Working on this one shot...I have read the Adventures in Middle Earth books for some inspiration or notes, checked outthe Games Workshop heroes and encounters and have been working on a one shot where the players are the “Nazgul” essentially and their supposed to stop the ring from getting to a certain Mountain.
I have some Ideas...names will be changed, main characters will have different names of course and locations like Bree changed to Ghouda or something like that...but I am looking for osme help form fellow DM's to spice it up...here is my loose outline with ideas....
I am thinking of using some elements of the films. But following a loose outline of:
1. Meeting with Sauron like entitie who tells them he needs him his ring, "Like come on guys!" Make him personable and funny and maybe incredibly sympathetic and not as powerful and mean as you would think. 2. They leave for a town that some skinny hairless old thing told them he thinks the ring is at. They leave-travel talk/banter-say what they look like. 3.Encounter in woods-Outcome would be of perception checks to find the halflings hiding and then they either kill off a hobbit or they all escape...because water-no good! 4. Get to Bree like town-break in wall...try to find the right bar as people run and are afraid. Fight with the hobbits+aragorn like person or the PC's see them fleeing away or smell them? 5. Weathertop like battle where they can be lit in fire but become frightened and engulfed in flames. Have to spend a turn to put fire out. Try to have hobbits and Aragorn like person run away. 6. Encounter at the River maybe before a horse riding skill challenge then-high DC check at River-swallowed. 7. The Battle of Pelennor fields but everyone gets a hell beast-kill eagles-ring is put on by mountain-they know where it is-final encounter
I don’t think there’s enough talking with NPC’s as they’d be these feared cloaked creatures...any ideas to make it fun, light hearted-change encounters up or less railroad seeming? Was trying to make it like a dungeon that seeeems large and outside but just these couple of bubble encounters.
Any ideas would be absolutely helpful! Thanks for reading if you did!
There are a few ways to go about it. Maybe they aren't actually evil and the ring is actually an engagement ring that their boss wants back because they don't love the person any more. The players might look scary and so people treat them like they are evil so the campaign is about them trying to get from one side of the land to the other while dealing with misunderstandings and other such things.
Of course they could actually be evil. You could play this a few different ways. Maybe they don't know that they are evil. It would be all about how you describe it and maybe get them to roll to see if they can see through it and realise. This is quite hard to pull off but it could be fun, depending on your players. You could of course go for an evil campaign where your characters would know.
The trick to making sure you don't railroad is either being good at improvisation or just having loads of options you can give your party. If you have an overall goal (reclaim the ring) but don't give any more constraints then that should give them a good amount of freedom. Then you entice them to go to these areas. They hear that there is information or loot in these areas and they will most likely go there.
I recommend looking at a map of LOTR and getting an idea of what kind of creatures/people they would meet depending on which direction they go. May make a map and let them have it so they can plan their route.
For encounters they might run into soldiers or bandits, depending on their alignment. There might be some dangerous creatures that they have to deal with. They might have the opportunity to help people but need to convince them that they aren't bad if that is what you are going for.
The humour could come from how over the top they are as villains, it could be that they want to be bad but aren't very good at it or it could be all down to misunderstanding.
Absolutely helps and great funny ideas!! Appreciate all of these!! It is for a podcast so I think the more evil they are could lend to some humorous outcomes... But why couldn't an evil man have been in love and married?!?! Such a great idea about the engagement ring haha.
No problem, I'm glad you like the idea. If you want ideas on how to play a dark lord as a more comical character then I recommend Old Harry's game. It is a situation comedy set in hell.
The rest of the comedy will come from your players so make sure they know what you expect of them. Good luck.
If you're wanting to combine comedy with LOTR, I thoroughly recommend reading Bored of the Rings, an immensely hilarious spoof of LOTR, and not a long book by any accounts.
To avoid railroading your players too much (EG "you actually didn't kill the hobbit and he got away because PLOT") you can introduce uncertainty to the proceedings. Have them interview "Gollum", and have him insist on giving them the answers in riddle form. Have them track completely the wrong hobbits, and perhaps make the situation comedic (perhaps the hobbits you're chasing are part of a smuggling operation, so they are incredibly well prepared for escaping and such). When they catch them, they find out they are the wrong hobbits, but they know where Freddo & Spam went, giving them their next lead.
The tricky thing here is that LOTR had so many situations where the bad guys could have easily won, and so trying to follow their original plot would constitute subjecting your players to an endless string of near-misses and "rocks fall you die" moments (or "the river surges and your horses mill about aimlessly for a full minute instead of completing a 20ft charge whilst it rushes at you"). This can be bypassed by the fact that the Nazgul can't die, but it's not going to feel great for the players.
Now, here's an interesting twist you could do without changing the events of LOTR, aside from the very ending, and have it be ridiculously comedic:
The players play as a group of evildoers within the evil lord's inner circle, and they are summoned to his lair. This lets them pick their characters, rather than all being Nazgul fighters.
The evil lord (here called "Sorhed" after Bored of the Rings) explains that he believes that the enemy might try to destroy the one ring. To prevent this from happening, he has captured the essence of mount doom - it's actual fire, the only thing that can destroy the ring - in this nondescript galvanized bucket full of lava. He then explains that he needs them to take this bucket of fire and destroy it, but the only thing that can destroy this fire is the waters of a magical spring, which has the power to calm even the most enraged and burning heart, a spring which has caused the most disgustingly peaceful land to grow around it like mould on bread; a place called The Shire. He had hoped the ancient red dragon of the lonely mountain would have stored it for him, but unfortunately he was recently murdered by a pack of wild dwarves. As soon as Sorhed realised the enemy sought to destroy his ring, he decided instead to destroy the fires of mount doom before they could.
So begins an epic quest to take the fires of mount doom to the shire, where it can be cast into a magical spring, the only thing that can destroy it. On the way, they might have to fight past key parts of the LOTR story, in reverse - they might have to help take Osgiliath (where the orcs hold in LOTR), awaken the Nazgul to clear an army out of their path, fight through an awakened forest, accidentally awaken a Balrog in Moria, find out they're being tracked by something obsessed with the fires (gollum analogue) and so on. Try to tie their actions directly into the events that take place with the LOTR, for that great-feeling payoff.
When they get to the Shire, they start to feel their alignment shifting to Good. They might end up not wanting to destroy the fires in the spring after all, kind of like when no-one wants to destroy the ring.
-Edit- Thankyou for this, I'm now working out exactly how to run this very thing for my friends. Another D&D project to add to my list... XD
I would not be concerned about railroading in this case. Quite simply just use the railroad to make even more fun. Why? As I read your idea, the players will from an early point understand that they "play" the nazgul in LotR. That ironic distance is part of why this is going to be fun to play. Therefore I would have "used" the players expectations to my advantage. As soon you have the PC's buy into the concept: "we are the nazgul from LotR, they are aboard the train. The fun of the game should be to "see" the story from the other side with a really humoristic twist. You could actually take this idea to the point where you inform the players that Frodo has plot armour 100% and that your story is about how and why the players/nazgul fails.
It makes me want to try it too. The only thing I had to add at the moment was something that came to mind when you mentioned a lack of NPCs. You could always use the orcs, goblins, trolls, Shelob, Saurumon, Wormtonge, etc.
The characters can't be everywhere at once. So they've been given a lot of authority over their evil lord's forces, and connections with his allies. So maybe the characters can try to talk to a orc leader to send his troops after one half of the split fellowship while they follow the other. Or they can try to borrow the palantir from that haughty old wizard in the black tower, but he's such a jerk. He's probably trying to betray the boss.
The NPCs can be as incompetent, unhelpful, or manipulative as you want. The more over the top it is, the better. It can provide those social interactions the game needs, some good places for humor, and it puts the inevitable failure of the whole endeavor on the NPCs, not the PCs.
Let the players get something useful out of each encounter, so it isn't frustrating. Just never exactly what they wanted.
"If that old man would just loan us the crystal ball, we could be done already! Oh well, at least we stole this magic sword when he wasn't looking. Hey, does anyone else think it's weird that his army is using his own symbol on their banners instead of the boss's?"
"Good news is the orcs killed one of the fellowship! Bad news is it was the one we were hoping to convert to our side. Yeah that Gondor guy."
Working on this one shot...I have read the Adventures in Middle Earth books for some inspiration or notes, checked outthe Games Workshop heroes and encounters and have been working on a one shot where the players are the “Nazgul” essentially and their supposed to stop the ring from getting to a certain Mountain.
I have some Ideas...names will be changed, main characters will have different names of course and locations like Bree changed to Ghouda or something like that...but I am looking for osme help form fellow DM's to spice it up...here is my loose outline with ideas....
I am thinking of using some elements of the films. But following a loose outline of:
1. Meeting with Sauron like entitie who tells them he needs him his ring, "Like come on guys!" Make him personable and funny and maybe incredibly sympathetic and not as powerful and mean as you would think.
2. They leave for a town that some skinny hairless old thing told them he thinks the ring is at. They leave-travel talk/banter-say what they look like.
3.Encounter in woods-Outcome would be of perception checks to find the halflings hiding and then they either kill off a hobbit or they all escape...because water-no good!
4. Get to Bree like town-break in wall...try to find the right bar as people run and are afraid. Fight with the hobbits+aragorn like person or the PC's see them fleeing away or smell them?
5. Weathertop like battle where they can be lit in fire but become frightened and engulfed in flames. Have to spend a turn to put fire out. Try to have hobbits and Aragorn like person run away.
6. Encounter at the River maybe before a horse riding skill challenge then-high DC check at River-swallowed.
7. The Battle of Pelennor fields but everyone gets a hell beast-kill eagles-ring is put on by mountain-they know where it is-final encounter
I don’t think there’s enough talking with NPC’s as they’d be these feared cloaked creatures...any ideas to make it fun, light hearted-change encounters up or less railroad seeming? Was trying to make it like a dungeon that seeeems large and outside but just these couple of bubble encounters.
Any ideas would be absolutely helpful! Thanks for reading if you did!
WWW.WERERATSTUDIOS.COM
DND PODCAST - THE CHICAGO TABLE -
www.thomaskiserart.com
There are a few ways to go about it. Maybe they aren't actually evil and the ring is actually an engagement ring that their boss wants back because they don't love the person any more. The players might look scary and so people treat them like they are evil so the campaign is about them trying to get from one side of the land to the other while dealing with misunderstandings and other such things.
Of course they could actually be evil. You could play this a few different ways. Maybe they don't know that they are evil. It would be all about how you describe it and maybe get them to roll to see if they can see through it and realise. This is quite hard to pull off but it could be fun, depending on your players. You could of course go for an evil campaign where your characters would know.
The trick to making sure you don't railroad is either being good at improvisation or just having loads of options you can give your party. If you have an overall goal (reclaim the ring) but don't give any more constraints then that should give them a good amount of freedom. Then you entice them to go to these areas. They hear that there is information or loot in these areas and they will most likely go there.
I recommend looking at a map of LOTR and getting an idea of what kind of creatures/people they would meet depending on which direction they go. May make a map and let them have it so they can plan their route.
For encounters they might run into soldiers or bandits, depending on their alignment. There might be some dangerous creatures that they have to deal with. They might have the opportunity to help people but need to convince them that they aren't bad if that is what you are going for.
The humour could come from how over the top they are as villains, it could be that they want to be bad but aren't very good at it or it could be all down to misunderstanding.
I hope this helps.
Absolutely helps and great funny ideas!! Appreciate all of these!! It is for a podcast so I think the more evil they are could lend to some humorous outcomes... But why couldn't an evil man have been in love and married?!?! Such a great idea about the engagement ring haha.
WWW.WERERATSTUDIOS.COM
DND PODCAST - THE CHICAGO TABLE -
www.thomaskiserart.com
No problem, I'm glad you like the idea. If you want ideas on how to play a dark lord as a more comical character then I recommend Old Harry's game. It is a situation comedy set in hell.
The rest of the comedy will come from your players so make sure they know what you expect of them. Good luck.
If you're wanting to combine comedy with LOTR, I thoroughly recommend reading Bored of the Rings, an immensely hilarious spoof of LOTR, and not a long book by any accounts.
To avoid railroading your players too much (EG "you actually didn't kill the hobbit and he got away because PLOT") you can introduce uncertainty to the proceedings. Have them interview "Gollum", and have him insist on giving them the answers in riddle form. Have them track completely the wrong hobbits, and perhaps make the situation comedic (perhaps the hobbits you're chasing are part of a smuggling operation, so they are incredibly well prepared for escaping and such). When they catch them, they find out they are the wrong hobbits, but they know where Freddo & Spam went, giving them their next lead.
The tricky thing here is that LOTR had so many situations where the bad guys could have easily won, and so trying to follow their original plot would constitute subjecting your players to an endless string of near-misses and "rocks fall you die" moments (or "the river surges and your horses mill about aimlessly for a full minute instead of completing a 20ft charge whilst it rushes at you"). This can be bypassed by the fact that the Nazgul can't die, but it's not going to feel great for the players.
Now, here's an interesting twist you could do without changing the events of LOTR, aside from the very ending, and have it be ridiculously comedic:
The players play as a group of evildoers within the evil lord's inner circle, and they are summoned to his lair. This lets them pick their characters, rather than all being Nazgul fighters.
The evil lord (here called "Sorhed" after Bored of the Rings) explains that he believes that the enemy might try to destroy the one ring. To prevent this from happening, he has captured the essence of mount doom - it's actual fire, the only thing that can destroy the ring - in this nondescript galvanized bucket full of lava. He then explains that he needs them to take this bucket of fire and destroy it, but the only thing that can destroy this fire is the waters of a magical spring, which has the power to calm even the most enraged and burning heart, a spring which has caused the most disgustingly peaceful land to grow around it like mould on bread; a place called The Shire. He had hoped the ancient red dragon of the lonely mountain would have stored it for him, but unfortunately he was recently murdered by a pack of wild dwarves. As soon as Sorhed realised the enemy sought to destroy his ring, he decided instead to destroy the fires of mount doom before they could.
So begins an epic quest to take the fires of mount doom to the shire, where it can be cast into a magical spring, the only thing that can destroy it. On the way, they might have to fight past key parts of the LOTR story, in reverse - they might have to help take Osgiliath (where the orcs hold in LOTR), awaken the Nazgul to clear an army out of their path, fight through an awakened forest, accidentally awaken a Balrog in Moria, find out they're being tracked by something obsessed with the fires (gollum analogue) and so on. Try to tie their actions directly into the events that take place with the LOTR, for that great-feeling payoff.
When they get to the Shire, they start to feel their alignment shifting to Good. They might end up not wanting to destroy the fires in the spring after all, kind of like when no-one wants to destroy the ring.
-Edit- Thankyou for this, I'm now working out exactly how to run this very thing for my friends. Another D&D project to add to my list... XD
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I would not be concerned about railroading in this case. Quite simply just use the railroad to make even more fun. Why? As I read your idea, the players will from an early point understand that they "play" the nazgul in LotR. That ironic distance is part of why this is going to be fun to play. Therefore I would have "used" the players expectations to my advantage. As soon you have the PC's buy into the concept: "we are the nazgul from LotR, they are aboard the train. The fun of the game should be to "see" the story from the other side with a really humoristic twist. You could actually take this idea to the point where you inform the players that Frodo has plot armour 100% and that your story is about how and why the players/nazgul fails.
Ludo ergo sum!
There are so many great answers in here!
It makes me want to try it too. The only thing I had to add at the moment was something that came to mind when you mentioned a lack of NPCs. You could always use the orcs, goblins, trolls, Shelob, Saurumon, Wormtonge, etc.
The characters can't be everywhere at once. So they've been given a lot of authority over their evil lord's forces, and connections with his allies. So maybe the characters can try to talk to a orc leader to send his troops after one half of the split fellowship while they follow the other. Or they can try to borrow the palantir from that haughty old wizard in the black tower, but he's such a jerk. He's probably trying to betray the boss.
The NPCs can be as incompetent, unhelpful, or manipulative as you want. The more over the top it is, the better. It can provide those social interactions the game needs, some good places for humor, and it puts the inevitable failure of the whole endeavor on the NPCs, not the PCs.
Let the players get something useful out of each encounter, so it isn't frustrating. Just never exactly what they wanted.
"If that old man would just loan us the crystal ball, we could be done already! Oh well, at least we stole this magic sword when he wasn't looking. Hey, does anyone else think it's weird that his army is using his own symbol on their banners instead of the boss's?"
"Good news is the orcs killed one of the fellowship! Bad news is it was the one we were hoping to convert to our side. Yeah that Gondor guy."