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Flooded Dungeon - How to do it?

Author	Comment
theBlackJaw	Images from the Wizard's site	#21	[-]
Posts: 1713 (11/16/07 14:58:47) Cryptic Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I found these images on the Wizard's website (while looking for something else) and I thought it really comes close to some of what we have been talking about. --BlackJaw "May the Orc spit in your Pie!" --BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-- GO d- s:- a- C++ UL->+ P+ L>+ E? W+++ N+ o? K? w+(-) O? M@ V? !PS PE@ Y+ PGP t-- 5-(+) X R++>+++$ tv+ b++$ DI++ D++ G e++ h+ !r y+ --END GEEK CODE BLOCK--
Benoist Poire		#22	[-]
Posts: 2150 (11/16/07 15:06:00) Cuisinartist Iron Liege Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I particularly like the first one, with the underwater city, but they are all very inspiring! Iron League - Seven Spires - Praemal Tales - Paris by Night - Requiem for Rome - Bare Thoughts Ptolus Code 0A2S-052508-061708-Y-W-33/1000-M
theBlackJaw		#23	[-]
Posts: 1714 (11/16/07 15:43:42) Cryptic Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I was actually thinking about the flooded city one making a good good boat-dungeon concept without resorting to a "mad powerful-dude builds gaint death trap water dungeon, fills it with monsters, and places treasure at the end" story. In the picture most of the city is under water with just the tallest buildings above water level, but I like the idea of the water being at about 3rd floor level leaving the ruins of the city a semi-aquatic maze. It would be a great place for some water-friendly humanoid monsters to setup shop. They could rig the city with traps and what not and it would work great, without it being too contrived. It also just has a lot of style: Imagine rowing a boat through the ruins of a large temple... through the smashed stain glass window, past the statue of the god raising his hand to the sky (which now looks like he's drowning and reaching for help), and battling a group of sahuagin from above and below. This idea does lack the "locks" and multi-level fun, for the most part. Upper levels would clearly be dry and the lower levels would clearly be underwater. Vortex traps and wash out tricks would be harder to justify or build. The rooms that seal shut and flood to the ceiling trying to drowning players would also be equally hard to justify. --BlackJaw "May the Orc spit in your Pie!" --BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-- GO d- s:- a- C++ UL->+ P+ L>+ E? W+++ N+ o? K? w+(-) O? M@ V? !PS PE@ Y+ PGP t-- 5-(+) X R++>+++$ tv+ b++$ DI++ D++ G e++ h+ !r y+ --END GEEK CODE BLOCK--
durendal		#24	[-]
Posts: 294 (11/16/07 19:41:20) Minimum 1 pt, right? Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Consider perhaps blackjaw, if the semi-aquatic race built the city with the fact that they are semi-aquatic in mind. Then you could justify lots of those things, as its no longer a city that happened to get flooded, its a city that was designed to be flooded. - D Homo Homini Lupus "Man is a wolf to Man" - Plautus
theBlackJaw		#25	[-]
Posts: 1716 (11/19/07 00:07:26) Cryptic Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Good point. Looking at the three main semi-aquatic evil humanoid races (Kuo-Toa, Locathah, and Sahuagin) I would say the Kuo-Toa look like the best fit to me. The MM notes say they build semi-aquatic dungeon environments with pools for their tadpole young. They commonly trade/war with Drow (which I don't use in my games much), and can exist out the water as long as they'd like. Sounds like great stuff for a boat dungeon. They also have some interesting powers, sticky shields, etc. They are an underdark aquatic race rather then an ocean based race, so I have a greater chance to make a dungeon that isn't obviously aquatic until the PCs get to it and find a boat and canal... overall a good fit. Locathah are described as tribal so they don't fit the mold. Sahuagin are less likely to build surface structures themselves as they are very limited on land. Alternatively the ruins or dungeon could have been built by a less monstrous and hostile race and then lost to a nastier race. In this case the ruins could be from any semi-aquatic race, including Sea Elves or Tritons. Recall a Dungeon Adventure "recently" had a half-dragon kuo-toa spawn swarm... I might have to track that down. --BlackJaw "May the Orc spit in your Pie!" --BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-- GO d- s:- a- C++ UL->+ P+ L>+ E? W+++ N+ o? K? w+(-) O? M@ V? !PS PE@ Y+ PGP t-- 5-(+) X R++>+++$ tv+ b++$ DI++ D++ G e++ h+ !r y+ --END GEEK CODE BLOCK--
madfox		#26	[-]
Posts: 6208 (11/20/07 01:41:16) That's a lot of posts. Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tiburon Silverflame wrote: BTW, I'm just as guilty here. We define our characters' intense emotional responses, most commonly, at the 1-step-removed level...far more rationally. We can't feel the pressure. Some years back, the introductory module for Living L5R had a devastating conclusion...the PCs, all middle aged heroes with children who were showing every sign of following in their parents' footsteps, or even doing more...got captured by a major, major powerful demon. The demon gave them all a choice: serve me, and I leave your children alone. Don't serve me, you AND they die. Note that L5R is alllll about honor, and this would be the total antithesis. It'd be like a paladin saying, yes, I'll become a pit fiend. At all the tables where this round was played, EVERY player (including me) said NO!!! We would never serve you. But that's because we can't feel the emotional pressure of the threat to our children in the way the characters would. We're reacting the way we'd WANT our characters to react...we're idealizing. While true to some extend, it is still your choice as a player. It is a role-playing game after all. I certainly have seen people making choices that negatively impacted their characters based on the personalities of their character and those did include panicking without the use of magic. The DM has a big influence on this in the way how he describes the scene. If you as a DM makes sure the player is aware of the sense of claustrophobia than they can choose to react to it or not. Mind you, by the time PCs volluntarily go underwater they have all kinds of magical protections against the dangers and those are a lot less prone to failure or accidents than scuba gear is in tight spaces.
Runner Ikthya		#27	[-]
Posts: 70 (12/12/07 14:02:28) What's going on? Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Thanks to this thread and it's partner, I ran my Ptalus player through a half submerged city last weekend. They had a blast, and are looking forward to when they are high enough level to go back and loot the lower half of the city. So, thanks all for the inspiration. ~~ Don't forget your grain of salt.
agfang		#28	[-]
Posts: 933 (12/23/07 15:16:56) Just showed up Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	This is more of an answer to the question "how do you make underwater or flooded dungeons feel different" question rather than a suggestion on how to do the dungeon itself. To simulate the "z" axis in a dungeon like this, I would use either checkers or some other small, round or square tiles to put under the minis. each one would represent five or ten feet in "elevation" that the pcs were at. This way, if you have a flooded dungeon with 10 foot ceilings, the pcs could skim across the ceiling or across the floor. Also, I tended to have the minis lying down to simulate the fact that most humanoids swim in this posture. as far as how to make a partially flooded dungeon or an adventure where the pcs were on a boat, I have always used something to represent the area of the boat. Something like a piece of graph paper cut into the relative shape of the boat would work well. If the pcs are outside of the area of the boat, then swimming penalties apply, etc. Also, sometimes, the pcs will have to figure out how to get the boat around corners, etc. Everybody was KUNG FU FIGHTING!! NEOPRO

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