Soon my party will be heading to a party member's (the adorable gnome druid) hometown deep in the forest to check in family they've heard are sick. I have been wanting to use the Malady Codex's magical version of the bubonic plague forced upon their town by a half-orc spore druid (using the Archdruid stats with the spore druid abilities tacked on) because of XYZ. I just can't come up with a good enough XYZ except that he's angry about something in the town, sending him into solitude to plot his revenge and this vermin and woodland creature born malady is it. I have set up in the past that Orc and Goblin can be a part of society, especially in the deep forest.
This campaign has been a bit of a gothic horror trope bonanza, starting with the Curse of Strahd and this is their characters continuing on into the upper tiers. So I'd still like to maintain some gothic horror tropes and was thinking this would be the black plague style trope, like the PS4 game, Innocence: A Plague Story, but set in a sweet little harmless gnome based (some races too, including human, orc, firbolg) forest town. The party is made up of a vengeance paladin, a wild mage, a thief, a moon druid, a wizard/cleric and a blood hunter.
Tl,dr; Can you help me complete this sentence. "The half-orc spore druid has set a plague upon this quaint, cute, unassuming, predominantly gnome town mainly know for medicinal and material components because___________"
Hjalmar Gunderson, Vuman Alchemist Plague Doctor in a HB Campaign, Post Netherese Invasion Cormyr (lvl20 retired) Godfrey, Autognome Butler in Ghosts of Saltmarsh into Spelljammer Grímr Skeggisson, Goliath Rune Knight in Rime of the Frostmaiden DM of two HB campaigns set in the same world.
For gothic horror, I can nearly always recommend taking a page from Edgar Allen Poe. Many of his villains tend to be very unreliable in their reasoning, such as the narrator of The Cask of Amontillado, "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured insult I vowed revenge."; in this instance, the narrator never explains what those injuries and insults were, and it is implied that they never actually occurred. Following this vein, your villainous druid could be plotting revenge for some grievous insult that either never happened and exists only in his mind, or is so trivial it doesn't even bear mentioning for most people.
For gothic horror, I can nearly always recommend taking a page from Edgar Allen Poe. Many of his villains tend to be very unreliable in their reasoning, such as the narrator of The Cask of Amontillado, "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured insult I vowed revenge."; in this instance, the narrator never explains what those injuries and insults were, and it is implied that they never actually occurred. Following this vein, your villainous druid could be plotting revenge for some grievous insult that either never happened and exists only in his mind, or is so trivial it doesn't even bear mentioning for most people.
That is brilliant and Im actually a little perturbed at myself for not thinking of that haha. Great idea! Thank you!
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Hjalmar Gunderson, Vuman Alchemist Plague Doctor in a HB Campaign, Post Netherese Invasion Cormyr (lvl20 retired) Godfrey, Autognome Butler in Ghosts of Saltmarsh into Spelljammer Grímr Skeggisson, Goliath Rune Knight in Rime of the Frostmaiden DM of two HB campaigns set in the same world.
You could also go towards the cosmic horror side of things, bring in a little lovecraftian descent into madness type of situation. You could say the Spore Druid due to a botched ritual made contact with Zuggtmoy, the demon queen of Fungi, and the experience changed him. Perhaps he was infected with one of her spores, and ever since he’s been slowly going mad.
He’s a somewhat sociopathic researcher who sees himself as experimenting on the town for the greater good.
In a similar vein, the knowledge that he receives from this "experiment" could help him cure the real bubonic plague, making his actions (somewhat) justifiable.
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A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
The PCs are supposed to be the center of the story. Maybe the orc is angry at that gnome Druid, for whatever reason, and is going after their family and friends.
You could also go towards the cosmic horror side of things, bring in a little lovecraftian descent into madness type of situation. You could say the Spore Druid due to a botched ritual made contact with Zuggtmoy, the demon queen of Fungi, and the experience changed him. Perhaps he was infected with one of her spores, and ever since he’s been slowly going mad.
That is brilliant! I am sold!!! I love it. Theres already a heavily demon insurgence theme playing too!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Hjalmar Gunderson, Vuman Alchemist Plague Doctor in a HB Campaign, Post Netherese Invasion Cormyr (lvl20 retired) Godfrey, Autognome Butler in Ghosts of Saltmarsh into Spelljammer Grímr Skeggisson, Goliath Rune Knight in Rime of the Frostmaiden DM of two HB campaigns set in the same world.
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Soon my party will be heading to a party member's (the adorable gnome druid) hometown deep in the forest to check in family they've heard are sick. I have been wanting to use the Malady Codex's magical version of the bubonic plague forced upon their town by a half-orc spore druid (using the Archdruid stats with the spore druid abilities tacked on) because of XYZ. I just can't come up with a good enough XYZ except that he's angry about something in the town, sending him into solitude to plot his revenge and this vermin and woodland creature born malady is it. I have set up in the past that Orc and Goblin can be a part of society, especially in the deep forest.
This campaign has been a bit of a gothic horror trope bonanza, starting with the Curse of Strahd and this is their characters continuing on into the upper tiers. So I'd still like to maintain some gothic horror tropes and was thinking this would be the black plague style trope, like the PS4 game, Innocence: A Plague Story, but set in a sweet little harmless gnome based (some races too, including human, orc, firbolg) forest town. The party is made up of a vengeance paladin, a wild mage, a thief, a moon druid, a wizard/cleric and a blood hunter.
Tl,dr;
Can you help me complete this sentence. "The half-orc spore druid has set a plague upon this quaint, cute, unassuming, predominantly gnome town mainly know for medicinal and material components because___________"
Hjalmar Gunderson, Vuman Alchemist Plague Doctor in a HB Campaign, Post Netherese Invasion Cormyr (lvl20 retired)
Godfrey, Autognome Butler in Ghosts of Saltmarsh into Spelljammer
Grímr Skeggisson, Goliath Rune Knight in Rime of the Frostmaiden
DM of two HB campaigns set in the same world.
For gothic horror, I can nearly always recommend taking a page from Edgar Allen Poe. Many of his villains tend to be very unreliable in their reasoning, such as the narrator of The Cask of Amontillado, "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured insult I vowed revenge."; in this instance, the narrator never explains what those injuries and insults were, and it is implied that they never actually occurred. Following this vein, your villainous druid could be plotting revenge for some grievous insult that either never happened and exists only in his mind, or is so trivial it doesn't even bear mentioning for most people.
That is brilliant and Im actually a little perturbed at myself for not thinking of that haha. Great idea! Thank you!
Hjalmar Gunderson, Vuman Alchemist Plague Doctor in a HB Campaign, Post Netherese Invasion Cormyr (lvl20 retired)
Godfrey, Autognome Butler in Ghosts of Saltmarsh into Spelljammer
Grímr Skeggisson, Goliath Rune Knight in Rime of the Frostmaiden
DM of two HB campaigns set in the same world.
Glad I could be of service!
You could also go towards the cosmic horror side of things, bring in a little lovecraftian descent into madness type of situation. You could say the Spore Druid due to a botched ritual made contact with Zuggtmoy, the demon queen of Fungi, and the experience changed him. Perhaps he was infected with one of her spores, and ever since he’s been slowly going mad.
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Zuggtmoy
He’s a somewhat sociopathic researcher who sees himself as experimenting on the town for the greater good.
In a similar vein, the knowledge that he receives from this "experiment" could help him cure the real bubonic plague, making his actions (somewhat) justifiable.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
The PCs are supposed to be the center of the story. Maybe the orc is angry at that gnome Druid, for whatever reason, and is going after their family and friends.
This are all awesome ideas! Thank you all so much!
That is brilliant! I am sold!!! I love it. Theres already a heavily demon insurgence theme playing too!
Hjalmar Gunderson, Vuman Alchemist Plague Doctor in a HB Campaign, Post Netherese Invasion Cormyr (lvl20 retired)
Godfrey, Autognome Butler in Ghosts of Saltmarsh into Spelljammer
Grímr Skeggisson, Goliath Rune Knight in Rime of the Frostmaiden
DM of two HB campaigns set in the same world.