DISCUSSING:
In the Shadow of the Spire – Session 23D: The Chaos Cultists

The end of the key seemed to be twisting and, looking more closely at it, Tee could see that it was actually made of innumerable pieces almost too small for the eye to see – they were constantly in flux, seeming to warp and twist and move in an almost impossible manner, as if their movement were not truly determined by the limitations of the natural world.

Tee was fascinated – almost enthralled – by the artifact. With delicate fingers she reached down and picked it up…

And felt a coldness rush up from her fingers and seem to bury itself in her soul. Despite the throbbing pain and waves of weakness emanating from the key, her curiosity could not be contained. She turned to the next chest, the one labeled “Mysteries of the Purple City”. Inserting the golden key carefully into the lock she turned it.

The lock opened with a satisfying click. But the pain and the cold intensified. Tee almost felt as if her soul were being ripped out through her. Her hand flew to her head and she sagged, nearly fainting where she stood.

“Tee!” Elestra cried. “Is everything alright?”

“I’m fine,” Tee said. “But I don’t think I should be using this key any more.” She slipped it into her bag of holding… but even there she could still feel its presence like a cold weight on her soul.

Dungeons & Dragons generally embraces a fairly simple binary when it comes to enchanted items: There are magic items, which are good. And there are cursed items, which are bad.

This dichotomy, of course, leaves out a fairly large middle ground. And it is, in fact, a middle ground that is occupied by many magic items in fantasy and mythology. Often these items are not simply a boon, but carry some price for their use: Tyrfing, the sword that would never rust or miss a stroke, but which was cursed to kill a man each time it was drawn. The Necklace of Harmonia which granted eternal youth and beauty, but also ill fortune. The Nine Rings given to mortal kings which grant immense power, but slowly transform their wielders into slaves of the Lord of the Rings.

Requiring a price to be paid for the power offered by a magic item can create interesting stories and also unique dilemmas for the wielders (or would-be wielders) of the items. Pathfinder introduced the Drawback curse, which was actually a collection of minor curses that could be applied to an item so that it could “usually still be beneficial to the possessor but carry some negative aspect.”

But you can push the concept farther than that by using the cursed price of a magic item to actually balance (or limit) abilities that would otherwise by unbalanced or undesirable for the PCs to possess.

You can see an example of such an item in the all-key found by the PCs in this session: The key (referred to by the players as Freedom’s Key based on the inscription of the chest they found it in) allows its user to open ANY lock that has a keyhole.

The narrative potential of this key is really interesting. But it’s also problematic because it would essentially excise an entire slice of game play: With the all-key, the PCs would never have to pick another lock or kick down another door.

Removing an entire facet of gameplay like this isn’t inherently problematic, but should be approached with caution. And that caution, in this case, is the price paid by the user of the all-key: Merely carrying the all-key inflicts negative levels, and additional negative levels are inflicted each time the key is used.

The intended result (and, in fact, what ends up happening in the campaign) is that the PCs can’t just carry the all-key around with them and whip it out for every lock they encounter: They need to tuck it away some place safe and only fetch it when they have great need for its power.

This not only keeps the lockpicking and key-finding aspects of a  typical D&D generally intact, but it also makes each use of the all-key momentous: It requires a certain threshold of need to even consider using it, and then its use explicitly involves careful planning. Ironically, the all-key actually feels MORE powerful because of its limitations than an unfettered item with the same ability whose use would become a trivial bit of irreverent bookkeeping.

One of the risks of attempting to balance otherwise undesirable power with a price, however, is that such drawbacks can end up being highly situational and thus, with a little effort, easily avoided. This can be particularly true if you are drawing inspiration from fantasy and mythology, where the drawbacks of the items are often not only idiosyncratic, but would be non-mechanical when translated into D&D. Such limitations either put the weight on the DM to make them meaningful or, in some cases, are simply irrelevant to the PC who might get their hands on the item. (“Using the One Ring will slowly corrupt my soul and turn me into a Dark Lord?” said Sir Patrick ‘the Bloodstained Butcher’ Rasseroth. “That’s adorable.”)

Of course, if you’re designing an item for use in your own campaign, you can tailor its design to the PCs to make sure that the price will, in fact, be paid.

NEXT:
Campaign Journal: Session 23E – Running the Campaign: Diegetic Mechanics
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index

SESSION 23D: THE CHAOS CULTISTS

June 7th, 2008
The 10th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

… and found their way blocked by more than a dozen sinister men and women.

At their head was a massive, humanoid creature with wings of darkness and shadow that crackled with blue arcs of lightning. His flesh was a sallow yellow-green, and his long, grey-white hair seemed to be coming out in clumps. His drooping eyes glowed with a white malevolence, and his muscles seemed to bulge unnaturally beneath his skin. Strapped about his broad chest was a silvery breastplate.

Behind him, flanking him to either side, were a litorian and an adrak: The litorian had familiar symbols of chaos shaved into her fur and burned into her skin. The adrak, likewise, had symbols burned or branded onto its scales.

And behind them was a rabble of another half dozen thugs.

The sallow-skinned leader chuckled darkly as they halted in their tracks. “Give me the weapons of chaos and you can leave here with your lives.”

“We don’t have them,” Tee said.

“Don’t lie to me child,” the creature said. “Or you will die.”

“We don’t have them!” Elestra cried. “We didn’t get them yet!”

The litorian waved her hand and a beam of light swept over them. She scowled. “They’re telling the truth, Wuntad.”

Wuntad turned to her. “You’re sure?”

The litorian nodded.

Wuntad turned back to Tee. “Very well. Then you’ll go and get them and then bring them back to me.”

“We can’t do that right now,” Tee said.

“You will do it or you’ll die.”

“It’s not that we won’t, we can’t. We need to rest first, and then—“

With a bellowing roar, Agnarr charged. He caught Wuntad by surprise, but his sword caught on the cultist’s breastplate. With an answering roar of rage, Wuntad swung a muscular claw at Agnarr’s head.  The barbarian laughed. “You don’t look much like your picture!”

The other cultists, after stepping back in shock at the suddenness of the assault, were recovering and drawing their weapons.

But they were too slow for Ranthir, who was already completing the casting of a spell: A thick, bulbous sphere of viscous web exploded in the midst of the cultists. It entangled them thoroughly and suspended itself between the wall of the keep and the ground.

Unfortunately, the web blocked their own path of escape. Fortunately, the torch Tor had carried during their explorations through and beneath the keep was still burning. He darted off to one side and began burning a path through the web.

Agnarr had also been caught in the web and he began tearing himself free. But Wuntad was the faster, his wings of lightning-lit darkness tearing through the webs like razor blades and – with a single, powerful beat – propelling him into the air above.

Nevertheless, it seemed as if things were going well: Ranthir’s spell had neutralized most of the cultists, and if they could capitalize on that moment of opportunity, then—

The litorian managed to free her hand and held aloft a bell of tarnished silver. She rang it and, at the beating of its clap, a wave of dizzy darkness swept over them. Tor fell unconscious, the burning brand which had been leading his path falling uselessly at his side. Dominic fell behind him. Agnarr sagged where he stood, only the thick webs holding him aloft.

Elestra, Tee, and Ranthir struggled on… but the bell rang again, and this time both Tee and Elestra toppled.

Ranthir, too, fell… but he was bluffing, hoping that the ringing of the bell would stop if the cultists thought they had all been affected. He was right. The litorian lowered the bell, and the cultists set to work trying to burn or chop their way out of the web.

Once the cultists were thoroughly distracted, Ranthir eased himself over to Tee, who was laying only a few feet away from him. He gently shook her awake.

Unfortunately, as Tee stirred to wakefulness her movement attracted the attention of the cultists.

“Kill them!” Wuntad cried.

“Wait!” Tee shouted. “Just wait! We’ll get the weapons for you!”

Wuntad smiled grimly. “A wise choice.”

AN UNRESOLVED DEBATE

Tee woke the others. They were upset at the thought of surrendering, but she made it clear that they had no choice. In sullen silence they retreated back to the hall where the statue of Segginal stood.

“What are we doing?” Elestra asked. “We can’t help them!”

“Do you have a better idea?” Tee asked. “They took us out pretty easily last time. I’m pretty sure they’ll be able to do it again.”

After several minutes of discussion, it became clear that the group was divided: Some felt they should at least find out what these “weapons of chaos” were. Others felt strongly that they should try to fight. Others suggested that they might escape.

The tide of their argument seemed to be turning strongly towards this latter course of action – escape – when the statue spoke to them: “Wuntad’s patience wanes. I see everything that happens in this house. Bring him the weapons of chaos now.”

Tee grimaced and slapped the spiraled disc into the statue’s keyhole and twisted. The shaft opened. “Let’s go.”

THROUGH THE CAVERNS OF ICE

(09/11/790)

They went down, but they didn’t go far. They stopped in the first chamber and began unpacking their camping gear.

“All right, we’re down here,” Tee said. “Now Wuntad can just wait until we’re ready.”

They kept watch in short shifts throughout the night. In the morning, Elestra and Dominic prepared and cast the spells which would allow them to endure the freezing temperatures below.

Agnarr’s flaming sword easily chopped through the ice above the underwater tunnel and, with the spells of Elestra and Dominic, they were able to pass imperviously through the frigid waters.

At the other end of the watery tunnel, Agnarr needed to hack his way through a second sheet of ice, allowing them to emerge into another icy cavern. On the floor here, rimed with frost, were six chests. An iron door, entirely free of ice, stood on the opposite wall. Off to the left and the right, frozen into the thick ice covering the walls, were two minotaurs.

Tee eyed the minotaurs carefully, but they appeared to be dead. Satisfied that they were no immediate threat, Tee crossed over to the chests and began inspecting them while the others hung back near the pool from which they had emerged (with Agnarr, in particular, making sure the hole in the ice – and their potential retreat – remained open).

The heavy iron chests had been bolted to the stone floor beneath the ice. The top of each chest was marked with an inscription:

“Mysteries of the Purple City”
“Blades of the Galchutt”
“The Kingslayer Spear”
“The Despairing Word of Chaos”
“The Tools of Chaos”
“Freedom’s Key”

Tee pulled out her lockpicks and set to work. The locks on the chests, however, proved difficult, and she reflected glumly that if she had received the magical tools she had requested from the Dreaming Apothecary this would be a much easier task. Magical protections or not, she could still feel the cold of this place seeping into her bones.

As Tee was struggling with the first lock, however, her work was abruptly interrupted: The sudden, sharp sound of cracking ice made her look up to see one of the minotaurs punching his way out from his icy tomb. The ice in front of the other one was clearly melting, and she could already see thick cracks spreading through the ice as it, too, struggled to be free.

Thinking quickly, Tee reached quickly into her bag of holding and pulled out the least damaged set of Crimson Coil robes. She quickly slipped the robes on and stood up.

“Ah, the Night of Dissolution is come at last!” The first minotaur was stepping free from the wall of ice, shaking the ice from his eyes. The second was also emerging.

The first minotaur turned bleary eyes towards Tee. “Who are you?”

“A servant of Wuntad.”

“And has the Night of Dissolution come?”

“Yes.” Tee moved up towards the door on the far wall, trying to position the minotaurs with their backs to the others. “What’s behind this door?”

The second minotaur approached her. “Did Wuntad not give you the password?”

“He didn’t,” Tee said truthfully.

A worried look entered the minotaur’s eye. “Then I wouldn’t go in there.”

“Wait,” Tee said, looking meaningfully at the others. “You wouldn’t go in there?”

But none of the others were taking her cue, so she decided to take a different tact. “Do you have the key for these chests?”

“Wuntad didn’t give it to you?”

“No, he did not.”

“And why isn’t Wuntad here to greet us?”

“He has been barred from the keep by magic,” Tee said, expressing a truthful suspicion that she had. “Go to him and fetch the key.”

The minotaurs seemed guileless – or perhaps deferred completely to those wearing the crimson robes. Without another word they both headed to tunnel of icy water and dived out of sight.

Tor, having watched them go, turned to Tee. “Did we just send him reinforcements?”

“Does it matter?” Tee said. “I didn’t see any of you leaping to stop them.”

“They won’t get far in any case,” Ranthir pointed out. “The statue is shut.”

“Well, let’s get these chests open before they come back.”

THE SIX CHESTS AND THE KEY OF FREEDOM

Tee turned to the smallest of the chests, the one labeled “Freedom’s Key”. She was certain that this was what they had come to Pythoness House for in the first place. Once she defeated the lock, she opened the chest to reveal a golden key laying on velvet lining.

The end of the key seemed to be twisting and, looking more closely at it, Tee could see that it was actually made of innumerable pieces almost too small for the eye to see – they were constantly in flux, seeming to warp and twist and move in an almost impossible manner, as if their movement were not truly determined by the limitations of the natural world.

Tee was fascinated – almost enthralled – by the artifact. With delicate fingers she reached down and picked it up…

And felt a coldness rush up from her fingers and seem to bury itself in her soul. Despite the throbbing pain and waves of weakness emanating from the key, her curiosity could not be contained. She turned to the next chest, the one labeled “Mysteries of the Purple City”. Inserting the golden key carefully into the lock she turned it.

The lock opened with a satisfying click. But the pain and the cold intensified. Tee almost felt as if her soul were being ripped out through her. Her hand flew to her head and she sagged, nearly fainting where she stood.

“Tee!” Elestra cried. “Is everything alright?”

“I’m fine,” Tee said. “But I don’t think I should be using this key any more.” She slipped it into her bag of holding… but even there she could still feel its presence like a cold weight on her soul.

Inside this second chest there was an ancient-looking box of ironwood inscribed with several strange, round-shaped runes. Ranthir confirmed that these, like those on the robes of the giant skeleton above, were Lithuin runes.

Opening the ironwood box revealed four crystals as large as a fist and a journal with a worn leather cover and yellow, blood-stained pages. Without even bothering to glance at it, Tee passed it over to Ranthir and moved onto the next chest.

Tee returned to her lockpicks and began opening the other chests as Ranthir began to quickly skim through the journal. The “Blades of the Galchutt” were two matched longswords of blackened steel with hilts carved in the shape of demons’ heads. “The Kingslayer Spear” had a shaft of adamantium carved with strange runes similar to those they had seen on the idols within Ghul’s Labyrinth. “The Despairing Word of Chaos” was a rod of strange metal.

The last chest, the “Tools of Chaos”, contained several strange items: A cloak of rich red fabric, two small vials filled with ash-like dust, and a skull marked with several symbols of chaos.

Ranthir, meanwhile, was comparing what he was reading in the journal to everything he knew of the lost city of Lithuin. He knew of the ancient tales which claimed that a fleet bearing mystic giants known as the Titan Spawn founded the legendary city of Lithuin on what was now the coast of Arathia. It was said that the earliest caravans and merchant houses were specifically founded to ferry goods to and from the great city. After generations of such trade, the Titan Spawn succumbed to some form of madness and their ships sailed back across the ocean to their mysterious continent of mists. Lithuin itself “fell into the sea” and its treasures and lore were lost to the ages. But the journal claimed that the city – or some fragment of the city – had been found…

LITHUIN JOURNAL

This hand-written journal appears to be the record of an archaeological exploration. No specific year is given, but the entries seem to be spread across at least three months.

Several names are mentioned, most notably Wuntad – who appeared to be in charge of the expedition, although (in the opinion of the writer) not particularly proficient with the methods of excavation. The other names explicitly mentioned are Ibard, Kambranex, Coluvien, Falant, and Navanna – although it’s clear that there were at least several others, left unnamed, accompanying them.

The location of the expedition is eventually identified as the ancient city of Lithuin – or at least, what they writers believe to be the city of Lithuin. Progress appeared to be slow, and hindered by a variety of small catastrophes. Over the course of the journal, these catastrophes grow in severity. In one particularly tragic collapse, Coluvien was apparently killed.

Wuntad’s frustration with their lack of progress – marked by frequent rages – also become a common theme of the journal. Then, after nearly two months, they find a “box of remarkable crystals”. Wuntad becomes fascinated by these and, reportedly, retires to his tent to study them incessantly.

The last entries of the journal become short and erratic. There are references to “moving shadows”, “ancient shadows”, and “the shadows are coming”. Then the entries come to an abrupt end.

NEXT:
Running the Campaign: The Price of Magic – Campaign Journal: Session 23E
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index

Go to Table of Contents

Design Note: This post contains the revelation lists associated with Lulu’s Memory Mystery, including a lot of material that the PCs discover while exploring Avernus in Part 7 of the Remix. See Using Revelation Lists, for tips and tricks on how to make best use of these lists.

REVELATION LIST – ESSENTIAL

This revelation list features revelations I’ve deemed “essential” for the players to (a) have a comprehensive picture of Lulu’s missing memories and (b) fully comprehend and appreciate Zariel’s story (particularly any path through the Avernian Quest which includes returning or using Zariel’s Sword).

LULU MEETS ZARIEL:

• Triggered Memory: Hearing Zariel’s Name
• Zariel’s Bridge (Hex G5)
• Questioning Mahadi

TRIAL OF ASMODEUS

• Triggered Memory: Heated Argument With a Devil
• Adjunct Court of Hell (Hex G1)
• Asmodean Pillars (Hex A3)

FOUNDING THE CRUSADE

• Questioning the Hellriders
• Triggered Memory: A Gathering of Forces
• Memory Dive: The Dream Machine

THE THREE GENERALS: YAEL

• Questioning the Hellriders
• Triggered Memory: Downed PC / Companion/ Ally
• Memory Dive: The Dream Machine
• Memory Dive: Vision From Torm
• Questioning Lux Arakxis (Hex F2)

THE THREE GENERALS: OLANTHIUS

• Questioning the Hellriders
• Triggered Memory: Lulu Comes to High Hall
• Memory Dive: Vision From Torm

THE THREE GENERALS: HARUMAN

• Questioning the Hellriders
• Memory Dive: Vision From Torm
• Zariel’s Bridge (Hex G5a)

CHARGE OF THE HELLRIDERS: THIRD VISIT TO IDYLLGLEN

• Questioning the Hellriders
• Triggered Memory: A Magic Portal
• Memory Dive: The Dream Machine
• Memory Dive: Vision From Torm
• Questioning Lux Arakxis (Hex F2)

CHARGE OF THE HELLRIDERS: BATTLE OF AVERNUS

• Questioning the Hellriders
• Triggered Memory: Downed PC / Companion / Ally
• Memory Dive: The Dream Machine
• Questioning Lux Arakxis (Hex F2)

ZARIEL FELL AFTER THE BATTLE OF AVERNUS

• Memory Dive: Claiming the Sword / Vision From Torm
• Questioning Haruman / Olanthius
• Mirror of Mephistar (Hex I1)

LULU & YAEL SENT TO HIDE ZARIEL’S SWORD

• Triggered Memory: Seeing the Styx
• Triggered Memory: Yael’s Last Words
• Memory Dive: Vision of Torm / The Dream Machine
• Questioning Yael

LULU WANDERING: THE WANDERING EMPORIUM

• Triggered Memory: Seeing Zariel’s Flying Fortress
• Memory Dive: The Dream Machine
• Questioning Agamemnova Hex (Hex F2)

LULU WANDERING: AT ZARIEL’S COURT

• Triggered Memory: Seeing Zariel’s Flying Fortress
• Questioning Haruman
• Questioning Mahadi

LULU WANDERING: L’ZETH’S AMBUSH

• Triggered Memory: Meeting Bitter Breath
• Questioning Bitter Breath

Homework: In her wanderings in Avernus, Lulu could have visited any or many other locations in Avernus. You can add these to the revelation list (perhaps including triggered memories) to further flesh out Lulu’s back story, provide useful lore, or both.

REVELATION LIST – COOL STUFF

These additional revelations cover material from the Zariel/Lulu backstory that are significant, but not required for the Avernian Quest to make sense. Mostly I’ve created this list to properly distribute this lore throughout the campaign. Because these are non-essential elements, it’s not strictly necessary to follow the Three Clue Rule. (Although I generally have because it’s just good praxis.)

AVERNIAD

• Memory Dive: Claiming the Sword
• Sibriex (Hex E5)
• Zariel’s Bridge (Hex G5)

ZARIEL’S LONG MARCH

• Memory Dive: Claiming the Sword
• Questioning Haruman
• Sibriex (Hex E5)

FIRST VISIT TO IDYLLGLEN

• Memory Dive: Claiming the Sword
• Questioning Olanthius
• Questioning Yael

SECOND VISIT TO IDYLLGLEN

• Memory Dive: The Dream Machine
• Questioning Olanthius / Yael
• Random Encounter: Allip’s Secret

“DREAM A LITTLE BIGGER”

• Memory Dive: Vision from Torm
• Memory Dive: The Dream Machine
• Questioning Olanthius / Yael

THE RECKONING: SIEGE OF DIS

• Questioning Haruman
• Mirror of Mephistar (Hex I1)
• Random Encounter: Escort to Dis

THE RECKONING: ZARIEL’S IMPRISONMENT

• Questioning Haruman
• Mirror of Mephistar (Hex I1)
• Zariel’s Bridge (Hex G5)

THE RIFT WAR

• Questioning Haruman
• Baron Barur Tolmanen (Hex F2)
• The Rift Mound (Hex C2)

THE RIFT WAR: ZARIEL’S SECOND AVERNIAN MARCH

• Questioning Haruman
• Baron Barur Tolmanen (Hex F2)
• Zariel’s Bridge (Hex G5)

THE RIFT WAR: ZARIEL BECOMES ARCHDUCHESS

• Questioning Haruman
• Baron Barur Tolmanen (Hex F2)
• Zariel’s Bridge (Hex G5)

Go to Part 6D-H: Lulu’s Memories (The Four Memory Dives)

Goat-ball is a team sport similar to dodgeball that’s played by goliaths. It uses a furry, misshaped ball made of stuffed goat hide and also requires a dozen or more elevated platforms (usually pillars, boulders, or tree stumps) arranged in a random pattern. Two teams leap from platform to platform, pass the ball back and forth, and try to knock their opponents off their platforms.

STARTING THE GAME: Traditionally, the ball is kicked into play by a goat and the two teams try to catch it to gain first possession. It’s not unusual, though, for a referee to throw the ball into play instead.

POSSESSION: The possessing team’s goal is to complete three passes between teammates standing on four different platforms. (You can’t just pass it back and forth between the same platforms.) Once you’ve completed three passes, the ball becomes hot. You can throw a hot ball and strike a member of the opposing team to knock them out of play. (This is referred to as a knock off even though the player does not have to be physically knocked off their platform by the throw.) If the hot throw is successful (i.e., it knocks off a member of the opposing team), the ball is placed on the platform of the player who was knocked off and remains hot and in the possession of the throwing team.

CHANGE OF POSSESSION: If the ball is intercepted, the ball hits the ground, or the player holding the ball hits the ground, the other team gains possession of the ball. (The ball is given to a player of that team’s choice.)

KNOCK OFFS: A player who is struck by a hot ball or who touches the ground for any reason is knocked off. They are eliminated from play until a change of possession.

WINNING: A team loses when all of their players have been eliminated. The last surviving team wins the game.

Note: The game is usually played by two teams, but “thunder scrums” featuring multiple teams all playing against each other at the same time can also be played.

GOAT-BALL MECHANICS

A game of goat-ball is divided into rounds, with each round being referred to as a pass.

STARTING THE GAME: When the goat kicks the ball, all players make a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. The highest result gains possession. In the case of a tie involving multiple teams, have the tied characters roll off with an additional Dexterity (Acrobatics) check.

INITIATIVE: In each pass, the players roll initiative and declare their intended actions in reverse initiative order.

The current ball carrier makes their action declaration in secret (writing it down on a piece of paper and revealing it only after all other actions have been declared). If they are attempting a Throw, they must indicate who they are throwing the ball to or at.

ACTIONS: Characters who have been knocked off cannot take an action in the game until a change of possession allow them to rejoin the action.

• Throw: Players on the team which has possession can participate in the Throw. Every player participating in the throw makes a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (their choice) vs. DC 5. On a failure, they have fallen off. On a success, add the margin of success to the throw total.
• Intercept: Players on the opposing team can attempt to intercept. Every player taking the Intercept action can make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (their choice) vs. DC 5. On a failure, they have fallen off. On a success, add the margin of success to the intercept total.
• Knock-Off: You can attempt to physically knock off a member of the opposing team by making a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target’s Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (the target chooses the ability they use). On a success, you knock them off. If the ball carrier is knocked off, the pass immediately ends and possession changes. If the target of the current Throw is knocked off, the Throw automatically fails.
• Defend: You can take a Help action to grant advantage to a character targeted by a Knock-Off action.

PASS: If a pass was attempted, compare the throw total to the intercept total. If the throw total was higher, the pass was successful and the target becomes the new ball carrier. If the intercept total was higher, the opposing team has gained possession and the character with the highest Intercept check result that round becomes the new ball carrier. (In practice, this might be due to an actual interception or the ball may have simply hit the ground.)

HOT THROWS: If three passes have been successfully completed by the possessing team, they can instead attempt a hot throw to knock out an opposing player. This is resolved like a pass, but if the throwing team succeeds, the ball carrier can make a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check with advantage opposed by the target’s Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. On a failure, possession changes. On a success, the target is eliminated and the throwing team retains possession. (In either case, the possessing team chooses the new ball carrier.)

OPTIONAL RULE: ZONES

For the purposes of resolution, you can break the field of play up into multiple zones.

• Move: Players can Move to an adjacent zone as an action.
• Throw / Intercept: Being in the same zone as the ball carrier or target grants advantage on throw and intercept checks.
• Knock-Off / Defend: You must be in the same zone as the target to attempt a Knock-Off or Defend action.
• Block: A player can attempt to block opposing players from entering their zone.

Design Note: I’m not sure what the right number of zones is. I think the sweet spot might be roughly three times as many players as zones, but it needs some playtesting.

OPTIONAL RULES: QUICK RESOLUTION

To quickly resolve a goat-ball game, simply have all the players on each team make either a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (their choice). Add up the total score for each time. The team with the highest total wins. In the event of a tie, the team whose player had the highest single untied check result wins. If the result is still a tie, the game ends in a draw after several exhausting hours of play.

BLOOD-BALL

Blood-ball is a variant of goat-ball in which the ball is replaced with a spear. The rules remain the same, except, of course, that getting knocked off by a spear throw can often be a lethal experience. In some cases, any knock-off is lethal in blood-ball (with all such players being executed).

Blood-ball is usually only played to resolve the most serious of clan rivalries or disputes. It may also be played as gladiatorial sport by smaller races in the decadent south (which goliaths find distasteful).

EMPOWERED GAMES

Goat-ball is usually a contest of purely physical skill, but some goat-ball games allow the use of spells or supernatural abilities. In some cases this is limited to a specific set of magical abilities. Lethal spells are usually banned (with the exception of blood-ball matches). Flying is always banned, since it largely negates the whole point of the game.

Note: Empowered games are rarely played and blood ball is never played at Wyrmdoom Crag, but they’re the kind of thing youngsters gossip about in scandalous whispers.

Go to Icewind Dale Index

DISCUSSING:
In the Shadow of the Spire – Session 23C: Beneath Pythoness House

But when they returned to the statue, they found that the hole in its stomach had closed up.

“It’s like its reset or something,” Elestra muttered.

“I MUST FEED…”

Now, standing in this hall, they were sure that the voice was emanating directly from the statue itself.

Last week we talked about techniques that break down the natural firewall of the dungeon: Techniques that will have you and your players thinking holistically about the entire dungeon environment instead of just one room at a time.

Today’s journal entry features a similar technique in the form of cyclical dungeon activity.

Basically, all of these techniques seek to take a static dungeon — in which each room passively exists in a status quo until the PCs enter it — and transform it into an active complex. The advantages of this are myriad and probably obvious: it deepens the players’ immersion by making the game world seem truly alive; it increases the strategic challenge of the scenario; it emergently creates complex dramatic situations and difficult dilemmas.

Cyclical dungeon activity is one way of accomplishing this.

THE GLOBAL TIMER

The concept of a “global timer” comes from video games. To simplify greatly, it’s a counter that is constantly iterating and helps keep all of the events in the game in sync. In video games this can range from the broad to the very specific. (For example, in Mario 64 small snowflakes generate when the counter is even and large snowflakes are generated when the timer is odd.)

You are not a computer and you shouldn’t run your game as if you were.

But we can borrow the concept of the global timer and apply it fruitfully. You can see a simple example of this in Pythoness House:

• When the statue says, “Come to me…” the spirit within it seals the castle so that the PCs cannot easily escape.
• When the statue says, “I must feed…” the statue itself is warded by a curse.
• When the statue says, “Chaos is the key…” the depression into which the spiral contrivance can be inserted opens on the statue’s belly.

In short, your “global timer” is a set of discrete states, with each state determining particular features in the dungeon. As the state changes, the topography, feature, and/or inhabitants of the dungeon will shift.

The advantage of the technique is that you only need to keep track of one thing — Which state is the dungeon currently in? — and you can apply that one piece of information to whatever area the PCs are currently in. This lets you manage dungeon-wide changes and activities with incredibly simple bookkeeping.

PLAYER INTERACTION

As you can see in the example of Pythoness House, the switch state can be both diegetic (i.e., something actually shifting in the game world) and directly apparent to the players (everyone in the dungeon can hear the spirit’s declaration).

Neither is necessarily true. There may be no clear “signal” that will notify the PCs that the state of the dungeon has changed (or what it has changed to). It’s also quite possible for the global timer to be partially or entirely an abstraction that exists only for your managerial benefit.

For example, you might design a slavers’ fortress in both a Day state and a Night state, but this doesn’t mean that the slavers all become clockwork automatons. (Although a fortress of clockwork slavers has some fascinating thematic implications. But I digress.) The global timer is a useful tool for broadly modeling the fortress, but if the PCs start closely examining the place what they’re “really” going to see is quite different than that abstraction.

Regardless, as you can see in the campaign journal, this type of cyclical dungeon activity can naturally function as a puzzle for the players, ranging from the simple to the complex. In addition to more specific effects, figuring out how the dungeon’s cycle works will make it easier for the PCs to navigate and overcome the dungeon’s challenges. (For example, figuring out when the best time to strike the slavers’ fortress would be.)

Something else to consider are player-triggered state changes. This might be something they deliberately choose to do, but more often it’s not: The dungeon might shift every time they enter a particular room, go down a particular staircase, or drink from a particular fountain.

When combined with obfuscated or nonexistent signals, these player-triggered state changes can create delightfully complicated puzzles.

(It’s also fun when the players think that there must be something they’re doing to trigger the state changes, but it’s actually just random or on a global timer.)

Such state changes could also be a one-time event: The dungeon is in one state until the PCs trigger a trap, and then the whole dungeon shifts into a different (and presumably more dangerous) state.

This also creates the possibility for NPC-triggered state changes: Everything is fine until one of the bad guys manage to hit the big red PANIC button and the alarm klaxons start sounding.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

With only a little imagination, it’s easy to see how such timers could be made quite complex, dynamic, and perhaps even conditional.

So let me just briefly reiterate: Don’t do that.

You are not computer. The whole point of this technique is to simplify your bookkeeping and management of the dungeon. It’s real easy to become enamored of the Rube Goldberg device you’re constructing until the tail starts ferociously wagging the dog.

If you do want to increase the complexity of your dungeon states, try adding a second global timer — unconnected to the first and out of sync with it — to your dungeon. I suspect you’ll find the combinatory interactions between the two cycles will add a delightful amount of complexity while keeping your bookkeeping dead simple. This will, in particular, be more than sufficient to mask the nature of cycles you would prefer to keep hidden from your players (because, for example, they’re a non-diegetic abstraction intended to create a living world).

NEXT:
Campaign Journal: Session 23D – Running the Campaign: The Price of Magic
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index