Every time I look at one of those Maps of Mystery, I get about a dozen ideas (some lame, most average, and rarely a good one, I'm sure, but ideas nonetheless). I'm wondering if anyone other than myself would be interested in listing said ideas here in a thread? How have you used them in the past, which map/issue, etc? And of course, ideas you've had that you've never actually managed to play, etc etc...
I'd love to hear how people are using them as well. :)
Well, at the very least, I'll pass on my own, before this thread dies a quick and unloved death. ;) Mr. West, kudos for your maps as always, but the one that hit the mark for us most recently was 'Hall of the Elestial Eye.' Twice a month or so, we try to run one-shots with whoever can make it, and the other two gaming nights are Shackled City - we play once a week (at best).
The 'Hall of the Elestial Eye' became the secret lair of a dedicated group of LN Enlightened Fists (mostly Wizard/Monk/Enlightened Fists, with a few Sorcerers, who were looked down upon slightly as less spiritually aware). Their blend of magic and unarmed fighting techniques were legendary in the area, but no one knew where they actually came from. The small monastery that serves as the entrance to the Hall sure wasn't obvious.
Their investigations into the magics of other planes (via the Gateway chamber) let in an unwelcome guest, a possessing demonic entity (via 'Book of Vile Darkness') which managed to get into one of the lesser favoured Enlightened fists whose magic came from Sorcery, and who didn't have the world's greatest Charisma. Granting the fellow a +4 bonus to said Charisma, while whispering in his ear, almost brought about the ruination of the place. The corrupted monk brought in more and more possessing entities, hiding them both in the Vault of Mysteries with the treasure of the order and aiding the possession of other monks, until finally, an attempted overthrow was attempted - but stalemated, the hall was sealed with an arcane 'safeguard' effect (in case of gateway chamber incursion), and only a few of the monks made it out before the place sealed - including the once-minor flunky who'd arranged the whole thing.
He was the one that hired us - among three others who truly *wanted* to save the monks and order - mostly just so he could get back in and complete the takeover. Fighting demonic possessed constructs isn't pleasant (the Obsidian Sentinels), and the long corridor with the balconies was a long running fight - but we managed to get in, save a few of the good guys, and then had our turncoat adventure seed fellow turn on us and almost wipe us out - but we were triumphant, sent the demon entities packing, and help re-seal the gateways from their evil demonic leak.
And now we have a favour owed from a powerful monk order.
All that from your map, Mr. West. Danke.
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I'm not sure if this is going to be very flattering to Chris West, but like Bram, I've also been inspired by the "Elestial Eye" map...In my case, it was the word "elestial". This has immediately spawned a new order of knights, and a prestige class, in my campaign world. If I ever get a chance, I'll use the map as one of their chapter houses.
For the interested, the knights are dedicated to the goddess of perfection (Zuoken), who also happens to be a patron of psionics. Hence, the crystal connection. The knights of the Elestial Fist/Eye (eye fits the map better, fist sounds more violent...) are fairly disreputable and known for using initimidation tactics to extort people; since they converted to the worship of Zuoken they've been coercing people into making "donations" and also attending Her churches. Zuoken doesn't give two hoots about morality, but is very impressed by the knights dedication to a single aspect of warfare (total defence) and their positive effect on Her congregation size. So Zuoken is rather happy about how things are working out. I figure that the Elestial Eye might be a sect of Her priesthood who have allied themselves more closely with the knights of the Elestial Fist.
Ukos
funny, i was going to use that map for something different. i call it the temple of the knight resplendent, and it is actually a tomb of a succubus paladin who has a sword called the "Bane of Demons" The PCs in my current group are going to have to go there, perhaps fight with ghostly protectors of the site and then challenge her undead form to prove thier might and valor. once they do, they will gain the weapon to use against the demon lord Fraz-Urb-Lu.
"The House of Broken Minds" has also been a locale visited by our gaming group on a few occasions (Dungeon 135). In our campaign, it houses an order of Loremasters and Diviners specifically interested in preventative oracles/divinations/prophecies to stop major disasters/deaths/wars/etc. Their main source of information (and the reason behind the name of the place) is a very insane young twelve year old boy who spends most of his time bound in the Circle of Madness. Sociopathic and violent, this boy is the younger brother of a PC, and the very first adventure that DM ran us through (we rotate DMs for our solo-session games) had us solving a string of murders and it turning out to be this young boy. He's got a terrible demonic possession/influence, and for the most part, we're trying to cure the poor kid, but in the meantime, the kid spouts prophecies at an alarming rate, and relishes the future deaths and disasters he sees. The order, who fly us in and out on their pegasus mounts, collect oracles (including evil ones, which are bound in the binding cells below) and steer our adventures (including the one I mentioned above, with the Elestial monks).
We've never yet been invited into the strange beam-of-light observatory at the top of the building, and the party cleric is starting to think that some of the bound spirits and evil creatures are gaining some sort of foothold among the wizards here, but so far, they've not steered us wrong.
I'm just waiting for the day when whatever evil it is that's starting to tug the strings comes forth - I hope it's the force behind the possession of the PC's younger brother, and we can save him, etc, but anything would be good.
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Wow, very cool ideas all around! When I made the House of Broken Minds I feared it was such an exotic location that people would have trouble fitting it into their games, but it seems I underestimated the creativity of my fellow DMs. :)
With the Hall of the Elestial Eye, I wasn't so worried about it being useful in a variety of campaigns, but feared that the vast nature of the interior might make it unappealing for extended combat-based scenes. A huge chunk of the map is one enormous chamber, and I imagine that sounds of combat echoing through it would probably draw the attention of everyone in the place. I'm curious to hear how PCs deal with that problem. :)
Thanks for sharing your ideas, guys! I may have to use some of those in my own campaign.
Wow, very cool ideas all around! When I made the House of Broken Minds I feared it was such an exotic location that people would have trouble fitting it into their games, but it seems I underestimated the creativity of my fellow DMs. :)
With the Hall of the Elestial Eye, I wasn't so worried about it being useful in a variety of campaigns, but feared that the vast nature of the interior might make it unappealing for extended combat-based scenes. A huge chunk of the map is one enormous chamber, and I imagine that sounds of combat echoing through it would probably draw the attention of everyone in the place. I'm curious to hear how PCs deal with that problem. :)
Thanks for sharing your ideas, guys! I may have to use some of those in my own campaign.
When my PCs were fighting their way down the hall, those balconies made the whole huge fight basically one big chase scene, only to find the pillars up high and more evil and/or corrupted monk/wizard/enlightened fists up on top at the end. The real danger came when they opened up the vaults of loot to find many of the objects had possessing entities in them, and said entities were happy to take the bodies of the allied monks they'd brought with them...
"Kill them without killing them!" said the party leader, to much mockery later.
Thats a great idea Bram, and I've been looking for a way to bring in some Quori spirits to my Eberron game for my Kalashtar and Psiforged players to go up against - *yoink* ;-)
I love the maps of mystery, they're generally cool and useful. To be honest though, I love maps in general, and will beg, borrow or steal them from whichever adventure they turn up in and use them for purposes other than originally intended :-)
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"The House of Broken Minds" has also been a locale visited by our gaming group on a few occasions (Dungeon 135). In our campaign, it houses an order of Loremasters and Diviners specifically interested in preventative oracles/divinations/prophecies to stop major disasters/deaths/wars/etc. Their main source of information (and the reason behind the name of the place) is a very insane young twelve year old boy who spends most of his time bound in the Circle of Madness. Sociopathic and violent, this boy is the younger brother of a PC, and the very first adventure that DM ran us through (we rotate DMs for our solo-session games) had us solving a string of murders and it turning out to be this young boy. He's got a terrible demonic possession/influence, and for the most part, we're trying to cure the poor kid, but in the meantime, the kid spouts prophecies at an alarming rate, and relishes the future deaths and disasters he sees. The order, who fly us in and out on their pegasus mounts, collect oracles (including evil ones, which are bound in the binding cells below) and steer our adventures (including the one I mentioned above, with the Elestial monks).
We've never yet been invited into the strange beam-of-light observatory at the top of the building, and the party cleric is starting to think that some of the bound spirits and evil creatures are gaining some sort of foothold among the wizards here, but so far, they've not steered us wrong.
I'm just waiting for the day when whatever evil it is that's starting to tug the strings comes forth - I hope it's the force behind the possession of the PC's younger brother, and we can save him, etc, but anything would be good.
I absolutely love this idea, and I may have to lift it wholesale for future use if you don't mind. Things like this are the reason I came to these boards in the first place, so my kudos to both Bram and Mr. West!
okay, here's a thought. if you were to design an adventure path with 12 maps using only those by C. West, which ones would they be?
here's mine, in no particular order:
1. cryomancer's icicle tower
2. dungeon's Delve parts 1 and 2
3. Pirate caves
4. Vault of the Deathlord
5. Pirate outpost
6. The Forsaken Rift
7. Cinderforge
8. Drakeborn Sanctum
9. the underdark Caverns
10. Ancient Catacombs
11. Hall of the Elestial Eye
12. Red Dragon's Lair
Anyone else?
I'll have to ponder about the Adventure Path...
I'd forgotten the Cryomancer's Tower/Icicle! It wasn't my turn to DM when we used that map, I was a lowly player (heh), but the DM whose turn it was did a great job with it - the Cryomancer was a half-dragon (white) kobold sorcerer, and the whole tower was just full of traps, dire weasels, and the like. The Tower had originally been owned by a rather reclusive gnome wizard who also specialized in cold, the kobold's band took him out, and then sent, in his name, invitations to the wizards and sorcerers the gnome had kept notes on in order to gain more loot. We were guests #4 or something like that. It was a fun ride, and let me tell you, the constant balance checks to stay upright on icy areas (especially with frosty versions of 'grease' spell traps everywhere) were freaking obnoxious, but a lot of laughter followed.
"Forget it, I'll cast 'acid arrow' sitting on my butt, then!"
And the little white dragon that was working with the Kobold at the end was a bit of a shock...