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The Defiled Monastery
🕑 Added 2024-03-15 14:20:18 +0000 UTCThe premise of this map is simple: for many years. this monastery was occupied by the peace-loving followers of the god of wisdom and happiness. Then, some non-peace-loving followers of the god of smoking meth and shaking babies arrived. And, after the liberal application of a technique known as "violence," the former occupants were driven out. Then, they smashed the statues, burned the books and started sacrificing nearby villagers.
There's a fairly simple adventure to be run here, which starts with a monk approaching the party and saying, "Help." I'm fairly sure I don't need to elaborate on where it goes from there. It's not a complicated adventure, but they don't all have to be some ultra-sophisticated Game of Thrones type of thing. Sometimes The Witcher is more your speed. "Please kill dudes, I have money." "Dudes are dead. Gib money." Had a busy week? Drop a dozen cultists and a demon into this place and let 'er rip.
So, let's talk about the giant hole we discussed a few weeks ago. That megaproject is officially happening and I wanted to share some details. A lot of people had ideas on how to use the location and I want to make sure you can do what you want with it. Since it's a giant pit, the most important thing is what's at the bottom. People have proposed an imprisoned entity, a planar portal, an artifact, an aboleth lair, a pile of trash and debris, and more. My version of the bottom will be something different, but I'm going to draw alternate versions with at least those options as well. I think I'll be able to get started on this in about a month.
Anyway, I think that's it for now. If you've got any thoughts, by all means let me know!
Comments
Milby's Maps
What's at the bottom isn't the most important thing in designing it overall, but it is the most important for enabling people to tell their own stories with it. If your story involves the pit being a place where an evil entity was imprisoned, you need a map of that at the bottom. As far as the spiders go, I imagined that the goblins eat them, not the other way around (usually). The spiders eat the bats and the goblins eat the spiders. And sometimes the bats. Anything, really. Anyway, I appreciate the feedback!
Steven Pine
made in the abyss has the same premise but at a much vaster scale, might be worthwhile you look through it a bit for inspiration, https://preview.redd.it/n4lla3j3cry41.jpg?auto=webp&s=86231931cc27bb04a5e9fd7566c7f8c3c0febdc6; here's a picture of the opening with a after and before shot (a village is built around the hole): https://preview.redd.it/7q00t9h3e7a91.png?width=1844&format=png&auto=webp&s=54285a20add9544a61675b5c344d8bba1a0b2d5f
Steven Pine
i disagree about the bottom of the giant hole being the most important. I would contend the overall ecosystem is the most important aspect to nail, if the ecosystem isn't especially believable or the layers between are jarring because they don't interact as expected (ie why haven't the dozen phase spiders a level down eaten all the goblin children by now), it ruins the entire cohesion. You're essentially designing a megadungeon which is, honestly, probably one of the hardest things in d&d to design well in a compelling fashion. I also think the dimensions listed of the hole is small, if you retain that size i recommend having multiple wedges in the cylinder that stack atop each other but are walled off from the other wedges for 2 or 3 layers at a time. Love your work!
