Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

[Alverant]

One of the aspects of sci-fi that makes it preferable to fantasy were the big objects. Things like watching Star Wars for the first time and seeing the Star Destroyer passing overhead in the beginning. Or for younger gamers, the Halo from the video game with the same name. They're called "big dumb objects" but I don't like that name.

 

Unfortunately you don't see as many in fantasy settings. Oh, there are a few like in Discworld. You'd think that since you can do more things in a fantasy setting using magic there would be more grand scale objects. Where's the city whose walls were made from a dragon skeleton with the mayor's mansion being the skull? Where's the floating mountain? Where's the temple to the gods that can be seen from hundreds of miles away? Where are these things in your campaign?

 

(I'm not saying you need them or something is wrong if you don't have them, I'm wondering what you do to invoke the sense of wonder in your game.)

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

(I'm not saying you need them or something is wrong if you don't have them, I'm wondering what you do to invoke the sense of wonder in your game.)

 

I tend to have "the city carved from the mountain" a la' Minis Tirith or Revelstone.

 

I also tend to have fantasy space (think D&D Spelljammer) and pulp style inner earth/hollow world. Those quite often cover the awe-inducing things in a fantasy game.

[Vondy]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

One of the aspects of sci-fi that makes it preferable to fantasy were the big objects

 

Preferable to whom?

 

Mega-structures are a very science fiction oriented trope. They are also, conceptually, built by societies with not only far more technical savvy, but also massively more resources, than a fantasy society has available. You can justify the technology part with magic, but overall, unless you posit a very unusual fantasy world (probably a planar spanning culture) such an object isn't entirely appropriate. It would also have to be an extremely magic-of-the-gods type of world. Remember, Terry Pratchett's Discworld is comedic fantasy and his world was designed to fit his (admittedly enjoyable) joking verve. If you make such an object and you aren't joking - or relying on creation myths for its existence - you've stretched the bounds of the genre beyond ordinary recognition. This is not to say I have don't have "large structures built by the ancients," or things designed to induce wonder, but they aren't anywhere near the "big dumb object" level. Nor do they need to be. It could be an artifact, magical effect, exotic and scenic locales, supernatural creatures of rare wonder and beauty. Fantasy has never really been about "feats of godlike engineering." Indeed, that description alone sounds like science fiction.

[Folded]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

I think part of that is because magic tends towards the idea of the Wizard, who is in sole possession of the power necessary to do the bigger things. Science-fiction which refers to BDO's usually refers to the builders as entire races of beings with extremely advanced technology. Even in Tolkein, the most impressive works (Orthanc, Moria, Barad-Dur and the like), were done by large groups of Dwarves and others over a long period of time. Because Wizards can't delegate the magical labor, for the most part, such structures are less likely to occur.

 

All of which argues for a shift in the concept of Fantasy. Why can't magic produce the unbelievable structures that engineering can? Traveling from plane to plane is not uncommon, why not tap that kind of power for something a little more useful? We've kind of got it in our heads that Fantasy means Medieval, in thought as well as in technology, but that doesn't necessarily follow. For that matter, the average human being 500 years ago was just as smart as you or me, but a LOT less educated. Change the political situation and open up travel and communication, and the Fantasy world could become much more interesting.

[Alverant]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

Preferable to whom?

Well me for one. I know not everyone shares my tastes just as I don't share the preferences of others. But having the megastructures is one reason why I like sci-fi over fantasy.

Mega-structures are a very science fiction oriented trope.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

They are also' date=' conceptually, built by societies with not only far more technical savvy, but also massively more resources, than a fantasy society has available.[/quote']Wrong. The ancient peoples in the real world had awe-inspiring monuments in part because they did not have the tech savvy we have today. Take the pyramid-like structures built by different cultures around the world or the terra cotta army an Emperor of China had built for his tomb as examples. If people can get so exact and massive without computers and complex machines, just think what they could have done with magic and creatures many times stronger than a man.

You can justify the technology part with magic' date=' but overall, unless you posit a very unusual fantasy world (probably a planar spanning culture) such an object isn't entirely appropriate. It would also have to be an extremely magic-of-the-gods type of world. Remember, Terry Pratchett's Discworld is comedic fantasy and his world was designed to fit his (admittedly enjoyable) joking verve. If you make such an object and you aren't joking - or relying on creation myths for its existence - you've stretched the bounds of the genre beyond ordinary recognition.[/quote']Tolkien had Sauron's fortress. Stardust by Neil Gaiman had Stormhold which was a castle built into a mountain. "Jack and the Beanstalk" had a giant's castle in the clouds. So how is having something like that stretching the bounds of the genre?

This is not to say I have don't have "large structures built by the ancients' date='" or things designed to induce wonder, but they aren't anywhere near the "big dumb object" level. Nor do they need to be. It could be an artifact, magical effect, exotic and scenic locales, supernatural creatures of rare wonder and beauty. Fantasy has never really been about "feats of godlike engineering." Indeed, that description alone sounds like science fiction.[/quote'] A "big dumb object" is just a name given to objects meant to invoke a sense of wonder. That covers a lot of ground including exotic locals and creatures. The focus doesn't have to be on those objects, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be there. And they don't have to be there either, that's not the purpose of this thread. I'm just asking about what sort of objects GMs use in their campaigns to invoke a sense of wonder.

[assault]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

Historical Big Dumb Objects: pyramids (various types), stone circles (eg Stonehenge), frontier walls (Hadrian's, Great Wall of China), cities(esp walled), Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (incl pyramids, natch), anything that impresses barbarian rubes.

 

Michael Moorcock is the fantasy writer that most comes to mind.

 

Fairy tales: various castles in the sky, and the beanstalks that let you visit them.

 

CS Lewis: see The Silver Chair.

 

Come to think of it, anything built by giants.

[IndianaJoe3]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

The floating city of Dalaran in WoW would probably qualify. Heck, there are zones in WoW that are almost nothing but BDOs.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

Big dumb objects? I don't get it.

[Zeropoint]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

Big--the thing in question is VERY large, so much that the sheer size of it is enough to inspire awe or wonder. Obviously, how big something has to be to qualify depends on the setting and the background of the characters viewing it.

 

Dumb--the thing itself has no intelligence whatsoever. In other words, it's not a person, an animal, a god, a robot, a computer, or other such thing capable of holding a conversation or taking action. All it does is exist, and maybe maintain itself a little, but probably not.

 

Object--the thing is a concrete physical thing of artificial origin. Jupiter's Great Red Spot, for instance, is not an object; it's a process. The BDO is a solid thing that you can walk up to and kick, or land on.

 

The Big Dumb Object is a staple of science fiction, because it's a great way to invoke a sense of wonder and at the same time show that there are/were beings of great power and complex intentions in the universe. "Who could have built such a thing . . . and why?"

[Old Man]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

I think fantasy is replete with Big Dumb Objects, but they are almost always stationary--cities, islands, fortresses, etc. Scifi tends to have more in the way of Big Dumb Vehicles, which is easier to justify in the weightless and unimaginably vast backdrop of Space. Scifi also tends to have more Small Dumb Vehicles with which to attack the Big Dumb Vehicles. In fantasy, magic could obviously support the creation of Big Dumb Vehicles, but since the setting is smaller, it's hard to justify the creation of such a vehicle to begin with.

[Manic Typist]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

You say that like it's a bad thing.

No he didn't.

 

Wrong...

Wrong, since I'm pretty sure you're not following Vondy at all. I get the impression that he has large, impressive structures. Wonders, even. But perhaps nothing on the magnitude of, say, a Dyson Sphere...........

[Escafarc]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

My Fantasy HERO campaign has a lot of magitech/steampunk elements including some giant magical Mechs as well as some really large airships and steamships too.

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

This is not to say I have don't have "large structures built by the ancients' date='" or things designed to induce wonder, but they aren't anywhere near the "big dumb object" level. Nor do they need to be. [/quote']

 

Absolutely - The visuals of the guardian statues in the LoTR movies is one of the most wonder inducing bits, and they aren't dyson spheres or ringworlds.

[Vondy]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

Point of order: the term Big Dumb Object was coined to describe Ringworlds, HALOs, Death Stars, V'ger Objects, and their ilk.

 

Well me for one. I know not everyone shares my tastes just as I don't share the preferences of others. But having the megastructures is one reason why I like sci-fi over fantasy.

 

In which you concede its a science fiction trope.

 

You say that like it's a bad thing.

 

Not at all. Personal preferences are subjective.

 

Wrong.

 

Whatever.

 

The ancient peoples in the real world had awe-inspiring monuments in part because they did not have the tech savvy we have today. Take the pyramid-like structures built by different cultures around the world or the terra cotta army an Emperor of China had built for his tomb as examples. If people can get so exact and massive without computers and complex machines' date=' just think what they could have done with magic and creatures many times stronger than a man.[/quote']

 

None of these things are big dumb objects from where I sit. Mere impressiveness of achievement does not satisfy the requirements. And your latter point underscores the fact that none of these things are big dumb objects by fantasy standards. They are all within the realm of belief even without the not-big-dumb-object tropes (magic and creatures) that make fantasy worlds wondrous.

 

Tolkien had Sauron's fortress. Stardust by Neil Gaiman had Stormhold which was a castle built into a mountain. "Jack and the Beanstalk" had a giant's castle in the clouds. So how is having something like that stretching the bounds of the genre?

 

The first two are not big dumb objects, nor necessarily is the giant's castle. They are merely impressive architecture. You brought the concept from science fiction, remember? Big dumb objects are BIG. The death star, ringworld, halos, v'ger object, etc. The beanstalk may be a big dumb object. In fact, I would agree it is. And it doesn't necessarily stretch the bounds of the fairy tale genre. But the traditional big dumb object certainly does stretch the normal bounds of fantasy. Of course, a wizards pocket world floating on the plane primordial does qualify.

 

A "big dumb object" is just a name given to objects meant to invoke a sense of wonder.

 

And herein lies the root of our disagreement. I utterly reject you definition of a big dumb object as being anything that invokes a sense of wonder. A big dumb object is, definitively speaking, an artificially constructed mega-structure of such size as to be beyond belief. They are also, under normal circumstances, inanimate. Ergo, "dumb." Pyramids and skyscrapers, while impressive, are not beyond belief for, as you said above, societies that have magic and amazing creatures.

 

That covers a lot of ground including exotic locales and creatures.

 

It most certainly does not.

 

An exotic locale is not in of itself a big dumb object. And generally isn't artificially constructed or a mega-structure, either. A distant land with exotic people and strange tongues is a "big dumb object" how, exactly? A deep primordial jungle? Its just a place outside your rudimentary living. A majestic mountain, for instance, is not a big dumb object. That same mountain raised by a wizard, however, is a big dumb object.

 

And a creature, even gargantuan ones, almost never rise to the scale of a mega-structure. A great wyrm dragon or t-rex is big, but neither is remotely near the scale of a big dumb object. Nor are most creatures artificially constructed. Nor are they typically "dumb" in the context of big dumb objects being generally inanimate.

 

To underscore the fallacy, a beaturiful woman (or succubus, or naughty demigoddess, etc) may be exotic and invoke wonder, but she isn't a big dumb object.

 

The focus doesn't have to be on those objects' date=' but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be there. And they don't have to be there either, that's not the purpose of this thread.,,,[/quote']

 

First, most explanations of big dumb objects point out that they invoke a sense of awe just by being there. No one said they had to be the focus of anything. Nor did anyone say they shouldn't be there. What was said, however, is that such objects are so far beyond the scope of most fantasy cultures' engineering skills and available surplus resources as to require some very serious thought in explaining them - or an unusual fantasy milieu.

 

I'm just asking about what sort of objects GMs use in their campaigns to invoke a sense of wonder.

 

Is invoking a sense of wonder restricted to artificially constructed megastructures? We both know the answer is negative. Its one potential way to do it - and valid if you can explain it - but fantasy generally has an engine all its own to create that sense of wonder: folklore, legend, myth, and the occult. Artifacts, beaties, creatures, and spells. And more. I'll use anything that works and can be explained, including a big dumb object, but I disagree with your definition of big dumb objects from the outset.

[Vondy]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

Absolutely - The visuals of the guardian statues in the LoTR movies is one of the most wonder inducing bits' date=' and they aren't dyson spheres or ringworlds.[/quote']

No he didn't.

 

Wrong, since I'm pretty sure you're not following Vondy at all. I get the impression that he has large, impressive structures. Wonders, even. But perhaps nothing on the magnitude of, say, a Dyson Sphere...........

 

Exactly!

[Shadowsoul]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

In my online campaign there are seven sky cities built by the Strell, (Bat-people). These huge floating metropolises are powered and protected by magic and can grow enough food in their sprawling garden districts to feed their entire populations.

 

Does that count?

[Kraven Kor]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

My setting has the "Fortress Cities" which are all just massive, walled cities with considerable defenses (from catapults and ballistae to steam catapults, cannon, etc.) A few are "carved out of the mountain" but most are just really big walled cities.

 

Then I have Airships, but the biggest of those is not quite the size of an Age of Sail "Ship of the Line." While not as big, the Golems and the Aether Battlearmor are "big enough" in some instances.

 

And last I have the Old World stuff, ancient ruins and the occasionally intact underground structure.

 

And lots of big dinosaurs, which certainly count as "big dumb things." With claws. And teeth.

 

I have actually toned down my use of "REALLY BIG THINGS" in my games. Everyone is doing floating cities and dragons the size of the moon and such. Similarly, I don't use many really small things either.

[assault]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

Yggdrasil would be an interesting BDO. You could climb it to different worlds...

 

Something more mundane:

Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert.

[Lucius]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

The Tower

 

 

Three frames depict a crowned and bearded head looking up. And craning the neck back to look further up. And still further, the lips pursed for a whistle of appreciation.

 

“My brother king has humbled me. I thought I had wrought something big in the walls of Uruk, but this tower dwarfs anything I have imagined. The giant Humbaba standing beside this would seem like a mouse standing by the gates of my city. You have worked a wonder, King Nimrod.”

 

A frame shows Gilgamesh standing beside Nimrod. Below it, a frame shows a diagram of heights: A warrior, then Gilgamesh standing taller than he, then Humbaba the giant over twice the height of Gilgamesh, then the Great Gate of Uruk higher than Humbaba can reach....and at the far right end the frame extends up, into the space to the right of the frame with Gilgamesh and Nimrod, showing the height of the Tower of Babel. It is broad as well as tall, and the base seems the size of a small town.

 

Nimrod holds up a hand in gesture to deflect praise. “This tower is to your credit, King Gilgamesh. When you first met me, I was known as Nimrod the Hunter, and all I cared for were the pleasures of the chase and the taking of trophies and winning prizes with the bow. You made me rethink what it meant to be a king, and what things are worth doing. But this is no empty monument either.”

 

Flashback frames show Nimrod, Enkidu, and Gilgamesh in battle with a great dragon already wounded from many arrows.

 

“Then it is my oathbrother, Enkidu, who built this tower, for it was he, a wild man who never was a king, who taught me how to make kingship mean something. And I have heard that your famous Tower was not built only to please your royal vanity. I would know from your own lips the uses for it.”

 

As Nimrod enumerates the Tower's functions, frames appear illustrating the chambers described.

 

“The outermost circle of the lowest level are barracks and armories. Should an enemy appear near the city, soldiers will muster and quickly march to the city gate in whichever quarter is threatened. To treat my warriors I have established places of healing inside as well, and these also serve citizens but take goods in kind to do so. Those without goods of any value may volunteer to work on the Tower – it's still not finished. Those who can neither work nor pay, we still care for as we can.”

 

Nimrod's words, and the illustrations, continue. “Then comes floor after floor of commerce. The Tower holds warehouses and markets for all manner of goods, courts for deciding disputes between traders, archives to store contracts and agreements. Above that, the true wonder: libraries and halls of learning such as no other city may boast of. Merchants come from the ends of the Earth because they know they will find an interpreter knowing their tongue, who will translate all words fully and fairly.”

 

“I have heard that every language spoken anywhere is spoken here; and that here all words are understood. Where are the temples?”

 

“They stand outside the Tower. I mean for all people, whatever Gods they follow, to be welcome within, and I mean for no God to be offended by the presence under a consecrated roof of some stranger unsanctified.” They had entered and come to a place where several ox drawn wagons stood within the Tower, at the foot of a broad ramp. “The others are waiting on the roof. The Oracle has not told even I what she has called us together for. The ox cart won't take us all the way up, but it will save us some walking.”

 

Being atop the Tower was like being atop a mountain. A very steep mountain. Nimrod spared a few minutes to show his guest the view – and a collection of bows “Never has mortal shaft flown so far as mine from this height. But I must send heralds to the countryside and get everyone in a given quarter indoors at the appointed hour.”

 

A frame shows a young peasant standing at the door of a hut and looking out. “Mom! Dad! His majesty just bought one of our sheep!” From inside: “We're a good six leagues away! Never thought we'd be so lucky. Now get back from the door!”

 

A round table has been set up beneath the cloudless sky. Gilgamesh sits at one spot, and close beside him his friend Enkidu. Across from Gilgamesh is Nimrod. At another quarter sits Heracles with his club leaning against the table, a powerfully built man dressed in a lion's skin. And across from Heracles sits Pythia, a woman with silver hair but unlined face with a staff carved with a serpent's head beside her, not leaning, but standing upright unsupported. “Too few” she says, “There should be 13, or 12. Would that Merlin were here.....”

 

“Honored one” says Nimrod, “But tell me where this Merlin may be found, and he shall be sent for.”

 

“I was thinking of another king...another Round Table” responds Pythia. “But for a moment, I wish to speak not of the future but of the past. Tell me, O King, how many times did you begin to construct this great Tower?”

 

“Well you know” said Nimrod “I began it five times, and it was four times overthrown. And if you wish these assembled to hear it, I readily say it was yourself who pointed out this place where it stands, a dream given form.”

 

Turning now to Heracles, the oracle mystified them further. “Son of Zeus, what did your mother tell you of the circumstances of your birth?”

 

Heracles frowned. “That she almost died of it. Three mysterious women came and sat outside the house with legs crossed; they looked ordinary and yet none could approach them for awe and fear that had no cause.” A flashback frame shows them – a youthful woman, a woman of middle years, and and aged woman. “My mother could not bring me forth, and the midwives thought her sure to die, until yet another midwife came, merely looked in on my mother, then ran out crying that the child had been born. The three strangers lept up and cried out in surprise, and in that moment, at last, I was brought forth and the midwife's lie became true. So I am told, but my own first memory is of seizing and strangling two snakes in my fists when I was in the cradle. I still remember being found, with the dead snakes, by the wetnurse.”

 

Pythia's face changes, becoming broad, the eyes going from gray to brown. “Did you know the wetnurse was the same as the midwife? And do you still remember her face, as she smiled and laughed to see how you had dispatched the serpents?”

 

“I...remember. It was you?” But already she had turned to Gilgamesh.

 

“Mighty King, do you remember who it was who warned you not to meet the Bull of Heaven head on like any other bull, and told you how to lure him into a trench where your companion could come behind him and lay hold of him until you could finish him?”

 

“I had thought” said Gilgamesh “that it was my mother, but she denied it afterwards. Often have I wondered.”

 

Again Pythia's face changes, into one of more than regal beauty. “It was I, O King, who took the shape of your Goddess Mother, because I needed you to trust me and quickly.”

 

Turning now to Enkidu, she asks “When you lay sick and near death after the Gods cursed you for helping slay the Bull of Heaven, who brought you the herb that restored your health and vigor?”

 

“I had thought it to be Shamhat, she who had been my first woman; and I cursed her for had she never led me to the world of men, I would have remained happy and innocent as I was, not wasted by fever and racked with pain. But she persuaded me to taste of the medicine she brought, and that is when the fever broke. But if that was you as well, I ask – why do you bring us together now to confess your deceptions, although all done it seems for our benefit?”

 

Resuming her original face, Pythia points to each of them in turn. “The Gods meant you to die of that illness. You, you were never supposed to kill the Bull of Heaven. You were fated to die before ever being born, a victim of the intrigues of the Olympians. And you at least suspect what forces were arrayed to oppose the building of this Tower.”

 

Too restless to sit, Pythia rises, takes up her staff, and begins to pace. “Again and again I have interfered, I have twisted the threads of the Fates, I have upset the plans of the Gods. I avert the inevitable, I make the impossible come to pass, and because I choose to do so, I sow doubt where before there was certainty. I have cast dust into my own eyes! I foul the loom of the Fates, and thus can no longer see the pattern clearly. I have to speak the truth now and speak it plainly, to you gathered here. If destinies are broken, new destinies must be forged. And there is to be a name for those who will forge destinies. You will be called heroes.”

 

“Hero” said Nimrod, “Never have I heard the word, yet in this place all words are understood. One who stands between mortals and Gods.” To stand between can mean to defend one from the other, as well as to partake of the nature of both.

 

“One who treads the path of impossible deeds” offers Heracles. Again all hear clearly two meanings, one who does the impossible and one who dies trying what none have dared before.

 

“One who would die to defend the innocent against oppression or injustice” adds Enkidu.

 

“A leader who inspires others to be the best they can be” finishes Gilgamesh. There is no disagreement among them; all know they have understood only a fraction of the meaning of the word.

 

“This is a place where words are born” says Pythia. “As of this day, some form of that word will become known in each tongue spoken in your vast Tower. But I. Don't. Know. Why!”

 

As if the sight of their Oracle so confused and frustrated were not disturbing enough....

 

Splash panel: The Tower, shaking, as a great hole is blown outwards in the wall, near the bottom.

 

...the very Tower shakes suddenly, nearly throwing them from their feet.

 

“But I'll wager THAT has something to do with it” says Pythia grimly. “Seeds of destruction, it comes to me, seeds of destruction, but what does it mean?”

 

Nimrod is looking over the parapet. “The warehouse section.....grain storage!”

 

“Of course!” says Pythia. “Intuition fails, the seer's vision fails, mystic powers fail, I should know, look to facts and logic! GRAIN DUST!”

 

Seeing the puzzled look in Enkidu's face, Heracles explains. “If there is much flour or grain dust in the air, and someone introduces a candle or strikes a spark, a whole cloud of dust can catch fire at once. It sounds like a thunderbolt, but is even more destructive. It happens in mills sometimes.”

 

“The Tower won't burn” Nimrod turns away from the parapet. “But I am not sure it will stand with a great hole in the -” he is interrupted by another explosion knocking him flat.

 

“This is no accident!” declares Pythia as she regains her own feet. “And relatives are coming for an unpleasant visit.” Things were coming clear to her again, which meant her words inevitably became more obscure to everyone else. It does not take long for them to see what was meant.

 

“Do they come by cloud chariot?” asks the sharp eyed Nimrod.

 

“Or on the back of a giant eagle?” asks Heracles. “I think that's my Father.”

 

Splash panel: a multi pronged bolt of lighting sweeps the tower top, blasting stones from the walls, and knocking everyone down yet again...except Heracles.

 

“That's my Father. We have to evacuate the Tower. Clear it floor by floor! Those too slow to save themselves, throw from the windows!”

 

“To their deaths!?” Protests Nimrod.

 

“No, I'll catch them.” So saying Heracles sweeps up Pythia in his mighty arms and leaps lightly through a hole his Father just made, reminding the Oracle again just why she had seen to it he would be born....precisely because his acts could not be foreseen, and can astonish her as much as anyone else.

 

“I'll help” says Enkidu, swinging out and clambering down like an ape descending the trunk of an impossibly large tree. Another bolt of lightning narrowly misses him.

 

Nimrod has seized a bow and begun to fire. Gilgamesh objects, “Nimrod! We must save your people!”

 

“Go clear them floor by floor, as our friend said. As for me, I care not if these be Gods or demons or wizards, they strike at my Tower, they will pay with blood!”

 

A frame shows one of his shafts falling to earth, trailing red drops, proving the truth of his words.

 

Gilgamesh heads down the stairs, narrowly missed by yet another thunderbolt.

 

At the towers foot, fleeing crowds press back from the madman who just fell from on high yet landed lightly on his feet. Grateful for the space thus cleared, Pythia in her turn amazes Heracles by casting down her staff and calling the name “Python!” At once the staff becomes an enormous snake, rearing up, and the crowds press back in greater fear.

 

Bowing slightly before the great serpent, Pythia addresses it. “Hold the Tower safe. Leave the windows clear. Mind you don't harm Enkidu, who I see descending. Can you do this? Will you do it for my sake?”

 

At once Python swells to an impossible size, winding himself about the Tower. Then his enormous head lunges at a mace-armed God in a cloud-chariot. Although no mortal, he has a quarrel of his own with Gods.

 

Inside the Tower, Gilgamesh seizes a man stubbornly dragging a box of stone tablets. “The writings aren't as important as someone who can read them.” He tosses the terrified man out the window, to be caught by Heracles below, who is running and catching with superhuman speed. Next Gilgamesh stops someone who was throwing tablets out the window. “Don't confuse him! He's there to catch people, not books! People like you!” as this scholar follows the first. Then a woman moving with a limp, as Gilgamesh wonders how many people are in danger – and how few they will be able to save.

 

Enkidu thrusts his head into a window at each level, urging people to flee the building. “We can't! The way is blocked!” Without hesitating, Enkidu comes through the window and looks around. A market area, a crowd of people, baskets, pots....rope! Grabbing the rope he tosses the coil out the window, looks to be sure it reaches the ground, then braces himself against the wall. “Climb down!” A man with a girl clutching his neck is first to go, urging his daughter to hang on. Another follows, then the third hesitates....”You can't hold us all.”

 

“I can” says Enkidu, wrapping the loose end about his waist and tying it. There are two dozen people, and when all but the last are down he looks impatiently to that last man. “Go!”

 

“I'm afraid!” Without a word, Enkidu scoops him up and tosses him for the overworked Heracles to catch.

 

With the asaulting Deities driven back, at least for now, Python turns to Nimrod and speaks in the familiar voice of Pythia, absurd coming from that enormous monstrous head. “The Gods did not strike – could not strike – until the integrity of the Tower was already violated. They were waiting. Someone mortal planned this. And I cannot hold this Tower forever. You should flee now.”

 

After loosing one last shaft at his retreating foes, Nimrod turns and runs for the stairs.

 

As the levels grow larger, Gilgamesh gives up on clearing each thoroughly and concentrates on the outer rings. He meets Enkidu where a ramp is blocked by debris, and a crowd mills about. Between them, they soon clear the way.

 

“Hail the heroes!” cry the people.

 

“My hero!” says a lovely woman who might have made her own way down but decided she wanted to be caught by Heracles. His mind on other things, he puts her down and rushes to catch the next falling person.

 

Nimrod races down stairs and ramps. On the grain storage level he finds a badly burned man who must have been caught in the blast, and was making his way to one of the stairs. “What happened?”

 

“We brought down the Tower” gloated the man, not knowing or not caring who asked.

 

Nimrod mastered his anger. “It has not fallen yet.”

 

“It will fall” replied the man with confidence. “The Gods will it. Osama has said so.”

 

“Osama....I know the name...the Desert Prophet!” Nimrod seizes the man and presses him against a wall. “Tell me more of this Osama.”

 

But the man he holds is beyond revealing more.

 

 

When Nimrod comes forth, the crowd cheers him as the hero of the people, who had remained behind to be sure all were out safe. When no one stands near, Python finally contracts, and slithers away from the doomed structure to become again a staff in Pythia's hand. The Fall of the Tower is long, slow, and painful to watch, but they watch. At last Pythia speaks.“The skein is a little less tangled. I can see more clearly now.”

 

“What do you see?” demands Nimrod.

 

“Towers.” Her voice is filled with wonder. “Towers that fly even, not by the power of Gods, but by the cunning and will of mortals. Towers to the moon. To the stars.”

 

“Do you know the name Osama?” asks Nimrod.

 

“I see him too. We will face him again, not just in this life, but in lives and ages to come. I see a day when you and others will build, not one, but two great Towers, and he will strike again. But always, always, the power to destroy will be defeated by the power to create. We will rebuild, again and again, each time greater.”

 

They are silent for a time. When one speaks, it is for all.

 

“In this life, in this time, we must find Osama. He will pay for this. And whatever else he means to do must be stopped.”

 

“The Gods will protect him” warns the Oracle.

 

“Why should that stop us?”

 

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Copyright Palindromedary Enterprises

[LordGhee]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

reeppped

 

opps must spread rep ect . . .

 

Great story

 

Lord Ghee

[Drhoz]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

The Tower

 

 

Three frames depict a crowned and bearded head looking up. And craning the neck back to look further up. And still further, the lips pursed for a whistle of appreciation.

 

*thumbs up* Awesome.

[Drhoz]

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign?

 

In the Aurastorm campaign where Vitus originated, the Big Dumb Object was the universe - Aura at the center, orbited by the sun, and beyond the sun, the planets, and beyond that, the Ocean of Night, a vast water-covered Dyson Sphere, punctuated by gargantuan statues of the countless gods, visible only as pinpoint stars from that distance. Many of the stars had gone out. And beyond the Ocean of Night, endless eternal fire, at least as far as the local cosmology knew. So the Aurastorm setting was a mana-rich Dyson Sphere hidden inside a red supergiant.

[Lucius]

In Glorantha, The Block might count. It is a single block of stone larger than mountains, standing in the middle of a great plain. It is a fragment of the original Creation, part of a Divine structure that was destroyed in the God's War before time began, that was hurled across the cosmos to land here, pinning beneath it perhaps the most dangerous Being who fought in that war, a personification of all the destructive power of Chaos. Fragments broken from the Block are known as Truestone and have powerful properties. Constantly people chip-chip-chip away at the Block to get Truestone.

 

Few wonder what will happen if they eventually chip away so much it can no longer hold down what lies pinned beneath.....

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Big Smart Palindromedary

[Lord Liaden]

Steve Long gave us a fantasy-appropriate BDO in his The Atlantean Age setting sourcebook for 5E Fantasy HERO. The Noctis Shard is "a gigantic purple crystal" which hovers in mid-air over the kingdom of Kaphtor, providing a vast reserve of magical energy to power the spells of Kaphtoran wizards. It appeared there mysteriously one day over a millennium in the past, and is linked to Kaphtor's dark patron god.

[Lord Liaden]

Since the subject of the blending of fantasy and sci-fi elements, in connection with creating BDOs, has come up, I'd like to offer a link to a YouTube video spinning Hindu mythological and spiritual inspiration through a sci-fi esthetic, which features a pretty spectacular one. You'll see it in action within the first ten minutes or so of the video. If you stay beyond that, though, you'll be treated to one of the most extraordinary stories I've ever watched.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb74QqLfdxw