I am working on converting this Witcher short story inspired by the tale of the Beauty and the Beast into a one off adventure for my players.
I have a rough idea of what’s going to happen. The party is sent to a manor deep in the forest to help the man who lives there in solitude, hoping to earn some much needed reward. They are not told much about his curse, but find out he is a man in the form of a beast who was cursed by a priestess after sacking a temple of Sune.
Nivellen tells them his story and informs the party that there was a time he would have paid them handsomely to lift the curse, but he no longer wishes to be cured. This is because he is under the influence of a vampire who is in love with him and wishes to be with him both out of love and because he makes for a mighty protector.
Eventually we get to an encounter with the vampire and Nivellen helping the party to defeat her, the sacrifice of his true love lifting the curse. Perhaps he will fight along side the vampire at first, but as she is weakened her hold over him begins to slip.
I was hoping for some input on how to reveal the vampire’s influence on Nivellen to the party without just straight up telling them. Also, please share your thoughts on other ways to spice up this short adventure.
I don't know the Witcher story, but I will still try to answer your question.
So, basically there are four options for the relationship between the vampire and Nivellen.
a) neither one actually loves the other. She just wants him as a strong pet / defender and he is just enthralled by magic
b) she genuinly loves him, but he doesn't care about her and she enthralled him to live her happy family dream regardless
c) he truly loves her, but she is only interested in him as a defender
d) both actually love each other and their is no magic involved aside from their feelings
This is important since it kinda determines the character of both the Vampire (I'm just going to call her "Naria" for now, since you didn't give her a name and I don't want to call her the Vampire all the time) and Nivellen.
So, for scenario a)
Naria probably doesn't care much about Nivellen and if the party encounters her she will act that way. Probably even abusive towards her "loved one". This should tick off some players, after all Nivellen refused to have a life long curse lifted from himself for this woman! In this scenario, the party might snoop around the manor and maybe find some spellbooks with enchantment spells or even an ancient tome with some dark ritual that requires the willing sacrifice of Nivellen... if you want a moral conflict: Naria found a way to cure her own curse of Vampirism that was brought upon her by one of Nivellen's ancestors and he as heir is the key to curing her.
In this scenario Nivellen will probably fight against Naria once the spell breaks.
For scenario b)
This is more tricky. Naria will actually care about Nivellen and try to be the perfect wife and hostess.
The best way to clue the party in would probably if the spell was not perfect and Nivellen sometimes turns completely apathic as a side effect. Naria will try to cover that up as well as she can, but it should hint that something strange is going on with Nivellen. If the party inquires about it she might send them on a fool's errand to get them out of the castle to look for a remedy. When they return Nivellen could have broken the spell on his own and actively hunt her. Or the party could find an old friend of Nivellen while on the fool's errand. Or they could find portraits of Nivellen's former wife / love and letters that proof how important she was to him. Maybe even a diary about that super annoying vampire woman that keeps stalking him.
Scenario c)
In this case Nivellen is probably not charmed or enthralled by Naria but is willfully helping her. Like in scenario a), she should treat him in a non-caring, abusive way and the party might be able to help him realize she just isn't worth it that he gives his future for her. Maybe they can actually find someone who genuinely cares for him... preferrably somewhere in a dungeon or similar, locked away by Naria for fear that this person might turn Nivellen away from her.
Scenario d)
This to me is the most interesting scenario. Both of them love each other, but both of them are monsters that probably terrorize the countryside.
The nearby villages and towns will want them both destroyed and pay a handsome sum for it. If the party knows the curse can be lifted by a sacrifice of true love, they might be able to convince her to sacrifice herself for Nivellen.
If she does, it would be interesting how Nivellen reacts. He's probably howling mad at the priestess who cursed him and is therefore indirectly responsible for Naria's sacrifice. And now that he is human again, he probably is a very angry, very powerful noble by right of his birth... Or he might realize that Naria gave her life so he could live his own in peace, in which case he is probably incredibly sad but will try to make the best of his new life.
Or, if the party cannot convince Naria to sacrifice herself, the party is about to face a very powerful couple and maybe some undead servants ina gothic horror manor... which could be a very atmospheric combat encounter.
As I said I don't know the original story, but figuring out what their relationship actually is and what their motivations are will help you come up with ideas how to involve the party. :-)
I am working on converting this Witcher short story inspired by the tale of the Beauty and the Beast into a one off adventure for my players.
I have a rough idea of what’s going to happen. The party is sent to a manor deep in the forest to help the man who lives there in solitude, hoping to earn some much needed reward. They are not told much about his curse, but find out he is a man in the form of a beast who was cursed by a priestess after sacking a temple of Sune.
Nivellen tells them his story and informs the party that there was a time he would have paid them handsomely to lift the curse, but he no longer wishes to be cured. This is because he is under the influence of a vampire who is in love with him and wishes to be with him both out of love and because he makes for a mighty protector.
Eventually we get to an encounter with the vampire and Nivellen helping the party to defeat her, the sacrifice of his true love lifting the curse. Perhaps he will fight along side the vampire at first, but as she is weakened her hold over him begins to slip.
I was hoping for some input on how to reveal the vampire’s influence on Nivellen to the party without just straight up telling them. Also, please share your thoughts on other ways to spice up this short adventure.
Thanks all!
Good luck with this!
I really enjoyed the first book of the witcher, unfortunately, I'm really bad doing homebrews adventures, so I can't help you.
I am working on converting this Witcher short story inspired by the tale of the Beauty and the Beast into a one off adventure for my players.
I have a rough idea of what’s going to happen. The party is sent to a manor deep in the forest to help the man who lives there in solitude, hoping to earn some much needed reward. They are not told much about his curse, but find out he is a man in the form of a beast who was cursed by a priestess after sacking a temple of Sune.
Nivellen tells them his story and informs the party that there was a time he would have paid them handsomely to lift the curse, but he no longer wishes to be cured. This is because he is under the influence of a vampire who is in love with him and wishes to be with him both out of love and because he makes for a mighty protector.
Eventually we get to an encounter with the vampire and Nivellen helping the party to defeat her, the sacrifice of his true love lifting the curse. Perhaps he will fight along side the vampire at first, but as she is weakened her hold over him begins to slip.
I was hoping for some input on how to reveal the vampire’s influence on Nivellen to the party without just straight up telling them. Also, please share your thoughts on other ways to spice up this short adventure.
Thanks all!
I don't know the Witcher story, but I will still try to answer your question.
So, basically there are four options for the relationship between the vampire and Nivellen.
a) neither one actually loves the other. She just wants him as a strong pet / defender and he is just enthralled by magic
b) she genuinly loves him, but he doesn't care about her and she enthralled him to live her happy family dream regardless
c) he truly loves her, but she is only interested in him as a defender
d) both actually love each other and their is no magic involved aside from their feelings
This is important since it kinda determines the character of both the Vampire (I'm just going to call her "Naria" for now, since you didn't give her a name and I don't want to call her the Vampire all the time) and Nivellen.
So, for scenario a)
Naria probably doesn't care much about Nivellen and if the party encounters her she will act that way. Probably even abusive towards her "loved one". This should tick off some players, after all Nivellen refused to have a life long curse lifted from himself for this woman! In this scenario, the party might snoop around the manor and maybe find some spellbooks with enchantment spells or even an ancient tome with some dark ritual that requires the willing sacrifice of Nivellen... if you want a moral conflict: Naria found a way to cure her own curse of Vampirism that was brought upon her by one of Nivellen's ancestors and he as heir is the key to curing her.
In this scenario Nivellen will probably fight against Naria once the spell breaks.
For scenario b)
This is more tricky. Naria will actually care about Nivellen and try to be the perfect wife and hostess.
The best way to clue the party in would probably if the spell was not perfect and Nivellen sometimes turns completely apathic as a side effect. Naria will try to cover that up as well as she can, but it should hint that something strange is going on with Nivellen. If the party inquires about it she might send them on a fool's errand to get them out of the castle to look for a remedy. When they return Nivellen could have broken the spell on his own and actively hunt her. Or the party could find an old friend of Nivellen while on the fool's errand. Or they could find portraits of Nivellen's former wife / love and letters that proof how important she was to him. Maybe even a diary about that super annoying vampire woman that keeps stalking him.
Scenario c)
In this case Nivellen is probably not charmed or enthralled by Naria but is willfully helping her. Like in scenario a), she should treat him in a non-caring, abusive way and the party might be able to help him realize she just isn't worth it that he gives his future for her. Maybe they can actually find someone who genuinely cares for him... preferrably somewhere in a dungeon or similar, locked away by Naria for fear that this person might turn Nivellen away from her.
Scenario d)
This to me is the most interesting scenario. Both of them love each other, but both of them are monsters that probably terrorize the countryside.
The nearby villages and towns will want them both destroyed and pay a handsome sum for it. If the party knows the curse can be lifted by a sacrifice of true love, they might be able to convince her to sacrifice herself for Nivellen.
If she does, it would be interesting how Nivellen reacts. He's probably howling mad at the priestess who cursed him and is therefore indirectly responsible for Naria's sacrifice. And now that he is human again, he probably is a very angry, very powerful noble by right of his birth... Or he might realize that Naria gave her life so he could live his own in peace, in which case he is probably incredibly sad but will try to make the best of his new life.
Or, if the party cannot convince Naria to sacrifice herself, the party is about to face a very powerful couple and maybe some undead servants ina gothic horror manor... which could be a very atmospheric combat encounter.
As I said I don't know the original story, but figuring out what their relationship actually is and what their motivations are will help you come up with ideas how to involve the party. :-)
Good luck with this!
I really enjoyed the first book of the witcher, unfortunately, I'm really bad doing homebrews adventures, so I can't help you.
Will you upload the one shot?
Absolutely! I am still working on it and I probably won't run it for awhile (hard to get the group together during the holidays)
But I will gladly share the final product and how the session goes.
Hi there! Did you make it? I can help you if you need it, I have been making some oneshoots for friends this last month.
Will probably run it in this month or next. Still have a few sessions before we get to it.
Thanks for offering to help! I think I pretty much have it good to go though.
You are welcome!
Will you share it or put it to buy it? I would like to run the game too
Absolutely, once I finalize the adventure and have had a chance to run it myself, I will happily share it with you.
Thanks for your patience!