So, the current adventure is just the first part of a larger campaign I’m running, and my players will only be level 5 or 6 by the end of it. Behind the scenes of the campaign, both the players and their adversaries have been manipulated by an evil cult who intend to summon an ancient eldritch abomination into the world. The cult, however, aren’t just a faceless evil- they’re led by five NPCs who I’m statting as though they were player characters, who the players have met or will meet throughout the campaign, who (mostly) serve as dark mirrors to the player party, and the antagonists of future adventures in this campaign.https://trackeasy.fun/usps/
The vanilla fighter is paired up against a barbarian who discovered his Rage as a result of the fighter’s actions. Our Echo Knight, a minor ‘chosen one’ in the grand cosmic scheme, is paired up against the ‘chosen one’ of the evil cult. Our bard, an identity-stealing changeling, is paired off against a man whose identity he stole. Etc https://showbox.tools/.
It’s basically the culmination of what I’ve been working on through the game thus far, so I’m curious as to whether any other DMs have tried something like this before, and how it worked out http://essaywriter.fun/.
So, the current adventure is just the first part of a larger campaign I’m running, and my players will only be level 5 or 6 by the end of it. Behind the scenes of the campaign, both the players and their adversaries have been manipulated by an evil cult who intend to summon an ancient eldritch abomination into the world. The cult, however, aren’t just a faceless evil- they’re led by five NPCs who I’m statting as though they were player characters, who the players have met or will meet throughout the campaign, who (mostly) serve as dark mirrors to the player party, and the antagonists of future adventures in this campaign.
The vanilla fighter is paired up against a barbarian who discovered his Rage as a result of the fighter’s actions. Our Echo Knight, a minor ‘chosen one’ in the grand cosmic scheme, is paired up against the ‘chosen one’ of the evil cult. Our bard, an identity-stealing changeling, is paired off against a man whose identity he stole. Etc.
It’s basically the culmination of what I’ve been working on through the game thus far, so I’m curious as to whether any other DMs have tried something like this before, and how it worked out.
I am actually considering something like that for a homebrew campaign that I am writing up the lore for the world currently and making basic plot (nowhere close to done lol), where I plan for before the final boss would be fought, he would play a sadistic game with the PCs where the PCs have to fight mockeries of them that are designed to counter the PCs fighting styles in combat. The mockeries would be the hard part of the fight, meanwhile the final boss, easy to beat in terms of stats would continue messing with the players even until he’s dead. I think these scenarios are good to really get players to be creative in combat because if they are not, then they may be screwed, but if they are creative, they will most likely win.
I'm doing the same thing for a number of my NPCs who (providing the party follow along roughly in line with the plot) will end up being antagonists. I've statted them out like I would a normal PC I was playing. It's been a lot of fun, as I get to level up and choose new abilities, spells, etc. I think it can work, so long as you have the time to develop the characters. I think it helps immersion, as there is a sense that the world and the beings in it go on even when the PCs aren't around. To make sure I don't unbalance play by creating NPCs that are OP and specifically designed to counter my PCs' abilities, I'm trying to stay true to the motivations of the NPCs, where they've come from and what they want to achieve. This works for my world which is a low fantasy setting. Your idea sounds cool, with the duel development of PC/NPC that culminates with the final show down. Although, it could also be fun if the party ended up facing off against the "wrong opposite" - your chosen one ends up being very confused by fighting the identify theft victim, while the bard tries to charm an angry barbarian. Hope it goes well :-)
Homebrew, homebrew, homebrew. I DM homebrew. I homebrew homebrew. My homebrew brews homebrew. I brewed by home. My home brews homebrewed homebrew, homebrewing homebrew that homebrews homebrewing homebrew.
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So, the current adventure is just the first part of a larger campaign I’m running, and my players will only be level 5 or 6 by the end of it. Behind the scenes of the campaign, both the players and their adversaries have been manipulated by an evil cult who intend to summon an ancient eldritch abomination into the world. The cult, however, aren’t just a faceless evil- they’re led by five NPCs who I’m statting as though they were player characters, who the players have met or will meet throughout the campaign, who (mostly) serve as dark mirrors to the player party, and the antagonists of future adventures in this campaign.https://trackeasy.fun/usps/
The vanilla fighter is paired up against a barbarian who discovered his Rage as a result of the fighter’s actions. Our Echo Knight, a minor ‘chosen one’ in the grand cosmic scheme, is paired up against the ‘chosen one’ of the evil cult. Our bard, an identity-stealing changeling, is paired off against a man whose identity he stole. Etc https://showbox.tools/.
It’s basically the culmination of what I’ve been working on through the game thus far, so I’m curious as to whether any other DMs have tried something like this before, and how it worked out http://essaywriter.fun/.
I am actually considering something like that for a homebrew campaign that I am writing up the lore for the world currently and making basic plot (nowhere close to done lol), where I plan for before the final boss would be fought, he would play a sadistic game with the PCs where the PCs have to fight mockeries of them that are designed to counter the PCs fighting styles in combat. The mockeries would be the hard part of the fight, meanwhile the final boss, easy to beat in terms of stats would continue messing with the players even until he’s dead. I think these scenarios are good to really get players to be creative in combat because if they are not, then they may be screwed, but if they are creative, they will most likely win.
I'm doing the same thing for a number of my NPCs who (providing the party follow along roughly in line with the plot) will end up being antagonists. I've statted them out like I would a normal PC I was playing. It's been a lot of fun, as I get to level up and choose new abilities, spells, etc. I think it can work, so long as you have the time to develop the characters. I think it helps immersion, as there is a sense that the world and the beings in it go on even when the PCs aren't around. To make sure I don't unbalance play by creating NPCs that are OP and specifically designed to counter my PCs' abilities, I'm trying to stay true to the motivations of the NPCs, where they've come from and what they want to achieve. This works for my world which is a low fantasy setting. Your idea sounds cool, with the duel development of PC/NPC that culminates with the final show down. Although, it could also be fun if the party ended up facing off against the "wrong opposite" - your chosen one ends up being very confused by fighting the identify theft victim, while the bard tries to charm an angry barbarian. Hope it goes well :-)
Umm... Why the random links?
Homebrew, homebrew, homebrew. I DM homebrew. I homebrew homebrew. My homebrew brews homebrew. I brewed by home. My home brews homebrewed homebrew, homebrewing homebrew that homebrews homebrewing homebrew.