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"Monster density" and wilderness settlements in D&D campaign worlds
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<blockquote data-quote="Gilladian" data-source="post: 6393646" data-attributes="member: 2093"><p>I've been thinking about this whole sort of issue, and I came up with an idea that might be interesting. What if there are NOT vast tracts of wilderness filled with monsters?</p><p></p><p>Instead, there are vast tracts of wilderness, which may house the occasional tribe of humanoids (whether goblins, orcs, or gnolls, or whatever else) and then there are the ancient ruins left by warring wizards of a fallen empire? In each of these ancient ruins there is a thing - a stone, a well, a throne, whatever - that has a near-artifact level power of transformation. Anyone who approaches and touches said artifact, is transformed into a monster. It could always be the SAME monster for a particular artifact, or a different one each time. The humanoid who is transformed becomes the monster completely, losing all or nearly all sense of previous self, and begins to rampage across the countryside. </p><p></p><p>So the goal of adventurers would be to a) kill the rampaging monster, b) find the ruins and the artifact c) research how to destroy it (possibly also how to rescue the transformed victim), and d) prevent anyone else from being transformed while they perform whatever ritual is needed to finish the artifact off.</p><p></p><p>This gives several benefits to a campaign world; you can have humanoid tribes that are not quite as vicious as "the book" says they should be, and they can still be feared and disliked by their human neighbors - after all you never know about orcs and what they'll do if they find one of these artifacts, do you? Evil wizards/clerics/adventurers would love to possess such an artifact because it could make them nigh-undefeatable. In fact, who is to say that the King doesn't have one or two of these things in his power? Perhaps adventurers are supposed to report them TO the king, not destroy them?</p><p></p><p>Monsters have a built-in explanation for existing; if there isn't an artifact right nearby, well, there could have been one in the past, or the monster moved into the area after being driven away from elsewhere. </p><p></p><p>The only problems I can see with this scenario are 1) evil or neutral parties are going to want to keep and abuse an item like this, not destroy it - and 2) it might get a little boring if the PCs have to hunt down such an artifact 2-3 times in a given campaign. You'd have to really work to have very different plots/scenarios around them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gilladian, post: 6393646, member: 2093"] I've been thinking about this whole sort of issue, and I came up with an idea that might be interesting. What if there are NOT vast tracts of wilderness filled with monsters? Instead, there are vast tracts of wilderness, which may house the occasional tribe of humanoids (whether goblins, orcs, or gnolls, or whatever else) and then there are the ancient ruins left by warring wizards of a fallen empire? In each of these ancient ruins there is a thing - a stone, a well, a throne, whatever - that has a near-artifact level power of transformation. Anyone who approaches and touches said artifact, is transformed into a monster. It could always be the SAME monster for a particular artifact, or a different one each time. The humanoid who is transformed becomes the monster completely, losing all or nearly all sense of previous self, and begins to rampage across the countryside. So the goal of adventurers would be to a) kill the rampaging monster, b) find the ruins and the artifact c) research how to destroy it (possibly also how to rescue the transformed victim), and d) prevent anyone else from being transformed while they perform whatever ritual is needed to finish the artifact off. This gives several benefits to a campaign world; you can have humanoid tribes that are not quite as vicious as "the book" says they should be, and they can still be feared and disliked by their human neighbors - after all you never know about orcs and what they'll do if they find one of these artifacts, do you? Evil wizards/clerics/adventurers would love to possess such an artifact because it could make them nigh-undefeatable. In fact, who is to say that the King doesn't have one or two of these things in his power? Perhaps adventurers are supposed to report them TO the king, not destroy them? Monsters have a built-in explanation for existing; if there isn't an artifact right nearby, well, there could have been one in the past, or the monster moved into the area after being driven away from elsewhere. The only problems I can see with this scenario are 1) evil or neutral parties are going to want to keep and abuse an item like this, not destroy it - and 2) it might get a little boring if the PCs have to hunt down such an artifact 2-3 times in a given campaign. You'd have to really work to have very different plots/scenarios around them. [/QUOTE]
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