Greetings!

Mystical towers, Wizard's Towers, witches, priest temples, and the like offer some outstanding opportunities to present the players with very unusual encounters, environments, and details. I often use such locations as a *space* from which to embrace all kinds of wierd details, mystical properties, and bizarre functions. Enchanted pools, gates to other dimensions or simply distant locations on the same material world; as well as the somewhat more ordinary enchanted kitchens, fountains, animated statues, and strange laboratories. Such locations also allow the DM to experiment with bizarre new creatures and monsters, some of which might merely be a unique creature--or may be an example of a race.

Do you put a lot of detail into such mystical places? Have your players gained possession of such a magical tower, mystical temple, or some other unusual building or structure? Has such a mystical tower contributed to the overall flavour of the local area in meaningful ways?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: SHARK;1115755Do you put a lot of detail into such mystical places? Have your players gained possession of such a magical tower, mystical temple, or some other unusual building or structure? Has such a mystical tower contributed to the overall flavour of the local area in meaningful ways?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

In my current Pathfinder campaign the Players are trying to claim an abandoned Hell Knight Fortress that sits on top of an Ancient Elven Teleportation Ring that happens to be haunted by the spirit of a not quite dead Dragon God of Destruction.

They just have a little bit further to go with one group of Cultists and a Guardian to defeat and then they get to decide what they want to do with their very own Fort.

In Changeling the Dreaming it is sort of hard not to create such places. In D&D I miss creating such places, but had to pare down due to trying to get new players up to speed. There is a lot of anti-social behavior to undo or outlast it seems.

I haven't done anything with it yet, but in an impromptu campaign I started a while back I ended up creating an improvised collaborative setting using ideas from everyone' character backgrounds then mashing them together and filling in the blanks to create a cohesive world. One of the details I added myself was a gigantic tower called The Grand Tower of High Wizardry, which is the tallest known artificial structure in the world, extending hundreds of feet into the sky (PCs know about it, but haven't visited yet).

The tower is home to one of the oldest wizard orders in the world, which used to be part of a multi-disciplinary effort to catalog the natural world--flora, fauna, geography, etc.--as well as understand the world's inner workings from a scientific and mystical standpoint. The organization included members of different classes, mostly druids and mages, but also clerics, bards and monks, and was stationed at a remote location in the northern regions of the world that eventually became a druid temple, but also had an extensive library (where one of the PCs was raised and learned magic). But the druids and the wizards had a falling out a few hundred years ago due to philosophical differences, as the druids wanted to preserve the natural order, while the wizards wanted to bend it to their will.

So the wizards picked up and left--taking most of the books dealing with advanced magical lore with them--and went south to the Midlands of the world, where they erected the tallest tower in the world in defiance of the druids, using the most advanced knowledge of engineering aided by magic to build the largest structure ever made--as a testament to their ability to bend the natural world to their will. The tower is circled by a stone circle constructed with knowledge that the wizards learned from the druids dealing with the harnessing of Ley Lines and seasonal circles, and the top of the tower has four long spires reaching out into the sky, located at each cardinal direction.

The tower is rumored to be a huge magical conductor and the top of the tower is used for magical rituals that open portals into other worlds. Travelers can sometimes spot strange lights flashing from the top of the structure at night.

Quote from: SHARK;1115755Do you put a lot of detail into such mystical places? Have your players gained possession of such a magical tower, mystical temple, or some other unusual building or structure? Has such a mystical tower contributed to the overall flavour of the local area in meaningful ways?

I once wrote up the Tower of Lead in Dorastor (Glorantha), a 10 storey tower, with basements and a doorway into the Underworld, the Tower is famous for being inhabited by Vampires and their servants. it took me 3 months to write up, with maps of each storey and so on.

The PCs drove past it ans asked what it was. When I gave a very short, potted version, they said "A tower full of Vampires? that sounds dangerous, we'll avoid that!" and drove on past.

So, no, I don't write these up in any great detail.

Quote from: soltakss;1115850I once wrote up the Tower of Lead in Dorastor (Glorantha), a 10 storey tower, with basements and a doorway into the Underworld, the Tower is famous for being inhabited by Vampires and their servants. it took me 3 months to write up, with maps of each storey and so on.

The PCs drove past it ans asked what it was. When I gave a very short, potted version, they said "A tower full of Vampires? that sounds dangerous, we'll avoid that!" and drove on past.

So, no, I don't write these up in any great detail.

You probably should have emphasized the loot in the Tower instead of the Vampires.

Quote from: Shasarak;1115856You probably should have emphasized the loot in the Tower instead of the Vampires.

Maybe, but they were a suspicious lot. If I'd have said "Oh look, the Tower of Lead, that is supposed to be full of loot", they'd have asked a hundred questions about it and would have passed by anyway.

It turned out OK in the end, as they got a lot more powerful, entered into an arrangement with the Vampires, whereby they didn't play on each other's turf, then there was a misunderstanding, where the Vampires warned them that they could no longer guarantee the PCs' safety, which the PCs saw as a veiled threat and trashed the Tower of Lead in a couple of sessions. One of the PCs made a deal with the Queen of the Tower, a Vampiric Angel, managed to turn her back into an Angel and married her, although that took a couple of years to accomplish.

Quote from: soltakss;1115931One of the PCs made a deal with the Queen of the Tower, a Vampiric Angel, managed to turn her back into an Angel and married her, although that took a couple of years to accomplish.

On the list of Monstergirl marriage, Ex Vampire-Queen Angel, rates at LEAST a 8/10.
That's like the best of both worlds.

Quote from: Shrieking Banshee;1115932On the list of Monstergirl marriage, Ex Vampire-Queen Angel, rates at LEAST a 8/10.
That's like the best of both worlds.

That reminds me of the classic quote from Dusk to Dawn:

"Welcome to Slavery"

"No thanks, I already have a wife"


[ATTACH=CONFIG]4016[/ATTACH]

Quote from: VisionStorm;1115837I haven't done anything with it yet, but in an impromptu campaign I started a while back I ended up creating an improvised collaborative setting using ideas from everyone' character backgrounds then mashing them together and filling in the blanks to create a cohesive world. One of the details I added myself was a gigantic tower called The Grand Tower of High Wizardry, which is the tallest known artificial structure in the world, extending hundreds of feet into the sky (PCs know about it, but haven't visited yet).

The tower is home to one of the oldest wizard orders in the world, which used to be part of a multi-disciplinary effort to catalog the natural world--flora, fauna, geography, etc.--as well as understand the world's inner workings from a scientific and mystical standpoint. The organization included members of different classes, mostly druids and mages, but also clerics, bards and monks, and was stationed at a remote location in the northern regions of the world that eventually became a druid temple, but also had an extensive library (where one of the PCs was raised and learned magic). But the druids and the wizards had a falling out a few hundred years ago due to philosophical differences, as the druids wanted to preserve the natural order, while the wizards wanted to bend it to their will.

So the wizards picked up and left--taking most of the books dealing with advanced magical lore with them--and went south to the Midlands of the world, where they erected the tallest tower in the world in defiance of the druids, using the most advanced knowledge of engineering aided by magic to build the largest structure ever made--as a testament to their ability to bend the natural world to their will. The tower is circled by a stone circle constructed with knowledge that the wizards learned from the druids dealing with the harnessing of Ley Lines and seasonal circles, and the top of the tower has four long spires reaching out into the sky, located at each cardinal direction.

The tower is rumored to be a huge magical conductor and the top of the tower is used for magical rituals that open portals into other worlds. Travelers can sometimes spot strange lights flashing from the top of the structure at night.

Greetings!

Awesome, VisionStorm! Your example is very interesting! Have you detailed chambers and such within the interior levels of the Grand Tower of High Wizardry? Have any players researched this tower extensively in detail? Any Wizard players must be chomping at the bit to get into the Grand Tower of High Wizardry, to learn its secrets!

I imagine that such a tower must have some powerful political influences as well! Imagine what some neighboring kingdoms must be thinking! Doubtless the wizards there must be whispering to their King, "If we could gain control of the Tower, Sire, we could embrace fantastic power! Furthermore, we could ensure that our enemies would not have access to such secrets and arcane knowledge!"

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: soltakss;1115850I once wrote up the Tower of Lead in Dorastor (Glorantha), a 10 storey tower, with basements and a doorway into the Underworld, the Tower is famous for being inhabited by Vampires and their servants. it took me 3 months to write up, with maps of each storey and so on.

The PCs drove past it ans asked what it was. When I gave a very short, potted version, they said "A tower full of Vampires? that sounds dangerous, we'll avoid that!" and drove on past.

So, no, I don't write these up in any great detail.

Greetings!

Oh, Soltakss! Such a great Vampire tower! All detailed and mapped out! That's very inspiring. I can just imagine the secrets, the treasures, the wicked things such Vampires must be orchestrating from such a powerful fortress!

You should have had a party member--or an important NPC--captured and imprisoned within the tower by the Vampires!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: Shasarak;1115756In my current Pathfinder campaign the Players are trying to claim an abandoned Hell Knight Fortress that sits on top of an Ancient Elven Teleportation Ring that happens to be haunted by the spirit of a not quite dead Dragon God of Destruction.

They just have a little bit further to go with one group of Cultists and a Guardian to defeat and then they get to decide what they want to do with their very own Fort.

Greetings!

An abandoned Hell Knight Fortress? Hmmm...that definitely has some potential there, Shasarak! Have you drawn maps of this place yet? Such a place could have numerous magical features, and strange, special powers!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Quote from: SHARK;1115935Greetings!

Awesome, VisionStorm! Your example is very interesting! Have you detailed chambers and such within the interior levels of the Grand Tower of High Wizardry? Have any players researched this tower extensively in detail? Any Wizard players must be chomping at the bit to get into the Grand Tower of High Wizardry, to learn its secrets!

I imagine that such a tower must have some powerful political influences as well! Imagine what some neighboring kingdoms must be thinking! Doubtless the wizards there must be whispering to their King, "If we could gain control of the Tower, Sire, we could embrace fantastic power! Furthermore, we could ensure that our enemies would not have access to such secrets and arcane knowledge!"

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Nothing detailed so far--only notes on its history and its surrounding areas--as the PCs are still tangled up in matters up north that will keep them busy for a while. But they have become aware of the tower and it's history through their involvement with the druid temple, which has been aiding them in stopping the spread of the cult of an evil hunter god that is the embodiment of rabid beasts and the cruel side of nature, and is worshiped by goblinoids and evil rangers.

The tower itself is located in an arid and sparsely populated, yet strategically important region at the crossroads between the two northern continents and the southern lands. Lack of fertile lands has kept the region from being heavily settled, and the area is plagued by orcish raiding bands from the nearby mountains, who prey on traders transporting goods between regions. The raiders do not dare approach the tower, however, as powerful bolts of lightning have rained down from the tower on those who have done so in the past.

The wizards have mostly kept to themselves so far, but they are very private and unpredictable--keeping mostly to their research and strange experiments, but responding upon trespassers with force. The kingdoms and city-states from nearby regions worry of the wizards' control of the area and what it could mean to their interests across the regions. So far the wizards have levied no tariffs on traveling merchants, but their treatment of armies that approach the tower might be cause for concern for expanding empires as most lack the means to confront such powerful magic.

I have a recently abandoned wizard's tower that I've used successfully a couple of times. Depending on the level of the PCs it will either be filled with constructs and minor elementals, mephitis, imps, etc - or if the PCs are lower level, then it's being investigated by a bunch of hob-goblins, and the PCs can "ally" with the remaining occupants of the tower to eject the invaders. The tower is usually located on a high cliff, somewhere in the Badlands - far from civilisation but also far from orc tribes/etc.

The tower is 5 levels - ground:entry hall; 1st floor: throne room; 2nd floor: living quarters; 3rd floor treasure room, library; 4th floor laboratory, stores; top floor: observatory
Under the tower are - level 1:storerooms, well; level 2: maze; level 3 summoning rooms, emergency bolt-hole; level 4 vault, teleportation circle.

The lower levels are protected by guards and wards, there are a couple of summoned creatures (which might have been freed by marauding hob-goblins) and the vault is incredibly well protected. But if PCs wanted to, they could take it over (the throne can control some of the protective features of the tower). Usually, they just strip it of what they can carry as it's a bit out of the way for a PC stronghold.

Quote from: SHARK;1115755Greetings!

Mystical towers, Wizard's Towers, witches, priest temples, and the like offer some outstanding opportunities to present the players with very unusual encounters, environments, and details. I often use such locations as a *space* from which to embrace all kinds of wierd details, mystical properties, and bizarre functions. Enchanted pools, gates to other dimensions or simply distant locations on the same material world; as well as the somewhat more ordinary enchanted kitchens, fountains, animated statues, and strange laboratories. Such locations also allow the DM to experiment with bizarre new creatures and monsters, some of which might merely be a unique creature--or may be an example of a race.

Do you put a lot of detail into such mystical places? Have your players gained possession of such a magical tower, mystical temple, or some other unusual building or structure? Has such a mystical tower contributed to the overall flavour of the local area in meaningful ways?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

I have a soft spot for this location. The last one I ran was something like a prison for magical experiments that got progressively more dangerous the deeper you went into the chambers beneath the tower (which turned out to be an interesting way for the players to defeat the tower's owner). It was set in a  setting where magic was forbidden and the wizard in the tower was a kind of grand inquisitor who was allowed to practice his craft because he helped hunt and interrogate other wizards (and his experiments were in service to finding ways to defeat them). So the tower connected pretty well to the local setting flavor for my purposes.