Dennis Pascale
Villager
Hi all, first time poster but been a lurker for a while. I just got done running a year long (and a few months extra) 5e campaign of the Pathfinder Adventure Path Mummy's Mask. My group had a good time and in all my years of being a DM, it was my first time doing the whole desert/Egyptian themed game. The only thing I was missing was putting more of my own stuff in the game. I've always used various old settings but added my own games and adventure modules and Dungeon magazine games etc. I liked the Adventure Path concept but want more of my own thing like I used to do. My current homebrew world is just a patchwork of various campaign settings. I have a few kingdoms pulled from Pathfinder's Golorian, alongside Karameikos and Glantri etc. from the Known World and a bunch of other places. This way, if I want to reach into my vast collection of games, I have a place for whatever I want to revisit.
Anyway, in keeping with the whole Adventure Path concept, I was going through my stuff and was trying to decide what to play next. I wanted to do some kingdom hopping and maybe some planar travel, a whole different feel from the desert and the two cities the previous campaign had. Anyway I started flipping through some old stuff. My players have started discussing possible characters. One is playing a bard, but a female rocker chick. I was thinking of doing a whimsical, off the wall type game next. Another character is pretty set on a Halfling cook. So I knew it was time to go wacky. I was flipping through the Book of Artifacts from 2e. I saw the Rod of Seven Parts and thought about trying my hand at that. But then I realized not the whimsical I was looking for. Then I stumbled on Heward's Mystical Organ. A device I couldn't think of how to use years ago but now I figure it would be fun to use in a new game. And just the sort of whimsical item this new batch of PC's might enjoy.
Of course the back story would change for my game but basically one of the gods of creativity or the arts created it and then the other vain gods brought it's downfall and so the organ created inspiration and some beautiful music in the world, but also created foul things like Harpies and Sirens. Right now I'm just spit-balling some concepts but I'm thinking it would be a giant artifact hunt. Say the bad guy (yet to be determined) takes the organ and uses it for a bit and then starts to take it apart. I was thinking of having the organ be a font of creative knowledge, not just music. And the villain is basically taking inspiration from the world. This will eventually be the hook for the party, as the bard will be finding her songs/music suffering, the cook's dishes will be uninspired and lacking, that type of thing. The basic game being that once they figure out what's going on, they have to track down the parts of the organ (scattered across the world) and eventually get it back together and create something wonderful to bring inspiration back into the world.
Again, just tossing ideas out right now. Will fine tune it as I go. But I was thinking that the parts of the organ could have been fashioned into other instruments or artistic things so that it's not just collecting a few ivory keys here or a pipe there from the organ. Perhaps one of the pipes was used in a set of bagpipes. These bagpipes now reside in the cursed castle of Tristen ApBlanc and I can send the group to Ravenloft for Castles Forlorn. Perhaps the wooden petals were fashioned from enchanted trees or treants, making the group travel to the Feywild and find a certain magical grove. Perhaps it's not just actual items but tunes and music that the group has to find. So I can see a sea/island adventure traveling to a lair of Sirens trying to catch their song or take a magical conch shell from them. Fighting a murderous nest of Harpies in the mountains. I think you get the idea.
I think this could be a fun concept. Any thoughts? Any other cool ideas you think I can add? Like I said, early stages still but I think I've got something I'll have fun with. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Anyway, in keeping with the whole Adventure Path concept, I was going through my stuff and was trying to decide what to play next. I wanted to do some kingdom hopping and maybe some planar travel, a whole different feel from the desert and the two cities the previous campaign had. Anyway I started flipping through some old stuff. My players have started discussing possible characters. One is playing a bard, but a female rocker chick. I was thinking of doing a whimsical, off the wall type game next. Another character is pretty set on a Halfling cook. So I knew it was time to go wacky. I was flipping through the Book of Artifacts from 2e. I saw the Rod of Seven Parts and thought about trying my hand at that. But then I realized not the whimsical I was looking for. Then I stumbled on Heward's Mystical Organ. A device I couldn't think of how to use years ago but now I figure it would be fun to use in a new game. And just the sort of whimsical item this new batch of PC's might enjoy.
Of course the back story would change for my game but basically one of the gods of creativity or the arts created it and then the other vain gods brought it's downfall and so the organ created inspiration and some beautiful music in the world, but also created foul things like Harpies and Sirens. Right now I'm just spit-balling some concepts but I'm thinking it would be a giant artifact hunt. Say the bad guy (yet to be determined) takes the organ and uses it for a bit and then starts to take it apart. I was thinking of having the organ be a font of creative knowledge, not just music. And the villain is basically taking inspiration from the world. This will eventually be the hook for the party, as the bard will be finding her songs/music suffering, the cook's dishes will be uninspired and lacking, that type of thing. The basic game being that once they figure out what's going on, they have to track down the parts of the organ (scattered across the world) and eventually get it back together and create something wonderful to bring inspiration back into the world.
Again, just tossing ideas out right now. Will fine tune it as I go. But I was thinking that the parts of the organ could have been fashioned into other instruments or artistic things so that it's not just collecting a few ivory keys here or a pipe there from the organ. Perhaps one of the pipes was used in a set of bagpipes. These bagpipes now reside in the cursed castle of Tristen ApBlanc and I can send the group to Ravenloft for Castles Forlorn. Perhaps the wooden petals were fashioned from enchanted trees or treants, making the group travel to the Feywild and find a certain magical grove. Perhaps it's not just actual items but tunes and music that the group has to find. So I can see a sea/island adventure traveling to a lair of Sirens trying to catch their song or take a magical conch shell from them. Fighting a murderous nest of Harpies in the mountains. I think you get the idea.
I think this could be a fun concept. Any thoughts? Any other cool ideas you think I can add? Like I said, early stages still but I think I've got something I'll have fun with. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
