The Phylacteric Vault
Most of the information I have on the Phylacteric Vault is kicking around in two notebooks, a bunch of 3 x 5 cards, and the recesses of my mind. So it's not exactly an organized thing, but it's all very accessible to me when I need it. I'll try and hit some of the highlights from my game here, as far as setting goes.
Basically, my layout of the Vault is fragmented. I have several key areas that my PC's frequent, though their exact placement within the Vault (like you'd expect in a blueprint) is not concrete. I could not tell you where one room is in relation to another. You simply make your way down some winding corridors and you're there.
That type of thing.
So with that in mind, here are a few of the rooms that I've fleshed out for my players:
The Planar Orrery:
This is a work in progress. The Orrery Keepers (as described in R&RII) are working on a model of the planes. Right now, the project is in it's infancy. I plan to have it progress as the characters grow in level, until it is finally complete (to correspond with a high PC level). Upon completion, I plan on having it provide the characters with a means of teleporting across Ghelspad to any location they wish, via some sort of plane skipping mechanic. It'll be a one-way trip though.
As far as the design of the Planar Orrery goes, I'm making it akin to something from the Myst series of computer games. It's a big mechanism that is a little strange, a tad alien, and completely unfathomable (at least right now). The characters will sometimes find themselves in the chamber that houses the Orrery (which is hemispherical) and will just marvel at this strange contraption. It includes a lot of gears and orbs and rotation and sparkling lights and tends to break down a lot right now. Like I said, a work in progress.
The Curator's Menagerie:
The only PC that's been here is the mage (aspiring planar geographer) and he's only been there once. In fact, he never really was in it. More like in an antechamber. He met with the Curator here once, and it was a rather unpleasant experience. The Curator is not a good man and he was rather harsh with the young apprentice. It's piqued the mage's interests and of course has the paladin stircrazy. For those of you without R&RII, the Curators are keeping planar creatures down here for their own reasons (to be explored in later sessions). In my game, the Curators are a faction within the planar geography specialty, and they are led by a man known only as the Curator (yeah, it's uninspired, but fitting). I've given them a sinister bent and I'm guessing that the time will come when the PC's and the Curator are flat out adversaries. The time will also come when the PC's are given access to the menagerie, but not until I figure out exactly what sort of nastiness is going on in there.
Vode Nulan's Dojo:
This is where the group's fighter hones his skills. It's a square dojo equipped with various mats and wooden weapons. On the wall, displayed prominently at the front of the dojo, are 18 blades. Rather, there is room for 18 blades. 10 of the spaces are empty. The PC does not know what the blades are or why there are the blank spaces (sometimes player ignorance of certain books is a good thing). He doesn't even know that the room is Vode Nulan's dojo. It's just the space that the Vault has provided for him to train. But this is where the fighter spends a lot of down time (off-camera type stuff).
Ironically enough, the fighter doesn't plan on multi-classing into an arcane spellcaster and is actually prepping himself for the Giantkiller prestige class from The Silver Marches (FR stuff; yeah, boo hiss, I know). Which I encourage, because his history is all set for it, titanslayer and whatnot. I might have to tweak the blades a bit to work for him, like bestowing their spells as special abilities or something of the sort.
These are the three rooms that catch my imagination best and that I have fully developed, with floorplans and whatnot. I have notes about each one on my 3x5 cards, stuff that I jot down in game as I describe details (hate to be inconsistant). There are other rooms too that have received more of a cursory treatment, with maybe one or two distinct features that make the area stand out. The oneiromancers have a Sleep Chamber, which I really need to work up more on, as the cleric has spent some time there. There's also the area that's been dedicated to housing the PC's, which the PC's have actually had a say in designing from a cosmetic standpoint. I have some libraries that the paladin and the mage use for study and I have a few gardens and whatnot that the players use for recreation as well as plotting and scheming. Like any good garden, there's always a tall shrub for an eavesdropper to hunker down behind.
Oh yeah, and there has to be a hedge maze ala The Shining.
As the campaign progresses, I'm gonna make new rooms. A lab is going to be the foremost thing, once PC's start taking Item Creation feats. Plus, I'm thinking of an aerial stable of sorts, something for Urian riders to utilize when they visit. The Vault is one huge labyrinth with all sorts of twists and turns. Most of it is built into the mountain, though a presentable facade remaings on the slopes for visitors to see when they first arrive. Also, there are a lot of areas (like the gardens for one) that are actually outside, in mountain vales and other secluded areas. You'll be walking down a corridor, come to a door, open it, and find yourself in a small outdoor area, one that seems completely unaccessable by the outside world. The advantage of setting your campaign in a place that reeks of magic.
I mentioned Myst up above, and I've got to say that those games are where I draw a lot of my inspiration for the Vault. There area lot of oddities in the Phylacteric Vault; strange contraptions with no apparent purpose, intricate fixtures decorating bizarre rooms, arcane labs with intricate devices scattered on workbenches amongst potions that smoke and belch noxious fumes, and just weird stuff that makes you wonder. It's all about conveying a sense of the unordinary, but without overdoing it. Sometimes it's a fine line to tread.
I've also put some effort into developing Catlaigh, which is where my PC's make contact with people who are generally not associated with the Vault, or who are but in a peripheral way. I've come up with outlines for various NPC's, noble houses and summer homes, merchant costers and stuff like that. Just enough so that if it ever comes up, I'm not caught with my pants down. Plus, I'll probably work it into things later. Catlaigh is also where the PC's go to unwind, since the Vault doesn't have much in the way of taverns or other drinking establishments.
My half-orc player and I are also cooking up a thieves' guild for Catlaigh, one that specializes in fencing some of the magical items that filter through the city either to or from the Vault. I should have done this earlier, as it's part of the half-orc's backstory, but it's working out just as well to make it up as we go. With nothing set in stone, we can always adapt the guild to fit the session we're in. Plus, thieves' guilds are nothing if not adaptable; why tie one down with definitive rules.
So that's the tiny bit of Darakeene that I've fashioned into my own bit of Ghelspad. There are a few villages and stuff that I've given minor attention to as needed, but for the most part I've focused on giving consistancy and depth to the places where the PC's spend the most time. Which right now is the Vault and Catlaigh. I figure that's work enough.
Gaius
