Peter Vinogradov's page

There are a couple of models of the temple that I made years ago in Strata 3d. I did send those to Paizo, but they're really cheesy. I'll dig them up and put them on the protopage.

Edit: My mistake - I never sent temple models to Paizo - was looking at the wrong draft...

Also, I keep referring to scrag in area 7. Again looking at the wrong draft. Scrag were way too hard for that room.

Peter,

What did you use to make those isometric maps?

Google Sketchup, a free download from google.

I didn't send these models to Paizo - in fact I only created them in response to the thread. The adventure is actually really old (the original playtesters were once a "playtest of the month" group when 3rd edition was just coming out), and was originally mapped in Campaign Cartographer (it used to have two more dungeon levels before it met Chris Perkins). I've never built a whole dungeon in Sketchup, but it's certainly possible. With Google's model-sharing functionality, I imagine the potential for creating and sharing dungeon features is huge.

There are a couple of models of the temple that I made years ago in Strata 3d. I did send those to Paizo, but they're really cheesy. I'll dig them up and put them on the protopage.

Protopage plug - Protopage is another great tool. The group I play with uses it to log adventures, keep track of treasure, etc. Really easy to use and very flexible.

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but because I'm posting this, I guess I am. Is it possible that you could do a couple more isometric views - specifically Rooms 7 and 25. That map for Room 8 was awesome! (The area for 6 and 2 might be nice to see mapped out, too.)
Thanks.

Not a problem. If I get the opportunity to write another one of these, I'll definitely model the whole dungeon in Sketchup...

Meantime, I've posted a cutaway iso of Room 7 to my protopage. I don't have the magazine yet, but from the online supplement it looks like they changed the mechanism by which you access the plant and prison areas. I marked the doors to those areas as "secret", but they might not be secret anymore. Note also that my iso shows two escape tunnels for the scrag, when there probably should only be one

I agree that room 25 could benefit from a model. I'll do one up, but may wait to post it until I see the magazine. Will let you know...

Edit: Actually, I still don't understand the boat lift. Let me describe how I think I'm interpreting it: To get it to work, you enter room 6, disable the demon illusion (or I guess...re-enable the Wee Jas illusion) by replacing the imp oil with regular oil. You pull the lever down, and the water drains, lowering your boat down to room 8. Presumably there's a door to room 8 (which doesn't appear on the map), which you can open at this point to get to other parts of dungeon level 1.

However, room 8 describes a series of tracks, pulleys and chains for the floating prisons "attached to the ceiling" and the central pillar. I'm confused again.

There should be a secret door marked on that central pillar, which IS the boatlift chamber (again, I haven't seen the final copy). The pulleys and chains were meant to once control the floating prisons, but they're ornamental and not meant to function. Here's an isometric view of the room that should hopefully clarify it a bit:

http://www.protopage.com/petervinogradov

-- just don't want to seem like we're piling on here.

Thanks. I'll be happy to clarify any other issues once I see the printed adventure (my copy should be coming any day now...)

I haven't gotten my print copy yet (the store was sold out thanks to that cover), but I can try to fill in based on what I submitted:

1. Entrance. The description seems to reflect entering the servant's door. However, the map (and description later) reflect entering the double doors from its balcony a great distance up.

The description on reaching the castle makes reference to area 3 (the service entrance), though area 1 is also a likely entry as Jeremy points out. I put the service entrance in to give poor climbers/flyers an easier way up, and the smashed elevator was just a means of foreshadowing conditions above.

2. Room 6. I've had to keep going over this issue with the boats on how exactly you are to descend into the dungeon without being bounced to Ibex's antechamber.

As I imagined it, the only way down to the dungeon initially is through the canal which leads to the seal in area 2. You are correct that getting into the pool while the chamber is in Ibex mode (special oil in the lamps etc.) should bounce you into his antechamber. Not sure if I included this in the final copy, but Tealpeck used to enjoy tricking his prisoners by letting them escape, find a boat, and ascend to the pool, only to get zapped into the abyss (out of the frying pan...). The description of area 6 is unclear, now that I reread it, but the intent is that, when the room is in normal mode (ie, normal oil in the lamps), the sacrificial pool is DISABLED, making it just a simple extension of the boatlift.

3. Room 7. This appears to be the entrance from Room 6, but I'm not clear how ... especially when Room 8 is described as being linked to Room 6. Moreover, the map for Room 7 doesn't really reflect the description. Further, the room is filled with water? But then a trap causes it to fill with water to reach the ledge above? Huh? (Granted, "Dungeon Features" says 4 ft deep ... but unless stated otherwise. Is this stating otherwise?)

I'd echo Jeremy's response to this room. I actually have a rough side-view sketch of the room to illustrate the balcony, but I never submitted it (it was really a sad drawing).

4. Room 17 throws me. It's a room in the description. It's a canal on the map. I thought maybe it was a map device to reflect Room 17 was above Room 16, which was also circular, but then the small circle in Room 16 appears to be Room 16a, the scrag trap.

Right. It's not really a room. That seal is just a picture painted atop the giant peg that makes up that trap.

Apologies for the confusion, and my thanks if you decide to play it through. Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

btw, I appreciate the use of "swamped" with problems. hee hee...

-Peter