So I started tossing around an idea that I may use in my approaching high level game at some point and I wanted some thoughts and suggestions. The basic idea is to have a greater demiplane filled with vast, unimaginable wealth. I'm running the sort of game where players know stupidity will lead to gruesome death, but even then would you consider something like this a bit much?
Let's say the demiplane in question belongs to Mammon; what would he do to protect a near infinite plane of money?
The obvious first start would be to make the permanent portal to the plane somewhere incredibly hard to find or incredibly well protected. Maybe both. From there I'm thinking, if I were Mammon, I'd personally have a incredibly valuable magical seal created that I would then break into three to seven separate parts and hide in places that only I could conceivably find.
But oh no, you don't just use the keys and the door opens. Instead you need them to turn the handle, but it does nothing for the intricate puzzle lock on the door; perhaps 20 cylinders that rotate like a slot machine, each with a single character from the infernal alphabet. To make it sporting there would be an incredibly cryptic clue so that you could perhaps input the correct answer, insert all the keys, and finally open the door to infinite wealth.
And then you would probe around the door and find nothing amiss. No traps. Seems legit. And then about 20 feet in you suddenly feel odd as you pass through the actual disguised demiplane portal, as in both sides of the plane it is connected to and the demiplane itself mesh seamlessly.
A portal that is one way only: In. And the demiplane itself is both dead magic and has accelerated time, fast enough to reduce a body that might otherwise serve as a warning to dust within months or perhaps weeks, leaving behind only the latest additions to Mammon's horde. The atmosphere inside the plane is perfectly suited for the protection of material wealth against the ravages of time after all.
And remember the puzzle on the door? Yeah... the riddle is meaningless and the door will open no matter the combination input. The only difference is that one combination actually makes the portal function two ways.
I'm running Slumbering Tsar and I'm thinking eventually I may have a sidequest related to finding the vault... as for actually successfully breaching it? That's another story. This will have some general ST references, so forgive me if you are unfamiliar, but the general gist is there regardless. Tsar and the Desolation are filled with incredibly dangerous magical remnants of the past, so I think I could work something like this in: A daring and ill advised Demon Lord working under Orcus but who wanted to supplant him/powerful mortals aligned with Tsar attempted the ultimate heist... and were mostly successful.
They found the keys and "stole" Mammon's treasure vault, ripped its entrance from the plane it was on and moved it to the depths somewhere beneath the Desolation and Tsar, at great and devastating magical risk, perhaps related to the Chaos Rift. As they stood at the threshold the Demon Lord slew all his accomplices; it belonged to him and him alone now. And then he entered and fell victim to his own greed. And somewhere Mammon started laughing hysterically.
It's an old idea, but not one I see played out too much. Any thoughts or ideas to expand or fine tweak something like this?
Fast time is the opposite of what you'd want. Slow time will preserve whatever the atmosphere doesn't as well as giving Mammon or his security more time to act by making the intruders spend rather more time than they expected looting.
Fast time is the opposite of what you'd want. Slow time will preserve whatever the atmosphere doesn't as well as giving Mammon or his security more time to act by making the intruders spend rather more time than they expected looting.
A very good point and one that I will have to incorporate. I was thinking fast time was the only conceivable way to hide the starved corpses of failed robbers (then again how often would that happen) leaning against the invisible barrier between worlds. It then occurred to me that at least according to Anti-Magic Field, creatures like constructs that have magic used in their creation but function on their own from then still function in that spell's area; seems good enough to me to generalize to dead magic zones.
So slow time, hidden constructs whose job it is to clean up obvious signs of the trap and/or deal with intruders who appear to have a way out. I'm thinking besides that they sit idle amidst the piles of endless treasure as it pleases Mammon for thieves to slowly starve to death and go insane.
I do like the vacuum idea and it makes sense as the flow of matter is one way into the plane, but the issue with that is the obvious nature of the danger to those in the back; I see it as anyone with enough power to breach his weaker defenses interests Mammon enough that he wants them to join his eternal monument to greed as trophies, but the first man stepping through suddenly gasping for breathe and then pounding on an invisible barrier behind him as he dies would dissuade others from walking into the trap.
Hmm... perhaps have couple hidden Symbols of Strife and Symbols of Debauchery programmed to instill excessive greed instead of lust in the material plane portion of the vault. That would help to escalate things and potentially dissuade careful prodding for death traps. I imagine they would be much to busy to pay attention to someone choking in air with insatiable desires for murder and greed getting the better of their reason. At least until they step through.
The Treasure could be it's own protector. Think a diety level version of Genius Avaricious. All the mortals who use this spell the "disappearing" coins actually join the horde in Mammon's plane to protect it and act as treasure.
The Treasure could be it's own protector. Think a diety level version of Genius Avaricious. All the mortals who use this spell the "disappearing" coins actually join the horde in Mammon's plane to protect it and act as treasure.
I love that spell so much. I wonder if it would be better to try to use the animate horde function or treat all the gold coins as a swarm. Swarm is definitely meaner. Or there could be "T-1000s" as per Terminator 2 made out of molten gold.
Really there are so many ways to make things meaner, but it seems like most PCs would be pretty screwed once they stepped foot on the plane anyway as its a one way trip with no magic out for anyone who doesn't know the 20 character password. That may prove problematic if the entire party manages to run their asses in, which knowing my party, is incredibly likely even without magic compulsions. I wonder what a good backdoor escape method there could be from the plane so I don't have to just go "and then they were never heard from again..." as the last PC crosses the threshold. Perhaps one small area not affected by the dead magic zone in a pit that's filled in and excessively over by treasure? It would be a long shot but less instant TPK.