Seth S wants to know how I would “handle a 4d or
even higher dimensional dungeon. If you want to talk about the same concept but
for monsters or magic items I’d be interested to hear about that as well.”
God damn you Seth. I have enough trouble dealing with
these dimensions right here.
Ok, well, I have already kind of looked at using apolyhedra to make a map that would invisibly curve in dimensions the playerscouldn’t see. It gets you a cool toy but
it’s limited. Plus its nothing you couldn’t do with flat paper and others have
done it better I seem to recall.
I should create something at least half useful. So
here is a 1 hour dungeon involving TRAVEL IN TIME. And time, as I’m sure you
know, is the 4th dimension. At least if was in 60’s Dr Who.
Here is a dungeon in which you travel in time.
Ghosts in the Basement
An Inn in the centre of a rainy town. Granddad says it used to be haunted. No-one
heard anything strange there for a hundred years. A gang of men broke it. But
they disappeared into the basement and haven’t come back.
The dungeon exists in three ages.
Age one is right now.
Age two is 200 years ago.
Age three is 3000 years ago.
Age four is 5000 years ago.
You move back in time by shedding blood. The more
hp of blood get spilled by PC’s or bled out of PC’s, the further back you go.
You return by solving problems. There are thieves, they are bad.
One of the thieves is an immortal vampire who
exists at ever point in the towers history at different points of his life.
Secret doors in age one are obvious as gaping
holes in the walls. In age two they are half hidden. In age three, people wont
know about them as they are fully hidden, but PC’s will. In age four they may not yet have been built.
In ages one and two the rooms are a dungeon underground.
In ages three and four they are at the top of the tallest tower in an ancient
desert city. In age four the walls and ceiling are not complete and you can
fall off the thing. Not sure what happens then.
Theatre
Age One. A dungeon. Thieves are smashing the
already broken carvings on the wall and digging through the ash of bones and
burnt masks.
Age Two. Haunted boneyard. Actors performing final
scene of wagnarian opera, guy playing a ghost is the only one who knows what’s
going on. Remains of mouldering seats and stage.
Age Three. Room is in tower, 500 feet up. Burning
city visible through windows. Performance of decedent opera featuring
ethnically-mocked barbarians disrupted as actual real barbarians surge through
door and begin massacring audience and cast.
Temple
Age One. Dungeon. Thieves cracking open tombs and
finding only dusty bones. Pulling down the statues of AÖ.
Age Two.
The ghosts of husbands and wives guarding half-empty tombs. The
crackling voids where bodies should be are more terrible than the memories. The
Vampire is here though you may mistake him for a ghost due to his pale and
wizened form.
Age Three. A tower and not a dungeon. Civilian
families taking shelter. Barbarian hordes outside the stone doors are offering
a deal for one half of each family.
Age Four. Consecration of the Sky palace of AÖ.
Roof open to the sky. Priests not happy to see blood splattered magical
visitors.
Observatory.
Age One. Melted gold star charts and fine lenses
tuned to cosmic radiations, show various magical lights. If you can find a
whole one. The telescope is a brass corpse. The Vampire is here, poking around.
He has some bad thieves with him.
Age Two. Stellar and nebulaeic shards of
unobserved cosmic catastrophes threaten and offer strange knowledge.
Age Three. Primal barbarian animal-shaman does
battle with summoned starlight wraiths. Maximum knowledge destruction.
Age Four. Night sky. City lights slowly doused by
order of the hierarch, one by one to prevent light pollution. Inferior iron
telescope being installed by secret vampire scientist. Could do with some lens
advice.
Garden
Age one. Dust and ashen ground. Thieves digging
through the muck frantically.
Age Two. Skeleton trees, flowers of ash in the
still air. Zombie dryads weeping for the sun. Animated child skeletons break
free of the grey ground.
Age Three. Fire everywhere. Children hiding in the
bushed from destroying army. Dryads screaming. Water nymph from ornamental
stream dying as she evaporates and wails.
Age Four. Gardeners surprised as they plant/wed
child-dryads and pray to AÖ for an Angel of smooth waters in this famished
land.
DON’T BORE ME WITH CONTINUITY, I DID THIS SHIT IS
SIXTY MINUTES.
Also go and check out this thing by Arnold K. He loves the fourth dimension.
Also go and check out this thing by Arnold K. He loves the fourth dimension.
You're so going to love my section of The Prophecy Of Eusyram. Or maybe you will hate it. Probably one of the two, though.
ReplyDeleteAre people still even doing that? I had almost forgotten.
DeleteI have knowledge relevant to 4th-dimensional dungeons! Seth S should read this: http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2013/05/non-euclidean-architecture-part-2.html
ReplyDeleteI promise I will read that, but not now for I must sleep.
DeleteHooray! I very much forgot I asked about this, but thankful for providing an interesting local that I am now dropping into my game. I'll let you know how it goes.
ReplyDelete