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Dareon posted:"This room contains... A red dragon, four beds, and three elaborate sarcophagi. There are no other exits than the one you entered by." I still remember a story I heard about a DM randomly rolling that an ancient red dragon was in a closet-sized room and described it to the PCs as "you open the door and see a giant eyeball squeezed against the door frame staring back at you, it looks REALLY pissed off".
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Jun 19, 2022 01:02
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MadDogMike posted:I still remember a story I heard about a DM randomly rolling that an ancient red dragon was in a closet-sized room and described it to the PCs as "you open the door and see a giant eyeball squeezed against the door frame staring back at you, it looks REALLY pissed off". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r3yazIDrk0&t=300s
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Jun 19, 2022 01:12
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I always liked to place my recurring dragon merchant, once he had been established, in locations he couldn't possibly have got to, and answer any requests as to how with a wink and "trade secret".
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Jun 19, 2022 07:20
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Honestly a full-size dragon wedged horrifically into a dungeon is a cool-rear end concept. It could be a polymorph spell gone wrong that you have to undo while exploring a dungeon with obstacles formed out of the dragon's various limbs or a captured dragon turned into a scale-harvesting factory that you rescue.
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Jun 20, 2022 03:27
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My Lovely Horse posted:I always liked to place my recurring dragon merchant, once he had been established, in locations he couldn't possibly have got to, and answer any requests as to how with a wink and "trade secret". "Got a selection of good things, strangers!" I had the idea to use the merchant, Cockney accent and all, in a Fallout game that never really got off the ground. He'd show up in dangerous locations or during long overland trips, offering to trade high-end gear (grenade launcher, stealth boy) for weird collectibles like baseball cards or Vault-Tec bobbleheads. I had a cool origin for him too, though I am hesitant to reveal it in case I ever work up the courage to try the concept again on these forums.
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Jun 20, 2022 04:05
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I have an entire guild of mysterious merchants who seems to always be waiting in impossible places. Keeps the players from murdering the merchant to steal his Teleportation Boots when they know the Planar Imperium Merchants Associaction will be checking up on him.
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Jun 20, 2022 05:56
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My mystery merchant gave me a real ethical conundrum because a whole part of that campaign was about the party rediscovering a long lost underground passage, and as much as impossible places were exactly the kind of spots the merchant was established to pop up in and the chapter was long enough to fully justify an opportunity to shop, it also felt disappointing to say "after years of searching you finally uncovered the place and whoop here's the merchant, seems he can just get there at will"
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Jun 20, 2022 10:31
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My Lovely Horse posted:My mystery merchant gave me a real ethical conundrum because a whole part of that campaign was about the party rediscovering a long lost underground passage, and as much as impossible places were exactly the kind of spots the merchant was established to pop up in and the chapter was long enough to fully justify an opportunity to shop, it also felt disappointing to say "after years of searching you finally uncovered the place and whoop here's the merchant, seems he can just get there at will" The merchant's teleportation technique requires them to lock onto an adventuring party(or individual character, or even an item carried by one). He can only access the place because the players can.
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Jun 20, 2022 13:35
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Have some merchant seeds - every time you plant one, in about an hour, a merchant from a plant-based race sprouts forth from it, including a small stall and a bunch of goods along with it. No one knows how these goods sprout from this seed, as they appear to be made of regular, non-plant materials like steel and whatnot. The merchant can be different every time, or the same one, and if you want more seeds you need to buy them.
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Jun 20, 2022 15:25
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Morpheus posted:Have some merchant seeds - every time you plant one, in about an hour, a merchant from a plant-based race sprouts forth from it, including a small stall and a bunch of goods along with it. No one knows how these goods sprout from this seed, as they appear to be made of regular, non-plant materials like steel and whatnot. The merchant can be different every time, or the same one, and if you want more seeds you need to buy them. Thank you, my next chapter just wrote itself based on this post
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Jun 20, 2022 19:01
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Goons Are Great posted:Thank you, my next chapter just wrote itself based on this post Username/Post/Context combo 
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Jun 20, 2022 20:25
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The players gain access to a ritual called Summon The Rag-And-Bone Man which, when cast in an empty shop or a building that used to be one, summons a fae shopkeeper to inhabit it, complete with stock. It's the same shopkeeper each time. He is a smiling, merry fellow with an average number of legs.
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Jun 20, 2022 22:32
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His head has a normal shaped mouth
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Jun 20, 2022 22:46
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In a fantasy setting, "average" is really kind of horrifying sometimes. The average creature has more than one head. Although depending on your methodology, slimes and headless skeletons may bring the number back down below one.
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Jun 20, 2022 22:54
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Dareon posted:In a fantasy setting, "average" is really kind of horrifying sometimes. The average creature has more than one head. Although depending on your methodology, slimes and headless skeletons may bring the number back down below one. The average human has slightly less than two arms.
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Jun 20, 2022 23:18
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hydra georg who lives with 10000 heads & has trouble buying hats, is an outlier adn should not have been counted
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Jun 20, 2022 23:29
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Strom Cuzewon posted:The average human has slightly less than two arms. Yet the average human contains slightly over 1 skeleton, if you average everyone over time.
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Jun 20, 2022 23:35
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The shop keeper is actually one extradimensional appendage among many others of a much larger, more horrifying creature. A probably-friendly anglerfish reaching lures in all sorts of wrong ways across space and time.
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Jun 21, 2022 00:12
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Everything sold by him has a faint aura of divination magic.
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Jun 21, 2022 00:23
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Everything sold by him is just as normal as him.
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Jun 21, 2022 00:24
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Well, if you are going to introduce a traveling merchant like those above, a good way would be for you to come across them some place they shouldn't be, standing outside their store with their hands on their hips and grumbling about how they should never have trusted that demon/angel/fae (delete inapplicable) contractor who low-balled on the estimate, then have them enlist the players in fixing their shops relocation drive. Perhaps they have an apprentice they are showing the ropes that they'd be able to summon in future as a reward.
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Jun 21, 2022 12:26
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Bad Munki posted:The shop keeper is actually one extradimensional appendage among many others of a much larger, more horrifying creature. A probably-friendly anglerfish reaching lures in all sorts of wrong ways across space and time. If you help him with *parties*, soon he will be really here and he can help *campers* *become*. *Parties* are really *fun* and keep him from being *frumple* everyday. Do not make him *frumple*.
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Jun 21, 2022 20:51
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Dareon posted:If you help him with *parties*, soon he will be really here and he can help *campers* *become*. *Parties* are really *fun* and keep him from being *frumple* everyday. Do not make him *frumple*. "What happened to the shopkeeper who lived here last?" *Roll initiative*
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Jun 21, 2022 20:56
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Have a merchant theme that you play whenever they turn up, like old but excellent xbox game metal arms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUsbsvG7QIE
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Jun 21, 2022 21:08
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sebmojo posted:Have a merchant theme that you play whenever they turn up, like old but excellent xbox game metal arms: Idk why but the two that just immediately popped into my head are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LYgeRcY5t4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMw5nUkwKo4
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Jun 21, 2022 21:19
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So I pitched a lazy D&D idea on a Discord server, and it turned out surprisingly popular. quote:Expedition to the Eminent Domains Let's say a group of mid-level adventurers successfully robbed these high level boomer villain-adventurers of valuable artifacts. What would be the most interesting place to pick back up in a follow-up adventure? I could see a whole adventure about saving your home from planar floods and enraged elementals... but I could also see a pretty fun time glossing over that and instead focusing on you fending off the fantasy cops. I'm aiming for an upbeat mana-punk tone.
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Jun 26, 2022 05:30
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Have the party hear lights and sirens just as the fight against elementals gets bad. Cops refuse to help in the fight, just wait around to arrest the players. Help resettle "monstrous" races in the face of armed resistance. Robbed Baron tries to ride wave of outrage to the top spot in the kingdom. Players have to campaign against them, without revealing they are doing it with stolen money. Edit: "Earth is under attack, an attack from Cars!" style campaign ads about the villain adventurers. "Richer than a dragon. A higher CR than a lich. And they are coming for your community." habituallyred fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Jun 26, 2022 |
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Jun 26, 2022 18:09
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So last week I ran Throne of Bloodstone as a joke and my players managed to kill Orcus and steal his wand. This week I am starting a new campaign at level 1 so the obvious choice is to run a Planescape game and do The Great Modron March followed up by Dead Gods so I can tie the stories togeather. Has anyone ever run these scenarios before? It seems like enough material to take the party from first to 12th level or so (where I usually end a campaign). I don't want to be too much of a railroad, and I'd also like to weave in some adventures from Tales of the Infinite Staircase. Any advise about running a Planescape campaign from 1st level? Or these scenarios in particular? My last campaign was a wilderness hex crawl so I don't want it to feel too much like the players can't explore. But I also can't just let them go anywhere in the multiverse ya know?
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Jun 27, 2022 18:20
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Rutibex posted:So last week I ran Throne of Bloodstone as a joke and my players managed to kill Orcus and steal his wand. This week I am starting a new campaign at level 1 so the obvious choice is to run a Planescape game and do The Great Modron March followed up by Dead Gods so I can tie the stories togeather. Has anyone ever run these scenarios before? It seems like enough material to take the party from first to 12th level or so (where I usually end a campaign). I don't want to be too much of a railroad, and I'd also like to weave in some adventures from Tales of the Infinite Staircase. I've never played a planescape campaign, but I feel like it'd be a while before the players would actually get a choice about where they're going. It'd be an interesting sort of power gain over the course of the campaign where they are sorta being shuttled around the planes by chance, but with the chance to move around the individual planes, then get the tools to go to a subset of destinations within certain planes as they wish, then get the ability to go mostly anywhere by the time the campaign is reaching the climax.
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Jun 27, 2022 18:24
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Morpheus posted:I've never played a planescape campaign, but I feel like it'd be a while before the players would actually get a choice about where they're going. It'd be an interesting sort of power gain over the course of the campaign where they are sorta being shuttled around the planes by chance, but with the chance to move around the individual planes, then get the tools to go to a subset of destinations within certain planes as they wish, then get the ability to go mostly anywhere by the time the campaign is reaching the climax. Yeah true! I think Planescape has this idea kind of baked in, most of the portals can't be opened without some kind of Gate Key and the items/spells to travel the planes freely are really high level. I'd like to maybe use the Infinite Staircase like a wilderness hex map. Im just trying to figure out how to visualize such a map lol. Or maybe I should use the Outlands?
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Jun 27, 2022 18:55
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If I was going to do an infinite staircase hex-crawl, I'd probably do a couple side-view perspectives for the map. Like Dracula's castle in a castlevania game. Maybe a staircase spire is three hexes wide, there's a few spires in a row with gaps and maybe floating islands between them, and there's a few hexes that let you bridge over to B- or C-side versions of the map with different staircases. Maybe the further along maps get weirder spires, and you start having to climb giant beanstalks and animated clockwork.
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Jun 27, 2022 20:38
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How do you run the line between the world as a living place and players as the main actors? I'm a relatively new DM and last night had a situation where the party tried to get some hired muscle to walk away but did so with an overly complex lie about how their merc group was being bought out and replaced with this new Merc group (the players) in the middle of the night. Bard rolled really well on a deception check but the line they fed the mercs was counter to the little backstory this group of mercs had as a group that had been working together for a long time.
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Jun 28, 2022 20:40
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It's tricky for sure. This is a group that they would otherwise have to fight? This group is looking for trouble? How much does it matter if this fight goes? If they are just going to clean up these marks and rest after there's no harm in letting them win this way. Or maybe this fight will simply happen out of order when the mercs come looking for them after getting in trouble for this. If the players were especially creative but you want a fight, you can reward them by having some limited number of mercs walk away to check up on the story rather than the whole crew. If you're concerned that they are just going to lean on this bard lying forever you can punish a bad attempt harder. Can also kind of cheat by inventing extra characters that weren't supposed to be there that are the people sent away to check on the story. Players don't know Billy in the backroom is someone you just made up. In this case the reward for a well told lie could be the chance that they get a surprise round because the mercs are now somewhat off guard Harold Fjord fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Jun 28, 2022 |
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Jun 28, 2022 20:53
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Other group can leave for now but come back extra pissed later when they find out they were had, with more muscle this time.
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Jun 28, 2022 20:55
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Reward, plus complications, yeah.
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Jun 28, 2022 20:58
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Looking for some advice on my now incredibly long-running game as I try and transition from one big bit to the next. So far the major acts of the game have been: - defeated the acolytes of the God of Death who were trying to usurp their own god's power. Killed Kesh'an Rosel, the Rose of Kesh, beloved and highly traitorous champion of the city (important later). - resurrected the dead god of the sea and helped her reclaim her scattered power - charged by the god of the sea to defeat three major entities refusing to relinquish her stolen power - defeated the Lord of Ice, a frost giant & former champion of the sea god (also defeated wizard player's dad who was trying to steal the godly power) - defeated the River King, an elf masquerading as an actually dead god (paladin player's personal quest) In between each of these major beats they have had various adventures which have pointed towards the God of Death, galvanised by his recent brush with mortality, starting to build forces and generally test the limits of a very, very long held peace between the civilised nations. They have also discovered the death god has resurrected Kesh'an Rosel and the wizard's dad, so the players went to great lengths to make sure he couldn't do the same with the River King after they killed him. The end game is to get the Sea Queen back up to her full godly power so she can stop the God of Death. He is trying to cause a calimitous war so all the death empowers him over all other gods. Now the players are on their way to defeat Storm, a dragon, resident in the forests to the far west and (it was recently discovered) the druid player's great-grandad. On the way they have stopped off in the starting city of Kesh where they are recognised as saviours and heroes. Last week the druid couldn't play so she was kidnapped and the session ended (perfect timing) with the players bursting in to rescue her... only to find the kidnappers scrambling over themselves trying to escape as she slaughtered them. They had opened some kind of swirly portal thing to drag her into but she was having none of it. Talking to the druid out of game, she's discovered that all the kidnappers have a line tattooed around their necks, and each carries a tiny silver rose on a chain. The druid killed Kesh'an Rosel and cut his head off, so these clues point back to him. She also threw his head at one of his most devoted followers, stole it back, filled it with magic bees and sewed the mouth and nose closed, and threw it in a river, so he'd probably want revenge now he's back. Druid revealed in the group chat what's going on and they all agreed... through the portal. poo poo. Didn't think of that, and thought they'd be wanting to get off to fight the dragon. They really loving hate Kesh'an Rosel but I want him for the showdown, not sitting on the other side of a portal as a random encounter. Any ideas what can be through there, that won't take ages and somehow makes sense with everything above?
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Jun 28, 2022 21:53
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Some other sub boss of his, resurrected as his lackey and in charge of this operation. Possibly with out his boss's knowledge as a surprise gift. The other side of the portal, for magical reasonsbthey just can't walk through. they can use this later to go to him maybe. The players probably won't like this as much it's too obviously railroading. Harold Fjord fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Jun 28, 2022 |
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Jun 28, 2022 22:44
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Yeah, I reckon definitely have a subordinate on the other side, not the big bad himself. Maybe the dudes with rose neck tattoos were just the ones of his minions who could pass for human -- the other side of the portal is the top of a big tower full of guards deep in enemy territory, with armies visible below mustering, revealing that one of the mortal nations is fully on board with the death god's plans. As the PCs show up, the mages maintaining the portal start calling for guards, and the one in charge screams at his subordinates to close the portal. They start doing this, but it looks like it'll take time: the longer the PCs wait to flee, the more the portal will damage them when do they eventually go back through. On the other hand, they're here and in a prime opportunity to destroy a strategic resource for their enemy...
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Jun 29, 2022 09:00
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What're the dragon's plans and what's it going to go do if the players jump through the portal and don't deal with him? A portal that might go to a place where time doesn't work the same, a portal that might go to a place they can't easily return from? You can certainly remind them that the dragon that is just about to burn down a village full of adorable children if they don't go kill it. If they do through the portal, don't forget to advance the dragons plans. What's through the portal? Maybe the kidnappers were disciples of a powerful wizard or w/e who's a true believer in Kesh'an Rosel who hates what the God of Death has done to him. Sure they want to kill the druid out of revenge for killing their hero, but they just might could possibly be made into an uneasy ally who wants Kesh'an to have the natural rest after death befitting a great champion, not be a mindless slave to the God of Death. Maybe it's clear the wizard didn't expect them so the PC's have the upper hand when they burst through the portal-the wizard is willing to talk and even help, maybe the PCs recognize him as one of Kesh'an's old henchmen (or maybe not), maybe a he gives them an item or some knowledge to help them fight the dragon. It can be a shorter diplomatic encounter that adds another layer to the world/story, lets the PCs feel like they made a good choice, and let's them keep heading towards the dragon. Of course if they ever do kill Kesh'an again, the true believers will still want their revenge for killing their hero the first time.... Kaiser Schnitzel fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Jun 29, 2022 |
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Jun 29, 2022 17:53
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If you aren't looking for something too involved there could be a personal hell inside the portal. This could involve challenges and fights that would be impossible for a lone druid, but is hard countered by the party working together. But this is a rush custom job, so it says more about Rosel than the druid. Learning that what he really thinks druids do and are afraid of might be funny. But more importantly Rosel probably can't resist including their plans for the final confrontation, and how it will be impossible to overcome without the druid. If the devoted follower is still alive/notable enough to bring back from the dead they are definitely behind this. Are the devils or demons making this hell trying to avoid getting in trouble by substituting the druid's soul for Rosel's during roll call? How do the demons and devils of hell feel about the god of the dead's plan? Are they excited about the extra work, or mad that people will be crawling around as zombies rather than coming to be processed?
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Jun 30, 2022 06:33
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