Step right this way!
It's finally the day
the circus comes to town!
Where, true to the bill,
the acrobats thrill
And wild beasts are found!All day,
child's play,
clowns, and balloons!
Fun filled,
until
the next full moon!Laughter and cheers,
it happens each year
the circus comes to town!
So, unlock the cage
and light up the stage
for the greatest show aroundAll day,
child's play,
clowns and balloons!
Fun filled,
until
the next full moon!
Premise:
A carnival has come to the home town of your characters. Naturally everyone in town is excited and goes to the show. And of course, there's something sinister in the circus and it's up to the characters to figure out what!Level:
This ought to be a good adventure for 1st level characters.
General Idea:
Basically I was thinking about all the Goosebumps books I read as a kid and similar types of literature where teens (or younger depending) would tackle some supernatural problem all on their own, so I'm looking for suggestions what the best route would be to go here. I know this flies a lot in the face of most fantasy fiction, since the way we see teens acting is at odds to the history of it, but I'm not trying to suggest that they'd act like modern teenagers, only that I thought it would be interesting if the characters got involved because they were going to have a good time at the carnival, like everyone else, but somehow something happens and they're the ones that need to investigate it.
I'm not sure if anyone would be interested in playing characters who are younger or not, but I did look up the ages here.
For Humans (who are technically adults at 15 and can have a variable age of 1 to 12 years) and Half-Orcs (who are adults at 14 but have the same variable), there wouldn't need to be young character rules in play for the teens, though alchemists, clerics, druids, inquisitors, magi, monks, and wizards would more likely be 17 (for humans) and 16 (for half-orcs) at minimum.
Half-elves are trickier since they aren't technically adults until 20 and have a 1 to 18 year variable, meaning most half-elf alchemists, clerics, druids, inquisitors, magi, monks, and wizards would minimally be 23.
Gnomes and Dwarves both are adults at 40 (the same age as some parents!) and Dwarves have a variable of 3 to 42 years while Gnomes have 4 to 54.
Finally, Elves aren't adult until 110 (they've probably already outlived a couple generations of humans) and have between 4 and 60 years as a starting age.
In any case, I'd like to develop this idea more, but I'd like suggestions for things that are going to be appropriate for 1st level characters. I already figured the carnival has the usual types of acts: sword-swallowers, jugglers, and acrobats, as well as exotic animal acts (and I'm not opposed to some of these being very exotic). I also figured there's probably a sideshow as well. For those interested, there will be an actual magic user as the magician with an assistant. However, the act consists both of real magic and the types of "magic tricks" we'd see in reality.
I don't think anyone in the circus ought to be above 3rd level, but I'd really like suggestions.
Of course, if anyone just wants to use this thread to discuss creepy carnivals and circuses in general, you are welcome to do so. I just would hope folks would keep it towards the lower end of the levels (1-5) because I don't see any reason characters of those levels shouldn't feel like they're having fun.
Browser ate my post so this is the short version. Slow the level advance in order to keep them at low level. You could give them pseudo power increases by giving them magic items that are gifts from carnival NPCs for completing a quest or on load while undetaking one. Kind of like the kids in Hary Potter getting inappropriately powerful items, but you don't need to give them cloaks on invisibility or time turners. For example:
-A wand with higher levels spells or caster level, but with 5 charges or so. At 1st or 2nd level, being able to shoot 3-5 magic missle at one is pretty awesome.
-A flaming sword might be more than you want to hand out, but they might be able to borrow one from the tiefling sword swallower so they can fight a creature with the ability to freeze people.
-A scroll with some spells relevant to a particular quest can allow them to solve problem that might not normally be within a low level party's capabilities.
-A magic box may have been magically locked long ago and it well beyond the ability of low level characters, but a chime of opening could get them inside.
-A potion with a higher caster. If you don't want characters to be able to fly yet but have some hard to reach areas, a potion of jump that gives a +30 bonus to jumping can solve that problem.
Browser ate my post so this is the short version. Slow the level advance in order to keep them at low level. You could give them pseudo power increases by giving them magic items that are gifts from carnival NPCs for completing a quest or on load while undetaking one. Kind of like the kids in Hary Potter getting inappropriately powerful items, but you don't need to give them cloaks on invisibility or time turners. For example:
-A wand with higher levels spells or caster level, but with 5 charges or so. At 1st or 2nd level, being able to shoot 3-5 magic missle at one is pretty awesome.
-A flaming sword might be more than you want to hand out, but they might be able to borrow one from the tiefling sword swallower so they can fight a creature with the ability to freeze people.
-A scroll with some spells relevant to a particular quest can allow them to solve problem that might not normally be within a low level party's capabilities.
-A magic box may have been magically locked long ago and it well beyond the ability of low level characters, but a chime of opening could get them inside.
-A potion with a higher caster. If you don't want characters to be able to fly yet but have some hard to reach areas, a potion of jump that gives a +30 bonus to jumping can solve that problem.
Thanks a lot! This is really helpful! I'm sort of hoping more folks will be interested in this. I know a while back someone did something similar with a creepy carnival, but I don't think that the most fun adventures should have to be the ones that happen after 5th level.