This is a site for discussing roleplaying games. Have fun doing so, but there is one major rule: do not discuss political issues that aren't directly and uniquely related to the subject of the thread and about gaming. While this site is dedicated to free speech, the following will not be tolerated: devolving a thread into unrelated political discussion, sockpuppeting (using multiple and/or bogus accounts), disrupting topics without contributing to them, and posting images that could get someone fired in the workplace (an external link is OK, but clearly mark it as Not Safe For Work, or NSFW). If you receive a warning, please take it seriously and either move on to another topic or steer the discussion back to its original RPG-related theme.

Author Topic: What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?  (Read 2168 times)

Genly Ai

  • Newbie
  • *
  • G
  • Posts: 28
What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?
« on: July 23, 2020, 11:52:50 AM »
Next session my group will be exploring the ruins of a house built and once occupied by an alchemist.

Any ideas on what they might find there?

Potions and homonculi I got...any other ideas?

JeffB

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 171
What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2020, 12:00:45 PM »
Might take a look-see at U1.

Tyndale

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 83
What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2020, 12:02:52 PM »
Oh, so many trap possibilities: Unstable compounds that are waiting for the chance to combust, turn into deadly/hallucinogenic gas, expand into foam that will dissolve armor and flesh....and you totally need to put a "bunsen burner" that is still lit (continual flame).
-The world grew old and the Dwarves failed and the days of Durin’s race were ended.

Steven Mitchell

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • S
  • Posts: 3770
What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2020, 12:07:37 PM »
Mutant oozes and slimes.  

Tyndale beat me to alchemical traps, but don't forget accidental "hazard" type traps, such as floor supports weakened by an acid that spilled through the cracks.

Genly Ai

  • Newbie
  • *
  • G
  • Posts: 28
What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2020, 12:08:11 PM »
I never thought of U1, good idea. Great trap ideas, guys, thanks!

VisionStorm

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2184
What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2020, 12:14:02 PM »
Quote from: Tyndale;1141414
Oh, so many trap possibilities: Unstable compounds that are waiting for the chance to combust, turn into deadly/hallucinogenic gas, expand into foam that will dissolve armor and flesh....and you totally need to put a "bunsen burner" that is still lit (continual flame).


This is a good one. Depending on how nefarious the alchemist might have been, they might also run into the bodies of people or creatures used to test experimental potions. Maybe the alchemist was trying to create a monster to serve as a guardian, and the potion worked, but it spilled and now there're a bunch of mutated rats and test creatures all over the place. Add that to a bunch of trap-like compounds all over the place and you have a deadly mix.

On the upside, some of the alchemy regents found throughout the house might be valuable, and fetch a nice price if gathered correctly.

GeekyBugle

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7399
  • Now even more Toxic
What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?
« Reply #6 on: July 23, 2020, 12:21:07 PM »
Quote from: VisionStorm;1141417
This is a good one. Depending on how nefarious the alchemist might have been, they might also run into the bodies of people or creatures used to test experimental potions. Maybe the alchemist was trying to create a monster to serve as a guardian, and the potion worked, but it spilled and now there're a bunch of mutated rats and test creatures all over the place. Add that to a bunch of trap-like compounds all over the place and you have a deadly mix.

On the upside, some of the alchemy regents found throughout the house might be valuable, and fetch a nice price if gathered correctly.

Plus, if the party manages to not blow up the place the lab equipment could be of use to the wizard. (I speak from experience, I just burned the house of a Hag and although not all was lost we did loose some books/scrolls and potions among other stuff My PC might have used)
Quote from: Rhedyn

Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

― George Orwell

jeff37923

  • Knight of Common Sense
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 18318
What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?
« Reply #7 on: July 23, 2020, 12:24:00 PM »
Unexpected mundane stuff like a jar of peanut butter or a bottle of soy sauce. A number of jars all containing different kinds of salt like sea salt and mined salt.

How about an experiment in endothermal chemistry? Two seperate compounds in flasks connected to a double walled beaker of wine that when mixed (by opening the valves) chill the wine down. Make the wine a desert wine like a moscato or port.

EDIT: Oh, and have a jar with a tightly sealed lid that has a sample of The Blob squirming around in it!

« Last Edit: July 23, 2020, 12:29:44 PM by jeff37923 »
"Meh."

tenbones

  • Poobah of the D.O.N.G.
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6164
What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?
« Reply #8 on: July 23, 2020, 12:25:50 PM »
I look at it from a different angle...

Why was it abandoned?

- He was doing things forbidden by The Alchemists Guild (Give the guild a cool name) - which then makes you consider "what would be forbidden?" which is a sub-string of potential adventure ideas.

- He discovered some Alchemical secret the forced him to go in search for more clues. For this to work, you have to have an idea of some element you want to add to your game, or be a MacGuffin to lead your PC's along to further adventures on the trail of whatever the Alchemist discovered; maybe they left to find some part of the puzzle to their discovery? Some rare ingredient they were missing?

- The alchemist was assassinated/abducted, but before he died he left a clue about his work and the potential people that removed him. This could be a Breaking Bad scenario where he was in the employ of nefarious individuals that you can set up in your game later for something bigger. So was he cooking drugs? Poison? Kingdom-endangering Zombie virus?

- It's abandoned because He Done Fucked Up*. He created something that removed him from the premises. Perhaps it changed him in some innocuous way - Made him Ethereal? Shrunk him (and maybe some of that formula is laying around - you can have an entire adventure where the party is shrunk down and has to adventure WITHIN the abandoned building - you could fill it with all kinds of new biomes and maybe even find the Alchemist himself who has been working in tiny-mode for years to craft an antidote. But because of his size he's limited, and the Ants. And the T-Rex sized spiders of the Cobweb Forest! And the RATS! The Roaches. Traversing the Dirty Floor of Desolation is rough work! It turned him into a local monster that plagues the region... like his master before him. It gave him some kind of allergy to sunlight... and forced him to live underground... and deep in the cellar the PC's find a secret door that goes down... down... down. Did he dig too deep?

Or you know... you can just scatter a bunch of stuff around - vials, beakers, pots and pans... boring obvious stuff :)
« Last Edit: July 23, 2020, 12:28:42 PM by tenbones »

VisionStorm

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2184
What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?
« Reply #9 on: July 23, 2020, 12:26:44 PM »
Quote from: GeekyBugle;1141420
Plus, if the party manages to not blow up the place the lab equipment could be of use to the wizard. (I speak from experience, I just burned the house of a Hag and although not all was lost we did loose some books/scrolls and potions among other stuff My PC might have used)


Any mages in the party are gonna have to resist the urge to drop a fireball in that place--no matter how swarmed they get by oozes and mutant rats--or the whole thing could blow up and leave them nothing to sell if they survive.

Genly Ai

  • Newbie
  • *
  • G
  • Posts: 28
What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?
« Reply #10 on: July 23, 2020, 12:48:15 PM »
Loving the response, guys.

I was also thinking of riffing on "Rouges in the House", and having one of the Alchemist's servants still around to fuck the party up.

FelixGamingX1

  • Master Templar
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 829
    • https://knightstabletoprpg.com/
What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?
« Reply #11 on: July 23, 2020, 01:15:58 PM »
Depending of how hasty of an abandonment it was, you could find craft recipes and other chemicals. Abandoning suggests there wouldn't be traps or sigils put in place. What led to the Alchemist to leave the place would definitely influence how things turn out.
American writer and programmer, since 2016.
https://knightstabletoprpg.com

VisionStorm

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2184
What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?
« Reply #12 on: July 23, 2020, 01:42:00 PM »
What if the alchemist (or perhaps his apprentice/servant) got engulfed by a symbiotic gelatinous cube, and the "final boss" is a gelatinous cube with spell casting ability? The bloated and mutated alchemist/mage is still stuck inside of the cube, with a bunch of components floating inside of it that get consumed every time he casts a spell. But his mind has been merged with the cube into a dual creature.

GeekyBugle

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7399
  • Now even more Toxic
What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?
« Reply #13 on: July 23, 2020, 01:46:09 PM »
Quote from: VisionStorm;1141434
What if the alchemist (or perhaps his apprentice/servant) got engulfed by a symbiotic gelatinous cube, and the "final boss" is a gelatinous cube with spell casting ability? The bloated and mutated alchemist/mage is still stuck inside of the cube, with a bunch of components floating inside of it that get consumed every time he casts a spell. But his mind has been merged with the cube into a dual creature.

Now that's a scary blob!
Quote from: Rhedyn

Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

― George Orwell

Genly Ai

  • Newbie
  • *
  • G
  • Posts: 28
What's in an abandoned Alchemist's house?
« Reply #14 on: July 23, 2020, 03:54:54 PM »
Quote from: VisionStorm;1141434
What if the alchemist (or perhaps his apprentice/servant) got engulfed by a symbiotic gelatinous cube, and the "final boss" is a gelatinous cube with spell casting ability? The bloated and mutated alchemist/mage is still stuck inside of the cube, with a bunch of components floating inside of it that get consumed every time he casts a spell. But his mind has been merged with the cube into a dual creature.


Very cool idea! Who doesn't love to see characters engulfed?