Hi Guys! I'm a first time DM. I've been running Lost Mine of Phandelver as my first ever campaign. However, we've completely finished with this quest line. And using the base world LMOP provided, I've created my own homebrew campaign off the back of it. We've been playing for about a year now, maybe just over.
The party have reached Lv8 and are currently in the Feywild looking to gain some experience here. I've introduced some very interesting NPC's here and even given them a little base in a village.
The Elder of this village knows the group are here to help stop the rise of a great evil once defeated nearly 100yrs ago. But can see the group are not yet up to scratch with or "ready" to do this.
I'm trying to come up with some quests that could help them. But I just can't get any inspiration for anything for them to do.
I've also got a great little story arc for one of my PC's who just took a level in Wizard. He wants to somehow get his spellbook basically imprinted on his skin. Like Tattoo's. Like each individual school of magic is a separate tattoo that will glow when spells of that school will be used. Personally, I love this idea. And I want to make it work. But I can't come up with how to do it. I want a quest specifically really.
There are lots of player published adventures and modules online that you can look for. It is also common to draw from stories and movies.
To build something from scratch, it helps to just start writing down elements that you would like to build into the "quest". For example, what themes do you want to explore (Comedy, horror, grit, etc...)? What kind of encounters do you want to have (Social, exploration, combat)? What kind of media do you want to influence your story (Alice in Wonderland, Alien vs Predator, Lord of the Rings, etc...)? And so on.
Once you've created enough dots, all you have to do is connect them, and that often ends up being pretty straightforward.
This answer is in regards to spell book on skin (and answers about creating adventure).
I think what you are seeking is a hook that would make sense to tattoo a spell book on the body.
Myself, I probably would only allow cantrips, because the skin relative to the studying needed to learn the spell after the rest, to say nothing of researching and experimenting spells (hence, spell book), would not be practical.
But hey, its your D&D universe, so maybe spells are only 1 word or a symbol long, which would make it practical to have all of them placed on his arms... .
If that's the case, and you're just looking for a hook - there it was: have the adventure be about obfuscating magic, reducing, else compressing it to make it portable, think bitly for magic, instead of URL"s Ahahaha
So, the next question, how do you make a quest just for that purpose?
PROTIP: before writing, ask yourself just two questions 1) what's the problem 2) what's the resolution.
Once you figure those out, everything else can be populated to create the story, questions/answer, traps, encounters, NPC's, map(s), etc.
We already figured out the first question: 1) wizard needs to find away to streamline/simplify/condense magic spells to place on skin as his new spell book.
Second question 2) ask how that can be accomplished? Artifact? Device? A place (place spell book into a particular location while standing with it and wahla, the transformation has occurred)? Another spell that makes it possible? etc.
Now, just answer the second question and you can start to construct your story, including new questions that will arise as you populate your adventure with plot points: who advises him that it's possible? Or where such a thing might exist? Or where did they hear about this possibility? Etc.
The way I create quests is usually built around one detail I want to explore, then I build an adventure around that.
Like... I wanted to see how the players handle themselves without all their equipment, so I came up with an adventure that involved attending a fancy banquet where they wouldn't be allowed to bring their weapons with them. Or there was a time that I wanted to use the Dybbuk monster for a bit of a horror sequence, so I set up a potential group of allies who, prior to the players arriving, had already been killed and possessed by the Dybbuks.
As for the tattoo concept, it sounds like something where the player would have to find an NPC tattoo artist, either to apply the tattoos to the wizard or to teach the wizard how to apply his own tattoos going forward. At that point then we ask, how do we make that interesting? Let's put the NPC in a dangerous situation... maybe the players go to a town where they know this NPC is located, only to find that they've been arrested, framed for a crime they didn't commit. Then the story can take a few different directions, depending on what you want to do with it... maybe it's just a straight up hunt to find the real criminal. Or maybe it could be more of a court case... something where the party has to work together to find evidence, then have to use persuasion and logic to convince a jury of this NPC's innocence. Either way, it's something that can occupy at least one session, and by the end the Wizard will feel like they've earned this new feature, which will make using it going forward feel more rewarding.
Hi Guys! I'm a first time DM. I've been running Lost Mine of Phandelver as my first ever campaign. However, we've completely finished with this quest line. And using the base world LMOP provided, I've created my own homebrew campaign off the back of it. We've been playing for about a year now, maybe just over.
The party have reached Lv8 and are currently in the Feywild looking to gain some experience here. I've introduced some very interesting NPC's here and even given them a little base in a village.
The Elder of this village knows the group are here to help stop the rise of a great evil once defeated nearly 100yrs ago. But can see the group are not yet up to scratch with or "ready" to do this.
I'm trying to come up with some quests that could help them. But I just can't get any inspiration for anything for them to do.
I've also got a great little story arc for one of my PC's who just took a level in Wizard. He wants to somehow get his spellbook basically imprinted on his skin. Like Tattoo's. Like each individual school of magic is a separate tattoo that will glow when spells of that school will be used. Personally, I love this idea. And I want to make it work. But I can't come up with how to do it. I want a quest specifically really.
Any idea's would be incredibly useful
RE the wizard I have had this, although that was a shamen type character, instead of having a spell book he tattooed the spells to his body, or had his unseen servent do it if it was his back. The cost was the same as a wizard copying into a spell book, after each long rest he would prepare his spells, which basically meant he focused on the tattoos he was activating that day.
But the nature of the character meant he was not a Wizard exactly, he used the spell lists, rules and stats but in game he was a shamen). Because there was no way his book would ever get stolen I decided he couldn't prepare spell scrolls (the tattoo was only one part of the magic imbuded in his body). This meant that the risk of ever having a spell book was removed but he could never make money copying and selling spell scrolls to other magic users, or for the party.
Hi Guys! I'm a first time DM. I've been running Lost Mine of Phandelver as my first ever campaign. However, we've completely finished with this quest line. And using the base world LMOP provided, I've created my own homebrew campaign off the back of it. We've been playing for about a year now, maybe just over.
The party have reached Lv8 and are currently in the Feywild looking to gain some experience here. I've introduced some very interesting NPC's here and even given them a little base in a village.
The Elder of this village knows the group are here to help stop the rise of a great evil once defeated nearly 100yrs ago. But can see the group are not yet up to scratch with or "ready" to do this.
I'm trying to come up with some quests that could help them. But I just can't get any inspiration for anything for them to do.
I've also got a great little story arc for one of my PC's who just took a level in Wizard. He wants to somehow get his spellbook basically imprinted on his skin. Like Tattoo's. Like each individual school of magic is a separate tattoo that will glow when spells of that school will be used. Personally, I love this idea. And I want to make it work. But I can't come up with how to do it. I want a quest specifically really.
Hi Guys! I'm a first time DM. I've been running Lost Mine of Phandelver as my first ever campaign. However, we've completely finished with this quest line. And using the base world LMOP provided, I've created my own homebrew campaign off the back of it. We've been playing for about a year now, maybe just over.
The party have reached Lv8 and are currently in the Feywild looking to gain some experience here. I've introduced some very interesting NPC's here and even given them a little base in a village.
The Elder of this village knows the group are here to help stop the rise of a great evil once defeated nearly 100yrs ago. But can see the group are not yet up to scratch with or "ready" to do this.
I'm trying to come up with some quests that could help them. But I just can't get any inspiration for anything for them to do.
I've also got a great little story arc for one of my PC's who just took a level in Wizard. He wants to somehow get his spellbook basically imprinted on his skin. Like Tattoo's. Like each individual school of magic is a separate tattoo that will glow when spells of that school will be used. Personally, I love this idea. And I want to make it work. But I can't come up with how to do it. I want a quest specifically really.
Any idea's would be incredibly useful
There are lots of player published adventures and modules online that you can look for. It is also common to draw from stories and movies.
To build something from scratch, it helps to just start writing down elements that you would like to build into the "quest". For example, what themes do you want to explore (Comedy, horror, grit, etc...)? What kind of encounters do you want to have (Social, exploration, combat)? What kind of media do you want to influence your story (Alice in Wonderland, Alien vs Predator, Lord of the Rings, etc...)? And so on.
Once you've created enough dots, all you have to do is connect them, and that often ends up being pretty straightforward.
This answer is in regards to spell book on skin (and answers about creating adventure).
I think what you are seeking is a hook that would make sense to tattoo a spell book on the body.
Myself, I probably would only allow cantrips, because the skin relative to the studying needed to learn the spell after the rest, to say nothing of researching and experimenting spells (hence, spell book), would not be practical.
But hey, its your D&D universe, so maybe spells are only 1 word or a symbol long, which would make it practical to have all of them placed on his arms... .
If that's the case, and you're just looking for a hook - there it was: have the adventure be about obfuscating magic, reducing, else compressing it to make it portable, think bitly for magic, instead of URL"s Ahahaha
So, the next question, how do you make a quest just for that purpose?
PROTIP: before writing, ask yourself just two questions 1) what's the problem 2) what's the resolution.
Once you figure those out, everything else can be populated to create the story, questions/answer, traps, encounters, NPC's, map(s), etc.
We already figured out the first question: 1) wizard needs to find away to streamline/simplify/condense magic spells to place on skin as his new spell book.
Second question 2) ask how that can be accomplished? Artifact? Device? A place (place spell book into a particular location while standing with it and wahla, the transformation has occurred)? Another spell that makes it possible? etc.
Now, just answer the second question and you can start to construct your story, including new questions that will arise as you populate your adventure with plot points: who advises him that it's possible? Or where such a thing might exist? Or where did they hear about this possibility? Etc.
Good luck.
The way I create quests is usually built around one detail I want to explore, then I build an adventure around that.
Like... I wanted to see how the players handle themselves without all their equipment, so I came up with an adventure that involved attending a fancy banquet where they wouldn't be allowed to bring their weapons with them. Or there was a time that I wanted to use the Dybbuk monster for a bit of a horror sequence, so I set up a potential group of allies who, prior to the players arriving, had already been killed and possessed by the Dybbuks.
As for the tattoo concept, it sounds like something where the player would have to find an NPC tattoo artist, either to apply the tattoos to the wizard or to teach the wizard how to apply his own tattoos going forward. At that point then we ask, how do we make that interesting? Let's put the NPC in a dangerous situation... maybe the players go to a town where they know this NPC is located, only to find that they've been arrested, framed for a crime they didn't commit. Then the story can take a few different directions, depending on what you want to do with it... maybe it's just a straight up hunt to find the real criminal. Or maybe it could be more of a court case... something where the party has to work together to find evidence, then have to use persuasion and logic to convince a jury of this NPC's innocence. Either way, it's something that can occupy at least one session, and by the end the Wizard will feel like they've earned this new feature, which will make using it going forward feel more rewarding.
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RE the wizard I have had this, although that was a shamen type character, instead of having a spell book he tattooed the spells to his body, or had his unseen servent do it if it was his back. The cost was the same as a wizard copying into a spell book, after each long rest he would prepare his spells, which basically meant he focused on the tattoos he was activating that day.
But the nature of the character meant he was not a Wizard exactly, he used the spell lists, rules and stats but in game he was a shamen). Because there was no way his book would ever get stolen I decided he couldn't prepare spell scrolls (the tattoo was only one part of the magic imbuded in his body). This meant that the risk of ever having a spell book was removed but he could never make money copying and selling spell scrolls to other magic users, or for the party.
how do I start a quest
Also a idea is a wizardry war between schools
Nothing wrong with spell tattoos, they are already part of the official rules.
Spellwrought Tattoo
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
I make heavy use of ChatGPT to develop worldbuilding elements of my campaign, including quests and hooks.