Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 6598325" data-attributes="member: 20323">I think it's a grand idea <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I get the sense you don't plan on handling this as a dungeon crawl with an actual map and a designated mapper player? And rather that you intend to abstract things in a more "theater of the mind" style? Is that right?I did a very similar mechanic in my Dragon Mountain 4e conversion, which I believe I got from the Alexandrian blog. Basically you design the Blood Madness as an escalating threat in a couple stages (5 is a good number). You determine what triggers increase stage.. If you wish, you may also include methods to reduce the stage of the Blood Madness, though that is optional.[SBLOCK=Blood Madness]Blood Madness is a 5-stage form of madness unique to Baphomet. When the PCs enter The Hunting Grounds they are at stage 0. You may either track the PCs' Blood Madness individually or as a group.Things that can increase the stage: Entering the Cages, Entering the River of Blood, PC exhibiting wanton violence within the labyrinth, Barbarian using rage within the labyrinth, trying to bash down the walls of the labyrinth, etc.Stage 1: Narrate that everyone is extremely on edge. Short rests are not possible.Stage 2: Strange reflections in blood of PCs gone cannibal crazy, and feel free to mess with their perceptions. Dredge up a moment of excessive violence or brutality from the PC's past, like a bloody ghost haunting them.Stage 3: Remembering things becomes difficult, and you might try to orchestrate a fight between some of the PCs if you think your group would handle that well. Concentration automatically fails at this stage.Stage 4: The PCs minds are almost lost, and Spellcasting is impossible as if they were in a barbarian rage. They are no longer considered each others allies and beneficial special abilities that affect others (like Bardic Inspiration) only work when inspiring violence.Stage 5: The PCs are lost to the Blood Madness and cannot differentiate friend from foe. Every round they attack with a melee weapon if a creature is within sight. Even if the group succeeds in escaping the labyrinth, a PC at stage 5 might still be crazed upon returning to their body.[/SBLOCK]The actual navigating the labyrinth depends on how abstract you and your group want to go. And it also depends on what allows the PCs to escape the labyrinth; a couple options here:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There is an actual physical maze they need to navigate, which you have worked out on graph paper in advance. It should be hard, but there can be clues about the way out scattered in the maze. Escaping becomes a matter of trial-and-error, player spatial intelligence, good map-making ability, and the ability to piece together clues.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There is no actual map. Heck, the labyrinth may be constantly changing. Escaping involves figuring out some trick of the labyrinth, probably something that reflects some deeper truth or weakness of the demon lord Baphomet or his philosophy. In this sense the labyrinth is really just a disguised puzzle/riddle that is solved when, for example, the PCs refute "men are just beasts" and restore the humanity of a feral prisoner in the labyrinth.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">An in between approach. Most of the labyrinth is not mapped, but you do have several key chambers/areas prepared in advance. Navigating to these chambers could be a skill challenge or an abstract puzzle. Then each chamber is a specific trial or test, and only once all three are complete does Baphomet (and the exit) appear.</li> </ul>Last thing, a rat bastard DM move: Since you're messing with their heads to begin with, you might have "false exits" scattered throughout the labyrinth. Flawed clues and evil prisoners can point to these exits, though to be fair they should seem a bit too easy; PCs stepping thru them may merely encounter an illusion, or they might be separated from the party and hunted by a savage monster, or they might return to the real world in the form of a beast which then has to fight off the beast hordes attacking their comatose bodies.</blockquote>

Verification