Pbartender
First Post
So I'm going to use the old D&D 1E adventure, Dwellers of the Forbidden City as my inspiration for a Spirit of the Century adventure that I'm going to run over our group's Winter Holiday Hiatus from Dungeons & Dragons.
For those who aren't familiar, DotFC was one of the earlier outdoor exploration adventure modules. It consisted of a large rift valley filled with the ruins of an ancient hidden city, the whole of which is set in the midst of a deepest darkest jungle. It was one of the first appearances of Bullywugs, Mongrelmen, Yuan-ti and Aboleths, and even had the D&D version of the Black Lotus -- the Yellow Musk Creeper. With all these abominations, the whole adventure has a very Lovecraftian feel to it.
So, I'm going to plop the valley down into the middle of deepest darkest Africa round about the middle 1920s or so. The basic hook that I'm going to use is that a prominent horticulturalist when into the area looking for a near mythical plant and hasn't been heard from since. The players are to try to find out what happened to him.
There are several factions within the valley...
The Bugbear/Tasloi/Yuan-ti faction: This is my favorite one... I'm going to switch the Bugbears and Tasloi into intelligent gorillas and monkeys led by the infamous Gorilla Khan. And instead of Yuan-ti, I'm going to have a small contingent of Martians in slightly larger than man-sized robotic tripods a'la War of the Worlds. Gorilla Kahn simply wants to add the Forbidden City to his jungle empire, and has allied with the Martians for extra firepower. The Martains are looking for something they can use as a super-weapon to subjugate Earth -- but they haven't told Gorilla Kahn that. They're in control of some of the caves and tunnels that lead into the valley, and also a few patches of jungle within the valley.
The Mongrelmen/Elven Sorceress faction: The Elven Sorceress is now an African Princess who claims to be a direct descendant of the ancient leaders of the Forbidden City. She wants to rebuild it to its former glory. She's the one responsible for luring the horticulturist out here. She's gently keeping him under her thumb so she can use him to refine the pollen of the Black Lotus, which she's using to create an army of super-loyal zombie-ish minions that will take the place of the Mongrelmen. They're holed up mainly in the ruins of the Forbidden City within the valley.
The Bullywug faction: These are the descendants of the original dwellers of the Forbidden City. Of course, they've retrogressed Innsmouth fashion, and have a pet "god" living in their swamp. Also, the Black Lotus grows only in the swamp that they call home. Their home is in a swamp at the far end of the valley from the city ruins.
A Wizard and his Apprentice: The world renown horticulturalist came with his plucky research assistant looking for the Black Lotus, and the Princess gave him the means to do it. Now, he's effectively under house arrest, though he doesn't realize it, and he's unknowingly creating a powerful zombification agent from the Black Lotus that the princess is using to build a mindless, devoted army. His research assistant is growing suspicious and nervous, though. Their confinement is limited to the remains of a magnificent mansion and its walled grounds within the ruins of the city.
Assorted monstrous creatures: Dinosaurs! Crocodiles! Snakes! Leopards! Giant Spiders and Bugs!
Got all that? Good.
Now, before we get to Forbidden City, the Heroes will need to track its location down, following in the footsteps of the lost horticulturalist. Here's the scoop:
The Chicago branch of the Century Club in 1922 is widely known as the Chi-Town Irregulars for the diverse and unconventional skills that its handful of current members possess. Naturally, most of these local Centurions are employed by the Field Museum of Natural History as field agents, either regularly or as freelancers.
Earlier this year, the Field Museum funded an expedition to Africa led by the world renown British botanist and naturalist, Lord Percivilius L'enfant. The objective of the expedition was to find a specimen of the legendary flower Nymphaea nigra -- the black lotus. Months ago, however, the Museum lost all contact with the expedition. The Museum is asking you to travel to Egypt, from where Lord Percy made his last report, and track down what happened to the lost expedition, bringing them back safely with the black lotus, if possible.
For this first part, most of the action will take place in Cairo, the last known whereabouts of Lord Percy. It should focus on gathering the information needed to track down the location of the Forbidden City, where Lord Percy headed, somewhere in the deepest darkest jungles of the Belgian Congo.
However, for their own inscrutable purposes Gorilla Kahn and the Martian Warlord Koloth are also following in the footsteps of L'enfant, and hunting for the same information as our erstwhile heroes.
I need some good ideas for encounters that can happen in Cairo circa 1924 between the PCs, Warlord Koloth, and Gorillia Kahn and his minions (intelligent gorillas and monkeys).
I think the pertinent clue is going to be either a map or a book that was saved from the burning of the Library of Alexandria. The document is being held in the archives of Al-Azhar University in Cairo.
I want some social interaction here as the Heroes try to finagle their way into the University's archives by whatever means they deem best.
Koloth will only really be able to sneak around at night due to his Wellsian 10-foot-tall robotic tripod machine.
It'll be completely ludicrous, but I was thinking of having Gorilla Khan and his minions poorly disguised in people clothes as a visiting professor and his students.
"Ah yes, the Lemurian texts... I seem to recall Dr. Simius was asking about them just yesterday, although I don't think he found what he was looking for."
Still with me? Alright.
So what I'm looking for is more ideas for good, pulpy action, plot twists, scenery and so forth. I'm kind of brainstorming here, so anything you guys can throw out could be helpful.
For those who aren't familiar, DotFC was one of the earlier outdoor exploration adventure modules. It consisted of a large rift valley filled with the ruins of an ancient hidden city, the whole of which is set in the midst of a deepest darkest jungle. It was one of the first appearances of Bullywugs, Mongrelmen, Yuan-ti and Aboleths, and even had the D&D version of the Black Lotus -- the Yellow Musk Creeper. With all these abominations, the whole adventure has a very Lovecraftian feel to it.
So, I'm going to plop the valley down into the middle of deepest darkest Africa round about the middle 1920s or so. The basic hook that I'm going to use is that a prominent horticulturalist when into the area looking for a near mythical plant and hasn't been heard from since. The players are to try to find out what happened to him.
There are several factions within the valley...
The Bugbear/Tasloi/Yuan-ti faction: This is my favorite one... I'm going to switch the Bugbears and Tasloi into intelligent gorillas and monkeys led by the infamous Gorilla Khan. And instead of Yuan-ti, I'm going to have a small contingent of Martians in slightly larger than man-sized robotic tripods a'la War of the Worlds. Gorilla Kahn simply wants to add the Forbidden City to his jungle empire, and has allied with the Martians for extra firepower. The Martains are looking for something they can use as a super-weapon to subjugate Earth -- but they haven't told Gorilla Kahn that. They're in control of some of the caves and tunnels that lead into the valley, and also a few patches of jungle within the valley.
The Mongrelmen/Elven Sorceress faction: The Elven Sorceress is now an African Princess who claims to be a direct descendant of the ancient leaders of the Forbidden City. She wants to rebuild it to its former glory. She's the one responsible for luring the horticulturist out here. She's gently keeping him under her thumb so she can use him to refine the pollen of the Black Lotus, which she's using to create an army of super-loyal zombie-ish minions that will take the place of the Mongrelmen. They're holed up mainly in the ruins of the Forbidden City within the valley.
The Bullywug faction: These are the descendants of the original dwellers of the Forbidden City. Of course, they've retrogressed Innsmouth fashion, and have a pet "god" living in their swamp. Also, the Black Lotus grows only in the swamp that they call home. Their home is in a swamp at the far end of the valley from the city ruins.
A Wizard and his Apprentice: The world renown horticulturalist came with his plucky research assistant looking for the Black Lotus, and the Princess gave him the means to do it. Now, he's effectively under house arrest, though he doesn't realize it, and he's unknowingly creating a powerful zombification agent from the Black Lotus that the princess is using to build a mindless, devoted army. His research assistant is growing suspicious and nervous, though. Their confinement is limited to the remains of a magnificent mansion and its walled grounds within the ruins of the city.
Assorted monstrous creatures: Dinosaurs! Crocodiles! Snakes! Leopards! Giant Spiders and Bugs!
Got all that? Good.
Now, before we get to Forbidden City, the Heroes will need to track its location down, following in the footsteps of the lost horticulturalist. Here's the scoop:
The Chicago branch of the Century Club in 1922 is widely known as the Chi-Town Irregulars for the diverse and unconventional skills that its handful of current members possess. Naturally, most of these local Centurions are employed by the Field Museum of Natural History as field agents, either regularly or as freelancers.
Earlier this year, the Field Museum funded an expedition to Africa led by the world renown British botanist and naturalist, Lord Percivilius L'enfant. The objective of the expedition was to find a specimen of the legendary flower Nymphaea nigra -- the black lotus. Months ago, however, the Museum lost all contact with the expedition. The Museum is asking you to travel to Egypt, from where Lord Percy made his last report, and track down what happened to the lost expedition, bringing them back safely with the black lotus, if possible.
For this first part, most of the action will take place in Cairo, the last known whereabouts of Lord Percy. It should focus on gathering the information needed to track down the location of the Forbidden City, where Lord Percy headed, somewhere in the deepest darkest jungles of the Belgian Congo.
However, for their own inscrutable purposes Gorilla Kahn and the Martian Warlord Koloth are also following in the footsteps of L'enfant, and hunting for the same information as our erstwhile heroes.
I need some good ideas for encounters that can happen in Cairo circa 1924 between the PCs, Warlord Koloth, and Gorillia Kahn and his minions (intelligent gorillas and monkeys).
I think the pertinent clue is going to be either a map or a book that was saved from the burning of the Library of Alexandria. The document is being held in the archives of Al-Azhar University in Cairo.
I want some social interaction here as the Heroes try to finagle their way into the University's archives by whatever means they deem best.
Koloth will only really be able to sneak around at night due to his Wellsian 10-foot-tall robotic tripod machine.
It'll be completely ludicrous, but I was thinking of having Gorilla Khan and his minions poorly disguised in people clothes as a visiting professor and his students.
"Ah yes, the Lemurian texts... I seem to recall Dr. Simius was asking about them just yesterday, although I don't think he found what he was looking for."
Still with me? Alright.
So what I'm looking for is more ideas for good, pulpy action, plot twists, scenery and so forth. I'm kind of brainstorming here, so anything you guys can throw out could be helpful.
