D&D 5E What kind of tone do you want to see in the upcoming Elemental Evil storyline?

[Acr0ssTh3P0nd]

Hey, guys, I was thinking last night about the character I want to run for the Elemental Evil, and it hit me that this is one of the first characters I've planned that has almost no "comic relief" elements about them. The more I got to thinking, the more I realised that I really, really want a different tone for the Elemental Evil story compared to Tyranny of Dragons. There's nothing wrong with the ToD tone, but I'd love to see something different for EE - something darker, a bit more sinister.

It might just be me wishlisting so that it's easier for me to keep going with a "straight-man" character (I've had trouble with this in the past, but this character is one that I've been working on for a couple years in other media, so I hope it works out), but I think it would be neat. Instead of the more out-in-the-open, town-raiding, gold-pillaging, "praise Tiamat and her glory" cultists, perhaps we might see a more sinister, scary kind of cult - kidnapping people for experiments, burning crop fields or flooding areas in the name of the elements, but never acting openly. If their activities are showy and flashy (like burning crops and fields), it wouldn't be to terrify people but to pay homage to the elements - they wouldn't care whether or not people knew that it was them doing these things, they just care about paying homage to the elements by using them to destroy lives (figuratively or literally).

That's my hope - what tone do you guys want to see in the Elemental Evil storyline?

 

[delericho]

I was going to say "sword & sandals"... but what you've described sounds good too.

 

[Paraxis]

I think it is a matter of conveying that desire with your DM and fellow players, most adventures can have a dark serious tone as long as that is the buy in going into it. Just ask people not to play comic relief or silly trope versions of characters, more tough choices and moral grey areas.

Now the campaign itself and the npc's also have to stay dark and gritty, but I assume the adventure will be prepackaged generic middle ground so that it can be adapted to as many different play styles as possible and sell the most copies.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think, in terms of writing for a broad audience, D&D tends to work best when it's lightly serious but not bombastic or portentous. Also when WoW-style constant puns and in-jokes are avoided - RPGs are funny enough without that sort of artificial, saccharine kind of humour.

Plot-wise, I hope the tone is slightly ominous, creeping doom rather than sort of in-your-face aggression/domination. But that the whole "Creepy Villager" deal is avoided too. More a sort of hard-to-escape deal, which actually motivates players rather than making the roll their eyes or whatever.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

Frankly, I'd like a good dungeon delve or two in this.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I'm a big fan of the Outer Planes, so I would like to see some planar monsters--preferably in planar settings.