Suggestions for an adventure I'm working on.

[PaintedDeath]

I think I've got a pretty good idea for an adventure. I'm writing it up right now, and would like to get some opinions on it please. Sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong area, but I think I've got it right.

So I'm going to be making the PCs with NPC classes, and I plan to have 2 PCs. One wants to be a wizard, so hes getting the adept, and the other a rogue, so hes just going to get the expert or warrior class.

The PCs are going to be languishing about their boring lives and how they dream of one day becoming adventurers themselves. As luck (or not) would have it, they happen to be in a tavern one day when 2 members of an adventuring party decide to split the group, and the group needs to quickly replace their ranks. They decide to take what they can get, and voila! the PCs are now adventurers! The heroes allow the PCs to purchase basic equipment with some of their gold, and detail to them their next planned adventure.

The plan is to raid the recently uncovered lair of a long dead necromancer. The ruins were only recently discovered and the party want to immediately head to head off any other groups looking to loot the den. The party sets off immediately the next morning for the lair.

During the trip, have the party run into an area inhabited by Giant Bee’s. Have the PCs at first encounter small, regular bees and have a sting or two occur, then send in a few large bees to taste. Have the Heroes easily dispatch these bees, or have the party decide to just move along and avoid the bees all together. They party needs to eventually reach the Lair within a days time.

The lair is a large dome. Originally its owner, Odwin Gloryfire was a human wizard intent on learning as many magical secrets as he could. Eventually though he became obsessed with his own mortality and decided to seek Lich-dom. It is told he died in his search for this power, but the truth is he managed it. A group of heroes long ago invaded his realm and, unable to find his Phlectory, trapped him within a magical ward, a single golden orb that rests upon a pedestal within his lair.

The door to the dome is locked and magically sealed with a Arcane Lock (DC 20 to unlock). The inside of the dome is a full on library, consisting of many magical tomes and a laboratory for conducting magical research. In the center of the Dome is a huge statue of an angel holding a torch in one hand, with its other outstretched hand pointing across the room. There is nothing of real value or interest to the party within the room, and our Heroes soon begin to grumble and moan about the waste of time this has been. Across the room where the angel is pointing however, on the wall there is an empty torch sconce. If a torch is placed within the sconce, the sconce becomes a switch that opens a secret trap door in the room, with stairs leading down into the depths of the dome.

Once below the main level, the area opens into a dungeon most vile. Many corridors run through the area, and many traps are awaiting any would be rescuers of the Lich. The party comes in from the west stairwell. Room two is a room set up with many necromantic vessals containing body parts and strange chemicals. If any of these jars are opened, a terrible smell is emitted and the party needs to make fort saves to keep from becoming sickened. Room 1 is where the Orb containing Odwin sits on a pedestal . The portal to the south is opened with a switch located in the room. If anyone disturbs the orb, the magical energies keeping Odwin imprisoned are released and Odwin materializes within the room. The door to the north Odwin will immediately seal using his magic and will seal the fates of all of the occupants of the room. Make sure everyone is inside before one of the Heroes disturbs the orb. The point of this encounter is to kill off the Heroes leaving only the PCs completely unable to deal with this situation, which they shouldn’t try to. Have the PCs operate the switch in the room, opening the portal to the south. Once inside, there is another switch that they can operate to seal the door again. They can then damage the switch, restricting the ability to reopen the door from the other side, stopping Odwin from reaching them from this area. The only way left is down.

Have the PCs secure another torch from a sconce in the area so that they have some lighting. The rest of the dungeon and basically a romp through many puzzles that they PCs will need to figure out to continue forward. Some basic ideas.

Find a hidden switch
Locate a hidden panel with a missing gear they need to replace.
Place a few objects into their proper places to open a door.
Figure out a pattern problem to open another door.
Locate a key to open a portculous.

The PCs will be very weak against any monsters they may find inside, so maybe throw just a kobold or two their way to keep them on their toes. Also have a few traps they need to traverse to safety.

The basic idea is to remove combat from most of the game, and make it more about exploring and surviving the dungeon. I plan to have Odwin, using his divination, toy with the PCs as they explore the lower levels. Eventually though, they do start to become a worry as they begin to discover and close in on the location of the Phylactery. I would like to PCs to actually end up destroying Odwin, through the Phylactery, possibly even on accident. This lets them become the heroes after all. I also intend for this to be a one shot. Short enough to be completed in an evening.

I've only begun work on it but I do have concerns that maybe there are things like how actually under powered the PCs would be using NPC classes, or anything else I may be overlooking. Any suggestions, tips or things to be wary of would be very appreciated. Thanks.

[Kobold Catgirl]

I'm just gonna name one pitfall: playing out the encounters where the Heroes repeatedly outshine the PCs.

[PaintedDeath]

Yea I've seen that as being a potential problem, but as I said I'm planning on getting rid of most of the combat. I see maybe one encounter total with the Heroes in actual combat, and its put there merely to emphasize how over-powered the Heroes are to the PCs. Most of the game where the Heroes are involved is going to be mostly Roleplay, I'm going to hide the rolls and none of it is going to be resolved using rolls. The Lich is going to utterly destroy the Heroes once he arrives, not really even going to be a combat. But other than that, I plan on the Heroes being on mostly equal grounds as the PCs, maybe even less so since they heads are going to be so big with the attitude "We are so awesome, we don't even NEED to pay attention" such as how I'm going to have them arguing about how "I KNEW coming here was a waste of time Kendra! Why did you...blah blah blah." Its going to be the PCs who notice the secret way into the dungeon. I think if I really play up how big and badass the Heroes are, its going to come as quite a shock to the PCs when they are vaporized by the Lich haha.

[Goth Guru]

This is a dungeon that's already been cleaned out. The only thing of value will be the Phylactery. You might include a zero level wand and half a potion of cure minor(heals 1D4) to confuse things.
One puzzle lock could be a scales. There are 9 brass weights, one ounce to 9. You have to put at least 5 ounces on each side and they must balance to make the scales sink down slightly opening the door.

[therealthom]

Alternatively, I had a similar idea where the PC's are hired by a higher level group of adventurers to watch their campsite and mounts while the adventurers delve into the dungeon. Unfortunately the adventurers don't come back. Hopefully the PC's decide to go rescue them.

[Vicon]

The bees -- you could make the unnatural size of the bees a necromancer's experiment. Somehow the party could determine that there are no dead bees around the hive, and that the bees are in some kind of "alive but immortal" state where they magically continue to grow and build their hive.

You could take it in another direction and make the Bees a weapon being prepared for use against the necromancer by a druid or group of druids, or magical creatures in the wood who want to destroy the corrupting influence of the necromancer before it spreads. The party's presence threatens this plan, as most of the bees (like you said many are small) and their interference threatens their ability to "Weaponize" the bees. If the players can make peace or amends for messing with the bees the druids may be able to help the party on their quest (in any way you see fit, but I have an idea below)

The hook for the wizard becoming a lich is the common and old cliche'... you can make the story more interesting if his reasons for seeking lichdom were beyond the absolute norm. Perhaps he envisioned a great disaster in the distant future and vowed he would remain undead to fight it, but lost his way... or perhaps the dome is really a stellar observatory, and he predicted a great stellar conflux (in his distant future but the present for the PCs) and it is only when he is distracted watching the phenomenon that his defenses will be down sufficiently to destroy him, or once the players defeat him he staggers crumbling into the night to get a final glimpse of the stellar conjunction, aurora, whatever. Perhaps as some kind of funky hook he's send his phylactery into space, and a magical beam that focuses his telescope allows him to appear again and again (though in weaker and weaker form) Perhaps as he monologues about how his opening the dome to let the stellar energy fall on his specially prepared chamber he will finally be invincible, but when the dome opens all the bees come in (with or without the druid who created them) to help in the battle (or at least add some confusion or drama)

I realize you may want the lich trapped because you want to justify why he hasn't caused so much trouble or broken out already... but in my above example (and you can come up with another one if you prefer) he is obsessed with a particular magical/stellar event and has chosen to sleep in undeath until it is going to occur (either it's vital to his plans of ultimate power, or maybe he just has that "night before Christmas" feeling people get when they are obsessed and just want to sleep until what they desire is finally at hand)

If you are keeping the concept pretty much intact in that the players are disempowered -- MAKE SURE THE PLAYERS KNOW THIS, AND WILL FIND THIS FUN. I figure I'd give you the benefit of the doubt, but just make sure they know the kind of story they'll be a part of.

I'd have the heroes tell them to run, or even command/push them into the room away from the lich and tell them that the only way to stop the lich is to destroy the phylactery. That way you can be sure the characters (not just the players) know what they are looking for, and that they don't try to save their companions.

Some elements I'd include:

In the dungeon under the lich encounter... have the players hear the instructions of one or two of the heroes through gratings or vents, suggesting that one or more of their allies escaped. When they follow the instructions, they learn the lich has re-animated their friends and they need to use their wits to defeat them. (Ie, They learn at some point one of the heroes has a scroll with explosive runes on it. When he comes after them, there is a room in the dungeon that casts a weak dispel magic trap on an area. If they can lure him there, the dispel magic will fail on the runes, blowing them, and him, up.

There might be another area where one of the fighter heroes will chase one of the players through an area... in the confusion, the other player has to get up to a gantry and either push a big block, or cut down a chandelier, that will kill the undead former-friend.

In one of the rooms in the dungeon (a lab or magic mill for making artifacts) is a "double wand" -- that casts enlarge at one end, and shrink on the other end. Shrinking themselves or certain enemies may enable them to get past certain monsters or traps. (Ie, they find themselves covered in dust and ash in a room full of statues. A hideous monster comes looking for them, they enlarge, and covered with rock and dust, pretend to be statues. Or perhaps they'll use this disguise to pretend to be new golems to bluff past particularly stupid minions or mindless undead.

A room or series of rooms that have door-sized/shaped depressions in them. In various areas of the dungeon they find tiny door "charms" that are shaped like the different impressions. If the players enlarge the charms they grow into full-sized doors, which if placed in the impressions, open to reveal passages beyond, instead of just a wall.

A huge hourglass trap that the players can slide around in. it spins easily when pushed from the inside or outside, but the top will open only when the sand is equal between the halves. So as they slip together or separate from top to bottom, the sand will repeatedly equalize and unbalance, allowing a wandering monster or two to enter the hourglass when the top-hatch opens... have a frenzied encounter where they have to get themselves both at one end of the hourglass with all the sand and the monster at the other end (burying it and ultimately drowning it in the sand) The trap can be escaped if the players travel to opposite ends, balance weight so the hourglass rests sideways, and they can both (carefully) crawl out of the top that is now the side.

A room with a dangerous fire elemental, that burns anything flammable in it's path. The players can find an oil lamp (picture a non-magical genie lamp) as well as some incense powder... the fire elemental will not let them pass, but LOVES burning the incense... if they make a trail of incense back to the oil lamp, he will follow it like a flame to a powder keg, crawl inside the lamp, and once stuck in there, will either slowly burn the oil while the players run past, or they can clamp down on the spout and "snuff" him... or maybe even he can get trapped in the lamp and be used by the players as an ally/tool.

Have them shrink themselves to get through a crack in the wall rather than find another way into the phylactery room. The Lich's door is literally impregnable, but they can get around it by shrinking themselves to "fine" size and sneaking through a maze that is basically the gaps and cracks in the bricks of the wall. I realize this is not how shrink/enlarge normally works, but maybe something in this room magnifies spell effects, or is meant to turn interloper's magic against them. Perhaps the wand, being the liches item, finally shows it's intelligence and decided to screw the players over by shrinking them near to nothing... but basically you could have a small leg of the adventure where they meet a super-tiny colony of miconids, who have fungal servants made of various really small creatures. Dust-mites, spores, slime droplets, a (relatively) Collossal Bug the Mycon call "Roachor"... maybe too silly? Oh well.

Defeating or befriending the myconids will lead to their shaman/center mushroom guy re-enlarging the players on the other side of the wall.

Some ideas for the phylactery and how it might be destroyed:

1) It's looks like a potion or a bottle of water and they are really really thirsty. They end up drinking the phylactery.
2) The phylactery room is so full of traps, that when the players finally creep up to it they are off balance and desperate to grab onto anything that might seem safe. They end of knocking the phylactery into the "Danger room" only to see it bounce around, set off all the traps, and be mulched in the process.
3) Have it part of the legend that the wizard lost an arm in life, or had to sacrifice it as part of the ritual of lichdom. He kept the bony arm with him in the lower tombs. There is a powerful ward on the phylactery that the players learn is "The phylactery can only be moved or damaged by my own hand" -- the lich somehow did not anticipate that the players would use his severed arm as a golf-club, putting the phylactery into the very traps meant to shred intruders... and since it IS his arm, the phylactery WILL move and be destroyed by his own hand.

Just some ideas. Let me know what you think.

[Mark Hoover]

A 1st level game idea, perfect for 0-levelers shooting for that first big score that I ran a couple campaigns ago went like this:

There's a keep on the border lands (sound familiar?) that adventurers come to often to make a name for themselves. But north of the keep, on the other side of the river, is an old abbey which is forbidden to these adventurers.

The ruined abbey instead has become a coming-of-age test for those living in the tiny settlement full time. Y'see, the abbey was an order of cloistered nuns dedicated to a goddess of magic and death (Wee Jas from 3X). At the height of their power they had many undead servants on the grounds and some of them still exist as gardeners/caretakers that only come out at night and never leave the grounds. The place is forbidden to outsiders so that the undead are allowed to continue tending to the graves, even though the abbey overlooking the necropolis is a ruin gutted by fire.

Every year the lads and lasses who fancy themselves future adventurers head out there on a certain night when certain zombie gardeners will be near a certain part of the wall. Then they test their bravery by getting as close as possible to the creature w/out getting killed (apparently anyone invading the sanctity without some kind of authority by the church is mangled to death by the unliving).

This year the PCs are part of those hopefuls and tonight's their night. Some of their friends head out ahead of them in secret to frighten them but by the time the party gets there the others are gone. Signs of a struggle and a completely obvious trail leads up the hill, toward the forbidden abbey.

Here the party encounters some scooby-doo like tricks and traps, plus some very real kobolds. It turns out that the draconic menace has infested the ruins and is secretly tunneling into the crypts below.

After the PCs save their friends and find a little bit of treasure on the kobolds they have a choice; outfit themselves as heroes and head back to Ravensbane Abbey for further adventure or fess up to the church.

Here's the kicker; either way they head back to the abbey. If they spill it to the Jassidan they go in with a priestess who shows them a secret way but then gets taken out in act two, or if they go by themselves I go easy on them.

When I used this I had them do the "save the friends" thing and immediately level to 1st level PC classes, but I guess you could go in any direction with the development. I also kept the plotline going with their friends. There were four kids they saved; one became diseased and died tragically after causing an epidemic in town that the PCs had to gather ingredients for (stolen from Hollows Last Hope). Another saw too much and became a nihilist, eventually starting an evil cult in the town. A third had his own epiphany and quit his apprenticeship with the local blacksmith to become a priest of the local sun god (Pelor). He then became an adept and a crafter the party was able to utilize for the first couple levels. Finally there was the 4th who became OBSESSED with the ruin iteself; turns out he'd been contacted by a nun looking for flesh to rebuild herself and he gathered a bunch of ritual stuff, went to her, and gave himself to her so that she could ascend as the Ghoul Queen. He disappeared for a while, only to return as a sentient ghoul sent to the town to spread "the word" and therefore turn everyone into his mistresses progeny.

The evil death cult and ghoul thing turned out to be redundant and I think the party lost interest after the cult, but if I did it all over again I think I'd cut out the nihilists and just have the 3 friends.