I still really like the prison idea, but my current group is looking to run DotMM on weeks where not everyone can make it, so I'm keeping it less story/to focused so nobody has to worry about missing anything crucial when they're gone. So the prison idea is out for this run- through, mostly.
The new thing I'm doing is running it like an episode of Naked and Afraid (nothing lewd, don't worry, just a survival show where people are left in the wilderness with nothing and made to survive with whatever they can find).
So basically, the PC's are stripped of all their gear and need to scavenge any weapons or armor, spell components, or food they can. I got this idea just from how often the book lists the kind of basic, near worthless loot you find. I thought it was good flavor and thought, what if it was useful? What if a character came across that full set of ragged robes and was like, "awesome, clothes!" Or like, finding pickaxes to use as weapons till they can scavenge something better. Sounded like a good way of getting that level of engagement when the focus is completely off story.
And yes, they may all die in a wicked TPK because it's realistically too hard. Maybe. But I wanna see, and since it's just a filler campaign, i feel like if they do TPK it won't bother everyone as much. I wanna see how far they get.
Here's the really mean part. I'm not telling them about the gear thing beforehand. Mostly. I chose one player at random and warned them to prepare for that just so at least one character can think to take mostly V/S spells, or play a monk, or take Tavern Brawler or whatever they think will ensure that they don't die immediately, but I told that player not to tell anyone else.
What do you think?
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A while back I did a post about how to make Undermountain more interesting from a narrative perspective (https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/dungeon-masters-only/35056-dungeon-of-the-mad-mage-twist#c7), and then I actually bought the book and had a different, more mechanical idea on how to run it.
I still really like the prison idea, but my current group is looking to run DotMM on weeks where not everyone can make it, so I'm keeping it less story/to focused so nobody has to worry about missing anything crucial when they're gone. So the prison idea is out for this run- through, mostly.
The new thing I'm doing is running it like an episode of Naked and Afraid (nothing lewd, don't worry, just a survival show where people are left in the wilderness with nothing and made to survive with whatever they can find).
So basically, the PC's are stripped of all their gear and need to scavenge any weapons or armor, spell components, or food they can. I got this idea just from how often the book lists the kind of basic, near worthless loot you find. I thought it was good flavor and thought, what if it was useful? What if a character came across that full set of ragged robes and was like, "awesome, clothes!" Or like, finding pickaxes to use as weapons till they can scavenge something better. Sounded like a good way of getting that level of engagement when the focus is completely off story.
And yes, they may all die in a wicked TPK because it's realistically too hard. Maybe. But I wanna see, and since it's just a filler campaign, i feel like if they do TPK it won't bother everyone as much. I wanna see how far they get.
Here's the really mean part. I'm not telling them about the gear thing beforehand. Mostly. I chose one player at random and warned them to prepare for that just so at least one character can think to take mostly V/S spells, or play a monk, or take Tavern Brawler or whatever they think will ensure that they don't die immediately, but I told that player not to tell anyone else.
What do you think?