The Cleaves-CDM Backup again


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THE CLEAVES: A COMMUNITY DEVELOPED MEGADUNGEON

yellowdingo, Sat, Jul 17, 2010, 11:12 PM
THE CLEAVES
COMMUNITY DEVELOPED MEGADUNGEON
Welcome to ‘The Cleaves’ – a Mega-dungeon under development by the Paizo Message-boards Community. This is an ever expanding Mega-dungeon that can only get bigger and you are welcome to join in.
THE INCIDENT AT CLEAVESBRIDGE
Done with exploring the community of West Cleave, Jarmo led his companion toward the structure at the edge of the Ravine. The old man sitting on the chair on the stoop of a small stone building smiled as the companions drew close.
“A thousand gold coins,” The price took Jarmo by surprise. “A thousand gold coin if you are looking to cross.” Jarmo scoffed at the suggestion.
“A Thousand Coin Toll to cross an invisible bridge...how Outrageous!” Patis the Swordswoman was in agreement with her companion and ignored the toll, throwing a few silvers at the bridge-keeper’s feet before heading toward the step to the invisible bridge.
“I don’t know what the villagers told you but it’s not an invisible bridge.” Patis halted in the step that would have taken her to her death. She backed away from the edge as the wind attempted to push her forward.
“I create the bridge. That’s why you pay a thousand gold pieces in toll.” Jarmo hurriedly reassessed the man in front of him. He had just as much admitted to being a Wizard.
“All right.” Jarmo smiled and untied two sacks of gold coins from his person and dropped them at the wizard’s feet. Pretty much his share of the coins they had picked up working for this community just went in bridge toll.
The Wizard smiled and opened a portal at the edge of the ravine.
“Across you go!” Jarmo entered the Gray portal before him – vanishing from view. Patis was still irritated by the old man’s tricks – she followed Jarmo up the stone steps.
That didn’t look right.
“Stop!” Patis ignored the Gatekeeper. Kraeg of Cleaves-bridge leaped forward grabbing at the Woman to pull her back from this unexpected doom. She was surprisingly quick – her hand dragged the wizard forward through the portal before her. Kraeg found himself – not on the stone of the far edge of the ravine - but on the stone floor of a dark chamber lit by Jarmo with his now glowing sword - his sword pointed at the Wizard. Kraeg was surprised by the fact that Jarmo was covered in blood and sweat. Some dissected beast lay in a corner of the chamber.
“What’s the matter wizard? Did you expect me to die in your little trap?” He turned the tip of his sword toward the wizard.
“Spell went wrong. You stepped through the portal a few seconds before me. Your companion is right behind me.” A long while later Patis stepped through.
“And that Wizard is what you get for touching...” she was distracted instantly by the fact that both Jarmo and the Gate keeper were standing well away from her point of entry. The wizard should have been sprawled on the ground before the community of East Cleave. Patis drew her sword and pointed it at the Wizard.
Jarmo stroked the stone of the wall, feeling its seeming perfection. It was almost perfectly smooth and cut from an unfamiliar stone.
“What is that?”Patis examined the corpse of the creature that Jarmo had somehow enjoyed the time to eliminate on arrival. She had never seen anything like it. It looked like a huge ugly deformed dog with scale-mail for hide.
“Where are we?” Kraeg looked nervously about. Where was he? A spell and the chamber illuminated with magic light.
Jarmo looked around the chamber. The chamber was a twenty feet deep pit and the only entrance was one way. He moved into the centre of the pit. The room above his view was perhaps forty feet in diameter and was entirely steps of stone. The Audience was now revealed to be a cloaked figure. From its skeletal hand a magic missile lanced out at the ceiling from which was suspended a great gong causing it to sound. Another hound in scale barding spilled into the fight pit. It was hungry for Jarmo and his companions.
DM BRIEFING: When a Dimension Door goes wrong it directs the traveller into an inter-dimensional Mega-Dungeon named ‘The Cleaves’ by the first to discover it and live to escape. More importantly it is accessible from anywhere in the world.
EXPLORING THE CLEAVES
While a mishap with Dimension door will dump you into this Mega-Dungeon, it is also possible to deliberately visit the Cleaves by not selecting a destination for your dimension door. This means that any one capable of casting the 4th level spell can provide access to the Cleaves.
The Cleaves
The Mega-dungeon has a hundred randomly positioned rooms unrelated to the position of the rest of the Mega-dungeon, a hundred random beasts and a hundred random guarded treasures hidden in its maze of shifting corridors. When an unexpected traveller arrives it is within one of these hundred random rooms.
Entering a Room in the Cleaves
When entering a new room, select one room card from the room card pile, and check the manual for the chances of a Monster, Trap, and Treasure. As each is deemed present, select from their card piles and add them to the room.
And there you have a Room in the Cleaves Mega-dungeon. As Dungeon Master, you simply add it to your perceived reality of this dungeon.
JOINING IN THE DEVELOPMENT WORK
Now we have an idea as to how the dungeon will work and be accessible to DM and PCs alike, we need to develop our four card initial decks.
The Four Initial Card Decks
• 100 Random Rooms
• 100 Monstrous Encounters
• 100 Unusual Treasures
• 100 Unexpected Traps
The Fifth Card Deck
• 100 Special Discoveries
So as a contributor we each need to provide one of each of the above items for each card deck to help build our Community Mega-dungeon. I call these the initial decks because they can be expanded on forever.
Let us begin...

yellowdingo, Sat, Jul 17, 2010, 11:28 PM

CONTRIBUTE IN THESE LINKS (Broken, but you can search on them.)
100 Random Rooms
100 Monstrous Encounters
100 Unusual Treasures
100 Unexpected Traps
100 Special Discoveries


yellowdingo, Sun, Jul 18, 2010, 05:53 AM

Stocking a Room
To stock a room:
1. Select a card from the Room Stack.
2. Roll 1d6:
1-2 Empty [Roll 1d6 to determine Treasure (Treasure=1; 2-6=No Treasure)]
3 Draw a Trap Card from the 100 Unexpected Traps [Roll 1d6 to determine Treasure (Treasure=1-2; 3-6=No Treasure)]
4-5 Draw a Monster Card from the 100 Monstrous Encounters [Roll 1d6 to Determine Treasure (Treasure=1-3; 4-6=No Treasure)]
6 Draw a Special Card from the 100 Special Discoveries [No Treasure]
3. If a Treasure is Present...Draw a Treasure Card from the 100 Treasures Card Deck
The Cleaves - One way in and No way out
I still believe that a Mega-dungeon that can be accessed from anywhere in the world by accident is precisely what we are looking for in terms of a Mega-dungeon. That way the PCs will be robbed of what they have soon after they are trapped. Their goods are being sold off in the Market of our 'Safe zone settlement' and they must adventure to recover what they need to survive.
If our Dungeon has a Safe Zone - the Markets (Maybe we should call it Pippa's Slave Markets - for those in the know) are not necessarily it. While it might be a centre where they can retreat from the dangers of the rest of the Mega-dungeon - they have to pay to get in. Resources are scarce. The population is so diverse - there are dimension door travellers from lands no one has heard of.
The Cleaves - One way in and No way out
I still believe that a Mega-dungeon that can be accessed from anywhere in the world by accident is precisely what we are looking for in terms of a Mega-dungeon. That way the PCs will be robbed of what they have soon after they are trapped. Their goods are being sold off in the Market of our 'Safe zone settlement' and they must adventure to recover what they need to survive.
If our Dungeon has a Safe Zone - the Markets (Maybe we should call it Pippa's Slave Markets - for those in the know) are not necessarily it. While it might be a centre where they can retreat from the dangers of the rest of the Mega-dungeon - they have to pay to get in. Resources are scarce. The population is so diverse - there are dimension door travellers from lands no one has heard of.
The Ratio we want will give us a lot of dead ends in rooms.
1=14/24 | 2=1/24 | 3=4/24 | 4=3/24 | 5=2/24
Here you will notice that there are never 6 doors to a room.
Chance of Stairs = 1/27
Chance of Secret Corridor = 2/27
and...
• Disintegrate automatically stresses strata to 100% fail.
You've got a fricken Beholder imprisoned here!
Maybe just drilling a circular hole in the wall might not cause a collapse.
Also, the Beholder comes from a 3.5 world, so he's not an Oogler.
Fans of the 4th wall (I see you!) will want to have their Legal Devils hunt him/it.

THE LOCATION OF THE CLEAVES
The Cleaves is not located at/down the face of A Ravine separating West and East Cleaves - that is merely a starting point for the Adventurers who happen to name it in the story Fiction. The Megadungeon known as the Cleaves is actually interdimensional in nature - It is between the entry and exit of a failed dimension Door - And thus accessible from anywhere in the Campaign World via failed Dimension Door (Successful Dimension Door requires you have a Destination in Mind - THE CLEAVES is where you go when you don’t).
THE ROLL YOUR OWN DUNGEON MESH RULE
More of a guideline up for discussion as we develop the Mega Dungeon.
1=14/24 | 2=1/24 | 3=4/24 | 4=3/24 | 5=2/24
Here you will notice that there are never 6 doors to a room.
These are merely the odds of a number of exits per room. MS Excel will allow you to random generate a bunch of numbers quickly to determine the number of exits to a given room. This will provide you with what you desire.
If you wish to roll dice then (2d8+1d10)-2 gets you a range of 1-24.
THE LIMITS OF THE CLEAVES
The Cleaves has no Limit. It is Interdimensional. Walking down a corridor and around a corner could just as easily take you from level fifty on this side of the dungeon to level three yesterday. It will be up to the Creators of the Dungeon to add what they desire for the 100 Rooms Card Deck and then draw a regular Dungeon around that collection of ideas if they so desire. It will be designed so that a DM can assemble their own version of Reality from what will be available collectively.
Goth Guru, 6 seconds ago
The 101 Tavern Patrons could be put in the Looking Glass Tavern in the Village of the Dammed. The "girl" with a map could be the gateway to The Cleaves.


The artifact font in The Cleaves is made of 2 bands and several iron rods. Without a bowl to put in it, how does it hold the godhood potion? Will the bowl or basin just appear? Is the basin made of force?
When one person drinks from it, do the parts rescatter and the entire dungeon reset? Reshuffle all the cards except unique cards that characters have? Send all other surviving PCs home? Play the closing music from Dragonball?

Dark Archive

Goth Guru wrote:

Play the closing music from Dragonball?

Best contribution to date I've seen to the project.


Green Blaster
This green, rotting corpse has lost both arms. It hops towards any living thing.
Green Blaster CR6
NE Medium Undead
Int +4: Senses darkvision 60 feet: Perception +9
Defense
AC18, touch 12, flat footed 14, (+2 Dex., +4 natural)
Hp 39(6D8+12)
Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +10
Defensive Abilities Channel resistance +4
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee N/A
Special Attacks Explosion(6D6, anyone who dies from it rises as a green blaster in 1-6 rounds)
Statistics
Str. 10, Dex. 13, Con. ---, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 14
Base Attack NA
Feats: sense life
Skills Acrobatics +8, Perception +8, Stealth +8, Swim +8
Languages Common
Ecology: Environment: Any
Organization solitary, gang(2-4), or pack(7-12)
Treasure, nil
Special abilities
Explosion. 6D6 in a 30 ft. radius. Reflex save DC16 for half. Anyone or anything that dies from the explosion rises as a green blaster in 1-6 rounds.

The Exchange

You added this to monstrous encounters?


yellowdingo wrote:
You added this to monstrous encounters?

Yep.


I took some fire recently for asking people to check out The Cleaves. I will try to be less demanding in the future. Topics such as "Things you would have removed" and "SUBTERRANEAN STUFF" are lightning rod topics. That means they do not belong on the main lists, and they would be completely optional. Also, as 'other stuff' they may be a bit out of category. You can fix things up and sell them but they do not qualify as treasure till then.

Signature
Warning, my spelling is very bad and I like puns.


I can't get the rooms back up so I will post this here.
26. The Variolite of Varying Viscosity
The floor in this large (130ft. by 130ft.) hall is dark-green and smooth. The walls and ceiling are of a different rock. At the opposite side of the room, the corridor continues.
This room is filled with a quick-sand like liquid - variolite sand mixed with a weak acid. A successful perception check (DC 12) reveals that there are pillars hanging from the cealing, but they end after just a few feet, and that there are scorch marks on the walls. A check result over DC 20 reveals that the floor doesn't look solid before moving in on it.
As long as one moves on it or otherwise pressures it, it's solid - it even takes a DC 8 perception check to notice that it isn't normal rock when moving on it. As long as a creature moves at least 30ft. per round, nothing happens, but if a creature moves less, it begins to sink.
Treat this as quicksand for anyone who has begun sinking, except that it's slightly acidic - it deals 1 point of acid damage per turn, or 1d4 points if the creature is fully immersed.
Plot: The risk for meeting another creature in this room is extremely small, as most denizens of the dungeon know about the risk of this area. Should the players pursue a creature though, the creature might run to the opposite side and take a stand in the corridor. The players may think they've just caught up with the creature, until they realize they are waist-down in the liquid.
Treasure: About 20ft below the surface, the bottom of the room is. In the southwestern corner, a character with some means of detecting it can find the bones of a huge dragon as well as the remains of the wizard that was eaten - a magic rod that survived the acid of the black dragon's stomach.
History: Once, a battle took place here between a green dragon and a sorcerer with fiery powers. The dragon managed to eat the sorcerer, but was lethally wounded. The blasts from the sorcerer had melted the floor and pillars of the room, transforming it into the volcanic rock type it is now, but when the acidic blood of the dying dragon mixed with the still hot variolite, they interacted and became a thick liquid with varied viscosity.
http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA921&lpg=PA921&dq=variolite%20ore &sig=ei5kBkcK20zhaUpK23PxxjOg_LU&ei=25SXTcPAKqaJ0QG77r2FDA&ct=r esult&id=pqsixiqGenUC&ots=NuEAMCOajO&output=text
VARIOLITES i I-.'T. uriVd, smallpox), in petrology, a group of dark green basic igneous rocks which, especially on weathered surfaces, exhibit pale coloured spots that give them a pockmarked appearance. In some conditions these spots weather out prominently; they are grey, pale green, violet or yellowish, while the matrix of the rock, is usually dark green. The variolites are related roost closely to the basalts or diabases. They are nearly always much decomposed, and, since they are also fine-grained rocks, their original composition may be much obscored by secondary changes. The varioliiic spots are rounded In outline and are often about a quarter of an inch in diameter, but may much exceed this size. They have a radiate structure and arc sometimes, though not generally, zoned with concentric circles of diflcrent appearance and composition. Many authors have compared them with the spheruliies of the acid rocks (obsidians and rhyolites), and undoubtedly some kinds of variolite are merely glassy sphcnilitic varieties of basalt. The tacbylyu selvages of the doleriu dikes of the west of Scotland, for example, often contain large brown spheruliies which are easQy visible In hand specimens. These spheruliles consist of very thin divergent fibres, and their nature is often difficult to determine on account of the indennitenes* of the
optical characters of minerals in this state. It seems probable, however, that they are mostly felspar embedded in dark brown glass. Small phenocrysts or skeleton crystals of olivinc, augite and plagiodase felspar may occur in these tachylytes.
Other variolites are glassy or partly crystalline facies of olivinefree dolerites. occurring as thin dikes or intrusions, or at the margins of dolerite masses. In these the felspars are well crystallized as thin rods, whh square or forked ends, radiating outwards from a centre. They are commonly otigoclase. and sometimes assume branching or feathery form*. Some authors would call these " sphaero-crystals" rather than sphemlites; they are an intermediate stage between the latter and the stellate groupings of felspar which occur frequently in igneous rocks. In the same rocks augite spherulites occur also, but this mineral forms plumose growths, branching and curved, which spread through the glassy base and do not interfere with the felspar sphcrutites. They have much resemblance to the feathery ice crystals which form on window-panes. Occasionally ulivincdolcrkes have a coarsely sphcnilitic structure with long rods of plagiodase felspar converging to a point; one example of these rocks from Skye contains variolites over three inches in diameter.
Another group of variolites includes the most famous rock of this type, which comes from the Durance, in France. Pebbles of this were welt known to collectors for a long time before they were traced to their source at Mont Genevre. They were proved to belong to a dia basic rock which shows well-marked " pillow-structure " or " spheroidal jointing." Each pillow has a marginal portion which is variolitk, but towards the centre of the block-shaped masses the structure becomes coarse and groups of radiate felspars make their appearance. It is doubtful whether the variolite Is an intrusive rack or a lava flow. Many of these pillow lavas (or spilites) occur in the Devonian rocks of Germany, and often they have variolitic facies which seem to belong to the same group as the rock of the Durance. Their sphcrulites ore very often oligoclase felspar or decomposition products after a fclspathic mineral. In other cases they consist of chlorite or pale green amphibole, both of which may be secondary after pyroxene. The ground mas* is very fine grained and is filled with chlorite, epidute, teucoxene, and other secondary minerals. There is much reason to believe that it wu originally in large measure vitreous but has suffered devitrifaction. Sometimes little steam cavities occur and may serve as a nucleus from which the variolite has grown. The radiate structure of the varioles is often nearly obliterated in these much-decornposed rocks, in fact it may never have been very perfect. Variolites are found also in several parts of the Swiss Alps at Jatluga on Lake Onega, in Anglesey, the Lteyn district and Fisnguard in Wales, in Cornwall, and in more than one place in Ireland.


Traps are done.


See how some of the Cleaves topics scrolled off the bottom and vanished? That's why we need a Cleaves subsection.
I'll have to repost the entire Cleaves Archve Topic.


Special discoveries is still taking items. Note that unforseen consequences can be used as story effects.


The Cleaves is made by many people. This is why most of the people who make homebrew topics don't enter the contest. You can't bounce ideas off other people to perfect them.


I'm planning to run The Cleaves in a Forum Games topic.

You will need a 10th level character. It's still a prototype, so either make a new character or clone an existing character. Kender are not allowed because they cannot help but steal from party members. Undead and were creatures are only allowed if they can cooperate with non monsters, even if it's just to survive.

Rules
I'll use Pathfinder standard, but with several homebrew rules and personal choices.

Big 6 Ban: Every even level a character gets a plus one to hit and damage with all weapons, to their deflection bonus, to one ability score, or one feat. These do not stack with spells or items. The limits up to 20th level are hit and damage +5, deflection bonus +8, and ability score +8. Characters created should be adjusted accordingly. Feats taken this way are in addition to normal feat limits. Magic weapons do not need to be plus anything to have other magic properties.

Card rules: Any items, monsters, rooms, or other items that contain text that conflict with the rules will take precedent. It's like in Magic the Gathering, if the card says you get an extra turn or you get up and do the hokey pokey, you do, even though that breaks overall rules.

No Fumbles: A roll of 1 to hit is a miss, unless True Strike is in effect. A roll of one while confirming a crit only means it's not a crit. It's still a normal hit. If Card Rules dictate something happens on a fumble, it happens on a nat. 1. It cannot happen on a crit. confirmation roll.

PM: If your character takes the cake, becomes possessed, or otherwise becomes privy to privileged info, I the GM will tell you how to role play it via Personal Messages. If your character grabs and hides an item because your memberships or religion demands it, you PM me and I will have the others roll spot checks after telling them "You might have noticed a noise or something".


The first game is shaping up to be "Several lost characters". Your character gets there individually and joins up with the others for survival. You could play the only character that failed their save vs baleful teleport, a rogue who tried to escape the scene of the crime with a damaged item of teleport, a pony unicorn who tried to learn teleport, or a vampire who just barely escaped the end of their world. Having multiple random generated character ready in case of fatalities is allowed, as is turning an NPC into your new PC, even if it's a monster. Just remember that turning on your fellow adventurers is stupid.

Carrot & Stick: I reward good roleplaying. A paladin trying to set a good example or a "survivor" who isn't stupid evil is good roleplaying. Two characters of opposite alignment who are always at each others throats will attract extra monsters and set off all the traps.


With the Cleaves playtest I'm getting ready for, They start with 10th level characters, so wealth by level is a good guideline for what gear they will have. If they buy a book to raise a stat more, they may be entering a space dungeon wearing just a loincloth. A lot of money doesn't make you a great adventurer.

If your character bought a helm of teleportation, it was half price, because it's defective. Every time you use it I put you in a random room of the Cleaves. Likewise a cracked cubic gate.


It's not as bad as it may sound at first. There are a few sources of wishes, all with interesting drawbacks. Also, this is a playtest, so if something is no fun from the players perspective, it can be changed or replaced. Just remember that with greater risks come greater rewards.

Every deck has an exit card that will take characters home. A lot of the nastier traps hide a piece of the font, that grants godhood. A couple of rooms are actual labs where items can be crafted. There are anomalies like vending machines. Some of the monsters and mushrooms are edible. Cantrips are more important, such as detect poison, mending, ect.


I found the play by post section of Pazio.

Go to Play by post.

This is where I will do the playtest when I'm ready. In the meantime, we should all look at some of these to get ideas.


I've been looking at the game titles and these are actual modules. If I read one of them I can never play that one. So reading existing play by posts is out.
Is there an FAQ or something that gives advice on playing by post?


If a room is placed, detection spells or items will detect things.
For example, if you use the ultimate lens and you missed a part of the artifact, the lens will show it in the previous room. If someone attempts listening at a door, the room will be generated immediately.


A change to the big 6 ban. Instead of a deflection bonus, it is an enhancement bonus to their person. It effects even touch AC. It goes only up to 8. It does not stack with armor, bracers of armor, or the mage armor spell. Under current rules shields and shield spells stack with everything.


Bump


I was thinking of creating Cleaves rummy. The Cleaves is a space dungeon. You start with getting 8 cards(2 from each deck), on you turn you can create legal dungeon rooms.

There are 4 decks of cards, rooms, monsters, items, and special discoveries(plot hooks). You place the rooms in the middle of the table. The dealer also plays.

Your turn ends when you cannot or will not play any cards. You can play to other players rooms(adding undead to the undead room for example) or if you try to make an illegal play

For example, don't try to place the Rocs in the closet.

The main decks are complete if someone creates the last special discovery.


Goth Guru wrote:

I was thinking of creating Cleaves rummy. The Cleaves is a space dungeon. You start with getting 10 cards(2 from each deck). The dealer deals out the cards starting on their right and ending with the dealer. The dealer has the hand in front of them, probably fanned out, with the 5 decks just beyond that, and the rooms are played to the middle of the table.

The game is actually played beginning on the dealer's right. On your turn you can first create legal dungeon rooms. You can also play cards to other player's rooms(adding undead to the undead room for example). Then, if you have no cards in your hand, you win! If you have even 1 card in your hand, the dealer gives you 5 cards, one each. Once again you can create rooms or play cards to other's rooms. No cards, you win. Even one card, end your turn. Your turn also ends when you try to make an illegal play. For example, don't try to place the Rocs in the closet.

The 5 decks of cards are rooms, monsters, items, traps, and special discoveries(plot hooks). You place the rooms in the middle of the table. The dealer also plays.

The game ends when there is only one player left. That person loses. They put their unplayed cards back into the decks and possibly shuffle the decks.

there is another gaming group coming in, all the rooms are flipped over, face down. Only the person becoming the GM can stay. 4 to 6 players bring their character sheets. The GM flips one room in the middle of the table and the game begins with that room.

The main decks are complete if someone creates the last special discovery.

I fixed it.


Someone on another board entirely said they don't like the Cleaves. You know you can just pull any card you don't like. I personally don't like the room that microwaves characters with little or no warning. The human swarm, I still don't understand. When they finally explain why they don't like it, I'll address that. They may just be tired of my constantly linking to it.

You could just select the 52 cards you like most of each deck for ease of shuffling. What cards would you use, put aside, or outright replace.


Bump.

You could add go fish rules. You could ask for some sort of undead to complete the undead room. More specific than a deck, but not a card number.


Except for blink dogs, most normal blink spells don't get you out of the cleaves. Dimension door isn't really intended for crossing planes either. This enables characters not ready to learn teleport to be temporarily trapped there. You have to focus on somewhere well known to go back there. Any teleport error will dump you back in part of The Cleaves.


All the complete core decks have been expanded with "booster packs". I had to necro this because some posters are asking what Cleaves is.

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