Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="AtomicPope" data-source="post: 6727292" data-attributes="member: 64790">After reading through Out of the Abyss, but sadly not playing it, the Cthulhu themes are very strong but not in a way that expresses itself well with the high heroism of DnD.What you might want to try for is a somewhat formulaic Dream sequence for one or two of the players.  I've done this in other games (typical nWoD since the system and style lends itself to such things), and typically what I will do is start the session like it's a normal adventure.  Then start adding things that are different.  Talking monsters or enemies that show up with a character's mother or 2nd grade teacher.  Have everyone play their characters as normal but slowly move the dream to something personal for one particular character.  Let the dream tell a certain story, connecting the past and future, but not an obvious foreshadow.  An easy way do to this is to insert a plot device, something that can be spotted later on in the story to serve as a clue: Rollo Tomasi, a lost button, or the smell of soap when you shake someone's hand.  These are used in film and literature (L.A. Confidential, Sherlock Holmes and Great Expectations respectively) to create continuity, dramatic tension, and characterization later in the story.An example might be, if one of the character's family members was killed by raiders then you have a that family member appear in the session and introduce you to a "friend", one of the Drow that's chasing the party.  You roleplay that Drow like they don't know what he's talking about when it comes to slavery or the PC's being captured.  Change it up a bit and keep it odd.  Use one of then encounters in the module and have the Drow explain it while helping.  Or maybe the "friend" is the Red Dragon.  Choose a particular story you want to tell and let the players live it through roleplaying.  Add in some Easter Eggs too, like a magic sword in a lost tomb.The best part about these types of sessions is the dream can be fast-paced, odd, informative, and relatively quick (an hour or two).  Also, you can make it VERY dangerous and give the PC's a taste of what some of these monsters can do.  It's often good to kill the other PC's, but if the dreamer dies everyone wakes up.  If the dreamer lives give everyone Inspiration.  Since Out of the Abyss is short on experience points, give them the exp of a Hard Encounter.  Rewarding players for a good session incentivizes good playing.This may be redundant but I've done this before and usually do this once or twice in a campaign to switch things up and break the monotony.  Since all of the players are involved in the actual gameplay (even though it's not technically their character's dream) they remember the dream, the details, and can make story connections to drive the campaign forward. Make sure you sprinkle in foreshadowing and character background.  Make it personal, offbeat, and a bit funny.  Most of all, do it just once or twice and stop. Doing this all of the time is a bad idea.   It loses its novelty and spontaneity, and the player's won't take it seriously anymore.</blockquote>

Verification