Adventure! RPG - Sites, Tresures and Loot

[madcat82]

Hello everyone, I thought that I would do one of those lists again (People might remember me from such topics as Famous people of the 1920s and Im writing a new e-book. Thanks again Arcanum, BTW).

I thought that there would be an interest in some tresure sites that was/is popular and so this topic was born.

As a Start:

The seven wonders of the world

The Pyramids of Egypt are three pyramids at Giza, outside modern Cairo. The largest pyramid, built by Khufu (Cheops), a king of the fourth dynasty, had an original estimated height of 482 ft (now approximately 450 ft). The base has sides 755 ft long. It contains 2,300,000 blocks; the average weight of each is 2.5 tons. Estimated date of completion is 2680 B.C. Of all the Ancient Wonders, the pyramids alone survive.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were supposedly built by Nebuchadnezzar around 600 B.C. to please his queen, Amuhia. They are also associated with the mythical Assyrian queen, Semiramis. Archeologists surmise that the gardens were laid out atop a vaulted building, with provisions for raising water. The terraces were said to rise from 75 to 300 ft.

The Walls of Babylon, also built by Nebuchadnezzar, are sometimes referred to as the second (or the seventh) wonder instead of the Hanging Gardens.

The Statue of Zeus (Jupiter) at Olympia was made of gold and ivory by the Greek sculptor Phidias (5th century B.C.). Reputed to be 40 ft high, the statue has been lost without a trace, except for reproductions on coins.

The Temple of Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus was begun about 350 B.C., in honor of a non-Hellenic goddess who later became identified with the Greek goddess of the same name. The temple, with Ionic columns 60 ft high, was destroyed by invading Goths in A.D. 262.

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was erected by Queen Artemisia in memory of her husband, King Mausolus of Caria in Asia Minor, who died in 353 B.C. Some remains of the structure are in the British Museum. This shrine is the source of the modern word "mausoleum."

The Colossus at Rhodes was a bronze statue of Helios (Apollo), about 105 ft high. The work of the sculptor Chares, who reputedly labored for 12 years before completing it in 280 B.C., it was destroyed during an earthquake in 224 B.C.

The Pharos (Lighthouse) of Alexandria was built by Sostratus of Cnidus during the 3rd century B.C. on the island of Pharos off the coast of Egypt. It was destroyed by an earthquake in the 13th century.

The Elephant Cemetery

Well, thats my two cents. If someone else comes up with something worthwile, pleas add it to the list. When I have made it big enough Il compile it into something better looking and post it on my site, and here on chills if he wants it.... Might take some time thought....

[harlequin]

::cool ::cool ::cool i like!!! i just wish i could think up something cool enough to go on the list...

[Arcanum_V]

Most of the really momentous archaeology happened during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Fabled cities were uncovered, unknown cities were discovered, and the lines between "archaeology" for the purpose of scholarship and "treasure hunting" for the purpose of becoming wealthy were not always clearly drawn.

Real Sites Discovered Around the Early 20th Century

Troy. Heinrich Schliemann locates the fabled city of Troy in Turkey in the early 1870s, thus confirming that there was at least some historical basis for the Homeric epics about the Trojan War. Work continues under the more scholarly-minded Wilhelm Dorpfeld in the 1880s and Carl Blegen in the 1930s.

Mycenae. Heinrich Schliemann also uncovers the city of Mycenae in Greece in the late 1870s. Schliemann is an excellent example of someone who is more of a treasure hunter than an archaeologist.

Knossos. Sir Arthur Evans uncovers Knossos on the island of Crete in 1900, revealing that the fabled Minoan kingdom really existed.

Hattusas. In 1879, Archibald Henry Sayce hypothesizes that similarities between monuments and inscriptions in Turkey suggest a large, previously unknown Bronze Age civilization once controlled the area. In 1906, Hugo Winckler excavates the city of Hattusas near Bogazkoy, Turkey, to reveal a large city. In 1915, Bedrich Hrozny deciphers the language and confirms that these were the Hittites mentioned in the Bible.

Tutankhamen's Tomb. Howard Carter opens the boy king's tomb in 1922 to discover the only unlooted tomb of an Egyptian king. In terms of treasure, this one is the mother lode.

Machu Pichu. In 1911, Hiram Bingham accidentally finds Machu Pichu, the winter palace of the pre-Columbian Incan empire in the Peruvian Andes.

Teotihuacan. Beginning in 1917, Manuel Gamio begins to uncover the Aztec city of Teotihuacan in Mexico.

Mohenjo-daro. In 1922, archaeologists digging in a Buddhist temple in the Indus River valley in Pakistan discover the city of Mohenjo-daro, a well-preserved and surprisingly large early (3rd-2nd millenium BC) city.

Sutton Hoo. In 1939, the burial mound at Sutton Hoo in East Anglia, England, is opened to reveal a complete ship, a burial chamber, and a large collection of grave goods (including armor, weapons, jewelery, and musical instruments) belonging to a 7th century Saxon king and establishing some historical links with the Beowulf epic.

"Missing" Treasure Sites That Could Show Up in an Adventure! Game

Philip of Macedon's Grave. The tomb of the father of Alexander the Great in Vergina, Macedonia, won't really be opened until the 1950s, but an inner chamber contains a spectacular gold chest containing cremains (remains of a cremation). The gold star on the chest lid and other artifacts suggest that the tomb might belong to the Macedonian royal family of Alexander the Great, and subsequent analysis of a skull in the gold chest indicates that it had suffered great damage to the right side of the face and right eye during life -- just like King Philip of Macedon.

The Tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi (The Terracotta Warriors). The tomb of China's first emperor near Xi'an won't be opened until the 1970s (and by 2003, it still won't be fully excavated), but it will be found to contain more than 7000 thousand life-sized terracotta soldiers and horses ready to serve their emperor in the afterlife. Other Chinese tombs contain treasures like full-sized suits armor made from jade.

Sipán. When opened in 1987, this tomb will be the Peruvian equivalent of Tut's tomb: an unlooted burial chamber containing a ruler of the Moche culture and all of his gold and silver grave goods.

Mythical Places

El Dorado. El Dorado is supposedly a city of gold somewhere in Central or South America, and probably a romanticized description of an Aztec or Mayan city.

Irem, the City of Pillars. H.P. Lovecraft calls it "Irem," but modern translations of Surah 89 of the Qur'an usually render it as "Iram" or "Aram" and it may be the same city as T.E. Lawrence's Atlantis of the Sands "Ubar." It's a city somewhere around Saudi Arabia or Yemen that was destroyed by Allah for not following His word. It might be the recently discovered (1990s) city of Shisr in Oman.

I might list more later. Is there a particular theme, continent, historical period, or other category that would be of most interest. I have several books full of these things, and listing them all could get tiresome.

[madcat82]

I mostly thought of stuff that would be of interest in the 1920s or of interest in a Adventure Game.

I think we could ditch the tresures (chests of gold, stuff like that) as most storytellers could think that up on there own, I, at least, is more interested in say abandoned cities, lost books and so on and so on..

BTW That remindes me.

The lost library of Alexandria.

Well Arcanum, I dont know from where you dig this things up, but keep it on and Il have to buy you a beer.

[Arcanum_V]

Real Sites Discovered in the Early 20th Century or the 19th Century

Petra. Adventure! players are probably familiar with Petra through Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, in which the Khazneh ("Treasury") frontage is used for the entrance of the Grail Temple. The real Petra is ruined city in a valley in Jordan built around 500 BC by the Nabataeans and rediscovered in 1812 by Johann Burkhard. As with all ruined cities/buildings, rumors of hidden gold, unlooted tombs, and other great discoveries abound.

Angkor. Angkor Thom is a city in Cambodia that was occupied from the 9th through 15th centuries, and then abandoned to the jungle until it was rediscovered in 1860 by Henri Mahout. Adventure! players may have seen Angkor Wat (the main temple) in the Tomb Raider movie.

Persepolis. Persepolis (in modern Iran) was the capital of the Achaemenian (Persian) empire from at least the 6th century BC until Alexander the Great destroyed it in 330 BC. It was known of and visited by sightseers from the mid-17th century on, but not scientifically archaeologically researched until the 1930s.

Alamut. Alamut ("the Eagle's Nest") was the home of the Assassins, a fanatic 11th and 12th century sect of Isma'ilite Shi'ite Islam, and today is in modern Iran in the Alborz Mountains. Archaeologically, there's not much left since an earthquake destroyed most of it in 1485, but surely the Assassins had secret rooms for Adventure!rs to find!

Great Zimbabwe. One of the few examples of monolithic architecture in sub-Saharan Africa, Great Zimbabwe reached its peak around the 15th century and declined after that. It was rediscoverd in 1867 by Karl Gottlieb Mauch who thought it may have been King Solomon's Mines or the palace of the Queen of Sheba.

Mythical Places

King Solomon's Mines. These are the subject of H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines, one of the great pulp novels, but they were also widely assumed to really exist somewhere in Africa. Africa does in fact have a lot of rich gold mines.

The Kingdom of Prester John. Prester John was supposedly a medieval Nestorian Christian that founded a wealthy Christian kingdom somewhere in the Orient (usually India or China). He was supposed to have been a descendent of the Three Magi and to have some of their magical powers.

I'm getting a lot of these from the GURPS: Places of Mystery book and the pile of archaeology books that I have. The GURPS book has a lot of nice information on the sites that's presented with the gamer in mind (lots of maps!), but running any of them through a search engine or a Google Image search should get a Storyteller enough for a game.

Beerwise, I like Samuel Adams. ::ninja ::beer