I'm planning out a one-off adventure for a group of 3-4 players at level 6. It mostly takes place in a large cave system, transitioning into an abandoned dwarven stronghold. (By "one-off adventure", I mean it's more than one session, but still only one real story arc. Probably 3-4 sessions worth)
For some plot info:
The plot is that an evil wizard has been using some magic contraption to pull creatures from across the multiverse into his lair to make into minions. The adventure's gimmick is that the player characters are based on people from their favorite shows and movies. So, they were zapped into the wizard's underground lair, and need to find a way back home. Probably through kicking the wizard's butt and using his device to send them back.
The one thing I'm having trouble deciding is, what are the wizard's typical henchmen going to be? He'll have some oddballs from his multiverse experiments, but he should have some standard forces as well.
Edit to clarify: I'm mainly referring to the henchmen that the party fights throughout the adventure. He'll probably have something special by his side for the final encounter.
Sounds like you need henchmen from TV shows and movies. Do you know the players characters already? If so then pick any henchmen from their choice as a starter. Playing a disney character? Get henchmen from Sleeping beauty (weird pig people), if they're playing Austin Powers have comedically inept guards. If they are playing Jon SNow then Wights, and so on.
Then have a trawl for the sort of henchmen to make your players react - the whole basis of a multimediaverse game is to reference things. Add the Wheelers from Return to Oz, Flying Monkies, the Dwergi from Van Helsing, Death Eaters from Harry Potter, Uruk-hai from Lord of the Rings, and so on. If you can, use sound effects to make them guess what's coming - that's the most fun part, after all. Get an audio clip of the orcs chanting from LOTR and have them show up outside a castle to lay siege to it, then watch your players look at each other like "no way..." when you tell them.
I'm considering running something like this myself at some point, and my biggest thing is that I want the creatures/characters they meet to have a chance to be identified before they appear. Squeak Squeack and giggle giggle, and anyone who's seen Return to Oz will go pale.
You mean like the Putties from Power Rangers, or the regular Foot Soldiers from Ninja Turtles? Rank & file faceless no-names they can beat up without paying any real attention to. Right?
I would take something like a bandit, or a guard or cultist, maybe a soldier, and then apply races to them like templates just for flavor. So some would be humans, some orcs, some elves, just to mix it up a li’l and call it a day. Don’t go too crazy with it or you’ll go nuts trying to keep them all strait, it’s mostly for flavor so they don’t seem quite so cookie cutter to the players, but you want them to be cookie cutter for ease of use. Then mix in a berserker, or a thug once in a while and maybe throw in an apprentice wizard, acolyte, or cult fanatic to up the challenge rating a bit. That’s what those statblocks are for.
Undead are always good because necromancy is a form of wizardry Large creatures are always cool, zombie T-rex or zombie frost giant could be the Frankenstein's monster of this wizard.
Elementals Wizards mess with extra planar stuff, you can have them add some flavor beyond just something to kill by having the element have some purpose the way elementals always seem to power something in D&D. Waterwierds are good to add to fountains with treasure at visible at the bottom, or to have pop out of a toilet.
Demons, Devils, Fey, monstrosities, Living spells,
For rank-and-file peons, I'd go with either cultists if said wizard is well known enough to have a following, or a local gang of bandits/mercs. Cultists could also include some minor summoners and mercs could have captured beasts and such for added muscle. Like the Moria goblins having that cave troll on a leash in LotR.
Sorry for the late response, but thanks for the advice everyone! I think I will lean harder into the pop culture baddies, but you gave me some good ideas for the core D&D henchmen as well.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I'm planning out a one-off adventure for a group of 3-4 players at level 6. It mostly takes place in a large cave system, transitioning into an abandoned dwarven stronghold. (By "one-off adventure", I mean it's more than one session, but still only one real story arc. Probably 3-4 sessions worth)
For some plot info:
The plot is that an evil wizard has been using some magic contraption to pull creatures from across the multiverse into his lair to make into minions. The adventure's gimmick is that the player characters are based on people from their favorite shows and movies. So, they were zapped into the wizard's underground lair, and need to find a way back home. Probably through kicking the wizard's butt and using his device to send them back.
The one thing I'm having trouble deciding is, what are the wizard's typical henchmen going to be? He'll have some oddballs from his multiverse experiments, but he should have some standard forces as well.
Edit to clarify: I'm mainly referring to the henchmen that the party fights throughout the adventure. He'll probably have something special by his side for the final encounter.
Sounds like you need henchmen from TV shows and movies. Do you know the players characters already? If so then pick any henchmen from their choice as a starter. Playing a disney character? Get henchmen from Sleeping beauty (weird pig people), if they're playing Austin Powers have comedically inept guards. If they are playing Jon SNow then Wights, and so on.
Then have a trawl for the sort of henchmen to make your players react - the whole basis of a multimediaverse game is to reference things. Add the Wheelers from Return to Oz, Flying Monkies, the Dwergi from Van Helsing, Death Eaters from Harry Potter, Uruk-hai from Lord of the Rings, and so on. If you can, use sound effects to make them guess what's coming - that's the most fun part, after all. Get an audio clip of the orcs chanting from LOTR and have them show up outside a castle to lay siege to it, then watch your players look at each other like "no way..." when you tell them.
I'm considering running something like this myself at some point, and my biggest thing is that I want the creatures/characters they meet to have a chance to be identified before they appear. Squeak Squeack and giggle giggle, and anyone who's seen Return to Oz will go pale.
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
You mean like the Putties from Power Rangers, or the regular Foot Soldiers from Ninja Turtles? Rank & file faceless no-names they can beat up without paying any real attention to. Right?
I would take something like a bandit, or a guard or cultist, maybe a soldier, and then apply races to them like templates just for flavor. So some would be humans, some orcs, some elves, just to mix it up a li’l and call it a day. Don’t go too crazy with it or you’ll go nuts trying to keep them all strait, it’s mostly for flavor so they don’t seem quite so cookie cutter to the players, but you want them to be cookie cutter for ease of use. Then mix in a berserker, or a thug once in a while and maybe throw in an apprentice wizard, acolyte, or cult fanatic to up the challenge rating a bit. That’s what those statblocks are for.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
What sort of wizard? A summoner might choose different allies than a necromancer, evoker, enchanter, etc....
Oompa-Loompas. Wonka's factory was the dungeon of a mad wizard.
Constructs:
Animated armo,r swords, rug of smothering, clockwork monsters (dragon, behir exist) modrons
Undead are always good because necromancy is a form of wizardry
Large creatures are always cool, zombie T-rex or zombie frost giant could be the Frankenstein's monster of this wizard.
Elementals
Wizards mess with extra planar stuff, you can have them add some flavor beyond just something to kill by having the element have some purpose the way elementals always seem to power something in D&D. Waterwierds are good to add to fountains with treasure at visible at the bottom, or to have pop out of a toilet.
Demons, Devils, Fey, monstrosities, Living spells,
Use Mephits as “cartoonish mischievousness” gone evil. Their elements can just be based on what color the cartoon character was.
Astral Dreadnaughts, Ancient Dragons, Aboleths, maybe a Tarrasque or two.
For rank-and-file peons, I'd go with either cultists if said wizard is well known enough to have a following, or a local gang of bandits/mercs. Cultists could also include some minor summoners and mercs could have captured beasts and such for added muscle. Like the Moria goblins having that cave troll on a leash in LotR.
**IT Be Like That Sometimes**
Sorry for the late response, but thanks for the advice everyone! I think I will lean harder into the pop culture baddies, but you gave me some good ideas for the core D&D henchmen as well.