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Hello, my players have just finished the Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes adventure. Charnel Crypt of the Sightless Serpent might be next, upon returning to Khromarium. But after that, I was thinking of using Scourge of the Northland.
Since it shares many thematic elements. Mostly the use of magic orange crystals to power their magic devices. Similar to the green diamonds that power the Amazon Skyship they found in the Desert Dunes adventure.
I was hoping for advice and suggestions on where to place it. The city of Obanhold is a land locked high-walled enclave in the middle of the prairie.
"Far north of the nearest major settlement, the walled
“city” of Obanhold stands in stark contrast amid gentle
rolling prairie. Named lovingly “the Windrose of the
Plains”, Obanhold promises to be a future prominent economic
epicenter of the industrious human world. Though there is no major
body of water on the surface, which would typically be required
to support a growing population of this degree, there is a massive
aquifer that feeds the city. Engineers and wizards
created a sophisticated aqueduct: an underground
network that has made Obanhold a veritable oasis
compared to the surrounding landscape.
Obanhold has a population of about 34,000
people with the majority workers, farmers,
and the poor. The demographic breakdown
of its people is 92% human, 6%
dwarf, and 2% other. The standing
army consists of 500 fighting-men &
women, 250 of which are foot archers
and the rest are knights and men-atarms.
In times of war, levies can be
conscripted into service, gaining"
Would the Gall Hills be a good spot? Near the Xin plateau.
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I have thought of the idea of other radioactive gems so it's not a bad thing to steal and expand on I think
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Yes, the Ghost Ship adventure doesn't make it clear if the green diamond mine is played out. So If I decide it's viable, how many diamonds could they mine per month? 200-300?
And if I use Scourge, do I keep the original orange crystals, or convert them to green diamonds? Green diamonds would be easier. With the orange crystals, I would have to work out how much energy they put out.
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Keep in mind that the influence of Chaos is very strong in Hyperborea. There's no telling how reliable the energy output of any of these gems would be. They could simply fail whenever it would be most amusing (or most inconvenient for the PCs).
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Ha! Good point. Will have to think up shenanigans to pull like that.
Also, is the population too high? Khromarium is the only city so far with 30K+ people.
So should I bring it down to about 20K-18K? Explain that it's an up-and-coming settlement that people are migrating to. Because it's a defensible location, with resources that settlers and sponsors from Khromarium, the Vikings, and Kelts want. That and Khromarium wants to unload some of its poor and homeless population to.
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Obanhold: Eh, north of Khormarium:
Khromarium and Northward: | Flickr
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Journey to Obanhold
Last edited by Tikon2000 (8/23/2024 11:08 am)
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One campaign "fixed" the water removal system in the mine.
Then used some automations to "mine" for diamonds.
They basically left them on autopilot and went elsewhere.
I was gonna figure out how the green diamonds "messed up the programming" of the automatons as well as damaged them.
There was also going to be the possibility of hitting water and causing all sorts of problems.
Also, I think keep the orange diamonds but have them be different in some manner.
I thought I had sketched out some ideas for different colors. I had blue, red, and yellow diamond mines on Saturn that the Yith had.
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Sounds a lot like the Kryptonite conundrum. Needing to think up a new color for the next issue, and whatever wacky hijinks you want it to cause.
For the orange crystals, I was thinking that a head-sized chunk could power the Amazon Skyship for a week. But it would fly at half speed, and not be able to power the laser crossbow at all. Being too high energy. Orange crystal being more intended for powering machinery.
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Ah, nice... Gal Hills, looks good!
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Tikon2000 wrote:
Sounds a lot like the Kryptonite conundrum. Needing to think up a new color for the next issue, and whatever wacky hijinks you want it to cause.
For the orange crystals, I was thinking that a head-sized chunk could power the Amazon Skyship for a week. But it would fly at half speed, and not be able to power the laser crossbow at all. Being too high energy. Orange crystal being more intended for powering machinery.
That's the stuff! :-)
You could even just simplify it bit. Like 1 orange diamond power 10 miles of flight but it's incompatible for the other operations of a skyship.
Don't forget about the deleterious effects of green diamonds. Maybe orange diamonds give a +4 to the save initially, but it only requires like 4 hours of unprotected exposure. It might even cause a specific form of madness. It might make one not want to be anywhere near it, the opposite of green diamond madness :-)
I guess use the original module as an inspiration for that side of things.
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Yup. I was thinking a fist size one would do that. Some might be basketball sized. I'd say those are good for 50 miles.
Was also thinking of what could disrupt the crystals power. Like a sabotage device villians could use to incapaciate the skyship for a while.
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Maybe a "primary" colored diamond won't work because the "compound" colored diamonds are a synthesis of powers.
Which may point to what the various colors do. Greens work best for this model of sky ship. So yellows and blues have powers that combine somehow in the greens, but not a direct synthesis. Of course.
Say yellows are related to motion, momentum, etc. Blue might be related to protection or whatever. Thus if oranges give greater range then reds could be the antithesis of blue, so maybe weapons and shielding doesn't work as well with the oranges.
Maybe transparent diamonds or black diamonds block the function of this model of skyship.
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Ooh yeah that sounds awesome. A black disruption crystal. What other powers could it have? Localized anti-magic field? Though I think I'll nerf it a bit by having the crystal crack when you remove it from the other crystals it's disrupting. Oh wait, maybe I'll have it become a radiation grenade. Hmmm, how long should the shutdown last? 3 days? A week?
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Tikon2000 wrote:
Ooh yeah that sounds awesome. A black disruption crystal. What other powers could it have? Localized anti-magic field? Though I think I'll nerf it a bit by having the crystal crack when you remove it from the other crystals it's disrupting. Oh wait, maybe I'll have it become a radiation grenade. Hmmm, how long should the shutdown last? 3 days? A week?
Sounds you are well on your way to figuring out wtf this does :-)
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Tikon2000 wrote:
Sounds a lot like the Kryptonite conundrum. Needing to think up a new color for the next issue, and whatever wacky hijinks you want it to cause.
Also made me think of the sleestak crystals for their matrix table control boards, inside the extra-dimensional pylons:
gizmomathboy wrote:
Maybe a "primary" colored diamond won't work because the "compound" colored diamonds are a synthesis of powers.
Which may point to what the various colors do.
A very fun idea!
gizmomathboy wrote:
Maybe transparent diamonds or black diamonds block the function of this model of skyship.
You definitely don’t want to reveal or plug one of those in while you’re flying at 50mph at a height of 120’ above the ground ;)
Allan.
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Oooh, those Land of the Lost links are awesome.
Thanks Allan.
Yeah, lots of great sources to use for inspiration out there.