Alza’um, Land of High Artifice Part 2. Alza’um City

Welcome. Please, step into the elevator chamber at the end of the hallway.

Alza’um, the true city beneath the smoke and mirrors. Life is far more controlled than in the port city of mysteries and merchants. However, that doesn’t make life any easier. Only the lucky and the blessed get their way in, without tricky maneuvering. Stowaways and thieves don’t make out too well. For those who make it? It’s a long way down the ladder and back up. Life in the city is a climb towards excellence. Of course, too many refuse to let others into their station.

In the beginning, a large caravan of outcasts, tinkerers, mages and artificers came together with a common goal.  They wished to craft and hone their abilities in peace, trading and sharing knowledge within their enclave.  For a while, it was a place of common ground and unity.  Racial differences of these sages and inventors mattered little, but rather their devotion to their creations and the quality of their work.  An ideal lead to a city, which fled underground after conflict with the outside world.  This racial harmony ideal lasted… until the denizens of the darkness below found themselves in inevitable conflict with the city dwellers.

Author’s Note: Part 2 continues with the namesake city! In addition, I might make some extra crunch bits soon too. Needless to say, I’m having tons of fun with this.

Expedition to Barrier Peaks – D&D 5th Edition Conversion (PART 5) – Technological Artifacts, Exploration, Odds ‘n’ Ends

“I want to go somewhere nicer, like The Tomb of Horrors…”

There is much more to the Barrier Peaks than a romp against alien monsters.  The mechanics and workings of the downed ship are far more complex.  Access cards, radioactive hallways, infested hives, among other things await our heroes as they make an… Expedition to Barrier Peaks!

Author’s Note:  This is probably the longest post in this series.  It’s a bunch of notes on running the module itself, as well as the technological artifacts you’ll find.  The cards are in the first part, as they don’t really have much mechanical depth aside from a McGuffin.