What do you always use?

[Obryn]

I have a tendency to mix Lovecraftian stuff with my D&D adventures, and to include incredibly old structures and artifacts with no comprehensible purpose.

My faves are huge metal doors set in the floor - cribbed from "The Shadow out of Time" and "At the Mountains of Madness."

Since I also run Call of Cthulhu, I think it's safe to say you'll run into a massive door in the floor at least once every campaign. And I have no problem putting Shoggoths in there, fwiw.

-O

 

[karlindel]

A very interesting thread. There are a few things that crop up in many of my games, although I wouldn't go as far as to say always:

Elemental themes - Most of my campaigns have at least one adventure with strong elemental overtones. My current campaign has Tharizdun cultists as the main villains.

Shades of Grey - I like multi-faceted villains. I am also a fan of evil creatures that have understandable motivations, some of which the PCs even sympathize with.

Deal-making Villains - Villains who are willing to bargain with the PCs are always fun. It is particularly enjoyable when both the villain and the PC profit from the deal at the expense of some other villain.

Certain NPCs - I have a trio of dwarven brothers of the Magmatel clan, and I have used at least one of them in each of my last few campaigns. I just like their personalities. I have a few other NPCs that I frequently reuse the names and basic personalities, although I often change many details to fit them into the new setting and plot.

 

[Shemeska]

Adorable, cute NPCs, potentially dangerously so
Faerie Dragons with the mindset of 5 year old kids and a full Wish 1/day are a favorite of mine. I had a flock of eight of them as the somewhat incompetant hired help to manage the dungeon of a half-slaad great wyrm rust dragon. One of the faerie dragons showed up dressed in a fuzzy Ygorl costume, claiming to be Ygorl. Another dressed as Ssendaam, another as Chourst, another as Rrenbuu, etc.

Mind you, Rrenbuu was actually there as a giant purple cane toad on another NPCs shoulder (unbeknownst to the PCs).

And if it's not a faerie dragon, it's a mephit of some flavor, or an annoying imp, quasit, etc.



Risen Fiends
I adore risen, or partially risen fiends and lapsed celestials. The only problem is, you're never entirely sure if any of them are telling the truth, and if so, how risen they actually are. Some flavor of neutral? Actually good? Brutally evil but with a slight flaw in that they actually care about some one thing?


NPC forces of nature that you don't fight
Daru Ib Shamiq, Harishek ap Thulkesh, The Mother of Serpents, Apomps the Triple Aspected, The Lady of Pain, etc.

Some NPCs you interact with in some capacity, but they're not normal characters. They're more akin to forces of nature that you're swempt up into their current, their sphere of influence and you hope to God that you manage to avoid being sucked under. They're plot devices, not monsters.

 

[The Shaman]

Lessee . . .

Espionage

Everything I run turns into a spy caper at some point.

Cross-country travel

"I see a long voyage in your future, filled with many travails . . . "

Intrigue

Goes hand-in-glove with the espionage, I suppose, but stuff like, "He loves her, but she loves him, and he loves somebody else . . . " pops up all the time.

Adventurers as authority figures

I like it when the adventurers are in charge of stuff in the game-world; leads to espionage and intrigue . . .

Nature, red in tooth and claw

Natural hazards are among my favorite encounters: fording a swift-moving river, escaping a wildfire, flashfloods, a hurricane . . .

 

[Longtooth Studios]

Owlbears
At least once in a campaign.

An original Item
I really play to express my creativity.

An Original Creature
Some of the more memorable ones being
The giant, but deadly and highly territorial Woop Woop Bird. Its call echoing through the forest and inevitably drawing the PCs to investigate.

The dreaded Porcupus! The bizarre combination of a porcupine and an octopus. The land loving invertebrate that lairs in hollow stumps and rock crevasses waiting to lash out with its prickly tentacles to secure a meal.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Wraiths Nothing else puts fear into a high level party than wraiths and their touch attacks.

History My worlds are old and the adventures show that off.

Enemies that are real people My enemies are not one faceted, instead they have desires and plans that the party nearly always disrupts.

There be monsters here There is always at least one place, or one creature the party should not touch with a 100 mile pole. But sometimes they go for it.

 

[Kelanen]

Magic Items:

I have always included the Deck of Many things once in every campaign. I friggin love that item, and so do the players. I'll even drop it into Dark Sun!

Same Here.

 

[MrMyth]

While not intentional, I realized that the majority of campaigns I've run have involved turning religion on its head in some fashion. (Either the gods aren't actually who they say they are, or the benevolent high god is actually the ultimate enemy, etc). Running a game with a standard pantheon in place just doesn't come easy to me.

 

[delericho]

The PCs destroy the world.

Of course, that's only been planned into the campaign a couple of times...

 

[Pig Champion]

Pop culture references (Like King Rex Banner and his Banner's Men) and I also love a good enemy mech thrown in there.

Players always freak out when they clear out a goblin minion dungeon only to find the chief with his ye ol' mecha suit right around the next bend. Sends them for a loop.