Structure
Exposition
Old Normal
Level to 5Insofar as your characters know, they have lived their entire lives in the Weather Fort as children to a wealthy and influential father. You have grown up strong and privileged and talented in prophesizing. Your father assigns you the task of finding a stowaway from Bai Sai using non-lethal force.
PCs can assume that they narrowed their hiding place to the bath house; or anywhere indoors with water.As the PCs are exploring, they should occasionally see a huge unresponsive creature. This is a hallucination from sudden adjustments being made in the real world and should disappear if PCs attempt to interact with it.
Conflict
Medical Interrogation
Without any warning, the scene cuts jarringly to PCs in simple garb and awakening in a dark salty pool; and without any personal effects. PCs may fight the one other person in the room and run down the corridor, fighting any similarly stated assistants. At the end of the hall, another garbled hallucination appears, speaking incoherently that TPKs the party.Rising Action
Return
Level to 6PCs suddenly find themselves at a family dinner, in another hard cut; and being commended by their father for finding the diva. (whether or not the PCs actually did.) The same hallucinatory fantasy appears again, but only the PCs can see it. Other NPC's might say it's not real or perceive something else entirely. Eventually, the party would appear to disassociate from the festive scene as the NPCs and other objects meld together like a swirl of paint; leaving only themselves and the hallucination remaining solid. Combat ensues.
Climax
Mystery Interrogation
Level to 7Should the PCs defeat, be defeated or get away from the hallucination; they again reappear in the pool with a bandaged Mahtlācxihuitl and his assistants working over them. If the PCs choose to fight their way out the room, the same hallucination reappears again to fight along side the staff - levitating - but remaining unnoticed by them.
Falling Action
Weather Fort
Level 8They must find equipment that they can use and rush for the end of the map. During which time, the GM could reveal 1 of 3 things for a dramatic ending:
- As they are just about to escape to freedom, Niyogi's voice whispers thanks for their information
- If the party happen to find themselves in the fort's civilian populace, no one recognizes them. They have lived their entire lives in those pools.
- The PCs awaken once again in those pools. Their earlier near escapes were but fantasies.
Resolution
New Normal
Once they do make it to the edge of the map, the PCs spontaneously find themselves outside the weather fort at dusk. Fear of being dragged back, should motivate the party to move through a hostile wilderness.Components
Goals
Escape from a lifetime's confinement into a the jungle wilderness.
Hooks
The PCs are unknowing captives being kept perpetually in a trance-like state in order to extort some sort of skill from their subconscious. For some reason; be it an convenient accident or sabotage; the hold over these pawns is slipping. As a result, the players will experience different maps as they flicker between their dream world and the real world.
Stakes
The characters' world, and world view, come crashing down while enemies are hecticly pursuing them to wipe their memories and place them back under their control.
Cruel Tricks
Discombobulated
Everytime the scene changes abruptly, roll on the table to reflect the unique exhaustive consequences from the loss of tracking time; for at least one PC.Alternative Rule
Subtract d6 from all attack rolls, ability checks and CON saving throws to maintain concentration until the PC makes a WIS saving throw at the end of each of their turns
Relations
Neutrals/Bystanders
Néogi
Niyogi has a complicated relationship with those the PCs are fleeing. For reasons all her own, she can guide the party out and could even arm them with axes and spears.Assuming the PCs accept, she becomes both a valuable but cold ally. She speaks in an authoritative tone that become distinctly sharp if she ever interacts with Mahtlācxihuitl.
HP: 33 ( 6d6 ) Speed: 30ft Skills: Intimidation +4, Perception +3 Proficiency Bonus: +2 |
Adversaries
Mahtlācxihuitl
A wiry man with piercing obsidian eyes, a sharp, hooked nose and who carries himself with an air of smug superiority cloaking his every word and gesture. His speech is laced with patronizing undertones, as though harbouring some secret knowledge no one else could ever understand. Typically deflecting direct questions with cryptic half-answers or rhetorical musings.
HP: 9 ( 2d8 ) Speed: 30ft |
Backdrops
Threats
The hallucination can be anything that the GM determines or can be the thing stated on the right.
Everytime an hallucination abruptly vanishes, there is a 5% chance whereby each player can ask the GM one question.
Alternate Hallucination
HP: 696 ( 24d20+96 ) Speed: 5 ft., swim 10 ft. Saving Throws: STR +10, INT +12, WIS +9, CHA+13 Proficiency Bonus: +6 Skills: Magic +12, Deception +13, Insight +15, Intimidation +13, Persuasion +13 Abilities: |
Plot type
Free Form Escape Room
Subplots
Related Characters
Related Organizations
Related Locations
The GM allowed for players to have a hero type character for the dream world and immediately switch over to a weaker character stat while playing in the real world to reflect their years of atrophy.Playtest
| d10 | Tracking Time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Memory Lapse | The character experiences a complete memory blackout for 24 hours. They cannot remember what happened during that period, and any interactions with NPCs or events from that time are a blank. The character has disadvantage on INT-based skill checks related to events or decisions made during the lost period. |
| 2 | Temporal Displacement | The character feels as though they’ve jumped back in time, seeing or hearing echoes of the past as if they are happening in the present. The player must make an DC 13 INT saving throw. On a fail, they act as though they are in the past for d4 hours, gaining disadvantage on all actions that require awareness of the present situation. |
| 3 | Distorted Perception | Time feels warped to the character, causing them to misjudge the passage of time. The character suffers a -2 penalty to WIS (Perception) and DEX (Initiative) checks for d6 days, as their sense of time is delayed or accelerated unpredictably. |
| 4 | Physical Ailment | The character feels physically exhausted, as if they’ve not slept for days, despite having been in the abduction for only a short time. The character gains one level of exhaustion, which remains until they get a full 8-hour rest. |
| 5 | Temporal Echoes | The character occasionally hears voices or noises that seem to come from different times. These voices could be warnings, cries for help, or cryptic messages. The character must make a DC 14 WIS saving throw to avoid being distracted by these voices. Failure means they act under the influence of these whispers, imposing disadvantage on their next action (attack, skill check or saving throw). |
| 6 | Time Fragmentation | The character’s memories are split, with moments of their life seeming out of order. They may remember future events or things that haven’t happened yet. For the next d4 days, the character has glimpses of potential futures. They gain advantage on one INT-based skill check per day but suffer disadvantage on one WIS-based skill check due to the confusion. |
| 7 | Unseen Pathways | The character perceives multiple versions of reality or "paths" that seem to diverge from their current state. The character may choose to reroll any one attack, saving throw or ability check per day; but each time they do, they suffer disadvantage on the next roll they make. |
| 8 | Echoing Voices in the Mind | The character starts hearing whispers in their mind that seem to come from multiple sources. They are unsure whether it's their own thoughts or something more sinister. The character must make a DC 15 CHA saving throw or take a -1 penalty on all WIS and CHA checks. This penalty stacks and can be added by the GM to a maximum of -3 for d4 days or until your next long rest. |
| 9 | Reality Fracture | The character begins to question what is real and what is imagined, causing them to feel detached from their surroundings. The character suffers disadvantage on all WIS (Insight) checks and must make a DC 16 WIS saving throw to avoid believing something false. On a fail, they misinterpret at least one NPC's motives or actions, leading to a potential confrontation or misunderstanding. |
| 10 | Temporal Stasis | The character briefly experiences a frozen moment in time, where they feel as though they are outside the flow of the universe. The character can take a free action (movement or interact with an object) once per day, but only during the first 6 seconds of combat or a high-stress encounter. They cannot take other actions during this time. |
Oi, that's interesting! Love it. :D