Backstory: We have a great dnd game running for upwards of 3 years now and it has been a blast. I am not the main DM, but each players is encouraged to DM for a couple of weeks each year. In short I have given my players two hooks to my session
One PC found a treasure map in his pocket with the words "Ivan the terrible's treasure". The map shows an island.
A rescue mission for retrieving a group of NPCs given by a very shady character. Which happens to be the same island.
Problem: this shady lying character does not know anything about this island, and while my group knew the shady character was lysing. They went out to the island without inquiring anything about the island from any other sources. To my surprise my players strongly latched onto two points the shady character told them
The island is cursed
Nobody has ever left the island
If the players had asked anybody in the town they were in, or done some reconnaissance they would have discovered that
The fishermen believe the island is cursed, its an old fisherman's tale.
Nobody has ever actually gone to the island
Players expectations: Right before they entered the island the session ended. My players we excited and curious what kind of curse had befallen this tropical island.Some floating ideas where mind control, or some elaborate stockholm syndrome. Maybe even devil worshippers (they believe, without any reason, that humans ocupy the island). I got the impression they belived it was akin to lost, some kind of grand mystery.
My expectations: My idea was an island inhabited by semi-friendly apes which has captured the humans. Since the humans had captured some of the monkeys themselves (the players have been introduced to this in the town they just left). In more detail they know of a captain who has visited this island, and also left the map for them. Then after freeing said NPCs and either killing or helping the monkeys, they get Ivan the terrible treasure which triggers a fight against this strong ghost.
Summary: I spent a long time preparing, and now I am having second doubts about my adventure. Would my players be unhappy there is no grand conspiracy on the island? Should I change my ideas for the island? If not, how would I ensure that my players end up having fun/is not let down by the adventure? As stated in the title I guess I am looking to reconcile my view of the adventure with what the players expects.
I can only speak for myself personally but I'd be very tempted to actually play into it not being as dangerous as rumoured, so you can then throw something really horrible in a later session where a curse is very much real. 😈
That said, if there's a strong ghost then the island kind of is cursed? Plus the monkeys could very much be the origin of the "curse" rumours if people have landed on the island and been spooked by them before.
I think the main thing to do is leave room for the players to keep themselves guessing; they may end up scaring themselves enough it doesn't really matter what the reality is. 😂
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
It depends whether you’re comfortable pivoting to a different story at a fairly late stage. If you can come up with a new idea which excites you and you think will be more engaging for your players, go for it. If not, don’t worry.
Perhaps the apes are previous visitors to the island who’ve been transformed by the mysterious curse/villain?
Just because they didn't ask around the town, doesn't mean they can't run into someone on the island who truly believes in the curse and feels he is doomed to die there and tells them all the horrible things the island is known for around a campfire... really set the scene and expectations...
I wouldn’t change for the player’s sake. I’d maybe have there be something that might make it seem cursed from a distance. A rock formation that when viewed from a certain angle leads oks like a sign of a bad omen. But turns out it was a hermit who shaped the rocks could like that so people would leave them alone. Or it’s always foggy there, but turns out the fog is because there’s a hot spring. Or a small lava flow that spills into the water and makes a continual source of steam. In short, give them a visible reason why people might think it’s cursed, and then a mundane explanation. That still gives them a mystery to solve. And in the case of something like the hermit, it gives them a choice whether or not to keep his secret. Heck, the hermit could even be Ivan the Terrible.
I could say there are things you could have preset that the players would have heard before they left for the island so in case they never bothered to ask around some info or tall tales would have been told to them to help foster the island's mystery.
That being said where you are is not a bad place. They have driven the mystery of the island for you. So play into that but keep your current storyline. I would make a few changes to help bring the ghost into it more perhaps making it a god or strange statue the players discover or find out the Apes are worshiping. Or perhaps they find out the Apes are semi-friendly toward strangers once they find out they are not there to capture them for profit.
The following are my suggestions, please use them as you like. I would also be curious to hear a follow-up to what happens after you finish your adventure.
Encounter ideas I would use:
As they leave the boat a person runs from the jungle (being chased by the Apes who stay back once they see the new arrivals). The escaping NPC tells a disillusioned tale of things trying to capture him. He arrives days before with some other people who have all disappeared into the Jungle.
Or he escaped the apes and tells a horror story of the other sailors being sacrificed to the Apes god, which might be the ghost.
If they just explore the island have a hex map and if they wander into a certain area all sounds of jungle life start to fade away. This is where the ghost haunts. In the daylight the ghost is invisible. At night it can be seen. Have a random chart where they might encounter the ghost or dead bodies or people and animals. He is powerful but not all present in any space.
Another version of the escaped sailor they meet on the beach or just in the jungle. He was with another group of men who came seeking Ivan's treasure. He is the only survivor. He was badly injured and the Apes found him. They actually took him in and brought him back from the brink of death. He woke up and thought the whole ghost thing was a dream and that the apes killed his crew. So he is running away from the Apes and they are trying to chase him down because he is not well.
Give the Apes bonuses for hiding in their jungle. Even to the point that they could conversate with the players from a safe place and not be seen.
Backstory: The Apes uncovered Ivan's treasure not knowing what it was. They were going to use it to trade with the other tribes or visitors to the island. But the treasure being cursed set upon them a ghost. It torments them and they think it to be an evil jungle spirit and must appease it with sacrifices or maybe everyone they capture might help them get rid of the ghost.
Another option is, the party finds the Apes who tell them to leave. They either kill some or make friends with them. Either way, the Apes tell their woaful tale of being hunted by strangers however they also mention a part of the Island they can no longer go to as an evil entity lives there and kills anything that dares enter its domain. The apes agree to release any remaining prisoners if they group can kill the ghost on the far side of their island.
That is where the treasure could be and the players will discover the ghost didn't start hunting anything on the island until a group of men arrived and found the treasure. What is left of their bodies still remains spread around the dug-up treasure chest.
The Shady character who told them to go to the island is making payments to the Apes to rescue someone he does care about. The Apes get new people and the person in question is set free. So he keeps sending people to the island.
The Shady person was with a group of men who were going to get the treasure but encountered the Apes. They try to capture the apes but his men are killed. He wants revenge so he sends any adventurers he finds to the island the hunt the Apes.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I live my life like a West Marches campaign, A swirling vortex of Ambitions and Insecurities.
A good rule of thumb when running any sort of D&D adventure is that playing on players suspicions, theories, fears and or assumptions by adapting your adventure on the fly will very often result in very vivid adventures and story's for players. They won't know that this was not your plan and they feel smart for having some aspects of their thinking turn out to be true.
Players expectations: Right before they entered the island the session ended. My players we excited and curious what kind of curse had befallen this tropical island.Some floating ideas where mind control, or some elaborate stockholm syndrome. Maybe even devil worshippers (they believe, without any reason, that humans ocupy the island). I got the impression they belived it was akin to lost, some kind of grand mystery.
My expectations: My idea was an island inhabited by semi-friendly apes which has captured the humans. Since the humans had captured some of the monkeys themselves (the players have been introduced to this in the town they just left). In more detail they know of a captain who has visited this island, and also left the map for them. Then after freeing said NPCs and either killing or helping the monkeys, they get Ivan the terrible treasure which triggers a fight against this strong ghost.
Summary: I spent a long time preparing, and now I am having second doubts about my adventure. Would my players be unhappy there is no grand conspiracy on the island? Should I change my ideas for the island? If not, how would I ensure that my players end up having fun/is not let down by the adventure? As stated in the title I guess I am looking to reconcile my view of the adventure with what the players expects.
I'd just slightly change the plan to fit with the player expectations a little more, e.g.
The ghost of Ivan the Terrible has been cursed to be trapped on the island by his own treasure - he robbed a holy place and the priest cursed him to be bound to the thing he stole until it is returned to the faithful (Ivan only knows that he was cursed).
The ghost of Ivan the Terrible is possessing the leader of the monkeys and is forcing the monkeys to kidnap humans to make himself a new body.
This happens a lot. Players go wild with theories, and sometimes it means they scare themselves better than the DM could ever dream of, lol.
It can be fun to play into those theories, throwing red herrings and false confirmations into the game and subverting expectations at the end. All the better if reality is a hilarious misunderstanding. But sometimes your players have ideas that are better than your original intentions. If you like those ideas, you can change reality to confirm their expectations. They love those "I knew it!" moments.
Considering you have a ghost on the island that the players will fight, I agree with Haravikk that the curse is kind of true. If it were me, I'd dial up the subversion and the confirmation elements. Make the apes cute or goofy and guarding some talking treasure they revere like a god. The party might be taken there to pay tribute to the treasure, or offered a blessing from it, and that's when you drop the Big Bad Scary Ghost on them. Because maybe the treasure has a bunch of soul coins, and he's been slyly manipulating the apes into bringing him people to trap in the remaining coins to fulfill some ancient bargain that will let him be resurrected...
Whatever you prepare as DM, players will have their own expectations, suspicions, theories etc and there's nothing to stop them. It's even something that amuse me a lot as DM looking how far off sometimes players may get.
You don't have to change anything necessarily, it's okay for intrigue to be different from expectations, sometimes it's crazier than it first appears, sometime not. It's okay too if you want to use players ideads to adapt your storyline. But don't feel pressure to do anything if you originally planned the mystery ro be apes capturing humans especially if you started planting seeds in previous town.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Backstory: We have a great dnd game running for upwards of 3 years now and it has been a blast. I am not the main DM, but each players is encouraged to DM for a couple of weeks each year. In short I have given my players two hooks to my session
Problem: this shady lying character does not know anything about this island, and while my group knew the shady character was lysing. They went out to the island without inquiring anything about the island from any other sources. To my surprise my players strongly latched onto two points the shady character told them
If the players had asked anybody in the town they were in, or done some reconnaissance they would have discovered that
Players expectations: Right before they entered the island the session ended. My players we excited and curious what kind of curse had befallen this tropical island.Some floating ideas where mind control, or some elaborate stockholm syndrome. Maybe even devil worshippers (they believe, without any reason, that humans ocupy the island). I got the impression they belived it was akin to lost, some kind of grand mystery.
My expectations: My idea was an island inhabited by semi-friendly apes which has captured the humans. Since the humans had captured some of the monkeys themselves (the players have been introduced to this in the town they just left). In more detail they know of a captain who has visited this island, and also left the map for them. Then after freeing said NPCs and either killing or helping the monkeys, they get Ivan the terrible treasure which triggers a fight against this strong ghost.
Summary: I spent a long time preparing, and now I am having second doubts about my adventure. Would my players be unhappy there is no grand conspiracy on the island? Should I change my ideas for the island? If not, how would I ensure that my players end up having fun/is not let down by the adventure? As stated in the title I guess I am looking to reconcile my view of the adventure with what the players expects.
I can only speak for myself personally but I'd be very tempted to actually play into it not being as dangerous as rumoured, so you can then throw something really horrible in a later session where a curse is very much real. 😈
That said, if there's a strong ghost then the island kind of is cursed? Plus the monkeys could very much be the origin of the "curse" rumours if people have landed on the island and been spooked by them before.
I think the main thing to do is leave room for the players to keep themselves guessing; they may end up scaring themselves enough it doesn't really matter what the reality is. 😂
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
It depends whether you’re comfortable pivoting to a different story at a fairly late stage. If you can come up with a new idea which excites you and you think will be more engaging for your players, go for it. If not, don’t worry.
Perhaps the apes are previous visitors to the island who’ve been transformed by the mysterious curse/villain?
Just because they didn't ask around the town, doesn't mean they can't run into someone on the island who truly believes in the curse and feels he is doomed to die there and tells them all the horrible things the island is known for around a campfire... really set the scene and expectations...
I wouldn’t change for the player’s sake. I’d maybe have there be something that might make it seem cursed from a distance. A rock formation that when viewed from a certain angle leads oks like a sign of a bad omen. But turns out it was a hermit who shaped the rocks could like that so people would leave them alone. Or it’s always foggy there, but turns out the fog is because there’s a hot spring. Or a small lava flow that spills into the water and makes a continual source of steam.
In short, give them a visible reason why people might think it’s cursed, and then a mundane explanation. That still gives them a mystery to solve. And in the case of something like the hermit, it gives them a choice whether or not to keep his secret.
Heck, the hermit could even be Ivan the Terrible.
I could say there are things you could have preset that the players would have heard before they left for the island so in case they never bothered to ask around some info or tall tales would have been told to them to help foster the island's mystery.
That being said where you are is not a bad place. They have driven the mystery of the island for you. So play into that but keep your current storyline. I would make a few changes to help bring the ghost into it more perhaps making it a god or strange statue the players discover or find out the Apes are worshiping. Or perhaps they find out the Apes are semi-friendly toward strangers once they find out they are not there to capture them for profit.
The following are my suggestions, please use them as you like. I would also be curious to hear a follow-up to what happens after you finish your adventure.
Encounter ideas I would use:
As they leave the boat a person runs from the jungle (being chased by the Apes who stay back once they see the new arrivals). The escaping NPC tells a disillusioned tale of things trying to capture him. He arrives days before with some other people who have all disappeared into the Jungle.
Or he escaped the apes and tells a horror story of the other sailors being sacrificed to the Apes god, which might be the ghost.
If they just explore the island have a hex map and if they wander into a certain area all sounds of jungle life start to fade away. This is where the ghost haunts. In the daylight the ghost is invisible. At night it can be seen. Have a random chart where they might encounter the ghost or dead bodies or people and animals. He is powerful but not all present in any space.
Another version of the escaped sailor they meet on the beach or just in the jungle. He was with another group of men who came seeking Ivan's treasure. He is the only survivor. He was badly injured and the Apes found him. They actually took him in and brought him back from the brink of death. He woke up and thought the whole ghost thing was a dream and that the apes killed his crew. So he is running away from the Apes and they are trying to chase him down because he is not well.
Give the Apes bonuses for hiding in their jungle. Even to the point that they could conversate with the players from a safe place and not be seen.
Backstory: The Apes uncovered Ivan's treasure not knowing what it was. They were going to use it to trade with the other tribes or visitors to the island. But the treasure being cursed set upon them a ghost. It torments them and they think it to be an evil jungle spirit and must appease it with sacrifices or maybe everyone they capture might help them get rid of the ghost.
Another option is, the party finds the Apes who tell them to leave. They either kill some or make friends with them. Either way, the Apes tell their woaful tale of being hunted by strangers however they also mention a part of the Island they can no longer go to as an evil entity lives there and kills anything that dares enter its domain. The apes agree to release any remaining prisoners if they group can kill the ghost on the far side of their island.
That is where the treasure could be and the players will discover the ghost didn't start hunting anything on the island until a group of men arrived and found the treasure. What is left of their bodies still remains spread around the dug-up treasure chest.
The Shady character who told them to go to the island is making payments to the Apes to rescue someone he does care about. The Apes get new people and the person in question is set free. So he keeps sending people to the island.
The Shady person was with a group of men who were going to get the treasure but encountered the Apes. They try to capture the apes but his men are killed. He wants revenge so he sends any adventurers he finds to the island the hunt the Apes.
I live my life like a West Marches campaign, A swirling vortex of Ambitions and Insecurities.
A good rule of thumb when running any sort of D&D adventure is that playing on players suspicions, theories, fears and or assumptions by adapting your adventure on the fly will very often result in very vivid adventures and story's for players. They won't know that this was not your plan and they feel smart for having some aspects of their thinking turn out to be true.
I'd just slightly change the plan to fit with the player expectations a little more, e.g.
The ghost of Ivan the Terrible has been cursed to be trapped on the island by his own treasure - he robbed a holy place and the priest cursed him to be bound to the thing he stole until it is returned to the faithful (Ivan only knows that he was cursed).
The ghost of Ivan the Terrible is possessing the leader of the monkeys and is forcing the monkeys to kidnap humans to make himself a new body.
This happens a lot. Players go wild with theories, and sometimes it means they scare themselves better than the DM could ever dream of, lol.
It can be fun to play into those theories, throwing red herrings and false confirmations into the game and subverting expectations at the end. All the better if reality is a hilarious misunderstanding. But sometimes your players have ideas that are better than your original intentions. If you like those ideas, you can change reality to confirm their expectations. They love those "I knew it!" moments.
Considering you have a ghost on the island that the players will fight, I agree with Haravikk that the curse is kind of true. If it were me, I'd dial up the subversion and the confirmation elements. Make the apes cute or goofy and guarding some talking treasure they revere like a god. The party might be taken there to pay tribute to the treasure, or offered a blessing from it, and that's when you drop the Big Bad Scary Ghost on them. Because maybe the treasure has a bunch of soul coins, and he's been slyly manipulating the apes into bringing him people to trap in the remaining coins to fulfill some ancient bargain that will let him be resurrected...
Whatever you prepare as DM, players will have their own expectations, suspicions, theories etc and there's nothing to stop them. It's even something that amuse me a lot as DM looking how far off sometimes players may get.
You don't have to change anything necessarily, it's okay for intrigue to be different from expectations, sometimes it's crazier than it first appears, sometime not. It's okay too if you want to use players ideads to adapt your storyline. But don't feel pressure to do anything if you originally planned the mystery ro be apes capturing humans especially if you started planting seeds in previous town.