I have been trying to figure out a way to make a maze campaign based off of the Maze Runner books. I currently have figured out sort-of what to do in the maze and how to escape. The Maze Shifts every night and the adventures have to got into the maze and explore as much as the can in a day (hour) before the doors to the maze close and they get trapped inside. The adventures have to make back inside the center safe point and if they don' t they get trapped out side and can not get back in. during night big monsters come out and that walk about the maze, I would like to you grievers from the maze runner books, but I can't find any stats for them. Inside the center safe point there is a farm and some other resources, and a book that comes up occasionally containing supplies (and maybe sometimes a person). I don't know what to really do for inside the safe center point. When you start the game none of the players will remember anything from before the maze, will start off with nothing accept for what all ready in the safe center point, players will not remember any spells and will have no money, things like that. I don't really know what to do with the safe center point, how to run the maze and what should be in it. Also I can seem to find a good maze with a center starting area, the maze I am planning for is round.
This may be pedantic but, a maze is better known as a labyrinth if there is a central point that needs to be located, or is the starting point. This might make it easier to find references and ideas for a layout.
From there, creatures that you wish to populate the labyrinth with can be homebrewed, or you can reskin creatures to fit what you're looking for. For example you can take a Wyvern's sting to mimic the damage that the Griever's sting. Rather than having it do immediate poison damage you can instead have the poison last for Xd12 hours and deal 1d6 damage each hour.
The loss of memory can be a permanent Modify Memory enchantment over the labyrinth that triggers at a particular time of the day. You can use the Grief serum in this case too, where they can get back some of their memories, though it requires getting Griever poison.
As to the loss of spells and other class features, I'd have to say that you're going to have to restrict class types to make this work well. Any class, such as Cleric, where it's possible to just pray and get spells, would be removed from the list. Wizards, who need a book and the ability to memorize spells, would work perfectly for this. When it comes to martial features, you'll have to come up with a plausible reason as to why they are missing from their memories. It's a little difficult to think that something that is physically learned, "muscle memory", would be lost.
To really make the most of the safe zone in the center, you'll want to look into the gritty realism variant. The slower recovery of health, spells, and features will give them more reason to stay inside rather than venture out. The game will most likely take on a bit of a social and exploration theme rather than a dungeon crawl. Quests and such will be based on what happens between the people in the center, social conflict, divided factions, resource gathering, and the likes. The excursions out into the labyrinth will start as gathering supplies for the central location, and as information is unlocked, new skills and equipment is found/made, they can venture further. Eventually you'll have to let the players loose into the maze, they'll have leveled up enough to handle the Grievers, and get to the core of the plot.
Finally, draw up a handful of maps, I'd say no less than six, so that you can randomly roll for which one is present when they wake on any given morning. On each map, mark what walls have moved or are able to move. This way you can have the labyrinth change as they're exploring by knowing what walls are mobile, and even force them to go certain directions if you need/want to.
I have a question, about starting in the glade or safe zone, how would I split people up under different Keepers and what some quest would be like, I have been going over it and can't see to really figure out what to do, what I was thinking was having the players try out each of the different jobs, and letting them choose the one that they like, but this would be really time consuming and could be really boring in events like the Track-hoes who just plow dirt all day, and that wouldn't make for a very exiting adventure.
Treat it like the different factions that are already present in D&D. Use them as inspiration for what the different Keepers might want and how to give quests in relation to that.
For example: The Emerald Enclave is a far-ranging group that opposes threats to the natural world and helps others survive the many perils of the wild.
Ok, how can we make this work for your game? This group could be in charge of the "Track-hoes", as well as any others in "The Glade" who are about making it more survivable using nature rather than the strange materials gathered from Grievers and other things inside the labyrinth. They quests they'll go on, even when running, will be to find plants, animals, tools, and the likes to that end. They'll also be the ones to enforce protection against crops, fields, and any animal/animal pens that may be present. They'll also document everything they learn about these plants/animals so that, even after the Modify Memory takes effect, they have the information necessary.
Thanks for the information, this is my first adventure that I am building, Don't really have much DM experience, so thanks for the Information, I don't think I will use the Modify memory Spell, I will just have the players not remember there past, but they will be able to get some of memory's back through the grief serum
When you homebrew, it's almost impossible to come up with all the ideas on your own. So, instead, you take something preexisting and twist it to fit your desires. The trick I like to use is to have something, in this case Modify Memory, that I can refer the players to and let them know that it is a mechanic similar to X. This way they can get an idea of what's going on without divulging the exact changes you've made. It also lets them know that you're doing what you can to stay within similar confines that the players have. This type of thing goes a long way toward having your players trust and understand you, as well as provide a starting point for feedback from them.
I have been trying to figure out a way to make a maze campaign based off of the Maze Runner books. I currently have figured out sort-of what to do in the maze and how to escape. The Maze Shifts every night and the adventures have to got into the maze and explore as much as the can in a day (hour) before the doors to the maze close and they get trapped inside. The adventures have to make back inside the center safe point and if they don' t they get trapped out side and can not get back in. during night big monsters come out and that walk about the maze, I would like to you grievers from the maze runner books, but I can't find any stats for them. Inside the center safe point there is a farm and some other resources, and a book that comes up occasionally containing supplies (and maybe sometimes a person). I don't know what to really do for inside the safe center point. When you start the game none of the players will remember anything from before the maze, will start off with nothing accept for what all ready in the safe center point, players will not remember any spells and will have no money, things like that. I don't really know what to do with the safe center point, how to run the maze and what should be in it. Also I can seem to find a good maze with a center starting area, the maze I am planning for is round.
This may be pedantic but, a maze is better known as a labyrinth if there is a central point that needs to be located, or is the starting point. This might make it easier to find references and ideas for a layout.
From there, creatures that you wish to populate the labyrinth with can be homebrewed, or you can reskin creatures to fit what you're looking for. For example you can take a Wyvern's sting to mimic the damage that the Griever's sting. Rather than having it do immediate poison damage you can instead have the poison last for Xd12 hours and deal 1d6 damage each hour.
The loss of memory can be a permanent Modify Memory enchantment over the labyrinth that triggers at a particular time of the day. You can use the Grief serum in this case too, where they can get back some of their memories, though it requires getting Griever poison.
As to the loss of spells and other class features, I'd have to say that you're going to have to restrict class types to make this work well. Any class, such as Cleric, where it's possible to just pray and get spells, would be removed from the list. Wizards, who need a book and the ability to memorize spells, would work perfectly for this. When it comes to martial features, you'll have to come up with a plausible reason as to why they are missing from their memories. It's a little difficult to think that something that is physically learned, "muscle memory", would be lost.
To really make the most of the safe zone in the center, you'll want to look into the gritty realism variant. The slower recovery of health, spells, and features will give them more reason to stay inside rather than venture out. The game will most likely take on a bit of a social and exploration theme rather than a dungeon crawl. Quests and such will be based on what happens between the people in the center, social conflict, divided factions, resource gathering, and the likes. The excursions out into the labyrinth will start as gathering supplies for the central location, and as information is unlocked, new skills and equipment is found/made, they can venture further. Eventually you'll have to let the players loose into the maze, they'll have leveled up enough to handle the Grievers, and get to the core of the plot.
Finally, draw up a handful of maps, I'd say no less than six, so that you can randomly roll for which one is present when they wake on any given morning. On each map, mark what walls have moved or are able to move. This way you can have the labyrinth change as they're exploring by knowing what walls are mobile, and even force them to go certain directions if you need/want to.
Thanks for the information, this will be really helpful
I have a question, about starting in the glade or safe zone, how would I split people up under different Keepers and what some quest would be like, I have been going over it and can't see to really figure out what to do, what I was thinking was having the players try out each of the different jobs, and letting them choose the one that they like, but this would be really time consuming and could be really boring in events like the Track-hoes who just plow dirt all day, and that wouldn't make for a very exiting adventure.
Treat it like the different factions that are already present in D&D. Use them as inspiration for what the different Keepers might want and how to give quests in relation to that.
For example: The Emerald Enclave is a far-ranging group that opposes threats to the natural world and helps others survive the many perils of the wild.
Ok, how can we make this work for your game? This group could be in charge of the "Track-hoes", as well as any others in "The Glade" who are about making it more survivable using nature rather than the strange materials gathered from Grievers and other things inside the labyrinth. They quests they'll go on, even when running, will be to find plants, animals, tools, and the likes to that end. They'll also be the ones to enforce protection against crops, fields, and any animal/animal pens that may be present. They'll also document everything they learn about these plants/animals so that, even after the Modify Memory takes effect, they have the information necessary.
Thanks for the information, this is my first adventure that I am building, Don't really have much DM experience, so thanks for the Information, I don't think I will use the Modify memory Spell, I will just have the players not remember there past, but they will be able to get some of memory's back through the grief serum
When you homebrew, it's almost impossible to come up with all the ideas on your own. So, instead, you take something preexisting and twist it to fit your desires. The trick I like to use is to have something, in this case Modify Memory, that I can refer the players to and let them know that it is a mechanic similar to X. This way they can get an idea of what's going on without divulging the exact changes you've made. It also lets them know that you're doing what you can to stay within similar confines that the players have. This type of thing goes a long way toward having your players trust and understand you, as well as provide a starting point for feedback from them.
Thanks for the information