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Author Topic: Need a Fort for a D&D Campaign  (Read 899 times)

UristMcDonald

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Need a Fort for a D&D Campaign
« on: March 17, 2013, 10:36:53 pm »

Hi guys! I'm working on a D&D campaign and need some help. The players need to head to the Underdark on a quest. They will hear about a legendary Dwarven city that breached the Underdark and, in the ensuing chaos, was abandoned. Sound familiar? I thought so.

What I am describing is pretty much every game of Dwarf Fortress ever! Sure, the Hidden Fun Stuff has demons instead of Drow, but the concept is the same, right? So I figure the perfect solution is to use a Dwarf Fortress map instead of making my own. What else could generate the complete and utter chaos of a sprawling city built over dozens of generations by dwarves mad with lust for precious metals?

So what I need from you guys is a link to a map, saved game, or community fort that reached huge proportions (Ideally even attracting a king), lasted for a long time, and eventually fell after breaching HFS. If you guys can find me something like that, I promise I'll share the story of the PC's delve into a Dwarf Fortress with you guys!
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Manze

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Re: Need a Fort for a D&D Campaign
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2013, 10:42:18 pm »

I stopped keeping track of Spearbreakers a while ago, but it was pretty crazy last time I read it. You might want to consider going over to the Community forts section and taking a look.
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Necrisha

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Re: Need a Fort for a D&D Campaign
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2013, 10:45:53 pm »

Did you try digging through the Hall of legends in the community games forum? Here: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=89305.0

Deathgate seems like a good one... Actually The community games an stories forum is your best bet in general.
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EDIT: Keas restricted to tropical forests where they belong.  Those evil, EVIL, foul little things.
 
Edit: The baby murderer became a friend of the fortress, which started a loyalty cascade, and now most of the squad is dead.

Ianflow

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Re: Need a Fort for a D&D Campaign
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2013, 01:02:19 am »

Did you try digging through the Hall of legends in the community games forum? Here: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=89305.0

Deathgate seems like a good one... Actually The community games an stories forum is your best bet in general.

Deathgate is a good one if you want a dwarvan fort that managed to survive and exterminate a Drowsian city I guess
They never abandoned it, and only stopped playing because of how glitched it became if I remember properly, with 56 dwarves, no surface access, and starving setting in though
I do believe it would be especially effective if the PCs encountered dwarves who survived, but went mad/beserk
So, any sane Dwarven NPCs should be unsocial, melancholy, etc
Don't forget the ghosts and undead : D (any possession should cause an event that is similar to a fey mood of course, should they fail they go beserk, and if they succeed, like possession, no legendary boost)
Cursed artifacts would be especially interesting too

I think if you do this, to the PC's are nearly doomed
Adding insanity, and utilizing wild beast and beast men tribes, you could ensure they end up with a TPK (if that is your aim)

Its best to preface their campaign with "Losing is FUN"
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Orange Wizard

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Re: Need a Fort for a D&D Campaign
« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2013, 02:40:53 am »

I heard that Terry ate Deathgate.
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StLeibowitz

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Re: Need a Fort for a D&D Campaign
« Reply #5 on: March 18, 2013, 05:46:23 am »

Use Koganusan - Boatmurdered. Screw the Underdark, their leader went on a flaming rampage! Just say Sankis was a demon of some sort, and the awesome is doubled.
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Broken

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Re: Need a Fort for a D&D Campaign
« Reply #6 on: March 18, 2013, 07:06:12 am »

Use undergrotto if you dare to try it.

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=50916.0

The DFMA map:

http://www.mkv25.net/dfma/map-8232-undergrotto

You will not find anything better for the task, anywere. Of course, adapting it for your need would be a LOT of work.
The good news is that the DFMA map have marks with explanations in all points of interest.
« Last Edit: March 18, 2013, 07:11:29 am by Broken »
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In a hole in the ground there lived a dwarf. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a dwarf fortress, and that means magma.
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DS

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Re: Need a Fort for a D&D Campaign
« Reply #7 on: March 18, 2013, 05:38:01 pm »

You've already been directed to the Hall of Legends - most fortresses archived in that thread offer enough information to run a solid dungeon crawl with little need for guesswork on the part of the DM.

I'd like to point out a fort of my own (being careful not to toot my own horn too loudly in the process), Weatherwires, which I feel would work excellently as a dungeon. The entire fort is designed three-dimensionally, with many vast open spaces and large structures forming a sprawling underground city. Pathways are intuitive enough so as not to be confusing in a role playing context, while labyrinthine enough that adventurers could easily get lost inside. Every part of the fortress served a definite function, all the way from the summit of the volcano to the deepest depths. As well, the fort has over a hundred years of history detailed on its walls, and in the thread linked in my sig.

Of course, it doesn't fit your criteria exactly - the dwarves of Weatherwires defeated the clowns (at a great loss to themselves), the monarch never arrived (for reasons detailed in the first post of the thread), and the fortress was never abandoned, technically speaking - but there's no reason nameless evils could not have crept back into it's secluded halls during the interim. Then again, it's not the disorganized subterranean sprawl you find in most forts, so perhaps you won't find it to be the aesthetic you're searching for, and that's fine.

Anyways. If you do decide to use Weatherwires, let me know and I'll be happy to provide any additional information.
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Stymied: Correspondence from Syrupurns, a prematurely ended narrative, told through annual updates.
In Progress: Roomcarnage, a fortress clinging to life beneath a haunted glacier.

Ruhn

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Re: Need a Fort for a D&D Campaign
« Reply #8 on: March 18, 2013, 07:16:19 pm »

Sounds like a fun idea, gold trinkets and masterwork (or +) armor should be rewarded if the PCs find the right rooms.