Serpentine
2009-12-03, 08:50 AM
A fairly major part of my campaign is this Temple to a Trickster god. The relevancy is this: stranded on a foreign continent, they want to make their way back home (well, that's the theory - only 2 of the original party of 6 remain, everyone else are natives or semi-native). They've heard that a particular explorer-wizard knows of a way there, and that he was last known to be searching for the temple. His corpse lies in this temple, crushed beneath a huge round boulder, skeletal arm outstretched in a futile attempt to reach his hat... along with the maps through the Underdark.
Now. I drew the map, with lots of interesting twists and turns... but can't think of enough things to fill everything. I'm hoping some Forumites can give me a hand. If someone(s) could critique the ideas I already have and offer advice on them (particularly #6), and/or come up with ideas for all the other parts I'm out of ideas for and maybe other random traps and bits and pieces, I would really appreciate it. I can change details, room shapes and so on if necessary.
As an aside, I could use some artists for bits of it - particularly 21. I had someone a while ago offer, but I'm not sure whether he'd still be willing, or has enough time.
This god is meant to be the ultimate Trickster god - all others are, or may be, merely aspects of this one. I'm very loosely basing him on Native American Tricksters, as we're currently in an Americanish region, but he's also meant to be the archetypical Trickster, aspects of whom worshippers in different areas place different emphasis upon, or ignore of focus on completely.
I know there's too much... stuff in the below deity overview, but keep in mind that the vast majority of people will worship aspects of this god, rather than the whole seen here.
The God.Kokopelli
The Trickster, Coyote, Huehuecoyotl, The Joker
Greater Deity
Symbol: A humpbacked flute-player, a face of many expressions, a smiling coyote head. Symbols vary greatly among different worshippers, depending on the aspects upon which they focus.
Home Plane: Various, especially Chaotically-aligned ones. Unusually active on the Material Plane.
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Portfolio: Trickery
Entertainment, music, art, jokes, humour, comedy, performance in general - both good and bad. Only mediocrity is boring.
Fertility - especially when undesired. Special protector of its unwanted products, and of orphans. Is often involved in designing special fates for them.
Luck - good and bad, double-edged, and disguised.
Theft and mischief.
Thinking around corners, problem-solving, creativity - convoluted and complicated solutions are far more interesting than straight-line logic.
Intelligence, wit, cleverness
Coincidence, irony.
Justice - preferably fitting, personal and twisted.
Ambiguity and confusion - half-breeds, hermaphrodites, individuals of confused or atypical gender, the insane, shape-shifters, polymorphed creatures, and the lost (literally and metaphorically), among others, are under his personal protection... and are his personal playthings.
Opposition to mediocrity - if there's anything he can't stand, it's the ordinary.
Drugs - especially hallucinagens, often an important part of his worship.
Phobias, fetishes and irrationality
Time - especially "early" and "late", and the tricks time can play.
Contradiction.
Extreme emotions
Tears - of laughter and sadness.
Inconvenience
Weather (local only, preferably dramatic, inconvenient and/or inappropriate)
Noise, and the absence of it.
Crowded, anarchic groups of people - battles, riots, cities
The Butterfly Effect, obscure causality
Double-edged swords.
Deception - through both lies and misdirection, and creative application of the truth.
Worshippers: Anyone, midwives, rogues, bards.
Cleric alignments: CE, CN, CG, N
Domains: Chaos, Liberation, Luck, Madness, Transformation, Trickery
Favoured Weapon: Wit. Failing that, improvised weapons.
Worship, description and general nature of the trickster god varies between groups of worshippers. The Trickster of this temple emphasised wit and cleverness, sideways thinking and deceptive appearances, as well as humour and irony.
The Temple.
The temple was built as both a worship site and a test for his worshippers. Navigating the temple and reaching the prize at the end was a crucial initiation rite. However, while simply surviving and completing it was enough, to truly be favoured by the Kokopelli, the worshipper must use the temple to demonstrate her ingenuity and creative thinking.
Although this particular group of his people are long gone and the temple long abandoned, Kokopelli himself still frequents the area from time to time, clearing out vermin, doing some maintenance, reloading traps, and so on. Should someone happen to enter the temple, he quickly arrives to watch the fun.
Lawful creatures are not welcome here, and feel it keenly. They have a -1 penalty to all checks while within its confines. Neutral creatures are largely ignored. Chaotic creatures feel welcome and at home, and receive a +1 morale bonus to all checks.
Creatures who navigate the temple and solve its secrets gain a boon at the end, as well as a curse or trick. Creatures who navigate it in a clever and entertaining way gain a greater boon and a lesser curse or trick. Creatures - especially Lawful ones - who simply bash their way through without any thought, or otherwise demonstrate stupidity or closed thinking, receive a curse disguised as a boon.
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h287/serpentine16/Temple-of-the-Trickster-God.gif
edit: Updated, taking into account suggestions.
Now. I drew the map, with lots of interesting twists and turns... but can't think of enough things to fill everything. I'm hoping some Forumites can give me a hand. If someone(s) could critique the ideas I already have and offer advice on them (particularly #6), and/or come up with ideas for all the other parts I'm out of ideas for and maybe other random traps and bits and pieces, I would really appreciate it. I can change details, room shapes and so on if necessary.
As an aside, I could use some artists for bits of it - particularly 21. I had someone a while ago offer, but I'm not sure whether he'd still be willing, or has enough time.
This god is meant to be the ultimate Trickster god - all others are, or may be, merely aspects of this one. I'm very loosely basing him on Native American Tricksters, as we're currently in an Americanish region, but he's also meant to be the archetypical Trickster, aspects of whom worshippers in different areas place different emphasis upon, or ignore of focus on completely.
I know there's too much... stuff in the below deity overview, but keep in mind that the vast majority of people will worship aspects of this god, rather than the whole seen here.
The God.Kokopelli
The Trickster, Coyote, Huehuecoyotl, The Joker
Greater Deity
Symbol: A humpbacked flute-player, a face of many expressions, a smiling coyote head. Symbols vary greatly among different worshippers, depending on the aspects upon which they focus.
Home Plane: Various, especially Chaotically-aligned ones. Unusually active on the Material Plane.
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Portfolio: Trickery
Entertainment, music, art, jokes, humour, comedy, performance in general - both good and bad. Only mediocrity is boring.
Fertility - especially when undesired. Special protector of its unwanted products, and of orphans. Is often involved in designing special fates for them.
Luck - good and bad, double-edged, and disguised.
Theft and mischief.
Thinking around corners, problem-solving, creativity - convoluted and complicated solutions are far more interesting than straight-line logic.
Intelligence, wit, cleverness
Coincidence, irony.
Justice - preferably fitting, personal and twisted.
Ambiguity and confusion - half-breeds, hermaphrodites, individuals of confused or atypical gender, the insane, shape-shifters, polymorphed creatures, and the lost (literally and metaphorically), among others, are under his personal protection... and are his personal playthings.
Opposition to mediocrity - if there's anything he can't stand, it's the ordinary.
Drugs - especially hallucinagens, often an important part of his worship.
Phobias, fetishes and irrationality
Time - especially "early" and "late", and the tricks time can play.
Contradiction.
Extreme emotions
Tears - of laughter and sadness.
Inconvenience
Weather (local only, preferably dramatic, inconvenient and/or inappropriate)
Noise, and the absence of it.
Crowded, anarchic groups of people - battles, riots, cities
The Butterfly Effect, obscure causality
Double-edged swords.
Deception - through both lies and misdirection, and creative application of the truth.
Worshippers: Anyone, midwives, rogues, bards.
Cleric alignments: CE, CN, CG, N
Domains: Chaos, Liberation, Luck, Madness, Transformation, Trickery
Favoured Weapon: Wit. Failing that, improvised weapons.
Worship, description and general nature of the trickster god varies between groups of worshippers. The Trickster of this temple emphasised wit and cleverness, sideways thinking and deceptive appearances, as well as humour and irony.
The Temple.
The temple was built as both a worship site and a test for his worshippers. Navigating the temple and reaching the prize at the end was a crucial initiation rite. However, while simply surviving and completing it was enough, to truly be favoured by the Kokopelli, the worshipper must use the temple to demonstrate her ingenuity and creative thinking.
Although this particular group of his people are long gone and the temple long abandoned, Kokopelli himself still frequents the area from time to time, clearing out vermin, doing some maintenance, reloading traps, and so on. Should someone happen to enter the temple, he quickly arrives to watch the fun.
Lawful creatures are not welcome here, and feel it keenly. They have a -1 penalty to all checks while within its confines. Neutral creatures are largely ignored. Chaotic creatures feel welcome and at home, and receive a +1 morale bonus to all checks.
Creatures who navigate the temple and solve its secrets gain a boon at the end, as well as a curse or trick. Creatures who navigate it in a clever and entertaining way gain a greater boon and a lesser curse or trick. Creatures - especially Lawful ones - who simply bash their way through without any thought, or otherwise demonstrate stupidity or closed thinking, receive a curse disguised as a boon.
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h287/serpentine16/Temple-of-the-Trickster-God.gif
edit: Updated, taking into account suggestions.