Sometimes, we as GMs imagine legendary scenarios for our NPCs and monsters with which to deliver horrific pain and suffering upon our players' characters. These are things that are worthy of legend, are particularly iconic for our campaigns, or stories that are fearfully whispered by friends around the campfire for many years to come. These are things you, as a GM have always wanted to do. It can be a memorable scenario, an accomplishment in combat, or merely an complicated or risky encounter that was beautifully executed.
I'll share one of mine to start us off.
A while back, I checked one off the list: I successfully ran a "Tucker's Kobolds"-styled encounter, forever proving to my players that even low-level goblins can be absolutely terrifying to even high-level characters.
Haha, nice opener. ;)
(see this thread for the other side of the coin, as it were.)
I had a good one a while back. The Forces of Darkness (TM) invaded the realm's most powerful city, which the PCs just so happened to be in at the time. There were many purposes of the invasion, but one of which was to send a task force of goblins to scale one of the noble house's manors, infiltrate, and murder as many nobles within as they could find, crippling the city's leadership.
The leader of this task force was a goblin cleric with the Fire and Darkness domains. His mooks were a mixture of archers, and grunt 4th level warriors with nets, scimitars, and the Precise Strike and Outflank Teamwork Feats.
The PCs were swiftly sent to retake the manor and evacuate as many nobles as they could, as the building was already starting to burn. Two goblin lookouts perched on the roof noticed them, and rushed inside to alert the goblins within, and they prepared an ambush.
As the PCs kicked open the door, there was utter darkness inside (natural), save for a pair of glowing green eyes at the landing of the stairs in the main chamber. He, fully buffed of course, had just finished slicing the throat of a noble for the Deathknell spell. PCs rush in, and as they get just into the main part of the chamber, goblins leap up from their hiding places on the second story balconies and toss nets down upon them, quickly followed by a hail of arrows and alchemist's fire. More goblin warriors with glowing green eyes (a homebrew cosmetic effect from the cleric's bless) pour in from the side passages and start to swarm around the PCs, using their scimitars with Precise Strike and Outflank to great effect.
It was a tough battle. Fully buffed clerics are nightmares, but two of the PCs were half orcs, and so had darkvision,and were able to hold the line against the goblin warriors while the wizard and the rogue took out the archer mooks. That left the cleric, who almost killed a couple PCs but ended up eating a crit to the face from the resident tank's greataxe.
It was the first time in the campaign that the PCs were truly challenged, and so for me will be a memorable encounter
Surely the fact that some of the PCs were on fire from the alchemist's fires allowed them to see okay?
Another one that I got kicked off the list was the complete and utter corruption of the PCs during the conclusion of the Realm of the Fellnight Queen module (warning: link contains spoilers). Ultimately, my players' characters joined the villain and helped her to facilitate a hostile takeover of the world while still managing to accomplish all of the objectives the module had set for them.
Yeah, once they started to hit and the wizard started flinging around his Burning Sphere, things started to become clearer. But it allowed a few rounds of relative safety for the archers.
on my bucket list of Punishments to give characters
Prison/Slavery Scenario; though i am afraid of complaining players.
Tuckers Kobolds type thing with humans or something; a lot of players couldn't handle it long
Creatures with superior technology that takes a feat to use, that the desired creature gets as a bonus feat.
Shanghai Pirate Crew Scenario; though few can handle it. minus the ability damaging rum
Ludicrously Awkward Mission that involves something immature you would find among groups of male middle school and high school students.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Halfling snatched up and carried off by giant owl looking for dinner. Party may or may not follow.
Ludicrously Awkward Mission that involves something immature you would find among groups of male middle school and high school students.
Players must disguise themselves as prostitutes and entertain drunk johns, for the purpose of achieving some goal?
Players must disguise themselves as prostitutes and entertain drunk johns, for the purpose of achieving some goal?
Ludicrously Awkward Mission that involves something immature you would find among groups of male middle school and high school students.
close enough.
Ultimately, my players' characters joined the villain and helped her to facilitate a hostile takeover of the world while still managing to accomplish all of the objectives the module had set for them.
I do love a good corruption.
I can't wait to see what my players' reactions will be to the next major villain they run across in my homebrew campaign. Jarl, Skaldi, Kal, Zagra...if you are on these boards and read this, I will make sure you encounter Half Fiend Troll Barbarians with polearms at every turn, and I will never stop hunting you.
Anyhow, fast forward several sessions. The piece was gone when they got there, but the party wizard got some intel from the now deceased Archwizard that will eventually lead them to cross paths at one of the sites of another piece.
What they don't know, are the specifics about the Champion and his motives. He is indeed a vampire, but he was once a great warrior and champion of good for the old High Elf empire, now sunk and lost beneath the waves. He fought against the Shadow during the Reshaping, but was dealt a mortal injury. Seeing his beloved island, and the empire it controlled, literally crumbling into the sea, he willingly submitted to a vampire who took him as a prize. He eventually overthrew and destroyed his master, and his one goal (and reason for submitting to vampirism) is to resurrect the old empire among those elves that fled the sinking empire, and to pass along to them the knowledge of what came before. He is filled with bitterness toward the gods of Light for allowing their greatest nation of followers to fall into the sea. He seeks to bring together all the pieces of the dead god Kraal and bring him back.
Why? Because beneath all of this, the *real* secret is that Gul the Unraveller, the god of chaos and madness, chained under the sea, has broken his chains and seeks to destroy...everything. Including the new empire the Champion seeks to rebirth. He cannot allow that, and he knows that Kraal isn't keen on allowing Gul to destroy creation either. After all, what good is being a god of war and control when there is nothing to control and nobody to go to war.
The Champion will pitch this to the PCs. At the end of it all, do you destroy the evil you know and can reason with, or risk the destruction of everything at the hands of evil that has or needs no reason?
Should be good times.
Players must disguise themselves as prostitutes and entertain drunk johns, for the purpose of achieving some goal?
Ludicrously Awkward Mission that involves something immature you would find among groups of male middle school and high school students.
We needed black mail photos...Mr. Fishy was playing the only female character...Mr. Fishy's secret shame.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
A particularly adept group of thieves steals all of their stuff.
They are forced to get ordinary jobs, and people treat them as ordinary people.
A villain eventually reveals that some uber-villain was responsible for taking their stuff, and laughs at them. He tells them the uber-villain doesn't even know who they are.
The ONLY way out of this situation, is for them to realize what it was that made them adventurers in the first place (i.e., courage and guile).
This will never happen. :(
The Deck of Many Things often comes up with some great complications. One example from a campaign I ran was the elven ninja in the party drew after everybody else (all of which had received something positive) and got 1d6 evil version of himself are created who oppose his goals. Now he wasn't aware of the outcome when he pulled the card, I just asked to roll a d6. He got a six. I left hanging until next session when the party encountered a host of elven ninjas with black goatees during their conference with their newfound allies.
There was another encounter that party fought where the party was going up against an efreeti and a band of goons who used the efreet's wish powers as a way to attack the party. After a goon said I wish you'd go to hell, the same player, the elven ninja failed his Will and was promptly sent to the Nine Hells.
The Deck of Many Things often comes up with some great complications. One example from a campaign I ran was the elven ninja in the party drew after everybody else (all of which had received something positive) and got 1d6 evil version of himself are created who oppose his goals. Now he wasn't aware of the outcome when he pulled the card, I just asked to roll a d6. He got a six. I left hanging until next session when the party encountered a host of elven ninjas with black goatees during their conference with their newfound allies.
Could be worse. Since he was a ninja, the law of conservation of Ninjutsu should be in effect, right?
There's a part of me that really want to remove a PC from the game by getting thrown into prison.
Generally my players are pretty well behaved and I don't have much in the way of wanton theft/assault on my hands, but it did come up once when I took on a new player. It was something he was threatened with, but at the time it happened he was working for a pretty powerful public figure and managed to avoid prison with a 500gp fine (alot for them) and losing the evil weapon that got him into trouble in the first place.
I am so looking forward to her trying to tame that baby owlbear.
I was gonna leave it there, but y'know what? I have a whole plan and everything. I have this die with expressions on it (a ">:D" face, a ":)" face, a ":(" face, etc.). Every morning I will roll it to determine the owlbearlet's mood.
:) = It's in a good mood.
:| = It's in a lazy mood.
:( = The PC will be woken up by the owlbear 'crying' for its mother. Loudly. Given where she lives, this will get her in a lot of trouble. if she tries to force it to be quiet, she will get bit.
>:( = The owlbearlet is in a bad mood and will nip at those who come too close.
>:) = The PC will wake up from the owlbearlet trying to gnaw on her leg. I'll make it sound all cute, then tell her how much damage she's taken. I just gotta be careful about accidentally getting the PC killed if she doesn't have good HP.
I know, I know, I'm counting my owlbears before they've hatched--the character isn't even made yet. But I am pretty sure I'll get a chance to roll that die at least twice before she wises up.