Damn those evil priests to hell.

Okay I got two in mind:

--Evil Priest of Calum. Calum is a major spirit of fear, death, and blood, who would like to be considered as a fully-fledged goddess of these things. Clerics and Paladins of Irina and Kabisha root out and destroy the cult of Calum whenever they find it, but it could be that a follower of Calum has taken over locally...

OR

--Evil Priest of Etana. Etana is a major spirit of frost, ice, and cold, who would like to be considered as a fully-fledged goddess of these things. Clerics and Paladins of Zashan and Melkahar root out and destroy the cult of Etana whenever they find it, but it could be that a follower of Etana has taken over locally...

Which you like (to hate) more?

Which kind of raises a relevant question...

What are we doing, here, landscape-wise?
--Typical fantasy mix of woods with occasional farmland?
Or something else?
--Desert?
--Vast sweeping plains?
--Coast?
--Arctic setting?
--Jungle?
--Seriously THICK forest, like The Black Forest in Germany used to be, real Mirkwood stuff?
--Wetlands, with lots of lakes and rivers and stuff?
--Mountain range?
--Island Archipelago?
--Weird stuff? Like underdark subterranean or underwater adventures or something else?

Let me know.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:53, Thu 20 Feb 2020.

Calum gives me a Conan the barbarian setting, arid, dry lands.

Etana gives me the more northern Vikings feel, so dense northern forests, and artic setting.

I'm good with both.

Kingjawa? Opinion?

Evil Priest of Calum would be my preference. I like the idea of arid, dry lands. But being Fey I hope there is some woodlands also worked in. They don't have to by typical forests though.

You could do an odd oasis with large succulents, strange succulent flowers with honey scents that lure thirsty and hungry men and eat them.  If you google succulents you can find a wide variety of odd looking succulents, and all you have to do is imagine them giant sized.

Just floating an idea.

Evil Priest of Calum it is. Arid, dry lands on part of the map, woods elsewhere, a couple of oases.

Okay, NOW it's time to pick the Base type.

Kingjawa, you got an opinion? Bashar told me earlier he was leanin' toward Stronghold...

(Still leanin' that way, Bashar...?)

I wouldn't mind hideout or enclave.

I can see my character as a rider using hit and run tactics.  I don't mind tweaking the character idea a bit here and there to fit the group.

Okay, we'll see what Kingjawa says...

Let go with Stronghold.

All righty, tough-fightin' rebels is is, then.


STEP THREE: BASE DETAILS:

Detailing your base will help bring it to life. Answer these questions together... Knowing this information will help the GM and players paint a more interesting picture of what the inside of the base is like.

❖ What does your base's entrance look like from the outside?
A natural cave with a stream flowing through it. A small hole in a sewer tunnel. The ruins of an abandoned church. The trunk of an old, rotten tree. Something else.

❖ What are the floors and walls of your base like?
Cold stone and slightly damp to the touch. Mostly-dry mud intertwined with roots. Black obsidian, slick but warm to the touch. Light-colored marble, forgotten by most for hundreds of years now. Musty bricks stacked together haphazardly. Something else.

❖ What’s the lighting like inside your base?
Torches line the walls. Magma flows through the floor, lighting it from below. A magical glow clings to the ceiling. Glowing mushrooms grow throughout the halls. Something else.

❖ What smell greets those who step foot into your base?
Overwhelming incense. Burning chemical reagents. Blood and sweat. Freshly-turned earth and sawdust. Something else.

❖ What is your base's name? (you can decide that later, too... or you can just call it "The Base" for all the GM cares. This is YOUR BASE. Call it what you want.)

We have a new (third) player!

Dr. Mindermast would like to be a mage, and I see no problem with that.

The two existing players have already decided that the Tyrant will be the head of an evil cult (although the populace at large probably don't know THAT part yet), and that the base will be a Stronghold in a land that's part dry and part woodsy (I'll worry about the exact layout of the land later)...

I presume that you have no objections to this, Dr. Mindermast...?

Do you need anything else from us GM?

Yes... answer these:



STEP THREE: BASE DETAILS:

Detailing your base will help bring it to life. Answer these questions together... Knowing this information will help the GM and players paint a more interesting picture of what the inside of the base is like.

❖ What does your base's entrance look like from the outside?
A natural cave with a stream flowing through it. A small hole in a sewer tunnel. The ruins of an abandoned church. The trunk of an old, rotten tree. Something else.

❖ What are the floors and walls of your base like?
Cold stone and slightly damp to the touch. Mostly-dry mud intertwined with roots. Black obsidian, slick but warm to the touch. Light-colored marble, forgotten by most for hundreds of years now. Musty bricks stacked together haphazardly. Something else.

❖ What’s the lighting like inside your base?
Torches line the walls. Magma flows through the floor, lighting it from below. A magical glow clings to the ceiling. Glowing mushrooms grow throughout the halls. Something else.

❖ What smell greets those who step foot into your base?
Overwhelming incense. Burning chemical reagents. Blood and sweat. Freshly-turned earth and sawdust. Something else.

❖ What is your base's name? (you can decide that later, too... or you can just call it "The Base" for all the GM cares. This is YOUR BASE. Call it what you want.)

Let me take a stab at this and other can add or modify what I suggest.

❖ What does your base's entrance look like from the outside?

The ruins of a very old fort from the distant past. The walls have been battered and most of the buildings turn to ash, rocks and stones lay around displaced from their former home, nature has grown in and around the ruins. Twisted Scrub trees and thorny bushes dot the area. At the base of a fallen tower, there are hidden stairs that lead down.

❖ What are the floors and walls of your base like?

Carved stone tiles cover the floor with a handful of mosaics depicting strange creatures. The damage done above above ground does not seem to have affected the underground in the same ways. However the walls have roots, and weeds and mushrooms that have reclaimed about half of the turn with the other half still having cut stones in place.

❖ What’s the lighting like inside your base?

Oil lanterns are currently used as lighting, occasionally colorful glowing orbs appear and float around. They around curiously inspect movement and magic when present but have not yet caused anyone harm or tried to community in any way.

❖ What smell greets those who step foot into your base?

Lots of earthy smells make first assault the nose, but once those smells become normal the smell of baked goods sneak in from deeper below.

❖ What is your base's name?

I seem to be drawling a black on this one.

Thoughts?

Sorry guys, somehow I blanked on the fact that this thread was active.  But now that I've more or less come to my senses...

I like kingjawa's ideas for the fort.  I'd like to add that it's built at one of the oases, and controlled the surrounding area back when it was a fully functioning military base.

But now that raises the question of why the fort was abandoned - military loss?  Natural disaster?  Something else?

As for the name, there is of course a proper name for the fortress, and some of us might even know it, but we would never use that name out loud - too easy to trace.  Instead we just call it something like The Sandstone.

I like Kingjawa's choices for the most part, and I like the name of The Sandstone.

But I feel that there is NOTHING AT ALL left of this place that's visible from the surface. There's just a cleft in some rocks that you can't even see until you're standing right in front of it (and at the right angle), or there's just a trap door hidden most of the time by sand or whatever.

I feel that this is indeed the lower levels of a location whose role in history is well-remembered, but NOT its actual location. People probably think it's a myth, or might as well be one, because the location is so lost//there's nothing left-- but they're wrong, the below-ground part is left.

I'm fine with it being right next to one of the oases, because that means that it'll be harder to follow the rebels to it-- they can just come and go with the caravans, and then slip away when the time is right.

Don't worry about how the fortress was destroyed centuries ago right now-- I'll deal with that myself later.

Bashar? Any thoughts to add?

I like it.  I just thought we were dealing with a stronghold, rather than a hideaway, but as I said.  I like either or, and some lost legendary fortress works great for propaganda.

The secret locations, in Wicked Ones, are all underground (because monsters), so the secret rebel bases are all underground (because if the secret location was somehow visible from the surface, why wouldn't you think "well THAT is a large thing, maybe I should check for rebels THERE.")

There's just 5 different flavors of "underground secret base," ranging from
"underground freaking fortress" to
"underground secret temple" to
"underground mage lab facility" to
"underground steampunk factory" to
"underground thing that feels like a thieves' guild base."

You guys just have "underground fortress/stronghold," that's all.


OKAY SO, I am somewhat busy this morning//the first part of this morning but later today I hope/expect to have the time to start walking through the start of developing The Sandstone (we might have to do a little work as far as getting it ready for human habitation, we'll see...)

OKAY SO AGAIN, turns out a little time now, so I'll get started:

--Entrance: After the entrance, there are stairs down, and then a tunnel of about 100 feet (that might just barely slope downward). This branches off into multiple tunnels, leading to...


As GM, I rolled for Discovery.

Basically I rolled 6-siders... and one of them came up 6, which means Success (although not as amazing as if I'd rolled more than one 6).

So you get something good...

As you're exploring this ancient base, you find a room where the furniture is somehow still intact (it's been magicked or blessed not to deteriorate? It's made of some amazing metal that doesn't rust? It's all made from the bones of some huge beast?). This, you realize, was someone's War Room, for planning missions... and it will serve you in that way, too...

--War Room: Take +1d on engagement rolls for the following raid plans: set a trap, rout, smash & grab.


And here by the way is all the types of Raid Plans:

Raid Plans:

--Pull a Trick: Confuse, distract, lure, manipulate, or trick them into doing what you want.
How do you intend to pull it off? What do you want them to do?

--Rout: Bring full force to bear and defeat all those in your way.
Where do you hit first? Who leads the way?

--Talk It Out: Talk with them to get what you want, through negotiation or deception.
Where’s the meeting spot? Why will they meet you?

--Set a Trap: Hit them while they’re not expecting it.
Why is their guard down? Where are you waiting?

--Smash & Grab: Get in, get what you want, and get out as quickly as possible.
How do you make your approach? Who signals to get out?

--Sneak In & Out: Get in, get what you want, and get out as quietly as possible.
Where do you slip in? What time of day is it?



One tunnel leads to the War Room.

Some tunnels lead to empty rooms-- you can have them be for stuff later.

There is also a creature lair! With a creature!

One of you (probably the Shaman? but maybe the mage?) is certain that he can train/teach/enchant this creature to not attack you nor your (future) helpers.

What kind of creature is it?

Attracted creatures can be just about any fantasy beast or monster you’d like, though mindless or unintelligent creatures tend to work best. You should match the power level of the creature you choose to the tier you’re attracting. A creature doesn’t have to be a single entity - a swarm of bats or a bunch of oozes act as a single creature mechanically.

After you’ve chosen the type of creature, give it two descriptors from the following list or make up your own:
clever - cold - construct - corrupted - corrosive - diseased - incorporeal- fire - magical - ooze - poisonous - sneaky - strong - swarm - terrifying - undead

❖ EXAMPLE Tier 1 creatures: swarm of bats (sneaky - terrifying), hippo-sized snapping turtle (strong - sneaky), skeleton (sneaky - undead)
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:06, Fri 28 Feb 2020.

Here are a few ideas for the Tier 1 creature/monster that I think fit the theme and I would like feedback on.

Pack of Hyenas: (Clever, Sneaky) Just a normal pack of hyenas that has made there home here.

Bramble Cat: (Poisonous, Sneaky) A cat made of living poisonous brambles

Spinx of Curiosity (Clever, Construct) A small animated Spinx

I like the bramble cat, followed by some hyenas. Anyone got other suggestions?

About the same for me, though I think I'd go with hyenas as my first choice.  And I'm already thinking about magical experiments to make them even more useful for us in the future, beyond the obvious function of being guard animals...

Bashar? Care to break this tie?

I like the cat most.