03-14-2019, 01:34 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Seeds to Mini-Adventure: Bronze Spider
So, the suggested plot seeds for monsters are fun, but sometimes what you're looking for it's a plot seed -- it's a micro-encounter, already set up. My goal here is interesting dungeon-crawl challenges, not deep plotting. Starting with the first one: Bronze Spiders. We'll look at Dungeon Repairachnids, because the other looks too big.
Part 1: the Secret Door Either the PCs find a secret door on their own, or they spot a spider using the secret door. The secret door should be next to something requiring maintenance, such as a trap. Naturally, they should investigate. If they find a secret door without a spider, it is closed and sealed. It has a small combination lock with the numbers 5-34 on it. The correct combination is 8-13-21 (the clue here: 5-8-13-21-34 is part of the fibonacci sequence). If you want a second clue, put a Fibonacci Spiral on the door.. Alternately, treat as a Light Iron door with an Average lock. Breaking the door will be quite loud. If they find the secret door because of a spider, it will be open. If the spider is disturbed, it will attempt to retreat through the door, which will close behind it (the door is spring-loaded with a latch, so the spider just needs to hit something to cause it to close). In any case, once the adventurers get through the door, they will find a shaft. Part 2: the Shaft The door opens up into a vertical shaft. The shaft is smooth stone, with metal ridges on the surface about every foot. The ridges make it no more difficult to climb than an ordinary vertical wall (Climbing-3) but are sharp (take 1d-3 cutting to the hands or feet, whichever is less protected. Gloves with more than DR 1 give a normal gauntlets penalty). The shaft goes up 3 yards and down 10 yards. If the PCs disturbed a spider and it escaped, it will be at the top of the shaft; it will attack if someone puts their head in the shaft and looks up, or if someone starts climbing down. At the bottom of the shaft is a narrow horizontal passage; the passage is a circle with more shafts similar to the one you came down at intervals. It is entirely unlit. Every 30 degrees there is another shaft; the PCs entered at 180 degrees. At 0 degrees there is also a passage towards the center of the circle. Part 3: the Clock Room One final shaft, and then the PCs are in the clock room. This is a large circular room (5 yard radius) with a catwalk around the edge, which is where the PCs enter. At the opposite end of the room is another catwalk leading to a 2 hex radius platform in the center of the room. The floor of the room has a massive clock with three hands (hour, minute, second); the floor itself is made of gears turning at varying speed (you may walk across it safely at 1 yard per turn while Doing Nothing; attempting to run, fight, or do other distracting things requires a DX roll, failure means you fall, critical failure gets you stuck in the gears, take 1d6+2 crushing and you must roll ST-5 to free yourself). On the platform in the center of the room is a Watcher at the Edge of Time (it is in fact unconnected to the spiders and is investigating the clock for its own reasons, but it will attack intruding PCs). Breaking the clock will cause the bronze spiders to stop functioning, as will dragging them out of the dungeon; otherwise they will magically reset to full health when the clock strikes 12. |
03-14-2019, 08:36 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Central Texas, north of Austin
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Re: Seeds to Mini-Adventure: Bronze Spider
I would have to agree with your viewpoint: more rubber on the road. Good post!
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