Monday, April 23, 2012

The Mega Dungeons Of Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade Part 2


The Venice Library Mega Dungeon & Tomb 


Many of the locations in this movie have possibilities but none more so then this place. This library is steeped in Christian & Grail mythology! It was a church & now library. The place sits on holy ground & yet this is an after thought. 

What other mysteries might this place contain? Plenty for a one year after campaign.

First there's the fact that Dr. Jones Senior was working for Walter Donovan for quite awhile before learning of  Mr. Donovan's superiors. This is a bit troubling because Dr.Jones had access to Vatican information & Grail lore. 
 
What other secrets might Dr.Jones have been in touch with? Pick a favorite Vatican conspiracy theory & go from there.

X marks the spot to the entrance to crypt of the Knight but whom else was buried there. The various coffins & tombs were very elaborate & cool. Then there's the fact that there's another exit to the place in the sewers & underwater.. All of this exists before Dr. Jones Junior & Dr. Snider almost collapse the whole place.

The Grail Diary of Dr.Jones Senior was his obsession & as a Professor of Medieval Literature you damn well know there's going to be every single scrap of Grail lore contained within. The Grail is tied in with King Arthur & The Knights of the Round Table as well as numerous other legends.
You can bet your bottom dollar that that book is still valuable one year later. The book is the center piece of this man's life. He should have published it but might have deemed it's secrets far too dangerous for mankind to know. 

Indiana Jones is visiting Venice? You'd better keep an eye on him. We don't want him destroying something.

Among the cast of characters is the highly placed Dr. Elsa  Snider


Highly placed agent of the Nazi & Walter Donovan.. But who else might the good doctor really be working for ? Seriously she's clever, liberated, intelligent, beautiful, well trained, educated, & very dangerous.. I'm thinking an offshoot of the Thule or worse.
Then there is the world wide spanning conspiracy that will do anything, go anywhere, & court death. They see themselves as modern knights! They have numerous operatives & may have the backing of the Vatican! They've help Captain America twice!
 The Brotherhood of the Cruciformed Sword for a 1000 years would do anything to keep it safe. Anything!



Murder, assassination, etc.



Whose the architectural plot of Byzantine proportions behind all of this mayhem & destruction? Right from the very beginning?
 Walter Donovan!

That's right the millionaire who knows everything about the grail except where it is! He's got operatives all over the world. He's in with the Vatican, the Nazi, the girl scouts, you name it he's in there! He's got his hands in every little secret from here to Istanbul!
If you think that his death is going to be a good thing. Think about this what happens to a house of cards when it falls? There's going to be blowback across the Earth of epic proportions. Are you & your party ready to step in?
The Crypt Itself 
The Crypt seems to extend for quite some distance & was used by several groups dating back to the time of those who pagan ancestors were also entombed there. Who knows what other secrets they might possess?
The rats are interesting as well. They don't exist in a vacuum. That many rats are attracted to relics of power & need a steady food supply as well as air. So there's other entrances & exits to this place as well. How big is this burial ground?  Quite large & it  might have a couple of levels. We'll never know because its now sunk 

Then there's the images of the Grail, The Ark, & stick your favorite relic right along side of it! Cthulhu, or whatever you like from myth & legend.

The Recovery & Clean Up Of  The Venice Location! 
Here's a One Year After Plot
After the destruction of the Venice location the Donovan Foundation hires the characters to clean up & recover the artifacts of the Venice Library setting in motion another grand adventure. 

Indy In The Marvel Universe 

I've used Indy in any number of Marvel Super Hero games because there's something awesome about a pulp hero able to globe trot & get through everything he does without super powers. Ask Batman about this. Besides a cross over with Captain America was great. Your mileage may vary.. 


Ten Uses For The Venice Library 

  1. Set in the past this location can offer a D&D game a safe haven, base of knowledge, & insight into Grail based legends 
  2. The location has potential for a modern game when it becomes apparent that the other remains are just as valuable as the knight. 
  3. The knight's sword was never recovered & as a holy sword its a very nice find as well. 
  4. There could well be multiply treasures still hidden with the crypts 
  5. Pagan Antiques taken during the numerous battles across Christiandom might be still in the tombs 
  6. The taking & destruction of the tombs might have triggered a curse or something worse. This might be a job of the characters 
  7. The destruction of this location might also mean a weakening of the mystical guards & wards upon the Earth allowing something truly dangerous to be awakened. Perhaps an archdevil placed within a holy relic or some such. 
  8. The crossover potential is awesome with this location.Hellboy anyone? The Shadow 
  9. The location itself has made lots of appearances in my games including Torg, Call of Cthulhu, & others! 
  10. The Brotherhood of the Cuniformed Sword is still watching, guarding, & acting in this location even one year after the events of Last Crusade.. Why?


5 comments:

  1. Cool! Great analysis from a dungeoneering-centric perspective.

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  2. I'm still ruminating over this one, but it reminded me I have a replica of the Grail Journal from the film that my brother gave me for Christmas many moons ago. I pulled it out a couple of days ago thanks to these posts, glad you've made it to the Last Crusade, the first post had me thinking about the "prehistory" of Indiana Jones as it were, his early days and such. Also, I started toying with using the Nazis crossing Delta Green's Karotechia with Himmler's Special Group from Hellboy which meshes nicely with these movies depiction, just making them a bit more of an organized group. Okay, enough rambling, but the ideas are starting to coalesce into something concrete. Keep up the good work!

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  3. Thanks Trey! This is a favorite movie of mine & I'm sort of taking my time & going through the underlying layers one location, Npc at a time, so there's more stuff to come!
    Greg - Thanks for the comment & I'm glad these are useful for you. Hellboy had some awesome moments in with their villans the comics had even more. The rpg really didn't capture the feel that the movies did. Delta Green is an excellent choose for this.

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  4. I have to agree, the villains in the Hellboy comic were great distillations of pulp villainy mixed with weirdness, they serve as the basis of any group of Nazi science-villains I use, Delta Green is great because it's so well put together and researched a lot of the work is already done for you, and the Karotechia is a good basis to build off of. Delta Green's early history with the Innsmouth raid and P Division and all of that is also really useful.
    Also, just wanted to take a moment to let you know it's not just the Indiana Jones posts that are fantastic, every post has something interesting, inspiring, and fun to read.

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  5. I'll be using another Marvel connection next entry Greg. Delta Green has so much potential for both modern & preWWII gaming.
    I do try my best to provide my readers with something, anything useful! I'm very humbled by the comments Greg & keep reading the entries. There's lots more to come!

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