cleaverthepit
First Post
THE HALL OF MANY PANES
AN ADVENTURE OF SIGNIFICANT PLAYING LENGTH
FOR SIX OR MORE EXPERIENCED PLAYERS IN A WELL-BALANCED ADVENTURING TEAM
As you recover your senses from the mind-wrenching effect of the force behind whatever magic it was that the Danneen deity called Bili sent at you, it becomes plain that you have been sent to some “elsewhere.” It doesn’t seem to be the brazen floor of some hell, but it doesn’t look very promising otherwise…
It appears as if you have been transferred to the interior of a vast cylinder. Although there is no sunlight in this space, the air itself seems to glow, or is it that there are motes of radiance in the atmosphere? Whatever the cause, you can see quite clearly for several hundred feet even though there is darkness as intense as the light in this eerie space.
You are standing on a long ramp that spirals upwards and downwards. Although the ramp has no wall at its edge, the 29 feet of its width give you ample assurance of safety—at least if not too close to its inner edge. It must be two or three bowshots across to the other side of the cylinder, a strange cylindrical hall. As you near the inner edge of the ramp, look downwards, then up, the tower, or whatever it is that surrounds this hall, must be very, very tall. You can see no bottom below, no trace of ceiling above, only the strange glowing and dark air—that and the very unusual shapes that float in that air.
As far below the place where your party stands, on the same plane, and as far above you there are strangely shaped planes of glowing color visible. There are discs and lozenges, hexagons and ovals, squares and rectangles, and even triangles. They range the entire spectrum from tints and shades of red on up through the violet hues. They are floating, moving slowly in three dimensions.
The slow movement reminds you of a stately dance. As you spend a minute in rapt contemplation, an oval plane the color of translucent moss moves near the place where your party stands. It is as large as the gate to a castle, hovers only about a foot from the edge of the spiraling ramp.
You have come to the Hall of Many Panes a “dimensional matrix” where alternate planes and spheres exist within the cosmic multiverse, the “elsewhere”.
A NOTE FROM MR. GYGAX
As with most adventure modules, this one is packed with action…confrontation and combat. There is more, though. The players must think, as must their game personas. There is sufficient problem solving herein to suit most, even hardened veterans. The same is true for being “in character,” and role-playing with proper dialog—comedic, dramatic, and the rest are all possible here. As for the other elements of the game form, well, only unless you, the Game Master, wish to work them in will they be found. The adventure doesn’t include much in the way of extensive exploration, as you’ll see, although there are many unique and wonderful places to visit. Business, intrigue, politics, and so forth are not likely given the setting, save for innovative addition to the work. As for story, other than the backstory that opens the adventure, that must await the conclusion of the action, can then be told as a tale of what occurred. This is for gaming, not stage presentation, after all.
This adventure is suitable for a party of six d20 adventurers of 8th or greater level. If the party is to be given a free hand in deciding the order in which the panes are accessed then a few of the characters should be of the 9th or 10th level. With just a little work on the GM’s part characters of 11th-14th level could adventure here—simply increase the number of monsters encountered, add extra levels to the NPCs, or place horrific guardian creatures here and there as pickets for the areas already detailed.
Boxed Set
450 pages
39.95
One year of adventuring easy due out around Halloween to Thanksgiving
