The hardest part of taking time off for me is easily the flow of ideas. My brain doesn't stop working on my projects just because I am on a beach with a book in hand. I have to force myself to leave my laptop at home. To disconnect and let my ideas marinate.
If I don't do that, I don't enjoy myself. It also has the added benefit of creating the right set of conditions for some manic creative behavior on my part when I get back. This time that behavior led to me cranking out the Grand Dais section of the next issue of Yggdrasil MGZ.
In case you missed it, the first three issues of this year's volume are centered on a trilogy of adventures for the Torchbearer RPG and the Basic/Expert era of Dungeons & Dragons. Each adventure explores different play structures and themes.
- Issue 01 - The Shifting City: Explored the structures of an urban crawl and the choices of an outsider entering a place of oppression.
- Issue 02 - The Bone Forest: Will explore the structures of a wilderness hex crawl and what constitutes a moral choice in a place of desperation.
- Issue 03 - The Citadel: Will explore the structures of a monster hunt and the ethical quandary of being in the middle of someone else's civil war.
I will talk more about what I do and don't do to explore those themes and structures in a future essay. For now, enjoy the completed first draft of the Grand Dais, the dungeon that concludes The Bone Forest!
The Grand Dais
Looming out the mists of the Yawning Lake is the Weeping God, a great statue of stone and rusted metal. Condensation collects in the eyes and runs down carved channels in its nondescript face. The cacophany of its hundredd foot drop is so loud it you can barely hear the scrapping of the ferry as it hits the shore.
Sheer cliffs rise up from the small beach on either side, funneling your vision into a gloomy canyon that winds towards the metalic base. Faint graffiti can be seen on the stone, worn down to blurry declarations by water, salt, and time. It is as if the God’s will was for no mortal declaration of “I am” should outlast anything of its making.
Setting Up the Grand Dais
The Grand Dais is a great mechanical contraption that rotates and moves at arbitrary intervals. As the party moves through and takes action, they will trigger a reaction from the monument. For every turn (TB) or hour (D&D) roll 1D6. On an even number, rotate the outer ring clockwise to align its inner doorway to the next outer doorway of the middle ring. On an odd number rotate the central ring clockwise to align the next doorway to the middle rings inner doorway.
Everything Is Locked
All of the doors and containers are locked within the Grand Dais requiring time to open them. A clever scholar can manipulate the locks through the consoles found somewhere in every room. Otherwise they must be circumvented. This includes the entrance, which automatically closes behind the adventurers when they first enter the Grand Dias.
Everything Is Dim
The Grand Dais is filled with alient machinery that flickers and glows with an endless array of multicolored lights. The polished smooth metal surfaces reflects the lights, creating deceptive shadows that make it difficult to identify shapes. If not using another light source to see when in the Grand Dais, all rolls suffer a -1D (TB) or -1 roll penalty (D&D).
Everything Is Loud
The machinery that makes the Grand Dais move and powers the various contraptions found within are never silent. A steady hum fills the air, occassionally punctuated by great mechanical grinding sounds and hydraulic shunks! The noise is tremendously distracting and rolls suffer a +1Ob (TB) or a -1 to Save vs Attribute (D&D) for any activity that would be impacted by the party’s ability to hear.
Encounters & Twists
When dungeoneering in the Grand Dais, the party is going to run into the unexpected. You can use this list randomly or select the encounters that appeal to you.
2D6
2. Hunter
The adventurers are being stalked by a bounty hunter, but the bounty hunter is considering all their options. Use the Bugbear stat line.
3. Congregation
Five turned members of the congregation have been looking for fresh meat. Use the Aptrgangr (TB) or Zombies with a mummy’s diseased touch (D&D).
4. Tyrant’s Guard
A group of six survivors from the recent conflict in the Grand Dais stumble into the room. Use the Tyrant’s Guards stat lines.
5. The Necrolord’s Minions
A necromancer is trying to get the Grand Dais to work again. Use a Necromancer (L1) and 4 Tomb Guardians (TB) or a Magic User (L1) and 6 Skeletons (D&D) stat lines.
6. Sentinels
A pair of Sentinels has found the party. Will they submit as is demanded of them?
7. Damaged Gear
Some useful bits of gear are ruined. Going to be hard to find replacements down here.
8. Total Darkness
You get completely turned around and end up in the last room you were at. Hope you made a map
9. Traps
The GM picks their favorite Torchbearer or Dungeons & Dragons trap. The party has just triggered it.
10. Kerchunk!
The power to the locking mechanisms in the Dias shuts down. Every door and container is unlocked. Everyone locked down is now free and hungry.
11. Explosion!
Electricity arcs from a panel on the wall starting a fire blocking your way. The party is either going to have to figure a way to put it out or find another path towards their destination.
12. The Dais Moves
Someone leaned on a switch somewhere and the whole machine has moved. Everyone must make an Ob 3 Health test (TB) or a Savings Throw vs Spell (D&D) or fall to the ground and break a piece of valuable gear. The Game Master can rotate the Grand Dais as they desire.
The Entrance
A seamless metal portal covered in necromantic reliefs blocks the entrance to the dais. Off to the right a sharp spike sits in the middle of a bowl topped pedestal. Carvings of mortals, elongated beings, and undead writhing in an orgy of violence and sex cover it. Dried blood clearly lines the inside of the bowl and along the spike.
The door can only be opened by offering up fresh blood to the bowl. Only a small amount is needed, but if the spike is used, the bowl will try to take more. Make an Ob4 Health test (TB) or a Saving Throw vs Death (D&D). If they fail, they suffer a condition (TB) or 2D6 damage (D&D) from the hungry spike.
01. Reception
The strange metalic desk in front of you softly hums a strangely familiar melody. Across from what you assume is a couch a great rectangle of wall glows as if expecting to be something else. Four figures stand dormant, but at attention.
The four figures are Sentinels that will not take action unless the party attempts to open the chest, play with the console in the desk, or try to go into the next room. They will demand “submission!” in a metallic voice.
Within the chest the adventurers will find two silver suits and helmets. They will magically adjust to fit whomever puts them on. They function like chainmail and protect the wearer from airborne toxins.
02. The Awakened
A pool of blue liquid reflects the flickering lights and sparking electricity from the strange cracked glass box in the middle of the room. Within the box, half filled with the liquid, stands a figure who suddenly notices you. They begin banging against the glass shouting inaudible words.
Within the broken hibernation cabinet is the Pilot. He was recently awoken by violence between the Tyrant’s Guards and the Necrolord’s Necromancers. He is desperate to get out and to get into the cockpit.
03. The Outer Chapel
Squares on the ceiling briefly flicker to life before going out, revealing metal benches and a raised platform. Lights flicker on beneath the benches, creating a haunting tableau as it illuminates the etchings on the wall that illustrate scenes from the apocalypse.
The room is empty and will stay empty unless the adventurers decided to investigate the platform. If they do, a dust cloud crackling with static electricity will fill the air. When it dissipates, a towering displeased figure stands before them and demands answers. It is the God’s Agent.
04. The Congregation
The outer wall of the room is lined with tall containers filled with a glowing blue liquid. Floating within the liquid are shapes that are almost human, but disturbingly wrong. You can feel their eyes on you.
The Necrolord won the fight for the Grand Dais and as such converted the congregation into Aptrgangr (TB) or Zombies with a mummy’s diseased touch (D&D). They are trapped within their conversion pods and will only exit and attack the adventurers if they tinker with the pods, tinkered with the consol in Reception, or shut down the power in the Engine Room.
05. Meeting Hall
A metal table dominates the middle of the room, six chairs on one side facing a solitary blood stained chair on the other. A ghostly figure floats above flickering lights at the center of the table, speaking in a tongue you can’t decipher. A figure is crumpled up on the floor near the far door.
The ghost is a hologram delivering a message to the pilot demanding he strike against the Necrolord. The slumped figure is a half mad dehydrated adventurer (party level plus one) who got caught up in the fighting within the Grand Dais. He is deathly afraid of the Pilot and will attack wildly any who side with him. Otherwise he knows his way around the place.
06. The Womb
The outer wall flickers with life as strange glass alcoves, not unlike fish tanks, bubble and hum. Within swim terrifying miniature versions of the not quite human things found the blue tanks. Their tiny eyes never blink and never drop their gaze from you.
The womb is guarded by a Disturbed Spirit (TB) or a Ghost (D&D) that will make it’s presence known only if the adventurers interfere with the tanks or the chests. They will leave the party alone if all they do is get fresh water from the sink next to the tanks.
If they decide to open the three connected chests, they will find treasure type H (D&D) or make two rolls on Table 4 and four rolls on Table 3 (TB).
07. Storage
Under the flickering lights in the ceiling, a maze of containers of all shapes and sizes unfolds before you. It is unclear what they contain and a feminine voice speaking a foreign tongue repeats several phrases over and over again.
The voice the party is hearing is a warning that the emergency failsafes have been triggered and must be disarmed by the Pilot. In practice, this means that all of the containers are trapped with the trap of the GM’s choice. There are fifteen containers in all broken down into these treasure types:
• Ten Containers use treasure type B (D&D) or make two rolls on Loot Table 1 (TB).
• Three Containers use treasure type C (D&D) or make two rolls on Loot Table 2 (TB).
• Two Containers use treasure type D (D&D) or make two rolls on Loot Table 3 (TB).
08. The Voice of God
Before you stands a towering metal figure flanked by metal benches, all bathed in a glaring white light. At first glance the figure appears to be a statue or a suit of armor. Then the thin black stripe that would normally be an eye slit lights up with a green light and a sibilant voice asks, “Who is this that enters my sacred space?”
That is not a statue nor a simple automaton. It is the Voice of God, the avatar of the ruler of this underground fallen empire. It is unhappy with the civil war that has broken out amongst his followers and blames the adventurers for tipping the balance of strife he has maintained for thousands of years.
The Voice is not without reason though, and is interested in negotiating a deal to restore balance, if the adventurers are willing to talk. It wants the heads of the Tyrant and the Necrolord placed at its feet in exchange for their lives.
09. Hibernation
Ten strange capsules covered in frost hum and chirp along the walls before you. Cables and wires link them to a whirring machine and cover the floors in a tangle. A separate container comes to life with a flash of light and looks about to open.
Within the separate container is a Sentinel, which will come out and attack if the adventurers openly touch the hibernation chambers or the machinery that runs it. Within the ten chambers are the long dead crew of the Grand Dais, now all Barrow Wights (TB) or Wights (D&D). They are aware that someone is out there will either wait to be released and attack or try to bargain their release.
10. The Engine Room
A massive machine of lights and sparking electicity hums and chirps at the center of the room. The sounds and flashing lights seem to be a pattern, as if it wants to communicate with you about some pressing concern.
The great engine of the Grand Dais is powered by the soul of a long forgotten immortal captured by the God’s servants in the distant past. It is desperate for release from its current predicament as the base for a monument to the architect of its inprisonment.
What release means is entirely up to the Game Master. It could be death, freedom to fly in the skys once again, or a new body. If the adventurers can find a way to communicate with it via magical or mundane means, it will gladly try to negotiate.
11. The Cockpit
In the flickering light of the room you see several figures furiously attempting... something with the strange contraption that dominates the center of the room. Their grunts and swears fill the room as they hammer at the machine. In the far corner, two large, shadowy shapes attempt to sleep with one eye fixed on the cacophany.
The Necrolord has tasked one of his trusted agents to try and get the Grand Dais up and running again. Unfortunately for them, only the Pilot knows how to do that, so they are smashing buttons and hammering away with tools instead.
The Necromancer (L3) and 4 Laborers (TB) or Magic User (L6) and 4 Dervishes (D&D) plus 2 Deadhounds will not be pleased with intruders. Even those aligned with the Necrolord aren’t supposed to be in the Grand Dais.
12. The Portal
A shimmering blue glow washes over you as you look into the room. There are no overhead lights in this room. Instead the glow emanates from the ground as two pilons against the wall seem to be powering... something. The metal walls reflect the shimmer, giving the impression of being underwater.
This entire room functions as a portal to transport people and material to the Citadel. The portal is controled by a console on the two pilons, which is trapped with the trap of the Game Master’s choice.
If the adventurers spend time disarming the trap or take some other action that requires time while within this room, an unexpected enemy teleports in to stop them. The Chancelor, looking to take advantage of the fight between the Necrolord and Tyrant has sent his pet manitcore, Bragheeh to sow chaos.
Bragheeh will not attack those who are at the Allies faction level (see last issue), but will demand their aid in destroying the Grand Dias. All other faction levels will suffer varying levels of his wrath.
Volume 2, Issue 1
A new year, so a new volume of Yggdrasil MGZ and it is huge! Sixty four pages of adventure for both the Torchbearer RPG and Basic/Expert Dungeons and Dragons!
And this issue is only the first part in a trilogy of adventures deep in the Sanctum of the Serpent Vaults, the last echo of a civilization cursed to desolation. In this issue you will get a vast adventure that includes:
• A sprawling urban crawl that shifts and changes every time you enter the city.
• The Dream Way, a dungeon that embraces the randomness of the Shifting City.
• A novel faction system that is centered on the adventurer's actions.
• A host of monsters for your party to face.
• Guidelines on how to use adventures for both D&D and Torchbearer.
