Back To The Megadungeon

 

I'm currently playtesting a brand-new megadungeon in the works, that will be the main feature of book 3 in the Cha'alt trilogy.  

The megadungeon is called Cremza'amirikza'am, of course.

The Lost City is a ruin on the surface of the planet.  Below the eroded city walls and crumbling buildings is the entrance.  

After attacking several small, robed humanoids and driving them down into Cremza'amirikza'am, the PCs went in after them.  The staircase went on for what seemed like hours, descending down into the bowels of Cha'alt.

Meeting an ooze along the way, the PCs eventually came to the first floor of the dungeon, an octagonal chamber with a door ajar.  A magenta-violet light saturated the atmosphere and little aquatic insects and jellyfish looking creatures swam through the lurid illumination.

The second battle of the session was with a trio of monks wearing vials around their neck - the vials contained a glowing yellow-green liquid.

In both battles, the PCs came out victorious.  Neither battle lasted more than 3 rounds.  Even though it waited patiently in the wings, Crimson Escalation did not come into play.  Another playtest thumbs-up, in my opinion.  When creating a fresh mechanic or sub-system, you don't want it constantly making demands.  Occasionally, such things should remain in the background.

As mentioned in my latest video, I'm channeling Buffy the Vampire Slayer, From Beyond, and Event Horizon... along with all my other influences and pop-culture references.  Cha'alt is still a gonzo parody, after all.

A couple interesting tidbits of note...

• There was a surprise round where a PC shot an arrow at the diminutive humanoids.  I counted that as round zero for purposes of Crimson Escalation.
• A pixie-fairy sorceress cast sleep on the monks after a couple rounds of combat.  Since casting that spell brought her down to zero and made her unconscious, I decided to give the monks a saving throw.  Only one made it, and he quickly fled out of the octagonal chamber.
• After the first (surprise round) arrow, the humanoids took cover, giving the shooter Disadvantage, unless circumstances changed.  I think that's a good way of doing it, so just wanted to share.
• One of the PCs ate/drank a bit of the periwinkle slime they encountered on the infinite stairway.  I asked for a saving throw, and he did really well, though didn't quite make his 1st level's 19+ threshold.  So, I told him he got lucky, that several periwinkle splotches appeared on his body and face - much better than becoming a slime oneself.
• The monks of Cremza'amirikza'am told the PCs that the megadungeon was an entrance to another world.  When one of the PCs asked "What world is that?"  I immediately replied "Hell".  That's just an example of spontaneous remarks becoming worldbuilding concrete.  Yep, that's set in stone.

Another playtest session tomorrow.  Wonder what'll happen?

VS

p.s.  I've still got luxurious hardcover Cha'alt and Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise books for sale right here.  And I'm also running an old-school, OSR, and traditional RPG convention next July in Madison, WI.  It's called VENGER CON.