So, I’ve had a hard time figuring out where to put/how to use the Spire, since it’s a bit more fantastical than my otherwise down-in-the-mud setting. As it happened, we had our first PC ”death” last weekend, after almost 2 years of weekly games. The party mage had a magic mishap and rolled a 66... Thing is, it was a really small/easy encounter and really not that dramatic, so it felt kind of cheesy. Now, another of the PCs tried to rush after his friend, throwing himself into the portal before it closed. He did not succed. During the session, I thought: the druid is experienced enough to cast resurect and therefore, the party has the means to bring back a dead character. Now, would it be too easy on them If I actually let them attempt to rescue their friend?
The result on the mishap table states the character returns after a while, different in a way. Thing is, my mage player has spoken to me about having a character arc which would make the PC become darker, more sinister... even evil.
I could let them go on an epic quest to free the mage... AND! Get a chance to use the Spire of Quetzel, making her be the one who brought (or had someone bring) the mage. I could put the Spire in that other dimension!
So, now I’m writing rules and setting on how to travel between dimensions, using the portal spell.
Naturally the mage will have been altered and he will also have to pay the EMPATHY cost of being resurected.
If they succeed, I will lose the opportunity to use him as a NPC. I’m ok with that though.
Now, has anyone of you run the Spire already? Do you have any good suggestions on how to make the maze or garden come to life? How do you handle them, ruleswise? I want this to be epic and memorable. And take a few sessions without being boring. I also want this to be more on the naration side than combat focused. Since there are no actual location maps, I’m a bit worried narating the sites will make for fairly short encounters and I don’t want to fill the sessions with prolonged combat encounters.
Any suggestions?