Same Adventure, Different Themes

[mmadsen]

In Same D&D, Different Themes, we received a number of good suggestions for alternative themes:

• Anime
• Pirates/Swashbuckling
• Mythic Greece
• Mythic Egypt
• Arabian Nights (Al-Qadim)
• Gothic Horror (Ravenloft)
• Clockwork/Steam
• Planescape
• Norse Myth
• Arthurian
• Swords & Sorcery (Conan)
• Dark Sun
• Tolkien (with fat hobbits, tall elves, etc.)
• Post-Apocalypse (Wizards, Thundarr, etc.)
• Renaissance Italy

How would you modify a popular "stock" D&D adventure, say, the Sunless Citadel, for one of those alternative themes?

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Pirate "Sunless Citadel"...

Make the entrance to the Citadel levels a Skull shaped cave on some tropical island. Change the main villain from being a Druid to a Bokor ala "Skull & Bones". Instead of Twig Blights populate the island with Zombi (Skull & Bones... not D&D). Of course instead of it being a rescue mission as published in Sunless Citadel the Skull Cave would have been the destination on a treasure map that was washed up on the beach of Tortuga only to be discovered by one of the hung over PCs waking up after a night of rum swilling revelry.

 

[mmadsen]

Pirate "Sunless Citadel"...

Make the entrance to the Citadel levels a Skull shaped cave on some tropical island.

Naturally.

Change the main villain from being a Druid to a Bokor ala "Skull & Bones".

Or just describe him as a savage bokor. (Is there something Bugbear-like he could have transformed into?)

Instead of Twig Blights populate the island with Zombi (Skull & Bones... not D&D).

I quite like the Twig Blights, and I think they'd work fine as evil bokor creations; I'm just not sure how they attack a nearby community's farms if they're on an isolated island.

My real concern would be replacing the kobolds and goblins with something more Caribbean -- snake men and monkey men?

Of course instead of it being a rescue mission as published in Sunless Citadel the Skull Cave would have been the destination on a treasure map that was washed up on the beach of Tortuga only to be discovered by one of the hung over PCs waking up after a night of rum swilling revelry.

Nothing says it has to be either a rescue mission or a treasure hunt; it can be both!

 

[dshai527]

Just give them all eyepatches or peg-legs and hooks and yer done. Oh and double the amount of treasure..pirates like treasure. just remember the pirate template raises the CR rating considerably just like the ninja template so prepare accordingly.

 

[mmadsen]

Swords & Sorcery (Conan) Sunless Citadel
Obviously, many D&D adventures work well in a swords-and-sorcery setting; the primary hang-up would be the Tolkien-esque races. If we replace the kobolds with serpent men and the goblins with stooped, degenerate ape-men, that goes a long way.

[Edited]The bugbear obviously doesn't fit though. And the druid? Suggestions?[/Edited]

 

[The_Gneech]

Swords & Sorcery (Conan) Sunless Citadel
Obviously, many D&D adventures work well in a swords-and-sorcery setting; the primary hang-up would be the Tolkien-esque races. If we replace the kobolds with serpent men and the goblin with stooped, degenerate ape-men, that goes a long way.

A bugbear druid obviously doesn't fit though. Suggestions?

The druid in Sunless Citadel is a human IIRC; there are just bugbear heavies. Replace them with Picts, have the druid be their shaman and move the whole thing to the temple of a Gibbering Outer God at the heart of a ruined city of a lost, decadent civilization.

Oh, and put another rival adventuring party in there, so they can get wiped out by the serpent men except for their leader, who gets sacrificed to the Gulthas Tree by the druid.

-The Gneech

 

[Psion]

Someone on NKL was running an anime RttToEE. No idea about specifics. I guess you could make all of the clerics arrogant and snooty, and male clericss will have long hair. Instead of holy symbols as focuses, they prattle long invocations to the powers of darkness.

 

[mmadsen]

The druid in Sunless Citadel is a human IIRC; there are just bugbear heavies.

Good catch. I'm not sure how/why I confused Balsag and Belak, but I did... :\

Replace them with Picts, have the druid be their shaman and move the whole thing to the temple of a Gibbering Outer God at the heart of a ruined city of a lost, decadent civilization.

Definitely.

Oh, and put another rival adventuring party in there, so they can get wiped out by the serpent men except for their leader, who gets sacrificed to the Gulthas Tree by the druid.

Hey, that's always a good idea.

 

[Monte At Home]

Planescape (done right) Sunless Citadel:

The "Sunless Citadel" is a mysterious structure floating in the plane of shadow. The goblins and kobolds are differing factions of darkness worshippers with subtle (but important) ideological differences. The druid is a devil (maybe half devil) carefully manipulating the both groups for his own ends. Meepo is a rogue modron in way over its head.

Planescape (done wrong) Sunless Citadel:

No changes to the published module except the goblins call the PCs "berks" every now and then.

 

[Monte At Home]

Swords & Sorcery (Conan) Sunless Citadel
If we replace the kobolds with serpent men and the goblin with stooped, degenerate ape-men, that goes a long way.

That's absolutely perfect, by the way. (Makes me want to replace all kobolds and goblins everywhere with serpent men and stooped, degenerate ape-men, actually, but now my love for pulpy stories is showing...)

I think the druid would be an evil wizard-priest worshipping the Gulthias (sp?) tree, who would get killed by the tree in some way if the PCs did everything right.