A Dungeon: The Pyramids of the Death Worshippers

Sometimes I have a simple, small idea that evolves into a dungeon. This one started with a mummy.

I am a big fan of mummies. Real mummies are interesting from a scientific perspective, and mummies in horror media are a fun compromise between reality and fantasy. The idea of a misunderstood ancient civilization that uses eldritch magic to raise desiccated bodies with contorted faces and sinister powers is interesting to me. Typically, mummies in horror are powerful: they possess mind control powers and can regenerate or must be killed in specific ways. This got me thinking about how going at a mummy with traditional medieval weapons will likely end badly for the adventurers.

So, what would happen if some adventurers tried to slash a mummy to death? My thought was that parts of the mummy would probably detach and, since there is dark magic at hand, continue moving and attacking the adventurers independently. If that was me, I would be frightened off my adventuring boots, so I decided to make the stat block, just for fun.

From there on, I kept adding layers to explain what civilization the mummy was originally from, what the intention of becoming a mummy was for, and where the mummy could be found. Eventually, I had a dungeon.

I've play-tested this dungeon a bit, and I really enjoyed it. I made some changes after that test and would like to test it a few more times just to see how the elements can interact in different ways under different conditions. I'll be setting up a few online games and see how that goes. I already made the dungeon on Shmeppy and have a few pre-mades ready to go. With that said, I would appreciate anyone interested in playing it with me. 

If you would like to participate in a playtest, leave a comment or message me.

Anyhow, here's the dungeon for anyone that wants to run a pyramid full of mummies.

Note: I wrote the stat blocks for a homebrew system, but they can easily be swapped for monsters from your favorite system (most compatible with OSE). Also, the PDF is bookmarked.

Cheers,


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Carousing Table

Image
  In chorus we sing of wine, sweet wine, Its power benign, and its flavor divine. -Bacchanalian, Francisco Martinez de la Rosa Some adventurers do it for the excitement, the glory, the treasure. In a profession where every day may be your last, life is lived to the fullest. So, when adventurers return carrying their fallen companions and bags of treasure, there is nothing left to do but to live your best life by carousing! Why did I make this? I needed a carousing table for the hexcrawl I’m running. The game is an amalgamation of mechanics, tables, and procedures that I’ve found interesting plus the weird ideas I’ve dreamt up. As such, there were carousing results that I wanted to have, such as MCC mutations. I also wanted to tie a better probability of getting something good with spending more. You may notice that lower results have more detrimental results than higher results. It was hard to find this, so I put one together. Note: In some instances I'm using third-party tables
Read more

A Hexploration Procedure

Image
You’ve hiked a rocky terrain for hours looking for a safe way down into a valley. A series of stacked boulders now provide that opportunity. You may carefully leap down the boulders, being absolutely precise for a slip could mean a terrible injury. Alternatively, you may continue searching for another descent, but night is approaching, and another day to get into the valley would cost you valuable time and resources. When I think of wilderness exploration, I am reminded of my hiking and camping trips. I like going light with only the necessary items, meaning that I must ration my viands and use my tools carefully. I have also often taken these trips alone meaning that I must balance exploration and risk (climbing over boulders, going into caves, etc.). While I lean on the side of safety, I have always been intrigued by dramatic stories of exploration like Against the Ice, and Kon-Tiki, among others. Of course, I would avoid such life-threatening positions as sailing across the Paci
Read more

A Collage of RPG Systems

Image
  In an earlier post I alluded to some mechanics and procedures that I am using for a hex-crawling game. In this post, I will discuss the base system mechanics and why I chose them. There are many systems out there, each providing a different take on how to play an RPG. Some are focused on combat, some on exploration, and others on storytelling. I believe that the collection of rules, mechanics, and procedures is an attempt by the author to achieve a specific type of gameplay. For my hex-crawling game, I wanted to simulate the difficulty and wonder of overland exploration with an infusion of fantastical elements. I wanted to achieve a feeling of wonder approximating how I imagine Bilbo felt during his journey in The Hobbit . Just like I created an RPG adventure collage by merging independent ideas and content, I decided to do the same for the base systems. Character System: Simplicity. Originally, I wanted to use Old School Essentials (OSE). I liked the simplicity of the character
Read more