As a usual Dungeon Master, i want to bring a little spice to Dungeons And Dragons. But recently, my mind has gone completley blank with no ideas to shake up the game a little. And i was wondering if you guys out there did anything that adds a little extra to the game.
It depends if you mean add some variety to an existing campaign, or the game as a whole.
Making the game feel very different can be as simple as breaking you and your players out of your comfort zone.
Play a totally different campaign setting? The players are still heroes, but they are the exception and the land is ruled by evil and they have to be careful or they will be openly hunted.
Play an evil campaign? Players are out to do bad things for power/riches.
Play a monster campaign? Players are goblins, orcs etc.
(This is just based on my experiences with non-wotc campaign settings and non-adventure-league play)
I got the idea from one of the biweekly D&D campaigns on twitch/youtube, but I tried to create special sessions with 3 dimensional set rather than the usual flat maps or theatre of the mind. For us, these special sessions are typically world event milestones where their actions' impact on world events typically come to a head.
For the players: The idea is to do something you don't normally do and usually a style of play that is atypical for the players. 3 dimensional sets provide something different, or a session focused on an element they're don't usually focus on (we had an elaborate non-combat special session with only d20s and a guest playing several NPCs), or having the session be purely RP between the group. One more idea that we've never tried would be to make some ridiculously crude costumes with the players to wear while RPing and laugh at how bad the crude costumes look. One more idea (that definitely wouldn't work in some campaigns) is to have all the characters under the effects of some effect that requires their players to have to constantly make Vicious Mockery style comments towards their enemies. It might be a lot of group fun to try (or even a v. mockery off has been suggested in another thread where two bards could insult each other until one passes out)
For the characters: We've done a murder-mystery (a twist on the Murder on the Orient Express which created a lot of plot threads that could later be fleshed out into threads they could pull on in the sessions to follow). The characters have been "dropped" into a severely resource stricken environment, with very little money, not speaking the language, not able to sleep, and not able to find their friends. We've tried what I called "karaoke deathmatch" but really just a competition for characters to try and do entertaining RP-centric things. The last idea we've used to shake things up for the characters is to pull them off their world and put them onto other alien-to-them worlds like Zendikar, Kaladesh, or places out of Planescape.
For the DM: I've enjoyed watching campaigns on youtube and twitch. I'll find some ideas or some interaction that I think might work in my campaign. I never would have built a 3D boat setting if I hadn't seen someone do sessions on a boat on youtube. I've seen characters on those streams unknowingly summon evil deities, etc which has encouraged me to let players do things that have huge world impacting (in a bad way) consequences. I've seen a few McGuffin type narratives where the characters have no idea why they're chasing after some item.
Anyway, your mileage may vary so feel free to disregard any of the other ideas if they don't work for you.
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As a usual Dungeon Master, i want to bring a little spice to Dungeons And Dragons. But recently, my mind has gone completley blank with no ideas to shake up the game a little. And i was wondering if you guys out there did anything that adds a little extra to the game.
௹dndcookie௹
I can suggest two things which come up to my mind recently:
1) Have the characters be affected by some kind of cure, like lycanthropy.
2) Have the characters make a bargain with a hag coven.
It is interesting to see how the players roleplaying these situations.
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D&D Beyond FoundersIt depends if you mean add some variety to an existing campaign, or the game as a whole.
Making the game feel very different can be as simple as breaking you and your players out of your comfort zone.
Play a totally different campaign setting? The players are still heroes, but they are the exception and the land is ruled by evil and they have to be careful or they will be openly hunted.
Play an evil campaign? Players are out to do bad things for power/riches.
Play a monster campaign? Players are goblins, orcs etc.
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thanks for the ideas. i may put some of them to action :3
௹dndcookie௹
Might I suggest a heist.
(This is just based on my experiences with non-wotc campaign settings and non-adventure-league play)
I got the idea from one of the biweekly D&D campaigns on twitch/youtube, but I tried to create special sessions with 3 dimensional set rather than the usual flat maps or theatre of the mind. For us, these special sessions are typically world event milestones where their actions' impact on world events typically come to a head.
For the players: The idea is to do something you don't normally do and usually a style of play that is atypical for the players. 3 dimensional sets provide something different, or a session focused on an element they're don't usually focus on (we had an elaborate non-combat special session with only d20s and a guest playing several NPCs), or having the session be purely RP between the group. One more idea that we've never tried would be to make some ridiculously crude costumes with the players to wear while RPing and laugh at how bad the crude costumes look. One more idea (that definitely wouldn't work in some campaigns) is to have all the characters under the effects of some effect that requires their players to have to constantly make Vicious Mockery style comments towards their enemies. It might be a lot of group fun to try (or even a v. mockery off has been suggested in another thread where two bards could insult each other until one passes out)
For the characters: We've done a murder-mystery (a twist on the Murder on the Orient Express which created a lot of plot threads that could later be fleshed out into threads they could pull on in the sessions to follow). The characters have been "dropped" into a severely resource stricken environment, with very little money, not speaking the language, not able to sleep, and not able to find their friends. We've tried what I called "karaoke deathmatch" but really just a competition for characters to try and do entertaining RP-centric things. The last idea we've used to shake things up for the characters is to pull them off their world and put them onto other alien-to-them worlds like Zendikar, Kaladesh, or places out of Planescape.
For the DM: I've enjoyed watching campaigns on youtube and twitch. I'll find some ideas or some interaction that I think might work in my campaign. I never would have built a 3D boat setting if I hadn't seen someone do sessions on a boat on youtube. I've seen characters on those streams unknowingly summon evil deities, etc which has encouraged me to let players do things that have huge world impacting (in a bad way) consequences. I've seen a few McGuffin type narratives where the characters have no idea why they're chasing after some item.
Anyway, your mileage may vary so feel free to disregard any of the other ideas if they don't work for you.