This is the next in my adventure path. The pcs will have two important encounters following dealing with the city of the lost colonists. I was going to have another Mayan type ancient ruined city occupied by reptilian folk, followed by an encounter with a big inland lake. After that there is an encounter with some primitive shore dwelling hunters who live in superstitious dread of a vast unnaturally made stone barrier not far away. They claim that beyond there lies a city ruled by goddesses who have extraordinary powers.
What I want ideally is to create a utopian society that is secretly a dystopia; one which will ideally seduce the pcs without seeming totally boring. I'd appreciate any help or thoughts with this one.
Nymphs.
A city ruled by nymphs, who lure men to pleasurable but wasting dooms as their slaves. Alternately, succubi/inccubi could fill the same role. The fey are used far less than fiends, which can be a point in favor of the former as it would mix things up and give some screen time to what is, in my experience, an under-used creature type. On the other hand, the setup is unique enough I think the fiends could be used without seeming cliche.
Either way, the party may come in thinking they found an awesome world of sensuality, orgies even, for the nymphs would certainly make it seem that way. It's all a show, however, in which the nymphs take their pleasure of those lured into the city, or those who wander in lost from the wilds. The will of those who linger (and who would want to leave?) is slowly drained until they become willing slaves, used and abused and slowly killed by the attrition of their labor and fact that the nymphs eventually stop caring for any given slave and just let him starve. But the slaves are so enraptured they never complain or think twice, not even once it's too late.
If the party can handle the adult themes (they could conceivably be glossed over if not), this offers some unusual roleplaying opportunities, social encounters, and eventually probably some combat once they break free of the nymphs' spell and have to fight their way out (or do some other combat-oriented task to liberate themselves and propel the plot).
I would recommend sorcerer levels for the nymphs to boost their stats up and give them a nice mix of abilities not necessarily found in the Monster Manual, and not necessarily expected. Sure, they'll have enchantment and illusions out their lovely wazoos, but who sees a lightning bolt or even a planar binding (maybe demons can play a role afterall) coming from them once the stuff hits the fan?
Thanks for the kudos. I wanted to have the BBEG confrontation be unexpected, and I was a little tired of the usual Mordor/Death Star/journey to hell. And then it occured to me that in mythology the villain is sometimes a hidden villain, using glamours or illusions to hide their wickedness. This is meant to be the city of the sorceress the pcs are seeking, the one who cursed their city.
Nymphs is an interesting idea.I like the lightning bolt notion coming from a nymph! Fae fits nicely in with the idea of a big nasty curse as well; I've noticed people rarely use them as such but isn't that a common use of fae in older stories? The idea of presenting eroticism is not too far fetched with the pc group I have; they really enjoyed that aspect of Stygia in my game and are good roleplayers, willing to play out character flaws and vulnerabilities.
As for the society itself: I want to present it as seeming wise, advanced in learning (beautiful architecture, gardens, etc) tame animals, and as a haven for women. But part of this whole thing is to provide a shadow for the party. The paladin for example (a human female) is devoted to protection of women. (bearing in mind I run a somewhat gritty mature game set in a Conan/Smith esque universe) I'm wondering how she will react to an evil but seemingly benevolent organization that has the same ideal but has cruel practices.
Don't forget to include hags, lamia, and harpies! Most have the ability to disguise themselves with magic, and the harpies' song makes it so they don't even care. Maybe throw in a gynosphinx? A coven of hags have some interesting magical abilities.
Hags, lamia and harpies...oh, my...
I really like the idea except I really also want to make my dystopian utopia as well. So here's a question--is it possible for such beings to truly believe in what they're doing?
What I'd like is for it to seem like a 'haven' for women who live there, and hell on earth for the male led tribes outside it. Would this work--the idea that people speak of horrible monsters that lurk about but 'praise the goddesses for their protection!' Now and then horrible examples are made of certain tribes. (in reality this is lamias, harpies and hags preying upon them)
Just check out the episode "No Man's Land" of Brisco County Jr. It's on Hulu, right?
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I really like the idea except I really also want to make my dystopian utopia as well. So here's a question--is it possible for such beings to truly believe in what they're doing?
The residents could be like the Maenads, pleasant, sensual, in tune with nature and growing things, but also revere a darker aspect of nature, 'red in tooth and claw,' and on nights of the full moon, they gather and make the necessary sacrifices to maintain their paradise, sacrifices of any menfolk who have stumbled into 'eden.'
They believe that the sacrifice of men (and any male children they bear) is required to maintain the incredibly fertile soil conditions and pleasant weather in their little enclave (and they may be right!). The residents don't have to be supernatural creatures either, they might have some dryads and whatnot living among them, all sisters in arms, but the bulk of the inhabitants could be humans, with a smattering of half-elves (who tend to be regarded as a noble caste, those of the 'old blood,') relying on the skills of those among them who have sorcerous or wizardly arts (or bardic skills, or whatever) to entice and attract males from the 'savages' down the river to come and 'stay for a spell.'
Of course the 'spell' ends with them strapped down to an altar in a sacred grove, screaming as their heart is cut from their chest, but ya gotta break some eggs...
For a twist, the society of women *does* have to perform these blood sacrifices, and are indeed drawing power, from a bound malefic entity of some sort, to sustain their eternal paradise. If prevented from making their sacrifices, not only do the crops begin to fail and the weather conditions grow more severe (since this paradise is in the mountains, and the soil is poor, the air thin and the climate frigid, except for their little valley, which seems to be blessed with a temperate and pleasant perpetual late spring / early summer), but the imprisoned entity begins to stir and break free, possessing natives and sending them to assassinate other prominent members of the community, so that they become less and less able to continue the rituals, and less and less able to keep the entity from breaking free, much in the style of Night on Bald Mountain...
Perhaps the entity is some volcanic force of destruction, explaining how it keeps the village warm and the soil fertile.
And, to twist the twist, perhaps the entity wasn't malevolent and destructive before it was weakened in a great battle with some force that *was* wicked (perhaps a sky entity like Pazuzu), and settled here to rest, only to be bound by an opportunistic sorceress, whose descendents still hold it chained to the earth, centuries later, maddened and driven to evil by it's long imprisonment.
Or not. In any event, letting it free could be bad. Or perhaps not, perhaps, in fine 'Prime Directive' fashion, the party will show up, throw everything out of whack, and force the city of women to adopt some of the farming and hunting techniques of the male 'savages' downriver to survive in a climate that is no longer magically temperate, forcing these 'super-advanced' people to begin to learn some 'old-fashioned' survival skills that they've never needed before...
To build on Set's idea of this malefic entity in the grove they have to placate to maintain the utopian settlement, you might consider reading one of the Fool Wolf stories that J. Gregory Keyes wrote for Dragon a few years ago. They're collected in one volume and are really worth it. I think it's in "The Opal of Nah" but I'm not completely sure. The gist of it is in the spoiler below:
I ask for directions!!!! ;)Just wanted to point out there would never be a city of lost women.
1) We will stop and ask for directions so we never stay lost.
2) If it is a city of mostly women, men would never lose it. :D
Hand over your man badge! You're on suspension!
;-)
Anyways, I like the blood as wine thing. Keep the god drunk and sleepy, because when it is NOT a morning person!
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For some reason this reminds me of the Star Trek episode Spock's Brain, where the women have access to some technology that lets them become super-intelligent for a brief time, and allows them to lord it over the men of their world.
Again 'though, the jist is that the women's paradise depends on bloody sacrifice of the more primitive tribes of men surrounding them. (And they would have gotten away with it, if not for those pesky adventurers and their damned Druid!)
I think it's in "The Opal of Nah" but I'm not completely sure. The gist of it is in the spoiler below:
** spoiler omitted **
tangent spoilered
Huh, I had this image in a dream once, after listening to some annoying song that had a line 'angels in the architecture,' of skyscrapers that were half built, complete at the bottom, skeletal frameworks at the top, and imprisoned inside of them were ivory-skinned angels, frozen in positions of defeat. On the street a bunch of normal people were walking to and fro, utterly oblivious, except for one small child who was pointing upwards, his mother apparently unable to see what he was pointing at and dragging him along.
Sort of a 'secular society built on the bones of faith' or something. I dunno. The eternal mystery that is my brain.
Just wanted to point out there would never be a city of lost women.
1) We will stop and ask for directions so we never stay lost.
2) If it is a city of mostly women, men would never lose it. :D
Amen to those!
Of course it COULD be that the city isn't really "lost" (nor are the women in it "lost"). Perhaps they all just ran away to be free of silly idiocy of the male-dominated society?
Just wanted to point out there would never be a city of lost women.
1) We will stop and ask for directions so we never stay lost.
2) If it is a city of mostly women, men would never lose it. :D
Amen to those!
Of course it COULD be that the city isn't really "lost" (nor are the women in it "lost"). Perhaps they all just ran away to be free of silly idiocy of the male-dominated society?
It's not a lost city, it's a shopping mall!
Actually it's a take on a Robert E. Howard story called "Vale of Lost Women". And the women in that scenario aren't really 'lost', it's more like they're mysterious worshippers of an alien entity.
There are several themes which commonly appear when the idea of a Matriarchy arises. Some of them appear here and are worthy of exploration.
However I'd feel the nagging temptation to approach this from a slightly surreal angle.
To begin with I'd have all the women be human. But the catch is - they are all the same woman! From a distance it appears to be a functioning society replete with females undertaking various roles, but on closer inspection the appearence (although not the attire, attitude or function) of each woman is identical.
This should genuinely cause some bewilderment among the players. Of course you'd then want to have a nice mystery to explain this. The mind naturally starts fishing for certain possible answers such as: are they all the daughters of some great being?
I'd probably develop the plot something like this:
The women, all of whom have different names, seem unaware of the strangeness of their situation. If the PC's spend any amount of time with this friendly culture, they have the eerie experience of seeing exact twins of members of their own party.
The 'women' are a race of dopplegangers, detached from civilisation. They have all shaped themselves after the one previous visitor they have ever had (who, if still alive, might be prisoner or queen, or in an entirely other location for the PC's to meet another time). The introduction of new forms to imitate (the PC's) might be a saving boon for this society, or it might escalate into horror, loathing and general panic when the first few dopplegangers break from the long established norm.
Haha - this could be foreshadowed several sessions in advance by a prophecy that the heroes will shape civilisations in their own image!
Thanks for the interesting topic, I like a good imagination work-out : )
Wow...city of Dopplegangers! That's a clever and sinister creepy idea. I have to say I'm going to put this one on the backburner for a bit, there are simply (and this is rare, and I'm grateful for it) too many good ideas that have been offered to me. The doppleganger adventure is very tempting simply because the pc group will wonder what the hell is going on...and then it may be too late. They're such subtle monsters that it's brilliant.
Thanks MrFish - Glad you liked it : )
After posting my mind wandered onto some later developments. The existence of duplicates of the PC's could be used for later stories, for good or for evil. And the woman who was the original template for the doppleganger culture could be an interesting person to introduce at a later stage in the campaign (assuming she doesn't live in the City).
Those may be obvious developments, but could still be handled in an unusual way.
The woman, let's call her Ursula, must have been an adventurer of note to have discovered the City first. Perhaps she is a highly ambitious warrior (a la early, evil Xena) who has gone on to become a queen by her own hand in normal civilisation. Ursula, seeing the possibilities of these doubles, took a unit of dopplegangers away with her, who now serve several purposes. They double for her on the battlefield and sometimes in affairs of state* Sometimes they die in her stead, but soon after Ursula appears again fresh and unharmed, earning her a reputation for immortality.
If Ursula were to be a campaign villain it could be a nice conundrum, as the PC's could defeat her several times, but to no avail, as they have never yet encountered the original.
You suggested putting this theme on the back-burner for a while. If so I'd be tempted to run some adventures around the real Ursula for a while, or maybe just have rumours of an immortal queen float around a few taverns, long before the PC's find the doppleganger city. Adding further levels of mystery and potential moments of discovery.
Or better yet, let's make a sequel to LOST! :D haha
* each of these dopplegangers could be highly trained in a given field, whether combat, diplomacy or love-making, creating a sense that Ursula is good at everything.
Actually that works very well for this particular campaign villain. She's actually called "The Sorceress" and is one of the most prominent members of the evil cult that the pcs are opposed to. The region that they are in is in the grip of it. Apparently she somehow deceived or slaughtered good priests and wizards in the area, replacing local religions with her puppets. Her actual stronghold has been a mystery though. Adventurers and military units sent to search for her have all vanished. The pcs are the most powerful to have been sent as an act of desperation.
But sure, let's call her Ursula for now. (I can't help but think of the villain in "Little Mermaid" btw--I've got two kids and of course they watch things over and over again.) I like the idea you're presenting very much, of dopplegangers as servants. I was reluctant to do things like undead or aberrations but I really like the idea of dopplegangers and some real women.
What I'm thinking of at this point is more of a cloister/palace/temple than a city proper; I'm thinking that perhaps beyond the escarpment that the savages regard with superstitious dread is a land that some of the previous explorers have come to and now regard as paradise. Perhaps a few of them realize the evil they live among but are afraid to act upon it...until the pcs arrive.
So THIS is what I'm coming up with so far.
First of all, I think the rationale for having a group of unusual monsters around is that the sorceress, who is magically long lived, is simply being practical. She has recruited a group of rather self interested monsters (dopplegangers, a lamia, harpies) in order to better guard and control her situation. They are afraid of her enough that they do her bidding, and in exchange they have humans to torment/eat. However they keep this a secret from the people who live in the city and in the valley around it.
The people who are the servants of the 'goddesses' are mostly in ignorance of their evil. The valley appears to be a gentle utopia, protected by powerful magic. The sorceress herself will avoid being seen, using her dopplegangers to cover for her. When powerful adventurers arrive she tends to play for time, send for her other henchmen (the harpies and lamia) and various charmed followers. (fiendish birds and apes) The name of the game though is trickery and seduction, though if the sorceress is cornered I want her to be a nasty opponent.
