American McGee's Alice

[Hell_Born]

Has anyone ever played this delightfully twisted game? I'm positive that, with considerable work, it might be possibly to convert this game into a domain, but I'd really need some help if it is possible.

[The Nightmare Man]

I have. Although I think it should be a locale in a domain, rather than the whole domain itself.

What do you need?

[Hell_Born]

Well, since you ask... pretty much everything: why it was pulled into Ravenloft, stats for the creatures, Posibally Alice's stats, the stats for Alice's Toys as enchanted weapons (optional), background, you name it. I can provide 'tech specs' as I have the game, but I have no creative talent (check out my Cannibal Fairy topic if you don't believe me), that's why I'm asking for help. If you can/want to help, I'm grateful.

[tec-goblin]

Interesting - I will discuss this with a friend

[Bloody Morgan]

Wouldn't it make sense as part of the Nightmare Lands? The whole thing is set within Alice's rather unhinged mind after all. Just a small step to put in a Realm where things of the mind become flesh so easily.

Blood Morgan

[Hell_Born]

A Domain, a Pocket Domain, a location, I don't really care where/what it is (I'd personally go for the Pocket Domain in the Nightmare Lands) but why did the Dark Powers take it?

Anyone have suggestions for the creatures or the toys? The Vorpal Knife is pretty much a +2 Dagger that returns when thrown (is that enchantment still valid?), the Nightmare Spiders (those scuttling masks that spit blinding venom in Beyond the Looking Glass) are either Aberrations or Magical Vermin, but that's basically all I can figure out.

[Willowhugger]

My guess is that Alice is actually the Darklord. She probably killed her entire family or something else to preserve her delusions. Now she's trapped in two worlds.

1. Where her delusions have come to haunt her
2. Where she's aware she's insane but they torment her for that

Ironic if the PCs try to 'rescue' her.

[Hell_Born]

Somewhat jokey question; if Alice is the Darklord, then maybe the Jabberwock might come off as "good" NPC? On a more serious note- should the domain have inhabitants or not? By which I mean can you have a PC originate from there? The first 'world' is the Village of the Doomed, which might convert into a populated city...

I've got some mockups of that and a trio of Domain Feats running around my head, I can post them here if you want...

[Hell_Born]

Here's a few things relating to the domain I've managed to come up with, I can't fill in the monsters profiles so I'm asking for help there.

Feats:
Warped Mind (Domain)
Description: having been exposed to the strange and the bizarre all of your life, you are more resistant to the effects of madness, though others find you strange.
Prerequisites: can only be taken at 1st level
Domains: Wonderland
Effect: gain a +2 bonus to all Madness saves, but increase OR by +1.

Skewed Outlook (Domain)
Description: after encountering a soul-shriving sight, you have taken refuge in your madness. The horrific has become beautiful as far as you're concerned.
Prerequisites: must have a Will save bonus of at least +2, must have failed a Horror check.
Domains: Wonderland
Effect: you gain a +2 bonus to all Horror saves, if you fail a save you must make a Will save with the same DC or become enraptured with the scene/cause of the Horror save.

Broken Mirror (Domain)
Description: you have seen too much tragedy and horror, your mind has shattered beyond repair. However, you have learned to co-exist with your madness, and now your insanity is a source of strength.
Prerequisites: Warped Mind, Skewed Outlook, must have failed a Madness save.
Domains: Wonderland
Effect: mental contact with you now causes the same effects as mental contact with a Darklord, Aberration, Undead or similar plus you gain a +6 bonus to all Will saves made to resist mental attacks. However, you gain +5 OR and must select a madness from the following list; this madness is a permanent effect and cannot be cured without causing you to lose this Feat:
Delusions
Depression
Hallucinations
Paranoia
Multiple Personalities
Schitzophrenia


Now for the monsters...

Playing Card (Monstrous Humanoid)
Lawful Evil
A strange figure, like a giant tarroka card with hand, feet and a human head, runs towards you.

Combat:
Playing Cards wield polearms that inflict 1D10+2 slashing damage in the melee. Diamond, Club and Heart Cards can fire projectiles from their weapons. The damage inflicted for these is 2D6 for the Diamond, 3D4+2 for the Club and 2D10+4 for the Heart.


Insane Child (Monstrous Humanoid)
Damage Resistance 5/Magic
The figure resembles a human child, but someone or something has pounded numerous iron nails into its skull. Its body is covered with sores and wounds and it capers towards you, rusty knife clenched in its fist, gibbering, sobbing and laughing maniacally.

Combat:
Mindless: Insane Children are immune to all mind-altering/affecting effects, mental contact with an Insane Child causes a DC 15 Madness test.

Immune to Pain: Insane Childen have lost all sense of reason and all ability to feel pain, so they refuse to acknowledge death until well after the fact. Insane Children can fight on without penalty until their HP reaches -10, whereupon they drop dead immediately.


Cheshire Cat (Magical Beast)*
Chaotic Neutral
There is a sound of a descending chime and a strange creature fades into view. It resembles a cat starved to the point of ecimation, its tightly-streched grey skin totally devoid of fur. Its lips are pulled back into a permanent mad grin, and its eyes glow with insanity. It nods at you, then fades away with the same chime noise. You think nothing of it, until the creature reappears behind you. "Only the Savage regard the endurance of Pain as the measure of Worth" it says to you in a deep, gentile voice before fading away again. It does not reappear this time.

Combat: Cheshire Cats are not fighters, they tend to be helpful more then anything else, and if threatened will usually flee using their Fade ability.

Fade: at will, a Cheshire Cat may fade away. This is effectively the same as Teleport without Error, but the Cheshire Cat can control where it is going and where it ends up in the same way as a Mist Ferryman, also like a Ferryman this ability is not hindered by closed domain borders.
*Maybe it should be Native Outsider (Mist)?

Pleae let me know what you think! Oh, and by the way, if you haven't played the game or have forgotten something, check out this webpage:

http://www.3dactionplanet.com/alice

There's a decent selection of stuff, and links to other sites. Alice's Asylum doesn't seem to be working for me (that's an excellent site) and neither is Dark Places, but you might have better luck then me.[/url]

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

I wouldn't make the Cheshire Cat a race of creatures, I'd make him a unique NPC.

[Bloody Morgan]

I think I'd keep the insane kids as just tortured humans, rather than any special race. The fact that they live through their trauma would be a property of the domain, rather than the children themselves.

Alice as the Darklord I like - she'd be nicely different from the usual "Grr I'm bad" darklord that most domains hold. One who is evil and doesn't realise it could be fun, if morally questionable.

As for other creatures, I'd be tempted to loot from the old Dungeonland and The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror scenarios for some of the more bizarre & threatening bits.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Feats:
Warped Mind (Domain)
Effect: gain a +2 bonus to all Madness saves, but increase OR by +1.

Skewed Outlook (Domain)
Effect: you gain a +2 bonus to all Horror saves, if you fail a save you must make a Will save with the same DC or become enraptured with the scene/cause of the Horror save.

These two feats are vastly inferior (in power) to Jaded (+4 to Horror) and Open Mind (+4 to madness). I'd bump up the bonus to at least +4, maybe +5 to balance the drawbacks...

[Hell_Born]

Like I said, I really need some help here. I like the idea of Alice as the Darklord, but can anyone give me a background to the Domain? I forgot the exact bonus Jaded and Open Mind gave you, so Warped Mind and Skewed Outlook should give a +6 bonus to respective saves instead of +2.

If anyone wants to take a crack at the creatures, they are:

Card Guards (in ascending order of strength- Spade, Diamond, Club, Heart)

Jabberspawn

Snarks & Fire Snarks

Boojum

Phantasmagoria

Magma Men

Evil Mushrooms

Blood Roses

Army Ants

Ladybugs

Antlions

Fire Imps

Red Chess Pieces (Pawn, Rook, Knight, Bishop)

Clockwork Automatons

Nightmare Spiders


Possible NPCs are:

The Cheshire Cat (it's actually a member of a race, if you've read the original story)

The Mock Turtle

The White Rabbit

Bill McGill (the Lizard)

The bosses from the game could be made into NPCs too, the bosses are:

The Cannibal Duchess

The Centipede General

The King of the Red Chess Pieces

The Cybernetic Mad Hatter

The Jabberwock

[Willowhugger]

If you've played Silent Hill.

It's entirely possible Alice is in denial by her actions.

[tec-goblin]

A Domain, a Pocket Domain, a location, I don't really care where/what it is (I'd personally go for the Pocket Domain in the Nightmare Lands) but why did the Dark Powers take it?

Anyone have suggestions for the creatures or the toys? The Vorpal Knife is pretty much a +2 Dagger that returns when thrown (is that enchantment still valid?), the Nightmare Spiders (those scuttling masks that spit blinding venom in Beyond the Looking Glass) are either Aberrations or Magical Vermin, but that's basically all I can figure out.

returning vorpal knife probably or just +1 keen returning knife

I think it could be a domain full of phantasmagoriums. Where one can step from normal life to an evil phantasmagorium created by Alice's dreams.