Adventure Site Contest 3: Fragments of Paradise

​Written by K A
For OSRIC, levels 8-10
Fragment of a False Fallen Heaven
An Oracle came to the ancient country of Thamud, and in his Scrolls of Illumination revealed the visage of Paradise. Not meant for men’s eyes, this vision of unattainable beauty destroyed the kings of Thamud in mind and heart. They ravaged the world for its delights, and labored with sorcery and artifice to create even a passing shadow of the witnessed glory. In time, God [or a Greater Deity of the DM’s choice] smote these wicked men with flood and fire, and erased their False Heaven from the world. Only fragments survive, degenerate and hidden from the sight of the Divine by mighty sorcery. Herein is described one such fragment.      
   Lot of outdoor sites this time around. Well, this one is placed “in an underworld or slot canyon”, but it’s a big open area regardless. Challenges of not having a roof overhead: The players can go anywhere once they have command of the z-axis (which can be as early as level 1 with a thief+rope). Benefits of not having a roof overhead: The players can go anywhere once they have command of the z-axis. Don’t be afraid of it, but there’s definitely some added complexity when you remove the shackles of ceilings.
   One difficulty, as seen here in the map, is in how to convey the space to your players. The map here is one of the more complex Dysons, built not as a cave complex but instead as a full-up town, with wide streets and fairly simple buildings. If run along the ground as a dungeon crawl it could be mapped normally, but if this is a well-lit (relatively, even in twilight of a slot canyon) outdoor space then this almost needs to be plopped in front of the players whole, with buildings obscured. Which means either some hand cramps or some fiddly work with scissors and blocking paper. It also means navigation is a little meaningless, particularly if most of the buildings are unkeyed and abstracted, as seen here. This spot is designed to be navigated less like and dungeon and more like a city, albeit a very very small one. Which makes sense given the story but it means running can be a procedural headache.
   Speaking of story, I really like the concept here. As outlined above, this is a fragment of an ancient kingdom’s attempt to recreate Heaven on Earth, which resulted in a mix of Genesis Solutions: A little bit Babel, a little bit Deluge. Hooks are all solid, looking for a misdraw soul from a dead companion, looking for an angel’s heart, or seeking an illusionary wand. The place is pretty awful, a ruin of decayed grandeur and brittle glory, watched over by a False Angel, filled with damned and misdirected souls, alive with traps and monsters. It’s a neat vibe, ambitious and visionary, but the execution is at times…challenging.
   First off, there’s the basic environment. You have freely available food at all times, infinite knowledge, and vast wealth in the buildings…but the food is nearly irresistible and does Wisdom damage, the books are gibberish and increase Intelligence at the cost of insanities, and the wealth randomly extracted (destructively) damages Charisma. Wisdom to zero means you’re a gluttonous monster, Intelligence to max for a while means you’re convinced only human sacrifice will leads to more true, and Charisma to zero means you’re a wandering husk consumed by eternal burning jealousy of the beauty. Plus wasting time draws the False Angel.
   Said False Angel is a reskinned Deva who’s all about feeding you, knowledge imparting, or exile. If you refuse it twice, enjoy your bossfight. And of course, the angel will get regenerated. It’s a bit low on personality but that’s as much feature as bug for something that really is just a construct. Its feathers can be used to summon a Real Angel who will battle it while sending divine fire to incinerate the shard in 1d10+10 rounds. Yes, this is exactly as awesome as it sounds.
   There are other horrific and/or cool things, like a dozen giants trying to eat everything, an invisible banshee choir, a nightmarish bordello in permanent darkness dedicated to sensual touch that also contains black puddings. The whole place is powered by a vast soul-eating gem that yes, can be destroyed to ruin the whole site. Everything is extremely high-powered, as is fitting for a high-level adventure site. It’s very cool, but unwieldy. I’d have loved to hear if the mysterious author playtested this, because I can see players kind of wandering aimlessly here and the procedural stuff either TPKing them or becoming rather repetitive. Which is a pity, because everything that is detailed is very good.
   This site is pretty easily to place in any campaign, logistically, although it’s also a place of unimaginable wealth and death that nets a crapton of wishes if it gets destroyed, so one should really consider carefully how to seed it. Brilliant idea filled to the brim with creative flourishes, stuffed into a bit too tight of a page count and thus a little underbaked. Impressive as hell, though.