Monday, April 25, 2011

From the Mound


You never know what might be found in those ancient mounds doitting the Strange New World and perhaps other worlds, as well. Here are a few suggestions:
  1. Eight giant (8-9 ft. tall) human-like skeletons in breast-plates and ornaments of a copper-like (but harder) metal. Armor is +1 but half the usual weight.  
  2. 2d10 eggs that will hatch dungeon chickens if incubated.
  3. A phantasmagoria magic lantern obviously of more recent manufacture than the mound itself.
  4. Three partially buried skulls inscribed with mystical designs, which upon closer inspection are actually necrophidii.
  5. The mummified corpses of 1d8 children of both sexes who were killed by ritual strangulation. They will rise as undead mummies on the first night of the new moon after excavation. 
  6. A sarcophagi contain a person in strange, futuristic outfit. If the round, reflective glass helmet is removed it will reveal the apparently dead (but remarkably undecayed) body of one of the PCs at an advanced age.
  7. A glass pyramid containing a Mantid Warrior-Nun, who is alert and active, but unable to escape.
  8. A beautiful woman in ancient garb, who appears to be asleep. Approaching close enough to touch the woman (even if not actually doing so) will allow her to take possession of a victim’s body as per the magic jar spell. If successful, the victim’s soul enters a large gem in her regalia.
  9. And so on... Any suggestions?

25 comments:

Gothridge Manor said...

9. A copy of a murder ballad tattooed into the skin of its victim preserved in a whiskey jar.

scottsz said...

@Tim: ...titled 'Lament for John Daniels"

Zombiecowboy said...

Very cool Trey. Youy always have such great ideas. I may have to capture your brain in a Mi-go brain canister!

Meowlissa said...

Very nice. Armor is only +1?

Porky said...

10. An ancient spacecraft. A 20% chance of a given system being operational, with the first checked being the entry mechanism. Think of the data banks...

Chris said...

11. A tomb decorated with a finely detailed model of the surrounding area at it was at the time of the original internment. The art style might be native, OOPS Oriental ("How did a diamyo of the Demon Isles end up here?"), mysterious Ancient, etc.

If the investigators can work out what they are looking at (the gross landforms are the same, but the rivers have shifted course slightly and some of the distances are just plain wrong according to modern survey maps) it acts as a Treasure Map to 1d6 previously unknown ancient native sites.

The models have resale value as antiquaries, but there is a non-trivial chance that removing 1 or more destroys the Treasure Map effect.

christian said...

I rolled a 6. I sure hope I at least leave a good-looking corpse behind.

Unknown said...

I've never pulled something like #6, but boy I sure want to...

Trey said...

@Tim - Excellent. All the right touches. :)

@Zombiecowboy - How do you know they haven't already? ;)

@Meowlissa - Your mileage may vary. Armor's not as big a thing in a world with guns. :)

@Porky - Good one. But how to read those databanks...

@Chris - Very nice. Thanks for the addition.

@Christian - I guess it depends on how you're leaving in the intervening time. ;)

Trey said...

@Risus - Ha! Me neither, but I'm definitely going to. You can probably get a whole campaign out of something like that.

Zombiecowboy said...

Must... make... sanity... check.. now...!?!?

Martin R. Thomas said...

At first I thought this was going to be some kind of baseball-themed post. :) GO BLUE!

But I LOVE the list. Very cool. And I agree with the other posters that #6 is super clever. That's a really awesome idea that could lead to a whole series of adventures.

Porky said...

@ Trey - Fear not. They'll be back just as soon as you get inside...

C'nor (Outermost_Toe) said...

12. A highly damaged complex, containing boxes and armor made of a strange type of leather (Chlen-hide).

Capcha: Goblies. The result of crossbreeding Goblins with Kaliok demons, and are able to swallow human sized targets whole.

Trey said...

@Zombiecowboy - Nah..just have some of this space mead and chill out.

@Martin - Sorry to "bait and switch." Though having grown up near an Indian Mound in Southern Georgia, I'm afraid that's the first association the word has in my mind. Glad you liked it anyway. :)

@Porky - Aha!

Trey said...

@C'norr - We must have been commenting at around the same time. Nice addition! Goblies is a good word, too.

C'nor (Outermost_Toe) said...

Thanks! Though Blogger gets the credit for "Goblies" as a word.

Needles said...

13. Teleporter ring with a preset destination to the sacrifice altar of Tau Endri

Trey said...

Good one, Needles! Added a link:

"13. Teleporter ring with a preset destination to the sacrifice altar of Tau Endri."

C'nor (Outermost_Toe) said...

14. A piece of Great War-era technology, or a spell or being from the same time. Roll below:

1. Warlock's Napalm
2. Talismanic Cylinder (As would be found in an engine)
3. Illusonist's Cable
4. Counterspell Artifact
5. The Foul Hex of the Infamous Leader
6. Two Meter Bit (A complex song fragment, said to induce hallucinations (and possibly insanity, 30% chance))
7. Golden Boar (An expensive bronze bull, for those with a taste for porcines)
8. Mansiblithi (A mind altering robot, it makes a person believe it is a sibling of theirs)

Trey said...

Good ones, C'norr. I particularly like the name Warlock's Napalm. Sounds like a metal band. ;)

Needles said...

Don't forget to turn any items you find into The Shop of Aubrey 'Harter' Burke & Oscar Hare, Dealers in Antiquities

C'nor (Outermost_Toe) said...

15. A small shuttle, probably from a spaceship of some sort. (May require parts to use, and the mound would certainly have to be cleared)

netherwerks said...

One really, really big egg.

Those irradiated gigants from THEM! or a close approximation.

A smoldering cylinder that only recently crashed...and is making odd noises...

A headless conquistador carrying an atomic torch patrols the top-section of the mound, doomed and cursed to do so for eternity...

The burial cache of ancient nephilim-viking hybrids, complete with a semi-preserved golem-ship...

The ruins of a tower that has since collapsed in upon itself after a particularly unfavorable outcome during a difficult summoning ritual...

Some Stuff...that white gunk that everyone seems to think tastes really good...until it takes them over from within...

Four ghouls in exquisite clothes of the finest cut discussing the merits of properly aged meat...

The mound is the far end of a strange Yianese warlord's forty-two year long effort to dig a tunnel to the other side of the world...

Trey said...

@Needles, @C'norr - good additions, guys, but I gotta say @Netherwerks cranked it to 11.

Gigants? Well-dressed ghouls? A reach back to that film "classic" Stuff?

But best of all, "nephilim-viking hybrids in a golem-ship." That's Check and mate, there. :)