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#Campaign start
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Campaign: Iron and Brine
Since the beginning, mortal artifice has only had one aim: to stand against the storms and calamities of our world and say “no more”. Sure we get distracted trying to build a better mousetrap, your clockwork armies, your time controlling clocks and the like, but all if it is rooted in the desire to shield those we love from reality’s next ruinous blow.
... and in some cases, to hit back
-Cosimo, chief artificer in service to the Duke of Alanath
Looking for a subtly steampunk maritime adventure? One that begins with a little mystery and a rather daring con, moves on to dungeon delving, subterfuge, pirate raids and ends with a Pacific Rim style clash between a seamonster and a giant robot piloted by the party? You might not have been looking when you started reading but I bet you are now.
Campaign Start: The Duchy of Alanath is a beacon of progress towards the coming age, airships carrying cargo between most major settlements, advanced naval batteries defending the shore from pirates and worse, secret projects up in hidden mountain foundries that will forever tip the balance of power. , but the root of all this industry threatens to come to a grinding halt when the goods exchange in the Harbour of Breeker’s Bay threatens to turn into a riot.
 Dispatched by benefactors with concerns about the market, or merely in town and caught up in all the chaos, the party will either have to get to the bottom of what’s caused this gridlock, or figure out a way to turn the crisis to their benefit, without getting taken advantage of by more shady characters looking to do the same.  Regardless of where the party end up, they’ll eventually come into the service of a shadowy schemer with unintentionally heroic goals, who will set the party towards all manner of inadvertent good deeds before having them get to the bottom of the conspiracy at the heart of the duchy’s problems.  
Early Game:
Preparations to sail out on the evening tide have been completely derailed when the party realizes the crew of the ship they were attempting to board have been slaughtered, and they’ve stumbled upon the killers in the midst of deposing of the bodies. These killers are no mere pirates, but a cult of cuthroats from the deep who’re looking to intimidate local smugglers and pirates into obedience.
Follow a trail of on-land drownings to discover a merfolk priestess cutting her way through the duchy’s exotic animal dealers. Her niece has been kidnapped for a noble’s menagerie, but does rescuing a child really condone such savage methods?
The party’s patron sees a means of getting close to their target, a fretful and oft distracted duke, by hunting a great beast that’s marauding around the borders of his territory. This hunt goes a bit awry when the beast crashes into an ancient ruin hidden beneath the surface of a lake, which the party will need to explore if they want to deliver a killing blow to their target.
Mid Game
A ship of famed treasure hunters has beached itself miles up the coast, the crew scattering to the winds. After delving the wreck and tracking down some of the sailors aboard, the party discover that they defiled an altar to an ancient sea goddess, and now a monster from the depths is due to hit the nearby port any day now. 
Break up a fight between two of the Duke’s most trusted advisors, an arcanist and an artificer, and then escort the artificer on an expedition to some far off ruin under mysterious pretenses. This is the party’s best chance to discover what the Duke’s secret project really is.
Foil an assassination attempt against their patron, Racing against time to save his life and track down the source of the attack. Even if the party manage to pull him back from death, they’ll need to seek out a great act of healing or alchemy to permanently undo the damage. 
Throughout their adventure, the party will be hounded by the Duke’s all seeing spymaster, a woman with strange powers and an undying loyalty to her liege.  Do the party take her out to fulfill their objectives, or can they convince her that their actions are innocent, and earn a powerful ally in the process?
Late Game
Infiltrate a massive, hidden foundry high in the mountains where a titan sized construct is being assembled piece by piece. A kingdom destroying weapon in the wrong hands, the party will face a difficult choice in joining with the duke’s forces to see the construct completed, halting its progress through sabotage, or finding a means of triggering a meltdown in the robot’s arcane engines. 
Hitting the self-destruct button on the giant robot might be a bad idea, as the arcane energies that gave the thing both power and defence, once destabilized, will tare a hole through the fabric of reality and give the party many more problems to deal with than just a petty duke and his tin soldier.
Surprise Surprise! That cult that was chopping up sailors back at the start? Turns out they’ve managed to lure a kaiju into working with them, a terrifying beast that’s capable of summoning tsunami-level tidal waves, meaning it’s capable of levelling coastal ports but attacking any settlement connected to the duchy’s central waterways. If the party has been paying attention to the signs of this cult’s escalating threat, they may be able to convince the power players of the campaign to work together to defeat this beast... if not, the party might’ve just sabotaged their primary means of fighting back against it.
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awindinthelantern · 6 months
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D&D idea: The Dungeon Master's in town
you know how in the early 20th century the circus coming to town would be the highlight of the year, and everyone in town who could would turn out for the nightly performances? Imagine that but with a high-ranked wizard who travels the country with a portable dungeon in his pocket. Constructed within a pocket dimension, this virtual dungeon simulates the ancient dungeons of a bygone age, and is the perfect place for would-be adventurers in small towns and villages to test their mettle within a controlled setting, to see if they have what it takes to become real adventurers and serve the nation. With virtual monstrous foes to face off against and virtual treasure to win (no actual winnings for players except experience points), this dungeon is the perfect starting point for those seeking to become adventurers, and is highly popular among those in rural locales seeking some excitement from a humdrum life, and those seeking a thrill that doesn't involve life-threatening danger.
Additional idea: This would be a great campaign starter for a setting inspired by the 19th or early 20th centuries (e.g. steampunk or jazz age), in a world where magic has become structured, regulated, and commodified. The virtual dungeon could be Greco-Roman- or Egyptian-themed, as these ancient cultures were highly popular with the general public at the time due to archaeological discoveries like King Tut's intact tomb in 1922.
The portable dungeon could either be a one-man show, or be part of a circus or other troupe that offers a menagerie of games and excitement for the towns they pass through.
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shaniacsboogara · 8 months
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liking dnd is so funny because yeah you play the actual game sometimes but mostly you just think about the game and watch other people play the game and slowly go insane thinking about how much you wish you could play the game and hoping that buying more shiny rocks will fix everything
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marchment · 11 months
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1 in 10 infections (not people, actual infections) will result in long covid for most people. Significant nerological impacts, significant cardiovascular impacts, fatigue and chronic pain, complications with other conditions, and other symptoms we dont yet understand are what come with long covid. And yet, the World Health Organization has declared today that the pandemic is over.
The covid pandemic is not over at all, only just beginning. The mass disabling of people over time of repeated infections will overwhelm our deeply ableist systems not built for accommodating disability on a wide scale.
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leftski-art · 3 months
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shoutout to BG3 for making me love dragonborn 🔥
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cubbiekins · 9 months
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I stand by my decision.
Also, I want to talk about the fact I used such a cute photo of Damian and at the side it’s just ‘Purposeful Murder’.
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entrope-y · 4 months
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I see your “Eddie actually had a crush on Steve from the very beginning of high school and he’s mortifyingly embarrassed about it” and I raise you: Steve didn’t land on Eddie’s radar UNTIL Steve came back beat to shit and haunted by the horrors post s1. THEN it was all:
Eddie: oh my god…he’s so pathetic and mysterious….
All of Hellfire: ?? He has a black eye because he lost a fight with high school weakling Jonathan Byers? What the hell are you talking about?
*Steve, trying to get lunch and instead tripping and eating IMMENSE shit when the lights flicker. Food is everywhere, he has noodles in his hair. Everyone is snickering and staring as he stares haunted up at the ceiling*
Eddie, already fanning himself with a stack of character sheets and making goo-goo eyes: I can’t NOT fuck him
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summerf0x · 1 month
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Outskirts in Survivor/Monk:
A nice place to get your bearings and learn how to survive. Food is easy to come by, but as your resources dwindle you’ll move around the map and gradually discover more locations. Predators, while present are easy to maneuver around and teach you how to deal with threats.
Outskirts in literally any other campaign:
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obsob · 1 year
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there he is......the man of the house
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gros-chat-fait · 1 year
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Blue Healers --- Wind Walkers | Fire Keepers
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lesbianfaramir · 2 years
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I'm going to run a one-shot for my parents and girlfriend while I'm visiting back home in a couple weeks and dear god am I proud of this tavern/intro.
Our scene opens on The Ent of the Road, an overgrown tavern huddled against the bottom of a cliff in the Wetwood, an unkempt, rugged strip of forest pressed between the Sea of Thrakivere and a range of mountains called The Backbone. Moss hangs from the eaves of the tavern, the cliff that overshadows it, and the branches of the trees that cluster close to it on either side, and you can hear not one, but several babbling brooks in the vicinity. It rained this morning and if you’ve been on the Wetwood Road for more than a couple days, you know it will rain again this afternoon like clockwork, and everything in sight seems to be either dripping or studded with gem-like drops of water. The tavern is sided in greening wood shingles, and grass is growing out of the gutters, but there is warm light streaming out of the ajar front door and cutting through the drab greens and greys of daylight in the forest, and several horses and a saddled goat are tied to the well-worn but sturdy hitching posts out front.
Inside the floorboards are dry, the rushes on the floor are clean, and the fire is bright and warm; fuzzy grey light meanders in through the windows, and mingles with the light of candles in sconces in the walls to keep shadows out of all but the farthest corners of the inn. The inn smells of drying clothes, good food, and clean-burning wood, and several customers sit at the long communal tables that span the common room, or on the circle of benches surrounding the fire. Standing behind the bar on a stool is an elderly gnome with a puff of white hair and a leather apron covered in pockets over her serviceable shirt and pants. She waves you over with a wide gesture that knocks over a clean glass at her elbow that rights itself before it can fall to the floor. “Welris Niffle at your service! What can I help you with today?”
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I've got a campaign idea that I think is pretty solid. A powerful djinn sponsoring a sort of Great Race/Scavenger Hunt through several planes of existence. The problem is, that's all I've really got. Is the djinn planning something more nefarious? How can I still incorporate the sort of city exploration that I so dearly love? I've got no idea! Please help!
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Campaign: Keys to the City
“In accordance with his ancient oaths and the love of his people, the great and deathless Sultan invites all champions of the realm and its tributaries to join him in the City-Beloved-by-Night.  There, on the eleventh moonrise after this announcement, a great challenge will begin, a chance for the most worthy to be showered in riches and honours beyond their wildest imaginings. Glory to the great and deathless Sultan, Glory to the City-Beloved-by-Night“
-Proclimation read out across the eight affiliated worlds
Once thought of as a place of myth, the dusk shrouded metropolis of Hal’daje has become a thriving centre of trade and imperial majesty after it was discovered by the djinn Hammurabi and his warband as they gallivanted across the planes. They took the city as their own, and used its portal gates of unblemished ivory to strike out to distant worlds, undertaking journeys, fighting battles, and making wondrous discoveries that are still sung of to this day. It has been six centuries since Hammurabi declared himself sultan of the mystical city, and through careful alliance, fellowship, and in some cases conquest, eight worlds have bowed to him, and set Hald’aje as the centre of their empire.
Known to be magnanimous as he is fearsome, it appears Hammurabi’s latest attempt to charm his people is the biggest and best yet.  The challenge works like this: Hammurabi has scattered nine keys across his eightfold empire, each one hidden in a place related in some way to his own glorious history with that world. Each key corresponds to a door in a specially constructed vault and a fabulous reward hidden behind it.. with Hammurabi giving announcing a hint as to where the next key is located in a ceremony as part of accepting the previous key. Many however whisper of discontent through the “affiliated” worlds, and that this stunt is just another in long series of ploys to win over those realms that chafe under the Sultan’s authority.
Adventure Hooks:
If the party are a bunch of low level nobodies who wouldn’t qualify for a invitation, they might start the adventure off on one of the eight affiliated worlds as a group of hirelings for one of the champions who happens to be searching for a key in their back yard. Said champion was intending to use the party as cannon fodder but ends up getting mulched by the very same defences he sought to avoid. With their employer dead and a key in hand, it’s just a matter of the party making their way to Hal’daje and presenting their key at the palace gate in order to obtain an audience with the Sultan and be made champions by default.
Alternately, a high level party might receive an invitation all their own, especially if they’re a daring crew of spelljammers who’ve made a name for themselves hopping across the eight affiliated worlds and wildspace beyond.  This gives your party a great buildaround during party formation ( who’s who on the crew) and lets you include a bunch of fun space-based adventuring along with your treasure hunt
Finally, if you feel like your group is of a more... skullduggerous persuasion, perhaps have them be a gang of criminals who happen to live in the shadows of the City Beloved by Night, suddenlypresented with an opportunity to steal a key and get a great fortune when one of the champions decides to play dirty and use the party to mess with their competition.
Setup: If I was running this campaign ( which I just might) I’d start the narrative after two or three of the keys had already been claimed, which not only cuts down on the number of side adventures that need to be performed, but also applies a sense of urgency.  Likewise, there’s nothing stopping the party ( or their rivals) from seeking out keys that haven’t been hinted at yet, meaning that some clever detective work will allow them to sidestep the other compeditors and start looking for keys on their own (going from a linear relay to a much larger game of capture the flag).... with atleast one rival coming in mid way through the campaign having jumped and stolen the 6th or 7th key.
Now, what is all this for? Well as it turns out Hal’daje was originally a terrestrial metropolis in the ancient, near forgotten past, one that was doomed to perish under a blood covered dawn when a prophesied destroyer arrived to raze the city and devour its rulers.  As the appointed hour approached the people cried out for divine aid, which was awnsered by the goddess Nyx, who hid the city under a shroud of darkness and opened portals into other worlds that the populace might evacuate.  There the city lingered, frozen on the edge of destruction, until it was found by Hammurabi, with the djinn only discovering the prophecy over a century after he had claimed the title of sultan for himself. Now bound by prophecy, the clever conqueror contrived a plan to dip out on his destined doom by shunting it off to someone else at the last moment,  the ultimate prize of his competition being the throne of Hal’daje, with an oath of office secretly baked into the acceptance ceremony he makes each champion swear before claiming their prize.
Hammurabi announced the competition when the first signs of Nyx’s protection began to fade, and has been packed and ready to go ever since with a small jammer-ship fleet packed with the best of the treasury and his closest conspirators. As soon as one of the champions (likely one of the party members) sits the throne, he’ll be off without a word, leaving the people of the City Loved by Night to stagger through a sudden regime change while more and more signs of the end begin to manifest. 
Further Adventures:
A few of the worlds ruled over by the sultan have suffered from the same doom that now approaches Hal’daje which the players may encounter on their travels, including one which bears a city sized crater hollowed out a millennia or so ago on a day of great darkness. If the party are paying attention ( and maybe visit a great library) they may be able to notice their ultimate foe before it crashes down upon them.
Even before the night-goddess’s protection began to fade, Hammurabi couldn’t have anyone know that his great metropolis was going to be flattened by a sun eating dragon-god. To this end, he created a group of assassins and iconoclasts to move secretly through his realm destroying evidence and historical accounts under the guise of creating pro-sultanate propaganda. Only a few circles know of this group’s existence, referring to them as “the silencers” without ever truly understanding what exactly is being silenced by their actions. Should the party learn to much, it’s likely that a silencer agent will be dispatched to nudge them onto the right track.. possibly at the end of a poisoned knife.
Suffused with magic and cloaked in eternal dusk, the “city loved by night” is a site of pilgrimage for those faithful to Nyx and other gods of star and shadow who flock from across the multiverse to take part in the rites performed in the veiled temples scattered across the city and in the barrens beyond. As a side adventure while off on another world, a devotee of mother night asks the party to escort her to a distant shrine outside Hal’daje to help understand the troubling visions she’s been having of late. This will put them behind on their search for the next key, but their kindness will pay off second: For one, having a fledgling oracle on their side will let them receive more information on where the keys are, narrowing down their search and possibly letting them get a jump on unannounced keys. Second, Nyx will be better disposed towards them for helping one of her chosen daughters and will be looking out for them in matters of the ephemeral. Finally, This oracle will seek to warn the party about the doom approaching the city once the sultan is finally out of the picture.
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saipng · 1 year
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due to budget restrictions, season 5 of succession will be produced in my basement. starring barbie dolls, some legos, and a dream
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mobius-m-mobius · 1 year
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DANIEL CRAIG as BENOIT BLANC in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
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my-craft · 3 months
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58 characters across 9 campaigns. Spot your fave!
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monochromem0use · 5 months
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if these two aren’t even a little homoerotic i’ll eat rocks
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