Blank page syndrome. (A bit long)

[Yig]

Hello all,

I'm having a serious case of the blank page syndrome. Serious enough that it might scrap my campaign.

First a little background on what's going on.

This is for my CoC campaign set in 2002. The characters all work together for the University of London, in archaeology wing. The "team leader", the actual archaeologist PC, got a thing for Egypt so I decided to send them there first. Thier boss/Director of the arc wing, Mr White, is in reality a Cult Sorcerer (6th level) of a Nyarlathotep cult dedicated to his Black Pharaoh aspect. White told the PCs that he received information about a newly discovered tomb (more like a vault actually) in Egypt from one of his contact there (another cultist) and that he want them to be the first to go there and document everything they find and bring back anything they find (read: the cult need a Tome that was locked in there).

Long story short, the players went to Egypt, met the contact, packed their supplies into a truck and a jeep and are ready to go in the desert to search for the tomb/vault. This is where the session ended and my blank page started.

That's for the setting. Now for my problems. I know what will happen after they exit the tomb with the Tome.

I just don't know how to design said tomb. My first idea is to have a few small rooms wich contain some sort of puzzle. Each puzzle would give them some sort of they that they'll need to open the big door.

I'm stuck there. I borrowed GURPS Egypt from a friend but I wasn't inspired by it.

I'm asking for your help with this matter. If you could point me to a good source or if you have a few puzzle ideas that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Mark]

Some of these links might be a bit simplistic, but I think that they are worth anyone's time to review. Many will have floor plans or pictures of actual tombs upon which you can model your creation. You should find some info on the ancient traps devised to safeguard the treasures buried in these locations. Be sure to plunder the links section of each site to find even more information.

http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/articles/article_4.5b.html

http://www.royalty.nu/Africa/Egypt/

http://www.hierakonpolis.org/previous_expeditions/history.html

http://www.mcdonald.cam.ac.uk/Projects/Amarna/Model/Model2.htm

http://www.aande.com/class/admin/study_guide/archives/aetv_guide.0139.html

http://school.discovery.com/fall98/activities/buildatomb/

Perhaps some of the books mentioned here are at your local library-

http://www.sourceegypt.com/books.html

Hope that helps. Good luck!

 

[Yig]

Hi and thanks Mark.

This will be useful

 

[Mark]

Glad to hear it. I was worried that I "Over-Linkified" you when you didn't respond so quickly

 

[Morpheus]

CoC Egyptian 101

If you want some real good Egyptian flavor for CoC, try and get "The Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep". The Egyptian chapter has some good maps and you can use the adventure as some of the background for your modern-day campaign.

 

[Ashy]

Yig,

What is one of the "big secrets" that you want the party to learn? What if the small puzzles in each room are hints to a part of that "big secret" which will lead them to open the door. For instance, if the "big secret" was "the mummy in the tomb is not of this world", then maybe they learn the following words in each room (possibly by solving some hieroglyph word puzzle or something): "origin", "unliving", "parahoe", and "beyond"...

Alternatively, I would switch the puzzles up in each room. Maybe in one room they have the hieroglyph puzzle and in another room there is an engineering puzzle (the old door-closing-behind-you-and-you-have-to-counterbalance-the-falling-sand bit), maybe in one room there is a message carved in the bones of an undead construct that they must defeat. Only by killing the beast (and not totally destroying it) can they learn the message and the clue that it gives...

Stuff like that. Just some suggestions. Hope they help!

Edit: Also, check out the latest issue of National Geographic - it's cover story is "Death on the Nile" and has a good deal of juicy bits that you should be able to use - even some heiroglyph translations!

 

[Yig]

Hello,

If I didn't reply sooner Mark it's simply because I couldn't acces the site

I've heard a lot of good things about the Masks campaign from a few friends. I think I'll wait for the d20 version.

Now the big secret. The party will uncover either a stone tablet with hieroglyphs on it or maybe some papyrus pages (but I don't know how well those would survive) that contain a part of a summon spell. The cult already has one part. The party know that a strange text in hieroglyphs was recently stolen from a museum. I'll hope that they make the connection.

I will give them a uneventful desert travel beside the fact that they feel observed. When they'll come out from the tomb there will be a group of armed men waiting for them and asking them to hand over the tablet.

They should tape and photograph their findings in the tomb so they will have some clues even without the tablet.

Any idea what would be the DC to read hieroglyphs ?

Thanks !

 

[Mark]

Hello,

If I didn't reply sooner Mark it's simply because I couldn't acces the site

No problem. I was just joking to make light of how difficult it has been to access the site lately.

I've heard a lot of good things about the Masks campaign from a few friends. I think I'll wait for the d20 version.

Now the big secret. The party will uncover either a stone tablet with hieroglyphs on it or maybe some papyrus pages (but I don't know how well those would survive) -

Here's a link to a brief blurb on the condition of the Dead Seas Scrolls. You could do a www.Google.com search by Dead Sea Scrolls and condition to find much, much more.

http://www.centuryone.org/pdss.html

- that contain a part of a summon spell. The cult already has one part. The party know that a strange text in hieroglyphs was recently stolen from a museum. I'll hope that they make the connection.

Sounds like you are laying the groundwork well enough for them.

I will give them a uneventful desert travel beside the fact that they feel observed. When they'll come out from the tomb there will be a group of armed men waiting for them and asking them to hand over the tablet.

They should tape and photograph their findings in the tomb so they will have some clues even without the tablet.

Have you decided whether the original builders of the tomb wanted it and the summoning materials to be found by someone? If so, who and when?

Any idea what would be the DC to read hieroglyphs ?

Thanks !

You might want to use the Bardic Knowledge tables from the PH for something like that.

 

[Nifft]

Do the PCs have an archnemesis yet? Someone they fear? If so, let them be delayed in finding the tomb by an ambush / misinformation fed to their contact / sabotage of thier vehicles. Make them hate him and know that he's racing them to the tomb. Then let them find him dead in the tomb, killed by the...

Giant Mutant Scarab Beetles who were warped by the mutagenic waste of the decaying machinery left by the tomb builders to ensure its sanctity. There are no puzzles, no "backdoors" -- this is something men were not meant to know, and there ain't no man-sized door left conveniently open. The mutant beetles attack when they smell invaders and die in a spray of very foul, rotting, corrosive ooze. This corrosive ooze has, over the years, weakend the walls (and foundations) of the tomb which holds the tome. The players have to sneak by the beetles or kill them all -- and if they kill them all, the resultant ooze will quickly eat through enough of the tomb's foundation to cause a cave-in.

(If the PCs investigate the waste material, they find it's high in phosphates, sulphur and -- strangely enough -- very simple amino acids. HP Lovecraft Background Reasoning: life on Earth is the waste product of an alien culture. Of course, the waste also contains a retrovirus which slowly drives humans insane if they handle the stuff too much. Everything does, right?)

Once inside, the scale of the tomb is a challenge. It's not made for beings with hands -- all controls are made for either tenticles or inhumanly strong pincers, or are 8 feet off the floor, or require four arms, or display output conveniently in both ultraviolet AND infrared, or the screen has four layers of "runes", which are really rotating four-dimensional shapes which require some serious Int to figure out. (And, if stared at for too long, slowly drive humans insane. Of course.)

The book contains pages of similar rotating runes (which "rotate" when exposed to 'rotating angle' polarized light -- the pages are shiny and holographic otherwise). (HP Lovecraft Backstory Excuse: cuttlefish, the most Lovecraftish of all fish, see polarized light. They rotate their eyes to distinguish different polarities. Chtulhu might, too.)

Now the PCs get to escape from the collapsing tomb, perhaps through an old dry river cave system or decaying alien vent shaft. Filled with mutated snakes...

-- Nifft

 

[Yig]

They don't have a real archnemesis but Mr White, the guy who sent them there, told them to hurry to be the first. So a rival cult could do the sabotage and get wasted as you told .... Wow. That's a great idea Nifft. Consider it stolen

When I first tought about this adventure, I figured that they build the tomb so that they could lock up the knowledge within. I tought about the puzzles/traps because they might need to access it later but keep everyone else out.

I will check the link Mark.

I must say that DMing CoC is a bit harder than I expected.

Thanks again.

PS: Mark, you need to fix the review links on your page that point to EN cuz they don't work