Mysterious Map, or, help me brainstorm please!

[Buttercup]

In our next session, Nadja, the halfling rogue, is going to be called to the deathbed of her beloved Uncle Cherry. With his dying breath he'll tell her to lift the floorboards under the bed, and in the secret compartment she will find some interesting things, among them the attached map.

Now, I just drew this map off the top of my head. I don't know anything about any of the places listed on there, except for the hamlet of Oswestry, which will be a trapper's outpost. And I have no idea what "Gold Worms" are. So, would any of you be willing to give me some suggestions?

 

[jgbrowning]

In our next session, Nadja, the halfling rogue, is going to be called to the deathbed of her beloved Uncle Cherry. With his dying breath he'll tell her to lift the floorboards under the bed, and in the secret compartment she will find some interesting things, among them the attached map.

Now, I just drew this map off the top of my head. I don't know anything about any of the places listed on there, except for the hamlet of Oswestry, which will be a trapper's outpost. And I have no idea what "Gold Worms" are. So, would any of you be willing to give me some suggestions?

I'd make the gold worms about two feet long worms that eat gold if its not protected by lead. they can't live outside their very limited climate and the temples have all lined their treasure boxes with lead.

Parties hate this kind of thing.

joe b.

 

[Agback]

G'day

I'd make goldworms large creatures like earthworms. Like earthworms, they eat soil. Unlike earthworms, they also eat stone. Their teeth are very hard (carborundum? diamond?) and the power of their agnathous maws enough to bite through rocks. Their integument is very resilient, their bodies elastic and tough, and they are short on vital organs. Their guts contain strong acid, and they are capable of vomiting limited quantities of this up to soften rocks. Goldworms can tunnel through any sort of soil at appreciable speed, but for subsistence they require soil containing organic matter. They have ruined the land they live in by eating most of the soil and casting up mounds of inorganic sand and gravel. Under the surface of blowing sand and sliding gravel is a subsoil absolutely ridded with partially-collapsed worm tunnels. The whole countryside is like a rotten cheese. And the worms are now so hungry that they don't necessarily wait for animals and plants to turn into soil before trying to eat them. But this is not the great danger. The great danger is that great goldworms grow from tiny eggs almost to small to see, and that the goldworm wastes are scattered with dormant eggs. If a party were to cross the barriers of sand and rock into the goldworm waste and come out alive, their clothes would be contaminated with goldworm eggs. And if these got into the soil of another country the worms would spread bringing (after a century or two) total devastation after them.

The opportunity that goldworms bring with them is that their digestions do not affect inorganic matter such as gold, rubies, sapphires, and beryls (though they do digest diamonds, and their digestions destroy active metals such as copper and iron. So when they eat or tunnel through soils containing gemstones or gold they eventually cast it up on the surface (along with softer and more chemically active rocks reduced to sand and powder). The wind blows away the sand and insoluble salts, leaving gold dust, nuggets of gold, and precious stones on the tops of [some of] the mounds of worm-gravel that make up the landscape.

Regards,


Agback

 

[Nifft]

Make it a cold area -- sub-arctic, "cold forest", the like.

"Gold Worms" can be misunderstood "Cold Worms" -- white dragons, rhemoraz, something similar. Or it could be a strange species of xorn/purple worm hybrid, with shiny golden skin -- and DR 8/- to reflect their metallic hide, which can be turned into a variety of nifty items.

If you go for the white dragons, have the big "X" mark the lair of a legendary white wyrm, with a horde of similarly legendary proprtions. She's laired in the ruins of an ancient city, of which only the lighthouse survives unscathed -- mountains of rubble, literally mountains, surround her "nest". Perhaps the undercity is in better shape and might provide access to her lair...

The Stone Nomads were hunter/gatherers with a great affinity for Druidic magic. They made their villages using Stone Shape and similar spells. These structures were humble but very well-engineered to meld with their environment, which means they've endured for centuries and are hard to find (Spot DC 20, but only 15 for Druids). Perhaps there are some Druidic runes which tell of a sacred grove, or a corrupt treant, or a feisty dryad, or an enchanted spring, nearby...

The pyramids are just BEGGING to be full of evil undead. Don't let them down!

-- Nifft

 

[Nellisir]

First off...nice map!

I'd look at what the map tells us. The coniferous trees & trapper village suggest a northern climate. The hunters likely trade with the Stone tribe of nomads, and the woodlands are a border area between the two cultures. Traffic travels by river, thus the lighthouse; south of the river is a dangerous area, an ancient temple complex, and a mysterious "X".

"X" by a coast almost always means pirate treasure, though without any notes in this case, it could mean battle, ruined village, or you are here.

The arch-like structure on the center-right could signify more goldworms, or an actual structure, perhaps along an ancient pathway from the Stone nomad lands to the temple complex.

"Dead Gods Road" suggests the temple complex is known, but not used, by whatever lies to the south of the map. The temples may be, or have been, the target of tomb robbers or vandals (good for "duelling parties" adventures, vengeful non-guardian undead, or just generally nasty people). I'd litter the area with statues, but that's just me.

The goldworms could be alchemagical creations of the ruined temple civilization, monstrous constructs of precious metals crafted during the final days of the empire to guard their most valuable secrets. While the dead god temples are filled with treasure, the most precious secret is a portal linking to the Stone Arch. The arch, when illuminated with the light from the lighthouse, links to a second temple complex in the heart of goldworm territory...a complex untouched by human hands for centuries...

Cheers
Nell.

 

[David Argall]

reverse the order

You are going about this wrong.

Start with what you want the party to encounter, and where.

Then, and only then if ever, do you start work on the silly map.

 

[Piratecat]

Rubbish. Mapping first is much more fun.

Suggestions later today!

 

[Buttercup]

Wow! Some great ideas here!

Agback, I love your idea for goldworms! Whether or not I use it for this map, I will certainly find a place for those environment killing beasties!

Nellisir, I think your idea of littering the Dead God Road with statues is right on the money. And I think you're right that it will have to be a cold area.

David, either way is a valid way of designing an adventure. But I find that if I'm stuck for ideas, sometimes drawing a random map will fire my imagination. And the nature of my campaign is such that the party has several threads they could pursue. This is going to be one of them.

Keep those ideas coming, folks! P-Kitty, I can't wait to see what you come up with!

 

[Arthur Tealeaf]

I think the ancient lighthouse should play a part in the whole thing! Maybe the "X" isn't enough, maybe they have to use the lighthouse in some way to be able to find the treasure...

Or maybe something prevents them from getting at the treasure, and the lighthouse is needed to overcome that challenge...?

I like lighthouses.

 

[alsih2o]

i personally would have the map contain an err or two, and the one that sticks out to me the bmost would be the lighthouse.

instead of having it be an ancient lighthouse, you could have it be the ancient light house (3 words) a house that stores an ancient light, maybe the light is the only source of light that makes it possible to see in the bottom of the magically dark lake or sea of death. maybe it holds the only light that works in the ancient templa pyramid place and that in turn holds clues to how to return the gold worms to their home at the bottom of the sea of death.

perchance these gold worms are so named because of their value in keeping the balance in the sea of death, for without their enormous force against life rising in that sea it is now producing the life it is capable of, life that is hideous...and hungry

somehow i would make the lighthouse a light house and make it neccesary...a good 10 rd walk up a scary narrow revolving staircase to the top can be deceidely unnerving for the players f handled well


either way and anyway i think starting with a map is sometimes a great way to do things! i have seen good camaigns written backwards form the inspiration recieved from coming up with a great name for the bbeg.