Halivar
First Post
So I've gotta a little obsessed with "Jaquaying the dungeon", and I've been thinking about how to apply those general principals to adventure design, in general, to change linear adventure paths into proper sand-boxes. I've also been inspired by Sly Flourish's "The Lazy Dungeon Master", which has a section on mashing up genres and stories. I figured it would be a fun exercise to try mashing up published adventures and Jaquaying them to make proper sand boxes out of them.
The Challenge
Take two published D&D adventures from different eras, and tie them together with multiple strands of plot.
Here's my idea:
Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle (5E) + N5: Under Illefarn (1E)
Both adventures take place in Daggerford, and both include Yellowknife, the reclusive and mysterious mage. Other than that, the adventures are separated by over 100 years, and the cast of characters is completely different (but all the last names are the same, naturally). N5 is actually a series of mini-adventures set around Daggerford, so it is easily repurposed to serve the main plot behind GoDSC.
The connection: Time travel. The red wizard that is caught and hung in GoDSC had a very specific mission: with the help of a powerful (and expensive) chronomancy ritual, go back in time to the arrival of the keys to the area, find and kill the cultists, and take the keys. His hanging discharges the ritual chaotically, affecting the party members in an unpredictable way: each night they roll a percentile, with a 50% chance of awaking in the past (Under Illefarn). Unfortunately, the keys in that time have already been placed, and a powerful ward protects them that will not weaken for another 100 years (during the time of GoDSC). The earthquake in N5 is caused by the wild temporal magic, and the corrupted waters of that occur after should hamper efforts in GoDSC as the future is changed by its curse.
Two points of concurrence are Yellowknife and Lord Floshin.
Yellowknife has returned in GoDSC after a 100 year absence after N5. Connect the adventures by making him a powerful diviner who is aware of the the time-travelling party, and always speaks as if he is unsurprised by their presence. Not just a source of spells any longer, you can safely throw away N5's note that he is "full of advice...but not much real help."
Lord Floshin in GoDSC is the son of the elven Lord Floshin in N5; replace much of the party's interaction with Floshin the Elder in N5 with the younger (as a lad). Unlike Yellowknife, he should be quite surprised to meet them in GoDSC, long before the party's time-travelling adventures.
The only thing left is hooking in the three "militia" adventures in N5. Possibly you can have the party begin GoDSC as militiamen, or you can have them join up in N5, or even treat them as independent agents in a pre-militia Daggerford.
Be sure to note changes made to locals in N5; these should persist into GoDSC.
The Challenge
Take two published D&D adventures from different eras, and tie them together with multiple strands of plot.
Here's my idea:
Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle (5E) + N5: Under Illefarn (1E)
Both adventures take place in Daggerford, and both include Yellowknife, the reclusive and mysterious mage. Other than that, the adventures are separated by over 100 years, and the cast of characters is completely different (but all the last names are the same, naturally). N5 is actually a series of mini-adventures set around Daggerford, so it is easily repurposed to serve the main plot behind GoDSC.
The connection: Time travel. The red wizard that is caught and hung in GoDSC had a very specific mission: with the help of a powerful (and expensive) chronomancy ritual, go back in time to the arrival of the keys to the area, find and kill the cultists, and take the keys. His hanging discharges the ritual chaotically, affecting the party members in an unpredictable way: each night they roll a percentile, with a 50% chance of awaking in the past (Under Illefarn). Unfortunately, the keys in that time have already been placed, and a powerful ward protects them that will not weaken for another 100 years (during the time of GoDSC). The earthquake in N5 is caused by the wild temporal magic, and the corrupted waters of that occur after should hamper efforts in GoDSC as the future is changed by its curse.
Two points of concurrence are Yellowknife and Lord Floshin.
Yellowknife has returned in GoDSC after a 100 year absence after N5. Connect the adventures by making him a powerful diviner who is aware of the the time-travelling party, and always speaks as if he is unsurprised by their presence. Not just a source of spells any longer, you can safely throw away N5's note that he is "full of advice...but not much real help."
Lord Floshin in GoDSC is the son of the elven Lord Floshin in N5; replace much of the party's interaction with Floshin the Elder in N5 with the younger (as a lad). Unlike Yellowknife, he should be quite surprised to meet them in GoDSC, long before the party's time-travelling adventures.
The only thing left is hooking in the three "militia" adventures in N5. Possibly you can have the party begin GoDSC as militiamen, or you can have them join up in N5, or even treat them as independent agents in a pre-militia Daggerford.
Be sure to note changes made to locals in N5; these should persist into GoDSC.