|
Thanks to a thread a ways back about Galt, I have decided to make a first level adventure in a very dark, scary asylum. I'll have the players make their level one characters, and throughout the course of the adventure, they'll discover their past via memory checks (int+wiz mods). Each time they make their check, they gain a level, and at the end (when they really need the rest of their levels) they'll stumble upon the whole conspiracy as to why they are there (to pull a political prisoner out of the asylum). They lost their memories because of the shock therapy and the brutality of the asylum (they charge money for peasants to poke at them with sticks to make them angry). Reading up on the asylums back then made me think of how cruel they really were (read: ice picks to the brain are supposed to help "defiant youths" become more civil). The imagery alone will make their stay during the time that they are level 1 (which will be the majority of the time) to give the feeling of powerlessness, which is the worst thing a level 1 can feel. The last part will be payback time against the tyrannical nurse and the orderlies. This will start them at the level I want them for their next adventure (around sixth level) in galt. And then, to top it all off, as they escape the burning asylum, they turn around, and its not there. It's just a ruin. And I'll offer no explanation as to how this came about or why the political prisoner was there.
Just want to know what you guys think.
Thanks to a thread a ways back about Galt, I have decided to make a first level adventure in a very dark, scary asylum. I'll have the players make their level one characters, and throughout the course of the adventure, they'll discover their past via memory checks (int+wiz mods). Each time they make their check, they gain a level, and at the end (when they really need the rest of their levels) they'll stumble upon the whole conspiracy as to why they are there (to pull a political prisoner out of the asylum). They lost their memories because of the shock therapy and the brutality of the asylum (they charge money for peasants to poke at them with sticks to make them angry). Reading up on the asylums back then made me think of how cruel they really were (read: ice picks to the brain are supposed to help "defiant youths" become more civil). The imagery alone will make their stay during the time that they are level 1 (which will be the majority of the time) to give the feeling of powerlessness, which is the worst thing a level 1 can feel. The last part will be payback time against the tyrannical nurse and the orderlies. This will start them at the level I want them for their next adventure (around sixth level) in galt. And then, to top it all off, as they escape the burning asylum, they turn around, and its not there. It's just a ruin. And I'll offer no explanation as to how this came about or why the political prisoner was there.
Just want to know what you guys think.
::shivers:: That is just plain awesome goodness :) Your players are going to hate you! Bravo sir!
|
|
Thanks! But, you know...infinite monkeys...in my head...for an infinite amount of time...
I still have to pin down the memory checks. I think I'll use a format similiar to haunts for the flashbacks. It'll take a long time to make it, but hey, I have ten months left in iraq, I should have plenty of time to think, especially since things are cooling down over here.
The only problem I can see is the multiple level advancements. Any ideas on how to counter that, or am I just going to have to suffer the delays it will take for my players to level their characters?
The only problem I can see is the multiple level advancements. Any ideas on how to counter that, or am I just going to have to suffer the delays it will take for my players to level their characters?
Why not have your players make 6th level characters and then just start them with 5 Negative Levels that can only be overcome with the memory checks? The negative levels represent the repressed memories of their capabilities, and as their brains heal, they overcome them?
That should solve the delays in levelling up the characters and help the players feel that their characters could be so much more...
I'm liking where this is heading:)
|
Thanks! But, you know...infinite monkeys...in my head...for an infinite amount of time...
I still have to pin down the memory checks. I think I'll use a format similiar to haunts for the flashbacks. It'll take a long time to make it, but hey, I have ten months left in iraq, I should have plenty of time to think, especially since things are cooling down over here.
The only problem I can see is the multiple level advancements. Any ideas on how to counter that, or am I just going to have to suffer the delays it will take for my players to level their characters?
better
more than checks plan when they advancecreate goals and when they complete them launch the flahsback and the recovering of level (never tell them the goals but keep them on mind)
i like the idea very much... its very Ravenloft-like :D
|
|
The idea sounds nice, but using Wis or Int checks to advance in levels seems quite unfair to me.
You risk having a party of Clerics and Wizards at level 3/4 and all other classes at level 1/2. This makes a very big difference in capabilities and it will likely needlesly frustrate several players because even though they might roleplay well and choose wise course of actions for their PCs, they do not get any reward just because they built a fighter and not a wizard or because they are unlucky with their rolls.
Why not have them go up a level all at the same time, for example through a shared dream or flashback ?
|
|
Thanks for the input! I really appreciate it. I will take your advice about the wiz+int mod thing, it would cause problems. As for the negative levels, that does make sense but how would I go about making the whole thing a surprise? I couldn't think of anything, that why I didn't do it.
I welcome anymore input, I'll probably post an update on the outline in a more standard format than my ramblings. When it is finished I'll post the whole adventure on the board (with spoilers so its not so huge!). Comments and criticisms for that would be appreciated too!
I've never created my own adventure before, but I hope I can make it happen!
|
|
Oooo, ooo, new idea!
The whole story, known only to the DM, is that the young nobleman was drawn to the Asylum so that the PCs could come and free the imprisoned souls of the "insane" patients.
All of the people in the asylum besides the PCs and the noble are dead. The noble is just a maguffin, a lure for the PCs.
In the end, the PCs battle with twisted, tormented versions of the staff, whose evil has trapped them their in their own self-made hell.
By befriending some of the inmates *ahem* I mean patients, the PCs can help get their souls free.
Best of all, the PCs will have NO CLUE what they are doing til the end.
And there's probably going to be a sequel.
That sounds great! It's a story that transcends to need to be overly particular with the rules, and a great way to get them to level 6! Which is really the sweet spot, while still starting at level 1.
Bravo!
|
|
Oooo, ooo, new idea!
The whole story, known only to the DM, is that the young nobleman was drawn to the Asylum so that the PCs could come and free the imprisoned souls of the "insane" patients.
All of the people in the asylum besides the PCs and the noble are dead. The noble is just a maguffin, a lure for the PCs.
In the end, the PCs battle with twisted, tormented versions of the staff, whose evil has trapped them their in their own self-made hell.
By befriending some of the inmates *ahem* I mean patients, the PCs can help get their souls free.
Best of all, the PCs will have NO CLUE what they are doing til the end.
And there's probably going to be a sequel.
I feel that you are beginning to overcomplicate things by trying to explain everything in a logical way. Stick to your first idea and feeling for the story.
The idea of the haunted asylum looking for redemption of its inmates is great. Let the PCs be the one and only concrete thing in the whole story. No need to explain the noble's role in a logical way if he just disappears while the PCs are looking with bewilderment at the decrepit building they just exited from ...
Since this story is basically a nightmare, feel free to leave many things as unexplained mysteries, which you will easily be able to use as story hooks later in your campaign.
For example, you can put a little girl in the asylum who does not seem to fit there, or any other element that you feel will add to the weirdness of the story. Maybe one of the inmates seems to be the father of one of the PCs, or his long-lost sister (or at least, the PC thinks that is who they are).
Or they can meet a later NPC who looks and sounds exactly like one of the orderlies but knows nothing about the PCs. Or a madman who will tell them that he remembers them from the burning asylum ...
Have fun ;-)
|
|
You know what, Black raven, you are absolutely right. I think my excitement at creating a good concept made me overthink.
I should stick with the mysterious unknown. Because it's waaay more scary. And keep the ordelies human and everyone else human. I think it's a bit scarier that way.
Thanks for keeping my mindset on what was originally intended.
Oooo, ooo, new idea!
The whole story, known only to the DM, is that the young nobleman was drawn to the Asylum so that the PCs could come and free the imprisoned souls of the "insane" patients.
All of the people in the asylum besides the PCs and the noble are dead. The noble is just a maguffin, a lure for the PCs.
In the end, the PCs battle with twisted, tormented versions of the staff, whose evil has trapped them their in their own self-made hell.
Sounds like the (very gory) remake of the classic House on Haunted Hill. Hmm, though I'd prefer the one with Vincent Price. Imagine the kinds of NPC you could make based on the Gentleman of Horror!
Good idea for a one-shot adventure.
|
|
Hmm, well I guess it could go either way. House on Haunted Hill was kind of an inspiration, but I was going for a more "Twilight Zone"-esque kind of thing.
I can see both ideas working. I guess it would depend on the kind of game you want to run. I think I'm going to go with the twilight zone horror, since it is rarely done in DND except maybe in Ravenloft.
I like the idea of psychological horror in DND. It's got to have a more profound effect on the players, since their the one's trying to make sense of everything, and keeping them off balance at every turn does that.
When I design it, I don't think I'll be going for exceptionally deadly encounters. The challenge is not for them to survive it (although, obviously, that would be a goal), I'm striving for paranoia. What parts of the asylum are real and which parts are just in their heads? And whenever they seem to find an answer to that question, I'll hit them with another curveball.
I will be studying M. Night Shamalyan films to get the ending "With a twist!" down right. Subtle clues, throughout the adventure, that wouldn't give it all away, but when the end finally hits, half of the players are going to be like "Dude, WTF?!!?" and the other half go "OHH, wow, I should have seen that coming!".
That's how I want it to go, and I'm just starting the first little part of it right now.
Thanks for the input you guys!
You mentioned a sequel.
Perhaps the justification of what happened in there could be integrated instea in a prequel, with the heroes finding out only at the very end that they were playing the past.
Just an idea.
DW
|
The only problem I can see is the multiple level advancements. Any ideas on how to counter that, or am I just going to have to suffer the delays it will take for my players to level their characters?
Why not have your players make 6th level characters and then just start them with 5 Negative Levels that can only be overcome with the memory checks? The negative levels represent the repressed memories of their capabilities, and as their brains heal, they overcome them?
That should solve the delays in levelling up the characters and help the players feel that their characters could be so much more...
HEY good idea! I like it!
You should watch 'Madhouse' the 2004 one. Not period at all but may be good for some enviroment/crazy people ideas.
|
|
I thought I might submit it, but going through the gauntlet of tests just to let my module see the light of day was my problem. I guess I didn't want to get KOd in the first round.
I tried out my adventure on my players, heres what I ended up doing:
I decided to use the "haunts" to tell the backstory, and to have the strange, mysterious goings on to be symbolic of what the PCs would see in other adventures i.e., finding a perfect rose on the floor of an empty padded room, and then watching blood begin oozing out of it.
Or having a strange metal shard that looks like a warped blade be the key to beating both the first boss and the final adventure (and since it is set in Galt, you know what the shard is a piece of).
They will probably meet some of the people in the asylum in the 'real world', caught in scenarios disturbingly like the ones they were in at the asylum.
What I'm saying is, the first adventure acts as a prophetic view to the future.
Oh, and the Man With No Eyes. My players haven't forgotten about that dude. And, the look on their faces at the end of the adventure was priceless.
This sounds interesting, I'll be sure to check it out if you post it here.