Maze of the Blue Medusa 5E (Inactive)

Game Master TPJ

Welcome to the discussion thread. Everyone please check in and get settled. If you are still tweaking your builds and have questions, you may post them here. You can also discuss amongst yourselves if any of your characters have previous connections with one another.

Regarding the content of Maze of the Blue Medusa, as I mentioned in the recruiting thread, some of it is mature, and there's sections that deal with body horror and other disturbing things. I've already flagged a few sections that I'll be toning down, but if these are subjects that you find unappealing or disturbing, please let me know.

I'm genuinely excited and anxious* about running this adventure, as I think it's something quite unique and unusual.

I'm still putting together the opening scenario that will get the characters to the start of the actual adventure, but it will follow what I posted in the recruiting thread. Before gameplay begins, I will PM each character some pieces of information and rumors that they have learned during their brief stay in Vornheim. You may choose to share or withhold that information with other players as you wish.

I expect that gameplay proper will begin around the final week of September, possibly sooner if I have the opener completed.

I'll be posting links to visual aids as needed. Likewise I'll set up maps if things get complex with tracking combat.

--
* Anxious because I want to do this adventure justice. This is kind of ambitious for me, so bear with me if I occasionally stumble.

Thank you for choosing me. I am excited to start as well!

For full disclosure this is my first 5E game, so please bear with me if I make any mistakes. I've played a lot of 3.5, 4E, and pathfinder, but this will be my first attempt at 5E.

DM, when you get a chance, can you make a gameplay thread so we can dot in and have the campaign show up in our campaign tabs.

I am thoroughly excited for this adventure.

I have a bunch of gold to spend, what should I spend it on?

I'm a pact of the blade warlock with light armor proficiency.......

Also, what kind of music do you all like? I'm looking to find some new tunes.

While my current tastes in music drift depending on.....whatever, really, I do have some current favorite artists/bands. In no particular order, I like:

Ben Folds/Ben Folds Five

Dragonforce

The Shins, Neil Diamond, and The Stray Cats/Brian Setzer Orchestra

Queen, Billy Joel, The Darkness

and a couple of singing comedians, Steven Lynch and Bo Burnham.

I usually have any of the above or anime soundtracks running when I'm making characters.

Also, Here I be.

Love Queen, the Shins and Dragonforce. Listening to Ben Folds right now.

While I've seen all of them in concert, I've probably seen Ben folds the most (He did a couple of shows at the college I went to back when he was in the five, and I've seen most of his tours).

Dragonforce puts on a ridiculous show.

Checking in.

If you're interested in new genres, I'm a heavy metal and industrial fan from the 80s and 90s. Try KMFDM, megadeth, and rammstein (German industrial metal).

You've seen Queen live???

Ben Folds is pretty great. He kinda reminds me of a classier, laid back Andrew Jackson Jihad.

I like Dragonforce, but I really think their peak was Inhuman Rampage. Part of me says this because I was in highschool when it came out, but another part of me says this because they since lost that vocalist, and his range and mastery of that heavy metal style of vox really complemented what that band was doing.

I saw that one vid where he's soloing in the pool. Lulzy as all hell.

@Thratch Industrial is cool. I've heard some of those bands, Rammstein is pretty groovy, but the genre isn't really my thing. I really love their track Sonne. I listen to Gojira a lot, and they have some industrial influence in their mix. Have you ever listened to them?

Heavy/Thrash and all that era tho, is hella tight. Whenever I listen to them they just blow my mind. How those frontment (esp. Metallica) rip those riffs and deliver their vocals with such intensity AND precision, is beyond me.

Ya, I was young at the time, but I convinced my uncle to take me since I had worked all summer to save for the tickets.

I also know that dates me, but IDC.

Lead guitarist/singer for megadeth used to be with Metallica. He's a better guitarist and song writer, in my opinion. But Metallica got more famous. However, if you like one of them, you'll probably like the other. Their best songs never made radio.

If you're not into the industrial scene, which Nine Inch Nails made popular probably more than anyone else, but still want to try some select songs, try these kmfdm songs:

Professional Killer (good beat, good lyrics, solid vocals by one of the female leads of the band)
Anarchy (lyrics are fantastic; one of the few anarchist songs not written like an angsty teen)

Those are some of their lighter songs; no screaming or anything.

And these Rammstein songs:
Rosenrot (Rose Red)
Ohne Dich (Only you)

Both those music videos are absolutely beautiful. Ohne Dich especially so - about a group of men climbing a mountain and one gets injured, so they carry to the top where he dies. Cinematography is absolutely stunning.

On the note of awesome videos, I offer Howling for you official video

Age should be treated akin to a medal of honor rather than a point of obsolescence imo.

I dig NIN. I'll get on all those singles in a bit. Thanks for the leads peepssss

Well, I've gone and created a profile now, couldn't just have Lys, so thought I'd spin it out a little, I'm just a Lys, the a isn't significant.
avatar is also going to change, it's just placeholder for the moment until I get chance to sift through and find something more appropriate.

My tastes in music are either varied, not non-existent, in that I'll listen to pretty much anything.

Last artists I went to see were, Amanda Palmer, Iron Maiden and Divine Comedy - though with a child with special needs it's hard to get away very often.

You can also try Lys [last name].

That's usually what I do if a name is already taken.

I'll have to fill out my mechanical background and do a little ditty on how I came to Vornheim. Will do by the eve.

What about Lys Terie?

Hi there!

I keep trying to put together a decent post on music, but the time slipped away today. :/

Also, yeah, between <Firstname "Nickname" Lastname>, you can usually get whatever you're thinking of. =)

I don't know, I like the pun, Lys is an Alice, so A Lys strikes a chord with my brand of whimsy, besides Lys is too simple a girl to warrant a last name.

I rather like "A Lys" as well.

Let's see, music...

Pretty much everything I like connects to or descends from David Bowie and Brian Eno.

Things I've listened to on heavy rotation this year:

Bowie, More Bowie, Still More Bowie, Prince, St. Vincent, Eno, NIN, Ministry, RevCo, Orbital, Siouxsie, The Creatures, Stranger Things Soundtrack, Mr. Robot Soundtrack, Monument Valley Soundtrack, Aphex Twin, Pixies, Sisters of Mercy, Skinny Puppy, Kraftwerk.

I've recently started checking out psychedelic doom metal - Occultation, Ides of Gemini, SubRosa. A lot of it sounds a mashup of Blue Oyster Cult and Siouxsie & the Banshees. I'm not sure how it happened, it just did.

I've opened the gameplay thread if anyone wants to dot in-character to add the campaign to your profile. Please refrain from other posts there until we're ready to being actual play.

Thanks DM, I should have mentioned when you dot in, you can immediately delete the post and the game will still be added to your gameplay without having the dot take up space.

So yeahhhhh

What should I spend my gold on? What are my best options?

If you use weapons, I would recommend getting silver ones.

After that it comes down to reuseable resources that you can carry: rope, waterskins, sacks, spare weapons, ranged weapons, flint and steel, grappling hooks, needle and thread, cold and warm weather clothing, etc....basically, since this is a mega dungeon, I am working under the impression that we'll probably not get a lot of resupply chances. I could certainly be wrong, but I plan to spend a good chunk of my starting money on gear.

Don't forget buying power for the beginning of the campaign. You may need extra cash for bribes, last minute purchases as we learn more, etc.

Also, we did get permission to buy uncommon magic items for 500 gp.

K

Hmmm,
Well, including my starting coin that leaves me with 2010gp.
So
Upgrade Rapier to Silvered (100)
Studded Leather (45)
2x Daggers (4)
40 crossbow bolts (2)
Bag of 20 caltrips (1)
Flask of Holy Water (25)
2x Potion of Healing (100)

277gp on Mundane Gear.

Training in Athletics (250)

Magic requires a bit more thought, at 500gp each for rare items, it is easy enough to get one or two. I have little idea what to expect of this adventure... so some ideas...
Ring of Warmth
Ring of Swimming
Periapt of Health
Necklace of Adaptation
Lantern of Revealing
Immovable Rod
Driftglobe
Decanter of Endless Water

Some random dice rolls. Don't mind me.

Thratch:
1d12 ⇒ 9
1d12 ⇒ 12

Lys:
1d12 ⇒ 8
1d12 ⇒ 11

Wan'di:
1d12 ⇒ 5
1d12 ⇒ 12

Brother Attero:
1d12 ⇒ 6
1d12 ⇒ 2

Kusinagi:
1d12 ⇒ 4
1d12 ⇒ 7

Ashlyn:
1d12 ⇒ 9
1d12 ⇒ 10

Vehemence:
1d12 ⇒ 11
1d12 ⇒ 10

Just some more random rolls.

1d12 ⇒ 7
1d12 ⇒ 12
1d12 ⇒ 2
1d12 ⇒ 9
1d12 ⇒ 11
1d12 ⇒ 1
1d12 ⇒ 11

1d12 ⇒ 9

Oh no! that only leaves me with 1 hp!

God I hope that's not roll under. lulz...

DM thanks for reintroducing me to Sisters of Mercy. I've always loved Temple of Love, and just discovered their track Vision Thing. I really adore how they meld the goth style with the crunchy metal. As a vocalist myself I'm going to try and emulate their double-tracked vocals in the intro verse. Real sick stuff.

How 'needed' is my reason for being in Vornheim? Could I just chalk it all up to him being in an existentially-moody wandering-pursuit thing?
And is it alright that he's like, essentially a physical incarnation of his spiritual form on this plane of existence? Does that fit for what we're doing here?

Lys - that's 500 for uncommon magic items, not for rare items. :)

I've since landed upon the Cloak of Resistance and the +1 enhancement to muh greatsword. -1000gp. I'll fill all that out and fill in some other numbers I left out of certain places posthaste

Don't worry about these dice rolls. I'm determining some tidbits of information that you each know at the start of the adventure. I'll be PM'ing everyone with that soon-ish.

@Wuliev,
The characters are in Vornheim searching for a specific painting that you've all dreamt about to the point of obsession. Think of it more as the painting chose you all for unknown reasons. For your history several months ago you started to dream about the woman imprisoned in the painting and have learned more with subsequent dreams. This has driven you to Vornheim to find and steal the painting, which must be hung in a certain place at a certain time to help her.

Currently I'm assuming that you're all meeting for the first time at the start of the adventure, but if you want to establish any prior relationships I leave that up to you to discuss amongst yourselves.

I'm doing a slight revision to my introductory hook from the recruitment thread, which I'll post into the gameplay thread at the appropriate time. There's just a bit more detail, but the hook is still the same.

Okay cool. I did not understand that prior to this. So then in my situation I would assume that Vehemence believes that the painting is of his late wife, and his journey to Vornheim is a hope that he may absolve himself of the curse of his child.

Who wants to meet up with this brash and brazen one?

Also my sheet is all filled out all nice and stuff now.

Vehemence, reading your backstory, it seems like you're a God reborn? Or am I missing something? Admittedly, it is difficult to read while a passenger in a car making lots of quick turns.

I wouldn't really say a god of deity stature, but more like an intermediate spirit akin to a Greek muse. He is certainly far from omnipotent, but his egomania makes him feel and express otherwise.

What is the curse of his child?

Is anyone getting a Bag of Holding?

I was thinking about it. That or goggles of night.

More or less that he is haunted by his misdeed and will never find solace for it. It could very well manifest in external ways as well as his internal restlessness.

@Wan'di: I'd like to get a Pearl of Power to help with healing, so if you could get the bag so I don't have to, that'd be great. =)

I can pick up the bag too if you need the goggles, it's not a big deal

I think for my 2000 gp, since we can buy uncommon magic items, I am going to buy the following:

Decanter of Endless Water
Mithral Splint Mail
Wakizashi (Shortsword) of Warning
Kimono (Cloak) of Protection

I thought thew were all uncommon items I listed - oh, I wrote rare at the top... oopsie.

I don't mind taking a bag of holding, and possibly an immovable rod.

Woah. I just realized that we have two wild mages, two warlocks, and everyone is a caster. Except one, who's our intellectual.

This will be an interesting game.

If everyone is spending their cash, I'm going to keep some valuables around.

I kept around 350 gp in various coins and gems.

A Lys it's all yours

I'm keeping about 670... though I may have added my gold up wrong I need to check that. Could be very useful if someone goes down or we need to have cash for something unexpected inside the dungeon.