The Tower of Visions, a small dungeon for DCC RPG

(To all my DCC RPG players... stay out! The Judge knows)

I started a “one dungeon room” post series some time in the last year. Those posts were actually my way of making up for a friend, for whom I had promised a dungeon. As usual, I failed miserably in delivering it on time. Let me see if I can wrap it up in one final post.

As I am terrible at drawing, there is no use point using maps, so I will just describe it. Please, bear with me.

The Tower of Visions should be a frigging crystal tower, so it is easy to spot (place it wherever the Judge wants). Its entrance was envisioned to be buried; a crystal tunnel hidden in some cave. Just before the dungeon itself there should be some hostile humanoid tribe living in the caves. While outright combat could be avoided, the humanoids should be clearly hostile or at best they could be bought for a one-time pass through their territory. The idea here is (1) the party cannot retreat to rest without some cost; and (2) if they linger too much, the humanoids will start coming after them. Their only option should be forward. This is the perfect opportunity to roll some crazy humanoid from the DCC RPG Core Rulebook (actually, let me do that right now!)

 

Crazy Humanoids in the Cave

I got “brown”, “fight with two weapons”, “shot and stocky” and “fascinated with jewellery, metal etc.”. OK, so I decided that I will use strange dwarf-like creatures, seemly made of mud or stone, beardless. They wear just crude loincloths, deeply fear open sky, and consider anything made of metal to be holy. Thus, it should be hoarded. Probably remnants of a dwarven clan gone either barbarian or crazy (or both), which caused their elemental heritage to manifest again. There should some 30 humanoids. Use Berserker stats, but our dwarven offshoot use their half-stone fists (1d4) instead of weapons and have a second d20 Action Die (that they can also use to parry, instead of attacking). Their primary goal is not to kill but to stun (if they hit the same target twice in the round, the target must Fort DC 10 or drop anything they are holding and they are stun for 1 round). Our humanoids seek to deprive the party of any metal objects, which are taken into their holy shrine. I am tempted to consider that because they love metal, they either fear or hate magic (probably the first) and must check morale when witnessing spellcasting.

The entrance to the Tower of Visions itself is the Tiger of Doors encounter, HERE.

After the that, the party will reach what I call the Shadowless Room. The Shadowless Room is party’s best place to rest in the Tower of Visions. It is a circular room entirely made of crystal that shines as bright as the sun. Yes, EVERYTHING shines here, from all directions. It is maddening. While it is possible to see for enough time to notice that there are 2 ways out, staying in the room for more than a few minutes will eventually blind any character. At the end of each minute, start asking for Fort saves (DC 10). Failure blinds you for 1d4 hours, then days, months, years and forever! Success just gives the character a -1 Die Step penalty for perception and ranged attacks for the next 1d4 hours. A blindfold can take care of the light and is the only way to stay long in the room. Now, the other weird thing about the Shadowless Room is that its eternal lights play havoc with time. Each time the ENTIRE party gets inside the room, roll a 1d4: (1) means each turn inside is 1 day outside; (2) means time outside stops, so this is the perfect opportunity for rest; (3) means time stop INSIDE, so the party cannot rest until they all leave the room and enter again; (4) means that a paradox happens. Ask the character with the lowest Luck to roll a Luck check. If they succeed, the party will actually meet themselves at the door of the Shadowless Room. Their versions from the future will not let anyone in, but will answer one question about the dungeon (and maybe cast one healing). A failure at the Luck check means time itself is broken. The party are suddenly back at the beginning of the adventure, before the cave and the first encounter, without any XP, loot, damage or whatever (but they DO retain the knowledge from the dungeon – it’s a paradox! – and the Shadowless Room does not exist anymore if they enter the dungeon again).

There are two paths from the Shadowless Room.

One leads to the Stairs of Mortality, HERE. At the end of the Stairs the party reach the Fane of the Lost Reflections, as described HERE. There is one extra item in the Fane: a Mirror Mask, shattered in half and really sharp (it is hard to hold without cutting your hands). This Mask is the key to reach the Tower’s Master. The other half will be in the end of the other path.

The other path from the Shadowless Room leads down, to the Room of the Eyeless Ogre, as described HERE.

From the Room of the Eyeless Ogre, the party finds a weird thing… instead of a room they find a giant hole opened in the otherwise indestructible crystal structure of the Tower. Something BIG broke inside the Tower and literally eat an ENTIRE ROOM (describe clear signs of giant teeth and claws). Following the hole leads the party down to a cold cave where flames burn blue and cold (and anything burned to 0 hit points here return in 1d4 minutes as a hungry un-dead). Spells that deal with darkness, cold and necromancy gain +1 Die Step and are never lost. Spells that deal with light, fire and divination are always lost once cast and the caster must roll a Luck check or suffer a minor Corruption. Divine magic suffers -1 Die Step and the cleric instantly know that the party is in another plane (which one? I don’t know. Niflheim, Gehenna, Malfeas… Judge’s call). What matter is that at the end of the tunnel the party will see themselves in a deep lake over which strange orbs of blue fire burn. There is a hoard – silver coins, jewellery, weapons etc. – and also a big dragon sleeping over it! Yes, a dragon. Do not worry about stats (but if you like it, roll a Large Dragon in DCC RPG Core Rulebook). This particular underworld dragon is sleeping, but if even a tiny coin is removed from the hoard, yes, he will awake in 1d4+1 rounds.

If the party is smart, they won’t touch anything (of course, they are players… so just wait & see). What matter is that any spellcasters (or the PC with lowest Luck) will start hearing whispers coming from the dragon’s hoard. The whisper promise “the King’s Mercy”, “Truesight’s Blessing” and other nebulous things. If the party follows the whispers, they arrive at what appears to be a crystal ball and a Mirror Mask lying in a corner of the hoard. The Mirror Mask is the other half of the one found in Fane of Lost Reflections.

The crystal ball is the one doing the whispers. It begs the party to take it “back” to the King, but it won’t give any extra instructions. As soon, as someone takes the crystal ball (or the mask), the dragon as usual will awaken. At that exact moment, the crystal ball will (mentally) cry to its bearer to “hold me before the Harbinger’s Gaze!”. If anyone manages to lift the orb in front of the dragon eyes, it will daze the gargantuan creature for 2d4 rounds.

If the dragon awakes and the party is still there, they are basically toast. The dragon will demand their names and quest, and also will ask to be entertained (if the Judge leaves that to the dice, entertaining a dragon is definitely DC 20… but only allow rolls if the PCs can come with something clever). Each success should grant the party 1d4 rounds before the dragon attack. When it (inevitably) attacks, its soul-draining breath should deal something like 4d4 Stamina damage (half if they manage a Refl DC 20). Merciful Judges can allow “Shields shall be Splintered” rules to reduce damage by half. If the dragon is mesmerized with the crystal ball, then it will attack in a mad rage as soon as it breaks free.

Other potential hazards in the dragon’s cave are: (1) it is Artic-like cold, plus there is water, so frostbite/hypothermia is in order (i.e. don’t let the party linger); and (2) the blue fire orbs that fly through the cave deal 1d4 damage and can only be extinguished by touching another living creature (this deals one final 1d4 of damage, shared by both targets, but cancels the life-draining flame). Really evil Judges can suggest that there mindless un-dead (skeletons) hidden in the water. Again, use those hazards to make the party move.

After they (hopefully) get out of the cave, they should (again, hopefully) have the Mirror Mask and the crystal ball. Joining the two halves of the Mirror Mask opens a floating gate to the last room of the Tower of Visions: The Room of the King.

The Tower is actually the retreat for the King of Cyclops, the original bastard who sold his people’s eyes in exchange for magic power. The King himself did not lost his eyes, but actually gained the power to use other people’s eyes to see their future or use their magic. He also became an accomplished thaumaturge and eventually created artificial eyes with new powers (considering that the King is a giant, those artificial eyes are actually crystal balls, and perhaps the King might have created the first crystal ball ever). The King cheated some very pissed-off Chaos Powers when he hid himself in the pocket dimension that is the Tower of Visions. If he ever steps out, he is doomed. So, he uses his crystal balls and captures eyes to see other planes and sometimes even possess and enjoy other people’s lives. As I said, make the dude a total bastard.

The King desires knowledge and experience from the real world. He will ask for one eye of each adventurer in exchange for “the power to know his own End”. That is of course the Doom that linger of most Cyclops and is more a curse than a blessing. However, if a PC says “Yes!” that PC loses the eye and his Luck stat and in exchange for the Doom rules (see the rules here). Classes that run on Luck like Thieves and Halflings will be crippled after accepting this pact, but – hey! – they can at least burn their Doom with double effect before dying.

Denying the King will result in the party getting killed, unless they offer something better. If they make a promise to do something for the King, they might be able to walk away, but they will be cursed by “The King’s Shadow”. Basically, every day they DON’T work towards their part of the bargain, they lose 1d6 Luck. When their Luck runs out their shadows become monsters (same stats and hit points as the original, but each attack ignores armor and reduce Strength by 1d6, PCs with Strength 0 are dragged screaming back to the King to have both their eyes removed before being returned to the real world as blind and probably mad creatures). Because the King’s Shadow is a curse, it can be removed if the party can find and befriend a Cyclops (good luck with that!*).

*Befriend a Cyclops is too easy for me, make the party HELP a Cyclops. I would creature a Cyclops that is in love with a giant and the party must play matchmakers here.

The King of Cyclopes (Elder Cyclops): Init +5; Atk huge fists +8 melee (1d4+4); AC 16; HD 5d8+5, 45 hit points; MV 40’; Act 3d20; SP true sight; SV Fort +8, Ref +3, Will +10; AL C. The King can use his second and third Action Die to cast a random spell as a 10^th level spellcaster. He literally replaces one of his eyes with one of various flying crystal balls in the room. After so used, he can’t use that exactly spell again this encounter.

To make matters worse, every round each character will be hit by a high velocity flying crystal ball. Roll a 1d14 attack against a PC. If hit, the PC can choose to fall prone and lose his next action or suffer 1d8 damage.

One secret to defeat the King of Cyclops is to offer him the crystal ball found in the underworld dragon’s cave. If the King places that orb in his eyes, he will fall screaming and the Tower of Visions will start shaking. In 2d4 rounds the underworld dragon will come to claim the King’s live. The bastard knows he is doomed, so he will do his best to kill the characters BEFORE that happens. (Oh, if the King of Cyclops suspects that the crystal ball offered came from the dragon’s cave he will NOT touch it and will go mad with rage against the characters.)

If the party managed to kill the King of Cyclopes then the Tower of Visions will start crashing down over them. Each PC can roll a Luck check to grab a random crystal ball before running for their lives!

Having vanquished the traitorous King of Cyclopes is the greatest reward of the dungeon. Afterward, the party will always be followed by a Cyclops (use the monstrous one from the Core Rulebook). They are considered Cyclops-friend. Remember, Cyclopes are man-eating, stinky and barbarian monsters… but they all feel a true debt to the party for killing their terrible King. These Cyclops “hirelings” can be useful, but most of the time they will also give the party a lot of problem. If killed, roll a d6. Anything except a 1 means that another cyclops will show up in a few days or weeks.

There is also a good chance that the nefarious Chaos Powers that made a pact with the King will seek the party, trying to enroll them as new champions of Chaos (after all, they were useful in killing someone that tried to cheat Chaos).

What does this Crystal Ball do? (1d7)

1 – Divination. This crystal ball, if checked during the night, will warn the user about horrible things happening with him during the next day. If the character rolls a Fumble during the next 24 hours, the Fumble is treated as a normal failure. However, if the crystal ball is used by the same person two days in a row, then the next Fumble is actually made worse (add +1d10 to the Fumble Table).

2 – Wild magic. Any character can summon once per day a piece of chaotic magic (non-spellcasters roll a 1d10). Choose your favorite spell generator and roll it (I like the tables from Maze Rats). To determine the power of the spell: 1 (Minor Corruption), 2-9 (Misfire), 10-15 (success), 15+ (wild success, usually targeting an area or 1d6 targets). The Judge will tell with happens.

3 – Clairvoyance. This crystal ball can see any place that within 30 feet or that the party had visited in the last 24 hours. It can see through wood or stone, but not metal. The sensor created can see everything within 30 feet, with the same limitations of a normal person. However, there is always ONE thing that is false in the seeing (a monster, an object, a door). One detail will always be wrong.

4 – Shadow Orb. This crystal ball summons a shadow (see the stat in the Core Rulebook). This shadow will serve the Orb Master for seven nights. After that, the shadow will return to orb taking the Orb Master’s own shadow with it. The now shadowless character can never use the orb again and if attacked by a shadow in the future, he must roll Will DC 10 or be possessed.

5 – Life Ball. This crystal balls, if touched by two creatures, allows them to transfer their life force. Hit points can be passed from one character to another. Unwilling characters can be forced to touch the ball to have their life force extracted by force, usually losing 1d10 hit points per round (however, ask a Will save from both creatures, the one that rolled higher is that round’s winner and deals 1d10 to the other). Unconscious targets cannot resist. Using this crystal ball for evil stuff like draining the life of others is an open invitation for the Judge to inflict Corruption on the crystal ball user.

6 – Fate Orb. This old and cracked crystal ball works as an Invoke Patron for the Three Fates, rolling 3d10! Each time this orb is used it cracks. After three cracks the characters are pulled before the Three Fates and must complete three quests for the Patron or spent eternity trapped inside the Fate Orb.

7 – The Chaos Ball. When the power of the crystal ball are summoned Fate itself is corrupted within a 30 feet radios of the crystal ball owner. In that area Success becomes failure and Failure success. This power can be used once per day and lasts for 1d7 rounds. However, each time it is used the Judge should roll a secret d7: (1) one enemy inside the area is immune, (2-5) nothing happens, (6) the orb activates again in the next day in a moment set by the Judge, (7) the owner loses 1 Luck permanently.

(Remember, Crystal Balls are heavy and cumbersome items! Not easy to carry. Just remember the Palantir from the Lord of the Ring movies)

 

The Tower of Visions #4 - The Fane of Lost Reflections

Edit: Oh, and here are posts #1, #2 and #3 in the series!

Howdy folks!

Nothing like a world pandemic, moving to a new house and trying to keep yourself sane for a perfect combo for this (already) cursed and thrice-damned year! Anyhow, sorry (again) for the considerable delay in updating this much forsaken demesne.

Lets go to another room/encounter on the Tower of Visions, my first attempt at a “post by post” dungeon (today is post #4). Today, I’m following the great guidelines of David Cook, where for every combat encounter you should have 3-4 non-combat ones. So, let me see if I can create a weird place for the characters to explore in this dungeon.

This room holds a lot of magical mirrors. Each one has different effects and consequences. Most can be broken or shattered, although that is not always a good idea. To make things interesting you can introduce an NPC if you want: the Mirror Lord!

The Mirror Lord is an “echoling”, a creature that exists only on the rare and unknown Mirror Dimension. It can only interact with the party through a mirror. Its name is not actually Mirror Lord, it was just a lesser extraplanar jailor bound by the master of the Tower of Visions to keep the local artifacts in order. It desperately wants to convince a character to use the Harry Potter mirror to make it real (more about that mirror below). Unfortunately, it is a bound entity and thus it will always give the worst possible explanation about any magic mirror (if asked!). Thus, it seeks to give information without being asked. If somehow freed, it will be an above average loyal hireling but a regular stated one. If the party can figure that out, this NPC can be a very powerful source of help.

Without further ado, let's delve into the...

 

The Fane of Lost Reflections

 

That is a good image for the Tower of Visions

The Mirror of the Hidden

This magical mirror won’t appear to reflect anything, including the room. However, what it does is reveal invisible things or the true form of objects or creatures obfuscated by illusions. This is an oval shaped mirror framed in the bones of angels. Clerics and other (good) divine spellcasters feel pain be carrying it (and it will probably bring trouble for the party). Although cumbersome to carry, it is not that heavy (but a human-sized PC must use both hands to carry it). It is hard to shatter, due to its magical nature, but every time it is hit there is a 50% chance that every creature in a 30 ft. radius suffers the damage instead of the mirror. Yes, celestials and champions of Law will think the worst about the carrier of this potent artifact.

 

The Window of Doubt

This magical mirror will show the exact opposite of who you truly are. Details are left to the Judge. Usually, standing before it will show the viewer doing something in the near future that is the last thing she would actually do. Law-abiding heroes will be seen killing the local lord while greedy wizards will see their future reflections delivering their most precious magic item to the local church. Actually, this mirror is the perfect guide on “how to invert your alignment” (if you care about alignments in your game). This should be a huge door-like mirror, very hard to move or carry. If broken, the character responsible for breaking will be cursed with dreams showing them doing all those terrible things (the Judge is encouraged to give secret information to the dreamer, to tempt her to do those horrible deeds… like showing the Law warrior killing the local lord and stealing a thus far unknown Chaos magic sword hidden below his castle).

Yes, other characters not directly in front of the Window of Doubt will see all the stuff above. Let paranoia run loose!

 

The Harry Potter Mirror

If you’re standing right in front of his mirror you will see your heart’s desire fulfilled. This is an excellent opportunity to talk with the player and let THEM, not you, to describe what transpires. Oh, and every other person close by (but not standing right in front of the mirror) to see that. If more than one character is in front of the mirror, ask them to roll a Luck check (or a Charisma check) and the best roll is the “chosen one”.

This a big mirror, that must be carried by at least four strong human characters. Destroying it is really hard, takes a lot of time but should work. However, each destroyer cries in their sleep for a really long time following that event (and a cruel but fair Judge should ask what is their heart desire and let them know they will never achieve it).

 

The Shadow Prince’s Looking Glass

When a character stares at this mirror for some time she sees her reflection taking one of her items and throwing it away, beyond the mirror’s frame. That item really DISAPPEARS. If the characters keep starting, another will go away a few moments later.

A “good sport” character that leaves without complaining about it. She will awake 1d7 days later with a new and cool item (and yes, that item was stolen from someone else… Judges, please, be creative). The item should be useful and preferably magical.

If the character tries to break or destroy the mirror… well, first it reforms one day later, when no one is looking. Second, the mirror-breaker is now cursed. Actually, she is under the Murder Men Curse. What is a Murder Man? Look here.

The Prince of Shadow’s Looking Glass should be the shoddiest and poorest mirror in the room, preferably covered with a dirt sheet with a warning “Prince of Shadow Property! Do not touch. DO NOT bring it back to Minas Morgul!”

 

The Cornucopia Window

Whoever is standing before this mirror for more than a few seconds will start to see all kinds of delicious food and drinks appearing around her. Although nothing shows up in the real world, the character can eat/drink the reflections. After such a banquet, let her know that she is superbly satisfied and gained 1 Advantage (once chance to roll twice any check and take the best result). The downside? The food and drinks were fake and after her next sleep, the character will awake famished (i.e. treat as if her physical stats are half, including her hit points, until she can eat a lot; if you play 5E give her 1d3 levels of Exhaustion).

The Cornucopia Window should be a giant mirror, almost impossible to move. If broken, it will fill a 15 ft. spread area in front of it with rotten food, possibly inflicting damage on any character on the way (and a fair Judge can also unleash one disease or rat swarm).

 

The Mirror of the Lost Room

This mirror shows the character’s reflection standing in a different room, a small camber with nothing on it. However, if the character drops anything on the floor while standing before the mirror, the item will disappear from the real world and show up in the magical room. This is basically the “mirror version” of a portable hole.

The mirror itself should be something as big as a shield, preferably with iron frames shaped in a (green devil) grinning face. It can be carried although it will be so voluminous that it will require a hireling only for that task. It can hold A LOT of stuff but if it is broken (it is very sturdy) or lost, all the items inside of it are lost forever (or until the Judge can concoct a weird quest to an yet more bizarre demiplane where lost items of the Multiverse can be found).

 

The Chess Mirror

This baroque and big mirror appears to be immune to damage and shows a weird room, where the floor is painted like a chess board, but in white and red tones. Stepping inside makes the character disappear. It is a one way ticket to a Red and Pleasant Land.

 

The Door to Hades

This mirror is shaped with skeleton and death motifs, reflecting umbral mists. It is considerably cracked and it is a miracle it is still whole. If any corpse is placed before it a reflection of the live counterpart will show up and step out in a few moments. Yes, it is a “Raise Dead mirror”. The catch? (You know there is one) The reflection is an inverted version of the original. Don’t tell that right away… if the raised one is a player character let him know that between sessions (and yes, this is a classical “traitor plot”). If the raised character is a NPC, give subtle clues and a fair chance for the party to find out (otherwise kill the character with the lowest Luck/Charisma in their sleep and let them hunt the traitor later).

Every time someone is raised with this mirror roll an Utility Die (I would use a 1d4). A 1-2 roll means the mirror shatters. Any other roll just add a crack in the mirror.

 

The Sea King’s Eye

This big oval mirror, framed with valuable corals and pearls, fills the corner of the chamber. Anyone standing in front of it sees what appears to be the depths of the ocean, but illuminated by the gold radiance of a treasure hoard of a thousand shipwrecks. This is the Sea King’s trove and that is the closest anyone is going to get to it. If anyone tries to break this mirror it starts to leak. If that is not a fair warning, then fill the room with sea water… and sharks! Undead sharks if you’re feeling nasty. The party has to run out or drown.

 

The Mirror of the Other

This mirror visibly floats in the middle of the room. It is framed in silver or mithril or anything valuable that you want. If a character walks in front of it, a perfect reflection of that character will show up and start a chat. It will explain that it is “just a reflection, an imperfect copy” of the original. It will ask for just one favor: “to live a full life as a mortal”. It will accept to serve the character and help them in their quest, after that it will ask for a retirement in a quiet village, far from trouble.

If the character accepts, the doppelganger will step out. It will be exactly like the character. For the next 7 days a new doppelganger will show up whenever the character sleeps. They will always help… until there are more of them than the party (or after 7 days). Then, they will strike and kill. If they can’t do that they will flee and unleash havoc at the best moment. They will always be of the same level and power of the original character.

The mirror only works for one character, if multiple characters try to stand before the mirror the one with the LOWEST Luck/Charisma will be the one that can talk with the doppelganger.

Shattering this mirror is impossible. It is a mighty artifact, birthed from the mind of the dead god of illusions. Only an innocent child, wielding the Sword of Truth, can shatter the Mirror of the Other. Doing that will kill all doppelgangers.

 

The Dorian Mirror

When the first character (if you must roll a Luck/Charisma check, the best result wins) stand before this mirror they will see their reflection (a debased and old one) offering them immortality in exchange for keeping the mirror forever hidden. If they accept that they’re immortal as long as the mirror stands hidden and intact.

What is immortal? They will never age or die (if reduced to 0 hit points they won’t go lower but will fall unconscious unless they succeed at a hard Fortitude or Will save every round, Judge’s call, and yes… please change the saves once in a while).

After 7 days, the pact is sealed and the character discovers that she must keep the mirror always within 100 feet of her. Otherwise she starts aging and losing 1 full Hit Dice per round until turned to dust,

Of course, if the mirror is destroyed or anyone sees her reflection she is also dust. To make things worse, if a wizard (or gods forbid it a devil/demon) gets the mirror, then the character must obey the owner or start losing 1 full Hit Dice per day.

Welcome to immortality!

 

The Mirror of the Trickster

This is the only hand mirror in the room. It is held by a corpse. If removed it will always show the character doing slightly different things than what she is doing at the moment. The true effect of the mirror happens if it is held during combat or while rolling a save or ability check… it literally gives the character a second chance.

If the character fails at any check (or wants to force the Judge or enemy to reroll), she can do that if she is wiedling the mirror (yes, let that clear to the player). She either gains a reroll or forces the enemy/Judge to reroll. If the result is the same, the Judge should treat it as a critical hit/fumble. In other words, if the orc hit the character and she requested a reroll, and then the orc hit again, that second hit is critical. It is the worst thing possible.

Finally, the gods hate mortals meddling with Destiny/Fate. Any character that uses the Mirror of the Trickster is immune to beneficial divine/clerical magic for 24 hours. Oh, and if the mirror breaks the character is immune to beneficial divine/clerical magic for 7 days and all her critical successes are considered fumbles for the same period.

The Tower of Visions #3 - The Tigers of Doors

Time for post #3 for the Tower of Visions! Here are post #2 and post #1 if you’re curious (they are not in order, I'll try that after finishing the dungeon). Unlike the previous posts this one can be played as a straight combat encounter (or not). Actually, I’m think that this can be the first encounter of the entire thing.

The Tigers of Doors

The party enters a big hall of unworked stone, 30 ft. wide, 12 ft. tall and roughly 100 ft. long. There are corpses of previous raiders to the Tower lying in the ground. At the end of the hall it is possible to see gigantic doors (from the floor to the ceiling) made of grey crystal. Guarding the doors are two big statues of tiger that seem to be made of multifaceted mirrors. Each statue is an otherworldly work of art and the characters can see themselves reflected in the various mirrors that made up each tiger.

The Gate Is Shut: If someone in the party gets close enough to the doors there is a chance they noticed something is wrong: besides the fact that the doors are really big and look more like a castle’s gate than a door there is no handle to pull them open. Close inspection (or the right questions) will reveal to the party that they are not doors, just a big crystal wall carved with the shape of doors (the Judge call allow Dwarven characters to notice that automatically if they reach the gate).

The Corpses: The corpses don’t rot and are in the position as of their demise. Investigating the bodies reveal razor sharps cuts that got through flesh, leather and metal.

The Judge can leave anything to be looted but when in doubt roll a few coins, 1d6 normal weapons (and ammunition) and maybe a shield or helm laying. Material components for arcane spells are also in order and if you’re feeling nice they can grant 1d6 “Spellburn points” to any spell (but if you roll a ‘6’ the caster suffers Minor Corruption). Oh, if you play 5E or other d20 game maybe the special components can give double damage or duration for the next spell (but there is a 25% of suffering Exhaustion or a wild mage surge). In fact, merciful Judges can leave one or two healing potions here or a few scrolls of lore collected about the Tower of Visions (these scrolls grant 1d2 “answers” to questions made by the party, after translation or any check required by the Judge).

The Tigers of Doors: When the party gets at 30 ft of the Tigers their reflections in the statues start chanting “Oh bloody ones! Offer honor and sacrifice to the Tigers of Doors, the Keeper of Impossible Paths, Masters of Mirror Worlds!”.

Not surprisingly (or so I believe) they Tigers start moving at that points and, after 1 round staring at the party, will jump to attack (preferably at the closest or unluckiest character).

Start with normal tiger stats of your choice (like the ones on page 174 of the DCC RPG Annual Vol. 1) but give them higher Initiative (+8 is nice) and AC (around 16-18). Piercing weapons deal minimum damage, slashing weapons deal half damage. They are immune to poison and effects that target living creatures, but suffer double damage from sonic attacks. They are immune to any ray attack (and there is a 25% that it is reflected back).

The biggest danger of the Tigers are their claws and bite. After rolling damage for a claw or bite attack, tell the hit character that she has a choice: either suffer bleeding damage equal to half the damage suffered at the start of each round; or lose 1 point of AC (that includes having a shield destroyed). The Tigers’ attacks are almost vorpal-sharp. Bleeding damage keeps going until healed (and is not cumulative, use the higher amount).

A way out: The way to leave this room is either to destroy the Tigers of Doors in combat or to notice that each Tiger is actually a magic door:

- Destroying a Tiger will open for 1d3 rounds a magic door to the next part of the dungeon. After that the Tiger will become a shard of living mirrors (use the same stats, with half hit point and attack as swarm against everything in 10 ft.) for 1d3 rounds. During the “swarm phase”  the magic door is still open, but anyone jumping through will suffer a free attack. Oh, and read later about the Curse.

- Anyone fighting a Tiger in melee range can glimpse in one of their multifaceted surfaces a shining door. Touching the right spot (this is a melee attack with Advantage) takes the character way to the next part of the Tower of Visions. Evil Judges can declare that such a “touching attack” grants the Tiger a free attack.

- Anyone “offering honor and sacrifice” to a Tiger of Doors can be transported away instantly. This can be either a religion check (DC 15?) or a cool roleplay, preferably followed by some concrete offer (blood and 1 point of damage is the standard ticket, but the Judge is free to accept anything of value).  

- The “sacrifice” bit can actually mean that a character lowers her guard to the Tiger and offers herself for 1 free attack. After the attack (dead or bleeding) the character is transported away. Maybe each “free attack” against one character can transporte another member of the party.

The Curse!

The Tigers of Doors required a sacrifice! These dudes are quasi-deities (weak ones). Killing their material forms won’t stop them for long but will deeply offend them. The character that did the killing strike should lose 1 Luck right away (to know that something is wrong). Congratulations, the character is cursed!

This is how the curse works: ask for a Luck check, rolling equal or less than the stat. Start with a d30. Once per game session or adventure ask for a Luck check. Each time the character fails, before crossing any door of the Judge’s choice, the character will see a Tiger of Doors briefly crossing it on the other side. After stepping through THAT door, it doesn’t matter what steps the character takes, they will suffer one successful bite attack (don’t forget the bleeding damage and maybe roll a d20 just to see if it is a critical hit). Each time that the character is damaged, decrease the curse die by one step (it stops at d10 but don’t forget that rolling a d10 is always a failure). If your d20 game doesn’t use Luck as a stat (heretics!) use Charisma.

How to remove the curse? I don’t know… sell your soul to a patron, do a quest for a god, build a shrine to the Tigers of Doors (which will grow to become a new Tower of Visions?) etc. This is the fun part and I will leave it to the Judge.

What if...

...some try to attack the Tigers of Doors from a distance before they animate (c’mon, it is obvious they will animate)? Remember, the trigger is 30 ft. Well, if that happens the Judge can just allow it and give the party 1 round of free shots. Evil Judges (you know, the best ones) will probably remove the message part of the encounter and just leave the party to figure it out the hard way.

Imagine something awesome like this... but it is a tiger! By Kardie Art.

The Tower of Visions #2 - The Stairs of Mortality

Continuing my Tower of Visions dungeoncrawl posts (#1 is here). I’m posting one encounter each time and later I hope to make some sense of the whole thing.

Actually this encounter here is based on my friend’s first idea for the dungeon: The Stairs of Mortality.

There is no room, just an infinity of darkness, an eternal abyss. The only path through it is a set of stairs wide enough that can allow two people side by side (but not fighting). The stairs appear to climb forever but there is a light above. When the party enters it seems more like a star, as it is pretty far. After climbing for a long time (enough for a long rest or 4d4 hours) the characters start to see things coming from the Abyss (from all directions). Mirrors, floating and rotating in the dark, each one man-sized and diamond-shaped.

The mirrors start at long range (60-100 ft.) where it is practically impossible to see their surfaces. When within medium range (0-60 ft.) the Judge can allow a Perception/Luck so that a character can try to see details in one of the mirrors (if the character succeeds roll on the table below and describe it). Basically each mirror shows a possible reflection of a character. Each mirror has AC 15 and 3 hit points. There are 1d2+1 mirrors per character. The mirrors take 1d2 rounds to get really close to the party.

Once within medium range, ask for initiative (each mirror rolls initiative on a d10). The action of each mirror is to cut a character, dealing 3d6 points of damage (but can’t reduce a character below 0). The target can avoid this with an Agility/Dexterity check or any other crazy idea. If the target tries to shatter or attack the mirror they also must roll on the table below (although using a shield or some other protection could allow the character a saving throw or Luck roll). Why that? Because breaking (magic) mirrors is unlucky.

If a character falls to 0 hit points because of a mirror attack, roll on the table. If a character drops to 0 (i.e. is affected by a mirror), the other mirrors pass by and won’t attack that character that round. The mirrors will fly around the party for just 1d3 rounds then fly back to the darkness.

Finally, after the encounter, if the party keeps climbing the stairs they reach the next door after more 4d4 hours of walking. If someone falls in the darkness or rolls the ‘8’ result, consider that they appear again when the party leaves the room (but again for them on the table ignoring any ‘8’ result).

Each effect below tries to describe first what the character sees in the reflection.  If brought to 0 hit points by that mirror, that reflection becomes the reality.

The Mirrors of Mortality Table (Roll a d8):

1 - The character sees herself as a youth, almost a child. Reduce your age to something around 10-14 years old (or the equivalent of your race). If you have a positive modifier (or 0) in Str, Con or Per/Wis, reduce it by 1 (and adjust the Stat). For example: in DCC RPG, if you had Str 12 (+1), you Str is now 9 (mod 0). On the bright side, your Luck mod increases by 1 (if you don’t use Luck, as in 5E, just give the PC a free Inspiration after each long rost… the gods seem to favor the young).

2 - The character sees herself as old and decrepit. Increase your age to something around 80-100 years old (or the equivalent of your race). If you have a positive modifier (or 0) in ANY Stat reduce it by 1 (and adjust the Stat). Check the example above. Your Speed is reduced by half. If you’re playing DCC RPG, double your Luck points. That is how much Luck you have before you die of old age. You don’t recover Luck points anymore. If you’re playing something else, like 5E, you gain a number of Inspiration (yeah, I know it doesn’t accumulate and I hate that rule) or Advantages equal to 7+1d6... after that the Grim Reaper is coming for you.

3 - The character change sex and, because of that, one random stat increases by 1d4 and another decreases by the same amount (no maximum and a minimum of 3). If you like craziness, the Judge will select a secret trigger (like “getting drenched” or “falling below 0 hit points”). When that trigger happens change your sex again. If your character is for any reason sexless (like a golem) you now have a sex (and the entire package), live with that!

4 - The character becomes his opposite. In most parties this means inverting Alignment, god, philosophy, maybe appearance (for some reason Chaos loves spikes and piercings) and general behavior. If playing the DCC RPG, the Judge can choose a very different Birth Augur (or just roll again). The character is still the party’s friend (this isn’t a free card to be a jerk). If this is too much hassle then the reflection represents a different path in the life of the character, one where a single and very important event played out differently, according to the Judge’s call (for example: one monster or enemy wasn't killed by the character or perhaps the character’s brother didn’t become a villain etc.).

5 - The character sees herself as she is and is emboldened by that, recovering either 2d3 Luck or 2 Hit Dice of hit points (Judge’s choice). If rolled a second time, your reflection is actually more confident than you and will come out of the mirror to begrudge you for not living to your fullest potential. This reflection is now a real NPC, a better and bossy version of the character (+1 to all Stats and maximum hit points) and will probably become an enemy in the log time (or a very weird patron for the party).

6 - The character sees herself as a very young child (anything between 5-8) years old. Reduce her physical stats by half and add +2d3 to her Luck (Stat and points!). Either the character is a 0-level PC or (my favorite option) change her class to an Alice/Fool of the same level (the awesome class from A Red and Pleasant Land).

7 - The character sees just a dusty skeleton. She was dead a long time ago!***

8 - A black surface without any reflection. The character is trapped inside the mirror and if not free (give the party 1d3 rounds), disappear into the Abyss.

Bye and thanks for playing!

***[OPTIONAL] Believe it or not the entire “Rock falls everyone dies” thing has its place in the game when used right. Adventyring (and dungeoncrawling) is an extreme hazard prone career. In this particular adventure it happens when the character is brought to 0 hit points by a crazy magic mirror and then rolls a ‘7’ on a table. Not bad in my opinion but, as they say, YMMV. So, if you don’t like this change the idea (or just remove the entry and roll a d7). An option could be that for the ENTIRE world the character died a long time (if you must roll a dice to know how many years ago… like 1d4 or 3d6, depending on your campaign). This means that probably most of the last adventures and deeds of the character never happened. Because the party is inside the Tower of Visions they don’t know that and the entire new timelines doesn't catch up with them. When (if…) they leave the dungeon they will see a place where probably some things happened differently. The “dead” character is now a living paradox, a weird clone of the original, the “true character” which died some years ago. The Judge is encouraged to come up with all kinds of weird and esoteric consequences: maybe divination magic can’t find her anymore (remember, she is dead!), or she can’t be raised from the dead (no soul?) or maybe she can’t burn Luck anymore (the Fates don’t know her) etc.

OR, if you don’t want to remove the character from the game and want something crazy but more simple, just pick one of the cool un-dead classes from the Gongfarmer Almanac and bring the character back.

[OPTIONAL] Place a NPC here to spice things up. He appears to be an old goblin but is an immortal and cursed human called Dokab. Give him stats roughly equivalent to a 5th level fighter (or similar monster of your choice). He is seeking “the Mirror of Dust” (i.e. any mirror on the table that ages or kills you) to remove his “undying curse”. The fact is that the mirrors of the Stairs actually avoid Dokab, because he was cursed by a deity. Dokab did titanic atrocities (and a few really good things) through the ages, usually with different names and aliases. He just wants to die. He does not trust anyone and so tells that he is looking “for a loved one trapped in a mirror”. If pressed he’ll attack (he is pretty reckless as he can’t really die). His curse? Basically, you can’t bring Dokab below 1 hit point unless you use something like a Wish. Oh, if the party pushes him off the Stairs, roll a d6. There is a 1 in 6 chance that he hits the right mirror and the party (unwillingly) releases him from the curse. However, if that does not happen, well, the party will probably meet an angry immortal waiting for them outside the Stairs. The Judge is encouraged to use Dokab as a recurring and really dangerous enemy. An observation: if this guy is an immortal of legend why the “low level”? (although in DCC RPG a 5th level Warrior is really something.) Well, he is immortal and nothing can really hurt him, so he got a bit rusty with his skills. Although if the party really rekindles his anger, he’ll train for a few months and “recover” his lost levels (imagine if Alexander the Great was cursed not only with undying and a goblin form, but also with never again rebuilding his empire… imagine how pissed off he would be. That is Dokab. If you have ever read the Malazan Book of the Fallen, this dude is Kallor but he looks like a lowly goblin, which doesn't help). Oh, and removing Dokab’s curse will anger the deity that cursed him. Use that to maximum enjoyment (of the Judge of course) and start by removing a few Luck points.

Art by Amelia Plant.

The Tower of Visions #1 - The Room of the Eyeless Ogre

A long time ago I promised a friend I would write a dungeon crawl for him based on the themes of mirrors, visions, age and self-image... (Sorry Luciano, it has been 2 years already?)

I’m terrible with promises as you can see. I’m not sure if this is still useful but I’m gonna try to post this dungeon crawl in small encounters. I’m calling it the Tower of Visions so far. Although I intended this to be used with DCC RPG I’ll try to be as generic as possible with rules terms (hopefully you can adapt it to your favorite d20 Fantasy). After posting a few of them I’ll try to organize the entire thing and any feedback until there would be appreciated. The idea is that this is an adventure for PCs of levels 2-3.

Here is one of the encounters: The Room of the Eyeless Ogre.

The door opens to magical darkness (not even darkvision works) in what seems to be a large circular room of stone, the ceiling the height of two men. After all the party gets in (and only after that), the door disappears and everything is covered by the hungry darkness. A mere moment later a sphere of light, slightly bigger than a human head, starts shining in the middle of the room atop a stone pedestal, half the height of a man (there was nothing there when the party got in). The walls of the room, the floor and the top are now covered in crystal clear mirror-like surfaces.

There are two things of importance in the now bright room. The first is a door made of what appears to be ice. The second is an apish creature made of stone, eyeless, squatting between the party and the door. It takes a moment to realize that both the door and its guardian are actually just reflexes in the mirror wall. There is nothing in the room itself. The guardians promptly stare at the party and charge.

That is the basic premise of the room. A few things to consider:

• Give the monster the stats of an Ogre, but double the damage, give it the AC of a stone golem and maximize its hit points. The idea is to make the monster scary and make the party flee. Give it two attacks per round or, better, a Grapple/Slam sequence. The creature usually grapples a character then throws her at another character. If damaged it react with a slam against the poor victim.
• The monster is not invisible. It is just not there. It “exists” solely in the magical mirror wall. However it can affect the party’s reflections. If it hits a character’s reflection, it can hurt him/her. Defending is hard because there is nothing there in the real room and the character must react based on their reflections (give the monster Advantage to attack rolls). 
• Attacking the wall to hit the creature is a terrible idea: each hit against the wall (AC 10) cracks it and a lot of crystals shards explode from it, dealing automatic 1d6 damage to all characters in a 5 feet range (no save, although if someone is really careful and is maybe using a shield give them a Refl/Dex/Luck/whatever chance to suffer half damage… maybe a better idea is using a reach weapon). Remember, hitting the wall is not enough, to “hurt” the creature you must hit its reflection and overcome its AC (i.e. a stone golem’s AC).
• At any time, any character can cover the source of light in the middle of the room. This covers the place in darkness, effectively “stops” the guardians, giving the characters a chance to rest, talk and plan. Unfortunately, it also “resets” the guardian’s hit points. The encounter literally starts again.
• There is (the reflection of) an ice-like door behind the monster. It can be opened by the character’s reflection. This is really weird, because the reflections can affect the door but the real characters don’t feel a thing. In game terms, to open the door the party must rol 3 successful Dexterity/Agility or Intelligence checks (standard difficulty). Two characters can cooperate to get it faster. Yes, the guardian will try to stop them. After the door is opened, any character can “cross it” if they close their eyes and jump through in the mirror wall.
• Breaking the mirror wall where the door is could be another option. Give that section of the wall a total of 20 hit points and let the party smash hit (remember that each hit deals 1d6 damage to all characters in a 5 feet burst).
• One crazy idea to defeat the eyeless ogre (if the Judge want of course) is if the party is carrying any small mirror with them. If they catch the ogre's reflection in the mirror (an Agility/Dex check?) and them smash that item, let them the ogre fall in the ground in pain for 1 full round, filled with cracks, and remove  1/2 or 1/4 of its total hit points.
• [OPTIONAL] There is some loot in the ground. Place a jewel or gem. Also one weapon of your choice. The catch? They’re just reflections. To get the items the character must succeed at a Agility/Dexterity check (maybe with Disadvantage). Using the weapon in the room always has Disadvantage (remember, there is nothing in the character’s real hands). If you’re feeling lucky maybe the weapon is magical and can hurt the eyeless ogre. If the party manages to leave the room they can take the loot with them. What does the weapon do? Well, maybe it is a +1 magical weapon that is in fact invisible and can only be seen in reflections (out of the room, with a little bit of training, the character can wield the weapon without Disadvantage).
• [OPTIONAL] Remember the source of light? It is a (very heavy) stone orb that shines. It can be lifted with a hard Strength check and carried out (the PC is probably with half Speed and without his Dex bonus to AC due to the weight). If carried outside the orb becomes a crystal ball (use your favorite crystal ball, if in doubt, just let a wizardly PC use it once per day to see, but not hear, someplace that he was before… with all the normal divination limitations of your campaign).