How I Drove My Players To Madness By The 5th Session Of My Campaign | Narrated D&D Story

[@ninjaudead]

You wanna write a tragic backstory. You are gonna live that story lol

[@ProfessorTerrible]

I wouldn't say that I drove my players mad, but I did once send my players to a plane where anything that fellow the water could not be remembered by anyone. A couple of my players are great for their willingness to roleplay. One character investigated the watery magic by dropping an apple in, and immediately had the fact that the apple ever existed erased from their memories... so he threw in another, and another, and another, and another. When he ran out of apples he started looking for other things in his pack to throw in, complaining to himself that he should've bought some apples when they passed that orchard a while back (which is exactly where he'd gotten the original apples). Eventually I bailed him out by introducing an encounter, coz he would've roleplayed away everything his character owned by throwing it into the water long after the player himself had already figured it out.

[@Mask3dShadow]

And this is now one of the reasons why I make character without tragic backstory

[@zackariaswade]

I'm playing a rogue that knows his parents, they taught him all about the business of ending lives for money.

[@Mask3dShadow]

@@zackariaswade I’m currently playing a bard that grew up with a warlock for a mom and a cleric for a dad.

[@blindliberty4478]

Yes I come from happy family, everyone loved me and my parents live in this town with all of my siblings

[@WorldWalker128]

@@Mask3dShadow That must have been an INTERESTING family!

[@willparry530]

@@Mask3dShadow the funny thing about not making a tragic backstory is it gives an evil DM a potential hook to insert tragedy into the actual campaign. :P

[@verySharkey]

In my time roleplaying I learned one thing for sure. Its fine not to have a tragic backstory because those can easily come back to haunt you. Badly.

[@kcollier2192]

An excellent tale- if the ever do a new Tales From the Crypt, this DM might find a new career...

[@SirMandokarla]

Holy smokes. The role-playing by this team is fantastic.

[@singularity1130]

This is what the "Weird" spell should be. No save just mass insanity.

[@willparry530]

Now this, this is great content. My props to the DM!

[@triggerbot3284]

Y'know, usually if you want to run a campaign thats going for dark and gritty you have character creation happen at session 0. Helps the player by not having them waste energy creating a character that could just be considered expendable.

[@pambronson4467]

It also helps if you have people pre write a back up PC incase the first dies.

[@triggerbot3284]

@@pambronson4467 true true. Aweirdly good character can come out of a pre-written character outline, especially if you let the player fill in the dots and make it their own once they get that sheet.

[@orinocointf2]

@@triggerbot3284 I believe that they meant *to ask players to make two character sheets themselves, one to use and one to use if the first one dies*. Not, that you make pre written character outlines for your players. Nevertheless, both points can be true, although how good an idea pre-written character outlines are can vary a decent amount depending on the DM and the players.

[@fennecfoxed211]

Woah, the art is stunning on this one. Great story! I love to hear a DM bounce back from a less than great start.

[@willparry530]

It really is, isn't it?! :D

[@mwburwell]

Sounded like they still dont know how to set a DC properly. Everyone failing a save but the sorcerer, on each one of the checks. That must have been a high DC for early level players.

[@willparry530]

@@mwburwell They did outright say what the DC was :P Also on the first check remember that only one person actually was hit with the madness--the barbarian.

[@Plasmagon99]

The ad sponsor for this video sounds almost like it's a Monster Hunter but for D&D.

[@SapphireDragon357]

Mixed with Final Fantasy Blue Mage.

[@ShadeSlayer-2200]

Check out helena's guide, as i was told this one is mainly for pathfinder 2e, helena's guide to monster hunting it for 5e dnd

[@voshadxgathic]

When does a joke become a dad joke? When it becomes apparent.

[@andrewjohnson6716]

When I was scrolling I absolutely read the title as “How I drove my PARENTS to madness…”

[@mainmansbanjo1608]

That's a different story

[@nathanielthomson6600]

That was much better than a false Hydra

[@mainmansbanjo1608]

TYSM

[@vaulthunterfromterra4053]

Imagine if one of the character’s backstory was that they survived a False Hydra, and that’s what their hallucinations projected

[@seansloan7015]

Holy crap. If I didn't know better I'd swear this was my story. I was doing a campaign kinda meh with a political thing and couldn't really enjoy it so I have remade a new land and campaign that's horror themed as well! I wanna talk with this guy and shoot ideas back and forth

[@soulwrite5963]

The kickstarter kind off reminds me of Helena's guide to monsters if I'm being honest.

[@ShadeSlayer-2200]

Like to close for comfort

[@soulwrite5963]

@@ShadeSlayer-2200 So True that's what causing me, not to go and back it

[@ShadeSlayer-2200]

@@soulwrite5963 i agree, i backed helena's, probably spent to much on it, but it was interesting and i love the monster hunter series, sucks it seems like a copy cat

[@AkyJave]

Its mostly for Pathfinder 2e. One of the PF2e designers is an author on the book and the 5e version is a bonus

[@soulwrite5963]

@@AkyJave thanks for the clarification, so this is kind of like the Helena's guide for Pathfinder2e.

[@avenshil]

This was awesome! I’ve been slowly creeping my PCs backstories into our sessions but this is really something to enjoy 😊

[@prinnygoddood901]

Omg I love the story So dark so terrifying So wonderful

[@Kintaro316]

How I made my players insane? Bleeding trees!+

[@novadrake9232]

That was dark so dark infact my vision started to fade as i imagin it happening in front of me.

[@rosegold4281]

Last session, in Helm's hold, my dm nearly broke the mind of my Aasimar Swashbuckler. Because this Aasimar has a twin, a Tiefling, who he hasn't seen in about 5 years due to the military training that their father gave them before they departed. So, in Helm's hold, we were facing a Chain Devil and I got hit with it's fear effect. Thus, I was utterly disabled for the rest of the fight, because I watched my twin brother get beaten to death with flails and our mother, Zariel, drag him down to Avernus. Safe to say, I'm gonna roll on some madness tables to see what my poor Aasimar feels about this, as I had him have a mental breakdown in the middle of a Mausoleum.

[@N-cromancer]

The entire setting was on a genius loci that had enthralled the neutral necromancer omin the swamp. Nothing ever stayed dead in the swamp. Nothing. The obvious conclusion was the necromancer, the big surprise was the genius loci. What nobody expected was the swamp based-genius loci had been a young one that animated recently and befriended another genius loci, the FREAKING MOON. We all died. I wish i could remember more details, but it was nuts

[@LeonaPrime]

I'm getting reaalll Darkest Dungeon vibes.

[@skeletor4062]

So, is the 8th person on the train the one that was chilling in the tree that they all beat to death?

[@Bluke420]

That was awesome! I love mind games lol

[@maglag]

This reminds me of a story of my past character in a campaign I've been playing since last year. While the setting's not even similar, the eerieness felt during that session was incredible. My elf fighter joined the rest of the party some time after the game started and had become friends and battle comrades with the human wizard of the party. The wizard had been tortured by some unknown entity earlier in the campaign and my fighter didn't really know the details, which made it even more impactful when it was his turn to meet that entity. Another of the wizard's friend, a wheelchair-bound mage, had gone missing. We managed to track him down, but were pulled in to a different dimension where we could feel an eerie presence staring at us. The wizard, desperate to find his friend, tried to rush into a path of light, but my fighter and the paladin managed to stop him. Instead, it was my fighter that felt compelled to go in. And so he did, and when he opened his eyes again, the entity and him were in a theatre. In front of him, walking through the theatre, his own father turned undead marionette. A little bit of backstory. My elf fighter came from a family of Templars stationed at a Mage Tower when a horde of demons ravaged it and its surroundings. My fighter managed to escape, but he had no idea if anyone survived that. So seeing his father in front of him, crying in agony as his tendons were used as puppet strings was devastating. He was the brave and stern one of the group, but as soon as that happened he collapsed to the ground and burst into tears. He slowly started walking towards his father, greatsword in hand, as the entity goaded him on and laughed at him. He thought he owed his father to put him out of this misery, so he plunged his greatsword into his father's eyes while crying and apologising to him constantly. Once his father found some rest, the theatre burst into applause and the entity banished him from the theatre and returned him to the party. They had found the wizard's friend... But he was dead. It wasn't until much later, after my fighter had died protecting the wizard, that I learned his father had died years prior, protecting the wizard's family with the same greatsword my fighter used.

[@firstswordcorvus7368]

Monster mage class sounds exactly like a Final Fantasy blue mage

[@AuntLoopy123]

That was darkly beautiful!

[@mainmansbanjo1608]

Oh. OH. OHHHHHHHH. I DIDNT REALISE THIS CAME OUT

[@fabianfreund7494]

love the new art style

[@willparry530]

I don't know if it is the same person who did the Prince Melzard artwork...but whoever it is, it's definitely quality work!

[@cthulhupolar60]

This perma cold place reminds me of a place in a tv show my brother made me watch. Maybe you know it it had politics, a throne made of weapons, and dragons.

[@mainmansbanjo1608]

That's what it was inspired from

[@pambronson4467]

Props to your artist! Soooooo much better than the art that looked like rejects from an Aardman storyboard.

[@impishrebel5969]

The previous art wasn't bad. In fact I preferred it. It was cute. Especially for the Onyxia story.

[@willparry530]

@@impishrebel5969 It was good for what it was, but this art really suits the story, I would say.

[@syncringe1885]

Monster mage... I'm getting Blue Mage flashbacks... >.

[@4matesfilms149]

Hey! I'm not the forum type of guy so I want to share this story here: I recently started writing this one-shot campaign for my friends who've never played a DnD just as me(exept for the 2 sessions when I made this slowly building campaign for them, but we didn't finish due to lack of time to meet to play). Anyway, I'm creating the campaign where one of PC is Thanos/Anakin/Xardas type of guy , all that comparisions makes him BBEG, and so he's supposed to be. Since my friends don't know how to play and I'm the biggest enthusiast of it, we agreed I'll make them those characters. I've informed one of my friends that he'll be playing BBEG, and after that I realised he may not be guiding the party the way I wanted, cause I told him so little about his character. So I'll be his inner voice when things will go out of control(I know they will). Yet I know of possible ending like: redemption arc, the rest of the party joining BBEG in his lead goal, stopping the BBEG before he'll accomplish his goal, and many more I haven't figure out yet. We'll see tommorow. And just so you know we'll be playing in my homebrew HoMM - DnD 5e combined setting ( I might give an update on this)

[@charlesduffy9755]

Any idea about a stat bloc for this thing? I'd certainly be curious

[@mainmansbanjo1608]

I deleted it awhile back because I wanted to re-write it.

[@charlesduffy9755]

@@mainmansbanjo1608 Ah, damn. I understand that. Once you rewrite it, would you be willing to share it with me with a link? If not or you forget I totally understand. Thanks for letting me know though and I hope you have a great night!

[@mainmansbanjo1608]

@@charlesduffy9755 It was a very simple stat block. I never intended for the creature to excel in combat. Rather, rely on the "Madness Bursts" that would happen every hour or so from which they wisdom saved from. The video is a pretty good reference for everything that it did if you were interested in writing one for yourself.

[@charlesduffy9755]

@@mainmansbanjo1608 Cool, thanks a bunch. Did you just use short term madness's or long term until they succeeded or killed it?

[@mainmansbanjo1608]

@@charlesduffy9755 Short term

[@GreaterGrievobeast55]

YIRBEL LIVES! huh Could’ve sworn I commented something earlier that was topical and poignant. Maybe I got distracted oh well bahh. I guess were doing a new art style every episode from now on fair enough!

[@willparry530]

I love the new art styles! They actually commissioned some pieces from some talented artists :)

[@brandonk8948]

I love dark DnD settings for campaigns, I like fantasy but a group of dark and gritty anti heroes would be ideal to play with... One day, I want to be in a steampunk-medieval group called, "The Bastard Brigade" who are a motley crew of the degenerates of society who are recruited from the king's jail and are tasked to scout out and vanguard an intel mission of an alien race who's invaded the realm. Yes, I already have a character picked out, and yes, I already have a sequel follow up campaign! But gosh, it sucks finding consistent players and a proper DM to Collab with... (sigh)

[@djthegrateone]

Suicide squad

[@willparry530]

@@djthegrateone DnD style!

[@brandonk8948]

@@djthegrateonemeets Independence Day, essentially yes 😉❤

[@brandonk8948]

@@willparry530 exactly 💯😉

[@andreas7250]

14:02 "At this point the session began taking a darker turn" Only at this point? Really?

[@phylippezimmermannpaquin2062]

That's some good rp

[@milkenobi]

I’m about half way through, is this just “DM makes hallucinations based on back stories”? Or is there some other clever tricks?

[@danielmiller3596]

Many people often consider it a better form of role-play if you do not outright state a condition such as confusion, stun, or something else, but describe the scenario and situation as if the character was interacting with it normally. So, yes hallucinations happen.

[@baddragon7057]

A Druid of the fishing pound

[@littlepeach2010]

No NO NO NO NO I need to know what was meant by you 8,

[@ElywinCarrinithshinyhunting]

Monster mage, huh..? (Suspiciously looks at Final Fantasy's Blue mage)

[@20secondsofcourage1]

WHO WAS THE EIGHTH PERSON.

[@danielmiller3596]

Just listening to the group, it sounds like random adjectives instead of a cohesive character idea.

[@TransientWitch]

So...About that ad ATDnD... Can I get a Charge Blade? Look, a girl needs her Charge Blade or Switch Axe for proper monster huntin'. Or her Bow, if she really wants to be mean.

[@wavemaster4891]

False Hydra was better Plus there was no explanation about the 8th party member no one knows

[@mainmansbanjo1608]

The 8th party memeber was half to mess with the players before death and half apart of a secret I had for one of the party members for many many many sessions later in the campaign. It was a story for another day.

[@ATSucks1]

These new thumbnails are....well what can I say , I liked the former thumbnail art and heck of a lot more.

[@jamestaylor3805]

Trigger warning... my BBEG was a middling imperial legate with moderate political sway, who ran a kidnapping and sex trafficking ring. One player became a drunken mess, one became a quivering ball of rage, one was almost catatonic only muttering expletives as scenes played out, and another just stopped coming to the game... The campaign ended as the players decided there was too much psychological impact from my game's scenario.

[@jamestaylor3805]

I put truly human evil intona fantasy game and it became something devastating to real world players.

[@AynenMakino]

'...At this point the session takes a darker turn.'. People going insane with extremely emotional delusions wasn't dark enough yet? :D

[@mainmansbanjo1608]

NEVER

[@mastercamren1338]

Don't want to be that guy but I have earbuds in and I feel like a hear a silent fan like

[@daviddutilley4765]

Sounds like alot of cut scenes.

[@nathanbrown8196]

so no shit... there we were...

[@clericofchaos1]

Madness?...THIS IS D&D! Also, this really doesn't sound that bad. It sounds like that episode of Rick & Morty with the thought train. It was really just missing the "tickets please" guy. It's also pretty forced. As soon as the party heard about the jabberwock (or whatever) the effects should have just stopped. At that point you could just ignore everything going on around you until things end. Didn't sound like there were any saving throws rolled either.

[@StormTheSquid]

Have you ever experienced vivid hallucinations? Voices in your head? It doesn't seem like it. It's not so easy as "ignoring everything until it ends" because you have no way of knowing if it's ended or not. You can't tell the difference between reality and madness. You can't tell if the voices are real, or in your head. You can't tell if the wolves howling in the black of night are coming to take you, or a figment of your broken mind. You can't tell if the people around you are really there or not. You can't tell if you're in the past, the present, or a dream. You can't tell if you're alive or dead. You can't tell if you ever were. There are no "will saves" for madness. You can't overcome it with sheer force of will alone. You can't trust your friends and allies to actually help you as they may be part of the delusion too, trying to lead you further down. You can't close your eyes and cover your ears to escape as it's all in your head anyway. Even when you know it's fake, it's still incredibly difficult to block it out even with a strong will. I know that much from personal, irl experience. It takes months, years of practice. Heck, the voices still come back from time to time. It gets easier, but expecting someone to block it out when they already have poor willpower (alcoholic character) or struggle to differentiate between reality and the nightmares and flashbacks (PTSD) or anything else that makes them vulnerable, it's too much to ask. This DM portrayed actual madness very, very well.

[@clericofchaos1]

@@StormTheSquid tldr a strong will can prevent all forms of madness and knowing what's causing the "madness" is the same thing as knowing how a magic trick is done. Once you've figured it out it has no more power over you than you give it. Furthermore, don't ever inflict negative effects on my characters without giving me a saving throw or i will metagame and ignore the condition, because what you're doing is railroading, and railroading is wrong.

[@StormTheSquid]

@@clericofchaos1 How did you read what I had to say, as someone who has experienced serious hallucinations myself, and come away with the literal exact opposite conclusion? You need to try actually reading what I had to say. Edit: Also, if you wanna metagame and ignore a condition, that's fine, just expect your DM to ignore your existence, by kicking you out. You don't like realistic depictions of madness? That's fine. *Find another game instead of metagaming and ruining it for everyone else.* Selfish prick.

[@clericofchaos1]

@@StormTheSquid 1st I didn't read what you had to say, because i've been feeling a little sick today and i am just so not in the mood to argue when i know i'm right. 2nd railroading is what ruins games for everyone else. Standing up against the railroading is the right course of action for any player.

[@StormTheSquid]

@@clericofchaos1 It's not railroading if how to respond is entirely up to the player. By your logic, having a story in mind is railroading. I run a sandbox game, extremely open world, I know what railroading it. Having a story arc and portraying it realistically IS NOT RAILROADING. Get off your high horse.

[@gigaswardblade7261]

How would a CR 4 be hard for a party of 4 level 3 players?

[@firstsomeonelastname42]

According to Kobold Fight Club, it'd be classed as Hard. However, since in the story the barbarian went down fast and it was 3v1, that'd classify it as bordering on Deadly.

[@tyler-tz2hz]

👍

[@joeyjojoshabadoo889]

It's BEAST-IARY....as in it's a dictionary of beasts, not "BEST-IARY"

[@patriousthefallenknight3185]

the video wont play

[@mostshenanigans]

First?

[@Clarity_Control]

Be honesty, Does it even matter?

[@mostshenanigans]

@@Clarity_Control well, it's my first time being first. So I guess I would like to make it slightly special?

[@willparry530]

@@mostshenanigans yup

[@logancraft1883]

woah like 6

[@fakeo]

your mispronouncing beastiary, your saying it besties. look up transformers beasties

[@boogeytime686]

Yo I’m like 9th

[@gajeel9798]

4th