Sentient gem from outer space

[Jack99]

Greetings,

You know how you as a DM sometimes make something up on the spur of the moment, and afterwards, you really arent sure how to run with it? Well it seems I have gotten myself into one of those situations, so I was hoping that you guys could help out.

Background:
Last time we played, my players were trecking through a jungle. One night, a small meteor came down and hit the world not far from where they were.
Of course, they went to investigate, and found a rock the size of a basketball. After cooling it down (time, create water, and resist energy to move it into a nearby lake), they cracked it open. Inside they found a hazy pink gem (very uneven), about the size of a human fist.

It radiated alteration magic (the day after, it radiated evocation)

At this point, I had a few of the players run a contest of will (multiple will saves of escalating DC) against an unknown foe. The first lost, the second got a mental message:"Master....". Also, the diviner suddently couldnt read the thoughts of the one who lost the contest.

Okay, so what I am looking for are ideas, of what this gem could be. Is it really sentient, is it a magical item or something completely different? Why did it fall from the sky, etc.

Any ideas, inspiration or something would be helpful, as I feel a bit stuck on the subject atm.

Thanks in advance,

 

[The_Gneech]

Straight out of Doctor Who!

The classic direction to go would be having the gem be basically a magic jar holding consciousness of a would-be dark lord that possesses people to get them to create a new body, then goes off to conquer the world.

-The Gneech

 

[Kristian Serrano]

I would go the route of something psionically oriented. You could probably borrow some elements from the Legend of Sardior series on WotC's Web site. It should at least be intelligent, perhaps akin to a psicrystal, but with a theme of telepathic powers.

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

Playing off the psionic aspect, the character who failed the save has becime the victim of a mind seed effect. The gem itself slowly peters out and crumbles to dust and a week later, the (former) PC becomes an alien mastermind bent on dominating the planet in preparation for the arrival of his horrific masters.

 

[ivocaliban]

Perhaps it's a variant of "starmetal" and your pcs can all become Pink Star Adepts!

*ahem*

I suppose there's any number of ways to handle this scenario, but I'm going to tackle it by brainstorming:

Magic/Planar Origins: In this case, the sentient gem is the result of some powerful arcane/divine magic. Perhaps someone was imprisoned in the gem like General Zod being banished to the Phantom Zone in Superman. Or, perhaps, an entire demi-plane exists inside the gem, be it a prison or paradise (or both). It could also be part of an experiment by a powerful mage in the region.

Sometimes the gods are thought to dwell in or have some power over the stars. Whether they're benign (such as Celestian of the Greyhawk pantheon or Selune of Forgotten Realms) or malicious (as in the Cthulhu mythos), they might have reason to send this "messenger from beyond."

It's also possible that it didn't come from space at all, but from some other plane of existence. This might have happened "naturally," the meteorite crossing over through a shared border or portal in the atmopshere, or it could have been sent here from another plane (again for possibly good/evil reasons, depending on the plane of origin).

Psionic Origins: Nothing screams "psion" to me like gems and crystals. Particuarly sentient ones who communicate with telepathy. While I don't know that much about psionics, others have already provided some great ideas for this avenue.

Alien/Futuristic Origins: There are so many options here that I hardly know where to begin. It could be an actual alien being with a crystaline form. Or it could be a repository of knowledge such as a computer or a holocron (Star Wars). It might even be a sort of "message in a bottle" or even a communication device (alien iPhone?)...the ideas are endless.

It could even be like The Orb from The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.



So, I suppose what you should do is ask yourself a couple of questions:

1) Do you want this gem to become a:
a) Focal point of the game
b) Side quest

This will tell you how much time and energy to invest in developing its backstory/purpose. If it's going to be important you'll want to form a more solid idea of its origin, nature and goals. If it's just a diversion from some other plotline you're following, then you don't need to worry about pinning it down.


2) Is the gem a:
a) Organism (Alien/Outsider)
b) Construct (Robot/Probe)
c) Device (Computer/Magic Item)
d) Combination of the above

This lets you know if it's got it's own thoughts and goals or if it's just a vessel for someone else's thoughts and goals. It helps define the relationship your PCs will have with the item and what sort of abilities or functions it might have.


Hopefully with all of that you'll be able to cobble something together. Apologies for rambling.

 

[Jack99]

Thanks for the feedback, especially ivocaliban was very helpful.

So far, I am only set on the "gem" (if it is one) merely being a sidequest adventure hook, at the most. Also, it cant be something that completely takes over the PC.

Atm, I am a bit partial to Sentient Magical Item Sent by A God. However, I am far from set on this, so if anyone else has a better/different take on it, suggestions are still most welcome.

 

[Slife]

Here's a technique by which a psion might turn themselves into a sentient and inanimate object.

http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php?p=8570529&postcount=31

 

[Blair Goatsblood]

Straight out of Doctor Who!

The classic direction to go would be having the gem be basically a magic jar holding consciousness of a would-be dark lord that possesses people to get them to create a new body, then goes off to conquer the world.

-The Gneech

I like this one.

 

[Whimsical]

This is the story of Jason Andrews. When Jason was a young lad he was quite content frolicking in the fields during summertime. One day, a mean ol’ bad person came over and took his fields away. Jason was really sad. Really he was. Then Jason said “Gosh, if I don’t do something, I won’t have anything to frolic in.” So he went to find the mean ol’ bad person. But he said “Go away!”. Jason said “Oh mister mean ol’ bad person, won’t you please let me have my fields again so that I may frolic my summer away in the fields?” “No!”, said the mean ol’ bad person. “Golly”, Jason mumbled, “I guess I’ll just go home and get my 12 gage shot gun so I can blow the [beep] out of you.” Jason walked away from the mean ol’ bad person with his pouty lip looking at his shuffling feet all the way home.
Along the way, Jason knocked a really neat green stone away with his shuffling feet. “Geepers, that’s the neatest green stone I’ve ever seen!” He picked it up and looked at it closely. It has the words “Eat me” on it. “Gosh,” Jason said, “why would I ever want to eat a rock, especially one as neat as this one?” “Because I taste really good! Really I do!” Jason dropped the rock and looked around. “Who said that? Wally? Is that you trying to josh me?” But good ol’ Wally was not to be seen around. Little Jason looked at the stone again and the stone looked back and smiled. “Hi. Will you be my friend? It so lonely being a rock.” Jason’s eyes opened wide. “Wow! A talking rock! Wait ‘till I show Ma and Pa and Wally and the mean ol’ bad person!” Jason then looked at the rock suspiciously. “Wait a minute. Rocks don’t talk. Especially green ones. My ma told me that.” The rock smiled and said “But I’m a magic rock. I can talk because I want to. Can we do something fun now? Let’s do something neat!”
Jason smiled and nodded his head assuredly. He put the rock in his pocket and started heading home. “I’m going to get my 12 gage shot gun so I can blow the [beep] out of the mean ol’ bad person who took my fields. Then we can frolic in them together. Won’t that be fun? What’s your name Mr. rock?...”

 

[Whimsical]

That's a little something I wrote around ten years ago, when I was creating an origin for a DC Heroes character. It was some silly brainstorming I did before I hammered out his real history. And, yes, it does involve an alien gem.