Difference between revisions of "Dwimmermount: If Trouble Was Money"

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(Treasure)
(Treasure)
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'''Yet to be distributed'''
 
'''Yet to be distributed'''
 
*20 silver spikes (1,000 gp)
 
*20 silver spikes (1,000 gp)
*Chest with alchemical tools  
+
*Chest with alchemical tools (125 gp)
 
*Scroll
 
*Scroll
 
*500 sp
 
*500 sp

Revision as of 10:55, 28 May 2015

Mountains castles fantasy art artwork drawings rivers 2560x1600 wallpaper www.wall321.com 82.jpg


The Heroes

List the PCs and their henchmen here. A la the Grim Fist, I will allow henches of henches. Use the below as an example. Instead of just saying "player character whatever," of course, it should be a link to their sheet. The below is provided purely as an example. Each character name should be followed by the following information Class Level, AC: X HP: Y, and a primary physical attack if you want to list it. So, it would look like Bob the Barbaric, Fighter 2, AC: 15 HP: 9/9

  • Golle the Gregarious Elven Spellsword 4 | AC 5 | HP 9/10 | Sword 8+; 1d6+2/1d8+2
    • Casper, monkey familiar Capuchin monkey | AC | HP 5/5 | 10+; 1d2
    • Climent Magic-user 4 | AC 1 | HP 10/10 | Dagger 9+; 1d4 | Dagger 8+; 1d4 (thrown) | +1 Initiative
    • Eryn Blade-dancer 4 | AC 6 | HP 17/18 | Swords 9+; 1d6 | +3 Initiative
    • Wila Explorer 3 | AC 5 | HP 15/15 | Spear 8+; 1d6+4/1d8+4 | Crossbow 8+; 1d8+2 | +2 Initiative/+1 bonus to avoid surprise (from Alertness)
    • Rugu the Lawful Fighter 3 | AC 5 | HP 10/10 | Halberd 8+; 1d10+2 | No initiative Modifier/+1 bonus to avoid surprise (from Combat Reflexes)
  • Savia the Savant Wonderworker 3 | AC 3 | HP: 13/13 | Dagger 10+; 1d4 | Crossbow 9+; 1d8 | +1 Initiative
    • Happ Fighter 2 | AC 6 | HP 6/6 | Morning Star 9+; 1d10+2 | Crossbow 10+; 1d8+1
    • Shirou Assassin 3 | AC 2 | HP 10/10 | Mace 8+; 1d6+3 | Crossbow 9+; 1d8+2

Lost in the Dark

  • Cygon the Cyanope Fighter 3, AC: 8, HP 9/13, Warhammer 9+, 1d6+2/1d8+2; No Initiative Modifier

Deceased

  • Donmar the Daedal Hand of Tyche, Cleric 3, AC: 6, HP: 12/12, Morning Star 9+, 1d10; Sling 9+, 1d4; no Initiative mod
  • Oloigri the Dwarf, Dwarven Vaultguard 2, AC: 5, HP 9/16, Sword 8+, 1d6+2/1d8+2; No Initiative Modifier; +1 bonus to surprise rolls underground

Mercenaries

Golle's Guardians

  • Four light infantry
  • Two slingers
  • One heavy infantry
  • One crossbowman
  • Two bowmen
  • One longbowman
  • One light cavalry

Encumbrance Ape

I'm going to require PCs and henchmen to keep a generally updated encumbrance total. If you have a magic-user with a bare handful of items, then we can let it slide for a while, presuming that his encumbrance is well less than what would slow him down. Doughty warriors with arms and armor, though, should probably keep it updated. As per prior games, you should have your character's gear calculated on their own sheet. In this section, we track what treasure they have picked up. Note that in ACKS, the weight given to coinage is extremely generous. Note house rules below.

  • Golle the Gregarious
    • Gear: 10 5/6 stone
    • Treasure: Iron box
    • Total Encumbrance: 9 5/6 Movement Rate: 60/20/60
  • Climent the Sorcerer
    • Gear: 4 4/6 stone
    • Treasure: 3/6 stone (Two potions and 200 sp)
    • Total Encumbrance: 5 1/6 stone, Movement Rate: 90/30/90
  • Eryn the Bladedancer
    • Gear: 5 5/6 stone
    • Treasure: Iron box (1 stone)
    • Total: 4 5/6 stone, Movement Rate: 120/40/120
  • Wila the Explorer
    • Gear: 11 stone
    • Treasure: Iron box (1 stone)
    • Total: 10 stone, Movement Rate: 60/20/60
  • Rugu the Lawful Fighter
    • Gear: 10 4/6 stone
    • Treasure: Iron box (1 stone)
    • Total Encumbrance: 9 4/6 stone, Movement Rate: 60/20/60
  • Savia the Wonderworker
    • Gear: 6 stone
    • Treasure: 4/6 stone (200 sp, Rod), Viridian Spellbook, potion
    • Total Encumbrance: 6 4/6 stone, Movement Rate: 90/30/90
  • Happ the Fighter
    • Gear: 10 stone
    • Treasure:
    • Total Encumbrance: 10 stone, Movement Rate: 60/20/60
  • Shirou the Assassin
    • Gear: 2 5/6 stone
    • Treasure:
    • Total Encumbrance: 2 5/6 stone, Movement Rate: 120/40/120

Lost in the Dark

  • Cygon the Cyanope
    • Gear: 8 2/6ths stone
    • Treasure: "an odd, cylindrical wineskin with a strange diagram, stained with ink, tooled into its leather [IC post 132]."
    • Total Encumbrance: 8 3/6 stone Movement Rate: 60/20/60

Treasure

Yet to be distributed

  • 20 silver spikes (1,000 gp)
  • Chest with alchemical tools (125 gp)
  • Scroll
  • 500 sp
  • Dagger
  • Three potions
  • 7,500 sp
  • A piece of turquoise (25 gp)
  • A wrought-silver statuette of a dragon (400 gp)
  • Three weird masks made of steel and leaded glass (190 gp apiece)
  • Jeweled collar (from a gnoll) worth 600 gp
  • Citrine (100 gp)

Group treasure

  • Varazes' spellbook
    • 1st - Charm Person, Choking Grip, Detect Magic, Sleep
    • 2nd - Mirror Image, Stinking Cloud, Web

Experience Awarded

Mounts

  • Golle the Gregarious: Medium Warhorse
    • Climent: Medium Riding Horse
    • Eryn: Medium Riding Horse
    • Wila: Medium Riding Horse
    • Rugu the Lawful: Medium Riding Horse
  • Savia the Savant: Medium Draft Horse
    • Shirou the Assassin: Donkey
    • Happ the Fighter: none

Standard Orders and Routines

Dungeon Marching Order

  • Eryn | Golle
  • Wila | Rugu
  • Savia | Happ
  • Shirou

Savia holding lantern

When Climent comes back

  • Golle | Eryn
  • Rugu | Wila
  • Climent | Savia
  • Happ | Shirou

Light

Savia - Lantern (refueled on Turn 25)

Spells Cast on Current Delve

Savia

1st level M-U spells (2/2)

[X] [ ]

2nd level M-U spells (1/1)

[ ]

Detect Magic (1/1)

[ ]

1st level Cleric spells (2/2)

[ ] [ ]

Lay on Hands (1/1)

[ ]

Golle

1st level M-U spells (2/2)

[ ] [ ]

Cure Light Wounds (1/1)

Maps

Put maps here, or at least links to them. I think you guys both know how to draw maps with Google Drawings. If a PC has some kind of mapping proficiency, I'm much more likely to correct errors.

NPCs

List important NPCs here

  • Ramses is introduced here.

Setting Lore

Geopolitics, trade modifiers, and other information goes here. Please note that this campaign will largely be about discovery. I will give you bits and pieces of information as we go on, and it will be up to you to record it and take advantage of it. I think we'll go ahead and separate this by region.

Area around Muntburg and Dwimmer

  • Map of surrounding area here.

Muntburg

Muntburg.jpg

  • THE FORTIFIED TOWN OF MUNTBURG (meaning “mountain castle” in a now-obscure local language) was built during Thulian times to guard the trade route through the Wintertops, at the other end of which lay Winterburg (2206). Of relatively minor importance in those days, Muntburg has grown considerably since the fall of the Empire. Now under the authority of the City-State of Adamas (2415), Muntburg still guards the trade route (which is considerably less active than it once was), but its primary purpose is to keep an eye on Dwimmermount and the adventurers and cultists that are drawn to the ancient citadel.
  • Domain Population: 100 urban families; 625 peasant families.
  • Market Class V
  • Map: http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc177/WyzardWhately/Muntburg_zps3f7feb86.jpg
  • Location 1, Main Gate: Muntburg’s main gate is accessible only by a drawbridge, which is usually kept up. The gatehouse is made from great granite blocks and stands 20 feet tall. It is further protected by a portcullis. Four crossbowmen keep watch atop the gatehouse, while two men-at-arms greet travelers from behind the portcullis. Unfamiliar visitors must announce their names and intentions, which one of the men-at-arms will relay to their corporal, below, for his decision about whether the newcomers are to be allowed inside.
  • Location 5, Temple of Typhon. It is inhabited by the curate Louys Herint, and his two acolytes. He is capable of spellcasting, but charges a steep price for it. He is also considered a martinet and a boor. CLW for 100 gp.
  • Location 10, Dwarf gemsmith, by the name of Delster
  • Location 11, Chapel of Tyche. More well-regarded is Emelisse, who operates the rather smaller chapel of Tyche. She is merely a Priestess, but what spells she does command she gives freely to any who make even a modest donation.
  • Location 13, The Green Dragon Inn: Maintained by a middle-aged man named Asce and his wife, Doree, this inn has four private rooms and a common room with enough space for a dozen. Both Asce and Doree are normal Men.
  • Location 14, Flask and Scroll Tavern: Run by Macyot and his family (wife, two sons, and a daughter), the Flask and Scroll Tavern is open day and night and is usually bustling with activity. Both travelers and regular residents of Muntburg come here for good food and drink, as well as to socialize and swap stories. At any given time, there are 1d6+2 patrons (mostly guardsmen or men-at-arms) in the tavern; there is a 25% chance that some more important named NPC is present.
  • Location 23, Visiting Noble Mage, Renting the three apartments next to Location 6. Name is Colette. Guarded by Sergeant Brost.
  • Location 23, Typhon's Fists, Renting the two apartments to the SE of Location 14.
  • Location 23, Savia's apartment, next to the Temple of Typhon (#5)
  • Location 23, Shirou and Happ's apartment, next to the Chapel of Tyche (#11)

Setting History

List ancient secrets here. Please note that this campaign will largely be about discovery. I will give you bits and pieces of information as we go on, and it will be up to you to record it and take advantage of it. The following are historical eras that you can fill in the details of as we go.

Era 0: ???

Era 1: ???

Era 2: ???

Era 3: The Eld

The age of the Great Ancients ended when Telluria was invaded by the Eld, the Red Elves of Areon. Wielding Chaotic magicks learned from pacts with demons, the Red Elves overwhelmed the Great Ancients and drove them from history. Precisely what happened to the Ancients is a mystery. The most popular opinion is that they were wiped out by the Eld. A minority of sages claim that the Great Ancients fled to a secret redoubt—in the West, in another world, deep underground—and that they will one day make a glorious return to Telluria, ushering in a new golden age.

In any case, with the Ancients dead or at least gone, the Red Elves established dominion over Telluria. The Eld enslaved mankind, drove the dwarves to near-extinction, and warped and twisted many other species to create monstrous servants. The Eld ruled absolutely for over six hundred years. Rebellions occurred regularly, as men tried in vain to throw off the yoke of the alien invaders, but the Eld cruelly put down any resistance to their reign.

Eventually, the northern barbarians known as the Thulians began to achieve victories against the Eld. The Thulians attributed their victories to their gods, to whom they were especially devoted; and to their abhorrence of arcane magic, which they saw as contrary to Law and right. Whatever the truth, the Thulian’s success against the Red Elves began inspiring other men and even the native elves of Telluria to take up arms against them. With each defeat at Thulian hands, the Eld lost ground, eventually even abandoning Dwimmermount, which the Thulians seized.

  • Areon - This is a different planet, or possibly a different plane of existence?

Era 4: The Thulians

Era 5: The Turmaxians

Dwimmermount was created by the Great Ancients, the ancestors of men and the founders of the world’s first civilization.

A man entered Dwimmermount and became a god. This was Turms Turmax, who was arrested and imprisoned by the Thulians for defying the Great Church’s ban on mages and preaching the pursuit of immortality.

Typhonians are followers of Typhon, mightiest of the Gods of the Great Church, who led the rebellion against Turms’ usurpation of the Thulian Empire and work to keep his dark secrets imprisoned in Dwimmermount. They are opposed by Turmaxian cultists who seek to bring about Turm’s dreams of empire and gain the secret of his apotheosis. The Turmaxians have been working for centuries to convince people that all of the Gods of the Great Church are merely aspects of Turms Termax, as his coming divinity echoed into the past.

Eryn confirms that there is a constant struggle within the Temple of Tyche as well, to keep the Turmaxian infiltrators from spreading heretical ideas. Some sections of the church have already undergone a schism.

In time, like the Eld before them, the Thulians encountered resistance to their continued rule. Outlying regions of the Thulian Empire struggled for independence; and non-humans, particularly goblins, sought to chart their own courses, free from human interference. Again, like the Eld before them, the Thulians brutally fought back against these rebellions, slowly descending ever further into tyranny.

Into this environment stepped a man known to history as Turms Termax. His origins are unknown, though it is believed he came from an eastern province of the Thulian Empire. In any case, Turms was a powerful magician, perhaps the most powerful since the days of the Great Ancients and the Eld.

Turms believed that magic was man’s vehicle to godhood, and he preached against both the decadent Thulian Empire and its inquisitorial Great Church. Needless to say, his activities drew the ire of the authorities, who searched far and wide for him, lest he inspire others to rebellion.

Eventually, the Thulians captured Turms and took him to Dwimmermount, where he was prosecuted for heresy, judged guilty, and beheaded. But Turms did not perish. According to legend, rather than die beneath the axe blow of a Thulian headsman, Turms achieved apotheosis, becoming a god, as he had always claimed he would.

Shocked to their cores by this event, his Thulian persecutors became his most ardent followers. Within weeks of Turms’s capture, the Empire espoused his philosophy, lifting the restrictions against magic, and reforming the Great Church to teach the new truths that the Thrice-Great (so-called due to his mastery of magic, alchemy, and astronomy) had revealed.

The Thulian Empire continued to rule—under Turmaxian control. At first, the followers of Turms acted as “advisors” to the Thulian emperors, guiding their decisions and using their command of magic to shore up the teetering empire. Later, the Turmaxians seized direct control, with Turmaxian necrolytes wearing the Iron Crown of Thule.

Under Turmaxian rule, worship of the Thulian gods gave way to worship of the Man-Become-God Turms, with the older gods being seen as little more than prefigurations of his glory. The Turmaxian coup injected some vitality into the dying empire, but it was not enough, especially given the way that they accorded themselves and all mages special privileges over others.

Though the Turmaxians began to deploy powerful magic from the workshops and foundries of Dwimmermount, it was not enough to stop the rebellions. Led by clerics of Typhon and Tyche, neither of whom accepted the new order of the Turmaxians, entire provinces seceded from the empire. Chaos reigned.

As the insurrections grew more numerous and the Turmaxians more desperate, reports of atrocities spread. The Turmaxians began using monsters as shock troops, supporting their offensives with the darkest Chaotic magicks of the ancient Eldritch grimoires. These proved insufficient to ward off the relentless assaults of the rebels, seemingly blessed by Typhon and Tyche to end the sacrileges the Turmaxians had introduced. After a series of decisive victories, the rebel armies were within a league of Dwimmermount, poised to capture the mountain fortress and cut the Turmaxians off from their great magical arsenal.

Strangely, when the rebels reached Dwimmermount, they found the fortress had already fallen. Its lights were darkened; its enchantries and manufactory were quiet; its main doors had been magically sealed; none of the other known entrances were operational. The fall of Dwimmermount deprived the Turmaxians of their strongest fortress and most powerful leaders. Without any knowledge of what had happened or why, the victorious rebels nevertheless took advantage of the situation. The remaining Turmaxian armies were soon routed, and the Empire collapsed.

In its place arose a patchwork of city-states and principalities. The most powerful remaining institution was the temple of Typhon, which had supplied many of the leaders of the rebellion. The Typhonians, vowing to prevent future tyrants from obtaining the dark and potent magicks of Dwimmermount, established an enduring watch on the dungeon from the nearby town of Muntburg.

The fall of Dwimmermount was two hundred years ago.

Era 6: The City-States

Era 7: Present Day

Materials within Dwimmermount

  • Raw Azoth
  • Areonite
  • Vitreum: This strong, lightweight, and shatter-resistant substance was extensively used by the Great Ancients in buildings, doors, and windows. Vitreum is naturally transparent and sparkling, like lead crystal, but can be tinted and frosted as desired. The secret of creating vitreum was lost in the Third Era. It cannot be re-worked using present technology and is thus not very valuable except as a collectible.
  • Hepatizon: A bronze alloy, forged from copper, tin, and silver, hepatizon patinates to a dark purplish-black. It is used throughout Dwimmermount in jewelry, ornamentation, and statuary. The method of making it has been lost since the Fifth Era. If available, hepatizon can be used as a precious material by spellcasters creating magic items.

Valued at 10gp per pound.

House Rules

Spell Scribing

  • Scribing a spell into a spellbook: This takes one day per spell level, and 200 gp per level. It takes a number of pages per spell level.
  • Scribing/Swapping/Learning takes 1, 2, or 4 days per level, respectively. You can always fold a lower-time activity into a higher one. So, if you are learning a new spell, you can scribe it and swap it into your repertoire at the same time.

Encumbrance

  • For weight purposes, a gem is equivalent to a coin unless I tell you otherwise.
  • If you have purchased a purse, it may contain up to 50 coins/gems without further encumbering you.
  • If you carry more coins or gems than this, then each 200 coins or portion thereof counts as one "thing."
  • However, up to a thousand can be counted as 1 stone. This basically means that the sixth parcel of up to 200 doesn't weigh any more than the fifth. That's fine, it works out reasonably well.
  • If items of Jewelry are worn openly they do not count for encumbrance. However, others will certainly notice your ostentatious display of wealth. Otherwise, the rule that very small single items do not count for encumbrance 'does not' apply to Jewelry treasure. Even a single jeweled ring counts as an item unless you wear it.
  • One day of food counts as one thing. Seven days of food counts as one stone.

Available Skills

  • PCs (not henchmen), after notable successes, may additional General proficiencies as a reward. The maximum number of these that they may have is one for each even level reached.
  • Henchmen receive the normal allotment of skills. However, if they are promoted to PC status, they will gain more over time until they catch up to how many a PC would have.
  • Available knowledge skills (beyond the highly generic "history," which will tell you little of value) include:
    • Knowledge: Ancient Lore. This is the most ancient. It is not currently commonly available.
    • Knowledge: Eld Lore. This is also very ancient. It is not currently commonly available.
    • Knowledge: Thulian Lore. This is commonly available.
    • Knowledge: Termaxian Lore. This is the more recent history, and is commonly available.
  • Note that these skills come in levels! Most can be bought up to three times, like the Healing proficiency.

Languages

  • The following are available languages:
    • Common: You all speak this. It is descended from Low Thulian. There is some regional variation, but people of different dialects can generally make themselves understood.
    • Low Thulian: A form of Thulian used by the lower classes and conquered people of the Thulian empire. It was rarely written down.
    • High Thulian: An elegant and highly-inflected language spoken by the literate classes of the Thulian Empire. It was spoken by aristocrats and scholars, and is still the language of the Great Church.
    • Ancient Thulian: The rather more barbaric mother tongue that predated the establishment of the Empire. Many of the earliest holy texts are written in it.
    • Beastial: Spoken by gnolls, orcs, lizardmen, et cetera.
    • Elven: the liquid, lilting tongue of the elves.
    • Dwarven: A workmanlike language of curt words with a highly regular and efficient grammar.
    • The fast and guttural language of goblins bears no resemblance to any other language on Telluria, including beastial. Goblin's strange, transpositional grammar is difficult for even sages to learn, although the dumbest goblin masters it easily. Goblins insist that theirs is the only native language on Telluria.
    • Sages theorize that there may be a Precursor language underlying the similarities between Ancient Thulian, Dwarven, and Elven, perhaps the tongue spoken by the Great Ancients. If so, no one known to man speaks it. The secrets of this language must lay sealed away deep in the earth.
    • Giant, Draconic, Fey (spoken by pixies, nixies, dryads, et cetera), Elemental (spoken by djinn, efreets, elementals, et cetera), Infernal (spoken by demons and devils), and so forth are also available, but note that a LOT of humanoid languages are subsumed into Beastman dialects.

Henchmen & Hirelings

  • Henchmen go into dungeons and demand a share of treasure. Hirelings do not go into dungeons, and require only a daily wage. For now, assume this stuff is by-the-book ACKS.
  • In both cases, morale and other factors might improve if the PC provides the hireling with additional considerations, such as purchasing them equipment.

XP & Treasure

  • Please note that coins, gems, and jewelry which you return to civilization grant XP if you make it to safety with them still in your possession.
  • Items of special treasure such as art or commodities grant XP when sold, as do magic items if they are sold without being used.
  • Items of Special Treasure which match types of trade goods WILL use the trade modifiers to determine the price available. The net result of this is that you have to make a choice between maximizing your gains from treasure sales, and staying in Muntburg so that you can get the good stuff before rival parties of adventurers do.
  • Yes, I seriously am going to have the dungeon change over time, including having levels cleaned out by your rivals. Move fast.

Banking and Money Transport

  • You can change GP into gems and jewelry for a 5% surcharge. So, buying a 100gp gem costs 5gp, or a 1,000gp gem costs 1050gp. This is something you pay at the time of purchase.
  • You can also get bank notes, which are bearer paper. The available denominations are:
    • 1,000
    • 2,500
    • 5,000
    • 10,000
  • Both are most likely to be available in larger communities. You're going to have trouble making major transactions in Muntburg, although Adamas can accommodate large purchases of gems and plenty of movement in bank notes.
  • Bank notes need to be kept in a scroll case, which counts as a Thing, but you can fit a fairly large quantity of them in one case.
  • Also, they are not totally risk free, in that sufficient reversals of fortune among the merchant houses could result in the money being lost. On the other hand, there's no fee.

Lifestyle Costs

The following are guidelines and not fully instituted. For example, it turns out none of us give a shit about stabling animals.

  • A character's monthly lifestyle cost is equal to the amount for a "Henchman Monthly Fee" for a character of their Hit Die. See page 51, ACKS.
    • For a first level character, this includes the shelter and food necessary to keep body and soul together.
    • At second level, the character may ignore the cost for reasonable amounts of consumable items (Arrows, torches, flasks of oil, rations.)
    • At third level, the character may ignore the cost of stabling a riding animal.
    • At fourth, a riding animal and one or two additional pack animals.
    • At fifth, the character's expenditures will likely be noticed anywhere that he stays very long, unless the community is so wealthy as to make this unremarkable. He is probably renting a townhouse and hiring a few personal servants wherever he stays, rather than staying in a boarding house like some common wanderer.
    • At sixth, ignore costs for passage on ships, etc. The character is assumed to have appropriate clothing and frequently buying more clothes. Ignore the cost of basically anything a peasant might own. If he loses his horse, he can get another. If he wants to throw a feast for a village, he can probably do it.
    • At seventh, the character may be assumed to have a small bodyguard of hireling mercenaries, even apart from his henchmen.
    • At eighth, the character can make reasonable consultations with sages, purchase clerical healing, and hire crews for ships (for example) without further expense. So long as he already has a ship, mind you.
    • At ninth, the character's troops that come due to reaching Name level need not be paid wages beyond what is covered by their lifestyle.
    • At tenth, the character should really not be paying much attention to how much any mundane good costs, short of hiring an army or building a fortress.
    • At eleventh and above, most problems that can be solved by throwing money at them are effectively no longer an issue.

Rounding

When amounts must be halved (or thirded, whatever) round any fraction up to one, and otherwise round up or down in the PCs' favor.

Combat

  • SSBS: A named character who is using a shield will have their shield break upon taking a hit that would reduce them to 0HP or below. This negates the hit. Magical shields instead lose one magical "plus."

Monster Parts

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?743230-Dwimmermount-If-Trouble-Was-Money&p=18830812#post18830812

Important Links

NPC/Timeline Links