D&D General need help developing an adventure: Gneiss City Grit: A Rock Noir Mystery

[Shades of Eternity]

The Gneiss city game will be in roll20. I purchased both storm giant's thunder and tomb of annihilation a while back. I got a plus account so I can use one for a base to crib from. which would be better to take from?

edit: I'm thinking of reskinning chapter 1 of storm giant's thunder as a sort of entry dungeon to set everything up and to test of capabilities. I can use the monster vault to grab the monsters from tomb.

any ideas of what monsters to grab to have a yabba doo time (incidentally, I will be using "yabba dabba doo" as the agreed "rest word" for declaring a long rest).

and just found this.

The Ultimate Flintstones Site - Animal Tools

 

[DavyGreenwind]

A classic opening scene for a noir is the moment the instigating NPC walks into the detective agency and tries to hire them. Insight checks, intrigue, mystery right out the gate.

If you want action, may I suggest you open with a chase scene! The story begins with the characters having already solved a (low stakes) mystery (dog-napper?) and they are chasing the perp through the streets.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

chase scene with a dog napper feels like a great opening scene before we settle into the more noir stuff.

i'm still going to have a few dungeon hacks because...well 5e, but want them to fit the idiom. I already added the lava pit fashion, or when a dungeon is run by the volcano cultists like a 60's game show. (open to ideas on how to make this work).

think this is the map i'm going to use for the outside world when they finally get to it. Open to ideas on what to fill it in.

I already know I want a "brotherhood of stone" somewhere on the map

 

[Shades of Eternity]

updated Gneiss city map
added the transit system

 

[Shades of Eternity]

This is a rough map of what the world of Gneiss city looked like before the apocalypse
any other requested locations (complete with rock puns) to add before I drop on asteroid on it? and any ideas of what horrible things to do in the aftermath?

 

[Shades of Eternity]

I hate the new roll20. you can't just grab monsters using the character vault. I grabbed tomb of annihilation which I bought a while back as a basis as it has the most related material and I don't want to do too much data entry.

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okay first game and did a lot of "yes and" hammered out a game

The party are about 1 month away before they are of legal age (and 1st level).

They were immediately put on their first case (a old lady whom wants her pet Jesus Lizard) has gotten away

Thanks to clever use on a Skill Montage, they not only rescued the Jesus lizard, but got their first dingy detective office: The old Lady was a Landlady.

As they were admiring their handywork, a tall drink of water came in. A Sexy Neanderthal by the name of Betty D'Vice whom works for K-Rock, the local radio station has come in for a missing person. A legendary D.J. by the name of Walter Stalagmite was kidnapped.

Walter is a parrot with a drinking and gambling problem.

He was last seen at the Marble Mile, the local dinosaur racetrack where he was discussing business with the Claw, the local mob boss (with henchmen Bill the club and Teddy the chair).

They went on a shopping trip where the Halfling Ranger met her animal companion: a miniature giant space hamster by the name of Gerbrial Kane.

He's mean and spunky.

He will get bigger as time progresses.

So next time's adventure will be at the race track.

The Halfling is a former underground racer
The Raptor humanoid is the face.
The Gorilla is muscle.

What happens next?

I intend to use the dinosaur racing from tomb of annihilation, but I expect at least one combat and not sure what it will be.

also any ideas for clues to use to track down the parrot?

Also any ideas of what stats to use for The claw and his henchmen? What are they?

Any other ideas?

 

[Shades of Eternity]

okay a synopsis of today's game.

the party ended up at the racetrack

they did a skill challenge where the halfling speed racer won and flushed out the mobster enforcer of billy the club.

after tracking them down , they run into his partner whose the brains of the operation: Thedore the chair.

they get brough to his office, but they flub a roll, so bill and ted make a breakaway where the party was left to die by a pair of axbeaks.

The party succeeded in defeating them, but another flubbed roll later means they have knew attention: the cops.

a successful investigation roll later and they found the secret corridor, but cannot close the door behind them.

so naturally the gorilla threw a barrel and took out one of them.

the raptor detective explored the hidden base, and he discovered the kidnapped parrot dj.

unfortunately he also found a giant constrictor snake.

The halfling ranger made a roll and got a natural 20 on their animal handling check and had beasts as a favored enemy so she found out a particularly use full secret.

that giant constrictor snakes are particularly ticklish


they manage to get away with their rescue to a job well done and will be 2nd level for the next caper.:

they even named their detective agency: MacGuffin Detective Agency

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for the next adventure:

they have run into doctor bones, a literally skeleton doctor came up with a new case.

His old sorority at the university of Stonehenge (cappa delta, humeus) mascot animal (not sure what yet) is missing and he might reveal the secrets of their fraternity and our heroes need to track down this animal.

I'm open to any and all suggestions on how to flesh this out.

plus it's time for their parole officer, a warlock of "the great slate" based on ralph the guard from animaniacs to show up and open to suggestions on how

one last thing:
It was requested that reskinning be allowed if they are hit on the head with a bowling ball.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

okay my synopsis of yesterdays game.

The framing device is that the party was hired by Doctor Bones, a doctor from the university of Stonehenge, whose fraternity has lost their mascot: the golden dodo egg.

They start by investigating the scene of the crime, where they discover that the case was broken by a stone wheel.

During their studies, they meet Doctor Rockbrown, an orangutan anthropologist and Doctor Rex, a T-rex saurian archaeologist based loosely as a combination of Indiana jones and Giovanni Battista Belzoni.

They also ran into their truancy officer (moonlights as a security guard), named Ralph "Rubbletooth" Stonejaw and his dog, T-bone (actually a Nifren, essentially a dogosaurus with a poisonous stinger for a tail). They get called delinquents a lot, but he's actually on their side (and handed him over to the pcs for them to run).

They get pulled away from classwork where our heroes tried to do an investigation, failed miserably and cheesed off the crystal skull on his desk (which started a fight).

the ape takes the skull down in a single move.

They then head down to the rival frat house run by spoiled rich halflings.

The mistake the halfling ranger as one of their own (he's the son of Daddy Warclams whom donated the frat), and is brought into for an initiation.

However, they say nothing, and get into a fight with the halfling frat boys (riding stone unicycles like in bc quests for tires).

After they have been defeated, they snooped around and found a secret passageway which could be operated by dice.

The Saurian detective has skills in dice...and then rolls a 1.

so they release a massive d20 that he barely misses other then running over his foot.

However they do find the golden dodo.

They return to the pair of professors and they discover a map inside the dodo.

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I'm posting this to get ideas on where to head next and how to build on what's already here.

I want to stay within Gneiss City and feeling I want to channel a little bit of the Maltese Falcon in this.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

This is for my Gneiss City. I absolutely love the raw color of the speak with animal's check in baldur's gate 3 and wanted something similar for animal tools in Gneiss City. Open to any and all suggestions for additions and personalities.