D&D 5E Legends of D&D

[doctorbadwolf]

I have been toying with the idea of a setting and campaign inspired by the Legend of Zelda franchise, and particularly the games Ocarina Of Time, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, with other Zelda games only really considered peripherally.

Other influences for this project are Shadow of The Collossus, Chrono Cross, the Earthsea book series, and shows like She-Ra and Adventure Time.

The basic premise is a world of Islands, probably just using my existing Islands World WIP setting, wherein there are at least 9, maybe more, ancient Temple Dragons. Each one has a name, legends, and a theme, and is a sentient, sleeping, colossal divine construct creature whose insides are a temple/dungeon.

The party would live in an island chain wherein one island is the head and neck of a Temple Dragon. Each year those teens who are coming of age “Seek The Dragon”, entering the temple and doing some rituals to keep the dragon happily slumbering, passively protecting the islands by warding off evil spirits and rumbling angrily whenever real danger comes from the outer sea.

This year, something is wrong, and the teens sent to Seek The Dragon are given a vision, and told to go fix it.

I’m not sure how to build a puzzle dungeon, but I don’t want mega dungeons, just fairly short dungneons with moving parts, staged puzzles in 3 dimensions, and “defenses” that get shut down as you solve each of the puzzle stages. When you beat the dungeon, the dragon gives one or more players a blessing, or gives a magic item, etc, and goes back to being a slumbering protector of its region.

I also want to include sea travel, ship customization, alliance building, and the potential for side quests to help build up allies’ towns and resources.

Lastly, I’d like to beef up down time, especially in regards to investigation, trade, training, etc.


So, I’d love to hear about any experiences you have related to these goals, or any resources you know of that would be helpful?

 

[Alzrius]

The basic premise is a world of Islands, probably just using my existing Islands World WIP setting, wherein there are at least 9, maybe more, ancient Temple Dragons. Each one has a name, legends, and a theme, and is a sentient, sleeping, colossal divine construct creature whose insides are a temple/dungeon.

Wait, so does that mean you're putting your party through the Water Temple? That's just cruel!

All joking aside though, Elven Tower's TLOZ Temples Bundle sounds like it'd be helpful.

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

 

[jgsugden]

This has been attempted before, but inevitably ends in TPK by chicken.

 

[Zardnaar]

I've done the island exploration thing before most recently ripping off the Caribbean map.

Puzzles you can steal out of existing adventures.

 

[dave2008]

Well the 5e Ghost of Saltmarsh is an obvious product to look at and you might look at The Seas of Vodari setting for 5e. There was also Perkins world of Iomandra for 4e which has some similarities to what your talking about. Unfortunately, I have no experience with a setting like the one your discussing.

 

[FireLance]

Have you ever watched Pirates of Dark Water? Copy and paste from the Premise section of the Wikipedia article:
"The alien world of Mer is being devoured by an evil substance known as Dark Water. Only Ren, a young prince, can stop it by finding the lost Thirteen Treasures of Rule. His loyal crew of misfits that help in his journey are ecomancer Tula, a monkey-bird Niddler, and treasure-hungry pirate Ioz. The evil pirate lord Bloth will stop at nothing to get the treasures for himself and provides many obstacles for Ren and his crew."

The idea of a quest for lost treasures/magic items to overcome a growing threat (nine in your case, one for each of the Temple Dragons) might become the basis for a campaign.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Pirates of Dark Water was awesome - anyone know if it is streaming anywhere?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Have you ever watched Pirates of Dark Water? Copy and paste from the Premise section of the Wikipedia article:
"The alien world of Mer is being devoured by an evil substance known as Dark Water. Only Ren, a young prince, can stop it by finding the lost Thirteen Treasures of Rule. His loyal crew of misfits that help in his journey are ecomancer Tula, a monkey-bird Niddler, and treasure-hungry pirate Ioz. The evil pirate lord Bloth will stop at nothing to get the treasures for himself and provides many obstacles for Ren and his crew."

The idea of a quest for lost treasures/magic items to overcome a growing threat (nine in your case, one for each of the Temple Dragons) might become the basis for a campaign.

One of my favorite cartoons as a kid, yeah