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Ptolus: Midwood - "The Dark Waters of Moss Pond"
- Thread starter Whizbang Dustyboots
- Start date
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Sorry for the delay. Between Blizzcon, a new baby and filling in for my boss this week, sleep is hard to come by, much less time to write up a story hour chapter. I hope to return to a normal schedule next week.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
I don't recall if I linked this previously in the thread, but Maidensbridge Abbey is mostly based on this map of Kirkstall Abbey in England. Note that some structures are in ruins because endless empty rooms are even more tedious in pbp games, which are slow enough as-is.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Those of you waiting for more explicit ties between Midwood and Ptolus, here you go. Who actually sent the book will become clear shortly.
When I was working on Maidensbridge Abbey, I knew I wanted to make it a classic haunted house, so an Amityville Horror-style "hidden room" was a must. While a lot of the flavor of the room is taken from City by the Spire and Chaositech, the basic idea is pure 1970s horror film. (Although I imagine the hidden room trope goes back before that -- it feels like a gothic horror bit.)
When I was working on Maidensbridge Abbey, I knew I wanted to make it a classic haunted house, so an Amityville Horror-style "hidden room" was a must. While a lot of the flavor of the room is taken from City by the Spire and Chaositech, the basic idea is pure 1970s horror film. (Although I imagine the hidden room trope goes back before that -- it feels like a gothic horror bit.)
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Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Sorry for the delay. Work was cuh-razy this week. (City councilman got indicted, with all sorts of ensuing fallout.)
As for the revelation of who sent the Book of Ascendant Night to the doomed Sisters of the New Dawn, the name of the sender should be familiar to those of you who have read the Ptolus comic book series.
My theory is that, a century ago, he wasn't necessarily the head of House Vladaam (although he may have been), and saw an opportunity to chip away at the power of the good guys. For a Palastani nobleman, giving a book to a courier and sending it to the other end of the Tarsisian Empire isn't particularly difficult. By 721 IA, he's probably forgotten it ever happened. And besides, what could anyone do, if they found out?
At this point, the player characters haven't headed to Ptolus -- they have their hands full with the events in Midwood -- but if there's a sequel campaign, it will take them that direction, for various reasons, and I expect that Emmerson and company won't be quick to forget the name Vladaam.
As for the revelation of who sent the Book of Ascendant Night to the doomed Sisters of the New Dawn, the name of the sender should be familiar to those of you who have read the Ptolus comic book series.
My theory is that, a century ago, he wasn't necessarily the head of House Vladaam (although he may have been), and saw an opportunity to chip away at the power of the good guys. For a Palastani nobleman, giving a book to a courier and sending it to the other end of the Tarsisian Empire isn't particularly difficult. By 721 IA, he's probably forgotten it ever happened. And besides, what could anyone do, if they found out?
At this point, the player characters haven't headed to Ptolus -- they have their hands full with the events in Midwood -- but if there's a sequel campaign, it will take them that direction, for various reasons, and I expect that Emmerson and company won't be quick to forget the name Vladaam.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
One of the major pleasures of this campaign for me has been to see how a really intense roleplayer like Gnome Quixote, Bufer's player, sinks his teeth into the world of the Wit's End gnomes and comes up with elements that flesh out what, historically, has been a fringe race in D&D. Especially fun are all the religious elements, like prayers, psalms and even just the mentions of holy books of Garl Glittergold, like the Pseudonomicon.
When I later got the chance to play a gnome illusionist/bard/paragon in a Ptolus campaign, I was inspired to try and step up the same way by his example. My contribution to Gnomish religious works, Garl's Letters to the Quickling, will show up in the Tenth Precinct story hour at some point. My big difference is that I focus on the all-the-world's-an-illusion aspect of Garl's faith, while Gnome Quixote focuses more on the humor aspects.
When I later got the chance to play a gnome illusionist/bard/paragon in a Ptolus campaign, I was inspired to try and step up the same way by his example. My contribution to Gnomish religious works, Garl's Letters to the Quickling, will show up in the Tenth Precinct story hour at some point. My big difference is that I focus on the all-the-world's-an-illusion aspect of Garl's faith, while Gnome Quixote focuses more on the humor aspects.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
The abbess is a modified allip, which I've never used before now. The art for the allip really turns me off -- I'm not sure what the heck it's supposed to be, so I came up with my own description of her. Honestly, if it were me, I'd stick allips, spectres, wraiths and other incorporeal undead under a single "ghost" category in the Monster Manual and just use whatever description is appropriate.
I also modified her stats, some, since I don't love how allips work out of the box: Instead of draining 1d4 points of Wisdom per hit, she does 1d6 points of Wisdom damage instead. It's a subtle change, but given that Emmerson is the highest level cleric in Maidensbridge, it feels out of whack to me to throw a CR 3 creature at a group that then requires much higher level help to recover from.
I also modified her stats, some, since I don't love how allips work out of the box: Instead of draining 1d4 points of Wisdom per hit, she does 1d6 points of Wisdom damage instead. It's a subtle change, but given that Emmerson is the highest level cleric in Maidensbridge, it feels out of whack to me to throw a CR 3 creature at a group that then requires much higher level help to recover from.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Although the Book of Ascendant Night is not chaositech, it functions in a similar way if read, dealing Wisdom damage. The trick of using the hallow spell's tongues effect to read Westron aloud and have everyone understand it is not one I'm entirely comfortable with. When magic changes with 4E (and a corresponding world-changing event in Praemal, as spelled out in the Night of Dissolution adventure, occurs), I think I'll disallow it in future.
And if you own the Big Book, you see that the Book of Ascendant Night is a factual account of the creation of the world, albeit from a very particular point of view. Fortunately, it just sounds like the paranoid ravings of a madman, like all really accurate cosmological discussions tend to sound.
And if you own the Big Book, you see that the Book of Ascendant Night is a factual account of the creation of the world, albeit from a very particular point of view. Fortunately, it just sounds like the paranoid ravings of a madman, like all really accurate cosmological discussions tend to sound.
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