I am currently GMing a group in a custom setting. It is based on the four elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) and of course there is a temple for each element.
I bet you all know many films where the heroes conquer a trap filled dungeon just so that the bad guys can hold them at gun point as soon as they aquire the prize?
Well I want it to be the other way around. Bad guys go through dungeon and the good guys grab it from them after they conquered all the traps. But this of course has a disadvantage: The hero's have nothing to do in the temple! And for that to change I need some ideas.
Here are some possible ways I thought this might work:
-) Heroes capture the mooks in front of the temple, take the prize and then have return it into the dungeon (that still has enough leftover traps to be challenging).
Problem: What if they wanna keep the prize?
-) They run into the temple to catch the bad guys just before they get the prize. But then I can't make any riddle doors or anything as everything would be open.
-) They catch the bad guys just after they took the prize which activated all the traps and now they must get out.
My problem basically is: The temple should be a challenge in itself, but how do I make that believeable, when a dozen mooks just ran through it clearing the way?
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Multiple entries, multiple paths. Bad guys enter through North Door. PCs enter through South Door. Race is on PCs get to the McGuffin room just as the bad guys claim the prize causing the temple to begin collapsing. Cue dramatic fight with random falling debris and pyroclastic jets followed by mad dash for the exit (cue chase cards).
I like that idea. :3
So simple yet so good. Why haven't I thought of that?
Thank you ^^
A great source for dungeon ideas is, as always, Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Fire Temple and Dodongo Cavern are what you're looking for. That being said, here's some other ideas:
-A thin hallway with timed fire jets, moving tiles, hot coals, etc. As they move from safe square to safe square with Acrobatics and Escape Artist checks, give them some imps or a quasit to fight.
-A wooden room that burns around them, then rebuilds itself from the ashes.
-A room at the bottom of the temple that is deathly cold. All the heat is sucked out by the fires above and it will be a curveball for the PCs to deal with.
-Ifrit rogues hiding in a burning room, using the flames for concealment.
-A poison trap the makes the victim weak against fire damage (taking double damage).
-Floor of hot coals that must be traversed.
-Hot stone wall that must be climbed.
-Swinging platforms over lava/fire pit.
-Totem platforms that must be raised or lowered to get to the second floor. They respond to fire used at the base, but only have room for one person at a time on them. PC's have to figure out how to get everyone up the platforms by firing up the totems, but they need a source of fire down below to do it.
I am assuming that the good guys are the PCs and the bad guys are the antagonists. Maybe the bad guys got a one-shot teleport into the center of the dungeon, which they use just as the party arrives to catch them. Poof! they're gone, (with the obligatory long-winded 'Now we will conquer all' speech so the party knows they have to go into the dungeon), and the party has to catch them as the bad guys are trying to fight their way out of the place. And as to making sure the party can't use the whatsit, make it usable only by evil, or gain bucketloads of negative levels (assuming you don't have any evil-aligned PCs).
Thanks for all the ideas. My main problem was already adressed so everything else is a bonus ^^.
@Ctuchik
Seeing as the party has just reached level 3 and still has hardly any magical items so far I'd say even normal Kobolds are dangerous enough ;3
Also we want to refrain from using dragons in this setting.
Some background on the setting:
A very spiritual world similar to what you saw in Avatar (not the 3D movie, but the animated TV series). There's even some NPC benders (there is a homebrew system in the OOTS forums for bender abilities).
The whole story line revolves around the 4 elements.
There is one race for each element. Each guards a magical artifact tied to one element. And there is also one magical beast for each element (They are not supposed to be fought though. They count more as an "environment" and fluff)
Earth Race: "Turtles"
Fire Race: Catfolk
Water Race: Merfolk
Air Race: Harpies
So the fire temple belongs to the catfolk.
Playstyle:
2 GMs that have agreed on a basic story, but each does his own storyline. We switch places every few levels/adventures. In the end we hope to unify both GMs storylines into one great showdown.
Although highly mystical and magical, magic items are not abundant.
The bad guys don't need to live through the experience. Well, the leader does, but that's it.
"You two, walk down that hallway"
*pit opens* Aaaaahhhhh
"Next two, bring up the ladder, we'll bridge the pit with that..."