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How to GM a huge ruin?
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<blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 7243968" data-attributes="member: 63"><p>I love your suggested philosophy. I've decided the antipaladin is Thurok Foulfist, a former son of the ruined city, which still has a few hundred dwarves living there. Decades ago when he was a young man, he got into an argument with his sister and in a fit of anger shoved her into a crevasse, which killed her. He tried to burn her body to hide his crime, but his father - Tharik Hallowfist - found him in the act and drove him from the city in fury. Now Thurok has returned, a worshiper of a god of destruction who wants access to the dimension of dreams. An unstable portal to that plane lies hidden in the depths of the ruined city, sealed off thousands of years ago. Thurok wants to find it, and once he's done he intends to kill everyone in the city.</p><p></p><p><a href="https://images5.alphacoders.com/631/631346.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/G9FDIQt.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p></p><p>I'm starting with a fan map of Moria, filing off some serial numbers, making the size much smaller (only a couple miles across), and marking a variety of sections as flooded. Also, mine only has an eastern entrance, since the western one collapsed long ago.</p><p></p><p>So the locations I'm going with are:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>East Gate.</strong> The party will find the city's champion - Tharik Hallowfist - hanging from columns just outside the entrance, his feet burnt off by his own son Thurok. Thurok's gnoll allies lurk in ambush while the antipaladin addresses the PCs from an arrow slit above the gate. He offers to let his other hostages go if the party helps him find the portal he seeks. (He's lying of course.) There's a fight to get into the fortress, but he doesn't participate.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Outer Fortress.</strong> These defenses straddle a bridge over a chasm, which is suffused with earth elemental magic so strong that flight here is impossible. The fortress is held by Thurok's gnoll allies. Thurok has placed a special glyph of destruction on the bridge over the chasm so that if anyone who isn't one of his allies passes without his approval, a pulse of destructive energy from his god will shatter the bridge and collapse the gates, sealing the city inside the mountain. (However, there are other exits.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Eastern Residences.</strong> Just west of the eastern rift, once there was a thriving city, but now only a handful of buildings are occupied. The noncombatant dwarves are kept here under watch by gnolls, who have orders to kill these hostages at any sign of rebellion. I probably need a couple buildings of note here, each of which could have its own back entrance or basement tunnel, so it's possible to rescue dwarves out from under the gnolls' noses. The gnolls also need some nasty monster to prowl the streets.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>The Chamber of Repose.<strong> (On the map where Mazarbul's coffin is.) Here are where the dwarven dead lay. Texts in a library here mention four Stewards of the Sky. When the dwarves were first excavating the city, they discovered a window that looked into an endless sky. It was beautiful and enigmatic, so the king had it sealed away. Four stewards held keys, which if placed in locks at a location called The Crossroads, would reveal the portal. This is what Thurok seeks. The keys are scattered - one in a tomb, one in the mithril forge, one claimed by an orc chief in the orc caves, and one in the shadowed cave.<br /> [*]<strong>Forges.</strong> Southwest of the residences, the massive forges overlook the Great Southern Abyss, where their smoke once billowed and blackened the walls. Now the forges are long-cold. A pair of dwarf children managed to hide out here when the gnolls attacked -- Eldran and Ulmeg Wyvernshoulder. They could be guides, and know a few secret routes.<br /> [*]<strong>Rusted Mines.</strong> Northwest of the residences, these old iron mines have flooded waist-deep and turned red and toxic with rust. Thurok has gnolls send groups of dwarves who are of fighting age into these mines to look for the rift. After a few days he'll send them farther west to the other mines by the northern fissure.<br /> [*]<strong>Mithril Forge.</strong> This temple is sealed by magic, but could contain magic. (I'm looking for some interesting way to open it.)<br /> [*]<strong>The Great Southern Abyss.</strong> A shortcut of sorts, but with a steady crumble of stone falling from overhead.<br /> [*]<strong>The Shadowed Cave.</strong> This was once the lair of a silver dragon who served the king of the ruined city. Of the various holes the Tarrasque tore to try to reach the city, here is the only one large enough to allow exit to the surface. <br /> [*]<strong>The Grand Road.</strong> (Durin's Way on the map.) This main thoroughfare is a hundred feet wide and partially flooded, and the dwarves had small boats, which the gnolls now patrol from. They keep their stronger prisoners chained here.<br /> [*]<strong>The Crossroads.</strong> Several paths meet here. If keys of the stewards are used in the right locks, a passage in the floor opens, but it's flooded. You need to drain the passage.<br /> [*]<strong>The Orc Tunnels.</strong> Inhabited by orcs who are territorial, but could be willing to help the dwarves by driving off the gnolls. Their leader has one of the keys. The entrances of the various tunnels have submerged sections with large bladed traps under floorboards that cannot support people's weight.<br /> [*]<strong>Western Residences.</strong> Probably just uninhabited, but maybe I could put something else here. I dunno, dwarf farms? A spirit that roams here with a lantern, which keeps the orcs at bay. It patrols near a dry fountain, and if befriended it can explain the water system here which can drain the flooded areas. If the fountain is reactivated, it is a limitless source of healing (1d6 apiece), though only if you drink directly from it, and no more than four times per hour.<br /> [*]<strong>Iron Pits.</strong> Empty, maybe with a red herring myth about an iron golem that kidnaps naughty children and buries them here. Not true. However, it's a back way to the troll caves if you don't solve the puzzle of the four keys.<br /> [*]<strong>Troll Caves.</strong> Location of the portal. Also flooded with trolls, which are actually manifestations of the realm of dreams . . . so they should behave oddly. Maybe they can just manifest impossible things while in sight of the portal.<br /> [*]<strong>The Endless Stair.</strong> Mostly shattered and perilous. Once led to a surface exit. Still leads down to the Foundations of Stone.<br /> [*]<strong>The Foundations of Stone.</strong> Ringed levels of a strip mine, going down to an underground lake, which has sluice gate that could drain the flooded areas, but it's damaged. (I need some interesting way to open it. Mini-puzzle?)</strong></strong></li> </ul><p><strong><strong></strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong></strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong>I think I'll have Thurok fight them at the Crossroads. Or perhaps get them to find the portal for him, and then when they meet him in the Eastern Residences, they'll fight amid the townsfolk.</strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong></strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong>I need three townsfolk he might murder, so the party can get attached first. Monmike Morestone, an exuberant miner (personality like my friend Jason). Jaton Burrowbird, artist who breeds the pale axebeaks (like my coworker Ray). Lexi Bricklot, stonemason and the representative between the hostages and the gnolls (like my friend Joy, tough enough to stand up to the slavers and make them afraid of being too cruel). Also aged priest Kaja Orim, who rambles near death about the crossroads having five paths.</strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong></strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong>Timeline. Day one the gnolls hang a dwarf named Ven in the central square as a warning. Day two they cook and eat him.</strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong></strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong>Hrm. I need to do a lot more planning. Like tactics for fights.</strong></strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RangerWickett, post: 7243968, member: 63"] I love your suggested philosophy. I've decided the antipaladin is Thurok Foulfist, a former son of the ruined city, which still has a few hundred dwarves living there. Decades ago when he was a young man, he got into an argument with his sister and in a fit of anger shoved her into a crevasse, which killed her. He tried to burn her body to hide his crime, but his father - Tharik Hallowfist - found him in the act and drove him from the city in fury. Now Thurok has returned, a worshiper of a god of destruction who wants access to the dimension of dreams. An unstable portal to that plane lies hidden in the depths of the ruined city, sealed off thousands of years ago. Thurok wants to find it, and once he's done he intends to kill everyone in the city. [url=https://images5.alphacoders.com/631/631346.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/G9FDIQt.jpg[/img][/url] I'm starting with a fan map of Moria, filing off some serial numbers, making the size much smaller (only a couple miles across), and marking a variety of sections as flooded. Also, mine only has an eastern entrance, since the western one collapsed long ago. So the locations I'm going with are: [list][*][B]East Gate.[/B] The party will find the city's champion - Tharik Hallowfist - hanging from columns just outside the entrance, his feet burnt off by his own son Thurok. Thurok's gnoll allies lurk in ambush while the antipaladin addresses the PCs from an arrow slit above the gate. He offers to let his other hostages go if the party helps him find the portal he seeks. (He's lying of course.) There's a fight to get into the fortress, but he doesn't participate. [*][B]Outer Fortress.[/B] These defenses straddle a bridge over a chasm, which is suffused with earth elemental magic so strong that flight here is impossible. The fortress is held by Thurok's gnoll allies. Thurok has placed a special glyph of destruction on the bridge over the chasm so that if anyone who isn't one of his allies passes without his approval, a pulse of destructive energy from his god will shatter the bridge and collapse the gates, sealing the city inside the mountain. (However, there are other exits.) [*][b]Eastern Residences.[/b] Just west of the eastern rift, once there was a thriving city, but now only a handful of buildings are occupied. The noncombatant dwarves are kept here under watch by gnolls, who have orders to kill these hostages at any sign of rebellion. I probably need a couple buildings of note here, each of which could have its own back entrance or basement tunnel, so it's possible to rescue dwarves out from under the gnolls' noses. The gnolls also need some nasty monster to prowl the streets. [*][b]The Chamber of Repose.[b] (On the map where Mazarbul's coffin is.) Here are where the dwarven dead lay. Texts in a library here mention four Stewards of the Sky. When the dwarves were first excavating the city, they discovered a window that looked into an endless sky. It was beautiful and enigmatic, so the king had it sealed away. Four stewards held keys, which if placed in locks at a location called The Crossroads, would reveal the portal. This is what Thurok seeks. The keys are scattered - one in a tomb, one in the mithril forge, one claimed by an orc chief in the orc caves, and one in the shadowed cave. [*][b]Forges.[/b] Southwest of the residences, the massive forges overlook the Great Southern Abyss, where their smoke once billowed and blackened the walls. Now the forges are long-cold. A pair of dwarf children managed to hide out here when the gnolls attacked -- Eldran and Ulmeg Wyvernshoulder. They could be guides, and know a few secret routes. [*][b]Rusted Mines.[/b] Northwest of the residences, these old iron mines have flooded waist-deep and turned red and toxic with rust. Thurok has gnolls send groups of dwarves who are of fighting age into these mines to look for the rift. After a few days he'll send them farther west to the other mines by the northern fissure. [*][b]Mithril Forge.[/b] This temple is sealed by magic, but could contain magic. (I'm looking for some interesting way to open it.) [*][b]The Great Southern Abyss.[/b] A shortcut of sorts, but with a steady crumble of stone falling from overhead. [*][b]The Shadowed Cave.[/b] This was once the lair of a silver dragon who served the king of the ruined city. Of the various holes the Tarrasque tore to try to reach the city, here is the only one large enough to allow exit to the surface. [*][b]The Grand Road.[/b] (Durin's Way on the map.) This main thoroughfare is a hundred feet wide and partially flooded, and the dwarves had small boats, which the gnolls now patrol from. They keep their stronger prisoners chained here. [*][b]The Crossroads.[/b] Several paths meet here. If keys of the stewards are used in the right locks, a passage in the floor opens, but it's flooded. You need to drain the passage. [*][b]The Orc Tunnels.[/b] Inhabited by orcs who are territorial, but could be willing to help the dwarves by driving off the gnolls. Their leader has one of the keys. The entrances of the various tunnels have submerged sections with large bladed traps under floorboards that cannot support people's weight. [*][b]Western Residences.[/b] Probably just uninhabited, but maybe I could put something else here. I dunno, dwarf farms? A spirit that roams here with a lantern, which keeps the orcs at bay. It patrols near a dry fountain, and if befriended it can explain the water system here which can drain the flooded areas. If the fountain is reactivated, it is a limitless source of healing (1d6 apiece), though only if you drink directly from it, and no more than four times per hour. [*][b]Iron Pits.[/b] Empty, maybe with a red herring myth about an iron golem that kidnaps naughty children and buries them here. Not true. However, it's a back way to the troll caves if you don't solve the puzzle of the four keys. [*][b]Troll Caves.[/b] Location of the portal. Also flooded with trolls, which are actually manifestations of the realm of dreams . . . so they should behave oddly. Maybe they can just manifest impossible things while in sight of the portal. [*][b]The Endless Stair.[/b] Mostly shattered and perilous. Once led to a surface exit. Still leads down to the Foundations of Stone. [*][b]The Foundations of Stone.[/b] Ringed levels of a strip mine, going down to an underground lake, which has sluice gate that could drain the flooded areas, but it's damaged. (I need some interesting way to open it. Mini-puzzle?)[/b][/b][/list][b][b] I think I'll have Thurok fight them at the Crossroads. Or perhaps get them to find the portal for him, and then when they meet him in the Eastern Residences, they'll fight amid the townsfolk. I need three townsfolk he might murder, so the party can get attached first. Monmike Morestone, an exuberant miner (personality like my friend Jason). Jaton Burrowbird, artist who breeds the pale axebeaks (like my coworker Ray). Lexi Bricklot, stonemason and the representative between the hostages and the gnolls (like my friend Joy, tough enough to stand up to the slavers and make them afraid of being too cruel). Also aged priest Kaja Orim, who rambles near death about the crossroads having five paths. Timeline. Day one the gnolls hang a dwarf named Ven in the central square as a warning. Day two they cook and eat him. Hrm. I need to do a lot more planning. Like tactics for fights.[/b][/b] [/QUOTE]
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