gizmomathboy wrote:

As xenophobic as they seem...I am lazy and make it a "do not go here" kind of place.

However, as BA noted, note very advanced to keep it simple as far as lighting.

Although they might have grabbed some magic-tech before they went isolationist to have well lit places.

There's a conan story (it may have been the jewels of gwahlur) that talks about a porous stone that sheds light from within. I may go with something like that.

Does anyone have any particular inspirations in your depictions of krimmea? I'm curious to know what others came up with for style of architecture, how they cope with the lack of light, what they eat, etc. The descriptions in the book are pretty open ended so I could see depictions ranging from the real life ruins of Derinkuyu, to dwarf style cities (like Moria from LOTR or Orzammar from Dragon age), to the more fantastic like the underground civilization from the Moon Pool.

How would you guys depict Krimmea and what are your main inspirations?

Chainsaw wrote:

Damnit, deathknight4044, I'm a banker, not an Atlantean crystal power plant super scientist! 

Kidding! Thanks for the using the module and asking the question. Give me a few days to... consult.. the, uh, design plans. 

Thanks I appreciate the reply. After re reading it I acually think I have a rough idea. The water from the enchanted lake is used as coolant, and looking through the instructions for the control rooms, a blue button floods a corresponding crystal room with gas coolant. I believe the tiny holes in the walls of the crystal room then automatically ventilate the gas coolant into the reactor it's connected to. After the reactor is used the silo cools, the gas coolant turns to liquid, and its subsequently flushed down into the caves.

Something like that? Although I doubt it will happen, if my players ask how the gas coolant from the lake is entering the crystal rooms when a blue button is pressed, I can explain it as coming from pipes and unseen machinery converting the lake water to gas within the walls of the crystal rooms.

The only thing that's unclear to me is some of the detail around the crystals. The cavernous parts of the crystal rooms have small uncharged crystals embedded in the walls (and a few that are egg sized). There are also oon scouts in the black crystal lab that have mining equipment, which led me to think they were responsible for mining the uncharged crystals. I have a player with a secondary skill as a jeweler and I'm almost certain he'll ask about the crystals, likely with the the intent to occupy the facility at the end of the adventure. Although if/when he learns about chalak these plans will probably change.

Some very inspiring stuff here. Thanks!

Spider of Leng wrote:

I think you're the first person I've ever encountered who ranks The Hobbit above LOTR & The Silmarillion.

Gary gygax had the same opinion. I also felt that the hobbit was a fun adventure story and that lord of the rings is pretty boring by comparison. The characters feel like silhouettes and the descriptions of every hill and tree grow tedious very quickly for me. I've tried fellowship a few times and it always feels like a chore. I've never gotten past tom bambadil. On the other hand when I read the first few pages of the scarlet citadel or the tower of the elephant I get sucked right in and can visualize the events being described as if I were there.

Ghul wrote:

CAROLINGIAN FRANK
A race of medium to large people with fair skin, and variable hair and eye colour. In days of yore, Carolingian Franks dwelled in the Cape Calencia region, but they were nearly decimated by the Green Death. Their race is descended from warriors who served Charlemagne of Old Earth. They were at war with the Moors, whom they engaged in the Pyrenees Mountains. When the opposing legions met in a fertile mountain valley farmed by peasants, a strange being known as Tantugou engulfed both armies in a churning mist and whisked them away to far-flung Hyperborea. Most Carolingians have returned to the faith of their pagan roots, replacing Christ with Apollo. Typical homelands are as follows:
 

• Cape Calencia: A small, forested horn with massive redwood trees. In small family groups, Carolingians build on the ancient ruins of Hyperborean settlements.
• City-State of Khromarium (see “common” race)

Well that covers everything I was looking for. Thank you!

rhialto wrote:

IMH the Hyperboreans and Atlanteans are derived from Madame Blavatsky's Theosophy: 2nd and 4th (the Lemurians being the 3rd) of the Root Races. As such the Atlanteans are more technologically and sorcerously/psychically advanced than either of the earlier races. My Hyperboreans look down on everyone else.  

That is interesting. The way we've presented it in our campaign is that the Atlanteans had the most advanced technology, but the hyperboreans power of sorcery was unrivaled.

gizmomathboy wrote:

I dumped some of my weird science stuff over here

https://hyperborea.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?pid=24568#p24568

I also need to toss in some conversions I needed to go from Melan's stuff to Hyperborea

 
Very cool. Thanks for the link.

Ghul wrote:

The Atlanteans, Lemurians, and Mu were coevals of the Hyperboreans and even paid tribute to them, according to legend, as Hyperborea was esteemed as the most powerful nation of Earth. The Atlanteans and the Mu were permitted to occupy islands off mainland Hyperborea and develop sorceries and sciences that the Hyperboreans sought to utilize, so they were present before Hyperborea separated from Old Earth. The Lemurians, however, did not come to occupy any part of the Hyperborean plane until just before the Green Death, when their Lemurian Remnant arrived.  

Regarding Atlantean aquatic traits, this is left vague by intent.

Awesome that description is exactly what I was looking for. I also found some useful info in for the lost treasure of Atlantis adventure module about Atlanteans paying tribute to the hyperboreans. Much appreciated.

With only a few sessions of the current campaign I'm in left and all of our characters high level, we ran into an issue where two spells in particular seem more or less obsolete. Those being ice storm and cone of cold.

Since the casters are 11th and 12th level their magic missiles are doing about as much as an ice storm spell, and cone of cold is outclassed by fireball/lightning bolt.

Because of this we're considering having ice storm add an extra d10 damage at level 9, and an additional d10 damage at level 11. And for cone of cold simply giving it no save (or alternatively an additional +1 per die).

Does this seem over powered? Or has anyone else ran into this? It's not a huge shift and almost not worth the trouble, but players have asked multiple times now "why would I choose this" when considering those spells and I dont really have a good answer. Cone of cold and ice storm seem to be inferior to lower level damage spells in nearly all aspects.

1) Attribute tests, because I dislike juggling sub systems,

Score / test of x

18 is 10:12

17 is 9:12

15-16 is 8:12

13-14 is 7:12

10-12 is 6:12

9 is 5:12

8 is 4:12

7 is 3:12

For attribute checks that are a challenge equal to an extraordinary feat, a penalty of minus 5 is applied.

This way whether you're tracking, jumping to a ledge, or lifting a barred gate, it all uses the same die. It also provides a little more variation between attributes than the d6 attribute tests.


2) Initiative,

Initiative is rolled once and recorded as the battle starts. All combatants roll a d10 + weapon class + Dexterity modifier (uses AC adjustment). Monsters usually add their hit die. Missiles are treated as weapon class 4. Magic is treated as weapon class 3, and adds either the casters INT or WIS modifier depending whether the caster is arcane or divine.

Characters that go before the monster are group A. Characters that go after the monster are in group B. Every round it goes: Group A, Monster, Group B.


3) Mass Combat, so that high level characters can better fend off getting swarmed,

All characters double their attacks against 0 level opponents. However once fighters (not their sub classes) reach level 2 they instead get their level in bonus attacks, on top of their normal attack routine.


4) Core classes, to make them a little more attractive

Fighters: Crit on 19 and 20s.

Clerics: Get lay on hands (2hp/level). It replenishes every day, and they may distribute this pool of healing however they'd like. This frees up some spell slots that would almost always be used for cure spells.

Thieves: For all thief skills a pure thief rolls 2d12s and takes the better result.

Wizards: Can learn spells from any of the other arcane spell lists at a -10% chance. They must do this by copying other spell books or scrolls that they find, not something they automatically get on a level up.


5) Ascensing armor class


6) Chases

If

Can anyone tell me what the analogs are between the hyperborean races and real world races? I have a pretty good idea for most of them besides the Kimmerians.