Aquatic Adventure Hooks for D&D | Kraken Week

[@deathiscoming7]

I love how you connected other creators video concepts into your hooks.

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Thanks! 😊 It’s easy when everyone has so many cool ideas! 😂

[@TheADHDM]

the koi ears wobble so well

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

😂 Is it insane that I briefly considered making animatronic ones for this?

[@TheADHDM]

@@StephaniePlaysGames Respectfully, yes

[@MarkCherkowski]

I got a super creepy/horror inspiration from this video thank you! Little scuttling crab type things that scurry away from the light, but when they finally amass enough numbers they attack a fishing village. The specific scene I look forward to sharing with my table is how one of the villages is running towards them in terror, one of the crab things leaps onto their back knocking them foreword onto the ground on their hands and knees. The party watches as the claws plunge into the villager's back, suddenly they jerk upright, as tentacles and claws burst out of their hands and feet, mouth and eyes. Then this new hybrid creature runs towards the players with an Eldritch screech. 😆

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Yesss! Oh my gosh I love that so much, I love planning encounters around a specific scene I can imagine and that is a very vivid Eldritch horror scene right there! 😂

[@TheClericCorner]

This also doubles as a "guide to kraken week" video and I'm here for it! Great vid! Also, you had me at hot Genasi summer 😂

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Thanks! I tried to fit as many in as I could, I probably could manage a shout out to everyone if people wanted to watch a 3 hour video 😂😂😂

[@DungeonDad]

We love some aquatic plot hooks. Also shouts out the kuo-toa I really like the concept of a half/malformed god who is in the process of being born into reality by the fish guys.

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Thanks! I also really love Kuo-Toa 😂 They’re so bizarre and perfect!

[@peterbillings3276]

Yes! In the last couple sessions of our campaign, some Kuo-Toa were worshipping a baby Kraken, turning it into a God. Didn't realize we were so on theme for Kraken Week! :D By the way, The Grungeon Master hit Kuo-Toa with a great analysis video (also linked on the big play list). Enjoy!

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

@@peterbillings3276 Bahaha I love that! Honestly anything with Kuo-Toa is my favorite 😂 And I absolutely already have Grungeon Masters video on my watch list, I can’t wait!

[@kquixotic]

I've found another great channel thanks to Kraken Week! You've got some great ideas here, with a PDF of them to boot. The threading-in of other creators is not only inspired but wholesome.

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Thank you so much for the kind words! 😊 It’s easy to work things in when everyone has so many amazing ideas to incorporate!

[@keeperoflenneth]

You know i find to be the most challenging part of Kraken Week??? I already have 3 campaigns and my god has this made me want to run 6 more.... haha SO much inspiration. and new channels!

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

RIGHT!!! I totally feel the same! I run 3, play in 3 and I very much still contemplate just “a short 4th campaign” like a lunatic 😂😂😂

[@Jdude217]

I am immediately incorporating your submarine idea into my sandbox game. Since my party has been hunting after a necromancer, the submarine will be the carcass of a gargantuan whale that has been modified and partially reanimated. But the rest of that whale's pod has been looking for their lost member, and slowly they start to prod at the submarine, discovering what has been done to their companion. Thank you so much for the inspiration!

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Yesss I love this so much! That’s going to be a really cool part to run! 😊

[@Skimmer951]

Love the costume and floppy fins!

[@shortreststudios]

I totally dig the Lovecraftian angle! This is great inspiration. And thanks so much for the shoutout!

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Of course! Thanks for giving everyone some terrifying sea creatures to use! 😂

[@skywise1978]

I loved hearing you talk about creature features, the building tension and the inevitable fight! Also props for pointing out that Kuo-toa can create their own gods. Love these adventure ideas. And Creature from the Black Lagoon is my favorite Universal monster.

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Thank you! Those are the two I’m definitely most excited to run- and I agree! I think that movie is still a testament to practical effects and always make people watch it 😂

[@WallyDM]

SO many amazing ideas, well done! Happy Kraken week - glug, glug, glug!

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Thank you! 😊

[@RdotDoyle]

Great adventure idea and great video! Love all the references to other Kraken Week goodness, plus Our Flag Means Death 🏴‍☠️

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

I was CRUSHED when they announced there wouldn't be a new season 😭

[@RdotDoyle]

@@StephaniePlaysGames Oh man, same. I want more but they did end each season well

[@BLynn]

Dude, your memory of the other videos is amazing. Your video should be the first in the list.

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Haha I wish it was that good! I know a magician is never supposed to reveal their secrets - but we had a group chat going on where people could post what they were working on. As I built out each adventure hook I’d scan to see if I could include shout outs to other creators that had content that would fit with my themes 😊

[@skinnycartman99]

I feel sorry for mentioning land sharks on my last comment to you now! Great video awesome ideas will definitely be getting the pdf when I’m back at my pc. It did make me think about an idea I’d had some time ago around using the idea of diving bell spiders in a giant spider/drow sense of making an underwater city from spider silk and just massively upscaling pond critters as monsters

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Bahaha I actually laughed when I had read your landshark comment 😂 1) Because I was already recording this and 2) because I definitely think they’re creepy! And honestly I love upscaling things that are fine when small but *definitely not fine* later!

[@TheUglyGoblin]

Genuinely Loved all of these! These are Such great ideas 🤩 (Oh mah gosh thank you for the shout out! 😭) Soooo loved that you took inspiration from Our Flag Means Death! Cannot believe I never thought of this :O You should be super proud of this video 😤 iz banger! >:3

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Of course! Thank you for the kind words! 😊

[@c0barsm]

I sub'd here after finding you from the Kraken Week playlist! Thanks for the content!

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Thanks for subbing! Kraken week has been a ton of fun for all of us! 😊

[@rashkavar]

Adventure hook 2 works well with my favourite version of the kraken - the old mythology version, back before it became a big cephalopod. Not sure how to convert it to a stat block or anything, but the vibes of these things.... So, the idea is that you have 2 islands that are close together, lots of fish that gather between those islands, and a very high tendency for anglers to wreck in that area. High risk, high reward, actually entirely normal because those tend to be places where you get interesting currents that collect a lot of plankton for fish to eat and also tend to be pretty good at smacking boats into islands. But...since ancient peoples didn't know fluid dynamics, you get a more interesting idea: The islands aren't islands, they're *jaws*. Some immense underwater creature lurks beneath, its mouth open, perfectly still, waiting. Its breath contains something that draws fish in from all directions, and when it has enough fish in it, it *bites down* and swallows everything therein. When satisfied, it will just...leave, and go somewhere else. Or maybe it just sits there and waits for the next bite. Who knows. I just love the idea of something so immense that it just doesn't *care* that there's a fishing boat hanging out between its jaws stealing its food. It doesn't even notice. Of course, eventually, someone brave or (more realistically) stupid enough is going to come along and *make* it notice. This, naturally, happens to be your party or someone they're with. And that's as far as I can take this. I've only run a couple of oneshots so far, so encounter design on this kind of scale is...not really something I know how to handle.

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Oh my gosh that’s terrifying 😂 I agree - things that are immense beyond the scope of understanding are fantastic, there’s something so disconcerting about a creature that basically views you as an ant in the wild. If you haven’t yet you may want to see if any of the other videos on the Kraken Week playlist have a stat block featuring that particular brand of Kraken! I feel like there may be at least one that has that sort of Old God brand of ocean horror 😂 I think something like this can easily be part of a campaign using Odyssey of The Dragonlords and Mythic Odysseys of Theros as a base to build off of! My favorite thing is “kit bashing” campaigns so that I can play with my own ideas without always having to do all the encounter and story design from scratch!

[@BF-rn3oz]

You deserve more subscribers. This video is great! I love your ideas.

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it! I appreciate the kind words! 😊

[@Draail19]

Happy Freaking KRAKEN WEEK!

[@conradrogers317]

Great video, I will likely be stealing a few of these ideas! BTW You are missing a couple of audio clips, after you mention the otter king (perhaps he took them as tribute?): 17:47, then again at 18:03 and 18:12

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Thanks for the kind words! 😊 And thanks for the heads up on the audio! It’s here in my local file so I …. have no idea what happened 😂 I love tech mysteries!

[@ricebrown1]

Kraken Week!

[@vitore.sanches7712]

Great ideas! My imagination is running wild right now. For the first hook, I'm thinking if my party have a Cleric or other faith based PC, maybe the Kuo-Toa's abominations are twisted versions of the deity the PC worship/follows. Maybe the first abominations are imperfect copies but, as the mystery unfolds, the party meet a perfect copy of the PC's deity (maybe one without a fully developed mind, that keeps repeating psalms or humming religious hymns). With the right players it could lead to interesting questions about their faith (was my deity made by Kuo-Toas? are they trying to understand my belief? am I causing this?) and to more personal horror than just "big fight" - not that there's anything wrong with big fights, I love big fights.

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Oooooh I really love this idea! I think this would definitely be a great horror concept for a cleric!

[@direden]

Great stuff... I'll be returning to this video to steal ideas for my next campaign!

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Thanks for the kind words! And also come back and tell me how it goes! 😂😂😂

[@direden]

@@StephaniePlaysGames I can tell you now... it will go something like this: I'll put 3 these in a Sandbox. My players will make a really big deal about one of them. Then a group of rival NPCs will complete another one, and rub in the PC's faces. The players will kill those NPCs. Then if I'm really lucky I'll figure a way to connect the last plot hook to the Big Bad. And my players will be all "🤦🏻‍♂️" That's the usual

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

@@direden Does not sound much different than how it goes for some of my players 😂

[@icon_o_clast]

Dig the variety of these hooks. - love the kuo toa deity garbage flow

[@turbonerd6552]

Sharks are every where 😂❤

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Bahahaha I learned through this process that I actually almost definitely have thalassophobia, which is why my brain is a weirdo even in pools 😂😂😂

[@ChrisBeck-ij9zs]

I enjoyed it!

[@seankennedy4548]

Some great ideas there. good job!

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@almitrahopkins1873]

Fog. Players hate fog. That fog-shrouded island in the distance could be hiding a goblin tribe’s village, protected by 1’ tall carved idols of their god of fog, mists and hidden things placed on every building and every dock. Hundreds of the things are scattered around the island, making visibility very difficult. The hook to get your players to come investigate is the raids on nearby islands that are always preceded by a fog rolling in. The goblins have started taking their idols with them on their raids of nearby islands, even going so far as to build them into their war canoes, so the fog accompanies their raiding parties. The goblins may have used permanent levitation effects to place some of the idols over the shoals that make travel to the island dangerous for ships, trapping the PCs if they try to come investigate. The fog doesn’t obscure the top of the mast, so lookouts on the island can see where a ship has run aground.

[@goblinwizard735]

Kraken week!

[@emiweeab]

Love your video and will try to see if I can get a group together to do a one shot! Also, I don’t know if it was pointed out or not yet, but there are a couple of spots of missing sound clips starting at 17:47 and till the end of the

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

If you do let me know how it goes! Also it has been mentioned 😭 I honestly have no idea what happened because it’s only like that on KZbin and not on the saved file which is a fun little mystery

[@dracone4370]

Some parts of the video, near the end, sounded like the microphone was cutting out while you were talking. I think I mentioned this over on Ginny Di's video, but I'll put it here, I'm actually working on a setting that's a drowned world with a twist; I've been working on it on and off for a bit longer than I'm will to admit with a large portion of stagnation. Maybe I'll have it complete enough by this time next year and try using some aspects and elements of it for Kraken week next year, hopefully.

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Thanks for the heads up! Unfortunately I have no idea what happened because it’s only like that on KZbin and not on the actual file 😭 And is this setting just for you? Because honestly if it is I think the best advice I can give is just start running it! Sometimes I’ve started before I was truly ready and my players actually ended up having wayyy cooler ideas than I actually had in store for them 😂

[@ProfBoggs]

I love the Fisherman's Foe. Was that a nod to the Fisherman's Friend cough drops?

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

It was not, at least not consciously! I love their branding though! 😂

[@mdx3020]

Fun fact... Acording to asían folklore... A 100 year old carp that passes the Dragon gate (a waterfall) will turn into a Yu Lung, a "larval" form that can transform into 1 of the 7 tipes of asian Dragon... So, you a koi mermaid can become a dragon mermaid

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

😮…. I can’t wAIT FOR MY TRANSFORMATION!!! 😂

[@tomjohnson4922]

I'm subscribed to Runesmith which is where I first came upon Kraken week and since then I've had random videos pop up this week (like yours). Is there an actual playlist somewhere? I'm subscribed to Ginny and Bob the World Builder so I've watched theirs. As it is I actually have two spots of underwater adventure: one with a sunken ship though patrolled by a giant shark and in order to find part of the main quest travel leagues under the sea to reach a sunken city. However there will be merfolk to give them aid.

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

There is! There should be a little playlist card to click on at the end of my video!

[@silvertheelf]

“Slightly less scary” Me who loves sharks: “Or more scary if you fear giant squid more.” I have thalassophobia, it has nothing to do with sharks… well not only sharks, it has a little to do with sharks… Jaws was a decently scary movie ok, like not that scary but scary enough. Also Kuo-Toa are a new phobia of mine as I saw plenty of videos on it and one talked about the implications of their god manifesting and what would happen and something leading to the inevitable collapse of the world and the rising of the Illithids and Aboleth because the desire to achieve godhood through corrupted belief becoming popular brings about the age of psyonics and that empowers creatures like Illithids so naturally inevitable end of the rest of the universe brought by the illithids… also there’s some lore that illithids took over the D&D universe in the future and went to the past… I blame the knowledge of the Kuo-Toa’s divine conjuring abilities becoming known to the world. Plot: Starting with a Kuo-Toa cult being studied by a crazed anthropologist who discovered their ability to summon gods, the players hear of a strange series of events and 2 competing cults forming in a sea side city, one is related to this fish god, and the other to some guy claiming to be the descendant of some divine power, offering a new age of knowledge to those who follow him and help him achieve great goals, he plans to reveal all the secrets he holds upon achieving godhood bringing about the new age of psyonics and although he views it as for a better world, there are sayings that “Not all wishes should be granted”, unbeknownst to him an illithid infiltration into the town after knowledge of this information spread through to an underdark market has popped up, the illithid seeks to aid his power knowing of the great calamity to come from the unwitting anthropologist turned self proclaimed demigod, upon his success the illithid will bring a great invasion bringing about the end times and raising the illithid empire to greatness once again.

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Actually through making the video for this I learned I actually have thalassophobia! I always just attributed it to sharks because they have giant teeth so it’s easy 🤷‍♀️ 😂 Also - I’d 100% play in that campaign! That sounds like such a blast and these are the types of psionics that are right up my alley 😂😂😂

[@tysondennis1016]

What if a BBEG’s plans are to convince some kuo-toa that they’re a god, so they become a god?

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Bahahaha I love it! I wonder if in their attempt to make this happen, the BBEG would actually end up being a lower-tier boss fight and instead of actually getting to become a god, they’d be transposed by this new, stronger god created in their likeness? 🤔 Naturally- the party would have to deal with both, maybe if they didn’t kill the original BBEG he now becomes an incredibly embarrassed NPC ally? 😂

[@arturohernandez8789]

🦍

[@troaaxaltion]

Audio at the end got strangely spotty? Like in the last minute?

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Yeah, it is an unfortunate tech mystery because the upload file doesn’t have that problem 🙃

[@VerbenaComfrey]

another comment for another watch

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

Thanks for watching! 😊 I hope you enjoyed it!

[@chadbodine336]

169

[@GHOSTYChoco]

The pirate king and the baron are gay, that's my headcanon

[@StephaniePlaysGames]

It is also realcannon 😉

[@GHOSTYChoco]

@@StephaniePlaysGames YES!!