Ok, so I am in the process of creating my own fantasy world for my girl and I to eventually GM. However, I'm looking for ways to make this a much different and surreal experience for our future players. I have watched a lot of video's in which I'm incorporating a much of the information/ideas from so here is my question to you guys: What are your favorite non-conventional monsters, tasks, quests, etc that you have experienced as a player or used as a GM?
I refuse to have the stereotypical "Oh, you're level one... Goblins!" mentality. That's like listening to the same song every day for a year on the radio. I am still very inexperienced even as a player so if at all possible please keep the CR relatively low for low-mid lvl.
I would love some quality missions that aren't necessarily go, kill, find stuff, get reward. I'm not much on puzzles so the more help I can get on my weakness the better.
That highlighted part is the reason you shouldn't do what you want to do probably to the extent that you want to do it.
Point 1) You are not going to make anything unique and divinely inspired; it's going to be contrived and suck mercilessly for everyone involved the farther you stray from convention.
Point 2) You are going to suck, both as a DM and as a player.
Point 3) You are going to fall hard into common tropes fairly quickly as a result of Points 1 and 2.
Once you understand those three things, then you're on the right path; trying to be clever and unique, especially if you're new, is a sure way to royally f~&@ things up in the worst ways possible.
This isn't just you - this is everybody who has ever breathed oxygen on this planet. This also isn't about RPGs, either; this is about quite literally EVERYTHING that can be taken as "creative".
You first need to become familiar with using conventions before you ever start breaking them; you're going to be bad at it at first, and that's okay - you learn from your mistakes and get better by observing what does and doesn't work, and adapting from there. Once you've become familiar with tropes, THEN you can start deconstructing them in big ways.
You cannot dive into surrealism without having first mastered realism - if you try to, all that will happen is you'll end up with a confusing, contrived, and convoluted mess.
Again - not just you, but literally everyone ever. Even masters of surrealism like David Lynch, Neil Gaiman, and Tim Burton. No-one gets it right the first dozen times. Some people never really get it completely right - these people are generally the ones who think they have a complete handle on a genre.
Even if you hate things like "Level 1 Party vs CR1 Goblins!" it's much better to get used to using them, finding out when & how appropriate those conventions work or don't work, and how you can turn such things on their ear properly.
You don't come fresh into the world writing High Plains Drifter; you start by writing dozens and dozens of identical John Wayne films until you inherently understand common traits of your genre, and THEN you get the turn it on it's ear.
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So, with that in mind, that's not to say you HAVE to stick with the typical "Goblins & Orcs & Dragons, OH MY!" Tolkien-based aesthetic.
You may want to avoid the typical Britonic/Gaelic/Teutonic creatures, which means pretty much all Fey, very many Giants, etc. And, of course, medieval and classical creatures like the Griffon, Sphinx, etc.
Obviously, this cuts out a LOT of iconic creatures, but you're still left with a whole host of nasty nibblies to work with.
Gremlins are a fairly neat little race of critters. They're similar to Goblins, yet are fairly different and vary MUCH more widely than Goblins do. They're a good way to keep a familiar western-european vibe without verging into "cliche" territories.
There are enough Lovecraftian Aberrations in Pathfinder to make Miskatontic U look like a pre-school. Eldritch Abominations are always a fairly safe way to go "freaky" and run a whole gamut of CRs. Fleshdregs are CR1 creatures, for example, while Great Cthulhu is CR30.
You can also go the Sam Raime route and focus much more heavily on shapeshifters and the Undead. Obviously Undead are just everywhere in the CR ranges, and various dark things like Fetchlings, Changelings, Dark Stalkers, Doppelgangers, and Lycanthropes all can be anywhere from not-a-threat to boss-level encounters.
And then, of course, there's Japanese and Chinese things. Pathfinder has tons of creatures and races which reference East Asian cultures, which seem exceedingly odd to those unfamiliar with the tropes; Avatar the Last Airbender is a good way to look for inspiration on the "strange yet familiar" front.
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For puzzles... that's much more an art than nearly anything else.
Looking at the Myst games would be a good idea.
Modern puzzle games, even ones worth mentioning like God of War and Prince of Persia, don't really hold a candle to the puzzle games of yore.
One of the most key things about making good puzzles is to treat them like good mystery stories - you need to give away the answer at every single turn without making it blatant.
What this basically means is that you have to put all the pieces needed to solve the puzzle in plain sight, staring the players in the face, without giving them any instructions as to how to solve the puzzle.
Portal, unlike GOW and POP, does exactly this: every single puzzle in both Portal and Portal II give you the answers right in front of you, but never even so much as HINT as to how exactly you should use the pieces to solve the puzzle. Instead, the game leaves it up to you to actually use your brain to analyze and consider options; it leaves you to try different things again and again until you hit that "eureka" moment.
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Unfortunately, puzzles don't quite fall into the established Challenge Rating system. Whereas CR applies easily to Traps, Hazards, Encounters, etc., because they're all based on hard-coded numbers, puzzles, being an almost-purely mental thing, can be just as difficult for a lv20 PC as it is for a lv1 NPC.
Therefore, when using Puzzles, I'd suggest using a "fluid CR" system: All puzzles are simply Easy, Normal, Difficult, Hard, or Extremely Hard, or Impossible; you as the DM decide what constitutes what.
When a Party successfully completes a puzzle, award them XP based on their current APL. An Easy Puzzle is treated as CR=APL-1; Normal is CR=APL; Difficult is CR=APL+1, Hard CR=APL+2, etc.
I have to take the side of chbgraphicarts, he put it rather blunt what the major issues with the whole "breaking out of the mold" concept of trying to be (too?) unique.
Instead of going "completely" new, you might want to try to use what tools you have present. There is more monsters than just goblins at lvl 1, there is more than zombies, skeletons, orc, bandits etc etc.
Heres a list of stuff that is under CR1: CR1/10-1/2
So my best advice might sound a bit boring, but i would recommend starting out with the stereotype and gain experience, be creative with the old stuff and interative on it.
As others have mentioned, it's best to stick to the tried and tested methods at level one, especially as a newer GM. Unfortunately, ideas that sound good on paper don't often translate well to the field (believe me, I'm quite experienced at being overambitious).
However, that doesn't mean you can't make something like a goblin encounter memorable. As other people have mentioned, traps and puzzles are a cool thing to have, and can break up combat nicely. If you have a long running story, such as an evil Dragon terrorising a kingdom (yeah yeah, I know, very cliché), maybe have that Dragon appear: they've defeated the goblins, and as they turn away from the encampment, they hear the sound of thunder building in the air; the darkened clouds split and a Dragon cloaked in lightning flies out, and towards the city. Something like that would mean you wouldn't have to rely on the party's CR abilities, and could set up the scene for a battle much later on.
At one point, I'd written a paragraph or two about how a different and surreal game needs to start with the story, but I nixed it because I missed the premise completely. And I kind of feel like everyone else has too. The word "surreal" is tripping people up, I think. All the guy's asking for is novel CR1ish encounters. And then everyone comes in here saying "stay on the garden path, young padawan".
As for CHB's three points, I disagree. As a new GM, anything a new GM prepares on their own is almost definitely going to be contrived and suck mercilessly, so take a shot at doing what makes you happy since you and your group have nothing to lose. Sticking to convention isn't going to be any safer.
To join the bandwagon of constructive criticism; try to fail fast and fail often. Swinging big out of the gates has a way of not working out as the others have said.
So instead of building a full novel fantasy world: Build a novel town, or region, or dungeon. and only add enough content for 1-5 games, 1-3 levels.
So to answer your question in my own way, here are few ideas for novel games that will work for short mini-arcs:
They are in a sky city, every character is a flying race.
Same thing, underwater.
You are warriors in a barbarian tribe of "evil" humanoids, survive as the bad guy.
You are at the Golarion College of Adventurers, on a Pathfinder scholarship! Your field trip is to observe then prepare a 3 scroll essay on goblin festival songs (Do not kill the goblins! this is the only tribe located conveniently close to the College!)
Dragonriders!
Your party is the Major, sheriff, priest, and judge of the village. Can't kill the goblins, they keep the griffons fed and away from the cows.
To continue following the idea of Unique encounters:
A merchant wants guides for a hunting expedition, help this APL-3 character bag a dire tiger.
A noble wants that merchant to conveniently disappear, you are bribed to ensure an 'accident'.
A competitor wants blackmail material, you are to steal the trade treaty the merchant is drafting during the hunt.
The young adventuring heir of a powerful family got turned to stone in a basilisk den. Recover the statue.
Evil dwarves who jealously guard their mines.
Bandits who are keen on making profit, but just aren't very good at it.
Carnivorous plants where you least expect them, managed by an evil druid.
Kobold tribes, pining for their lost master.
Cattle rustlers who decide to branch out into kidnapping and extortion.
A haunted graveyard where skeletons and zombies awaken on the night of the darkest moon.
There is absolutely no reason to use goblins if you don't like goblins.
The most important thing is to have a concept and go with it. Steal from your favorite novels and old RPGs that you liked but never played. Borrow from literature. Steal from modules you've read, or even glimpsed. Adapt. Steal. Borrow. Change. Juggle.
Or... use a published AP as the base, and improvise from there. Reflavor everything to make it unique.
I don't think it is a matter of avoiding goblins and other typical low-level creatures, etc. but more so HOW you use them.
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Finding a killer's murder collection, which sparks alive, and sends a number of Beheaded after the party would be interesting.
They are only CR 1/3.
This sets up additional encounters, such as other arisen victims, like Zombies and Skeletons, then the eventual encounter with the murderer, which something like a Bugbear would work.
Actually, to really throw things for a loop, just add Pugwampis, to any encounter.
Pick several low-CR monsters -- roll randomly on one of the lists if you want to; it's a great way of getting several ideas together -- and then make the grouping of them work.
Or... Other humans with low-level animals are a great place to start if you don't want to do goblins. A master thief (rogue 3) and his apprentices and trained monkeys would be a great place to start. You have quite a few plots just with that.
At one point, I'd written a paragraph or two about how a different and surreal game needs to start with the story, but I nixed it because I missed the premise completely. And I kind of feel like everyone else has too. The word "surreal" is tripping people up, I think. All the guy's asking for is novel CR1ish encounters. And then everyone comes in here saying "stay on the garden path, young padawan".
As for CHB's three points, I disagree. As a new GM, anything a new GM prepares on their own is almost definitely going to be contrived and suck mercilessly, so take a shot at doing what makes you happy since you and your group have nothing to lose. Sticking to convention isn't going to be any safer.
I'm with Jaunt when it comes to the naysayer. It sounds like you're aware of some of the pitfalls, and you're keen to try something different, AND you come to the boards for advice. Sounds like you should listen to the people who give you pointers on what you can try different and forget about those who say you will fail (So what if he does!?).
Blackbloodtroll's advice to steal is excellent. There are a lot of very creative start of modules and APs out there. Take a look and borrow heavily.
From my own perspective, keep the lethality low, but the stakes high. Low-level PCs can die so easily. For example, you could have a simple sport (or culinary) competition turn out to have great repercussions for your world. (Chase rules can serve as inspiration for this.)
Don't expect your players to succeed. Have fun and interesting outcomes for both failures and successes. By the same extent, have outcomes for extraordinary successes and failures!
Use unexpected monsters. A friend of mine had his group get in trouble with geese as it tried to rush its way through a farmhouse courtyard. He used non-lethal damage. I would add that how long they took could potentially change the world. (A silly example could be that the group has found out that the ambassador's companion has commissioned a dress from the same person as the duchess of X, and that the lazy crook sold them the same model. The ambassador and the duchess are about to both loose face at the ball, unless she can be warned in time, but the geese and other things stand in the way of the adventurers now turned couriers. Perhaps they stumble upon some gnomish inventor who's riding a bizarre chariot on two wheels without a horse...)
Anyways. Don't listen to the naysayers. David Lynch doesn't, or else he would not be David Lynch.
@ 1st level I had goblins attack my party. Except they weren't just goblins - they were goblins that had been transformed by a Yellow Musk Creeper into Yellow Musk Zombies!
They attacked the party with blunt weapons, inflicting only non-lethal damage, because they were trying to capture them to turn them into more Yellow Musk Zombies.
Made my players sit up when the "oh no - just goblins" turned out to be something more difficult to deal with. And yet, I wasn't trying to be lethal about it.