Adventure! RPG - Help! Mayan jungle adventure!

[Max_Raven]

I posted this on the WW forums, so if you've already read it there, you needn't post here.

I'm running a game soon, and I wanted some feedback plus a few pointers to where I could go to have more to build upon. I'm throwing some stuff I'm pretty sure is false out the window, but that's the genre, eh? ::biggrin

The PCs start off in England 1924, where a British Lord Carnarvon hires them to join him in an expedition to find the lost tomb of a Mayan king in Southamerica. On their way there, they have to deal with a diverse range of people, both friends and foes. When the characters have done a bit of research and preparation, it's off to the South America. On the boat they'll encounter a rival expedition hired by another man, and have some trouble when someone searches their rooms for information. Possibly, they'll be assaulted by someone in the dark, a member of the other team who took offense(if the PCs blame the other team for searching their rooms) and possibly put in a small lifeboat which is left derelict. When the pcs eventually arrive in Southamerica(this is where it gets tricky) they end up in Caracas, Venezuela, from where they're supposed to travel Southwest into badly charted jungle territory. They arrange with guides, supplies, transport and so forth. When travelling through the jungle, they'll have to deal with the other team, onceor twice, but also a few indigenous tribes, some friendly, others(closer to the tomb) downright hostile. In the case of the friendly, the Lord can make a few deals for food and supplies in exchange for good knives, weapons and so forth, if the players think it's a good idea. In the case of the hostile, the good Lord unfortunately has trouble to interpret what the natives are saying(well, try hearing what an angry mob says) and will be little help. As the now small party finally find the tomb, they should have just barely gotten away from angry tribespeople, and be rather weary. Going into the temple, they'll soon find the remains of many of the people on the other team, which are impaled, crushed or otherwise dead by traps. The players should be able to handle the traps with a bit of luck, and the labyrinth in which the traps are, and make it to the tomb. In the tomb, they will find the perfectly preserved mummy of ... (I'm bad with Mayan names) and his gravegoods. Lord Carnarvon, who has been unusally fast and agile since they entered the tomb, will as soon as he enter run to the mummy and grab the death-mask, putting it on and thanking the PCs for bringing him here so that he might become immortal. Meanwhile, his skin will be falling off in dry bits and pieces, and reveal a mummified body. Lord Carnarvon is actually dead! ... At this point, Lord Carnarvon will attempt to seal the player characters into the crypt (likely succeeding) and leave them to a doom of suffication while he travels back to his estate in England.

Possibly, he'll activate the ancient stone guardians of the tomb. Aaand... Well, that's all I can come up with for now.

Any advice on the adventure? I was thinking the players should be smart enough to figure out a way out of this death trap and find some way to defeat him, probably by copious amounts of DE, so I'm not sure if I should detail more than this. Thanks for helping me out.

[madcat82]

Well, here is a few cool things that you could throw in for the share drama of it:

The characters is forced to jump from a crashing airplane, the only problem? They are a couple of parachutes short.

The players must dive to a sunken ship/city/whatever to find some artefact that points the way to the TOMB. There they encounter Sharks, rival teams also after the artifact, a submarine on the way to blow up the artefact... there is endless possibilitys.

A fight on a train. Preferably on the train, not in the train. ::biggrin

A famous person, for example:

Aleister Crowley -- English occultist

Amelia Earhart -- Aviatrix

Charles Augustus Lindbergh -- Aviator

Ambrose Bierce -- Author, disappearance is mysterious

Richard Evelyn Byrd -- Aviator

sorry, thats all I could think off now... :-(.

If you gave me a few hints to what you are after I might be able to create something more elaborete.

[Max_Raven]

Hmm, well they could take a plane to America and boat from there... I do have one semi-famous person already (only if you know your history, but what the heck). Of course, he's been twisted with... ::smile

Hmmm... The "finding the path to the temple" thing might work quite well...

*ponders*

Fighting on the train, ehm... Well, I could do that, but I need to have something for later adventures. I suppose it could work, but I also have a rather limited amount of time... ::unsure

Basically, it's a treasure hunt game. The pcs will spend a lot of time on the road, and will encounter a smattering of other characters. I suppose I could end the game when they're locked into the tomb, that might work well as a cliffhanger.

Good tips, there. Thanks. Keep 'em coming. =) Anyone got a good idea for a name for that Mayan king, or do I have to go with the sort of overused Montezuma? ::dontgetit

[Gideon]

Okay just a couple things, Montezuma was Aztec (Northern and central Mexico), so I would avoid that name.

Kokul Teohuac was a Mayan King around 150 B.C. (Early Proto-Mayan, Can't remember exact date)

The Mayan city of Copan was known to have about 16 kings between 426 A.D to 820 A.D. (thats during the Classic Period 250 A.D.- 900 A.D.).

The first king of Copan Yax K'uk Mo' (Quetzal Macaw) (pronounced Yah-ch Koe-ook Moe) was followed by 15 generations of his sons, the last being, Yax Pac (Yah-ch Paw-k) (First Dawn)

Um, also for the most part the Mayan culture was focused in the Central American Area (the Yukatan Peninsula) There are a couple large cities in that area Chitzen Itza, Tulum (too-loom), Xichal(Chee-hall), Cova (Coe-Bah), etc. (http://www.indians.org/welker/maya.htm) This site give a good overview.

South America had its own diverse groups of Indigenous cultures. The Inca and the Olmec. The Olmec are known for the Giant stone heads they carved (some measuring 12 feet in height and weighing over 18 tonnes) They had a presence in both Venezuela, Ecuador and Columbia. The Inca are of course present all accross the Andian Mountain Chain from Ecuador down to Peru.

If you want some interresting data about Mayan gods (this might help with Names) There is a site that is a little biased and oppinionated about the global nature of dieties, though accurate from a mythology perspective.

http://www.crystalinks.com/mayangods.html

Oh and the index for this site which covers Many Ancient civilizations (Again not perfect on historic refences, but great on the mythology and geographic locations!!)

http://www.crystalinks.com/ancient.html

And, here is a lecture page from an Anthropology lecture that highlights some neat points comparing Aztec and Mayan cultures, the last paragraph on the page could be inspiring, its about an attempt to enlarge the Mayan Empire that failed.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/g/h/gh...th2/ant2-13.htm

I hope some of this helps!

Gideon

Ps Regardless of what the site says they have found Mayan ruins as far as Hunduras. A neat location that was not discovered until recently, was Copan, the "Valley of the Mayan Kings"