The spell weavers are a very interesting part of the region's history, and the loremaster in my party has decided to specialize in studying them. She was amazed by the Starry Mirror, Amaranth Elixir, and other aspects of their advanced society. When she heard about Karran-Kurral she got really excited about going there and making additional discoveries.
While Karran-Kurral is a rather small dungeon and only has a handful of encounters, it displays more spell weaver artifacts and is very creepy. I think this needs to be expanded upon. If the spell weavers had enough mastery of magic and technology to travel the stars and the planes, then why don't their bases look more futuristic?
I was thinking of changing the walls and doors to titanium alloy, making the doors motion-activated, (or even locked by a passcode in some cases) adding lots of pretty blinking lights and buttons... having harmless little spy drones flying around inspecting the characters. Maybe even adding some security robots that try to arrest them. It would add a flavor similar to "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks". I was even contemplating making a CD of futuristic, appropriately creepy background music.
Fetor Abradius is possibly one of the most intelligent villains in the game. His unhealthy obsession with the Soul Pillars is driving him mad, to be sure, but he is still a difficult boss to defeat. If he has been studying this area for months, then maybe he has figured out how to operate the technology. The face of Fetor Abradius could appear on big video screens at random parts of the dungeon, taunting the adventurers or remotely setting off traps making it harder to get to him.
Another example: one could replace the iron golem with a similar giant "hunter-killer" robot armed with gatling guns, flame throwers or laser beams... making sure to keep it balanced and increasing the CR by 1 or 2. Anyone who has played a Final Fantasy game and battled Ultima Weapon can appreciate the potential coolness of such an encounter.
My PC loremaster always has 'comprehend languages' on so she can read any writings the spell weavers might have around the dungeon. I think there should be a way to raise the spell weaver coffins with a button so they are not buried in the floor. Then would be the appropriate time for the corpse to momentarily animate, scaring the crap out of the players and making them creeped out for the rest of the dungeon.
I was also contemplating including some futuristic weapons as treasure. Giving everyone in the party a laser pistol would be okay since it has limited charges and there is no way to reload.
But I also think that the SCAP is lacking in good challenging puzzles. The Starry Mirror is the only one I can think of. I would like to incorporate some fun and thought-provoking puzzles in Karran-Kurral that must be solved in order to advance to certain rooms. I'm not sure what they would be just yet... and searching for ideas on the web hasn't been very helpful. A large puzzle that consists of several smaller ones in different locations would be ideal.
When the spell weavers inhabited this area, they had a huge metropolis. Then a huge explosion at the Planar Travel Installation 1800 years ago killed just about everyone and everything. But what went wrong? If the Planar Travel Installation had worked, the spell weavers could have used it to conquer Oerth and the entire universe. Their only real competition would be the illithids.
What about this: while in Karran-Kurral the PCs stumble upon some sort of space-time portal (a miniature version of the Planar Travel Installation) and accidentally (or intentionally!) use it to travel back in time and cause some horrible damage to the power core somehow. Meaning that the PCs are directly responsible for killing the spell weavers and creating the demonskar. This would create a very satisfying time paradox in which the PCs retroactively save the universe... again.
While I've got some exciting ideas, I might be going overboard making so many changes to the dungeon as presented in the hardcover. Any suggestions or input are very appreciated.
While Karran-Kurral is a rather small dungeon and only has a handful of encounters, it displays more spell weaver artifacts and is very creepy. I think this needs to be expanded upon. If the spell weavers had enough mastery of magic and technology to travel the stars and the planes, then why don't their bases look more futuristic?
This is a very interesting idea. Making the spellweavers otherworldly creatures that happened to set up a colony here (which then died out after the mishap, leaving the curse in Jzadirune) is a very cool subplot.
Fetor Abradius is possibly one of the most intelligent villains in the game. His unhealthy obsession with the Soul Pillars is driving him mad, to be sure, but he is still a difficult boss to defeat. If he has been studying this area for months, then maybe he has figured out how to operate the technology. The face of Fetor Abradius could appear on big video screens at random parts of the dungeon, taunting the adventurers or remotely setting off traps making it harder to get to him.
This would definitely increase the paranoia of the adventuring group, which is appropriate for the place.
I would like to incorporate some fun and thought-provoking puzzles in Karran-Kurral that must be solved in order to advance to certain rooms. I'm not sure what they would be just yet... and searching for ideas on the web hasn't been very helpful. A large puzzle that consists of several smaller ones in different locations would be ideal.
Whenever I think of puzzles, I think of Myst and the core elements of the puzzle. The puzzles are functional (i.e. there is a reason they are there). They are "intuitive" (i.e. once you understand the puzzle, it makes sense). There are a number of small puzzles that lead to a larger truth.
So, to throw around some ideas, you could have a puzzle for opening a spellweaver coffin (a passcode or a specific sequence of events to reverse the suspended animation). This would allow them to "capture" a living spellweaver. Along the same lines, the various cells of agony, despair and solitude could have puzzles to shut down the containers, freeing the souls of the trapped creatures. There could also be a puzzle to deal with the soul pillars (i.e. to activate a translator so that questions and answers can be understood).
while in Karran-Kurral the PCs stumble upon some sort of space-time portal (a miniature version of the Planar Travel Installation) and accidentally (or intentionally!) use it to travel back in time and cause some horrible damage to the power core somehow. Meaning that the PCs are directly responsible for killing the spell weavers and creating the demonskar. This would create a very satisfying time paradox in which the PCs retroactively save the universe... again.
I agree that this idea is exciting. There are some problems with it:
1) What if the adventuring group doesn't follow the script (i.e. fails to blow it up)?
2) How does the group return to the present time?
3) What if they choose not to return?
4) If such a device exists, and Fetor has been there so long, why hasn't he used it for his own (or the Cagewrights') purposes?
Lots of great ideas in your post. It has gotten me thinking about what the Spellweavers really are (which is great as I am about to do the Demonskar Legacy, which has some connection to the Spellweavers).
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I would just like to chime in and say that some of these ideas sound excellent and make Karran-Kurral sound very interesting. I'm not quite sure I'd make the "technology" so futuristic, just alien. I'm picturing something akin to the machines being run by magic. Instead of glowing buttons you have glowing rune keypads. Instead of screens you have items in the walls that allow Fetor to project illusionary images of himself in order to taunt the party. I'm not sure what kinds of puzzles to use, but I'm anxious to hear what other people come up with.
I think my party would be personally turned off by the idea of lasers and other 'high technology', but if that’s a fit for your party go for it. The Spellweavers are masters of magic; it comes to them as easily as swinging a sword comes to a fighter. I would expect that this would allow them to shape magic in ways that are beyond the scope of most of the other races and create technology far beyond what your PCs have seen, but careful investigation would still allow them to see that the same magic rules that govern their own magic apply to the Spellweavers' tech.
I would high suggest AGAINST using time travel. A deck of many things ruins the game less often than time travel. PCs are prone to screwing with best laid plans, and the past is pretty much the only best laid plan they can't screw up. Having any time travel is prone to cause paradoxes and/or massive railroading.
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This post has gotten me thinking quite a bit. There is a drow among my players who was released onto the surface for some long-reaching drow type plot and now I'm thinking I can tie that in nicely to the Spellweaver's futuristic technology. Perhaps some drow house has had their eye on the technology, specifically the Starry Mirror or perhaps a Spelljammer, and they needed an unknowing agent to get in and do... something. Perhaps she was released so she would go back in time and cause the explosion you mentioned.
I'm liking these ideas.
I'm also about to approach the ruins (my party enters the Cathedral of Wee Jas next session) and your idea of making it more alien is great. I was a little disappointed merely by it being cold - though I think the original authors put plenty of extras in.
I'm not a great puzzle inventor, but I wonder if there aren't any clever ideas from previous Challenge of Champions contributions to Dungeon.
A question that's bounding around in my head is how a city made for 6 armed creatures would be different. One thing that occurs to me is that doors, devices, etc. could require four to six hands to operate, demanding that PCs cooperate to make something work. Not sure how to make that fit, but there you have it.
One thing that occurs to me is that doors, devices, etc. could require four to six hands to operate, demanding that PCs cooperate to make something work.
This is an interesting puzzle. Four to six might be too much for the doors, as you have to assume that the Spellweaver would be carrying something in his other hands. How useless would our doors be if you had to put everything down to get one open every time. Let's say three (2 for handprints, 1 to activate the door). Make the door between K1 and K2 not working, so that it opens easily. The other doors in the complex are active. My guess is that some parties would assume they have to grab a spellweaver from one of the coffins to get in. In actual fact, Fetor has allowed anyone's handprints to work (he has unknowingly deactivated the magic that identified the opener of the door by handprints).
The next question is how has Fetor worked the technology. Mage Hand? A new spell that allows multiple mage hands?
Spellweaver Hands
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 2
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Duration: 1 hr/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
A set of 6 "disembodied" hands appear and can be manipulated by the caster. These hands (unlike Spectral Hand) are not part of the caster and cannot be used for spellcasting, spell touch attacks, etc. The caster must use a standard action to change what the hands are doing. They can be used to grab/grapple an opponent (grapple roll of the caster). They can pick up and manipulate objects (each hand able to carry 1/6 encumberance of the STR of the caster). They also can be used to attack a foe, using the unarmed bonus of the caster, attacking as many times as there are hands and doing 1d4 subdual damage per hit.
They have improved evasion (half damage on a failed Reflex save and no damage on a successful save), your save bonuses, and an AC of at least 22. Your Intelligence modifier applies to the hand’s AC as if it were the hand’s Dexterity modifier. The hands each have 1 hit point.
Magical rings/bracelets/bracers do not work with these hands.
Let me know what you think about the spell. Fetor should be so enthralled with the Spellweavers that he designed a spell like this, which allows him full control of their technology. The other Cagewrights think of him as weird and too involved in his work.
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These are some great ideas. One idea I'm toying with right now is having Karran-Kurral actually be a spelljammer ship. When the spellweavers arrived to the world they cannibalized their ships to make their first few facilities. When the Demonskar was created this particular became buried deep under the earth and hidden from the eyes of the world.