D&D General The Joy of the Mashup - what I found.

[TheSword]

One of the biggest criticisms of pre-published campaigns is that if they’re adventure paths they can be railroads. Or if they are sandboxes they lack pace and a narrative. If you are struggling to find the perfect balance for you, try a mash up!

A mashup is a creative work, usually a song, created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, typically by superimposing the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another and changing the tempo and key where necessary.

In game terms you can blend two published campaigns in just the same way. Setting them in the same location and sharing NPCs and events.

There are three big advantages to mashing two published campaigns together. Firstly it gives players choice. Instead of players having to engage with a single storyline they now get to chose which elements to ignore or engage with. If the players pass a section by whilst doing other things, the DM simply works out the logical impact of the players not intervening and plays it out accordingly. There can be consequences to not engaging with a hook without the overall campaign coming to a grinding halt.

Second advantage is that you get to cut the filler out. Paizo is notorious, but other companies too, for filling out campaigns for with bumph encounters in order to deplete resources. If you have more choice you can delete a lot of these meaningless encounters and still match the progression you’re expecting. You can also afford to cut the section which personally didn’t gel with you you, or that you thought your party might not enjoy.

The other big advantage you get is that you can balance one adventures strengths with another’s weaknesses. Is one AP too dungeon heavy, mash it up with a campaign that has more wilderness or city adventuring. Too much combat? Add more exploration/roleplay.

There are a few live campaigns where I’ve seen this work. @GuyBoy ran a mash up of Keep on the Borderlands and Rappan Athuk. That managed to balance dungeon delving with a strong home base. I have ran Rise of the Runelords mashed up with Shattered Star which balances out the extreme dungeoness of the latter and am currently running a mash up of Dragon Heist, Keys from the Golden Vault & Curse of the Crimson Throne which fixes all the issues with Dragon Heist. Also a mash up of the Ubersreik Adventures & Rough Nights and Hard Days. All work really well together and add a whole new dimension to DMing the game.

Next time you see a published campaign and feel it doesn’t do anything for you, ask yourself would it work out better if it was mashed up with another campaign.

• Candlekeep Mysteries & Descent into Avernus
• Out of the Abyss & Night Below
• Rime of the Frostmaiden & Reign of Winter
• Princes of the Apocalypse & Ironfang Invasion
• Shadowdale: Scouring of the Land & The Randal Morn Trilogy/Doom in Daggerdale.
• Tales of the Old Margrave & Kingmaker

With lots a lots more I haven’t thought of yet. Maybe a mash up is just the thing to put fire into your next campaign.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Storm Kings Thunder and Tyranny of Dragons is pure gold when mashed together. A full campaign of PCs in a large sandbox caught in the crossfire between Giants and Dragons.

Epic, you say?

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

With a mash-up players who have read all the fandom can't know what may happen.

My suggestion is mixing Dragonlance and Dark Sun, because the cover of "Wild Elves" was the source of inspiration. Yes, it is a crazy idea, but if you look for inspiration then you have to risk and try.

Or mixing Dark Sun and Jackandor.

Or Spelljammer with Red Steel/Savage Coast.
Or Spelljammer with some sci-fi franchise (Andromeda, Stargate, Star Wars, Star Trek, Mass Effect..)

Or Birthright with Westeros/Sage of Ice and Fire.

Or Kaladesh with Transformers+M.A.S.K.

Or Ilkoria with Inhumanoids and Power Rangers.

Or Kamigawa with Rokugan/Legend of Five Ringers ( I don't include Naruto because they are OP).

Or New Capenna with C.O.P.S and some superheroes.

 

[TheSword]

With a mash-up players who have read all the fandom can't know what may happen.

My suggestion is mixing Dragonlance and Dark Sun, because the cover of "Wild Elves" was the source of inspiration. Yes, it is a crazy idea, but if you look for inspiration then you have to risk and try.

Or mixing Dark Sun and Jackandor.

Or Spelljammer with Red Steel/Savage Coast.
Or Spelljammer with some sci-fi franchise (Andromeda, Stargate, Star Wars, Star Trek, Mass Effect..)

Or Birthright with Westeros/Sage of Ice and Fire.

Or Kaladesh with Transformers+M.A.S.K.

Or Ilkoria with Inhumanoids and Power Rangers.

Or Kamigawa with Rokugan/Legend of Five Ringers ( I don't include Naruto because they are OP).

Or New Capenna with C.O.P.S and some superheroes.

Excellent. Great to see other mash-up combinations.

 

[el-remmen]

I’ve mashed up Ghosts of Saltmarsh with White Plume Mountain and Against the Giants.

I am also currently mashing up Temple of Elemental Evil with UK4-When a Star Falls.

 

[Daztur]

My go-to set-up is a "highway" there's a nice clearly laid-out road if the PCs want to keep on trucking but there are also plenty of off ramps and nothing stopping the PCs from driving off the road and crashing through a random field.

 

[ersatzphil]

Two that I've DM'ed, that went over really well:

1. Against the Cult of the Reptile God with A Wild Sheep Chase
Why doesn't the sage Ramne not just walk out on his porch and cast dispel magic on everyone every morning? Because his apprentice turned him into a sheep, naturally. Plugged an odd hole in the scenario for me, and acted as a dramatic hook, which N1 doesn't really have. I also snuck in a puzzle from The Book of Challenges, from 3e.

2. The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh and The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford
Brandonsford works well as Saltmarsh, and includes some pirate treasure to tie in with the smugglers. I had Hogboon's goblins mention that they were displaced from their swamp by some lizardfolk moving into their territory. Bonus: one of my players lost a leg in the barrow, and is now exploring the haunted house with a peg leg.

 

[Li Shenron]

It's a great idea. I don't have the resources anymore for planning or running something big, but if I had then my ideal campaign would be always a blend of multiple adventures running in parallel, sometimes overlapping but I wouldn't really need to shove them into crossing each other, they would naturally do so as the NPCs and creatures would all live in the same world.

 

[Mark Hope]

Love doing this. My current arc is Return to the White Plume Tomb of Forlorn Darkness.

It's Return to the Tomb of Horrors but using the area map of White Plume Mountain, with the PCs visiting some of the other locations on the map en route to the Tomb, including the mummy lair from Lords of Darkness masquerading as Dead Gnoll's Eye Socket and Castles Forlorn masquerading as Castle Mukos. Oh, and their home base was Irilian

 

[AnotherGuy]

Our current campaign is a huge sandpit, with a multitude of PC groups.

Primary - Tyranny of Dragons and Storm King's Thunder (including AL adventures)
Characters have rescued King Hekaton but many of the giants have decided to serve under Hartkiller (Anam's youngest) who is rebuilding Ostoria. Will this giant dilemma be solved before the time the Council decides to march against the Cult? It is looking unlikely.

Backgrounded Out of the Abyss with the premonition of Descent into Avernus (the terrifying idea being spun that perhaps the Prime Material plane is the new battleground for the Blood War). The Council's attention (and forces) remain divided between what is happening at the Well of Dragons and the demon threat in the Underdark.
The seeds for Doomed Forgotten Realms have been planted as there is an everchanging map from the future that the Council is heavily concerned with...

Other
(1) Dragon Heist. Backgrounded predominantly, with possible blackmail material on 1-2 ToD council members should the characters pursue the storyline.
(2) Dungeon of the Mad Mage. PCs encountered Halaster in Undermountain when they were chasing a succubus working for the Cult of the Dragon. He took the opportunity to create clones of them. They die, they end up in Undermountain.

Mashed in within all the above they have completed or participated in
Murder in Baldur's Gate. PCs helped elevate a ToD council member.
Legacy of the Crystal Shard. PCs quested on behalf of a ToD council member.
A Mission to Thay. A ToD tie-in.
The Lich Queen's Begotten. The intention is to close this almost 10-year campaign with The Lich Queen's Beloved. The githyanki and Tiamat are allies. At the Well of Dragons they will likely face off against a few githyanki sent by Vlaakith to welcome the Dragon-Queen after her liberation from the Nine Hells.