By Request: Wetchley House (Supermage Base)

[DShomshak]

Another poster expressed interest in seeing the plans for Wetchley House, the base acquired by the PCs in my first playtest campaign for Ultimate Supermage. Fortunately, I still have them as files, so you don't have to look at scans from my crappy scanner. Well, except for the picture of the house.

 

This was a 4th ed campaign, so the plans are hex-mapped.

 

The house isn't big. I don't remember the exact book from which I adapted the plans, but there are scads of books out there such as Victorian House Plans, Classic House Plans, etc. Then I traced and spliced together bits of drawings of those houses, with a little freehanding to fill in the gaps, and made an illustration. I'll start with that:

Dean Shomshak

[DShomshak]

Wetchley House actually consists of two houses with identical exteriors, one on Earth and one in Babylon, the City of Man. Another floor exists in neither place: It's "above" the 3rd/attic floor of the Babylon half, but "below" the cellar floor of the Earth side. There's also a tower room (upper left in the illustration) whose location is a little hard to explain, but we'll get to that later.

 

Various doors, stairs and an elevator connect them. Much of the plans should be explicable from context, such as what's a door or window, stairs up or stairs down. Circles with letters and numbers in them indicate that a door or stairway operates interdimensionally. Like, where there's a circles "2b" near a half-door on a wall, that's a door from the Earth side, 2nd floor, to the Babylon side, 2nd floor. On the plan of the Babylon side, there's a corresponding "2A) marking the other side of the door (Babylon to Earth). It would have been better to use "E" and "B" for Earth and Babylon instead of "A" and "B," but at the time I never thought anyone but me and the players would see the plans. Oh well, I don't feel like changing the pictures now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dean Shomshak

 

 

 

[DShomshak]

And for anyone who wants some "flavor text," here's an excerpt from the Campaign Chronicle one of my players kept, initially for the benefit of a few former players (but wow I'm glad for the reference now). I added only a few notes of clarification.

 

Also, Wetchley House is ornately Victorian, but I'm not sure it qualifies as a "mansion." The original plans were of a house of fairly modest size, just one step up from a "cottage."

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>Date: Mon, 11 Dec 1995 02:31:34

>To: [REDACTED]

>From: [REDACTED]

>Subject: Madhouse!

 

Well, after a month long break due to Thanksgiving, we again continue the saga of our motley crew of spellcasters...

 

Last month you may recall, we fought and defeated the Anarchitect; at the end, chaos went wild in the Anarchitect's Babylonian base, with Artifex running in and trying to spell hack the wild chaos to settle it. It succeeded, after a fashion. The Victorian mansion is now bidimensionally located (in both Babylon's Victorian London district and in our old lot on Earth in Tacoma, WA). We rest a day, and then decide to explore our new base together. I won't go into details of the exploration, since no exciting battles or such developed, but the house has 9 floors (maybe 10, depending on how you count). The first 4 floors are Earthly, and are - with a few odd bits, such as the living goldfish swimming in the crystal doorknob - a substantially normal appearing Victorian mansion (allowing for some modern conveniences; electricity, semi-modern appliances, etc.). On the Earthly levels exist such rooms as the Kitchen, a Parlor (which Jezeray is dressing this up as a Seance Room for her Fortune Telling business), Library, Smoking Lounge, 3 bedrooms, a Music room, and a Den. All are decorated in a substantially Victorian style. There is also a Cellar floor with the utilities and a now-unused coal bin, and a area perfect for Redeemer (who now has taken to calling himself The Bishop) to convert for his crypt-like quarters.

 

The "next" 4 floors (as we numbered them anyway) are Babylonian - each is decorated in a style based on the 4 sons of Urthona (the Supreme Lord of Art). His sons were Art's envoys to the other

Zoas. The bottom Babylonian floor is dedicated to Bromion, Art's envoy to Order, and is decked out in Swedish Modern (all white tile, chrome trim, very angular with lots of flush surfaces). This floor has a Game Room, Pantry, Office (w/ obsolete PC computer), and a very sterile bedroom.

 

The next floor up is in the style of Theotormon, Art's envoy to Nature, and is decorated in a style we termed Oriental Fusion - a mix of assorted oriental styles. This level has a parlor, vestibule (w/the traditional low Japanese tables), a very lushly appointed bedroom (which Artifex took dibs on), and a Buddhist Shrine of all things.

 

The 6th floor is a tribute to Rintrah, Art's envoy to Chaos, and is done in a style mixing Baroque and Heavy Metal elements - imagine the ornate carvings and paintings of mad King Ludwig's

castles, but with images of punk angels in leather instead of graceful swans or cherubim, and other similarly perverted imagery. This level houses a trophy room, and Armory (complete with medieval weapons and armor), a Salon, and the very ornate - if somewhat disturbing - bedroom.

 

The last Babylonian floor is in the style of Palamabron, Art's envoy to itself, and is decorated in a Art Nouveau / Surrealist style. This level is much bigger inside than outside, and has as its principle feature a Ballroom with a Musician's Dais. In addition, there is a Costume Room (with racks of assorted costumes; Jezeray stole a Gypsy costume to use in her job) and a storage room with lumber - which we will use to fuel the non-gas fireplaces that are located through the house. The main hallway "wraps around" and connects back to itself.

 

One door connects the corresponding floors on the Earth and Babylon sides of the house.

 

There is also a floor that does not exist with Babylon or Earth - in fact, when The Bishop used a Transform to open the skylight glass there was literally nothing beyond except a diffuse white light. The air started to get sucked out just like in a sci-fi movie when you breach the hull. This is what we call the Garden Level - it has a large garden, with a recessed bower to one side, and a round, 20' diameter pool (steps leading in suggest it is a swimming pool although the water is unheated) with a mermaid fountain in the center. There is also an area to the side decked out in plain white tiles. We think it would make a good gymnasiumif we put the equipment in.

 

The stairs form a double loop, too. If you start from the Earth side first floor and keep climbing, you go past the attic foor to arrive in… the cellar floor of the Babylon side. Keep going through the floors of the Babylon house, and above the attic you find the garden floor. Go up another flight and you’re in the cellar of the Earth side. One more flight up, and you’re back where you started.

 

Finally, the "tenth" floor, which is really the tower room above a balcony which is, in turn, over the front door. This is where Anarchitect was conducting his ritual. From the outside, this is just a little turret - but from the inside it’s a 20 foot square room. It seems somewhat reinforced, making it a good place to cast risky spells. It’s only 1 room, with 4 doors, one in each wall. 2 doors lead to the rooms near the turret – one to the Earth part of the house, one to the Babylon half. The other doors lead to matching closets on the Earth and Babylon sides.

 

I should also mention the elevator - it goes to every floor except the tower room. It has only five buttons, however. The first four (from bottom up) take you to the first four earthly floors. The last button takes you randomly to one of the Babylonian floors or the Garden floor. Of course, I have left our a plethora of bathrooms, small storage areas, etc.

 

Well, I hope I haven't spent too much time on the base, which understandably wouldn't interest you as much as me. Anyway, on to the actual adventure...

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But that part isn't relevant here. Kudos to anyone who's lasted this long.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

[Mark Rand]

Thanks, Dean.  I'm definitely going to use some of it in Gotham City's version of The House of Mystery.

[steriaca]

3 hours ago, Mark Rand said:

Thanks, Dean.  I'm definitely going to use some of it in Gotham City's version of The House of Mystery.

But Mark, what about it's brother house, The House of Secrets?

[Mark Rand]

2 minutes ago, steriaca said:

But Mark, what about it's brother house, The House of Secrets?

It's not in Gotham City.

[Hermit]

Excellent, Thank you very much!

[steriaca]

3 hours ago, Mark Rand said:

It's not in Gotham City.

True, but that won't mean that we can't travel to somewhere else. 

[Mark Rand]

Jason Blood lives in Gotham City.

[steriaca]

3 minutes ago, Mark Rand said:

Jason Blood lives in Gotham City.

True. And the Outsiders operate I. Gotham Country  (which includes Batman's city). You can only face so much wacky normal supervillains with an obsession without needing a trip to the countryside away from murderous clowns.

[Mark Rand]

17 minutes ago, steriaca said:

True. And the Outsiders operate I. Gotham Country  (which includes Batman's city). You can only face so much wacky normal supervillains with an obsession without needing a trip to the countryside away from murderous clowns.

Agreed, but not all are murderous.

 

At the western end of the county is Hayden Township.  It has a farm where you can go horseback riding, board your own horse, go on a hayride, or cut your own Christmas tree.  It also has Deer Lakes Park, a county park that's home to the Gotham County Amateur Astronomy Association’s Wagman Observatory.  Every so often, they hold a star party, an opportunity for amateur astronomers, students and the general public to observe the wonders of the spring, summer or fall sky as the season changes the overhead view.

[steriaca]

1 minute ago, Mark Rand said:

Agreed, but not all are murderous.

 

At the western end of the county is Hayden Township.  It has a farm where you can go horseback riding, board your own horse, go on a hayride, or cut your own Christmas tree.  It also has Deer Lakes Park, a county park that's home to the Gotham County Amateur Astronomy Association’s Wagman Observatory.  Every so often, they hold a star party, an opportunity for amateur astronomers, students and the general public to observe the wonders of the spring, summer or fall sky as the season changes the overhead view.

Cool. Yes I know not all clowns are murderous. Just that one clown. You know that joker.

[Mark Rand]

2 hours ago, steriaca said:

Cool. Yes I know not all clowns are murderous. Just that one clown. You know that joker.

I know.  At that farm, you can also learn to ride horses.  Disney Studios East is also in Hayden and their Circle H Ranch, where they shoot quite a bit of the Spin and Marty serial.  Gotham Raceway, the motorsports facility owned by one of Bruce Wayne's companies, is close to it.

[Amorkca]

Thanks for this Dean!

 

Any chance you have it as a downloadable file?

[DShomshak]

Not at present, but I don't mind if you save the pix and text for your own use. Easy on a laptop, but I don't know if it can be done on a smartphone or tablet. (Because I've never used one, that's why. I'm so behind the times!)

 

dean Shomshak

[DoctorImpossible]

Very much appreciated. (Polite applause.) I suspect I might have a very grateful totally not the Sorcerer Supreme to play sometime soon, which will be wonderful. Literally. As in it is "full of wonders".

[Duke Bushido]

I have collected Champions-compatible maps for years; and I thank you for these, Sir.

 

There is a constant repeating issue with Champions-compatible floor plans, though.

 

Maybe-- just maybe-- I have been spoiled by the book of Star Trek ship plans I had when I was younger, but I can't help but notice that there are _hundreds_  --if not _thousands_!-- of people living in superhero universes, all going about their daily lives, forever, with absolutely no bathrooms at all, period.

 

(seriously: I think the best one I saw featured a three-story, twelve-or-so bedroom mansion with _one_ bathroom listed on the entire floor plan.  Yikes!)

 

 

[tombrown803]

that's because the people living there had the power LS: need not use the bathroom

[steriaca]

1 hour ago, tombrown803 said:

that's because the people living there had the power LS: need not use the bathroom

I believe that is a subset of LS: No Need To Eat called LS: No Need For Restroom Breaks. At one point, your body only needs a mass exit of poop and piss once per week. At two points, once per year, and at three points "Restroom? What's a restroom?"

[DShomshak]

Three bathrooms in Wetchley House! (2nd and 3rd floor on Earth, 2nd floor on Babylon.)

 

Dean Shomshak