Okay this is part of a very rough proposal which I rushed off to Dungeon Magazine. It gives you an idea of the original ideas and intentions of the piece - which I'm now planning to totally change - and perhaps make a little more "dynamic".
Proposal and Working Notes for the presentation of a Solo-Play Text Adventure in Dungeon Magazine by William Meddis ( william.meddis@vigin.net )Working Title:
“The Shattered Ziggurat”, optional subheading “The Cursed City of Cthonappa” - A Solo Play Adventure. (Or variations)
Proposed Length: 10,000-15,000 words with hand-out, map inserts.
Location
Underground setting an unnamed mountain range – adaptable for most standard campaign worlds.
Back StoryThe history of this dungeon setting is revealed in part as the reader progresses through the adventure.
Myth tells of a great city or civilisation who practiced all of the academic arts and prospered from bountiful agriculture. They built wonders of architecture. They made music and composed epic poems in the shade of terraced gardens. It is not known what caused the gods to smite the city – a change of worship loyalty? Did the priests dabble in darker arts? Graffiti in the ruins hints to a shift from Obad-Hai’s Natural Laws to the cosmic tampering of Boccob or Wee Jas – or some cult of death and chaos.
The land rose up - a range of mountains grew on the plain of the city and swallowed it whole. It was then it acquired the name of “Cthonappa” (Thon-nap-pa) – A City in the Earth – inhabited by cursed ones. Some of the citizens had survived, parts of the city still stood as they had above ground, but now the sky had been replaced with dark cavern roof. The descendants were then denied the powers of magic and speech. Writing and technology dwindled, but the Cthonappans – the Nolexi (“no-worders” or “homo mutus” for they may have once been men) - lived on in an age of darkness. Bronze craft became the last of their sacred secrets and now they scrape at the rock walls with primitive bone and flint tools. Without wood and fire, their salvation is in the harvesting of fire beetles for food and materials, along with fungal farms.
The reader-PC, whilst fleeing an unrelated encounter and cave-in, stumbles upon part of the ancient city. She has been separated from her party and now seeks an exit from the mountain caverns. Soft volcanic rock beneath feet gives way and she falls into a store room of bones – with walls covered in a mysterious grey ivy. She finds a mildewed cloth pouch, contained in this are a puzzle necklace, parchment notes and map made by a wizard’s apprentice called Lumm. Lumm was searching for magically mutated plant seeds. (See hand-out) Lumm, long deceased, had entered the city through a path forbidden to the Nolexi – a natural rock chimney over a ziggurat style ruin. Searching through the bones will reveal giant beetle shells, broken primitive tools, weapons, Lumm’s skull (human of elf), Grimlock skulls (elongated with grotesque array of teeth) and Nolexi skulls (on which the jaw has merged with the skull – they have no mouth, but elaborate cavities where the nose should be). In this part of Cthonappa the local Nolexi are slowly being wiped out by a tribe of Grimlocks. Judging by the number of skulls, it’s a small war – the dead possibly ending up as food for the victors. The PC must reach Lumm’s entrance by finding the ziggurat cavern and climbing the tower, if she survives that long.
Source influences and themes:Legends of the Tower of Babel, Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Assyrian – Ancient Middle Eastern architecture – but placed underground / within mountain caverns.
Ambience, atmosphere and visual themes:Juxtapositions of brick paths in caverns – the bricks are salvaged from the ruins of buildings. The presence of cursed foliage, green-grey ivy (“Tangle Gray”) and twilight style light from fire-beetle light glands creates a dreamlike parody of the out-doors.
Creatures and AdversariesEL ½ to 2 for a 2nd to 3rd level character
(EL= relative Encounter Level - its a ratio between the levels of trhe player's characters and the level strength of the monsters)The Nolexi, residents of Cthonappa - scenario special race description:
Similar in stature to emaciated humans. Pallid, gaunt skin tone. Almost no hair (male and female). Large dark eyes (Lowlight vision). No mouth, four nasal apertures (nose does not protrude) – used as feeding filter. They grind their food with tools, every Nolexi carries a stone and plate – similar to pestle and mortar in function. The Water Mill is also used in the preparation of Beetle kill, Grimlock meat and hard fungi. The lack of a jaw gives the appearance of an elongated neck and large cranium. Intelligent but mute. They have the ability to form complex facial expressions with emotional colour flushing of forehead and cheeks (red to purple). Some communication with hand gestures. They wear primitive, improvised clothing and jewellery, employing sinew string, stones, some leather and beetle carapace. The exception to this are the guards and the priests who wear sacred heirlooms of bronze armour and gold circlet crowns respectively.
Nolexi Commoners, as Human Com1, Alignment CN, – Wpns: Club, dagger (made from bone or beetle mandible), sling.
Nolexi Guards, as Human War1 to 2, Alignment LN – Armour and Wpns: dilapidated bronze scale mail or breastplate, short sword or spear.
Nolexi Priests – as Human Expert1, Alignment LN – similar combative stats to Nolexi commoner. No apparent spell ability.
Some of the Nolexi can be Bluffed, Intimidated or negotiated with to a limited extent (no language). They will defend their territory with zeal. Encounters with Grimlocks have made them suspicious and aggressive.
Grimlocks (attempting to abduct a Nolexi child)
Fire Beetles
Yellow Musk Zombie (in the gardens on the Ziggurat)
Half Golem (Clay / Brick and Ivy) with Tangle Lash -possible whip-trip attack.
-The half-golem, an experimental failure constructed a generation previous with now lost relics, wears a magical artefact: a gold mask with Magic Mouth which repeats the word “Forbidden” in many languages (or older versions of modern languages). Value to be estimated.
Alternative “climax” encounter (if modified Half-Golem is unworkable): a Grick – venerated as a god by the priests.
Challenges in this adventure also include some physical obstacles (some climbing, jumping and balancing), semi-magical scenery props (Crown of Past Seeing and Dais of Healing) – which contain inherent risks (Will and Fort. saving throws to avoid side effects or enslavement).
Structure1. Introduction (in game background / present circumstance of PC).
2. List of essential rules to read up on in Player’s Handbook.
3. Combat parameters. Optional rules – Using a campaign character. Use of common sense when using special skills and feats not referred to in text. Pre-generated character stats.
4. The Adventure. Numbered Sections with map detail inserts (including treasure description sections). 8,000-10,000 words appx.
5. Post adventure notes for DMs. Expanding any ideas – use of this solo game in full party campaign play – scaling encounters. Nolexi as an NPC race (e.g. Nolexi – sub class of Human. -1 Str +1 Will vs. spells, due to inherited magical resistance). What to do to if an essential or loved campaign character is lost – can a party rescue an unconscious PC? Follow up issues – experience points (Story Award – Encounter Levels).
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