Dungeon Fantasy + Land of the Lost
 

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for combining Dungeon Fantasy and Land of the Lost into one world. In the world I am creating there is an underworld that is similar to the dinosaur ages. It has some sort of photon-emitting fungus or mineral on the ceiling of a gigantic cavern complex. This creates enough light for the jungles to grow and the dinosaurs to live. The trouble I am having is how to keep the dinsaurs safe from magical monsters like dragons and other fantasy horrors. I am thinking that there could some strange mana level that is not conducive to magical creatures. I would imagine the unseelie races (goblinkin, trolls, ogres etc. ) would fear the dinosaur realm. There will be some dinosaurmen like the sleestak but they will be more like the dienychus instead. They will be degenerate or at least have lost their once amazing powers and are now trying to reclaim the secrets of their ancestors (like the altrusians but very evil instead). There will be pylons for teleportation areas, special guardian statures to keep powerful magical creatures away and all sorts of crystal technology. Does anyone have any ideas as to how to combine these two genres so that they don't get too mashed up and lose the coolness of each? Thanks.

Re: Dungeon Fantasy + Land of the Lost
 

Maybe a pocket dimension like the ones in Castle Greyhawk (where you could to to Wonderland, etc.)? If your adventurers are ever in the wilderness you can get them there with the same sort of trick used by the TV series. Or you can do the hidden valley/hidden island thingie...don't forget the Nazi sub! Make it a shiftrealm...appears in the fog off the coast every autumn or something.

If the "interface" between the worlds is too easily traversed there will be lots of interchange...keep it slightly difficult to get there and you can keep from getting your D&D chocolate in your LotL peanut butter.

Have fun. I'm wanting to do a Lands out of Time thing with my group. Gotta get that PDF and read it through.
M

Re: Dungeon Fantasy + Land of the Lost
 

Well, you have to ask yourself what you think is cool about these genres.
you have to consider what the genre elements you want to preserve, FR or Land of the Lost (let's call that one LotL before it get too much typing time in this thread ;))

If you're looking to have DF characters replace scientists and be the adventures in the LotL, to keep the special feel of being one of the "Lost" the trick is to remove most of the usefulness of their "standard" strengths of the characters, but still allow them to survive on guts, guile and wits.

I would have your Luminous Lichen be mana dampening so that no magic will function at all. Maybe craft some exception that will allow single use type stuff with MAJOR preparation or expense.

Re: Dungeon Fantasy + Land of the Lost
 

Land of the Lost! I loooved that show when I was a kid!

The problem is that magical monsters did exist in the Land of the Lost. In the ast season, after all those eyars of hanging around, they ran into Medusa (not a medusa, but The Medusa of Greek Myth). But she stayed in her own ruins. So I can speculate that the bulk of LotL is No-Mana, with very small and tight pockets of High Mana; possibly the mana level increases underground.

The actual design of LotL actually appears to be a small "pocket universe" without physical bariers (the castaways once got on top of a mountain and looked through a telescope and saw themselves from behind). Circumstantial evidence indicates that it was once a nexus of travel for an interdimensional civilization that designed it for comfort and aesthetics. But that civilization collapsed and the place ran riot. More details here

The pre-Sleestak Aelutians appear to be from realities where dinosaurs were commonplace (the scholar Enik thought LotL was his homeworld's past until he saw the ruins of the Lost City), so the dinos could have been put there to give the place a "homey" feel or wandered in after the collapse through malfunctioning pylon-portals. Other lower-population critters (including magic critters, demihumans, and the occasional sufficiently-advanced alien) could be from worlds that were less-frequently contacted.

Re: Dungeon Fantasy + Land of the Lost
 

One other thing to remember is that, in the last episode of the original Land of the Lost, it was revealed that it was essentially a "closed" system, where beings could not leave without an equal number of similarly-sized beings entering. Marshall, Will, and Holly were able to exit by completing the paradox of their arrival, as Enik was having trouble leaving himself. By observing the time of their entry, he was able to allow them to leave the Land by bringing them into it; if that makes any sense. How this correlates with your theory that it was a nexus of interdimensional travel is uncertain.

Re: Dungeon Fantasy + Land of the Lost
 

Land of the Lost never did it for me. If I was going to go that route, i might consider a DF style world that had alien invaders using much higher tech for insidioius purposes.

GURPS Herculoids.

Re: Dungeon Fantasy + Land of the Lost
 

OK, thanks for the help so far. The LotL areas in my world will not be extradimensional, they will be part of a cave complex. I am thinking of something like a shifting mana level where there is mana but it constantly shifts. This would make it so that magical creatures like dragons, chimerae and the like would avoid those areas and leave the area filled with dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. I am thinking that before a spell is cast I will roll a d6, a 1 will be a very high mana, a 2 will be a high mana, a 3 or 4 will be normal mana, a 5 will be low mana and a 6 will be no mana. This will allow mages to cast spells most of the time but magical creatures will lose fatigue at 1/6 the rate of a no mana zone. What do you think about something like this to keep mana dependant creatures away and at the same time allow spell casting? Maybe the high tech of the altrusians interferes with the mana level in some way, who knows? If anyone has a better idea to allow spell casting but sort of keep magical creatures out then let me know, it would be useful. Thanks.

Re: Dungeon Fantasy + Land of the Lost
 

The dinosaur guys in my adventure are really nasty but they had declined due to conflicts created by demon worship and the worship of the Elder Gods. They had ruled the world for ages and enslaved all they encountered. Now they are gone but no one knows where, leaving only a few survivors who are trying to bring their fellows back or reclaim their ancient technology. They left behind caverns filled with jungles and dinosaurs and many lost cities. The unseelie faeries like the shadow elves are also interested in finding ancient technology too while there are many guardians (like shoggoths) placed by the Elder Gods to prevent mortals from aquiring the lost artifacts. So this is not really a direct port of LotL, it is only taking some things I thought were cool and combining them with regular DF.

Re: Dungeon Fantasy + Land of the Lost
 

It could work if that's the flavor you want. Myself I would find the extra roll tedious, but if you dig it, go for it! (By the way, I want to play in this game as a Mage with animal (dinosaur) control and as Luck as often as you would allow)I Like the Tech interference. Maybe it's actually old mana-tech and they recharge their batteries by drawing on local mana causing a sink. Or maybe the pylons are programmed to keep magic critters away with some sort of anti-magic defense system.

Re: Dungeon Fantasy + Land of the Lost