Magic Tower

wants cleaning up

By Archibald and R.Dan Henry (wikied by abcgi)

On Fri, 4 Feb 2005 22:59:41 +0100, Archibald <usenet0@poczta.onet.pl> wrote:

>>A typical magic tower of a typical evil sorcerer. You know, a person >>dreaming of taking over the world, gaining more power and so on. How >>will such tower looks like?

Lots of spires, gargoyles, and pointy bits. Plus a balcony to walk out on and look down on the world with contempt/fury/wistfulness depending on mood. Usually with a storm in the background.

>>Firstly, what are the main reasons of having such tower?

Freudian symbolism.

>>- defensive construction - a safe place to hide from other wizards, >>crazy heroes and kings armies >>- army garnison - create, garnison, train and equip an invincible army >>- magic research - new spells, artifacts research >>- mana accumulation - extract mana from magic pools (located beneath the >>tower), a place for wizards to accumulate and share mana >>- magic objects construction - someone have to make these all magic >>items you can find in dungeons  :)

Oh, those, too, although realistically sized towers are far too cramped to house a serious army.

Tower could harness wind/lightning from those storms in the background for power, or increase range of line-of-sight spells. Don't forget imprisoning enemies you can't kill for some contrived reason, or locking up your beautiful daughter away from the world. And high landing sites are favored for some flying beasties and docking lighter-than-air ships.

>>What will they do in this tower? >>- breed/summon monsters, train army

One would mostly go outside to do the training, also to let the hellbeasts poop on someone else lawn.

>>- ?produce common weapons?

Why put this in the tower? Maybe extraordinary weapons, for security reasons.

>>- research spells, teach apprentices, share knowledge, examine old books >>and artifacts >>- draw mana from mana pools, crystals, artifacts, stones

...feathers, wood, fruits, demons, virgins, undead...

>>- cast powerfull spells >>- create artifacts, spell scrolls, wands >>- send expeditions to find new artifacts >>- send forces to conquer land or magic-filled places >>- defend the tower, sige other wizards towers >> >>What kind of rooms can we find in the tower?

Minimally: sleeping chambers, meeting room, armory, study/library, solitude chamber (for scrying or other concentration-intensive spells), dungeon/prison, torture chamber, throne room/audience chamber (got to meet the guests somewhere), kitchen, dining hall, privies, pantry (and likely wine cellar).

If you want to keep strange beings: summoning room, menagerie (lots of cages to keep the beasties away from you and each other), food storage, maybe a cozy little breeding nook, greenhouse, aviary. Kennels and stables for more ordinary, but useful beasts. Possibly a training area. Could have a veterinary laboratory or dissection room. Aquarium.

Medical facilities: sick beds, herb garden, herb storage, potion storage, jars of leeches and other healing oddments. Medical library. Biological lab.

A dedicated scrying chamber: windows/balcony allowing ordinary looking out, but shutterable to enclose room entirely, large crystal ball/magic mirror/other device, maps and figurines and bits of hair/blood/excrement/clothing of those you wish to keep track of.

A gateway to other worlds (or far places on this world): guards because this is sensitive stuff here, some mechanism to shutter it tightly if it is an on-all-the-time thing, some controls or instruction manuals if you turn it on/off or tune it, samples of what is on the other side, maps/diagrams, containment methods (likely magic circles).

Elevators/teleport booths if it is a Very Large Tower.

Super secret escape method: hidden passages will do, but you can also keep a flying carpet in a strategic location or a Scroll of Teleport a Very Long Way. Or you can use that gateway if you have one.

A wardrobe of elaborate evil costumes and jewelry boxes full of trinkets. Only you know which is a Ring of Big Hot Plasma Blasts and which is the Accursed Ring of Withering the Wearer.

A war room, with a big map of the area to conquer and little figures to represent heroes, monsters, armies, etc. Maybe magical, with representation of weather patterns, self-moving pieces, cool stuff like that. Plans and back up plans, filed carefully. Flunkies to fetch the plans. Detail maps and blueprints for detail planning. Character sheets for all your major opposition. Reports from field agents. Filing cabinets to hold all this stuff. A box full of medals to hand out when your officers do something well.

A harem: evil sorcerers need love, too. Could be an exotic collection: elves, halflings, half-demons, etc. They'll need wardrobes (not too much clothing, mind). Jewelry. Some sort of recreation room with games and light sporting equipment to keep them entertained. Eunuchs? Better golems or other magical guards, but eunuchs will do in a pinch. A love-making chamber, with soft pillows, erotic art and manuals, perhaps some helpful equipment or specialized furniture.

Garbage pit: full of garbage pit monsters or maybe recycling demons.

Tombs/catacombs under the tower: here rest the dead or maybe they don't. Perhaps one just contacts their spirits. Perhaps they are free-willed undead you have to keep under control or at least contained to their area. Perhaps you raised them yourself as obedient undead who perform various tasks. Perhaps you yourself are dead and like to visit your remains.

Maybe a hobby or two? Why not a chamber for playing the organ? Or for painting? Or collecting insects?

Mustn't forget the gods! Some sort of chapel/prayer room/altar of bloody sacrifice would be in order. A supply of religious items, rooms for the clergy, holy relics or manuscripts.

A treasury would have spells of protection as well as some form of guards. Inside could be just about any sort of treasure *except* things that would be useful for the tower's owner or his high flunkies to carry. Nobody leaves a Big Sword of Killing Anything That Gets in the Way in a locked vault, they either use it, give it to a trusted warrior, or get it the hell away. Might as well keep your accounting demon here with the cash.

Some rat traps scattered about to deal with rats. Or maybe some rat-hunting dogs. Or steel dog golems. Or summon small elementals.

• Don't let the rats get into the mutagenic grain.*

Doors can actually be demons bound into the form of a door. These can be very entertaining.

If you do a lot of alchemy, you may want a glass-blowing and a pottery-creating area. Fragile, but dangerous glass creatures would be a new thing for roguelike, AFAIK.

R. Dan Henry danhenry@inreach.com