Out Now on the DMs Guild
Wintry Blast |
Just over a month ago, I posted "Stringing, Ideas Together, part I" where I took four Magic cards from my February Feature project and crafted an adventure outline around them. I highly encourage you to check that out as I feel it makes for a very solid story. Today, I revisit this concept and string together a few other cards from that project for a new adventure seed.
First, let's set the scene. I imagine the characters somewhere in the Forgotten Realms near a large forest. Maybe they are in Neverwinter or Phandalin with the Neverwinter Wood nearby, or maybe they are in the Everlund region with the High Forest a short jaunt away. Let's assume you have a party of four, each either level three or level four. The first card we'll use is the Diregraf Escort. My initial thought for this card centered around helping the PCs navigate a haunted forest of undead. That doesn't really work for what I have in mind here, so let's reflavor him as a trapper returning to town from the nearby wood with dire warnings to share. He tells a tale of destruction in the woods. Whole trees ripped up, massive claw marks found in bark, stone, and earth. A path of devastation. The worst party...he is the only survivor of his party. Just like in a classic creature-feature, he didn't get a good look at the beast, but he heard the carnage as he fled from camp into the dark shadows of the evening wood. He hasn't stopped moving since, not until he arrives to the PCs to tell his tale. He's reluctant, but holding true to his name, will indeed escort the PCs back into the forest to the scene of the crime. It's the least he can do to honor the memory of his fallen comrades. The creature that attacked the trappers is a Roaring Primadox. This thing is big! Use the stat block of the giant ape but add a tusk/gore attack like that found on the minotaur. Also add a frightful presence feature as found on any adult dragon. For it's size, this thing is reclusive. Think of it like Bigfoot. Legend and lore swirl around it, but many chalk it up as a myth. The trapper is a believer (newly minted), as are a few older/wiser folks the PCs may interact with in town. Once the trapper as escorted the PCs back to the campsite in the woods, he bids his farewell and books it back to civilization, leaving them to track and kill the blood thirsty beast on their own. Any ranger/druid or naturey inclined character can easily inspect the evidence. As they investigate, be sure to play up the size and destructive power this thing must possess. Allow one character to find some odd tracks in the vicinity. Tracks that appear to be left by a primate (not the human trappers, nor the huge Primadox). Following these ape tracks will eventually take the PCs to a very well hidden cave where they are greeted by a clan of apes and their Gorilla Chieftain. Play this NPC as old, wise, and a bit odd...like Yoda. The chieftain is the only one of the apes who can speak in Common (due to his very old age an experience). He communicates the legend of the Primadox to the PCs and urges them to seek out the beast and either destroy it, or drive it from these lands. If they fail, the Primadox will ravage the environment and eventually attack nearby settlements once the supply of game grows thin. The chieftain, recognizing the tall order he is asking the characters bestows a magical blessing upon each. Doing so weakens him greatly, which is why he cannot attend to the "hunt" himself. His fellow apes hang back to take care of their leader. The four blessings (one for each character) are:
Now you may be thinking, "That's a lot of buffs," but remember, this is for a party of four third or fourth level characters. A Roaring Primadox would likely smoke them quite easily otherwise. Of course, you'll know the power of your group and can adjust these boons up or down accordingly. The party will benefit from being able to focus fire on the brute, and the action-economy will definitely be on their side as well. All that being said, a giant ape with extra abilities is no joke at this level. Once leaving the ape people behind, the party successfully tracks the Primadox down and the boss fight can begin. Assuming the heroes emerge victorious, they've not only saved the forest from utter destruction, but they've earned the trust, respect, and loyalty of the Gorilla Chieftain who may very well have other quests to send them on. Obviously, the above is a very loose sketch of the action. You can add in random encounters, environmental hazards, checks for crossing streams, tracking prints, interacting with the chieftain, etc. Want to spice it up even more? Maybe the Primadox is a powerful evil-druid wildshaping into this creature of destruction. Once reduced to zero hp and converting back to its humanoid form, the druid gets away, creating a new plot hook for the PCs to explore. I hope you found this exercise interesting and helpful. Writing them gets my creative juices flowing and excited about crafting new adventures for my players to explore. Even if you never use this outline as is, hopefully there was kernel of inspiration in it for you that leads to something great! Happy Questing!
0 Comments
If you've been following my work, you know that I spent the month of February converting cards from Magic: The Gathering into concepts for our D&D 5e games (see project details). I shared one such conversion each day on Twitter and occasionally expanded upon those ideas here on this blog. For ease of reference, I've included all twenty-eight conversions below. The name of each card hyperlinks back to Magic's Gatherer website and the short blurb next to each is the original tweet. If the card has an expanded treatment, it's linked at the end of the blurb.
I really enjoyed this creative exercise and I hope a few of you found some inspiration in it as well. I may do something like this again in the future as I find the art, mechanics, and flavor text of Magic cards full of potential. The possibilities are quite endless. Without further ado, I give you twenty-eight D&D ideas derived from Magic cards:
Happy Questing! I've been DMing D&D 5e since it launched in 2014. In that time, my style has changed, evolved and oscillated as I am sure is natural and un-unique among my fellow DMs. At times, I've been a purist. Devoted to running the rules and modules as written. At other times, delved deep into house rules and customization. I've been overly liberal with an inspiration system, critical hit mechanics, medicine kit hacks, etc. All of this can be chalked up to trial an error. Some things worked well. Other things kind of worked. Other things I regret. Today, I present my latest version of my House Rules that I've prettied up using GM Binder. As you've already discerned from the title of this post, this is a Gritty Edition of my House Rules. These rules are an amalgamation of many different sources, so let me give credit where credit is due. First, these rules were heavily inspired by "5e Hard Core Mode" by Runehammer Games. If you want gritty, that is gritty. In all honesty, parts of that rules set are too gritty for me, so I cherry picked some elements I liked best and slightly altered some others. Second, the resurrection system you'll find below is basically the same one shared by Anton of Icurus games in hist YouTube video "A Better Resurrection System for Dungeons & Dragons 5e." Again, some modifications were made, but this is definitely Anton's system. The part of "Cinematic Moves" was partly inspired by Mike Shea of SlyFlourish.com. The critical hit and miss mechanics I use for combat come from Nord Games, and my rules for healing are just variant rules taken from the DMG. Obviously, these rules won't work for every table or every setting. If you are running Theros, these rules make little since. If you are in Barovia, however, these might help enhance the mood and tone of that world. For me, I'm running in a Witcher style world with some inspiration from old Warhammer. You can call it "grimdark," or maybe "grimdark lite." The point is, these rules are meant for a very specific game style. I share them here, not to take credit for anything, but to help inspire. I'm paying the inspiration I've received forward. Checkout the links I included above and see where inspiration takes you. Without further ado, my House Rules for a grittier game. What do you think? Like? Pass? Hard pass? Tell me on Twitter @rjquestgiver. Happy Questing!
|
AuthorD&D 5e enthusiast. Creator on DMsguild. Supporter of creators, content and good times. Follow me on Twitter @rjquestgiver Archives
July 2021
Categories |