A Root Maze

[Crothian]

I'm looking for any published adventure I can make use of. The scenario involves the players characters exploring the root maze of a gigantic tree. I've been looking through adventures across all sorts of game lines and decades of RPGing but I'm not finding anything to use. I like to use published materials for aids like maps and doing some of the heavy lifting in creating a scenario instead of just coming up with something completely from scratch.

Anyone know of an adventure that might work?

 

[Nifft]

What's a "root maze"?

Is it a maze of hollow, rotted roots? If so, use lava tube mazes: they should be roughly similar.

Is it a maze of passages dug between the roots? If so, perhaps use a swamp map like a black dragon's lair.

Is it a maze of "passages" between roots which stick up above the ground, like a hedge maze? If so, use a hedge maze.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Crothian]

Root maze can be anything I guess. It was just called a Root Maze to the PCs.

 

[howandwhy99]

Root maze can be anything I guess. It was just called a Root Maze to the PCs.

Then I'd steal something else, something good, and make it into wood root walls. The gnomish door lock maze in Christopher Perkin's low level Shackled City adventure would work nicely.

The difficulty comes in with simulation. Do you really want a series of tunnels that follow how a tree in the real world spreads its' roots? It would be boring IMO, no connections, just divisions. Like a genealogical chart.

That's why the gnome adventure above popped to mind. You could do the boring replication tree root tunnels, but add in lots of dirt dug tunnels to allow further progression. Think: dead end roots are rooms and it shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[Flatus Maximus]

"The Font of Glee" from Knockspell #3, but you'll have to drarwwwer your own map.

 

[Crothian]

What is knockspell #3?

 

[Flatus Maximus]

Knockspell is a magazine associated with some of the retro-clones, especially Swords & Wizardry.

Mythmere Games

 

[Chrono22]

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/4033/rootmaze.jpg

You can use that if you want. It's designed so that it can't be solved by following the left wall- doing so just makes you go in circles. Throw in a half-dozen random-exit portals throughout, and you have yourself a pretty confusing maze.
I didn't supply a tree in the center. I figure you can use your imagination for that one.

 

[Wycen]

This starts off looking very much like what you want, however the actual map is more dungeon-conventional. Maybe by changing the right angles/perpendicular walls it can become part of your root maze: http://www.goodman-games.com/downloads/SeedOfEvil.pdf

 

[TarionzCousin]

Does this have anything to do with Yggdrasil, the Norse World Tree? Even if it doesn't, perhaps you might find something useful along those lines.