The Campaign: The City Of Eternal Twilight

(Following on from last week.)

You think I left the Gnomes out? Nope.

The Gnomes seek a lost city of their own.

The problem is that they are not sure that is it real or not. It was a creation of such a long-past era, when Gnomes were synonymous with Illusionism, that those now living are unsure of the reality of their own predecessors.

Put simply, they know where it is supposed to be, and they know how they are supposed to gain access to it, but they no longer possess the puissance in the Illusionist art to just cast the spells put down in their tomes. They need external aid just to go back home.

It is said in their myths that this lost city was woven from gossamer and shadow itself, making it eternally perfect and unyielding to Time's merciless toll, and within it they not only learned and master the art of Illusionism but also all of the other arts and crafts that became complimentary to Illusionism- and therefore, it is believed that the fading afflicting their race can also be remedied within its twilight halls.

If it is real, of course. If it can be found, obviously. If one can get in, yes. If. If. If.

And if it is real, and if it can be found, and if one can get in, then can what one sees or hears be believed>

The Gnome-themed megadungeon leans heavily on what I noticed in taking that deep dive into what the Gnome race and their reputation as Illusionists would be about, something that both TSR and Magic-Users By The Water (MBTW) have completely failed to capitalize upon over the decades.

This is an underground city, one that will be a pain in the ass to find because--surprise, surprise--it is concealed by Illusionist magics. Furthermore, it is itself a creation of Illusionist magic; it is demi-material in its nature, and the denizens therein are going to be even weirder than is ordinarily the case for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition.

If the Elves are looking for Great Cosmic Power in their ruins, the Gnomes are looking for Grand Cosmic Answers in theirs. The myths that the Gnome faction pursues includes stories of a city far too large for where it is said to be, stories that it moves around without traveling, stories that involve encounters with entities that may not exist, and other things that one ought to expect from a people that went hard on practical a supernatural art form all about fooling the senses until one ritually memed something into being real.

There will be tests of the things that a competent Illusionist must possess, and encounters with things that powerful Illusionists would not find unusual. The treasures within are going to reflect the ethos of Illusionism and the Gnome race; you won't find +5 Holy Avengers here, but you may find that the tapistry on the wall is a portal to another realm, and you will find that the few Clerics of Gnomekind definitely had a hand in the major workings of ancient Gnome Illusionism.

Just don't touch anything without knowing exactly what it is. You may not like what you find.