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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
One Thousand Ways to Freak Out Your Players
- Thread starter HalfElfSorcerer
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Creamsteak
Explorer
764- The Player Character's enter a city with a strange population. The entire populace of this city consists of intelligent magical items. All of them communicate through speach. For example, the Blacksmith is a forging hammer, the Bartender is a Gauntlet of Ogre Power, and the City Council is made up of 12 Potions of Cure Light Wounds.
765- Intoduce to said town, a group of Epic Level Forsakers.
766- Have Intelligent trees made through intelligent Quaal's feather tokens. It's also possible to do the same with a whip.
767- The cities guards are made of Hands of the Mage equiped with whatever weapons (under 5 pounds) they could carry.
768- Have the intelligent items speak like Pokemon. (The Dagger screams out "Dagger Dagger!" over and over again.
769- Intelligent Figurines of Wonderous power. (They come to life on thier own, can call out thier own command word).
770- Have the town's social structure consist of classes based on what kind of item you are. If your a farm utensil, of any kind, you are a slave. If you are a weapon of any kind, you are a warrior. If your a tool, you do whatever the tool does. And if you are a potion, your an aristocrat (because intelligent potions are the most important items ever). If your a wonderous item your probably important or something.
771- The player characters want to have a meal in this new town. They are told to go to the bar. They are each given a spoon and an empty bowl. The spoons are Murlynd's spoons, and although they supply the meal, the players will be arrested if they attempt to the spoons into thier mouths in any way.
765- Intoduce to said town, a group of Epic Level Forsakers.
766- Have Intelligent trees made through intelligent Quaal's feather tokens. It's also possible to do the same with a whip.
767- The cities guards are made of Hands of the Mage equiped with whatever weapons (under 5 pounds) they could carry.
768- Have the intelligent items speak like Pokemon. (The Dagger screams out "Dagger Dagger!" over and over again.
769- Intelligent Figurines of Wonderous power. (They come to life on thier own, can call out thier own command word).
770- Have the town's social structure consist of classes based on what kind of item you are. If your a farm utensil, of any kind, you are a slave. If you are a weapon of any kind, you are a warrior. If your a tool, you do whatever the tool does. And if you are a potion, your an aristocrat (because intelligent potions are the most important items ever). If your a wonderous item your probably important or something.
771- The player characters want to have a meal in this new town. They are told to go to the bar. They are each given a spoon and an empty bowl. The spoons are Murlynd's spoons, and although they supply the meal, the players will be arrested if they attempt to the spoons into thier mouths in any way.
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s/LaSH
First Post
772: Invisible Godwar
Stage an invisible war in the background of the campaign, initially unrelated to the PC's adventures. First-level PCs come across a dead silver wyrm lying in a field, killed by a blow to the sternum. A little later, they see a small army of vrock tanar'ri flying across the sky, from one stretch of wilderness to another. They come across a planetar nailed to a rock; if they pull the nails free, the planetar thanks them and flies off without explaination. Later, an illithid inquisition runs screaming in fear down the corridor of a dungeon towards the PCs and plane shifts out before anyone can react (illithids can speak aloud, they just don't normally).
Nobody they talk to knows what's happening, and most people discount them as crazy. "If there really were these vast battles going on, don't you think I'd have seen them?"
Of course, the PCs never see the battles either... just the aftermath.
Stage an invisible war in the background of the campaign, initially unrelated to the PC's adventures. First-level PCs come across a dead silver wyrm lying in a field, killed by a blow to the sternum. A little later, they see a small army of vrock tanar'ri flying across the sky, from one stretch of wilderness to another. They come across a planetar nailed to a rock; if they pull the nails free, the planetar thanks them and flies off without explaination. Later, an illithid inquisition runs screaming in fear down the corridor of a dungeon towards the PCs and plane shifts out before anyone can react (illithids can speak aloud, they just don't normally).
Nobody they talk to knows what's happening, and most people discount them as crazy. "If there really were these vast battles going on, don't you think I'd have seen them?"
Of course, the PCs never see the battles either... just the aftermath.
s/LaSH
First Post
773: Nobody's mentioned this before...
"Having defeated the vampire brood, you take the road back to Waterdeep to claim your reward. As you crest the last hill, you see the city spread out before you; the sky is blue, the birds are singing, and you can see the streets bustling with industry. Then it sort of bulges upwards, before exploding in a shower of molten rock.
"The shockwave knocks you off your feet and sends you tumbling backwards down the hill. By the time you regain your feet, pieces of stone and brick are falling out of the sky all around you. The sky is black with ash and smoke; lightning dances in the mile-high mushroom cloud. Suddenly, it's very cold. You walk up the hill and supress the urge to vomit.
"Waterdeep just got half a mile deeper and the crater extends far beyond the former city limits. If you listen hard, you can hear the ocean rushing in to fill the gap. Looks like you won't be getting that reward any time soon. "
OK, so I don't know much about Waterdeep, but you can apply this to any big city the PCs care about. You just have to be willing to make BIG changes to established settings...
"Having defeated the vampire brood, you take the road back to Waterdeep to claim your reward. As you crest the last hill, you see the city spread out before you; the sky is blue, the birds are singing, and you can see the streets bustling with industry. Then it sort of bulges upwards, before exploding in a shower of molten rock.
"The shockwave knocks you off your feet and sends you tumbling backwards down the hill. By the time you regain your feet, pieces of stone and brick are falling out of the sky all around you. The sky is black with ash and smoke; lightning dances in the mile-high mushroom cloud. Suddenly, it's very cold. You walk up the hill and supress the urge to vomit.
"Waterdeep just got half a mile deeper and the crater extends far beyond the former city limits. If you listen hard, you can hear the ocean rushing in to fill the gap. Looks like you won't be getting that reward any time soon. "
OK, so I don't know much about Waterdeep, but you can apply this to any big city the PCs care about. You just have to be willing to make BIG changes to established settings...
s/LaSH
First Post
774: Scary phone-calls
Take a leaf out of Majestic and keep the game going even when you're not playing. How? Get someone the players don't know and get them to make threatening phonecalls at unusual hours. Give them a script if you like. *RING* *RING* "Hello? Hello? It's 2AM, who is this?" "I am Blacktor the Destroyer. You shall know my wrath, puny human. HAHAHA!" *CLICK* "... hello?" Give each player a call on a different night all through the week.
Next gaming session, introduce Blacktor the Destroyer, who you just created that morning. Deny all knowledge of the phonecalls.
(You know, this could also work with that Audigy voice-alteration thing if all your friends are gamers... just look out for people with caller ID.)
I know people have suggested similar things, but this version doesn't involve killing the players afterwards and is actually feasible for the less devoted DM, such as myself.
Take a leaf out of Majestic and keep the game going even when you're not playing. How? Get someone the players don't know and get them to make threatening phonecalls at unusual hours. Give them a script if you like. *RING* *RING* "Hello? Hello? It's 2AM, who is this?" "I am Blacktor the Destroyer. You shall know my wrath, puny human. HAHAHA!" *CLICK* "... hello?" Give each player a call on a different night all through the week.
Next gaming session, introduce Blacktor the Destroyer, who you just created that morning. Deny all knowledge of the phonecalls.
(You know, this could also work with that Audigy voice-alteration thing if all your friends are gamers... just look out for people with caller ID.)
I know people have suggested similar things, but this version doesn't involve killing the players afterwards and is actually feasible for the less devoted DM, such as myself.
s/LaSH
First Post
Here's some ideas from ChronoTrigger, the game from SquareSoft...
775: No, I'm not the worst thing you have to deal with.
You have a villain? He's evil, seemingly all-powerful, and the players hate him for many good reasons? He's yesterday's news. If villain #1 is so nasty, what happens when you stumble across the thing he fears most? And I'm not talking about truth and kindness. I'm talking about villain #2, who replaces #1 as the focus of the campaign, possibly to the extent that villain #1 joins the heroes to stop #2.
Villain #2 is far more powerful than #1. If the PCs never had a hope of defeating #1, make it abundantly clear that they can't even scratch #2... but they have to try.
Example: SPOILERS AHEAD
Magus was conquering the world with his inhuman armies, his awesome dark magics, and his spooky, inaccessible castle. The heroes had to stop him summoning the world-devouring monster Lavos. And eventually, after a titanic battle, they did. At which point he revealed that he was summoning Lavos to destroy it and save the world from its eventual fate, and that they'd just screwed everything up. Eventually, they fought Lavos, and saved the world, but if you think it's harder than it sounds, you're right. Lavos arrives by emerging from a continent. The lava fallout from his emergence alone causes global devastation... and that's just his outer shell. Inside, he's much tougher. Of course, this wouldn't work if the PCs couldn't find out about it; in this case, they witness it from the safety of a time machine and don't have to fight Lavos immediately. (If they do, they die fairly quickly.)
775: No, I'm not the worst thing you have to deal with.
You have a villain? He's evil, seemingly all-powerful, and the players hate him for many good reasons? He's yesterday's news. If villain #1 is so nasty, what happens when you stumble across the thing he fears most? And I'm not talking about truth and kindness. I'm talking about villain #2, who replaces #1 as the focus of the campaign, possibly to the extent that villain #1 joins the heroes to stop #2.
Villain #2 is far more powerful than #1. If the PCs never had a hope of defeating #1, make it abundantly clear that they can't even scratch #2... but they have to try.
Example: SPOILERS AHEAD
Magus was conquering the world with his inhuman armies, his awesome dark magics, and his spooky, inaccessible castle. The heroes had to stop him summoning the world-devouring monster Lavos. And eventually, after a titanic battle, they did. At which point he revealed that he was summoning Lavos to destroy it and save the world from its eventual fate, and that they'd just screwed everything up. Eventually, they fought Lavos, and saved the world, but if you think it's harder than it sounds, you're right. Lavos arrives by emerging from a continent. The lava fallout from his emergence alone causes global devastation... and that's just his outer shell. Inside, he's much tougher. Of course, this wouldn't work if the PCs couldn't find out about it; in this case, they witness it from the safety of a time machine and don't have to fight Lavos immediately. (If they do, they die fairly quickly.)
s/LaSH
First Post
776: I Am God
That final villain? The one who's going to destroy all that's good and true in the world (if not the world itself)? Make him (or her) God. Well, make them creator of life and the world in the first place. They're powerful enough to devote a billion years to creating life. And they're powerful enough to not care about it if it all goes away.
Consider the Elder Gods from an H.P. Lovecraft-esque universe. Alien, all-powerful, and immense beyond human comprehension. They created the world, then went away to somewhere we're incapable of knowing. Now they want it back. Not as bad as the next one, though...
Example: SPOILERS
In Chrono Trigger, when you hack open the outer shell of the final boss Lavos, you find an inner form, and before you fight it, one of your characters discovers that Lavos is radiating an incredible spectrum of life energy. From there, they discover that he actually created life on Earth, and has been guiding evolution ever since. He's been sleeping in the planet's core for millions or billions of years, waiting for the right time to emerge... and to eat all life. After which, he leaves and finds another planet, which he populates in a similar fashion... and eats that, too. It makes the PCs feel very very small.
That final villain? The one who's going to destroy all that's good and true in the world (if not the world itself)? Make him (or her) God. Well, make them creator of life and the world in the first place. They're powerful enough to devote a billion years to creating life. And they're powerful enough to not care about it if it all goes away.
Consider the Elder Gods from an H.P. Lovecraft-esque universe. Alien, all-powerful, and immense beyond human comprehension. They created the world, then went away to somewhere we're incapable of knowing. Now they want it back. Not as bad as the next one, though...
Example: SPOILERS
In Chrono Trigger, when you hack open the outer shell of the final boss Lavos, you find an inner form, and before you fight it, one of your characters discovers that Lavos is radiating an incredible spectrum of life energy. From there, they discover that he actually created life on Earth, and has been guiding evolution ever since. He's been sleeping in the planet's core for millions or billions of years, waiting for the right time to emerge... and to eat all life. After which, he leaves and finds another planet, which he populates in a similar fashion... and eats that, too. It makes the PCs feel very very small.
s/LaSH
First Post
777: No, the moon doesn't vanish...
"You make camp by the roadside. The night is warm and fine; the stars twinkle merrily in the heavens. A full moon rises above the horizon and blows up. A few minutes later, flaming meteors start skimming across the sky. One lands a few miles away, the impact uprooting large trees in your vicinity and carving a mile-wide crater in the earth; flaming debris lands around you. The whole countryside is aflame. Needless to say, you get very little sleep tonight."
This is even worse on worlds where the moons have theological significance, such as certain ages of Krynn. "Oh my Gods, Lunitari just blew up and took a chunk out of Solamnia!" Very useful if you want to make the Cataclysm a minor footnote in history... less so if you actually have respect for official chronology, but really: Who cares about that when it comes to psychological domination over your players?
"You make camp by the roadside. The night is warm and fine; the stars twinkle merrily in the heavens. A full moon rises above the horizon and blows up. A few minutes later, flaming meteors start skimming across the sky. One lands a few miles away, the impact uprooting large trees in your vicinity and carving a mile-wide crater in the earth; flaming debris lands around you. The whole countryside is aflame. Needless to say, you get very little sleep tonight."
This is even worse on worlds where the moons have theological significance, such as certain ages of Krynn. "Oh my Gods, Lunitari just blew up and took a chunk out of Solamnia!" Very useful if you want to make the Cataclysm a minor footnote in history... less so if you actually have respect for official chronology, but really: Who cares about that when it comes to psychological domination over your players?
-The Energy Ball
778. Place a ball of swirling energies in the center of room in a dungeon.I f detected, it is neither good/evil, magic, chaotic/lawful. It seems it deosn't even exits.If inspected or touched, nothing can be found (or it might feel cold), but when *chosen player* touches it, ask to see for his character sheet,and:" you see a flash of green light, quite sort, but as you look for an explanation, the only thing you can find is a small amount of orange dust, where *chosen character* was standing." Use your most evil/gleeful/devious look and tear the character sheet apart. "It seems your buddy has just been desintegrated"
779. A few rooms later when the players are inspecting for scret doors/traps, let them only find a small amount of orange dust on the floor.
780. Another fw rooms later, the PCs enter a room in the middle of which sits a large sarcophagus. When they open it, tthey see that it is filled with some kind of organic soup and tissues, under which lies the desintegrated PC. He is comatose untill taken out of the sarcophagus, at which time he simply awakens *and you hand the payer a copy of his character sheet that you had previously made *. He is totally normal, and every thing is as if nothing had happened.
778. Place a ball of swirling energies in the center of room in a dungeon.I f detected, it is neither good/evil, magic, chaotic/lawful. It seems it deosn't even exits.If inspected or touched, nothing can be found (or it might feel cold), but when *chosen player* touches it, ask to see for his character sheet,and:" you see a flash of green light, quite sort, but as you look for an explanation, the only thing you can find is a small amount of orange dust, where *chosen character* was standing." Use your most evil/gleeful/devious look and tear the character sheet apart. "It seems your buddy has just been desintegrated"
779. A few rooms later when the players are inspecting for scret doors/traps, let them only find a small amount of orange dust on the floor.
780. Another fw rooms later, the PCs enter a room in the middle of which sits a large sarcophagus. When they open it, tthey see that it is filled with some kind of organic soup and tissues, under which lies the desintegrated PC. He is comatose untill taken out of the sarcophagus, at which time he simply awakens *and you hand the payer a copy of his character sheet that you had previously made *. He is totally normal, and every thing is as if nothing had happened.
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