Suggestions for enhancing Isle of Dread?

[Sword of Spirit]

I'm planning to run the Isle of Dread. I have the D&D Next playtest version, which I'll update to 5e wherever applicable.

I'm looking for suggestions to make it more interesting for my players. While I'm fine just traipsing through a jungle trying not to get killed by dinosaurs, I think they'll want some more interesting features/story elements/etc.

I'm planning on changing the encounter tables to add more 5e dinosaurs and critters, and maybe make the isle a bit deadlier. I'm also going with the picture in the DMG and saying it is in the Border Elemental Plane of Water. The most likely point of exit (since they are going to arrive accidentally and won't have any easy means of escape) is through the ruins on the plateau, which they will learn has a portal to somewhere else.

What sort of ideas to fill the isle with cool do y'all have?

 

[darjr]

On the plateau I'd put the alien space ship from Barrier Peaks. OR the pyramid from Pharaoh. Something other than what is there.

Maybe a multiplanar nexus of sorts, not a good one, one they might have a whole campaign to deal with in itself.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan is something else you could put on the plateau or bury under the jungle.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan is something else you could put on the plateau or bury under the jungle.

I'm actually having the escape portal take them there

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Savage Tide was the last Adventure Path published in Dungeon magazine when it was still handled by Paizo and in actual print. The Isle of Dread was a focal point of the series and contains a lot of good material (and adventure) to mine. The companion articles running congruently in Dragon magazine offered even more goodness. I don't know if they are still available either in print or PDF, but well worth the look if you can find them. Maybe some online fan sites or resources are still available.

 

[DEFCON 1]

If you own Tomb of Annihilation, you can bring a lot of those encounters and sites in as well.

 

[Quickleaf]

I'm planning to run the Isle of Dread. I have the D&D Next playtest version, which I'll update to 5e wherever applicable.

I'm looking for suggestions to make it more interesting for my players. While I'm fine just traipsing through a jungle trying not to get killed by dinosaurs, I think they'll want some more interesting features/story elements/etc.

I'm planning on changing the encounter tables to add more 5e dinosaurs and critters, and maybe make the isle a bit deadlier. I'm also going with the picture in the DMG and saying it is in the Border Elemental Plane of Water. The most likely point of exit (since they are going to arrive accidentally and won't have any easy means of escape) is through the ruins on the plateau, which they will learn has a portal to somewhere else.

What sort of ideas to fill the isle with cool do y'all have?

The original had a paper-thin story as well; the quest wasn't any deeper than "follow a fragment of a ship's log to an unexplored island looking for treasure." I don't think the D&D Next version really added to the story.

So, in your case, it sounds like you've changed the story hook to: "You've ended up here accidentally, and now you're trapped. You want to find a way off the island. Go."

Has anyone been trapped there at the same time as the PCs? Any NPCs who might go deeper into "the ends justify the means" thinking about escape?

Where/what are potential ways the PCs can escape the island? I'd suggest these be multi-step quests. The DMG suggests that one can learn the strange tides/currents around the isle, so perhaps collecting nautical charts, talking with old sailors, and doing ample reconnaissance would be reasonable steps?

The coastline is probably littered with shipwrecks, some of which have been adapted as shelter by the isle's inhabitants. This would be a place to insert your own ideas not on the IoD's hex map. Also, consider: how do inhabitants cope with the periodic storms wracking the isle? And what are these storms like on the Elemental Plane of Water? Sheets of water for days? A strange inversion of air & water like in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides?

 

[darjr]

Oh! I know, don’t decide early. Wait till the reveal then roll randomly! But don’t tell the players.

See what the players free associate with what ends up being there.

 

[Inchoroi]

Botfly swarms. No jungle adventure is complete without botfly swarms.

 

[Wiseblood]

Jumanji