C
Notes on RPG elements
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~ The Manacles ~
A Runesword Tome
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12/7 -
The Manacles is a tome I'm
working on. So far I've got a few ideas not put on paper. At this point
the nucleus of The
Temple of Dagon, the forth part of the series, is completed.
I've started fooling around with some initial area maps, but I need
to get things organized before I start any significant work.
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Treatment/Intro: |
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I've decided, after completing the Temple of Dagon, that
the Manacles campaign is going to be split into about 5 separate
tomes. It will encompass all five of the plot points
in the Valley of Lemuria. The Valley is set on the Northwest coast
of Xal. I'm working on a write-up of Xal (see the Encyclopedia
Eternica - Politics/Xal) to get some background and setting
info.
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Source of inspiration / ruleset used: |
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Inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos of H.
P. Lovecraft at al.
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Brief story summary: |
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Off the coast of a small village lies a reef formation called The
Manacles. Legend has it that this large, claw-shaped outcrop is
the petrified remains of the ruler of Hell, frozen in place for
eternity by the gods of light as punishment for attempting to steal
the soul of a young boy. The players will be drawn into the legend
while working as guards of a Xalian imports caravan. The caravan
stops at a small village in the Valley of Lemuira and the party
is asked to escort the caravan leader to see an old aquaintance
- old man Silas, a recluse living on the edge of town. When they
arrives at Silas' cottage, they find that it has been ransacked
and old man Silas killed in a most gruesome way. The players are
asked to investigate by the caravan leader, who was one of the old
man's few friends. Their investigations take them through the ruins
of an old church used for occult worship, a hamlet infested with
a growing cult, that cult's hidden temple, and on finally to a great
temple of evil beings attempting to free an ancient evil's spawn.
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Player character(s) and their limitations: |
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This Tome will allow the player to bring up to 5 (10 levels total)
of their own characters into the adventure.
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Team members and their jobs: |
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It's just me. I would certainly love some help in the
artwork department. That's not only taking me forever, but
I have very little artistic talent so things never turn out as nice
as I'd like. Cathedral tiles anyone...?
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Estimated Completion Date: |
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Cthulhu only knows.
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Story Outline: |
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1) Death of a Wizard - The party is dawn into a murder investigation
while serving as caravan guards. He explains that, while he would
like to old recluse, Old Man Silas, located in the small village
of Loesmouth. Once there, they discover that he has been murdered
in a most grotesque way. The caravan le next day. He ehobic lot,
and the old man's reputed research into Occult dader, one of Silas'
few friends, asks the party to investigate what happened. He is
unable to do so himslef as the caravan is due at Port Cityhave an
escort for his carvan, he is close to his destination and is afraid
that the locals will not ask too many questions about his friend's
death. It seems that Xalians are a xenophey escort the caravan leader
to the home of an theealings has earned him a foul reputation in
the village.
*This is now being worked on as The Manacles, Part 1: A Box of
Hell.
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2) Seeds of Evil - Leads uncovered in Loesmouth suggest that Silas
had dealings with inhuman creatures taking shelter in the Old Stone
Church - ruins of an ancient cathedral to the North of Loesmouth
said to be haunted. The Church itself still shows evidence
of its one-time perversion by occult worshippers. The large
cemetary behind it, and the catacombs/burrows beneath, are the domain
of a band of ghouls in league with forces from Darceath Moor. It
seems these forces made some sort of deal with cultists from Darceath
Moor to murder old man Silas.
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3) Darcheath Moor - The discoveries at the Old Stone Church lead
the party to Darceath Moor, a small hamlet on the opposite coast
of the bay from Loesmouth. It seems there are whispers of an ancient
cult of devil worshippers operating within the town. It seems there
have been several mysterious disappearances lately and the townsfolk
are demanding that the mayor investigate the sewers beneath the
town. The rumors include tales of a temple to dark gods hidden beneath
the town and people assume this is the source of the dissappearances.
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4) The strange cliff-side carvings - Carvings near an inaccessible
section of the beach are the entrance to the underground Temple
of Dagon. The entrance most easily accessible by the party is
via the sewers under Darceath Moor. These sewers are rumored throughout
the region to have been built upon the ruins of an old heathen(?)
temple. Those brave enough to have entered there tell of giant
rats and the usual foulness you'd expect in sewers, but nothing
out of the ordinary. Entering the sewers, the party first
the living dead remenants of a group that once, long ago, destroyed
a cult who had operated a temple to their dark gods beneath the
sewers themselves. Venturing further, the party discovers the ruins
of this temple, which leads them to an actively occupied temple
hidden beneath that. Once inside the Temple of Dagon, it's exits
are sealed and unimaginable monstrosities are suddenly loosed upon
the cultists. The party is forced to venture further into the bowels
of the cliff-side caverns only to discover that the cultists were
in fact the dupes of an inhuman breed of aquatic creatures. These
creatures, the Deep Ones* , used
the cult leader to construct an object they needed in order to free
their god from it's eternal, deathless slumber. This Dark God is
entombed in the Manacles.
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5) The Manacles - The formation is the tomb of one of the greater
minions of Cthulhu*. At this
point I'm thinking of modeling this portion after the classic AD&D
adventure The Temple of Elemental Evil, modified to use four Mythos-related
groups instead of elemental worshipers.
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Ambience/Attitude/Overall Style: |
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Keeping the Mythos and Gothic Horror overtones to this tome will
be difficult with the heroic adventure setting of Runesword. In
a setting more fully developed for Mythos gaming (Runesword by Gaslight?)
a more strictly Lovecraftian tone could run through. As it is, though,
expect dark gothic environments and many "hellspawn" enemies and
spells.
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Setting, including time scale: |
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Set in the current age of Eternia, somewhere along a little traveled
coastline of the land.
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Game creation timeline, including development
milestones: |
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-
tileset and map creation
creature image selection and editing.
creature, item, and spell generation
build maps, encounters
further plot developmnent and ties between modules
NPCs and monsters
-
chapter by chapter development
a. the town of Loesmouth
b. the Olde Stone Church
c. Darcheath Moor
d. Temple of Dagon
e. The Manacles
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Major NPC antagonists: |
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1) Old Man Silas
2) Ghoul lord of the Olde Church cemetary
3) Human high priest of Dagon
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Minor NPCs - supporting protagonists: |
Areas for play (as many as is applicable): |
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Name: trade route
Story relationship:
Setting:
Interaction with PCs (puzzles, NPCs, etc.):
Goal of area: This map contains a branch of the Skytos Guild.
This adds to the area being along a major trade route and gives
the characters a chance for skill development and merchant access.
There's also an old hermit who can offer information and FK spells.
-Need to customize the Guild hall. Change names and dialogs. (There's
a good component trigger for racial reaction to be cannibalized
here.)
--------------------------
Name: path down into the valley
Story relationship:
Setting:
Interaction with PCs (puzzles, NPCs, etc.):
Goal of area: Watch the terrain become more bleak. Character
comments.
--------------------------
Name: Loesmouth and surrounding area
Story relationship:
Setting:
Interaction with PCs (puzzles, NPCs, etc.):
Goal of area: Village has main drag with businesses, farms
on the inland side, docks on the shore. Businesses: general store,
blacksmith (small inventory, items made to order given some time),
seed and feed store (has a few herbal items), tavern and inn (combined
due to infrequent visitors). Mayor's house.
--------------------------
Name: path to the Church
Story relationship:
Setting:
Interaction with PCs (puzzles, NPCs, etc.):
Goal of area: wandering monsters, increasingly bleak scenery
--------------------------
Name: The Old Stone Church
Story relationship:
Setting: Ruins of an old church and the abandoned necropolis
behind it. Sevearal centuries ago this was a flurishing Temple to
a now forgotten harvest god. About 100 years ago it was taken over
by a cult worshipping Yog-Sothoth, a fertility god/goddess often
connected to the most vile depredations and debauchery. It seems
the worship spread through the congregation and eventually they
murdered the Temple's priests in a legendarily guesom fashion. After
many years of mysterious dissappearances and going-on in the area,
the local population rose up and destroyed the temple, scattering
its adherants. The temple of sealed and it and the graveyard associated
with it have been avoided ever since.
Interaction with PCs (puzzles, NPCs, etc.):
Goal of area: Present the area around the church, necropolis
to the rear, ruins of church itself, ghoul catacombs. The players
learn about an acient cult in the area and find the ghoul tribe
living under the necropolis. They learn that Silas was murdered
by the ghouls at the behest of members of a secret group of citizens
within Darceath Moor.
--------------------------
Name: the road to Darceath Moor
Story relationship:
Setting: Coastal area between the Old Stone Church and Darceath
Moor.
Interaction with PCs (puzzles, NPCs, etc.): An old
hermit can be found in a hidden cave. This hermit has several occult
books along with several rumors of the cult's existance in Darceath
Moor.
--------------------------
Name: Darcheath Moor and surrounding area
Story relationship:
Setting: The beach entrance to the Temple is mentioned above.
It should be here. Prior to entering the Temple, its beach entrance
should be blocked.
Interaction with PCs (puzzles, NPCs, etc.): Mayor
- prior to entering the Temple the mayor talks about the disappearances
and local unrest. After the Temple, the party confronts mayor, the
mayor reveals cult's plot and town's breeding with Deep Ones. Town
idiot - Before the Temple, he is seen as lunatic telling wild stories
of amphibious humanoid monstrosities. After Temple he will take
party to a boat and over to the Manicles.
Goal of area: Tell party legends of old cult (operated in
Old Stone church and moved into sewers after they were found out)
and the Manicles.
--------------------------
Name: The Temple of Dagon
Story relationship:
Setting: Underground temple that riddles the hillside
beneath Darceath Moor and has an exit on the cliffs by the ocean...
Carvings near an inaccessible section of the beach are the entrance
to the underground Temple of Dagon. The main entrance would be via
the sewers under Loesmouth, a deslate and shunned village to the
North of Darceath Moor. These sewers are rumored throughout the
region to have been built upon the ruins of an old heathen(?) temple.
Those brave enough to have entered there tell of giant rats and
the usual foulness you'd expect in sewers, but nothing out of the
ordinary. The beach entrance to the Temple is mentioned above
-should it exist on a map, this map or no map?
Interaction with PCs (puzzles, NPCs, etc.): Old Man
Silas and his brother, Enoch
Goal of area: The goal here is to present the
party with the target of their search for the source of the evil
activities on the rise in the area. Also, as they delve deeper
into the Temple complex and discover the connections with the Deep
Ones they are drawn into a deeper evil whose plot lines point to
the next "area" - the Manacles themselves.
--------------------------
Name: The Manacles
Story relationship:
Setting:
Interaction with PCs (puzzles, NPCs, etc.):
Goal of area: Will need a multi-level dungeon ending with
a great cavern sealed with Star Stones.
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NPCs & Monsters: |
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Friendly: Not too many. A few locals in Darceath
Moor
Neutral: Most of the locals of Darceath Moor and some in Loesmouth.
Enemy: giant rats, ghouls, most of the people in Loesmouth
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Unique Items & Relationship to story
(if any): |
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Star Stone of Mnar (aka Star Stone) - protection against Mythos
creatures.
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Forbbiden Knowledge Spell skill - Characters find books of occult
knowledge that, while offering spell powers, drive the user mad
over time. The Deep Ones are feeding Enoch these books in order
to get him to make an instrument with which to destroy the Star
Stones blocking thier way into the Manacles.
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runesword, rpg, role playing game,
dungeons & dragons, dungeons and dragons, fantasy, warhammer, WebRPG,
webrpg, GURP, games, science fiction, cyberpunk, convention, GM, gm,
DM, dm, D&D, AD&D, card games, BattleTech, StarWars, dragon, hobby,
hobbies, store,TSR, Hero, Palladium, CCG, FASA, White Wolf, Wizards
of the Coast, adventure, Runesword, runesowrd, rune, sword, runesword
|
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Ph'nglui
mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagn'nagl fhtagn.
Back
to Top
runesword, rpg, role playing game, dungeons
& dragons, dungeons and dragons, fantasy, warhammer, WebRPG, webrpg, GURP,
games, science fiction, cyberpunk, convention, GM, gm, DM, dm, D&D, AD&D,
card games, BattleTech, StarWars, dragon, hobby, hobbies, store,TSR, Hero,
Palladium, CCG, FASA, White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, adventure, Runesword,
runesowrd, rune, sword, runesword
|