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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The Well Room

My players are on a ship, headed north, but seem very interested in stopping at a mark on the map for which I have nothing prepared.  So I'm thinking I'll use stuff I've worked up partially, which means finishing up the Tumbling Dungeon.  So here is another room I just figured out.  It was like doing geometry homework, damn you OSR!!!! Haha.  If I have errors let me know*.
Here we see the room as first encountered.  Water is all in the Well.  At the bottom of the shaft there is a secret room storing alchemical powders.

Now the room has tumbled once (rotated through it's vertical axis).  Forgive me, this is very hard for me to represent graphically, but basically the water pours out filling the room with ten feet of water.
So, to lay out all the states the room will tumble through:
  1. Water in the well. When players first see it.
  2. Circular tunnel in the wall, room full of water.
  3. Circular hole in ceiling, room full of water.
  4. Circular tunnel in other wall, room full of water.
 I'm pondering putting critters in the water.

* the cylindrical tunnel actually widens from about 10' in the wall to 15' for the rest of the run in order to hold that volume of water, but I drew it simpler.  I figure if players start asking about water volume then, yes, biting critters appear.
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13 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 22, 2011 at 2:03 AM

    Regarding volume of water: Why not just make the well deeper? ;)

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  2. TelecanterMarch 22, 2011 at 2:15 AM

    I thought of that! haha, I was trying to keep this spinning thing within the constraints of the map. If I use this map: http://recedingrules.blogspot.com/2011/01/tumbling-dungeon-ii.html

    I only have about 60' to work with (including the powder room) before I'm scraping the entrance wall.

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  3. C'nor (Outermost_Toe)March 22, 2011 at 3:45 AM

    Gate spell to the elemental pane of water on one side of the door?

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  4. richardMarch 22, 2011 at 5:39 AM

    @C'nor: ouch. Raises a whole bunch of metaphysical questions - like is there any surface in the elemental plane of water, and is it located "above" or "below" the Prime Material?

    I like the mixture of water and alchemical powders. Presumably they have to figure out a way of getting them out without getting wet?

    I'd also be tempted to put a 10' coracle in there. It would just sit nicely in the mouth of the well.

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  5. AnonymousMarch 22, 2011 at 6:20 AM

    I'm pondering putting critters in the water.

    do it! you know you want to. ;)

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  6. C'nor (Outermost_Toe)March 22, 2011 at 8:58 AM

    Well, that'll freak them out.

    "Why is there a boat, in the middle of a well, in an underground complex?"

    As for the questions about the EPoW, that would be a problem, yes. I was thinking a small one so that the handle would still work, but it would be an interesting trap, and give you a reason to make that underwater dungeon you wanted to do.

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  7. AlanMarch 22, 2011 at 9:01 AM

    If the cylinder has a diameter of roughly 17', that should be good enough for government work... ;>

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  8. JimMarch 22, 2011 at 9:35 AM

    What if the cylinder wasn't uniform? What if it bulged out in the middle? That would give you more volume; they'd still be able to negotiate it when dry (maybe just a puddle in the center -- amusing if the critters are small enough...)

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  9. TelecanterMarch 22, 2011 at 8:29 PM

    Thanks for the comments. I'm not going to worry too much about the volume, I'm with Alan!

    @C'nor, actually for my Alabaster Tower I was trying to envision ways to make it more of a "location," a place players might visit again, even though it is puzzle based. So, I figured all the elemental parts are gates to those elemental planes. But this is just water. Or, maybe another liquid, I've been toying with the idea of something dark and oily.

    @richard, the coracle is a nice idea. I think what is emerging is that this whole place is a Grand Alchemist's lab, so he would need a way to access his powders across the water. Foldable coracle.

    Any critters just happened to end up here later.

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  10. richardMarch 23, 2011 at 12:55 AM

    @C'nor: Well, that'll freak them out. "Why is there a boat, in the middle of a well, in an underground complex?"

    I cannot stop sniggering at this, which would be enough to make me do it if I were the DM. Thank you.

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  11. TelecanterMarch 23, 2011 at 10:19 AM

    Okay, you two have convinced me. I was trying to leave the room as "normal" as possible so the players wouldn't expect the coming transition that will occur when the dungeon Tumbles. But that put me in the odd place of trying to make a "normal" dungeon, heh. Screw that, I'll have the coracle floating in the pool (even if it is a magical folding coracle) and try to make the default state of the whole dungeon a little weirder and more interesting too. Thanks to both of you.

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  12. C'nor (Outermost_Toe)March 23, 2011 at 10:58 AM

    You're welcome! I like the idea of a magical, folding coracle, as well. Perhaps have some sort of command word to make fold/unfold, and also turn off/on a magical buoyancy, so that you can lure enemies into it and then have it drop out from under them?

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  13. richardMarch 24, 2011 at 2:53 AM

    Coracle submersible FTW. If it's magically buoyant it can be made of rock, or clam shell or something. Stealing this.

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