The Labyrinth: A Campaign Setting

[Bercilac]

Hello all,

I've recently joined a nearby gaming group, played a good session, and I'm starting to work on a new campaign of my own. Its setting, the Labyrinth, was created in the forgotten past by who-the-heck-knows. The prevailing belief among denizens of the Labyrinth is that it was created as a prison, though other theories do exist. Apart from the structure itself, the only evidence of the Creators' intentions is the beings known as "The Warders", horrible fiends of immense destructive power which periodically devastate whole sections of the Labyrinth. The only good thing about the Warders is that there aren't very many of them (I'm thinking ridiculously high CR golems or outsiders).

The Labyrinth is made up of "mazes" and "nodes." Mazes vary in their size, physical laws (time might flow differently, gravity might work differently, et cetera), and composition (one maze could be a library, another an actual hedge maze, another a strange mechanical construct of immense scale). Nodes tend to be smaller than mazes, and are generally more hospitable (mirroring the old D&D split between town and dungeon). They are called "nodes" as they contain one or more portals to different parts of one or more mazes. It is unknown how many mazes and nodes exist in the Labyrinth. All that anyone knows is that no one has ever found "the exit" (some believe it doesn't exist).

I'm aiming for a really disorienting and bizarre adventuring experience. As such, I've made a few calls as DM as to how things will work:
-Magic is commonplace. I may make the PC races all have access to gnome-like cantrips, or reduce the level of certain spells (I'd like restoring limbs to be fairly easy healing, for instance, and I may introduce a critical system or called-shot rules that allows for a lot of limb removal). "Everyday" magic is a common sight: tables that eternally overflow with foodstuffs, bags of holding, torches that ignite only when there are people in the room... Most NPCs, if they are not simply wizards or sorcerors, will probably multi-class to get some arcane magic. Divine magic is slightly less common, but still visible in most communities of any size.
-Perhaps as a part of the Creators' design, "forgetting" is commonplace. Everyone has trouble remembering things in the Labyrinth. What this means in game terms is that if the party leaves an area for an adventure or two, when they will return they will find that minor details are different than they recall. The same goes for NPCs. If the party is gone for long enough, they may encounter the same NPC, but I will give them a different name and description, indicating that the party has actually completely forgotten this person. If the players cotton on, then it represents the characters' recognition, "You remind me of someone I knew a long time ago..."
-Nothing is as it seems! In contrast to my previous adventures, in which sources of danger are pretty clearly marked (he's got a sword) and straightforward (he's going to stab you), I'll be loading up the Labyrinth with traps and devious magical opponents.

I'm hoping to create a play experience in which players feel constantly lost, and mistrust their environment at every stage. That being said, it is of course only through interaction with the environment that the PCs will be able to survive. I'm curious to see how players react to this state of affairs, and what strategies they innovate.

Advice I would like:
-ANY nasty DM tricks involving traps or spellcasters. As I've said, I don't have a lot of experience with this kind of stuff so any and all tips would be much appreciated.
-Regarding "Forgetting", I realise I'm breaking one of the core tenets of the DM-Player contract: the world is consistent. How can I put bounds on this? My first thought is that forgetting takes time. If players operate out of one node for several adventures, exploring various mazes, then they may only find that the door of the inn is red instead of green this week. This gives them at least some short-term stability. Another thought, that I haven't figured out how to resolve, is that characters with high wisdom or intelligence scores might be less prone to forgetting. Perhaps a check or save should be allowed to "remember" certain details?
-Whatever else you can come up with, naturally.

 

[Jack7]

It's a very interesting idea Berc.

When I first read your description I immediately thought of Ringworld.
And of a tesseract.

I also thought of the Labyrinth as an experiment, perhaps by an advanced species. Maybe even Mind Flayers. And the Warders as being intelligent machines.

As to your questions:

1. I would have rebound magic - that seems to arc out at the target, and then rebounds at the sender, in certain situations or areas.
2. I would have malfunctioning magic.
3. I would have greatly amplified, or greatly ineffective magic.
4. I would have high powered magical items that could greatly assist the users in survival, as well as in helping to figure out how things really work in the labyrinth and why, but such items would have severe disadvantages, curses, or so forth. They would also be hard to figure out and employ.
5. If the place is the result of an experiment by another species or of an advanced intelligence then I'd have technological devices that may seem like magic items and are very hard to figure out how to use, but are very helpful to the characters.
6. I'd have an underlying plotline that allows players to slowly discover clues about how they got there, what the place really is, and who is behind it all, and for what reason(s).
7. I'd have strange and original creatures, perhaps from other worlds (not just standard "monsters"), some of whom are also intelligent and could become potential allies.
8. I'm not so sure I wouldn't at least make parts of the place "alive."
9. I'd include magic items, creatures, and technology which could assist with discovering (like a dowsing rod principle)
things as well as remembering and recalling things.
10. I'd have transformational magic. A player throws a lighting bolt spell and it becomes a sleep spell instead or maybe even turns into a complex illusion. I'd also have areas, devices, creatures, and technologies that could control and regulate transformations, as well as amplify or cause them.
11. I'd have dreams and visions, likely prophetic ones.
12. I'd have illusion traps that if the players fall for them "become real." I'd also have very unusual and complex traps, traps which actually give clues to the place rather than just being merely dangerous.
13. I'd have monsters of course, but some monsters who wanted out as well and wanted to help the PCs.
14. I'd have "language change." One minute you can understand the guy next to ya, the next you can't.
15. I'd have the occasional Wizard's Eye. A guy wakes up at night and sees an eye watching him. He sits up and the eye flies into his own forehead and suddenly he has a memory of something he had long forgotten, and/or sees a brief image of whoever or whatever is "watching him." He walks down a hall and suddenly a mouth appears on the wall and recites verbatim a conversation that the PCs had three days ago. I'd work in a lot of horror elements, especially of the creepy and unnerving kind. I'd "harrow" the PCs.
16. I'd have ghosts and undead appear, not so much to fight, as to give creepy clues and to lead people into traps and challenges.
17. I'd have a lot of challenges that seem to have one point or purpose and actually cause something else entirely to happen if they are successfully executed.
18. I'd have treasure that is not what it appears to be.
19. I'd have a party of NPCs who are directly competing against, and maybe even secretly assisting, the PCs.
20. I'd have a lot of misdirection, including "Golden Threads" that seems to lead in one direction, like in helping to figure out what is really going on, and yet these Golden Threads actually lead to other mysteries.