate, and try to resolve things quickly. The active environment should push them to keep on their toes. I'll happily fritter away sessions resolving fights with wandering monsters - it's cutting out looting time.
It also means I'll have a only partly-looted partly-interacted with area the players can come back to in the future, either with more starting characters or with their experienced vets to finish some puzzle they only figure out a year from now.
Seems like "Yet Another Party of Adventurers!" might be a common encounter type.
ReplyDeleteOr guys on Trial By Ordeal, or locals trying to impress their friends, etc.
DeleteYes, it's not a howling wilderness empty of other delvers. :)
"Yet another party of adventurers" sounds like a great source of useful supplies.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds good to me!
DeleteI believe that all the stuff you are doing to keep the PCS adventuring instead of debating what to do and also when the PCs do the slow chipping away of encounters instead of engaging in full combat is one reason why Ravenloft style villains were made. The Ravenloft villains were not waiting in a room for the PCs to attack, instead once they learned about the PCs they would attack them then retreat and make better plans and attack again. The Ravenloft villains would get stronger and stronger if the PCs waited so it was better for the PCs to attack when possible and try to keep the villain from getting stronger. The fact that the town is a safe zone in DF means that the PCs can always regroup, get new weapons and then return to attack again. Ravenloft villains would follow the PCs back to the town and likely turn the people there into undead servants that would create more problems for the PCs.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, town is safe because if it's not, people will focus on town, not the dungeon and the monsters. Also, it would mean all characters would always be active in the game, so we couldn't play on a "whoever shows up basis" because characters would be permanent parts of the game. Those who show up would need to run the PCs for those who didn't. We did that for 10+ years and for several campaigns before that. It's nice but not what we want right now.
DeleteAlso, my monsters are quite reactive and active. That they don't strike in town is irrelevant - they get stronger as sessions pass (the orcs in Felltower are a classic example), they learn from their mistakes and the players mistakes (the lizardmen did that), they stage ambushes and attacks and raids if the players stay static or leave themselves open. If you think the monsters in my game haven't been making life bad for the PCs when the PCs attack them and leave them alive and able to retaliate, you just haven't looked closely enough at my game!
IIRC you've never said that the monsters won't attack the town, just that it's a safe zone. With the Dragon if the PCs hadn't fought and killed it then there was the possibility it might have done a fly by of the town while they weren't there (and they would have had to deal with the consequences).
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DeleteOk I understand your point. I just think that if a town was next to a dungeon the locals might not be too keen on delvers stirring up trouble and they may be suspicious of the PCs. The dungeon denizens may also try to intimidate the shops from selling magic items to PCs or having them recharge their power items. Maybe there would be no problems at first but after time the people in the town may know what the PCs are up to and not like it. Maybe they will not sell them magic items anymore or worse sell them defective or cursed magic items if they are being threatened from the dungeon denizens. I think that a town next to a dungeon would likely have some interaction between the two.
DeleteAnother thing is that if the town is not safe then PCs might feel it is better to get their magic items from the dungeon rather than to get them from a town magic shop. That might put more emphasis on delving rather than getting magic items from the town magic shop. Just put more healing potion treasure in the dungeon. Maybe monsters stock pile these items because they are always fighting and need to be healed.
DeleteMaybe there could be a lot of gear that dead delvers had but is now guarded by monsters in the dungeon. Maybe going to the dungeon may be a better way to find supplies than going to the town. If it is far more profitable to go to the dungeon then they will risk their safety and delve more but if it is only marginally more profitable to go to the dungeon than to go to the town shop then they will seek safety and be careful. Giving the PCs more reward for exploring and delving might be the best way to keep them delving.
DeleteYou're reading way too much into town-dungeon interactions, really. My town is about providing a place to buy and sell stuff, store stuff you want to own but not carry on delves, learn things, get healing, and pick up rumors. Basically. It's not really anything beyond an excuse for all of that.
DeleteAnd Unachimba said above, town is "safe" not "invulnerable." The town can change (for the better when PCs spend money there, for the worse if they stir up bad trouble.) But it just means the PCs don't lose their saved cash (so we don't spend hours discussing banks, where it's buried, etc. etc.) or have to go into detail on how they secure their stuff at the inn so it doesn't get pilfered, etc. and they don't die even if orcs ravage the town during the week off.
The PCs already get all of their rewards in the dungeon. That they can buy magic items in town for steep costs and buy potions and alchemist's fire and all of that isn't a problem in the game - it's a reason to go get more money. Re-jiggering the XP awards to change what nets your what XP should not be read as me saying, "My players don't want to adventure." They do - and the stack of dead PCs and the sheer longevity of the game (and its players) speaks to that. It's just that we're looking at how they earn XP so they are more driven to the things we want done, and less concerned about the costs of failure. Saying they can't buy magic items anymore would potentially make them more cautious, because the money they loot isn't as worthwhile. They'd be magic item driven, which is something I experienced in AD&D for all the "you needed money, not killing" old school charm. Rewarding XP for loot at that point would be saying, "Get get money anyway, and I'll reward you, even though it's not what you really want." I'd rather have it be the reward and the goal.
How tough will it be to come back without a caravan?
ReplyDeleteIf they push a 6th session?
DeleteMaybe a week or so of Survival checks and encounter rolls. If they make enough of them (don't get lost, don't get slowed down), they can catch up and catch a ship out of there.
After that?
A couple weeks worth of Survival checks and encounter rolls, and then lots and lots and lots of waiting. Like 6 + 1d months or so.
"a local wizard who can teach any spells (he's got Teaching and Wild Talent!) "
ReplyDeleteThis made me smile more than it probably should have.
Princess Aivilo of the lost city of D'Abo, eh? Love it.
ReplyDeleteFantastic! =)
DeleteI love everything about this. Can't wait to ring the bells.
ReplyDeleteand spend all my money on healing potions and Jungle Juice...
I already bought war paint.
Those bells MUST be found.
DeleteThey're on the small side but very well made.
DeleteI sense a race to be first to ring them. You can't ring a bell the first time, a second time. :)
I kept hearing "Bombaata!" as I read this.
ReplyDeleteWe may or may not have a Savage Warrior berserker with a spiky crushing weapon. :)
Delete