Inspired by one of my quite frequent weird dreams, i thought i'd trawl the forum for ideas for an adventure.

The dream - and thus premise of the adventure is this -

On descending a ladder into a hole in the ground you find yourself in a corridor. There are metal doors lining it, metal plaques on the walls and a pillar or two, also with a metal plaque - at the end of the corridor is a locked trapdoor in the floor.

Each of the doors, pillars and the trapdoor has a progressive notation on it. The further down the corridor you go, the signs show an increase in days. So the first door you get to says Day 1, then the pillar further down says Day 2, a plaque on the ceiling says Day 3 and so on, until at the trapdoor, we have Day 9 - in true dream logic, i knew that it'd go all the way to Day 23, so so does the progression in the adventure.

What's it all about?

Quote from: One Horse Town;454113Inspired by one of my quite frequent weird dreams, i thought i'd trawl the forum for ideas for an adventure.

The dream - and thus premise of the adventure is this -

On descending a ladder into a hole in the ground you find yourself in a corridor. There are metal doors lining it, metal plaques on the walls and a pillar or two, also with a metal plaque - at the end of the corridor is a locked trapdoor in the floor.

Each of the doors, pillars and the trapdoor has a progressive notation on it. The further down the corridor you go, the signs show an increase in days. So the first door you get to says Day 1, then the pillar further down says Day 2, a plaque on the ceiling says Day 3 and so on, until at the trapdoor, we have Day 9 - in true dream logic, i knew that it'd go all the way to Day 23, so so does the progression in the adventure.

What's it all about?

The dream represents the anomie caused by postmodern living; the dread that comes as we approach the end of the month when bills are due is an inescapable fortress and a descent deeper into debt and fear.  Each day you progress further into an iron prison from which there is no turning back and you approach the time when you must relinquish much of what you have toiled for to empowered and unseen forces.  It is a trap you cannot leave, the metal of it is cold and unyielding.

Well, first of all, not knowing what it's all about, you need to go back to the city and ask a wise man what it's all about.

All of the doors are locked, so you can't open any of them right now. But the wise man will inform you that you must return immediately and enter each door on successive days, or you will (surely) die.

Each door actually leads to a different land. It could be hundreds of miles away, a different planet, or a different dimension. No matter how much time you spend on the other side of a given door, it's only a day back home.

Now, either (a) there's a common theme to the adventures you have, which varies and deepens, leading to a climax. Or (b) you need to collect something in each one. Or (c) you need to solve a problem beyond each one, like freeing a king from a spell cast on him by a demon. Possibly some combination of the three. Or possibly, in a Marathon-Infinity-like fashion, you might find yourself arbitrarily taking one side or another in a vast conflict, while really working toward a hidden goal.

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;454117enter each door on successive days

This should be a key part of it.  Whatever is behind each door exists for only a day - no retries in case of a failure.  I also like Elliot's idea of each being a different land/dimension so you really don't know what to prepare for until you open the door and then there's little time to make provisions.  With this setup, I'd avoid making the macguffin from one day necessary for the next day; then one screw up would ruin the whole thing and you wouldn't want to make them so easy as to virtually ensure success.  

But perhaps an overarching goal.  Like maybe there is a key behind each door, though maybe not literally a key - something useful.  You need at least X number of keys to open the final door to...  I dunno break out of the cycle.  With some failure acceptable, strategy comes in, retreating to avoid certain doom or even taking a day off to rest up.

Maybe the characters are all dead and this is a test, 23 days in limbo before their souls disintegrate.  Each door has a different aspect of life to overcome to move on to heaven/reincarnation/free cable.

It's very similar to a dream I had that I'm adapting into a dungeon for a game I'm planning.

In the dungeon, you go down a helical staircase passing realistic friezes of yourself and the people with one. One or more of their faces are obscured and twisted - the only unnatural element in the depiction. The first frieze shows you approaching a blue archway and choking. The second shows you approaching a black archway and screaming, the third shows a white archway that radiates a deadly energy, and the last one is the red archway with a blank mask looking back at you.

At the bottom of the staircase is a room with all four doors, one at each cardinal point. Each archway is a particular challenge, at the end of which is a treasure you can claim if you survive.

Honestly, it sounds like an unused bit of surrealness the Dharma Initiative would do on the show "LOST" - which always felt like an RPG campaign that had gone really strange with a GM that was ad-libbing all the time.


- Ed C.

Quote from: One Horse Town;454113What's it all about?

It is a game show, hosted by Monty Haul.....

Quote from: Koltar;454156Honestly, it sounds like an unused bit of surrealness the Dharma Initiative would do on the show "LOST" - which always felt like an RPG campaign that had gone really strange with a GM that was ad-libbing all the time.


- Ed C.

Yeah, that was my initial thought.

I've had a few ideas that i'll get down later, which incorporated some of Elliot's ideas.

We've got a planned power outage today, so i'll log on this evening and post my thoughts.

Sounds like an Awakening.

You must solve the numeric riddle that takes days of dream travel to unlock each of the "doors of perception" while in the Oneiros/Temenos - in order to reach a watchtower and fully awaken.

It also reminds of the opening sequence in one of the "Resident Evil" sequels where the Bad Guy corporation is testing clones of the main character to try to spark wondrous powers in the copies.


- Ed C.

The complex is a shrine to the forgotten Goddess, Goldrissa. In ancient times, the most worthy of her adherants would make pilgrimages here in order to undergo the trials and events of the Goddesses 23 day apotheosis.

Now, centuries later, the complex awaits visitors once more, so that they may undergo the memorial apotheosis of Goldrissa, and perhaps awaken the Diety from her slumber.

Among the events played out behind the locked doors are the 10 trials that Goldrissa endured. The PCs can attempt these, and a tally of successes is kept for each PC. If they make it through all 23 days, they enter the Gardens of Goldrissa and the ancient Diety awakens to give them boons. What they get depends on how many of the trials they completed successfully.

During the adventure, hopefully, the PCs will have unearthed the story of the Goddess and maybe brought a new religion to the world.

That's sounds great.  It's like a dungeon crawl but it has clear purpose and it would be easy to vary the terrain.