Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Foreshadowing Effectively
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7312672" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>This really depends on the players (esp. how experienced they are with D&D) and the style of game (esp. how often you play & how much time you have to build suspense with foreshadowing), but generally I assume that I can't be too "heavy handed." What's obvious to the DM often is far from obvious to the players. At any rate, here's one example I used that spanned 4th-6th level...</p><p></p><p><strong>The Striga</strong></p><p>PCs knew there was a monster afoot in the city during their approach, seeing handmade signs hanging from trees: "Come the dusk, clutch thy children to thy breast" and "Beware the beast."</p><p></p><p>When contracted to investigate by the royal family, they learned that they monster had struck in the past, but allegedly was driven out by the elder prince. At a royal dinner they hear all about how the brave prince subdued the monster and banished it from the kingdom. Now it had returned with a vengeance, striking at the royal family's holdings/court and high-ranking priests. Its attacks seemed to synch with the moon. Players theorized it was a lycanthrope. NPC king emphasized the need for a speedy investigation lest monster strike again.</p><p></p><p>They talked with several victims who swore the creature was a demon with a mane of red hair, that it strangely had spared a child (who'd been locked above the barn by abusive/superstitious parents thinking they had a "changeling"), and that its attacks showed signs of intelligence. Further investigation revealed the child was stricken mute, but able to point out a frosty cracked mirror which allegedly scared the monster away. Strange magic revealed a fleeting image of the monster in the frosty mirror, and it seemed unlike any monster they'd seen. Humanoid, but hunched and feral like a lycanthrope, with ghoulish flesh like an undead, and a bright red mane of hair...like the princess.</p><p></p><p>A chat with princess and her mother reveal several things out of the ordinary, including the princess' unusual appetite for meat. However, the fact that she wore a silver protective pendant shoot down the PCs' theory of a lycanthrope. They suspected the evasive queen was keeping a secret, but couldn't yet politely confront her alone due to palace politics.</p><p></p><p>Piecing together clues, PCs deduced the monster was killing off loyalists to the king. They realized the monster's likely next target is a judge and set a trap for the monster. Monster struck, and PCs had their first harrowing combat with it, with the night storm seeming to cloak the monster's movements. The monster nearly killed the bard, but it released the bard when he said the princess' name "Merisende." Monster successfully fled and PCs licked their wounds.</p><p></p><p>PCs suspected they were dealing with a cursed due to strange magic phenomenon around the monster. They ventured to the "Black Library", a repository of forbidden lore kept and sealed by the dominant temple of the region. Within they solved a puzzle and fought off ghosts to access the library, researching several curses and concluding they are dealing with a Striga (a transforming quasi-vampiric monster of Polish myth), a monster created when a woman was cursed at birth and activated by trauma or extreme hatred.</p><p></p><p>At this point, the PCs suspected the royal family hadn't been straight with them. Infiltrating the palace, the PCs discovered a dungeon room with magic chains and locks of red hair. Taking this knowledge to the dowager queen in a clandestine meeting, they pressured her into revealing that she did indeed curse the princess Merisende, who was not actually her daughter, but born as a result of the king's infidelity. It was a moment of weakness, and she regretted it ever since, but she assumed the curse had no actual magic until Merisende grew hateful of her elder brother's constantly belittling and humiliating her. That was when the Striga first struck. The queen and king were able to bring her under control with the aid of a passing enchanter who created the dungeon for nights when the curse took hold, to bind Merisende until the curse passed and she was released in the morning. The queen gave the silver pendant to Merisende as a protective charm.</p><p></p><p>Against the queen's knowledge, the king had taken to forcibly imprisoning their daughter in the dungeon whenever he suspected the curse was on the rise (i.e. anytime his daughter didn't act meek & agreeable)!</p><p></p><p>Further investigation revealed that the elder prince had unusual influence over his sister, and PCs were growing increasingly suspicious that he'd "re-activated" the curse somehow. This led to them covertly shadowing the prince and breaking into his quarters, where evidence mounted that he was attempting to permanently gain control over his sister, the Striga, and use her as a weapon to launch a coup against his father (and take revenge on priests who'd excommunicated him). There was a great final confrontation in a magically-hidden section of the old city's ruined castle where the PCs confronted the prince's agent (a warlock-knight) and freed princess Merisende from the curse without killing her.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 7312672, member: 20323"] This really depends on the players (esp. how experienced they are with D&D) and the style of game (esp. how often you play & how much time you have to build suspense with foreshadowing), but generally I assume that I can't be too "heavy handed." What's obvious to the DM often is far from obvious to the players. At any rate, here's one example I used that spanned 4th-6th level... [B]The Striga[/B] PCs knew there was a monster afoot in the city during their approach, seeing handmade signs hanging from trees: "Come the dusk, clutch thy children to thy breast" and "Beware the beast." When contracted to investigate by the royal family, they learned that they monster had struck in the past, but allegedly was driven out by the elder prince. At a royal dinner they hear all about how the brave prince subdued the monster and banished it from the kingdom. Now it had returned with a vengeance, striking at the royal family's holdings/court and high-ranking priests. Its attacks seemed to synch with the moon. Players theorized it was a lycanthrope. NPC king emphasized the need for a speedy investigation lest monster strike again. They talked with several victims who swore the creature was a demon with a mane of red hair, that it strangely had spared a child (who'd been locked above the barn by abusive/superstitious parents thinking they had a "changeling"), and that its attacks showed signs of intelligence. Further investigation revealed the child was stricken mute, but able to point out a frosty cracked mirror which allegedly scared the monster away. Strange magic revealed a fleeting image of the monster in the frosty mirror, and it seemed unlike any monster they'd seen. Humanoid, but hunched and feral like a lycanthrope, with ghoulish flesh like an undead, and a bright red mane of hair...like the princess. A chat with princess and her mother reveal several things out of the ordinary, including the princess' unusual appetite for meat. However, the fact that she wore a silver protective pendant shoot down the PCs' theory of a lycanthrope. They suspected the evasive queen was keeping a secret, but couldn't yet politely confront her alone due to palace politics. Piecing together clues, PCs deduced the monster was killing off loyalists to the king. They realized the monster's likely next target is a judge and set a trap for the monster. Monster struck, and PCs had their first harrowing combat with it, with the night storm seeming to cloak the monster's movements. The monster nearly killed the bard, but it released the bard when he said the princess' name "Merisende." Monster successfully fled and PCs licked their wounds. PCs suspected they were dealing with a cursed due to strange magic phenomenon around the monster. They ventured to the "Black Library", a repository of forbidden lore kept and sealed by the dominant temple of the region. Within they solved a puzzle and fought off ghosts to access the library, researching several curses and concluding they are dealing with a Striga (a transforming quasi-vampiric monster of Polish myth), a monster created when a woman was cursed at birth and activated by trauma or extreme hatred. At this point, the PCs suspected the royal family hadn't been straight with them. Infiltrating the palace, the PCs discovered a dungeon room with magic chains and locks of red hair. Taking this knowledge to the dowager queen in a clandestine meeting, they pressured her into revealing that she did indeed curse the princess Merisende, who was not actually her daughter, but born as a result of the king's infidelity. It was a moment of weakness, and she regretted it ever since, but she assumed the curse had no actual magic until Merisende grew hateful of her elder brother's constantly belittling and humiliating her. That was when the Striga first struck. The queen and king were able to bring her under control with the aid of a passing enchanter who created the dungeon for nights when the curse took hold, to bind Merisende until the curse passed and she was released in the morning. The queen gave the silver pendant to Merisende as a protective charm. Against the queen's knowledge, the king had taken to forcibly imprisoning their daughter in the dungeon whenever he suspected the curse was on the rise (i.e. anytime his daughter didn't act meek & agreeable)! Further investigation revealed that the elder prince had unusual influence over his sister, and PCs were growing increasingly suspicious that he'd "re-activated" the curse somehow. This led to them covertly shadowing the prince and breaking into his quarters, where evidence mounted that he was attempting to permanently gain control over his sister, the Striga, and use her as a weapon to launch a coup against his father (and take revenge on priests who'd excommunicated him). There was a great final confrontation in a magically-hidden section of the old city's ruined castle where the PCs confronted the prince's agent (a warlock-knight) and freed princess Merisende from the curse without killing her. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Foreshadowing Effectively
Top