My Dungeon23 Plans - Excavation of the Old Fort

I'm planning to do the Dungeon23 project in 2023. If you don't know, it's an idea to design a megadungeon, one room a day for a whole year, divided up into one floor for each month. For more details, you can read Sean McCoy's post about it here. As I was thinking of what I wanted the dungeon to look like, I found these tweets by Iko of the Lost Bay.

 

I don't trust Twitter to stay up through the weekend so here's a screenshot.

 

I was inspired by this. I love a good mixing of sci-fi and fantasy, and it's been a staple of role-playing games since pretty much the beginning.

 

Lost in the Abbey - Nightwick Abbey - Session 39

Illustration by Edward Coley Burne-Jones

 Previously, in the world of Nightwick...

Session 39 - 8th of December 1391

This week's adventurers:

Sotar (Cleric 4)

Blossom (Rogue 4)

Liminal Space (Changeling 2)

Mechtild (Fighter 1)

Yevegniy the Coward (Cleric 1)

Anston (Fighter 2)

Hirelings:

Ticze (Changeling 1), Gerung (Magic-User 1), Heyno, Ditl 

Downtime in the Village

The party returns from Father Winter's tomb and rests. Verinka wakes up from his vision/dream and appears otherwise unharmed. Mayfly identifies the sword Father Winter gave us. It is named Dhinron and it is truely a mighty sword - it is sentient, offers the powers of Detect Magic, Detect Metals, See Invisible Object, and Extra Damage Enhancement. Additionally, it has a special purpose: to slay undead. This would be a truly helpful sword for surviving Nightwick Abbey. Unfortunately, it has a mind of its own (Int 12, Ego 12) and anyone wielding it would be at risk of having the sword take them over to further its own agenda. This level of power discourages any of the eligible party members from picking it up this week. Several adventurers are missing this week, but nonetheless, we decide to return to Level 3 of Nightwick to explore some more.

In Search of Father Winter - Nightwick Abbey - Session 38

Away to the Mountains by Warwick Goble

A long, long time ago, in Nightwick Abbey... 

Session 38 - 1st of December1391

This week's adventurers:

Sotar (Cleric 4)

Blossom (Rogue 3)

Mayfly (Magic-User 3)

Anston (Fighter 1)

Liminal Space (Changeling 2)

Cherwe (Cleric 3)

Mechtild (Fighter 1)

Yevegniy the Coward (Cleric 1)

Verinka (Changeling 1)

Hirelings:

Ticze (Changeling 1) + the rest of them

This week we went hex-crawling.

Oh, my friends have begun to worry

After two weeks off, we're back in the world of Nightwick! During our downtime, a group of local woodsmen approached Liminal Space and Verinka. They tell the Changelings that the time of Father Winter is coming and if he is not brought his sweet cakes and milk, the Pestilence Man will come and bring plague to the Dark Country this winter. We are to follow the river into the Fog-bound forest for two days until we reach the island in the river that holds Father Winter's Tomb and bring him the cakes and milk. In the meantime, the vicar of Nightwick is preparing for the feast day of Saint Santa Claus! The party decides to take the locals up on their request and pay a visit to Father Winter.

Pyrotechnics MVP - Nightwick Abbey - Session 37

Previously, in Nightwick Abbey...

Session 37 - 10th of November 1391

This week's adventurers:

Sotar (Cleric 4)

Blossom (Rogue 3)

Mayfly (Magic User 3)

Anston (Fighter 1)

Liminal Space (Changeling 2)

Cherwe (Cleric 3)

Mechtild (Fighter 1)

Maelwyn (Cleric 1)

Yevegniy the Coward (Cleric 1)

Hirelings:

Ticze (Changeling 1)

Downtime In the Village

We didn't meet last week, but now we're back and ready to return to level 3 of the dungeon. Mayfly spends his downtime studying the book that he previously recovered from the abbey. It's in Crowleyan, a language no one in the party speaks, but he's able to decipher the magical parts of the text enough to determine that it's discussing the cardinal directions and the breaking of seals. We suspect that this is talking about the glowing runes we've discovered previously on level 3. Sotar finishes scribing a Bless scroll and begins work on a Hold Person scroll. (The level 2 clerical spells represent a big boost in power, but Sotar's limited to 1/day. My strategy now is to make several spells to beef up our arsenal for big fights.)

World Building Through Class Constraint

I went to a small Halloween party with some friends last week - among the costumes were a monk, a witch, a vampire, and a gorilla. It got me thinking about those 4 as core classes in an RPG setting - an alternative to the classic fighter, magic-user, cleric (and rogue/thief). 

What would that class selection say from a world building perspective? There's a religious order, but they're not the armor and mace type. There's also magic, but how are witches differentiated from magic-users? Are they a women only group, in contrast to a male only monkhood? Is it magical movement based in the countryside, as opposed to a city-based magic school? Is it focused on an oral spellcasting tradition rather than spellbooks and study? Gorillas - I guess they're sentient. Do these gorillas wear armor and have their own civilization or are they unarmored, beefy brawlers, barely one step above their wild cousins? Is the setting near a tropical jungle - a gorilla's natural habitat? What role do vampires play into this group? Are they the sneaky rogue type, blending into shadows? Are they spellcaster-fighter hybrids? I like this group - it's evocative; it says something about the world when these are your only options to be an adventurer.

"Dungeon Tours Provided by Werner Herzog" - Nightwick Abbey - Session 36

Last week, the party managed to get it hands on an juicer and managed to capture a devilman in the process...

Session 36 - 27th of Shocktober 1391

This week's adventurers:

Sotar (Cleric 4)

Blossom (Rogue 3)

Mayfly (Magic User 3)

Anston (Fighter 1)

Liminal Space (Changeling 2)

Cherwe (Cleric 3)

Mechtild (Fighter 1)

Maelwyn (Cleric 1)

Verinka (Changeling 1)

Hirelings:

Ticze (Changeling 1)

Fresh Juice - Nightwick Abbey - Session 35

Session 35 - 20th of Shocktober 1391

This week's adventurers:

Sotar (Cleric 3)

Blossom (Rogue 3)

Mayfly (Magic User 3)

Anston (Fighter 1)

Liminal Space (Changeling 1)

Cherwe (Cleric 3)

Mechtild (Fighter 1)

Maelwyn (Cleric 1)

Verinka (Changeling 1)

Hirelings:

Heyno (Blossom)

Ticze (Blossom)

Benish (Liminal)

Gerung (Liminal)

Mikush (Verinka)

Elger (Mayfly)

Grolmes (Mayfly)

Gele (Sotar)

Downtime In the Village

Mechtild is fully healed with a prosthetic leg and returns to delve into Nightwick. We're also joined by the cleric Maelwyn. Mechtild spent the past weeks searching for rumors about treasure in the abbey and finds two: 1) the Sword Brothers (founders of Nightwick Abbey) once set up a chapel in the abbey containing a relic from the desert land. The relic is a shard from the god of law which was turned into a sword and 2) there is an amulet of Protection from Demons somewhere in the abbey. The party decides to journey to level 2 in search of an orange juicing machine that they think can be worth quite a bit.

It is a misty, grey day as the party sets out early for Nightwick Abbey. The fey-touched changelings in the party, Liminal Space and Verinka, look especially weird in the fog.