Thursday, September 26, 2019

Under Gallax Hall 24-34

Under Gallax Hall - Level 1 - Basement
Made on Gridmapper by Alex Schroeder

Random Lectures
(Use these during appropriate time slots)

d10
Lecture
Professor
Quote
Hazard
1
The Wizard Anatomy: Lymphatic System
Gubber - gnomish, excited, actually a good teacher.
“ALWAYS make sure to cannibalize your colleagues lymph nodes to acquire their spell immunity!”
Overly eager undergraduate students following the lecture (at hour’s conclusion). A pack of 2d6 of them wanting to eat lymph nodes.
2
Political Science: Enchantment and Power
Thorax - subtly manipulative, dressed to become governor, no morals.
“And when SOMEBODY decides to interrupt your lecture, you can do this!”
Professor will attempt to Charm noisy guests to come to center stage and perform like a monkey for an hour.
3
Alchemy: Tongues, Eyes, and Noses
Glassgoi - Droning, deadpan-faced, unclean.
“So! Do I have a volunteer?” (holding a bloody knife)
Professor will cut off the tongue, eyes, or nose of the ‘volunteer’.
4
Torture: Simple, Physical Methods
Dr. Klaus - every German doctor stereotype ever.
“You’ll vitness a cracking sound, right about now…”
None, except if you’re on ‘academic probation’, like that poor soul presently stretched on the rack.
5
Conjuring Carbohydrates
Ninny - incomprehensible, dead inside, literally a zombie??
“So, yes… That is why most food you eat is formed out of very small chairs.”
None, unless you decide to consume some of the ‘demonstration carbohydrates’, in which case, Save vs. Poison or 40% chance of slow and painful death over 1d8 days.
6
Poisons: Snakes!
Dr. Braum - way too enthusiastic about sadism, prone to pranks, dressed like a happy academic (terribly). 
“And now, if you would all reach under your chairs…”
Snakes under the chairs. There’s a pop quiz! Formulate the antidote, or die!
7
Anti-Gravity Spellcraft
Mummin - armchair authoritarian, purveyor of corporal punishment, a sad little man.
“Ah! Another latecomer, I see!”
Arriving at any time other than right on the beginning hour results in tripping reverse-gravity spell and floating towards the ceiling for an hour.
8
Binding the Murder Demon
Grover - graduate conjurer, failed multiple exams but still around somehow, pleasant on the eyes.
“Steady…. Steady… One tiny mistake could mean certain death for us all.”
Entire class is binding a horrible spiny spiky flaming-eyed murder demon. Everyone is petrified with fear, except the professor. Even a minor disruption will release the demon and begin a bloodbath.
9
Feeding Familiars
Xynox - Freakin’ loves pets, will kill for the cute things, doesn’t mind interruptions.
“Now, if everyone will take our their still-beating human hearts, I’ll demonstrate the proper feeding technique.”
That Guy forgot his still-beating human heart today. Asks if he can borrow yours. If yes, then kali-ma into your chest and pull it out. If no, then he’ll really press the issue (his grades will suffer, he’ll look like an idiot, you don’t really need it, etc.)
10
*Loud Screaming*
You think it’s actually just a homeless man?
“AAAAHHH! AAAAAUUUGGHH!!! AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIII!!!”
It’s loud. Really loud. Why are people here? Do they think this mad homeless man is a professor? Is he a professor??? Probably.

24. 'Mr. Alabaster' Auditorium - B14, B16, B18
   2-3: Custodian    3-4: Random Lecture   4-6: Empty 
   6-7: Random Lecture   7-8: Empty   8-9: Random Lecture   9-2: Empty

Rich Mr. Alabaster, so rich and so generous, donated a most uncomfortable auditorium to the university - every chair, desk, and table is made from alabaster. His vainglorious name is plastered everywhere about the auditorium on bronze plagues. It can seat 500 students. Vertically-rotating chalkboards and a podium at the front.

TREASURE: Each chair (500 total), table (4), and desk (2) looks like expensive alabaster, but is in fact a cheap coating over rock. Looks like it'd be worth 50gp per chair, but is in fact 0.5gp per chair.

Each of the three main entrances/exits has a different room number, because Mr. Alabaster thought it deserved it as such.

TRAP: There are 3 visible chalkboards. A 4th and 5th are hidden behind the others. One can pull a chain to rotate them around. On the 4th there is a trapped memetic-triggered rune circle. Those who look into it become mesmerized and stupefied until removed from the room.

SECRET:  On the 5th is the template for the spell Unseeming. It has been partially erased. Three successive INT checks required to complete it.


25. Backstage - B14, B16, B18
   2-3: Custodian    3-4: Random Lecture   4-6: Empty 
   6-7: Random Lecture   7-8: Empty   8-9: Random Lecture   9-2: Empty

Note: Lectures occupy Room 24, and people from it rarely come backstage.

Three levers on the wall behind the stage: one red, one yellow, and one black. All will be in the 'up' position by default. Positions may be 'up', 'midway', or 'down'.

Lever
Effect
Position
Lights
Red
Normal Lights
Up
Off
Yellow
Furious Fugue. Those effected focus furiously on the subject of their attention, ignoring all distractions (no matter how perilous).
Mid
Stage Lights Only
Black
Random Death Rays. Each Round 1 in 6 chance of being hit. Save vs. Death or die.
Down
Auditorium Lights


26. Mr. Alabaster Statue
10-1: Empty   1-10: Alabaster Cat

A most boring alabaster statue of an old balding man in a suit.

Engraved on the podium below: "In Memory of Mr. Alabaster - Generous Philanthropist, Capitalist Among Wizards, Bane of Cats."

For nine hours of the day, 1 o'clock until 10 o'clock, an alabaster-white cat lies peacefully curled up at the feet of the statue. During these hours it is composed of stone. At 10 o'clock, however, the cat animates and walks through the western secret wall, which becomes illusory at this time. It heads down the broken-support-laden pit to Level 4 - Forgotten Monastery, for feeding time.


27. Empty Room - B22
   3-4: Custodian    4-8: Empty   8-9: Random Lecture   9-3: Empty

There is absolutely nothing in this room. Not a single thing. Not even a mote of dust.


28. Student Lockers - B21
   1-3: Empty  3-4: Custodian    4-5: Empty   5-7: Steward, He'll fucking kill you! 
   7-10: Empty    10-1: 1% Chance Unveiling Eye Secret Meeting 

36 lockers in three rows. Four are noteworthy:

1. Lock with Key is Small Mimic: Three valuable textbooks within (1d4 x 25gp each), and paper note: "To Whom It May Concern, I'll fucking kill you, book thief! - Steward "

Steward, Senior Undergrad: 
AC Leather HD 4 HP 16  1d6 Sharp Knife  Spells: Locate Object, Fireball, Burning Hands.

2. Combination Lock Magic Vacuum Trap: presents numbers 1-100. Whatever number the lock is turned to is the number you'll need to roll on or above on percentile to avoid being compacted into the locker once it's opened. Two ultra-compacted dead students and 16gp are super-compressed inside.

3. Unmarked Locker, Magic Mouth: Touch the locker door, and Mouth appears: "Why do we clean?" Password: "That there should be more filth.". Fail: the locker will be empty and Mouth will not appear again for 10 Hours. Succeed: the locker's contents are revealed: a bullseye lantern, 2 pints of Ghost Oil (light produced Turns ghosts without fail), and a complete map of The Steam Tunnels (Level 2).

4. Bank Teller Graffiti, Deposit Box: cartoon of sublime bank teller graffiti'd onto locker door. Coin slot requires 1gp. Every person who opens locker door accesses extradimensional safe deposit box unique to that person.

For  those that don't appear noteworthy, roll 1d6:
1. Empty, Clean
2. Empty, Dusty
3. Empty, Smells Musky
4. Empty, Smells Gross
5. A single low-value coin frustratingly wedged into a crevice of the locker.
6. Article of clothing: (1.Sock  2. Shirt  3. Pants  4. Robes  5. Underwear  6. Glasses)


29. Wall of Gazing Guys, Classroom - B24
   4-5: Custodian    5-6: Random Lecture   6-9: Empty   9-10: Random Lecture   10-4: Empty

Typical classroom layout: chairs, teacher's desk at front, etc.

Entire north wall is covered, floor to ceiling, in mini-portraits of unnamed stern-looking people. Their eyes follow everyone in the room. They watch your every action unceasingly.


30. Water Fountain
   4-5: Custodian    5-4: Empty

Double chance of Wandering Encounter. They'll be taking a drink.

Low-power water fountain. Has enough juice to pump out three mouthfuls of water per day. Roll for what servings those are, adding +1 for each serving already given.

1d4, +1 per Attempt:
1. Poison, Odorless, Tastes like Burning. Induce vomiting or Save vs. Poison to avoid death in 1 hour.
2. Poison, Metallic Scent, Rusty Appearance. Lethal amounts of lead.
3. Dirty, Gross. Tastes awful.
4. Metal-Tasting Water. Potable, but bleh.
5. Clear, Semi-Fresh. Heals 1d4 damage.
6. Crystal Clear, Quenching. Heals 1d6 damage, and sustains drinker of food/water for 1 day.


31. Secret Behind Unicorn StatueB23
 1% chance upon entry of Unveiling Eye meeting in progress

A stone Unicorn-in-gallop statue sits in an alcove. On the Unicorn's backside, hidden from view unless one squeezes behind it, is a note carefully penned in ink: "The Unicorn flees the Gazing Hand of Authority."

SEARCH: Track marks going from the base of behind the statue, going into the eastern alcove wall, which appears loosely cobbled and the bricks may be removed to reveal a crawlspace.

SECRET: If the statue of Zarlor is pointed towards the East, the Unicorn statue may be pushed back five feet to the east, demolishing the bricked-up entrance to the secret room with a hoof. (This wall is reconstructed after every secret meeting.)

The room is dark. Lounge furniture under dusty covers. Cobwebs over every corner. Evidence of magic circles and spells of nondetection littered throughout the room (worth 2d4 x 100gp in reagents) - goat horns, cat claws, colored candles, wax.

A Magic Pentagram lies traced in the dust, along with footprints circling it. In its middle is an issue of The Unveiling Eye, titled: "Statues". This Magic Circle is warded against People of Authority (Administrators, Police, Professors, etc.), and if any part of such a person crosses the threshold of the circle, then the Issue will instantly burst into flames, rendered unreadable.

TREASURE: Unveiling Eye - Statues: Details suspicions and rumors about various statues around campus.
1. Every statue is made and placed at a particular spot for a reason.
2. During certain hours particular statues will walk around. This is known to be true for the Lions in the Library and the Founder Statue, for certain.
3. Statues are associated with secrets.

If the Unveiling Eye is meeting, then 2d4 students dressed in navy blue robes detailed in white lidless eyes will be chanting old words around the magic circle, then continue their meeting discussing various Cults and mysteries around campus. They will welcome newcomers, with robes to spare, if they're inclined and no authority figures are present. They will not reveal their identities.


32. Nap Room - B25
   5-6: Custodian   6-10: Empty   10-5: Wandering Encounter

Twelve bunk-beds, all but three of which have been stripped down to their frames. Those that aren't are uncomfortable and itchy, but they're free. The walls are soundproof, and things come here to nap. A Custodian comes and cleans at 5 o'clock, waking and scaring anything out of the room.


33. Library of Anthropology - B27
   6-7: Custodian   7-10: Empty   10-6: 1d4 Anthropology Students, and a Librarian who shows up to 5 minutes then leaves

Those poor Anthropology majors. Their department has no funding, so their library is here, in the stomach of Gallax Hall. You can hear screaming resonating through the southern wall. It sucks being next to the Department of Torture. If only they had that kind of funding...

Rows of poorly-maintained shelves containing a few dozen (4d12) books on Anthropology (worth 1-5gp each). A librarian desk manned for 5 minutes a day. The books cannot be removed without a Librarian's Stamp - they'd dematerialize and reappear back on the shelves.

TREASURE: Each book (1d6x5gp) has a special rune that causes this dematerialization hidden somewhere in it. It looks kinda like an mini-elephant. Tear it out of the book, and the security system won't affect it.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

MIR and Technological Revolution

Magical Industrial Revolution's PDF just hit Kickstarter backers, and as a fan of wizards, philosophy, society, and their combinatorial shenanigans, I couldn't help but partake. Glancing over the file, I find plenty of useful tidbits (which I can easily season with gonzo to my personal tastes), but none more so than the Innovations section about 20 pages in.

Here, I think Skerples hits the nail on the head for one of the most exciting core narratives for an RPG campaign can be: Revolution. Change.

Change, not so much in the way History has traditionally viewed it: with the rise and fall of Big People, with grand wars and grand empires, with technology emerging from the minds of great men like Athena from Zeus's skull and then suddenly just, like... being everywhere... But with how it alters and affects every day people, how they view and interact with the world. How it gradually and subtly worms its ways into our collective perceptions of Life.

How, for instance, the railroad revolutionized our notions of space and time, or how A.I. revolutionizes are notions of personhood.

True to its namesake, Magical Industrial Revolution attempts to capture how technology drastically alters society, bringing it to the foreground of the stage (rather than say, the backdrop, or completely ignoring it). It offers incremental escalations and adventures related to various world-changing magics, such as Polymorph, Teleportation, Flight, Scrying, and Extra-dimensional Space.

As presented in the book, each of these technologies goes through a complete evolutionary cycle. It begins obscure and unrecognized for its true potential, then the Powers That Be dig in their claws and it multiplies by the capacities of modernity and capitalism, and then eventually it forms the collapse of society. Scrying, for instance, starts as some guy being very naughty and unethical, then the state police get ahold of it to monitor crime, and then they make the Panopticon, and then everything is predictably horrible.

And most importantly, the book suggests that the players insert themselves into this process. It provides NPCs and quests and new things to play with at every stage in each technology's evolution. And I love it. A society changing on the ground is the perfect environment for the traditional shenanigans of an RPG campaign. It has been said before: a stagnant setting cannot be exploited. Nobody goes questing where everything is fine and dandy forever.

M.I.R. doesn't take its magic nor its society for granted, and neither should your campaign!

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Convention Signup Checklist

Based on my last few experiences at gaming conventions, I've made a checklist for myself: a variety of games I should try at a convention. At Gen Con, I made the mistake of only signing up for dungeon crawls, and despite them being pretty great, I definitely could have used some variety. So, with U-Con quickly approaching:

Before The Convention Starts, Sign Up For...

1. A Character Funnel

I have never played a character funnel that I didn't enjoy. I consider these the high point of one-shot play: silly, crazy, wonderful, unique, and condense. These will virtually always be DCC games.

2. A Dungeon Crawl

I made the mistake at Gen Con of playing several dungeon crawls back-to-back, but they were still all enjoyable, and I think one or maybe two of these in a weekend is the sweet spot.

3. A Spooky Game

Most of the time these will be Call of Cthulhu. It's a good idea to have one of these, for variety.

4. Game Run by Honored Guest, Creator, or Person You'd Like to Meet

These are pretty safe bets for some quality content, not least of which because they're games that have been run multiple times for many different audiences.

5. Game in a System You'd Like to Try But Haven't Played

Pretty self-explanatory. No better place to try out a new system than a convention!

6. Someone's Weird Homebrew

These are hard to find, due to usually being devoid of find-able tags, but they tend to be gems in the rough. If someone managed to convince an event coordinator at a convention to showcase their weird homebrew, then they've probably put a lot of effort into it.


~~~~~

And that's it! Six games is plenty for a weekend.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Reskinning B3

A thousand years ago, there lived a Wizard King and his Daughter. Wanting to protect the Princess from the cruel world, he crafted a gilded cage - an entire illusory world entrapped within a story book in which her every need and desire would be met, where she would be immortal and safe. But in time, the Wizard King died, and memory of the book faded. She was thought lost, and so the book and the world contained within aged in secret. There, the Princess lived her imaginary life among her imaginary subjects - in joy, in ecstasy, then eventually in disillusionment and cruelty. No world born of a single mind could be anything more than a prison. And so she remained, until the book was found...

(Apologies for the low-res pic.)

The TL;DR Reskin

This has been an idea to adapt B3 - Palace of the Silver Princess, by Jean Wells. For this reskin, the entire module is an illusory world trapped within a magical story book that the party has found and decided to open. It's a heaven - a place where a god-person got everything they ever wanted - turned to ruin from their own disillusionment.

Everything will be kept (with maybe one exception), but the reasons for it will change. We'll add some things, too, to fit this new story.

1. The entire module is contained within a story book that the player-characters open up to enter.

2. We justify all the things within the module to represent this idea that the book was a gilded prison for an ancient forgotten Princess - that everything is the product of a person who is god-queen within an illusory world.

3. Add two foes to the palace location: The Silver Queen and the Faceless Knight. The former is the Princess, the god of this world disillusioned, believing everything surrounding her is a product of her imagination, turning real people to Shades if they encounter her. The later is an illusory man, her former Prince, to whom this fate has occurred.

4. Change all the Ubues into Assassins (or not, if you really like Ubues I guess)

5. Add an event/encounter at the very beginning: a wedding being crashed by said Assassins.


The Long with Lots of Backstory Version

The Silver Princess / Queen

Where is she found?
1. The Garden
2. The Throne Room
3. Balcony by the Ball Room
4. Princess's Quarters
5. The Game Room
6. The Temple

(Bear with me, but I think a lot of information is needed to produce this social encounter.)

Background: When she first arrived in this world at the behest of her father, everything was wonderful. She was a little girl. She got everything she wanted. She spent her days riding unicorns and eating pastries with tea.

As her tastes matured, so did the world. She took up the throne of rule, she made the prince of her dreams. They got married. Whatever desire for the 'real' world was forgotten, and she ruled over the realm as a benevolent lord.

Then came to adulthood. She grew tired of the book, and abandoned it for the real world. However, circumstance brought her back to it. When her father, on the eve of his plotted death, commanded she hide in the book, she did as told. He died, and she realized she was trapped. Her father in the real world was assassinated, and the knowledge of the book had been forgotten. She would remain within this timeless prison for a thousand years, during which her disillusionment festered.

She realized, soon, that she was surrounded by sycophants of her own creation, that her prince was less a fully-realized person than an attractive doll, that even her own reflection bore falseness in attempts to appease her. Everything lacked complexity and realness, and in her isolation she became mad. She was a lone human in a world of polite and fearful mannequins.

The Silver Princess cracked. She grew at first hedonistic and desperate, then sadistic and cruel. She unleashed horrors upon her mannequins - tortures born of a disillusioned god, full of infinitely creative, meaningless suffering. She burned down the world in fire and despair, insulted by the audacity of her own imagination to create such paltry shades.

She was alone. Lacking the resolve or knowledge to end her predicament, she cloistered herself amongst the architecture of her ruined psyche, electing isolation over entertaining this world any longer. She now wanders her Palace in silent contemplation, attempting to construe any meaning from this illusory world. She is the most dangerous foe you will encounter, for this book was made for her, and she radiates a power which manifests her will, even upon the real.

By Hiram L. Johnson - 1883
Source

If you meet the Silver Princess, you must prove your realness to her, or you will become as illusory as anything else in the book. You will become a Shade - an unreal simulacrum of your former self, subject to annihilation by Dispel Magic or Banishment. She is the ultimate arbiter in this regard - only she can determine and reverse this course, and only if she believes it so. She cannot be remotely defeated in combat or killed, though she can be harmed. Stats are irrelevant, she is a god here.

The Silver Queen
Stats Irrelevant. Cannot be Killed. May only be lightly harmed, at most, and likely only once.
- Everything the Queen believes to be so becomes so in this world.
- In her proximity, if you have not convinced her that you are real, Save vs. Magic or become a Shade. Perform this every Turn, or every point made in conversation.
- If you are a Shade, she may destroy you utterly, at will.

She refuses to look at mirrors. Her greatest, deepest, and final fear is that she is no more real than the objects of this book. Her unconscious prejudices will manifest this reality in her reflection. Depending on what conclusion the Princess has wrought upon herself, there are several possibilities of what her reflection holds.

What will it hold, though? The naive child she once was and lost? The cruel omnicidal tyrant she became? Will it be nothing?

So long separated from the world, her arguments and counterpoints do not contain references to particular philosophies - she has had no peers for a thousand years, only internal reflection.


The World of the Book

Source
The Book was made to please the Silver Princess, but in time it grew a personality of its own. When the Silver Queen burned down the world, it elected to maintain its ember, preserving aspects of that which once brought joy to the Princess. Now, with the Queen isolating herself, the Book has had a few centuries to reform its world and society.

Hence, the villages, the common folk, and the high fantasy tropes exist throughout that world - all grown from this subconscious generated by the interactions of the Princess/Queen with the rules of this self-contained land.


Illusions

Source
Whatever illusions exist are fragments of this world's past. Valiant Knights, sadistic torture, horrible monsters - all pieces of the book's history. All remnants of good and bad times before.

On top of this, every creature within the book is an illusion, with exception to the Silver Queen and the player-characters. However, rolls to Disbelieve are not allowed unless the player explicitly asks for it. Illusions will feel real to the touch, produce all elements of the senses.

If the players acquire Truesight (such as vanquishing The Faceless Knight), they may automatically Disbelieve all illusions.

If the players utilize illusions, such as Minor Image, all creatures within the world automatically fail Saves to resist them, always. They are as real as these conjured illusions.

Items, such as gold, jewels, and magic items are not illusions. They may be removed from the book. The only exception to this is the mirror produced by The Faceless Knight, who counts as a person.

Persons originating from the book may not be removed from the book. They cannot leave. They are merely illusions. The only exception is The Silver Queen, who may leave as one enters the book.


Assassins

From Disney's Snow White
For a long time they roamed the land, capturing and mutilating any and all fair maidens they could find at the behest of their Queen. The Silver Queen found these maidens insulting, interpreting them as reflections of her naive self created by her psyche and the book, as cruel simulacra of her own depreciation. They each have personality and disposition of a goon, and are grim and loyal to the death.

Their main hideout is within The Silver Palace, occupying rooms which the Ubues once held. Occasionally, bands of 6-20 of them will roam down from the Palace to find beautiful maidens and to disfigure them.

Queen's Assassin
Level 2 Thieves. Morale 9. Equipped with Swords or Crossbows.


The Faceless Knight

By Viscagod
The Queen's former prince / lover / husband / companion. He was formulated to be everything the Princess ever wanted, and this was his downfall. He was never complex enough to be believed to be a real person, and so the nature of his illusory existence slowly became exposed, and he has been revealed to be but a husk. Now, he is a faceless knight, his physical form matching the Queen's impression of him. He clanks and screeches about the palace in rusted blue armor, attacking and accosting all intruders out of some remnant of devotion.

Faceless Knight
Level 7 Fighter. Sword, Shield, and Plate.
Cannot speak. Unbreakable Morale. Attacks on sight. Slow.

- When killed, turns into a silver mirror in which everything is reflected in Truesight.
- He reverts back to his Knight form after 2 Turns, during which a reflection of the Knight in the mirror slowly approaches, then punches a hole through the other side of the handmirror and climbs through. Reroll his HD (7) at this point. He is fully recovered.


Introduction / Beginning Scenario

After reading that legend part at the beginning of the module,  the legend of the Silver Princess, aloud to the players, go ahead and paint them this scenario: the PCs find themselves on the edge of a fallowed garden-ruin. Browning untrimmed hedges all about. A fountain flowing with a silver, mirror-like liquid splashes quietly behind them. This is the way out of the Book.

Ahead, beyond the quiet ruin, a bourgeois wedding about to take place. There is lovely food, dancing, music, everyone seems happy. The bride and groom are young and in love. The bride's father is a portly, cheery man who loves to brag about his daughter and talk about food. There are waiters, guests, and guards. There are also hidden Assassins sent by the Queen to mutilate the bride.

Four Assassins. Each one backs up the one higher in the list.
1. Disguised as a waiter. Holding a goblet of acid, intends to throw it in the bride's face.
2. Disguised as a chef, preparing meat. Skilled with throwing knives and subtle stabbing.
3. Traitor Guard, armed with a halberd.
4. Sniper with crossbow, in a tree on the edge of the party.

Any one of them may be spotted with a successful roll under Wisdom/Perception check. For each success, start at the top of the list and move down. (i.e. if three successful checks are made, then assassins 1, 2, and 3 are discovered/suspected, but the Sniper goes undetected.)

If chaos breaks out, and the players haven't made themselves known around the party (especially to the Guard-Captain), then they may be accosted by the Assassins AND the Guards. There are 30 Guards at the party, all Level 1 Fighters.

After this fiasco, there will be a call from any survivors, particularly the bride's father, to rally against The Evil Queen in open rebellion, and send a party of brave lads to go deal with her. How fortunate!

Notable Characters:
(Note: They are all very sophisticated illusions. It is entirely desired that they be one-dimensional in character. I'd recommend hamming it up.)

Sir Tristen, Guard-Captain: A very stoic and dutiful man, rugged in appearance and demeanor.
Hammond the First: Bride's Father. Fat, jolly, and talkative. Big whiskers. A man of brave words but not action.
Hilda, the Bride: Quiet and perfect. Nobody has any reason to dislike her.
Edward, the Groom: Loyal and handsome. Gentile and a fine fencer. Likely to join in vengeance against the Queen.
Georgie, the Bard: Musician and teller of tales. Loves to spew exposition and lore. Dressed flamboyantly bordering on the ridiculous.


Random Rooms

There are a lot of rooms within the B3 module that ask the DM to fill with whatever they like. Here are some such rooms:

1. Covered Mirror - 8ft tall flawless ornamented elliptical mirror lies concealed beneath ragged sheet. Silver filigree along the perimeter worth 1000sp. Within mirror is trapped young, naive reflection of The Silver Queen - a Shade, a mirror image of the Queen when she was young and hopeful. Behaves as a stereotypical princess would - demure and kind, and quietly impressed with heroics. Nothing to her personality beyond this.

If the mirror is shattered, the Reflection will die as if her heart burst.
If shown to the Queen, she risks becoming as this Shade. She suspects this, and is loathe to look at it.

2. Dress Closet - Walk-in closet filled with piles of beautiful and expensive dresses gathering dust. Ranges from child-sized to adult. Approximately 40 sets of Fine Clothes. Two special cases, found by standard Search check.

Dress of Starlight - Traps and radiates the light of the moon and stars. If exposed to starlight for a night, it will radiate their soft light in the dark, providing 5ft of illumination. If exposed to moonlight, radiates 10ft of illumination per quarter of Moon witnessed.

Crystal Slippers - Made of an opaque, silvery quartz. Always fit the feet of the woman wearing it.

3. Illusioned Pit Trap - Classic 10x10x10 pit trap. Illusion of a floor covers it. Poking the 'floor' with anything reveals that it is an illusion.

4. Imaginary Pit Trap Rug - A single 10x10 rug made from pitch black thread lies in the middle of the room. Stepping on it (note: not merely touching) provokes Save vs. Magic, or subject believes that they have fallen into a classic 10x10x10 pit trap, taking psychic damage as appropriate and falling prone.

To witnesses, they appear to have fallen on the floor, cannot get up, and will crawl around on the rug but will not leave its perimeter until they believe they have been assisted out. Rug can be safely handled and taken, provided it's not stepped on.

5. Illusory Fire - A fire! Fueled by no visible source. Entirely illusory. Until disbelieved, it is treated as normal fire, though it won't spread beyond the boundaries of the room.

6. Illusory Living Room - A decorated living room, complete with couch, fireplace, landscape paintings of snow-capped mountains, and other small furniture. All of it is illusory, and cannot be touched.

7. Library - Several wooden shelves half-filled with children's books. Half the books are destroyed and unreadable. Those that aren't read like forgotten memories of your childhood, the vaguest notions of fairy tales. Do your half-best oral summary of a common Fairy Tale - this is what the books actually read like.

8. Abandoned Torture Chamber - Cold stone floors and walls. Manacles, torture implements, chairs. All of them rusted and spotted in dried blood. The blood and grime does not and cannot rub off on anything.

9. Torn Portrait and Chair - A comfortable chair covered in cobwebs, fit for royalty, facing a destroyed portrait on the wall. Tatters of the portrait on the ground could be used to recompose the painting, depicting an extraordinarily handsome, if overly-idealized man. He wears a blue armor, holding sword and shield.

10. Plastered Calendar Room - A cheap, peeling white plaster covers the ceiling, floors, and walls. Underneath are stone walls marked by chiseled dashes - hundreds. Peel off enough plaster on a wall, and you'll find the chiseled words: "MONTHS WITHIN BOOK".