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Post by Meph on Feb 13, 2015 0:54:30 GMT
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Post by wilmanric on Feb 13, 2015 3:03:17 GMT
Really well done!
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Post by SpielMeisterKev! on Feb 13, 2015 3:30:11 GMT
Howdy,
Say...do you hear that splashing sound?
It's the EXALT BUTTON!!!
Kev!
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sadric
Paint Manipulator
crafting not enough, not enough time. :-(
Posts: 199
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Post by sadric on Feb 13, 2015 8:28:48 GMT
About your lighting-I guess they find the ship down in the cave, so it should have some way to navigate and iluminate the area. Maybe it have a powerfull light spell or magical lantern. Of course, it should have a sort of magic map that shows the water cave and as small point the boat. It could have some areas that are marked as dangerous (cliffs, sandbanks). And maybe even the kraken is shown as little dark point. "Hey, look, this point there moves....it seems to get closer.....oh, oh, seems like it is at our position......" 5 minutes later the tentakel grab the hull. :-)
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Post by Meph on Feb 13, 2015 11:31:09 GMT
Sadric, I had two thoughts about that. First thought I had was to make it into some type of magical ship but then I would want to do it large scale and keep it for further adventures. If I did that then I thought about having that lake itself a portal to somewhere else, similar to the Ravenloft mists. The other idea was to just make it a small boat only for the purpose of getting them to a small island with some type of portal that they operate. My real goal is having my players go through some kind of portal to somewhere completely unknown as we end my DM run for a couple months. It leaves the players in total suspense and gives me freedom to come up with anything I want for when we return.
Either way I do it I plan to have the Black Dragon a re-occuring villan and the wizard who created the dungeon, and supposedly died in the process centuries ago come into play in the future.
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sadric
Paint Manipulator
crafting not enough, not enough time. :-(
Posts: 199
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Post by sadric on Feb 13, 2015 11:58:50 GMT
Oh, so you like to end with entering the portal, not with the attack of the kraken?
Maybe the kraken is the portal. You know, the action of entering the portal is when the kraken pull down the ship (and spit it out on the other portalside-6 month realtime later). Let them combat the kraken-but somehow he only grabs the ship, not the tiny humans on the ship. Let the players try to chop at the tentacles, try to defend the ship, but ultimatly the ship is drawn under the lake water......Stop yoour Gming with "....Water closes over you, the suction force of the ship's body draws you down, too. But at the moment the water closes over your heads, you feel as if you are pushed against the water, up. Light dazzles you, your smell salt, hear some gulls. The kraken was the portal.....See you in 6 month!" ;-) Only a weird idea.
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Post by halloweenville on Feb 13, 2015 12:02:43 GMT
Awesome, Looks Fantastic!
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Post by Meph on Feb 13, 2015 12:12:23 GMT
Oh, so you like to end with entering the portal, not with the attack of the kraken? Maybe the kraken is the portal. You know, the action of entering the portal is when the kraken pull down the ship (and spit it out on the other portalside-6 month realtime later). Let them combat the kraken-but somehow he only grabs the ship, not the tiny humans on the ship. Let the players try to chop at the tentacles, try to defend the ship, but ultimatly the ship is drawn under the lake water......Stop yoour Gming with "....Water closes over you, the suction force of the ship's body draws you down, too. But at the moment the water closes over your heads, you feel as if you are pushed against the water, up. Light dazzles you, your smell salt, hear some gulls. The kraken was the portal.....See you in 6 month!" ;-) Only a weird idea. That is actually kinda interesting. I am going to explore that idea. Ya know I love and hate when someone throws out and idea that makes me want to throw out my entire plans for a campaign and go in another direction =) It's a good thing though, my best stuff has always been when I changed something mid game or hours before the game. It's usually the stuff I have thought and planned for months that I end up hating in the end.
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sadric
Paint Manipulator
crafting not enough, not enough time. :-(
Posts: 199
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Post by sadric on Feb 13, 2015 16:08:59 GMT
Sorry to do this to you. ;-)
I really like pondering about such ideas on the net.
Often when I read something I have a lot of my own, weird ideas. Sometimes I think "Whow, cool idea, maybe I could sometimes use this idea, lets think about it." Since I dont play so often the last years this "scrape my RPG-Itch". :-)
I thinked that the idea of a magical ship is interesting, too. A ship that could travel trough this portals, maybe with a magcial map similiar decribed above that shows the area+ next gate. Think about vastly different settings. Say a nordic/viking setting with the gate inside a fjord, a desert oasis (the gate in the little oasis lake), your large cave lake and a venezia-like city-the gate at the channel around a large temple (unsure if it should be a normal city, or a ruin city full of undead or demons with some survivors hiding) and some others.... The connecting thing was this magical ship, and the last few hundreds year the settings have no connection, but there are legends of the powerfull lichking (or wahtever) that use the ship (and his weapons) to terrorize the settings.
Some of the settings are ruled by former henchmens of the lichking and they hope the charakters are follower/specialegents of the lichking and help them destroy opponents, or send them more troops (imagine a powerfull wraith give them a audience and ask them to hunt rebelscum-they could have a undead horde but only living beings could hope to get near the rebels). Others are ruled by former rebells that think the lichking is back-maybe the rebel desendant are weak and ask for pardon and like to receive their new overlord (or simply try to lure them in a trap). Maybe they are still ready to fight for their freedom and attack the ship. The only think I miss is the cool idea that connects the setting, the need for the characters to travel around. Maybe some henchmen steal the ship and try to search the lichking, and the characters have only some small magical dingy to follow the magical ship....
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Post by tauster on Feb 13, 2015 19:45:07 GMT
really like you guys ping-ponging ideas! If youdon't want to use your run-off-the-mill portal, here's a portal with character. A depressive one. www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=fr/pg20020828xWotC's Perilous Gateways series was one of my absolute favourites. You can fill a gamer's lifetime of campaigns with that stuff. Avernask, the Sullen Portal
After more than a century of plying his trade around the continent, the portal master encountered an intelligent magic item: a bard's harp that sang of its own accord and spoke through the music. Jhaurmael was entranced, and he traveled with the bard for many months just to be near her harp. During the entire affair, he hotly denied that he was under the effects of any charm spell.
In one adventure, the bard and her harp were teleported to another plane. Jhaurmael searched, but found no trace of the pair. He fell into a deep melancholy for several months, locked himself in his workroom, barely ate, and saw no one. Eventually, he came around, but he remained fascinated with the idea of intelligent magically enhanced creations. Replacing one perhaps unhealthy preoccupation with another, Riversedge began researching the creation of an intelligent portal.
With minor interruptions, Jhaurmael spent the next few years hammering out the details. Once he thought he knew how to start, he needed a place to build his latest masterpiece. He traveled around Faerûn searching for a location where no one would find or interrupt him. Deep into the unclaimed territory of the mountains north of Veldorn, he found a ruined temple to an unknown god. No magic radiated from the ruins, and no one seemed to have disturbed the place for decades. Jhaurmael built a permanent shelter and storage space for himself among the ruins and began.
The portal took several more years to complete. It stands on the dais at the front of the ruined temple, where there is a 15-foot square hole in the wall. The surrounding area has tiny runes and glyphs carved into it. In addition to creating a portal with intelligence, Jhaurmael wanted to make it his ultimate portal creation -- one that could take those who pass through anywhere. He has never revealed the secrets behind creating a portal with infinitely variable destinations (perhaps, as a sorcerer, he doesn't know himself). Regardless, the portal awoke. Jhaurmael named it Avernask.
Avernask was curious and lively for its first few months of existence, and Jhaurmael talked to it about all the places he had been and people he had known, especially his bard companion. He had infused it with his own sense of wonder and wanderlust, and Avernask was insatiable. The more places it knew about, the more places it could open onto and look into. Unfortunately, though Avernask could open to thousands of places on Toril, it couldn't actually go to any of them. It could only send other creatures and watch.
As the consequences of this limitation became more apparent, Avernask soon became sullen and withdrawn. It would still ferry people to places when they asked, but it took some effort. The portal wanted to be talked into teleporting people, and the only thing that would cheer it up and get it moving was a story of a faraway place -- a place it hadn't heard or seen yet. This job becomes increasingly more difficult as more people use Avernask.
The portal has become a legend among bards now. Those who can find it consider it a high challenge to their storytelling ability to get Avernask to work. The portal has heard a great many tales; it has become very difficult to tell it about a place it hasn't heard of yet. Spending so much time around tale-spinners also has given the portal a keen sense of falsehood. It usually knows when someone is inventing a story about a made-up place just to get it to perform.
Avernask has sworn never to allow Jhaurmael to pass through itself again for creating such a wretched existence for it. The elf, who had built a small home near Avernask, left in turmoil -- his greatest creation had turned against him. Jhaurmael still wanders about Faerûn and creates new portals, but he hopes one day to reconcile with his greatest creation.
Details about Avernask
As an intelligent item, Avernask has ability scores of Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 18. The portal is capable of speech, and it can speak Common, Dwarven, and Elven.
Avernask has complete control over its ability to teleport users. Its teleportation abilities are similar to the teleport spell. As a result, the portal can teleport users only to a place it is somewhat familiar with. The first time Avernask attempts to take someone to a new place, roll on the teleport familiarity table on page 264 of the Player's Handbook and treat the familiarity as "Description." Once successful, Avernask scrutinizes the new location with great interest. Treat subsequent attempts to teleport to the same location as "Studied Carefully."
It is also possible to use Avernask as a gate spell. Jhaurmael secretly knows that Avernask needs time to mature and settle before this aspect of his magic emerges. This can happen only when the portal has been "broken in" enough by teleporting people enough on the Material Plane.
Anyone who views Avernask with an analyze portal spell sees only Jhaurmael's arcane mark floating in a swirling plane of color. With Avernask's permission and a successful Scry check, characters may discern other locations through the swirl and use it to look on those destinations. Note that it is extremely difficult to scry on specific people using Avernask. The portal's abilities are location based. It could show a place that someone described to it in great detail and show that place from several different angles, but it can be used to look at people only when they cross into the portal's viewing area.
How to Incorporate Avernask, the Sullen Portal, Into Your Campaign:
The PCs can use Avernask to take them to nearly anywhere they want to go. First, they need to find it -- the portal's location is not well known. Then, they need to have been to a place it hasn't seen yet and tell an awful good story about it.
Wherever the bard and her harp are, they're trapped. The only thing that could help them get back would be an extremely powerful -- and unusually intelligent -- portal that would go looking for them. But even if some portal were to do just that, someone else would still need to go through and rescue them. Jhaurmael would be the first to go through, but Avernask has forbidden him from entering. If only someone else could be convinced to undertake a dangerous trip to foreign planes. Even if some silver-tongued diplomat could possibly convince Avernask to let Jhaurmael go through, the elf would still need back-up. No matter how powerful he might be, he's only one elf. He would pay a well-known group of powerful adventurers well for their assistance in the quest.
Avernask, the Sullen Portal
After more than a century of plying his trade around the continent, the portal master encountered an intelligent magic item: a bard's harp that sang of its own accord and spoke through the music. Jhaurmael was entranced, and he traveled with the bard for many months just to be near her harp. During the entire affair, he hotly denied that he was under the effects of any charm spell.
In one adventure, the bard and her harp were teleported to another plane. Jhaurmael searched, but found no trace of the pair. He fell into a deep melancholy for several months, locked himself in his workroom, barely ate, and saw no one. Eventually, he came around, but he remained fascinated with the idea of intelligent magically enhanced creations. Replacing one perhaps unhealthy preoccupation with another, Riversedge began researching the creation of an intelligent portal.
With minor interruptions, Jhaurmael spent the next few years hammering out the details. Once he thought he knew how to start, he needed a place to build his latest masterpiece. He traveled around Faerûn searching for a location where no one would find or interrupt him. Deep into the unclaimed territory of the mountains north of Veldorn, he found a ruined temple to an unknown god. No magic radiated from the ruins, and no one seemed to have disturbed the place for decades. Jhaurmael built a permanent shelter and storage space for himself among the ruins and began.
The portal took several more years to complete. It stands on the dais at the front of the ruined temple, where there is a 15-foot square hole in the wall. The surrounding area has tiny runes and glyphs carved into it. In addition to creating a portal with intelligence, Jhaurmael wanted to make it his ultimate portal creation -- one that could take those who pass through anywhere. He has never revealed the secrets behind creating a portal with infinitely variable destinations (perhaps, as a sorcerer, he doesn't know himself). Regardless, the portal awoke. Jhaurmael named it Avernask.
Avernask was curious and lively for its first few months of existence, and Jhaurmael talked to it about all the places he had been and people he had known, especially his bard companion. He had infused it with his own sense of wonder and wanderlust, and Avernask was insatiable. The more places it knew about, the more places it could open onto and look into. Unfortunately, though Avernask could open to thousands of places on Toril, it couldn't actually go to any of them. It could only send other creatures and watch.
As the consequences of this limitation became more apparent, Avernask soon became sullen and withdrawn. It would still ferry people to places when they asked, but it took some effort. The portal wanted to be talked into teleporting people, and the only thing that would cheer it up and get it moving was a story of a faraway place -- a place it hadn't heard or seen yet. This job becomes increasingly more difficult as more people use Avernask.
The portal has become a legend among bards now. Those who can find it consider it a high challenge to their storytelling ability to get Avernask to work. The portal has heard a great many tales; it has become very difficult to tell it about a place it hasn't heard of yet. Spending so much time around tale-spinners also has given the portal a keen sense of falsehood. It usually knows when someone is inventing a story about a made-up place just to get it to perform.
Avernask has sworn never to allow Jhaurmael to pass through itself again for creating such a wretched existence for it. The elf, who had built a small home near Avernask, left in turmoil -- his greatest creation had turned against him. Jhaurmael still wanders about Faerûn and creates new portals, but he hopes one day to reconcile with his greatest creation.
Details about Avernask
As an intelligent item, Avernask has ability scores of Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 18. The portal is capable of speech, and it can speak Common, Dwarven, and Elven.
Avernask has complete control over its ability to teleport users. Its teleportation abilities are similar to the teleport spell. As a result, the portal can teleport users only to a place it is somewhat familiar with. The first time Avernask attempts to take someone to a new place, roll on the teleport familiarity table on page 264 of the Player's Handbook and treat the familiarity as "Description." Once successful, Avernask scrutinizes the new location with great interest. Treat subsequent attempts to teleport to the same location as "Studied Carefully."
It is also possible to use Avernask as a gate spell. Jhaurmael secretly knows that Avernask needs time to mature and settle before this aspect of his magic emerges. This can happen only when the portal has been "broken in" enough by teleporting people enough on the Material Plane.
Anyone who views Avernask with an analyze portal spell sees only Jhaurmael's arcane mark floating in a swirling plane of color. With Avernask's permission and a successful Scry check, characters may discern other locations through the swirl and use it to look on those destinations. Note that it is extremely difficult to scry on specific people using Avernask. The portal's abilities are location based. It could show a place that someone described to it in great detail and show that place from several different angles, but it can be used to look at people only when they cross into the portal's viewing area.
How to Incorporate Avernask, the Sullen Portal, Into Your Campaign:
The PCs can use Avernask to take them to nearly anywhere they want to go. First, they need to find it -- the portal's location is not well known. Then, they need to have been to a place it hasn't seen yet and tell an awful good story about it.
Wherever the bard and her harp are, they're trapped. The only thing that could help them get back would be an extremely powerful -- and unusually intelligent -- portal that would go looking for them. But even if some portal were to do just that, someone else would still need to go through and rescue them. Jhaurmael would be the first to go through, but Avernask has forbidden him from entering. If only someone else could be convinced to undertake a dangerous trip to foreign planes. Even if some silver-tongued diplomat could possibly convince Avernask to let Jhaurmael go through, the elf would still need back-up. No matter how powerful he might be, he's only one elf. He would pay a well-known group of powerful adventurers well for their assistance in the quest.
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Post by DnDPaladin on Feb 13, 2015 20:58:37 GMT
my god are those tentacles really really long ! have you seen the distance they actually go to circle the ship. thats some monster for sure. really like what you did there.
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Post by Meph on Feb 13, 2015 21:32:37 GMT
I love ping ponging ideas around. Most of the D&D forums I am part of are pretty dead. Dragonsfoot is going strong but some people can be weird there. The two 2nd edition AD&D forums i'm on are essentially dead. I don't really care for anything past 2nd edition much so I am pretty out of place on ENWorld. I love how active the forums are here so I know if I throw something out there it will get response. The best part about here is that any idea we toss around I can put it to visual pretty quickly and get some feedback on it.
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