so, im gonna put my players on a devilish game show run by moloch, and im thinking of segements. the first one is gonna be a mixture of wheel of fortune and jepordy. (spin the wheel and see what happens. if you get a question, its jepordy where the catagories are the 9 layers of hell), and i think a cooking show segment would be fun, but im having trouble A, making a cooking show work in dnd, and B, making it interesting to play.
Have them need to harvest monsters and cook up the best dish fastest. They have a team of cooks that they need to slay specific monsters and deliver parts to to make a meal.
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He doesn't have much besides the skin on his bones. Me: I'll take the skin on his bones, then.
"You see a gigantic, monstrous praying mantis burst from out of the ground. It sprays a stream of acid from it's mouth at one soldier, dissolving him instantly, then it turns and chomps another soldier in half with it's- "
This is going to be really difficult to make work, particularly in the "interesting to play" part. (A bunch of mandatory skill checks is hard to avoid being dull.) You need the right players with the right characters to make it sing.
I think you have to play it for broad comedy, and keep it moving at a brisk pace. You can probably get one combat in, ("The secret ingredient is... Owlbear! Here are your kitchen knives, go collect your meat!") but again, keep it quick. (Don't throw an owlbear at a level 1 party -- they'll win, but it won't be quick. It's better for level 2 or 3. Something that does lingering status effects might be a better choice than a big damage tank.)
The players will want to subvert whatever set of rules are being forced on them. Reward cleverness. Don't shut them down just because they're ruining your idea. That's their job.
Most importantly, if it's not landing, don't dig in. Pull the plug as quickly as possible.
Obviously, when cooking for fiends, well, you're not making pork chops or stuffed duck. You can take that thought as far as you feel your players will go without actually leaving the table. Angel Wings ala Tarterus is one example.
Point out that relatives - parents maybe, or an estranged brother - is in the audience, or comes in as a guest judge. Doesn't matter if said parents are alive and well - fiends lie. 'Oh son, I know I shouldn't have cheated on your father, but I was so lonely, and you weren't there, and you know how your father get's.' Basically it's the players fault his supposed mom is now in hell.
And so on. The other team cheats. The judges favors the other team. There's sabotage, and when there is, the audience is in tears laughing.
I feel like it would be reasonably easy to overdo this. Make sure everyone is on board. And have a way to end it if it starts being unfun for everyone. Or ... anyone, really.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
The key here IMO is what is the point of the game show? Is it to corrupt the players? Is it for the amusement of a particularly sadistic devil? Is it a test before the devil hires the party to do a job for them?
Each of those options would lead to the game show playing out differently... for instance:
Game show to corrupt the players:
Segment 1: An innocent woman is in a cage over a pit of spikes, the PCs are forced to spin the wheel and answer questions and if they get an answer "right" the cage rises and the woman gets closer to being "saved" if they get an answer "wrong" the cage goes down and the woman gets closer to being "killed". You can also add in the woman pleading either for the party to help her or to not play the devil's game. If the players manage to get the woman's cage to the top, the door opens and she is "released" only for her to be eaten alive by devils. If the players get the questions wrong the game ends when she dies. If the players refuse to answer the questions or if they try to approach the cage to free her the "host" devil jumps to the next show before they can do so. The host devil in this case will has increasingly hard or unfair questions - consider Bilbo in the Hobbit asking "what have I got in my pocket?" - to try to get the players to lose.
Segment 2: The host devil demands they make dishes with more and more disturbing ingredients starting with some kind of plant that screams when they rip its leaves off, and culminating with the devil making them cut off the fingers of a living human prisoner. Similar to the previous the only way they can win is to refuse to play, but they are constantly threatened by the host devil that if they lose they will be trapped in Hell for ever and taunted by the opposing team of imps. The interactivity here, is that the players can try to figure out what the things are they are being asked to harvest to try and come up with ways to do it in a way that minimizes the harm/suffering of those entities - e.g. putting water on the screaming plant to enable it to regrow the bit they just cut off, or using fire magic to cauterize the wounds to the human so they don't bleed out.
Game show for a sadistic devil:
This time failing each segment is simply punished by the devil dealing damage to the players using a weapon or some kind of ability, and the goal of the players is to survive and/or find a way to escape - e.g. by using kitchen implements as weapons to fight their way out.
Segment 1: the players are in magic-suppressing handcuffs and forced to answer the questions or be dealt damage if they get them wrong, the questions should be sufficiently difficult to leave the party at ~ 50% hp so that they have a sense of urgency to find a way to escape in segment 2.
Segment 2: the players have their hands freed and have access to stuff they could use as weapons and armour but are competing against a rival infernal team, so if they tried they could have a reasonable shot of fighting their way out. The "game" in this case isn't doing the cooking challenge it is them trying to gather supplies to fight/escape while pretending to go along with the cooking challenge - e.g. knives count as Daggers, a frying pan could be used as a Shield, the pantry with the meat they are asked to use might have large hides hanging up to dry which could serve as Hide Armour, a large spoon or rolling pin might serve as a club or mace, hidden amongst the chopsticks might be something usable as a wand, some of the ingredients might be very colourful allowing the cleric or paladin to "paint" the symbol of their god onto their apron to use as a holy symbol, toothpicks might serve as lockpicks etc...
Game show for being hired by the devil for various jobs:
In this case the devil wants them to succeed, and also wants to see them use their abilities.
Segment 1: Tests their knowledge of the 9 Hells and also serves the devil to try to figure out if the party is a spy / loyal to a different devil. Thus starts out easy but becomes more difficult as the devil asks things only insiders of certain devils would know.
Segment 2: Tests their combat ability, while set up as a cooking show, it actually involves fighting / subdoing various monsters to harvest parts from them so that the devil can see if the party has the skills & abilities to serve the devil well.
these are some great ideas! the point of the game show is to kill them, and provide entertainment for the host, so he can take their treasure and souls, eventually raising an army to reconquer the layer he was deposed from. but devils have to play by the rules, and he cant just go around killing adventurers (not least of wich becuase they might kill him), so, deadly game show.
Turn the show into Crystal Maze, but instead of crystals it's ingredients. Complete the quick puzzle or agility segment to get the relevant ingredients. The party can describe what dish they make at the end, but the main modifier is how many ingredients they collect. Alternatively, have them as the team assigned to an NPC chef, and then make a list of different recipes which need different ingredients, so the Chef can adjust which room to send them to on the fly, so that they can respond to failure ("You failed to get Onions? How? Ok, now we need you to get Shallots - don't mess this up, or we're onto spring onions, and that'll be too sweet, so you'll need to get some spices to fix it too!".
Bonus points if the chef is a ram-headed minotaur called "Ramsey".
Then, make the final ingredient actually a real, deadly dungeon, with a magical item that the host wants at the end of it, so the party doesn't realise it's not the show until the chef takes the urn of "super virgin olive oil" and laughs maniacally, full Jafar "At Laaaast!!!", and breaks free a greater demon who was in the jar - roll for initiative!
so, im gonna put my players on a devilish game show run by moloch, and im thinking of segements. the first one is gonna be a mixture of wheel of fortune and jepordy. (spin the wheel and see what happens. if you get a question, its jepordy where the catagories are the 9 layers of hell), and i think a cooking show segment would be fun, but im having trouble A, making a cooking show work in dnd, and B, making it interesting to play.
all ideas are appreciated
Maniacal Unseelie Nightmare Enby
You Remember Me. Just Think A Little Harder.
A series of Cook’s utensils checks occasionally sabotaged by the other team (whether it’s a devil team or other players)?
…and his brother loved worms. AVACADO
Have them need to harvest monsters and cook up the best dish fastest. They have a team of cooks that they need to slay specific monsters and deliver parts to to make a meal.
He doesn't have much besides the skin on his bones. Me: I'll take the skin on his bones, then.
"You see a gigantic, monstrous praying mantis burst from out of the ground. It sprays a stream of acid from it's mouth at one soldier, dissolving him instantly, then it turns and chomps another soldier in half with it's- "
"When are we gonna take a snack break?"
This is going to be really difficult to make work, particularly in the "interesting to play" part. (A bunch of mandatory skill checks is hard to avoid being dull.) You need the right players with the right characters to make it sing.
I think you have to play it for broad comedy, and keep it moving at a brisk pace. You can probably get one combat in, ("The secret ingredient is... Owlbear! Here are your kitchen knives, go collect your meat!") but again, keep it quick. (Don't throw an owlbear at a level 1 party -- they'll win, but it won't be quick. It's better for level 2 or 3. Something that does lingering status effects might be a better choice than a big damage tank.)
The players will want to subvert whatever set of rules are being forced on them. Reward cleverness. Don't shut them down just because they're ruining your idea. That's their job.
Most importantly, if it's not landing, don't dig in. Pull the plug as quickly as possible.
Obviously, when cooking for fiends, well, you're not making pork chops or stuffed duck. You can take that thought as far as you feel your players will go without actually leaving the table. Angel Wings ala Tarterus is one example.
Point out that relatives - parents maybe, or an estranged brother - is in the audience, or comes in as a guest judge. Doesn't matter if said parents are alive and well - fiends lie. 'Oh son, I know I shouldn't have cheated on your father, but I was so lonely, and you weren't there, and you know how your father get's.' Basically it's the players fault his supposed mom is now in hell.
And so on. The other team cheats. The judges favors the other team. There's sabotage, and when there is, the audience is in tears laughing.
I feel like it would be reasonably easy to overdo this. Make sure everyone is on board. And have a way to end it if it starts being unfun for everyone. Or ... anyone, really.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
The key here IMO is what is the point of the game show? Is it to corrupt the players? Is it for the amusement of a particularly sadistic devil? Is it a test before the devil hires the party to do a job for them?
Each of those options would lead to the game show playing out differently... for instance:
Game show to corrupt the players:
Segment 1: An innocent woman is in a cage over a pit of spikes, the PCs are forced to spin the wheel and answer questions and if they get an answer "right" the cage rises and the woman gets closer to being "saved" if they get an answer "wrong" the cage goes down and the woman gets closer to being "killed". You can also add in the woman pleading either for the party to help her or to not play the devil's game. If the players manage to get the woman's cage to the top, the door opens and she is "released" only for her to be eaten alive by devils. If the players get the questions wrong the game ends when she dies. If the players refuse to answer the questions or if they try to approach the cage to free her the "host" devil jumps to the next show before they can do so. The host devil in this case will has increasingly hard or unfair questions - consider Bilbo in the Hobbit asking "what have I got in my pocket?" - to try to get the players to lose.
Segment 2: The host devil demands they make dishes with more and more disturbing ingredients starting with some kind of plant that screams when they rip its leaves off, and culminating with the devil making them cut off the fingers of a living human prisoner. Similar to the previous the only way they can win is to refuse to play, but they are constantly threatened by the host devil that if they lose they will be trapped in Hell for ever and taunted by the opposing team of imps. The interactivity here, is that the players can try to figure out what the things are they are being asked to harvest to try and come up with ways to do it in a way that minimizes the harm/suffering of those entities - e.g. putting water on the screaming plant to enable it to regrow the bit they just cut off, or using fire magic to cauterize the wounds to the human so they don't bleed out.
Game show for a sadistic devil:
This time failing each segment is simply punished by the devil dealing damage to the players using a weapon or some kind of ability, and the goal of the players is to survive and/or find a way to escape - e.g. by using kitchen implements as weapons to fight their way out.
Segment 1: the players are in magic-suppressing handcuffs and forced to answer the questions or be dealt damage if they get them wrong, the questions should be sufficiently difficult to leave the party at ~ 50% hp so that they have a sense of urgency to find a way to escape in segment 2.
Segment 2: the players have their hands freed and have access to stuff they could use as weapons and armour but are competing against a rival infernal team, so if they tried they could have a reasonable shot of fighting their way out. The "game" in this case isn't doing the cooking challenge it is them trying to gather supplies to fight/escape while pretending to go along with the cooking challenge - e.g. knives count as Daggers, a frying pan could be used as a Shield, the pantry with the meat they are asked to use might have large hides hanging up to dry which could serve as Hide Armour, a large spoon or rolling pin might serve as a club or mace, hidden amongst the chopsticks might be something usable as a wand, some of the ingredients might be very colourful allowing the cleric or paladin to "paint" the symbol of their god onto their apron to use as a holy symbol, toothpicks might serve as lockpicks etc...
Game show for being hired by the devil for various jobs:
In this case the devil wants them to succeed, and also wants to see them use their abilities.
Segment 1: Tests their knowledge of the 9 Hells and also serves the devil to try to figure out if the party is a spy / loyal to a different devil. Thus starts out easy but becomes more difficult as the devil asks things only insiders of certain devils would know.
Segment 2: Tests their combat ability, while set up as a cooking show, it actually involves fighting / subdoing various monsters to harvest parts from them so that the devil can see if the party has the skills & abilities to serve the devil well.
these are some great ideas! the point of the game show is to kill them, and provide entertainment for the host, so he can take their treasure and souls, eventually raising an army to reconquer the layer he was deposed from. but devils have to play by the rules, and he cant just go around killing adventurers (not least of wich becuase they might kill him), so, deadly game show.
i think i might co-opt the sadistic devil option
Maniacal Unseelie Nightmare Enby
You Remember Me. Just Think A Little Harder.
Turn the show into Crystal Maze, but instead of crystals it's ingredients. Complete the quick puzzle or agility segment to get the relevant ingredients. The party can describe what dish they make at the end, but the main modifier is how many ingredients they collect. Alternatively, have them as the team assigned to an NPC chef, and then make a list of different recipes which need different ingredients, so the Chef can adjust which room to send them to on the fly, so that they can respond to failure ("You failed to get Onions? How? Ok, now we need you to get Shallots - don't mess this up, or we're onto spring onions, and that'll be too sweet, so you'll need to get some spices to fix it too!".
Bonus points if the chef is a ram-headed minotaur called "Ramsey".
Then, make the final ingredient actually a real, deadly dungeon, with a magical item that the host wants at the end of it, so the party doesn't realise it's not the show until the chef takes the urn of "super virgin olive oil" and laughs maniacally, full Jafar "At Laaaast!!!", and breaks free a greater demon who was in the jar - roll for initiative!
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