Showing posts with label Dungeons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dungeons. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

[Rient-sian]The Man From Y.E.T.I.

This pretty much sounds like the best TV Show ever, as well as a kick-ass gonzo dungeon setting:
"The Man From Y.E.T.I. was a 17-episode U.S. television show, originally airing September 1968 to February 1969. Often compared to The Prisoner, the show combined unexplained surreal situations and characters, paranoia, science-fiction, and action-adventure...

...Opening Sequence

The opening sequence of The Man From Y.E.T.I. featured extended shots of Faraday running down vast hallways and leaping over obstacles, as well as struggling to free himself from a variety of traps. More than half of the footage used in the opening never appeared in the actual show: a car chase through a city, Faraday firing a gun point-blank at a man in a lab coat who explodes, and Faraday commandeering a helicopter, among many other scenes. At one point the camera cuts to a stack of papers with "RICK ROBERTSON" printed on the topmost page; a hand wearing a golden ring brings down a stamp, marking the page with "CONTAIN" in red ink. No character named Rick Robertson appears in the show, leading some to presume that this is the name of the actor who plays Faraday, but the total lack of beginning or ending credits on the show makes it impossible to know for sure. The footage was accompanied by the show's memorable theme song, which primarily featured drums and flute, with a low growl building through much of it, climaxing in a euphoric roar as the song reaches full-swing.

Plot

The series follows a man, unnamed for much of the show but later identified as Faraday, as he explores an underground prison complex in which he is held. Every episode, he must complete a task or variety of tasks given to him by his captors, or face death.
Most episodes would begin with Faraday cautiously exploring a new area of the prison and nearly injuring himself in the process. Often, a dog would emerge from out of view and begin speaking to Faraday in a robotic voice. The scene would then show a robot in a different location, controlling the dog's mind and speaking through it. The dog would give Faraday an unexplained task ("Defeat the Minotaur and reach the Heart of Wood," "Fill the Bottle," "Build an Airplane Engine") and then threaten him with various grisly deaths should he fail.
Sometimes the task would turn out to be allegorical, but other times they must be literally completed (Faraday must actually construct an airplane engine or be dissolved in acid in one episode).
In addition to these tasks, Faraday constantly seeks a way to escape from the complex, often hatching elaborate plots to take advantage of new possible exits. Faraday will often make a fair amount of progress on a plan in a given episode, before a number of seemingly coincidental single events interlock to cause the ruin of his scheme.
As the series goes on, Faraday is exposed to a hallucinogenic gas with increasing frequency. While under the effects of the drug, he encounters a race of alligator-men who appear to be running the complex and preventing his escape. Although Faraday seems to catch glimpses of the alligator-men when not drugged, it is unclear whether they actually exist.
Another recurring event is the donning of a markedly low-quality parka or ghillie suit, which Faraday always finds in a sealed capsule mysteriously placed for him to find it, just before the climactic action sequence of an episode. This occurs nearly every episode, and neither the parka, the capsules, or the reason for wearing it are ever explained. Episodes typically end with Faraday still wearing the bizarre garment, but he never has it at the beginning of the following episode.
In a number of the episodes, Faraday encounters red service telephones. Occasionally they blink, and Faraday, shocked, runs to answer them, only to be confronted with weird, unintelligible noises. After Episode 8: "Mysteries of the Monmouth Codex, Part 2," Faraday no long attempts to answer the phones but instead goes out of his way to destroy them when they light up...

...Episode 5: "The Silent Caucus"

"In order to solve an unexplained dispute between two opposing factions of masked antagonists, Faraday must assemble an airplane engine or be dissolved in acid."
Th episode opens on a still overhead shot of a room in the complex. Faraday enters from the left, walking slowly, and comes to a stop in the center of the frame. A garbled voice is heard, presumably from off-screen, and Faraday exclaims, "not with my trusty pocket knife, you won't!" as he pulls a switchblade from his pocket. A spear flies into the frame from the right, seemingly striking Faraday, who cries out and falls off screen. The opening sequence then plays as normal.
Once the opening sequence ends, the episode cuts to Faraday, now underwater with a large Bowie knife in his mouth, swimming in what seems an underwater cave, tense music playing. After a few seconds, he comes to a large hole that appears blasted in the rock wall and swims through. He emerges in a cavern and climbs out of the water (which is clearly an above-ground pool poorly painted to look like stone). As Faraday stalks away (inexplicably holding a flashlight), the camera zooms on the pool, which bubbles ominously.
While creeping through the caverns, Faraday comes across a mysterious glyph carved on the rock wall. While studying it intently, the camera pulls back to show a mole-man slowly lumbering behind him. After an extremely prolonged shot of the mole-man's approach, it finally attacks Faraday. A lengthy battle ensues, finally ending when Faraday bludgeons the mole-man with a rock.
Faraday then comes to a narrow ledge, presumably over a chasm. With great trepidation, he creeps along the edge, his back to the wall. He makes it halfway across before tripping over his own feet. Faraday lets out a long, piercing scream, which continues for several seconds after he very clearly falls on a mat that is not entirely off screen. The camera cuts to show Faraday landing on a table about which are seated three men in strange outfits. The men are wearing red jump suits and red helmets with mirrored, featureless facemasks. On top of the helmets, they are wearing white 18th-century judge wigs, and the man in the center has gold epaulettes and other finery. The three men leap up, and similarly-dressed guards without wigs rush in and grab Faraday. The camera jump cuts to Faraday in a witness box, the three wigged men sitting in the judge's position in a full courtroom built in the cavern. Many other masked men fill the room, sitting in bleachers, and one paces back and forth in front of Faraday.
What follows is an extended scene wherein Faraday is presumably questioned by the man in front of him, but none of the masked men speak. Through the masked men's hand gestures, sound effects, and Faraday's responses, it is implied that the masked men are using telepathy to communicate. The prosecutor gestures emphatically, presents documents, and generally badgers Faraday, who replies frustradely with phrases such as, "Why, I've never even heard of Perturbinium," "the giant's coin never spoke," and, finally, with great intensity and accompanied by a musical sting, "I already told you: HE. WASN'T. EGYPTIAN."
The camera then cuts several times between Faraday's stern face and the judges apparently deliberating, the audience animatedly conversing telepathically. Finally the head judge slams his fists on the table and the room shakes; he points one finger at Faraday. The camera slowly zooms on the pointing judge, then cuts to Faraday being manhandled down stone stairs by two masked men. Faraday exclaims, presumably to the men: "...an AIRPLANE ENGINE?" and "What? Or else what?!" They shove him into a room with a large table, covered in mechanical parts. As Faraday looks around, he sees a pool in one corner, full of bubbling acid. He gulps nervously to himself and then squares his shoulders and walks to the table. A montage of Faraday assembling the engine ensues, interspersed with him looking at the acid pit and gulping nervously. Halfway through the montage, the music abruptly changes mid-song, from tense and ominous to an up-beat pop-rock instrumental. The montage ends, and Faraday, looking pleased with himself, has one final screw to put in place. Just as he's about to fit the screw in, the hallucinogenic gas pours out of the screw hole and Faraday loses consciousness.
In the gas montage, Faraday is crawling through what seems to be a sewer, where he comes across a large open chamber in which a group of robed alligator-men are practicing some sort of ceremony. Faraday watches with horror as the ghastly ritual proceeds, then suddenly trips and falls into the chamber. Just as he hits the ground, the camera cuts to Faraday sitting in a circus. The crowd is entirely in the dark and only Faraday can be seen. The camera cuts between tight shots of Faraday's confused and worried face and various circus animals, whose cries have been dubbed over with the sound of a speeding car. The montage then cuts to Faraday in a dusty lab, packed with equipment. He wears a lab coat and black rubber gloves, and laughs maniacally as he connects two power cables. Electricity courses through the cables and the lights flash, and a large robot sits up behind Faraday.
Faraday regains consciousness in the cockpit of a one-seat airplane. He cries out, "going... to crash! Got to... pull up!" He flails around for a short time, then reaches under his seat to find a silver parka capsule. The action theme swells, as a lengthy suiting-up scene plays out. After a number of minutes, Faraday finally grabs the controls. The camera immediately cuts to a shot of the aircraft crashing directly into the ground, exploding in a massive fireball. It then cuts back to Faraday, who lowers his hands from eyes and realizes he's still alive; the window of the plane is displaying television static. Confused, he opens the door and emerges (mysteriously without the action parka), to see that he's actually in a crude flight simulator. He soon makes up his mind to leave and cautiously sneaks down a number of corridors. Eventually he pauses and remarks, "feels like I'm being watched... but from where?" As he leaves, the camera pulls back to reveal one of the masked men watching him from behind a previous corner. The music builds as the masked man checks his weapon, and as the score reaches a crescendo, he removes his helmet to reveal Faraday's face underneath.

Episode 6: "Seek Not To Undo What Has Been Begun"

The episode opens with a gang of men in yellow jump suits at the intersection of two long corridors. A brief but heated argument is already begun, and the men quickly decide to split up and run down the hallways. Once the men are gone, Faraday and a woman wearing a knit brown cape with a twig embroidered on it (Deidre Hall, in an uncredited appearance) emerge from a very poorly concealed secret door in the wall. Faraday and the woman cautiously advance down several corridors before they come into a circular chamber with a pool in the center. Near the entrance, two of the men in yellow jumpsuits are standing guard. Faraday and the woman, whom he refers to as Cindy, sneak up on the guards and knock them out in order to steal their jump suits for use as disguises. It is implied that the pool was an underwater dock, as in the next scene Faraday is piloting a submarine with Cindy at the SONAR screen. Despite the previous scene showing both Faraday and Cindy putting the jump suits on, only Faraday is wearing one; at no point in the episode does Cindy have one. Faraday explains to Cindy that they can escape the complex through the Sea of Valusia; this scene features extraordinarily low-quality dubbing, with the line heard not matching Faraday's lip movements at all. Cindy points behind Faraday and asks, "what's that?" Faraday turns and exclaims the classic line, "a Deleuzian Randorph-Retsobrenner Synchro-Phasic Fusilizer!" He picks up a shoddy-looking ray gun and inspects it, proclaiming, "only three Nebulon batteries. Better be careful." Suddenly the cabin of the submarine shakes wildly and Cindy studies the SONAR, realizing that they're under attack by a Geo-Killer (note that no such monster is ever shown). The cabin's window cracks and Cindy and Faraday exchange Significant Looks, only to be horrified when instead of water, the hallucinogenic gas pours into the sub from the destroyed viewport. After blacking out, Faraday experiences a montage of scenes featuring the alligator-men, including them wiring a car battery up to 10-foot-tall robotic version of his own head, which begins speaking badly-mangled Portuguese. Upon waking, Faraday finds himself inside at the bottom of a large circular cement pit with no visible exits. With a shock, he sees Cindy's unconscious form on the other side of the chamber (despite no trace of her being there in the pan around the room a moment before), a deadly Ghost Snake wrapped around her. The familiar action theme picks up and Faraday sees a capsule, dons his parka and proceeds to violently clash with the Ghost Snake, barely defeating it after several minutes of struggle. He finds that Cindy is alive, but will quickly die from the bite of the Ghost Snake. Thinking quickly, Faraday pulls a Nebulon battery from the Deleuzian Randorph-Retsobrenner Synchro-Phasic Fusilizer and smashes it on the floor. Foaming, bright green liquid starts pouring out and he holds it to Cindy's lips, explaining, "quick, drink this!" Cindy quickly recovers fully and the two start down a hallway, as they are inexplicably in a different room with clear exits once she wakes. All seems well, until Cindy screams, and Faraday watches in horror as she rapidly transforms into a werewolf.
Were-Cindy growls viciously and leaps to attack Faraday, but he dodges just in time and she leaps past him. Before he can do anything, Cindy mounts a dirtbike that is suddenly in the room and rides down a long corridor, Faraday futilely trying to catch up with her until the image freezes on his defeated form and the credits roll.

Episode 7: "Mysteries of the Monmouth Codex, Part 1"

The episode opens with a tight shot of a bright red emergency telephone, slowly panning out to reveal one of the long corridors typical of the facility, with Faraday just coming into view around a corner at the opposite end. Upon sighting the phone, he dashes over and rips the receiver off the hook, tapping frantically at the single button in an attempt to get an outside line. After shouting for a response, he resigns his efforts, drops the phone and exits the corridor, apparently through the same door through which he had entered.
In the following scenes, Faraday follows a narrowing passage into an enormous, circular room, with a steaming, poorly-constructed silver rocket staged in the middle. The camera cuts to a view of Faraday from behind and pans up with his gaze, revealing that the rocket is emblazoned with a large hammer-and-sickle emblem and the C.C.C.P. insignia; he also notes aloud that there are no silo doors in the ceiling. Upon approaching the rocket for a closer inspection, Faraday catches sight of a capsule, and proceeds to don the parka it contains. No sooner has he done this than he is attacked from behind by an ape-creature in a badly-torn metallic silver spacesuit, which catches him in a bear-hug. As the action theme swells, Faraday grapples with the ape dramatically until he is overpowered and thrown through a conveniently-placed stack of cylindrical barrels. When he regains his footing, he has somehow produced the Fusilizer from Episode 6, which he then trains on the approaching ape. Faraday attempts to fire, but the weapon explodes in his hand (leading to his oft-quoted exclamation, "Blast! A Nebulon overcharge!") and the ape, now holding what appears to be a Fusilizer of its own, uses the device to spray him with a hefty dose of the hallucinogenic gas.
The ensuing montage includes depictions of the alligator-men wearing construction helmets and repairing telephone wires in a field, stocking a large shelf with Faraday dolls and worshiping a giant, golden statue of a human ear. Upon regaining consciousness, Faraday finds himself in what he initially believes to be his childhood bedroom, but he quickly discovers it to be a crude reproduction. After finding an exit he continues on through a series of rooms, among them an empty laboratory full of bubbling orange beakers, until he emerges back into another corridor with a red telephone (this corridor is identical to the one in the opening scene, though it's never explicitly stated that they are, in fact, one and the same). Suddenly, the small light on the phone stars blinking, and it emits a bizarre series of buzzing noises. Faraday approaches cautiously and answers; he is told to "Seek the Abramelin Sign" by a strange mechanical voice, after which the line goes dead.
Throughout the rest of the episode, Faraday is seen navigating a series of corridors and empty hangars, during which he chases a robotic key to unlock an oversized vault door and ultimately has to jump over a pit teeming with scorpions (a task which he bemoans at great length). At one point, he enters a factory assembly line producing heavy machine components. He sights a lone worker in a yellow hazmat containment suit that appears to have a tail. A chase ensues, but Faraday is ambushed by a team of Red Ninja assassins, who he fends off during a lengthy fight sequence. Resuming the chase, he turns a corner to find himself at a dead end, in a short hallway with another phone on the opposite wall.
In the final scene Faraday, looking somewhat bewildered, examines the phone and finds that it, unlike others he has encountered in the facility, has a coin-intake slot. A small placard on the wall next to it reads "INSERT TOKEN - WAIT FOR OUTSIDE LINE" (some die-hard fans have postulated that this is, in fact, the "Abramelin Sign" mentioned earlier in the episode, though artifacts in the script throw this theory into question). The camera cuts back to Faraday; a look of frustrated determination spreads over his face, and the words TO BE CONTINUED appear below him in bold, orange letters.

Episode 8: "Mysteries of the Monmouth Codex, Part 2"

In the second half of the two-part episode, the familiar opening sequence is replaced with the world "PREVIOUSLY" in a bold, orange font over a dark green background, followed by a brief recap in the form of a montage; several scenes depicted did not actually occur in the previous episode (one notable exception having not appeared in the show at all). After the theme song ends, the camera fades in on Faraday suspended upside-down by a chain above a large smoking vat labelled LIQUID NITROGEN, struggling to free himself. Before long, he produces his trusty pocketknife. As he pulls himself up, the camera cuts to a close-up shot of a rope tied around his feet, which he laboriously hacks through with the knife. Once done, the camera cuts to Faraday leaning against the vat, looking relieved; the chain is still visible above him in the background.
Now free, Faraday gathers his wits and regains his breath. He fishes a chrome cigarette case from his breast pocket. He then produces a matchbook, seemingly from nowhere. When he strikes the match, the matchbook explodes with hallucinogenic gas, and Faraday rapidly loses consciousness.
The screen distorts with the gas effects and the camera fades in, low to the ground with a fish-eye lens, on a room littered with Red Ninja bodies. Smoke fills the air, unexplained, and a light flickers on and off. Shrill, discordant, vaguely Asian-themed music and the groans of the dying supplement the sound effects. One Red Ninja remains, a diagonal slash across his chest, implying that he is the sole survivor of the battle in "Mysteries of the Monmouth Codex Part 1". The Ninja removes his mask and it is Faraday; the camera circles around him as he raises his fist and screams (with no sound), vengeance consuming him. Suddenly, the hallucination cuts to an alligator-man walking down a hallway. As it rounds a corner, the alligator-man raises its gun and the bark of a large dog is dubbed over its mouth movements. The camera cuts to a view of Faraday from behind. In one deft movement, he spins around and instantly blasts the alligator-man with the Fusilizer he holds, all in less than a second. The camera then shows the dead alligator-man from Faraday's point of view. As the shot tilts down he examines his own hands; one is now a pirate's hook and the other is the hand of a large black man, covered in jewelry. The camera tilts back up, the hands leave the frame, and Faraday now stands in front of a table. Out of the hallucinogenic haze, he steps to the table and lifts up a coin; a fast zoom reveals that it says PHONE TOKEN. Faraday, determined, wheels about and walks through a door. Footage of him entering the corridor with the phone from "Mysteries of the Monmouth Codex Part 1" is played, and Faraday, dubbed, gasps "Got to... call... for help..!" The camera cuts to Faraday, clearly in a different room, tripping over his own feet with a loud grunt. He drops the token, which immediately begins to roll down the long corridor. Faraday, mortified, shouts "NO!" and leaps to his feet.
What follows is an incredibly long sequence of Faraday attempting to catch up to the quarter. Faraday chases the rolling coin for over 10 minutes, through hallways, rooms filled with computers, and countless other environs. Finally, he chases it into a room packed with tables and machinery. He gets closer and closer to the token, nearly within range; he jumps for it, and mere millimeters from his fingers, it drops into an open grate in the floor and disappears. Rage consumes Faraday, and for more than five minutes straight he destroys all of the contents of the room; he smashes computers, destroys furniture and machines with a large wrench, and more; he does not stop screaming for the entire length of the scene. After individually picking up and dashing on the ground every item on a large wooden table, he grabs the edges of the table and flips it with all of his might. The table is shown flipping in slow-motion from multiple camera angles, each time with all of the previously-smashed items back on it.
As soon as the table is flipped, a mind-control robot rounds a corner, its arms flailing as much as its limited range of motion will allow. The footage of Faraday wheeling around and firing the Fusilizer from earlier in the episode is reused; the robot explodes into a loose pile of sheet metal and copper wiring. Faraday reaches into this pile of debris and removes a large washer. He gazes at it in deep thought, nodding to himself, and the camera fades to black. It fades back in on the same shot of Faraday, now surrounded by metal shavings. In one hand he holds his pocket knife (clearly a different model and color of knife than the one seen earlier) and in the other is a U.S. Quarter. Faraday nods to himself, satisfied, and sets off, remarking, "now, to find that phone...!"
Faraday rounds a corner at exactly the same time as a Red Ninja, presumably the one Faraday experienced in his vision (although the diagonal slash on his torso is now running in the opposite directions). Faraday and the Ninja exchange glances of pure hatred, and then Faraday chops the Ninja in the throat, apparently killing him, and walks away immediately. The same recycled footage of him entering the phone room is played for the third time; when he gets to the phone, new footage plays of him inserting the slug and frantically dialing. After a tense 15 seconds of ringing, a voice announces, "If you'd like to make a call, please hang..." Faraday gasps and slams the receiver down, then stares at the coin return with barely-suppressed rage, and after many long seconds and several cuts between the coin return and Faraday's face, the token emerges. He hastily grabs it and inserts it, dialing again. The wait this time is more than twice as long. After 45 seconds of ringing, with the camera cutting between Faraday's sweat-soaked face and the phone, the line is picked up. Before he can say anything, the person who answers speaks. Faraday, horrified beyond sanity, can only listen dumbly at the sound of his own voice on the other end of the line.
"Hello? Faraday speaking! Who is this!!? This is Faraday! Who is this!? Are you there?? How do I get an outside line?! Answer me!!"

Episode 9: "Waiting in the Wings/Bloodborne/A Thousand to One"

"Several characters recall their differing accounts of Faraday's encounter with Mole Men and Hollow Earth Vikings."
After the opening sequence, the episode opens on an extreme close-up of a heavily bearded man angrily shouting, mid-sentence, in a thick and unidentifiable accent. The camera cuts back to reveal that the man is dressed as a viking warrior. He screams, red-faced, that “that blusted Foorerdach is combing vick oss!” The camera reveals that he and several other Vikings are engaged in a standoff of sorts with a number of mole-men, of the type previously seen in episode 5. The mole-men gibber unintelligibly, occasionally emitting piercing shrieks, and gesture wildly with their crude claw-like hands. The vikings all continue shouting at once, brandishing their weapons menacingly. After several minutes of this, the camera swings around to reveal Faraday, strapped to a chair in the center of the room, alternately struggling to free himself and lapsing into a half-conscious daze. One of the vikings waves his axe at the mole-men and exclaims, “Eaah dawrn coire vats ees dwayne, a weearwah zees mugty marst foowat fire owls!” The camera cuts back to Faraday, and a screen effect seems to imply that a flashback is taking place.
In the flashback, Faraday, shirtless, is running through a series of caverns (clearly the same set used in episode 5), with a sword in each hand, screaming. He enters a large chamber, now wearing the shredded remains of a shirt and armed with a sword and shield, and screams again before engaging a number of mole-men in melee combat. He quickly dispatches them, and pauses to catch his breath. Suddenly, the earth shakes violently, and Faraday looks around, bewildered. The camera jump-cuts to Faraday, now wearing crude leather armor and armed with a trident and net, engaged in combat with a giant mole-man-monster. Several minutes of battle follow, and Faraday seems to be winning until the mole-man-monster grabs a discarded spear and stabs Faraday in the abdomen. Faraday, pained, grabs the wound; when he moves his hands to inspect the damage, the hallucinogenic gas pours out and he immediately loses consciousness.
Instead of gas hallucination montage, the opening sequence plays again, though this time several additional scenes featuring the Alligator-Men are added. After the entire sequence finishes, it opens to exactly the same scene the episode began on, with the screaming viking. The scene plays out nearly identically, but when the viking shouts the line that led to the flashback, a mole-man interrupts him with 20 seconds of gibbering, shrieking, and wild gesticulating. The mole-man then points at Faraday, and the flashback screen effect happens again.
In this flashback, Faraday, dressed only in a loincloth, toils in the desert, hauling massive stones. One of the vikings appears to be an overseer, cracking a whip menacingly. Many mole-men toil along with Faraday, moving the huge stone blocks; Faraday appears to be the only human slave. After an extended scene of Faraday struggling to move stones, sweating heavily, with long shots of his straining face, the camera cuts to a viking cruelly whipping a fallen mole-man. The viking laughs to himself as he strikes the mole-man, until a hand catches the viking’s before he can bring the whip down again. The camera pulls back, revealing Faraday, standing defiantly, with the surrounding mole-men cowering in awe of his boldness. Faraday knocks the viking out with one punch, and lifts a previously-unseen spear from the ground, holding it above his head, and rallies the mole-men to him with a shout. He then leads the mole-men in an uprising, swarming over the outnumbered vikings. After a mighty but short-lived battle, the mole-men celebrate. While Faraday sits in repose atop a kingly throne, the mole-men and female mole-men perform their traditional Mole-Man Dance of One Thousand Victories, a lengthy and complex routine that runs for three minutes. After the dance finishes, a mole-man approaches, presenting a female mole-man. Faraday looks her over and says, “your daughter, eh? Old friend, I accept.” He jumps to his feet and takes the female mole-man in a passionate embrace, kissing her. When they separate, the female mole-man kneels, and presents a jewelry box. Faraday reaches behind his throne to produce a parka capsule; as the action theme soars, he dons his parka, and is married to the female mole-man. When he lifts her veil (as she is suddenly wearing a wedding dress), hallucinogenic gas pours out and Faraday loses consciousness yet again.
Once more, the opening sequence plays, further modified with more inserted Alligator-Men. Three quarters of the way through the opening, the camera unexpectedly pulls back, showing that the opening sequence is being projected on a screen. The camera swings around, revealing that Faraday is strapped to a chair facing the screen, with a device on his head holding his eyelids open; his mouth gapes, a look of mostly-absent but inchoate fear on his face. As the camera finishes pulling back, an Alligator-Man is shown to be standing directly behind Faraday, its hands on its hips. It begins laughing in a guttural, menacing tone, and then the hallucinogenic gas pours out of its mouth, filling the room, until the screen fades to black, with only the laughter continuing.

Episode 10: "Taming The Infinite Fire"

The episode opens on Faraday in a small, poorly lit room, blocking the only door with rubble. After testing to make sure the door is barricaded, he produces a small metal case inside of which is a large syringe full of yellow-green liquid, labelled 1000X. Faraday sits on a stone and injects himself in the arm, quickly passing out; through the use of the screen distortion employed when he is gassed, it is implied that this is a concentrated dose of the hallucinogenic drug. While unconscious, he relives a number of scenes from previous episodes, but with the alligator-men now shown as being responsible for the failure of his escape attempts. A scene from Episode 8 is shown: it is revealed that an alligator-man tripped Faraday, leading to the extended chase and eventual loss of the first phone token.
Additionally, he experiences a number of alternate futures. In one, Faraday, in a white three-piece suit, opens a box labelled L.I.N.C.O.L.N., withdraws an injection gun and injects himself in the neck. He then walks over to a raised dais; the camera cuts to a view from above, revealing that the dais is actually a large clock. Faraday checks his watch before disappearing. After a number of such scenes, he awakes in a sunny field of grass. Faraday, confused but seemingly free, wanders through the field, picks an apple from a tree and bites into it, and smiles. Suddenly, he freezes, his eyes locking on something out-of-frame; he sprints into the field, only to come up a previously unseen wall, painted to appear as the sky. Banging on the wall and yelling, Faraday finds a door and opens it, the camera holding on his terrified expression for long seconds before cutting to what he sees: the door opens into a large room typical of the complex, with a very high ceiling. Painted in enormous block letters on the wall facing Faraday are the words: "THERE IS NOTHING ELSE"...

...Episode 14: "Simulacrum"

The episode opens with Faraday exploring the complex. Before long he comes into a new area with a vastly different architectural style than what he's encountered before. Faraday rapidly realizes that he seems to be backstage in a theater, with a performance of Our American Cousin already in progress. He works his way around and ends up in a booth, where a man is sneaking up behind a fellow in a stovepipe hat. Faraday, realizing that he is about to witness the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, grabs who he presumes to be John Wilkes Booth by the shoulder. Booth whirls around and Faraday is horrified to see that it is in fact one of the alligator-men in a suit and wig. Faraday is shocked to his core, as this is the first time he's seen an alligator-man without being gassed. Even in this state, Faraday knows he must protect the president, and violently struggles with alligator-Booth, eventually subduing him. Lincoln thanks Faraday and together they leave the theater, seeking a way to escape. A number of scenes follow, with Lincoln and Faraday fighting jump-suited henchmen, hiding from Red Ninjas, and rearranging vacuum tubes to activate a doorway. Faraday and Lincoln find a door marked 'exit', but before they can reach it, men dressed in traditional Native American outfits attack them. After a brief but intense battle, Faraday and Lincoln are victorious, but Lincoln's hat is knocked off in the scuffle. When he goes to retrieve it, both he and Faraday freeze: there are two identical hats, side by side. The two exchange glances, and Lincoln reaches for the hat on the left. Faraday exclaims, "wait!" but it's too late: as soon as Lincoln touches the hat, the hallucinogenic gas pours out and both men lose consciousness.
The view fades back in from black on Faraday, back at the theater, in Lincoln's seat and wearing Lincoln's clothes. Faraday seems totally oblivious to everything but the play, watching raptly. A number of extremely long, very close shots of Faraday's face follow; in intense inner struggle seems to be happening. The camera cuts to a view behind Faraday, and shows Booth from behind, sneaking up on Faraday with his pistol drawn. As Booth raises his weapon, a shot rings out. Faraday turns suddenly to see Booth, dead and fully human, lying on the ground. He turns back around to see where the shot came from. The camera cuts to show Faraday's view: inexplicably, a tall brick building in front of a blue sky (scholarly sources have noted that the building closely resembles the Texas School Book Depository). The camera zooms in on a figure in a window, which turns out to be Lincoln, in Faraday's Action Parka, wielding a sniper rifle. Lincoln waves at Faraday. The camera cuts back to Faraday, who waves back in a state of confusion. He then turns around, the camera closely focused on his face, as a look of mortal terror consumes him. The camera cuts to show what he's seeing: Booth's body is now his own, lying bloody and dead on the ground."

From http://hatch.kookscience.com/wiki/The_Man_From_Y.E.T.I. ; I got really excited as I read about this show; holy fuck! It's like they put Jeff Rients back in time to save television.

So imagine my disappointment when I realized that this had to be an internet hoax (the "a Deleuzian Randorph-Retsobrenner Synchro-Phasic Fusilizer!" part is what tipped off my fevered sweaty brain). Regardless, the above internet bullshit is genius on so many levels that I think I have to have a Dungeon inspired by THE MAN FROM Y.E.T.I.; it would also make for a great Encounter Critical campaign!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Demonspore - Review Part I

This is the first part of a review of Matt Finch's latest Swords & Wizardry product, "Demonspore," published by Mythmere Games, available in both print and PDF versions. This review is of the free review copy of the PDF.

The first part of the review is an first impressions overview of the product; the forthcoming second part will dig into the guts of this adventure.

Spoilers will About... Be Forewarned

Demonspore is a two part dungeon adventure for characters of levels 3-6.

It involves sinister fungus beings seeking the rebirth of a dead fungus god, and their manipulations of a group of toad people. An enterprising DM could easily incorporate this adventure with other campaign elements such as The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom; the cults of Tsathoggua or Zuggotomy; the Sporecery Guild; etc. It also affords great opportunity for a plot-driven "Heroic Goody-Two Shoes" campaign, "Elminster needs you, the lawful heroes, to stop this wicked plan!"

I'm a big fan of Matt Finch's line art, and would have preferred such a rendition of the cover art as opposed to the painting which is a bit too muddy for me. I do think that Matt could illustrate an excellent children's book if he continued painting.

The lurid & rugose interior art, by Jason Sholtis, is uniformly excellent. I find it evocative of the subject matter and fun.

I'm unsure who is responsible for the cartography, but it is both clear and attractive. The maps are fairly non-linear and appear to offer significant tactical options.

The adventure begins with 3 pages of Exposition and Referee Notes. Usually I HATE HATE HATE such content if it runs longer than a couple of paragraphs (see Pathfinder adventures for an example), but in this instance I don't mind.

The clean layout makes the above information (and the rest of the adventure) easy to find information and read, as opposed to the HATE HATE HATE of run-on tiny text and spidery handwritten font sidebar in Pathfinder. It is also concise, clear, and doesn't dive into unnecessary text bloat.

I'm not meaning to turn this into a Pathfinder bash fest, but usually the Referee Exposition in a Pathfinder adventure takes an entire damn page to communicate a couple of paragraphs of information ....blame it on getting paid by the word? Although Demonspore does feature extensive introductory text, it is also efficient.

The adventure seems amenable to multiple approaches by the players: kick in the door, diplomacy/guile, stealth. There are several opportunities for interaction with NPCs, some of which appear to quite worthwhile, and the possibility of in-dungeon allies and resupply. Important NPCs are provided with concise histories and motivations, making them three-dimensional without the author falling into the black hole of frustrated fantasy author syndrome.

There is an appendix with several new monsters, which I like and are appropriate for the adventure. My favorite, hands-down, has to be the Toad-Hydra, which is part of a great encounter.

I appreciate the lists of all of the monsters/encounters in the adventure, provided in order for a referee to strike off ones already slain and plan monster tactics.

At this point I very much quite like Demonspore and am planning on purchasing the print version.

The product is attractive, clear, organized, and well-laid out, and should be easy to consult while running the game.

I like the setting, players, and plot, and could easily use it in my games, in many different ways. I get the impression that it has been thoroughly playtested and gone over with quality control in mind.

Useable for Megadungeon levels? Check!
NPC-assigned Heroic Quest/Investigation? Check!
Fodder for some beer-and-pretzel hack'n'slash play? Check!

My assessment of Demonspore at this point is uniformly Excellent, being imaginative, well-crafted, and versatile. Now I need to get it printed out and thoroughly picked over for part II of this review.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

740+ Monster OSR Dungeon Encounter Tables

Designed for use with the Dungeon Random Monster Level Determination Matrix on page 174 of the 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guise and the Monster Sub-Table Matrix on page 163 of OSRIC.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BzIwRcZGsBsiMDBhYjYwODEtYWViZi00ODg5LWJkYzItOThlYjkxZGYzNTc0&hl=en_US

The OSR Dungeon Encounter Matrices reference material from the following:
Advanced Edition Companion
Carcosa
Deadly Distractions 
Labyrinth Lord
Malevolent and Benign
Monsters of Myth
OSRIC
Realms of Crawling Chaos
Swords & Wizardry Monster Book
Tome of Horrors Complete
Varlets and Vermin

Note that all of the above, aside from Carcosa, Malevolent and Benign, Realms of Crawling Chaos and Tome of Horrors Complete, are available in legitimate free PDF form.

This is a preliminary version; I still need to properly cross-reference with sources in Advanced Edition Companion, Labyrinth Lord and OSRIC.

EDIT: And I just caught the duplicate Sphinx and Sphinx, Sphinx entries on the 6th & 7th level tables.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Wacky Idea - "Reverse Constantcon" Shared Dungeons

You're a DM. You make a dungeon. You keep a version of the dungeon maps and key on something like Google Docs. After your run your players through this dungeon you make notes in the Google Docs files regarding what monsters have been slain, what treasures have been looted, where the bodies of dead PCs lay, and other state changes in the dungeon. Probably by using "strikeout" text and colored text and the like. Maybe you restock this dungeon, maybe you don't.

Than you pass along these files to another DM that you know through the internet and they run their players through this dungeon. Maybe they restock the dungeon beforehand, maybe you have already, maybe it doesn't need restocking.

After they run their group through this dungeon they make their notes regarding changes, etc. I'm sure there's some collaborative editing features for online documents that makes this viable while also maintaining a history of the changes and who did them and when.

And they pass the dungeon back to you for when you next run your players through it, or maybe they pass it along to another DM and the cycle continues.

Maybe along the line these other DMs add new levels and the like to the dungeon, further mutating it.

Imagine the histories of adventure that would accumulate with such a dungeon...

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Converting Swords & Wizardry Challenge Level to AD&D/OSRIC Dungeon Level Table

The Why
I'm trying to hack together some Over-The-Top Encounter By Dungeon Level Tables utilizing the material from all of the OSR Monster Books I have (The Swords & Wizardry Monster Book; Monster of Myth; Malevolent and Benign; and The Tome of Horrors Complete).
However, whereas AD&D/OSRIC categorizes monsters into a scale of I through to X for "Dungeon Level", Swords & Wizardry utilizes a Challenge Level scale that is analogous to the monster's hit dice, but adjusted for special abilities, so it's a more granular and also an open-ended scale.

The How
In the 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guide, in Appendix C: Random Monster Encounters on page 174, there is a table for determining appropriate dungeon levels for random monster encounters by use of it's experience value, such as III: 51-150 X.P. and IX: 5,501-10,000 X.P.
Obviously it's easier to convert from the more granular and open-ended Challenge Level scale to the restrained and smaller AD&D scale.
Now, as previously mentioned, the Swords & Wizardry Challenge Level is determined by a monsters Hit Dice (with adjustments for special abilities), so what I did was use the Experience Points Value of Monsters table from page 85 of the Dungeon Masters Guide to determine the "Dungeon Level" of a monster of average hit points and no special abilities for Hit Dice of 1 through to 21; after 21 I had to use some fancier math to determine at what Hit Dice an unspecial monster would need to Break the Dungeon Level X threshhold (31.7524 Hit Dice).
Interestingly enough according to this scheme the only monster in the Swords & Wizardry Monster Book that qualifies for Dungeon Level X is Orcus, Demon Prince of the Undead, which is actually in line with the AD&D tables. All of the CL 32+ monsters in the Tome of Horrors Complete are pretty much in line with the over-the-top nature of Level X AD&D Dungeon Monsters as well. When comparing some S&W version of monsters and their CL to their AD&D analogues and their Dungeon Levels they either match up or are off by 1 level, so this system is close enough for me.

S&W Challenge Ratings by AD&D/OSRIC Dungeon Levels
AD&D - S&W
I - 1
II - 2
III - 3,4
IV - 5
V - 6,7
VI - 8
VII - 9-14
VIII - 15-18
IX - 19-31
X - 32+

Friday, August 19, 2011

Don't Be Cheap With the Lighting/Your Characters Should Die If They're Not Prepared...

I was DMing Red Box Vancouveron Wednesday and the party was exploring a dungeon. Getting a NPC henchman to carry a torch is a pretty wise idea; they usually have the hit points of a paper bag and all. However, having the NPC henchman being your only light source can really bite you in the ass when a monster uses a fear effect and the torch carrying NPC (who runs faster than everyone else due to wearing leather armor) splits from the party to flee the dungeon with the light source. Although the cutpurse pup was eaten, it wasn't a total debacle as the "two 18s" hobbit only ended losing some ability points from a slit throat and the 3rd level dwarf also lost some ability points and had his left arm and leg eaten by troglodytes (Death and dismemberment table house rules).

In my experiences as a DM players are notoriously cheap with their lighting situation whilst underground. They try and BS and play dumb regarding their light sources; they try tying torches to or putting candles on their helmets; even if they're in the middle of the party they'd rather give away their left kidney that use one hand to hold a torch.

Although I draw the line at nonsense like attaching torches and candles to helmets ("It will pretty much get knocked off by every doorway when you're in a hurry or fall off in every fight... do you really want me inflicting nonsense like that on your PC?"); tip regarding playing when Blair is a DM: "Aside from exceptions for magic, FTL travel, and monsters, if it wouldn't work in real life it won't work in my game and/or will totally fuck over your PC in a pivotal moment." And yeah, I'm of the opinion that you can parry with a shield in your left hand or you can hold a torch in your left hand but you can't do both at the same hand (you have to hold onto the handle of the shield with your hand, see...).

Some people would say I'm not being fun, that I don't get fantasy, that I'm being a dick DM; I say that I'm expecting the world I DM to operate according to someting vaguely like the real world while also presenting the players with tactical challenges.

Now when I'm playing I take every opportunity to spam Continual Lights on pebbles and coins ("Hey party cleric, since we're going to be holed up in this inn for seven days could you make seven continual light pebbles? Thanks!"). I will actually forgoe carrying a shield to *gasp* carry a torch AND a sword. I insist that multiple members of the party carry light sources. And under optimal conditions in dungeons I do something I call the "Road Flare System."

Torches are dirt cheap; they burn for an hour; they illuminate as well as (or in AD&D better than) a lantern; and unlike a lantern you can drop them without burning oil getting everywhere. So I use them up like candy in dungeons. I throw a lit torch into every corner of a big room if we're going to be hanging out in it. If I think we're going to have to beat a hasty retreat out of a dungeon while we're on a focused penetration I may very well leave a burning torch every 30 feet along the exit route. If my PC is part of the "reserve forces" (which every party should have!) during a fight I'll spend a couple of rounds throwing torches about so the battlefield is clearly lit and we can perhaps see if anything is sneaking up on us.

In my years of DMing and playing D&D I've said a million times that "you need to always carry food, water, a light source, a means of igniting said light source, a ranged weapon, and a dagger/knife. ALWAYS." And there's nothing more hilarious than a PC dying because they didn't have a light source or they didn't have a flint and steel to light their light source. And I've seen that happen a ton of times.

In D&D your characters should die if they're not prepared. You need to think like a Boy Scout, a Boy Scout that kills monsters undergorund for their money.

If you are an adventurer going underground to fight monsters... don't cheap out on the lighting; that's seriously amateur hour clownshoes nonsense.

Friday, August 12, 2011

[Red Box Vancouver Players Stay Out] Awesome Combination of Dungeon Randomosity

If you're going to or could be playing in one of the games I'm DMing at the Grind in Vancouver on a Wednesday night, you better not be reading this!

While working on my Dungeon for the Red Box Vancouver crew an awesome piece of random stupidity emerged.

Using the Tricks, Empty Rooms, and Basic Trap Design PDF and my random table of wacked out monsters I ended up with the combination of a room that is an ampitheatre and also contains a Man of Wounds from the swell Varlets and Vermin PDF.

"Hmm" I mutter to myself, "how can I implement this combination to maximize awesomeness?"

...obviously the Man of Wounds is wearing a toga and a laurel wreath, is stuck full of gladii, and will be muttering "E tu, Brute?" at the party...

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Stefan Poag - Pure Class!

I've made no secret of my admiration for Stefan Poag; I love his lurid artwork; I love Mines of Khunmar; I love his unabashed enthusiasm for gruesome, perverse and scatological subject matter; I love how he's kind of a dick (with a heart of gold) on his blog; I love Exquisite Corpses.

Anyways, when he first released Exquisite Corpses I immediately snagged the (temporarily) free PDF; my gaming group had a hardcopy as well. I had always meant to buy the print version, but like a chump there was always something else sucking up my $$.

Today I finally manned-up and bought a print copy from Lulu; afterwards I found the following message in my inbox:
"Thank you for your order. Your support is appreciated.
regards
stef"
Sure it's an automated message, but it's appreciated and is a testament to Stefan's character.

This beer and this bong rip are a toast to Stefan Poag, one of the finest gentlemen of the OSR!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Dungeon Tactics - "The Bathysphere"

A Bathysphere is a character with good armor class, hit points, and saving throws; a Dwarf with a few levels under their belt and magic armor is an excellent candidate, especially with their Infravision. If you have a 3rd level Magic-User, throw an Invisibility spell on the Bathysphere.

The function of the Bathysphere is to serve as an "Iron Scout"; whereas conventional dungeoneering scouting wisdom involves the use of a stealthy character, the problem with using a Thief for scouting is that they usually have crap hit points, leather armor, unreliable stealth skills, and usually require some form of light source - the result being that when a thief style scout inevitably encounters monsters or a trap they have a fair chance of ending up dead.

In contrast the Bathysphere is durable, a tough bugger that has a good chance of surviving traps and encounters; and if the monsters or trap are especially lethal, the Bathysphere dies instead of the entire party. Whereas the traditional Thief scout can be a tissue paper pinata, the Bathysphere is a freaking Bomb Disposal Robot.

While dungeoneering, the group that I play in has utilized Dwarven Bathyspheres to great effect...instead of a cowering, fragile Thief scout they're highly effective as bold, confident, durable scouts; whereas sending a Thief on a solo scouting mission can be a callous gamble, the Bathysphere has a damn good chance of making it back with the intel and/or loot in one piece.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Nine Cave & Lair Geomorphs

Above are nine of the thirty-six cave/lair geomorphs I'm working on for the Jewel Throne. The idea behind this is to present a system for a DM to quickly assemble caves or lairs when the party has random wilderness lair encounter; a treasure map; comes across a hex key lair entry sans map; and so forth, much like the example cave maps from X1: The Isle of Dread. They are also designed to be "semi-compatible" with Dyson's geomorph system.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Blair's Big Dumb Planet Algol Megadungeon

Apologies for the lack of posting lately, I've been sick and somewhat run down. Work and illness have been interfering with my gaming, and the latest Fallout installment has been sucking up a lot of my attention as well.

But I've been a doing a bunch of work on my Algol megadungeon. At this point, I have the following mapped out:

Level 1 - 143 rooms
Level 2 - 144 rooms
Level 2.B - 39 rooms
Level 3 - 82 rooms
Level 3.B - 9 rooms
Level 3.B.3 through to 3.B.7 - 34 rooms
Level 4.A - 28 rooms
Level 4.B - 22 rooms
Level 4.C - 22 rooms

The level labeling system is kind of funky right now; the oddball named levels are sub-levels or sub-complexes within the megadungeon. Of course there are byzantine interconnections between the levels.

I've paid attention to the erudite Gabor Lux's past works analyzing dungeon construction and flow, and the big levels are designed with that in mind by incorporating "loops" within the dungeon avenues. In effect there are several "neighborhoods" within each main level, as well as "freeways," complexes of corridors that allow one to travel throughout much of the differing areas of the level without having to deal with doors or major barriers; thereby allowing the giant worms and flying jellyfish means of traversing the dungeon.

A big influence has been Empire of the Petal Throne's Underworld and megadungeon innovator M.A.R. Barker's work. For my own game, one of the tentpoles of the megadungeon monster stocking will be from D&D variant EPT. The other three tentpoles being Carcosa, Arduin and the original Fiend Folio (including White Dwarf FF content), with some cherry picking from Talislanta. In any published version most such critters would be replaced with original or OGL content, but in my own game I get to use Gorbels without turning them into little exploding, clinging toddler-robots first.

As an aside, I've read previous online musings about using the Fiend Folio as an alternate Monster Manual instead of the aforementioned MM, and I have to say, I can see it working. There's definitely a nice range of humanoids in the kobold-equivalent to ogre-equivalent spectrum. Plus, forget everything you know about Gibberlings and read them with through a pulp Swords & Sorcery lens.

I'm going with a sparse monster distribution, with 1 "encounter" for every six rooms or so; with allowances for some encounter groups controlling several rooms. The general vibe I'm going for with this aspect is vastly ancient, abandoned decrepitude punctuated with moments of terror. With pockets of really bad areas.

At the 1-to-6 monsters placement-to-room ration, it works out to 24 monster encounters for the first two levels...which is quite a lot, and leaves me with a lot of room on my plate for the Tekumel/Arduin/Carcosa/Fiend Folio buffet...

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Public Algol Game & The Autarch's Voluptuary

Next Monday, September 6th, at the Waves Coffee House located at Broadway & Spruce in Vancouver/B.C., the Red Box Vancouver crew and I are getting together for a public Planet Algol game, using the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Role Playing Game as the ruleset.

I'm pretty excited about this: I love DMing; the Red Box Vancouver crew are a great bunch that I love playing with; I get to try out the appealing LOTFPRPG system; it'll be a completely different DMing scene from the bong-littered basement of the regular Planet Algol game; and, as a change of pace, it gives me an opportunity to perhaps playtest some Planet Algol adventures & dungeons as opposed to the picaresque hexmap meanderings of the regular Planet Algol game.

I've been brainstorming up an intro adventures for this first session, and this is what I have come up with (very inspired by the pitch for Jeff Rients' Big Dumb Tekumel con game):
"Agog, the Immemorial City of the Controller, is strictly divided into sectors: The Xenon District, where outsiders and merchants mingle; The Reactor Sector, where the Technocrats of Agog labour with the cyclopean ceramic and alloy engines of the Ancients; The Aerie Sector, where Oligarchs and Aristocrats dwell in their palaces upon towers of ancient, tarnished girders; The Golden Sector,  where the Controller, Exarch of the Iridium Plateau holds court in his Golden Ziggurat; and most mysterious of them all, the Voluptuary Sector.

The Voluptuary Sector consists of a massive dome, coloured in swirls of violets and ambers, caked with dust. It is said that it contains pleasure palaces and gardens of the Autarch himself, although it is widely unknown when last the Autarch visited Agog City.

The Voluptuary Sector is an especially forbidden region of Agog City, with trespassers threatened with public impalement; regardless of legal retribution, tales of the synthetic guardians of the Voluptuary Sector deter most thieves and explorers, while the rest are said to be never seen again.

You have been contacted by one who claims to represent a rich Agogi Oligarch that is offering a significant reward of 5,000 virgin gold credits for a certain erotic hepatazon idol, "Ecstatic Trembling Within Writhing Tentacles," that resides within the Concubinatory of the Voluptuary Sector. This representative also claims to possess knowledge regarding a secret entrance to the pleasure dome and how to avoid it's guardians."
So if you're in the Vancouver area and want to drop in for a game, drop by Red Box Vancouver to Penetrate the Autarch's Volupturary...

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Another Algol Dungeon Map Preview

Sans room numbers, doors, stairs, pits, shafts, altars, etc.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Planet Algol Preview Dungeon Map

Although I've found my self somewhat less that choleric lately, I have been working on dungeons for the Planet Algol booklet. I've found that micro- and mini- sized pads of graph paper invaluable for my mapping style, I just keep on churning out tiny to normal sized dungeons maps. The below is one of my favorites:

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

A Picture of a Dungeon Room With Cthulhu in it...



Also, in the theme of the above, here's some concept art for ALIEN...

A Question Regarding Dungeonmastering...

In your opinion...

If a DM has in their dungeon an obviously ominous door bearing the unambiguous image of Cthulhu (and the players are Cthulhu-literate), and if/when the PCs open the door a Cthulhu is behind the door with all the attendant risks (insanity, death, TPK)...

Is the DM being a jerk?

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Further Musing on the Tekumel Underworld Feature Table

I've been thinking about that Tekumel Underworld Contents Table I posted a couple of days ago.

Although it is presumably for usage in a Empire of the Petal Throne campaign, the contents seem eminently useful for bog-standard vanilla fantasy, as well as weird gonzo fantasy. I really dig how the table is organized along the lines of traditional D&D "dungeon levels."

Let's start with Levels 1-3. Looking at the table, at the upper, "basic" levels of a dungeons complex, the probability breakdown is as follows:
City - 20%
Catacombs - 20%
Shrine - 10%
Temple - 5%
Tomb - 15%
Cache - 5%
Maze - 25%

Hohoho, chances are that adventurers are going to have to content with a maze during their initial forays into the dungeon complex! Although many dungeons are "maze-y" I interpret this to be a confusing, complex labyrinth. It may have been constructed with the intention of it being a maze, or it may be a complex of rooms and tunnels that have degraded and crumbled into a confusing mess.

Cities and catacombs are both even at 20%. I imagine cities to be the ruins of a fairly large settlement, somehow sunk into the earth by telluric forces or else initially constructed in the subterranean regions. I can also see a city result indicating a complex of rooms and passages inhabited by some variety of social, sentient beings such as trad D&D fare such as goblins and orcs.

Catacombs brings to mind tunnels with heaps of bones piled in niches, piled up to make walls, dessicated corpses linign the walls, and so forth. A cross between the Catacombs of Paris and "The Real Life Beherit Album Cover" of the Palermo Catacombs. Whereas tombs contain corpses in sturdy sarcophagi, the bodies are just piled up or hung from the walls in catacombs!

Tomb...is a tomb. Not much exposition or imagineering needed here! Usually good loot and dangerous traps and/or guardians. The James Ward tables for tombs from The Best of Dragon Vol.1 would be a good resource.

I imagine a shrine to be a single or handful of rooms, a simple(r) fane. Perhaps still functioning, perhaps abandoned.

Temple brings to mind a sprawling complex, an underground cathedral, inhabited by hordes of crazed cultists. Shrines are dusty, temples are bejeweled.

Cache?!?! Despite the incongruity, cache works for me. Imagine the Ancient or Dark Ages version of a bomb shelter. Some rich noble and their family/followers builds a hidden underground bug-out shelter in case of disaster or a need to hide. As long as the contents haven't been looted, there should be some good stuff in a cache!

Monday, May 31, 2010

One Little Chart That Says So Much...

While looking up the info on the Empire of the Petal Throne reprints, I stumbled across this table for generating the nature of Tekumel underworld complexes by "dungeon level."
I'm definitely going to have to put it in my collection of useful DM tables, and I think I may have to order "The Pettigrew Selections" for the Underworlds article alone!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Shrine of the Lavender Cocoon and the Crystalline Citadel



These two dungeons are of the "lair" variety as opposed to the complex, multi-level "proper" dungeon. The sort of dungeon that you can clear out in a single expedition. Stylistically and method-wise I was inspired the The Year Of The Dungeon, I like using different techniques when making maps and I also dig the contrast between the cold, strict architechtural regularity of graph-paper based maps the the more freeform, organic "Call of Cthulhu/Year of the Dungeon" style grid-less maps. My usual procedure for such grid-less maps is to either sketch them out on the reverse side of a sheet of graph paper or scan them and put a grid in them in AutoRealm.

Currently I'm aiming to put several dungeons, both the lair/microdungeon variety and the classic multi-level sprawling complexes, in the Planet Algol booklet. One of the goals with this project is to provide as usable as possible "straight out of the box" sandbox setting, which makes including a variety of sufficiently detailed  adventure locales an inexorable priority.

This significantly increases the workload as opposed to simply writing "Hex 6745: The Emerald Labyrinth: A simple stone shrine contains stairs leading to a sprawling underground complex of glowing translucent green stone, inhabited by tribes of malformed human/alien hybrid beings." There's nothing wrong with that, I love that sort of detailing and find it a great springboard for creativity, but I can't think of many sandboxes that include maps and keys for many of the described locales, and such keyed maps make this DMs job faster and easier, and hopefully provide a deeper adventuring experience.

Saturday Scrawl - "Black Smoke Razor Labyrinth"

SPOILER WARNING: Of course I trust the players in my game to not examine the below maps...



These are the preliminary maps for one of the "dungeons" I'm working on for the Planet Algol booklet, showcasing my appalling scrawl and attempts at complex interconnections between levels.