Current Events > Starting a new D&D campaign tomorrow. Need ideas QUICK

(+) Yeah! (+)

So far they are going to be collecting keys so a talking mushroom/boulder can free his sister from an ancient vault. There will be battle goats and airships and dinosaurs and lasers. It's going to be sweet

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Steal ideas from Lookin' Out My Back Door, just to see how long it takes someone to notice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aae_RHRptRg

Questionmarktarius posted...

Steal ideas from Lookin' Out My Back Door, just to see how long it takes someone to notice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aae_RHRptRg

absolute banger, CCR is so good

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sounds nuts. I don't recall the details at this point, but a friend in high school ran a wonderland/acid trip campaign like that once. Easily the best thing he ever ran.

As far as beatles songs go, lucy in the sky with diamonds.

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fuck, so there isn't much time. uh... let me think of something.

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I do't want to start in a tavern. I was thinking of it being the ruins of a tavern or saloon to be extra ironic but I want something more punchy.

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Sent to investigate a town with a Hogwarts-esque magical academy because something's killing students. Evidence points towards a vampire because the bodies are drained of blood with two puncture marks in the neck. The twist is that it's not a vampire. One of the witnesses is a man who runs a shop selling small clockwork toys. Reveal that he's the nonmagical brother of the academy's headmaster and that's caused some resentment. He stumbled upon a book about blood magic and made a clockwork golem with a tank for blood in its chest. It's been killing the students and specifically making it look like a vampire attack. The golem has an attack that drains blood. When it successfully does so, it gains a spell slot.

A town that's famous for growing giant and delicious produce. Pumpkins the size of a chair, that sort of thing. This despite the fact that the town is surrounded by crappy swampland (or desert or whatever) that doesn't grow anything. The town claims that it's blessed by Melora, but any player who uses an ability to sense undead gets a faint aura off every plant in the area. In truth, there's a nearby Gulthias Tree. The town (or at least its leadership) makes blood sacrifices to it in exchange for supernaturally good harvests.

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Cowthief posted...

I do't want to start in a tavern. I was thinking of it being the ruins of a tavern or saloon to be extra ironic but I want something more punchy.

Everybody wakes up in the back of a cart on the way to their execution. Or in a jail. Either way the first thing they have to do is figure out if any of them are actually criminals and do a jailbreak.

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Ranting Nord posted...

Everybody wakes up in the back of a cart on the way to their execution. Or in a jail. Either way the first thing they have to do is figure out if any of them are actually criminals and do a jailbreak.

Goddammit, Todd Howard, nobody asked you.

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pegusus123456 posted...

Sent to investigate a town with a Hogwarts-esque magical academy because something's killing students. Evidence points towards a vampire because the bodies are drained of blood with two puncture marks in the neck. The twist is that it's not a vampire. One of the witnesses is a man who runs a shop selling small clockwork toys. Reveal that he's the nonmagical brother of the academy's headmaster and that's caused some resentment. He stumbled upon a book about blood magic and made a clockwork golem with a tank for blood in its chest. It's been killing the students and specifically making it look like a vampire attack. The golem has an attack that drains blood. When it successfully does so, it gains a spell slot.

A town that's famous for growing giant and delicious produce. Pumpkins the size of a chair, that sort of thing. This despite the fact that the town is surrounded by crappy swampland (or desert or whatever) that doesn't grow anything. The town claims that it's blessed by Melora, but any player who uses an ability to sense undead gets a faint aura off every plant in the area. In truth, there's a nearby Gulthias Tree. The town (or at least its leadership) makes blood sacrifices to it in exchange for supernaturally good harvests.

I actually kind of like the first part.

But he should be killing the students himself and draining their blood, as magical blood can power his toys.

He can then produce magical animated toys and sell them back to the students, without them ever knowing they are powered by the life force of their dead classmates.

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Alteres posted...

But he should be killing the students himself and draining their blood, as magical blood can power his toys.

I was picturing the toymaker as a really old dude to help allay suspicion. Any sort of combat with him would be more him deploying the golem and other, smaller toys. The smaller toys have like a drop of blood to do a really simple spell. Like in the first encounter, he gifts the party a small little toy that has a type of Sending spell which lets him spy on them.

Talking about it now makes me realize he's essentially an artificer.

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That would probably be best, I just liked the idea of him being a popular figure and his store always being full of students ooooh and ahhhhing over his toys and never knowing what they are actually powered by.

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Here are some ideas I randomly came up with just now:

• a cave you enter, only to find it's not a cave, but a giant keyhole in a giant treasure chest
• someone is cursed to become an acidic ooze monster
• a mighty demon protects a dungeon, only the angel looks and sounds like a housecat
• one of the quest clients asks you to meet at a concert to stop elf-on-elf violence

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Alteres posted...

That would probably be best, I just liked the idea of him being a popular figure and his store always being full of students ooooh and ahhhhing over his toys and never knowing what they are actually powered by.

Not gonna lie, that's a pretty great idea that I hadn't considered. It would also help with the investigation: "He did okay, but his store's become really popular over the last few months."

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AssultTank posted...

Beatles songs are also great for completely crazy ideas that fit with a D&D campaign.

I am the Walrus especially. <.<

Have the entire campaign take place on a yellow submarine.

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if i ever DM a longer campaign (i've only led a one-shot before) i have this idea where i would basically copy the setting of this Adventure Time episode but without the big Emerald/Ruby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie0qd2GNkaM

and if they take the jewel (cause of course they would) it would be like an effect spreader, where if one person use their Action to hold it up and another cast a one-target spell, it would instead be a Cone AoE

so it would bring in another element of cooperation into the mix.

that, and a sword called Beauty, does extra damage if you stick Beauty in the eye of a Beholder.
but that pun has probably been done to death

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pegusus123456 posted...

A town that's famous for growing giant and delicious produce. Pumpkins the size of a chair, that sort of thing. This despite the fact that the town is surrounded by crappy swampland (or desert or whatever) that doesn't grow anything. The town claims that it's blessed by Melora, but any player who uses an ability to sense undead gets a faint aura off every plant in the area. In truth, there's a nearby Gulthias Tree. The town (or at least its leadership) makes blood sacrifices to it in exchange for supernaturally good harvests.

Toss in some Ye Olde Trailer Park Boyes and zombie-weed.

"Ricky! Have you been sacrificing children to grow giant weed again? [angry wheezing noises]"
"C'mon, Bubs - it's just a couple crippled orphans - nobody's gonna miss 'em. Just Walter over the bridge."

mobilebloechel posted...

We're beginning to agree on more things than I'm comfortable with

https://i.imgur.com/DteRUe7.gif

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