Hi everybody! I’m preparing a campaign where a party of dragonslayers travel across a swamp to end a black dragon’s cruel plans to topple the local civilization. A lot of it is coming together really well, but I’m stuck on one particular encounter. The surrounding swamp is crawling with lizardfolk, and if the players pick a certain path they’ll be traveling right through the middle of “Whiteskull territory”, where many of their tribal settlements are.
I would like to have some interaction with one of these settlements, and maybe even some combat, but without just railroading them into the middle of the tribe. Here are some ideas I have, and you can let me know if they work or not, or if you have better ones:
The party sees a group of rival dragonslayers or innocent travelers has been captured and taken for dinner/tribute to the dragon, which they venerate. They track them back to the camp to attempt a rescue.
They accidentally stumble into a nest, and run for their lives as warriors chase them down.
They hear that the tribe has a magic item they think will be useful, and plan a heist.
You could have a band of the lizardfolk ambush them while traveling, maybe a few attacking their camp at night or something to establish that they're hostile and to have them antagonize the party, and perhaps use that to establish in some way that they have other captives. Such as having some items on the lizardfolk that are out of place or have one of them say something like 'sweet even more offerings' (not those exact words of course.)
More than one reason to go won't hurt anything as well. You could seed the idea that there are captives 'and' a powerful magic item there and then see which the party prioritizes, the item that will aid their mission or helping innocent people. Depending on how well they plan the raid, maybe they're able to pull off both, or maybe it'll be a choice they have to make, as a sneak attack on the camp will only give them time for one objective before needing to withdraw or be surrounded.
You could have a band of the lizardfolk ambush them while traveling, maybe a few attacking their camp at night or something to establish that they're hostile and to have them antagonize the party, and perhaps use that to establish in some way that they have other captives. Such as having some items on the lizardfolk that are out of place or have one of them say something like 'sweet even more offerings' (not those exact words of course.)
More than one reason to go won't hurt anything as well. You could seed the idea that there are captives 'and' a powerful magic item there and then see which the party prioritizes, the item that will aid their mission or helping innocent people. Depending on how well they plan the raid, maybe they're able to pull off both, or maybe it'll be a choice they have to make, as a sneak attack on the camp will only give them time for one objective before needing to withdraw or be surrounded.
Oh, I’m definitely including them in other parts of the campaign as long rest ambushes and “wandering monsters”, but that’s a good idea to have them drop hints and clues that they may have other captives and/or magical items. I also like the idea of them feeling like they can’t accomplish both objectives; it helps show how the PCs really align, despite what they wrote on their character sheet, and players can often surprise you by finding a way to accomplish both!
Hi everybody! I’m preparing a campaign where a party of dragonslayers travel across a swamp to end a black dragon’s cruel plans to topple the local civilization. A lot of it is coming together really well, but I’m stuck on one particular encounter. The surrounding swamp is crawling with lizardfolk, and if the players pick a certain path they’ll be traveling right through the middle of “Whiteskull territory”, where many of their tribal settlements are.
I would like to have some interaction with one of these settlements, and maybe even some combat, but without just railroading them into the middle of the tribe. Here are some ideas I have, and you can let me know if they work or not, or if you have better ones:
The party sees a group of rival dragonslayers or innocent travelers has been captured and taken for dinner/tribute to the dragon, which they venerate. They track them back to the camp to attempt a rescue.
They accidentally stumble into a nest, and run for their lives as warriors chase them down.
They hear that the tribe has a magic item they think will be useful, and plan a heist.
Thoughts?
Players will never run from monsters.
Rescuing dinner sounds fun and I'm sure there are classic modules you can pull from if you want.
You could have a band of the lizardfolk ambush them while traveling, maybe a few attacking their camp at night or something to establish that they're hostile and to have them antagonize the party, and perhaps use that to establish in some way that they have other captives. Such as having some items on the lizardfolk that are out of place or have one of them say something like 'sweet even more offerings' (not those exact words of course.)
More than one reason to go won't hurt anything as well. You could seed the idea that there are captives 'and' a powerful magic item there and then see which the party prioritizes, the item that will aid their mission or helping innocent people. Depending on how well they plan the raid, maybe they're able to pull off both, or maybe it'll be a choice they have to make, as a sneak attack on the camp will only give them time for one objective before needing to withdraw or be surrounded.
Thanks for the feedback, guys!
That’s a fair point, but a lot of the people I play with are known for their weird choices.
I’ll look into modules involving Lizardfolk or similar dynamics for some inspiration.
Oh, I’m definitely including them in other parts of the campaign as long rest ambushes and “wandering monsters”, but that’s a good idea to have them drop hints and clues that they may have other captives and/or magical items. I also like the idea of them feeling like they can’t accomplish both objectives; it helps show how the PCs really align, despite what they wrote on their character sheet, and players can often surprise you by finding a way to accomplish both!
I don't have anything good to add for your hooks, but I have had fun running tactical lizardfolk encounters using the lizardfolk statblocks from ghosts of salt Marsh. https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/lizardfolk-scaleshield