So I have this idea of a town infested with doppelgangers. Some will be adults but most will be poor children begging and stealing from people in town. When they find the lair it will be full of various prisoners and children asking for help or people claiming to eradicate them (they are all obviously doppelgangers). When they get to the last room there are a couple large nests with eggs in them. The lights will suddenly go out for a second, then come back on and all the players will have a duplicate of themselves. I will put them in charge of both and they will have to figure out who is real and who's not. Now my problem is how to introduce the doppelgangers and how they will find the lair. I can make it so they chase after a child that stole from them, it ducks in an alley, and they find a woman instead. Stuff like that. But how will they find out they aren't people? Should I have an NPC claim they saw them? Then another hint to where they saw the kids going to? Any help or advice is appreciated.
* Perception checks (or use their passive perception) DC 15+, whilst talking to an NPC the NPC's eye colour changed for a split second or becomes reptile like or the eyes blink an abnormal fashion.
* Town Drunk, always warning of people not being people, maybe fighting off his wife whilst loudly claiming "You ain't me wife She died last Winter!" the party can then go look at teh graveyard to see if there is a grave, maybe lead them down a false path where they think it's vampires or some other undead, have the town drunk come back a few sessions later completely sober and apologizing for his conduct and trying to assure the party everything in town is normal (he's been switched).
* Accident, an NPC is run over by a run away carriage or wagon and when the body is seen it has reverted back to its normal doppleganger form, the local watch or town guards move in to push the public away and swiftly remove the body (because the entire watch have been replaced).
* Make up a nursery rhyme for the town children to sing along the lines of the nightmare on elm street:
One, Two, Freddy's Coming For You (change to: 1, 2 here they come for you)
Three, Four Better Lock Your Door (change to 3, 4 they're at your door)
Five, Six Grab A Crucifix (change to: 5, 6 now you're in a fix)
Seven, eight, Ya better stay awake (change to: 7, 8 your form they take).
Nine, Ten Never Sleep Again (change to: 9, 10 now they're you again).
* have them chase a pickpocket or other petty thief but they see them dart down an alley on the left only to be seen coming out another alley way on the right hand side of the street.
* they take rooms at an Inn and whilst having dinner downstairs they are waited on by a woman, when one of them goes to bed they find an identical woman cleaning the hallway outside their rooms, create the impression they are identical twins/triplets/quapruplets etc.
* go down the Village of the Damaned/Midwich Cuckoo's route, the Monster Manual says dopplegangers appear normal until adolescence so have a group of children all walking and acting the same reading peoples minds and just saying everything they read out loud "why Mr Fitch you're sleeping with the farmers wife" "Captain Jess you are taking bribes from the bandits out of town" have the town rally against them and maybe have a lynch mob, the party can then try to save the children and maybe have the actual dopplegangers (under the guise of the childrens parents) reward them, easy explanation for this would be some of the families are descended from a cabal of sorcerers and the childrens abilities are put down to wild magic or uncontrolled sorcery points manifesting as the ability to read minds, the party decide to try and help train the children which leads tthe opportunity for them to be replaced.
* don't switch all the party at once, if a party member goes off on their own hand them a note saying they've been kidnapped and replaced by a doppleganger, you could also handle this before a session starts, key here would be trying to make sure the rest of the party out of character don't know the switch has been made.
* traveling merchant, the party encounters a traveling merchant who warns them about the odd town in the next valley and how he never stays there because they always look at him funny or the traveling merchant sends the party in the wrong direction trying to steer them away from the town as he is a doppleganger trying to make sure that adventurers don't go there, the party end up seeing the town a long way off/behind them and may just put it down to the merchant being a bit of a-hole and sending them in the wrong direction.
* Bandits, the party get hired by the town mayor to go remove a bandit threat only to find out the bandits are actually townsfolk that escaped the town and are trying to take it back from the dopplegangers, if the party go back into town they start to see the "bandits" around town, the blacksmith, the grocer, the mayor etc and they can then build up info about which people should not be trusted and who they should keep an eye on and follow.
These are amazing ideas. Thank you. I love the town drunk and bandit ideas and I'll probably take your advise on the kidnapping. They can meet back up at the nest.
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So I have this idea of a town infested with doppelgangers. Some will be adults but most will be poor children begging and stealing from people in town. When they find the lair it will be full of various prisoners and children asking for help or people claiming to eradicate them (they are all obviously doppelgangers). When they get to the last room there are a couple large nests with eggs in them. The lights will suddenly go out for a second, then come back on and all the players will have a duplicate of themselves. I will put them in charge of both and they will have to figure out who is real and who's not. Now my problem is how to introduce the doppelgangers and how they will find the lair. I can make it so they chase after a child that stole from them, it ducks in an alley, and they find a woman instead. Stuff like that. But how will they find out they aren't people? Should I have an NPC claim they saw them? Then another hint to where they saw the kids going to? Any help or advice is appreciated.
how about:
* Perception checks (or use their passive perception) DC 15+, whilst talking to an NPC the NPC's eye colour changed for a split second or becomes reptile like or the eyes blink an abnormal fashion.
* Town Drunk, always warning of people not being people, maybe fighting off his wife whilst loudly claiming "You ain't me wife She died last Winter!" the party can then go look at teh graveyard to see if there is a grave, maybe lead them down a false path where they think it's vampires or some other undead, have the town drunk come back a few sessions later completely sober and apologizing for his conduct and trying to assure the party everything in town is normal (he's been switched).
* Accident, an NPC is run over by a run away carriage or wagon and when the body is seen it has reverted back to its normal doppleganger form, the local watch or town guards move in to push the public away and swiftly remove the body (because the entire watch have been replaced).
* Make up a nursery rhyme for the town children to sing along the lines of the nightmare on elm street:
One, Two, Freddy's Coming For You (change to: 1, 2 here they come for you)
Three, Four Better Lock Your Door (change to 3, 4 they're at your door)
Five, Six Grab A Crucifix (change to: 5, 6 now you're in a fix)
Seven, eight, Ya better stay awake (change to: 7, 8 your form they take).
Nine, Ten Never Sleep Again (change to: 9, 10 now they're you again).
* have them chase a pickpocket or other petty thief but they see them dart down an alley on the left only to be seen coming out another alley way on the right hand side of the street.
* they take rooms at an Inn and whilst having dinner downstairs they are waited on by a woman, when one of them goes to bed they find an identical woman cleaning the hallway outside their rooms, create the impression they are identical twins/triplets/quapruplets etc.
* go down the Village of the Damaned/Midwich Cuckoo's route, the Monster Manual says dopplegangers appear normal until adolescence so have a group of children all walking and acting the same reading peoples minds and just saying everything they read out loud "why Mr Fitch you're sleeping with the farmers wife" "Captain Jess you are taking bribes from the bandits out of town" have the town rally against them and maybe have a lynch mob, the party can then try to save the children and maybe have the actual dopplegangers (under the guise of the childrens parents) reward them, easy explanation for this would be some of the families are descended from a cabal of sorcerers and the childrens abilities are put down to wild magic or uncontrolled sorcery points manifesting as the ability to read minds, the party decide to try and help train the children which leads tthe opportunity for them to be replaced.
* don't switch all the party at once, if a party member goes off on their own hand them a note saying they've been kidnapped and replaced by a doppleganger, you could also handle this before a session starts, key here would be trying to make sure the rest of the party out of character don't know the switch has been made.
* traveling merchant, the party encounters a traveling merchant who warns them about the odd town in the next valley and how he never stays there because they always look at him funny or the traveling merchant sends the party in the wrong direction trying to steer them away from the town as he is a doppleganger trying to make sure that adventurers don't go there, the party end up seeing the town a long way off/behind them and may just put it down to the merchant being a bit of a-hole and sending them in the wrong direction.
* Bandits, the party get hired by the town mayor to go remove a bandit threat only to find out the bandits are actually townsfolk that escaped the town and are trying to take it back from the dopplegangers, if the party go back into town they start to see the "bandits" around town, the blacksmith, the grocer, the mayor etc and they can then build up info about which people should not be trusted and who they should keep an eye on and follow.
These are amazing ideas. Thank you. I love the town drunk and bandit ideas and I'll probably take your advise on the kidnapping. They can meet back up at the nest.