The Guardian Gate v1-3 | Ultimate Effort Show Encounter Contest Entry

ULTIMATE EFFORT SHOW CONTEST ENTRY

*Includes VTT assets

Concept

"Knowledge and treasure await you in a mysterious facility buried for millennia deep within the earth. Before you can get in and claim them, you must find a way past the eternal gaze of the ancient facility’s protector."

The Guardian Gate is a single drop-in encounter designed for use with Index Card RPG Master Edition, but can easily be converted to any other RPG system.

Description

Deep in the earth lies an ancient research facility which is staffed by automated constructs and mysterious machine men. Our heroes must enter the facility to achieve their campaign-specific goals, but first they must find a way through THE GUARDIAN GATE.

THE GUARDIAN GATE is a semi-sentient construct programmed to distinguish between authorized visitors and unwelcome guests, but the facility it protects went silent thousands of years ago and it has gone a bit mad in the absence of its creators. It boasts an impressive array of offensive and defensive capabilities designed to repel unwanted infiltrators. Massive, hexagonal, and constructed from nearly indestructible alloys, it stands well over 60 feet (20 meters) tall and equally as wide. It is capable of limited movement, as it is attached to the wall with 6 enormous mechanical legs, 3 on either side, which are segmented and insectoid in appearance.

The main objective of this encounter is not to kill the Gate, but simply to find a way to get past it while also trying to manage the dynamic parts of the encounter. This was very much inspired by rhythmic World of Warcraft raid bosses that have simple dynamic elements to which players must respond.

Genre Bending

This encounter can be used in any genre, but was created with a fantasy or prehistoric campaign in mind in order to bring the dramatic scale and technological basis of this entity to the forefront. The Guardian Gate has abilities specifically designed to counter magic. Therefore, to achieve the desired level of wonder in a sci-fi or cyberpunk setting, it may be necessary to modify aspects of the encounter to fit the genre.

Changelog

v1.3 - Altered the description of movement mechanics for clarity and added a page with hints for GMs to make the encounter better.

v1.2 - Added some clarifying language for the capstone laser field mechanics.