A little background to give context! My group and I have played many many campaigns over the years and decided we wanted to try something a little different. Our campaign is fixed at level 16 with no experience gain, however, rewards for the completion of quests and missions can be anything from gold, artifact, feats, or boosts to abilities or stats. We do rotating story telling each storyteller running a game that lasts between 3 to 5 sessions. With each new session and storyteller the world is expanded in new divers ways. So, its come around to my turn and I have never really ever been an ST but I am keen to give it my best shot. I am wanting to do something quite a bit different from the usual games the others have presented thus far.
Okay so to the real point of this thread, I need help! I am wanting to create a short campaign that is less about fighting and more about using wit, intelligence, and creativity. My fellow players are very...hack and slash minded, which is fine most of the time. I however would like to challenge them with a story built around solving puzzles and using their brains as apposed to brawn. The story is set in the Fey Wild on an Island ruled by an MPC we have dubbed the Badge King. Here he is throwing a massive festival and at the heart of the festival is the parties goal. What I need help with is ideas for different types of puzzles, riddles, distractions, and mysteries that I might be able to use to make the journey to the heart of the island more entertaining. The stipulations are, not violence can be used on the island. If any sort of physical violence is utilized it will completely lose them the big final reward. What I want to go for is a sort of light hearted, feel good story in the vain of Hayao Miyazaki with a little bit of Disney. I want it to feel like something out of a fairytale as well, being that these heroes are at a massive fairy festival in the fey wild. So I am looking for any and all ideas for non-violent puzzles, fun light hearted obstacles, thought provoking proverbs, hooks, and mysteries, and really any other advice you guys might have to provide. I know this story that I am looking to run isn't everyones cup of tea, but I think it will be an interesting challenge for my battle minded friends. One more thing that I forgot to throw in, the puzzles and challenges can absolutely involve lying, theft, and magic. Tricking them or them tricking others is completely on the table! Just no bloodshed. Hope you guys out there can help me.
Sounds like a lot of work to me to replace fighting with rp. I made a drawing the other day that gave me a idea for waypoints. one waypoint would be colored in to indicate that a quest was done to connect one section of road to the next then the puzzle was to connect the road so it lets the player walk over a lake.
So I don't know if you have access to any 4e DMG books, but if you do, you may want to check out that editions "Skill Challenge" system. It creates a fun and diverse way to resolve story moments through skill use and teamwork that I think would be a good starting point for you.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
Hrm... ideas. So, DnD is heavily combat based, so it might be impossible to remove it entirely, but should be possible to frame it in a less murder-hobo method.
Obstacle courses in the form of complex traps. See Xanathar's Guide for more info on complex traps.
Feats of strength so that your Fighter-types aren't left in the cold. Log tosses, weight lifting, pulling carts in a race, etc.
Stage games that use modified combat rules. Combat doesn't have to be violent, but having a game of Quidditch or something could be interesting.
Clones. Its always fun to face your mirror image as an opponent of some kind. You have to outsmart yourself.
Thieves. You get your money stolen, or something
Rule of three - have to pass trials related to Good, Evil and Neutrality. Or feywild/shadowfell/mortal world, or inner/outer/material. Or all combined - set of nine trials, with three each (fey/shadow/mortal) material plane, Good, Evil, Neutral for outer planes, and something for the elemental planes (fire, cold, lightning). Or go Zelda with wisdom, courage and power.
Fey love music and the arts. So, rig up a social challenge related to beauty or sculptures.
Gladitorial games are always fun.
Archery contest. Defeat Robin Hood! Includes trash talking! The key is to make things more complex than just an attack roll on a stationary target, so you can inflict / suffer penalties depending on how you rile up the crowd, deal with environmental hazzards like thrown tomatoes, etc
You could also try a locked room mystery type thing, but I'm not sure if your group would be interested in that kind of thing.
Hi LadyBlackthorn, welcome to the D&D Beyond forums!
I love the sound of this, it's always great to see some non-combat oriented Dungeon Mastering. Do you have access to the Dungeon Master's Guide, either a physical copy or the one on D&D Beyond? The sections on Play Style and Flavors of Fantasy within the 'A World of You Own' chapters offer some words on the topic of non/low-combat D&D.
D&D does have a focus on combat, and your players may like to have a little of it, if only in one or two of the 3-5 sessions. You could consider some kind of mock-combat as part of a trial, rather than real violence. However, you could alternatively try one or two sessions without any combat, and see how your players react! If they're having fun, keep doing what you're doing.
Moving onto direct ideas:
Mystery - The Wicked Witch
A hag has infiltrated the festival and is stirring up trouble. Perhaps the Badge King has caught wind of this, and asks the adventurers to keep an eye out as they take part. Perhaps the adventurers find this out on there own. Either way, hags are fey creatures, and the green hag's Illusory Appearance trait makes her the perfect villain to meddle in the Feywild. Perhaps she's sabotaging part of the festival, or perhaps she's out to get revenge on one of the festival's participants, or even the Badge King himself. Throw in a few clues, and see if your player's will take the bait and pursue the trail. Perhaps completing this will give them a bonus reward, and if they really do seem to need combat, perhaps the hag 'resists arrest' and gives them the opportunity for 'legal' violence on the island.
Activity - Two Truths and a Lie
This is a simple game, often used as an icebreaker or something of the sort in real life - I imagine it would be fun to make player characters try it. The participants take turns, each stating three 'facts' about themselves. In truth, one of these facts is a lie. The adventurers them have to guess which one is the lie. If they get it wrong, they lose a round. If they get it right, they get a point, and so on through the rounds. They could also each get the opportunity to tell two truths and a lie, and as a DM, you have the NPC's guess. If they struggle/you suspect they might struggle, you can offer them insight checks (assuming they have not already asked). Of course, they can roll a deception check to improve their chances when they're the ones telling the lies. At the end of the game, if they have enough points, they win the challenge. This could be provided as an activity at the festival, or a mischievous spirit in a dungeon-like area.
Naturally, a zone of truth is necessary for all participants to enter when revealing which 'fact' the lie truly was. Have it cast by an NPC with a very high spell DC (or alternatively make it a permanent area which already has a high DC), so the players have a chance to resist it, but only a small chance - this way, it can be more down to wits than stats, but you still offer them a way to overcome it through other means.
Activity - The Polymorph Challenge
The pixie is an innocent CR 1/4 fey creature with a whopping 4th level spell. What is that spell? Polymorph. To best this challenge, the adventurers must undergo the polymorph spell, and perform a trial of some sorts in an animal form. Suddenly, the level 16 adventurers lose access to their spells and gear, and must rely on simple actions to succeed. This could be an exploration challenge, or even a race (perhaps an aquatic race down a river, or beneath a lake). Of course, if they really want to fight, this is an opportunity to pit animal form against animal form (until their enemy's polymorph spell breaks from damage).
Activity - Alice in Wonderland
The Feywild always reminds me of Alice in Wonderland. There's a lot you can take from that story, but one of them is having our protagonists shrink. The other is having it be a dream. Taking the Archfey warlock as our example, it has an ability to 'plunge a creature into an illusory realm'. Perhaps a powerful fey (or an actual archfey warlock, or magic item) does something similar, and our brave heroes find themselves in a surreal dreamscape (more so than the Feywild already is). There could be all sorts of challenges in there, but one that springs to mind is a supply of odd potions/magic items, and an area where they cannot use their own magic - in essence, they must use the potions and items provided to overcome an obstacle.
Perhaps this dreamscape puzzle requires three people - one to open a tiny gate which only briefly remains open, one to use an item that shrinks them and only lasts a few seconds, and one to drink a potion of speed that also only lasts for a few seconds. The solution here being that one must become tiny, one must carry him at great speed to the gate while its open, and one must open the tiny gate as the hasted character is carrying the tiny character toward it. The tiny character makes it through, and finds a key or something or other that completes the trial, perhaps waking them up. The trick being, there are a variety of items with different effects, and perhaps a variety of levers. The players would need to figure out that winning combination to get through, with some hilarity during that time they experiment and think it through - the other items/levers could provide other funny, novelty effects. Perhaps they're even awarded a permanent version of a novelty item at the end.
Just a few ideas! Either way, I wish you good luck with it and hope it goes well.
You could have them be the "main characters" in a stage performance. You could have the Badge King rope them into this, and have it be a charisma/ intelligence based skill challenge, with plenty of chances for whimsy, delight, and entertainment.
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
you could do what vanzoeren said and put it together with lighting the signal beacons from my idea to have the badge king try to disrupt the path of the main characters for example when trying to build the road across the lake with their charisma skillchecks maybe it says:
{dangerlurks} A vast lake extends to the east Untravelable ground" yet nice to look at,. Smells of scented rock candy" and toffee in the air the clouds above seem out of place (as a signal fire is lighted a road seems to rain down over part of the lake)" not enough to raise suspicions but you feel as though" somebody is watching you."
or if the badge king disrupts there work with his intelligence challenges maybe the description changes maybe it says
{dangerlurks} A vast lake extends to the east Untravelable ground" yet nice to look at,. Smells of scented rock candy" and toffee in the air the clouds above seem out of place (the blarney stones in the sky seem to make extra heavy rain making the lake uncrossable)" not enough to raise suspicions but you feel as though" somebody is watching you."
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A little background to give context! My group and I have played many many campaigns over the years and decided we wanted to try something a little different. Our campaign is fixed at level 16 with no experience gain, however, rewards for the completion of quests and missions can be anything from gold, artifact, feats, or boosts to abilities or stats. We do rotating story telling each storyteller running a game that lasts between 3 to 5 sessions. With each new session and storyteller the world is expanded in new divers ways. So, its come around to my turn and I have never really ever been an ST but I am keen to give it my best shot. I am wanting to do something quite a bit different from the usual games the others have presented thus far.
Okay so to the real point of this thread, I need help! I am wanting to create a short campaign that is less about fighting and more about using wit, intelligence, and creativity. My fellow players are very...hack and slash minded, which is fine most of the time. I however would like to challenge them with a story built around solving puzzles and using their brains as apposed to brawn. The story is set in the Fey Wild on an Island ruled by an MPC we have dubbed the Badge King. Here he is throwing a massive festival and at the heart of the festival is the parties goal. What I need help with is ideas for different types of puzzles, riddles, distractions, and mysteries that I might be able to use to make the journey to the heart of the island more entertaining. The stipulations are, not violence can be used on the island. If any sort of physical violence is utilized it will completely lose them the big final reward. What I want to go for is a sort of light hearted, feel good story in the vain of Hayao Miyazaki with a little bit of Disney. I want it to feel like something out of a fairytale as well, being that these heroes are at a massive fairy festival in the fey wild. So I am looking for any and all ideas for non-violent puzzles, fun light hearted obstacles, thought provoking proverbs, hooks, and mysteries, and really any other advice you guys might have to provide. I know this story that I am looking to run isn't everyones cup of tea, but I think it will be an interesting challenge for my battle minded friends. One more thing that I forgot to throw in, the puzzles and challenges can absolutely involve lying, theft, and magic. Tricking them or them tricking others is completely on the table! Just no bloodshed. Hope you guys out there can help me.
Sounds like a lot of work to me to replace fighting with rp. I made a drawing the other day that gave me a idea for waypoints. one waypoint would be colored in to indicate that a quest was done to connect one section of road to the next then the puzzle was to connect the road so it lets the player walk over a lake.
So I don't know if you have access to any 4e DMG books, but if you do, you may want to check out that editions "Skill Challenge" system. It creates a fun and diverse way to resolve story moments through skill use and teamwork that I think would be a good starting point for you.
Hrm... ideas. So, DnD is heavily combat based, so it might be impossible to remove it entirely, but should be possible to frame it in a less murder-hobo method.
Hi LadyBlackthorn, welcome to the D&D Beyond forums!
I love the sound of this, it's always great to see some non-combat oriented Dungeon Mastering. Do you have access to the Dungeon Master's Guide, either a physical copy or the one on D&D Beyond? The sections on Play Style and Flavors of Fantasy within the 'A World of You Own' chapters offer some words on the topic of non/low-combat D&D.
D&D does have a focus on combat, and your players may like to have a little of it, if only in one or two of the 3-5 sessions. You could consider some kind of mock-combat as part of a trial, rather than real violence. However, you could alternatively try one or two sessions without any combat, and see how your players react! If they're having fun, keep doing what you're doing.
Moving onto direct ideas:
Mystery - The Wicked Witch
A hag has infiltrated the festival and is stirring up trouble. Perhaps the Badge King has caught wind of this, and asks the adventurers to keep an eye out as they take part. Perhaps the adventurers find this out on there own. Either way, hags are fey creatures, and the green hag's Illusory Appearance trait makes her the perfect villain to meddle in the Feywild. Perhaps she's sabotaging part of the festival, or perhaps she's out to get revenge on one of the festival's participants, or even the Badge King himself. Throw in a few clues, and see if your player's will take the bait and pursue the trail. Perhaps completing this will give them a bonus reward, and if they really do seem to need combat, perhaps the hag 'resists arrest' and gives them the opportunity for 'legal' violence on the island.
Activity - Two Truths and a Lie
This is a simple game, often used as an icebreaker or something of the sort in real life - I imagine it would be fun to make player characters try it. The participants take turns, each stating three 'facts' about themselves. In truth, one of these facts is a lie. The adventurers them have to guess which one is the lie. If they get it wrong, they lose a round. If they get it right, they get a point, and so on through the rounds. They could also each get the opportunity to tell two truths and a lie, and as a DM, you have the NPC's guess. If they struggle/you suspect they might struggle, you can offer them insight checks (assuming they have not already asked). Of course, they can roll a deception check to improve their chances when they're the ones telling the lies. At the end of the game, if they have enough points, they win the challenge. This could be provided as an activity at the festival, or a mischievous spirit in a dungeon-like area.
Naturally, a zone of truth is necessary for all participants to enter when revealing which 'fact' the lie truly was. Have it cast by an NPC with a very high spell DC (or alternatively make it a permanent area which already has a high DC), so the players have a chance to resist it, but only a small chance - this way, it can be more down to wits than stats, but you still offer them a way to overcome it through other means.
Activity - The Polymorph Challenge
The pixie is an innocent CR 1/4 fey creature with a whopping 4th level spell. What is that spell? Polymorph. To best this challenge, the adventurers must undergo the polymorph spell, and perform a trial of some sorts in an animal form. Suddenly, the level 16 adventurers lose access to their spells and gear, and must rely on simple actions to succeed. This could be an exploration challenge, or even a race (perhaps an aquatic race down a river, or beneath a lake). Of course, if they really want to fight, this is an opportunity to pit animal form against animal form (until their enemy's polymorph spell breaks from damage).
Activity - Alice in Wonderland
The Feywild always reminds me of Alice in Wonderland. There's a lot you can take from that story, but one of them is having our protagonists shrink. The other is having it be a dream. Taking the Archfey warlock as our example, it has an ability to 'plunge a creature into an illusory realm'. Perhaps a powerful fey (or an actual archfey warlock, or magic item) does something similar, and our brave heroes find themselves in a surreal dreamscape (more so than the Feywild already is). There could be all sorts of challenges in there, but one that springs to mind is a supply of odd potions/magic items, and an area where they cannot use their own magic - in essence, they must use the potions and items provided to overcome an obstacle.
Perhaps this dreamscape puzzle requires three people - one to open a tiny gate which only briefly remains open, one to use an item that shrinks them and only lasts a few seconds, and one to drink a potion of speed that also only lasts for a few seconds. The solution here being that one must become tiny, one must carry him at great speed to the gate while its open, and one must open the tiny gate as the hasted character is carrying the tiny character toward it. The tiny character makes it through, and finds a key or something or other that completes the trial, perhaps waking them up. The trick being, there are a variety of items with different effects, and perhaps a variety of levers. The players would need to figure out that winning combination to get through, with some hilarity during that time they experiment and think it through - the other items/levers could provide other funny, novelty effects. Perhaps they're even awarded a permanent version of a novelty item at the end.
Just a few ideas! Either way, I wish you good luck with it and hope it goes well.
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Thank you all so much, these are all very helpful and have given me some great places to look for resources. Much appreciated!
You could have them be the "main characters" in a stage performance. You could have the Badge King rope them into this, and have it be a charisma/ intelligence based skill challenge, with plenty of chances for whimsy, delight, and entertainment.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
you could do what vanzoeren said and put it together with lighting the signal beacons from my idea to have the badge king try to disrupt the path of the main characters for example when trying to build the road across the lake with their charisma skillchecks maybe it says:
{dangerlurks} A vast lake extends to the east Untravelable ground"
yet nice to look at,. Smells of scented rock candy"
and toffee in the air the clouds above seem out of place (as a signal fire is lighted a road seems to rain down over part of the lake)"
not enough to raise suspicions but you feel as though"
somebody is watching you."
or if the badge king disrupts there work with his intelligence challenges maybe the description changes maybe it says
{dangerlurks} A vast lake extends to the east Untravelable ground"
yet nice to look at,. Smells of scented rock candy"
and toffee in the air the clouds above seem out of place (the blarney stones in the sky seem to make extra heavy rain making the lake uncrossable)"
not enough to raise suspicions but you feel as though"
somebody is watching you."