I'm planning a nautical/interplanar campaign where the the party is trapped on a Morkoth's island and has to kill it at the behest of the giant dragon-turtle that the island is stuck on. I'm just brainstorming some of the weirdest things I can do with a magical interplanar island. I'm tempted to add in a lot of Spelljammer races as they are weird but Spelljammer is wildspace/crystal sphere travel and not interplanar travel so I'm not sure how much I can get away with. I was thinking having the surface have tons of dinosaurs and fey (like the Lost World and The Tempest) while the Morkoth's giant lair has some of the most odd and obscure stuff can think of.
My advice would be to homebrew a bevy of various creatures and monsters to populate the Morkoth's island. After all, the crux of eldritch/aberrant horror is the fear of the unknown and the unknowable. Why just limit that fear to the characters? Make the people playing with you have no idea what they're fighting/talking with more often than not.
It should be a strange, whimsical land, filled with all sorts of strange, impossible things and creatures. Just a few ideas off the top of my head.
A room filled with a huge forest, with trees rooting into all the pearly white sides of the room. Trees jutting out from the bottom, the top, the sides, and all angles. Among the trees lives a tribe of vine swinging goblins, ruled over by their gluttonous, incredibly overweight orcish chief who regularly cannibalizes them. Well, it's technically not cannibalism, but whatever.
A whole room that's just a massive ooze that is actually a breathable environment, because magic. Though there don't seem to be any adverse affects, but that's because the ooze actually works as an anesthetic, and anyone who breathes it in can no longer feel pain. And because they can't feel pain, they don't notice the ooze slowly devouring them. They can get clued in by the strange, random skeletons floating around, or their clothes starting to dissolve and their bodies soon after. They'll be totally high, though, so expect disadvantage.
A room with a door. The door is locked. There's no lock on it or anything, though, nothing to be picked. Knock won't work. The door can be rattled a little, but nothing will open it. It can't be destroyed. Beyond it a faint bluish light can be seen. And that's it. Just screw with your players.
A room that's a huge hourglass, with a door at each end. It slowly rotates over 24 hours, and half of the time the door can't be opened, due to sand blocking it. On one half of the hourglass, the sand is black, and as it goes through the center it turns to white, because I dunno that seems cool. Any sand that makes its way through a door disintegrates, and once all the sand is gone the room implodes.
Might update this later if I think of any more.
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"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
It should be a strange, whimsical land, filled with all sorts of strange, impossible things and creatures. Just a few ideas off the top of my head.
A room filled with a huge forest, with trees rooting into all the pearly white sides of the room. Trees jutting out from the bottom, the top, the sides, and all angles. Among the trees lives a tribe of vine swinging goblins, ruled over by their gluttonous, incredibly overweight orcish chief who regularly cannibalizes them. Well, it's technically not cannibalism, but whatever.
A whole room that's just a massive ooze that is actually a breathable environment, because magic. Though there don't seem to be any adverse affects, but that's because the ooze actually works as an anesthetic, and anyone who breathes it in can no longer feel pain. And because they can't feel pain, they don't notice the ooze slowly devouring them. They can get clued in by the strange, random skeletons floating around, or their clothes starting to dissolve and their bodies soon after. They'll be totally high, though, so expect disadvantage.
A room with a door. The door is locked. There's no lock on it or anything, though, nothing to be picked. Knock won't work. The door can be rattled a little, but nothing will open it. It can't be destroyed. Beyond it a faint bluish light can be seen. And that's it. Just screw with your players.
A room that's a huge hourglass, with a door at each end. It slowly rotates over 24 hours, and half of the time the door can't be opened, due to sand blocking it. On one half of the hourglass, the sand is black, and as it goes through the center it turns to white, because I dunno that seems cool. Any sand that makes its way through a door disintegrates, and once all the sand is gone the room implodes.
Might update this later if I think of any more.
I like these! I'm definitely using these for the Morkoth's lair.
In that case, simply focus on using creatures that your players wouldn't know about or monsters that are have a misleading/deceiving nature. Nothing is as it seems in a Morkoth's lair. I'd also suggest, just as a thought, to pull a lot from vaporware aesthetics. Gigantic quartz busts the size of mountains covered in sand and grass. Text in an unreadable language drift through the skies like rolling clouds. Mechanical bleeps and bloops make up the background noise, with no discernible source in sight. The sun is always in a state of sunrise or sunset (it's impossible to tell), causing the sky to be forever stained a summer pink.
In that case, simply focus on using creatures that your players wouldn't know about or monsters that are have a misleading/deceiving nature. Nothing is as it seems in a Morkoth's lair. I'd also suggest, just as a thought, to pull a lot from vaporware aesthetics. Gigantic quartz busts the size of mountains covered in sand and grass. Text in an unreadable language drift through the skies like rolling clouds. Mechanical bleeps and bloops make up the background noise, with no discernible source in sight. The sun is always in a state of sunrise or sunset (it's impossible to tell), causing the sky to be forever stained a summer pink.
Those are some good ideas. I just am still trying to think of ways to make the island feel otherworldly and perilous. I'm thinking the thoughts of those that die on the island appear in the sky as an echo effect and appear in the Morkoth language. I like having a lore, and then not explaining it to the players unless they role some amazing perception checks.
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I'm planning a nautical/interplanar campaign where the the party is trapped on a Morkoth's island and has to kill it at the behest of the giant dragon-turtle that the island is stuck on. I'm just brainstorming some of the weirdest things I can do with a magical interplanar island. I'm tempted to add in a lot of Spelljammer races as they are weird but Spelljammer is wildspace/crystal sphere travel and not interplanar travel so I'm not sure how much I can get away with. I was thinking having the surface have tons of dinosaurs and fey (like the Lost World and The Tempest) while the Morkoth's giant lair has some of the most odd and obscure stuff can think of.
Any weird ideas to freak out my players?
My advice would be to homebrew a bevy of various creatures and monsters to populate the Morkoth's island. After all, the crux of eldritch/aberrant horror is the fear of the unknown and the unknowable. Why just limit that fear to the characters? Make the people playing with you have no idea what they're fighting/talking with more often than not.
It should be a strange, whimsical land, filled with all sorts of strange, impossible things and creatures. Just a few ideas off the top of my head.
Might update this later if I think of any more.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Two of the players are new to TTRPG's so I don't have to worry about them having the monster manual memorized or anything like that.
I like these! I'm definitely using these for the Morkoth's lair.
In that case, simply focus on using creatures that your players wouldn't know about or monsters that are have a misleading/deceiving nature. Nothing is as it seems in a Morkoth's lair. I'd also suggest, just as a thought, to pull a lot from vaporware aesthetics. Gigantic quartz busts the size of mountains covered in sand and grass. Text in an unreadable language drift through the skies like rolling clouds. Mechanical bleeps and bloops make up the background noise, with no discernible source in sight. The sun is always in a state of sunrise or sunset (it's impossible to tell), causing the sky to be forever stained a summer pink.
Those are some good ideas. I just am still trying to think of ways to make the island feel otherworldly and perilous. I'm thinking the thoughts of those that die on the island appear in the sky as an echo effect and appear in the Morkoth language. I like having a lore, and then not explaining it to the players unless they role some amazing perception checks.