Tome of the Dragon

[jester47]

So I am making the Sunless Citadel an old abandodned hideout of an early Cult of the Dragon Cell.

Here is the general background:

"Centuries ago, tales speak of a gold elf lord whose son traveled to a far off land. He was gone several years longer than was expected. However he eventually returned home with a strange package in tow. An odd book bound in the skin of a dragon. He began to invite strange folk into his fathers home and later that year his father fell sick and died. After killing off his siblings using foul magic he inherited all the surrounding lands and the citadel. And that is how the Cult of the Dragon came to dominate a small part of the north for a brief time. He lived secure in that citadel for many years. And those were dark and terrible days. But eventually he was tracked down. No one knows who was behind it, but the cultists met their death there and the citadel sank into the ground, never to see sunlight again."

This all happens between 901 and 917DR. Basicly the Citadel gets attacked and sunk after Sammaster is destroyed by the harpers. Someone traced the son back to his castle and eliminated him and his cult cell. The elf was a desciple of Sammaster and indeed possessed a copy of the Tome of Dragons. I plan on making the tome hard to reach and the cipher almost uncrackable.

Now the big question is:

What should this Tome of Dragons be like? I want it to be somthing weird and unique. Like the skin in the tome is still alive. Maybe it is the size of a man. Maybe it has been shrunk to somthing about 2.5 in x 2 in. Does it float? Is it intelligent? Besides Dracolich info, every necro spell, and sammasters prophecies what odd stuff would be found in this. Essentially I am looking for somthing that starts out as a curiosity, and eventually grows into somthing the characters can use.

The next question is:

anyone have any ideas on rules or guidelines for cracking ciphers in game?

Aaron.

 

[Henry]

Interesting note - there are some cryptographic shareware programs for cheap or for free on the Internet. One concept would be to actually take a whole bunch of info that is pertinent to the game, and put a simple cipher on it (like, say, letters shifted two "places", or simple a=z, z=a reversal) and let the players have fun decrypting it themselves. If you have any real-life cryptography hobbyists, make the cipher harder.

I did this once for a piece of campaign history that had a "truth is stranger than history" revelation in it; There's nothing like the look on a player's face when he's watching surprising information as he is deciphering it.

One other suggestion - using a PC, make 3 or 4 relevant versions of the document in question, each one a little less decrypted. (The undecrypted words can be total nonsense, and not an actual cipher.) Have the PC make a check (Decipher script? INT check?) and based on how well he succeeds at the check, hand him the appropriate document.

 

[jester47]

Interesting note - there are some cryptographic shareware programs for cheap or for free on the Internet. One concept would be to actually take a whole bunch of info that is pertinent to the game, and put a simple cipher on it (like, say, letters shifted two "places", or simple a=z, z=a reversal) and let the players have fun decrypting it themselves. If you have any real-life cryptography hobbyists, make the cipher harder.

I did this once for a piece of campaign history that had a "truth is stranger than history" revelation in it; There's nothing like the look on a player's face when he's watching surprising information as he is deciphering it.

One other suggestion - using a PC, make 3 or 4 relevant versions of the document in question, each one a little less decrypted. (The undecrypted words can be total nonsense, and not an actual cipher.) Have the PC make a check (Decipher script? INT check?) and based on how well he succeeds at the check, hand him the appropriate document.

Thanks henry, but I am just going to go with a DC to an Int check. Decipher script does not work for ciphered texts. And the cipher the CoD uses is supposed to be some serious crypto. So, I just slapped a DC 30 on the book to crack the cipher without knowing the key. Finding a venerable character who started with an int of at least 18 and has access to a spell of foxs cunning would be able to decipher it at low level.

I have also come up with some ideas about the book. Natually it is bound in dragon skin, and the book is an intelligent item. It belives that it is actually a red dragon and behaves with the personality of such. When opened the pages burn like burning paper, except they never burn out. The writing on the pages looks like black burnt out parts of the paper. The book when open radiates exterme heat. Anyone within 5ft must save for such. The book will offer anyone willing to take up the cause of the cult of the dragon the cipher. If the posseser is not Chaotic Evil, the book will not ofer the cipher but will tempt the character to become chaotic evil. The book "knows" when this occurs on a cosmic level and so will not be duped.

Right now the book is safely in an extradimensional pocket. The way to access the pocket is with the 6 peridot gems carved in some likeness of a dragon. (treasure room 27) Linking the 6 gems in the right order opens the extrademinsional pocket. The circle of gems begins to rotate and turns to green fire. This circle operates like a bag of holding large enough to store the tome. Breaking the ring terminates the magic and the pieces fall to the floor. It takes a spot check DC 20 to notice that the intricately carved gems are designed to link up. It takes an Int check of DC 20 to figure out that there is a special order to link the gems up into. When the hole opens the book immeditely begins communicating with the characters that open it. It has ten ranks in knowledge(Cult of Dragon history and prophecies) and ten ranks in knowledge(Dracolich creation). In this version the book lacks some of the information that the regular tome carries. This is because the book actually knows.

This all works with the module as written. The book is odd enough, and makes the info very hard to access for low level characters.

If anyone can think of any other wacky ideas, please post them here...

Aaron.

 

[Sinistar]

This sounds really good. I think it is a neat idea. For some good ideas of what you can do with a Spellbook, look at 101 Spell books by.. that guy... sorry I forgot the name. But 101 Spell books will get you the info. It is good and has some fun ideas.

One thing to consider is what will happen when your party picks up 6 peridot gems and sells them for a masterwork short sword... You may have already decided how to tempt them without giving too much away, but just making the stones magic is a good place to start.

Lots of luck, I had a lot of fun with the module, and Meepo is still with my characters.

 

[Gez]

Decipher script does not work for ciphered texts.

... Only for ciphered scripts.

-- G "Hong Ouille" Z

 

[jester47]

... Only for ciphered scripts.

-- G "Hong Ouille" Z

The description states under the "check" section:

"You can decipher writing in an unfamiliar language or a message written in an incomplete or archaic form. The base DC is 20 for the simplist messages, 25 for standard texts, and 30 or higher for intricate, exotic, or very old writing."

I do not think, and would rule, that decipher script is not code breaking. However, I would allow a +2 synnergy bonus for characters that have 5 ranks or more of decipher script. I would say that you do use some of the techniques that you would use to decipher another language when cracking codes.

Aaron.

 

[jester47]

This sounds really good. I think it is a neat idea. For some good ideas of what you can do with a Spellbook, look at 101 Spell books by.. that guy... sorry I forgot the name. But 101 Spell books will get you the info. It is good and has some fun ideas.

I have been thingking about taking a look at that. Just need some cash. There are a lot of other things that have priority.

One thing to consider is what will happen when your party picks up 6 peridot gems and sells them for a masterwork short sword... You may have already decided how to tempt them without giving too much away, but just making the stones magic is a good place to start.

If they don't think to detect magic on them, and sell them for 10gp each, then they sell it. They are actually doing the world a favor by spreading them out and making the book even harder to get. If it happens it happens. It gives me more plot to work with when the cult of the dragon comes looking for thier book. (i.e. race to recover the last stone. The CotD wants it, the heros need to destory it!)

Lots of luck, I had a lot of fun with the module, and Meepo is still with my characters.

I have run it before. Last time the party was carrying around a meepo popsickle. This time, Calcryx is going to be flying from one patch of ice on the walls, cieling, and floor to another.

Aaron.

 

[Gez]

I was just finding it ironically amusing that a skill named "decipher" doesn't allow to de-cipher, that's all.

 

[Henry]

Yeah, I keep forgetting that. But I still recommend the cipher idea, even with the INT check, just because some players find it fun to actually unravel stuff like that, even if the "real" thing would be way more complex.

But sounds like your players are in for a treat, regardless.