I'm a new DM and I've been working on my first campaign for about 2 years, its a homebrew campaign and its based off the Percy Jackson series but slightly before Percy gets to camp half blood, and I have mostly everything I need for it I'm just looking for a decent prophecy for a group with a minimum of 6 and a max of 8. I pretty much combined all five books into one but we will mostly be in the labyrinth. also if anyone has a couple of ideas for puzzles as well that would be greatly appreciated. Also the BBEG is Kronos
I'm not going to suggest one; I'm just going to suggest that you might not want a prophecy.
When you introduce predestination into a game where the players can theoretically do what they want and solve problems their own way, things can get weird.
Also, even if you do go with a prophecy, don't have a chosen one. Chosen one prophecies work* in written fiction, but in a D&D group, you don't want to make one player central to the entire story, both because it warps the group dynamics and because it creates problems if, for instance, the character dies or the player leaves.
*Yes, this is a matter of opinion. They're certainly popular.
I think there's actually some utility in adding a prophecy to the game. It's like a guide-rail... When in doubt, events lead toward the fulfillment of the prophecy... My favorite is the one from T. S. Eliot's The Wasteland:
Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations.
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Prophecies come in two major types: Long and convoluted, in verse and rhyme - or bearded lunatics frothing at the mouth, shouting 'THE END IS NIGH!' nose-to-nose in your face.
The important thing to note is that functionally, they're not really all that different, and the latter requires a lot fewer moving parts. Sure, a raving lunatic will be disregarded without some action to back up his words - but that can be easily arranged. You are, after all, the GM. If the lunatic rants about lights in the sky, the comet will show up, right on queue, because you say so.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
One trick that let's you have a prophecy but avoids a railroad and/or mandatory participation is to have the prophecy speak to the things that must happen before "THE BIG THING" happens.
It's not about one hero, or a specific band of heroes that are destine to fulfill the prophecy. It's, in essence, a series of conditions that must be met. That let's your players decide if they want to dip in and chase a prophetic objective, or not!
Example (from ChatGPT because I'm not deep enough in the coffee to be creative):
"When stars untwined, five realms aligned, the ancient runes anew, From mortal hearts, courage ignites, to skies of sapphire hue. The dragon's breath, the phoenix's cry, in harmony they wove, Unlock the gates, unleash the fate, where destinies converge. By wisdom's bloom and valor's plume, and treasured truths, reclaimed, Five crowns unite, in cosmic light, the prophecy untamed. In cycles turned, the world discerned, anew it shall be sung, Five realms as one, beneath the sun, where ancient fates are spun."
We can take the following steps from this:
When Stars Unwind: Implied timing, some Zodiac event that can be predicted and repeated every so often (meaning it's not forced urgency).
Five Realms Aligned: This could be the union of five different nations/peoples OR more Zodiac: Five planets in literal alignment vs. the sun
Ancient Runes Must be Rediscovered: Time to find a Rune Carver from Bigby's.
(you get the idea...)
This implies a grand quest, without forcing the players to follow it. It could all be background to whatever they are up to.
There is one type of prophecy that's generally viable, despite what I said above:
The blocking prophecy with loopholes. "This thing cannot be done", but phrased in such a way that you can lawyer your way around it.
See MacBeth for a couple of classic examples. (Tolkien thought Shakespeare didn't weasel his way around his prophecies very convincingly, so we got ents and the witch-king in LOTR.)
Give players an enemy who's got a prophecy like "No spell shall harm him, nor any weapon mar his flesh", and they'll have at least four plans to kill him within fifteen minutes. Even "he shall never die" has solutions, starting with imprisonment and getting steadily more unpleasant from there.
Getting the balance between "too specific" and "loopholes you can fly a dragon through" is tricky, and you're going to have to adjudicate the players coming up with answers that are completely unlike the ones you thought of, and it's easy to be too in love with your own solutions and invalidate the players'. (Games where "think like the GM" is the only way through are rarely satisfying to anyone.)
You also have to be prepared for players who just can't think of anything.
I agree with jl8e, prophecies are tough to pull off in a game where characters can, and will, go completely off the rails in a direction you don't expect. And also tough when you've got a party of co-equal people, instead of a main character.
If you do want to go that route, I'd suggest making it about an NPC. Then if the players decide to ignore it, you can always still go on with it, and tell them the conditions were met off-camera.
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I'm a new DM and I've been working on my first campaign for about 2 years, its a homebrew campaign and its based off the Percy Jackson series but slightly before Percy gets to camp half blood, and I have mostly everything I need for it I'm just looking for a decent prophecy for a group with a minimum of 6 and a max of 8. I pretty much combined all five books into one but we will mostly be in the labyrinth. also if anyone has a couple of ideas for puzzles as well that would be greatly appreciated. Also the BBEG is Kronos
I'm not going to suggest one; I'm just going to suggest that you might not want a prophecy.
When you introduce predestination into a game where the players can theoretically do what they want and solve problems their own way, things can get weird.
Also, even if you do go with a prophecy, don't have a chosen one. Chosen one prophecies work* in written fiction, but in a D&D group, you don't want to make one player central to the entire story, both because it warps the group dynamics and because it creates problems if, for instance, the character dies or the player leaves.
*Yes, this is a matter of opinion. They're certainly popular.
I think there's actually some utility in adding a prophecy to the game. It's like a guide-rail... When in doubt, events lead toward the fulfillment of the prophecy... My favorite is the one from T. S. Eliot's The Wasteland:
Prophecies come in two major types: Long and convoluted, in verse and rhyme - or bearded lunatics frothing at the mouth, shouting 'THE END IS NIGH!' nose-to-nose in your face.
The important thing to note is that functionally, they're not really all that different, and the latter requires a lot fewer moving parts. Sure, a raving lunatic will be disregarded without some action to back up his words - but that can be easily arranged. You are, after all, the GM. If the lunatic rants about lights in the sky, the comet will show up, right on queue, because you say so.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
One trick that let's you have a prophecy but avoids a railroad and/or mandatory participation is to have the prophecy speak to the things that must happen before "THE BIG THING" happens.
It's not about one hero, or a specific band of heroes that are destine to fulfill the prophecy. It's, in essence, a series of conditions that must be met. That let's your players decide if they want to dip in and chase a prophetic objective, or not!
Example (from ChatGPT because I'm not deep enough in the coffee to be creative):
"When stars untwined, five realms aligned, the ancient runes anew,
From mortal hearts, courage ignites, to skies of sapphire hue.
The dragon's breath, the phoenix's cry, in harmony they wove,
Unlock the gates, unleash the fate, where destinies converge.
By wisdom's bloom and valor's plume, and treasured truths, reclaimed,
Five crowns unite, in cosmic light, the prophecy untamed.
In cycles turned, the world discerned, anew it shall be sung,
Five realms as one, beneath the sun, where ancient fates are spun."
We can take the following steps from this:
This implies a grand quest, without forcing the players to follow it. It could all be background to whatever they are up to.
There is one type of prophecy that's generally viable, despite what I said above:
The blocking prophecy with loopholes. "This thing cannot be done", but phrased in such a way that you can lawyer your way around it.
See MacBeth for a couple of classic examples. (Tolkien thought Shakespeare didn't weasel his way around his prophecies very convincingly, so we got ents and the witch-king in LOTR.)
Give players an enemy who's got a prophecy like "No spell shall harm him, nor any weapon mar his flesh", and they'll have at least four plans to kill him within fifteen minutes. Even "he shall never die" has solutions, starting with imprisonment and getting steadily more unpleasant from there.
Getting the balance between "too specific" and "loopholes you can fly a dragon through" is tricky, and you're going to have to adjudicate the players coming up with answers that are completely unlike the ones you thought of, and it's easy to be too in love with your own solutions and invalidate the players'. (Games where "think like the GM" is the only way through are rarely satisfying to anyone.)
You also have to be prepared for players who just can't think of anything.
I agree with jl8e, prophecies are tough to pull off in a game where characters can, and will, go completely off the rails in a direction you don't expect. And also tough when you've got a party of co-equal people, instead of a main character.
If you do want to go that route, I'd suggest making it about an NPC. Then if the players decide to ignore it, you can always still go on with it, and tell them the conditions were met off-camera.