Consult the Oracle Ep. 2: In Which the Players Are Made to Fear You
In this, the second installation of Consult the Oracle, I and my co-host Daniel Roanoke (Lead Editor of Pain at SVD Press) discuss how to induce fear in your players. We share tales of horrifying games we’ve played in, we distill how to make it happen in your game, and we wrap up by writing a grisly construct designed to scatter players like lambs.
Intro: Intro, Jedi Mind Tricks
Outro: Reversal, Underoath
Subscribe to the podcast with a single click over there in the right-hand column.
Consult the Oracle Ep. 1: In Which We Win D&D
It’s been a long time coming, but Consult the Oracle finally makes its debut. A while ago, C. Steven Ross of DMG 42 and Fourthcore Team Deathmatch fame won 2nd place at Wizards of the Coast’s DM Challenge at PAX East, and he did it using my adventure, Murder of the Maelstrom Queen. I asked him onto the show to talk about the experience, and to bug him about the idea of competitive D&D, which is an idea I certainly struggle with. It was a great conversation, one that I hope you’ll give a listen to.
Intro: Intro, Jedi Mind Tricks
Outro: Reversal, Underoath
Subscribe to the podcast with a single click over there in the right-hand column.
The Saga Continues: Episode 5
Illusory drowning chambers. Tormenting glimpses of past, present, and future. A high stakes game of chess. Baby teeth. If I’ve whet your whistle, then get ready.
After an extended hiatus, The Saga Continues. In actual fact, this session was recorded months and months ago, the week after the last podcast dropped. I’ve only now got around to listening to it again for editing, and I must say I was highly entertained to hear the antics of the crew with fresh ears. The title of the podcast should give you some clue as to what I’m talking about.
In this episode, our heroes must navigate the halls of the temple, filled with traps and tests of faith in order to confront the malevolent cloud of indigo smoke that haunts the place and stands between them and escape.
Intro: Lo-Gear Title, Alex Mauer
Outro: Lo-Gear Attract Sounds, Alex Mauer
Subscribe to the podcast with a single click over there in the right-hand column. Go ahead. It’s easy.
Explore the world of Soulforge, our campaign setting, here.
The Saga Continues: Episode 4
The Saga Continues, my friends. After exploring a long hallway of doors filled with the arrow-ridden corpses of priests and acolytes, the heroes enter a trap gauntlet featuring a red laser, a series of portcullises, and scythe-wielding suits of armor.
Explore the world of Soulforge, our campaign setting, here.
The Saga Continues: Episode 3
In this episode of The Saga Continues, the heroes mourn the loss of one of their own, even as the spiteful spirit that dwells in the temple refuses to let them suffer with dignity. This session definitely runs at a slower pace than previous, but it does feature a tarot reading and a tragedy performed by decrepit automatons. If either of those catch your attention, give it a listen.
If you would like to know more about the world of Soulforge, you can check it out at Obsidian Portal.
Cartography: Labyrinth of Coils
Twisting halls offer only the illusion of escape in the Labyrinth of Coils.
(click for larger image)
The aim of Cartography entries is to provide inspiration for adventure creation. Feel free to populate the Labyrinth of Coils with whatever monsters, traps, tricks and villains you see fit. Rename and repurpose it to suit your own needs and tastes. And comment below what you would name individual rooms, and what challenges would await the dungeoneers!
Prophecy: Liquimetal Golem
Though the art has been lost to the ages, powerful artificers once crafted golems from molten steel. When the enchanted metal cooled, the construct retained the mutability of the liquid metal. Such golems still guard hidden vaults within the depths of castles thought only to be legend. They appear as a perfect sphere of steel, clutched in claw-like pedestals or levitating over a pool of boiling quicksilver. When the brave or the foolish stumble into its guarded lair, the liquimetal sphere expands and reshapes itself into a towering, horned golem with a pair of draconic wings. The doomed gaze into its faceless visage as its arms morph into a horrifying arsenal of weaponry.
Liquimetal Golem
Level 5 Solo Soldier
Large natural animate (construct)
HP 180; Bloodied 90
Initiative +8; Perception +5
AC 19, Fortitude 18, Reflex 15, Will 16
Immune charm, poison, sleep, resist 2 squares forced movement
Speed 6, fly 6 (clumsy)
Saving Throws +5
Action Points 2
TRAITS
Liquimetal Body
The liquimetal golem can squeeze through size Tiny or larger spaces.
Polymorphic Arsenal
At the beginning of the liquimetal golem’s turn, roll 2d4 to determine what weapons its arms polymorph into this turn. On a duplicate roll, the golem uses that polymorphic weapon attack twice. If the liquimetal golem is bloodied, roll 4d4 instead.
STANDARD ACTIONS
Sledgehammer (polymorphic weapon 1) * At-Will
Attack: Melee 2 (one creature); +10 vs. AC.
Hit: 3d8+4 damage. If two sledgehammer attacks hit one creature on the same turn, that creature is crushed to death between the hammers.
Chain Whip (polymorphic weapon 2) * At-Will
Attack: Melee 4 (one creature); +8 vs. Reflex.
Hit: 2d6+6 damage and the target is grabbed and pulled up to 4 squares. On the target’s first failed escape attempt, or if the liquimetal golem polymorphs a new weapon, the target is thrown 10 squares, takes 3d10 damage, and falls prone.
Impaler (polymorphic weapon 3) * At-Will
Attack: Melee 2 (one creature); +10 vs. AC.
Hit: 2d10+5 damage and ongoing 5 damage (save ends).
Special: The liquimetal golem can score a critical hit with this attack on a roll of 16-20.
Molten Axe (polymorphic weapon 4) * At-Will
Attack: Melee 2 (one creature); +8 vs. Fortitude.
Hit: 1d8+4 damage, the target is immobilized and takes ongoing 10 fire damage (save ends). Second failed saving throw: The molten steel solidifies, trapping the target (no save).
Effect: Creatures adjacent to the target take 5 fire damage.
MINOR ACTIONS
Razor Disc * At-Will (1/round)
Attack: Ranged 10 (one creature); +8 vs. Reflex.
Hit: 1d8+6 damage.
Miss: The razor disc returns to the liquimetal golem at the start of the target’s next turn, making another attack against the target.
MOVE ACTIONS
Fall of Metal Wings * Recharge 56
Effect: The liquimetal golem flaps its wings, filling the area with a violent rush of air. Creatures within 4 squares of the golem must make a saving throw to avoid being pushed 6 squares and falling prone.
TRIGGERED ACTIONS
Magnetic Hull * At-Will
Trigger: The liquimetal golem is attacked with a metallic weapon.
Effect: The triggering attacker makes a saving throw. On a failure, the weapon becomes magnetized to the golem (Strength DC 18 check to retrieve it).
Timebomb * Encounter
Trigger: The liquimetal golem is bloodied for the first time.
Effect: A port opens in the golem’s chest, revealing a spectral hourglass. Grains of light begin to pour from the top to the bottom vessel. If the golem still has hit points at the end of three more rounds, it explodes, dealing 5d10 fire damage to creatures in a close burst 10.
To hear the Liquimetal Golem in action, be sure to check out the latest Saga podcast!
The Saga Continues: Episode 2
Welcome to another episode of The Saga Continues. In this episode, the full party is reunited and we finally dive back into the campaign proper. Among this episode’s delights are…
-A horde of werewolves
-A massive explosion
-About a dozen 4s on d20 rolls
-A monster that will be featured on this site later in the week
And if you’re curious about the campaign setting, you can check it out at Obsidian Portal.
The Saga Continues: Episode 1
I’m happy to share with you the first episode of Dungeon Oracle’s podcast series, The Saga Continues, which follows the ongoing misadventures of my players through live-play recording.
Though the series is dedicated to the ongoing campaign in the world of Soulforge, this first episode chronicles the group’s first delve into the palace of the Maelstrom Queen. If you like what you hear, and you haven’t checked out the adventure yet, you can download the adventure for free here.
Enjoy the carnage (and mark my words, there is much carnage).
Prophecy: Bringing the Dungeon to Life
Though most dungeons are dank, lifeless places, populated only by the horrific monsters set to prey upon would-be treasure seekers, a rare few dungeons have a rudimentary life of their own. In cases such as these, the dungeon itself may become a sentient adversary or potential ally of the questing heroes.
This Prophecy explores three examples of features you can employ to bring your dungeon to life: roaming doors, defense mechanisms, and living walls. Each of these features exemplifies one or more traits of living beings.
Roaming Doors
A living dungeon grows and changes over time, a characteristic exemplified by roaming doors. As the name implies, roaming doors move through the dungeon over time, sliding smoothly along walls from room to room. When they appear, they open the way to parts of the dungeon that have yet to be explored. Heroes wandering back through rooms of the dungeon they have already passed may find a new door has suddenly appeared. Alternatively, some roaming doors move even before the heroes’ eyes. The roaming door of the beast is among these.
Roaming Door of the Beast
Magical Location (Door)
Initiative half-level+7
Speed 4, phasing
TRAITS
Roaming Door
The roaming door of the beast may move along and through walls into different chambers of the dungeon. It must end its move on a flat surface large enough to fit the entire door. The door guards the way to a secret location in the dungeon.
Mark of the Beast
The numeral “60” is etched into the door when the encounter begins. (see spawn false doors).
STANDARD ACTIONS
Spawn False Doors * Recharge 4 5 6
The roaming door of the beast spawns two false doors. The true door now bears the numeral “12,” (a factor of 60) while the false doors respectively bear the numerals “14” and “25.” If the true door spawns false doors again, it now bears the numeral “6” while the new false doors bear the numerals “9” and “11.” If the true door spawns false doors again, it now bears the numeral “3” while the new false doors bear the numerals “0” and “7.”
MOVE ACTIONS
Disperse * At-Will
The roaming door of the beast and all false doors move 4 squares.
TRIGGERED ACTIONS
Beast Within * At-Will
Trigger: A false door is opened.
Effect: A standard monster of the heroes’ level+1 emerges from the door and makes a basic attack as a free action. The monster now acts after the roaming door of the beast.
Defense Mechanisms
A living dungeon responds to stimuli and adapts to its environment, a characteristic exemplified by defense mechanisms. The dungeon rapidly adapts to the onslaught of adventurers, attacking them as an immune system attacks a virus. Depending on how the heroes attempt to solve the problems before them, the living dungeon changes the way it defends itself, as demonstrated by the devouring stronghold. Clever heroes will work to understand the patterns of the devouring stronghold’s reactions, intentionally triggering one defense to bypass another.
Devouring Stronghold
Level variable elite blaster
Trap
Initiative half-level+7
DESCRIPTION
The devouring stronghold appears as an enormous, fanged, stone mouth, carved into the floor, its jaws wide open. Suspended over the maw by magic is an artifact or other treasure of immense value. Four obelisks crackling with violet lightning surround the maw.
Perception (DC moderate): Each obelisk has a secret compartment, about chest high. Each compartment conceals a piece of a talisman that can disable the devouring stronghold.
TRAITS
Annihilation
Creatures and objects that enter the maw are destroyed instantly.
STANDARD ACTIONS
Arc Lightning * At-Will
Attack: Ranged 5 (up to four different targets); level+6 vs. Reflex.
Hit: 1d12+1 lightning damage, and creatures adjacent to the target take 5 lightning damage per tier.
Devour * At-Will
Special: Devour can only be used as a readied action.
Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); level+6 vs. Reflex.
Hit: A black tongue of pure shadow lashes up from the mouth and snares the target, dragging it into the maw, killing it instantly.
TRIGGERED ACTIONS
Sudden Spines * At-Will
Trigger: A hero succeeds or fails at a DC half-level+15 Thievery check to open the secret compartment of an obelisk.
Effect (Immediate Reaction): Poison-tipped spines burst from the stone of all of the obelisks that last until the end of the devouring stronghold’s next turn. Creatures within one square of the obelisks make a saving throw with a +2 bonus. Success: the hero takes poison damage equal to their healing surge value. Failure: the hero takes a lethal dose of poison, dying at the end of their next turn. While the spines are out, heroes making a Thievery check to open a secret compartment on an obelisk must make the same saving throw.
Sudden Scales * At-Will
Trigger: A hero attempts to destroy an obelisk rather than open its compartment (all defenses level+12, 30 hp per tier).
Effect (immediate reaction): All obelisks become coated in slimy green scales until the end of the devouring stronghold’s next turn, gaining a +4 to AC and a +2 to all other defenses. When a hero makes a weapon attack against an obelisk coated in scales, their weapon beings to rust (save ends). Rusting weapons take a -2 to attack rolls. Second failed save: The weapon dissolves completely to rust.
Mind Possession * At-Will
Trigger: A hero uses a magic effect, such as mage hand or prestidigitation in an attempt to remove the treasure.
Effect (immediate interrupt): The attempt fails, and during the triggering hero’s next turn, they make 4 at-will attacks against their allies. Heroes wearing the completed talisman are immune to this effect.
Howl of Doom * Recharge456
Trigger: A hero moves adjacent to the devouring stronghold.
Effect (free action): The devouring stronghold makes the following attack:
Attack: Close burst 4 (enemies in burst); level+6 vs. Fortitude.
Hit: 1d4 thunder damage per level and the target is pushed 10 squares.
Treasure Guardian * At-Will
Trigger: A hero fails a DC half-level+19 Thievery check to remove the treasure from the devouring stronghold.
Effect (immediate reaction): The triggering hero takes 4d12+4 lightning damage per tier, is pushed 6 squares, and the devouring stronghold readies devour as a free action.
Living Walls
A living dungeon has desires, motivations, fears, and uncertainties, characteristics exemplified by living walls. Whereas roaming doors and defense mechanisms reveal the physicality of a living dungeon, living walls reveal its mind. The dungeon itself speaks to the heroes through its paintings, its reliefs, and mounds of rubble that shift into the semblance of a face. Living walls are the conduits through which a sentient dungeon speaks and makes its desires known. The wall of covetous mirror is one such conduit.
Wall of Covetous Mirrors
Appearance: A wide expanse of a corridor’s wall is covered in hundreds of mirrors of different sizes and shapes.
On Closer Inspection: When the heroes look at themselves in the mirrors, they appear clad in the finest vestments of gold thread, dorned with platinum jewelry, crowns, medallions, and heavy rings on every finger.
Arcana (DC level+14): The mirrors radiate illusion and conjuration magic.
When a hero approaches the mirrors, they speak in unison, their voices echoing through the chamber.
Personality: Jealous, spiteful, isolated, insane.
Motivations: The dungeon, speaking through the wall of covetous mirrors, longs for the kind of freedom that sentient beings such as the heroes are granted. Mirrors such as these appear scattered throughout the dungeon, allowing the dungeon to monitor and speak to the heroes.
If a hero stands before the mirror wearing a ring of incarnation, the reflections appear normal, and an ancient regal figure appears before the heroes, offering them a powerful artifact.
