I have many thoughts on what I can do for my upcoming Dungeons and Dragon’s campaign, so I figured I would write some of them down. Some of these are almost certainly going to happen. Others?… Who knows?
Almost Certain Ideas
Dragons
I may have mentioned in a previous post that I have created a group of dragons for my campaign. This group considers the island to be too dangerous to be left in mortal hands unsupervised. As such, at least one magic item the party retrieves will be deemed “too dangerous” by the dragons. As a result, one of the dragons is dispatched to retrieve the item. This encounter can play out in one of several ways. Diplomatically, as the dragon does not seek to harm the players they will be willing to trade. Chase, the party may try to flee, and based on what magic items/spells they have this may be an actual option. Fight, if they players are reckless and don’t hear out the dragon they may attack. Whatever they do, they will become aware of this secondary faction and may have gained a new ally or enemy.
Unicorn
One of the dungeons I have in my back pocket was born of two simple ideas. First, I want a relatively low level encounter with a creature that has a lair. For those unfamiliar, some creatures can permeate an area with so much magic as to make it their own. This alters the terrain and adds some potentially nasty effects to deal with. The other idea was as follows: Didn’t Europeans in olden times mistake Rhinos for Unicorns? That might make a fun encounter. So the primary hunt is for an evil Unicorn, with all of the positive traits of a Unicorn flipped to negative. But also in the encounter I want the party to see a shape in the distance, and if they don’t roll well enough mistake it for a unicorn. But it is in fact a couple rhinos charging them at full speed.
Assault
At several points in the campaign I am going to haveĀ something attack the adventure’s town. In one case it will be a “Trojan Horse” monster, an outer shell designed only to breach/bypass the walls so those inside the creation can get in the town and wreck stuff. The Player’s objectives will be to mitigate damage and then help deal with any aftermath. But another time, the threat perceived will very much be real. What is the thing? The terrifying Tarrasque? A mighty demon? A horde of chittering abominations? I am uncertain what the party will be facing, but it will certainly be out of their weight class… at least if they faced it alone. But whatever it is, it is attacking an entire town of adventures, so the party will have plenty of back up.
Less Certain Ideas
Now for something completly diffrent
One of my early ideas for a “dungeon” was for the party to be transported to a manor. Complete with guests, servants, and all the amenities expected of such a place. BUT, someone has been murdered, and suddenly the party is in a murder mystery. They must solve the mystery and apprehend the killer if they wish to acquire the magic item at the center of this dungeon. But are these people even real?
Suspicion
Another idea is for the party to enter the dungeon and be forced to go through some portal/teleportation circle/contrived conveyance one at a time. And once they are on the other side, they discover that at least one of them has been replaced with an imposter. The imposter is a perfect replica with all the abilities and memories of the person they replaced. And at first they may not even realize they are the imposter. How will the party find the fake? Will they need to rescue the displaced party member? Is there even a fake in the first place or have they been lied to? I have no idea how I would pull this all off, but I would love to do it.