Mega Dungeon Idea for 4E

[Umbran]

The survival instincts of the tarrasque he's basically merged with understand things like 'slashing your throat' or 'taking poison' but are not sentient enough to figure out that he's trying to raise people up who can kill him.

Here's the thing - in an RPG, a secret is no fun if it never gets out. Secrets exist to be revealed. So, at some point, the players have to learn what the whole point of this exercise is.

So, somehow you're eventually going to have to communicate that this guy has, in effect, a second personality that does not allow direct physical action, but somehow will ignore conscious planning. And you'll have to make it plausible to them.

I, personally, have a problem with the idea that this thing can recognize poison, but not recognize the setup. But that's me, and your players are not me. If you think it'll fly with them, go for it.

For that matter, he's tough enough that slitting his own throat is not something he can just casually do anyway.

Dude, even Chuck Norris isn't so tough that he couldn't kill himself.

 

[JohnBiles]

As an idea, it could be that the merging with the Tarrasque has created a kind of split personality. Only when he is purely Demetrius can think lucidly enough to contemplate ending it all. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), the emotional charge of the act brings about a change over, preventing it. It is only by planning his own demise indirectly can he hope to bring it about…

Yeah, that's how I was thinking.

It's a great idea. My only question is:

To what extent would the Testing Grounds be reconfigured? I personally think that the player-characters should get some kind of reward for watching previous groups go through the Testing Grounds. Perhaps the crystal balls would only focus in on groups that are engaged in lethal encounters (after all, searching a 10x10 room would be boring to an audience). This way, the characters couldn't pre-map the Testing grounds, but get an idea of what to expect.

I'm envisioning the D&D version of the movie The Running Man. Gambling Halls would set up shop nearby the crystal balls, betting on who will live or die. People would have favorite individual monsters they could bet on, and so forth.

Basically, when people beat a setpiece, it gets reset to something new. So watching other groups LOSE will help you win if you're the first to take on the challenge successfully. Any given level has a mix of fancy setpieces designed by the Overlord's flunkies and relatively mundane encounters which only get replaced or changed if they run out of owlbears or orcs.

So rabidly watching Crystalvision can help you prepare for your raids...so long as you don't wait too long and someone else beats it.

Though sometimes, if a setpiece is really popular, it may actually be kept a while past when it's first beaten. (Sure the Band of the Red Hand may have actually won the fight which is held in a series of two man-seating cups mounted to a central spindle by long metal arms which rotates round and round at ever higher speeds, but usually people fly out of it and go splat and they crowds go WILD for high speed splatting...)

How about this:

The Tarrasque is immortal - kill it, and it sinks into the planet, only to return sometime in the future. Say Demetrius "killed" the Tarrasque by first cracking its impervious carapace. With the aid of epic magic he forged his armor from the shards of this carapace, fulfilling a dual purpose - making a sweet suit of armor, and stealing the Tarrasque's vitality and regenerative immortality - the Tarrasque was effectively dead as long as the armor existed.

Fast forward to now. Demetrius knows that the armor is taking him over, and they are already one and the same. He wants to die, but to do so would rekindle the Tarrasque's power, and after 1000 years the beast's hunger has refused to diminish - if its power returned it would wake instantly and destroy everything Demetrius accomplished over his long life. Building this massive dungeon allows him to effectively train people capable of slaying the Tarrasque - when the time comes, Demetrius himself will be their final test. If they can beat him, they will be ready to save the world from the Tarrasque. If they don't, then the world might have something even worse to worry about in the form of a mad Immortal Overlord.

Yeah, that's a good idea; it provides an additional reason why he can't just slash his own throat; he hopes someone can finally finish the damnable thing off!

Good suggestion!

 

[mach1.9pants]

The dungeon idea reminds me of Deathtrap Dungeon (from Fighting Fantasy) and I think there is a similar dungeon in the Dragon Warriors world.

However I disagree (a bit) with Umbran, secrets are also there for DM's to laugh and gloat over and enjoy there superiority! Mwa ha ha haaaaaaaaaaa

 

[jdrakeh]

100% AWESOME. And I am so swiping some of your Awesome for my planned RMSS game.

 

[MortalPlague]

The dungeon idea reminds me of Deathtrap Dungeon (from Fighting Fantasy)

I came here to post that! Kudos to you, Mach.

This sounds like a cool idea for a pretty epic dungeon!

 

[Shadeydm]

The split personality idea sounds cool. When his bestial personality is in control does he behave in a distinct manner? For example during the bestial periods is he prone to rage in the finest tradition of an athasian dragon?

I could also see lots of potential for political intrigue in such a setting, or there could be a whole underground rebellion thing going on, maybe even secret societies dedicated to overthrowing the "godslayer".