Wednesday, January 14, 2015

INNER WARD SECOND FLOOR 35 ANOTHER CHESS MATCH.

35 ANOTHER CHESS MATCH. The center of the room features a twenty foot square carpet with a red and white checkerboard pattern and a square low table at its center, which is bedecked with thirty two small (six to eight inch tall) miniatures. The room is lit by four continual light globes suspended from the ceiling. Dozens of comfortable blue plush chairs are placed against the walls. The door in the south wall is not real, it is only painted on.

Anyone stepping onto (or even flying over) the checkerboard carpet will be transported and miniaturized to the small table to carry out a chess match as a white piece on the north side of the game board. Roll to see what piece they become.

1d20
Piece
1-8
Pawn
9-10
Rook
11-12
Knight
13-14
Bishop
15
Queen
16
King
17-20
Player choice

Affected adventurers (and adversaries) must move as their game pieces would in an actual game and fight their way to the opposite side of the board, there to be released. They find themselves dressed as the game piece (see below under descriptions of the adversaries). For purposes of the game, they may use restricted armor and weapons (for example, a magic-user cast as a rook may fire his or her heavy crossbow, and a druid cast as a queen may fire a magic missile). White goes first.

Should one side win the game by defeating the opposing king (checkmate or death/destruction), then the game will also release the remaining combatants. Once released, survivors will get back all of their missing equipment.

Opponents may be attacked as per normal combat resolution, with the winner claiming the loser's square, except in the case of rooks and queens, who fire missiles at the opponent instead and can only be defeated if they are attacked. Once the rook is out of bolts, it too must attack hand-to-hand.

Note that this method of combat resolution can actually move the adventurer backwards in some cases. The other white pieces do not move by themselves, unless it is impossible for a character game piece to make a move. The enemy pieces (south) are deep red in color.

Piece
Characteristics
Pawn
Skeleton (AC 7; HD 1; hp 5 each; #AT 1; D Short sword; SD Sharp weapons score half damage only, limited spell immunity; XP 19 each) wearing rotting leather armor
Rook
Wax Golem (AC 5; HD 4; hp 15; #AT 1; D Heavy crossbow or dagger; SD Limited spell immunity; XP 145) in chain mail, each carries twelve bolts at the start of the game
Knight
Wax Golem (AC 3; HD 4; hp 15; #AT 1; D Long sword; SD Limited spell immunity; XP 145)wearing banded mail with a horse shaped great helm and normal sized shied
Bishop
Wax Golem (AC 5; HD 4; hp 15; #AT 1; D Footman's mace; SD Limited spell immunity; XP 145) in chain mail with a great helm resembling a bishop's miter
Queen
Wax Golem (AC 10; HD 6; hp 25; #AT 2; D Magic missile; SD Limited spell immunity; XP 375) wearing a gown and tiara
King
Wax Golem (AC 3; HD 7; hp 30; #AT 1; D Two handed sword; SD Limited spell immunity; XP 590) in plate mail armor and wearing an iron crown

Note that these opponents only exist in the game, and it is not possible for observers to interact with them. Attempts to attack the game pieces using spells or missile weapons will land the adventurer inside the game, to be placed at the Dungeon Master's discretion.

Experience point awards for defeating enemies are possible and will be earned entirely by the character in combat. Defeated foes, including defeated adventurers, disappear until the game is over. Any adventurers who are killed will reappear as mindless game pieces in the place of the enemy who slew them.

If the white side defeats the blue king, the door to the south will transform into a real door, allowing entrance into Room 36.

6 comments:

  1. quick question:
    Once the inner ward is statted out completely will you then describe the pleasure gardens or move on to the upper dungeons? If so, I'd prefer it if you finished all the above ground areas first just to keep it compact.
    Cheers,
    Groaning Spirit

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry to disappoint. My plan was to do the three levels of the upper dungeons next, with the idea that it is more likely for them to be explored before the Grounds. Also, only about 1/3 of the Grounds are keyed right now in my head.

    ReplyDelete
  3. well, you're the maker my man, you know better than I do what to do. Just thought it would be convenient as a full module like thing.
    So odds on that the gardens will be a higher level area to tackle in that case?
    Cheers,
    Groaning Spirit

    ReplyDelete
  4. Not necessarily. I'm trying to make the difficulty rise as one gets further from the main entrance. I'm not being scientific about it but if a floor or level is let's say 2 removed from the Outer Ward Ground Level, it will have a similar degree of difficulty. Thus the Ground Level of the Inner Ward should be just about as hard as the First Floor and Lower Level of the Outer Ward.

    As always, thanks for the comment. I love getting them.

    ReplyDelete
  5. cheers then, as always looking forward to more.
    Just to confirm; can a spell-using character utilize their own memorized magic in this fight or are they stuck with the skills of the chess piece and their innate abilities and stats?
    cheers,
    Groaning Spirit

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good question. That could be DM fiat, but my initial thought would be no.

    ReplyDelete