Just got my new issue of Dungeon this weekend and was very happy to see that the first adventure serves as an introduction to the old B4 Lost City adventure and can tie in with the conversion that was done for Zargon a while back.
Anyone planning to run this in Mystara and, if so, where are you setting it? My assumption would be the Emirates of Ylaruam as I believe this is where the Lost City was traditionally located.
That being said, has anyone done a V3.5 conversion of Lost City? What domains and favored weapons did you give to the gods of the Cynidiceans (spell?)?
The setup for the adventure seems to imply a more traditional D&D setting than the male-dominated, arabian inspired, desert-based Emirates. How would you suggest reconciling this if you run Masque of Dreams?
L
Creative Director
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Just a quick note to Mystara fans:
The names given on the map of the desert are taken from the Emirates of Ylaruam, if I remember correctly, so it should be no problem fitting it into that game world (which already had the location of the Lost City more or less pegged down anyway, so I decided to go ahead and maintain that location in the adventure).
Dragon #315 has a map of the city of Cynedicea, as well as more details on the deities of the Lost City. And includes a 3.5 stat block for Zargon!!
As for the male-dominated version of the Emirates, the easiest change is of course to simply change Lady Vestang's gender. I'd recommend not changing it though; making her an exception to the rule adds a lot of style and character to her.
That being said, has anyone done a V3.5 conversion of Lost City? What domains and favored weapons did you give to the gods of the Cynidiceans (spell?)?
As well as the article that James mentioned there is a conversion of B4 on Enworld. It is 3.0 however.
Regards
Mortis
One question James, what happened to the squid?
The Scaling the Adventure section mentions advancing the squid in the wellhead by 2 or 3 HD, but I don't see any squid encounter there. Was it cut for lack of space? If so, was it attacking the acolyte down there?
I'm not James, but I think I can help. Initially there was an underground connection between the wellhead and the private oasis behind the mansion. It read something like this:
The well itself connects to the oasis just outside via a two-hundred-twenty-feet of submerged tunnels. There are multiple divergent tunnels some of which double back on themselves, while others delve deeper into the ground. Navigating this area will require Spot checks (DC 18) to find the sediment-camouflaged tunnels or Survival checks (DC 15) to maintain one’s bearings (remember also that there is no light in the tunnels). Finally the tunnel narrows for the last twenty feet just before the oasis (which it self is about 10 feet deep). Medium-sized characters traversing this portion will have to squeeze through.
In the well itself lurks an aggressive freshwater squid. It hunts subterranean anglerfish by springing from hidden nooks to catch its prey unaware; it uses the same tactic on any Medium-sized or smaller prey swimming in the depths of the well.Squid: hp 13; Monster Manual 281.
Basically it was a dangerous (but very wordy) escape route should the characters need it. If youare looking for more examples of Masque wordiness check out its Dungeon Magazine Public Wiki page.
Glad you liked Ashinana. She was fun to create and Michael Kaluta must be part rakshasa because he read my mind as to how she looks. As for her ethnicity, she can come from pretty much anywhere. As written she is an outsider to the oasis, and could have come by it in any number of ways.
Hope that helps,
GGG
G-cube, I had no idea you wrote this adventure. It's really a cut above most 1st level adventures, which are the hardest to get right but, I think, the most important. If done well, they can create a fan of the game for life. And you're right, the art is spectacular.
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Creative Director
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The squid was cut, but alas, it slithered back into the scaling the adventure section.
Why was the squid cut? Two reasons: First, we needed to make some room somewhere at the very end of the editing cycle, and the squid encounter was isolated enoguh that it could go away without impacting the rest of the adventure. And second, it seemed really out of place to have a squid in a well in a desert to me. Not that D&D doesn't embrace out of place critters, but if we'd kept the squid, I would have wanted to add in some information about WHY there was a freshwater desert-dwelling squid in the world, which would have only increased word count. See reason 1 above.
reminds me of the kraken that's hiding at the bottom of the destroyed Drow temple held by the beholders (how did it get in there again?) in the 3.0 adventure with all of the desmodu...
L
I would rank B4 the Lost City amongst my 5 or 6 most favorite adventures from first edition, and I am very pleased to see someone do something with this gem. I hope to see more done with it in the future.
I would rank B4 the Lost City amongst my 5 or 6 most favorite adventures from first edition
1e! Yikes! It was a classic DnD module from the B series. :)
--Ray.
I would rank B4 the Lost City amongst my 5 or 6 most favorite adventures from first edition, and I am very pleased to see someone do something with this gem. I hope to see more done with it in the future.
Echo that! It was a fun adventure to play in, and this update of a favorite location is really fun to read, too!
I am hoping to start a new campaign using it as a start.
Good work, GGG!
Can't wait till I get my hands on this one!
Does most of the action take place in the City or does any of it take part outside? My only objection to B4 is that it was poorly integrated into the Known World, even with the B1-9 fix. I'm curious to whether this adventure adresses that...
Havard
Can't wait till I get my hands on this one!
Does most of the action take place in the City or does any of it take part outside? My only objection to B4 is that it was poorly integrated into the Known World, even with the B1-9 fix. I'm curious to whether this adventure adresses that...
Havard
Thanks everyone (your money is being deposited as we speak ;).
MAJOR WICKED BIG SPOILERS AHEAD! So read on....
Håvard, The title blurb might be a bit misleading or paradoxical from a PC's point of view. I hope it is a return for someone who remembers the old classic by Tom Moldvay, but the only concrete bit of the old city of Cynidicea that will be recognizable will be the top of the nearly buried pyramid with the city's three gods looking out over the desert. It was my intention to not to redo the original dungeon presented in B4: The Lost City. Really why mess with perfection (unless you are being well paid ;). Basically I wanted to explore some of the themes that made the dungeon so memorable but not do it in the place itself. So while there will be a lot you recognize there is a lot of new stuff to.
The Lost City is about as isolated as the Isle of Dread so I kept it Core Rules (or Paizohawk if you will) and didn't set it anywhere but "in a desert somewhere". The final map places it about where it appeared in my old Known World game, in midwest Ylaruam.
Hope that helps and hope you like what you see,
GGG
The Lost City is about as isolated as the Isle of Dread so I kept it Core Rules (or Paizohawk if you will) and didn't set it anywhere but "in a desert somewhere". The final map places it about where it appeared in my old Known World game, in midwest Ylaruam.Hope that helps and hope you like what you see,
GGG
I do not run Greyhawk, but instead run games set either in the Forgotten Realms or a generic setting of my own design. I appreciate being able to take adventures and the dungeons, ruins, castles, etc, involved in them and be able to easily insert them into one of the two worlds.
And this adventure and its setting and NPCs will be good fits for my future use.
This looks like a great starting point for a campaign.
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I tried doing a search for the answer but i couldnt find any results. I was curious, where is the Lost city located in Greyhawk? Is it mentioned in Dragon #315? I was considering putting it in the Bright Desert. This would be the first adventure of a campaign leading up to the Maure Castle instalments. I was thinking about a campaign involving Rary, intrigue in the Duchy of Urnst and The Free city. The PC's would eventually draw the attention of Mordenkainen on so on. Still just thowing ideas around, If anyone has suggestions of adventures that involve any of the themes mentioned above that would be great. They dont need to be Dungeon magazine adventures, but they do need to be adaptable to the World of Greyhawk.
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Creative Director
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I tried doing a search for the answer but i couldnt find any results. I was curious, where is the Lost city located in Greyhawk? Is it mentioned in Dragon #315? I was considering putting it in the Bright Desert. This would be the first adventure of a campaign leading up to the Maure Castle instalments. I was thinking about a campaign involving Rary, intrigue in the Duchy of Urnst and The Free city. The PC's would eventually draw the attention of Mordenkainen on so on. Still just thowing ideas around, If anyone has suggestions of adventures that involve any of the themes mentioned above that would be great. They dont need to be Dungeon magazine adventures, but they do need to be adaptable to the World of Greyhawk.
It's not in Greyhawk; that's the trick! :) The Lost City is from the Known World, which later came to be known as Mystara.
The best place for the Lost City in Greyhawk, though, is probably the Sea of Dust. The Bright Desert might work, but that'd probably require more adjustments to continuity and established game canon than would placing it in the Sea of Dust.