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<blockquote data-quote="AtomicPope" data-source="post: 8387093" data-attributes="member: 64790">Sometimes a surprise can allow you some room to play with the story.&nbsp; Years ago I played in a campaign where we were searching for the fabled Crook of Rao to rid the world of Fiends.&nbsp; The DM had a great backstory for the Crook that deviated from the original 2e module.&nbsp; The Crook was &quot;lost&quot; by the church of Rao in Veluna before the Greyhawk Wars.&nbsp; His backstory had the Crook stolen by cult assassins from the church.&nbsp; True evil couldn't wield the staff, and Fiends couldn't come near it.&nbsp; The cult assassins disappeared but were never heard of again.&nbsp; Fate claimed their lives before they could reach the Dark One.&nbsp; The Crook was at the bottom of a great crack in the earth.&nbsp; The entire area was teeming with Fiends but none could approach the staff.&nbsp; We didn't know all of this until we finally saw it.&nbsp; We thought we were sneaking into a cult temple but it was just an area that was smote by Rao years ago.&nbsp; The staff was encased in a Force Cage so we couldn't get to it.&nbsp; The Fiends waited until we approached the cage and then surrounded us, hoping we couldn't break the magic of the cage.&nbsp; We couldn't.&nbsp; We actually had to flee and come back later.We thought the cult assassins made it back to their destination.&nbsp; A lot of skulking, spying, and detective work made it seem like this was the logical place for the fabled Crook, a dark fane deep in the earth.&nbsp; It was just a cursed hole in the ground.&nbsp; There &quot;traps&quot; were pitfalls, loose earth, avalanches, and the kind of things you'd find in the classic Dungeoneer's Survival Guide.&nbsp; The tunnels were more fitting for flyers than walkers.&nbsp; It was not a standard dungeon crawl.&nbsp; About 20 years later and I used that idea in my recent campaign and the players loved it.&nbsp; It's a fresh take on an old trope.Perhaps this sword isn't just sitting on top of a tomb in an old temple.&nbsp; Maybe it's &quot;sealing&quot; something inside of the temple.&nbsp; When they remove the sword they release whatever is in there the sword was trapping and the sword cries out &quot;NOOooooo!&quot;&nbsp; They need the sword to defeat the summoned demon now, but they just released something much worse into the world, or maybe an army of demons is released and you have an Evil Dead situation.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AtomicPope, post: 8387093, member: 64790"] Sometimes a surprise can allow you some room to play with the story. Years ago I played in a campaign where we were searching for the fabled Crook of Rao to rid the world of Fiends. The DM had a great backstory for the Crook that deviated from the original 2e module. The Crook was "lost" by the church of Rao in Veluna before the Greyhawk Wars. His backstory had the Crook stolen by cult assassins from the church. True evil couldn't wield the staff, and Fiends couldn't come near it. The cult assassins disappeared but were never heard of again. Fate claimed their lives before they could reach the Dark One. The Crook was at the bottom of a great crack in the earth. The entire area was teeming with Fiends but none could approach the staff. We didn't know all of this until we finally saw it. We thought we were sneaking into a cult temple but it was just an area that was smote by Rao years ago. The staff was encased in a Force Cage so we couldn't get to it. The Fiends waited until we approached the cage and then surrounded us, hoping we couldn't break the magic of the cage. We couldn't. We actually had to flee and come back later. We thought the cult assassins made it back to their destination. A lot of skulking, spying, and detective work made it seem like this was the logical place for the fabled Crook, a dark fane deep in the earth. It was just a cursed hole in the ground. There "traps" were pitfalls, loose earth, avalanches, and the kind of things you'd find in the classic Dungeoneer's Survival Guide. The tunnels were more fitting for flyers than walkers. It was not a standard dungeon crawl. About 20 years later and I used that idea in my recent campaign and the players loved it. It's a fresh take on an old trope. Perhaps this sword isn't just sitting on top of a tomb in an old temple. Maybe it's "sealing" something inside of the temple. When they remove the sword they release whatever is in there the sword was trapping and the sword cries out "NOOooooo!" They need the sword to defeat the summoned demon now, but they just released something much worse into the world, or maybe an army of demons is released and you have an Evil Dead situation. [/QUOTE]

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