Help me run Curse of the Mummy's Tomb!

[RedFox]

Okay, game's on Sunday and I'm having some writer's block. In particular, coming up with interesting / memorable rooms (and a map layout! Argh) and Encounters.

So please, brainstorm away at me. I could use ideas. Especially for rooms to put in a pyramid or appropriate dungeon maps.

Another element I've thought up:

Part of the pyramid has collapsed (ruining the "straight path" that the archaelogists have mapped out) and opened up the pyramid to some formian warrens. PCs can negotiate with the formian supervising the repair of their tunnel to use their hive network to reach the blocked-off section of the tomb.

But what to negotiate for? And what caused the collapse? Hrm.

RedFox - I really like the overall setup you've got going. One idea I might add is a possessing spirit. I'm imagining the greedy thief possessed of the spirit of some sort of evil being - another denizen of the tomb or a devil/demon. He can be the snivelling guy who turns into something worse...

Good idea. How would I pull this off with a level-appropriate nasty?

 

[Kafkonia]

Okay, game's on Sunday and I'm having some writer's block. In particular, coming up with interesting / memorable rooms (and a map layout! Argh) and Encounters.

Ankhegs are burrowing types. Delvers are rather high level to face head-on, but one could certainly have triggered the collapse.

Rooms in the pyramid should include the burial chamber for the pharaoh/equivalent, a treasure room (perhaps the same as the burial chamber), a room for the servants that were buried with the pharaoh, perhaps a small temple or altar for offerings. Of course, the servants room can be home to some undead, and the religious place home to some animated objects; the treasure room can be a false treasure room with illusory treasure and traps.

Have you checked the Web Enhancement for Sandstorm? I can't access the Wizards site from here, but I seem to recall some sort of maps.

 

[Kafkonia]

Good idea. How would I pull this off with a level-appropriate nasty?

Do you have the Advanced Bestiary? There's a good template for demon-possessed creatures that can raise CR by as little as +1 or as much as +3 or +4, depending on the demon.

 

[RedFox]

Do you have the Advanced Bestiary? There's a good template for demon-possessed creatures that can raise CR by as little as +1 or as much as +3 or +4, depending on the demon.

Afraid not. All I've got access to right now is the core set and PHB2 and DMG2.

 

[Kafkonia]

Afraid not. All I've got access to right now is the core set and PHB2 and DMG2.

Well, in that case a fiendish or half-fiend template and perhaps a level in sorceror might suffice to mimic posession.

 

[RedFox]

Well after a marathon prep session that lasted from 4 pm yesterday evening till 6:45 am today (yeah, I have nothing better to do on a Friday night, sad ne?) I've got the game ready.

Should be running it later today after I collapse into slumber.

Here's everything I've got except for the maps. I may scan them later, after I wake up, and post links here. In the meantime, there's:

• The list of NPCs.
• Player handouts (minus the maps)
• Curse of the Mummy's Tomb adventure writeup.

Yeah, it's a bit slapdash. And I basically pulled the Burial trap there at the end completely out of my arse rather than try to come up with something precisely balanced.

Anywho, let me know what ya'll think. Those are all rather small PDF files, so they should be universally viewable.

 

[Shadowslayer]

That's some really well laid out stuff Redfox. I love Egyptian themed adventures, so I might actually play yours with my group.

If this is your style of adventure writing, you'd totally like Dungeonscape. The chapter on "encounter traps" alone would help greatly with this kind of dungeon. And the Hivenest template has "Curse fo the Mummy's Tomb" written all over it. (Imagine a mummy or zombie that also contains a scarab swarm inside it.)

 

[RedFox]

Alright, I'm going to run this in around an hour. Then I may scan and upload the maps, and maybe post a report if anyone cares.

One is a handout sketchy map of the pyramid, the other is my DM map with the number key and all the secret doors and stuff marked.

 

[RedFox]

Second session exploring the tomb...

...and Lucien Silverleaf died. He got et by the scarab swarm, when Lorana chucked a rock into the room and caused them to attack. Whoops!

This is my first PC death as a DM. I let the player roll up a new character. This time, he's making a duskblade from the PHB2, the PC is one level lower than the rest of the party. I did that because I figured the self-correcting nature of the xp system would make him catch up in short order. But it appears (after doling out xp at the end of the session) that I may have been in error there.

BTW, animated objects with a Hardness of 8 are extremely difficult, even if they're a pair of CR 1 small stone lions. Only after Lorana realized that she could use her new Rapid Shot feat and Liam figured out how to Power Attack, did they win the day after a lot of chipping away.

 

[Kafkonia]

This is my first PC death as a DM. I let the player roll up a new character. This time, he's making a duskblade from the PHB2, the PC is one level lower than the rest of the party. I did that because I figured the self-correcting nature of the xp system would make him catch up in short order. But it appears (after doling out xp at the end of the session) that I may have been in error there.

Well, for levels 1-3 experience is awarded at the same rate, but after that point it will help him catch up.

A house rule used in several games over on rpgmp3.com is that the first death is free. This works pretty well for them, it seems.