I've not been lazy, I promise. Yoon-Suin is done and dusted and waiting to be sent off to kindly fresh eyes. I got promoted at work. It's been intense.
Let's think about what comes next. I have three ideas.
1. A while ago on an AGPAN episode I mused about a game I'd like to run: a megadungeon carved into a huge glacial ice sheet. An ancient network of caves and tunnels burrowed into the ice by long-gone aliens. The deeper you go, the colder and darker it gets. And the more likely you are to freeze to death. I call it Cold Depths, using the Hobbit approach to naming.
Cold Depths is an experiment in adding an additional layer of hostility and time pressures to dungeon exploration. The dungeon is not just deep, dark and full of hideous foul beings. It's deep, dark, full of hideous foul beings, and the cold can kill you.
2. By the Aral Sea is a city called Mo'ynoq. It used to be a port. It isn't anymore, because during the Soviet era the Aral Sea was basically destroyed. Mo'ynoq is now many miles from what remains of the sea. Rusting ships lie buried in bone-dry sand. Poisonous dust clouds sweep in, stinging with salts and other minerals left over from the evaporating sea. The population has mostly fled. It's a lasting tribute to the power of central planners to fuck everything up.
Imagine what might be living underneath what was once a sea bed, now revealed by the blistering sun...
3. The oil rig archipelago. 'Nuff said.
Remember that a glacier is constantly, inexorably moving, albeit at a slow rate. So any network of tunnels will be altered or eradicated. Perhaps behind the explorers...
ReplyDeleteTo add to the fun, a glacier may periodically 'surge' - http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/glaciers/gallery/surging.html
moving forward significantly faster than usual - sometimes this is accompanied by outburst floods of meltwater from under the glacier. Could make for exciting times.
Very cool ideas. Literally and figuratively! I love the idea of things slowly changing over time.
DeleteRegarding your oil rig idea, I always wanted to do something with the Texas Towers that the US Air Force used to have out at sea.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget to include the monsters you are using into the ecosystem. The more the monsters need to eat the more there will need to be creatures for it to feed on. If the creature doesn't need to eat then it will probably hibernate a lot, as a result the PCs can sneak around them more.
ReplyDeleteNice idea. Slumbering THINGS beneath the ice. Lovecraftian.
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