Feeling blocked designing an adventure, seeking inspiration

[jkusters]

(Hey, if you're playing in my "Forbidden Valley" game, scram. Open spoilers below...)

Help! I've been terribly blocked in my adventure design for my regular game. I made the choice to postpone running the game (it would have been tonight) in the hopes of getting my act together and providing my players something better than a randomly generated dungeon with random encounters. My players are used to more involved storylines and dungeons that make sense and have a sense of story. After beating my head against the wall for a couple of days, I was reminded that there are communities of DMs out on them intarwebs, and thought perhaps some of you might have some feedback that could jump-start my creativity again.

(For what it's worth, the system is True20, but I'm not looking for rules-specific advice.)

I've been setting up the campaign to a tipping point, which is now upon the characters. The village they've used as a base is under threat from an approaching monstrous (to them) army, there's no way to retreat to safety, and the only place that is defensible within reasonable marching distance is an ancient keep that is said to be protected by (high level) monsters. The party's job currently is to explore and make that keep safe for the villagers to take refuge in. Thousands of years ago, the keep was a castle of a human kingdom in the forbidden valley, then after the kingdom fell, became a keep that protected a small human outpost from the encroaching hordes. About a two hundred years before my campaign began, the last member of the organization that kept the keep running left to deal with a reported incursion only to fall prey to an ambush. The keep has since been taken over by a variety of non-humanoid creatures.

I'm designing the keep as five levels, each level roughly corresponding to one of the five "rooms" of the "five room dungeon" paradigm. The first level was easy to put together, and ran well. Featuring a battleground between a tribe of "ratlings" and some giant beetles, it gave the players a sense of the age of the keep, the state of it's repair, and introduced both some challenges and the fact that there is something intelligent around which may be controlling things. And they're right. There is a disembodied intelligence magically housed within the keep that has kept watch and tried to keep the place safe for the "return" of its rightful owners. (Which will be my players' party once they complete the story.)

I'm stuck at the second level. I have some limited design constraints regarding the floor plan, and I want to make this level one of intellectual challenge rather than combat challenge (which was a large component of the first level). I know this level will feature the soldier's barracks, the main kitchens, the "common room" where people from the nearby settlement could gather in times of danger, and quarters for the domestic staff. (Higher levels will include the royal quarters and presentation rooms, the armory, and the "nerve center" of the keep.) I had thought of making the level a "gauntlet" that channeled the players' characters through a single path (with some side rooms) where they would face various traps and puzzles, invented by the guardian intelligence and constructed by non-intelligent creatures under his subtle control, but this "story" need didn't sit well with my "background" need of making the level realistic to its construction purpose. Besides, my players' characters would gleefully spend time concentrating on the roadblocks and totally ignoring the obvious path.

So, I'm asking, what would you create for your players in this kind of a situation? How have you populated a dungeon level with traps and tricks and done so without "railroading" the characters down a single path? I want to reveal some of the nature of the guardian intelligence (that it definitely *is* intelligent, that it can exert influence on the minds of simple creatures, and seems to be intent on keeping the players' characters out of the higher levels it inhabits) but do so in a more subtle way than having low-level monsters jerking around the floor in a possessed-zombie like manner. I'm not looking to have my problem solved, but more to have the creative block dissolved and my usual creative juices start flowing again...

My inability to provide a quality experience for my players is just so infuriating!!!

 

[Quickleaf]

My first thought was "panic room", and my second was "ghosts." What if people barricaded themselves within the second level to repel the monstrous incursion. Somehow (starvation, poison gas, scorpion swarm, in-fighting) they died while the barriers were still up; during this time the soldiers began mercy-killing people (dominated?) who feared what the monsters would do to them, but several instead wanted to die fighting and needed the soldiers' weapons to do that. So, you have 3 kinds of ghost: mercykiller soldier, desperate suicider, and vengeful defender.

Entering Level 2 should be a challenge requiring breaking down part of the barricade. Once inside there may be a series of fall-back barricade traps. Lights go out, traps fire on their own, have a poltergeist room - make it clear the place is haunted. Only the ghosts hold the answer to leaving the level, but they are trapped in a loop repeating the circumstances of their death. Three challenges ensue, requiring them to break the curse of each ghost in order to gain the information about how to break the barricade leading to Level 3. The final challenge is the barricade - a trapped puzzle door.

Hope that helps

 

[fba827]

note i'm not familiar with the five room dungeon paradigm that you mention, but i'm going off your other comment of wanting this level to be more intellectual rather than "if it moves, hit it"

Some possibilities:
* Ghost: the spirit from *the* last solider using the keep is bound to the keep, specifically to this floor because it was the common area where he spent all his time. He needs some convincing that the PCs aren't part of whatever threat the guard using to guard against. And then his spirit can move on only after the PCs help him find some letter he wanted delivered to his family (or love, or whatever). That gives them the excuse to go from room to room trying to find the letter/item in question. Or maybe his spirit is bound here for some other reason (he failed in some mission or activity, etc etc).

* the kitchen area could have some plagued rats scavaging through the remaining crumbs.

* a storage room has some traps on it to keep others out

* a bedroom or two could have ratlings from the floor below that took refuge up here, favoring the comfy beds

* a trap on/near the stairs leading to the third level, the nature of the trap can hint at whatever is on the third floor, put there to keep people out from above.

* a being (perhaps the ghost from above, or maybe just a regular human) is found trapped inside a magic circle. he is ageless while trapped inside, perhaps in there for centuries, and his voice can not leave the magic circle to explain. But how did he get there? Maybe he is an old soldier. Maybe he is a bandit that was here with friends but they all left (or were killed and their bodies or undead counterparts can be found on the level), so the PCs have to search the levelt rying to find a way to "rescue" the trapped person. Once he gets rescued they can talk to him and learn the story (or whatever lie he tells them) and any subsequent story based on what that person does (tries to rob them and run or whatever).

* entry in to the storage room (or some other special room) triggers a teleportation warding, sending the PCs to some other corner of the level. It isn't much in terms of story, but it gives the PCs an excuse to be at that other end of the same level.

I don't know... just some ideas off the top of my head - admitedly some are a little corny. Maybe something in there will trigger a better idea for you or someone else reading this.

 

[Gilladian]

For those who aren't familiar, the "Five Room Dungeon" idea is that any adventure can be plotted with the five following stages:

Entry/Guardian
Puzzle/RP Challenge
Trick/Setback
Climax/Conflict/Battle
Revelation/Reward/Twist

In this case, level two of the dungeon is meant to both give an intellectual challenge after a a fight, and set up the potential trick or setback below.

I like the ghost ideas, but if that's not the right situation for this dungeon, instead maybe you could use constructs and some semi-intelligent animals suited to life underground - even plants! Shambling fungi or something.

If the plant/animal things are obviously sneaking around resetting traps and bringing in new animated objects for the PCs to fight (imagine the PCs killing a bunch of animated furniture, retreating to their village to rest and recuperate, only to have to fight crudely mended furniture all over again), this would certainly indicate some intelligent guidance or motivation from "below".

 

[Sigurd]

I think the second level is a good place to communicate with whats left of the defenders, ghosts, survivors, intelligent magic.

If the players are the same race as the defenders maybe they will be asked for aid. Maybe the ghosts of some attackers are here too?


Sigurd

 

[weem]

Let's see... just gonna brainstorm here...

1/ Lot's of people mentioning ghosts, so if you did have ghosts and you want to hint at an intelligence behind it all, you could have them refer to "it" - who knows what "it" is, but they mention it frequently... "it said it would come back", "it said we would all suffer", etc - kind of creepy you know?

2/ I like the idea mentioned of the animated furniture and was actually thinking of that myself. With that said, the second floor could be animated itself... doors becoming walls once passed through, windows to the outside becoming mirrors, walls appearing where they weren't before.

3/ Kind of along the same idea as #2 above, but I'm thinking animated paintings - maybe the paintings suck in victims and the puzzle of the painting must be solved to get out of the painting, and at the same time unlocks clues about finding the 3rd floor... example...

PAINTING 1 = A man standing in a room full of doors... once inside the painting, the man, who has no eyes, has a key ring with no keys... but all the doors have a key in them... "I need my keys" he repeats... so if they gather them all and put them on his keyring, he is very happy, they exit the painting and have the keyring with keys...

Outside of the painting, perhaps a ghost sees the one who has the keys and says, "look he has the keys!" but another one says, "but we won't ever find the path without the candle", etc

So they (PC's) begin to gather items from the paintings - perhaps items once belonging to a person who was to return and take them to safety long ago - these items, once all possessed by one person, allow that person to gather the ghosts (the PC is mistaken for their long lost savior) and find (see) a secret passageway where all the ghosts then 'go to safety' (aka move on to the afterlife) and it happens to also be the way to the next level...

You get the idea.

Anyway - s'all I have for now good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Bercilac]

The intelligence could be a wizard, once lord of the keep, who eventually went insane. He spent his last years designing increasingly complex and powerful constructs. After one of his creations killed a servant, most of the servants abandoned their master to seek less hazardous and stressful employment. Several options for the wizard's fate:

1. He was, like several of those who served him, slain by his own creations.

2. He transformed himself into a lich, and sits in one of the upper levels, continuing to create his "toys."

3. He somehow incorporated himself into one of his constructs, or into the structure of the tower itself (like a cyborg version of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey). So his mad intelligence can lock and unlock doors, set off traps, activate mechanical minions, et cetera. It can also be negotiated with (though negotiating with a paranoid schitzophrenic is a trying experience...)

Anyway, as the wizard lost his mortal servants, he replaced them with mechanical ones. Of course, as he got more and more absorbed in his newest and most advanced projects, the old creations went about their business. Perhaps the last order given to some minor golems was "clean this room". Maybe they interpret the players as uncleanliness. The players could, of course, distract them with a bigger and more obvious mess. Perhaps some of the golems have on-off switches. Perhaps sections of the structure are animated. Doors might only allow those wearing the livery of the old lord to pass through them. Chairs might try to eat any stranger that sits in them (similar to some other suggestion).

In solving the various puzzles, the players also have to piece together something of the history of the tower. Drop hints here and there, but mostly let them tinker with it by trial and error.

Hope this helps! If not, hope inspiration strikes from some other source!

 

[Sigurd]

You can have the wizard lich survivor but your players might well anticipate.

How bout making her the madame of a brothel on the 2nd floor. Or the spirit of a much loved, and lusted after, painting? Or don't have any supernatural elements at all. Perhaps several generation of Jermelaine have reenacted significant parts of the battle as they understand it. maybe they don't know it but they carry a detail or message the players could use.


Sigurd

 

[Ydars]

JKusters; is any of this helping? Are you still around and wanting advice?

 

[jkusters]

JKusters; is any of this helping? Are you still around and wanting advice?

It has been helpful to spark some creative thinking, but I didn't wind up using anything directly. I still have some stuff to plan out, so will re-read this thread as I sit down for my next planning session.

Stuff that I came up with (and started running last night):
- The previous level of the keep was "abandoned dungeon" messy. This level was scrupulously clean.
- To get to the third level of the keep, they have to find a four part key which will unlock a (enchantedly strong) gate.
- Any character that strayed away from the rest of the party would occasionally hear a whisper from directly behind them. At first, the whispers were in a foreign tongue (the guardian intelligence starts off not knowing the common tongue of the party), but later started making messages by "splicing" together words it has heard and figured out, and using the voices of members of the party.
- There are murder holes in passages meant to be throttles in case of invasion (it's an ancient fortress), and these would drip fresh blood on the characters as they walked under them.
- Furniture re-arranged itself if they revisited a room.
- The first major encounter was with some stained-glass "golems" which had some interesting abilities (and very annoying sounds)
- Next major encounter was with a stagnant water elemental that half the party encountered (yay split parties!). The other half of the party was investigating a kitchen area and were "attacked" by silverware.

The gist of the storyline is that the guardian intelligence sees the party as intruders and doesn't want them gaining access to the main (4th) level, but since they are carrying a token belonging to the last known "owner" of the keep, so it's also trying to figure out why they have it. Unfortunately for the players, the intelligence is also somewhat insane (damage caused by a failure in the power system that keeps the intelligence going). Think GLaDOS from Portal.

Anyway, in this level they have yet to explore the main kitchen area, the servant's offices and quarters, and the main soldiers' barracks. I want to ratchet up the danger levels a bit and turn the creepy levels up a couple of notches. (Also give out a few more parts to that key.) More suggestions are welcome, though as I said, they've more helped to give my creative mind nudges rather than get used wholesale.

JOhn.