D&D 4E Dragon Mountain (4e conversion - complete!)

[Quickleaf]

Here's my latest design challenge:

There's an area of the mountain called the Halls of Justice which used to house the dwarven civil services, record-keeping, and handling of legal matters. Strangely, it can only be accessed via the mining area...that doesn't make sense does it? Anyhow, the northern half of it is controlled by an elite strike force of kobolds who devout their lives to defending the mountain and making the lives of intruders living hell. I've made them pyromaniacs. This area lacks any defining schticks. The most interesting thing about it is the use of tactical wall maps which the kobolds try to destroy during the PCs advance.

I've been wanting to include a puzzle which requires some knowledge of kobold culture/ecology (or at least their maxims/strategic philosophies) to solve, and I think this might be a good place for it. Some possible elements I've brainstormed, but uncertain how to go forward with, are:

* A wall (or a bunch of walls) falling and sealing off the exits until the puzzle is resolved or a work around is found. These walls might be decorated with old dwarven maps of the mountain, to steal a page from Lost.
* There's something very lethal in the environment (poison, magical fire, necrotic energy...), but there is an antidote potion somewhere among an alcove full of potions. Figuring out the answer to some riddle reveals which potions to drink in which order to create the antidote. This could involve a prop-heavy encounter for DMs so inclined.
* Something akin to a dwarven gate puzzle (http://polyhedral.wordpress.com/2009/01/24/the-dwarven-gate-puzzle/#more-63) that's been repurposed by kobolds.
* A slightly comic (albeit menacing) aspect to puzzle, something like accessing the ancestral memories of kobolds who've been killing adventurers in this mountain for centuries.
* Solving the puzzle will provide the PCs with some kind of special map, and possibly score some alchemical items and/or sabotage the kobolds' production of alchemical items.

 

[Quickleaf]

I'm about 80-90% done, with the remaining design being 4 encounters:

- the alchemical/kobold culture puzzle I started brainstorming above

- a planeshift ritual foci chamber, where PCs can stop Dragon Mountain's plane-hopping if they wish

- another kobold ambush, this one from rooftops with lots of oil & fire, and trained carrion crawlers at ground level (from the module)

- the temple of Kurtulmak, with a magical altar, many wyrmpriests, waves of kobolds, sealing doors, and more oil & fire (also from the module)

After I get those done, it's mostly just polishing as I have the time. I hit a bit of writer's block, so if anyone has some cool ideas to help me jump start that would be welcome...

 

[Manbearcat]

I'm about 80-90% done, with the remaining design being 4 encounters:

- a planeshift ritual foci chamber, where PCs can stop Dragon Mountain's plane-hopping if they wish

I hit a bit of writer's block, so if anyone has some cool ideas to help me jump start that would be welcome...

I don't have a ton of time so I'll try to give you some inspiration for this one.

Housed within the Ritual foci chamber is an immensely powerful Arcane Engine. This is the conduit through which the plane-shifting occurs. Fueling this conduit is the essence of a bound fiend, fallen celestial, ghost, etc (something that otherwise could not be wholly in the Prime Material World). Infyrana bargained with this creature and promised it eternal wholeness, access to the Prime World...but deceived it, of course. It has eternal access to the Prime World but only as a vestige to the host of the Arcane Engine. However, it does perceive and its perception is that of the madness of ages trapped in the engine (serving as battery) married to fleeting moments of lucidity. It suffers the duality of mind of:

- Perceiving the Arcane Engine as its body and any attack on it as an attack on itself.

and

- Moments of respite from that conflict where it understands its pathetic existence and just wants freedom (through destruction or otherwise).

So. Perhaps the Arcane Engine itself is some sort of amazing looking glyph/rune-covered machine, replete with massive, encrusted, varying colored focusing crystals. The different patterns of colored crystal activation dictate the Plane shifted to. However, Infyrana instilled within the the Arcane Engine/bound entity protective At-Will summoning powers whereby it can summon creatures (guardians under its command) from each of the outer planes it can shift to (perhaps Far, Fey, Shadow, Astral, the Abyss and the 9 Hells)...and the pattern is the same as when Infyrana activates its <whatever time frame> Plane-shifting power. The bound creature will defend itself (with its summoning powers) but will also cry out in anguish or outright provide a clue or direction to the PCs on how to undo itself/the Arcane Engine. Discerning and using each pattern in conjunction with a check of some kind (either an Arcana skill or a check knowledge check relative to the lore of the plane or a Thievery check - for the coordination difficulty - or Athletics check for the required strength) disables the summoning/shifting power. Once all are disabled, the Engine is vulnerable and can be destroyed. If the Skill Challenge fails in the course of this effort, each disabled summoning/shifting power is re-activated and the Skill Challenge starts anew.

Conversely, if you want to make things really wonky, you could have it be a Plane Shift of the Chamber itself (rather than a summoning) until a predetermined duration (perhaps until the PCs successfully defeat that step of the Skill Challenge). Therefore the terrain would be changing every few rounds along with the enemies fought. The PCs would have to survive this gauntlet and have ultimate success in the Skill Challenge (destroy the Arcane Engine) to end the plane-shifting (and potentially face the entity as a friend or foe).

Either way:

- Bound fiend, fallen celestial, or ghost in the Arcane Engine with a duality of consciousness but both the construct of madness earned over millennia trapped in the machine, feeding it with its life-force. One side of its consciousness ruthlessly defends to the death while the other side pleas for help/provides clues to end its misery.

- Engine/entity has protective At-Wills; either summoned creatures from the various realms or the chamber plane-shifts to the various realms.

- Skill Challenge to destroy the Arcane Engine (and release the imprisoned creature) by discerning the glyphs on the machine itself, each of the colored-gem activation patterns during the summons/shifting, coupled with hints or directions from the bound creature and using that to temporarily disable the summoning/shifting power (with a plane-relevant check, Athletics, Arcana, Dungeoneering, Nature, Religion, Thievery). If the Skill Challenge fails in the course of this effort, each disabled summoning/shifting power is re-activated and the Skill Challenge starts anew.

- Once the Engine is destroyed, the creature is released and depending on the number of failures of the Skill Challenge (or some specific step taken in the Skill Challenge as a success), (i) the PCs have destroyed the entity or (ii) they have to fight the entity to the death, or (iii) the entity will become an ally in the final battle against Infyrana.

 

[Quickleaf]

Empowerer traps

[MENTION=6696971]Manbearcat[/MENTION]
Great stuff once again I'll definitely be borrowing some of your ideas and weaving it into the encounter...almost seems like it should be more puzzle like.

While I'm working on that, here's a brief summary of a new type of trap - the empowerer - that I dreamed up for two unique encounters that I added to Dragon Mountain:

"Empowerer" refers to traps which buff monsters in some way, and make heroes choose between facing the buffed monster or spending resources/time deactivating the empowering trap. One example of such a trap is the Golem Cube Time Bomb, which grants an iron golem an action point each round until it is either deactivated or destabilizes and explodes after 3 rounds (disarming it is modeled with both skill checks and a Jenga tower ). Another example are the False Dragon Eggs found in the Wyrmling Hatchery, each which grants the wyrmling a cumulative 10 regeneration and a recharge of its breath weapon (disarming an egg is handled thru spells or weapon attack).

While I only use Empowerer traps twice in my Dragon Mountain conversion, I think the concept of the Empowerer as a fifth trap type (alongside blasters, obstacles, lurkers, and warders) opens up a lot of cool game design space for DMs in general.

 

[D'karr]

While I only use Empowerer traps twice in my Dragon Mountain conversion, I think the concept of the Empowerer as a fifth trap type (alongside blasters, obstacles, lurkers, and warders) opens up a lot of cool game design space for DMs in general.

That is a great idea. I had used something similar for one of my games. Though I didn't define it as well as you did there. Doom golems were being powered by the "agony of souls" that was manifested as a screaming column at the lowest level of a floating citadel. The defenses for the golems were boosted in effect making them "insubstantial" to attacks until the column was destroyed/deactivated. When the column was destroyed/deactivated the golems would become "bloodied", and if already bloodied, they were destroyed.

It made for a tense battle as the characters tried to maneuver to the columns with all the other hazards in the room. It was a good setpiece battle.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=336]D'karr[/MENTION] I recall reading several DMs blogging about these kind of scenarios, I just gave it a name and clarified it a bit. Heck, I could have been inspired by a post you or pemerton made, can't recall. I am definitely borrowing ideas from the "best of the Net" during my design.

When I started tackling this conversion - or really any D&D game design - I try to make modular chunks that are seamlessly integrated into a whole. So you don't see "Encounter A: model for how to do empowerer traps" or "Kobold King: example of how to make a long-surviving minion" unless you put on your modular DM glasses when that stuff starts to pop out.

 

[D'karr]

Yep, and you did a great job in "standardizing", if you will. I like the idea of a trap that boosts monsters. Feels very D&Dish.

 

[Quickleaf]

Thanks D'karr.

As there's a global server setting issue that's preventing me from uploading the latest version of the Dragon Mountain pdf, I thought I'd share a fun little table that has worked its way into the conversion:

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What’s that Kobold Doing? (d20)
1. Two kobolds jabber in unintelligible Draconic-sounding words, as if having a sensible conversation.
2. Makes “conversation” with monster...soon to be eaten.
3. Kobold morale officer tied up with sign “Free Hexpee”.
4. Kobold drags block of iron pyrite, mutters “gold, gold.”
5. Suffers dilemma of shiny object near dangerous thing.
6. Practices trap disarming, can’t recall which wire to cut.
7. Waits anxiously to cross (trapped) room in single file.
8. Giggles hysterically listening to knocking thru walls.
9. Scribbles out ridiculous new trap design with charcoal.
10. Falsely boasting how he/she killed an adventurer.
11. Has indecent expression while in torpor in warm spot.
12. Does 6 push-ups. Stops to look at PCs. More push-ups.
13. One kobold bit another kobold’s tail and won’t let go.
14. Apologetic kobold extracts fish hook from other’s lip.
15. Softly sings “If I Were a Dragon” while creeping along.
16. Prepares elf and onion soup...sadly, lacks any elf.
17. Pastes up kobold propaganda posters.
18. Gloats with scissors over stuffed gnome toy.
19. Freezes in place, thinking he/she can’t be seen.
20. A few kobolds play dice and miniatures game pretending to be adventurers who get killed by traps.

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On the design front, I could use your guys thoughts on a new trap/hazard I'm considering putting into the adventure. Or is it better left off as just flavor?

It's called Weight of Hundred Eyes and represents many kobolds peering at the PCs from narrow crevasses and honeycombed tunnels with slightly glowing red beady eyes, but given a malign supernatural presence by the magic of the dragon Infyrana, Kurtulkmak's blessing, and countless generations of kobolds who've lived and died in the mountain. The trap/hazard would be a Warder and would have 2 effects:

1) Disorienting/unnerving PCs, possibly causing them to grant combat advantage, hit allies on missed attacks, and/or take penalties to notice/defend against traps.

2) Gather increasing amounts of reconaissance on the PCs each round that they are engaged in the current encounter (when the encounter is resolved, the kobolds peering at them retreat back into their warrens). I'd come up with some kind of list, like "round 1: kobold clan of current area learns PC's numbers, races, and marching order; round 2: gets rough idea of classes/jobs; round 3: learns PCs prominent magic items and common tactics, round 4..."

 

[pemerton]

Gather increasing amounts of reconaissance on the PCs each round that they are engaged in the current encounter (when the encounter is resolved, the kobolds peering at them retreat back into their warrens). I'd come up with some kind of list, like "round 1: kobold clan of current area learns PC's numbers, races, and marching order; round 2: gets rough idea of classes/jobs; round 3: learns PCs prominent magic items and common tactics, round 4..."

This strikes me as hard to adjudicate. Could you change it a bit - something as simple as "after 1 full round, next kobold encounter gets +2 initiative, after 2 full rounds, next kobold encounter gets combat advantage vs PCs in first round, after 3 full rounds next kobold encoutner gets +2 to defence as free action vs first PC attack", etc?

 

[Manbearcat]

Yeah. That is quite a bit of overhead/handling time. If you think the payoff in granularity is worth it, then by all means. But I'm not so sure.

Something that pemerton mentioned, or a universal rider to M/RBAs, or a Leader template to one of the kobolds with an aura that buffs his allies.