Dungeon Draft: October 2019

[L. Marcus]

Will try to post tomorrow or during the weekend, when I'm rested.

[Cancer]

you left out the ar- in that last word.

[L. Marcus]

... Restarted?

[Cancer]

Prefix, not infix.  Think talk like a pirate.  Ar, matey.

[L. Marcus]

... Arsefaced?

[Cancer]

Highlight 3: Variable gravity tank

 

This room -- spherical in shape, about 30 meters in diameter -- is one of the training simulator tools of the Arsenal, though it is not at all clear why the designers considered this important enough to build.  Within the room gravity changes in magnitude and direction throughout the room both in space (e.g., if one place with 1 gee downward relative to true Martian vertical), there may have another place three meters away where the gravity is 0.35 gees directed 120 degrees away from true Martian vertical) and in time (typically a change from one gee up to one gee down in one spot happens over about 10 seconds, though gravity in one spot may remain constant for intervals up to half a minute or so).  There are transient intervals of zero gravity throughout the room, albeit never all at the same time, as far as anyone knows; there are no known controls for the room.  It is speculated that this was intended to make the invading forces familiar, if not necessarily comfortable with, the descent from space to Earth's surface.  Finding controls for this facility is a high priority.

 

Whatever its original purpose, the variable gravity generator continues to operate within the room, the outer wall of which also rotates slowly and erratically with the sphere's various doors lining with a number of different corridors as the thing rotates.  The effect is terribly disorienting as well as vertigo-inducing.  Individuals near the walls can end up falling into a wall because of these gravity changes, but the distance and acceleration of such incidents is not usually sufficient to result in major injury.  Thrown objects rarely go where intended, and projectile weapons whose projectiles travel much slower than firearm bullets are usually too badly affected by the variable gravity field to be useful at ranges beyond about five meters.

 

Naturally flying creatures take a while to become accustomed to the situation, but after that adjustment interval they can manuver from door to door without much difficulty.

 

At intervals, small rocket-propelled drones emerge from one of the open doors and fly around the room apparently randomly before disappearing through another door.  These drones, about 30 cm in size, move at about 60 km/hr and are robust enough to survive impacts with each other, the walls, and creatures in the room, apparently without damage.  The mass and speed of these drones is sufficient to injure most humanoids, though it takes truly bad luck for a lethal impact.  The rocket exhaust can set easily flammable things on fire, like papers, clothing, hair, and so on, but it is not intense enough to ignite, e.g., wooden tools (like axe handles and so on).

 

Creatures of Barsoom wander into and out of the room occasionally.  The large dangerous ones, the white apes, banths, orluks, siths (which are thought to be unrelated to the Star Wars Sith, but you never know), zitidars, etc., usually are quite enraged once they've been in there for a couple of minutes, and will attack others thrashing in the room if they get the chance.  Combat between mutually hostile teams of humanoids is possible in the room, but the circumstances are so unpredictably bizarre that such combats tend to be lethal and random, unless circumstances are extreme (e.g., one side has rifles, the other has axes and swords).  Also, the inability of most humanoids to return to -- or perhaps even identify -- the door through which one entered can completely disrupt planned operations.

 

Common torches and other open flames are extremely dangerous in this room; flames in microgravity behave in a way which is entirely unfamiliar to most people, and harder to extinguish than one might expect.  It is remarkably common for someone carrying a torch to end up setting themselves on fire after a couple of minutes if they persist in carrying the torch, as the flame always tries to extend "up", and that direction will often intersect the torch carrier while they are in this room.  Carrying a torch while bearing a load of flammable or explosive material in a sack or backpack is probably wantonly suicidal.  Large quantities of water will "ball up" in microgravity due to surface tension, and it is possible that someone who collides with a large water ball may find themselves engulfed and be unable to breathe until gravity strong enough to pull the water away from nose and mouth recurs where the victim is.  That is unlikely to be long enough to drown a humanoid, but thirty seconds of inability to breathe is at best very distracting.

 

[csyphrett]

I have to think about what five chambers I want. I'll try to come up with something tonight

CES

[Cancer]

I'm still making mine up, truth be told.

[Pariah]

30 minutes ago, Cancer said:

I'm still making mine up, truth be told.

 

You say that like you believe there's another way to do this.

[Cancer]

Actually ... usually when I go into a draft, I have about half my choices, maybe more, planned out before I jump in.  If my proto-plan is sniped out of availability, then I either make up fresh manure, or drop out before I jump in, if you see what I mean.

 

It turns out that several things that I had plotted out before this draft started as Highlights actually belong under Why Go There, as I misinterpreted what the word "Highlights" meant in this context.  So I've recycled a couple of ideas from campaigns I ran Long Ago into my picks so far, which mostly entails remembering fun stuff, changing the paint so it fits within this Mars concept, and then troweling in interesting words after free-associating while channel-flipping through bad action movies and worse Mexican soap operas, muted.

[Lucius]

On 10/9/2019 at 6:53 AM, death tribble said:

I would like Lucius to confirm whether or not he is being serious and is participating

 

I am seriously participating.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary is not

[Lucius]

 

 A Highlight:

A savage place! As holy and enchaunted

As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted

 

And a reason to go there:

By woman wailing for her demon lover!

 

Women go in hope of winning a demon lover. Men go in hopes of learning  the diabolical secrets of demonic seduction.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary asks how far behind we are now?

 

 

[death tribble]

If you had posted every day 9 choices. But Ill post an update over the weekend which we are not selecting but catch up choices are available.

[Pariah]

Those heroes who survive the Chompers and successfully navigate the Escherian Stairwell must then endure almost unimaginable pain to proceed. (Those who try to bypass this obstacle are summarily teleported back to the beginning by GM fiat.)

 

Featured Highlight #3: The Klingon Rite of Ascension

 

[Pariah]

Those who endure the Rite of Passage will be desperate for rest and relief. They will find themselves in a calm, beautiful place that puts their minds and souls at rest. And if they lack the will to leave, they might just remain there for the rest of their lives.

 

Featured Highlight #4: Goa'uld Light Matrix Hologram

 

[Pariah]

After all of that, what could be worse?

 

How about ending up cold, wet, bruised, and publicly humiliated?

 

Featured Highlight #5: The Wipeout Zone (One adventurer at a time; the obstacles change every time!)

 

 

[csyphrett]

Five highlights for my dungeon are:

1) The Fish Tank: Numerous predatory fish are kept in a closed section of the Facility. From the Megalodon, to the Lake Placid Monster, each creature has its own space with plenty of fish to eat. Each separate section can be opened from the top but it is not recommended.

 

2) The Asylum: A few people have been experimented on. They have suffered mental breaks from reality. They are kept locked in and cared for by the staff so they can't use their powers and cause a breakout. That would be disastrous for both the Facility and New York City.

 

3) The Grimoire: The Facility has gained custody of magic using fiends/magicians/weird entities. They are kept on the other side of the Asylum in special traps and and cells. They are monitored to prevent the inmates from mixing with the Asylum across the place.

 

4) The Zoo: The Facility's major area is for the care of monsters and unnatural creatures that it has collected over the years. This is a major area of concern since some of the giant monsters breaking loose would naturally wreck the cells of the other prisoners.

 

5: Self Destruct System: If the system is breached, and there is a chance of some of the monsters and fiends escaping, the Facility can be destroyed with a mix of antimatter and nuclear fuel. It is assumed that a part of the city would just develop a sinkhole and part of the harbor would be radioactive.

 

No one knows.

CES        

[Pariah]

I thought about incorporating the Zoo of Death from The Princess Bride, but kind of forgot about it until I read your entries. 

 

Great choices, by the way.

 

 

[Bazza]

Q: Thinking about entering again. And starting from scratch. What are the parameters? Is it a fantasy type genre, or on Earth, etc? How much description is needed for each entry—would a pointer to the original idea be enough—eg rolling boulder from Raiders, or bottomless pit? 

[Bazza]

3 hours ago, Pariah said:

After all of that, what could be worse?

 

How about ending up cold, wet, bruised, and publicly humiliated?

 

Featured Highlight #4: The Wipeout Zone (One adventurer at a time; the obstacles change every time!)

 

 

 

Thats evil. At least adventurer safety is considered paramount. 

[Lucius]

7 hours ago, death tribble said:

If you had posted every day 9 choices. But Ill post an update over the weekend which we are not selecting but catch up choices are available.

 

By my count I have made six choices.

 

Remaining to choose are four highlights and a mythic monster.

 

I can make 3 choices over the weekend.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

In a tagline did Lucius Alexander a palindromedary decree

[death tribble]

I've updated post 2 withe the rosters wit the exception of Lucius where I am querying a couple of the selections.

the highlight needs expansion

And a decree is not an Architect goal nor is a pleasure dome.

I know that you are working from the poem but it needs tweeking.

If you say that the goal of the architect was to create a pleasure dome but Khan changed his mind and thus alterations were made that would be valid.

[Lucius]

1 hour ago, death tribble said:

I've updated post 2 withe the rosters wit the exception of Lucius where I am querying a couple of the selections.

the highlight needs expansion

And a decree is not an Architect goal nor is a pleasure dome.

I know that you are working from the poem but it needs tweeking.

If you say that the goal of the architect was to create a pleasure dome but Khan changed his mind and thus alterations were made that would be valid.

 

Expanding on the Highlight:

"But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted

Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!

A savage place! as holy and enchanted

As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted

By woman wailing for her demon-lover!

And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,

As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,

A mighty fountain momently was forced:"

 

Let me know if that's not enough expansion.

 

As for the architects goal: Yes, Kubla Khan changed his mind. What started as a pleasure dome became a shrine to the Ancestral Voices.

 

Now for more picks:

 

another highlight:

"So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers were girdled round;"

The first obstacle facing adventurers is the walls and towers, or more precisely, the devotees of the Ancestral Voices who garrison and patrol them. Religious pilgrims are also found in this section, but they generally don't fight - they will, however, loudly alert the guards if they see an adventurer trying to sneak into the forbidden grounds.

 

A third highlight:

"And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,

Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;"

Incense harvested here is widely held to have occult properties. Obviously, the guardians of the place take a dim view of those who attempt to harvest their own rather than paying the rather extremely high price for official, approved incense.

 

And a fourth highlight:

"It was a miracle of rare device,

A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!"

Xanadu's cave of ice are a unique wonder. Legend says there is a safe path through them to the deep romantic chasm which slants down a green hill athwart a cedarn cover but many adventurers have ended in the icy, crushing grip of the caverns' Ice Golems. Other legends say that there are other rare devices of forgotten technology or obscure thaumaturgy concealed in the caves of ice.

 

I believe I have one more highlight and a mythic monster coming, but I am not able to pick them yet.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

It was a miracle overlooked for being so commonplace, a palindromedary in a tagline

 

 

 

[csyphrett]

Has everyone picked everything?

CES

[Cancer]

No.  I've had a really busy last four days, and that won't let up until tomorrow.  I should get finished with this draft by the start of next week, though.