Brainstorm - Help me populate a necropolis

Celebrim

Legend
So I've goofed a bit. I normally avoid megadungeons, and normally encourage others to do the same, but somehow I've managed to end up with a considerable megadungeon playing a role in my game.

It's not so much a mega-dungeon as it is a large number of '5 room dungeons' with a central access point, but it is certainly as big as any megadungeon I've ever done and larger than the ones I've attempted since high school. At one time I'd populate the whole thing myself and enjoy doing it, but this isn't high school anymore.

The basic idea is that this civilization used graveyards as necromantic nodes and buried things deliberately with the intent of encouraging necromantic energy to collect. So as a result, there is a massive buried necropolis teeming with undead and traps, currently sealed away from the outside world (so far as anyone knows).

In particular, they buried their kings in small complexes off of the larger chambers similar perhaps to the Valley of Kings in Egypt (if the whole valley were underground), and its the many burial chambers that would constitute the biggest obstacle to making the whole thing interesting to explore. What I would like to have is some simple outlines for these side chambers as if you were writing them up as 5 room dungeons. The idea is to have as many of these side chambers stated up as possible with interesting themes, puzzles, traps, and potentially RP as possible. Stating things up is less important than the ideas, but if anyone cares, my base system is a 3.0 variant and the EL range of the side chambers is expected to be between 4 and 12.

Of course, such mini-dungeons would be excellent drag and drop resources in most campaigns if they are done reasonably well.

Any help appreciated. I'll be working on the problem myself, and hopefully within a few weeks will post some of my ideas as payment for the helpers.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

NETHERMANCY WORKS
The ancients did not forsee the cyclical shadow rifts which would reach out from the necropolis like the breath of a dark god. Gathering the brightest priests, magi, and engineers, the ancients constructed an intricate system of "nether gates" to channel the shadow energy such that it completed a closed circuit encompassing the necropolis. While the civilization flourished, the nether gates were well maintained, but now that they've fallen into disrepair cyclical shadow rifts wash over the necropolis and surrounding land.

The PCs might explore this 5-room dungeon for a number of reasons:

* They need to access an area concealed or blocked by shadow magic
* A shadow rift forces them to seek shelter and a way to stop it
* With the right ritual they can use the nether gates to teleport into/out of/around the necropolis

Room 1: Entrance / Guardian
An ominous portal inscribed with runes flares to life a la Stargate when the PCs approach, and a vague face can be made out from within, a multitonal creepy voice speaking to PCs telepathically, demanding to be released from the "gates". Choose a monster the players know is over their heads, but the trick is it's only partially manifested (reduce level), and it cannot push through portal, though it can drag PCs through. This entity tried to escape the underworld thru a shadow rift but was trapped in the closed circuit of the nether gate for a long time. Once the entity is defeated, the portal deactivated, allowing PCs to pass.

Room 2: Puzzle / RP Challenge
Once PCs enter the hallway, the portal behind them re-activates. The hall has been damaged by the collapse of a chamber of nether gates which crashed down thru the ceiling. When they advance, they are whisked away in a rush of shadow to their starting point/another location. Basically come up with some kind of teleportation puzzle. Have a moderate consequence for trial and error, like level drain from necrotic energy, a shadow duplicate of PC,

Room 3: Red Herring

Room 4: Climax / Big Battle

Room 5: Plot Twist
 

"Brainstorm - Help me populate a necropolis"

Um...undead, undead....and more undead. It's not rocket science...it's a "NECROpolis"....

Have fun and happy zombie making
--Steel Dragons
 

well, create a simple history/highlights of the one buried. Is he or she honored by the culture currently?

Warrior Lord-Conquerer use animated armors as guadians. Inner chambers have trophies from other cultures as traps/treasures.

Warrior Monk - puzzles and riddles, fight in the final room, but how well the intruders did in the previous challenges will make the final battle tougher or easier.

Conjurer - Four keys are required to enter the final chamber, each room has a bound entity from another plane within. Only through bargining can the group get a key.
 

How about an Repair Shop? Them undead need fixing. Have potions listed as Cure X Wounds (really Inflict spells, but they "heal" undead).

Heh, Undead could even get detailed at the shop - maybe a nice racing flame or highlights for a skeleton.
 

The labyrinth is designed as an interlocking ‘molecular structure’ where each ‘molecule’ or 5-room dungeon consists of four mass grave-pit chambers surrounding a central chamber. The entrance to each pit chamber leads onto a decrepid stone walkway around the edge of the 200’ diameter, 200’ deep pit. If the PCs investigate, each pit is revealed to be empty, except for a few bones and puddles of water at the bottom. Also they find some holes in the walls near the bottom of each pit, around several feet in diameter that seem to lead deep into the earth.

The central chamber bears inscriptions that indicate the pit chambers were once used as mass graves, and held the remains of hundreds of victims of an insane tyrant, although there is little sign of them now. Also in this chamber can be seen many of the same kind of holes that lead far into the stone and earth.

At some point the party encounter what made the holes, a Thoqqua:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG242a.jpg

The Thoqqua has threaded the whole cavern network with tunnels that twist wind and interconnect, reaching deep into the earth. But the PCs problems don’t really begin until the tide of an underground water system begins to rise, as it does every few hours. Then the whole area begins to flood via the tunnel system created by the Thoqqua, and as it does so, the previous inhabitants of the mass graves are able to reach their resting place once again.

All of those murdered so many centuries ago are now Lacedon, who come and go with the underground tidal flow:

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/ashheep/Lacedon.jpg

Once they detect signs of life they will maraud through the tomb after anyone they can find. If the party find themselves caught in the onslaught, the central chamber can be barricaded, and will only flood partially. They will then have to survive until the retreat of the tide, as the Lacedon begin to find ways in through the many winding Thoqqua tunnels.

Also delving the catacombs at this point is another party. This is an NPC party who may be simply treasure seekers, or on some other mission that may conflict with the PCs. They will also find themselves under attack from the Lacedon horde, and may retreat to a different central chamber. The players will learn that the tide comes and goes frequently. In the gaps they can reach other areas, and perhaps encounter the NPCs.
 

Back in the good old days, me friends and I considered a collaborative necropolis setting. I know one of my friends told about one of his ideas, but we never did anything really beyond talk and think.

One of my ideas was a fairie being buried in a graveyard and a weird flower growing over a grave. If you dug it up, you'd find a fairie/bell/cacoon. I no longer remember my rational for having a fairie buried in a necropolis, but I know the intent was to have encounters that weren't all just undead.

Student field trip. These people are neutral or just interested in academic pursuits, but have rumors and supplies the party can buy. They could also be the source of jobs, asking to find a particular faire bell/grave or animal carcass. And of course they could unleash something hungry and dangerous by accident.

A mausoleum of black marble with jade carvings inside, strangely unlooted. When the party loots the stuff, the treasures appear back in the mausoleum the next night and the players have a green dot on their hand, which keeps them from re-entering the mausoleum until they ritually cleanse themselves.
 

Beyond undead, animated objects that fit the various themes can have been entombed for years with no trouble.


Also, one of the Cooperative Dungeons III and IV have a themes that might work if you want to squeeze them in and save some work, or plunder them for ideas -


(Adventures) The Cooperative Dungeon Collection (01 - 04) - Creative Mountain Games | RPGNow.com


Also, check the old free adventures and cliffhangers from WotC for other tombs and similar modules -


http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b


http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/ch
 
Last edited:

Or you could expand it a lot and just use the d20 version of Necropolis ([ame=http://www.amazon.com/Necropolis-Generic-System-Gary-Gygax/dp/1588461165]available on amazon for $10[/ame]) by Gary Gygax...
 

Undead, undead, undead but then some swarms...rats, bugs, scorpions then you have things like carrion crawllers.

But now lets thing about something like a "dust" elemental but maybe as a liche lord combo.

Rooms, follow a ritual...the cleaning room, the bath room, the dressing room, the resting place.

In a necropolis, I like traps that suck the life out of players. Nothing that kills them outright but bleeds them to feed the negitive energy, like poision gas or just poision.

Trick: look to hostile enviroments, create a low hanging poision fog, only foot or two above floor. As long as the players keep their heads above it, they are fine but if they go below...a chance to be poisioned!
 

Trending content

Remove ads

Top