Haunted Pyramids?

Scorpion13

Mongoose
I was planning an adventure th other day, and thought it might be nice to take a trip to the Haunted Pyramids, as depicted as just across the Styx to the east of Stygia. So, I open up the Road of Kings.....and I cant find them. I looked in all the entries of the countries around that area, but I couldnt find one mention of them. According to the maps in that book, no country claims them. Pretty creepy and atmosphereic if you ask me, but still a problem. I dont know anything about them, so I had to make most of the info for the game up. Not complaining about it, I love to do stuff like that, but still.

Are they in the Road of King and I missed it, or are they in something like the Scrolls of Skelos?

Thanks!
 
Maybe you should try the d20 supplement Ancient Kingdoms: Mesopotamia. The author provided even a Conan conversion at his website:
http://hyboria.xoth.net/adventures/mesopotamia_conversion_notes.htm

AK:M gives you good campaign with a lot of options for your players.
I can recommend this book strongly (I'm not related to the author in any way).
 
I'll second that. Ancient Kingdoms: Mesopotamia is great, and has a couple of haunted step pyramids (ziggurats). Gary Gygax's Necropolis may be useful to you too.

I don't believe the Haunted Pyramids were ever used as a setting in a Conan novel.
 
As well as AKM, I would recommend the following for inspiration/mood:

1) Short Story "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs" by H P Lovecraft

2) Short Story "The Nameless City" by HPL.

Though set in modern times, they could be converted to Conan.

You could find them in a collection of HPL stories or they may be on the net.

Cheers
 
Seeker said:
As well as AKM, I would recommend the following for inspiration/mood:

1) Short Story "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs" by H P Lovecraft

2) Short Story "The Nameless City" by HPL.

Though set in modern times, they could be converted to Conan.

You could find them in a collection of HPL stories or they may be on the net.

Cheers

Also check out several Egyptian-inspired Cthulhu Mythos stories by Robert Bloch, such as "The Brood of Bubastis" and "The Secret of Sebek". They're collected in the book "Mysteries of the Worm" by Chaosium, along with several other great stories.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1568820127/002-2927206-0463268?v=glance

- thulsa
 
I am going to use the pyramids as well.
In my adventure, the players are asked to escort a woman to the haunted pyramids, where her father, a local prince, has been kidnapped and is being held.
In the first half of the adventure, the journey to the pyramids, the daughter has the party raid a hill top fortress and steal an artefact kept there by an ancient Acheronian Sorcerer. Also during the journey, at night while all are sleeping, some characters wake up drained of HP, unexplainably.
In the second half, they go to the pyramid, only to discover that the father is sealed inside of it. As the party searches for an entrance, the daughter uses the artefact to open the heavily warded door, and out pops a Vampire King from the days before Stygia was founded, with numerous vampiric followers. Come to find out, she isnt his daughter, but one of his devoted followers, come to release him now, as the stars are right for him to open a gate and let the ancient evil into the world full force.
In the third half, the players, who I presume ran away when the Vampire King and his followers popped out, are captured by the Acheronian Sorcerer and his followers, and will be expected to help them re-imprison the Vampire King, or destroy him, which ever is easiest.
And that is as far as I have gotten so far.
The Vampire King is going to have very high stats, and about 50 followers, all vampires.
 
By the time the PCs get to a point where they must fight the Vampire King, I am expecting them to be 5th-7th level. Of course, they could try to fight him alone, in which case they will be slaughtered. When they run away, they will eventually be captured by the "Good" forces, and will eventually return and fight the Vampires, OR the Vampires will attack in a big battle. So I do not encourage them to fight him alone
 
SkyMarshallBiff said:
By the time the PCs get to a point where they must fight the Vampire King, I am expecting them to be 5th-7th level. Of course, they could try to fight him alone, in which case they will be slaughtered. When they run away, they will eventually be captured by the "Good" forces, and will eventually return and fight the Vampires, OR the Vampires will attack in a big battle. So I do not encourage them to fight him alone
Sounds like a very cool adventure idea, but I immediately thought I should reply and warn you, that as a rule players always stump their GMs and I think it's possible your players could try to assault the Vampire King headlong! (Players often seem to think that if a monster is in an adventure, then they get to kill it without questioning mechanics/plot, etc. in the most hack-n-slash manner). I've done games in the past where I thought it obvious that players should act one way (like flee) and the players ran straight into it. Just warning you that it might happen. :twisted:
 
Oh no doubt! They do have a tendancy to throw oil onto the fire!
But here is my theory=
Conan knew when to run, and he did not hesitate to run if he had to. I am sure he sits on the throne of Aquilonia and recalls the treasures he had to abandon, probably laughing about it.
If my players arent smart enough to run at the first sign of overwhelming odds, then they deserve to die. I personally dont see how any player would ever make it to the higher levels if all he did was charged into every possible fight without first considering the consequences.
I might have one player get captured by the Vampire King, and turned against his friends before they escape. Then when they are captured by the Good Socererers followers, they can discover that he can be "cured" if the King is killed.
 
SkyMarshallBiff said:
Oh no doubt! They do have a tendancy to throw oil onto the fire!
But here is my theory=
Conan knew when to run, and he did not hesitate to run if he had to. I am sure he sits on the throne of Aquilonia and recalls the treasures he had to abandon, probably laughing about it.
If my players arent smart enough to run at the first sign of overwhelming odds, then they deserve to die. I personally dont see how any player would ever make it to the higher levels if all he did was charged into every possible fight without first considering the consequences.
Very sound reasoning, sounds good to me!
SkyMarshallBiff said:
I might have one player get captured by the Vampire King, and turned against his friends before they escape. Then when they are captured by the Good Socererers followers, they can discover that he can be "cured" if the King is killed.
Well, that sounds like a good idea if one of the unlucky players gets caught; and the idea of freeing him by killing the King is a good fix. Of course, if the player has to sit through several hours while the other players try to figure out what to do before freeing his character, he may not have fun. But if it happens to a henchman or other NPC they may not care and just kill the "touched" character. Good luck however it turns out.
 
Bregales wrote:

Well, that sounds like a good idea if one of the unlucky players gets caught; and the idea of freeing him by killing the King is a good fix. Of course, if the player has to sit through several hours while the other players try to figure out what to do before freeing his character, he may not have fun. But if it happens to a henchman or other NPC they may not care and just kill the "touched" character. Good luck however it turns out.

I don't know. I think the captured player character could have fun. Allow him to play, but have him make resistance rolls to overcome the vampire king's control, and when he slips, have him warn his friends.

Such as "Oh no, I can feel his will over taking me again my friends, I don't wish ... to arghhh .... quick subdue and tie me up before I can bring harm to you".

This dual personality could provide the player a wealth of role playing opportunities, as well as for the other party members as well. Give them extra XPs if they play this tragic rescue and conflict to the hilt.
 
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