DMs Only: Floating City module brainstorming

Ancients/Crying Woods Conversations – Fall 2003

JAN Jan's Dreaded Two Cents -

This was my take on it when I wrote the very first module (I'll call the Incas - Ancients)

A VERY long time ago - the jungle and the Ancients existed together - a symbiotic relationship - I wouldn't go as far as to suggest they were completely dependant on one another, but perhaps they enhanced one another other - living in harmony - and then - "something" happened to their relationship.

But what? No one knows.

The ancients are dead - long gone - and somehow the jungle is extremely hostile to outsiders - anyone it considers a threat. Why? No one really knows. Was the jungle always sentient, or was it developed by the ancient horticulturalists to a point where it became 'aware'?

I attempted to make the following observations in the module -

The ancients had a VERY good knowledge of the forest, and could manipulate it extremely well. Forget druids and rangers - this was something else. They could make trees grow the way they wanted them - perfectly symetrical if they so chose. I described a 'perfect' tree on a 'perfect', immaculately cut lawn, that grew around and above one of the ancient's tombs. Was this like Japanse Bonsai, where things are force grown? Or did the jungle want to do this of its own accord? We don't know.

The ancients had a different look - they were green, with skin as smooth as shiny leaves. They had extra appendages to help them move through the forest - to swing, and to climb. It begs the question - Who came first? The ancients, or the jungle?

I didn't touch on any other creatures apart from the caretaker beetle and the parrot. But both these creatures have a protective aura - they're safe from hostility, because everything's working for everything else. The jungle needs them, they need the jungle. The plants, I used as weapons - strangling, hurling projectiles, sucking blood, poison. I figured that a sentient jungle would have control over those more than anything else - they're directly part of itself. Creatures are more indirect.

I also attempted to show that it wasn't all bad either. Some of the plants (and animals) were beneficial. There was good mingled in with the bad.

So - was everyone living happily ever after, until there was a big showdown between jungle and ancient? I think thats where we were heading, but if I remember rightly, we didn't want to just spell out what happened, certainly not so soon in the jungle's discovery or development. We figured there should be a lot of whys and hows asked - that it should be a huge puzzle. I did have the characters feel some kind of hostility - very acute - coming from the jungle and directed at the ancient's burial site - a piece of the overall puzzle perhaps. We only just touched on what the ancients were capable of, too. There's a ton of stuff out there waiting to be discovered ie. developed.

We came up with a hand-held magic item, found in the hand of a dead ancient, activated by sound - we suggested that it also might be a key - to what? We don't know - yet.

I guess in player character terms - its a bit like coming across the Titanic undersea, and not knowing the history of what happened to it. Perhaps eventually some of the salvage would help piece together a story, but it would take time.

Its the same here. I tried to leave everything as wide open as I could. That way it could be developed in the future as Anthony and the DMs saw fit.

Phew, okay :) I'm not sure whether that helped or not, but if there's any doubt about who's page we should be on - Anthony's is the default.

ANTH Ok what does Jan have? I thought that the "Incas" were of a diffrent race entirely, a dead race and they live in complete harmony with the forest until the forest was tricked into thinking the "Inca" broke their accord. The "Incas" tried their best to put it right as the forest was their baby however it was to no avail the forest exterminated them, to the last. Should the forest ever be able to be comunicated with and the explination of what really happened and how mistaken the forest was might send the magical jungle insane. It has killed is parents in rage for something that they were blamed for, the "Incas" sacrificing themselfs for the life and sanity of their child.

Is this what we decided Jan am I way off? Lots of people have tracked through here and it was before we cemented anything so there may be aLOT of missunderstandings. This was before we gat as organized as we are now, Wich is in no way organized enough but it is better.

ANTH Ok this is what I remember and then the framed aspect came from something I was planning but never go to because I had to do other things....

JERRY lol....Nothing new here Mike. Usually we all remember things the same way more. :)

The incas should be a different race, somehow, I like that part. I also think we'll combine ideas again. Common knowledge will be that the incas got powerful and self destructed manipulating the forest and the forest had it's revenge.

Secret knowledge is that someone set up this and the incas were innocent as Anth stated. How's that?

MARCH 30 2010 Brainstorming and Idea Dump

AL--Well, it looks as though this module may not last much longer past the date set for the DM Switch, let alone for three months after the change-over. So, as something of a last installation, I'll go over what I have in mind for the fourth and fifth modules in this story arc.

The third (and current) module ends with a trial/hearing in which Overlord Alicia is poisoned by the Darkwood Druids in revenge against the Crimson Shields for foiling their bid to take over the Crying Woods during the Entwining. By this time, the Shields should have all of the resources of Floating City to apply toward the task of finding the Darkwood Druids, and possibly the resources of the Star Mages Guild to barter with, as well. (More on that later.)

You might look into several angles to get the Shields the location of the druids' stronghold. The elves of Elvenguard in the Crying Woods have been investigating the location of the druids since the end of module two. They may also be a source of information. I had not decided on a specific vector from which the Shields find the druids, so any would be fine.

The stronghold should be on the edge of the Crying Woods. Even though the Druids venerate the Crying Woods as a god, it is no more receptive to them than it is to any other foreign sentient. (This has always been a great sticking point for them, and it is why they hate the elves of Elvenguard, envying them their ability to live within the bounds of the Crying Woods.) So, there's the journey to the druid stronghold. There's the strategic planning. And, there's the assault.

There is, however, a twist to this. The druids have taken for their stronghold, an old ruins, overgrown from years of abandonment. Little do they know that this ruin is much much more than it seems. As the Shields battle the druids, pushing them back deeper and deeper into the ruins and then underground, the rooms begin to have less and less evidence of penetration by the jungle. The group begins to see heavy furniture, fixed works of art, and other objects that belong to the original ruins. At some point, the group should be given the hint that the lines are reminiscent of the Teucri material that they've encountered in Floating City.

While fighting through the rooms and corridors, both sides release a considerable amount of magic. The magic feeds the ruins, and the furniture all over the ruins comes to life. What was previously a battle between the druids and the Shields now becomes a three way battle. I imagine that the living furniture to be transformer like constructs of all sizes and many different types. They begin in one form and fold out, fit together to become something entirely different. Take a golem as a template and give it the qualities of any other creature in the MM. A chimera golem. An spider swarm golem. An incorporeal Shadow golem. Whatever your imagination can come up with.

All of these, should have some constructive purpose - guard, repair drone, etc. There should also be an information unit that the Shields can take with them or not as they wish. Maybe a pseudodragon golem. Lets call this a friendly unit. This will be the group's connection to the greater story. They can throw questions at this unit so that they're not completely lost by what's going on.

At some point in the running battle, the entire ruins begin to quake. The friendly unit tells the Shields to run. The city is truly waking. Chaos ensues. Whether the Shields actually run and make their way out is immaterial. The ruins are, in reality, the upper level of a long buried Flying City. The magic energy released by the battle between the Shields and the Darkwood druids has wakened the Flying City and it takes to the air once again.

The friend unit now exchanges information with the Shields and finds that they're from Floating City. It tells them that the Floating City and the Flying City were once paired, and that the Flying City will now try to re-bond with the Floating City. Unfortunately, the Flying City will not recognize the people who now live in Floating City as sanctioned residents, and, upon reaching Floating City, will, in all likelihood, begin a campaign to purge the city of every single living thing.

That's the end of Module 4. Module 5 is, of course, the story of the group working their way to a control center within Flying City to change the mind of the Flying City or effect some sort of change to halt the golem invasion before Flying City reaches Floating City.

At the end of Module 5, you'll have a quiescent, but still potentially dangerous and unexplored city in the sky. Fodder for more adventures. Fodder for adventure for other groups to get in on too.

Thoughts?

DAN K--wow and I am glad, very glad you broke this down for me. I certainly like it and can think of a plethora of pieces to branch off of and even how the Shields could 'save' the Floating City and have another module for them to more or less immediately get into.

SO i have the layout of Module 4 as hunting down the Darkwood druids. In Module 3 it is discovered to everyone's satisfaction that the Druids are responsible Crimson Shields divine the Druids are at X on the very edge of the Crying Woods. How they do that is up in the air. Star Mages Guild, the Elves of the Crying Woods and or the Resources of the Float Would that be from both factions Overlord and Sanctity? Or is Sanctity staying to the sidelines as it was an Overlord whom was poisoned. Actually that brings me to a what do you think question. Are the Shields more in line with the Overlord method or the Sanctity method of markets and control of the City or are they walking the fence

With Teleport and such i am thinking the 'journey' to be very quick and uneventful

They then plan (Insert laughter, PC's never plan really) and begin an assault on the Druid stronghold The battle has to be layered to allow the druids to fall back. Will need barricades and such that cause the Shields to essentially stop for hours possibly even a day to penetrate so the druids can set up thier second lines and all that good stuff

City rouses from slumber, defences activate things go into chaos for a bit, druids fall back Shields fall back everyone looks for a place to hold up and try and figure out what might be going on. Whatever room the Shield pick a Friendly/diplomatic unit is activated in, they chat and learn about Flying City on a very basic level and that the population of the Float are in some danger. let's face it though the Float has some pretty powerful folks and so end of world here it is not. but many innocents getting hurt or worse certainly end module 4

Module 5 the druids learn the same thing from a unit near them

Shields are in a race to the central control room against he druids and the Flying city defences are getting stronger

Central control is obtained druids are stopped and Shileds must open dialogue with Central Core The Data Analysis Driod My thinking is the Shields end up convincing 'DAD' to think some more on the cleaning operation of the Float

need to have some sort of closure, perhaps some core element in the Float needs to be activated, DAD gives them x time to prove the current population is sanctioned the Shields go and get said evidence/proof Here would be a great place to have something from a dozens modules back or so be the key to activating or finding the proof

Thoughts?

AL--This will depend on what the Shields do at the end of the current (module 3) module. At the end of this module, they get to decide which direction they wish to take, or, even, make up an idea direction for their own future, picking and choosing from the various organizations and such that are available to them. That's what needs to be accomplished in the Hearing/Trial in the last Scene of the current module.

A for the rest, that's not exactly as I'd envisioned it. But it's pretty damn closed. I had the druids being eliminated in Module 4, but keeping them around to the end sounds like a much better touch. Don't forget the rising of the Flying City at the end of Module 4. That should provide for some pretty intense spectacle: The Flying City rising up out of the ground and into the air, shaking off the detrius of the ages.

But, yeah. In essense, you've got it. And, in the end, you have this twelfth wonder of the Wold: A Flying City. Unpopulated. Largely unexplored. Still potentially dangerous. With possible direct connections to the Teucri. All set for future development.

Key now, for the short term, will be turning the Shields in a direction in which they begin to define the course of Floating City. It may be difficult to get them to accept the ability to determine the structure and policy of the city. Some are fairly lazy roleplayers. But they need, at the very least, to know that they are now in a position of power that will allow them to influence politics and policies at the highest levels within the city. Their suggestions will get things changed. I think that this will give them a true sense of being high level characters. This should also give them a more personal stake in the game.

This is a lot to accomplish in one scene, but it should be a start. From then on, this concept needs to be maintained through the reactions of NPC's and through snippets of background description.

Why don't I leave the developement of modules 4 and 5 to you guys, while I work on developing this concept of the group's status in the city in the current module?