Reynard
aka Ian Eller
In the same way that Buffy had that musical episode, or some grounded cop show has an apparently supernatural episode, what is a time in a campaign you were either running or playing had an adventure or "epsidoe" that broke the general genre of the thing? How did it go? Was it intentional? Was that thing forgotten, or did it fold itself into the fabric of the game afterward?
For example, I was running Descent into Avernus and decided that it really needed a "random encounter" (it wasn't random; I made it up and injected it) with a squad of beam rifle wielding, powered combat armor wearing Doom Troopers descending into Avernus on a hunt for a demon the PCs happened to be fighting. So it became a 3 way battle between your typical D&D party, a bunch of Diablo-esque demons (I basically treated all the demons and devils in Avernus stylistically from Diablo) and a sci-fi-fantasy hit squad. Note: the beam rifles and power armor exploded upon the Troopers' deaths because I did not want to deal with them in the PCs' hands. It was a fun, gonzo bit that broke up the tone in a good way. More gonzo things happened in that campaign before it ended, but that was the only blatant break in genre.
Another time I turned a dungeon crawl into Alien (the film) by trapping the PCs in a magically dark maze, splitting them up, and being stalked by a relentless black dragon that (with stealth and spider climb) could attack suddenly from any direction.
What genre-switch adventures or "episodes" have you had?
For example, I was running Descent into Avernus and decided that it really needed a "random encounter" (it wasn't random; I made it up and injected it) with a squad of beam rifle wielding, powered combat armor wearing Doom Troopers descending into Avernus on a hunt for a demon the PCs happened to be fighting. So it became a 3 way battle between your typical D&D party, a bunch of Diablo-esque demons (I basically treated all the demons and devils in Avernus stylistically from Diablo) and a sci-fi-fantasy hit squad. Note: the beam rifles and power armor exploded upon the Troopers' deaths because I did not want to deal with them in the PCs' hands. It was a fun, gonzo bit that broke up the tone in a good way. More gonzo things happened in that campaign before it ended, but that was the only blatant break in genre.
Another time I turned a dungeon crawl into Alien (the film) by trapping the PCs in a magically dark maze, splitting them up, and being stalked by a relentless black dragon that (with stealth and spider climb) could attack suddenly from any direction.
What genre-switch adventures or "episodes" have you had?
