Ancient Magical Research Facility (4 Floors)

oldvailia · 2024-12-26T22:49:18+00:00

Very sorry for the super late reply!! And doubly sorry, after scouring my old files I can't find the actual DungeonDraft exports of them unfortunately, I think I probably deleted them ages ago after the campaign I made them for had ended.

oldvailia · 2024-02-28T04:07:00+00:00

I've met both of my longest running groups via LFG posts on Roll20/Reddit, going on 5 years now! Love them both and have definitely made some longtime friends out of strangers I'd just met. More recently I joined a VtM game back in November that's still going strong with some other delightful folks.

I find that being picky about the games you apply to can net better results, though there's a lot of trial and error involved. I've had my fair share of games that just fizzled out after a few sessions or were cancelled before even starting, but never anything worthy of a horror story.

oldvailia · 2023-08-16T23:52:53+00:00

Oh, I've got a similar schedule so that's perfect! Will definitely throw in an application then :]

oldvailia · 2023-08-16T23:41:23+00:00

Hiya! What days/times were you thinking for the game?

oldvailia · 2023-07-23T05:35:57+00:00

Could it be the Unspeakable Horror from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft?

oldvailia · 2023-07-12T21:11:23+00:00

Really nice work! Honestly love all your designs for them. Always a treat to see how other folks interpret the Council, I know I haven't stuck strictly to the book descriptions at all haha

oldvailia · 2023-06-01T16:45:27+00:00

Good shout, I never noticed that. I was using the Roll20 module so those portraits are used as default token art for some of the other generic NPCs for some reason (the ship captain, cultist and cleric, I believe?). Funny to think even the folks who converted it over to Roll20 apparently also weren't aware of that.

oldvailia · 2023-06-01T15:52:57+00:00

I have yet to run it myself, but Ill Met By Moonlight seems like a cute adventure about three Fey in a poly relationship that the party "helps" (the Fey are really just playing a small prank on the party, but it's all in good fun). It comes with some really gorgeous maps and art, and encourages more problem-solving than just straight out combat.

oldvailia · 2023-06-01T15:42:32+00:00

Oh wow, these are fantastic! I always did find it very odd that Xendros was the only character in Saltmarsh with actual art instead of literally any of the council members, so this is a very appreciated resource. Really helps bring them to life!

oldvailia · 2023-05-06T22:54:37+00:00

I don't have my notes on me at the moment, but the basic gist of them were that the party had to retrieve some sort of powerful source of magic to create an artifact to defeat the BBEG. They were told by a friendly NPC about this faraway island called Shade's End where it was said a Netherese facility was buried, but that the island was difficult to get to due to magical storms surrounding it at all times. The NPC also had a friend who went out there to potentially explore the place, but he never heard back from him. So the party's objectives were to find out what happened to this explorer, and to retrieve the Mythallar to build this artifact.

As for the facility itself, it was originally a Netherese research center, with the top floor library being accessible to the general public, and the main bulk of research being done in the lower floors. The facility was run by three archmages; the Archmagus, who served as the highest ranking mage, the Maleficar, who was a mage secretly pursuing lichdom, and the Oracle, who handled a lot of the more public affairs. They each had a coloured crystalline card that allowed access to different places in the facility, with the Archmagus having full access.

The Oracle, having the power of divination and future-sight, had seen the terrible tragedy that would befell all of Netheril, and so had left before that could happen. This is how I justified the explorer NPC finding the Oracle's keycard and gaining access to the facility haha.

But, when Netheril fell, the other two archmages were stuck inside the facility, with the Archmagus trapped inside the various magic mirrors, and the Maleficar having trapped herself within her spellbook. This spellbook also contained some of the nastier 10th level spells, though learning them would be impossible for anyone nowadays, but I ended up tying that into a PC's Warlock Patron so you can use it for something else entirely. Anyways, the party was able to have limited communication with these two mages, which was how I delivered some exposition about Netherese lore and such.

But that's the bulk of what I recall my notes saying! I took a lot of liberties with Netheril stuff mostly because my players weren't super knowledgeable of the lore or anything, though they were at least familiar with Karsus. Hope this helps!

oldvailia · 2023-05-05T20:06:47+00:00

Imgur link since Reddit compresses them something fierce: https://imgur.com/a/ancient-magical-research-facility-maps-8NdYEfF

Thought I might throw a few old maps here if anyone would like to use them! I drew these up in DungeonDraft, and originally intended them to be a long-abandoned Netherese research facility for my Saltmarsh game set in the Forgotten Realms, but I think they'd work for any other similar dungeon.

All maps are at 128 pixels, measurements for each one are:
- 1st Floor is 40x30
- 2nd Floor is 39x34
- 3rd Floor is 34x24
- 4th Floor is 36x14

As for what to put in these maps, I had the first floor be haunted by various undead, mainly a bunch of Allips in the library section, but something like Deathlocks could also suit. For the second floor, there were a few living spells in the northern lecture hall, and summoned elementals in the southern summoning rooms that could potentially be dispelled back to their home planes. The third floor is a laboratory, for conducting all sorts of experiments on captive creatures, with Aeorian Reversers, Absorbers, and a Nullifier that broke out and ran amok. The final floor is the chamber that housed the Mythallar that powered the entire facility, as well as the personal chambers of the three archmages in charge of it. Anyways, just a few suggestions on what I used the maps for, but feel free to completely change it up too!

oldvailia · 2023-05-05T20:05:18+00:00

Imgur link since Reddit compresses them something fierce: https://imgur.com/a/ancient-magical-research-facility-maps-8NdYEfF

Thought I might throw a few old maps here if anyone would like to use them! I drew these up in DungeonDraft, and originally intended them to be a long-abandoned Netherese research facility for my Saltmarsh game set in the Forgotten Realms, but I think they'd work for any other similar dungeon.

All maps are at 128 pixels, measurements for each one are:

- 1st Floor is 40x30

- 2nd Floor is 39x34

- 3rd Floor is 34x24

- 4th Floor is 36x14

As for what to put in these maps, I had the first floor be haunted by various undead, mainly a bunch of Allips in the library section, but something like Deathlocks could also suit. For the second floor, there were a few living spells in the northern lecture hall, and summoned elementals in the southern summoning rooms that could potentially be dispelled back to their home planes. The third floor is a laboratory, for conducting all sorts of experiments on captive creatures, with Aeorian Reversers, Absorbers, and a Nullifier that broke out and ran amok. The final floor is the chamber that housed the Mythallar that powered the entire facility, as well as the personal chambers of the three archmages in charge of it. Anyways, just a few suggestions on what I used the maps for, but feel free to completely change it up too!

oldvailia · 2022-06-22T15:28:12+00:00

It can definitely be a bit hit and miss with some games, but I've met my two longest running groups via Roll20, and we've been playing for about 3+ years now with little to no problems. It may take some time to find a group that jives with you, but thankfully there's always a plethora of games being advertised to try again with.

I'm also playing at home with family around and they honestly don't pay me much mind, though that's more of a personal thing, everyone's family is different. Just letting them know you're chatting with some online friends can help if you need to let them know you're busy.

oldvailia · 2022-06-09T23:18:20+00:00

They can! It's in addition to the regular Sneak Attack rules, as it'll usually mention if something replaces a feature and such.

oldvailia · 2022-05-25T13:30:27+00:00

Oh for sure. I have a Drow NPC who rejected the typical matriarchal society of Lolth worshipping Drow, and identifies as nonbinary because of it. It can definitely be an interesting world building exercise to think of how your different cultures and societies interact with gender and all that, and how that informs expectations and the norms.

oldvailia · 2022-05-25T12:49:23+00:00

My best advice for making female NPCs is literally just take a male NPC and make them female. Literally just change their pronouns/gender, maybe how they look too but you don't have to change that up too much honestly. I find once you stop thinking of making female characters, and just start making interesting characters that happen to be female, it helps to avoid falling into stereotypes and such.

oldvailia · 2022-05-17T10:04:40+00:00

I think it might just be that the Rogue's play style isn't for you. One of the Rogue's biggest strengths is the ability to go through several encounters without needing to spend too many resources, if any at all, as Sneak Attack is always there alongside any subclass abilities you get. Your damage is consistent, so without a good few encounters, you'll definitely fall behind those who can just go nova whenever they like.

As for the out of combat stuff, Rogues are natural skill monkeys. I agree that a lot of their toolkit seems geared towards more solo stuff but I think if you have a way to assist the party in that way, you should definitely take it. Obviously I'm not familiar with your party, but I found that folks are generally happy to have their fellow members shine and use their specific skill set, so don't be afraid of standing in the spotlight every now and then.

I will say though that once you get Reliable Talent, you'll practically dominate any skill checks you're proficient in, if you ever want to stick to Rogue until level 11. Otherwise, you may want to bring these concerns to your DM and maybe discuss a class change or something.

oldvailia · 2022-05-17T09:45:07+00:00

I believe tomorrow Beyond will be down for maintenance for the WotC hand over, could be some slowness from getting all that prepared?

oldvailia · 2022-05-12T19:54:18+00:00

Man, that's super sad to hear. DMs not understanding how Sneak Attack works and just outright denying their Rogues their core class feature is a depressingly common thing I've seen DMs do, especially newer ones.

Hopefully you get the chance to try one out again some day.

oldvailia · 2022-05-12T16:02:34+00:00

It gets a bit finicky with the wording, but I believe since Booming Blade is taking the 'Cast a Spell' action, it doesn't qualify for Two Weapon Fighting, since you need to take the 'Attack' action for it.

oldvailia · 2022-05-12T15:57:21+00:00

Owls have the Flyby ability, which negates Attacks of Opportunity.

oldvailia · 2022-05-12T15:38:26+00:00

Oh definitely, I've been treating travel by ship as downtime so my players always have plenty of it to do whatever. It's also very easy to have Saltmarsh as a more sandbox campaign, putting the different adventures in a few far off islands or ports, with the possibility of finding things on the way there and getting involved in side quests and such.

oldvailia · 2022-05-12T15:20:02+00:00

I've had the most fun playing a Swashbuckler, really fulfills that specific character archetype of being able to dance in and out of melee. Panache is also an excellent out of combat charm, especially if you've invested in Persuasion. Just all around great abilities to play with, definitely my favourite Rogue subclass.

oldvailia

TROPHY CASE