'The Mummy' for Eberron

[waterdhavian]

I just got a brilliant idea for an adventure set in Eberron. The Mummy. I was watching the movie The Mummy with Brendan Frasier and thought it would be a perfect adventure in the Eberron Setting. With all the unknown or secret societies and the investigations of old ruins and relics, as well as the technology for aircraft and fast ships and lightning rail.

Has anyone had a similar idea? Or perhaps have some insight on to how this could be put together. I had an idea that the adventurers be hired to go to the city of the dead. Perhaps in xendrik, though I really want the players to go through desert. From there they uncover the Mummy and start the curses and plagues and all that. I think that a lost temple to the Blood Of Vol would be good for where the mummy is buried or maybe a lost religion and people.

I know I had this idea floating around in my head for awhile and thought of implementing the idea in Forgotten Realms or even do a Modern or 1920's version with spycraft 2.0 rules or D20 modern, or perhaps Call of Cthulhu?

Any feedback or thoughts would be really helpful. Thanks

 

[Glyfair]

Perhaps in xendrik, though I really want the players to go through desert.

There actually are many references to there being a major desert in Xen'drik. They are intentionally leaving things for DMs to make it their own, but they have made some references you can use or discard. A few monsteres in the MMIII are mentioned to be found in a Xen'drik desert.

 

[ruleslawyer]

Apparently, the author of the setting did have this thought as well. Check the intro to the ECS.

I've done several Mummy-ish adventures in my time; the key is really to play up the exotic distant-past nature of the Mummy's original homeland, the unstoppable and apocalyptic power of the creature itself, and the need for a creative solution to defeat it rather than brute force. One interesting idea might be to use an updated version of the Ravenloft rules for mummies (a/k/a the Ancient Dead); the more powerful creatures in this vein are nearly invulnerable, and require creative solutions to lay to rest. If you can get it (it's available as an electronic software download), Van Richten's Guide to the Ancient Dead is an excellent resource, even though it's 2e. Updates of the rules in that book to 3e have been done in the 3e Ravenloft sourcebook and on Dicefreaks , a fan site.

 

[Klaus]

There's a large desert in Xen'drik, to the southwest of the Stormreach Peninsula.

Brendan Fraser could be an excoriate Deneith/Extreme Explorer (the opening scene with him would be at the head of a Deneith squad). Rachel Weiss works as a wizard/Loremaster (her brother as a rogue/wizard/arcane trickster). All scenes set in Cairo are set in Stormreach, and the trip on the Nile takes place at sea, westbound. The elderly british pilot is replaced with an elderly Lyrandar excoriate with his own airship.

 

[waterdhavian]

Excellent ideas, thanks for the info.

 

[Errant]

I had never really considered it but now that you mention it, this would make a cool adventure.

I've already had my players running around Xen'drik a lot so I think I'd set the Mummy's ruins in the southern Demon Wastes, and make the elderly british pilot an eccentric Aundairan wizard with a large flying carpet (seems to fit the solo pilot/easy to shoot down thing a bit better to me).

You could then make the arab guardians (?) members of the Gaash'Kala, maybe allied with/led by Gatekeeper druids.

 

[Klaus]

I had never really considered it but now that you mention it, this would make a cool adventure.

I've already had my players running around Xen'drik a lot so I think I'd set the Mummy's ruins in the southern Demon Wastes, and make the elderly british pilot an eccentric Aundairan wizard with a large flying carpet (seems to fit the solo pilot/easy to shoot down thing a bit better to me).

You could then make the arab guardians (?) members of the Gaash'Kala, maybe allied with/led by Gatekeeper druids.

That is mighty cool too! Ghaash'kala are always nice!

I'd have the pilot be a Dragonhawk rider, myself (the dragonhawk is Huge, so a couple of PCs can ride on its back).

 

[Deadguy]

Just throwing out an idea that occurred to me musing on this question:

What if the Mummy is Erandis d'Vol's mother? Leader of the Vol faction in Aerenal, with huge mastery over death and undeath, the elves of the Undying Court feared simply to execute her. Instead she was buried alive in a tomb in their old homeland of Xen'drik, trapped by a terrible curse, and watched over by an order of elven warders, sworn to keep her protected for all time...

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Not sure if you know or not, but in one of the rules supplements there is a Swarm Shifter template that you can apply to creatures, allowing them to become swarms of beetles or sand (for example), like the Mummy.

I think it's in Libris Mortis, but I don't remember for sure.