Having taken players in our group through the reveal of [spoilers follow] Demogorgon (or from their perspective a barely glimpsed monster associated with brief bouts of madness they experienced), I'm left to wonder how much actual Alice in Wonderland is in here.
Chris Perkins' actual reference to Lewis Carol's works is that there's a bad guy in here that's as crazy as the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland. The association to that work, however, is oft played up. In my pre-purchase research I came across frequent references to crazy travelling companions and the strange surroundings of the Underdark. Then while doing some DM homework, it appears there's an upcoming portion where the characters shrink themselves.
What this adventure arc appears to be from the highest level is the heroes are on the run from their captors operating under the belief that if they can just get back to the surface they will finally be safe. This is underpinned by close calls and making every place they go horrible / knowing that their pursuers are just about to catch up. Although they've never been down here before, it's critical to portray that things aren't right--which is why there's a bunch of NPCs there to tell the players that.
Once out in the sunshine they're summoned by a King who has been watching them somehow. He says that things are terrible down there and they gotta go stop it. The players, who just want to leave, now have to go back. Which is cool because they're now buffed up army leaders and can tell the kings goons to go into the badness for them while they watch. Not long after, a new person says to them that the way to stop the badness is to get all the bad guys in a room and let them beat themselves up. And this is not a stupid plan because they're beings from other planes of existence and without this type of really drastic stuff they'll all just be back tomorrow. Of course, coming into our plane to mess it up is pretty much these folks raison d'être, so.
Now, in the movie Reign of Fire, that's pretty much what's happening. Early - we see the threat. It's too big to kill! Then, we run run run and hide. But, after some suffering, there's an audacious idea that will create a permanent triumph. Of course, the main beauty of that movie is that people are having power struggles not just about who gets to be on camera the most as per most films but about when the tomatoes are ripe. All their Almanacs had burned up previously and now they have to drive a jeep past a sleeping dragon just to spot that ripe red fruit.
So, awful stuff. Stupid plan that works. Check.
But I want Alice.
Why? Well, I'm DM'ing this for an 8 and a 11 year old. I want self-absorbed playing cards. Talking rabbits. Not sure what D&D tropes are being parodied here--we've got the standard save the world schtick, everybody wants to arrest/enslave/stop us. So, after some partly successful side-stepping around the Kuo Toa ritual sacrific...I'm pausing. For good ideas. Things that are fun, lighthearted, and hopefully result in a rational motivation for the players. See, even for the madness element--there's seeing stuff that isn't there [red peach on a table] and there's seeing stuff that isn't there [flayed skeletons dripping ichor]. But there does need to be some alternatives for human/fishman sacrifice. Like a talking caterpillar.
Chris Perkins' actual reference to Lewis Carol's works is that there's a bad guy in here that's as crazy as the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland. The association to that work, however, is oft played up. In my pre-purchase research I came across frequent references to crazy travelling companions and the strange surroundings of the Underdark. Then while doing some DM homework, it appears there's an upcoming portion where the characters shrink themselves.
What this adventure arc appears to be from the highest level is the heroes are on the run from their captors operating under the belief that if they can just get back to the surface they will finally be safe. This is underpinned by close calls and making every place they go horrible / knowing that their pursuers are just about to catch up. Although they've never been down here before, it's critical to portray that things aren't right--which is why there's a bunch of NPCs there to tell the players that.
Once out in the sunshine they're summoned by a King who has been watching them somehow. He says that things are terrible down there and they gotta go stop it. The players, who just want to leave, now have to go back. Which is cool because they're now buffed up army leaders and can tell the kings goons to go into the badness for them while they watch. Not long after, a new person says to them that the way to stop the badness is to get all the bad guys in a room and let them beat themselves up. And this is not a stupid plan because they're beings from other planes of existence and without this type of really drastic stuff they'll all just be back tomorrow. Of course, coming into our plane to mess it up is pretty much these folks raison d'être, so.
Now, in the movie Reign of Fire, that's pretty much what's happening. Early - we see the threat. It's too big to kill! Then, we run run run and hide. But, after some suffering, there's an audacious idea that will create a permanent triumph. Of course, the main beauty of that movie is that people are having power struggles not just about who gets to be on camera the most as per most films but about when the tomatoes are ripe. All their Almanacs had burned up previously and now they have to drive a jeep past a sleeping dragon just to spot that ripe red fruit.
So, awful stuff. Stupid plan that works. Check.
But I want Alice.
Why? Well, I'm DM'ing this for an 8 and a 11 year old. I want self-absorbed playing cards. Talking rabbits. Not sure what D&D tropes are being parodied here--we've got the standard save the world schtick, everybody wants to arrest/enslave/stop us. So, after some partly successful side-stepping around the Kuo Toa ritual sacrific...I'm pausing. For good ideas. Things that are fun, lighthearted, and hopefully result in a rational motivation for the players. See, even for the madness element--there's seeing stuff that isn't there [red peach on a table] and there's seeing stuff that isn't there [flayed skeletons dripping ichor]. But there does need to be some alternatives for human/fishman sacrifice. Like a talking caterpillar.
