D&D 5E Brainstorm - stories to tell with WotC's new position on various folk (fka "race")

[Ovinomancer]

Small kingdom (or province, or whatever) is suffer depredations by a tribe of orcs from the nearby mountains. The orcs are pretty vicious, and have slaughtered a lot of farmers and even completely wiped out a small village. Those they don't kill they take as slaves.

Heroes get to have fun killing orcs for a while, going off on various missions and being richly rewarded by the nobles for their efforts.

But, over time what they discover is that the nobles are secretly in league with (insert bandits or drow or drug dealers or Nazis or something) and have been provoking the orcs, and committing their own atrocities against them. The nobles have learned there is an ancient tomb, potentially stuffed to the gills with treasure, right smack dab in the orcs' stronghold, so they are hoping to motivate the populace to go to war and wipe out the orcs.

I ran almost this exact thing in one of my games, only instead of locals is was a secret society of knowledge seekers and instead of treasure it was ancient arcane secrets. The PCs managed to turn it on it's head and force the society agent to flee while the orcs allowed the PCs access to the ruin in return for revealing the betrayal. Of course, the orcs also immediately started making wagers among themselves as to which orc would be brave enough to venture into the ruins to retrieve the loot from the bodies of the PCs, so not all sweet and lightness.

Aren’t the Watch classically pretty Good and not corrupt, in Waterdeep?

AWAB?

 

[Fenris-77]

I'm working up a campaign for my boys set in Eberron. I'm setting it nestled in the southern Eldeen Reaches between the Gloaming and the mountains of Byeshk, right on the border with Droam. Part of the campaign will be be expeditions into the Gloaming, but part of it will focus more on the town that's their home base. I wanted to lean into Western tropes a little, so they're probably going to get deputized early on (one character has a watch background anyway). The town is having a bit of a boom due to Agents of House Tharashk reopening an old mine and also an increase in adventuring parties heading into the southern Gloaming.

The town is going to be a real mixed bag, as far as different folk go, including a small handful from Droam, so 'monsters'. The House Tharashk faction will be primarily human, with some appropriate mix of H-Orc and some others. The Mine owners are going to be the shady exploitative big-city types, and the party is going end up in the middle of that confrontation as various 'irregularities' with payments and whatnot come to light. There's a couple of other faction-related things going on as well, so the party will have its hands full some times trying to keep the peace. Whenever they aren't dodging the undead and cannibal brigands in the Gloaming of course.

There are no humans in the party btw. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing what my lads end up doing with the whole deputy thing. They're playing a Bugbear and a Goliath, with a HE NPC Druid in support, so I expect a lot of looming and gritty Eastwood dialogue.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

The PCs come to the defense of towns where the militia has been defunded.

You know, I thought for 10 minutes straight how to react to this post, how to deal with the fact that no one else has called you out. So I'll just say: congratulations. You took one of the most serious topics of these last few weeks and turned it into a drive-by joke. In a D&D thread about being creative with a more flexible approach to races and ideas about using or not using stereotypes. Well done.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The PCs come to the defense of towns where the militia has been defunded.

Gross.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I’ve considered a game where either gnomes or halflings are on the March, conquering their neighbors with ruthless efficiency.

I’ve also considered a Chaotic Good Succubus patron for the party. Her “type” is now Fey, and she is the partner of a Neutral Good agender “fallen” angel of vengeance, also now a “Fey” in game terms. They “fell” for eachother.

My goblinoids are often fey-themed or even directly Fey, and my bugbears and orcs are more tied to wild nature than most other folk.

 

[Stormonu]

You know, I thought for 10 minutes straight how to react to this post, how to deal with the fact that no one else has called you out. So I'll just say: congratulations. You took one of the most serious topics of these last few weeks and turned it into a drive-by joke. In a D&D thread about being creative with a more flexible approach to races and ideas about using or not using stereotypes. Well done.

I think it's actually a good germ of an idea.

A group of ten towns has been lorded over by a Sheriff of Nottingham sort of character, and has finally been removed by the crown. Unfortunately, the former Sheriff as part of his activities bled the area dry of funds for a proper replacement, and locals don't want a replacement issued by the crown. Instead they turn to the PCs, asking them to act as law officers for the ten towns. The characters spend a month apiece in each town (and two winter months back in their own home) and have to deal with the years of oppression fostered by the former sheriff and the lack of official forces to enforce local laws and settle disputes. There may be occassional outside threats, but the majority of action would be interal - and possibly inter-town - conflict (perhaps an undercurrent of a secret sect or organization whose rise will eventually threaten the ten towns if they don't figure out a way to co-operate).

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

Players are cursed to be reincarnated each morning into the body of the last creature they slaughtered the previous day. Chaos ensues.

 

[Libramarian]

I think it's actually a good germ of an idea.

So do I -- my original comment was a half-joke. Medieval/early modern 'police' forces actually were brutal, arbitrary and often corrupt so I think setting them up as antagonists to the PCs would be entirely appropriate.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I think it's actually a good germ of an idea.

A group of ten towns has been lorded over by a Sheriff of Nottingham sort of character, and has finally been removed by the crown. Unfortunately, the former Sheriff as part of his activities bled the area dry of funds for a proper replacement, and locals don't want a replacement issued by the crown. Instead they turn to the PCs, asking them to act as law officers for the ten towns. The characters spend a month apiece in each town (and two winter months back in their own home) and have to deal with the years of oppression fostered by the former sheriff and the lack of official forces to enforce local laws and settle disputes. There may be occassional outside threats, but the majority of action would be interal - and possibly inter-town - conflict (perhaps an undercurrent of a secret sect or organization whose rise will eventually threaten the ten towns if they don't figure out a way to co-operate).

I like how this was unpacked further from Labramarium's original one liner. Sometimes a drive by zinger doesn't come off as one could hope.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I like how this was unpacked further from Labramarium's original one liner. Sometimes a drive by zinger doesn't come off as one could hope.

The failure state of clever...