Deep Carbon Observatory in Dolmenwood



 

In my previous posts I wrote session reports from my Dolmenwood game when my players delved into Deep Carbon Observatory. In this post I want to give some extra details about how Deep Carbon Observatory was integrated into Dolmenwood.

This post is going to assume you are somewhat familiar with Dolmenwood. Many of the substitutions I made will only make sense if you know the places and factions in Gavin Norman's setting.

Placement

One of the first questions for fitting any module into a setting is where to put the places detailed in the module. In this case, I had to find a river to place Carrowmore which would lead to a dam and reservoir lake upriver.

I chose to place Carrowmore on Quogg's Creek downriver from the Avernal Lake. This places it within the sphere of influence of Atanawe which allowed me to use his forces as part of the dangers surrounding their trek to the dam.

The Dam-Builders

The legend of the Dam-Builders, their ability to create mega-structures, and the potential treasures they left behind are important factors in the adventure. The stories of their potential wealth is a big motivating factor for the PCs to find the "lake full of gold."

I originally planned for the Dam-Builders to be ancestors of the Drune. When venturing upriver the PCs came across a sarcophagus of one of the Dam-Builders that had been dislodged by the flooding. This was the moment I checked to see who would understand the language of the Dam-Builders. It so happened that my Dwarf PC was the one who understood the language. At that moment I completely changed my plans and decided the Dam-Builders were ancient Dwarves instead. The Moss Dwarves of Dolmenwood, along with many other enclaves of Dwarves in the regions outside of the forest, would be the descendants of these Dwarves who had settled there long ago.


 

Observers

I had decided to have the people who originally constructed the Observatory be ancient Elves. One of my PCs is an elf, but their only real interaction with any other Elves was briefly during the Winter's Daughter adventure. These Elves were going to be ones that had abandoned the realms of Fairy long ago to explore many different worlds. They had come to Dolmenwood through an ancient gate that is now long gone. They constructed the underground Observatory and began scientifically exploring and cataloging the deep places under the forest. Though I never explicitly said these words to my players, in my mind I was envisioning these as "Space Elves."


 

The Conquest

The events that led up to the Observatory being in the state that it was involved only minor tweaks to accommodate these two different ancient peoples that I had introduced.

  • After the Observers constructed the underground base, they began exploring the underworld with their Tektite Lens
  • Some beings could sense that they were being observed. One type of creature with this ability were the so-called "Deep Minds"
  • The Deep Minds had strict mastery over an ancient primordial group of Dwarves that lived deep in the Mythic Underworld, which they sent to conquer the Observatory
  • These Dwarves were successful and subsequently took control of the Observatory and the Observers within it in service to their underground masters
  • The Dwarves either continued the research and spying, or forced the Observers to do it for them
  • Some of these Dwarves slowly broke free of the mental shackles of their Deep Mind masters and splintered off into a surface-dwelling kingdom in the North of Dolmenwood
    • This splinter group grew in power and prestige over time until they challenged their cousins in splendor
  • Through their scrying the Observers awoke another being able to sense their watchful gaze: the Cave Giant monster that now haunts the Observatory
  • The Cave Giant climbed up and attacked, killing many within the Observatory
  • Sensing a moment of weakness, the surface Dwarves occupied the region around the entrance to the Observatory and sealed the base, locking in anyone who remained inside
  • They then constructed the Dam and flooded the region above the Observatory, sealing it completely and creating the reservoir lake
  • Over time the surface Dwarf kingdom faded and disappeared


 

The Reed People

One remnant of the Dwarves who had inhabited this northern region of Dolmenwood are the only Dwarves to remain in the area: the Moss Dwarves. The Reed People who lived on the lake above the dam were changed to be these descendants.




Comments

  1. Jim ParkinDecember 6, 2021 at 6:22 AM

    This is a very savvy treatment. Excellent placement, too. I look forward to shamelessly ripping this off for my own Dolmenwood table.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Session Report: Deep Carbon Observatory in Dolmenwood Pt 1

Image
Introduction The group I've put together for this B/X campaign (a combination of Old-School Essentials and Lamentations of the Flame Princess) is filled with several players who are new to RPGs. I first ran for them the Ravenloft module Night of the Walking Dead. Once it was clear the group was going to stick together and we wanted to keep playing long-term I decided to put them into a setting I was excited by and to start seeding the setting with old-school adventures I had been wanting to run. The setting I picked was Dolmenwood (by Gavin Norman, author of Old-School Essentials). Their first foray into the setting was the adventure Winter's Daughter which did an excellent job of introducing Dolmenwood. Once Winter's Daughter was finished and they spent some downtime in the settlement of Prigwort, they journeyed North to where I had placed the town of Carrowmore and the beginning to Deep Carbon Observatory. The River Journey We played several sessions that started with the
Read more

Session Report: Deep Carbon Observatory in Dolmenwood Pt 2

Image
 Like the previous session report, this one will condense several sessions into the most interesting bits. Battle Against the Crows One of the great elements of Deep Carbon Observatory is the presence of a rival adventuring group called the Crows. As written, the Crows are horrible, infuriating opponents. As the party ascended back up the Chain that hung down the center of the eastern inverted spire they arrived in the Weighing Station for a second time and walked right into an ambush from the Crows. This was the most brutal, harrowing fight the party has been involved in so far. By the end of this battle, 3 of the PCs were unconscious and at the edge of death. How did they end up winning? One key element was the very low loyalty for two of the members of the Crows, who decided to retreat after one of their number was killed. That first kill was achieved because the party had found items called Curved Space-Time Structures, one of which allowed them to manipulate gravity in a localized
Read more