I want to make a story arc in my campaign that is pretty much Indiana Jones 2. My players will be level three when I have them do it, but I want it to be a brutal war of attrition. Would it be unfair to have my level 3s run a dungeon and story arc built for level 4 or 5?
Not unfair, but either they will have more of a challenge (or a TPK) or they will do just fine. It really depends on their experience, if they are on the weaker or stronger side of level three, and how many there are.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
In the words of the great philosopher, Unicorse, "Aaaannnnd why should I care??"
Best quote from a book ever: "If you love with your eyes, death is forever. If you love with your heart, there is no such thing as parting."- Jonah Cook, Ascendant, Songs of Chaos by Michael R. Miller. Highly recommend
Well, they’re invited to stay at a rich person’s villa. They’ve heard there’s a macguffin there, and need to find it. There’s a dinner conversation where you drop hints that the people here aren’t what they seem. They go to bed and hear strange noises coming from the closet. Important note: if they don’t choose to investigate, nothing else happens, they wake up and leave. Then you get to decide what happens when a death cult raises a bloodthirsty demon/god. (Which I’m saying not as an accurate representation of the Hindu gods, but a description of the movie’s take on them.)
If they do investigate, there’s a trap-filled hallway, leading to a large chamber, filled with an overwhelming number of cultists; make it clear they would die if they tried to fight them all at once. In the chamber, on a stage, they see as one of the people from dinner sacrifices another of the people from dinner. They see the macguffin they’ve been chasing, but the villian takes it away. Personally, to make it more D&D, at that point I’d differ from the movie plot a bit. Let them track down the villian, probably fight a few groups of cultists along the way. Throw in some groups of slaves they can free — keep them child slaves if you want the challenge to be keeping them safe, or let them be adults who will turn on their captors and go fight some of the cultists. This part can be “off screen” but give you a narrative reason why the rest of the cult doesn’t come charging in when the PCs eventually get to the boss.
Try and work in time for a short rest somewhere, or at least a safe place to take one, and hope the players take the hint.
Boss is in a final chamber, has a couple henchmen, the party wins, grabs the macguffin. On the way out, they’re greeted by the slaves, one of them is someone of note, locally, like a mayor of a small town or something, and now the PCs have a new NPC ally as well. That’s assuming they actually do free those slaves.
I want to make a story arc in my campaign that is pretty much Indiana Jones 2. My players will be level three when I have them do it, but I want it to be a brutal war of attrition. Would it be unfair to have my level 3s run a dungeon and story arc built for level 4 or 5?
Not unfair, but either they will have more of a challenge (or a TPK) or they will do just fine. It really depends on their experience, if they are on the weaker or stronger side of level three, and how many there are.
In the words of the great philosopher, Unicorse, "Aaaannnnd why should I care??"
Best quote from a book ever: "If you love with your eyes, death is forever. If you love with your heart, there is no such thing as parting."- Jonah Cook, Ascendant, Songs of Chaos by Michael R. Miller. Highly recommend
Thanks.
How would you do a temple of doom arc?
Well, they’re invited to stay at a rich person’s villa. They’ve heard there’s a macguffin there, and need to find it. There’s a dinner conversation where you drop hints that the people here aren’t what they seem. They go to bed and hear strange noises coming from the closet.
Important note: if they don’t choose to investigate, nothing else happens, they wake up and leave. Then you get to decide what happens when a death cult raises a bloodthirsty demon/god. (Which I’m saying not as an accurate representation of the Hindu gods, but a description of the movie’s take on them.)
If they do investigate, there’s a trap-filled hallway, leading to a large chamber, filled with an overwhelming number of cultists; make it clear they would die if they tried to fight them all at once. In the chamber, on a stage, they see as one of the people from dinner sacrifices another of the people from dinner. They see the macguffin they’ve been chasing, but the villian takes it away.
Personally, to make it more D&D, at that point I’d differ from the movie plot a bit. Let them track down the villian, probably fight a few groups of cultists along the way. Throw in some groups of slaves they can free — keep them child slaves if you want the challenge to be keeping them safe, or let them be adults who will turn on their captors and go fight some of the cultists. This part can be “off screen” but give you a narrative reason why the rest of the cult doesn’t come charging in when the PCs eventually get to the boss.
Try and work in time for a short rest somewhere, or at least a safe place to take one, and hope the players take the hint.
Boss is in a final chamber, has a couple henchmen, the party wins, grabs the macguffin. On the way out, they’re greeted by the slaves, one of them is someone of note, locally, like a mayor of a small town or something, and now the PCs have a new NPC ally as well. That’s assuming they actually do free those slaves.
That's awesome dude.