Monsters! Monsters! the setting!

[devadasi]

The exalts are most appreciated!


A little more setting material before i move on with game transcription ( actually thinking of making a vid of some of the next sesh)

DEEP IN THE HEART OF GNARLIAN'S WOOD, lies the forgotten "city" of Amnesia. Amnesia is an ancient magical site, the origins of which are forgotten by all save Gnarlian himself. Amnesia consists of a series of forgotten temple ruins, whose actual purposes and gods have been lost to time. The evles respect the place as a place of spirits and generally do not venture near.

Anyone spending time in Amnesia, slowly begins to lose their memories. Initially this simply involves a feeling of being "lost" or "turned around". Anyone who sleeps in Amnesia will awaken having forgotten his/her own name.

the GM should note each character's luck score when entering Amnesia. The character has that many hours to spend in Amnesia, before losing all memory permanently and entirely. Those to whom this happens become one of Amnesia's spirit wraiths, wandering the city, eternally lost.

An interesting addition to this effect is the fact that once an individual has "turned wraith" in the town of Amnesia, all evidence of that things former existence ARE ALSO ERASED! Therefore, the individual CEASES TO HAVE EVER EXISTED AT ALL! Thus, those who are lost to Amnesia, are lost even to memory. Mothers and siblings will not ever remember even having known this person ( monster, elf, etc.)


Amnesia ties in to the adventure I'm currently running in that by the time the Merry Monsters get close to tracking down Rip Tides in the town of Saltine, he will have left town.... with Evard, hoping to leave the boy to get lost in Amnesia.

From Saltine, unless the players to something amazing and unpredictable to prevent it, they will have to pursue Rip, Evard, and some of his goons into Gnarlian's Wood and quite probably into Amnesia as well. Hopefully, they will find some of the clues alerting them to the nature of Amnesia ahead of time.

[devadasi]

Looking thru some of my old stuff, I found this piece from Squadron Signal's DOWN IN THE DUNGEON book (1979).

I think it illustrates perfectly what i think Sharkie's Tavern would look like. a whole lotta low life monsters, a slave girl, and a couple of humans looking for?

Attachments:

[Welt-rock]

I'm bookmarking this thread. Great stuff.

Yes please video or audio record your sessions. I've love to hear to this one.

[devadasi]

The Gulch is laregely unfarmable badlands. Crops will simply not grow in the barren soil. Even badlands should have some interesting flora though, and I wanted some flora unique to the Gulch, if only to provide flvor, and possible accidental adversaries or the like.

I should not right up front that some of the ideas for unique plants come from the DUNGEON DOZEN 1d12 blog, and are not completely my own. However, I did try to take his one line ideas and build on them, so as to not engage in complete sycophantry. Just giving credit where it is due.


The first unique plant found in the cracked dusty soil of the Rez is STENCHMELON. Techically edible, the fruit of this vine has a very strong odor than is found to be almost universally unpleasant. On the other hand, it seems to make a powerful insect repellant, capable of effectively friving away even monstrously sized insects. Also, the plant mimiks the stench of undeath so accurately that zombies and other mindless undead cannot read the musked character as "alive".

Yellow Musk Creeper can also be found in part od the rez. Scaling Big Battle Ridge is virtually impossible because of the degree to which this plant's tendrils thrive on the sunny face of the cliff. The dwarves have begun weaponizing the pollen of this plant.

Dancing Cactus- these strange cacti sway an gyrate to some strange music apparent only to themselves. their hypodermic like spines are quite poisonous however, and if their dance is disturbed they can actually fire the spines.

Hallucinogenic Puffball- self explanatory. extremely potent. When the spores are mixed with the ground petals of the Black Lotus flower, a powerful, hallucinoenic amphetamine rush is produced. Its highly addictive. These puffballs are worth fair jink if they can be harvested without being inhaled.


Malignant Tuber- Looks like a ginat half potato sticking out of the ground. Has large bulbs in its root system that secret an alluring anesthetic oder. Once a victim is asleep inside the pod, it closes and the victim is digested by the tuber.

[ProfGremlin]

Devadasi, how about tumbleweeds? Every badlands environment needs the ubiquitous tumbleweed!

PipedPiper Weed - These deceptively dessicated husks are tumbleweeds of the worst sort. Somehow, and no one has been able to complete any kind of analysis as to how, these tumbleweeds emit a pleasingly hypnotic psychic song which entrances those who cross it's path. Much like the forest will-o-the-wisp, the pied piper weed's song will then seduce the listener into following it aimlessly across the harsh landscape. Rumors exist indicating strong minded individuals have resisted the temptation to traipse after the 'weed.

[devadasi]

NICE! I once ran a game in a desert environment where there were TumbleBLeeds! Looked like normal thorny tumbleweeds, but were actually vampiric. But i like this idea even more..... though given the small area we are dealing with, the tumbleweeds should probably lure you TOWARDS something.... like Willo'Wisps?

[ProfGremlin]

Sure, just like the sirens of old leading sailors onto the rocks. Perhaps PiedPiper Weeds have a symbiotic relationship with the Malignant Tubers? Maybe there's a concealed pit trap that the 'weeds can cross due to their light weight but our (anti-) heroes fall into?

[ishtar]

Tar pits! Weren't there tar pits? The tumbleweed could roll right across them, lifted by the warm gases rising from the tar so that they do not get stuck because they don't actually touch the surface - the poor sods following, however, get stuck in the tar, and only when the tumbleweed rolls off and they are released from its hypnotic thrall do they realize just what trouble they're in.

[ishtar]

Nov 29, 2012 14:03:15 GMT -5 devadasi said:

Hallucinogenic Puffball- self explanatory. extremely potent. When the spores are mixed with the ground petals of the Black Lotus flower, a powerful, hallucinoenic amphetamine rush is produced. Its highly addictive. These puffballs are worth fair jink if they can be harvested without being inhaled.

I used these same exact things a couple of years ago! They'd infested a dwarven mine holding that the PCs were attempting to clean out. It got so they'd freeze in place whenever they heard the dreaded "pfft!" sound and wait to see who went berserk. The goblins in the mines were harvesting the things and making alcoholic/hallucinogenic beverages with them.

[devadasi]

Okay guys, so i wouldn't mind a little assistance from the bridge. This Sunday is session 2 of the Monsters! Monsters! game. In addition, i suddedly have two new players. ( my newb from last week, Anastasia, who apparently has teased her WoW loving sister for years for living in a "fantasy world", called her sister after my game, and told her that it was "such a blast!" Now the sister and her gamer husband, who hasn't tabletopped in years, are joining the gang. Jason will play a flesh gollum, and Anastasia's sister a half-troll half-satyr. their requests)

So anyway, this week the group will actually (likely) assault of sneak into the mansion of mayoral candidate Rip Tides. They will be looking for Evard of the Black Tentacles. What they need to find is some fun stuff to eat, and a combat challenge.

I am thinking the "fun things to eat" category can be covered by a group of young girls in frilly white dresses headed to their first communion or some such. If the monsters can resist nom-nomming some of that, then they aren't worth their salt. However, after the easy prey, and the humor, the mansion itself needs to present a challenge.

So i need gaurds with "poisonality", some interesting defenses ( since Rip is getting paranoid about the boy) and some interesting things to encounter. BUT, we have to keep in mind that Rip and his gang LIVE in the mansion, so it isn't a deathtrap per se....... and the defenses CAN"T be any kind of monster, unless that monster is just kind of an animal. ( like a war dog)


To this end, i need a colorful gang of henchmen to defend the mansion.

Sam Sumo- is a super fat, immovable hunk of mass, in a loincloth. When he rolls a certain number of spite, he will be able to body slam an opponent and possible jump on them. In addition his extreme fattiness makes him immune to blunt force trauma.

Killarney the leprechaun- I think he will wear a tall rainbow striped stovepipe hat, and make use of both "boomshroom" and "faceful of nickels" when necessary.

Some wardogs. How do you give personality to a wardog? Rip only likes BLACK dogs..... and he paints a white skull and crossbones pirate flag on all of his.


But i need MORE! Can you guys come up with any weirdo, non-monster, piratey maybe adventuring types or bodygaurd types that won't be soon forgotten. How about other mansion defences?

Any kinda humorous stuff i could sneak in? I already think i want orc and ogre heads mounted on the wall in the billiards parlor. that is sure to get the Merry Monsters riled up...... but what else? What kinda crazy stuff can we come up with that you would like to see create problems for a jaegermonster, a weresabrecat, a landshark, a tiefling, a bugbear, a half troll, and a flesh abombination?

Help me trollbridge.

[ProfGremlin]

Dec 4, 2012 11:18:43 GMT -5 devadasi said:

Help me trollbridge.

Ok, off the top of my head -

- A housekeeper who just happens to be a veteran of the last Monster war. Nicknamed 'The Iron Maiden'. Spoken of in whispers amongst the Buzzard Gulch denizens and used to scare littles into behaving, what she can do with a mop and bucket would send shivers up the spine of any hardy ne'er-do-well.

- A nanny/au pair who is also an accomplished witch. Think Mary Poppins without the spoonful of sugar when her charges are threatened. Always uses proper grammar and is quite polite even when pummeling the monsters. "Oh, dear. Please, Take That You Foe."

- For automated defenses, how about a medieval version, or three, of the modern iRobot home cleaning robots? The monsters, being all monstrous and such, are quite dirty and twig the sanitation spells when they breach the walls of the mansion. They are attacked by be-spelled cleaning implements determined to eradicate the mess.
+ Brush of Scrubbing +3 vs. Stains
+ Rug Beater of Thwacking +2 vs. Pelts
+ Bucket of Sanitation +4 vs. Footprints (Insert Slip Sliding Away mp3)
+ Feather Duster of Submission +1 vs. Particulates (Ever seen a half-satyr/half-troll tickled into submission?)
+ Etc...

- The heads mounted on the wall in the trophy room, think breath weapon:
+ Fire
+ Wind
+ Ice
+ Blow Flies
+ Wasps
+ Glue
+ Etc...

If I think of anything else I'll throw in another post.

[devadasi]

you have just been exalted Prof, and i GARAUNTEE at least 3/4 of that will see actual playtime!

[devadasi]

here are the two new character sheets, awaiting player personalization

Attachments:

[devadasi]

i will also make an attempt to record the session somehow.

Attachments:

[derv]

I will do a mini mind dump of piratey things, if that helps.

cursed treasure, talking parrots, davy jones locker, cannon balls, pegged legs and hooks for hands, eye patches, tricorn hats, duels, "x" marks the spot, rum, red light district, havens, hideouts, asylum, walking the plank, jolly rogers, scurvy, shiver me timbers, tying to the mast, marooned, shipwrecked, barnacles, keelhauling, tattoos, scrimshaw, cutlass, galley, pieces of eight.

Another thing that seems fitting for pirates are nicknames. They definately need nicknames.

online-generator.com/name-generator/pirate-name-generator.php

Avast matey, that's all I come up with. Yo-ho-ho! Arrgh!