Hi I am trying to design an adventure, the idea is that the group needs a help of some powerful fey, and the fey wants some items in return. I'd like the items to be whimsical/fairy-tale like and unobtainable on the first glance. Something like "Bring me a star from the skies" -> the group brings a flag with a star from a crashed skyship...
You could perhaps give them a set of quest instructions which at first seem cryptic but reveal themselves as they progress through the quest, for example (building off your idea):
"I ask thee to fulfil some challenges. First, seek out the fallen star, and return it to the sky. Ride it to the sunrise, and place it in the hands of the ancients. Behind their brown locks lies a tomb of sorrows, and within you must dance with death to open their eyes to see, beneath their gaze your passing will be painless, and return to me the treasurethat you have earnt."
Sounds mostly gibberish, but then they might be kicked out into a storm and see a skyship crash, and when they find it it's called the Star. Then they have to repair it (return it to the sky) ride it East (to the sunrise), where they will find a lost civilisation type place with a stone stature sunken in the river, hands out and palms up. Landing the ship on the hands tilts the statue, causing the brown waters of the river to flow over it's head like hair. Behind the statue is an entrance to a dungeon, in which they enter a room opening onto a long corridor of stepping stones, the ceiling of which is closed eyes. There s a stature there which can be animated by asking if it cares to dance, and by dancing with it the eyes will open, revealing the safe path across the stones - if the eyes are watching, you don't get hurt. At the end is a scepter which looks important, and the statue offers their dance partner either a rose or a kiss, depending on comfort levels of the players with such things. You could also consider them offering less pleasent gifts if the performance checks for dancing were not high enough, like a slap!
Returning, the party might think the scepter is the treasure, but this is the treasure they stole, not which they earnt - they must give them the rose or a kiss (or slap), depending on what you chose for them to earn.
The party might get a delapidated sky ship and a cool scepter as their quest rewards, and their worth will have been proven to the Fey, who perhaps favours elaborate stories as payment and appreciates the one they have woven, so grants them... whatever it was they were after in the first place!
I have a 5 and 7 year old so I listen to a lot of Circle Round which is a good source of inspiration for things fey related. Specifically https://www.wbur.org/circleround/2022/08/02/the-princess-and-the-bee has some great whimsical riddles. You’ll need to do a little adapting like “Bring me a hunter who carries what they cannot catch” the party could encounter a werewolf with fleas that they need a cure for.
Did you ever see Into the Woods? Not my favorite musical ever but I like the part where they need to offer the witch "hair as yellow as corn" and they just give her.. an ear of corn (with all those little hairs still on).
They spent half the movie trying to find out which princess had the most beautiful, yellow hair, and then puzzling out how to get some of her hair, and when they did and the witch tried it in her spell it didn't work so they were just like "I guess try corn."
I have a 5 and 7 year old so I listen to a lot of Circle Round which is a good source of inspiration for things fey related. Specifically https://www.wbur.org/circleround/2022/08/02/the-princess-and-the-bee has some great whimsical riddles. You’ll need to do a little adapting like “Bring me a hunter who carries what they cannot catch” the party could encounter a werewolf with fleas that they need a cure for.
happy gaming
Haha funny, that you chose this episode, because my current strongest contender is "bring a royal with a thousands of subjects" (a bee queen), and then some more followup errands (I am currently working with the idea of the Archfey making some ball/concert/play and the bee queen the party brings being her honored guest)
@ThorukDuckSlayernice one, I will probably not use it in this adventure, but I am definitely saving it for one of the next ones!
@scatterbraind "A minute of your time" where the party is just required to do nothing for a minute. I can totally see this being the hardest quest ever:-D
@CharlesThePlant Yeah, that's exactly the kind of idea I was looking for.
Thanks everyone!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hi I am trying to design an adventure, the idea is that the group needs a help of some powerful fey, and the fey wants some items in return. I'd like the items to be whimsical/fairy-tale like and unobtainable on the first glance. Something like "Bring me a star from the skies" -> the group brings a flag with a star from a crashed skyship...
“Bring me the tears of a unicorn”
I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
So you're after things which are sort of riddles?
You could perhaps give them a set of quest instructions which at first seem cryptic but reveal themselves as they progress through the quest, for example (building off your idea):
"I ask thee to fulfil some challenges. First, seek out the fallen star, and return it to the sky. Ride it to the sunrise, and place it in the hands of the ancients. Behind their brown locks lies a tomb of sorrows, and within you must dance with death to open their eyes to see, beneath their gaze your passing will be painless, and return to me the treasurethat you have earnt."
Sounds mostly gibberish, but then they might be kicked out into a storm and see a skyship crash, and when they find it it's called the Star. Then they have to repair it (return it to the sky) ride it East (to the sunrise), where they will find a lost civilisation type place with a stone stature sunken in the river, hands out and palms up. Landing the ship on the hands tilts the statue, causing the brown waters of the river to flow over it's head like hair. Behind the statue is an entrance to a dungeon, in which they enter a room opening onto a long corridor of stepping stones, the ceiling of which is closed eyes. There s a stature there which can be animated by asking if it cares to dance, and by dancing with it the eyes will open, revealing the safe path across the stones - if the eyes are watching, you don't get hurt. At the end is a scepter which looks important, and the statue offers their dance partner either a rose or a kiss, depending on comfort levels of the players with such things. You could also consider them offering less pleasent gifts if the performance checks for dancing were not high enough, like a slap!
Returning, the party might think the scepter is the treasure, but this is the treasure they stole, not which they earnt - they must give them the rose or a kiss (or slap), depending on what you chose for them to earn.
The party might get a delapidated sky ship and a cool scepter as their quest rewards, and their worth will have been proven to the Fey, who perhaps favours elaborate stories as payment and appreciates the one they have woven, so grants them... whatever it was they were after in the first place!
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!
I have a 5 and 7 year old so I listen to a lot of Circle Round which is a good source of inspiration for things fey related. Specifically https://www.wbur.org/circleround/2022/08/02/the-princess-and-the-bee has some great whimsical riddles. You’ll need to do a little adapting like “Bring me a hunter who carries what they cannot catch” the party could encounter a werewolf with fleas that they need a cure for.
happy gaming
Did you ever see Into the Woods? Not my favorite musical ever but I like the part where they need to offer the witch "hair as yellow as corn" and they just give her.. an ear of corn (with all those little hairs still on).
They spent half the movie trying to find out which princess had the most beautiful, yellow hair, and then puzzling out how to get some of her hair, and when they did and the witch tried it in her spell it didn't work so they were just like "I guess try corn."
That could be a fun one.
While maybe not directly helpful, I've made a list of things a fey might want for my own campaign that may spark inspiration:
A minute of your time (60sec worth of dominate?)
Resource (hit die, spell slot*, etc)
Shadow
Voice
Memory
Childhood
Years of life
A child
Skill proficiency?
Your name
Your dreams
A stolen item
Your luck (crits become misses? Roll d10+10, when you roll that it’s a fumble/failure?)
Permanent stat deduction (strength/grace/health/knowledge/wisdom/charisma)
Your stature (med to small or vice versa)
Your firstborn
Your blood (lose a racial trait)
Your service
Your hair
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Haha funny, that you chose this episode, because my current strongest contender is "bring a royal with a thousands of subjects" (a bee queen), and then some more followup errands (I am currently working with the idea of the Archfey making some ball/concert/play and the bee queen the party brings being her honored guest)
@ThorukDuckSlayernice one, I will probably not use it in this adventure, but I am definitely saving it for one of the next ones!
@scatterbraind "A minute of your time" where the party is just required to do nothing for a minute. I can totally see this being the hardest quest ever:-D
@CharlesThePlant Yeah, that's exactly the kind of idea I was looking for.
Thanks everyone!